Ah. The market provides again. Whoop. We have a brain exchange now. Wonder if Johnny Boy picked his up as a ‘not worth trading’ commodity that had been discarded on the trading room floor?
Or is it just me who has images of ‘Futurama’ and heads in jars?
Have no fear Bill, by no means do you stand alone in this (and other) sound opinions concerning “Johnny Boy”! (The problem is that too many of us are much too often feeling alone and thus vulnerable – this is what Johnny and cohorts do to us). Maybe I am not making much sense of this!?
In my industry we are losing all our young competent people and replacing them with poorly trained ring ins from overseas.
Indeed this is what I see also, and its not limited to any one industry. The ring ins also cost less, because they have little to no idea what a job might pay when they arrive, so it works to suppress wages nicely for the “owners”, quality be damned!
I work amongst entire swathes, some of who can barely speak english, which while not in of itself a problem, it most certainly becomes one in the work place.
The brain drain term was obviously just “mis-sold”. (I just mis-purchased a bottle of wine that tasted really cheap and nasty) – should I take it back? I’ll give it a go. Oh… and I mis-purchased a load of fruit that was individually packaged in plastic.
Oh yeah right they are so smart, that they are going to come to live in NZ for shit wages, and even shittier conditions, in a country run by a fool. Now there’s a Tui Ad.
My own experience is that a lot of the bright Kiwis are leaving, with the jobs going to third rate remnants of the empire from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Britain. This seems particularly true in universities and the public service, especially in the higher echelons. For example, to speak of Longstone, Rebstock, or those filling the ranks of the spy agencies in terms of a brain exchange may have been accurate in the days of live sheep exports, but haven’t they stopped? In my own field, most of the best people are in the academic diaspora, while semi competent self promoters from overseas are slowly filling the positions in Aotearoa.
In the delicious night,
In privacy, where no one saw me,
Nor did I see one thing,
I had no light or guide
But the fire that burned inside my chest.
That fire showed me
The way more clearly than the blaze of moon
To where, waiting for me,
Was the One I knew so well.
In that place where no one ever is.
Oh night, sweet guider,
Oh night more marvelous than the dawn!
Oh night which joins
The lover and the beloved
So that the lover and beloved change bodies!
In my chest full of flowers,
Flowering wholly and only for Him,
There He remained sleeping;
I cared for Him there,
And the fan of the high cedars cooled Him.
The wind played with
His hair, and that wind from the high
Towers struck me on the neck
With its sober hand;
Sight, taste, touch, hearing stopped.
I stood still. I forgot who I was,
My face leaning against Him,
Everything stopped, abandoned me,
My worldliness was gone, forgotten
Among the white lilies.
-John, The Weavers Apprentice
He said to Moses, “I Will Be What, Where and How I Will Be”
so back to the books, semi-monasticism, with a little gardening on the side.
( and they all said “tfft” 🙂 )
Through Crown Law, Winz is fighting the decision and the case will be heard in the Dunedin High Court on Wednesday.
“We disagree strongly with a number of elements of the decision. We are appealing to the High Court against some of the conclusions the tribunal has reached in deciding the Ministry [of Social Development] failed to comply with the Privacy Act, and most of the orders made by the tribunal,” chief executive Debbie Power said. “In particular we are appealing the order that we review our processes.”
Holmes now believes he won’t see the cash awarded him and was “very annoyed” to get the appeal papers this past week.
Gee, what a surprise. WINZ fucks someone over and then complains about being caught doing it.
Second link – that is such an awesome story, someone should give that guy a fucking medal. His original enquiry was over a $3.73 mispayment and WINZ fucked it up so badly that the HRC eventually awards the guy $17,000 in damages.
It should be noted that the kinds of mistakes reported in the article are pretty standard, so this case seems groundbreaking to me. WINZ have just been told by the Human Rights Commission that their processes at a system and institutional level are broken and need to be fixed.
It will be interesting to see what the courts do with it. Won’t be the first time that WINZ have lost a battle in the High Court due to not treating a beneficiary properly with respect to entitlements.
Edit: actually the Human Rights Tribunal which is part of the Dept of Justice (not the HRC).
Some Dunedin people who were part of the recent National Day of Action are organising support for the old battler. He won’t be alone at the High Court on Wednesday.
The numbers who are brave enough to see through Key and his gang, must at all costs hang in there with patience. Despair will mean victory for them, as tempting as it is to submit to despair.
muzza. First of all I must look to myself and my own thoughts and actions, next to my family and friends, then by my contributions through the Green Party and the Labour Party (especially Mr Cunliffe), and, most importantly, I would look to you in person! (Actually, I am not finished yet, but this will do for starters).
We can only positively influence what we directly touch, and if all people started with themselves, and worked outwards from there, it would be a very good start. If we are able to influence so well, then it could perhaps turn into being able to influence what we do not directly touch. Thats when things could get very interesting indeed.
A ”shambolic” Education Ministry payroll system is threatening to shatter the resilience of Christchurch teachers who are already at war with the Government, principals say.
They say the $29 million Novopay system, implemented in August, is an added burden for Christchurch schools affected by the Government’s recent education shake-up, involving closures and mergers.
Since Novopay was introduced, some schools have had to foot the bill when staff were underpaid and in other cases ex-staff members have reappeared on the payroll.
Yes it is web based and has caused a lot of trouble for the ancillary staff in schools who deal with payroll. Apparently Novopay knew they weren’t ready but the MOE insisted they commence operations. Most teacher’s thankfully haven’t had problems, it’s support staff, relievers and part time staff who appear to have had the most problems.
Sounds familiar, experienced supplier says ‘not ready’ normally due to the feckless incompetence of the client but gets told to go live anyway.
Ryalls been doing that in the DHB’S backend, gotta have those ticks in boxes, job done bonuses for the mangers all around.
Supershity is still cleaning up after sergeant Ford, Rortney and Shonkeys forced shambles and is effectively still 7 councils once you scratch the surface with the same mad as meat axes managers bullying people around, they just get paid more now like bully boy McKay.
Sorry DV. Not connected but will ask neighbours. When the Ministry said fewer than 100 had problems I thought that it was a politically motivated number because who would be able to show that it might be thousands?
One of the ‘thing’ that has irritated one teacher (Part time) that I know is their pay has been reduced by 3 cents a pay.
