Well of course, they don’t have tame little guinea pigs mascarading as Press over there!!! They tell it like it is, and boy, how humiliating and beyond embarrassing to be known as a weird little fetish-creep, right John?? Wonder if the Queen will invite him back to Balmoral again – she must be wondering what he got up to the last time he was there??
How tragic. You obviously have not been following the rabid anti-Milliban stuff the Sun et al have been running these last few weeks. Filthy Murdoch media and other Tory press
Interestingly recently on the British Show “Pointless” John Key was an answer, but not a pointless one. They asked 100 people to identify as many world leaders as they knew in 100 seconds. From memory over 10% of them named John Key of New Zealand.
But how many Brits currently think John Key is a clown (irrespective of whether or not they know the country of which he is PM)?
And of the 10% who you suspect do know he is New Zealand’s Prime Minister the vast majority will presumably only know that from the fact that he is being mocked?
If there happens to be any future case in which John Key – as NZ PM – makes some serious appeal to the British people (e.g., to buy our products, help us with a natural disaster, support our economic and foreign policy interests, etc.) we can guess that their first dawning reaction will not be sympathy and support but, instead … ‘Oh, so that’s the country that voted in that clown??’
You seem to be implying that this current ‘anonymity’ concerning Key’s nationality is ‘reassuring’ when it is actually a ticking ‘join the dots’ time bomb (involving, as you imply, far more than 10% of Brits) that, when it goes off, is likely to dampen and subtract from the British people’s support for us in the future.
And, more importantly, that reaction amongst the British public will embolden those in Britain who might oppose our interests (for political or economic reasons).
Key has, no doubt unthinkingly, delivered rhetorical ammunition for anyone in Britain – or elsewhere – to use to undermine our interests.
Rightly or wrongly, that in future will be the public reaction overseas and those will be the uses made of that reaction. (e.g., think about how Fox News might now frame our Prime Minister should he, on a visit there, publicly argue to reduce US agricultural subsidies).
As right wingers here so often point out when they use Key’s electoral popularity as his ultimate defence against criticism: Irrespective of the reality, perception is everything.
Unfortunately, the same argument also works negatively – when, on the world stage, Key is associated not with a blokey ‘popularity’ but with idiocy and weirdness.
Big day for Auckland Council and Auckland’s future. Two related themes.
Firstly, the proposed rates hike – particularly for transport purposes – is steeper than expected. Government will likely not recognize the political blowback Mayor Brown will get from the public.
Secondly, the housing crisis is not reflected in Council’s Auckland Development Company proposal. It’s going to be a fairly neutered beast. Back in the day, Auckland Council was the second-biggest housing owner in the country. The days of intervention at scale appear gone.
Join these two together: can Key, Bennett, and Bridges as pro-Auckland Cabinet Ministers, overcome the anti-Auckland sentiments of Brownlee, Smith, and English? That is, can central government form a stronger and more direct governance instrument for prioritizing transport investment that leads to more affordable housing being built?
Particularly because this government is demanding more homes be built, by necessity they have to be on the outskirts, but won’t put its hand in its collective pocket to fund the infrastructure (particularly transport) required to make it practical for dwellers…
They also effectively cut the developers cost… so who take sup the shortfall if this is generally used to fund infrastructure for the new properties and research?
My home has gone up in paper value over 300,000 since October last year…
Something needs to be pointed out about rate hikes all over the country. The basic cause of rate hikes by councils is that the central government is not sufficiently funding these regional councils. This is the underlying reason councils are looking to put rates up or are looking to raise revenue in other ways, or in some cases moth balling development projects. Where we as a country want these projects to go ahead, but rate payers increases would be too steep, the government should simply fund these projects.
But the tricky thing is that councils funding also adjusts to the economy, when economic activity falls then their rates and other payments (income) fall as well. It can be tricky to understand that due to the recession if the council is going to maintain previous levels of investment in regional development, then either rates need to go up a lot or central government needs to step in and provide the funds and a larger portion of the councils budget. At present the central government is significantly under-funding councils all over the country.
It’s comments like this that prove that you, and other RWNJs, are a fucken idiot.
We need the services that taxes provide and we can’t get them for less than they physically cost no matter what National Act tell us.
Of course, a large part of your idiocy is due to the fact that we’ve been taught to see our finances backwards. We see taxes as providing an income for government when we should be seeing government spending as the foundation which holds up the economy – especially the private sector.
Why should central government tell local government where people can build houses without providing infrastructure to support their (central government) decisions.
Because they refuse to let local government charge the level of rates that would provide an appropriate level of services, in particular the overarching infrastructure needed to support communities and economic activity.
“Why should central government fund local government?”
Because local government can’t afford to raise the necessary funds (It would depress the local economy of Auckland to much if Auckland rates, and other council service charges, were that high) needed to support their local government economy. Duh!
One of the reasons central government should fund local government is that central government make up the laws that local government have to enact, implement, monitor and enforce…….e.g. Building Act, RMA, Health and Safety Act, Weathertight homes resolution services Act, Local Government Act etc etc.
It’s fine for Councils to pay for bylaws and services that communities want (democratic choice), but why is the burden of cost placed exclusively on rate payers (particularly for expensive infrastructure) when that change comes from central government?
NZ needs regional development, and significant funding to support regional development.
Auckland Council had little choice but pay for the changes that were required by the Local Government Auckland Council and Local Government Auckland Transition Acts that were foisted on them by Mr Hyde…….and look at what that is going to cost Aucklanders……possibly their harbour, given the dysfunctionality of the governance that were set up between the Council and their subsidiary entities (Ports of Auckland, Auckland Transport).
And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking 🙂
This is typical NZ, perhaps thoughout the world,where few if any consider the holistic cost as they work out the costs and benefits to their group and their group only … urrrgh!
I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking
Of course it doesn’t. Private banks create 97% of it ex nihilo.
This is typical NZ, perhaps thoughout the world,where few if any consider the holistic cost as they work out the costs and benefits to their group and their group only
Actually, the problem is that we’ve 30+ years of the RWNJs saying that we don’t need to pay for anything and the majority of people seem to have believed that lie. Now our infrastructure is collapsing, our government services are sub par and taxes are having to go up to pay for fixing all the damage that 30 years of neo-liberalism have done and the RWNJs are complaining about it.
“And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking”
From the NZ central governments point of view, it does. All they need to do is write into the budget the amount they are providing to local government and the money is then issued into the economy as it is spent.
From the point of view of an economist its never a question of funding, but a question of how much this might put pressure on inflation. However there is no threat of an impact on inflation from this until the economy is operating at full capacity (which you will probably observe it isn’t presently). Until such a time the government can simply spend more, creating more real wealth (both goods and services) for NZers to enjoy and income for businesses and their employees at the same time, effectively for free.
The opportunity cost of not doing this can never be recovered, its clearly a pretty bone headed move by the government to simply leave the additional real wealth available to the NZ economy (at no cost) on the table!
As an investor the author knows full well that the value of an asset is directly proportionate to its yield and that Auckland houses are in a bubble phase.
Rental properties in areas of NZ with low or no housing inflation, such as the provinces, are returning investors 6-7% from rents. Based on existing interest rates that’s currently about the right return if you’re an investor, you must get at least that much else you won’t invest. You’d be better off putting your cash in the bank if you got any less.
Auckland properties are lucky to return 4-5% from rents which is well below the return any investor would require. You can’t borrow at 6% and make a buck when rents are only returning 4%. It’s not possible…. unless there’s capital gain or rent increases. That’s a bubble, the income from the asset is not supporting the price.
Economists & politicians keep bleating about house prices when the real issue isn’t houses. It’s rents. Without rental income an investment property has no value whatsoever. The higher the rent… the higher the value of the property. If rents don’t go up house prices will always fall back to when the bubble started.
What King has neglected to tell people there is that the longer term investors buy with the intention of increasing rents. An investment bubble can only be deflated if the income from the investment rises to match the bubble price. A higher house price can only be sustained if the underlying rent increases to support it.
My point in this spiel is that low income Aucklanders can look forward to more grinding poverty with their landlords constantly holding out their hands for more & more filthy lucre. The ‘proper’ rent on a $500k property is over $600 per week and investors who own those $500k properties plan on getting their $600.
at that rate pretty much anyone in Auckland is going to be a low income Aucklander, but i guess that is then mission accomplished and we are one step closer to third country status.
and there is. Lord knows I don’t want to be seen as standing up for landlords, but the picture you offer is not quite so watertight. The idea of “proper rent” for a 500K property being $600pw just doesn’t match reality. Rents, depending on area, are closer to half the rate you say they are. Rents here are high, as a percentage of average gross income, no doubt. Neither does the image of landlords being highly intelligent scammers and sharks reconcile with close inspection. Those types exist, but if they were the only type around, there’d be a lot of people, hundreds of thousands, living on the street. The flattering idea of being an “investor” just because someone owns a rental property, isn’t true. Luckily, landlords have as many colours of nutty as anyone else, so a tolerable deal can still be found.
