“The murder of #RazzanNajjar was not a “tragedy”. This is doublespeak. It was a deliberately executed War Crime like the 112 other murders in the trail of tears of the #GreatReturnMarch and the 13,000 wounded.”
Good to see Argentina pulling out of a football game with the apartheid state of Israel.
I think it’s next to nothing although I do know that the pharmaceuticals supplied by Israels only Pharma company have increased, although i suspect none of these are actually manufactured in israel.
That’s not nothing: promoting Galloway and his self-aggrandising gobshite undermines credible commentary and makes it easier for the Israelis to dismiss their critics as misled.
Galloway has been attacked and assaulted by Zionists for his truth telling about them ….making it easier for critics of israel to show them as violent thugs ….
Aside from that ….What gobshite are you gobshitting about ?? ….
Perhaps wayne mapp ….. a racist warmonger who also dislikes him could help you with an example of how ‘wrong’ he is. ….
or three face James …. brimming with crackpot examples no doubt [sarc].
But I’m sure you’ve got heaps of examples and need no help backing up what you’ve written ….
If it’s gobshite then surely people will work that out eventually. Galloway can then be resigned to the status of a propaganda factory like the rest of the lamestream. But for now I only see a rising tide for George.
Hewlett Packard computrers and all the other tech companies who prop up their apartheid war state are fair game for boycotts …. Rupert Murdoch media would be another.
But otherwise supporting New Zealanders who have been smeared by zionists is a good activity … like Lorde was …. usually with false anti-semite accusations.
Ed is very good at bearing witness and posting up a record of peoples deeds …. despite the bleats and moans from the stunned James and other right wing precious malcontents of this world.
Spreading the truth and debunking zionist lies is a worthwhile activity IMO
Stunned mullet. A big range of make up and fragrance is owned by Israeli companies. I used to be a fan of Estée Lauder, but has been years since I bought this brand.
Main point about BDS is the raising of awareness about Israeli genocide in Gaza & West Bank, especially among Israeli population many if whom do not know what is going on. So BDS aims at corporates, businesses as well as sports teams, pop/ rock stars, & musicians with high international profiles to say no and why.
Someone told me that the My Food Bag, uses Israeli produce, not sure if that is true, maybe somebody knows? Would put me off for many reasons, if true.
” A big range of make up and fragrance is owned by Israeli companies. I used to be a fan of Estée Lauder, but has been years since I bought this brand.”.
That reads as if you believe that Estee Lauder is a company that is owned in Israel. That is rubbish.
The only possible way you can make any connection at all is that one of the sons of the people who founded the company is involved in Jewish Groups who do support Israel. He is a director of the company but he is a US, not an Israeli citizen and he appears to have nothing to do with the day to day operations.
The only possible way you can make any connection at all is that one of the sons of the people who founded the company is involved in Jewish Groups who do support Israel.
The Israelis did not commit the Sabra and Shatila massacres. That was done by a Lebanese militia. They may well have been complicit in the attacks but that is not the same thing as stating they ordered it or were behind it.
Also these attacks you have linked to did not involve the US. I thought there was meant to be more attacks by Israel on US interests.
Done by a Lebanese militia supplied , financed and directed by Israel. – oh the Israeli guards on the outskirts of the camps not only prevented civilians from escaping the massacre they very kindly kept up a continuous stream off starburst shells at night so their proxies could more effectively murder their victims
Well, if you’re going to boycott anything Israel, I guess we won’t be seeing you here much?
Intel to invest $4.5 billion in Israel in 2018
Kiryat Gat is already one of the world’s most advanced chip fabs after Intel invested $6 billion in expanding and upgrading it during 2016 and 2017.
What? You mean like a TINA sort of thing? There is no alternative to Intel?
And as if the Chinese haven’t already co-opted (to put it politely) the intellectual property that comes from that research and development.
That kind of TINA?
Please! Keep it up – you’re going to be one really disappointed fella.
“Addendum: don’t touch the staff
In 2018, you might assume it is a given that customers must not pet, grope or manhandle waiters. But having browsed Twitter and seen chefs such as Stevie Parle reminding diners to “Keep your hands to yourself” – and Guinea Grill landlord Oisin Rogers proudly relaying his team’s zero tolerance approach: “She told him she would cut his arm off if he touched her again” – it needs reiterating: DO NOT TOUCH THE STAFF.”
I’d be interested in seeing a comparison of the pay and conditions that seasonal workers get now. I picked apples Motueka way in the ’80s and there was no shortage of workers, mainly because the pay was pretty good and the welfare system was sympathetic….
$20 per bin, we’d pick 4-6 bins per day
Free (basic) onsite accommodation included in the bin rate
No stand-down period, the unemployed could go straight back on the dole
Back then the dole was around $100 per week from memory and a reasonably motivated & fit worker could easily pull $600 per week picking aples. I’d expect it to be well over $1000 per week now if it followed inflation…..
You have hit the nail on the head, DH! There are plenty of workers but it has to be worthwhile to work, aka free basic accomodation, much higher pay rate than dole aka 600x and you can go back onto the dole without a stand down period.
If the casual industry bothered to do all these then they would have plenty of workers and NZ less un or under employed in this country.
I’d say not providing decent work opportunities that we previously enjoyed, is also leading to a rise in the ‘hopeless drugged youth’ that Bill English seems to think has become the NZ worker who only a few decades ago used to be held in high esteem worldwide for their work ethic and practical approach!
Yeah, there’s nothing mysterious about it. The unemployed went fruit picking because they were mad not to.
I didn’t do packhouse work so I don’t know what that was like but don’t recall people moaning about the pay there either. Kiwifruit picking paid similar to apples, I did that too, the season was just shorter.
“The apple production in New Zealand is a huge sector for such a small country. The estimated crop for 2014 was close to 500 000 tonnes, which represents around 1 400 000 bins. If you consider that an average picker will pick about 200 bins over his season, it represents at least 7000 apple picking jobs.”
Pay rates ?