It is apparently that each calculation is rounded as it is done. and not at the end.
Now I know that is sort of trivial, BUT really irritating.
Why can’t they just round at the end.
While combating the challenges that economic sanctions represent is an arduous task for any government, it is important to recognize that these sanctions are not aimed against Iran’s government, but at its poor and merchant population. An unnamed US intelligence source cited by the Washington Post claims:
”In addition to the direct pressure sanctions exert on the regime’s ability to finance its priorities, another option here is that they will create hate and discontent at the street level so that the Iranian leaders realize that they need to change their ways.”
Washington has long engaged in psychological operations that aim to foment the kind of “hate and discontent” among Iran’s factory workers, merchants, shopkeepers, students, and manufacturers – as part of a series of measures taken to coax widespread social discontent and unrest throughout the country to topple the government.
In banking terms the UK has close to £2 trillion in unsecured loans. This level of debt is not neutral. This level of debt has a huge impact. Part of the problem is that debt incurs rent. Yes, the principle cancels out, but interest payments don’t. We don’t know what the average rate of interest is on all this debt, but let’s assume it’s 10%. That means that interest payments are about 47% of GDP. Almost half the annual income of the UK. That is very far from a neutral amount, and may well be an underestimate. If we take the population in 2010 to be 60 million, then in 2010 we all owed nearly £120,000. This is probably a bit higher now because the government is worth less.
DTB after 3 years of Tory Austerity the RWNJ’s have increased the National debt by more than 20% after saying repeatedly that austerity was the only answer to the UK”s economy Austerity has made it far worse
New Zealand government official stats show $318 billion NZ originated private institution credit money. They then treat as assets and deduct what has been invested overseas and come up with what they call Net International Investment Position which appears much less alarming despite that money competting to find profit in an international financial system where the international debt is also unrepayable from the day its born.
Even if the foreign investments from NZ where able to be repatriated in quick time they would come back to only the wealthiest few who control them and not benefit wider society as implied. Just more smoke and mirrors; http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ParlSupport/ResearchPapers/3/4/6/00PlibCIP121-New-Zealand-s-International-Investment-Position.htm
$318 billion debt based money supply at annual interest rate of 7% equals $22 odd billion interest repayment that is essentially rent upon a revolving line of credit that circulates as our money supply.
Given most of that interest finds its way back to the same largest owners of larger international banks who own largest stake holdings in Australian banks who own NZ banks, it puts to shame the 1.3 billion they give back in tax and shout from the roof tops as being so beneficial to the prosperity of the nation?
Piss off, loser. “The People” don’t want you as much as your brain damaged mind would like to imagine.
Quote:
“Tyson served three years in prison after the 1991 rape of an 18-year-old woman in an Indianapolis hotel room.
He insisted during a visit to London, however, that the negative experiences in his life have shaped his character.
“Anything that I would have got away from, being in prison, having fights, biting (Evander) Holyfield; (the) lack of that, my life would be miserable,” Tyson said as he launched a new range of boxing gear.”
Tim. Fairfax is showing its true colours, that’s about all. Indeed, Key apologised NOT for himself but for his minions who suffered through absence of his leadership. Key did “the right things” only under immense duress. So, he is a Saint? Even worse people than him have been canonised.
New Zealand’s Afghan interpreters go public, pleading to New Zealanders for their lives.
Will Key and our military leaders heed their call and do the right thing?
Or will New Zealand’s ill advised ten year involvement in the Afghan war result in one final outrage?
A former Afghan interpreter who now lives in Christchurch said it felt as though his colleagues had been “used and abandoned” by the New Zealand Government.
Diamond Kazimi, 19, was granted asylum in New Zealand last year after serving as a translator with the troops in Bamiyan for 18 months.
Interpreters lived on base with the soldiers, ate with them, went on patrols with them and were like brothers, he said.
Since his move, the Linwood College pupil has been involved in pre-deployment training for New Zealand soldiers heading to Afghanistan. He agreed the troops should withdraw.
“But don’t leave the interpreters behind to die for helping. Do you even care about these people who have done a service to New Zealand soldiers?”
Overseas film making crew are pouring into New Zealand while the prime minister is in Los Angeles claiming Hollywood investment in New Zealand creates jobs.
Speaking this weekend on TV3’s The Nation programme this weekend, Wellington city councillor Jo Coughlan and NZCTU president Helen Kelly agreed 400 overseas technicians had recently applied for visas to work at the Weta post production facility in the capital.
Seems somewhat self-defeating to subsidise multi-national conglomerates to bring work here to NZ only to give those jobs to foreigners. Especially while we have such massive unemployment.
Good old Peter Jackson screwing NZ workers yet again. I hope those Weta employees who marched against union protections understand a bit better what is happening now.
Yes, I saw that before I went to work this morning. Also, as I recall, someone (probably Kelsey) said something about the TPPA rules will make it harder for films by NZ production companies to use the web to market or distribute their films.
All about Hollywood protecting their market advantage. Why would they want to concede anything to the NZ industry?
From the Australian Journal of Human rights an interesting analysis of the deliberate strategy of manipulating public disgust towards welfare beneficiaries, by the Howard government, in order to further the aims of the neoliberal elites in changing public beliefs about distributive justice and social rights.
Apologies for the poor reproduction of the text. I’m not sure why it has transferred badly from the link. embolding mine.
Via the Feminist Carnival Down Under.
…..While parliamentary debates were a key means for promulgating a discourse of disgust, the most common device used by the Howard government to reframethe welfare recipient as untrustworthy, lazy and morally deficient was the media release. For the period between the initial launch of the welfare reform project bySenator Newman in September 1999 and the successful passage of the
EmploymentandWorkplaceRelationsLegislationAmendment(WelfaretoWorkandOtherMeasures) Act2005
(Cth) in December 2005, a search on the Factiva database reveals over 3125 media publications that directly linked welfare, social security, Centrelinkor pensions to fraudulent claims and welfare ‘cheats’. As a crude measure, thisrepresents approximately 1.47 newspaper articles across the country daily.
