I am picking the the turn out this election will collapse, I think we'll be lucky to get two thirds of voters to the polls on election day. I am worried the 20% undecided vote will simply not bother.
Certainly the obvious impact of violent burglary (ram raids etc) in local communities is very evident – and has a huge impact on the public perception of the crime rate.
The new Labour policies to address this, are seen as 'too little, too late' (as in, why didn't you introduce them 2 years ago).
I just got very meh, about hipkins when he went and dud the stupid gst off food policy, no one rates it it made me wonder if he's bright enough for the job tbh
No that GST policy is in Aus and does make a difference.
Chris Hipkins is clever and practical. He has degrees in politics and criminology, and has worked in the private and public spheres. He believes in social justice.
His 5 point plan for NZ is far more cohesive than anything offered by National Act so far.
20% say they have not decided. We are still in this fight in spite of their money
In 2017 I said "It is not over 'till the fat lady sings" That is still true.
Agreed- not only is the GST off F&V not targetted it will overwhelmingly accrue to the rich at the expense of the poor. Rich buy a lot of fruit and veges, poor do not. Worst panic policy ever.
If he slips to 4.9 (which is roughly his average anyway) and let's face it anybody from the Left shouldn't be going near NZF given they have refused to work with Labour, then it is still all to play for.
it's not like the Greens would be running the show either. Time to give them some more power and see what they do. Labour will still have the PM*, appoint ministers, and run caucus.
*although why not do a Winston and have Shaw as PM 😁
I like what he does a lot, and this year I'm really starting to see him as PM material. Pity we have the kind of system that we do that means this is unlikely. Maybe we're better off with him as Climate Minister.
Given the lack of people engaging on the Standard . Labour supporters have given up.usually around election time the posts are in the hundreds now in the 10's. Is their another forum ?
Usually around election time, posts will still just have 10s of comments per post. However this year we are short of people writing posts. There are only one every day at best outside of OpenMike/Daily Review.
This is pretty obvious when you look at the archives around previous election times. If you have 10 Posts in a day, then you’ll get a one that heads to or over 100 comments. Most get less than 20-30 comments.
Don’t know about anyone else, but I’m far too busy working on projects I’m employed to produce on. Plus I kind of ran out of new things to say on politics over the last 15 years on the site, and I hate repeating myself.
Bear in mind trickledown a lot of those comments in the past came from right wing trolls who used to disrupt the discourse until the mods decided to do something about it. They have all disappeared now. Ten years ago the blogosphere was still a novelty. I think it has worn off since then.
I’m fully retired and am physically limited due to osteo-arthritis so have the time to dilly dally around The Standard. 😉
Some one is doing OK – I just caught up with the news that Indian airlines have announced orders for a record 500(!) airliners at the June Paris Airshow.
I am puzzled about all this fits into any sort of climate change plan, but then everyone I know seems to have gone overseas this year so I guess no one is really that worried.
Talk about hydrogen Air NZ planes and being a provider on the Radio. I missed the rest as the lawn man arrived. lol I rushed round to shut out the fumes and missed the actual item.
Might be the last mass exit for a while, we went this year and shit Europe is expensive. Which tallies with Womens Footy WC visitors here who said they loved how much cheaper it was than where they came from. Dont believe the bullshit, yes things are dearer here than they were 4 years ago but nowhere near over there.
An addendum to above, we visited Europe in 2018, to visit children and older rellies about to slip off the perch, so we have a good comparison, and a rough guess would be almost twice the price as 5 years ago.
I was recently in France and England and agree it's very expensive, way more than NZ. The National art gallery and British Museum are both excellent and free. Also the flying is an emissions nightmare.
Central Asia (Uzbekistan and the other stans) were great , closer and more affordable.
Last time I went I heeded the advice of my Dr who said when you are in the UK just think of the GBP as NZ$ and don't do any conversions and so you don't get taken aback by the prices.
I have spent some time in Europe I have family there .It can be dear especially in tourist hotshots but else where very cheap clothing shoes and food except in winter.
Humans are exceptional – we can cook an entire planet! BAU (growth) simply must continue, including travel around spaceship Earth – how else to pump up profits?
So far there have been 1,264 order and options commitents announced during the show, more than a 1,000 of which are from two airlines; Air India and IndiGo Airlines.
IndiGo opened the show with a deal for 500 Airbus A320neo family jets, all firm aircraft. The following day Air India firmed its February commitment for 470 aircraft – a mix of narrowbodies and widebodies from Airbus and Boeing — together with options on 70 more units.
I'd attribute this to the increasing size of the middle class in India – with the consequent demand for overseas tourism.
I think you are right Belladonna, Just got back from Vietnam and Thailand, and lots of Russian tourists, but especially noticeable was the large numbers of Indian visitors and Indigo planes.
I am puzzled about all this fits into any sort of climate change plan, but then everyone I know seems to have gone overseas this year so I guess no one is really that worried.
Na it's the cows, it certainly isn't pointless tourism causing problems
The most 'Greenie' family I know (daily cycle commuters, don't own a car, compost and vege garden, keep chickens, flexitarian, staunch GP voters) – have just come back from an extended-family (3 generations) – round-the-world trip to see family and friends in multiple countries.
And are planning for overseas family to visit them this summer.
Yep. Personal air travel will be just as resistant as farming to any move that tries to limit it. Perhaps more so. Just got my passport (that expired 7 years ago) renewed. Not being able to afford something (or only rarely afford it) is a good deterrent – but the deterrence is not equally distributed.
I've noticed the same trend; most of our English friends have flown back to the UK to see relatives (perfectly understandable, in view of their parents being elderly) but it doesn't do much for the climate.
