Open mike 07/06/2022
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6:00 am, June 7th, 2022 - 110 comments
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- Watts going on about climate change – minister’s speech sets out govt’s position to COP28
Buzz from the Beehive Just one bit of governmental news has been recorded on the Beehive website since Point of Order last checked on what our new bunch of ministers are up to. It is a copy of the COP28 National Statement for New Zealand which has given Climate Change Minister Simon ...1 hour ago - Climate Change: The wrong direction again
In 2019, Aotearoa legislated a methane reduction target of 10% (from 2017 levels) by 2030. Dirty farmers think it is unfair that they should be expected to cut their pollution by a fraction of what the rest of us are doing, and want to do less. Meanwhile, the Food and ...2 hours ago - Top 10 for Monday, December 11
5 hours ago - BRIAN EASTON: How should we organise a modern economy?
Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. Brian Easton writes – The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the ...5 hours ago - Coalition Circus of Chaos – Verbal gymnasts; an inept Ringmaster, and a helluva lot of clowns
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Curtain Closes…You have to hand it to Aotearoa - voters don’t do things by halves. People wanted change, and by golly, change they got. Baby, bathwater; rubber ducky - all out.There is something ...8 hours ago - “Brown-town”: the Wayne & Simeon show
Last week Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown kicked off what is always the most important thing a Council does every three years – update its ‘Long term plan’. This is the budgeting process for the Council and – unlike central government – the budget has to balance in terms of income ...9 hours ago - Not To Cast Stones…
Yeah I changed my wine into waterHad a miracle or four since I saw youSome came on time, some took a whileLocal Water Done Well.One of our new government’s first actions, number 20 on their list of 49 priorities, is the repeal of the previous government’s Water Services Entities Act 2022. Three Waters, ...9 hours ago - So much noise and so little signalParliament opened with pomp and ceremony, then it was back to politicians shouting at and past each other into the void. Photo: Office of the Clerk, NZ ParliamentTL;DR: It started with pomp, pageantry and a speech from the throne laying out the new National-ACT-NZ First Government’s plan to turn back ...11 hours ago
- Lost in the Desert: Accepted
As noted, November was an exceptionally good writing month for me. Well, in an additional bit of good news for December, one of those November stories, Lost in the Desert, has been accepted by Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/) for their Winter Solstice 2023 issue. At 3,500 words, ...18 hours ago - This Government and their Rightwing culture-war flanks picked a fight with the country… not the ot...
ACT and the culture-war warriors of the Right have picked this fight with Te Ao Māori. Ideologically-speaking, as a Party they’ve actually done this since inception, let’s be clear about that. So there is no real need to delve at length into their duplicitous, malignant, hypocritical manipulations. Yes, yes, ...19 hours ago - 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #49
A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 3, 2023 thru Sat, Dec 9, 2023. Story of the Week Interactive: The pathways to meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C limit The Paris Agreement’s long-term goal of keeping warming “well below” ...1 day ago - LOGAN SAVORY: The planned blessing that has irked councillors“I’m struggling to understand why we are having a blessing to bless this site considering it is a scrap metal yard… It just doesn’t make sense to me.” Logan Savory writes- When’s a blessing appropriate and when isn’t it? Some Invercargill City Councillors have questioned whether blessings might ...1 day ago
- Surely it won't happen
I have prepared a bad news sandwich. That is to say, I'm going to try and make this more agreeable by placing on the top and underneath some cheering things.So let's start with a daughter update, the one who is now half a world away but also never farther out ...1 day ago - Let Them Eat Sausage Rolls: Hipkins Tries to Kill Labour Again
Sometimes you despair. You really do. Fresh off leading Labour to its ugliest election result since 1990,* Chris Hipkins has decided to misdiagnose matters, because the Government he led cannot possibly have been wrong about anything. *In 2011 and 2014, people were willing to save Labour’s electorate ...2 days ago - Clued Up: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
2 days ago - JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigeno...Jerry Coyne writes – This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland, the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other ...2 days ago
- Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.
Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.For the last couple of weeks its felt as though all the good things in our beautiful land are under attack.These isles in the southern Pacific. The home of the Māori people. A land of easy going friendliness, openness, and she’ll be right. A ...2 days ago - Speaking for the future
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.MondayYou cannot be seriousOne might think, god, people who are seeing all this must be regretting their vote.But one might be mistaken.There are people whose chief priority is not wanting to be ...2 days ago - How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the Cold War focuses on the contribution of ...3 days ago - Willis fails a taxing app-titude test but govt supporters will cheer moves on Te Pukenga and the Hum...Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...3 days ago
- ELIZABETH RATA: In defence of the liberal university and against indigenisationThe suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere. Elizabeth Rata writes – Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...3 days ago
- Gordon Campbell on the skewed media coverage of Gaza
Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...3 days ago - “Your Circus, Your Clowns.”
It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...3 days ago - Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...3 days ago
- End-of-week escapism
Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...3 days ago - The Hoon around the week to Dec 8Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...3 days ago
- New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...4 days ago - No surprisesDon’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...4 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...4 days ago
- Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...4 days ago - A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...4 days ago
- Xmas good cheer for the dairy industry as Fonterra lifts its forecastThe big dairy co-op Fonterra had some Christmas cheer to offer its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...4 days ago
- MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori mythsMichael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...4 days ago
- Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...4 days ago
- LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the ironyLindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...4 days ago
- Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour TunnelsIt seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...4 days ago
- Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...4 days ago - The Prime Minister's Dream.
Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...4 days ago - National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state houseProbably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...4 days ago
- Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate CatastropheThis video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...5 days ago
- They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...5 days ago - Another attack on te reoThe new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...5 days ago
- For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came from Education Minister Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...5 days ago
- Climate Change: Failed againThere was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...5 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On MaoriThis isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...5 days ago
- Rising costs hit farmers hard, but there’s more positive news for them this week
New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has been under pressure from rising costs. Down on the farm, this has been hitting hard. But there was more positive news this week, first from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where prices rose, and then from a report ...5 days ago - ROB MacCULLOCH: Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...Rob MacCulloch writes – In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...5 days ago
- Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...5 days ago - Eleven years of work.
Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...5 days ago - Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
5 days ago - How Did We Get Here?
Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...5 days ago - At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...6 days ago
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- You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...6 days ago - PushbackWhen this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...6 days ago
- Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...6 days ago
- Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to …. Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand! Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations. • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...6 days ago
- Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...6 days ago - Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' momentWillis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...6 days ago
- CRL costs money but also provides huge benefitsThe City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...6 days ago
- And I don't want the world to see us.
Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...6 days ago - Cooking the booksFinance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...6 days ago
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- Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...7 days ago - Bearing True Allegiance?1 week ago
- You cannot be serious
Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...1 week ago - A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme – that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...1 week ago
- CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of AllegianceIf those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them? Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...1 week ago
- BRIAN EASTON: Forward to 2017The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes – The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...1 week ago
- Climate Change: FossilsWhen the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...1 week ago
- GEOFFREY MILLER: NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and UkraineGeoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...1 week ago
- Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacleThe most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...1 week ago
- Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
1 week ago - Be Honest.
Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...1 week ago - Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...1 week ago
- Teanau Tuiono first Green MP appointed Assistant Speaker
The Green Party is pleased to announce today that MP Teanau Tuiono will be an Assistant Speaker for the 54th Parliament. ...4 days ago - Release: Labour calls on Government to give visas to Kiwis’ families stuck in Gaza
Labour’s immigration spokesperson Phil Twyford is calling on the Government to follow the example of Australia and help New Zealanders’ close family members stuck in Gaza to escape and take shelter here. ...6 days ago - Now, more than ever, we must whakamana Te Tiriti o WaitangiThe Green Party is urging the Government to recognise its commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi so our tamariki and mokopuna can grow up in an Aotearoa where their language is celebrated, their health is prioritised, and their whenua is protected. ...6 days ago
- Release: Labour team ready to take on the coalition of chaosLabour’s strong line-up for the 54th Parliament brings experience and energy to the job of Opposition. ...2 weeks ago
- The future of Aotearoa is at stakeThe next 100 days will be a fight for our future. ...2 weeks ago
- Māori will die to fund tax cutsBy scrapping Aotearoa’s world-leading smokefree laws, this government is sacrificing Māori lives to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Not only is this plan revolting, but it doesn’t add up. Treasury has estimated that the reversal of smokefree laws to pay for tax cuts will cost our health system $5.25bn, ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National’s fiscal plans dealt another blowFigures showing National needs to find another $900 million for landlords highlights the mess this coalition Government is in less than a week into the job. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party unveils portfolio spokespeople for the 54th ParliamentThe Green Party is pleased to announce the allocation of portfolios across its largest caucus ever. ...2 weeks ago
- The Time is Now for Oceans ProtectionCommunity organisations, mana whenua and the Greens have written to the incoming Minister of Oceans and Fisheries to call for the progression without delay of the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Greenpeace nitrates research proves need for strong freshwater regulationThe Green Party is welcoming the release of an interactive map which enables people to monitor nitrate levels in their drinking water. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Chris Hipkins congratulates Christopher Luxon"On behalf of the Labour Party I would like to congratulate Christopher Luxon on his appointment as Prime Minister,” Labour Party Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens launch petition to save oil and gas banThe Green Party has launched a petition to save the ban on oil and gas exploration. ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon’s Government will whitewash AotearoaNZ First has gotten their wish to ‘take our country back’ to the 1800s with a policy program that will white-wash Aotearoa and erase tangata whenua rights. By disestablishing the Māori Health Authority this Government has condemned Māori to die seven years earlier than Pākehā. By removing Treaty obligations from ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party a strong opposition to divisive governmentThe Green Party will keep up the fight for an Aotearoa that works for everyone. ...2 weeks ago
- First step to flexible labour market
The Government is delivering on its commitment to repeal the Fair Pay Agreement legislation by Christmas 2023. “We are moving quickly to remove this legislation before any fair pay agreements are finalised and the negative impacts are felt by the labour market,” says Minister van Velden. “Fair pay agreements undermine ...42 mins ago - Extending 90-day trial periods to all employersThe Government is delivering on its commitment to extend the availability of 90-day trial periods to all employers. “Extending 90-day trial periods to all employers gives businesses the confidence to hire new people and increases workplace flexibility,” says Minister van Velden. “Whether a business has 2 or 200 employees, bringing ...42 mins ago
- COP28 National Statement for New ZealandTēnā koutou katoa Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. An island nation at the bottom of the Pacific, New Zealand is unique. Our geography, our mountains, lakes, winds and rainfall helps set us up for the future, allowing for nearly 90 per cent of our electricity to come from renewable sources. I’m ...2 days ago
- Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needsPrime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says. ...3 days ago
- New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activityNew Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...3 days ago
- Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga beginsThe Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says. “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...4 days ago
- Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in DubaiClimate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...4 days ago
- New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meetingDefence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...4 days ago
- Study shows need to remove distractions in classThe Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...4 days ago
- Minister sets expectations of CommissionerToday I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...5 days ago
- New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETSNew Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...5 days ago
- PISA results show urgent need to teach the basicsWith 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids. The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...6 days ago
- Collins leaves for Pacific defence meetingDefence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...7 days ago
- Working for Families gets cost of living boostPutting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...1 week ago
- Post-Cabinet press conferenceMost weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...1 week ago
- Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrappedThe Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...1 week ago
- NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in GazaNew Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...1 week ago
- Condolences on passing of Henry KissingerForeign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...1 week ago
- Backing our kids to learn the basicsEvery child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...1 week ago
- US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through tradeI would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber. I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...2 weeks ago
- Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, AucklandGood morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States. This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...2 weeks ago
- India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic PriorityGood morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...2 weeks ago
- Coalition Government unveils 100-day planPrime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...2 weeks ago
- New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade AgreementA significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...3 weeks ago