5
Much ofthe media campaign was fed by the political elite in order to mark out the welfarerecipient as unworthy of redistributive public welfare. The notion of the disgusting‘welfare fraudster’ (Vanstone 2002, 1) was repeated extensively through the rulingparty’s term in office. Consistent repetitive moral discourses of fraud spanned severalyears and acted to criminalise the welfare recipient:……
…..‘morally untrustworthy welfare recipient’ was produced andreproduced. With each repetition, powerful moral discourses eventually becameaccepted as unquestioned social truths in the Australian public sphere (Soldaticand Fiske 2009)
. Ultimately, disgust aroused the public senses to haunt, disturb anddisrupt the established normative notions of deserving tied to disability entitlements.Disgust, with its insidious stickiness, oozed subtlety (see Ahmed 2004; Lawler 2005),underpinning and emerging within public discourses on the welfare subject, thusforming the ‘glue’ required to combine the range of necessary contingencies to shiftthe public understandings of distributive justice and social rights.
“A system designed only to assist the poor helps perpetuate existing social and economic inequality in the longer run by reinforcing distinctions between the poor and the rest of society, and at the same time it may lock the poor into a cycle of poverty by its system of benefit abatement.”
[ So the present system stigmatises the poor, may even keep them down ]
“A further implication is that a highly targeted system will ultimately face considerable resistance from taxpayers unwilling to support a system perceived as rewarding the improvident and providing themselves with no return for their contributions.”
[ So the present system is seen as unfair by many of those needed to contribute. So the neocon/liberal/right or whatever you want to call them can get a lot of political mileage out of this. ]
When will the Left move to a new paradigm that stays true to the original goal of wealth redistribution and deals with the problems of the outmoded bloated welfare state?
Raving on about the end of capitalism and patriarchy definitely won’t help the Left.
For once I agree with you. Gareth Morgan has excellent ideas about income distribution and fair taxation.
Abatement rates for those trying to get work on benefits are a definite obstacle to taking on part time or full time work. The same people who claim that tax rates of 30% stop the wealthy from working harder or staying here are fine with 100% or even more abatement rates for those who try and supplement their benefit or try and get into some work.
The savings in not having to employ all the arrogant, holier than thou, twits in WINZ would be immense, for a start. Though so many of them would be unemployable elsewhere, that the number unemployed may increase.
I also like his idea of wheedling out tax dodgers by taxing them on the risk free return rate on wealth. No one with 50 million is going to have no earnings from it. Obviously there are a lot of bludgers, using services provided by taxpayers, at the top end of the scale, when 50% of our wealthiest people pay no tax.
I was interested in the GMI long before Morgan suggested it, but it solves a lot of problems.
KJT 15.2.1
Good points. Particularly the benefit abatement rate that is so high. It is possible that those on benefits will always find employment only at the minimum wage. A sensible and pragmatic government would see benefits as a base and then want and help beneficiaries to extend themselves with some study at technics, particularly solo parents.
Also to get some paid work to keep up their work profile, if no paid work then work regularly at some volunteer job, and look at helping with seasonal work in some form. This would be facilitated by transport and child care provision for instance. The demands of WINZ workers can create more financial burdens for struggling people. One of my cash-strapped relations with family worries as well, had to drive her own car at her own expense many kilometres to an orchard job only to find that work had been cancelled that day because of bad weather. I think it was demanded that she start on a certain day, and no allowance made for shut downs of the employer.
The authoritarian attitude of the state and its servants in WINZ is to despise people who are struggling,and to disregard parents responsibilities and the child-raising skills needed despite all the professional and academic statements that good early childhood care creates well balanced children and citizens. Government should be assisting the opportunities for beneficiaries and low income people to have as good quality and useful life as possible, not to simply concentrate on employment league tables and concentrate on lesser numbers for their stats. Their goal should be to have happy people working and achieving at something that is suitable to their circumstances and that would benefit society and be cheaper to administer by $million.
Well, if the Big Bang is a lie from the pit of hell, then the Universe itself is lying to us, and I’m a liar repeating those lies that it tells us about itself. Here’s why.
Satellites pass over NZ all the time (literally). Here I focus on the 187 Planet Labs ‘Dove’ Earth-imaging satellites, and I show that one can determine in advance where they will be, enabling scientists on the ground to correlate their environmental and other data collection with opportunities to get imaging ...
The Council of Disobedient Women has learned that the Prefect of Aro Valley has been promoted to a new role with the blessing of the Pope of Wellington. Softy Jejune Parson has been appointed Mother Superior of Woke Wellington for the work she has been doing calling out heretics, ...
On both sides of the Atlantic, some purportedly “contentious” and “difficult to deal with” leadership contenders to lead the US and UK, as President and Prime Minister respectively, seem to have thrown a few spanners into the works of the normal messaging most are used to hearing constantly. Except they’re ...
In Question Time today the Prime Minister was naturally facing questions about Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and his dubious party financing arrangements, which seem to violate electoral finance law. Her response was to pretend that it was nothing to do with her, and that she is not responsible for ...
A prisoner stripped of their name, imprisoned for a secret crime after a secret trial, with all details legally suppressed for secret reasons. A story by Kafka or Dumas? China? No, its just the latest stage of Australian tyranny:An Australian citizen was prosecuted, convicted, and jailed in the ACT last ...
Stuff has more details on what New Zealand First's slush-fund has been funding, with much of the spending directly benefiting the party. Which makes it look a lot like hidden donations, rather than the completely-innocent-giant-pile-of-cash Winston is trying to portray it as. The Electoral Commission is now investigating, but Simon ...
I've joked before about how hosting international summits effectively turns part of your country into a police state for the duration. Well, New Zealand is hosting APEC in 2021, with events throughout the year in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland. And the government has put up a bill to give itself ...
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Didn't See It Coming: NZ Herald columnist Lizzie Marvelly's latest column merits serious scrutiny because such a clear example of anti-democratic thinking is encountered only rarely on the pages of the daily press. Which is not to say that the elitism which lies at the heart of such social disparagement ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Initially it was reported that in an aerial bombardment that took place on August 30th seven children were massacred; the figure then went up to eight and then on November 11th Noticias Uno reported that, according to people from the community in close proximity to the ...
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Next year is an election year, and Labour needs money to fund its campaign. So naturally, they're selling access:Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-head to lunch with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at its annual conference later this month. [...] On the weekend beginning November 29th, around 800 delegates will ...
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In 2003 New Zealand sent a Provincial Reconstruction Team to Afghanistan to support America's doomed war there. While there, they conducted regular weapons practice on local firing ranges, littering the landscape with unexploded ammunition. These ranges weren't secure - they're on land used by locals for animal herding - so ...
