Matthew Blomfield started defamation proceedings against Cameron Slater in 2012 after a series of posts (thirteen) on Whale Oil attacking Blomfield. It finally goes to trial on Monday after Slater ran out of legal options to avoid facing the claims against him.
If Blomfield is successful there is a real possibility that Whale Oil be fucked.
Some of Slaters partners in grime may be getting a bit nervous too.
I am particularly interested to see whether the trial gets into disclosing whether the campaign against Blomfield was a paid for hit job (Dirty Politics suggested that is what happened in other campaigns on Whale Oil) , or whether it was just out of control nasties. I think it was quite possibly both.
Sad ?
His wife is a big part of his odious blog. You would have thought his wife left him long ago when he was exposed as having an affair with another woman. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10813552
‘The affair between Slater and Debbie Brown was revealed in an Auckland District Court judgment…’
How many NZ family’s has Slater had compassion on?
This is not a case of sporting nasty’s aka McEnroe,… this is a bastard who supported the whole low wage, ECA, poverty lifestyle of the National party under John Key.
You think we are going to get all sentimental on a subversive bastard like that?
All the more reason to have contempt, – couldnt better daddys shoes so jumps on the electronic bandwagon and like the usual online trolls – uses anonymity and dis-associative behavior to achieve his end goals.
Any coward can do that.
It takes guts to stand in front of a crowd and get booed and come back into the ring- something that he obviously didn’t have to begin with.
Compassion for his children has nothing to do with how we feel about their father. Why would any of us lower our own moral expectations to match a sad nasty prick like that?
It should also be noted that Felix Geiringer is representing Blomfield now, so things may well get interesting.
In case some here don’t know. Felix is a Wellington based barrister and solicitor who is also Nicky Hager’s lawyer and took his cases against the police etc over their raid on Hager home. So he is well versed in Slater and Dirty Politics etc. LOL.
—————————-
A diversion.
For oldie Wellington females such as myself, Felix’s parents were well known as leading doctors here in Wellington in supporting women’s health including rights to contraception, sexual health etc starting back in the 1960s onwards – Dr Erich Geiringer and Dr Carol Shand.
Dr Carol Shand is still a practicing part-time GP in Wellington now in her ’80s – also with an interesting back story as her father was Tom Shand, “the staunchly right-wing and red-baiting National cabinet minister who, from the mid-50s till his death in 1969, hustled New Zealand along the path of material progress and modernisation.” Felix’s political do not follow those of the current incarnation of his maternal grandfather’s Party! Actually a very nice guy.
Not only in supporting women’s health, but they also had some sensible and progressive ideas on treatment of drug addiction etc.
Incidently, RNZ Sunday: Johann Hari and Kyle MacDonald this morning
Thanks for that. Haven’t been listening to RNZ Sunday this morning as finally decided it was time to do some housekeeping – spring is here and winter hybernation can no longer be used as an excuse!
Will listen to the recordings later as definitely an area of interest to me. Don’t know Kyle personally but he was a professional associate of a long term member of my wider whanau who died a couple of years ago.
What the above story, that appeared in Stuff.co.nz this morning, didn’t tell us, is that Solid Energy, (in truth the private foreign banking investors involved), were bailed out by the taxpayer to cover their losses when Solid Energy when bust, to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars.*
Even this wasn’t enough, feeling hard done by, one of these foreign banks, the Japan-based Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, sued the government for even more taxpayer bail out money.
You couldn’t make this stuff up.
But what was briefly mentioned, is that while the protection of native species is grounds for challenging a coal mine, climate change, which may be an even greater tragedy, and may one day even see the remaining members of our species also living in plastic climate controlled environments, is not allowed under current NZ laws to be raised as an objection to coal mining.
What is interesting to note, is that the foreign bankster investors in Solid Energy were all unsecured creditors, but still got $256 million in total out of the taxpayer. Compare this to the zero amount, unsecured tradies will likely get from the Ebert collapse.
Not only were the banksters handsomely bailed out. The divestment and breakup and sell off of Solid Energy’s coal mining operations and coal futures, into private coal companies guarantees coal mining in New Zealand way into the future past 2050.
I dont quite see the where it says the banks got $256 mill in taxpayer bailout.
There was the stste taking on Solid Energy’s $103 million land remediation obligations but that isnt money going to ceditors.
As I can see it the banks converted loans into bonds but they werent paid out either.
There was $155 mill taxpayer injection but that was complicated and only some cash went into company and was likely spent keeping it running.
When you convert bonds ( which require interest to be paid) into shares ( which dont) there isnt really any money transferred.
+100 Jenny, thanks for sharing the link. Such sad reading – so our pathetic RMA and environmental laws screwed a conservation area, have destroyed the only habitat of a native species, destroyed and polluted the river, added million of tons of carbon dioxide to climate change, spied on people, enriched climate change deniers, had our SOE accumulate $400m of debt from which it couldn’t recover, created at least 100m of environmental liability the taxpayers have to pay for and now sounds like the taxpayers needed to bail out the banks hundreds of millions and pay for litigation when the banks expected more corporate welfare?
Mining sounds like a pathological industry – Pike River comes to mind by killing 29 people with little to zero safety in place, as well as this disgusting example.
NZ mining industry seems completely dysfunctional in every way and the government is dysfunctional for supporting mining against the environment again and again.
Maybe not caught up to the ABs but have definitely worked out to nullify, or at the very least, lessen Beaudens influence
Same with Sonny Bill, backlines are now working out what to do with him but thats a good thing for rugby overall, keep the tests tighter will build more interest
Guys (James, Chris73) – you could make this drivel even more irritating if you used a phonetic spelling that sounded like Steve Hansen talking. Worth a try I reckon.
Well AB at the end of the day both teams came to play rugby, the boys dug deep, it was game of two halves and we always believed but in the end the winners were triumphant because they gave 110% for the full 80 minutes and thats the mark of a champion team 🙂
And lets not have these RWNJ’s try to evoke the good old Kiwi bloke bullshit either to try and derail the topic and soften their agenda’s. Almost as tasteless as this :
John Key booed by section of the crowd at NRL Nines on Waitangi Day https://www.tvnz.co.nz/…/john-key-booed-by-section-of-the-crowd-at-nrl-nines-on-w..
John Key booed off the stage at the Big Gay Out – LGBT against the TPPA
Oh,… and if any RWNJ’s try to give a trolls answer about providing links?- copy and paste the whole thing onto your search engine morons, and watch the vid. 6 year olds can do that now.
Then Bathurst this afternoon, and yes ed we are having a BBQ as well.
Its going to be a lovely day.
James
Yep, toss another prawn on the barbie cobber.
As the gas guzzling fossil fueled extravaganza at Bathurst reaches it crescendo on another lovely Aussie Spring day, and the sun breaks through the blue exhaust smoke to shine on the Bathurst Mt Panorama circuit. Off the back of that wonderful good news story, the lucky country can briefly succumb to the hoopla and escape from the reality of another impending hell summer.
SUPERCARS championship leader Shane van Gisberegen is trying to avoid getting caught up in the mystique surrounding the Bathurst 1000, but admits it’s difficult.
The Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver and 2016 Supercars champion will team up with fellow New Zealander Earl Bamber for this weekend’s race.
His best Bathurst 1000 finish was a second in his championship-winning year. “I think people get wound up in the race and the mystique of it and that’s what I’m trying not to do the last few years, but you just can’t help it,” van Gisbergen said.
“It’s such a massive race all your heroes have won there and when you get there, you get pretty excited.”
And in another good news story:
In this country, it seems there is also no such thing as a bad day for Aussie coal mining giant Bathurst Resources, just different kinds of good days.
That last link of yours is really old you know. I have shares in Bathurst and they have been mining Stockton for over a year now in a JV with Talleys. Lucky for them they have Winston Peters in their corner. (Winston and Talleys good buddies)
Winston could hardly stop something that had been agreed, signed up to etc. Are you implying Humma that he is the one responsible for getting this going, or keeping it going at Stockton. That’s not a new mine is it?
Boris and Farage make up quite the brexiting threesome.
In another land and time that lot would probably be tried for treason over the shafting and bs they’ve feed their country. Not that these frontmen care.
They’re louts, pure and simple. They are the British equivalents of the louts and loons of the Trump regime. To compound the horror, Gove and Johnson are, absurdly, routinely touted as “intellectuals”.
Pathological liar endorsed by congress: “The Senate backed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination by 50 votes to 48.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45774174 “Two Republican waverers, Susan Collins and Jeff Flake, finally decided to back the judge.”
He is forever tainted as the liar and a*****e that he is. May it follow him for the rest of his life and – if you’re a believer and I’m not – into the hereafter.
Everyone knows we have to reduce our fossil fuel consumption or the planet is doomed.
Yet banning oil and gas exploration is hysterically presented as a dagger to the heart of business confidence and the reactions to the rising cost of fuel shows how addicted we are are to unsustainable cheap fossil fuels.
We have a neoliberal consensus across both main political parties which leaves us completely paralysed, with a crippling ideological aversion to planning giving our politicians a coward excuse of a way out from grappling with how to transition from trucks and fossil fuels to an electric future.
“This is the latest in a series of Rod Oram’s columns examining key sectors in the Productivity Commission’s final report on New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions economy”. He’s analysing the current govt/business interface.
