Bitcoin gets a lot of press. But it appears to be nothing more than than a certificate of gratuitously wasted electricity. That waste of electricity appears inherent to blockchain transactions in general, bitcoin is just the largest at the moment. For instance, one bitcoin transaction apparently uses around the same electricity as one American household for one week.
Just how much electricity is wasted by bitcoin mining? Here’s some comparisons to national electricity consumption. For instance, bitcoin mining worldwide now consumes an amount equivalent to about 3/4 of NZ electricity use.
I need enlightening on this bitcoin biz so thanks for cogent info. I will do some exploring to get my mind round it. Like smart meters and other hype stuff will it be useful or has someone found another portal to suck their money vacuum into and both suck and blow up to a nice bubble.
Unless you feel the urge to make untraceable transactions, you have zero practical need for bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Hence cryptocurrencies popularity for drug and kiddie porn deals.
Unless gambling your money in extremely-high-risk, potential-high-reward-but-maybe-lose-the-lot scenarios appeals to you, you’ve got zero “investment” reason to get involved in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
There’s no such thing as an untraceable transactions in Bitcoin. It is essentially a ledger of account. You can put a bitcoin laundry between you and another party but there will always be a record of a transaction between two addresses.
I agree there is zero investment reason to get involved. I never got into Bitcoin because for me it isn’t tangible enough. And now, at the prices it is at, it looks like a bubble to me, and the fact it has hit the mainstream with all the accompanying PR hype around it means it’s too late for the average Joe to get in.
Seems to me bitcoin is the ultimate example of something that has value only because a bunch of people decided it has value. There’s absolutely nothing to back it.
Hell, even fiat money is ultimately backed by the issuing state’s powers of compulsion. So it doesn’t become worthless until the issuing government becomes worthless, like say Zimbabwe. And even though gold is relatively useless compared to something genuinely important like platinum, it has some uses to justify some value being placed on it. You could even grow pretty flowers from tulip bulbs. But bitcoin?
Greywarshark…. if you want a good read on what Bitcoin is and how it works, have a look at this series just recently started on Automatic Earth by Dr D:
It’s the first of 5 parts and 2 have been published, so it’s very current. I have some understanding of Bitcoin but this lays it all out, so far, really well.
We saw this used by NZ Power companies as their push was made during the “rollout of smart metering nation wide from 2011 to now, so one wonders now that most regions have had smart meters installed the “wasting of power in NZ has been “arrested”?
At least that is what the Electricty industry tols us would happen after new smart metering was installed.
Maybe that was yet another lie perpurtrated by National and their “corporate raiders and corrupt elite allies.”
Smart metering means no meter readers (outsourcing contract gets canceled) and buckets of data they don’t seem to know what to do with.
As it’s a granular breakdown from what they get out of each sub station throughout already IMO it’s just more of that ‘looking busy’ routine we get from an industry gouging the consumer with such BS as tariffs on people with solar panels (unison) etc
Seems to me smart meters provide some very useful data. I can go to the Genesis website and see a graph of my daily power usage. From this it is easy to estimate what running an electric heater costs me etc.
Yep. Not long ago I noticed the spike of extra power consumption when the hot water timer kicks on at night had got a bit bigger. Turned out to be a leaking pressure relief valve. It would have had to have got a lot worse and wasted a lot more power and water before I would have noticed it in daily or monthly average bills.
That’s interesting on smart meters. It has been hard to get a picture of their worth.
Some people have had meters installed without their say-so which only charge the basic rates and override agreement pricing plans they have entered into. Can the pricing system be changed? How easy is it to get a new system that has all the features the consumer wants? How long does it take from ringing or emailing to getting a satisfactory finish? Does it have to be done over the phone where the consumer is getting charged per minute?
Sorry, I don’t know enough about the different company plans or the nitty-gritty of the different smart meter capabilities to give a useful response.
But the smart meters do enable things like Flick Electric’s plans, where they just pass through all of their costs plus either a small per day or per kWhr charge for their costs and profit. If you’re willing and able to manage your electricity use, say by putting hot water, fridge, fridge, freezer, dishwasher etc on timers so you don’t use them at peak times, you can save quite a bit on your power bill. Powershop offer a much cruder version, with separate pricing for peak and off-peak use.
When smart meters will really make a difference is when they can communicate with the grid and users to manage the demand and smooth out peaks and troughs.
When smart meters will really make a difference is when they can communicate with the grid and users to manage the demand and smooth out peaks and troughs.
A fully cooperative national grid. Pretty much essential in this day and age but something we won’t get as long as we have privatisation and faux competition in the electricity ‘market’.
Some people have had meters installed without their say-so which only charge the basic rates and override agreement pricing plans they have entered into.
The metres don’t do the charging. That’s still done by the retailer entering the info into the computer and if someone’s plan got changed that would be a mistake done by a human.
Can the pricing system be changed?
Of course it can and, if extra has been paid by the customer because of the mistake, a refund organised.
Does it have to be done over the phone where the consumer is getting charged per minute?
Most places have secure websites that people can log into to change account details.
Thanks Andre and DTB. Something to think about when I turn down my next persistent offer of comparing prices with my present provider. What a scam. They can instantly offer a cheaper price for a year or something. I may be paying more but I have a reliable provider and am offered discounts if I pay in time which don’t disappear if it’s a day late. But I could do more perhaps. So now I know a bit more about smart meters workings.
There’s no difference in reliability between providers, they all use the same wires and grid connections. It’s not physically possible for there to actually be a difference in reliability (unless you’re signed up with a provider that’s in the habit of randomly sending someone out disconnect houses). The differences are in the pricing plans, customer service, billing practices etc.
It might not have been the main driver for implementing this technology but that does not mean that the data gathered is not helpful.
Also, gone are the days of estimated power bills where the consumer had to wait until the next actual reading before realising savings from reduced use.
The ” Line charge” for my location is now $2.46 per day including GST, before any power is used, that just happens to round out at $944 annually or $73.8 per month(30Days), again, before any actual power is used, I believe the term “Gouging” of essential services is the correct one, starting to make Solar look like an excellent investment, have lived ion properties with only solar, no problems, except the battery replacement after 10 yrs or so, a 5 kw system is adequate for most if your heating/cooking is gas.
We have previous notified government claiming that the Municipal water supply is taken out of “shallow aquifer bores” while foriegn water bottlers are allowed to sink “deep well extraction” bores hence they get our premium water; while are only left now with the top of aquifer water which is mostly soiled and contaminated from road and land use water runoff.
This ” Dirty NZ drinking water” issue has not even begun to be carefully and properly planned, as we need to stop “deep well ejection” by foriegn ‘free water pirates’ taking our best safe water.
While all NZ households get contaminated water that will be now be “doped” with harsh toxic chemicals including chorine and flouride that will harm weaker older and young almost our society.