- A brief history of complaints about Te Papa’s treaty exhibit
A protest at Te Papa today was not the first against the museum’s Te Tiriti exhibition. Around midday today, a multi-story Te Papa display of the Treaty of Waitangi in English was defaced by protestors. One man abseiled down the face of the exhibit, which is part of Te Papa’s ...34 mins ago - Taxpayers’ Union Calls For Outcomes-focused Mental Health Spending Rather Than A Cash Splash
Responding to reports that a landmark $2 billion investment in New Zealand’s mental health system by the Ardern government has had little effect on services and delivery, Connor Molloy, Campaigns Manager at the Taxpayers’ Union, says: “We warned at ...40 mins ago - Watch: PM Christopher Luxon speaks after Cabinet meeting
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is speaking to media after this week's Cabinet meeting. Watch live from about 4pm. ...42 mins ago - COP28: Why China’s clean energy boom matters for global climate action
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xu Yi-chong, Professor of Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University Shutterstock With an energy-hungry economy, an historic reliance on coal and vast manufacturing enterprises, China is the world’s single largest emitter, accounting for 27% of the world’s carbon dioxide and ...1 hour ago - Chainsaws, chokos and culverts: All the weird things New Zealand googled in 2023Google New Zealand revealed its annual ‘Year in Search’. Sam Brooks runs down the expected, the unexpected and the downright strange. Each year, Google New Zealand releases what New Zealand has been searching for, from the most googled people of the year (Jacinda Ardern, often) to more obscure things like ...2 hours ago
- Free Fares NZ Submit Petition Calling For New Government To Keep Public Transport AffordableToday the Free Fares Campaign presented their 6,650+ strong petition to MPs Julie Anne Genter and Ayesha Verrall, demanding that the new Government retain the current public transport discounts and expand this to 100% free public transport for target ...2 hours ago
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- The government is bringing immigration back to ‘normal levels’ but cuts are not as dramatic as t...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Stevens, Research fellow, Australian Catholic University metamorworks/Shutterstock On Monday, the federal government announced plans to fix Australia’s “broken migration system” and to “bring migration back to sustainable, normal levels”. Its long-awaited migration strategy aims “to build a migration system ...3 hours ago
- Report Shows Government Must Act With UrgencyThe Gas Supply and Demand Study released today from the Gas Industry Company shows that the new Government must act urgently to restore investment confidence in New Zealand’s upstream oil and gas sector or put our energy security at risk. Energy ...3 hours ago
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- International cricket is withering on the vine – why do we still play so much of it?Players are sending a clear and obvious message: there’s too much cricket and not enough of it matters. This is an excerpt from The Bounce, a Substack newsletter by Dylan Cleaver. We are less than a week from the start of the home international men’s cricket season and… what a wet ...4 hours ago
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- Return of the ‘consultocracy’ – how cutting public service jobs to save costs usually backfire...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Allen, Senior Lecturer in Public Management, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It has been clear that change is coming to the New Zealand public service since the election campaign. Just what impact that change will have is less ...4 hours ago
- Walking and talking: The Waitakere hīkoi teaching locals about the place they liveA West Auckland iwi is sharing its stories with other Waitakere community members through a unique programme of guided walks. At the meeting point of the Whau awa and Te Waitematā in Waitakere sits Harbourview Park, a taonga of te taiao near the heart of our nation’s biggest city. ...5 hours ago
- Digital ID will go mainstream across Australia in 2024. Here’s how it can work for everyoneSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Santow, Professor & Co-Director, Human Technology Institute, University of Technology Sydney Simon Lee / Unsplash In a world promising self-driving cars and artificial general intelligence, the prospect of a new form of digital identity verification can feel … less ...5 hours ago
- If Ryanair’s social media jumped off a cliff, would yours jump too?The budget airline’s famously sassy tweets and TikToks have commanded millions of eyeballs, and spawned almost as many imitators. What does the brand’s former head of social make of them all? “When you try to be something you’re not, the users can smell bullshit a mile away.” Very calmly and ...6 hours ago
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- Opinion: Will Our New Government Take The Chance To Fix Accessibility Bill?By Peter Reynolds, New Zealand Disability Support Network CEO I’m holding my breath - hoping for better Accessibility legislation that delivers world class support for all disabled New Zealanders. There’s work to do before we get there. Earlier this ...8 hours ago
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- Israel-Hamas war: What is Zionism? A history of the political movement that created Israel as we kno...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Thomas, Lecturer in Middle East Studies, Deakin University Shutterstock As the Israel-Hamas war continues, there’s been a lot of discussion around Zionism. Put simply, Zionism is a nationalist movement that advocates for a homeland for the Jewish people in ...8 hours ago
- I’m trying to lose weight and eat healthily. Why do I feel so hungry all the time? What can I do a...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Fuller, Charles Perkins Centre Research Program Leader, University of Sydney Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, famously said nothing is certain except death and taxes. But I think we can include “you’ll feel hungry when you’re ...8 hours ago
- Australia has one of the weakest tax systems for redistribution among industrial nations – the Sta...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Stanford, Economist and Director, Centre for Future Work, Australia Institute; Honorary Professor of Political Economy, University of Sydney Shutterstock One of the chief purposes of government payments and taxes is to redistribute income, which is why tax rates are ...8 hours ago
- How an underwater sculpture trail plays a role in the health – and beauty – of the Great Barrier...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Smith, Adjunct Associate Professor, James Cook University The widespread demise of coral reefs due to climate change is now a certainty. But what role does art have in our future for coral reefs? Art is about feelings. One of the ...8 hours ago
- Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden 'less certain' of good relationship with un...The new Workplace Relations and Safety Minister has a busy two weeks ahead, with promises to axe Fair Pay Agreements and start work to reinstate 90-day trials before the summer break. ...9 hours ago
- 2024 will be make or break for New Zealand infrastructureRoads, pipes, houses, hospitals: our infrastructure challenges are overwhelming in their size and scale. Will the government’s new approach make any difference, asks Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A challenge of ...9 hours ago
- Sliding backwards on human rights
This week marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But is the agreement New Zealand signed up to at the UN so long ago still relevant? And are assumptions that we’re doing just fine in this area starting to look a little smug? Today on ...11 hours ago - Workplace Relations Minister 'less certain' of good relationship with unionsThe new Workplace Relations and Safety minister has a busy two weeks ahead, with promises to axe Fair Pay Agreements and start work to reinstate 90-day trials before the summer break. ...11 hours ago
- Xmas: the best nonfiction of 2023New Zealand nonfiction in 2023 went in pursuit of worthy subjects – Māori health, white privilege, law and order, the foaming mad of the alt-right – but lacked the personal touch. In contrast with the blazing artistry and honesty of Charlotte Grimshaw’s memoir The Mirror Book (2021) and Noelle ...11 hours ago
- Winston Peters’ rabbit hole problemClaims by a Whatu Ora staffer have attracted the attention of conspiracy groups in NZ and around the world. And they’re demanding attention from someone they thought was on their side. They didn’t all love him. This was the guy, after all, who stood in lockstep with their bete noire, ...12 hours ago