Green MP Gareth Hughes has announced he will retire at the election. Its understandable - he's been there ten years, and wants to actually see his children grow up rather than miss it while drowning in the toxic parliamentary sewer. But his departure is also a huge loss for the ...
Words and images by Jacqui GibsonGone are Auckland Museum’s days of doing science using a museum-centric academic approach, after Māori land rights holders Ngāti Kuri gave the museum an ultimatum.Tom Trnski holding a fossilised whale tooth from the Far North.Aussie-born Head of Natural Sciences at Auckland Museum ...
MediaWorks announced in October 2019 that it intended to sell off its struggling television business and cancel or cut back on several popular local programmes, including New Zealand Today, Married at First SightNew Zealand and 7 Days. Its radio and outdoor advertising arms are currently performing well, but MediaWorks’ ...
Westminster voting intention:CON: 44% (+3)LAB: 28% (-1)LDEM: 14% (-1)BREX: 6% (-)via @OpiniumResearch, surveyed this weekChgs. w/ 08 Nov— Britain Elects (@britainelects) 16 November 2019 This, of course, doesn't look good. Labour have been chucking big, headline grabbing policies left, right and centre ... Well, maybe not right. Left, left ...
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...
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by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
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Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Clayton Mitchell, Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs The ‘wheel clamping’ Bill that will cap clamper fees to $100 passed its third readinginParliament today. New Zealand First welcomes The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill to combat predatory wheel clamping behaviour in what is currently a largely unregulated business. Cowboy clampers are: gouging ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its first reading in Parliament. “Today’s progress takes serious action on the mental health and addiction crisis the country is facing,” says New Zealand First Health Spokesperson Jenny Marcroft. “The re-establishment ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries Today the Government announced the delivery of the promise to protect New Zealand interests by applying a new National Interest Test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. This further strengthening of the Overseas Investment Act will ...
The Coalition Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high-risk assets to overseas buyers. Under current Overseas Investment Act (OIA) rules, assets such as ports and airports, telecommunications infrastructure, electricity and ...
Rt Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Allegations raised this morning by Stuff Limited / Fairfax concern a party matter but I am confident that New Zealand First has operated within electoral laws, now and for the last 27 years. Declarable donations were declared to the Electoral Commission. Our ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2021 (APEC 2021) Bill in Parliament today. The temporary bill supports New Zealand’s security preparations for hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in 2021. “APEC is the leading economic and trade forum ...
The Government is making progress on improving the wellbeing of the one million New Zealanders under the age of 18,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on World Children’s Day. The Government has today recommitted to the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history – the United Nation’s Convention on ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter has released a new report celebrating the contribution of Māori women in business across Aotearoa New Zealand. “Māori women are leaders in our communities, they employ many people and support our economy and our communities,” Julie Anne Genter said. The report, Ngā wāhine kaipakihi: ...
Four parcels of land have been bought in Omokoroa, in the Western Bay of Plenty District, for an education facility that will accommodate both a primary and secondary school on a campus-like facility, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. Two parcels were acquired from private land owners and two were ...
1 million New Zealanders warmed by the Winter Energy Payment 36,000 families bank the Best Start Payment in first year 6,000 more families received the Family Tax Credit, 220,600 in total They receive an increase too – from an average of $117 to $157 a week for Inland Revenue clients, ...
New rules to clamp down on overzealous wheel clamping and extortionate fees charged in order to release a vehicle have passed their final stage in Parliament today. The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill has now passed its third reading. “These changes mean $100 will be the maximum wheel clamping ...
An independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission is a step closer after it unanimously passed its first vote in Parliament today. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill lays the groundwork for establishing the Commission as a fully independent crown entity – delivering on a key recommendation of He Ara ...
We’ve improved border security with the NZeTA, New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority, which helps us to screen travellers for border and immigration risks off-shore before they travel to New Zealand. It was launched in August and became mandatory on 1 October 2019. More than 500,000 NZeTAs have been issued since ...
A proposed national plan of action to reduce the number of seabirds caught in fisheries is being circulated for public feedback. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage say New Zealand is a global centre of seabird diversity with about 145 species in our waters. It has more ...
The Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. Associate Finance Minister David Parker said under current Overseas Investment Act rules, assets such as ports and ...
The Government is building special housing to accommodate one of Aotearoa’s greatest taonga- our kaumātua, says the Minister for Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Speaking at a National Kaumātua Service Providers Conference in Rotorua today, the Minister reinforced the importance kaumātua play in maintaining and passing on mātauranga Māori, knowledge, ...
Eleven men from a pilot forestry training programme for prisoners in Northland now have full time jobs or job offers upon release, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced today. The ‘release to work’ programme was a collaboration between Te Uru Rākau and the Department of Corrections, ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
On a farm near Rotorua, breeding rams are having their methane-laced burps measured - so the next generation of lambs can be bred from climate-friendlier fathers. ...
Back from a freak injury, White Ferns quick bowler Lea Tahuhu continues to make the most of her "gift" as the world's fastest woman with a cricket ball ...
NZ phone companies and the government are setting up a system that will identify scam callers within hours and, they hope, stop them in their tracks, the Spinoff can reveal.We’ve all received them. The calls from strange corners of the world at odd times of the day. After I made ...
The process to appoint Steve Hansen looks increasingly like a farce as quality candidate after quality candidate rule themselves out. Was it all preordained, asks Jamie Wall.For an awful lot of 2019, I was one of the select few that sat in a room with Steve Hansen several times a ...
News that one big publisher wants to buy the other, giving the state a Kiwishare to avoid regulatory objections, complicates a media crisis the government hasn't yet addressed. ...
A flash new playground has been unveiled on Parliament's grounds today, amid growing calls for the government to take more action to help lift Kiwi kids out of poverty. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne Two and a half months before the February 3 Iowa Democratic caucus, the highly regarded Selzer poll for CNN and the Des Moines Register gave Pete Buttigieg 25% in Iowa ...
A bill allowing overseas security agents to carry illegal guns while in New Zealand for the APEC summit has passed its first reading, without support from the Greens. ...