Also relevant: https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018665317/how-to-achieve-just-transition-to-green-jobs “So how best can the government, unions and the oil and gas sectors reduce emissions without it adversely affecting the workforce and the communities those industries support? Samantha Smith, the director of the Just Transition Center, at the International Trade Union Confederation, talks to Kathryn about how a “just transition” can happen.”
HdPA: “In this week’s Herald Mood of the Boardroom survey, Bridges scores almost as badly as Iain Lees-Galloway and that’s the guy trying to torpedo business with employment law changes that terrify them. Bridges feels like a placeholder leader.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12137332
“That earnest way he answers questions. His always-furrowed brow. His pleading eyes.
It’s like he’s begging you to take him seriously. It’s like he’s learnt his lines. That’s the look of a politician trying to imitate something he doesn’t have. Authenticity.” So, out of all the journos that some here call right-wing, Soper is the only one still lying low, reluctant to pronounce the verdict that the Nat leader’s performance demands.
Andrea Vance: “his media appearances lack weight and authority and he often gets tangled up in word salads. And the harder he tries, the less authentic he appears.” Who would they replace him with? The Nats “need a charismatic figure at the top. The name that keeps cropping up in certain circles is Air NZ boss Christopher Luxon, seen as the ‘next’ John Key.” https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/107633655/bridges-lacks-skills-vital-to-be-pm
Bridges has had all the authenticity media trained out of him. Doesnt help that he comes from a background where truthfulness does matter and yet he wants to lead national party!
Joyce was the opposite but missed out as national wanted a young and fresh person to play the identity politics card against Adern.
I thought the article by Andrea Vance was weak and pointless; it also contained a few Tui statements but not quite of the shock-jock level. Simple space-filling on a quiet Sunday in Spring during the School Holidays.
Fair enough. Where I’ve been coming from is documenting a decisive shift in media opinion against Bridges (mostly in the past week). Sort of like how weather vane swings around in response to a change of wind direction. But if you’re significantly younger than me you won’t know what I’m talking about – they were once a common sight on house roofs but can’t recall seeing one for yonks…
An astute observation D.F. I haven’t spotted one for yonks either. They were so useful. Pop your head out the window and check your neighbour’s wind vane before venturing out of doors.
Never seen a weathervane in my life; I believe they’re quite common in certain places in Europe, especially on farm houses 😉
MSM are very useful for manufacturing consent or discontent, especially if they believe they have or hold the power. What better way to confirm their self-belief than to predict the demise of a political ‘leader’ and a coup, which often appears to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, MSM smell blood because somebody is whispering into their ears that the hungry wolves have woken up. The usual suspects working for MSM will do everything to bask in the glory of their own self-importance once Simon has been replaced or rolled; I’ve got my bucket ready …
Additionally, re-classifying synthetic cannabis as a class A drug will see those convicted receive higher sentences, which won’t do Andrew Little any favours reducing prison numbers.
I do apologise, but I’ll pass for two reasons: 1) I generally avoid Damien Grant and the headline puts me off even more (yes, I know, the headline was not written by Mr Grant) and 2) I’d really like to write a Post for TS (on something different) and it’s already quite late and I’m a very slow writer.
I see some people don’t like the Eco Maori Effect one person takes my word’s and twisted it Clayton that is. I see he has close links to my arch nemesis figure .
My point on Kiwi Values is I don’t want to see powerful wealthy classes of people coming here and they will be in increasing numbers with what is happening around Papatuanuku at the minute .
Wealthy using there money to shape our laws to suite them bending the people views that it is beneficial to all the people if we sell our state assets to them /privatisation.
That model benefits only the % 00.1 they get the assets cut staff numbers run the asset into the ground take there PROFITS and run next minute our governments have to take the run down asset and pour billion’s back into it to get a first world service out of that asset.
Also we don’t want them manipulating the people to think its ok to have mokopuna starving tangata living under a bridge while they sip there red wine and laugh my accountant just found / LOBBIED a system were I only pay % 00.3 tax on my proft’s .
I don’t want people to think it is ok to clear the land to build there fancy what ever and next minute there actions have caused a precious creature to go extinct .
Ka kite ano link below P.S I fell for it at first but once I seen him attacking the vulnerable I say no more
One positive side of the trump presidency was his disdain of the ‘One World Government’.
Are we free from being sued now?
Do you want your children and grandchildren to grow up in a global socialist “utopia” in which everything about their lives is micromanaged by bureaucrats working for a worldwide system of government instituted by the elite?
Half of these twats either couldn’t understand or deliberately ‘don’t’ want to understand, Cleengreen,… they’ve made their position clear months and years back when Trump won.
All they are relegated to now is snickering like schoolyard brats about paper stuck to a shoe or what colour the tie is that Trump wears…
Soros must be one old frustrated man. If that’s all his multi billion dollar paid media hitmen can come up with I’d be frustrated too. What a waste of life. Deplorable’s?… no,… just Americans who see whats been going on and backed the right horse. After 55 years on from the assassination of JFK , and the United Nations takeover by the globalists ,… this is the sort of thing we can expect. Spoilt brats who cant take a democratic win when it goes against what they want.
Persona non grata in UK journalism after smearing a Guardian freelancer in Nicaragua.
The National Union of Journalists has cancelled its annual Black History Month lecture after its guest speaker this year, Canary editor Kerry-Anne Mendoza, published reports attacking a Guardian freelancer working in Nicaragua as part of a “smear campaign” that led to his deportation.
Goette-Luciak had been covering protests calling for Nicaragua’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, to step down. Hundreds have been killed in a violent government crackdown issued in response, which the NUJ says has also targeted journalists documenting the protests.
Linda Sarsour, one of the organisers of the Women’s March
“This is not just a blow to women. It’s about immigration, refugees, the rights of people of color, voting rights, reproductive rights, Native American rights – this disastrous process and conservative judge represents a rollback in time. It’s what the Republicans have wanted for 20 years. Today I am outraged. I’m exhausted.
Anyone who has dealt with Work and Income or children and young persons services – Oranga Tamariki will get this video instantly. From Chris Hedges aired on RT, so the crowd who have prejudice, can turn away now.
Seems our scummy Tory politicians are in the back pocket of the corporations already. Funny our present government is not doing much to counter this invasion into the lives of poor and working people. Probably has somthing to do with those feeling of middle class superiority.
Firstly, why as the co-leader wasn’t she provided the relevant stats for the party’s policy? Who’s responsible for that, isn’t Shaw the stats man for the Greens? He seemed to have some sort of statistical cover for his own interview according to this.
Secondly didn’t the Greens just about write themselves off, in the last election by their blue green elite element getting stuck into their last female co-leader relating to the welfare area? And i say elite element, in that the majority rank and file Green membership recently overwhelmingly voted for Davidson in a somewhat repudiation of that falling out (rather than that of nearly being thrown in ‘the clink’ after a recent reckless & dangerous episode of self-promotion and public nuisance).
Are there dissatisfied elite Greens, deliberately trying to sink the Green Party??
Very interesting! I’ll try a few guesses (don’t mistake me for someone in the know). First question: Depends if the Green caucus uses a staffer to do that, or they expect MPs to do it themselves.
Second question: I’d be surprised if James was responsible for providing stats. Too busy doing important stuff. Third question: yes (but usage of elite in that context is invalid). Fourth question: (as a long-time elitist Green) no, that’s a wacky notion!
Definitely significant that James & Russel called her interview terrible & a shocker. Could be she’s not finding the transition from activist to parliamentarian easy. The Nation got so consistently tedious I’m amazed it still has a viewer – obviously someone with incredible intestinal fortitude.
It doesn’t matter a damn who is “supposed” to develop the stats surrounding a policy.
She shouldn’t go on air announcing a policy and not be prepared to answer the obvious questions she is going to get. If she is so stupid that she hasn’t made sure she is prepared then she shouldn’t go ahead with the announcement.
If Shaw, or another Green MP, has announced a policy and she is asked about it she is quite entitled to plead a lack of detailed knowledge. When it is her coming up with the policy she is not. It makes both her, quite fairly, look unprepared, as was most definitely the case.
She knew that she had no idea about the policy when she started talking about it. Why didn’t she just shut up?
She looked just like David Cunliffe in the 2014 election debate with Key where Cunliffe couldn’t answer a pretty simple question on the CGT that was at the heart of the campaign. He looked totally unprepared and he was punished for it.
Davidson was even worse. She had no idea about the most obvious first question she was going to get.
I agree she seems to have made herself vulnerable to that sort of criticism. Since I routinely disagree with the leftist Greens, I’m intrigued that one leader of that group is being criticised by a former leader of that group. That’s unprecedented. Perhaps Russel has transcended the Marxism in his past?
Anyway, the bean-counting approach to politics ought not to be regarded as sacrosanct. Plenty of aspiring politicians aren’t bean-counters. Nor is there any political convention in parliament that all MPs have to be. The pathetic tendency to reduce politics to whatever can be funded, and put a dollar amount on policies accordingly, only became normal due to neoliberalism as a political fashion trend.
Russel & James are acting as if neoliberalism is an eternal convention that must be adhered to. Boy, have I got news for them!! It’s fast heading in the direction of Trotsky’s dustbin of history. Russel & James ought to keep up with the play.
Yeah, okay, call me an optimist. 😎 I’m going on the escalation in the calling of this tune that has become evident via the Corbyn/Sanders revival of socialism, supported by a wave of young folk, plus media commentaries of the trend. Not being a socialist myself, I doubt I’m overstating it. Fellow-traveller? Perhaps, depends how much substance kicks in behind the wishful thinking, and how much intelligent design..