- Beyond Xero: Is Wellington ready to take on the fintech world?Seventeen years after Xero launched in a one-bedroom apartment on Willis St, the next generation of Wellington financial startups is ready to go big. Will the capital take advantage? In 2006, Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards started a little company in a one-bedroom apartment on Willis St with the janky ...12 hours ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 11 DecemberLoading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 11 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...12 hours ago
- Mackenzie solar farm stoush heads to courtApplicants for an 88MW solar array in the Mackenzie Basin says the site's biodiversity values are 'vastly overstated' The post Mackenzie solar farm stoush heads to court appeared first on Newsroom. ...12 hours ago
- Strong and stable pay for all – not just for politiciansIf a market is structured so a race to the bottom is encouraged, then businesses will start racing there The post Strong and stable pay for all – not just for politicians appeared first on Newsroom. ...12 hours ago
- Daily crossword, Monday 11 DecemberThe post Daily crossword, Monday 11 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...12 hours ago
- Surging migration expected to lift economic outputNet migration of 120,000 in 2023 has helped to grow population by 2.7% and supported higher output and demand The post Surging migration expected to lift economic output appeared first on Newsroom. ...12 hours ago
- Leaders go round in a circle at climate summitSigns of weaker language on the phase-out of fossil fuels emerged yesterday as the United Nations’ COP28 climate summit delegates prepared for the final few days of talks. To that end, Sultan Al Jaber, the United Arab Emirates’ chair of the negotiations, convened a majlis – a gathering of elders ...12 hours ago
- Defence Force boosts sexual assault response after ‘serious’ staff auditFormer Navy engineer welcomes reinforcement of armed forces' Sexual Assault Response team, in the hope her daughters' generation won't suffer what she did. The post Defence Force boosts sexual assault response after ‘serious’ staff audit appeared first on Newsroom. ...12 hours ago
- Government to toughen scrutiny of international students as it slashes net migration over two yearsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Australia’s net-overseas migration levels will be cut dramatically over two years to bring the country’s exploding intake back to sustainable numbers. In estimates to be released on Monday, net-overseas migration will be 375,000 this ...16 hours ago
- Another march on the cards if new government lets Ngāpuhi down – Hinerangi Cooper-PuruDame Whina Cooper's daughter says her mum would have urged Ngāpuhi to never give up the struggle for justice. ...18 hours ago
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- Environmental Defence Society releases its Briefings for Incoming MinistersEDS has today released its Briefings for Incoming Ministers in the new Coalition Government. The BIMs cover the following portfolio areas and Ministers: Hon Penny Simmonds, Minister for the Environment Hon Chris Bishop, Minister for Resource Management ...1 day ago
- Tobacco researcher: New Zealand's reputation 'now pretty tarnished' amongst scientist...A public health academic says New Zealand's rowback on smokefree legislation is "very embarrassing" and has tarnished our reputation. ...1 day ago
- Why does some popcorn not pop?Popcorn has one job. So what happens when it fails? Charlotte Muru-Lanning reports from the stovetop. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. There’s nothing quite like the lively ceremony of making stovetop popcorn. First there’s the clattering of those amber-coloured kernels into the pot. Hopefully within minutes, there’s the first hollow pop. Then, ...1 day ago
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- Short story: Beautiful Isolation, by Catherine Chidgey1. In the evening and in the night, I sit on the balcony and think of you. I can’t see the water but I know it’s there, soft and slow. We bathed in it that last day, you and I, when the dusk hung heavy as cloth of gold ...2 days ago
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Listening to Christopher Luxon. Morning Report "We believe in welfare.
We would probably raise benefits"
Wow, look at the recent history of Paula Bennett!! What do the rest of you think?
Yep raise benefits, reduce taxes, how will that play out!!!
Patricia – well done. The last thing National should be about is welfare. Luxon wouldn't have a clue about what National should be about.
Patricia Bremner (1) … Um I think the 7 houses man meant corporate welfare somehow. He hasn’t a clue!
So you don't think he should have 7 houses? Does it offend your socialist sensibilities?
Why should anyone have 7 houses?
Why not? Passive income. Status. A privacy move. Investment. Buy and sell. Birthday/Xmas present for the kids. Change of view and area.
I always know when you are brought out of Cyrogenic storage, that things ain't great.
Luxton is sufficiently removed from entrenched National that he might throw a sop to the underclass if he thought it would make him more electable.
But in application it would be more likely to be a modest increase in Super – National's core demographic – than anything for the precariat.
If you are at a loss for things to do today, or rather, things to watch, you might enjoy this short-film (15 mins) made about our forest-garden here in Riverton, by Happen Films. It's a 5-year-on follow-up to "An invitation for wildness", called, "Growing wild together" 🙂 It was released yesterday and has already attracted over 11,000 views, so we are very pleased.
Growing wild together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdi_9o92XcU
That's the YouTube version. Here's the Facebook version: https://happenfilms.com/film/growing-wild-together
Wonderful Robert. You are a great Team.
Thanks, Patricia. Without Robyn, I'm a wraith 🙂
Robert Norm says the same.
Great film, Robert.
You're on my list to visit some day soon.
Thanks, Tony. I look forward to your visit – you and I have much to talk about.
that was a lovely thing to watch first thing in the morning.
I'm pleased, weka. We need more lovely things to watch.
On my to-watch-to-relax list. Can't believe it's been five years since the first.
Looking forward to watching, and really impressed with your teamwork on the property, and the output from Happen Films.
Thanks for the link Robert.
Watched and loved it!
I am pleased to hear that, Belladonna 🙂
Love that you and the food forest are getting older and wilder together 🙂
And was happy to recognise so many food plants (though yours are conspicuously larger and healthier than mine!).
My Mum is one of those keen gardeners – and we are sadly resigned to her garden going when she dies. The land (inner suburb of Auckland) is just too valuable – and there's no way that I could afford to buy it. She has huge oak trees – and growing natives – but I lack your optimism about developers *not* wanting to knock them down, and cram 42 townhouses on the site (exaggeration for effect!)
Do you compost? (and this wasn't covered here) – or just slash and tread down unwanted or over-exuberant plants?
The "developers" comments were tongue in cheek, but really, I believe that in just a few short years time, cutting down trees will be socially unacceptable. I'm getting mine in the soil in preparation for that time (grand parenting 🙂
I haven't composted for many years, doing just as you describe: prune and let lie. Recently though, since I got enthusiastic about the big tunnelhouse, I've been enthusiastically composting everything I can get my hands on with the intention of creating a rich faux-jungle floor in there, to support the bananas, ginger, canna etc. – it's a fancy really, but fun and funny. I scrounge materials from everywhere I can; coffee grounds by the sack from a local cafe, Shetland pony poo from the wee family down the road, seaweed when we walk on the beach, spoiled fruit from the co-op (I have so many avocado sprouting in there, it's not funny (it actually is). I've created worm-farms in there also; piles of autumn leaves and pony poo, "seeded" with tiger-worms from the environment centres worm-farm-in-a-bath-tub and they are loving it! I expect they'll turn the rougher stuff; corn husks, egg shells etc. into wonderful, nutritious soil in which my heat-loving plants will achieve enormous proportions. I've calla lilies in there now with leaves the size of taro leaves! I shouldn't be going for "huge", but I am 🙂
Magnificent. You and Robyn are an inspiration!
I look forward to visiting and learning and soaking in the beauty.
Thanks!
Wonderful Robert,may yourself and Robyn see those trees grow tall,climbing sky woods.
