I inflicted a little piece of the paul henry show on my self this morning to see what it’s about.
Hillary Barry lead a story about police station closures paul jumped in said we’re not going to blow that up they’ve opened some in the same period and quickly moved on to a anniversary story of of a celeb getting caught playing with him self .
Quality reporting ??
With a bit of luck a lot of people will tune out of tv3 and henry will get the boot because like it or not the morning new s is were a lot of people find out what’s going on.
And why henry’s been parked there so you’ve got 2 shills book ending the day with lickspittle rawdon earning his keep sucking up to key and his cronies over at TVNZ.
Add in the shift rightwards on RNZ with Espiner’s bias showing through and the media shows as much diversity as it did in Germany in the 1930s or Russia in the 1950s
Puff pieces like this in the Herald lauding a very average minister are part of the propaganda war being waged on us.
Isaac Davison proves he is another owned member of the media by writing this nonsense about Lotu-Iiga.
A particularly nasty shifty character is Lotu Iiga. I was not in the least bit surprised he was exposed in the book Dirty Politics.
I once took exception to hearing him spinning crap campaigning for the South Auckland vote on Jackson & JT’s radio live show. He was talking about his Polynesian upbringing in South Auckland and how he still visits factories where his people ( his words) have worked 20 years plus, then he goes into some diatribe about a vote for him and National will improve their quality of living.
At the time National had introduced nasty employment laws like the 90 day fire at will legislation etc. I called the show under my than handle of George and asked slippery Sam ” How do you look these 20 year + factory workers in the eye without feeling ashamed that you have sold them out, and you have the nerve to try suck Tory votes out of good working class people, your own people, your a disgrace to your race… ya sellout.”
Slippery Sammy was lost for words trying to justify that question and Jacko & JT started giving him a strum up in agreement ‘how would a Nat vote improve their lot in life.’
Interesting to note Lotu Iiga lives in Onehunga, I was staying with family in Epsom over the long weekend and on Sunday got my nephew to take me for a drive to the Royal Oak Pac n Slave. It was closed so he thought something in Onehunga maybe open, we drove there, I haven’t been there for years. What use to be a Polynesian hub, the main street shops have transformed to
trendy caftes and shops, and the residents have changed too. Not too many of Totu Liga’s living in these streets, probably just how Sam likes it.
the snakey one also voted down the proposed loan sharking legislation then claimed it as his own idea at a mangakiekie meeting opposite the labour candidate who initially bought the voted down bill in.
Beaumont just let the BS stand unchallenged, yes is very snakey and dodgy that smiley sam.
Same. Why they put him on in the AM is beyond me unless they want to see their ratings plummet. And the Airheads on TVNZ are almost as bad in their utter and complete servility to the TricKey one.
I don’t get why they keep giving him work. He sure can’t keep a show going. I suspect that they’ve got so much invested in him that his boss will also be gone when he finally loses his mediaworks contract for poor ratings.
Comment from Colin James this am. in relation to Key sending Kiwis to Iraq. Sums up the total shambles well don’t TS readers think ? !
“The war we are about to join is sectarian: Muslim v Muslim v Muslim. Shiite Iran is helping run the war against the Sunni Islamic State. That embarrasses Iran-phobic United States though last week it initialled a deal with Iran to contain Iran’s nuclear ambition. Sunni Saudi Arabia deplores the Sunni Islamic State, backs Egypt’s crackdown on the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and leads a coalition backing Sunnis fighting Iran-backed Shiites in Yemen.
Confused? So are policymakers in Washington and elsewhere. The complexity is mind-boggling. And intervention in the war(s) is predicated on bolstering a so-called state or a potential state. “In many years working in the region, I have never seen such a distance between statements and fact,” the International Crisis Group’s Peter Harling told the New York Times.”
New Zealand DESPERATELY needs political satire. Does anyone really think pompous right wing blowhards Paul Henry or Mike Hoskings or the near parody news that TVNZ dishes up every night would survive the sort of merciless mocking they would get from the Daily Show?
@CnrJoe
Brilliant thanks for that. The “dick” example was a clever metaphor to explain how so much info is being grabbed by the NSA through so many methods. Superb.
NZ$ almost hits parity with Aussie $. Things just got worse for NZ manufacturers exporting to Australia.
Great interview this morning with Andrew Little on NACT radio with Espiner.
A weak Aussie economy is not good news for NZ, and lowering NZ bank interest rates simply fuels the Auckland housing market.
Little was all over the subject matter, telling Espiner to listen.
It was a good interview with good, down to earth responses from Little. Liked his grasp of the issue and telling Esp to ‘listen’ and ‘try to understand’ without resorting to Key’s arrogance.
One of the arguments some people make to attack beneficiaries is that if they can’t afford children they shouldn’t have them,
I have been recently reading some tales about the new child maintenance provisions. One thing that pops up is the complaint that the new partner’s child is NOT taken into account when assessing the payment for the biological child.