Cheer up old bean, having to move house because the landlord has an aspirational brain-fart is infuriating, highly stressfull and expensive, and potentially financially crippling, but shit happens, so don’t focus on the shit because it only makes things worse.
Miliband still on target to become British PM according to most pundits. General consensus (give or take a little variation) seems to be:
– Tories will probably win the popular vote by 1-3 percentage points
– Tories probably around 10 seats ahead of Labour (but a lot of uncertainty due to very close contest in some of the key marginals according to the Ashcroft Polls)
– None of which, according to the majority view, will be enough to prevent an Anti-Tory majority (see May2015 website and my comment here…http://thestandard.org.nz/miliband-kos-johnson/#comment-1006991)
The only concern:
– Traditional inaccuracy of UK pre-Election polls. Most notoriously, of course, in 1992 when polls grossly overstated Labour support and under-estimated the Tory vote. Same in a few other Elections – I’ve recently watched a fascinating 6 hours of the 1970 UK Election coverage (complete with some quite extraordinary comb-overs – particularly from the middle-aged political scientists – we’re talking on a Donald Trump scale of grandeur) and most of the polls then wrongly indicated a return of Harold Wilson’s Government.
Anyone who has been following the New Statesman’s excellent May2015 site will know that, over recent weeks, there has been a serious divide between the on-line and phone polls – the former consistently suggesting a neck-and-neck race, the latter a fairly clear Tory lead. Nerve-wracking – although I see the most recent phone-based polls have mostly re-aligned with the on-line ones, all except the Com Res/Daily Mail now calling a close race.
Letter to my local Gisborne Herald – they may not publish – being rather chummy with the Tolley. Or at least will hack out the stomach staples to protect her modesty and her image of self responsibility and self-control.
This paper’s editor considers my letters to be ‘attacks’. So be it.
Here’s an ‘attack’.
The Minister of Social Development is now banning beneficiaries – whose care she is responsible for – from getting loans for emergency dental treatment. Loans.
This is vicious.
Any dentist or technician or maxillofacial surgeon will tell you those with serious gum disease are 40% more likely to have a chronic condition on top.
Diabetes, heart disease/stroke risk – infections in the gums release inflammatory substances which in turn increase brain inflammation that can cause neuronal (brain cell) death.
Bacteria from periodontal disease can travel through the bloodstream to the lungs where it can aggravate respiratory systems.
Men with gum disease – 49% more likely to develop kidney cancer, 54% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, and 30% more likely to develop blood cancers.
Women with gum disease took an average of seven months to conceive, compared to five months among their peers without gum disease.
My surgeon told me I could of died before I spent $4 000 to get the help I needed. I require 3x a year maintenance work. I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t need to go to a loan shark.
So Tolley has enough clues about the dangers of obesity to spend up to $30 000 to have her stomach stapled (that took some guts) so I assume she is aware of the dangers of poor dental health. Enough to have top-notch dental care for her winning smile – but the section of society that can only dream of her wealth and privilege – and the rude good health it affords her – will now be in pain. They will be in chronic pain and distress and under Anne Tolleys care and on her watch.
This latest attack – by this government – on the most vulnerable of our community is just vicious.
1) Apply for the dollar amount you need regardless of cost (yes, I know…stress, $, and possible humiliation from the dentist who hates beneficiaries). The legislation doesn’t limit it to $300, that is done through policy and they can and do go higher.
2) Review the decision, and continue the appeal to the SSAA
An increase in reviews may be more costly than providing the loan in the first place. Good luck.
from her wiki
Personal[edit]
It emerged in 2010 that Tolley had undergone gastric bypass (stomach stapling) surgery in order to lose weight.[14] Tolley joins other current and former New Zealand politicians including Rahui Katene, David Lange, Chester Borrows, Donna Awatere-Huata and Tariana Turia to have had gastric bypass surgery at some point in the past.
Hers one I sent in which the editor took-out the stomach staples reference – completely ruining the gag I set up – (to protect Anne Tolleys modesty?)
Dear Sir,
Fresh from the regular ordeal of dry-retching at the horror of witnessing – day after day – people parading massive marlins that they’ve tortured and dragged around with their launches and then murdered, gutted and strung up on the wharf to be photographed for the pages of the Gisborne Herald; I am now implored by John Key, local M.P Anne Tolley and the Gisborne Herald editorial to ‘Get some Guts and get on the right side”, “roll up our sleeves and get stuck in” because “Something has to be done..”.
So Anne Tolley and the Gisborne Herald Editor got some guts. To drag N.Z onto John Keys sick selfie adventure into Iraq takes guts of steel. über-guts. Tolleys got the stomach staples so she’s got $30 000 armoured guts. The Herald Editor has barrels of ink guts. The printed word handing up to the mighty – the sword.
So, potentially, Gisborne-born guts will be spilt for John Keys photo-ops in the ‘middle east’ to come but more importantly – what desert-chic number has Anne Tolley picked for her inspection tour in Iraq? Her designers will have such fun with the flak-jackets and bullet proof helmets!
“Get Some Guts”? If the Islamic Caliphate want to really stick it to N.Z for the National and Act Party’s desire to have our “club” membership validated then any Kiwis they capture for their propaganda murders may well be – gutted.
Joe .. a retraction was published for this change in loans announcement .. it was a mikstake. Will try to find the correction link from a day or so ago … brb … but great letter !!
From Jan Logie on Tuesday: curious and curiouser ….
“So it turns out yesterday’s story about WINZ cuts to dental care loans was wrong, and through no fault of Radio New Zealand who ran it.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has today corrected the Official Information Act release the story was based on. The corrected numbers now show fairly steady dispersal of loans and grants for emergency dental care since 2010.
While this is good news, the situation is still very confusing. I continue to hear stories of people being told they can only get money for extractions, not things like root canals or crowns. I have also heard people being told not to bother applying.
It’s strange that this doesn’t seem to show up in the statistics. It’s hard to have confidence in the statistics when the Ministry can apparently get them so wrong themselves.
Beyond this, I must say I think it is just bizarre that alarms bells did not go off in MSD when they found there had apparently been a 99% decline in advance payments for dental care.
It is even more bizarre that MSD initially sought to explain that drop, in an email copied to me, by saying there had been a policy change in 2012 that precluded the payment of advances for emergency dental care.
There wasn’t a policy change, so that bit was made up. A policy change of that magnitude would actually have been unlawful, as it would have unreasonably restrained MSD case managers from exercising their statutory discretion to grant advance payments of benefit, but no one involved with this at MSD seemed to realise that.
Furthermore, MSD has now effectively told the entire country via yesterday’s Radio New Zealand story that beneficiaries can’t get loans for dental care, and have not corrected that publicly.
The National Government’s welfare reforms have been overwhelming for staff and beneficiaries alike, and the cuts to back room MSD staff significant, but quality of information informs decision making. Mistakes like this matter.”
Don’t forget that TRNZ are getting a comment option going. Look for comment under the particular items that have been chosen. They are tryng a range.
Eventually I get to where they have RNZtalk and that takes you past the stats to the cent
Stephen Franks voices concern over the two-tier justice system. I find myself in the strange position of agreeing with someone from the Sensible Sentencing Trust.
He also appears to gently hint at recent ‘prominent NZer’ cases.
I thought you got the memo – the SST is there for scared white people to vent their spleen about brown people doing crime. Because it’s so scary being white.
Lucretia Seales who is terminally ill with a brain tumour, is fighting in the courts to have the right to decide when she dies. The courts have allowed two ‘interested’ parties to join the case. One is the Human Right Commision and the other a group by the name of Care Alliance.
I was curious who they were and a little googling shows that the alliance which seems to be a grouping of organisations all opposed to euthanasia, including some groups that appear to have a vested interest in keeping people alive.
The group appears to traces back to another organisation called The Nathaniel Centre which turns about to be an offshoot of The Roman Catholic Church and is listed as their Bioethics Centre.
The Care Alliance was co-founded by one Maggie Barry MP. No prizes for guessing her religion. Its web site has no real details of who they are but refer contact details to one Matthew Jansen, one would could only wonder if this is the same Matthew Jansen on the Board of Saint Catherines College Wellington Ltd? http://www.csbl.co.nz/about/shareholders-and-directors
Is this a case once again of right wing church groups forming defacto front groups to push their narrow view of society. http://www.carealliance.org.nz/
“The six cops who killed Freddie Gray in Baltimore have been charged.
“Freddie Gray isn’t the first person that cops put in the back of a van, expressly to injure him. No seat belt, hands cuffed behind his back, feet shackled, he was left to bounce off the van’s walls. Others have been gravely injured, even paralyzed. And Freddie Gray is not the first man to die in Baltimore like this.
“Protests lead to first cops in Baltimore ever being charged for such killing
“And yet, this is the first time any Baltimore cop has been charged for the crime.
“Isn’t it obvious? If young people hadn’t gone out into the streets on Monday night, the cops would not have been charged. . .
As was true in a spate of recent death-in-custody cases, the Baltimore police department’s seeming reluctance (or inability) to mount a prompt, thorough investigation of its own officers has generated escalating protests, fueled by existing distrust of the police and suggestions of a cover-up.