Ha! Love that, left for dead! 🙂
Damien Venuto's piece in the Herald is a tour de force of an echo chamber media circle jerk. MZME opinion piece about an NZME opinion podcast where one opinionated NZME journalist interviewed another NZME journalist for her opinion about the bile spewed at the PM largely by – you guessed it – the opinions of NZME broadcasters.
No wonder no one trusts them.
Is that in place of actually asking the Pm, as they might get answers they don't want?
Thankyou Robyn and Robert, an inspiration to your wider community. [and me]!!
Cheers kejo.
Hope no one's here's got shares in Twitter.
What a value-bonfire.
Its generic across all tech stocks,that the stock price reverts to its fundamental earnings (and its ability to both constrain debt and pay debt) The tech expansion on unsustainable credit (QE) has moved to its limit and will now contract to what they earn.
https://twitter.com/Schuldensuehner/status/1518534986697265156?cxt=HHwWiMC-0cvh9ZIqAAAA
With global liquidity to shrink over the next 18 months due to QT,and additional free capital flowing to safe have ( government bonds etc) tech will need to sell more then its next "app",and will also impact meem and ESG funds.
https://twitter.com/Schuldensuehner/status/1533558352386703360?cxt=HHwWgIC-xcjMpcgqAAAA
China has attacked a Aussie plane. At least that's what I would call it. I have been thinking about China and I'm wondering if they have taken internal dissent into consideration. There's Hong Kong. There's the supressed democracy movement in mainland China. And what of all the suppressed religions? When better to start a uprising should the country be focused on war with Taiwan and the West?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UczY42nZO9g
Crikey, this hasn't gone away yet. Dennis Frank gave the topic a good airing a while back. Who would want to get into any type of politics, eh?
Unfortunately the story is pay wall protected.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/audrey-young-what-really-happened-in-labours-bitter-manurewa-selection/UT7UW3VA5GCVPQOCDBBGW43XRA/?c_id=1&objectid=12529420
Granny will probably rerun a few pre election as part of their totally objective coverage.
I know, Audrey Young – so automatically dismissed by a die-hard loyalist group here. But, where are the left-wing journalists in covering this issue?
Having read this, it looks as though Labour squeak through the accusation of 'corrupt process' but it was clearly highly manipulative, and absolutely designed to get rid of Wall and parachute Williams into a safe seat. Louisa was shafted by her party leadership.
The 'lie' that Wall lost the support of her electorate, promulgated by Mike Williams, is clearly debunked.
The 'old' (i.e. existing) electorate committee supported Wall. There was an argument that this didn't reflect the 'new' electorate members – recruited and loyal to Dunwoodie (who'd returned from Wellington specifically to continue his campaign to unseat Wall – been trying since George Hawkins retired).
Labour could have required a new selection of representatives from the local electorate committee- given that they delayed the selection specifically to address the issues raised — but didn't. Instead they refused to allow any of the local electorate reps to vote. Leaving 2 votes from the floor, and 3 from Labour head office.
Williams had zip in the way of local support.
Clearly Labour either wanted Williams in parliament, regardless. Or realised that unseating Wall in favour of a white Christian male (Dunwoodie) would have been several bridges too far, for their political base, and especially for the Maori caucus.
Nice Blade-Belladonna tag teamwork – "several Bridges too far", you say?
Look forward to a response to the actual content – rather than deflection. Ohhh look a squirrel!
Or, perhaps you're agreeing with Gypsy – and it's just political corruption as usual, both parties do it…..
I've met, and liked Louisa Wall. I felt that she was a unique and vibrant voice in parliament – and am always predisposed to like another 'stroppy Sheila' 😉
I didn't agree with everything she said, but she had the passion of her convictions, and an unusual ability to build consensus across parties in pursuit of her goals.
She did not deserve to be treated this way – and it's a mark against the Labour party.
When I think of the outrage which was poured out here on TS yesterday over the 'bullying' of Curran, I find those voices conspicuously silent on Wall.
Your findings are noted – btw, Merv's no squirrel, just “that confused.”
I regret that Wall is no longer in Parliament – maybe the church isn’t broad enough.
Dirt. Manipulation. Dishonesty. Meh, just another day in politics.
Gypsy, what can be done to keep "Dirt. Manipulation. Dishonesty." out of Kiwi politics, if, like me, that is indeed what you want? May seem hopeless, but easier surely than reversing global warming.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-retains-top-spot-global-anti-corruption-rankings [25 January 2022]
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2022/04/former-us-president-donald-trump-calls-himself-the-most-honest-human.html
Politics brings out the worst in people, unfortunately. But I enjoy your optimism.
I'm not optimistic that Nat party MPs and insiders can model good behaviour. Hope springs eternal, but they have shown so very little promise.
Maybe Luxon can make a clean break from the Key / Ede / Collins / Slater legacy of Dirty Politics – it's a substantial legacy, from Todd Baclay and Jami-Lee Ross on, and a break is overdue – time will tell.
Luxon may be a different individual, but even if he is, politics is a cess pit, and the sewage eventually rubs off. It's what makes observing so fascinating, in a perverse kind of way.
No "may be" about – Luxon is "a different individual", presumably with some different values and some new ideas, e.g. tax cuts.
Time will tell how those values and ideas play out in the service of all Kiwis – no doubt better for some than for others.
So it would seem – a cesspit of self-serving behaviour. But why?
Why?
As long as I have been following politics (since the late 1970's) there has been an element of this, because power corrupts. But it seems to be getting incrementally worse. I have a passing involvement with local politics in Auckland and it's a thoroughly toxic environment, in fact it got so ludicrous the left are now attacking their own.
Interesting observation – any idea what's driving that trend? Your insights might contribute to slowing a descent into the cesspit.
The Nat's Dirty Politics initiative didn't help – has anyone on the political right repudiated that deliberate and well-resourced political obscenity? Why is it some of our political representatives think it's OK to model this sort of behaviour? Are they simply rotten eggs?
Maybe that's the pronlem – some politicians have no sense of shame. I'm irrationally hopeful that Luxon will be the one to lift the lid on the Nat's cesspit and drag his rotten eggs into the light.
"The Nat's Dirty Politics initiative didn't help – has anyone on the political right repudiated that deliberate and well-resourced political obscenity? "
You mean admit they were actually wrong? I doubt it. The Nats dirty politics 'initiative' was only unusual in that it appears to have been carefully orchestrated. The best thing to happen to the right was that it was outed.
Any idea what's driving this apparent trend? Dirty Politics was low, but are some NZ pollies even now reaching further into the cesspit?
"What's driving this apparent trend? Would've thought Dirty Politics was about as low as Kiwi politicians could go, but maybe not?"