Now, if the new partner had the child when you met him/her; or you both have an additional child, knowing you have another child from a previous relationship to care for, isn’t the bene bashing meme applicable here? Or even more so? More so because many beneficiaries had their children before the job loss, or the accident, or the illness.
I acted in a maintenance case many years ago involving the owner of a very large construction firm and devout 7th day Adventist.
He prepared spreadsheets of his expenses pre separation (he, wife two teenage girls in private school) and post separation. His calculations in the spreadsheets indicated he was arguing his living expenses as a single man had gone up 2/3 compared to the 4 person household. On this point alone he looked foolish and duplicitous and ended up with a Court Award for maintenance against him far higher than we had been prepared to pay during negotiated settlement discussions the day before.
He also now wanted his daughters out of their school and into public school and no after school activities.
I noted with interest a few years ago when he sold his share how many millions it went for.
Of course there are people genuinely struggling under the new system. It is a forumla so it will have flaws. How many stories are the papers/media discussing of where payments have reduced?
I live in a fairly affluent area, and know of a couple of cases where the ownership of a business has allowed non-custodial fathers to reduce their child support payments.
In one case, the business is owned jointly with the new wife, but she owns the majority of the shares. He is paid a low wage, and it is this wage that is used to determine his child support payments. The business is partly run from home so quite a few utility bills, maintenance and capital works have been run through the business accounts. The children from the second marriage all attend private schools and extended overseas trips for the family are the norm.
However, those who work for wages don’t have this method of minimising their taxed income, and so the system works disproportionately.
I have only met one business owner, who when his relationship dissolved, worked with his ex-partner to determine a reasonable rate of child support. He paid this directly to his ex-partner, and this went on until the child was grown. (The amount paid was more than she would have got using income support.)
The one in the herald this morning was deeply flawed. Where income drops suddenly there is a clear provision to tell the IRD and have the support payments dropped, information which a simple call to the IRD by the journalist would have elicted – but hey why let the facts get in the way of the prejudices.
As to the self employed / wealthy hiding money in Trusts and companies to avoid Child support. This is endemic and the child support amendments were originally going to include this type of income which would also mean that income is the same as that taken to account for WFF benefits etc. However, guess what, the last set of IRD amendments drops this provision because of course wealthy males are the NAct support base and us peasants (taxpayers) need to support their kids.
And just as an aside – while negotiated payments at a higher rate can give the illusion of a better outcome they are not actually enforceable meaning the payer can use the threat of witholding to make the caregivers life a misery. It can be a powerful weapon of control.
I understand your comment about negotiated payments, but the two people involved handled their breakup well and were considering the child more than each other. A good starting point.
It also avoided the requirement for the mother to go to income support and deal with the system, which would be a positive outcome for many.
The media reporting of the NZ dollar near parity with the Australian dollar is an interesting insight into the values of the people who decide what is news. It is being presented as some sort of triumph for the mangerialist and technocratic ruling elite, because it makes their cheap holidays and cheap imports even cheaper.
The wider debate about our export performance and loss of competitiveness in our largest export market and it’s impact on thousands of blue collar and menial jobs doesn’t even enter into the discussion. In fact as I speak Kathryn Ryan is having an adoring interview with yet another aging white male of the Douglas era, lauding his impact and generally being very chummy with someone from her own class.
There is a reason unemployment and poverty are not an issue in NZ. And that is because two thirds of the population no longer care about another third, and the media reflects the values and informs the prejudices of that two thirds.
And that is because two thirds of the population no longer care about another third, and the media reflects the values and informs the prejudices of that two thirds.
You got the numbers around the wrong way. It’s the top 1/3rd don’t care about the bottom 2/3rds and the MSM reflect the values of that 1/3rd.
Oh look, the little sheep out there in punterland don’t give a flying figs leaf about the structural deficiencies that New Zealand has ignored for the past thirty years.
New Zealand does have the ability to be self sufficient. It is the globalisation of our industry that has caused us to become serfs in our own land.
I spent the Easter reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, given that it is a bible of sorts for ACT-olytes and some in the National Party.
I struggled. I made it about 1/3rd of the way in before giving up in disgust and wondering why people simply don’t see what is so bad about government owning key infrastructure and ensuring the viability of long term assets – rail, hydro, thermal, and housing, not to mention our own land.
This government truly has pulled the wool over peoples eyes, largely helped by a complicit media. It’s a shame our own Commerce Commission don’t take a stick to the cosy duopoly of newspapers (NZME/APN and Fairfax) and break it up. There are a myriad of ways in which smaller independent newspapers would be able to survive, as long as there were controls in place to ensure that the private printing press owners (largely APN/Fairfax) don’t jack up the prices to make it uneconomic for independent regional newspapers to print their own dailies. Afterall, printing is no longer the laborious time consuming process it once was.
Bill Sutch’s own excellent book – Takeover New Zealand – outlined several ways within which NZ could become self sufficient and sustaining. It should be required reading as many of the principles he espoused are just as relevant today. The list of brands he outlines in his book would have been consolidated further into one of the 6 major multinationals that pervade every corner of the globe.
