Could someone please explain to me why Labour is suddenly required (with just a week of sitting days in the house) to implement policies it promised it wouldn't, or it didn't campaign on or are nowhere to be found in it's manifesto?
As far as I can tell, the demands are coming from Greens (total votes – 162,000) who DEMAND Labour (total votes 1,443,000) do it's bidding on tax and climate and from sundry flotsam and jetsam of the left who could barely manage to get their deposit back amongst them if they actually ran for office demanding Labour use it's absolute majority to act in an imperial way that, if the boot were on the other foot and there were 77 National, ACT and Maori party MPs, would have then predicting the imminent stamping of the jackboot of fascism on the throat of democracy?
I just don't get it. Labour won an absolute majority because of Jacinda's brilliant handling of COVID. They didn't win because they promised radical tax reform or drastic climate change action, so why would anyone expect them to and have an utter snowflake meltdown when they don't?
The oddest thing is that no one on the left has yet worked out Ardern’s leadership style. Jacinda likes to be dragged “reluctantly” to the consensus – no, we don’t need masks. Until the public screams for them, then she implements them, but only on PT which is enough for now. No, we don’t need to use the military on the border – until the public is screaming for it then, OK. Expect her to wait until the public is completely wanting a wealth tax or climate change action before she will “reluctantly” move to break a promise.
They were elected to govern, in response to a term where they governed the Covid response.
Sitting on their hands through a housing crisis and whining "It's market forces, what can I do?" is a failure that will lose them a healthy chunk of that unprecedented support.
Folk hollering for action on housing affordability and alleviating poverty (call it inequality or child poverty), are the ones you refer to with "Until the public screams for them…"
as a paid -up member of that 'flotsam and jetsam' you refer to..
I would like to point that your claim that ardern/labour offered s.f.a…is correct ..
and if you took the short-view..ok..
now..I dunno about the rest of the 'flotsam and jetsam' ..but this f&j looks a bit further back…
..to 2016 ..where I believed the (seemingly) heartfelt pledges from j.ardern to 'transform' the lives of the poverty-stricken….(and do a bunch of other 'transformational' stuff…but we'll stick with the poverty one for simplicities sake)
now..along with many others I believed j.ardern…back in 2016..
and to now finding that in her 4th year of power…j.ardrn is pointing back to the paltry $25 increase from last year..as the example of her ‘transforming’..is dismaying..to say the least..
and need I remind you that not one of the 42 recommendations of the welfare reform group..(set up by ardern)..has been fully implemented…a couple of examples of incrementalisation on part of a couple..
so I hope this helps to explain why this f&j is somewhat pissed..
I am looking back at a litany of broken promises from j.ardern..
and meanwhile…in the 4th year of her turn at the helm..
those suffering in 2016…still are .
the country/system is fucked/broken on so many levels…and needing wholesale reform..
and we are just getting more of the same…more neoliberal-incrementalism ..same as clark..same as key…
with j.ardern just the latest of these 'leaders' to just not care enough…to do anything meaningful about what blights us..
and your use of just that recent manifesto…as the whole basis of yr argument/refuting the plaints of the f&j's..and just ignoring all those previous 'heartfelt' pledges from j.ardern..
really is sophistry/spin of the highest order…eh..?
Passivity and alienation reigns for much of the underclass and precarious/low wage employed; 35 plus years after the mass Rogernomics layoffs, and 30 years after the Ruthanasia MOAB–cuts to the working class never made up, let alone increased. Organised workers power, private sector in particular, gutted by Bill Birch and the 1991 ECA.
Ignoring that sector drags the rest of the country down. 28 $bill for the Reserve Bank to do with what it will, massive COVID bailouts to profitable companies that did not even need the money!–and which in many cases never reached the workers who had their leave confiscated to boot.
Not even a few hundred lousy bucks Xmas Bonus for beneficiaries. There will be reaction into next year–as signalled by the 70 NGOs pushing for benefit rises and the 42 Working Group recommendations to be implemented.
Ardern's Facebook and Twitter accounts are so huge she could probably crowdsource new policy anyway.
It's also really easy to forget how bold Labour have been in other areas. No other New Zealand government has dropped over $30 billion in 6 months just to keep business and jobs sustained.
Not making tax changes (other than to the top rate) is a signal that the government understands how brittle the entire society is let alone the economy. They much prefer printing money and throwing it out the window than tax changes to property. Keep protecting the propertied class and they will keep voting you back in. Roll on 2026.