It's necessary to differentiate Dirty Politics (Cameron Slater style) from dirty politics as a broader pattern of behaviour. The broader pattern of behaviour is getting worse, at least from my observation. Why? Maybe because politics is becoming more polarised. Maybe people stay in politics for too long and power corrupts them. Maybe humanity is just getting nastier.
An interesting take, but we both know that it was politicians who orchestrated Dirty Politics – Slater blogged to order.
Why the necessity to differentiate Dirty Politics from "dirty politics as a broader pattern of behaviour" – isn't Dirty Politics an eye-wateringly obscene example of the abuse of political power and resources, and so an exemplar of this "broader pattern of behaviour" you allude to?
Polarisation, nastiness, the atrophy of decency – yes, they each play(ed) a role to a greater or lesser extent. Can Luxon fix it? He seems a bit bland and vague, but imho he’s actually doing a fare job of modelling moral and ethical behaviour so far – maybe it’ll catch on.
"Why the necessity to differentiate Dirty Politics from "dirty politics as a broader pattern of behaviour" – isn't Dirty Politics an eye-wateringly obscene example of the abuse of political power and resources, and so an exemplar of this "broader pattern of behaviour" you allude to?"
Oh yes. But wind that back and we find ourselves with the Louisa Wall selection row. It appears people within the Labour Party orchestrated a plan to lie about the relationship between Louisa Wall and her Local Electorate Committee in order to undermine her reselection chances. The deputy PM is well implicated, and the line is drawn to his apparent dislike for Wall. You'll have read Audrey Young's research. Is that dirty politics in your opinion?
There are quite a few differences between Dirty Politics and your example, although it may be difficult for you to spot them.
When it comes to examples of nobbling candidates from one's own party, I gravitate towards Merv/Roger "I'm that confused" Bridge, and yes, it does seem to be part of a broader pattern of behaviour.
Still, to my way of thinking, Dirty Politics is the towering benchmark against which all subsequent
aberrant political behaviour should be compared – unless you have a more disgusting example to offer?
Correction: the lie about Louisa losing support of the LEC was not to undermine her reselection as such, it was to smear her as an 'explanation' for why she had withdrawn. Audreay young wrote:
The upshot was that instead of a candidate selection panel which could have comprised four local votes (two LEC, one floor rep and one ballot vote from qualified party members present) and just three New Zealand Council reps, there were only two local votes which were outnumbered by three New Zealand Council reps.
It's clear that Wall was unpopular with senior party figures, and so they engineered her exit, including stacking the selection committee, and then accepting a nomination from Arena Williams that she couldn't even get in on time.
How dirty does politics have to be before its dirty politics?
Are dirty tricks and smear campaigns still National's modus operandi? I hope not.
It's Dirty Politics when staff inside a Prime Minister's office facilitate the release of confidential documents for the purpose of embarrassing political opponents. And it's particularly Dirty Politics to leak information for the purpose of attacking public servants.
As I said, a towering example of malfeasance against which all subsequent aberrant political behaviour can and should be judged.
So how do you think Wall's treatment (“stacking the selection committee“) compares to that of Simon Pleasants? Or Adam Feeley?
"There are quite a few differences between Dirty Politics and your example, although it may be difficult for you to spot them."
It's a pattern of behaviour. Bad behaviour. And it certainly ties in with some of your examples above (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07-06-2022/#comment-1892866).
"(“stacking the selection committee“) "
And telling lies to smear her, something that seems to have been coordinated from high up in the party.
"The person on the other end of the phone that day asked if I knew that the real reason Wall had withdrawn was that she had lost the support of the Labour electorate committee (LEC). That’s the local executive in each electorate that runs party business. The suggestion was news to me but it was a line to be repeated publicly in the following days by at least two Labour-aligned commentators, Neale Jones and Mike Williams. It can safely be said that the phone call was wrong. Louisa Wall did not lose the support of her LEC. She not only had the support of her LEC, she had the endorsement of E Tu union, the support of Te Kaunihera Māori (the Māori council of the party), and Labour’s Māori caucus with the exception of deputy leader Kelvin Davis."
I'm wondering is it dirty politics when the right do it to left, but not when the left do it to each other?
I hope we both know dirty politics and Dirty Politics when we see it. Certainly not the exclusive (Brethren) property of the Nats, but imho they are past masters and remain the leading practitioners in NZ.
Time will tell.
Collins is still in play – perhaps Luxon can keep her in cheque.
"Collins is still in play – perhaps Luxon can keep her in cheque."
Collins has been neutered. I'm not sure how they've done it, but it's probably a promise of some overseas posting? Or perhaps they've made up some role for her, say something like the Ambassador for Gender Equality (Pacific)/Tuia Tāngata?
Promises, Promises
Artist: Naked Eye(brow)s. Album: Burning Bridges
This one may be one for Judith Collins fans.
Commenters on a political blog are not merely observers of politics, they are active participants.
Thanks, Belladonna.
''So automatically dismissed by a die-hard loyalist group here. But, where are the left-wing journalists in covering this issue?''
True …and yes, good question about Lefty journalists. Well, if we extrapolate things to this blog, the die-hards here will never criticise their own. (See below) So we can't expect any better from Jessica and co.
I loved this piece: 'White Christian male (Dunwoodie) That's like taking a cross to Dracula.
From Young's bio:
''I’ve been working at the Herald for so long that my 30th anniversary was mentioned in Parliament. However, I never tire of seeing what people do to try to gain power and what they do when they get there. I was pleased to be the union representative on the Press Council for six years. In a previous life, I worked as a sub-editor at the ill-fated Auckland Sun, was a tutor for a Pacific Island journalism course at Manukau Polytechnic in Otara, and was a teacher in Wellington.''
Someone opposing the removal of the Three Strikes Law…
https://thebfd.co.nz/2022/06/06/why-is-the-govt-repealing-the-three-strikes-law/
To be expected. I caught the tail end of an interview Mikey had with someone called Mark Lockes(?) from a Queensland University. He explained how their biker laws had driven the hardcore element out of the state, and just left run of the mill bikers. The power of the patch had also been muted.
Jacinda Ardern has replied that we need laws more appropriate to New Zealand. If we read between the lines, we can have a guess as to why.
Mitchell and Megan Woods will face off tomorrow on Mikey's show.
Mitchell also rung in later this morning.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mark-mitchell-national-police-spokesperson-on-following-australias-lead-with-anti-bikie-laws/
Telling that the government sends Woods not the Ministers of Police (Poto) or Justice (Little) whose portfolios are relevant.
One thing I will give this Labour government – they know how to deal with exposure to the media and potential awkward situations. Their protection of Jacinda is first class.