But no. the sheeple of New Zealand don’t want to think about this. All they see is “dollar parity” and wonder why Just Jeans are selling things at $120 NZD but the price tag shows that its also $90AUD. Why isn’t it $90 NZD too if the dollar is the same?
The great lord Consumerism, has everyone by the short’n’curlies.
Agreed. The most surreal moment for me was NZ Herald quoting a self help/relationships psychologist:
”Psychologist Chris Skellet said it was promising to see “one more index of disparity dissolve between the two countries”.
“It’s important that we assume equivalence between us rather than adopt a one up/one down perspective,” he said.
“No matter how Australians regard us, we need to adopt an unrelenting attitude of equality and respect towards our neighbours.” ENDS http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11428614
Like Skellett, I’m no expert on currencies, but this is such patent rubbish.
It’s not an index of disparity in the sense that achieving ‘equivalence’ will make parts of our economy weaker and thus increase inequalities.
More broadly this approach to framing economics with pop psychology reminds me of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World which identified how happiness psychology and the self help phenomenon mirrored the mass redundancies and off-shoring in the 1970s to 1990s. The idea that the answer lies within you, rather than in questioning the system.
1. Tellingly the ‘soothing gentle opinions’ of Chris Skellett were the first quotes in the article
Rather transparent having that commentary atop other quotes which when read through them are hollow distraction deflection which should ring alarm bells to any thinking individual
2. There is literally nothing of substance in the article which was written by an author who has no history writing on financial matters for NZH
Morgan Tait – Morgan Tait is the NZ Herald’s police reporter
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its allies play the key role in saving the lives of tens of thousands of Yazidis who faced being butchered at the hands of IS. The PKK’s forces have also played a major role in halting IS advances and, in some notable instances, hurling the reactionaries back.
Yet the secular-progressive PKK is designated a ‘terrorist’ organisation in many western countries, including NZ. So much for John Key’s claim to be supporting progressive, secular values in the region. (And in stark contrast for his friendly attitude to the ‘royal’ religious dictatorship in Saudi Arabia.)
It’s important that progressives in NZ not only oppose further NZ military involvement but that we demand the PKK be taken off the ‘terrorist’ list and that people here be allowed to support the PKK, including raising funds for it.
If the western powers were interested in any progressive outcome in the region, they’d just hand over their weaponry to the PKK and their allies and leave.
This article, which also looks at how progressives in Germany are defying the ban on the PKK by fund-raising for it, needs as wide circulation as possible.
Really breaks ones heart to see this shit happening in a country with so much wealth. National’s calculated dismantling of our safety nets is so callous, and this is the result. I bet he isn’t the only one in this situation in light of changes that have come in to child support after April 1st.
So much wrong with that situation (payments based on previous years earnings ffs).
Beyond that, the whole child support system is deeply flawed. For the child whose parents separate, if one parent goes on a benefit, the other parent pays child support to the state, not to the family that is raising the child. How stupid is that?
The one in the herald this morning was deeply flawed. Where income drops suddenly there is a clear provision to tell the IRD and have the support payments dropped, information which a simple call to the IRD by the journalist would have elicted – but hey why let the facts get in the way of the a good beat up
Sorry for repeating myself. he should be paying about $12 a week
“We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames,” said Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford. “Our new battery won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it.”
A well-buried opinion piece in the Herald seems to be discussing something very important but this is the first item I have seen referencing the topic, so not sure if it is just some legal jargon that amounts to very little, or it is in fact representing a massive shift in the foundations of our justice system?
it goes on –
” The seven-page majority report back from the current Justice Committee contained no explanation for dropping New Zealand’s commitment to these constitutional fundamentals. ”
“The minister speaking for the Minister of Justice in the second reading debate said that the provisions, being constitutional in nature, were out of place in the new bill; their place would be in the Constitution Act. Now, if Parliament were simultaneously amending the Constitution Act to include the provisions, New Zealanders might rest. It is not though.”
Would the legal minds out there please educate the rest of us as to what the proposed changes represent and what, if any, are the real world implications of this change?
Tim Groser, Minister of Trade is having a meeting (with whom exactly?), TODAY Monday 7 April 2015, at 2.45pm, at 135 Albert Street, at the Mayor’s Office.
(The Mayor’s Office has shifted from the Auckland Town Hall)
____________________________________________________________________________
7 April 2015
Len Brown
Auckland Council Mayor
Dear Len,
As someone who has attended TPPA meetings in Auckland, as a registered ‘Stakeholder’ both in 2010 and 2012, I request to attend the meeting to be held today, at 2.45pm in the Auckland Mayoral Office (Auckland Town Hall), with the NZ Minister of Trade, Tim Groser.
Please be reminded that as an ‘anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’, and 2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate, I am totally opposed to any steps that would increase corporate control over New Zealand.
Signing the TPPA, in my considered opinion, would do just that.
I am concerned that attempts may be made to undermine the following resolution of Auckland Council, made on 6 December 2012:
Watch it with your wife and daughters so they can witness the sexist ridiculing, internalise it and feel just a little bit “less than” they did before they watched him..