This was forced on Municipal authorities who, now will add those chemiicals to kill pathegens and bactaria so our water is now equal to a third world water supply.
[deleted. That was a lot of scrolling to get past on a phone]
[Please don’t post whole tracts or long cut and pastes. You can cut and paste shorter bits to support the point you are trying to make or to give people and idea what the article is about. – weka]
“The solution is not chlorination.
The solution is clean water”
The RMA should be immediately changed to put that as number 1 priority because at the moment ‘The environment court’ is actually ‘the development court’, likewise council consenting. It’s not about proving that new development and consents (aka water extraction) will not impact water and the community – it is about some other person x proving at their own cost that it will NOT impact water and community. That is pretty hard to do.
The onus is on the wrong groups to prove impacts in environment not the one putting in the consents. There no come back or fines if the information in the consents provides to be wrong. It is an incredible dangerous and risky way to be running a consenting process and open to fraud especially with the amount of money involved in these consents.
Are you people losing Mana with the public well its your own fault I tried for negotiation but that’s right you don’t negotiate with a dum broke ass MAORI. KIA KAHA
it’s okay if you are a republican.
you can add Supreme Justice Thomas Clarence to that list have the right to sexually harras women. After all its t he wimminz fault with their poisonous and wily ways raising the lust in their hearts – filthy harlots – even at 14. I mean, really what is a 34 year old man to do when a 14 year old looks at him, or a married man who feels like he has to grab some pussy.
Of course no one’s calling for this pig’s resignation.
Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, says he promises to pay back taxpayers for funds from a special congressional account he used to pay a harassment settlement back in 2013.
Farenthold told NBC affiliate KRIS6 in Corpus Christi that he “didn’t do anything wrong” but would “do my best” to repay the settlement fee sometime this week, this time taking out a personal loan instead.
[…]
Farenthold is the only sitting House member since 2013 to have used the congressional Office of Compliance account to pay for a sexual harassment claim, in which $84,000 was paid out, CBS News confirmed Friday.
The House Administration Committee revealed Friday that only one sexual harassment claim has been paid through the taxpayer-funded account since 2013. Politico was the first to identify Farenthold as the lawmaker who was accused.
I agree, actually. By all means take their savings, etc, and give them a debt to pay off, but they have 2 children who are innocent and will be the greatest sufferers if they have to give up their home – there are enough families in trouble already without deliberately adding to them
Yes. The article is a bit vague on the house confiscation details but it does appear it’s been taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The Judge has ruled that some illegal income may have paid some of the mortgage and consequently ‘tainted’ the property.
If true then everyone who commits any kind of offence involving financial proceeds could potentially lose their home. So much for the punishment fitting the crime.
Not as I was led to believe the proceeds of crimes act would be utilised. I was of the understanding it was to help stamp out profiteering from drugs. I didn’t think it would take long for the law to start using it in other areas. Non payment of parking tickets next? You may laugh.
It doesn’t say specifically the Act was called on, I just assumed from the inference, but the term ‘tainted’ is used in the Act so it probably was.
I just had a read thru Ads link and it says the Act applies to serious offences which are described “an offence punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 years or more” so I guess parking tickets might not make it (but who knows)
I thought the same, that the act was aimed only at the heavy hitters. Nothing forces them to make these confiscation orders, they don’t have to do it, and I wonder at the thinking & motivations behind them.
Just read the news report on the couple. Admittedly they obtained funds they weren’t entitled to, but the proceeds of crimes act is being stretched to it’s limits confiscating the house. Far exceeds the power. Judge is wrong. As someone else stated, how many white collar criminals have been prosecuted to this degree. No mansions confiscated as far as I’m aware. Most would be in trust though. If they are going to use the POCA for individuals that aren’t big time criminals, there should be no borders, such as trusts, which stop the enacting of the Act against multi-millionaire/dollar fraudsters
Yeah. It looks a bit vigilante-ish. I read the sentencing report Bill linked to below. The judge goes into great detail explaining the penalty he thinks she deserves and proceeds to give it her. And then along come these characters who appear to decide the court ordered sentence isn’t enough so they proceed to take her house as well.
This is bad policy. As JanM says, money should be confiscated and some punishment meted out, and some atonement.
I think there should always be some personal atonement for crime, apart from just handing over money. It could be doing a certain number of hours for the Council on community jobs. As they are done, they would be recorded and if not done, then there is a jail sentence. The life has to be moulded round the reparation time, not the other way round.
But why take away the house while the country is in this situation! What does that help the country and the lawbreaker, her children and partner in the long run. FGS.
You could say that the rich hold the purse, and the purse-lipped among the rich twist the poor for their misdeeds.
I am sure that the Judge regarded this rancid behaviour by a female beneficiary as totally outrageous and went all purse-lipped about it. Hence the serious stripping of all her assets. It is well-known that beneficiaries should not be able to have joy or satisfaction while they are receiving money for their keep from the government or some helping agency. Feckless pleasure and advantages gained are Not Allowed and the highest probity is required from the lowest living.
For you Rod Petricevich had no reparations ordered by the court upon his imprisonment some assets had been forfeited earlier but there was no “he might win lotto order ” or reparations out of his superannuation ordered. He also enjoys significant trust benefits
Is this 1 law for rich criminals and another for poor ones?
It’s a short read. To refer to someone with a gambling addiction as follows kind of beggars belief imo.
The pre-sentence report indicates that there is a significant problem with gambling and poor decision making. That is putting it mildly. Mr Johnson, I think appropriately, lays the genesis of this offending on a gambling problem, although I suspect that there may well have been other issues as well, but this is behaviour that has bedevilled the defendant all of her adult life and she seems to have been a somewhat slow learner as to the undesirability of fuelling this behaviour by access to money which is not hers.
And just to note that the sum she was sentenced on would have been the entire monetary value of her claim and not any proportion deemed to have been gained by dishonesty.
edit – just to note further, that while her face and story is ‘everywhere’, there is nothing bar a side mention of her partner and his tax evasion.
Love the way the crown couldn’t be bothered investigating the complaints against and alleged benefit frauds by Paula B.
I guess the legal and police system is not about innocence or guilt it’s just about having enough power and using the lawyers by the elite so you don’t get investigated properly, let alone caught.
This movement looks like it has a bunch more stamina than Black Lives Matter and Occupy.
Speaking of which, Franken is going to go down now that the Democrat women have pretty much ordered it. Although still looks like Moore will get Alabama.
Speaking of Franken, he had the opportunity to make a difference by resigning when the first allegations came out. He could have made a statement something like “behaviour of the kind I indulged in should be disqualifying for public office. To make that clear, I am now resigning…”.
But if he goes reluctantly as a result of mounting pressure and an increasing list of accusers, he’s just another abuser that still doesn’t get it.
I don’t know about it having more stamina, but it’s absolutely of a different nature.