We don't have any other Arderns to shield.
It needs to be – the hatred and bile spewing from all sides is papable.
Isn't that a usual spot i.e. Woods and Mitchell debating?
Yes it is. But although Mikey has had Poto on before, she hasn't fronted when he's invited her, and others, to debate some aspects of crime control. So Megan Woods is basically it regardless of being a regular or not. Given her form of late, I don't think Woods will be raising a sweat. A Rightie can but hope.
Why on earth should a minister of the crown waste her time pandering to a bitter biased toxic right shock-jock who isn't even a journalist? Nothing good can come of it. Better to leave Hosking and his cretins to stew in their own bile.
''Bitter biased toxic right shock-jock who isn't even a journalist?'
That seems to be the default opinion here. I find that funny given many CLAIM they never listen to him.
To me the difference between his well read and well argued opinions is the difference between night and day compared to most in the media.
For example, he gave his opinion on Adrian Orr's official cash rate move and the reasons why he had trouble with the explanation Orr provided when he interviewed him. Two later economists backed Mikey's view. That doesn't mean Mikey is right – but when did you last hear a MSM journalist go behind headlines and offer a detail explanations of how things work?
I'm prepared to look past personality faults if someone at least makes an effort to explain the news… and actually read articles from all over the world to be better informed.
"his well read and well argued opinions".
Your capability to be unwittingly amusing.
The defence will rest, your honour.
I had a lot of time for this man. Someone who you could have a debate with without him going off the handle like many Lefties are inclined to do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Jesson
'Mikey'… changes his opiniin' like the.. weather.. motormouth looking for.. numbers =advertisers. A
You make your opinion with the facts available at the time. You change your opinion if the facts change over time.
''Motormouth looking for.. numbers =advertisers.''
Seems to be working. His radio ratings are through the roof. But we all know those radio ratings are just right wing bs.
I find that funny given many CLAIM they never listen to him.
Oh we've heard a couple of his minutes – and seen him make a cock of running a televised debate. I used to teach debating – Mikey is a neophyte.
I'm prepared to look past personality faults
Personality is to some extent destiny. It is a natural and inevitable consequence of being a far-right bigot, that educated persons will despise you.
''Oh we've heard a couple of his minutes – and seen him make a cock of running a televised debate. I used to teach debating – Mikey is a neophyte.''
Fair enough. Post one of his 'Mike's Minute' Clips and show me where he's going off track.
In fact, here's one for you to dissect.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-queen-is-a-brilliant-symbol-of-dedication-and-loyalty/
''And seen him make a cock of running a televised debate.''
If you are talking about the leaders debate, the general consensus I read, at the time, was he did OK. I'm hoping he will be a co-host in the upcoming leaders debate.
Post one of his 'Mike's Minute' Clips
No. This is material of no value whatsoever.
the general consensus I read, at the time, was he did OK
No, the general consensus was that he was not as bad as expected – a D fail instead of an F fail. There are literally thousands of New Zealanders who would have done a better job – and one of them should have been there doing it. Hosking was there because he is a reliably useless bigot.
Bigotry is not a social virtue – in the free market of ideas, the Right needs to fight its corner on its merits – Hosking always gives them a free ride.
Woods is presenting as a highly competent MP with a talent for 'fire-suppression'.
One of the rising stars of the current Cabinet line-up.
It appears that neither P Williams nor Little have the right kind of quick-wittedness to deal with an increasingly hostile media.
The news on crime was a killing field for the opposition and media tonight.
Poto is complety lost. It's not funny. She should go with dignity. Maybe Woods could become the spokesperson on crime for Labour? As for Jacinda…call an early election. Why people aren't asking for this is beyond me.
Example: Read this link. It's surreal, but true.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/06/police-minister-poto-williams-tells-aucklanders-hearing-gunfire-on-street-to-ring-police-crimestoppers.html
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/06/07/police-fatally-shoot-man-at-wellington-family-harm-incident/
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/06/07/gangs-nz-has-a-clear-escalation-at-the-moment-pm/
The government voted downs ACTS bill to confiscate criminal assets citing a variety of reasons. Now Labour wants to do something similar.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/nicole-mckee-act-party-justice-spokesperson-says-the-government-is-playing-politics-on-gangs/
Been reading about a few contemporary and near contemporary French philosophers, and their relation to the discussion yesterday about the "right to repair" as a way to empower consumers and reduce waste.
After doing my philosophy browsing I thought about it and I wonder how much of it is really about saving the planet and how much of it is actually a reaction against what French philosopher Bernard Stiegler calls the "proletarianisation of consciousness"?
According to Stiegler we are proletarianised in everyday conscious when our savoir-faire (knowing the right thing to do) and savoir-vivre (knowing how to live well) is appropriated and "black boxed" by technology. in the 1970s, a broken cake mixer or valve radio or anything really could be fixed by any reasonably competent home handyman with access to some parts and a soldering iron. You just unscrewed the back and went looking for the blown transistor, resistor, or capacitor. New technologies are designed to stop this, be it a mobile phone you can't swap out the battery in or seedless vegetables you can't grow at home. In this, they are in fact controlling us, in the way that Gilles Deleuze (another froggy philosopher) anticipated in his essay on the "control society": they don't tell us what to do, they just present us with a fait accompli and we meekly comply. Of course, this is in turn reflects the wider "black boxing" of our economic management made explicit by neoliberalism, a system of technocratic exclusion designed to control the proletariat in the name of expertise.
One of the ways we seek to regain our savoir-faire and savoir-vivre is via self-help, by self-sufficiency. Perhaps in this unconsciously perceived helplessness we can observe the anger of the anti-mandaters, of the anti-vaxxers. The marginalised and excluded and the aggrieved wellness Mums at their perceived exclusion were vouchsafed a manifest target to take aim at and blame for their helplessness. But on this we are all quite wrong – it doesn't matter if I can fix an old cake mixer, or if I use a fountain pen rather than a biro to cut down on plastic waste, or if I grow my own vegetables in an organic patch fertilised by my own shit, or I refuse to vaccinate my kids and/or latch onto some vast conspiracy theory. The reality of late capitalism is we are all helpless, merely passive spectators completely reliant on massive industries (just four companies control over 90% of the world food supply, with that food passing through just three main choke points, two or three companies dominate the internet), on large bureaucracies colonised by neoliberal technocrats, and on their enabling technologies over which we exercise very little control.