How about printing money and giving some out to people around Christmas and the holidays. Good for business and will bring some families together resulting in some connectedness and a little happiness. That would be a nice change in NZ for the strugglers. It would be appreciated and be more respectful to the poor than randomly firing notes at crowds who have to compete and fight for the folding stuff like children at a lolly scramble.
There is an upside from the poor receiving assistance at Christmas which can be linked to helping those suffering from Covid lockdowns and restrictions who haven't had help in other ways.
You lack imagination Ad in your political judgments.
They might surprise us, but there hasn't been much surprise so far. The big job subsidy scheme has ended. If the economy was tanking you might have seen another one of those packages like they announced in December 2017.
It's the Green Party's job to pull Labour leftward and greenward so I can't see reasonable criticism there. But I have also found it odd how many of the general public are talking about the mandate thing. Surely the mandate is to do what they said they would do (which isn't much)? Otoh, obviously some Labour voters at least assumed Labour would do more, I'd like to know why.
For people who require counselling due to Whakaari a group of psychologists and counsellors in the Bay of Plenty are providing the sevice for free. ACC only funds counselling for a work related injury or injury relating to force.
It is not good enough when an incident like Whakaari occurs and ACC are not providing counselling. This should not be left to the health system.
Support people of those injured and emergency workers who attend incidents when counselling is required it needs to be funded.
I expect that there are gaps in counselling for the terror attacks which occurred on March 15 2019.
Amazing how like a solvent compassion and real service are displayed in government agency circles. They just disappear into the air a bit like methylated spirits; in this Whakaari case, the spirits of tragedy remain.
It appears as though no one was aware of the danger of being on Whakaari or if they were they failed to speak out.
It is about picking up the pieces when it comes to exceptional incidents when government agencies played a part in a traumatic incident. Woodhouse who had a lot to do with designing ACC did not forsee a Erebus, terrorist attack, Pike River, Cave Creek, Whakaari, Royal Commission into Abuse in Care.
ACC legislation has not caught up with the psychology of today when it comes to the impact which an exceptional incident can have on people who are not currently covered.
First responders are not covered for accumulated mental injury. It is my understanding that it needs to be a specific incident.
ACC needs major change when it comes to mental injury caused by organisational failure. Someone needs to take responsibility when people have been irresponsible.
Certainly the ACC rules need to take in the mental stresses. We are all under constant mental stress these days, trying to work out a life pattern from what is offered, and come to terms with it never being what it is said to be. As Manuel would say Que'?
My idea about it all. Any added trauma can break the synthesis of an individual set up between brain and mind, whereby the brain registers reality and the mind processes it for a memory of something understandable and acceptable.
We have to be like the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland and here are some good quotes – I think only humour will see us through:
#1 “Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’
‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.‘”
2 ″‘You couldn’t have it if you did want it,’ the Queen said. ‘The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day.’
‘It must come sometimes to ‘jam to-day,″ Alice objected.
‘No, it can’t,’ said the Queen. ‘It’s jam every other day: to-day isn’t any other day, you know.‘”
Until real change occurs with broken down systems those caught up in the broken system are being harmed by it.
We all have daily stress in our lives. The area I am interested in is stress which warrants an inquiry and emergency/first responders being impacted in their work and a schedule 3 claim under ACC. I want to see all in the above being covered for a mental injury with or without physical force.
Another area which requires change is what is accepted and not accepted when a ACC whole person impairment is done.
Since the inception of ACC I have seen the legislation for a mental injury be watered down. ACC is hard to navigate and a lawyer is required for an historic or a complex case.
some excellent research on partner violence in NZ.
I am concerned that an unhelpful ideological framework for understanding domestic violence may capture the decision makers and muddy the waters. I raise this having read an article by Dr Debbie Hager, newsroom this morning. I don’t disagree with all of it. Will try and post the article soon
A lot of what Dr Hager reckons, is contradicted by the evidence in the Dunedin Study, eg. from the Newsroom article –
" There are men who are harmed, and women who abuse, but primarily it is men’s violence against women and other men."
contrasted with
"About 27 percent of women and 34 percent of men among the Dunedin study members reported they had been physically abused by their partner. About 37 percent of women and 22 percent of men said they had perpetrated the violence." from the study.
Dr Hager is of the understanding that it is male power at the root of this family harm. I suppose if you are inclined to "study hegemonic masculinity" you are bound to come to the conclusions she comes to. Again this is at odds with the Dunedin study. It cites mental ill-health as part of the problem –
"Abused Dunedin women were three times more likely to suffer a mental illness than nonabused women. The male perpetrators were 13 times more likely to be mentally ill than nonperpetrators. The types of mental illnesses among perpetrators varied; they included anxiety disorders, depression, alcohol and drug dependence, antisocial personality disorder, and schizophrenia."