Its complicated with a sliding scale
“Generally speaking, the bin rates for apple picking in New Zealand are lower than the ones in Australia. Also, I’ve never seen any farm in New Zealand having a fixed rate per bin. Indeed, it will rather fluctuate depending on each variety, on each pick (1st, 2nd, 3rd color pick), and sometimes on each block. It’s called a sliding rate. As a result it’s not rare to see up to 5-6 different bin rates appearing on your weekly payslip, related to the different kind of picking you’ve done over the week.
Common prices are between 24,5$ and 32$ per bin. However, I’ve seen it as low as 22,5$ in some farms, and as high as 36-37$ in others.
Hard to make a comparison from that data but it does look to be paying less today. Minimum wage in 1988 was $5.62 hr, bin rate then was nearly four times that and todays rate looks a lot less.
The varying rates should still end up with the same earnings. We had a few differing bin rates which were down to the difficult in picking. Golden delicious paid $25 per bin because they bruised easier and we had to be more careful with them. They paid more but we picked less and ended up making much the same $$ over a day.
Definately less than what it used to be.
Last season, I picked up some Fijian guys trying to get to the packhouse. The bus had bypassed them because it was full – leaving them stranded, next to a TePuke Z, shivering with cold with what would normally be black thumbs held out and the tips looking very red.
What I learned was that for the priviledge of coming to Godzone for some lowly work, they’d become a fucking sight worse off than if they’d stayed at home.
By the time consultants used for various stages in the process to come here, (immigration consultants, travel agents, work consultants et al) had clipped their tickets, they were up for less than 50% of the earnings promised.
They were holding out hope that in following years, they’d be experienced enough to circumvent some of the rorts in play, and rorts that were part of ‘the system and structure’ .
(By the way, I note the new CEO of MoBIE now has some serious concerns. I suggest she only need review some of the cases on record – unless of course ‘officials’ have managed to disguise their part in it all).
The right to be profitable is inalienable and it must be supported by taxpayer subsidies, externalising costs and by employees enduring miserable, crappy lives.
Seriously though, how can you make such an operation profitable without doing those things?
Would taking Mr Van Vliet out of the equation entirely and have the workers own and run it cooperatively make a difference?
FFRobotics is developing a machine that has three-fingered grips to grab fruit and twist or clip it from a branch. The machine would have between four and 12 robotic arms, and can pick up to 10,000 apples an hour, Kober said.
One machine would be able to harvest a variety of crops, taking 85 to 90 per cent of the crop off the trees, Kober said. Humans could pick the rest.
Abundant Robotics is working on a picker that uses suction to vacuum apples off trees.
Plans for the robotic harvesters – including a goal of getting them to market before 2019 – were discussed in February at an international convention of fruit growers in Wenatchee, Washington.
The two robot makers are likely to hit their production goals, said Karen Lewis, a Washington State University cooperative extension agent who has studied the issue.
Deal highlights demand for agricultural automation technology; follows recent investment from Yamaha Motor Co. to accelerate company’s growth
Robotics Plus, a New Zealand agricultural robotics and automation company, today announced it has signed an agency and distribution agreement with Global Pac Technologies which will see the company’s revolutionary robotic apple packers go global. The deal, which will initially target the US, Australian and New Zealand markets, is fuelling a period of accelerated growth for Robotics Plus as industry demand for its innovation grows.
Something tells me that even the imported workers won’t have a job for much longer.
More people joining the NZ job queue then… what gets me is that they know that these jobs are going to be replaced and the government is bringing migrants under phony work to residency schemes and underpaying NZ workers who could be having a job and then they wonder why there’s a growing social welfare bill and we are less skilled than we used to be. Doh!
There have been scandals when migrants are working in petrol stations and getting residency, FFS the automated petrol pump is already here! Oh course we often know this when they reveal they were paid $2 p/h by their employer hence the scandal, who is often a recent resident themselves!
One of the ways Fonterra become so efficient is that they could not get staff, then they invented the automated milking systems…. in NZ we have got further behind the world in many areas, due to not using technology and then relying on slave and unskilled labour for industry, which funny enough lowers our productivity and wages… go figure.
Not an insignificant sum id suggest….is almost getting to the point where they are paying to be employed…edit, it could be argued they indeed already are.
Now during my problems with MSD (fraud) the central questioned was “what is a relationship” you will probably not be surprised to know that there is no definition its based on case law, now this case has created another pieces of case law that is very dangerous in this case that person who was not living with another person but was taking care of them is considered a “de-facto partner”
This means now MSD can prosecute people for being in a relationship in the nature of a marries” (de-facto) when they do not live together.
I can imagine a scenario, a sick person with a friend who comes out often to assist that person with household tasks, the unwell person is on welfare, the friend was an OK job, this sick person would need to declare that the the friend is their de-facto partner or MSD has the ability to prosecute them for fraud, even though they share nothing assets, liabilities etc, etc.
Very dangerous ground, remember this is the Org that decided tinder date were relationships and loans are income.
Is anyone reading this blog really surprised that the Pike River “re-entry” is slipping back into the never-never. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104507208/pike-river-mine-reentry-to-take-longer-than-expected
Prior to the election it was going to be by Christmas.
Then when they won Christmas was only for setting up a group to make a plan.
Then re-entry was going to be by March 2019.
Now it is going to be later.
I remain convinced it will never happen and there will never be a return down to where they were working. How many people really retain their faith in our Little, Andrew?
Don’t mistake extremism for religion, for the majority of islamic followers (1.8 billion) they do not follow sharia law and treat their religion in the same way as the majority of christianity (2.18 billion) dose , as a code to respect, enjoy and honor life.
I an give you examples of extremism for almost every religion (buddhism and Taoism seem to have been pretty good) but all the others have some very nasty history that is not followed by their members anymore.
If you truly think islam is violent, I suggest to your local mosque and have a chat with an imam (btw I am not religious in any way and would write the same for anyone who said what you did about christianity)
Worthwhile read on TDB blowing Mike Sabin out of the water…
“What I find really puzzling is the fact Northland has the greatest number of users of P in the whole country. And Northland was Mike Sabin’s the former MP for National seat. And yet Northland also has had the largest P seizures made by the police. One bust was half a ton 500kg of high quality imported Methamphetamine. All this would suggest P use has grown like an algal bloom in Northland. Strange that this should be the result from ten years of Mike Sabin’s vigilance?