Then there are the two others who are on a jaunt to Spain and Portugal to see the sights.
They'll be in for an interesting time as Spain's water reservoirs are said to be running dry, and much of Europe has been under drought for months. To add to the fun, Greece and Turkey have recently copped massive floods.
I won’t be booking a riverboat cruise on the Danube for the foreseeable future.
I've been thinking and thinking about this over the last few days.
Posie Parker/KJK Minshull comes to NZ to attend/participate in the trial of the tomato sauce thrower.
As we know the last time she came here the response from the Labour politicans was less than stellar with several, Woods/Hipkins, seemingly making comments off the cuff or without the benefit of a briefing that set out the issues (as opposed to a partisan view of the issues)
This was followed up by Hipkins stumbling and bumbling when asked the question 'What is a woman?' by Sean Plunket. He was not aware of the issues and even had to be prompted about what was happening in the UK and Keir Starmer's inane response.
Some women I know are tentatively making their way to Labour.
This is not about the issues.
My worry is that Hipkins will be as poorly briefed as he was last time, make himself and the party look silly and in doing so make light of the women's rights issues around participation in sport etc etc.
Without a grip on the issues including that it cannot/should not be mocked by referring to toilets when you are talking about the votes of women, I fear he may turn around the tentative steps by many women back to the left. Many would not vote for The Greens because of their stance on Gender politics/issue and what may happen is that they may not vote at all.
…..And then the ideas in this column by Verity Johnson come true and the pleas are ignored.
Now is not the time to cut off democracy’s nose to spite Labour’s face.
My view is that if PM Hipkins gives a fair go to the concerns of women, if asked, is briefed on the entirety of the issues, then the tentative steps of many women back to Labour may mean they find themselves in the polling booths on Election day voting Labour or a party from the left, rather than abstaining.
As I said my biggest fear, and this is really so, is that Hipkins makes a hash of this, is not properly briefed and denies women the verity, to coin a phrase, of their concerns. This then turns off many, who then don't vote at all.
I don't want to debate the issues, this plea is solely about being on top of the issues ie properly briefed and doing justice to the valid concerns that exist.
Labour cannot afford to lose one single vote this election especially if this was a vote within its grasp.
My immediate response to Hipkins in reply to Plinkett was that he had been over briefed. Only from one side of the issues.
So fully aware of the metaphorical political land mine in answering that question. If only he had the courage to give an authentic answer, even with a caveat including those who weren't born female.
Authenticity shines when we come across it nowadays. From art, music (witness Anthony Oliver's Rich men north of Richmond and the reactions to it) through to politics. My reckons have it that the instagramm/tik tok influence of posting the highlights or best bits of life reeks of insincerity.
I'm not seeing anything that suggests to me Labour are prepared for this. Given that, what else can we do? I think talking, a lot, about the damage that a Nact or Nact/NZF would do to women compared to a L/G/TPM government, is important.
Yes, there are serious issues around women's sexed based rights. Those will be easier to solve under a centre left government, because activism is easier then. We also need to convince the liberals making policy to adopt progressive approaches. Nact/NZF will bring in regressive, reactionary ones, that won't be good for women.
Do we want gender conformity enforced? Because that's what the right will do. Also, punitive welfare will hit low income women hard as will the increased housing crisis. Expect cuts to lots of services that women rely on, and I would guess cuts to funding too.
I'm not seeing anything that suggests to me Labour are prepared for this. Given that, what else can we do? I think talking, a lot, about the damage that a Nact or Nact/NZF would do to women compared to a L/G/TPM government, is important.
Yes I am talking and raising the spectre of the right but it will be made much more difficult if we have Hipkins, overly or inadequately briefed, giving a poor answer or a 'toilet' answer. If so all the nose holding, tentative steps back and possible voting for the Left won't work if once again he misses the point.
I now have no links to Labour and I guess my hope is that someone on here with links can get the message through to be careful, be properly briefed when/if asked for comment when Posie Parker/KJ Minshull arrives for the court case.
I think you're repeating yourself there. My point was that at this stage of the electoral cycle, the kind of philosophical and real politik shift we would prefer is unlikely to happen. I agree it would be great if Labour insiders worked on this, and I assume they in fact are but are met with too much resistance.
That change will happen over time, just like it did in the UK. From persistence and progressive framing. The big risk right now is that KJK's visit will be used by the likes of Peters, ACT, and the fringe parties to nobble the election. Peters and KJK are two peas from the same pod, both opportunistic populists who are playing dangerous power games. Irrespective of the useful things that both do, they are hugely problematic at this point because populist, reactionary politics undermines democracy.
NZF don't even have any policies. Just a list of talking points. If they get in again, expect the damage to NZ to be significant. It will be the worst of NACT plus Peters' active fomenting of Trumpian pol in NZ.
The only solution to that that I can see in the next five weeks is to 1) campaign hard in whatever way we can for a L/G/TPM government and 2) be prepared for the shit that might eventuate with KJK's visit (we might get really lucky and it's a damp squib).
Yep. The question is designed to be problematic. But all "what is a …" questions are inherently problematic. How do you decide what the essential versus the accidental characteristics of a thing actually are? What rules should govern the making of this distinction? And why?
Wearing a dress is pretty clearly an accidental property of being a woman – and so on. It gets trickier as you keep going. If you can't decide what is essential and what is accidental, is the thing really a 'thing', or just a notional thing, a convenient name for an abstract idea? But that doesn't feel right either – our day to day understanding dislikes such a dissolving of things into just names. It's a murky area best left to incomprehensibly clever people working in philosophy departments. I have no clue.
I think your answer is an excellent one if the questioner is a young, male, right-wing culture warrior.