I agree about the bean-counter attitude of MSM! The interview with Davidson was typical gotcha-style tactics akin “show me the money”. Of course, it took any attention away from the policy per se. Five days later Shaw gets asked the same question – we have to assume he was (better) prepared – and he only presents some soft numbers and guesstimates, by his own admission, and does not get hounded for it!?
To be precise, Shaw said this about Davidson’s interview: “I’ve had, you know, some shockers in my time as well”.
Ah, thanks for that actually quote, I didn’t see either interview. So it was not a direct criticism by James, just an implication. He’s normally circumspect & diplomatic so it makes sense.
Ardern is running a neoliberal govt while steering somewhat in the direction of socialism. Costing policies in that context is therefore a reasonable expectation. Marama could have said “Hey, I’m a socialist. We do aspiration. When in government we use a finance minister and public service accountants to cost policies. If we get Labour on board with this policy, costing will be done by the govt. We’re not part of their policy-costing process because we’re not part of the coalition – we just support them.”
Equally, Russel Norman could have pointed this out rather than defer to his sense of neoliberal orthodoxy. He’s not stupid. That’s why I’m intrigued that he feels the need to criticise another leftist Green leader. It could mean that he’s shifted so far from his earlier Marxist leaning that he’s verging on centrist but not yet willing to admit it.
Ardern is running a neoliberal govt while steering somewhat in the direction of socialism.
Which is about what can be made to work. Go too far, they’ll be out of power and we’re back to lazy do nothing Tory govts. We should be a lot more appreciative of what we have and work with it while it lasts.
The radical types around here forget that the political spectrum is normally distributed; us moderates represent the large bulk of voters. Piss us off too much and you’re goneburger.
Yes, indeed. That whole Turei thing was misconceived – there’s a huge difference between helping folks who need it and doing what’s required to be a political winner. She didn’t have a clue about it. You can do both (it’s as hard as walking while chewing gum) but she couldn’t figure out how and the Green caucus deferred to her idealism (excepting the two dissenters).
The political problem around representation of beneficiaries is that of how to get traction. There must be a very good reason why they keep refusing to form their own political lobby. There must be a good reason nobody (including, as far as I know, Turei) has campaigned to enter parliament to represent that sector of society. I disagree with the prevalent consensus that nobody ought to discuss these reasons.
Which brings us back to your point. Class analysis is of marginal relevance nowadays but probably fair to say that elections are won & lost in the middle class. If anyone disagrees, I will challenge them to identify any of our elections in our lifetime which break that rule. Labour first got in via the lower class in the thirties, when the depression induced a middle/lower class consensus from perception of common deprivation, but anyone left from that decade is likely in an old folks home and not commenting here!
At the time I was genuinely sorry to watch Turei’s downfall. She’s a sincere person who was treated poorly; but the object lesson remains.
The primary theme that has driven my participation here for over a decade now is inequality; the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty. In most of the world we’ve more or less solved the problem of destitution; but we’re further away than ever from understanding and grasping the problem of extreme wealth, and the excessively steep social gradient it imposes.
The tools we used to solve poverty are not the same ones that will solve inequality, and this is the trap unwittingly Turei fell into.
“Plato advised an income ratio of 1:6 for Athens in ancient times. The past 30 years have seen the ratio in western civilisation stretch out from dozens into hundreds.” So the basic idea is to limit income inequality to a ratio derived from consensus in the body politic. This is a typical example of how we can use radical innovative design to provide a better future than socialism offers.
I get your point, but ancient Athens lacked the extraordinary technologies which so massively amplify and scale the potential incomes of the most competent and successful in our modern world. How do we go about putting a cap on that, without crippling the very economic engines which have so effectively eliminated poverty?
I’m not pretending to any solid answers; very much a work in progress as far as I’m concerned. (I’ll get to your linky later, but thanks, looks good and is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about.)
Dennis Frank
For Turei to get on and be in a place where she could earn and look after her child and not be grinding along in the just getting by lane with a vicious people-despising government or contracted-out entity endlessly looking for fault, it was necessary for her to have enough income and background assistance. She got that by giving up room/rooms in her house to rent, which of course adds complexities and difficulties getting on with others, managing the living space and behaviour in the home.
But she did that and it was of value to her, and in a house-stressed country was helpful to the renters. If we were a country that believed in people trying to better themselves, and working hard to do so, showing initiative in getting along, this should have been acknowledged as necessary caused by high costs involved in getting her education along with the her duties as a parent.
But no we are a negative bunch of sharp-tongued losers in this country, so we did the tall poppy thing because we do not like people who show too much initiative and show up the rest of us as easy-riders. We don’t want social mobility for satisfaction in this country’s standing, we get ours by picking at others, finding fault, and punishing every possible deviation from the norm that has been established.
She should have managed that by talking about the difficulties of single parents and then said ‘this is what i had to do to get my training for my job’. She may have had to step down, but the point would have been made, and she could have looked in the eyes of everyone who shouted and sniped at her, and denied dishonesty,
stating it was necessity, a TINA action.
Has Twyford released his Press statement yet announcing the magnificent news that a further 574 houses are being developed as part of his wonderful KiwiBuild strategy?
I have no doubt it will be released imminently. Phil seems to claim any house at all as being due to his genius, doesn’t he? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12136654
Pity about the Chinese bit of course but that won’t bother him for very long.
if the builders could sell their own developments why would they offer them to Twyford and Kiwibuild.
Even madam Collins has been pushing Kiwibuild to take on some projects for her builder ‘constituents’
Thats the reality , if they could make more money selling the houses the traditional way , one by one , why would they go to the government and take their offer of the whole block ?
Kia ora The Am Show city’s cause more harm to our water ways than farm’s do .
We need to get the water quality problems sorted now we have creatures going extinct
that live in our waterways .
The UFC well the fan base will have leaped by billion’s social media TV the organization will be making heaps of money. Come on Duncan you know money talks .
I see why it took so long to build the Sydney Opera house all the curves its hard for man to build curves . I say all the Architect and builder’s would have laughed at my calls to build building round as this shape resistes the wind better .
They could use triangles to build these houses in kit set form look outside the square people.
Bathurst around the mountain race Kiwis go koukou over it big Holdens and Ford’s burning around the track.
All the best to Sam Cane .
With the bridges leak case that is a classic example of how neoliberalism v socialist
the neo have low down/ no morels & thee socialist have strong morels .
The neo liberalist use this Phenomenon as a weapon against us Socialist.
Ka kite ano P.S free speech YEA RIGHT the world media is used to under mine cultures that are not European based
Eco Maori aint no Troll Duncan I could easily end this and go elsewhere If I was a Troll I would not care about the negtive effects I can impose on others
Willy Nelson show his support for the Texas Democrat Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke,
That was one reason why I put his music up +Eco like’s his music .
All you Wahine & minority cultures need to get up and vote for the candidate who will deliver a better life for you and your grandchildren . Vote ted cruse out he only cares about the money men . The Texas voters changing to Democrat Blue is vitale to change the American political seen to a more socialist humane place.
Here are Willys Nelson catchphrase If you don’t like who’s in there, vote ‘em out
That’s what election day is all about
When they are gone, we will sing and shout
Ka kite ano the link is below.
Eco Maori says to the Millennials if you have had enough of the mess the baby boomers are making of the world and your life you have to get up vote and make a stand as no one else can do that for us.
I support Equality and so do most other Millennial we don’t fall for the great propaganda that has been running for centuries that men are at the top and wahine are to server man we need a balance of wahine and men in power then we will be a society that will deserve the name Moden Society till that happens I say we are still stuck in the era of the DARK AGES.
Millennials could be one of the biggest political forces in America today, if
Defined by Pew as those born between 1981 to 1996, millennials make up about 22% of the US population, and at some point between November’s midterms and the 2020 election, they’re expected to surpass baby boomers as America’s largest living generation. They’re a massive voting bloc, capable of setting policy priorities and swinging elections link is below Ka kite ano P.S the Kavanaugh case was pridictable there will be a massif negative effect for the go oil party over this
Here you go the super wealthy are putting there share’s in a charity (YA right ) wrong.
Like I have said the laws are made by the wealthy to serve the wealthy .
These people set up there own charity’s they get to keep control of there wealth with the benefits of a charitable tax status all the shares they put in they get to claim some back against there tax its a profitable business model for them what’s better they get to shout our that they are big Philanthropist . YEA RIGHT if these people were serious about humane causes they would spend there money on influencing and backing left leaning politicization around the world ka kite ano link is below.
Kia ora Newshub I have been waiting for the ICCI report on OUR Humane Caused Climate It does not look good we all have to change to eco friendly ways of living .
%35 methane reductions for our farmers does not look to hard a task % 3.5 reduction over ten years less urea more organics farming practices .
The fuel company’s have pumped up there profit’s in the last how many years I say there is our missing $200 x 10 years $2000 straight to the wealthy cool our goverment is going to make laws to put them in line. If someone did not drop the ball on our climate change actions that Labour & the Greens had in place 10 years a go the cuts would not hurt as much as they could.
I will bet anyone that our carbon use has gone down sharply .
I noticed something funny of our Maori women welfare league they are not using the brain’s our tipuna gave us and are not being humble like our tipuna . They have been leading some to behave badly if the law says 3 years in the top job so be it.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Storm
The Rugby well I got a sore face kia kaha.