The headline P found in High levels in Whangarei wastewater since police and health officials gained data . NZ Herald 28 November 2017
So just was Mike Sabin doing? I suggest he started the biggest lie and misinformation campaign in New Zealand’s history, and had the financial backing and full support of the National Government.
I’ve long taken issue with Mike Sabin as I am qualified as Drug and Alcohol Clinician and put Patient or client needs first when discussing treatment. I haven’t found any education or qualification to suggest Mike has a degree or any tertiary education.”
Northland has always had an unhealthy gang & drug culture and there is suggestions there may have been some close relationships between these people and some people within the law enforcement agencies ?
I do remember a Senior person in one of these agencies was imprisoned, however old news, most gangs world wide manage to infiltrate law enforcement agencies and have insiders working for them.
Stats are at least being more honest with their phrasing than Linz but it’s still being misrepresented by the media. Stats make this note;
“Home transfers aren’t just the sale and purchase of houses, although for simplicity we refer to the people involved in transfers as buyers and sellers. They also include the transfer of a deceased family member’s home, a marriage settlement, and administrative changes,”
The numbers are useless, completely meaningless, until non-sales are separated from sales.
Now it’s not hard to reconcile the transfer data with REINZ sales figures to get the true level of sales and one wonders why there’s a persistent refusal to do it.
Also recent migrants are not included. So probably more illuminating in explaining what is going on, if people moving to NZ in last decade via Key immigration relaxed immigration policy, aka one of the highest in the world, is included, because it will be more like 50% of house sales in Auckland will be to ‘new’ residents.
The rentiers like it that way. In fact, they demand that it be that way.
But while unearned income based on control of assets has always been a problem, it’s grown steadily over the last 40 years. Financialisation represents ‘the revenge of the rentier’ after being side-lined during the mid-20th century. They’re active rather than passive rentiers – part of the so-called working rich – ever seeking out new ways of extracting wealth from the economic system through rent-seeking. Financialisation has been both cause and consequence of a shift from wealth creation to wealth extraction and, with that, a shift of wealth to the rich.
Though it never admits it, neoliberalism is a political-economic movement that seeks to legitimise widening economic inequalities and defend rentier interests above all others. Rentiers can live off others regardless of their gender, race, sexuality and so on.
Quote from Why we can’t afford the rich” by Andrew Sayer, Richard Wilkinson
Feel for the poor home owners of the Bella Vista debacle.
This is the tip of the ice burg. When the council/RMA ‘relaxed’ resource consents and in many cases do not require enough geotech advice and conditions before the building consent goes in, they have cleared the way for more ‘leaky buildings’ type housing failures but this time on the land.
In the Bella Vista case no resource requirement for retaining to be done before the builds started and not enough geotech involved in the water issues, even before all the signed off building work by council that was found to be faulty.
Same thing happened in the red zone of CHCH when land should not have been developed on was developed on without the right conditions. In the CHCH case, the council apparently did the right thing and refused the consent only to be sued by the developers and the environment court then overturned the council and let them develop there. The earthquakes happened and the houses and land were deemed unusable.
Great for the developer though, who profited from it. As usual the people who suffer are the poor and middle class and the rate payers who have to pay for it. The developer, builders, council, council CEO and resource consenting and geo tech people on the original consent will get away scott free and just go on to do it again. That is what the system creates with zero consequences.
Much tighter conditions are also needed at environment court and less tame RMA judges (99% of all RMA consents go through, whole system is rigged to push environmental and social disasters through) to prevent land from being developed for profit that will later be deemed uninhabitable and bankrupt/seriously disrupt people who saved hard for a home for their families and of course the compensation will not be from the person responsible but from the Tauranga ratepayers or maybe the building insurance if there was any?
It is about time that when a building consent is put in by a developer then a portion of that money goes into a fund/insurance policy paid by the developer to bail out the homeowner if any serious problems develop. Not this wink wink, industry ‘insurance’ that does not seem to be paying out for leaky buildings or Bella Visa by the look of it.
Nah nah @savenz. The market the market. Not only is TINA, but who gives a fuck?
/sarc
And then of course you get this ‘broad church’ of what is now a really quaint concept of ‘the Left’ trying to excercise their egos and display their commitment.
All, after 30 years or more of a globalisation project designed to encourage the periphery to the core – in terms of economy and culcha (and language), and then to justify their prejudices BECAUSE of it.
But….you know, the market the market! But for age, I’d be quite happy to stick around to see who the survivors are in all this madnesss. There are a few from yesterday and before on https://thestandard.org.nz/were-etu-union-delegates-threatened-at-a-select-committee/ and on
Open Mikes who when push and shit comes to shove, really aren’t going to make it.
And here’s me, not the slightest interested in kinspirisy theories or all the crap that comes with MSM bias (probably as much to do with the change they’d normally be advocating for) as are other professing various political leanings.
One fucked up Whurl, and just as people like the Muppet Fuddy Duddy @Wayne are part of it, ……………… heads of our post-colonial PS still in charge of their prejudices and surreptitiously directing others to do otherwise, …. etc., etc….
the left have their equivalents (all Indians are the same apparently, despite their having suffered A FUCKING SIGHT more than me).
But then…. you know…. TORY BOY and JUDE and Pulla can set themselves at ease, (and Parmjeet Kaur and Fukwit Bakshi for the matter) are Considerably CONSIDERABLY C O N S I D E R A B LY ) richer than me (if only in terms of the Rajistan Marble and frail cement and brick constructs they’re parked their boltholes and investments in
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOlbOZ9w84I and many others)
You could actually start a sewage recycling factory with a reasaonable earn using their SHITE).
Sincerely, I wish them luck.
“The Shirley Exception is a bit of mental sleight of hand that allows people to support a policy they profess to disagree with. It’s called the Shirley Exception because… well, I mean, *surely* there must be exceptions, right?”