What is a woman? is a very easy question to answer. Adult human female.
Hipkins' problem is that he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. The hard place is the gender identity ideologists who actively harm people and politics who don't adhere to their world view absolutely. The rock is the fact that most people don't believe that humans can change sex, and they think males in women's sports is unfair and males in women's spaces is unsafe.
Fortunately most people also want trans people to be ok. Which means there is an open door to talking both/and in terms of trans people and women's sex based rights. Labour will get there, but this election is so close that Labour not being prepared for the question puts the left winning the election at risk.
I think Labour lost their chance of re-election with the last half-arsed budget. They have lost control of the narrative. The average voter is hurting and all Labour is offering is band-aid fixes. Hipkins either doesn't have the balls to rein in the price gouging monopolists and tax dodgers, or he is just a useless neoliberal who doesn't wanna do shit.
Labour needed to demonstrate to the public that they were serious about the cost of living, housing, and crime. And somehow turn the page from the painful Covid lockdowns. But they haven't had a real circuit breaker and the people want change.
I don't particularly disagree with what you are saying about Hipkins' Labour, but it's an own goal to give up at this point.
Talbot Mills has NZF at 5.4%, that's close the threshold. We should be fighting with everything we've got, because that's not that many votes to swing back to Labour to put the left back in the game.
The Greens have been known to pick up an extra seat on the Specials, it's why they have campaigned overseas (don't know what they're doing this year, but I'm sure they've love some help in Aus). 😛
I don't have a good 'feel' for whether NZF will get over the threshold or not. (I'd prefer 'not', I don't have a lot of time for Winston First). Historically, NZF have been more likely to under-poll and deliver a slightly higher result on election day.
But, I seriously doubt whether there are many, if any, 'soft' votes there that Labour can claw back. He's been deliberately targeting the anti-mandate-mob, cleverly tapping into the pain that many people experienced during the lockdowns. To those people, Labour is the demonic party which caused the pain – they may sit the election out, but it will be a cold day in hell before they vote Labour in 2023.
Labour has a better chance of targeting soft-National votes (the maligned 'centre' voter).
It looks like he is just in a down market, rat infested ( but trendy ) fleapit of an Auckland cafe. Getting down with the street, yoh.
PS. Want to solve the productivity problem in NZ ? Close down 2/3rds of the cafes like they intend to do with toxic vape shops and send everybody in them, bored arsesitters and so called cafe "professionals, give me a fucking break !, out into the real world to do some proper work producing something or curing and caring for those who need it. Hell we could turn the balance of payments around just with the lack of coffee imported.
"In 2021, New Zealand imported $84.8M in Coffee, mainly from Switzerland ($15.6M), Brazil ($10.6M), Colombia ($8.16M), Australia ($6.86M), and Papua New Guinea ($5.49M)."
That's at about $8 a kg. So, say 10 million kg. at 120-140 cups per kg. That's 1,300,000,000 cups. NZ has 3 million coffee drinkers? They would drink 433 cups each. At $5 a cup, that's $2165 each coffee drinker on average. Gross expenditure on coffee in a cup- up to $6,500,000,000.
Adrian, you have grounds for #5. You deserve a coffee break.
'He also talked about fixing the rental market, getting capital to good community housing providers, and looking at a different way of managing infrastructure development.
"In a country the size of New Zealand, to have a housing crisis like we have is really not acceptable," Luxon said.-Stuff.
As if his roll backs of Lab policy that have dampened the ludicrous flipping market,and given FHB better opportunities and his other announced policies are in anyway going to alleviate this…crisis.
But, but, but when you speak with forked tongue you can say different and contradictory things – first to wave a snow job over the concept of housing so it sounds real, while the other fork speaks meaningfully to the 'entrepreneurs' and speculators.
The Act Party says it saw no need to disclose that one of its candidates was censured by the Real Estate Authority. When I called him, he acknowledged he'd been the subject of four formal complaints, one resulting in a censure. My article at @NewsroomNZ($)
Act MP-in-waiting did not publicly disclose censure over real estate deal: ‘As a real estate agent, Zane Cozens faced complaints of pressuring elderly home-owners to sell their homes for less than they wanted to.’
Why doesn't Fisiani have the brain cells to realise that a link to their Stats showing the volume of volunteers is needed to back up their claim. Could it be they're just trolling and begging for a ban. Just asking questions?
Fishiani/Fizziani is back, what may I ask old chap is your basis for saying “Why is is it that there are are so few Labour volunteers this time?” it may be illuminating for other readers…
don't do polling. I just spoke to them and confirmed they have nothing to do with it. Work on our bullshit nerves people, when they go off, believe them
The development of the code is in recognition of the fact that reporting of polls can have an impact on how people vote.
Inaccurate polls or polls that are reported inaccurately can impact on voting attitudes and behaviours and thus influence the democratic process.
All members of the polling and media communities must treat polling responsibly. Reliable polls, rather than informal surveys, require a high degree of rigour. These guidelines are designed to ensure that rigour is understood and applied.
Here's their membership directory but honestly these people could be anyone and we have zero idea what tests RANZ do to ensure their members comply with their guideline code. If indeed any test exists at all.
Open access notables Why Misinformation Must Not Be Ignored, Ecker et al., American Psychologist:Recent academic debate has seen the emergence of the claim that misinformation is not a significant societal problem. We argue that the arguments used to support this minimizing position are flawed, particularly if interpreted (e.g., by policymakers or the public) as suggesting ...
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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 ...
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. ...
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour is pleased to see Pharmac continue to increase availability of medicines for Kiwis with the government’s largest ever investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the government,” says Mr Seymour. “When this government assumed ...
Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora e mua - Those who lead give sight to those who follow, those who follow give life to those who lead. Māori recipients in the New Year 2025 Honours list show comprehensive dedication to improving communities across the motu that ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is wishing all New Zealanders a great holiday season as Kiwis prepare for gatherings with friends and families to see in the New Year. It is a great time of year to remind everyone to stay fire safe over the summer. “I know ...
From 1 January 2025, first-time tertiary learners will have access to a new Fees Free entitlement of up to $12,000 for their final year of provider-based study or final two years of work-based learning, Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Targeting funding to the final year of study ...
“As we head into one of the busiest times of the year for Police, and family violence and sexual violence response services, it’s a good time to remind everyone what to do if they experience violence or are worried about others,” Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence ...
Kiwis planning a swim or heading out on a boat this summer should remember to stop and think about water safety, Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop and ACC and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “New Zealand’s beaches, lakes and rivers are some of the most beautiful in the ...
The Government is urging Kiwis to drive safely this summer and reminding motorists that Police will be out in force to enforce the road rules, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“This time of year can be stressful and result in poor decision-making on our roads. Whether you are travelling to see ...
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 ...
An $80 million subantarctic pest eradication project is being backed by a high-profile conservation charity targeting wealthy individuals.Since it was established in 2000, NZ Nature Fund has raised $5 million for project-specific conservation work, including $1.2 million over the past year. Projects, often managed by the Department of Conservation (DoC), ...
Opinion: When it was first published in 2016, JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy was hailed by Britain’s Sunday Times as “the political book of the year”. The Independent described it as “an insight into Trump and Brexit”.Hillbilly Elegy is an autobiographical account of Vance’s life, growing up in a poor, white ...
Sport is a place where ‘real’ fans are often assumed to be men. Global research tells us that female fans of live men’s sport often face misogynistic and homophobic environments that include swearing, drunkenness and yelling negative comments and abuse at opponents and referees. In men’s sport, a quick skim through ...
Summer reissue: Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.A famous poet once said to ...
Summer reissue: Alex Casey talks a stroll through headlines detailing hundreds of beached kiwifruit, dozens of mailbox sausages and one giant mystery ham. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up ...
Summer reissue: Hera Lindsay Bird on her Bildungsroman.The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.I would never have gone to Germany if it wasn’t ...
Summer reissue: When we insert ourselves into the lives of animals, we become complicit in their fates.The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.Before ...
Summer reissue: With specialist mental health services in ‘chaos’, people who need help end up in destructive cycles and prison. Experts say there are solutions, but is political will and leadership lacking? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of ...
By Cheerieann Wilson in Suva Fiji’s Office of the President has confirmed that the Tribunal’s report on allegations of misconduct against suspended Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde does not need to be made public at this stage. The tribunal, chaired by Justice Anare Tuilevuka with Justices Chaitanya Lakshman and ...
By Anish Chand in Suva Virgin Australia has confirmed a “serious security incident” with its flight crew members who were in Fiji on New Year’s Day. Virgin Australia’s chief operating officer Stuart Aggs said the incident took place on Tuesday night – New Year’s Eve The crew members were in ...
Pacific Media Watch The New York-based global media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned a decision by the Palestinian Authority to suspend Al Jazeera’s operations in the West Bank and called for it to be reversed “immediately”. “Governments resort to censoring news outlets when they have something to hide,” ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk An emergency 231 million euro (NZ$428 million) French aid package for New Caledonia has been reduced by one third because of the French Pacific territory’s current political crisis. The initial French package was endorsed in early December 2024, in an 11th-hour ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Researcher, Historian, Australian Catholic University Stone statue of Saint Isidore of Seville at the National Library of Spain.WH_Pics/Shutterstock In a world where information flows freely, it’s easy to forget that, for centuries, knowledge was much harder to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Swee-Hoon Chuah, Professor of Behavioural Economics, Tasmanian Behavioural Lab, University of Tasmania Shutterstock Chances are that the end of the year has made you assess some of your 2024 New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps you, like us, bought a home spin bike ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Fuller, Clinical Trials Director, Department of Endocrinology, RPA Hospital, University of Sydney Allgo/Unsplash As we enter a new year armed with resolutions to improve our lives, there’s a good chance we’ll also be carrying something less helpful: extra kilos. At ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University ijimino, Shutterstock Parasite, zombie, leech – these words are often used to describe people in unkind ways. Many of us recoil when ticks, tapeworms, fleas, ...
Summer reissue: As tens of thousands showed their support for the hīkoi to parliament, the organisers were busy behind the scenes ensuring things run smoothly. For many, this was their first time leading a kaupapa of this scale – and it wasn’t all easy.The Spinoff needs to double the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rod McNaughton, Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Startups have always been at the forefront of innovation. But factors such as artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability and decentralisation are set to reshape industries in 2025. Businesses are defined as startups ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Hazel, Associate Professor, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide Shutterstock According to Britannica, “art” can be described as something “consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination” – whereas Wikipedia defines it more narrowly as a ...
Summer reissue: Married at First Sight superfan Tara Ward charges down the aisle to meet this season’s brightest star.It is a Thursday afternoon, and I am staring deep into Lucinda Light’s eyes. It feels like my own personal version of the eye gazing task on Married At First Sight ...
Comment: Some people make long lists of things they want to do. When my partner Solly and I decided we wanted to get married, just five days before I flew out on tour with the Black Ferns and he flew out to play for Biarritz, I said, ‘well, how many ...
Opinion: I recently had a wonderful meal with Bariz Shah and his wife Saba, together with their two pre-school children. I had to admit that I hadn’t read Bariz’s book Beyond Hope yet, but after talking about their life over dinner, I knew I had to read it.Imagine arriving in Auckland ...