Sore foot yea nar don’t diss robe Jame’s .
Hope the League goes well for us .That’s thanks to te tipuna .
The youth games a ka pai its good for them heaps of sports
They did OK our Netball players
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Am Show That’s the way a wahine sports presenter congratulation’s Gemma x2
As for carbon use mine has gone down % 95 I was clocking 1000 k a month at least.
I am targeting some that will make a huge difference in the Worlds green house emission’s . I could set up a 30 man tree planting crew but not while I have these pain in the —– on my back.
Our Bovine disease its a big mess the person who imported it was a new wealthy citizen ????????. I do believe that our farmers need emotional and financial support but no one has a wand to fix this problem so they have to learn to work together to get it sorted .
Of course our carbon use has gone up it’s what happens when a population grows rapidly . We need Gull down the South Island competition for the other gas company’s What I laugh at is when company’s try to sell us that there mergers are good for our pockets when we no that when there is no competition I.E monopoly’s
just line there shareholders pockets .
Kiwi’s couch yes I agree no waipiro you are role models for te mokopuna’s I hope you have a good run but hay we are all human who make mistakes .
Duncan it does not have to be to pain full achieving our climate change targets one just has to be intelligent innovative and look outside the square to solve the problem.
We have done nothing on mitigating our carbon use because of national enough said.
I say if national were still in we would not even be talking about Global warming at the minute .
With the influenza epidemic 100 years old. My grate grandfather was one of 12 mokopuna’s he was the only one to survive influenza there is more to his story.
Ka kite ano
I think its is Taylor Swift duty to there fan’s to let them know who they support in there elections . Our World Stars should all come out and show who they support hopefully you will add to the Blue Tsunami that’s is sweeping through America at the minute but don’t sit down and wait for it people get up register and vote millennial’s.
Link is below ka kite ano
Here you go a carbon tax is the best solution to lowering the WORLDS carbon use then divert the fund’s into green energy . Its a simple solution to a complexes problem we need to look outside the square and fine the KICKS keeping it simple solutions to all the world’s problems .One is to promote equality promote Our Intelligent Wahine leaders.
The few people who are fighting our climate reality are scared of losing power but don’t worry the left people are humane and will treat you humanly . Ka kite ano link below.
I think I figured out why maori took to European religion reading and writing so fast .
It was because of the way we protected OUR treasures religious intellectual and physical treasures . Our wise men kept there knowledge to a restricted very few people who had to go through rigorous teaching methods that weeded out the unworthy contestants people who would past the knowledge on to unworthy would not make the cut . This is why it was deemed sacred not to talk about there sacred knowledge to anyone and hence why It was so hard for settlers to document our wise men knowledge. The only way other Hapu Iwi could get the knowledge was to steal it or steal people who had the knowledge.
So when Europeans turned up offering the knowledge of a Atua / God an to read and write that usually was limited to a very few people. They jumped at the chance to become like OUR wise men taonga Doctor.
what I’m saying is that we have to teach the Papatuanuku that our maori taonga Waiata Haka reo is regarded as sacred and sould be treated as such how we stop people from using it for the wrong reason’s well I don’t have the answer for that but with a bit of effort we could come up with a solution link is below ka kite ano
Eco Maori agrees totally Efeso Collins that we need more Pasifika & Wahine I say to step up and run for councils all leading roles in management as we are the only one’s who will make policy’s that will be good for OUR mokopuna’s . As we know what the problems are and we know how to find the answers to these problems.
Other cultures don’t see the problem correctly so there answers to OUR problem’s are most times WRONG.
I agree that all cultures should have there people looking after there best interests at all levels of government . OUR government we have now is correcting the wrong of the past but our intelligent people still need to step up to the task of making a prosperous future for our mokopuna’s Ka kite ano link below.
Lack of Pasifika among high-income earners at council shows unconscious bias.
The Australian government opinion on IPCC report on Climate change is heavily weighted down by the Australian coal industry’s money they are in totally denial of reality.
Claiming that they can not produce cheap electricity with out coal we no that’s a total lie .Also that Australia can not get by using %1 of coal that they use now.
People you need to get up and vote the ———–out of Canberra and get leader’s that have your grandchildren’s future at heart and not the huge wallets I would like to see them try and breath there wallet’s when there is no environment left after they have burned it with there coal.
Lets get this straight the Green energy economy will produce more job and return’s than the carbon industrys they will be more secure job’s the energy price won’t fluctuate like coal does . Ka kite ano
Links below Bill I will give you a tissue when you lose.https://youtu.be/qw4pSBA3Nss
Kia ora Newshub well its good there is a Government surplus can you see what happening around the World I would not go squandering money looking at what happening to the worlds trade by trump.
Mark Lundy well he is wasting money and our time he is guilty.
I remember a old farmer that I was trying to convince to put urea on the farm his reply was it could blow up the farm at the time I was not up with the play on urea .
With the bovine problems Its cool that the government is getting all the major organizations in farming together to work thing’s out for our farmers.
Off the sheep’s back that sheep has a huge fleece I did a bit of time pressing in between fishing jobs .
3000 people under the bridge in Auckland our governments are trying to come up with solutions to this problem all over Aotearoa thats why they did the survey .
trump is the lier he is going to lose the gop—– next month .
Tasmania devil its cool they are breeding more they are such unique Australian indigenous creatures that deserve all the care it takes to revive there chances of survival .
% 35 cut to methane in 22 years is not to hard a task for our farmers I got that wrong this morning
Poor old Luie the lego fanatic its cool that his social media m8 have stepped in to help pay for his stolen Star Wars lego there are many positives from social media. Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls congratulations to the new Kiwi Caption
I see the couch is a bright person.
The young ones have already won a gold meddle ka pai kai kaha
Its cool to see the Silver Ferns getting a traditional maori welcome in Australia.
James don’t go asking Taylor Swift for a duet lol I just remembered We got a niece with Taylor as her first name your singing it quite good Mulls the conductor .
Ka kite ano P.S Rick may be get the channel on the net
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
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In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
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Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
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A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
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Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12138089
‘An actor who played a child bride in a World Vision campaign says she is surprised at how few bystanders publicly objected to the stunt.’
Probably because the ‘bride’ looked 18
I suspect no one intervened because nothing illegal was happening.
It wasnt ‘looked 18’ – she was 18!
This is known the media business as a beat up
Matthew Blomfield started defamation proceedings against Cameron Slater in 2012 after a series of posts (thirteen) on Whale Oil attacking Blomfield. It finally goes to trial on Monday after Slater ran out of legal options to avoid facing the claims against him.
If Blomfield is successful there is a real possibility that Whale Oil be fucked.
Some of Slaters partners in grime may be getting a bit nervous too.
https://yournz.org/2018/10/07/whale-oil-be-fucked-defamation-trial-against-slater-starting-on-monday/
Thanks Pete.
Very interesting …
The case will no doubt get into the guts of Slater and Co’s modus operandii …
I recommend everyone have a read.
I am particularly interested to see whether the trial gets into disclosing whether the campaign against Blomfield was a paid for hit job (Dirty Politics suggested that is what happened in other campaigns on Whale Oil) , or whether it was just out of control nasties. I think it was quite possibly both.
Funny that these are the only two possibilities …
Again Blomfield doesnt seem the most charming of people , but boy is he dogged.
I well remember the series at the time reading The Oily Orca
it was only a matter of when, not if, that the courts caught up with Slater.
Yup. Once he realises he’s boxed himself in this could get very interesting
or sad, for his family.
Sad ?
His wife is a big part of his odious blog. You would have thought his wife left him long ago when he was exposed as having an affair with another woman.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10813552
‘The affair between Slater and Debbie Brown was revealed in an Auckland District Court judgment…’
To clarify, I meant for his children. His wife as you say has brought any consequences on herself already.
i think his 2 kids are in their early 20s now as 10 years ago they seemed to be about 12 or so
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/2583835/Internet-warrior
Yeah but who needs to lose a father that way.
How many NZ family’s has Slater had compassion on?
This is not a case of sporting nasty’s aka McEnroe,… this is a bastard who supported the whole low wage, ECA, poverty lifestyle of the National party under John Key.
You think we are going to get all sentimental on a subversive bastard like that?
– Think again.
His father was President of the National Party at one stage.
So bloody what?
All the more reason to have contempt, – couldnt better daddys shoes so jumps on the electronic bandwagon and like the usual online trolls – uses anonymity and dis-associative behavior to achieve his end goals.
Any coward can do that.
It takes guts to stand in front of a crowd and get booed and come back into the ring- something that he obviously didn’t have to begin with.
Compassion for his children has nothing to do with how we feel about their father. Why would any of us lower our own moral expectations to match a sad nasty prick like that?
It should also be noted that Felix Geiringer is representing Blomfield now, so things may well get interesting.
In case some here don’t know. Felix is a Wellington based barrister and solicitor who is also Nicky Hager’s lawyer and took his cases against the police etc over their raid on Hager home. So he is well versed in Slater and Dirty Politics etc. LOL.
—————————-
A diversion.
For oldie Wellington females such as myself, Felix’s parents were well known as leading doctors here in Wellington in supporting women’s health including rights to contraception, sexual health etc starting back in the 1960s onwards – Dr Erich Geiringer and Dr Carol Shand.