“Throw your computer away.” …. nah just don’t upgrade …. or don’t upgrade to new Intel.
Send them a message telling them you are doing this and why if you like ….
As an aside …. A “don’t upgrade” consumers campaign could be a very effective people power tool against image conscious corporations like apple … regarding the legal robbery /’creative accounting’, as they freeload and skip out of paying their fair share of tax on their enormous profits in every society / country they sell their sweatshop goods.
*1hr 13 mins ….. Political partys like the Nacts who are working for the rich cheats need their hands forced .
**Mapp should pay attention 53min .30sec mark
56 mins on should have Nz asking questions of Mark mitchell and his war profiteering wealth.
Hoskings commenting again today about the nurses wage claims is simply the overpaid telling the underpaid to suck it up and don’t disturb his natural order.
I get the feeling that the DHB’s and Education Dept are offering derisory wage increases as they are right wingers trying to provoke industrial action.
All true. Hosking also made a derisorily stupid argument that Nurses should not bother trying to point out and catch up on past injustices. I suspect that he has a fairly short attention span.
Good morning The AM Show Carbon neutral is only going to be good for Aotearoa our import bill will go down with low oil import our health bill will go down.
The oil industry is better to look at reality like ECO MAORI and look for the positive thing they can get out of the carbon neutral economy like investing in the industry engineering retooling to make wind Mills ect.
What I get about extra trestral alien life is if we look at stars with the best telescopes millions of light years a way if we see life on planet at that minute the life could be extinct because it takes millions of light years for the image to get to Papatuanukue so we are looking into there past.
As with Alien life it has most probably been and gone on some planets. It’s not a if on alien life its a question of when as we have existed for a fraction of time on Papatuanukue and life could have been and gone on planets close to us because the habitance were to short sighted and they could not think of 200 years into the Mokopunas future enough said. Duncan and Mark looking forward to the weekend a have a good time at the rugby. Ka kite ano P.S remember that old saying if one is caught in a rip tide while swimming one does not swim against it as one will drown its best to swim with the rip tide as it will bring you to safey Know
The AM Show we don’t want the wealthy foreigners to OWN All Of Atoearoa.
We will all be renting in OUR own country and that’s is what will happen if national have there way in ECO MAORI view on Reality. Ka kite ano P.S the real truth is hard to find one has to decipher it from many sources Duncan
I found this article on the Guardian
Its head lined Sausage deplomacy I say there is another way to look at that state meant as Men think with their sausage to much and that is one of the reasons I push for Lady’s equality.
Link is Below
ECO MAORI IS Like a Red Flag to a bull to Te sandflys a challenge I don’t even have to mention them just let them know that my IQ is above average and that Alot of men think with there sausage and it pisses them off they have stop the marked cars pulling people over just as I’m cruising what a coincidence Well I will have to take that last line back because they coincidencely pulled some actor up just past my daughter house just as we got home they had the chopper flying by work for a hour – – – – -. So no truce I’m going to go hard on imforming te tangata excalacly how divious they are and if anyone is affected negatively it’s all on them they don’t Own Atoearoa. I have left a few links out trying to take the humane route but there EGO does not let this type of thinking enter there heads O I forgot sausage.
They have been throwing actors every day at ECO MAORI muppets Ana to kai well their is some positive for te tangata if they are busy with ECO MAORI they haven’t got time to intimidat te Mokopunas. Ka kite ano
pissed off biggly with the GWC the MDC theCDC the LWRWRDC and “business interests who want to spend money in the worst possible way.
mainly because in the short term their properties will gain value and and because the promoters have told certain people they can invest for a long term gain and feel like rich people blah blah as they plan for their retirement as general flunkies.
the dairy boom is over.
new plans have to be made to keep the best farms going and plan for alternative produce to obtain a comparative advantage.
the bozos doing the so called planning now dont have a clue besides an accountants metric and that is not good enough now.
one dimensional maroons.
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
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 from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
George Galloway on Twitter.
“The murder of #RazzanNajjar was not a “tragedy”. This is doublespeak. It was a deliberately executed War Crime like the 112 other murders in the trail of tears of the #GreatReturnMarch and the 13,000 wounded.”
Good to see Argentina pulling out of a football game with the apartheid state of Israel.
Boycott.
Divest.
Sanction.
What Israel sourced products or services will you be boycotting Ed ?
As if you care.
I’m interested in how you propose the average person in NZ boycotts Israel ?
Besides not buying soda stream and refusing certain pharmaceuticals I’m unsure how anyone here can do much.
There must be a govt agency with that information but I think it would be most effective to put pressure on importers.
They deserve a good boycott.
I think it’s next to nothing although I do know that the pharmaceuticals supplied by Israels only Pharma company have increased, although i suspect none of these are actually manufactured in israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel–New_Zealand_relations
As I said i don’t believe there’s anything much of any use that the average person can do.
SM – I think you will find Ed is only here for the slogan.
He will do exactly nothing.
Apart from some links to crackpots like Galloway (who likes to play pussycat)
That’s not nothing: promoting Galloway and his self-aggrandising gobshite undermines credible commentary and makes it easier for the Israelis to dismiss their critics as misled.
Galloway has been attacked and assaulted by Zionists for his truth telling about them ….making it easier for critics of israel to show them as violent thugs ….
Aside from that ….What gobshite are you gobshitting about ?? ….
Perhaps wayne mapp ….. a racist warmonger who also dislikes him could help you with an example of how ‘wrong’ he is. ….
or three face James …. brimming with crackpot examples no doubt [sarc].
But I’m sure you’ve got heaps of examples and need no help backing up what you’ve written ….
If it’s gobshite then surely people will work that out eventually. Galloway can then be resigned to the status of a propaganda factory like the rest of the lamestream. But for now I only see a rising tide for George.
He has been consigned to the gutter of youtube. only ed keeps picking the rapist up and regurgitating his pronouncements
Does the gutter of youtube include 1 million view videos talking about boring old politics?
how many views does Alex Jones get?