But in this case it wasn’t just the thin blue line of solidarity shielding the cops involved from having to testify against themselves or each other.
The problem, said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, is that city officials were unable to “fully engage” with the officers “because of our Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights.”
On paper, this country still has one of the most reactionary abortion laws in the world. There are enough liberal doctors that the reality is rather different, so the actual law isn’t especially effective or closely enforced. However it’s still there and the criminalisation of abortion still takes a psychological toll on women who choose to terminate pregnancies.
Once upon a time there was an active campaign for women’s right to choose; isn’t there still a need for one?
Australian reality show taking the piss out of poor people, surprisingly being shown on the SBS channel (I thought they had a bit more class than that). How long till we get the NZ version, giving the middle-classes a good chuckle and reinforcing what they always thought about the poor.
hola unblocker is the answer, Phil. It’s an add on/extension that sets up a VPN. Also good for UK telly (ie watching the election results tomorrow etc.).
unblock-us.com this one is good to unblock Netflix, you can even change the region worldwide to view were you wish, Netflix US seems the best too me though, massive content.
The SDHB public meeting was a bit of fiasco, the Chairman Butterfield was clearly opposed to the idea of public input. There were no microphones, or PA (at a monthly public meeting), which made much of the talk inaudible to those at the back. So after half an hour when it had devolved into the crowd talking over the board to try get their points across he called a recess so the room would clear out. There was another half hour of “public” meeting after that; mainly the board going through the agenda as fast as possible while avoiding eye contact with those members of the public who had stuck around. Then we were turfed out while the board went to the cafe in preparation for the public-excluded session in which they’d record the decisions they had already made.
Two elected Board Member were good though:
Some reacted angrily when a bid by board member Mary Gamble to shift the decision into the public part of the meeting was rejected by other board members… Her motion found only one supporter, fellow elected board member Dr John Chambers.
”What have we got to hide?” Mrs Gamble asked.
Some members of the public fired irate comments at the board before filing out of the meeting.
This one exchange from the second half was worth jotting down (may not be an exact transcription, but as close as I could get):
Board Member Mary Gamble: “…are we ever going to open the books and see that we are within budget?”
CEO Carole Heatley: “We have a lot of tough decisions, and not all will be popular; as we have seen this morning”
…
Chairman Butterfield: “the 5% cuts are only the start.”
All this heartache to save a measly $5million over 7 years and serve pre-cooked frozen- to-be-microwaved food to very sick people ?? ( it’s about $13,500 pw which is likely less than redundancies and Winz benefits will cost them.) And of course, any profit will be leaving the country courtesy of Compass — and where in any universe can you write profit and hospital food in the same sentence and not be ridiculed ? Yep. Auckland and Dunedin.
Where or where are we headed ?? Toxic food by a compromised toxic British
company.
Tony Ryall jumped ship .. or was he pushed for this debacle and the millions that disappeared under his medical revolution? To this day, never accounted for.
That makes $3.5m over 7.5 years, your figure wasn’t nearly measly enough. Especially considering that HBL spent over $4m devloping the business plan! The money seems to be the justification, not the reason, for the likely adoption of this shortsighted scheme:
Mary Gamble, of Central Otago, says she is voting against the controversial 15-year deal today, but does not expect much support around the table.
Board member Dr John Chambers said he was voting against it, and was also pessimistic about the likely outcome…
‘‘My main reason is I’m not convinced that we will see the savings promised. I don’t believe Compass is incentivised, the whole way it’s set up . . . to deliver savings to us,” Mrs Gamble said.
‘‘My feeling is the majority of [board members] will vote for [outsourcing].”
When it comes time for council elections next year, I will make a point to proclaim the names of those elected board members who vote for this outsourcing as loud as I possibly can.
However, from looking about today, it seemed that the; 8 elected Board Members, were outnumbered by the; 6 Executive Directors, plus; CEO, Chairman, & Deputy (plus Board Secretary, but she probably doesn’t have voting rights). I don’t think the Chairman is an elected position (in fact I think Butterfield’s already retired, but is filling in until someone else is appointed – only no one wants the job), I’m not sure about the deputy. So that seems to make 8 elected representatives to 9 appointed, which makes public accountability a farce.
it is a farce, isn’t it ? and I thought on the figures I quoted !! How are they falling for this? Is to just to save face on having spent $4 million on a business plan ?
( Isn’t that more than the equivalent of the first 7.5 years savings ???)
have you seen this report from Oz on the multiple serious failings of Compass … needs to be thrown around the DHB offices asap …
The Southern District Health Board has announced it is going ahead with a plan to outsource its hospital kitchens.
The move will see up to 20% of food workers lose their job.
The board was not swayed by the strong public presence at today’s meeting, at which Grey Power, unions, workers and members of the public implored the board to rethink the proposal…
A petition with more than 7000 signatures opposing the outsourcing of hospital kitchens was presented at a crowded Southern District Health Board meeting this morning.
As soon as most of the public left during the 5min recess, Chairman Butterfield immediately stowed the boxes containing the petition under the table unread where no board member could be reminded of their presence. I remember hearing someone call out; “what is it too far to walk to the waste-paper bin?”.
Next step is legal action:
National secretary John Ryall said the union would lodge the a similar case against Southern to the one it is fighting with the Auckland DHB over outsourcing…
”We think that there’s major legal issues around pushing people over to a contractor under Part 6A [of the Employment Relations Act], which is meant to protect vulnerable workers, when you know that as soon as they move over they’re going to have their hours and jobs cut.
”If Southern go ahead with the proposal to contract out all the work and privatise the services a similar sort of legal action will be taking place in Southern,” Mr Ryall said.
BTW/ Thanks to rs-yh for the link, though it’s taking me a while to go through all the relevant footnotes. Page 17 of this ruling has some disturbing instances of Compass/ Medirest being incompetent about freezer storage and out of date food:
What bites my balls is that the union reckon they can put together a plan that will generate much more revenue than the privatisation will save, but the board in its wisdom decided to consider compass without looking for any alternatives.
Joe Butterfield is a chartered accountant who has spent his working life as a partner/director of the accounting firm Footes Ltd Chartered Accountants (and its predecessors) to which he is now a consultant. Joe, who is from Timaru, is in his second term as Chair of the Southern Board and has a strong interest in health and welfare matters. He is also Chair of Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee and the Appointments and Remuneration Advisory Committee. He was Chairman of South Canterbury District Health Board (SCDHB) from 2000-2009, until he stood down after his term had expired. He was a member of Health South Canterbury (the predecessor to SCDHB) and served as its Chairman from 1996 until 2000. He has also served on the Ministry of Health National Capital Committee and District Health Boards New Zealand.
As well as roles in health and finance, Joe has extensive experience in the transport and agricultural sector and has held directorships in companies including Intercity Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries, Ritchie’s Transport Holdings, the Port of Timaru and the South Canterbury Regional Development Board. Joe is also a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport. A lifetime yachtsman, Joe was a member of Yachting NZ’s governance board from 1986-95 and its president 92/95. He was its representative on the sport’s international body 1994-2008 and was an international umpire 1989/05 and is still an international judge.”
Mrs Mary Gamble, SRM, SCM, B.Sc, M.Sc
Elected Member (Otago Constituency)
Mrs Gamble is a retired midwife who worked for many years helping hundreds of Otago women to deliver their babies. She also has a strong background in health management and governance.
In 2005 Mary wound up her high profile midwifery practice and was recruited as a Research Manager at the University of Otago’s faculty of Health Sciences. After two years she was appointed to the foundation team charged with the establishment of a new medical school at the University of Limerick, Ireland. By July 2011 the Medical School had graduated its first Medical Doctors and Mrs Gamble fulfilled the roles of Research Development Manager and then as the Clinical Liaison Manager ensuring that students were appropriately placed for their clinical training both in hospitals and in GP practices.
Prior to returning to Ireland, Mrs Gamble was twice elected to the Otago DHB in 2001 and 2007 and so has six years health governance experience prior to her recent election to the Southern District Health Board. She is also serving on the Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee.
John Chambers, FRCS (Ed), FACEM
Elected Member (Otago Constituency)
Dr John Chambers is a Dunedin-based Senior Emergency Medical Officer who has worked in Dunedin Hospital for over 20 years. John is an active member of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and a member of New Zealand Faculty Board of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, and a member of the Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee.
John is also is the Director of a small business Chambers Consultancy (2007) Ltd, and health services consultancy, and is employed 0.05 FTE as an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer of the Dunedin Medical School, University of Otago. He continues to work full time as an emergency specialist seeing and treating a wide variety of patients and has a particular interest in the use of ultrasound in emergency diagnosis and care.
I don’t know the answer but I do know that they do not need to enter a 15 year contract. Why not a two or three year contract to see if Compass deliver on what it has promised?
Seems they’re using a system called Steamplicity where meals are prepared and packaged using cooked, partially cooked, and raw components, chilled, with a shelf life of around four days, and reheated cooking the raw and finishing the partially cooked components.