Erich Geiringer died in 1995 after a very full and interesting life as well as an interesting family background. Worth a read, so here is his wikipedia entry as a start plus a wider Google search with much more detail – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Geiringer
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=erich+geiringer&rlz=1C1LDJZ_enNZ499&oq=Erci+Geiringer&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.7953j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Dr Carol Shand is still a practicing part-time GP in Wellington now in her ’80s – also with an interesting back story as her father was Tom Shand, “the staunchly right-wing and red-baiting National cabinet minister who, from the mid-50s till his death in 1969, hustled New Zealand along the path of material progress and modernisation.” Felix’s political do not follow those of the current incarnation of his maternal grandfather’s Party! Actually a very nice guy.
This quote is from this article which gives a good summary of the whole family.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7415536/More-than-a-lawman
Not only in supporting women’s health, but they also had some sensible and progressive ideas on treatment of drug addiction etc.
Incidently, RNZ Sunday: Johann Hari and Kyle MacDonald this morning
Thanks for that. Haven’t been listening to RNZ Sunday this morning as finally decided it was time to do some housekeeping – spring is here and winter hybernation can no longer be used as an excuse!
Will listen to the recordings later as definitely an area of interest to me. Don’t know Kyle personally but he was a professional associate of a long term member of my wider whanau who died a couple of years ago.
The Snails of Stockton is a cautionary tail
(Protecting the rarified (but not endangered) environment of a species of banksters, cost the taxpayer many many times more).
What Happened Here?
Charlie Mitchell – Stuff.co.nz, October 7, 2019
What the above story, that appeared in Stuff.co.nz this morning, didn’t tell us, is that Solid Energy, (in truth the private foreign banking investors involved), were bailed out by the taxpayer to cover their losses when Solid Energy when bust, to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars.*
Even this wasn’t enough, feeling hard done by, one of these foreign banks, the Japan-based Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, sued the government for even more taxpayer bail out money.
You couldn’t make this stuff up.
But what was briefly mentioned, is that while the protection of native species is grounds for challenging a coal mine, climate change, which may be an even greater tragedy, and may one day even see the remaining members of our species also living in plastic climate controlled environments, is not allowed under current NZ laws to be raised as an objection to coal mining.
TANJ
*Stranded Assets
Tokyo Mitsubishi loses case for a a 100% taxpayer bail out
What is interesting to note, is that the foreign bankster investors in Solid Energy were all unsecured creditors, but still got $256 million in total out of the taxpayer. Compare this to the zero amount, unsecured tradies will likely get from the Ebert collapse.
Not only were the banksters handsomely bailed out. The divestment and breakup and sell off of Solid Energy’s coal mining operations and coal futures, into private coal companies guarantees coal mining in New Zealand way into the future past 2050.
I dont quite see the where it says the banks got $256 mill in taxpayer bailout.
There was the stste taking on Solid Energy’s $103 million land remediation obligations but that isnt money going to ceditors.
As I can see it the banks converted loans into bonds but they werent paid out either.
There was $155 mill taxpayer injection but that was complicated and only some cash went into company and was likely spent keeping it running.
When you convert bonds ( which require interest to be paid) into shares ( which dont) there isnt really any money transferred.
+100 Jenny, thanks for sharing the link. Such sad reading – so our pathetic RMA and environmental laws screwed a conservation area, have destroyed the only habitat of a native species, destroyed and polluted the river, added million of tons of carbon dioxide to climate change, spied on people, enriched climate change deniers, had our SOE accumulate $400m of debt from which it couldn’t recover, created at least 100m of environmental liability the taxpayers have to pay for and now sounds like the taxpayers needed to bail out the banks hundreds of millions and pay for litigation when the banks expected more corporate welfare?
Mining sounds like a pathological industry – Pike River comes to mind by killing 29 people with little to zero safety in place, as well as this disgusting example.
NZ mining industry seems completely dysfunctional in every way and the government is dysfunctional for supporting mining against the environment again and again.
Fantastic come from behind win by the Mighty All Blacks this morning in SA.
Then Bathurst this afternoon, and yes ed we are having a BBQ as well.
Its going to be a lovely day.
IMHO Beuden should be at fullback, Richie at 1st five and Ben on the wing. This is the backline that just looked so much more likely
I think that other countries have caught up to and can now nullify Beauden, to a certain degree anyway especially at first five
I think saying other countries have caught up is a bit of a push but SA certainly have our number.
Aussie on the other hand ……
Maybe not caught up to the ABs but have definitely worked out to nullify, or at the very least, lessen Beaudens influence
Same with Sonny Bill, backlines are now working out what to do with him but thats a good thing for rugby overall, keep the tests tighter will build more interest
Guys (James, Chris73) – you could make this drivel even more irritating if you used a phonetic spelling that sounded like Steve Hansen talking. Worth a try I reckon.
Well AB at the end of the day both teams came to play rugby, the boys dug deep, it was game of two halves and we always believed but in the end the winners were triumphant because they gave 110% for the full 80 minutes and thats the mark of a champion team 🙂
AB you get bonus points for even knowing who Steve Hansen is.
Spoiled at the end of the match by this cliché-larded exchange:
JUSTIN MARSHALL: You no doubt took some learnings from this game?
STEVE HANSEN: This is a young group….
people who say “learnings” should be strung up….not that you could tell if Hansen said it
Chris73, you forgot to say that “In the end, Rugby was the winner” but you nailed everything else. 🙂
Well, he had worked hard on the fundamentals so all credit to him, it was a good effort and came through with a good result.
Nah, youse need the Woke version of Steve (1min): https://youtu.be/hetJVYRP2sA
Load of old shit.
Remember this?
And lets not have these RWNJ’s try to evoke the good old Kiwi bloke bullshit either to try and derail the topic and soften their agenda’s. Almost as tasteless as this :
John Key booed by section of the crowd at NRL Nines on Waitangi Day
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/…/john-key-booed-by-section-of-the-crowd-at-nrl-nines-on-w..
John Key booed off the stage at the Big Gay Out – LGBT against the TPPA
Oh,… and if any RWNJ’s try to give a trolls answer about providing links?- copy and paste the whole thing onto your search engine morons, and watch the vid. 6 year olds can do that now.
Cheers.
Yep, toss another prawn on the barbie cobber.
As the gas guzzling fossil fueled extravaganza at Bathurst reaches it crescendo on another lovely Aussie Spring day, and the sun breaks through the blue exhaust smoke to shine on the Bathurst Mt Panorama circuit. Off the back of that wonderful good news story, the lucky country can briefly succumb to the hoopla and escape from the reality of another impending hell summer.
Eastern states set for scorching weather as Spring heatwave hits
And in another good news story:
In this country, it seems there is also no such thing as a bad day for Aussie coal mining giant Bathurst Resources, just different kinds of good days.
Bathurst Coal Mining clears final transaction hurdle to take over Solid Energy Assets
That last link of yours is really old you know. I have shares in Bathurst and they have been mining Stockton for over a year now in a JV with Talleys. Lucky for them they have Winston Peters in their corner. (Winston and Talleys good buddies)
Winston could hardly stop something that had been agreed, signed up to etc. Are you implying Humma that he is the one responsible for getting this going, or keeping it going at Stockton. That’s not a new mine is it?
Sounds like a meathead sort of day.
James lives vicariously .
A spectator…
A meat head.
That’s a brilliant haiku you just composed there, Ed! All the better for being accurate.
Bill lives luxuriously
A politician…
A rorter.
Is there a more ridiculous political figure,
anywhere, than the egregious Michael Gove?
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/10/03/ten-reasons-to-vote-for-jeremy-corbyn/
Boris and Farage make up quite the brexiting threesome.
In another land and time that lot would probably be tried for treason over the shafting and bs they’ve feed their country. Not that these frontmen care.
They’re louts, pure and simple. They are the British equivalents of the louts and loons of the Trump regime. To compound the horror, Gove and Johnson are, absurdly, routinely touted as “intellectuals”.
No surprise in the dystopian Tory world they circulate in they’re geniuses. MSM helps with that illusion.
However in the real world it’s another matter entirely.
Pathological liar endorsed by congress: “The Senate backed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination by 50 votes to 48.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45774174 “Two Republican waverers, Susan Collins and Jeff Flake, finally decided to back the judge.”
He is forever tainted as the liar and a*****e that he is. May it follow him for the rest of his life and – if you’re a believer and I’m not – into the hereafter.
There’s joy over at Kiwiblog….
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/10/general_debate_7_october_2018.html/comment-page-1#comment-2327162
Everyone knows we have to reduce our fossil fuel consumption or the planet is doomed.
Yet banning oil and gas exploration is hysterically presented as a dagger to the heart of business confidence and the reactions to the rising cost of fuel shows how addicted we are are to unsustainable cheap fossil fuels.
We have a neoliberal consensus across both main political parties which leaves us completely paralysed, with a crippling ideological aversion to planning giving our politicians a coward excuse of a way out from grappling with how to transition from trucks and fossil fuels to an electric future.
The cognitive disconnect is huge.
warmer yes , doomed no.
There’s a (somewhat) positive side to this coin: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@politics/2018/10/06/265935/oram-why-we-need-a-real-forestry-strategy-1
“This is the latest in a series of Rod Oram’s columns examining key sectors in the Productivity Commission’s final report on New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions economy”. He’s analysing the current govt/business interface.
Also relevant: https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018665317/how-to-achieve-just-transition-to-green-jobs “So how best can the government, unions and the oil and gas sectors reduce emissions without it adversely affecting the workforce and the communities those industries support? Samantha Smith, the director of the Just Transition Center, at the International Trade Union Confederation, talks to Kathryn about how a “just transition” can happen.”