Also – "The rate for female perpetrators was virtually identical to the rate for female victims, and the rate for male victims was nearly identical to the rate for male perpetrators."
What about death duty, stamp duty and such so we can regain some of the unearned income tax we didn't get before from a very profitable commercial transaction?
Uh-oh. It's 2020, so of course the undead can get covid too. Yes, Oozy Ghouliani has it. As if judges weren't sufficiently unimpressed just talking evidence-free shit in their courtrooms, now they'll be wondering if he's been superspreading in them as well.
I've been using firefox 83.0 on ubuntu 20.04 for the last few days. It is really pretty damn good by my usual criteria – as it doesn't get in my way when I'm working.
It is way better than when I last tried for longer than just page testing – which would be a year or possibly two ago.
Yesterday and today it is usually snappier than Chrome reloads on this sites pages and a couple of others that I commonly use – like recently Stack Overflow, wikipedia, ars technicia, and businessdesk.
I found it sluggish and annoying a few years ago. Have they done some serious work on it since then?
I don't use many plugins or anything else on browsers. So these will be current distro versions. The machine that I'm on is a 2017 Ryzen 1700 with 48Gb RAM and NVMe drive. So nothing too fancy.
Firefox keeps getting faster as a result of significant updates to SpiderMonkey, our JavaScript engine, you will now experience improved page load performance by up to 15%, page responsiveness by up to 12%, and reduced memory usage by up to 8%. We have replaced part of the JavaScript engine that helps to compile and display websites for you, improving security and maintainability of the engine at the same time.
Had a look at the memory – much much leaner than chrome now.
I heard some of this earlier. They are being advised by a US 'expert' have Australian input etc. Can we get some NZ Investment Trust? or some viable government business share in this new area of business. So that we have real control and benefit from medicinal cannabis, not just be an outpost for some financiers gaining dominance over everything good and needed in the world, cf houses, water? Can we be really smart and protect our interests, instead of giving them away for nearly free for others to profit from? That's so old colonial-style. Have we advanced mentally to a state of sharp mental acuity?
Perhaps there was no need-o for this company's products as we have plenty of other companies soaking up every available dollar here like it's blotting paper. It just took Covid to show this in quick and unmistakeable reality. We are a country with population less than a city in more populous countries – just 5 million. Not the whole of the UK or some European country. Let's fucking get real and get down to running the country ourselves benefitting ourselves, instead of letting these elevating wealth gods spend their tainted credit here and siphon everything away. As someone said here, they want to pay workers here in NZ third world money in a first world economy and enjoy that first world lifestyle for themselves.
The shop operated from a 27,000 square metre development, dubbed the country's biggest single retail store, and has about 100 staff.
Five months since huge amounts of capital were poured into starting this, based on consumerism in a country that teeters on the edge of austerity, always managing to stay upright like a toddler just keeping going on its own momentum. How come capitalists say they have the answers to everything? How wasteful, destructive and short-term thinking they show themselves to be.
Can everyone, many, a few, see this? Are we blind and stupid, dazzled by the propaganda and false images and air of success and respectability created by the public relations of the upper class? Getting us wanting, wanting, addicted to machinery, novelty and systems of sham opulence, but eventually empty and inhuman.
edit
Back in 1984 if Nostrodamus or a modern believed version had foreseen that Auckland the go-ahead city would have local boards mulling over how to keep public facilities going, the pollies just might have paused for thought.
Auckland local boards hope to avoid closures to public facilities like toilets and playgrounds, as they help Auckland Council to slash its expenses.
The council is forecasting a $1 billion deficit by 2024 due to Covid-19, and has recently released a draft 10-year budget that includes a range of cost-curbing measures.
How convenient, it is all Covid-19s fault. Not the fact that they are constantly and excessively overstretched for all facilities and services through their profligate encouragement of the freemarket and neolib disdain of government and taxes and instead to have business define the pattern of life. Well the pattern is faded, and the fashionable buy jeans that have professionally cut holes in them. That is how demented these people putting themselves forward as role models are.
An interesting quote. Coud this happen to us under the clever and crazed who have much education and little knowledge?
Glasgow went through a tough time in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher’s government and unemployment rose to about 26 percent in the city, he said…
All I can say is wow… I never realized how much went towards film subsidies. Yet be have a massive housing and homelessness problem child poverty etc… 5% of all new spending in the last budget… more than the benifit increase combined… its just insane.