One of the most radical developments in hospital catering in recent years is the
introduction of this new technology which relies on a sealed pack incorporating a valve.
The food, both raw and partially cooked, is plated in a centralised production unit,
chilled (<5°C) and distributed to satellite kitchens where it remains chilled with an
expiry date currently of four days.
Inside jobs (Economist link so need to register to read)
Research suggests that government cronyism may cripple Spain’s economy
Blame has traditionally been pinned on a housing bubble that fostered distorted growth in the construction industry. But a recent paper by a team headed by Manuel García-Santana of the Université Libre de Bruxelles finds that the productivity fall was spread more evenly across all sectors. It had little to do with skills, innovation or debt. “We found that bad [less productive] companies grew faster than the good ones,” says one of the co-authors, Enrique Moral-Benito. Productivity falls were greater when the government was heavily involved, through contracts, licences or regulations. Luis Garicano, the economics adviser of the liberal Ciudadanos party, says this points to an economy dependent on contacts, corruption and cronyism.
These aren’t the government doing things themselves but the government contracting out the work that the government should be doing directly. Such a system produces a massive opportunity for graft and corruption that the government doing things directly won’t as they’re actually publicly accountable.
In many of these countries the differentiation between the top levels of government and the top levels of corporations is simply arbitrary. Welcome to the age of corporate rule.
This article on NRT has a new Registrar of New Zealand Business Numbers being created and the creation excluding it from the OIA as is expected under this guideline:
All public bodies should be subject to the Ombudsmen Act 1975, the Public Audit Act 2001, the Public Records Act 2005, the Official Information Act 1982 (or the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987)
But that is a guideline and not a legal requirement. Obviously it needs to be changed to an actual law so that government departments are automatically included under the OIA. Exclusions would have to be specifically written into the legal framework with reasons for the exclusion.
Such needs to happen so that we’re not left wondering if an exclusion is incompetence or malicious intent by the people writing up the legislation.
Trevette back to her ‘soothing-balm’ styles re Key in The Herald this morning. Warning against peurile motive and spite. Projection-by-proxy of the past and present peurile motives underlying this flag stunt methinks:
” ………. trying to influence people’s votes out of puerile political spite is a different matter. It may be true that Key is keen on a legacy, but it should be irrelevant. The referendums are on the flag, not on the political parties or personalities.
Regulation Trevette – “Time to leave John Key alone now I think……”
History channel on Sky has been screening Ken Loach’s ‘Spirit of ’45’ this week. Highly recommended and with many parallels with the political changes in that period in our own country.
Abbott acts on foreign RE buyers..Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced tough new laws for foreign property investors in an effort to ‘level the playing field’ for Australian buyers.
The changes will see foreign buyers charged a $5000 fee to enter the Australian market, as well as increased fines and possible jail terms for investors who breach foreign ownership laws – and the agents who help them do so.
The stricter laws follow an investigation by the Foreign Investment Review Board into housing affordability in Australia, which partly blamed foreign buyers for inflated domestic prices.
‘The new regime will maximise opportunities for Australians, give Australian home owners confidence and a level playing field,’ Mr Abbott told reporters at a press conference in Sydney on Saturday.
ONE News has learned that the Government has spent $6 million air freighting 900 pregnant ewes and farming equipment to Hamood Al Ali Khalaf’s farm in Saudi Arabia.
According to Mr Al Ali Khalaf’s business partner, Sydney-based George Assaf, everything from the fencing to “the shed and the wool shed and the yards and the drafting machines, the weighing, the scales, you mention it, it’s all from New Zealand”.
Mr Assaf says the deal was done to “compensate” the pair over a six-year-old ban of live sheep exports in which they say they lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
He says New Zealand was told “unless you fix that part of it, we won’t sign” the free trade deal between New Zealand and the Gulf States.
I’m sure that with a law in place to ensure that this type of bribery is legal it’ll just get worse.
New Zealand will receive no profit from the Saudi farm, which Mr Assaf claims is worth $80 million.
But, it provides New Zealand businesses with the opportunity to showcase their wares, according to Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.
Asked what return the country should expect from the farm, Mr Guy replied: “Ultimately it may help us land the free trade agreement.”
Actually, it’s going to help put NZ sheep farms out of the export business.
Campbell Live tonight…….ChCh volunteer whose Good Samaritanism has come back on his very soul. With no ACC back-up because the damage ain’t physical. Wasn’t there the noted example of the built young Maori or Polynesian guy who leapt in lustily heaving heavy lumps of concrete off trapped people ? Who was honoured with an award ?
All the proof you need that the editorial of Campbell Live is indispensable !
Mediaworks should be proud that it’s happening under their banner !
For fuck’s sake…….what has happened to New Zealand ?
Campbell Live next clip……the rental-rape of Filipino ChCh reconstruction workers ???
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – 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 is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
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 is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – 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 politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
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. ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
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 ...
Asia Pacific Report A Pacific civil society alliance has condemned French neocolonial policies in Kanaky New Caledonia, saying Paris is set on “maintaining the status quo” and denying the indigenous Kanak people their inalienable right to self-determination. The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) Alliance, representing some 15 groups, said in ...
Koi Tū New Zealand cannot sit back and see the collapse of its Fourth Estate, the director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, Sir Peter Gluckman, says in the foreword of a paper published today. The paper, “If not journalists, then who?” paints a picture of an industry ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
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SPECIAL REPORT:By Eugene Doyle He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today — and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will McCallum, PhD Candidate – School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders ...
By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinea MP, Peter Isoaimo, who had been ousted by the National Court in an alleged bribery case, has been reinstated by the Supreme Court on appeal. A three-member Supreme Court bench found that the National Court had erred in finding that ...
Publisher Chris Holdaway reflects on the unique project of collecting the work of the late, terrific poet Schaeffer Lemalu. One of the nice things you can do as a truly independent publisher is to make the books that writers want to make, whatever they happen to be. That’s how I’ve ...
Those profiled in the stamp series served on overseas deployments from 1995 onwards, and all have been awarded theNew Zealand Operational Service Medal. ...
Last night’s dismal poll result for the coalition government shows the limits of trying to govern as an opposition, argues Joel MacManus. There’s a quote from the American political activist Barbara Deming: “Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people’s minds, the thought ...
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A defendant charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining by deception in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme. Sentencing has been scheduled for 14 August 2024. ...
What to say when pesky journalists ask gotcha questions like ‘can you name a single book you’ve ever read?’ and ‘did you read it, or did you just see the movie?’This week, Act Party arts spokesperson Todd Stephenson foolishly agreed to an interview with Newsroom’s Steve Braunias regarding his ...
Explainer - What will a ban on cellphones in schools achieve? Can students use them during lunch breaks? And what happens if you need to contact your child? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum, UNSW Sydney Jodi Rowley, CC BY-NC-ND In winter 2021, Australia’s frogs started dropping dead. People began posting images of dead frogs on social media. Unable to travel to investigate the deaths ...
In the year ended March 2024, 0.4 percent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wasay Majid, Research Assistant , University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau New Zealand’s accommodation supplement scheme is facing scrutiny, with Social Development Minister Louise Upston recently saying “there is merit in considering whether the current settings are fair and sustainable long-term”. The ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The first prime ministerial candidate has been announced in Solomon Islands and it is not Manasseh Sogavare. The man of the hour is Jeremiah Manele, the MP for Hograno/Kia/Havulei constituency in Isabel Province, who served as minister of foreign affairs in the last government. ...
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Analysis - Christopher Luxon will be alert to the factors driving the dire polling, but won't be waving the white flag just yet, RNZ political editor Jo Moir writes. ...
Writer, teacher and academic Vincent O’Sullivan died on Sunday 28 April. Here we gather tributes from friends, colleagues, and students who remember his extraordinary contributions. I went down to the garage tonight. There was a bird shrieking out in the bush, in the dark, maybe a kākā. Miraculously, through the ...
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Just arrived in London, working for a couple of months
Here, John Key is a figure of fun and ridicule. it is very embarrassing.
in the media there – we have moved from ponytail-pulling prime minister – to dentistry during sex..
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/06/new-zealand-man-found-guilty-of-pulling-out-lovers-teeth-during-sex
Well of course, they don’t have tame little guinea pigs mascarading as Press over there!!! They tell it like it is, and boy, how humiliating and beyond embarrassing to be known as a weird little fetish-creep, right John?? Wonder if the Queen will invite him back to Balmoral again – she must be wondering what he got up to the last time he was there??
How tragic. You obviously have not been following the rabid anti-Milliban stuff the Sun et al have been running these last few weeks. Filthy Murdoch media and other Tory press
People in London know who John Key is ?
Tugger Key? Are you unaware that he has been fodder for “odd” news and comedy pieces around the world?
I expect if you asked 100 people in the UK which country John Key was the PM of less than 10% would have any idea.
Interestingly recently on the British Show “Pointless” John Key was an answer, but not a pointless one. They asked 100 people to identify as many world leaders as they knew in 100 seconds. From memory over 10% of them named John Key of New Zealand.