Popularity doesn’t make him (or anyone for that matter) right.
Well strike me down with a feather, I completely agree with Draco on this point.
views / likes / retweets do not equal being correct on a matter.
Plenty of “alt-right” you tubers with millions of views and nothing of any interest to say, if not down right insulting to intelligence
Hewlett Packard computrers and all the other tech companies who prop up their apartheid war state are fair game for boycotts …. Rupert Murdoch media would be another.
But otherwise supporting New Zealanders who have been smeared by zionists is a good activity … like Lorde was …. usually with false anti-semite accusations.
Ed is very good at bearing witness and posting up a record of peoples deeds …. despite the bleats and moans from the stunned James and other right wing precious malcontents of this world.
Spreading the truth and debunking zionist lies is a worthwhile activity IMO
https://mikopeled.com/
Stunned mullet. A big range of make up and fragrance is owned by Israeli companies. I used to be a fan of Estée Lauder, but has been years since I bought this brand.
Main point about BDS is the raising of awareness about Israeli genocide in Gaza & West Bank, especially among Israeli population many if whom do not know what is going on. So BDS aims at corporates, businesses as well as sports teams, pop/ rock stars, & musicians with high international profiles to say no and why.
Someone told me that the My Food Bag, uses Israeli produce, not sure if that is true, maybe somebody knows? Would put me off for many reasons, if true.
All it’s cous cous is israeli. it’s a winter staple now
” A big range of make up and fragrance is owned by Israeli companies. I used to be a fan of Estée Lauder, but has been years since I bought this brand.”.
That reads as if you believe that Estee Lauder is a company that is owned in Israel. That is rubbish.
The only possible way you can make any connection at all is that one of the sons of the people who founded the company is involved in Jewish Groups who do support Israel. He is a director of the company but he is a US, not an Israeli citizen and he appears to have nothing to do with the day to day operations.
And that’s enough to stop using their products.
There was that Mark Dice Man on the Street piece where he asked people what nation was behind various attacks.
First question was on the USS Liberty in 1967, and other horrific attacks through to the present day.
People blamed Iran, Iraq, Russia, Arabs and occasionally China, but in each case the correct answer was ISRAEL.
Wish I could find it as worth watching.
“…and other horrific attacks through to the present day.”
Such as?
Here a couple of examples to help cure your ignorance Gosman
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-forgotten-massacre-8139930.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/shimon-peres-dies-israel-qana-massacre-never-forget-no-peacemaker-robert-fisk-a7334656.html
The Israelis did not commit the Sabra and Shatila massacres. That was done by a Lebanese militia. They may well have been complicit in the attacks but that is not the same thing as stating they ordered it or were behind it.
Also these attacks you have linked to did not involve the US. I thought there was meant to be more attacks by Israel on US interests.
Done by a Lebanese militia supplied , financed and directed by Israel. – oh the Israeli guards on the outskirts of the camps not only prevented civilians from escaping the massacre they very kindly kept up a continuous stream off starburst shells at night so their proxies could more effectively murder their victims
So we should boycott russia over it’s involvement in the air malaysia flight over the ukraine?
Apples no, ordnance yes. Food doesn’t really affect their military capabilities.
Plenty of those Gosman…
Like when they torpedoed that US Navy ship…
Yes, other than the mistaken attack on the USS Liberty during the Six day war what other attacks on US has been committed by the Israelis.
Well, if you’re going to boycott anything Israel, I guess we won’t be seeing you here much?
Intel to invest $4.5 billion in Israel in 2018
Kiryat Gat is already one of the world’s most advanced chip fabs after Intel invested $6 billion in expanding and upgrading it during 2016 and 2017.
https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Business-and-Innovation/Intel-to-invest-45-billion-in-Israel-in-2018-543017
Throw your computer away.
Major player in ‘cyber security’ products…
One of the largest and most advanced, commercially…
Used in many private and public instutions , globally…
What? You mean like a TINA sort of thing? There is no alternative to Intel?
And as if the Chinese haven’t already co-opted (to put it politely) the intellectual property that comes from that research and development.
That kind of TINA?
Please! Keep it up – you’re going to be one really disappointed fella.
Well, that does mean that my next PC will be based upon AMD.
That won’t be enough to escape Intel.
With a heavy heart and much thought Ed will decide that, in this case only, he’ll keep using his computer but only because its for the greater good 🙂
Almost 10 KM into Syria, Turkey flexing the ego of Erdogan. Is this the beginning of the end for the Kurds?
https://apnews.com/99161aac539f4ff3b2f7be86f5d64ef1
Sounds like the US just stabbed them in the back. No longer required since ISIS is on the decline so sacrifice these people to keep Turkey happy.
Saw this and thought of John Key…
“Addendum: don’t touch the staff
In 2018, you might assume it is a given that customers must not pet, grope or manhandle waiters. But having browsed Twitter and seen chefs such as Stevie Parle reminding diners to “Keep your hands to yourself” – and Guinea Grill landlord Oisin Rogers proudly relaying his team’s zero tolerance approach: “She told him she would cut his arm off if he touched her again” – it needs reiterating: DO NOT TOUCH THE STAFF.”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jan/15/the-new-rules-of-dining-out-resist-table-hogging-tip-in-cash-dont-moan-about-cakeage
Trump doesn’t want talks with NK, wants to quash even the slightest chance of reunification, preparing the way for an attack instead:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/104520135/kim-jongun-got-on-hands-and-knees-and-begged-for-summit-giuliani
Kiwis lazy and drug addled …because they wont work for $75 dollars a week.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018648212/rse-workers-invaluable-to-industry-nz-fruit-grower
Modern day slavery….and the orchardists appear to have no shame.
I’d be interested in seeing a comparison of the pay and conditions that seasonal workers get now. I picked apples Motueka way in the ’80s and there was no shortage of workers, mainly because the pay was pretty good and the welfare system was sympathetic….