HdPA: “In this week’s Herald Mood of the Boardroom survey, Bridges scores almost as badly as Iain Lees-Galloway and that’s the guy trying to torpedo business with employment law changes that terrify them. Bridges feels like a placeholder leader.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12137332
“That earnest way he answers questions. His always-furrowed brow. His pleading eyes.
It’s like he’s begging you to take him seriously. It’s like he’s learnt his lines. That’s the look of a politician trying to imitate something he doesn’t have. Authenticity.” So, out of all the journos that some here call right-wing, Soper is the only one still lying low, reluctant to pronounce the verdict that the Nat leader’s performance demands.
Andrea Vance: “his media appearances lack weight and authority and he often gets tangled up in word salads. And the harder he tries, the less authentic he appears.” Who would they replace him with? The Nats “need a charismatic figure at the top. The name that keeps cropping up in certain circles is Air NZ boss Christopher Luxon, seen as the ‘next’ John Key.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/107633655/bridges-lacks-skills-vital-to-be-pm
“The name that keeps cropping up in certain circles”
Bloody aliens.
Bridges has had all the authenticity media trained out of him. Doesnt help that he comes from a background where truthfulness does matter and yet he wants to lead national party!
Joyce was the opposite but missed out as national wanted a young and fresh person to play the identity politics card against Adern.
I thought the article by Andrea Vance was weak and pointless; it also contained a few Tui statements but not quite of the shock-jock level. Simple space-filling on a quiet Sunday in Spring during the School Holidays.
Fair enough. Where I’ve been coming from is documenting a decisive shift in media opinion against Bridges (mostly in the past week). Sort of like how weather vane swings around in response to a change of wind direction. But if you’re significantly younger than me you won’t know what I’m talking about – they were once a common sight on house roofs but can’t recall seeing one for yonks…
An astute observation D.F. I haven’t spotted one for yonks either. They were so useful. Pop your head out the window and check your neighbour’s wind vane before venturing out of doors.
Never seen a weathervane in my life; I believe they’re quite common in certain places in Europe, especially on farm houses 😉
MSM are very useful for manufacturing consent or discontent, especially if they believe they have or hold the power. What better way to confirm their self-belief than to predict the demise of a political ‘leader’ and a coup, which often appears to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, MSM smell blood because somebody is whispering into their ears that the hungry wolves have woken up. The usual suspects working for MSM will do everything to bask in the glory of their own self-importance once Simon has been replaced or rolled; I’ve got my bucket ready …
“I thought the article by Andrea Vance was weak and pointless…”
What are your thoughts on this opinion piece in the link below?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/107624723/damien-grant-jacinda-arderns-ramblings-on-the-world-stage-amounts-to-hypocrisy
Is Jacinda a hypocrite?
Additionally, re-classifying synthetic cannabis as a class A drug will see those convicted receive higher sentences, which won’t do Andrew Little any favours reducing prison numbers.
I do apologise, but I’ll pass for two reasons: 1) I generally avoid Damien Grant and the headline puts me off even more (yes, I know, the headline was not written by Mr Grant) and 2) I’d really like to write a Post for TS (on something different) and it’s already quite late and I’m a very slow writer.
Where were all these astute commentators when John Key became leader of the National Party?
I see some people don’t like the Eco Maori Effect one person takes my word’s and twisted it Clayton that is. I see he has close links to my arch nemesis figure .
My point on Kiwi Values is I don’t want to see powerful wealthy classes of people coming here and they will be in increasing numbers with what is happening around Papatuanuku at the minute .
Wealthy using there money to shape our laws to suite them bending the people views that it is beneficial to all the people if we sell our state assets to them /privatisation.
That model benefits only the % 00.1 they get the assets cut staff numbers run the asset into the ground take there PROFITS and run next minute our governments have to take the run down asset and pour billion’s back into it to get a first world service out of that asset.
Also we don’t want them manipulating the people to think its ok to have mokopuna starving tangata living under a bridge while they sip there red wine and laugh my accountant just found / LOBBIED a system were I only pay % 00.3 tax on my proft’s .
I don’t want people to think it is ok to clear the land to build there fancy what ever and next minute there actions have caused a precious creature to go extinct .
Ka kite ano link below P.S I fell for it at first but once I seen him attacking the vulnerable I say no more
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2018/10/what-happened-here/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12137326
So please tell me why we don’t hear about who is complaining about TPPA now?
Has the matter been resolved, with ISDS, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor-state_dispute_settlement and other matters?
One positive side of the trump presidency was his disdain of the ‘One World Government’.
Are we free from being sued now?
Do you want your children and grandchildren to grow up in a global socialist “utopia” in which everything about their lives is micromanaged by bureaucrats working for a worldwide system of government instituted by the elite?
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/tag/one-world-government
Are you up to your usual soft Trump support again ?
Is a anti Soros rubbish rant rant coming later ?
60 Minutes: One Evil Man – The Exposé on George Soros – YouTube
“One positive side of the trump presidency was his disdain of the ‘One World Government’.”
It was interesting to see him openly express disdain for the UN. One wonders where it will lead?
To other world leaders expressing the same disdain, hopefully.
Heh!
One wonders where it came from?
Half of these twats either couldn’t understand or deliberately ‘don’t’ want to understand, Cleengreen,… they’ve made their position clear months and years back when Trump won.
All they are relegated to now is snickering like schoolyard brats about paper stuck to a shoe or what colour the tie is that Trump wears…
Soros must be one old frustrated man. If that’s all his multi billion dollar paid media hitmen can come up with I’d be frustrated too. What a waste of life. Deplorable’s?… no,… just Americans who see whats been going on and backed the right horse. After 55 years on from the assassination of JFK , and the United Nations takeover by the globalists ,… this is the sort of thing we can expect. Spoilt brats who cant take a democratic win when it goes against what they want.
Pay em no heed.
Wallace’s Johann Hari interview is a cracker.
https://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sun/sun-20150322-1006-the_war_on_drugs_-_johann_hari-048.mp3
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/20171890/the-war-on-drugs-johann-hari
A link as part of my word’s above link below ka kite ano
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/107627761/nz-first-mp-campaigning-for-kiwi-values-was-ruled-unfit-to-run-a-pub
Nice one. Thanks eco maori @ 13
One of my favorites, eco maori. Another is this Maisey Rika one
Persona non grata in UK journalism after smearing a Guardian freelancer in Nicaragua.
The National Union of Journalists has cancelled its annual Black History Month lecture after its guest speaker this year, Canary editor Kerry-Anne Mendoza, published reports attacking a Guardian freelancer working in Nicaragua as part of a “smear campaign” that led to his deportation.
Goette-Luciak had been covering protests calling for Nicaragua’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, to step down. Hundreds have been killed in a violent government crackdown issued in response, which the NUJ says has also targeted journalists documenting the protests.
https://pressgazette.co.uk/nuj-cancels-event-with-canary-editor-after-reports-targeting-guardian-freelancer-covering-protests-in-nicaragua-lead-to-his-deportation/
Previously on TS https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-02-10-2018/#comment-1531392
It was a dark day…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/06/women-brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-feminist-response
Anyone who has dealt with Work and Income or children and young persons services – Oranga Tamariki will get this video instantly. From Chris Hedges aired on RT, so the crowd who have prejudice, can turn away now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxT_phIu7xo&ab_channel=RTAmerica
Seems our scummy Tory politicians are in the back pocket of the corporations already. Funny our present government is not doing much to counter this invasion into the lives of poor and working people. Probably has somthing to do with those feeling of middle class superiority.
Thanks for posting that link, adam.
This would be a good public conversation for Marama Davidson to have:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/russel-norman-labels-marama-davidsons-interview-terrible/ar-BBO2dnH?li=BBqdg4K
Firstly, why as the co-leader wasn’t she provided the relevant stats for the party’s policy? Who’s responsible for that, isn’t Shaw the stats man for the Greens? He seemed to have some sort of statistical cover for his own interview according to this.
Secondly didn’t the Greens just about write themselves off, in the last election by their blue green elite element getting stuck into their last female co-leader relating to the welfare area? And i say elite element, in that the majority rank and file Green membership recently overwhelmingly voted for Davidson in a somewhat repudiation of that falling out (rather than that of nearly being thrown in ‘the clink’ after a recent reckless & dangerous episode of self-promotion and public nuisance).
Are there dissatisfied elite Greens, deliberately trying to sink the Green Party??
Very interesting! I’ll try a few guesses (don’t mistake me for someone in the know). First question: Depends if the Green caucus uses a staffer to do that, or they expect MPs to do it themselves.
Second question: I’d be surprised if James was responsible for providing stats. Too busy doing important stuff. Third question: yes (but usage of elite in that context is invalid). Fourth question: (as a long-time elitist Green) no, that’s a wacky notion!
Definitely significant that James & Russel called her interview terrible & a shocker. Could be she’s not finding the transition from activist to parliamentarian easy. The Nation got so consistently tedious I’m amazed it still has a viewer – obviously someone with incredible intestinal fortitude.
It doesn’t matter a damn who is “supposed” to develop the stats surrounding a policy.
She shouldn’t go on air announcing a policy and not be prepared to answer the obvious questions she is going to get. If she is so stupid that she hasn’t made sure she is prepared then she shouldn’t go ahead with the announcement.