I missed that one…..another brit show that as quite interesting (no pun intended)
I enjoy it. I note how different it is to US quiz shows. The questions are hard and the prize money is low..
Agreed I couldn’t bring myself to watch a US quiz show.
That would be quite an interesting post,. Questions to which the answer is John Key.
Mine is, “Who is New Zealand’s most publicly ridiculed PM internationally?”
I don’t think that even Peter Fraser got such a press from Lord Haw Haw.
Clark would probably beat key as “globally most famous NZ PM”, but that might be reversed if we added “for actions performed whilst NZ PM”.
Who wanted to be Prime Minister since he was a child but had no political awareness or consciousness?
But how many Brits currently think John Key is a clown (irrespective of whether or not they know the country of which he is PM)?
And of the 10% who you suspect do know he is New Zealand’s Prime Minister the vast majority will presumably only know that from the fact that he is being mocked?
If there happens to be any future case in which John Key – as NZ PM – makes some serious appeal to the British people (e.g., to buy our products, help us with a natural disaster, support our economic and foreign policy interests, etc.) we can guess that their first dawning reaction will not be sympathy and support but, instead … ‘Oh, so that’s the country that voted in that clown??’
You seem to be implying that this current ‘anonymity’ concerning Key’s nationality is ‘reassuring’ when it is actually a ticking ‘join the dots’ time bomb (involving, as you imply, far more than 10% of Brits) that, when it goes off, is likely to dampen and subtract from the British people’s support for us in the future.
And, more importantly, that reaction amongst the British public will embolden those in Britain who might oppose our interests (for political or economic reasons).
Key has, no doubt unthinkingly, delivered rhetorical ammunition for anyone in Britain – or elsewhere – to use to undermine our interests.
Rightly or wrongly, that in future will be the public reaction overseas and those will be the uses made of that reaction. (e.g., think about how Fox News might now frame our Prime Minister should he, on a visit there, publicly argue to reduce US agricultural subsidies).
As right wingers here so often point out when they use Key’s electoral popularity as his ultimate defence against criticism: Irrespective of the reality, perception is everything.
Unfortunately, the same argument also works negatively – when, on the world stage, Key is associated not with a blokey ‘popularity’ but with idiocy and weirdness.
Whatever, the only thing in the British Media at the moment is the election.
It is hard to ridicule someone who no one notices.
Big day for Auckland Council and Auckland’s future. Two related themes.
Firstly, the proposed rates hike – particularly for transport purposes – is steeper than expected. Government will likely not recognize the political blowback Mayor Brown will get from the public.
Secondly, the housing crisis is not reflected in Council’s Auckland Development Company proposal. It’s going to be a fairly neutered beast. Back in the day, Auckland Council was the second-biggest housing owner in the country. The days of intervention at scale appear gone.
Join these two together: can Key, Bennett, and Bridges as pro-Auckland Cabinet Ministers, overcome the anti-Auckland sentiments of Brownlee, Smith, and English? That is, can central government form a stronger and more direct governance instrument for prioritizing transport investment that leads to more affordable housing being built?
Couple of weeks will tell.
Interesting times indeed…
Particularly because this government is demanding more homes be built, by necessity they have to be on the outskirts, but won’t put its hand in its collective pocket to fund the infrastructure (particularly transport) required to make it practical for dwellers…
They also effectively cut the developers cost… so who take sup the shortfall if this is generally used to fund infrastructure for the new properties and research?
My home has gone up in paper value over 300,000 since October last year…
Something needs to be pointed out about rate hikes all over the country. The basic cause of rate hikes by councils is that the central government is not sufficiently funding these regional councils. This is the underlying reason councils are looking to put rates up or are looking to raise revenue in other ways, or in some cases moth balling development projects. Where we as a country want these projects to go ahead, but rate payers increases would be too steep, the government should simply fund these projects.
But the tricky thing is that councils funding also adjusts to the economy, when economic activity falls then their rates and other payments (income) fall as well. It can be tricky to understand that due to the recession if the council is going to maintain previous levels of investment in regional development, then either rates need to go up a lot or central government needs to step in and provide the funds and a larger portion of the councils budget. At present the central government is significantly under-funding councils all over the country.
Why should central government fund local government?
For that matter why shouldn’t local government fund central government ?
Or alternatively why don’t they all fuck off and stop picking our pockets ad infinitum.
seasteader much?
It’s comments like this that prove that you, and other RWNJs, are a fucken idiot.
We need the services that taxes provide and we can’t get them for less than they physically cost no matter what National Act tell us.
Of course, a large part of your idiocy is due to the fact that we’ve been taught to see our finances backwards. We see taxes as providing an income for government when we should be seeing government spending as the foundation which holds up the economy – especially the private sector.
Why should central government tell local government where people can build houses without providing infrastructure to support their (central government) decisions.
Because they refuse to let local government charge the level of rates that would provide an appropriate level of services, in particular the overarching infrastructure needed to support communities and economic activity.
“Why should central government fund local government?”
Because local government can’t afford to raise the necessary funds (It would depress the local economy of Auckland to much if Auckland rates, and other council service charges, were that high) needed to support their local government economy. Duh!
One of the reasons central government should fund local government is that central government make up the laws that local government have to enact, implement, monitor and enforce…….e.g. Building Act, RMA, Health and Safety Act, Weathertight homes resolution services Act, Local Government Act etc etc.
It’s fine for Councils to pay for bylaws and services that communities want (democratic choice), but why is the burden of cost placed exclusively on rate payers (particularly for expensive infrastructure) when that change comes from central government?
NZ needs regional development, and significant funding to support regional development.
Auckland Council had little choice but pay for the changes that were required by the Local Government Auckland Council and Local Government Auckland Transition Acts that were foisted on them by Mr Hyde…….and look at what that is going to cost Aucklanders……possibly their harbour, given the dysfunctionality of the governance that were set up between the Council and their subsidiary entities (Ports of Auckland, Auckland Transport).
And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking 🙂
This is typical NZ, perhaps thoughout the world,where few if any consider the holistic cost as they work out the costs and benefits to their group and their group only … urrrgh!
Maybe from the real estate agents and developers they are assisting in Auckland?
Of course it doesn’t. Private banks create 97% of it ex nihilo.
Actually, the problem is that we’ve 30+ years of the RWNJs saying that we don’t need to pay for anything and the majority of people seem to have believed that lie. Now our infrastructure is collapsing, our government services are sub par and taxes are having to go up to pay for fixing all the damage that 30 years of neo-liberalism have done and the RWNJs are complaining about it.
“And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking”
From the NZ central governments point of view, it does. All they need to do is write into the budget the amount they are providing to local government and the money is then issued into the economy as it is spent.
From the point of view of an economist its never a question of funding, but a question of how much this might put pressure on inflation. However there is no threat of an impact on inflation from this until the economy is operating at full capacity (which you will probably observe it isn’t presently). Until such a time the government can simply spend more, creating more real wealth (both goods and services) for NZers to enjoy and income for businesses and their employees at the same time, effectively for free.
The opportunity cost of not doing this can never be recovered, its clearly a pretty bone headed move by the government to simply leave the additional real wealth available to the NZ economy (at no cost) on the table!
[And where does the government get this extra money Nic? I suppose you think it grows on trees for the plucking :)]
They should pluck it out of thin air, same as the banks do.
A closer look at big donations to the National Party where Winston Peters sums things up perfectly ” for every thousand dollar donated one hundred thousand is returned.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/rich-listers-dig-deep-for-national-2015050707#axzz3ZO8tYPMN
National doesn’t have donors. It has business partners.
Yes and countering the bosses are the workers who donated 900 k to Labour.
This article in the NZH shows how we’re being manipulated by the self-interested when it comes to housing.
“Andrew King: Why I think there’s no housing bubble in Auckland”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11444119
As an investor the author knows full well that the value of an asset is directly proportionate to its yield and that Auckland houses are in a bubble phase.
Rental properties in areas of NZ with low or no housing inflation, such as the provinces, are returning investors 6-7% from rents. Based on existing interest rates that’s currently about the right return if you’re an investor, you must get at least that much else you won’t invest. You’d be better off putting your cash in the bank if you got any less.
Auckland properties are lucky to return 4-5% from rents which is well below the return any investor would require. You can’t borrow at 6% and make a buck when rents are only returning 4%. It’s not possible…. unless there’s capital gain or rent increases. That’s a bubble, the income from the asset is not supporting the price.
Economists & politicians keep bleating about house prices when the real issue isn’t houses. It’s rents. Without rental income an investment property has no value whatsoever. The higher the rent… the higher the value of the property. If rents don’t go up house prices will always fall back to when the bubble started.
What King has neglected to tell people there is that the longer term investors buy with the intention of increasing rents. An investment bubble can only be deflated if the income from the investment rises to match the bubble price. A higher house price can only be sustained if the underlying rent increases to support it.