$20 per bin, we’d pick 4-6 bins per day
Free (basic) onsite accommodation included in the bin rate
No stand-down period, the unemployed could go straight back on the dole
Back then the dole was around $100 per week from memory and a reasonably motivated & fit worker could easily pull $600 per week picking aples. I’d expect it to be well over $1000 per week now if it followed inflation…..
You have hit the nail on the head, DH! There are plenty of workers but it has to be worthwhile to work, aka free basic accomodation, much higher pay rate than dole aka 600x and you can go back onto the dole without a stand down period.
If the casual industry bothered to do all these then they would have plenty of workers and NZ less un or under employed in this country.
I’d say not providing decent work opportunities that we previously enjoyed, is also leading to a rise in the ‘hopeless drugged youth’ that Bill English seems to think has become the NZ worker who only a few decades ago used to be held in high esteem worldwide for their work ethic and practical approach!
Yeah, there’s nothing mysterious about it. The unemployed went fruit picking because they were mad not to.
I didn’t do packhouse work so I don’t know what that was like but don’t recall people moaning about the pay there either. Kiwifruit picking paid similar to apples, I did that too, the season was just shorter.
“The apple production in New Zealand is a huge sector for such a small country. The estimated crop for 2014 was close to 500 000 tonnes, which represents around 1 400 000 bins. If you consider that an average picker will pick about 200 bins over his season, it represents at least 7000 apple picking jobs.”
Pay rates ?
Its complicated with a sliding scale
“Generally speaking, the bin rates for apple picking in New Zealand are lower than the ones in Australia. Also, I’ve never seen any farm in New Zealand having a fixed rate per bin. Indeed, it will rather fluctuate depending on each variety, on each pick (1st, 2nd, 3rd color pick), and sometimes on each block. It’s called a sliding rate. As a result it’s not rare to see up to 5-6 different bin rates appearing on your weekly payslip, related to the different kind of picking you’ve done over the week.
Common prices are between 24,5$ and 32$ per bin. However, I’ve seen it as low as 22,5$ in some farms, and as high as 36-37$ in others.
Bin sizes can vary a bit, but rate doesnt seen to different from 20 years ago, maybe only 40%-50% higher!
https://www.picktheworld.org/apple-picking-new-zealand/
Hard to make a comparison from that data but it does look to be paying less today. Minimum wage in 1988 was $5.62 hr, bin rate then was nearly four times that and todays rate looks a lot less.
The varying rates should still end up with the same earnings. We had a few differing bin rates which were down to the difficult in picking. Golden delicious paid $25 per bin because they bruised easier and we had to be more careful with them. They paid more but we picked less and ended up making much the same $$ over a day.
Agree with you there.
Bin rates should $50 plus.
Definately less than what it used to be.
Last season, I picked up some Fijian guys trying to get to the packhouse. The bus had bypassed them because it was full – leaving them stranded, next to a TePuke Z, shivering with cold with what would normally be black thumbs held out and the tips looking very red.
What I learned was that for the priviledge of coming to Godzone for some lowly work, they’d become a fucking sight worse off than if they’d stayed at home.
By the time consultants used for various stages in the process to come here, (immigration consultants, travel agents, work consultants et al) had clipped their tickets, they were up for less than 50% of the earnings promised.
They were holding out hope that in following years, they’d be experienced enough to circumvent some of the rorts in play, and rorts that were part of ‘the system and structure’ .
(By the way, I note the new CEO of MoBIE now has some serious concerns. I suggest she only need review some of the cases on record – unless of course ‘officials’ have managed to disguise their part in it all).
We’ll see
The right to be profitable is inalienable and it must be supported by taxpayer subsidies, externalising costs and by employees enduring miserable, crappy lives.
Seriously though, how can you make such an operation profitable without doing those things?
Would taking Mr Van Vliet out of the equation entirely and have the workers own and run it cooperatively make a difference?
How do you make it profitable?….you mechanise, price accordingly and if still not viable you shift to another area of investment.
The same arguments were used to justify slavery in the US south…..we have learned nothing….same old shit justification for greed.
+111
Probably.
Still:
Robotics Plus signs global deal for robotic apple packers
Something tells me that even the imported workers won’t have a job for much longer.
More people joining the NZ job queue then… what gets me is that they know that these jobs are going to be replaced and the government is bringing migrants under phony work to residency schemes and underpaying NZ workers who could be having a job and then they wonder why there’s a growing social welfare bill and we are less skilled than we used to be. Doh!
There have been scandals when migrants are working in petrol stations and getting residency, FFS the automated petrol pump is already here! Oh course we often know this when they reveal they were paid $2 p/h by their employer hence the scandal, who is often a recent resident themselves!
One of the ways Fonterra become so efficient is that they could not get staff, then they invented the automated milking systems…. in NZ we have got further behind the world in many areas, due to not using technology and then relying on slave and unskilled labour for industry, which funny enough lowers our productivity and wages… go figure.
Wonder how much more he makes by deducting all those expenses before hand.
Not an insignificant sum id suggest….is almost getting to the point where they are paying to be employed…edit, it could be argued they indeed already are.
Interesting story went to court about relationships,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/104513885/auckland-mans-partner-left-him-only-her-ashes-sparking-legal-battle
Now during my problems with MSD (fraud) the central questioned was “what is a relationship” you will probably not be surprised to know that there is no definition its based on case law, now this case has created another pieces of case law that is very dangerous in this case that person who was not living with another person but was taking care of them is considered a “de-facto partner”
This means now MSD can prosecute people for being in a relationship in the nature of a marries” (de-facto) when they do not live together.
I can imagine a scenario, a sick person with a friend who comes out often to assist that person with household tasks, the unwell person is on welfare, the friend was an OK job, this sick person would need to declare that the the friend is their de-facto partner or MSD has the ability to prosecute them for fraud, even though they share nothing assets, liabilities etc, etc.
Very dangerous ground, remember this is the Org that decided tinder date were relationships and loans are income.
Is anyone reading this blog really surprised that the Pike River “re-entry” is slipping back into the never-never.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104507208/pike-river-mine-reentry-to-take-longer-than-expected
Prior to the election it was going to be by Christmas.