Some interesting developments following the tipoff about the meeting today held at the Auckland Mayoral Office (135 Albert St), with Minister of Trade Tim Groser, apparently about the TPPA and Local Government?
From what I managed to find out, this meeting was organised by the Auckland Mayoral Office, and it appears that Auckland Council elected representatives were not notified, not invited and apparently had no knowledge of WHAT was being discussed.
Why the secrecy?
WHY was this meeting with Minister of Trade Tim Groser organised by the Auckland Mayoral Office
He uses Vance’s bizarre piece yesterday as a launching pad to twist the knife further into Joyce/Bennett. I wonder who the lucky Labour staffers were who got to have Paula sit on their knees 😀
He promises an entire series of posts debunking Vance’s analysis.
He claims inside knowledge of the “democratic” national party leadership selection process by disregarding the Brash/Key sleazy motel leadership deal.
Make no mistake, this is Crusher in full utu mode. And she’s going to bring the whole house of cards down with her.
She personally treats staff and backbenchers like scum, rather than leaving her staff to treat them like scum as Joyce does. She is fond of a drink and is known to get very familiar with much younger men or do the rounds with donors sitting on all their knees, or worse all of that with Labour staffers. The tally of Paula supporters on the backbench is even lower than the tally for supporters for Joyce.
Oooh… I do like a bit of gossy – especially when its about someone I can’t stand. 😈
It’s a pretty vivid picture he paints of Our Paula. Can’t you just imagine it though?
I’m gonna dedicate myself to #crusherwatch for the next wee while as blubbermeister continues on his campaign against Key’s cohorts. Unfortunately, it gives failoil its much-needed Japan-based web traffic. I do enjoy how his articles are all interspersed with large banners for HOT JAPANESE SINGLES IN YOUR AREA, though. It fits.
“Why can’t all private industry contracted by the public education system be supportive to make public education better? We should be pursuing ways to create partnerships and increasing teacher quality, not creating hourly teacher tracks, devaluing university study, pushing hostile takeover strategies through charters, vouchers and for-profit charter schemes.
“By law we must educate children.
“Public education is not the post office with Fed_Ex and UPS and Amazon as its competition. I’m not forced by law to use the post office. And post office outcomes are not slanted by poverty of the customers they serve. Education is influenced by a child’s mindset to learn (ELL, disabled, just having a bad day). We are bettering lives with education. It should be our NASA.
“Business models discount the human and the need for childhood stability. When a parent is sick, when a child moves, things can disrupt a child’s learning. The public education system should be the safe haven. Something to count on. Your community should be there to back you up when everything else falls apart. We cannot reduce education to numbers and a free-for-all with choice. Education is the prime example of a government service that must work. Just like the military, roads, or police and fire.
“We are being held hostage by test scores. Our society is being scammed into thinking we don’t need this vital government service. And there are a lot of really smart people with their heads in the sand afraid of being politically active.”
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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 ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
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 ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
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I inflicted a little piece of the paul henry show on my self this morning to see what it’s about.
Hillary Barry lead a story about police station closures paul jumped in said we’re not going to blow that up they’ve opened some in the same period and quickly moved on to a anniversary story of of a celeb getting caught playing with him self .
Quality reporting ??
I did not tune in. Won’t tune in. I no longer use tv to catch up with the morning news in NZ.
Same
Same here
With a bit of luck a lot of people will tune out of tv3 and henry will get the boot because like it or not the morning new s is were a lot of people find out what’s going on.
Hoskings and Henry both on in morning.
Says so much about who runs our country.
Definitely a way to control the message having those two all over the place.
Controlling the message does seem to be the purpose of the MSM now.
Just a way of perpetuating the Henry and Hoskings delusions. (Theirs not ours).
And why henry’s been parked there so you’ve got 2 shills book ending the day with lickspittle rawdon earning his keep sucking up to key and his cronies over at TVNZ.
Add in the shift rightwards on RNZ with Espiner’s bias showing through and the media shows as much diversity as it did in Germany in the 1930s or Russia in the 1950s
Puff pieces like this in the Herald lauding a very average minister are part of the propaganda war being waged on us.
Isaac Davison proves he is another owned member of the media by writing this nonsense about Lotu-Iiga.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11428596
A particularly nasty shifty character is Lotu Iiga. I was not in the least bit surprised he was exposed in the book Dirty Politics.
I once took exception to hearing him spinning crap campaigning for the South Auckland vote on Jackson & JT’s radio live show. He was talking about his Polynesian upbringing in South Auckland and how he still visits factories where his people ( his words) have worked 20 years plus, then he goes into some diatribe about a vote for him and National will improve their quality of living.
At the time National had introduced nasty employment laws like the 90 day fire at will legislation etc. I called the show under my than handle of George and asked slippery Sam ” How do you look these 20 year + factory workers in the eye without feeling ashamed that you have sold them out, and you have the nerve to try suck Tory votes out of good working class people, your own people, your a disgrace to your race… ya sellout.”