My point in this spiel is that low income Aucklanders can look forward to more grinding poverty with their landlords constantly holding out their hands for more & more filthy lucre. The ‘proper’ rent on a $500k property is over $600 per week and investors who own those $500k properties plan on getting their $600.
at that rate pretty much anyone in Auckland is going to be a low income Aucklander, but i guess that is then mission accomplished and we are one step closer to third country status.
bridges we need to build shacks underneath…
“…unless there’s capital gain…”
and there is. Lord knows I don’t want to be seen as standing up for landlords, but the picture you offer is not quite so watertight. The idea of “proper rent” for a 500K property being $600pw just doesn’t match reality. Rents, depending on area, are closer to half the rate you say they are. Rents here are high, as a percentage of average gross income, no doubt. Neither does the image of landlords being highly intelligent scammers and sharks reconcile with close inspection. Those types exist, but if they were the only type around, there’d be a lot of people, hundreds of thousands, living on the street. The flattering idea of being an “investor” just because someone owns a rental property, isn’t true. Luckily, landlords have as many colours of nutty as anyone else, so a tolerable deal can still be found.
Cheer up old bean, having to move house because the landlord has an aspirational brain-fart is infuriating, highly stressfull and expensive, and potentially financially crippling, but shit happens, so don’t focus on the shit because it only makes things worse.
Your epistle, Charles, says a lot about you and little about the subject in question.
It wouldn’t take a stretch of the imagination to conclude you’re an investor and a little bit sensitive about it too huh.
Miliband still on target to become British PM according to most pundits. General consensus (give or take a little variation) seems to be:
– Tories will probably win the popular vote by 1-3 percentage points
– Tories probably around 10 seats ahead of Labour (but a lot of uncertainty due to very close contest in some of the key marginals according to the Ashcroft Polls)
– None of which, according to the majority view, will be enough to prevent an Anti-Tory majority (see May2015 website and my comment here…http://thestandard.org.nz/miliband-kos-johnson/#comment-1006991)
The only concern:
– Traditional inaccuracy of UK pre-Election polls. Most notoriously, of course, in 1992 when polls grossly overstated Labour support and under-estimated the Tory vote. Same in a few other Elections – I’ve recently watched a fascinating 6 hours of the 1970 UK Election coverage (complete with some quite extraordinary comb-overs – particularly from the middle-aged political scientists – we’re talking on a Donald Trump scale of grandeur) and most of the polls then wrongly indicated a return of Harold Wilson’s Government.
Anyone who has been following the New Statesman’s excellent May2015 site will know that, over recent weeks, there has been a serious divide between the on-line and phone polls – the former consistently suggesting a neck-and-neck race, the latter a fairly clear Tory lead. Nerve-wracking – although I see the most recent phone-based polls have mostly re-aligned with the on-line ones, all except the Com Res/Daily Mail now calling a close race.
Thanks for this fish. I wonder what happened in 1970 that led to the first poll?
Letter to my local Gisborne Herald – they may not publish – being rather chummy with the Tolley. Or at least will hack out the stomach staples to protect her modesty and her image of self responsibility and self-control.
This paper’s editor considers my letters to be ‘attacks’. So be it.
Here’s an ‘attack’.
The Minister of Social Development is now banning beneficiaries – whose care she is responsible for – from getting loans for emergency dental treatment. Loans.
This is vicious.
Any dentist or technician or maxillofacial surgeon will tell you those with serious gum disease are 40% more likely to have a chronic condition on top.
Diabetes, heart disease/stroke risk – infections in the gums release inflammatory substances which in turn increase brain inflammation that can cause neuronal (brain cell) death.
Bacteria from periodontal disease can travel through the bloodstream to the lungs where it can aggravate respiratory systems.
Men with gum disease – 49% more likely to develop kidney cancer, 54% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, and 30% more likely to develop blood cancers.
Women with gum disease took an average of seven months to conceive, compared to five months among their peers without gum disease.
My surgeon told me I could of died before I spent $4 000 to get the help I needed. I require 3x a year maintenance work. I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t need to go to a loan shark.
So Tolley has enough clues about the dangers of obesity to spend up to $30 000 to have her stomach stapled (that took some guts) so I assume she is aware of the dangers of poor dental health. Enough to have top-notch dental care for her winning smile – but the section of society that can only dream of her wealth and privilege – and the rude good health it affords her – will now be in pain. They will be in chronic pain and distress and under Anne Tolleys care and on her watch.
This latest attack – by this government – on the most vulnerable of our community is just vicious.
Good letter Joe, thanks.
Here’s how to fix it:
1) Apply for the dollar amount you need regardless of cost (yes, I know…stress, $, and possible humiliation from the dentist who hates beneficiaries). The legislation doesn’t limit it to $300, that is done through policy and they can and do go higher.
2) Review the decision, and continue the appeal to the SSAA
An increase in reviews may be more costly than providing the loan in the first place. Good luck.
Good on ya, let us know if it publishes…
PS
I didn;t know Tolley had a staple op?
shes in this story
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3260435/Stomach-stapled-MPs-put-weight-behind-Turia
from her wiki
Personal[edit]
It emerged in 2010 that Tolley had undergone gastric bypass (stomach stapling) surgery in order to lose weight.[14] Tolley joins other current and former New Zealand politicians including Rahui Katene, David Lange, Chester Borrows, Donna Awatere-Huata and Tariana Turia to have had gastric bypass surgery at some point in the past.
Hers one I sent in which the editor took-out the stomach staples reference – completely ruining the gag I set up – (to protect Anne Tolleys modesty?)
Dear Sir,
Fresh from the regular ordeal of dry-retching at the horror of witnessing – day after day – people parading massive marlins that they’ve tortured and dragged around with their launches and then murdered, gutted and strung up on the wharf to be photographed for the pages of the Gisborne Herald; I am now implored by John Key, local M.P Anne Tolley and the Gisborne Herald editorial to ‘Get some Guts and get on the right side”, “roll up our sleeves and get stuck in” because “Something has to be done..”.
So Anne Tolley and the Gisborne Herald Editor got some guts. To drag N.Z onto John Keys sick selfie adventure into Iraq takes guts of steel. über-guts. Tolleys got the stomach staples so she’s got $30 000 armoured guts. The Herald Editor has barrels of ink guts. The printed word handing up to the mighty – the sword.
So, potentially, Gisborne-born guts will be spilt for John Keys photo-ops in the ‘middle east’ to come but more importantly – what desert-chic number has Anne Tolley picked for her inspection tour in Iraq? Her designers will have such fun with the flak-jackets and bullet proof helmets!
“Get Some Guts”? If the Islamic Caliphate want to really stick it to N.Z for the National and Act Party’s desire to have our “club” membership validated then any Kiwis they capture for their propaganda murders may well be – gutted.
Joe .. a retraction was published for this change in loans announcement .. it was a mikstake. Will try to find the correction link from a day or so ago … brb … but great letter !!
From Jan Logie on Tuesday: curious and curiouser ….
“So it turns out yesterday’s story about WINZ cuts to dental care loans was wrong, and through no fault of Radio New Zealand who ran it.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has today corrected the Official Information Act release the story was based on. The corrected numbers now show fairly steady dispersal of loans and grants for emergency dental care since 2010.
While this is good news, the situation is still very confusing. I continue to hear stories of people being told they can only get money for extractions, not things like root canals or crowns. I have also heard people being told not to bother applying.
It’s strange that this doesn’t seem to show up in the statistics. It’s hard to have confidence in the statistics when the Ministry can apparently get them so wrong themselves.
Beyond this, I must say I think it is just bizarre that alarms bells did not go off in MSD when they found there had apparently been a 99% decline in advance payments for dental care.
It is even more bizarre that MSD initially sought to explain that drop, in an email copied to me, by saying there had been a policy change in 2012 that precluded the payment of advances for emergency dental care.
There wasn’t a policy change, so that bit was made up. A policy change of that magnitude would actually have been unlawful, as it would have unreasonably restrained MSD case managers from exercising their statutory discretion to grant advance payments of benefit, but no one involved with this at MSD seemed to realise that.
Furthermore, MSD has now effectively told the entire country via yesterday’s Radio New Zealand story that beneficiaries can’t get loans for dental care, and have not corrected that publicly.
The National Government’s welfare reforms have been overwhelming for staff and beneficiaries alike, and the cuts to back room MSD staff significant, but quality of information informs decision making. Mistakes like this matter.”
https://blog.greens.org.nz/2015/05/06/oia-chaos-in-the-ministry-of-social-development
Hey thanks. Whenever was I going to hear this. On R.N.Z?
maybe it serves a better AND LIKELY more profitable purpose not to correct it ?? bstds.
but it’s been there on our right hand links since tuesday which is where I first read it …
maybe ring RNZ and ask why no correction .. maybe they don’t know either?
we are ruled by Kaos agents 😥
Don’t forget that TRNZ are getting a comment option going. Look for comment under the particular items that have been chosen. They are tryng a range.
Eventually I get to where they have RNZtalk and that takes you past the stats to the cent
are you thc-deficient..?
i know i am..
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/am-thc-deficient
Stephen Franks voices concern over the two-tier justice system. I find myself in the strange position of agreeing with someone from the Sensible Sentencing Trust.