Then when they won Christmas was only for setting up a group to make a plan.
Then re-entry was going to be by March 2019.
Now it is going to be later.
I remain convinced it will never happen and there will never be a return down to where they were working. How many people really retain their faith in our Little, Andrew?
Dave Gawn is a good man so I’m still holding out hope for something good to come of this
cite who said they’d be in by xmas 2017, pls
Because that seemed to have been a nat plan.
Venzia
I see you are concerned about Israeli self defence , but not the least bit worried about the atrocities committed by Islam in the name of God.
Young Girls and Boys may follow your mistaken bias, but grownups won’t Venezia.
Do think about it.
Don’t mistake extremism for religion, for the majority of islamic followers (1.8 billion) they do not follow sharia law and treat their religion in the same way as the majority of christianity (2.18 billion) dose , as a code to respect, enjoy and honor life.
I an give you examples of extremism for almost every religion (buddhism and Taoism seem to have been pretty good) but all the others have some very nasty history that is not followed by their members anymore.
If you truly think islam is violent, I suggest to your local mosque and have a chat with an imam (btw I am not religious in any way and would write the same for anyone who said what you did about christianity)
Worthwhile read on TDB blowing Mike Sabin out of the water…
“What I find really puzzling is the fact Northland has the greatest number of users of P in the whole country. And Northland was Mike Sabin’s the former MP for National seat. And yet Northland also has had the largest P seizures made by the police. One bust was half a ton 500kg of high quality imported Methamphetamine. All this would suggest P use has grown like an algal bloom in Northland. Strange that this should be the result from ten years of Mike Sabin’s vigilance?
The headline P found in High levels in Whangarei wastewater since police and health officials gained data . NZ Herald 28 November 2017
So just was Mike Sabin doing? I suggest he started the biggest lie and misinformation campaign in New Zealand’s history, and had the financial backing and full support of the National Government.
I’ve long taken issue with Mike Sabin as I am qualified as Drug and Alcohol Clinician and put Patient or client needs first when discussing treatment. I haven’t found any education or qualification to suggest Mike has a degree or any tertiary education.”
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/06/07/special-investigation-jeanette-saxby-methamphetamine-and-what-a-fool-believes/
Northland has always had an unhealthy gang & drug culture and there is suggestions there may have been some close relationships between these people and some people within the law enforcement agencies ?
I do remember a Senior person in one of these agencies was imprisoned, however old news, most gangs world wide manage to infiltrate law enforcement agencies and have insiders working for them.
I remember John Key supported Mike Sabin’s career and his decision to leave Parliament.
Mike did alot of “hands on” work with troubled adolescents in Northland.
Didnt he leave parliament to spend less time with his family ?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/359069/how-many-nz-homes-are-being-snapped-up-by-overseas-buyers
And then we fund their purchase with AS for their tenants
Stats are at least being more honest with their phrasing than Linz but it’s still being misrepresented by the media. Stats make this note;
“Home transfers aren’t just the sale and purchase of houses, although for simplicity we refer to the people involved in transfers as buyers and sellers. They also include the transfer of a deceased family member’s home, a marriage settlement, and administrative changes,”
The numbers are useless, completely meaningless, until non-sales are separated from sales.
Now it’s not hard to reconcile the transfer data with REINZ sales figures to get the true level of sales and one wonders why there’s a persistent refusal to do it.
Also recent migrants are not included. So probably more illuminating in explaining what is going on, if people moving to NZ in last decade via Key immigration relaxed immigration policy, aka one of the highest in the world, is included, because it will be more like 50% of house sales in Auckland will be to ‘new’ residents.
10% nationally, up to 20% foreign buyers in Central Auckland and Queenstown.
Xenophobia, racism etc etc
Winter is here and we still have kiwis sleeping in cars and garages, and a generation locked into a lifetime of renting
The rentiers like it that way. In fact, they demand that it be that way.
Quote from Why we can’t afford the rich” by Andrew Sayer, Richard Wilkinson
Capitalists are the biggest bludgers.
Your link says
9.7 % for Auckland and 3.3% nationally, so nothing has changed.
Just more Xenophobia.
Feel for the poor home owners of the Bella Vista debacle.
This is the tip of the ice burg. When the council/RMA ‘relaxed’ resource consents and in many cases do not require enough geotech advice and conditions before the building consent goes in, they have cleared the way for more ‘leaky buildings’ type housing failures but this time on the land.
In the Bella Vista case no resource requirement for retaining to be done before the builds started and not enough geotech involved in the water issues, even before all the signed off building work by council that was found to be faulty.
Same thing happened in the red zone of CHCH when land should not have been developed on was developed on without the right conditions. In the CHCH case, the council apparently did the right thing and refused the consent only to be sued by the developers and the environment court then overturned the council and let them develop there. The earthquakes happened and the houses and land were deemed unusable.
Great for the developer though, who profited from it. As usual the people who suffer are the poor and middle class and the rate payers who have to pay for it. The developer, builders, council, council CEO and resource consenting and geo tech people on the original consent will get away scott free and just go on to do it again. That is what the system creates with zero consequences.
Much tighter conditions are also needed at environment court and less tame RMA judges (99% of all RMA consents go through, whole system is rigged to push environmental and social disasters through) to prevent land from being developed for profit that will later be deemed uninhabitable and bankrupt/seriously disrupt people who saved hard for a home for their families and of course the compensation will not be from the person responsible but from the Tauranga ratepayers or maybe the building insurance if there was any?
It is about time that when a building consent is put in by a developer then a portion of that money goes into a fund/insurance policy paid by the developer to bail out the homeowner if any serious problems develop. Not this wink wink, industry ‘insurance’ that does not seem to be paying out for leaky buildings or Bella Visa by the look of it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12065617
Nah nah @savenz. The market the market. Not only is TINA, but who gives a fuck?
/sarc
And then of course you get this ‘broad church’ of what is now a really quaint concept of ‘the Left’ trying to excercise their egos and display their commitment.