Slippery Sammy was lost for words trying to justify that question and Jacko & JT started giving him a strum up in agreement ‘how would a Nat vote improve their lot in life.’
Interesting to note Lotu Iiga lives in Onehunga, I was staying with family in Epsom over the long weekend and on Sunday got my nephew to take me for a drive to the Royal Oak Pac n Slave. It was closed so he thought something in Onehunga maybe open, we drove there, I haven’t been there for years. What use to be a Polynesian hub, the main street shops have transformed to
trendy caftes and shops, and the residents have changed too. Not too many of Totu Liga’s living in these streets, probably just how Sam likes it.
the snakey one also voted down the proposed loan sharking legislation then claimed it as his own idea at a mangakiekie meeting opposite the labour candidate who initially bought the voted down bill in.
Beaumont just let the BS stand unchallenged, yes is very snakey and dodgy that smiley sam.
Same. Why they put him on in the AM is beyond me unless they want to see their ratings plummet. And the Airheads on TVNZ are almost as bad in their utter and complete servility to the TricKey one.
I don’t get why they keep giving him work. He sure can’t keep a show going. I suspect that they’ve got so much invested in him that his boss will also be gone when he finally loses his mediaworks contract for poor ratings.
Ditto here as well Tracey (1.1). I can live without inflicting that environmental pollutant on myself first thing in the morning!
Comment from Colin James this am. in relation to Key sending Kiwis to Iraq. Sums up the total shambles well don’t TS readers think ? !
“The war we are about to join is sectarian: Muslim v Muslim v Muslim. Shiite Iran is helping run the war against the Sunni Islamic State. That embarrasses Iran-phobic United States though last week it initialled a deal with Iran to contain Iran’s nuclear ambition. Sunni Saudi Arabia deplores the Sunni Islamic State, backs Egypt’s crackdown on the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and leads a coalition backing Sunnis fighting Iran-backed Shiites in Yemen.
Confused? So are policymakers in Washington and elsewhere. The complexity is mind-boggling. And intervention in the war(s) is predicated on bolstering a so-called state or a potential state. “In many years working in the region, I have never seen such a distance between statements and fact,” the International Crisis Group’s Peter Harling told the New York Times.”
Everyone watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – youtube. Edward Snowden and Dick pics. It’s a game changer.
Thanks Joe.
New Zealand DESPERATELY needs political satire. Does anyone really think pompous right wing blowhards Paul Henry or Mike Hoskings or the near parody news that TVNZ dishes up every night would survive the sort of merciless mocking they would get from the Daily Show?
And that is why we’ll never get it.
Jeremy Wells’s Hoskings rant is pretty good.
They are parody, they just don’t realise they are the subject of it.
@CnrJoe
Brilliant thanks for that. The “dick” example was a clever metaphor to explain how so much info is being grabbed by the NSA through so many methods. Superb.
NZ$ almost hits parity with Aussie $. Things just got worse for NZ manufacturers exporting to Australia.
Great interview this morning with Andrew Little on NACT radio with Espiner.
A weak Aussie economy is not good news for NZ, and lowering NZ bank interest rates simply fuels the Auckland housing market.
Little was all over the subject matter, telling Espiner to listen.
It wasn’t that great an interview.
Little failed to put forward a well explained solution to convince listeners Labour is a viable alternative.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20173722
Reserve Bank of Australia opted to keep rates at 2.25% today. The NZ$ immediately fell by a cent.
Can’t be true, the dollar is high cos the National Government is running the country so well, ergo, if it fell…
And it’s a two cent drop now.
It was a good interview with good, down to earth responses from Little. Liked his grasp of the issue and telling Esp to ‘listen’ and ‘try to understand’ without resorting to Key’s arrogance.
Except Little missed an opportunity to explain his broader mandate solution, thus present Labour as a viable alternative.
I’m highlighting this not to mock him, but in the hope he will up his game.
Little left listeners with more questions than answers.
For example, how will broadening the Reserve Bank Act mandate correct a strengthening NZ dollar resulting from a weakening Australian economy?
Will this broader mandate result in lower interest rates or higher interest rates?
And how will lowering interest rates (if this is what he was implying) avert the negative impact of lower interest rates on the property sector?
In the business section of the Herald.
Two important news stories that will have a major impact on the world.
1. China’s economy is slowing
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11428198
2. Middle East wars are driving up oil prices.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11428552
2015 crash is not far away.
One of the arguments some people make to attack beneficiaries is that if they can’t afford children they shouldn’t have them,
I have been recently reading some tales about the new child maintenance provisions. One thing that pops up is the complaint that the new partner’s child is NOT taken into account when assessing the payment for the biological child.
Now, if the new partner had the child when you met him/her; or you both have an additional child, knowing you have another child from a previous relationship to care for, isn’t the bene bashing meme applicable here? Or even more so? More so because many beneficiaries had their children before the job loss, or the accident, or the illness.
I acted in a maintenance case many years ago involving the owner of a very large construction firm and devout 7th day Adventist.