In short – is the right to repair nothing more than a salve, a balm of diversion which makes us feel good when we all know the world is going to hell in a handbasket and there is nothing that we – infantilised and atomised as we are in the great culture of narcissism that dominates our social and political discourse – can do about it?
it seems to me the only solution to planetary warming, excessive consumption, is not a right to repair but simply not to own any of those things in the first place. Since no one (including me, to be honest) will voluntarily give up their standard of living to that extent, and no government will ever be elected on a promise to reduce the standard of living by a lot, it seems to be the perhaps the only answers to the global crisis of late capitalism are to be found in the grim calculations of Malthus?
Having one's eyes off the screen and turned instead toward the natural world; gardens, beaches, mountains, skies and so on, is the way to unravel the tangle we find ourselves in. Those foci stimulate valuable thoughts and understandings. Having fewer gadgets helps great deal. That we are habituated and reliant on some gadgets (eye-glasses, window panes etc.) makes reducing one's reliance a challenge requiring much thought, patience and tolerance.
But it is the direction to take.
Imo.
I take it you don't know any people that grow most of their own food? I do, I know quite a few. If the global food supply falls over this year, they will do without but they won't starve and they won't need to riot because they will be busy teaching people in their community how to grow their own food too.
Gardening is one of the most potent political acts we can do at this time (growing, paying others to grow for us, community gardens, and upthread, food forests). It doesn't give a false sense of security, it gives people actual food security as well as the personal empowerment to take action in other areas.
Right to repair is both class activism (enabling people to manage on low incomes), and a direct challenge to neoliberalism. It's not designed to save the planet, it's intention is to be part of the right living movements that will give humans the ability to survive and be respectful of all of life.
Both gardening and repairing bring joy to the people who do them, so much joy that they will teach others, often for free. That is political activism too, and the value of joy at this point in history cannot be measured. The way out of the Malthusian hell hole that neoliberals want to keep us in, is joy and activism combined. They build upon each other and give people a pathway that makes sense, improves their lives and saves the planet at the same time.
For some of us, politics is primarily about liberation.
Gardening and saving seed is great as well, my late Aunt saved seeds, as did my Dad. Robert, you would save seeds I think, and do you exchange them?
Thanks Sanctuary, imho your last paragraph highlights some inconvenient truths. Late capitalism is a highly resilient growth engine – it will not transition voluntarily.
https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-global-travel-as-we-know-it-an-opportunity-for-sustainable-tourism-133783
"The COVID-19 pandemic has halted mobility globally on an unprecedented scale, causing the neoliberal market mechanisms of global tourism to be severely disrupted. In turn, this situation is leading to the decline of certain mainstream business formats and, simultaneously, the emergence of others. Based on a review of recent crisis recovery processes, the tourism sector is likely to rebound from this sudden market shock, primarily because of various forms of government interventions. Nevertheless, although policymakers seek to strengthen the resilience of post-pandemic tourism, their subsidies and other initiatives serve to maintain a fundamentally flawed market logic."
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2020.1763445
“…The current economic system being utilized and internalized relies on perpetual growth. It has long operated counter to the reality that we are confined to a finite planet with finite resources…"
Humanity deal with this conundrum with occasional spasms of massive capital destruction (i.e. a crisis that leads to a hugely destructive war) that re-sets the growth clock to zero.
Re-setting the 'growth clock' to true zero would be good for spaceship Earth – humans not so much. Controlled degrowth is the best civilisation could do, imho.
Except it won't just be a war mainly in Europe, it will be a global catastrophe that wipes out most species on the planet. Similar level of upheaval to the Ice Age or the K-T extinction event.
Crops are failing, oceans are being demolished, habitats are being bulldozed everywhere.
The only way the human race makes it past 2030 is to stop everything. And depopulate.
Industrialisation gave us incredible power but we are still bound by the laws of thermodynamics, and the bill has come due.
The only way the human race makes it past 2030 is to stop everything. And depopulate.
We are already – because industrialisation has allowed us to.
There is an amphibian school of philosophy?
Frogs, n'est-ce pas?
Who are you reading and what bits?
Stretch your legs and do a post.
Failing that send me some paras and I'll do one.
I read this morning Luxon was head of deodorants for Unilever in the US. So he would have been responsible for the repulsive Axe (you know it as Lynx) advertising campaigns. How unchristian. What a bottom feeder. Lay in to him.
"head of deodorants"!!
Roll-ons, yes?
Lay off the head shots.
Chris has been saying this to photographers for months now.
Lynx… the workhorse of smellies for the young and unsophisticated. You can also smell it half a kay down the road if the wind is blowing in the right direction.
A young rellie of mine was lamenting the fact he couldn't get laid when he went out. I chucked the Lynx and gave him a pheromone spray (Chikara). He's had a sexually transmitted disease three times in the past two years. Must be working.
If you were into prevention, rather than punishment, you would have given him condoms.
Then he wouldn't have been laid. BTW, condoms CAN usually be effective. But not all the time, and not against all sexually transmitted diseases.
Nothing like experience.. as they say on the right. I hope the cure was better than. the.. disease.
wow, the internal polls must be really bad
'head of deodorants' =too funny!
Chrome dome got his position through pure nepotism imo.
Daddy worked for Johnson and Johnson.
"I read this morning Luxon was head of deodorants for Unilever in the US."
Close. But no.
[So close, yet so far.
Since you seem to know better, why don’t you set the record straight, yes?
Put up or shut up – Incognito]
Mod note
He was Head of Unilever Canada.
And they don't just do deodorant.
Too much disrespect for the Company that gifted us the great Magnum almond ice cream.
Irrelevant distraction from you, as usual. This was about a specific claim what Luxon had been doing and it is entirely correct. Indeed, Unilever does more than making soaps and Luxon has done more at Unilver than selling soaps (after all, he worked there 18 yrs and 4 mths), but soaps he sold, which suits his name, IMO.
https://www.nzedge.com/news/christopher-luxon-by-degrees/
Next time you correct another commenter you’d better be correct and not a waste of time again.
BTW
Why did you not ask the same of No name used's claim?
“Kiwi joins Air NZ from Unilever
Air New Zealand has appointed well-travelled Kiwi businessman Christopher Luxon to head up its international airline.
Luxon, 40, takes over from Ed Sims as group general manager for international from May 30 and joins the NZX-listed carrier from consumer goods giant Unilever.
Luxon joined Unilever in 1993 after completing a master of commerce at the University of Canterbury and since December 2008 has been president and chief executive of Unilever Canada……”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/kiwi-joins-air-nz-from-unilever/VIA6D5ELTT7D7S7RTYZ66L5CBQ/
[Take a week off for telling me how, whom, and for what I should moderate.
No name used @ 10 made no incorrect claims and didn’t try to correct another commenter with BS to make yourself look superior or something whatever – Incognito]
Mod note