Uncapped. Some contraceptives needed here to stop this growth in our dependent subsidised films from overseas. It was okay as a starter but should be set to get lower quickly and then held there for a while.
Unfortunately, rather than explaining to the government that uncapped subsidies may cause an uncapped budget blowout (which is of little concern) though it may lead to a lot of films being produced in NZ. Treasury appears to be arguing there should be consequences, with suggestions about other cuts that the govt could implement in an attempt to maintain the existing deficit.
I'm just a pawn on the War Table to be pushed around by a long stick or the tech equivalent. NZ Treasury isn't really interested in people it's the pure economic model that is so inviting. This is an example of a contract lecturer demonstrating with a pigeon how people can be incentivised to behave to ensure the model operates to maximum.
Hopefully treasury are not using operative conditioning on the government. The behaviorist model of phychology has been shown to be pretty simplistic, unable to account for learning by observation and therefore unlikely to work on more complex organisms than a finance minister.
TV1 Colmar Brunton poll out at 6 pm, for no obvious reason. Will Jacinda resign if she doesn't have the numbers? (spoiler: No).
It would be funny if National and/or Collins go up in this pointless poll … "The people have spoken, I'm staying on!".
Also, if the Greens are at 4.9% will the networks just decide to "give" them Auckland Central, as they have done for ACT in Epsom over many years? They should.
Straightforward, really. It is not the responsibility of the NZ government to save the USA and UK from the consequences of their leaders' decisions. Even Brazil elected its leader.
That's if we're talking about "the hardest hit". Not synonymous with "poorest".
I was thinking more of India and other countries where the health systems will struggle. But I'm still not sure why a country that has eliminated covid should be pushing for vaccines when other countries are still inundated with deaths. Don't even need to parse the political cluster fuck that is the US and the UK, although we might want to consider the large numbers of people that normally travel back and forth and how that will impact us if we end up with an imperfect vaccine.
Getting frontline staff in NZ vaccinated makes sense. I don't know what the government plan is beyond that.
It's reward for a centralized public health system including Pharmac and ACC and MoH, putting orders in early, rewarding a strong government with a compliant population … all brought to you by Labour.
Ardern demands that The Warehouse make a public apology for chucking 'free money' last weekend, but won't apologize for throwing an untagged $40 billion of our money at employers and then wondering why house prices went through the roof.
Yet another article with employers complaining about the lack of low-paid RSE workers and saying they can't get NZ workers.
At no point is the pay on offer mentioned or discussed, including under the subheading "What More Can Be Done?"
One advert I found for orchard work in Hawkes Bay (the subject of the article) indicates wages at or only slightly above minimum wage, and no guaranteed hours of work. You also need to bring your own "reliable transport" – and no accommodation is on offer, so pay for that too (all on zero-hours minimum wage!).
Perhaps we just need to go to the Supermarket/Fruit shop/Alternative vegan Stores and voluntarily pay TWICE as much to encourage the primary providers to pay more wages?
Paying more for goods is one of the things we need to do to pay people properly. The prices won't need to be double in many cases (for example going to $35/h from $20 is a 75% increase, and labour is only a proportion of the total production cost)
Of course a lot of the potential customers will have more money in their pockets from higher wages.
And 'suitable' may have more to do with the worker's ability to earn a profit for the labour hire company than their ability to pick fruit. Hence the preference for RSE workers, they fit the labour hire business model better.
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Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
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Could someone please explain to me why Labour is suddenly required (with just a week of sitting days in the house) to implement policies it promised it wouldn't, or it didn't campaign on or are nowhere to be found in it's manifesto?
As far as I can tell, the demands are coming from Greens (total votes – 162,000) who DEMAND Labour (total votes 1,443,000) do it's bidding on tax and climate and from sundry flotsam and jetsam of the left who could barely manage to get their deposit back amongst them if they actually ran for office demanding Labour use it's absolute majority to act in an imperial way that, if the boot were on the other foot and there were 77 National, ACT and Maori party MPs, would have then predicting the imminent stamping of the jackboot of fascism on the throat of democracy?
I just don't get it. Labour won an absolute majority because of Jacinda's brilliant handling of COVID. They didn't win because they promised radical tax reform or drastic climate change action, so why would anyone expect them to and have an utter snowflake meltdown when they don't?
The oddest thing is that no one on the left has yet worked out Ardern’s leadership style. Jacinda likes to be dragged “reluctantly” to the consensus – no, we don’t need masks. Until the public screams for them, then she implements them, but only on PT which is enough for now. No, we don’t need to use the military on the border – until the public is screaming for it then, OK. Expect her to wait until the public is completely wanting a wealth tax or climate change action before she will “reluctantly” move to break a promise.