He prepared spreadsheets of his expenses pre separation (he, wife two teenage girls in private school) and post separation. His calculations in the spreadsheets indicated he was arguing his living expenses as a single man had gone up 2/3 compared to the 4 person household. On this point alone he looked foolish and duplicitous and ended up with a Court Award for maintenance against him far higher than we had been prepared to pay during negotiated settlement discussions the day before.
He also now wanted his daughters out of their school and into public school and no after school activities.
I noted with interest a few years ago when he sold his share how many millions it went for.
Of course there are people genuinely struggling under the new system. It is a forumla so it will have flaws. How many stories are the papers/media discussing of where payments have reduced?
Hi Tracey,
I live in a fairly affluent area, and know of a couple of cases where the ownership of a business has allowed non-custodial fathers to reduce their child support payments.
In one case, the business is owned jointly with the new wife, but she owns the majority of the shares. He is paid a low wage, and it is this wage that is used to determine his child support payments. The business is partly run from home so quite a few utility bills, maintenance and capital works have been run through the business accounts. The children from the second marriage all attend private schools and extended overseas trips for the family are the norm.
However, those who work for wages don’t have this method of minimising their taxed income, and so the system works disproportionately.
I have only met one business owner, who when his relationship dissolved, worked with his ex-partner to determine a reasonable rate of child support. He paid this directly to his ex-partner, and this went on until the child was grown. (The amount paid was more than she would have got using income support.)
Thanks for sharing. I never understand why a parent begrudges their own child a decent upbringing…
The one in the herald this morning was deeply flawed. Where income drops suddenly there is a clear provision to tell the IRD and have the support payments dropped, information which a simple call to the IRD by the journalist would have elicted – but hey why let the facts get in the way of the prejudices.
As to the self employed / wealthy hiding money in Trusts and companies to avoid Child support. This is endemic and the child support amendments were originally going to include this type of income which would also mean that income is the same as that taken to account for WFF benefits etc. However, guess what, the last set of IRD amendments drops this provision because of course wealthy males are the NAct support base and us peasants (taxpayers) need to support their kids.
And just as an aside – while negotiated payments at a higher rate can give the illusion of a better outcome they are not actually enforceable meaning the payer can use the threat of witholding to make the caregivers life a misery. It can be a powerful weapon of control.
I understand your comment about negotiated payments, but the two people involved handled their breakup well and were considering the child more than each other. A good starting point.
It also avoided the requirement for the mother to go to income support and deal with the system, which would be a positive outcome for many.
Hosking AND Henry every morning now? Now I know how Victor Meldrew felt – “Oh, GODDDDD”!!!!
5 days remaining until the scheduled return of the Rawshark 2.
+100 Parsupial…am with you
John Key says GCSB does not spy on New Zealanders and here is why that is a great big lie!
The media reporting of the NZ dollar near parity with the Australian dollar is an interesting insight into the values of the people who decide what is news. It is being presented as some sort of triumph for the mangerialist and technocratic ruling elite, because it makes their cheap holidays and cheap imports even cheaper.
The wider debate about our export performance and loss of competitiveness in our largest export market and it’s impact on thousands of blue collar and menial jobs doesn’t even enter into the discussion. In fact as I speak Kathryn Ryan is having an adoring interview with yet another aging white male of the Douglas era, lauding his impact and generally being very chummy with someone from her own class.
There is a reason unemployment and poverty are not an issue in NZ. And that is because two thirds of the population no longer care about another third, and the media reflects the values and informs the prejudices of that two thirds.
You got the numbers around the wrong way. It’s the top 1/3rd don’t care about the bottom 2/3rds and the MSM reflect the values of that 1/3rd.
EDIT: This applies.
Oh look, the little sheep out there in punterland don’t give a flying figs leaf about the structural deficiencies that New Zealand has ignored for the past thirty years.
New Zealand does have the ability to be self sufficient. It is the globalisation of our industry that has caused us to become serfs in our own land.
I spent the Easter reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, given that it is a bible of sorts for ACT-olytes and some in the National Party.
I struggled. I made it about 1/3rd of the way in before giving up in disgust and wondering why people simply don’t see what is so bad about government owning key infrastructure and ensuring the viability of long term assets – rail, hydro, thermal, and housing, not to mention our own land.
This government truly has pulled the wool over peoples eyes, largely helped by a complicit media. It’s a shame our own Commerce Commission don’t take a stick to the cosy duopoly of newspapers (NZME/APN and Fairfax) and break it up. There are a myriad of ways in which smaller independent newspapers would be able to survive, as long as there were controls in place to ensure that the private printing press owners (largely APN/Fairfax) don’t jack up the prices to make it uneconomic for independent regional newspapers to print their own dailies. Afterall, printing is no longer the laborious time consuming process it once was.
Bill Sutch’s own excellent book – Takeover New Zealand – outlined several ways within which NZ could become self sufficient and sustaining. It should be required reading as many of the principles he espoused are just as relevant today. The list of brands he outlines in his book would have been consolidated further into one of the 6 major multinationals that pervade every corner of the globe.