Summer reissue: It’s a quarter of a century since the nation was stopped in its tracks by a dog saying the word ‘bugger’. This is the complete history of Buggermania – the ad, the controversy, and the enduring legacy. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we ...
Summer reissue: David Hill is in his ninth decade. In a touching tribute to his late friend, he challenges some myths about ‘old farts’. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign ...
Summer reissue: Narrative Muse was awarded $500,000 to boost sales of New Zealand books. Three years later, industry insiders report that it has had little, if any, impact. What went wrong? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. ...
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Brought to this country by his German Jewish refugee parents in 1938, Hirsh said his membership of a minority gave him special sensitivity to race issues. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Lomb, Honorary Professor, Centre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland The totally eclipsed Moon on 26 May 2021.Geoffrey Wyatt, Powerhouse Museum, CC BY In addition to the annual parade of star pictures or constellations passing above our heads each night, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Peden, NHMRC Research Fellow, School of Population Health & co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW Sydney Wanderlust Media/Shutterstock It’s the morning after a big night and you’re feeling the effects of too much alcohol. So it can be ...
Summer reissue: If you thought jigsaw puzzles were meant to be relaxing, think again. Tara Ward lifts the lid on one of the Masters Games’ most intense and demanding events.The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please ...
Summer reissue: The rankers become the ranked: Hera Lindsay Bird tackles the most meta ranking of them all. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today. ...
Opinion: I got this book as holiday reading (I know, what a nerd!) but read it straight away. Although David Runciman is a professor, he also does popular podcasts and this is very accessible. It wanders through an eclectic bunch of thinkers who share a goal of “liberating our political ...
Summer reissue: Mina Foley was a formidable talent dogged by wild rumours about her mental breakdown. What is the truth? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a ...
For the eighth year in a row, The Spinoff asked a hand-selected group of experts for their most outlandish political prophecy. And for the eighth year in a row, they did not disappoint. Madeleine Chapman (editor, The Spinoff)Winston Peters will realise just how bad it feels to hand over ...
Mukpuddy co-founder Ryan Cooper tells Alex Casey about bringing Badjelly to a whole new generation of New Zealand kids. They conjured Badjelly back with a simple tweet. It was sometime in 2018 when Ryan Cooper’s co-founder of Mukpuddy animation studios Alex Leighton was sketching a witch, and wondered aloud if ...
A grim poll for Labour but "It shows the results aren’t yet baked in: around one-in-five voters are undecided or ‘’soft’’ in their voting intention."
National 36%
Labour 26%
Green 12%
ACT 11%
NZ First 6%
Te Pāti Māori 3%
https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/politics/350068072/labour-slumps-new-poll-low-numbers-offer-some-comfort
I am picking the the turn out this election will collapse, I think we'll be lucky to get two thirds of voters to the polls on election day. I am worried the 20% undecided vote will simply not bother.
A low turnout typically favours the Right. The shift in 50+ voters from L/G to NACT should give some concern (https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-05-09-2023/#comment-1967058).
I think the perception that Labour is soft on crime is a big factor.
Certainly the obvious impact of violent burglary (ram raids etc) in local communities is very evident – and has a huge impact on the public perception of the crime rate.
The new Labour policies to address this, are seen as 'too little, too late' (as in, why didn't you introduce them 2 years ago).
I just got very meh, about hipkins when he went and dud the stupid gst off food policy, no one rates it it made me wonder if he's bright enough for the job tbh
No that GST policy is in Aus and does make a difference.
Chris Hipkins is clever and practical. He has degrees in politics and criminology, and has worked in the private and public spheres. He believes in social justice.
His 5 point plan for NZ is far more cohesive than anything offered by National Act so far.
20% say they have not decided. We are still in this fight in spite of their money
In 2017 I said "It is not over 'till the fat lady sings" That is still true.
So you believe the NZ supermart duopoly will pass the gst reduction on to consumers for longer than 2 weeks?
Yes otherwise they will be in the shit big time ~
Agreed- not only is the GST off F&V not targetted it will overwhelmingly accrue to the rich at the expense of the poor. Rich buy a lot of fruit and veges, poor do not. Worst panic policy ever.
Like us the poor will benefit from the GST off frozen/fresh veg as well as having a Grocery Commissioner.
I think it will be a long time before we benefit from extra EV stations or 13roads or a great walk or an Ombudsman for disasters and floods.
There is a difference between wishes and needs.
Mmmm it's 47-41 without Winston.
If he slips to 4.9 (which is roughly his average anyway) and let's face it anybody from the Left shouldn't be going near NZF given they have refused to work with Labour, then it is still all to play for.
I like it ! Keep up the Positive. and the Fight.
Yes Darien Fenton's list of worker protections implemented under this government is reason enough to protect what we have.
100% Ad.
Winston First will be 8-9%
Weirdly the more Labour goes down the more loyal my vote is towards them.
I tend to vote labour when they're weak, the greens when labour is strong.
But most likely it's greens this time, sick of the same, bit scared of the greens but fuckit things gotta change
it's not like the Greens would be running the show either. Time to give them some more power and see what they do. Labour will still have the PM*, appoint ministers, and run caucus.
*although why not do a Winston and have Shaw as PM 😁
Shaw impresses me everytime I see him ,
I like what he does a lot, and this year I'm really starting to see him as PM material. Pity we have the kind of system that we do that means this is unlikely. Maybe we're better off with him as Climate Minister.
That is more like it Ad….keep it up.
Given the lack of people engaging on the Standard . Labour supporters have given up.usually around election time the posts are in the hundreds now in the 10's. Is their another forum ?