They were elected to govern, in response to a term where they governed the Covid response.
Sitting on their hands through a housing crisis and whining "It's market forces, what can I do?" is a failure that will lose them a healthy chunk of that unprecedented support.
You answer your own question.
Folk hollering for action on housing affordability and alleviating poverty (call it inequality or child poverty), are the ones you refer to with "Until the public screams for them…"
y'see sanctuary ..
as a paid -up member of that 'flotsam and jetsam' you refer to..
I would like to point that your claim that ardern/labour offered s.f.a…is correct ..
and if you took the short-view..ok..
now..I dunno about the rest of the 'flotsam and jetsam' ..but this f&j looks a bit further back…
..to 2016 ..where I believed the (seemingly) heartfelt pledges from j.ardern to 'transform' the lives of the poverty-stricken….(and do a bunch of other 'transformational' stuff…but we'll stick with the poverty one for simplicities sake)
now..along with many others I believed j.ardern…back in 2016..
and to now finding that in her 4th year of power…j.ardrn is pointing back to the paltry $25 increase from last year..as the example of her ‘transforming’..is dismaying..to say the least..
and need I remind you that not one of the 42 recommendations of the welfare reform group..(set up by ardern)..has been fully implemented…a couple of examples of incrementalisation on part of a couple..
so I hope this helps to explain why this f&j is somewhat pissed..
I am looking back at a litany of broken promises from j.ardern..
and meanwhile…in the 4th year of her turn at the helm..
those suffering in 2016…still are .
the country/system is fucked/broken on so many levels…and needing wholesale reform..
and we are just getting more of the same…more neoliberal-incrementalism ..same as clark..same as key…
with j.ardern just the latest of these 'leaders' to just not care enough…to do anything meaningful about what blights us..
and your use of just that recent manifesto…as the whole basis of yr argument/refuting the plaints of the f&j's..and just ignoring all those previous 'heartfelt' pledges from j.ardern..
really is sophistry/spin of the highest order…eh..?
Yes, but I guess I am applying the Fermi paradox to voting – if there is so much demand for action, where are all the voters?
perhaps..like me.. remembering those promises..
and still waiting..
and you point the finger at the people/voters..?
I am talking about the words/promises of j.ardern…
are you saying they are/were said just to get elected ..?
and that those waiting need to take to the streets..?
Passivity and alienation reigns for much of the underclass and precarious/low wage employed; 35 plus years after the mass Rogernomics layoffs, and 30 years after the Ruthanasia MOAB–cuts to the working class never made up, let alone increased. Organised workers power, private sector in particular, gutted by Bill Birch and the 1991 ECA.
Ignoring that sector drags the rest of the country down. 28 $bill for the Reserve Bank to do with what it will, massive COVID bailouts to profitable companies that did not even need the money!–and which in many cases never reached the workers who had their leave confiscated to boot.
Not even a few hundred lousy bucks Xmas Bonus for beneficiaries. There will be reaction into next year–as signalled by the 70 NGOs pushing for benefit rises and the 42 Working Group recommendations to be implemented.
Good description of her style.
Ardern's Facebook and Twitter accounts are so huge she could probably crowdsource new policy anyway.
It's also really easy to forget how bold Labour have been in other areas. No other New Zealand government has dropped over $30 billion in 6 months just to keep business and jobs sustained.
Not making tax changes (other than to the top rate) is a signal that the government understands how brittle the entire society is let alone the economy. They much prefer printing money and throwing it out the window than tax changes to property. Keep protecting the propertied class and they will keep voting you back in. Roll on 2026.
How about printing money and giving some out to people around Christmas and the holidays. Good for business and will bring some families together resulting in some connectedness and a little happiness. That would be a nice change in NZ for the strugglers. It would be appreciated and be more respectful to the poor than randomly firing notes at crowds who have to compete and fight for the folding stuff like children at a lolly scramble.
But that's exactly how it would be reported. There's no political upside to helicopter cash like that – especially not after the Warehouse debacle.
There is an upside from the poor receiving assistance at Christmas which can be linked to helping those suffering from Covid lockdowns and restrictions who haven't had help in other ways.
You lack imagination Ad in your political judgments.
They might surprise us, but there hasn't been much surprise so far. The big job subsidy scheme has ended. If the economy was tanking you might have seen another one of those packages like they announced in December 2017.
It hasn't.
They will leave their surprises for Budget 2021.
@ ad..
but the corporate welfare is ok..?