But no. the sheeple of New Zealand don’t want to think about this. All they see is “dollar parity” and wonder why Just Jeans are selling things at $120 NZD but the price tag shows that its also $90AUD. Why isn’t it $90 NZD too if the dollar is the same?
The great lord Consumerism, has everyone by the short’n’curlies.
Agreed. The most surreal moment for me was NZ Herald quoting a self help/relationships psychologist:
”Psychologist Chris Skellet said it was promising to see “one more index of disparity dissolve between the two countries”.
“It’s important that we assume equivalence between us rather than adopt a one up/one down perspective,” he said.
“No matter how Australians regard us, we need to adopt an unrelenting attitude of equality and respect towards our neighbours.” ENDS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11428614
Like Skellett, I’m no expert on currencies, but this is such patent rubbish.
It’s not an index of disparity in the sense that achieving ‘equivalence’ will make parts of our economy weaker and thus increase inequalities.
More broadly this approach to framing economics with pop psychology reminds me of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World which identified how happiness psychology and the self help phenomenon mirrored the mass redundancies and off-shoring in the 1970s to 1990s. The idea that the answer lies within you, rather than in questioning the system.
Standouts from the article
1. Tellingly the ‘soothing gentle opinions’ of Chris Skellett were the first quotes in the article
Rather transparent having that commentary atop other quotes which when read through them are hollow distraction deflection which should ring alarm bells to any thinking individual
2. There is literally nothing of substance in the article which was written by an author who has no history writing on financial matters for NZH
Morgan Tait – Morgan Tait is the NZ Herald’s police reporter
YIKES!
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its allies play the key role in saving the lives of tens of thousands of Yazidis who faced being butchered at the hands of IS. The PKK’s forces have also played a major role in halting IS advances and, in some notable instances, hurling the reactionaries back.
Yet the secular-progressive PKK is designated a ‘terrorist’ organisation in many western countries, including NZ. So much for John Key’s claim to be supporting progressive, secular values in the region. (And in stark contrast for his friendly attitude to the ‘royal’ religious dictatorship in Saudi Arabia.)
It’s important that progressives in NZ not only oppose further NZ military involvement but that we demand the PKK be taken off the ‘terrorist’ list and that people here be allowed to support the PKK, including raising funds for it.
If the western powers were interested in any progressive outcome in the region, they’d just hand over their weaponry to the PKK and their allies and leave.
We’ve stuck up an important article on the PKK and the Kurdish cause. See: http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article3695
This article, which also looks at how progressives in Germany are defying the ban on the PKK by fund-raising for it, needs as wide circulation as possible.
Phil
http://i.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/67623849/south-taranaki-father-alan-lyall-left-to-live-on-47-a-week?cid=facebook.post.67623849
Really breaks ones heart to see this shit happening in a country with so much wealth. National’s calculated dismantling of our safety nets is so callous, and this is the result. I bet he isn’t the only one in this situation in light of changes that have come in to child support after April 1st.
So much wrong with that situation (payments based on previous years earnings ffs).
Beyond that, the whole child support system is deeply flawed. For the child whose parents separate, if one parent goes on a benefit, the other parent pays child support to the state, not to the family that is raising the child. How stupid is that?
The one in the herald this morning was deeply flawed. Where income drops suddenly there is a clear provision to tell the IRD and have the support payments dropped, information which a simple call to the IRD by the journalist would have elicted – but hey why let the facts get in the way of the a good beat up
Sorry for repeating myself. he should be paying about $12 a week
Ultra-fast charging aluminum battery offers safe alternative to conventional batteries
Aluminium is also one of the most abundant metals in the Earth’s Crust. Even NZ has a fairly significant deposit of it.
It is also extremely easy to recycle
A well-buried opinion piece in the Herald seems to be discussing something very important but this is the first item I have seen referencing the topic, so not sure if it is just some legal jargon that amounts to very little, or it is in fact representing a massive shift in the foundations of our justice system?
“Parliament seems about to drop New Zealand’s commitment to the rule of law and parliamentary sovereignty from the act underpinning the judicial branch in New Zealand. That really is quite odd.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11428565
it goes on –
” The seven-page majority report back from the current Justice Committee contained no explanation for dropping New Zealand’s commitment to these constitutional fundamentals. ”
“The minister speaking for the Minister of Justice in the second reading debate said that the provisions, being constitutional in nature, were out of place in the new bill; their place would be in the Constitution Act. Now, if Parliament were simultaneously amending the Constitution Act to include the provisions, New Zealanders might rest. It is not though.”
Would the legal minds out there please educate the rest of us as to what the proposed changes represent and what, if any, are the real world implications of this change?