All, after 30 years or more of a globalisation project designed to encourage the periphery to the core – in terms of economy and culcha (and language), and then to justify their prejudices BECAUSE of it.
But….you know, the market the market! But for age, I’d be quite happy to stick around to see who the survivors are in all this madnesss. There are a few from yesterday and before on
https://thestandard.org.nz/were-etu-union-delegates-threatened-at-a-select-committee/ and on
Open Mikes who when push and shit comes to shove, really aren’t going to make it.
And here’s me, not the slightest interested in kinspirisy theories or all the crap that comes with MSM bias (probably as much to do with the change they’d normally be advocating for) as are other professing various political leanings.
One fucked up Whurl, and just as people like the Muppet Fuddy Duddy @Wayne are part of it, ……………… heads of our post-colonial PS still in charge of their prejudices and surreptitiously directing others to do otherwise, …. etc., etc….
the left have their equivalents (all Indians are the same apparently, despite their having suffered A FUCKING SIGHT more than me).
But then…. you know…. TORY BOY and JUDE and Pulla can set themselves at ease, (and Parmjeet Kaur and Fukwit Bakshi for the matter) are Considerably CONSIDERABLY C O N S I D E R A B LY ) richer than me (if only in terms of the Rajistan Marble and frail cement and brick constructs they’re parked their boltholes and investments in
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOlbOZ9w84I and many others)
You could actually start a sewage recycling factory with a reasaonable earn using their SHITE).
Sincerely, I wish them luck.
When will Councils and Central Governments ever learn we just keep repeating the same mistakes ?
Introducing The Shirley Exception
https://twitter.com/alexandraerin/status/1004400861865488384
“The Shirley Exception is a bit of mental sleight of hand that allows people to support a policy they profess to disagree with. It’s called the Shirley Exception because… well, I mean, *surely* there must be exceptions, right?”
“Throw your computer away.” …. nah just don’t upgrade …. or don’t upgrade to new Intel.
Send them a message telling them you are doing this and why if you like ….
As an aside …. A “don’t upgrade” consumers campaign could be a very effective people power tool against image conscious corporations like apple … regarding the legal robbery /’creative accounting’, as they freeload and skip out of paying their fair share of tax on their enormous profits in every society / country they sell their sweatshop goods.
*1hr 13 mins ….. Political partys like the Nacts who are working for the rich cheats need their hands forced .
**Mapp should pay attention 53min .30sec mark
56 mins on should have Nz asking questions of Mark mitchell and his war profiteering wealth.
Hoskings commenting again today about the nurses wage claims is simply the overpaid telling the underpaid to suck it up and don’t disturb his natural order.
I get the feeling that the DHB’s and Education Dept are offering derisory wage increases as they are right wingers trying to provoke industrial action.
Yep it’s all a cunning plan
All true. Hosking also made a derisorily stupid argument that Nurses should not bother trying to point out and catch up on past injustices. I suspect that he has a fairly short attention span.
Gotta love seeing the Washington Post using the words ‘Trump’ and ‘fixation’ in the same sentence sans irony.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/104530642/pardons-become-a-trump-fixation-but-his-latest-causes-alarm-in-the-white-house
Good morning The AM Show Carbon neutral is only going to be good for Aotearoa our import bill will go down with low oil import our health bill will go down.
The oil industry is better to look at reality like ECO MAORI and look for the positive thing they can get out of the carbon neutral economy like investing in the industry engineering retooling to make wind Mills ect.
What I get about extra trestral alien life is if we look at stars with the best telescopes millions of light years a way if we see life on planet at that minute the life could be extinct because it takes millions of light years for the image to get to Papatuanukue so we are looking into there past.
As with Alien life it has most probably been and gone on some planets. It’s not a if on alien life its a question of when as we have existed for a fraction of time on Papatuanukue and life could have been and gone on planets close to us because the habitance were to short sighted and they could not think of 200 years into the Mokopunas future enough said. Duncan and Mark looking forward to the weekend a have a good time at the rugby. Ka kite ano P.S remember that old saying if one is caught in a rip tide while swimming one does not swim against it as one will drown its best to swim with the rip tide as it will bring you to safey Know
The AM Show we don’t want the wealthy foreigners to OWN All Of Atoearoa.
We will all be renting in OUR own country and that’s is what will happen if national have there way in ECO MAORI view on Reality. Ka kite ano P.S the real truth is hard to find one has to decipher it from many sources Duncan
I found this article on the Guardian
Its head lined Sausage deplomacy I say there is another way to look at that state meant as Men think with their sausage to much and that is one of the reasons I push for Lady’s equality.
Link is Below
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/07/emmanuel-macron-sausages-diplomacy-donald-trump
Ka kite ano P.S I’m not sure about the other parts of the story’s facts
ECO MAORI IS Like a Red Flag to a bull to Te sandflys a challenge I don’t even have to mention them just let them know that my IQ is above average and that Alot of men think with there sausage and it pisses them off they have stop the marked cars pulling people over just as I’m cruising what a coincidence Well I will have to take that last line back because they coincidencely pulled some actor up just past my daughter house just as we got home they had the chopper flying by work for a hour – – – – -. So no truce I’m going to go hard on imforming te tangata excalacly how divious they are and if anyone is affected negatively it’s all on them they don’t Own Atoearoa. I have left a few links out trying to take the humane route but there EGO does not let this type of thinking enter there heads O I forgot sausage.
They have been throwing actors every day at ECO MAORI muppets Ana to kai well their is some positive for te tangata if they are busy with ECO MAORI they haven’t got time to intimidat te Mokopunas. Ka kite ano
pissed off biggly with the GWC the MDC theCDC the LWRWRDC and “business interests who want to spend money in the worst possible way.
mainly because in the short term their properties will gain value and and because the promoters have told certain people they can invest for a long term gain and feel like rich people blah blah as they plan for their retirement as general flunkies.
the dairy boom is over.
new plans have to be made to keep the best farms going and plan for alternative produce to obtain a comparative advantage.
the bozos doing the so called planning now dont have a clue besides an accountants metric and that is not good enough now.
one dimensional maroons.