The Labour led coalition government is continuing to create homelessness. The impact of immigration, failure of Kiwibuild, and attacks on the rental market, have resulted in the opposite outcomes that New Zealanders were promised. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Every, Senior Research Fellow in social vulnerability and disasters, CQUniversity Australia If you live in a bushfire-prone area, you’ll likely have considered what you will do in the event of a bushfire. The decision, which should be made well in advance ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni Di Virgilio, Research associate, UNSW Temperatures across many regions of Australia are set to exceed 40℃ this week, including heatwaves forecast throughout parts of eastern Australia, raising the spectre of more devastating bushfires. We have already heard warnings this fire season ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that the Government’s Families Package Monitoring Report shows strong commitment to the intentions outlined in the Child Poverty Reduction Act, specifically with regard to reporting on progressing towards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni Di Virgilio, Research associate, UNSW Temperatures across many regions of Australia are set to exceed 40℃ this week, including heatwaves forecast throughout parts of eastern Australia, raising the spectre of more devastating bushfires. We have already heard warnings this fire season ...
Today leading Māori health and public health organisations called on the Crown to meet its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi as it drafts legislation for the regulation of cannabis. More than 50 Māori leaders joined the call for Māori rights ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claudia Vickers, Director, Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, CSIRO We need to revolutionise agriculture in the next 30 years. In 2050 we may have almost 10 billion people to feed. Farmland is already degraded by existing agriculture, and climate change is putting ...
Between now and March 2020 there is a small window where migrants who work in industries like aged care will have a realistic chance to get residency for the first time. This is due to ANZSCO skill levels being reclassified in Australia and some of those ...
Spinoff Art editor Mark Amery and photographer Ebony Lamb pay a visit to the internationally celebrated jewellery couple at their colonial cottage above Island Bay.The white horses are galloping in from the Cook Strait as photographer and singer-songwriter Ebony Lamb (Eb and Sparrow) and I roll in to Island Bay, ...
New powers to protect strategically-important assets from overseas investors are necessary due to the extremes of global capitalism, the government says. ...
Don’t get sucked in by the jovial banter and the sausage sizzle with Jacinda Ardern. Stephen Colbert is an international criminal mastermind who must be stopped. New Zealand is fizzing today with the exciting news that someone from another country has noticed that we exist. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ...
When the 59 new constables of Wing 332 graduate on Thursday, one of them will be the 1,800th new constable to head to the frontline since October 2017. ...
Extending the amnesty period for the return of banned firearms is utterly pointless unless the compensation period is extended as well, says the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO). ...
The Taxpayers Union denounced the role it seemed the government would require taxpayers to play in resolving the Ihumatao land dispute. But the union further claimed that taxpayers had contributed to the funding of an organisation which has been involved in the prolonged protest action at Ihumatao. This was a ...
Save the Children are extremely pleased by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement today that the Government will recommit to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). ...
David Farrier has been writing about clamping enthusiast Michael Organ for nearly three years. In this latest installment, the totally logical thing happens and the New Zealand government rolls up its sleeves.Catch up with the extraordinary saga of the clamp-happy Bashford Antiques: Parts I to V are hereWhen Michael Organ ...
In October teams of second-year Unitec Architecture students designed, modelled, then constructed interactive light installations in Devonport’s Windsor Reserve for GLOW@Artweek. The brief is strict. Their budget is zero. And the installations must be zero waste too, both in the construction and in the afterlife of the projects. These strict conditions ...
A wave of reviews and inquiries into audit around the globe are raising questions about trust, independence, and freedom from conflicts of interest in the profession, says CAANZ President Stephen Walker. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen, who has previously been shadow treasurer and before that treasurer, wants the study of economics made “more sexy” to attract more students, especially women, to study it. And he thinks young ...
Jenée Tibshraeny of interest.co.nz surveys the issues that have farmers worried right now, and looks at the facts behind the fears.Rumblings from the dairy farming sector are becoming increasingly loud, as both the Government and Reserve Bank (RBNZ) make policy changes that affect the sector.New Zealand has for years milked ...
He Kākano Ahau is a podcast by writer and activist Kahu Kutia (Ngāi Tūhoe) that explores stories of Māori in the city, and weaves together strands of connection. In this episode: what happens when Māori are not ‘urban Māori’ as we know them, but mana whenua.For episode four of He ...
New powers to protect strategically-important assets from overseas investors are necessary due to the extremes of global capitalism, the government says. ...
The Children’s Commissioner is calling on the government to re-prioritise its commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Children’s Convention) on International Children’s Day. ...
National Party leaders Simon Bridges wants Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to take stronger action over allegations that New Zealand First has breached electoral law. ...
"Prince Charles’ visit to Waitangi today, the first by a Royal in a quarter-century, highlights Moana Jackson’s view that it is kāwanatanga that is the Treaty partner," said Lewis Holden, campaign chair of New Zealand Republic. ...
Seriously, if you haven’t seen The Mandalorian, look away now. This article also contains spoilers for Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Return of the Sith, and The Last Jedi.In case you didn’t read the standfirst: this article contains spoilers about The Mandalorian, and also all of Star Wars.The ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Matt Shand (Stuff): What NZ First slush fund was spent on: Campaign HQ, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Cook, Lecturer, Computer and Security Science,Edith Cowan University, Edith Cowan University Fake videos and doctored photographs, often based on events such as the Moon landing and supposed UFO appearances, have been the subject of fascination for decades. Such imagery is often ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evelyn Parr, Research Fellow in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition, Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University As an aesthetic society, we often demonise body fat and stigmatise people with lots of it. There’s often an assumption that people carrying excess ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Larissa McLean Davies, Associate Professor Language and Literacy Education, University of Melbourne In recent weeks, Australian universities’ commitment to teaching Australian literature has come under scrutiny. This came amid revelations Sydney University has withdrawn funding from its Chair of Australian Literature – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Maund, PhD Candidate, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle The impacts of the bushfires that are overwhelming emergency services in New South Wales and Queensland suggest houses are being built in areas where the risks are high. We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Cebulla, Senior Research Fellow, South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, University of Adelaide In the past decade a 30-year trend to earlier retirement has been reversed. In OECD countries the average age at which people retire has risen by about one ...
Correspondence between MPI (Fisheries NZ) and NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmosphere), obtained by Sea Shepherd under the Official Information Act, shows conclusively that MPI unreasonably influenced the research they had contracted from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gay Hawkins, Professor, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University Most of us will never see a platypus or a lyrebird in the wild, but it’s likely we’ve encountered them on television. Our new research looks at the vital role early ...