Black Lives Matter and Occupy challenge structural foundations. ‘Silence breakers” or whatever name is being given to it, is about “bad apples” – at least, that’s the vein in which it’s generally reported.
boys will always be boys no matter how old and how famous, and how rich and how connected and any of the bullshit.
for the women it is
when it bleeds it breeds
beauty must suffer
if you can’t escape it, try to enjoy it
close your eyes and do it for England (insert any other country)
martial duty of the women vs martial right for the man
they are ‘jailbait’
what did she wear
why did she go there
why did she not speak earlier
where was the mother
why did she drink
to the victor go the spoils
she must’ave enticed him
lolita
etc etc etc
btw, the ‘me too’ movement is over ten years old, and was started by a woman of colour.
That’s true. Interestingly it’s black women that are most likely to prevent #metoo from becoming predominantly a liberal agenda, so I see the success of BLM here too. As you say, one has to look past much of the reporting to see the broader effects of what is going on.
now what we need to see is a detailed plan of how its to be achieved…im hoping James Shaw has been very quiet because hes busy formulating that plan for imminent release.
they are still annoyed that the Green Party did not rubber stamp the ‘majority’ of the National Party. How dare they do as they want to instead of doing as they are ordered too.
This fight to preserve jobs and conditions at the Aquatic Centre in Rotorua is winnable, if people rally aorund behind the workers and put maximum pressure on the mayor, CEO and Council.
@ Philip Ferguson, That’s terrible. I bet they could easily save $700,000+ by cutting the Rotorua CEO and executive team down to minimum wages… Some one should do a tally on how much the executive team is being paid and their wage increases. Should be enlightening.
I really hate all this conversion on NZ to a low wage transient economy. It’s such a race to the bottom and it does not save any money because then taxpayers and ratepayers then pay all the wages in work for dole schemes, more wage subsidies like working for families, the courts when people need to turn to crime, etc etc Nobody saves!!!! Not only does it not save money, it actually horribly reduces peoples quality of life and their mental health and wrecks their kids and dependants lives too!
Yeah, Boag is still there. Seems to be there as a lobbyist and you are right, they should be required to make an appointment which is recorded and verifiable.
God knows why supposes of former MPs are still there.
We commented on this some days ago, that is that no one had looked into what exactly Phil Quin did in Rwanda and for whom. We speculated on the information available which was that he worked as a consultant for the Kagame government and specifically the Rwandan Police at one point.
Now someone on Reddit (thats right, Reddit of all places, not the NZ media) posted about Phin Quin’s past and dear bitter old Phil claims it’s a hatchet job!
He does and apology clip (which I can’t bring myself to watch) and seems very concerned he’s burned some bridges with ‘people he respects’. Read ‘contacts’ with which to attack the Labour party with, and ‘clients’ who pay him for attacks on the Labour party.
Phil Quin has been squashed like a snail, good and proper.
I think Phil Q probably needs some ‘wrap around’ services about now – purely from philanthropic sources of course.
Probably the first wrap around service is to assure him is that his dick size is within the bounds of normality, and anyway (as Ms Muldaur once said to the insecure) – it ain’t the meat but the motion anyway
At the end of the linked article Quin says
“and won’t simply trigger another unhelpful round of substance-free nastiness”.
I think he is talking about you Muttonbird.
I didn’t call anyone a genocide denier in a Twitter rant sparking an epic round of hatred for Ghahraman. Quin needs to have a long hard look in the mirror.
Wet houses – a practical answer to the difficulties for blokes and women living on the streets with a booze problem. In this item hopeful Wellington Mayor Justin Lester says he will have talk with the government to get the first NZ one set up there. I wonder if that is progressing?
Wellington mayoral candidate Justin Lester says his plan for the country’s first wet house would help addicts on the road to becoming more independent.
A wet house is a residential facility where alcoholics can continue to drink, and research from Washington University found most of those people would halve their intake while they were there….
Another FFS moment … Natz gobshite Soper still at it. Today it’s Labour taking advantage of National’s initiatives! Getting more ridiculous now. Time to give it a rest.
Soper has an anology about National spreading hayseeds that the Goverment are reaping, any farmer knows that the only seeds to germinate from hay are weeds.
Petition
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: I ask that you do not approve planned seismic blasting for oil in the newly discovered blue whale habitat off Taranaki, and that you make climate change your “nuclear free moment” by ending offshore oil exploration and drilling in NZ waters and the ‘Block Offer’ process.
well I want to tell her that if she’s worried about the planet she should stop mowing her bloody lawn. Bonus, she wouldn’t have to use a sprinkler to water it.
Some fairly salient comments by Ella Henry and Bernard Hickey on the RNZ ZB Hour (aka ‘The Panel’) re our public service. (It’s in the first 15 minutes thank Christ – i.e. before Mora has the opportunity to start exercising his wisdom and ego – so not too much of a burden to listen to).
The good thing is though, that people are starting to take interest and listen – and when they do (whether DHB’s or Water/health, Ed Jikayshun, Seeyoe’s celeries et al), they are starting to think: mmmmm geeeze Wayne – wtf?
Well, on the one hand I subverted the interpretation of the ‘dwarf’ as a label, a mere cypher, an insult to David Farrar, and gave the dwarf a personal voice, but then I placed the dwarf in a potentially compromising position.
The connection between Farrar and princesses should be familiar to any student of Dirty Politics.
Let me deal with the fat phobia first. Fat phobic comments attack a person from a place of prejudice. There are a whole range of political implications that come from that. Do you think it would be ok to make putdown jokes about someone based on their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation? I don’t. Nor gratuitous digs at someone because of their body shape.
Perhaps it is more correct to say it as ‘Does this tie make my gut look slim.’ I don’t know how we are going to poke fun at each other if Health and Safety get too sterile about it. Instead of poking fun we might have to revert to poking someone in the nose.
National used it successfully for at least god knows how many years…but that was with corrupt media support so I guess your correct (not going to say Right)
I think the depth of the problems left behind cannot be turned around in 6-12 months to a point where the forces of 9 years of National’s abject non-governance no longer have an effect on society.
This government have several terms and more to rightly blame the Nats for the housing crisis, and under-planning for infrastructure. Same goes for improvements in educational achievement. Perhaps 18-36 months to get the health ministry and water infrastructure sorted.
Lets face it. National screwed these things up so bad that even an economy in free teenage party mode couldn’t help them win the 2017 GE.
I don’t think they’ll have too, most voted for the coalition knowing all these problems(fires) existed, the only ones that didn’t was the National supporters who probably didn’t care or weren’t interested.