We're still only just over 5% headline unemployed.
The corporate welfare is OK.
Certainly landlord welfare is trucking along nicely in the form of Accomodation Supplement.
Say what you will about the Joker, at least he used real money.
Just before one of the lockdowns the only candidate who got his opportunity at our community get together was the Labour Coromandel candidate.
At the time Free Range Stats had Labour to been able to govern alone.
I asked would Labour bow to other parties if they could govern alone.
He said he didn't know. I suggested he have a word with Jacinda that if I voted for him I would expect that they don't.
It's the Green Party's job to pull Labour leftward and greenward so I can't see reasonable criticism there. But I have also found it odd how many of the general public are talking about the mandate thing. Surely the mandate is to do what they said they would do (which isn't much)? Otoh, obviously some Labour voters at least assumed Labour would do more, I'd like to know why.
For people who require counselling due to Whakaari a group of psychologists and counsellors in the Bay of Plenty are providing the sevice for free. ACC only funds counselling for a work related injury or injury relating to force.
It is not good enough when an incident like Whakaari occurs and ACC are not providing counselling. This should not be left to the health system.
Support people of those injured and emergency workers who attend incidents when counselling is required it needs to be funded.
I expect that there are gaps in counselling for the terror attacks which occurred on March 15 2019.
ACC covers a work related mental injury and mental injury that was a result of a physical injury.
Amazing how like a solvent compassion and real service are displayed in government agency circles. They just disappear into the air a bit like methylated spirits; in this Whakaari case, the spirits of tragedy remain.
Further on Whakaari.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/432278/future-of-whakaari-white-island-tourism-debated
It appears as though no one was aware of the danger of being on Whakaari or if they were they failed to speak out.
It is about picking up the pieces when it comes to exceptional incidents when government agencies played a part in a traumatic incident. Woodhouse who had a lot to do with designing ACC did not forsee a Erebus, terrorist attack, Pike River, Cave Creek, Whakaari, Royal Commission into Abuse in Care.
ACC legislation has not caught up with the psychology of today when it comes to the impact which an exceptional incident can have on people who are not currently covered.
First responders are not covered for accumulated mental injury. It is my understanding that it needs to be a specific incident.
ACC needs major change when it comes to mental injury caused by organisational failure. Someone needs to take responsibility when people have been irresponsible.
Certainly the ACC rules need to take in the mental stresses. We are all under constant mental stress these days, trying to work out a life pattern from what is offered, and come to terms with it never being what it is said to be. As Manuel would say Que'?
My idea about it all. Any added trauma can break the synthesis of an individual set up between brain and mind, whereby the brain registers reality and the mind processes it for a memory of something understandable and acceptable.
We have to be like the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland and here are some good quotes – I think only humour will see us through:
Until real change occurs with broken down systems those caught up in the broken system are being harmed by it.
We all have daily stress in our lives. The area I am interested in is stress which warrants an inquiry and emergency/first responders being impacted in their work and a schedule 3 claim under ACC. I want to see all in the above being covered for a mental injury with or without physical force.
Another area which requires change is what is accepted and not accepted when a ACC whole person impairment is done.
Since the inception of ACC I have seen the legislation for a mental injury be watered down. ACC is hard to navigate and a lawyer is required for an historic or a complex case.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/170018.pdf
some excellent research on partner violence in NZ.
I am concerned that an unhelpful ideological framework for understanding domestic violence may capture the decision makers and muddy the waters. I raise this having read an article by Dr Debbie Hager, newsroom this morning. I don’t disagree with all of it. Will try and post the article soon
Thanks Anker for the link, interesting reading.
Here is the link to Dr Hager's Newsroom article.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/the-hierarchies-in-nzs-domestic-violence-problem
A lot of what Dr Hager reckons, is contradicted by the evidence in the Dunedin Study, eg. from the Newsroom article –
" There are men who are harmed, and women who abuse, but primarily it is men’s violence against women and other men."
contrasted with
"About 27 percent of women and 34 percent of men among the Dunedin study members reported they had been physically abused by their partner. About 37 percent of women and 22 percent of men said they had perpetrated the violence." from the study.
Dr Hager is of the understanding that it is male power at the root of this family harm. I suppose if you are inclined to "study hegemonic masculinity" you are bound to come to the conclusions she comes to. Again this is at odds with the Dunedin study. It cites mental ill-health as part of the problem –
"Abused Dunedin women were three times more likely to suffer a mental illness than nonabused women. The male perpetrators were 13 times more likely to be mentally ill than nonperpetrators. The types of mental illnesses among perpetrators varied; they included anxiety disorders, depression, alcohol and drug dependence, antisocial personality disorder, and schizophrenia."