The release of the proposed new electoral boundaries is an appropriate time to consider whether our electoral system is fit for purpose or needs a complete revamp. ...
Winston Peters says his party has always obeyed electoral law after new revelations about foundation; and RBNZ steps up BNZ supervision after capital calculation breaches. ...
The government has released statistics showing uptake of its budgeted welfare package two days after it was criticised over inaction on child poverty reduction. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pressure mounts over NZ First Foundation, range of changes made to overseas investment office, and accusations of bottom trawling destroying coral.The allegations swirling around the NZ First Foundation are serious enough to warrant going back to again today. Party leader Winston ...
Are possible solutions to child maltreatment complicated? Yes. Quantum physics? No. The University of Auckland's Dr Ian Hyslop looks at how we can address child abuse as a social problem. ...
Open mike 07/10/2012 
Satellites pass over NZ all the time (literally). Here I focus on the 187 Planet Labs ‘Dove’ Earth-imaging satellites, and I show that one can determine in advance where they will be, enabling scientists on the ground to correlate their environmental and other data collection with opportunities to get imaging ...6 hours ago
The Council of Disobedient Women has learned that the Prefect of Aro Valley has been promoted to a new role with the blessing of the Pope of Wellington. Softy Jejune Parson has been appointed Mother Superior of Woke Wellington for the work she has been doing calling out heretics, ...9 hours ago
On both sides of the Atlantic, some purportedly “contentious” and “difficult to deal with” leadership contenders to lead the US and UK, as President and Prime Minister respectively, seem to have thrown a few spanners into the works of the normal messaging most are used to hearing constantly. Except they’re ...10 hours ago
In Question Time today the Prime Minister was naturally facing questions about Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and his dubious party financing arrangements, which seem to violate electoral finance law. Her response was to pretend that it was nothing to do with her, and that she is not responsible for ...15 hours ago
It has been revealed that firing ranges used by the NZDF while deployed to the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, contained unexploded ordnance that caused numerous deaths and injuries after the NZDF withdrew the PRT in April 2013. In 2014 seven children were killed when an unidentified ...20 hours ago
Didn't See It Coming: NZ Herald columnist Lizzie Marvelly's latest column merits serious scrutiny because such a clear example of anti-democratic thinking is encountered only rarely on the pages of the daily press. Which is not to say that the elitism which lies at the heart of such social disparagement ...2 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Initially it was reported that in an aerial bombardment that took place on August 30th seven children were massacred; the figure then went up to eight and then on November 11th Noticias Uno reported that, according to people from the community in close proximity to the ...2 days ago
MediaWorks announced in October 2019 that it intended to sell off its struggling television business and cancel or cut back on several popular local programmes, including New Zealand Today, Married at First Sight New Zealand and 7 Days. Its radio and outdoor advertising arms are currently performing well, but MediaWorks’ ...3 days ago
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...4 days ago
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Snoop weighs up the difference between Romney and Obama. Turns out the name ‘Mitt’ is the decider. That and the dancing horse.
In NZ, it’s pronouced “Mutt”. Ry Cooder has the best explanation.
Looks like it’s been the dumb fuckers leaving and much smarter people arriving…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779840/Key-changes-tack-with-brain-exchange-tag
Ah. The market provides again. Whoop. We have a brain exchange now. Wonder if Johnny Boy picked his up as a ‘not worth trading’ commodity that had been discarded on the trading room floor?
Or is it just me who has images of ‘Futurama’ and heads in jars?
Have no fear Bill, by no means do you stand alone in this (and other) sound opinions concerning “Johnny Boy”! (The problem is that too many of us are much too often feeling alone and thus vulnerable – this is what Johnny and cohorts do to us). Maybe I am not making much sense of this!?
Yeah right.
In my industry we are losing all our young competent people and replacing them with poorly trained ring ins from overseas.
The average age of the Kiwis that are left is 57.
Indeed this is what I see also, and its not limited to any one industry. The ring ins also cost less, because they have little to no idea what a job might pay when they arrive, so it works to suppress wages nicely for the “owners”, quality be damned!
I work amongst entire swathes, some of who can barely speak english, which while not in of itself a problem, it most certainly becomes one in the work place.
The brain drain term was obviously just “mis-sold”. (I just mis-purchased a bottle of wine that tasted really cheap and nasty) – should I take it back? I’ll give it a go. Oh… and I mis-purchased a load of fruit that was individually packaged in plastic.
We really do live with truly twisted liers, repeating the truly twisted thoughts of the spin team behind the faces…
Oh yeah right they are so smart, that they are going to come to live in NZ for shit wages, and even shittier conditions, in a country run by a fool. Now there’s a Tui Ad.
: )
Another great speech from John “spin-me-a-river” Key…
My own experience is that a lot of the bright Kiwis are leaving, with the jobs going to third rate remnants of the empire from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Britain. This seems particularly true in universities and the public service, especially in the higher echelons. For example, to speak of Longstone, Rebstock, or those filling the ranks of the spy agencies in terms of a brain exchange may have been accurate in the days of live sheep exports, but haven’t they stopped? In my own field, most of the best people are in the academic diaspora, while semi competent self promoters from overseas are slowly filling the positions in Aotearoa.
THE DARK NIGHT
In the delicious night,
In privacy, where no one saw me,
Nor did I see one thing,
I had no light or guide
But the fire that burned inside my chest.
That fire showed me
The way more clearly than the blaze of moon
To where, waiting for me,
Was the One I knew so well.
In that place where no one ever is.
Oh night, sweet guider,
Oh night more marvelous than the dawn!
Oh night which joins
The lover and the beloved
So that the lover and beloved change bodies!
In my chest full of flowers,
Flowering wholly and only for Him,
There He remained sleeping;
I cared for Him there,
And the fan of the high cedars cooled Him.
The wind played with
His hair, and that wind from the high
Towers struck me on the neck
With its sober hand;
Sight, taste, touch, hearing stopped.
I stood still. I forgot who I was,
My face leaning against Him,
Everything stopped, abandoned me,
My worldliness was gone, forgotten
Among the white lilies.
-John, The Weavers Apprentice
He said to Moses, “I Will Be What, Where and How I Will Be”
so back to the books, semi-monasticism, with a little gardening on the side.