When I was naive I thought our justice systems were like science and that was it is not a fact till it was proven to be fact but not now our justice system will spread lies about anyone they have a beef with. I can prove that everything I have said to he TRUE. If they had one shred evidence that could stand up in our courts we’ll you no what would happen . My great grandmother died when I was 9 an I ended up living with the worst family of all my whano I had been living with them for a week and after drank for 4 days they took me to the post office and got me to sign a withdrawal slip and drew out all the money my great grandmother had me save at my school savings. I found out later that MAMA MY GGMAM had another account that my fathers maintainec was beeping payed into they spent that to the first account had $300 and the second account had $800 they carried on getting my father maintainec till I turned 18 and I had left at 14 and went to work my dad told me he had carried on paying till I turn 18 and I told all the other family members about this and the people who did this don’t like this fact getting out there. I never got any gifts or new clothing I was the little white slave lite the fire chop the wood milk the cow boil the water for a bath. I was 12 and I fix a mower that someone could not get going he gave it away I was sick of carting water so I setup a syphon system to take the water from the tank to the copper and another from the copper to the bathroom I buried the black plastic pipe and put taps on the ends into the copper and the bathroom he got pissed at someone and picked on me and pulled that out every time he got upset he would call me a white honky bustard everyone called me honky when he tried to hit me I would runaway and hide one time I stayed at the neighbours for 2 weeks when I was 13.One week he took my money from cutting ragwort and used it to go to a funeral and left 2 of us home alone for 5 days no food I went to the neighbours. After watching them catch possum I started catching and skinny and drying them I had about 30 skins he said he would sell them for me i never seen a cent. So what these people are doing to me now is not a new feeling I am use to being intimated and bullied its like water off a ducks back. What I did not like was I was very submissive but not now I will protect my family we made. Kia kaha
Sad to hear of the death of Christine Keeler, one of the victims in the Profumo Scandal, although at least she lived to tell the tale, whereas poor Stephen Ward ended up committing suicide.
There you go the state using all its power to try and suppress me I use to be able to find eco Maori by Googleing it not anymore they did the same to a website I found about corruption in the NZ justice systems email the IPCA about it as proof next minute web site vanished they would have paid Google to make it come up in page 1000 in any search. Kia kaha
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Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
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After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
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There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
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Bitcoin gets a lot of press. But it appears to be nothing more than than a certificate of gratuitously wasted electricity. That waste of electricity appears inherent to blockchain transactions in general, bitcoin is just the largest at the moment. For instance, one bitcoin transaction apparently uses around the same electricity as one American household for one week.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/12/climatedesk-bitcoin-is-really-bad-for-the-environment/
Just how much electricity is wasted by bitcoin mining? Here’s some comparisons to national electricity consumption. For instance, bitcoin mining worldwide now consumes an amount equivalent to about 3/4 of NZ electricity use.
https://powercompare.co.uk/bitcoin/
I need enlightening on this bitcoin biz so thanks for cogent info. I will do some exploring to get my mind round it. Like smart meters and other hype stuff will it be useful or has someone found another portal to suck their money vacuum into and both suck and blow up to a nice bubble.
Unless you feel the urge to make untraceable transactions, you have zero practical need for bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Hence cryptocurrencies popularity for drug and kiddie porn deals.
Unless gambling your money in extremely-high-risk, potential-high-reward-but-maybe-lose-the-lot scenarios appeals to you, you’ve got zero “investment” reason to get involved in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
There’s no such thing as an untraceable transactions in Bitcoin. It is essentially a ledger of account. You can put a bitcoin laundry between you and another party but there will always be a record of a transaction between two addresses.
I agree there is zero investment reason to get involved. I never got into Bitcoin because for me it isn’t tangible enough. And now, at the prices it is at, it looks like a bubble to me, and the fact it has hit the mainstream with all the accompanying PR hype around it means it’s too late for the average Joe to get in.
Seems to me bitcoin is the ultimate example of something that has value only because a bunch of people decided it has value. There’s absolutely nothing to back it.
Hell, even fiat money is ultimately backed by the issuing state’s powers of compulsion. So it doesn’t become worthless until the issuing government becomes worthless, like say Zimbabwe. And even though gold is relatively useless compared to something genuinely important like platinum, it has some uses to justify some value being placed on it. You could even grow pretty flowers from tulip bulbs. But bitcoin?
It has ‘value’ because the ‘goods’ and services that are traded do.
Kiddie porn? !!
I might be out of date with that comment, there’s a good chance they’ve moved on to something else for their nasty deals.
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/06/blockchain-start-up-elliptic-aims-to-catch-people-using-bitcoin-to-pay-for-child-porn-online.html
Bitcoin – sounds like a teething ring for a rich kid.
Greywarshark…. if you want a good read on what Bitcoin is and how it works, have a look at this series just recently started on Automatic Earth by Dr D:
https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2017/12/bitcoin-doesnt-exist-1/
It’s the first of 5 parts and 2 have been published, so it’s very current. I have some understanding of Bitcoin but this lays it all out, so far, really well.
Thanks for this Andre,
We saw this used by NZ Power companies as their push was made during the “rollout of smart metering nation wide from 2011 to now, so one wonders now that most regions have had smart meters installed the “wasting of power in NZ has been “arrested”?
At least that is what the Electricty industry tols us would happen after new smart metering was installed.
Maybe that was yet another lie perpurtrated by National and their “corporate raiders and corrupt elite allies.”
Smart metering means no meter readers (outsourcing contract gets canceled) and buckets of data they don’t seem to know what to do with.
As it’s a granular breakdown from what they get out of each sub station throughout already IMO it’s just more of that ‘looking busy’ routine we get from an industry gouging the consumer with such BS as tariffs on people with solar panels (unison) etc
Seems to me smart meters provide some very useful data. I can go to the Genesis website and see a graph of my daily power usage. From this it is easy to estimate what running an electric heater costs me etc.
Yep. Not long ago I noticed the spike of extra power consumption when the hot water timer kicks on at night had got a bit bigger. Turned out to be a leaking pressure relief valve. It would have had to have got a lot worse and wasted a lot more power and water before I would have noticed it in daily or monthly average bills.
That’s interesting on smart meters. It has been hard to get a picture of their worth.
Some people have had meters installed without their say-so which only charge the basic rates and override agreement pricing plans they have entered into. Can the pricing system be changed? How easy is it to get a new system that has all the features the consumer wants? How long does it take from ringing or emailing to getting a satisfactory finish? Does it have to be done over the phone where the consumer is getting charged per minute?
Sorry, I don’t know enough about the different company plans or the nitty-gritty of the different smart meter capabilities to give a useful response.
But the smart meters do enable things like Flick Electric’s plans, where they just pass through all of their costs plus either a small per day or per kWhr charge for their costs and profit. If you’re willing and able to manage your electricity use, say by putting hot water, fridge, fridge, freezer, dishwasher etc on timers so you don’t use them at peak times, you can save quite a bit on your power bill. Powershop offer a much cruder version, with separate pricing for peak and off-peak use.
When smart meters will really make a difference is when they can communicate with the grid and users to manage the demand and smooth out peaks and troughs.