He also appears to gently hint at recent ‘prominent NZer’ cases.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/273027/ex-mp-claims-two-tier-justice-system
3 tier, IMHO, politicians with name suppression, rugby players, the rest of us.
The name suppression comments have been removed from the article.
He prefers a 1 tier system where every decision he agrees with is the one that matters.
Yes, I really loathe the SST and their inconsistent advocacy.
What inconsistency arkie?
I thought you got the memo – the SST is there for scared white people to vent their spleen about brown people doing crime. Because it’s so scary being white.
+111
😈
Lucretia Seales who is terminally ill with a brain tumour, is fighting in the courts to have the right to decide when she dies. The courts have allowed two ‘interested’ parties to join the case. One is the Human Right Commision and the other a group by the name of Care Alliance.
I was curious who they were and a little googling shows that the alliance which seems to be a grouping of organisations all opposed to euthanasia, including some groups that appear to have a vested interest in keeping people alive.
The group appears to traces back to another organisation called The Nathaniel Centre which turns about to be an offshoot of The Roman Catholic Church and is listed as their Bioethics Centre.
The Care Alliance was co-founded by one Maggie Barry MP. No prizes for guessing her religion. Its web site has no real details of who they are but refer contact details to one Matthew Jansen, one would could only wonder if this is the same Matthew Jansen on the Board of Saint Catherines College Wellington Ltd?
http://www.csbl.co.nz/about/shareholders-and-directors
“The Alliance was established in 2012 in opposition to the poorly written, confusing and flawed End of Life Choice Bill proposed by a Labour List MP which has since been withdrawn following political pressure.”
http://www.nathaniel.org.nz/component/content/article/19-homepage-slider-articles/330-broad-alliance-launches-to-oppose-legalising-euthanasia
Is this a case once again of right wing church groups forming defacto front groups to push their narrow view of society.
http://www.carealliance.org.nz/
I ams ure they will be very upfront about their real driving principles in Court 😉
a heads-up on ancestry.com
whoar..!
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/ancestrycom-caught-sharing-customer-dna-data-police
“The six cops who killed Freddie Gray in Baltimore have been charged.
“Freddie Gray isn’t the first person that cops put in the back of a van, expressly to injure him. No seat belt, hands cuffed behind his back, feet shackled, he was left to bounce off the van’s walls. Others have been gravely injured, even paralyzed. And Freddie Gray is not the first man to die in Baltimore like this.
“Protests lead to first cops in Baltimore ever being charged for such killing
“And yet, this is the first time any Baltimore cop has been charged for the crime.
“Isn’t it obvious? If young people hadn’t gone out into the streets on Monday night, the cops would not have been charged. . .
report from Baltimore: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/the-anger-in-baltimore/
It has happened before that though police charged, which takes the pressure off, but the outcome was not guilty. This case will be pretty important.
Special treatment for special people.
/
As was true in a spate of recent death-in-custody cases, the Baltimore police department’s seeming reluctance (or inability) to mount a prompt, thorough investigation of its own officers has generated escalating protests, fueled by existing distrust of the police and suggestions of a cover-up.
But in this case it wasn’t just the thin blue line of solidarity shielding the cops involved from having to testify against themselves or each other.
The problem, said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, is that city officials were unable to “fully engage” with the officers “because of our Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights.”
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/27/blue-shield
On paper, this country still has one of the most reactionary abortion laws in the world. There are enough liberal doctors that the reality is rather different, so the actual law isn’t especially effective or closely enforced. However it’s still there and the criminalisation of abortion still takes a psychological toll on women who choose to terminate pregnancies.
Once upon a time there was an active campaign for women’s right to choose; isn’t there still a need for one?
Abortion: remaking the case for the right to choose: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/ann-furedi-on-pro-choice/
Getting abortion out the Crimes Act: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/getting-abortion-out-of-the-crimes-act/
Australian reality show taking the piss out of poor people, surprisingly being shown on the SBS channel (I thought they had a bit more class than that). How long till we get the NZ version, giving the middle-classes a good chuckle and reinforcing what they always thought about the poor.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/68341317/struggle-street-reality-tv-show-has-sydney-up-in-arms
does anyone know how to get around the regional restrictions on aust. tv..?
i wanna watch ‘struggle street’..
..but computer/sbs says ‘no’…
hola unblocker is the answer, Phil. It’s an add on/extension that sets up a VPN. Also good for UK telly (ie watching the election results tomorrow etc.).
chrs..
kewl 😀
unblock-us.com this one is good to unblock Netflix, you can even change the region worldwide to view were you wish, Netflix US seems the best too me though, massive content.
State broadcasting at its best…
Nate Silver inspired result prediction, updated for 6 May.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/interactives/uk-general-election-predictions/
Also see more related info here:
http://thestandard.org.nz/uk-election-2/#comment-1011060
The SDHB public meeting was a bit of fiasco, the Chairman Butterfield was clearly opposed to the idea of public input. There were no microphones, or PA (at a monthly public meeting), which made much of the talk inaudible to those at the back. So after half an hour when it had devolved into the crowd talking over the board to try get their points across he called a recess so the room would clear out. There was another half hour of “public” meeting after that; mainly the board going through the agenda as fast as possible while avoiding eye contact with those members of the public who had stuck around. Then we were turfed out while the board went to the cafe in preparation for the public-excluded session in which they’d record the decisions they had already made.
Two elected Board Member were good though:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341408/heat-food-outsourcing-meeting
Yesterday, I thought that the Union’s offer of matching the Compass Group’s terms (whilst humiliating) would be enough to save the kitchens:
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052015/#comment-1010671
Now I’m very pessimistic.
This one exchange from the second half was worth jotting down (may not be an exact transcription, but as close as I could get):
Board Member Mary Gamble: “…are we ever going to open the books and see that we are within budget?”
CEO Carole Heatley: “We have a lot of tough decisions, and not all will be popular; as we have seen this morning”
…
Chairman Butterfield: “the 5% cuts are only the start.”
All this heartache to save a measly $5million over 7 years and serve pre-cooked frozen- to-be-microwaved food to very sick people ?? ( it’s about $13,500 pw which is likely less than redundancies and Winz benefits will cost them.) And of course, any profit will be leaving the country courtesy of Compass — and where in any universe can you write profit and hospital food in the same sentence and not be ridiculed ? Yep. Auckland and Dunedin.
Where or where are we headed ?? Toxic food by a compromised toxic British
company.
Tony Ryall jumped ship .. or was he pushed for this debacle and the millions that disappeared under his medical revolution? To this day, never accounted for.
rawshark-y
That makes $3.5m over 7.5 years, your figure wasn’t nearly measly enough. Especially considering that HBL spent over $4m devloping the business plan! The money seems to be the justification, not the reason, for the likely adoption of this shortsighted scheme:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341376/dhb-member-speaks-out-over-outsourcing-plan
When it comes time for council elections next year, I will make a point to proclaim the names of those elected board members who vote for this outsourcing as loud as I possibly can.
However, from looking about today, it seemed that the; 8 elected Board Members, were outnumbered by the; 6 Executive Directors, plus; CEO, Chairman, & Deputy (plus Board Secretary, but she probably doesn’t have voting rights). I don’t think the Chairman is an elected position (in fact I think Butterfield’s already retired, but is filling in until someone else is appointed – only no one wants the job), I’m not sure about the deputy. So that seems to make 8 elected representatives to 9 appointed, which makes public accountability a farce.
it is a farce, isn’t it ? and I thought on the figures I quoted !! How are they falling for this? Is to just to save face on having spent $4 million on a business plan ?
( Isn’t that more than the equivalent of the first 7.5 years savings ???)
have you seen this report from Oz on the multiple serious failings of Compass … needs to be thrown around the DHB offices asap …
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/awuqld/pages/326/attachments/original/1415324859/Compass_group_and_medirest_track_record.pdf?1415324859
please let us have updates if you can bear to do it …
Update:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/341408/heat-food-outsourcing-meeting
As soon as most of the public left during the 5min recess, Chairman Butterfield immediately stowed the boxes containing the petition under the table unread where no board member could be reminded of their presence. I remember hearing someone call out; “what is it too far to walk to the waste-paper bin?”.
Next step is legal action:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/340039/union-warns-sdhb-legal-action
BTW/ Thanks to rs-yh for the link, though it’s taking me a while to go through all the relevant footnotes. Page 17 of this ruling has some disturbing instances of Compass/ Medirest being incompetent about freezer storage and out of date food:
http://www.nzdrc.co.nz/site/commercialdisputes/files/Court%20Decisions/Compass%20Group%20UK%20and%20Ireland%20Ltd%20v%20Mid%20Essex%20Hospital%20Services%20NHS%20Trust%20%5B2012%5D%20EWHC%20781%20_QB_.pdf
What bites my balls is that the union reckon they can put together a plan that will generate much more revenue than the privatisation will save, but the board in its wisdom decided to consider compass without looking for any alternatives.