Also – "The rate for female perpetrators was virtually identical to the rate for female victims, and the rate for male victims was nearly identical to the rate for male perpetrators."
A CGT is really off the table now because (IMHO) most of the CG's have already been made and CGT will never be imposed retrospectively.
It follows that a Wealth Tax or a Land Tax is what is needed….though a first good step would be a 10 year "bright line" test.
What about death duty, stamp duty and such so we can regain some of the unearned income tax we didn't get before from a very profitable commercial transaction?
Uh-oh. It's 2020, so of course the undead can get covid too. Yes, Oozy Ghouliani has it. As if judges weren't sufficiently unimpressed just talking evidence-free shit in their courtrooms, now they'll be wondering if he's been superspreading in them as well.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rudy-giuliani-tests-positive-for-covid-19_n_5fcd3c8ac5b619bc4c3402e3
I've been using firefox 83.0 on ubuntu 20.04 for the last few days. It is really pretty damn good by my usual criteria – as it doesn't get in my way when I'm working.
It is way better than when I last tried for longer than just page testing – which would be a year or possibly two ago.
Yesterday and today it is usually snappier than Chrome reloads on this sites pages and a couple of others that I commonly use – like recently Stack Overflow, wikipedia, ars technicia, and businessdesk.
I found it sluggish and annoying a few years ago. Have they done some serious work on it since then?
I don't use many plugins or anything else on browsers. So these will be current distro versions. The machine that I'm on is a 2017 Ryzen 1700 with 48Gb RAM and NVMe drive. So nothing too fancy.
Looked the the upgrade list for 83
Had a look at the memory – much much leaner than chrome now.
Ummm 82
Interesting.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/432268/new-zealand-farmers-prepare-to-export-best-cannabis-in-the-world
I heard some of this earlier. They are being advised by a US 'expert' have Australian input etc. Can we get some NZ Investment Trust? or some viable government business share in this new area of business. So that we have real control and benefit from medicinal cannabis, not just be an outpost for some financiers gaining dominance over everything good and needed in the world, cf houses, water? Can we be really smart and protect our interests, instead of giving them away for nearly free for others to profit from? That's so old colonial-style. Have we advanced mentally to a state of sharp mental acuity?
Perhaps there was no need-o for this company's products as we have plenty of other companies soaking up every available dollar here like it's blotting paper. It just took Covid to show this in quick and unmistakeable reality. We are a country with population less than a city in more populous countries – just 5 million. Not the whole of the UK or some European country. Let's fucking get real and get down to running the country ourselves benefitting ourselves, instead of letting these elevating wealth gods spend their tainted credit here and siphon everything away. As someone said here, they want to pay workers here in NZ third world money in a first world economy and enjoy that first world lifestyle for themselves.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/432146/covid-blamed-for-mega-retailer-nido-s-slide-into-receivership
Five months since huge amounts of capital were poured into starting this, based on consumerism in a country that teeters on the edge of austerity, always managing to stay upright like a toddler just keeping going on its own momentum. How come capitalists say they have the answers to everything? How wasteful, destructive and short-term thinking they show themselves to be.
Can everyone, many, a few, see this? Are we blind and stupid, dazzled by the propaganda and false images and air of success and respectability created by the public relations of the upper class? Getting us wanting, wanting, addicted to machinery, novelty and systems of sham opulence, but eventually empty and inhuman.
edit
Back in 1984 if Nostrodamus or a modern believed version had foreseen that Auckland the go-ahead city would have local boards mulling over how to keep public facilities going, the pollies just might have paused for thought.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/432300/auckland-local-boards-to-decide-fate-of-assets-these-are-tough-times
Auckland local boards hope to avoid closures to public facilities like toilets and playgrounds, as they help Auckland Council to slash its expenses.
The council is forecasting a $1 billion deficit by 2024 due to Covid-19, and has recently released a draft 10-year budget that includes a range of cost-curbing measures.
How convenient, it is all Covid-19s fault. Not the fact that they are constantly and excessively overstretched for all facilities and services through their profligate encouragement of the freemarket and neolib disdain of government and taxes and instead to have business define the pattern of life. Well the pattern is faded, and the fashionable buy jeans that have professionally cut holes in them. That is how demented these people putting themselves forward as role models are.
An interesting quote. Coud this happen to us under the clever and crazed who have much education and little knowledge?