A fully cooperative national grid. Pretty much essential in this day and age but something we won’t get as long as we have privatisation and faux competition in the electricity ‘market’.
The metres don’t do the charging. That’s still done by the retailer entering the info into the computer and if someone’s plan got changed that would be a mistake done by a human.
Of course it can and, if extra has been paid by the customer because of the mistake, a refund organised.
Thanks Andre and DTB. Something to think about when I turn down my next persistent offer of comparing prices with my present provider. What a scam. They can instantly offer a cheaper price for a year or something. I may be paying more but I have a reliable provider and am offered discounts if I pay in time which don’t disappear if it’s a day late. But I could do more perhaps. So now I know a bit more about smart meters workings.
If you’re interested in comparing price, Consumer have this handy website: https://www.powerswitch.org.nz/
There’s no difference in reliability between providers, they all use the same wires and grid connections. It’s not physically possible for there to actually be a difference in reliability (unless you’re signed up with a provider that’s in the habit of randomly sending someone out disconnect houses). The differences are in the pricing plans, customer service, billing practices etc.
In other words a huge bureaucracy that costs heaps but achieves nothing.
For the convenience and benefit of the consumer…
Is not why smart meters or most any technology is rolled out
High Speed Broadband
Smart Meters
‘Internet of Things’
It might not have been the main driver for implementing this technology but that does not mean that the data gathered is not helpful.
Also, gone are the days of estimated power bills where the consumer had to wait until the next actual reading before realising savings from reduced use.
The ” Line charge” for my location is now $2.46 per day including GST, before any power is used, that just happens to round out at $944 annually or $73.8 per month(30Days), again, before any actual power is used, I believe the term “Gouging” of essential services is the correct one, starting to make Solar look like an excellent investment, have lived ion properties with only solar, no problems, except the battery replacement after 10 yrs or so, a 5 kw system is adequate for most if your heating/cooking is gas.
We have previous notified government claiming that the Municipal water supply is taken out of “shallow aquifer bores” while foriegn water bottlers are allowed to sink “deep well extraction” bores hence they get our premium water; while are only left now with the top of aquifer water which is mostly soiled and contaminated from road and land use water runoff.
This ” Dirty NZ drinking water” issue has not even begun to be carefully and properly planned, as we need to stop “deep well ejection” by foriegn ‘free water pirates’ taking our best safe water.
While all NZ households get contaminated water that will be now be “doped” with harsh toxic chemicals including chorine and flouride that will harm weaker older and young almost our society.
This was forced on Municipal authorities who, now will add those chemiicals to kill pathegens and bactaria so our water is now equal to a third world water supply.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/345570/new-zealand-s-drinking-water-a-mess
[deleted. That was a lot of scrolling to get past on a phone]
[Please don’t post whole tracts or long cut and pastes. You can cut and paste shorter bits to support the point you are trying to make or to give people and idea what the article is about. – weka]
Please do not paste an entire article you have linked to.
moderation note above, please respond so I know you have seen it, thanks.
This is what happens when you put profit above people.
A destroyed environment.
Undrinkable water.
The solution is not chlorination.
The solution is clean water.
Abandon unsustainable dairy farming.
Abandon neoliberalism.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11954491
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/345616/clean-water-it-s-the-communities-that-have-to-pay
Ageed 100%.
When did we learn that term “you cant get blood out of a stone”???
Our Elders knew this would happen that was the reason for the term.
Now we get get back to our former cleangreen country, or something close to representing the words of our dreams and asperations.?
You got it in one ED,
“The solution is not chlorination.
The solution is clean water”
The RMA should be immediately changed to put that as number 1 priority because at the moment ‘The environment court’ is actually ‘the development court’, likewise council consenting. It’s not about proving that new development and consents (aka water extraction) will not impact water and the community – it is about some other person x proving at their own cost that it will NOT impact water and community. That is pretty hard to do.
The onus is on the wrong groups to prove impacts in environment not the one putting in the consents. There no come back or fines if the information in the consents provides to be wrong. It is an incredible dangerous and risky way to be running a consenting process and open to fraud especially with the amount of money involved in these consents.
This disgusting water policy of the National Party and its farmer friends….
https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/l/f/i/z/s/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1lfi0o.png/1504501119377.jpg
Are you people losing Mana with the public well its your own fault I tried for negotiation but that’s right you don’t negotiate with a dum broke ass MAORI. KIA KAHA
Senator Al Franken is officially toast:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/363543-women-in-senate-call-for-franken-to-resign
Toast:
Bill Clinton
Al Franken
John Conyers
Harvey Weinstein
Louis CK
Matt Lauer
Kevin Spacey
Jeremy Piven
Brett Ratner
Not toast:
Roy Moore
Donald Trump
it’s okay if you are a republican.
you can add Supreme Justice Thomas Clarence to that list have the right to sexually harras women. After all its t he wimminz fault with their poisonous and wily ways raising the lust in their hearts – filthy harlots – even at 14. I mean, really what is a 34 year old man to do when a 14 year old looks at him, or a married man who feels like he has to grab some pussy.
Of course no one’s calling for this pig’s resignation.
Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, says he promises to pay back taxpayers for funds from a special congressional account he used to pay a harassment settlement back in 2013.
Farenthold told NBC affiliate KRIS6 in Corpus Christi that he “didn’t do anything wrong” but would “do my best” to repay the settlement fee sometime this week, this time taking out a personal loan instead.
[…]
Farenthold is the only sitting House member since 2013 to have used the congressional Office of Compliance account to pay for a sexual harassment claim, in which $84,000 was paid out, CBS News confirmed Friday.
The House Administration Committee revealed Friday that only one sexual harassment claim has been paid through the taxpayer-funded account since 2013. Politico was the first to identify Farenthold as the lawmaker who was accused.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rep-blake-farenthold-says-hell-repay-taxpayers-for-harassment-settlement/
# IOIYAR
This is bad…..
“Benefit fraudster Leticia Drake and her partner lose home, savings and insurance payouts ”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/99589505/benefit-fraudster-leticia-drake-and-her-partner-lose-home-savings-and-insurance-payouts
There’s a disturbing vindictiveness from ‘The Crown’ there and the ruling has sinister implications.
I agree, actually. By all means take their savings, etc, and give them a debt to pay off, but they have 2 children who are innocent and will be the greatest sufferers if they have to give up their home – there are enough families in trouble already without deliberately adding to them
Yes. The article is a bit vague on the house confiscation details but it does appear it’s been taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The Judge has ruled that some illegal income may have paid some of the mortgage and consequently ‘tainted’ the property.
If true then everyone who commits any kind of offence involving financial proceeds could potentially lose their home. So much for the punishment fitting the crime.
Funny enough they don’t seem to take the houses/assets of larger white collar criminals or corporate criminals like Banks.