From an Otago Uni constitutional law guru:
http://pundit.co.nz/content/is-parliament-about-to-drop-our-commitment-to-the-rule-of-law
This link in the response above is a much longer version of the opinion piece in the Herald by Richard Cornes. It makes more sense when you can read the comments by Justice McGrath in detail as given in the article at the link above and below.
http://pundit.co.nz/content/is-parliament-about-to-drop-our-commitment-to-the-rule-of-law
FYI
Tim Groser, Minister of Trade is having a meeting (with whom exactly?), TODAY Monday 7 April 2015, at 2.45pm, at 135 Albert Street, at the Mayor’s Office.
(The Mayor’s Office has shifted from the Auckland Town Hall)
____________________________________________________________________________
7 April 2015
Len Brown
Auckland Council Mayor
Dear Len,
As someone who has attended TPPA meetings in Auckland, as a registered ‘Stakeholder’ both in 2010 and 2012, I request to attend the meeting to be held today, at 2.45pm in the Auckland Mayoral Office (Auckland Town Hall), with the NZ Minister of Trade, Tim Groser.
Please be reminded that as an ‘anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’, and 2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate, I am totally opposed to any steps that would increase corporate control over New Zealand.
Signing the TPPA, in my considered opinion, would do just that.
I am concerned that attempts may be made to undermine the following resolution of Auckland Council, made on 6 December 2012:
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/aboutcouncil/committees/regionaldevelopmentoperationscommittee/meetings/regionaldevelopmentandoperationscommin20121206.pdf
_______________________________________________________________________________
Penny Bright
+1
Well done, Penny Bright.
Carrying on from the Bit Coin discussion… anyone who suggests it needs their head looked at. The scam continues.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/04/bitcoin-foundation-is-effectively-bankrupt-board-member-says/
No money in mining either.
Henry bombed in Australia in a very short time. It will be the same here once the audiences tire of him…and they will.
Of course he’s more likely to be the maker of his own demise as sooner or later he’s sure to spout an outrageous Clarksonesque comment.
How many of those can Mediaworks take or afford?
I doubt it. The show was hardly pushed in Aussie.
He’s quite liked here. I missed today’s show, but might watch it tonight.
Watch it with your wife and daughters so they can witness the sexist ridiculing, internalise it and feel just a little bit “less than” they did before they watched him..
Some interesting developments following the tipoff about the meeting today held at the Auckland Mayoral Office (135 Albert St), with Minister of Trade Tim Groser, apparently about the TPPA and Local Government?
From what I managed to find out, this meeting was organised by the Auckland Mayoral Office, and it appears that Auckland Council elected representatives were not notified, not invited and apparently had no knowledge of WHAT was being discussed.
Why the secrecy?
WHY was this meeting with Minister of Trade Tim Groser organised by the Auckland Mayoral Office
WHO was invited ?
WHAT was discussed ?
Penny Bright
March Madness
How much will the TPP cost NZ? Millions? Billions?
Slater is pimping for Crusher again.
Afraid I can’t provide a donotlink butyou can observe the train wreck here:Here is a donotlink version
He uses Vance’s bizarre piece yesterday as a launching pad to twist the knife further into Joyce/Bennett. I wonder who the lucky Labour staffers were who got to have Paula sit on their knees 😀
He promises an entire series of posts debunking Vance’s analysis.
He claims inside knowledge of the “democratic” national party leadership selection process by disregarding the Brash/Key sleazy motel leadership deal.
Make no mistake, this is Crusher in full utu mode. And she’s going to bring the whole house of cards down with her.
Oooh… I do like a bit of gossy – especially when its about someone I can’t stand. 😈
It’s a pretty vivid picture he paints of Our Paula. Can’t you just imagine it though?
I’m gonna dedicate myself to #crusherwatch for the next wee while as blubbermeister continues on his campaign against Key’s cohorts. Unfortunately, it gives failoil its much-needed Japan-based web traffic. I do enjoy how his articles are all interspersed with large banners for HOT JAPANESE SINGLES IN YOUR AREA, though. It fits.
Diane Ravitch
(pasted the lot)
A mom in Tennesse asks the fundamental questions:
“Why can’t all private industry contracted by the public education system be supportive to make public education better? We should be pursuing ways to create partnerships and increasing teacher quality, not creating hourly teacher tracks, devaluing university study, pushing hostile takeover strategies through charters, vouchers and for-profit charter schemes.
“By law we must educate children.
“Public education is not the post office with Fed_Ex and UPS and Amazon as its competition. I’m not forced by law to use the post office. And post office outcomes are not slanted by poverty of the customers they serve. Education is influenced by a child’s mindset to learn (ELL, disabled, just having a bad day). We are bettering lives with education. It should be our NASA.
“Business models discount the human and the need for childhood stability. When a parent is sick, when a child moves, things can disrupt a child’s learning. The public education system should be the safe haven. Something to count on. Your community should be there to back you up when everything else falls apart. We cannot reduce education to numbers and a free-for-all with choice. Education is the prime example of a government service that must work. Just like the military, roads, or police and fire.
“We are being held hostage by test scores. Our society is being scammed into thinking we don’t need this vital government service. And there are a lot of really smart people with their heads in the sand afraid of being politically active.”
http://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/04/tennessee-mom-why-the-scam-that-devalues-public-schools/