If Shaw, or another Green MP, has announced a policy and she is asked about it she is quite entitled to plead a lack of detailed knowledge. When it is her coming up with the policy she is not. It makes both her, quite fairly, look unprepared, as was most definitely the case.
She knew that she had no idea about the policy when she started talking about it. Why didn’t she just shut up?
She looked just like David Cunliffe in the 2014 election debate with Key where Cunliffe couldn’t answer a pretty simple question on the CGT that was at the heart of the campaign. He looked totally unprepared and he was punished for it.
Davidson was even worse. She had no idea about the most obvious first question she was going to get.
I agree she seems to have made herself vulnerable to that sort of criticism. Since I routinely disagree with the leftist Greens, I’m intrigued that one leader of that group is being criticised by a former leader of that group. That’s unprecedented. Perhaps Russel has transcended the Marxism in his past?
Anyway, the bean-counting approach to politics ought not to be regarded as sacrosanct. Plenty of aspiring politicians aren’t bean-counters. Nor is there any political convention in parliament that all MPs have to be. The pathetic tendency to reduce politics to whatever can be funded, and put a dollar amount on policies accordingly, only became normal due to neoliberalism as a political fashion trend.
Russel & James are acting as if neoliberalism is an eternal convention that must be adhered to. Boy, have I got news for them!! It’s fast heading in the direction of Trotsky’s dustbin of history. Russel & James ought to keep up with the play.
Fast? In geological timespans, maybe.
Yeah, okay, call me an optimist. 😎 I’m going on the escalation in the calling of this tune that has become evident via the Corbyn/Sanders revival of socialism, supported by a wave of young folk, plus media commentaries of the trend. Not being a socialist myself, I doubt I’m overstating it. Fellow-traveller? Perhaps, depends how much substance kicks in behind the wishful thinking, and how much intelligent design..
I’d give it another 20 years until a selfish generation has lost grip on power after fucking the planet some more.
I agree about the bean-counter attitude of MSM! The interview with Davidson was typical gotcha-style tactics akin “show me the money”. Of course, it took any attention away from the policy per se. Five days later Shaw gets asked the same question – we have to assume he was (better) prepared – and he only presents some soft numbers and guesstimates, by his own admission, and does not get hounded for it!?
To be precise, Shaw said this about Davidson’s interview: “I’ve had, you know, some shockers in my time as well”.
Ah, thanks for that actually quote, I didn’t see either interview. So it was not a direct criticism by James, just an implication. He’s normally circumspect & diplomatic so it makes sense.
Ardern is running a neoliberal govt while steering somewhat in the direction of socialism. Costing policies in that context is therefore a reasonable expectation. Marama could have said “Hey, I’m a socialist. We do aspiration. When in government we use a finance minister and public service accountants to cost policies. If we get Labour on board with this policy, costing will be done by the govt. We’re not part of their policy-costing process because we’re not part of the coalition – we just support them.”
Equally, Russel Norman could have pointed this out rather than defer to his sense of neoliberal orthodoxy. He’s not stupid. That’s why I’m intrigued that he feels the need to criticise another leftist Green leader. It could mean that he’s shifted so far from his earlier Marxist leaning that he’s verging on centrist but not yet willing to admit it.
Ardern is running a neoliberal govt while steering somewhat in the direction of socialism.
Which is about what can be made to work. Go too far, they’ll be out of power and we’re back to lazy do nothing Tory govts. We should be a lot more appreciative of what we have and work with it while it lasts.
The radical types around here forget that the political spectrum is normally distributed; us moderates represent the large bulk of voters. Piss us off too much and you’re goneburger.
Yes, indeed. That whole Turei thing was misconceived – there’s a huge difference between helping folks who need it and doing what’s required to be a political winner. She didn’t have a clue about it. You can do both (it’s as hard as walking while chewing gum) but she couldn’t figure out how and the Green caucus deferred to her idealism (excepting the two dissenters).
The political problem around representation of beneficiaries is that of how to get traction. There must be a very good reason why they keep refusing to form their own political lobby. There must be a good reason nobody (including, as far as I know, Turei) has campaigned to enter parliament to represent that sector of society. I disagree with the prevalent consensus that nobody ought to discuss these reasons.
Which brings us back to your point. Class analysis is of marginal relevance nowadays but probably fair to say that elections are won & lost in the middle class. If anyone disagrees, I will challenge them to identify any of our elections in our lifetime which break that rule. Labour first got in via the lower class in the thirties, when the depression induced a middle/lower class consensus from perception of common deprivation, but anyone left from that decade is likely in an old folks home and not commenting here!
At the time I was genuinely sorry to watch Turei’s downfall. She’s a sincere person who was treated poorly; but the object lesson remains.
The primary theme that has driven my participation here for over a decade now is inequality; the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty. In most of the world we’ve more or less solved the problem of destitution; but we’re further away than ever from understanding and grasping the problem of extreme wealth, and the excessively steep social gradient it imposes.
The tools we used to solve poverty are not the same ones that will solve inequality, and this is the trap unwittingly Turei fell into.
Re inequality, I prefer to distinguish wealth & income. Hard to solve the problem of wealth inequality. Not so hard to solve the problem of income inequality. In Feb 2015 I wrote a paper on that & later put it online http://www.alternativeaotearoa.org/get-this/inequality-towards-a-solution
“Plato advised an income ratio of 1:6 for Athens in ancient times. The past 30 years have seen the ratio in western civilisation stretch out from dozens into hundreds.” So the basic idea is to limit income inequality to a ratio derived from consensus in the body politic. This is a typical example of how we can use radical innovative design to provide a better future than socialism offers.
On my other blog I also examined the relevant political psychology of inequality: http://altaotearoa.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-to-solve-inequality-problem.html
I get your point, but ancient Athens lacked the extraordinary technologies which so massively amplify and scale the potential incomes of the most competent and successful in our modern world. How do we go about putting a cap on that, without crippling the very economic engines which have so effectively eliminated poverty?
I’m not pretending to any solid answers; very much a work in progress as far as I’m concerned. (I’ll get to your linky later, but thanks, looks good and is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about.)
Dennis Frank
For Turei to get on and be in a place where she could earn and look after her child and not be grinding along in the just getting by lane with a vicious people-despising government or contracted-out entity endlessly looking for fault, it was necessary for her to have enough income and background assistance. She got that by giving up room/rooms in her house to rent, which of course adds complexities and difficulties getting on with others, managing the living space and behaviour in the home.
But she did that and it was of value to her, and in a house-stressed country was helpful to the renters. If we were a country that believed in people trying to better themselves, and working hard to do so, showing initiative in getting along, this should have been acknowledged as necessary caused by high costs involved in getting her education along with the her duties as a parent.
But no we are a negative bunch of sharp-tongued losers in this country, so we did the tall poppy thing because we do not like people who show too much initiative and show up the rest of us as easy-riders. We don’t want social mobility for satisfaction in this country’s standing, we get ours by picking at others, finding fault, and punishing every possible deviation from the norm that has been established.
She should have managed that by talking about the difficulties of single parents and then said ‘this is what i had to do to get my training for my job’. She may have had to step down, but the point would have been made, and she could have looked in the eyes of everyone who shouted and sniped at her, and denied dishonesty,
stating it was necessity, a TINA action.
Has Twyford released his Press statement yet announcing the magnificent news that a further 574 houses are being developed as part of his wonderful KiwiBuild strategy?
I have no doubt it will be released imminently. Phil seems to claim any house at all as being due to his genius, doesn’t he?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12136654
Pity about the Chinese bit of course but that won’t bother him for very long.
if the builders could sell their own developments why would they offer them to Twyford and Kiwibuild.
Even madam Collins has been pushing Kiwibuild to take on some projects for her builder ‘constituents’
Thats the reality , if they could make more money selling the houses the traditional way , one by one , why would they go to the government and take their offer of the whole block ?
The PRC have paid $40 million for the Masfen block in Orewa. Let’s hope the OIO reject this blatant attempt to profit from our housing crisis.
Yeah, because who needs more houses at the moment
so they should have donated the land then nic?
do you won anything nic?
perhaps you could donate it?
Just watched David Shearer on Q & A
Really is just a genuinely good bloke.
Shame he didn’t make it in politics. TBF, he probably just wasn’t PR driven enough like the rest, on both sides.
I doubt having Cunliffe there helped
Kia ora The Am Show city’s cause more harm to our water ways than farm’s do .
We need to get the water quality problems sorted now we have creatures going extinct
that live in our waterways .
The UFC well the fan base will have leaped by billion’s social media TV the organization will be making heaps of money. Come on Duncan you know money talks .
I see why it took so long to build the Sydney Opera house all the curves its hard for man to build curves . I say all the Architect and builder’s would have laughed at my calls to build building round as this shape resistes the wind better .
They could use triangles to build these houses in kit set form look outside the square people.
Bathurst around the mountain race Kiwis go koukou over it big Holdens and Ford’s burning around the track.
All the best to Sam Cane .
With the bridges leak case that is a classic example of how neoliberalism v socialist
the neo have low down/ no morels & thee socialist have strong morels .
The neo liberalist use this Phenomenon as a weapon against us Socialist.
Ka kite ano P.S free speech YEA RIGHT the world media is used to under mine cultures that are not European based
Eco Maori aint no Troll Duncan I could easily end this and go elsewhere If I was a Troll I would not care about the negtive effects I can impose on others
Willy Nelson show his support for the Texas Democrat Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke,
That was one reason why I put his music up +Eco like’s his music .