Usually around election time, posts will still just have 10s of comments per post. However this year we are short of people writing posts. There are only one every day at best outside of OpenMike/Daily Review.
This is pretty obvious when you look at the archives around previous election times. If you have 10 Posts in a day, then you’ll get a one that heads to or over 100 comments. Most get less than 20-30 comments.
Don’t know about anyone else, but I’m far too busy working on projects I’m employed to produce on. Plus I kind of ran out of new things to say on politics over the last 15 years on the site, and I hate repeating myself.
Lprent Robert Reich has some new post's on how the oligarchs maintan power.
My lack of engagement these days has more to do with tiring of a certain moderator than anything else.
It's like trying to negotiate with a Pyongyang tram conductor.
Lol
Bear in mind trickledown a lot of those comments in the past came from right wing trolls who used to disrupt the discourse until the mods decided to do something about it. They have all disappeared now. Ten years ago the blogosphere was still a novelty. I think it has worn off since then.
I’m fully retired and am physically limited due to osteo-arthritis so have the time to dilly dally around The Standard. 😉
Sorry to hear that and we'll done for posting.
Some one is doing OK – I just caught up with the news that Indian airlines have announced orders for a record 500(!) airliners at the June Paris Airshow.
https://www.flightglobal.com/orders-and-deliveries/paris-air-show-order-tracker-indigo-deal-and-air-india-confirmation-lead-show-business/153806.article
I am puzzled about all this fits into any sort of climate change plan, but then everyone I know seems to have gone overseas this year so I guess no one is really that worried.
I'm waiting for some kind of time travel or sustainable magic carpet, plus some money of course, before I venture abroad again.
I don't know which of these is going to be more unobtainable.
Talk about hydrogen Air NZ planes and being a provider on the Radio. I missed the rest as the lawn man arrived. lol I rushed round to shut out the fumes and missed the actual item.
Green hydrogen is a joke it's green wash the amount of energy to break the H20 is humongous.
Might be the last mass exit for a while, we went this year and shit Europe is expensive. Which tallies with Womens Footy WC visitors here who said they loved how much cheaper it was than where they came from. Dont believe the bullshit, yes things are dearer here than they were 4 years ago but nowhere near over there.
An addendum to above, we visited Europe in 2018, to visit children and older rellies about to slip off the perch, so we have a good comparison, and a rough guess would be almost twice the price as 5 years ago.
I was recently in France and England and agree it's very expensive, way more than NZ. The National art gallery and British Museum are both excellent and free. Also the flying is an emissions nightmare.
Central Asia (Uzbekistan and the other stans) were great , closer and more affordable.
Yes, Adrian I agree.
Last time I went I heeded the advice of my Dr who said when you are in the UK just think of the GBP as NZ$ and don't do any conversions and so you don't get taken aback by the prices.
Cauliflower @ $13 on the Gold Coast.
I have spent some time in Europe I have family there .It can be dear especially in tourist hotshots but else where very cheap clothing shoes and food except in winter.
Humans are exceptional – we can cook an entire planet! BAU (growth) simply must continue, including travel around spaceship Earth – how else to pump up profits?
Constrained growth? No no NO! Growth is the goose that lays golden eggs, and you can never have too much gold – gold is good, and our goose is cooked.
Double that when you add IndiGo.
I'd attribute this to the increasing size of the middle class in India – with the consequent demand for overseas tourism.
I think you are right Belladonna, Just got back from Vietnam and Thailand, and lots of Russian tourists, but especially noticeable was the large numbers of Indian visitors and Indigo planes.
Na it's the cows, it certainly isn't pointless tourism causing problems
The most 'Greenie' family I know (daily cycle commuters, don't own a car, compost and vege garden, keep chickens, flexitarian, staunch GP voters) – have just come back from an extended-family (3 generations) – round-the-world trip to see family and friends in multiple countries.
And are planning for overseas family to visit them this summer.
What climate crisis…..
Oh I'm sure the offset it by destroying a farming community, so it's all gooood
Yep. Personal air travel will be just as resistant as farming to any move that tries to limit it. Perhaps more so. Just got my passport (that expired 7 years ago) renewed. Not being able to afford something (or only rarely afford it) is a good deterrent – but the deterrence is not equally distributed.
One produces nothing useful, one feeds us .
I've noticed the same trend; most of our English friends have flown back to the UK to see relatives (perfectly understandable, in view of their parents being elderly) but it doesn't do much for the climate.
Then there are the two others who are on a jaunt to Spain and Portugal to see the sights.
They'll be in for an interesting time as Spain's water reservoirs are said to be running dry, and much of Europe has been under drought for months. To add to the fun, Greece and Turkey have recently copped massive floods.
I won’t be booking a riverboat cruise on the Danube for the foreseeable future.
I've been thinking and thinking about this over the last few days.
Posie Parker/KJK Minshull comes to NZ to attend/participate in the trial of the tomato sauce thrower.
As we know the last time she came here the response from the Labour politicans was less than stellar with several, Woods/Hipkins, seemingly making comments off the cuff or without the benefit of a briefing that set out the issues (as opposed to a partisan view of the issues)
This was followed up by Hipkins stumbling and bumbling when asked the question 'What is a woman?' by Sean Plunket. He was not aware of the issues and even had to be prompted about what was happening in the UK and Keir Starmer's inane response.
Some women I know are tentatively making their way to Labour.
This is not about the issues.
My worry is that Hipkins will be as poorly briefed as he was last time, make himself and the party look silly and in doing so make light of the women's rights issues around participation in sport etc etc.
Without a grip on the issues including that it cannot/should not be mocked by referring to toilets when you are talking about the votes of women, I fear he may turn around the tentative steps by many women back to the left. Many would not vote for The Greens because of their stance on Gender politics/issue and what may happen is that they may not vote at all.