( and they all said “tfft” 🙂 )
Go In Peace
-j
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779714/Businesses-targeted-in-student-visa-scam
Private Training Establishments and businesses making a killing. it makes the word private a very dirty word, when used in conjunction with education.
And you gotta love a battler..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779571/Jobless-battler-takes-on-Winz-for-a-3-cause
Re second link:
Gee, what a surprise. WINZ fucks someone over and then complains about being caught doing it.
Second link – that is such an awesome story, someone should give that guy a fucking medal. His original enquiry was over a $3.73 mispayment and WINZ fucked it up so badly that the HRC eventually awards the guy $17,000 in damages.
It should be noted that the kinds of mistakes reported in the article are pretty standard, so this case seems groundbreaking to me. WINZ have just been told by the Human Rights Commission that their processes at a system and institutional level are broken and need to be fixed.
It will be interesting to see what the courts do with it. Won’t be the first time that WINZ have lost a battle in the High Court due to not treating a beneficiary properly with respect to entitlements.
Edit: actually the Human Rights Tribunal which is part of the Dept of Justice (not the HRC).
Some Dunedin people who were part of the recent National Day of Action are organising support for the old battler. He won’t be alone at the High Court on Wednesday.
That’s good to know!
The numbers who are brave enough to see through Key and his gang, must at all costs hang in there with patience. Despair will mean victory for them, as tempting as it is to submit to despair.
Sounds reasonable…
So who will be turning it around then, if you were pressed for an an answer Dr T?
muzza. First of all I must look to myself and my own thoughts and actions, next to my family and friends, then by my contributions through the Green Party and the Labour Party (especially Mr Cunliffe), and, most importantly, I would look to you in person! (Actually, I am not finished yet, but this will do for starters).
Quite right Dr T,
We can only positively influence what we directly touch, and if all people started with themselves, and worked outwards from there, it would be a very good start. If we are able to influence so well, then it could perhaps turn into being able to influence what we do not directly touch. Thats when things could get very interesting indeed.
😉
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/latest-edition/7779753/Payroll-chaos-latest-burden-for-teachers
A ”shambolic” Education Ministry payroll system is threatening to shatter the resilience of Christchurch teachers who are already at war with the Government, principals say.
They say the $29 million Novopay system, implemented in August, is an added burden for Christchurch schools affected by the Government’s recent education shake-up, involving closures and mergers.
Since Novopay was introduced, some schools have had to foot the bill when staff were underpaid and in other cases ex-staff members have reappeared on the payroll.
Ummm What was wrong with the old system???
>>>Ummm What was wrong with the old system
It worked!!!
I think, but I don’t really know that the new system is web based.
Maybe ianmac or some one more connected can tell us.
The reappearance of teachers on the payroll who have resigned is odd.
Obviously one problem is the data transition.
Yes it is web based and has caused a lot of trouble for the ancillary staff in schools who deal with payroll. Apparently Novopay knew they weren’t ready but the MOE insisted they commence operations. Most teacher’s thankfully haven’t had problems, it’s support staff, relievers and part time staff who appear to have had the most problems.
Sounds familiar, experienced supplier says ‘not ready’ normally due to the feckless incompetence of the client but gets told to go live anyway.
Ryalls been doing that in the DHB’S backend, gotta have those ticks in boxes, job done bonuses for the mangers all around.
Supershity is still cleaning up after sergeant Ford, Rortney and Shonkeys forced shambles and is effectively still 7 councils once you scratch the surface with the same mad as meat axes managers bullying people around, they just get paid more now like bully boy McKay.
Talent2 not being ready? – they had more than four years!!!
Sorry DV. Not connected but will ask neighbours. When the Ministry said fewer than 100 had problems I thought that it was a politically motivated number because who would be able to show that it might be thousands?
One of the ‘thing’ that has irritated one teacher (Part time) that I know is their pay has been reduced by 3 cents a pay.
It is apparently that each calculation is rounded as it is done. and not at the end.
Now I know that is sort of trivial, BUT really irritating.
Why can’t they just round at the end.
Heads will roll! Mark my words (according to national standards).
Financial Warfare: Destabilizing Iran’s Monetary System
Magical Thinking, Meteorology and Economic Forecasting.
Emphasis mine.
DTB after 3 years of Tory Austerity the RWNJ’s have increased the National debt by more than 20% after saying repeatedly that austerity was the only answer to the UK”s economy Austerity has made it far worse
Yes, because that is what austerity achieves….More borrowing!
Which is what the RWNJs wanted – more government guaranteed income for the well-off.
For the sake of clarity: this is where all the money being “saved” by austerity is going.
http://www.johnpemberton.co.nz/html/debt_graph_info.pdf
New Zealand government official stats show $318 billion NZ originated private institution credit money. They then treat as assets and deduct what has been invested overseas and come up with what they call Net International Investment Position which appears much less alarming despite that money competting to find profit in an international financial system where the international debt is also unrepayable from the day its born.
Even if the foreign investments from NZ where able to be repatriated in quick time they would come back to only the wealthiest few who control them and not benefit wider society as implied. Just more smoke and mirrors;
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ParlSupport/ResearchPapers/3/4/6/00PlibCIP121-New-Zealand-s-International-Investment-Position.htm
$318 billion debt based money supply at annual interest rate of 7% equals $22 odd billion interest repayment that is essentially rent upon a revolving line of credit that circulates as our money supply.
Given most of that interest finds its way back to the same largest owners of larger international banks who own largest stake holdings in Australian banks who own NZ banks, it puts to shame the 1.3 billion they give back in tax and shout from the roof tops as being so beneficial to the prosperity of the nation?
Well said bud
Exactly CV.
🙂
Herald gets headline wrong. Should read, “Meathead says raping a woman built his character”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10838938
Piss off, loser. “The People” don’t want you as much as your brain damaged mind would like to imagine.
Quote:
“Tyson served three years in prison after the 1991 rape of an 18-year-old woman in an Indianapolis hotel room.
He insisted during a visit to London, however, that the negative experiences in his life have shaped his character.
“Anything that I would have got away from, being in prison, having fights, biting (Evander) Holyfield; (the) lack of that, my life would be miserable,” Tyson said as he launched a new range of boxing gear.”
Jesus H. Christ!…….check THIS out!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/john-hartevelt/7778670/Key-must-press-on-to-fix-spy-agency
“But the prime minister deserves some credit for his willingness to turn over more information about the secretive spy agency…….” (John Hartevelt)
Who IS this guy?