All you Wahine & minority cultures need to get up and vote for the candidate who will deliver a better life for you and your grandchildren . Vote ted cruse out he only cares about the money men . The Texas voters changing to Democrat Blue is vitale to change the American political seen to a more socialist humane place.
Here are Willys Nelson catchphrase If you don’t like who’s in there, vote ‘em out
That’s what election day is all about
When they are gone, we will sing and shout
Ka kite ano the link is below.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/30/willie-nelson-concert-beto-orourke-texas
Eco Maori says to the Millennials if you have had enough of the mess the baby boomers are making of the world and your life you have to get up vote and make a stand as no one else can do that for us.
I support Equality and so do most other Millennial we don’t fall for the great propaganda that has been running for centuries that men are at the top and wahine are to server man we need a balance of wahine and men in power then we will be a society that will deserve the name Moden Society till that happens I say we are still stuck in the era of the DARK AGES.
Millennials could be one of the biggest political forces in America today, if
Defined by Pew as those born between 1981 to 1996, millennials make up about 22% of the US population, and at some point between November’s midterms and the 2020 election, they’re expected to surpass baby boomers as America’s largest living generation. They’re a massive voting bloc, capable of setting policy priorities and swinging elections link is below Ka kite ano P.S the Kavanaugh case was pridictable there will be a massif negative effect for the go oil party over this
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/07/politics/how-millennials-could-kill-politics-as-we-know-it/index.html
Here you go the super wealthy are putting there share’s in a charity (YA right ) wrong.
Like I have said the laws are made by the wealthy to serve the wealthy .
These people set up there own charity’s they get to keep control of there wealth with the benefits of a charitable tax status all the shares they put in they get to claim some back against there tax its a profitable business model for them what’s better they get to shout our that they are big Philanthropist . YEA RIGHT if these people were serious about humane causes they would spend there money on influencing and backing left leaning politicization around the world ka kite ano link is below.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-03/the-super-rich-are-stockpiling-wealth-in-black-box-charities
Kia ora Newshub I have been waiting for the ICCI report on OUR Humane Caused Climate It does not look good we all have to change to eco friendly ways of living .
%35 methane reductions for our farmers does not look to hard a task % 3.5 reduction over ten years less urea more organics farming practices .
The fuel company’s have pumped up there profit’s in the last how many years I say there is our missing $200 x 10 years $2000 straight to the wealthy cool our goverment is going to make laws to put them in line. If someone did not drop the ball on our climate change actions that Labour & the Greens had in place 10 years a go the cuts would not hurt as much as they could.
I will bet anyone that our carbon use has gone down sharply .
I noticed something funny of our Maori women welfare league they are not using the brain’s our tipuna gave us and are not being humble like our tipuna . They have been leading some to behave badly if the law says 3 years in the top job so be it.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Storm
The Rugby well I got a sore face kia kaha.
Sore foot yea nar don’t diss robe Jame’s .
Hope the League goes well for us .That’s thanks to te tipuna .
The youth games a ka pai its good for them heaps of sports
They did OK our Netball players
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Am Show That’s the way a wahine sports presenter congratulation’s Gemma x2
As for carbon use mine has gone down % 95 I was clocking 1000 k a month at least.
I am targeting some that will make a huge difference in the Worlds green house emission’s . I could set up a 30 man tree planting crew but not while I have these pain in the —– on my back.
Our Bovine disease its a big mess the person who imported it was a new wealthy citizen ????????. I do believe that our farmers need emotional and financial support but no one has a wand to fix this problem so they have to learn to work together to get it sorted .
Of course our carbon use has gone up it’s what happens when a population grows rapidly . We need Gull down the South Island competition for the other gas company’s What I laugh at is when company’s try to sell us that there mergers are good for our pockets when we no that when there is no competition I.E monopoly’s
just line there shareholders pockets .
Kiwi’s couch yes I agree no waipiro you are role models for te mokopuna’s I hope you have a good run but hay we are all human who make mistakes .
Duncan it does not have to be to pain full achieving our climate change targets one just has to be intelligent innovative and look outside the square to solve the problem.
We have done nothing on mitigating our carbon use because of national enough said.
I say if national were still in we would not even be talking about Global warming at the minute .
With the influenza epidemic 100 years old. My grate grandfather was one of 12 mokopuna’s he was the only one to survive influenza there is more to his story.
Ka kite ano
I think its is Taylor Swift duty to there fan’s to let them know who they support in there elections . Our World Stars should all come out and show who they support hopefully you will add to the Blue Tsunami that’s is sweeping through America at the minute but don’t sit down and wait for it people get up register and vote millennial’s.
Link is below ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/08/taylor-swift-instagram-post-endorsement-democrats-tennessee
Here you go a carbon tax is the best solution to lowering the WORLDS carbon use then divert the fund’s into green energy . Its a simple solution to a complexes problem we need to look outside the square and fine the KICKS keeping it simple solutions to all the world’s problems .One is to promote equality promote Our Intelligent Wahine leaders.
The few people who are fighting our climate reality are scared of losing power but don’t worry the left people are humane and will treat you humanly . Ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/08/two-us-economists-win-nobel-prize-for-work-on-climate-and-growth-william-nordhaus-paul-romer
I think I figured out why maori took to European religion reading and writing so fast .
It was because of the way we protected OUR treasures religious intellectual and physical treasures . Our wise men kept there knowledge to a restricted very few people who had to go through rigorous teaching methods that weeded out the unworthy contestants people who would past the knowledge on to unworthy would not make the cut . This is why it was deemed sacred not to talk about there sacred knowledge to anyone and hence why It was so hard for settlers to document our wise men knowledge. The only way other Hapu Iwi could get the knowledge was to steal it or steal people who had the knowledge.
So when Europeans turned up offering the knowledge of a Atua / God an to read and write that usually was limited to a very few people. They jumped at the chance to become like OUR wise men taonga Doctor.
what I’m saying is that we have to teach the Papatuanuku that our maori taonga Waiata Haka reo is regarded as sacred and sould be treated as such how we stop people from using it for the wrong reason’s well I don’t have the answer for that but with a bit of effort we could come up with a solution link is below ka kite ano
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/368248/foreigners-teaching-haka-the-words-were-wrong-and-the-actions
Eco Maori agrees totally Efeso Collins that we need more Pasifika & Wahine I say to step up and run for councils all leading roles in management as we are the only one’s who will make policy’s that will be good for OUR mokopuna’s . As we know what the problems are and we know how to find the answers to these problems.
Other cultures don’t see the problem correctly so there answers to OUR problem’s are most times WRONG.
I agree that all cultures should have there people looking after there best interests at all levels of government . OUR government we have now is correcting the wrong of the past but our intelligent people still need to step up to the task of making a prosperous future for our mokopuna’s Ka kite ano link below.
Lack of Pasifika among high-income earners at council shows unconscious bias.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/107676485/lack-of-pasifika-among-highincome-earners-at-council-shows-unconscious-bias P.S I see some trolls in the com attacking this story they don’t have the brain power to work out that we can see there red necks giving bigots opinion’s
The Australian government opinion on IPCC report on Climate change is heavily weighted down by the Australian coal industry’s money they are in totally denial of reality.
Claiming that they can not produce cheap electricity with out coal we no that’s a total lie .Also that Australia can not get by using %1 of coal that they use now.
People you need to get up and vote the ———–out of Canberra and get leader’s that have your grandchildren’s future at heart and not the huge wallets I would like to see them try and breath there wallet’s when there is no environment left after they have burned it with there coal.
Lets get this straight the Green energy economy will produce more job and return’s than the carbon industrys they will be more secure job’s the energy price won’t fluctuate like coal does . Ka kite ano
Links below Bill I will give you a tissue when you lose.https://youtu.be/qw4pSBA3Nss
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-09/environment-minister-says-calls-to-end-coal-drawing-long-bow/10354604?section=politics
Kia ora Newshub well its good there is a Government surplus can you see what happening around the World I would not go squandering money looking at what happening to the worlds trade by trump.
Mark Lundy well he is wasting money and our time he is guilty.
I remember a old farmer that I was trying to convince to put urea on the farm his reply was it could blow up the farm at the time I was not up with the play on urea .
With the bovine problems Its cool that the government is getting all the major organizations in farming together to work thing’s out for our farmers.
Off the sheep’s back that sheep has a huge fleece I did a bit of time pressing in between fishing jobs .
3000 people under the bridge in Auckland our governments are trying to come up with solutions to this problem all over Aotearoa thats why they did the survey .
trump is the lier he is going to lose the gop—– next month .
Tasmania devil its cool they are breeding more they are such unique Australian indigenous creatures that deserve all the care it takes to revive there chances of survival .
% 35 cut to methane in 22 years is not to hard a task for our farmers I got that wrong this morning
Poor old Luie the lego fanatic its cool that his social media m8 have stepped in to help pay for his stolen Star Wars lego there are many positives from social media. Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls congratulations to the new Kiwi Caption
I see the couch is a bright person.
The young ones have already won a gold meddle ka pai kai kaha
Its cool to see the Silver Ferns getting a traditional maori welcome in Australia.
James don’t go asking Taylor Swift for a duet lol I just remembered We got a niece with Taylor as her first name your singing it quite good Mulls the conductor .
Ka kite ano P.S Rick may be get the channel on the net