…..And then the ideas in this column by Verity Johnson come true and the pleas are ignored.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/300963898/please-you-still-have-to-vote
My view is that if PM Hipkins gives a fair go to the concerns of women, if asked, is briefed on the entirety of the issues, then the tentative steps of many women back to Labour may mean they find themselves in the polling booths on Election day voting Labour or a party from the left, rather than abstaining.
As I said my biggest fear, and this is really so, is that Hipkins makes a hash of this, is not properly briefed and denies women the verity, to coin a phrase, of their concerns. This then turns off many, who then don't vote at all.
I don't want to debate the issues, this plea is solely about being on top of the issues ie properly briefed and doing justice to the valid concerns that exist.
Labour cannot afford to lose one single vote this election especially if this was a vote within its grasp.
My immediate response to Hipkins in reply to Plinkett was that he had been over briefed. Only from one side of the issues.
So fully aware of the metaphorical political land mine in answering that question. If only he had the courage to give an authentic answer, even with a caveat including those who weren't born female.
Authenticity shines when we come across it nowadays. From art, music (witness Anthony Oliver's Rich men north of Richmond and the reactions to it) through to politics. My reckons have it that the instagramm/tik tok influence of posting the highlights or best bits of life reeks of insincerity.
I think he was underprepared (not sure about how he was briefed). We all knew the question was coming, so why didn't they?
I'm not seeing anything that suggests to me Labour are prepared for this. Given that, what else can we do? I think talking, a lot, about the damage that a Nact or Nact/NZF would do to women compared to a L/G/TPM government, is important.
Yes, there are serious issues around women's sexed based rights. Those will be easier to solve under a centre left government, because activism is easier then. We also need to convince the liberals making policy to adopt progressive approaches. Nact/NZF will bring in regressive, reactionary ones, that won't be good for women.
Do we want gender conformity enforced? Because that's what the right will do. Also, punitive welfare will hit low income women hard as will the increased housing crisis. Expect cuts to lots of services that women rely on, and I would guess cuts to funding too.
Yes I am talking and raising the spectre of the right but it will be made much more difficult if we have Hipkins, overly or inadequately briefed, giving a poor answer or a 'toilet' answer. If so all the nose holding, tentative steps back and possible voting for the Left won't work if once again he misses the point.
I now have no links to Labour and I guess my hope is that someone on here with links can get the message through to be careful, be properly briefed when/if asked for comment when Posie Parker/KJ Minshull arrives for the court case.
I think you're repeating yourself there. My point was that at this stage of the electoral cycle, the kind of philosophical and real politik shift we would prefer is unlikely to happen. I agree it would be great if Labour insiders worked on this, and I assume they in fact are but are met with too much resistance.
That change will happen over time, just like it did in the UK. From persistence and progressive framing. The big risk right now is that KJK's visit will be used by the likes of Peters, ACT, and the fringe parties to nobble the election. Peters and KJK are two peas from the same pod, both opportunistic populists who are playing dangerous power games. Irrespective of the useful things that both do, they are hugely problematic at this point because populist, reactionary politics undermines democracy.
NZF don't even have any policies. Just a list of talking points. If they get in again, expect the damage to NZ to be significant. It will be the worst of NACT plus Peters' active fomenting of Trumpian pol in NZ.
The only solution to that that I can see in the next five weeks is to 1) campaign hard in whatever way we can for a L/G/TPM government and 2) be prepared for the shit that might eventuate with KJK's visit (we might get really lucky and it's a damp squib).
Hipkins stumbling and bumbling when asked the question 'What is a woman?' and that being a seminal moment in anyone's life is bizarre.
Of course there is no 'right' answer.
Maybe before he went out that day Hipkins' advisers should have furnished him a list of possible answers just in case the question came up.
Such as, if asked "What is a woman": "One day you'll find out, good luck with your research."
Yep. The question is designed to be problematic. But all "what is a …" questions are inherently problematic. How do you decide what the essential versus the accidental characteristics of a thing actually are? What rules should govern the making of this distinction? And why?
Wearing a dress is pretty clearly an accidental property of being a woman – and so on. It gets trickier as you keep going. If you can't decide what is essential and what is accidental, is the thing really a 'thing', or just a notional thing, a convenient name for an abstract idea? But that doesn't feel right either – our day to day understanding dislikes such a dissolving of things into just names. It's a murky area best left to incomprehensibly clever people working in philosophy departments. I have no clue.
I think your answer is an excellent one if the questioner is a young, male, right-wing culture warrior.
What is a woman? is a very easy question to answer. Adult human female.
Hipkins' problem is that he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. The hard place is the gender identity ideologists who actively harm people and politics who don't adhere to their world view absolutely. The rock is the fact that most people don't believe that humans can change sex, and they think males in women's sports is unfair and males in women's spaces is unsafe.
Fortunately most people also want trans people to be ok. Which means there is an open door to talking both/and in terms of trans people and women's sex based rights. Labour will get there, but this election is so close that Labour not being prepared for the question puts the left winning the election at risk.
A woman is a female without a penis.
'You're a very naughty boy…' from the Life of Brian.
I think Labour lost their chance of re-election with the last half-arsed budget. They have lost control of the narrative. The average voter is hurting and all Labour is offering is band-aid fixes. Hipkins either doesn't have the balls to rein in the price gouging monopolists and tax dodgers, or he is just a useless neoliberal who doesn't wanna do shit.
Labour needed to demonstrate to the public that they were serious about the cost of living, housing, and crime. And somehow turn the page from the painful Covid lockdowns. But they haven't had a real circuit breaker and the people want change.