Glasgow went through a tough time in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher’s government and unemployment rose to about 26 percent in the city, he said…
Then Thatcher came along and the jobs went which had knock-on effects, one of which was lowering life expectancy by 14 years, Stuart said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018775834/booker-prize-winner-douglas-stuart-i-grew-up-poor-and-queer
All I can say is wow… I never realized how much went towards film subsidies. Yet be have a massive housing and homelessness problem child poverty etc… 5% of all new spending in the last budget… more than the benifit increase combined… its just insane.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300176880/taxpayer-grants-to-lord-of-the-rings-represent-significant-fiscal-risk-to-government-finances
Uncapped. Some contraceptives needed here to stop this growth in our dependent subsidised films from overseas. It was okay as a starter but should be set to get lower quickly and then held there for a while.
Unfortunately, rather than explaining to the government that uncapped subsidies may cause an uncapped budget blowout (which is of little concern) though it may lead to a lot of films being produced in NZ. Treasury appears to be arguing there should be consequences, with suggestions about other cuts that the govt could implement in an attempt to maintain the existing deficit.
I'm just a pawn on the War Table to be pushed around by a long stick or the tech equivalent. NZ Treasury isn't really interested in people it's the pure economic model that is so inviting. This is an example of a contract lecturer demonstrating with a pigeon how people can be incentivised to behave to ensure the model operates to maximum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtfQlkGwE2U
Hopefully treasury are not using operative conditioning on the government. The behaviorist model of phychology has been shown to be pretty simplistic, unable to account for learning by observation and therefore unlikely to work on more complex organisms than a finance minister.
TV1 Colmar Brunton poll out at 6 pm, for no obvious reason. Will Jacinda resign if she doesn't have the numbers? (spoiler: No).
It would be funny if National and/or Collins go up in this pointless poll … "The people have spoken, I'm staying on!".
Also, if the Greens are at 4.9% will the networks just decide to "give" them Auckland Central, as they have done for ACT in Epsom over many years? They should.
https://twitter.com/henrycooke/status/1335701401616302080
I'm curious how lefties rationalise this one.
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1335793603768057857
Straightforward, really. It is not the responsibility of the NZ government to save the USA and UK from the consequences of their leaders' decisions. Even Brazil elected its leader.
That's if we're talking about "the hardest hit". Not synonymous with "poorest".
I was thinking more of India and other countries where the health systems will struggle. But I'm still not sure why a country that has eliminated covid should be pushing for vaccines when other countries are still inundated with deaths. Don't even need to parse the political cluster fuck that is the US and the UK, although we might want to consider the large numbers of people that normally travel back and forth and how that will impact us if we end up with an imperfect vaccine.
Getting frontline staff in NZ vaccinated makes sense. I don't know what the government plan is beyond that.
It's reward for a centralized public health system including Pharmac and ACC and MoH, putting orders in early, rewarding a strong government with a compliant population … all brought to you by Labour.
Ardern demands that The Warehouse make a public apology for chucking 'free money' last weekend, but won't apologize for throwing an untagged $40 billion of our money at employers and then wondering why house prices went through the roof.
Fish. Basketball. Tornado.
(is that the game, throwing unrelated things together randomly as if it means something?).
I thought the problem was that they didn't chuck free money. Maybe Ardern should have given out vouchers to employers instead?
Any kind of tag or accountability would have been great. Too late now.
Ad everyone who took the govts $14 billion employer subsidy had to sign a legal document .
Yet another article with employers complaining about the lack of low-paid RSE workers and saying they can't get NZ workers.
At no point is the pay on offer mentioned or discussed, including under the subheading "What More Can Be Done?"
One advert I found for orchard work in Hawkes Bay (the subject of the article) indicates wages at or only slightly above minimum wage, and no guaranteed hours of work. You also need to bring your own "reliable transport" – and no accommodation is on offer, so pay for that too (all on zero-hours minimum wage!).
These industries need to PAY MORE.
"These industries need to PAY MORE"
Perhaps we just need to go to the Supermarket/Fruit shop/Alternative vegan Stores and voluntarily pay TWICE as much to encourage the primary providers to pay more wages?
Paying more for goods is one of the things we need to do to pay people properly. The prices won't need to be double in many cases (for example going to $35/h from $20 is a 75% increase, and labour is only a proportion of the total production cost)
Of course a lot of the potential customers will have more money in their pockets from higher wages.
Seems there's plenty of willing workers, so remuneration may not be the issue, it's finding 'suitable' workers that seems to be the problem.
And 'suitable' may have more to do with the worker's ability to earn a profit for the labour hire company than their ability to pick fruit. Hence the preference for RSE workers, they fit the labour hire business model better.