Straws. at. clutching
a-wishin. a-hopin
Faith and hope
carry on Major
Chin up
itchim, smetchim, goan fowid, oim rilexed
Oh…apologies… I see from the link I just posted that John Hartevelt is a “columnist”. Let’s commend Fairfax for being charitable
Tim. Fairfax is showing its true colours, that’s about all. Indeed, Key apologised NOT for himself but for his minions who suffered through absence of his leadership. Key did “the right things” only under immense duress. So, he is a Saint? Even worse people than him have been canonised.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/41015_Video_by_Simpsons_Animator_Lucas_Gray-_Why_Obama_Now/
Not that the right will ever abandon a failed policy in the face of overwhelming evidence that it doesn’t fucking work 🙄
Just a random thought….whatever happened to the Cullen Fund which seems to have sunk without trace never to be seen again? Does anybody know?
Still there mate.
More news from Planet Key.
😀
Blood on our hands?
New Zealand’s Afghan interpreters go public, pleading to New Zealanders for their lives.
Will Key and our military leaders heed their call and do the right thing?
Or will New Zealand’s ill advised ten year involvement in the Afghan war result in one final outrage?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779871/Dear-Mr-Key-please-don-t-leave-us-to-die
Nope.
And you wonder where local good will for allied forces disappears to.
Is this what New Zealanders have killed and died for in Afghanistan?
http://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2012-10-05/letters-at-3am-too-much-of-nothing/
So, while Key is over in Hollywood talking up making films here Weta are importing workers.
Seems somewhat self-defeating to subsidise multi-national conglomerates to bring work here to NZ only to give those jobs to foreigners. Especially while we have such massive unemployment.
Good old Peter Jackson screwing NZ workers yet again. I hope those Weta employees who marched against union protections understand a bit better what is happening now.
Yes, I saw that before I went to work this morning. Also, as I recall, someone (probably Kelsey) said something about the TPPA rules will make it harder for films by NZ production companies to use the web to market or distribute their films.
All about Hollywood protecting their market advantage. Why would they want to concede anything to the NZ industry?
http://www.academia.edu/1273785/The_three_Ds_of_welfare_reform_disability_disgust_and_deservingness
From the Australian Journal of Human rights an interesting analysis of the deliberate strategy of manipulating public disgust towards welfare beneficiaries, by the Howard government, in order to further the aims of the neoliberal elites in changing public beliefs about distributive justice and social rights.
Apologies for the poor reproduction of the text. I’m not sure why it has transferred badly from the link. embolding mine.
Via the Feminist Carnival Down Under.
Excellent
That’s why we need the ‘Big Kahuna’ by Gareth Morgan. http://www.bigkahuna.org.nz
A Royal Commission quote from the site:
“A system designed only to assist the poor helps perpetuate existing social and economic inequality in the longer run by reinforcing distinctions between the poor and the rest of society, and at the same time it may lock the poor into a cycle of poverty by its system of benefit abatement.”
[ So the present system stigmatises the poor, may even keep them down ]
“A further implication is that a highly targeted system will ultimately face considerable resistance from taxpayers unwilling to support a system perceived as rewarding the improvident and providing themselves with no return for their contributions.”
[ So the present system is seen as unfair by many of those needed to contribute. So the neocon/liberal/right or whatever you want to call them can get a lot of political mileage out of this. ]
When will the Left move to a new paradigm that stays true to the original goal of wealth redistribution and deals with the problems of the outmoded bloated welfare state?
Raving on about the end of capitalism and patriarchy definitely won’t help the Left.
For once I agree with you. Gareth Morgan has excellent ideas about income distribution and fair taxation.
Abatement rates for those trying to get work on benefits are a definite obstacle to taking on part time or full time work. The same people who claim that tax rates of 30% stop the wealthy from working harder or staying here are fine with 100% or even more abatement rates for those who try and supplement their benefit or try and get into some work.
The savings in not having to employ all the arrogant, holier than thou, twits in WINZ would be immense, for a start. Though so many of them would be unemployable elsewhere, that the number unemployed may increase.
I also like his idea of wheedling out tax dodgers by taxing them on the risk free return rate on wealth. No one with 50 million is going to have no earnings from it. Obviously there are a lot of bludgers, using services provided by taxpayers, at the top end of the scale, when 50% of our wealthiest people pay no tax.
I was interested in the GMI long before Morgan suggested it, but it solves a lot of problems.
KJT 15.2.1
Good points. Particularly the benefit abatement rate that is so high. It is possible that those on benefits will always find employment only at the minimum wage. A sensible and pragmatic government would see benefits as a base and then want and help beneficiaries to extend themselves with some study at technics, particularly solo parents.
Also to get some paid work to keep up their work profile, if no paid work then work regularly at some volunteer job, and look at helping with seasonal work in some form. This would be facilitated by transport and child care provision for instance. The demands of WINZ workers can create more financial burdens for struggling people. One of my cash-strapped relations with family worries as well, had to drive her own car at her own expense many kilometres to an orchard job only to find that work had been cancelled that day because of bad weather. I think it was demanded that she start on a certain day, and no allowance made for shut downs of the employer.
The authoritarian attitude of the state and its servants in WINZ is to despise people who are struggling,and to disregard parents responsibilities and the child-raising skills needed despite all the professional and academic statements that good early childhood care creates well balanced children and citizens. Government should be assisting the opportunities for beneficiaries and low income people to have as good quality and useful life as possible, not to simply concentrate on employment league tables and concentrate on lesser numbers for their stats. Their goal should be to have happy people working and achieving at something that is suitable to their circumstances and that would benefit society and be cheaper to administer by $million.
Replying to Paul Broun and his lies straight from the pit of hell.
Well, if the Big Bang is a lie from the pit of hell, then the Universe itself is lying to us, and I’m a liar repeating those lies that it tells us about itself. Here’s why.
on the same wavelength. (in the beginning was the information, and the information was with…)
Always love your posts joe. -Kirk Out
According to iPredict, it’s not looking good for the PM!
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=watch&next=detail&watch=DOTCOM.NAME.KEY&id=4167
can you post a link that doesn’t need registration?
But look at the trade volumes on that spike yesterday, all ones and twos on the way up. Looks like some gaming going on as usual.