The left coalition is a tough sell from now on.
I don't particularly disagree with what you are saying about Hipkins' Labour, but it's an own goal to give up at this point.
Talbot Mills has NZF at 5.4%, that's close the threshold. We should be fighting with everything we've got, because that's not that many votes to swing back to Labour to put the left back in the game.
Numbers here
https://twitter.com/120Aotearoa/status/1699629382699295004
and
I haven't given up, but not much I can do from here in Australia
The Greens have been known to pick up an extra seat on the Specials, it's why they have campaigned overseas (don't know what they're doing this year, but I'm sure they've love some help in Aus). 😛
I don't have a good 'feel' for whether NZF will get over the threshold or not. (I'd prefer 'not', I don't have a lot of time for Winston First). Historically, NZF have been more likely to under-poll and deliver a slightly higher result on election day.
But, I seriously doubt whether there are many, if any, 'soft' votes there that Labour can claw back. He's been deliberately targeting the anti-mandate-mob, cleverly tapping into the pain that many people experienced during the lockdowns. To those people, Labour is the demonic party which caused the pain – they may sit the election out, but it will be a cold day in hell before they vote Labour in 2023.
Labour has a better chance of targeting soft-National votes (the maligned 'centre' voter).
Pretty good summation there.
Tinkering around with half arsed 'solutions'…written off as election bribes.
Whoever is responsible for Labour's re-election strategy is about as competent as AB coach…'fizzer' Foster.Hopeless!
Baldrick in a hairnet, might baffle even a few Natzo supporters…
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2023/09/07/political-caption-competition-2064/
It looks like he is just in a down market, rat infested ( but trendy ) fleapit of an Auckland cafe. Getting down with the street, yoh.
PS. Want to solve the productivity problem in NZ ? Close down 2/3rds of the cafes like they intend to do with toxic vape shops and send everybody in them, bored arsesitters and so called cafe "professionals, give me a fucking break !, out into the real world to do some proper work producing something or curing and caring for those who need it. Hell we could turn the balance of payments around just with the lack of coffee imported.
Much better to shut down all the pubs with their associated pokie machines.
That too.
How much coffee does NZ import?
"In 2021, New Zealand imported $84.8M in Coffee, mainly from Switzerland ($15.6M), Brazil ($10.6M), Colombia ($8.16M), Australia ($6.86M), and Papua New Guinea ($5.49M)."
That's at about $8 a kg. So, say 10 million kg. at 120-140 cups per kg. That's 1,300,000,000 cups. NZ has 3 million coffee drinkers? They would drink 433 cups each. At $5 a cup, that's $2165 each coffee drinker on average. Gross expenditure on coffee in a cup- up to $6,500,000,000.
Adrian, you have grounds for #5. You deserve a coffee break.
What makes you think that people would stop drinking (and therefore importing) coffee, just because 2/3 of the cafes were closed by the gautleiter?
Luxon…presumeably with a straight …face..
'He also talked about fixing the rental market, getting capital to good community housing providers, and looking at a different way of managing infrastructure development.
"In a country the size of New Zealand, to have a housing crisis like we have is really not acceptable," Luxon said.-Stuff.
As if his roll backs of Lab policy that have dampened the ludicrous flipping market,and given FHB better opportunities and his other announced policies are in anyway going to alleviate this…crisis.
But, but, but when you speak with forked tongue you can say different and contradictory things – first to wave a snow job over the concept of housing so it sounds real, while the other fork speaks meaningfully to the 'entrepreneurs' and speculators.
National – working in the service of evil since forever
Re Photo of Luxon in the hairnet, him indoors says,
"The things I have to do for Publicity, take the 'photo "
I said "Trying too hard to be what he is not".
Paywalled but the lede says it all about ACT, the characters it attracts, and their shitty selection processes.
.
@JonoMilne
The Act Party says it saw no need to disclose that one of its candidates was censured by the Real Estate Authority. When I called him, he acknowledged he'd been the subject of four formal complaints, one resulting in a censure. My article at
@NewsroomNZ($)
https://twitter.com/JonoMilne/status/1699566785857773596
Act MP-in-waiting did not publicly disclose censure over real estate deal: ‘As a real estate agent, Zane Cozens faced complaints of pressuring elderly home-owners to sell their homes for less than they wanted to.’
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pro/act-mp-in-waiting-did-not-publicly-disclose-censure-over-real-estate-deal
Why is is it that there are are so few Labour volunteers this time?
Why doesn't Fisiani have the brain cells to realise that a link to their Stats showing the volume of volunteers is needed to back up their claim. Could it be they're just trolling and begging for a ban. Just asking questions?
Fishiani/Fizziani is back, what may I ask old chap is your basis for saying “Why is is it that there are are so few Labour volunteers this time?” it may be illuminating for other readers…
Saw this on Twitter today. As true as the Taxpayer Union?:
CTU Poll:
Labour 36
National 28
Act 11
Greens 18
TMP 4.8
NZF 4.6
Preferred PM
Hipkins 40
Luxon 18
Symour 3
Ardern 12.
[it’s fake. Please don’t post like this here again without linking. Here’s the fact check (text below for those that can’t see twitter). https://twitter.com/patbrittenden/status/1699576960907882731 – weka]
Rose-coloured glasses…..
image in tweet
https://twitter.com/patbrittenden/status/1699576960907882731
It's still a good exercise in showing how polling is overly relied upon for those who wish to push a particular narrative.
From the Research Association's Political Polling Code:
Here's their membership directory but honestly these people could be anyone and we have zero idea what tests RANZ do to ensure their members comply with their guideline code. If indeed any test exists at all.