Exactly! Mind you they will have all their assets tied up in trusts and have expensive lawyers
If they are having a crack under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Court can grant relief to a third party:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1991/0120/latest/whole.html#DLM251081
Not as I was led to believe the proceeds of crimes act would be utilised. I was of the understanding it was to help stamp out profiteering from drugs. I didn’t think it would take long for the law to start using it in other areas. Non payment of parking tickets next? You may laugh.
It doesn’t say specifically the Act was called on, I just assumed from the inference, but the term ‘tainted’ is used in the Act so it probably was.
I just had a read thru Ads link and it says the Act applies to serious offences which are described “an offence punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 years or more” so I guess parking tickets might not make it (but who knows)
I thought the same, that the act was aimed only at the heavy hitters. Nothing forces them to make these confiscation orders, they don’t have to do it, and I wonder at the thinking & motivations behind them.
Just read the news report on the couple. Admittedly they obtained funds they weren’t entitled to, but the proceeds of crimes act is being stretched to it’s limits confiscating the house. Far exceeds the power. Judge is wrong. As someone else stated, how many white collar criminals have been prosecuted to this degree. No mansions confiscated as far as I’m aware. Most would be in trust though. If they are going to use the POCA for individuals that aren’t big time criminals, there should be no borders, such as trusts, which stop the enacting of the Act against multi-millionaire/dollar fraudsters
Yeah. It looks a bit vigilante-ish. I read the sentencing report Bill linked to below. The judge goes into great detail explaining the penalty he thinks she deserves and proceeds to give it her. And then along come these characters who appear to decide the court ordered sentence isn’t enough so they proceed to take her house as well.
This is bad policy. As JanM says, money should be confiscated and some punishment meted out, and some atonement.
I think there should always be some personal atonement for crime, apart from just handing over money. It could be doing a certain number of hours for the Council on community jobs. As they are done, they would be recorded and if not done, then there is a jail sentence. The life has to be moulded round the reparation time, not the other way round.
But why take away the house while the country is in this situation! What does that help the country and the lawbreaker, her children and partner in the long run. FGS.
Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law. Oliver Goldsmith
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/oliver_goldsmith_403444
You could say that the rich hold the purse, and the purse-lipped among the rich twist the poor for their misdeeds.
I am sure that the Judge regarded this rancid behaviour by a female beneficiary as totally outrageous and went all purse-lipped about it. Hence the serious stripping of all her assets. It is well-known that beneficiaries should not be able to have joy or satisfaction while they are receiving money for their keep from the government or some helping agency. Feckless pleasure and advantages gained are Not Allowed and the highest probity is required from the lowest living.
Great job – the tax payer will be getting their stolen money back.
I have no issue with this – or any other criminals having assets sold to pay back stolen money.
So you’d kick a person when they’re down huh James. Why does that not surprise me.
“So you’d kick a person when they’re down huh James”
They are not “down” they were “caught”.
@ James
What if the value of the house (or other assets) taken far exceed the amount stolen and fine (if any) given?
They should sell all the items until the money is re-paid and give back the remaining items to the fraudster.
“I have no issue with this”
James declares his position and it’s that of a pretzel.
I agree with you James, they did the crime, time to pay the consequences.
James
For you Rod Petricevich had no reparations ordered by the court upon his imprisonment some assets had been forfeited earlier but there was no “he might win lotto order ” or reparations out of his superannuation ordered. He also enjoys significant trust benefits
Is this 1 law for rich criminals and another for poor ones?
Do you have any input on this?
Cheers Barfly
Gone quiet so apparently not. James probably has a headache from trying to formulate a response.
Nothing if not consistent.
Erm. Here’s the sentencing document. Note the date? The judgement was on the 16th of May last year – 18 months ago.
It’s a short read. To refer to someone with a gambling addiction as follows kind of beggars belief imo.
And just to note that the sum she was sentenced on would have been the entire monetary value of her claim and not any proportion deemed to have been gained by dishonesty.
edit – just to note further, that while her face and story is ‘everywhere’, there is nothing bar a side mention of her partner and his tax evasion.
Love the way the crown couldn’t be bothered investigating the complaints against and alleged benefit frauds by Paula B.
I guess the legal and police system is not about innocence or guilt it’s just about having enough power and using the lawyers by the elite so you don’t get investigated properly, let alone caught.
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year goes to ….
Silence-breakers against sexual harrassment:
http://time.com/
http://www.dw.com/en/time-names-the-silence-breakers-person-of-the-year/a-41675559
This movement looks like it has a bunch more stamina than Black Lives Matter and Occupy.
Speaking of which, Franken is going to go down now that the Democrat women have pretty much ordered it. Although still looks like Moore will get Alabama.
Speaking of Franken, he had the opportunity to make a difference by resigning when the first allegations came out. He could have made a statement something like “behaviour of the kind I indulged in should be disqualifying for public office. To make that clear, I am now resigning…”.
But if he goes reluctantly as a result of mounting pressure and an increasing list of accusers, he’s just another abuser that still doesn’t get it.
So when is Trump going to resign?
And why did Nancy Pelosi, that great defender of civil rights, not say a word about Bill Clinton?
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/nancy-pelosi-nobody-was-proud-of-president-clinton-s-behavior-at-the-time-1103782467514
Republicans are immune from any of this.
It’s in the law.
I don’t know about it having more stamina, but it’s absolutely of a different nature.
Black Lives Matter and Occupy challenge structural foundations. ‘Silence breakers” or whatever name is being given to it, is about “bad apples” – at least, that’s the vein in which it’s generally reported.
boys will always be boys no matter how old and how famous, and how rich and how connected and any of the bullshit.
for the women it is
when it bleeds it breeds
beauty must suffer
if you can’t escape it, try to enjoy it
close your eyes and do it for England (insert any other country)
martial duty of the women vs martial right for the man
they are ‘jailbait’
what did she wear
why did she go there
why did she not speak earlier
where was the mother
why did she drink
to the victor go the spoils
she must’ave enticed him
lolita
etc etc etc
btw, the ‘me too’ movement is over ten years old, and was started by a woman of colour.
Pretty sure if you relied on reporting for an understanding of BLM and Occupy you wouldn’t get the challenge to structural foundations either 😉
That’s true. And my comment was badly worded.
What I was trying to get at is that some stuff just doesn’t get reported on and some other stuff gets reported in a way that renders it “safe.
That’s true. Interestingly it’s black women that are most likely to prevent #metoo from becoming predominantly a liberal agenda, so I see the success of BLM here too. As you say, one has to look past much of the reporting to see the broader effects of what is going on.
Lovely article on New Zealand emissions, a proper plan for reducing them, and some hope that the Green Party will start to re-address this issue:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1712/S00054/a-fresh-start-for-climate-change-mitigation-in-new-zealand.htm
now what we need to see is a detailed plan of how its to be achieved…im hoping James Shaw has been very quiet because hes busy formulating that plan for imminent release.