Thanks for reporting back on this.
http://www.southerndhb.govt.nz/pages/boardmembers/
”
Joe Butterfield, MNZM, FCA, FinstD, CMILT
Chairman
Joe Butterfield is a chartered accountant who has spent his working life as a partner/director of the accounting firm Footes Ltd Chartered Accountants (and its predecessors) to which he is now a consultant. Joe, who is from Timaru, is in his second term as Chair of the Southern Board and has a strong interest in health and welfare matters. He is also Chair of Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee and the Appointments and Remuneration Advisory Committee. He was Chairman of South Canterbury District Health Board (SCDHB) from 2000-2009, until he stood down after his term had expired. He was a member of Health South Canterbury (the predecessor to SCDHB) and served as its Chairman from 1996 until 2000. He has also served on the Ministry of Health National Capital Committee and District Health Boards New Zealand.
As well as roles in health and finance, Joe has extensive experience in the transport and agricultural sector and has held directorships in companies including Intercity Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries, Ritchie’s Transport Holdings, the Port of Timaru and the South Canterbury Regional Development Board. Joe is also a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport. A lifetime yachtsman, Joe was a member of Yachting NZ’s governance board from 1986-95 and its president 92/95. He was its representative on the sport’s international body 1994-2008 and was an international umpire 1989/05 and is still an international judge.”
Mrs Mary Gamble, SRM, SCM, B.Sc, M.Sc
Elected Member (Otago Constituency)
Mrs Gamble is a retired midwife who worked for many years helping hundreds of Otago women to deliver their babies. She also has a strong background in health management and governance.
In 2005 Mary wound up her high profile midwifery practice and was recruited as a Research Manager at the University of Otago’s faculty of Health Sciences. After two years she was appointed to the foundation team charged with the establishment of a new medical school at the University of Limerick, Ireland. By July 2011 the Medical School had graduated its first Medical Doctors and Mrs Gamble fulfilled the roles of Research Development Manager and then as the Clinical Liaison Manager ensuring that students were appropriately placed for their clinical training both in hospitals and in GP practices.
Prior to returning to Ireland, Mrs Gamble was twice elected to the Otago DHB in 2001 and 2007 and so has six years health governance experience prior to her recent election to the Southern District Health Board. She is also serving on the Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee.
John Chambers, FRCS (Ed), FACEM
Elected Member (Otago Constituency)
Dr John Chambers is a Dunedin-based Senior Emergency Medical Officer who has worked in Dunedin Hospital for over 20 years. John is an active member of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and a member of New Zealand Faculty Board of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, and a member of the Southern DHB’s Hospital Advisory Committee.
John is also is the Director of a small business Chambers Consultancy (2007) Ltd, and health services consultancy, and is employed 0.05 FTE as an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer of the Dunedin Medical School, University of Otago. He continues to work full time as an emergency specialist seeing and treating a wide variety of patients and has a particular interest in the use of ultrasound in emergency diagnosis and care.
i understand mid central health are opting in on this frozen cuisine scheme as well.
It arrives frozen? Has to be thawed and cooked/warmed by recipient, is that right?
microwaved from frozen …
Bet you it’s the same food which is going into prisons/about to go into prisons.
also by Compass ?
I don’t know the answer but I do know that they do not need to enter a 15 year contract. Why not a two or three year contract to see if Compass deliver on what it has promised?
“15-year deal today…”
This is so Labour can’t do fuck all about fuck all when they are next in Govt.
so, for those unable to tear off the covers, are bed-ridden or otherwise disabled in such a way as to not be able to prepare the meal from frozen?
ive just heard the chair of the board say they are pleased because they have secured a nutrituoius meal!
Seems they’re using a system called Steamplicity where meals are prepared and packaged using cooked, partially cooked, and raw components, chilled, with a shelf life of around four days, and reheated cooking the raw and finishing the partially cooked components.
http://compass-group.co.nz/our-brands/medirest/
One of the most radical developments in hospital catering in recent years is the
introduction of this new technology which relies on a sealed pack incorporating a valve.
The food, both raw and partially cooked, is plated in a centralised production unit,
chilled (<5°C) and distributed to satellite kitchens where it remains chilled with an
expiry date currently of four days.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:aGPyXIf36XcJ:core.ac.uk/download/pdf/75009.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz
So the volunteers will do the tear-off, partial cook/reheat for those unable to?
It’s kind of funny reading their website about their catering expertise and then
by the way we also do security…
Among other things – bribery, listeria and horse meat.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/oct/16/money.internationalnews
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/possible-listeria-exposure-in-ontario-jails-1.702077
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21476736
thx Joe .. I knew there was more ..
Giant hotel chain sends small town sent C&D letter for continuing to use the name “Copthorne” for at least 5000 years:
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/05/06/trademark-terrorism-hotel-chain-sends-cease-and-desist-letter-to-1000-year-old-village-for-using-its-own-name/
just imagine what will happen under the TPPA then !
Pity the village of Copthorne cannot sue the hotel company for stealing the village name which they have owned for a thousand years. Justice!
Nasty twist on “Rule for a thousand years……….”
I tell you…….it’s a sign.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/205289/two-senate-dems-challenge-obama-release-tpp-text
Senate Democrats write open letter demanding that Obama release the TPP text.
Inside jobs (Economist link so need to register to read)
Can anyone say Talent2? How about other contracts that have government funding and close relationships with MPs?
These aren’t the government doing things themselves but the government contracting out the work that the government should be doing directly. Such a system produces a massive opportunity for graft and corruption that the government doing things directly won’t as they’re actually publicly accountable.
In many of these countries the differentiation between the top levels of government and the top levels of corporations is simply arbitrary. Welcome to the age of corporate rule.
robertson just did the best i have seen him do up against english..
..english just came out of it looking like a total clown..
..and nanaia mahuta did well up against flavell..
..getting him squirming over whanau ora..
I want to personally thank Len Brown for allowing me to increase my rents irrespective of what the market rates currently are.
In other words, you were going to raise rents anyway but you can now shift the blame onto someone else.
EXACTLY.
This article on NRT has a new Registrar of New Zealand Business Numbers being created and the creation excluding it from the OIA as is expected under this guideline:
But that is a guideline and not a legal requirement. Obviously it needs to be changed to an actual law so that government departments are automatically included under the OIA. Exclusions would have to be specifically written into the legal framework with reasons for the exclusion.
Such needs to happen so that we’re not left wondering if an exclusion is incompetence or malicious intent by the people writing up the legislation.
Despite 3 major banks announcing increased profits, they will pass on their tax evasion costs to… their customers…
A GREAT Ad for co-op banks
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/68346946/multinationals-tried-to-defeat-tax-rules
Trevette back to her ‘soothing-balm’ styles re Key in The Herald this morning. Warning against peurile motive and spite. Projection-by-proxy of the past and present peurile motives underlying this flag stunt methinks:
” ………. trying to influence people’s votes out of puerile political spite is a different matter. It may be true that Key is keen on a legacy, but it should be irrelevant. The referendums are on the flag, not on the political parties or personalities.
Regulation Trevette – “Time to leave John Key alone now I think……”
As for “legacy” there is alhairdy a legacy.
History channel on Sky has been screening Ken Loach’s ‘Spirit of ’45’ this week. Highly recommended and with many parallels with the political changes in that period in our own country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_%2745
Abbott acts on foreign RE buyers..Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced tough new laws for foreign property investors in an effort to ‘level the playing field’ for Australian buyers.
The changes will see foreign buyers charged a $5000 fee to enter the Australian market, as well as increased fines and possible jail terms for investors who breach foreign ownership laws – and the agents who help them do so.
The stricter laws follow an investigation by the Foreign Investment Review Board into housing affordability in Australia, which partly blamed foreign buyers for inflated domestic prices.
‘The new regime will maximise opportunities for Australians, give Australian home owners confidence and a level playing field,’ Mr Abbott told reporters at a press conference in Sydney on Saturday.
‘It’s about giving locals a fair go.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3064941/Australia-crack-foreign-investors-buying-property-revealed-Chinese-owner-buyer-forced-sell-one-Australias-expensive-mansions.html#ixzz3ZQVnid9w
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Investor/State dispute settled Key style:
I’m sure that with a law in place to ensure that this type of bribery is legal it’ll just get worse.
Actually, it’s going to help put NZ sheep farms out of the export business.
Look at Cameron……..he’s a Key with lashings of Hoorah Henry.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/06/lord-odonnell-leader-of-largest-party-does-not-automatically-become-pmhttp://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/06/lord-odonnell-leader-of-largest-party-does-not-automatically-become-pm
Then Boris is a weird amalgam of JoKeyHen, Farrar, Hide, and Gerry Brownlee after the Swiss Clinic.
Campbell Live tonight…….ChCh volunteer whose Good Samaritanism has come back on his very soul. With no ACC back-up because the damage ain’t physical. Wasn’t there the noted example of the built young Maori or Polynesian guy who leapt in lustily heaving heavy lumps of concrete off trapped people ? Who was honoured with an award ?
All the proof you need that the editorial of Campbell Live is indispensable !
Mediaworks should be proud that it’s happening under their banner !
For fuck’s sake…….what has happened to New Zealand ?
Campbell Live next clip……the rental-rape of Filipino ChCh reconstruction workers ???