Why do you always come out with lies about the Green party?
As you well know, climate change and emissions have always been part of the Greens policies.
The Green Party are in charge of actual implementation. as per their agreement with Labour. “Re-address” is covered in the article cited.
Waiting for Shaw to show he will hold up his part of the 100-day plan. It’s their only action.
they are still annoyed that the Green Party did not rubber stamp the ‘majority’ of the National Party. How dare they do as they want to instead of doing as they are ordered too.
Farrar’s lost his keys to parliament.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99552731/speaker-reviews-list-of-approved-visitors-with-access-to-parliament-for-the-first-time
That on its own will go a long way to cleaning up the place.
This fight to preserve jobs and conditions at the Aquatic Centre in Rotorua is winnable, if people rally aorund behind the workers and put maximum pressure on the mayor, CEO and Council.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/workers-resist-redundancies-outsourcing-and-cuts-at-rotorua-aquatic-centre/
@ Philip Ferguson, That’s terrible. I bet they could easily save $700,000+ by cutting the Rotorua CEO and executive team down to minimum wages… Some one should do a tally on how much the executive team is being paid and their wage increases. Should be enlightening.
I really hate all this conversion on NZ to a low wage transient economy. It’s such a race to the bottom and it does not save any money because then taxpayers and ratepayers then pay all the wages in work for dole schemes, more wage subsidies like working for families, the courts when people need to turn to crime, etc etc Nobody saves!!!! Not only does it not save money, it actually horribly reduces peoples quality of life and their mental health and wrecks their kids and dependants lives too!
https://www.facebook.com/Rotorua-Aquatics-SOS-Save-Our-Staff-136776193653037/
“I should have shut my fat face”
Hit that nail right on the head, Mr Quin.
Where’d he say that?
http://www.philquin.com/blog/2017/12/6/on-opining
He’s no longer going to do revenge porn on the Labour party. Thank god for that.
Farrar has been locked out of parliament and Quin has had an epiphany. What a great day!
An epiphany. Sounds serious. Is it a heart condition? Does it require surgery?
It’s when he suddenly realised his pay checks have dried up.
“Farrar has been locked out of parliament”
Wait, what?
He’s had his swipe card taken off him. He was on this list yesterday, but not today.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99552731/speaker-reviews-list-of-approved-visitors-with-access-to-parliament-for-the-first-time
thanks, that was interesting.
How did you know about Farrar? (not in the link)
His name isn’t on the list of approved visitors to parliament.
where is the list?
Mid-page in Muttonbird’s stuff link.
https://screenshots.firefoxusercontent.com/images/0559d7eb-1ba8-41d4-bd0e-b38458ee082f.png
https://screenshots.firefoxusercontent.com/images/0dbcebae-3312-4350-8560-b149b957e53c.png
I remembered this story from a few weeks ago when there were 93 on the access list and you can see Farrar, David Curia Market Research Ltd is there.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98473124/list-of-lobbyists-with-access-to-parliament-to-be-reviewed-by-new-speaker
On today’s list he’s not there. He’ll be devastated as it’s a status thing for him.
Interesting there were 15 on the list when it was first made public in 2012 climbing to 93 by 2017. Carter just handed them out to anyone it seems.
Morticia is still on it though. And what’s with spouses of former MPs?
Lobbyists (and Morticia) should have to make an appointment like anyone else.
Yeah, Boag is still there. Seems to be there as a lobbyist and you are right, they should be required to make an appointment which is recorded and verifiable.
God knows why supposes of former MPs are still there.
Spouses.
And now this.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/12/ghahraman-accuser-phil-quin-denies-he-was-part-of-the-rwandan-government-pr-machine.html
We commented on this some days ago, that is that no one had looked into what exactly Phil Quin did in Rwanda and for whom. We speculated on the information available which was that he worked as a consultant for the Kagame government and specifically the Rwandan Police at one point.
Now someone on Reddit (thats right, Reddit of all places, not the NZ media) posted about Phin Quin’s past and dear bitter old Phil claims it’s a hatchet job!
He does and apology clip (which I can’t bring myself to watch) and seems very concerned he’s burned some bridges with ‘people he respects’. Read ‘contacts’ with which to attack the Labour party with, and ‘clients’ who pay him for attacks on the Labour party.
Phil Quin has been squashed like a snail, good and proper.
Had to laugh.
I think Phil Q probably needs some ‘wrap around’ services about now – purely from philanthropic sources of course.
Probably the first wrap around service is to assure him is that his dick size is within the bounds of normality, and anyway (as Ms Muldaur once said to the insecure) – it ain’t the meat but the motion anyway
Its a good backgrounder.
It’s a shame Garner and other msm oiks are shit useless at research and instead parrot reckons from the dwarf at kiwiblog
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/7hmhgt/dirty_politics_the_disturbing_context_behind_phil/
At the end of the linked article Quin says
“and won’t simply trigger another unhelpful round of substance-free nastiness”.
I think he is talking about you Muttonbird.
I didn’t call anyone a genocide denier in a Twitter rant sparking an epic round of hatred for Ghahraman. Quin needs to have a long hard look in the mirror.
Quin should be looking to himself, first.
Last week he was pegged on TS as an apologist for the current regime.
https://thestandard.org.nz/phil-quin-our-medias-goto-dogwhistling-aussie/#comment-1420543
Wet houses – a practical answer to the difficulties for blokes and women living on the streets with a booze problem. In this item hopeful Wellington Mayor Justin Lester says he will have talk with the government to get the first NZ one set up there. I wonder if that is progressing?
Wellington mayoral candidate Justin Lester says his plan for the country’s first wet house would help addicts on the road to becoming more independent.
A wet house is a residential facility where alcoholics can continue to drink, and research from Washington University found most of those people would halve their intake while they were there….
If he were to become mayor, he said the council would lobby the government more strongly to solve homelessness, and would also push for tenants in council housing to be eligible for the Income-Related Rent Subsidy.
5/9/2016 https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/312534/%27wet-house%27-plan-to-tackle-wellington-homelessness @m_cropp michael.cropp@notrnz.com
https://www.rehabs.com/are-wet-house-facilities-really-helping-alcoholics/
More on progress for the Wet House in Wellington after talks with Phil Twyford.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/99529102/government-backs-wellington-city-councils-plans-for-a-capital-housing-strategy
And it got great support from a group of musicians.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/99065678/wellington-musicians-highlight-frontline-services-for-the-homeless
And this housing initiative. I hadn’t got wind of it. Sounds like a good start.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/98664506/first-prisonerbuilt-house-for-rimutaka-earns-inmates-skills
A useful discussion around uncertainties and transparency in science, and how vested interests and politicians misuse them to further their agendas.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-easiest-way-to-dismiss-good-science-demand-sound-science/
And if you followed that link, here is a link where you can down-load the vaccine for your new virus: http://www.go-read-a-book.com
Another FFS moment … Natz gobshite Soper still at it. Today it’s Labour taking advantage of National’s initiatives! Getting more ridiculous now. Time to give it a rest.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11954555
Stop reading that drivel Mary_a! It just keeps their ratings up! Boycott them!
Soper has an anology about National spreading hayseeds that the Goverment are reaping, any farmer knows that the only seeds to germinate from hay are weeds.
Yes I purposely avoid reading anything from soper and his missus.
Petition
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: I ask that you do not approve planned seismic blasting for oil in the newly discovered blue whale habitat off Taranaki, and that you make climate change your “nuclear free moment” by ending offshore oil exploration and drilling in NZ waters and the ‘Block Offer’ process.
https://act.greenpeace.org/page/15809/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=facebook_promotion&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=climate&utm_term=seismicwhalesfb003&utm_content=paid_promo
and that you make climate change your “nuclear free moment”
You didn’t actually believe that bullshit. she only said because Labour wanted to get back all those ex-labour voters who moved over to the greens.
Psychic now are you BM ?
If your traveling SH1 south of AKL, warning, “don’t look up”.
Persistent condensation trails again.
pfft..sprinklers are the new contrail…
/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6HsiixFS8
only made the first 45 secs, but please tell me that’s satire.
Isn’t it scary that nobody will ever know…
well I want to tell her that if she’s worried about the planet she should stop mowing her bloody lawn. Bonus, she wouldn’t have to use a sprinkler to water it.
Having debunked the God conspiracy, the good young Bolshevik was confident he would never need to look upward ever again.
“Rainbows – this can not be natural.”
That’s some pretty good shit.
Loath as I am to endorse right wing policy, it has to be said: the National Party threw money at a problem and there was a slight improvement.
It’s definitely worth trying this National Party policy some more.
Some fairly salient comments by Ella Henry and Bernard Hickey on the RNZ ZB Hour (aka ‘The Panel’) re our public service. (It’s in the first 15 minutes thank Christ – i.e. before Mora has the opportunity to start exercising his wisdom and ego – so not too much of a burden to listen to).
The good thing is though, that people are starting to take interest and listen – and when they do (whether DHB’s or Water/health, Ed Jikayshun, Seeyoe’s celeries et al), they are starting to think: mmmmm geeeze Wayne – wtf?
“Does this tie make my gut look fat?”
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[no fat phobia please – weka]
Aw come on you let me get away with a dwarfist jibe
Which I hope I redeemed, and not in a good way.
not quite getting that (was there a particular meaning in princess?)
Well, on the one hand I subverted the interpretation of the ‘dwarf’ as a label, a mere cypher, an insult to David Farrar, and gave the dwarf a personal voice, but then I placed the dwarf in a potentially compromising position.
The connection between Farrar and princesses should be familiar to any student of Dirty Politics.
Ah. I thought the off camera bit was funny. Missed the princess bit, I’ll blame the hot weather.
Let me deal with the fat phobia first. Fat phobic comments attack a person from a place of prejudice. There are a whole range of political implications that come from that. Do you think it would be ok to make putdown jokes about someone based on their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation? I don’t. Nor gratuitous digs at someone because of their body shape.
Perhaps it is more correct to say it as ‘Does this tie make my gut look slim.’ I don’t know how we are going to poke fun at each other if Health and Safety get too sterile about it. Instead of poking fun we might have to revert to poking someone in the nose.
Jeez, there’s some nasty surprises left by National under the rocks overturned today with the Minister briefings release.
Housing, water, health, education. All the things we’ve known about for some years but denied by National and their greedy RWNJ hangers-on.
beware of the it’s nationals fault cry , its valid for 6 months or a year tops.
National used it successfully for at least god knows how many years…but that was with corrupt media support so I guess your correct (not going to say Right)
I think the depth of the problems left behind cannot be turned around in 6-12 months to a point where the forces of 9 years of National’s abject non-governance no longer have an effect on society.
This government have several terms and more to rightly blame the Nats for the housing crisis, and under-planning for infrastructure. Same goes for improvements in educational achievement. Perhaps 18-36 months to get the health ministry and water infrastructure sorted.
Lets face it. National screwed these things up so bad that even an economy in free teenage party mode couldn’t help them win the 2017 GE.
I don’t think they’ll have too, most voted for the coalition knowing all these problems(fires) existed, the only ones that didn’t was the National supporters who probably didn’t care or weren’t interested.
When I was naive I thought our justice systems were like science and that was it is not a fact till it was proven to be fact but not now our justice system will spread lies about anyone they have a beef with. I can prove that everything I have said to he TRUE. If they had one shred evidence that could stand up in our courts we’ll you no what would happen . My great grandmother died when I was 9 an I ended up living with the worst family of all my whano I had been living with them for a week and after drank for 4 days they took me to the post office and got me to sign a withdrawal slip and drew out all the money my great grandmother had me save at my school savings. I found out later that MAMA MY GGMAM had another account that my fathers maintainec was beeping payed into they spent that to the first account had $300 and the second account had $800 they carried on getting my father maintainec till I turned 18 and I had left at 14 and went to work my dad told me he had carried on paying till I turn 18 and I told all the other family members about this and the people who did this don’t like this fact getting out there. I never got any gifts or new clothing I was the little white slave lite the fire chop the wood milk the cow boil the water for a bath. I was 12 and I fix a mower that someone could not get going he gave it away I was sick of carting water so I setup a syphon system to take the water from the tank to the copper and another from the copper to the bathroom I buried the black plastic pipe and put taps on the ends into the copper and the bathroom he got pissed at someone and picked on me and pulled that out every time he got upset he would call me a white honky bustard everyone called me honky when he tried to hit me I would runaway and hide one time I stayed at the neighbours for 2 weeks when I was 13.One week he took my money from cutting ragwort and used it to go to a funeral and left 2 of us home alone for 5 days no food I went to the neighbours. After watching them catch possum I started catching and skinny and drying them I had about 30 skins he said he would sell them for me i never seen a cent. So what these people are doing to me now is not a new feeling I am use to being intimated and bullied its like water off a ducks back. What I did not like was I was very submissive but not now I will protect my family we made. Kia kaha
I had been shown how to smoke tabbco in 2 weeks WTF
Sad to hear of the death of Christine Keeler, one of the victims in the Profumo Scandal, although at least she lived to tell the tale, whereas poor Stephen Ward ended up committing suicide.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/the-profumo-affair-a-moral-panic-between-austerity-britain-and-the-swinging-sixties/
There you go the state using all its power to try and suppress me I use to be able to find eco Maori by Googleing it not anymore they did the same to a website I found about corruption in the NZ justice systems email the IPCA about it as proof next minute web site vanished they would have paid Google to make it come up in page 1000 in any search. Kia kaha