Every post here since Key’s announcement on Monday has been boo-Key and boo-National.
National are vulnerable. The public will have an extra look to see who they think can run Government competently. But I see mostly see Opposition mud flying, still. It seems like a stupid first impression post-Key to present to the public.
If opposition parties, and supporting online forums like The Standard, want to take advantage of National’s vulnerability surely they can at least try to look better, rather than worse.
This blog and others from the right or left of politics are not the face of a political bloc in NZ – they are the venting and ravings of a few signifying nothing. Most voters will look at those they are voting for and the respective party leaders when casting their vote at the general election not the standard where all authors and the vast majority of commenters have decided how they will vote years out from the election usually due to their entrenched views and personal prejudices
Pete, maybe you would prefer to read the thoughts of one of the Herald writers on Keys departure… ?
“I could have chosen to dress up my column today with all sorts of nuanced, insightful, and charitable words about John Key’s departure. It’d be akin to going to someone’s funeral that you consistently bagged – both publicly and privately. Tacky”
The opposition parties were on fire in Parliament yesterday, and I for one am extremely proud of how they have approached this shocking news.
The statesman like response from the future PM of NZ aka Alpha Andy and Grant Robertson on the day Key announced his resignation spoke volumes. A stark contrast to the negative little personal put downs from the PM whom has quit.
How about starting the day singing praises about the opposition parties rather than whining about Keys resignation and the fact that the national party is in tatters. Where are your positive stories about the outgoing government in the last few days Pete?
What a stream of negativity, and what could be more negative than lying about the Opposition’s response to Key’s resignation:
On behalf of Metiria, the Green Party MPs and the Party, I would like to thank John Key for his eight years of service as Prime Minister,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.
“No matter your political allegiance, you have to respect someone who chooses to make the personal sacrifices required to be our country’s Prime Minister.”
John Key has served New Zealand generously and with dedication. Although we may have had our policy differences over the years, I respect the Prime Minister’s decision to stand down.
“I can empathise with his reasons. Politics requires much sacrifice. We may all be politicians, but not all our lives are politics.
“The Prime Minister has served New Zealand through times of considerable global instability, and will leave politics proud of his achievements. I wish him and his family the best for the future.
“Labour is ready and willing to contest the 2017 general election. We will present a credible choice for people and look forward to the opportunity to contest the election on our values and vision for New Zealand.”
Why does Petty George tell so many desperate unoriginal lies? Does anyone care?
“On behalf of Metiria”
Did he talk to Metria before he came out with this statement? It certainly isn’t the approach that Turei was expounding in her mean spirited little contribution in Parliament yesterday.
Have they decided to play “good cop (Shaw) bad cop (Turei)”?
The political parties in the Opposition are crazy. They should learn from the way Key behaved after Helen Clark was defeated and stood down after the 2008 election.
She was defeated. She didn’t matter any more. He didn’t waste even a moment kicking a relic of the past on the side of the road because there was absolutely nothing to be gained.
Why are Labour and the Green MPs continuing the fight with someone who is retiring. All they do is exhibit their bitter little approach to life. Wait till there is a new National leader, and Prime Minister, and attack them. That is what Key did. He forgot Clark and aimed his fire at the new leader from that moment on. Staying on a path that attacks Key is stupid.
It doesn’t matter for people who contribute to this website, just as it didn’t matter to people who contributed to attacks on Clark on other sites after she had stood down. They were not MPs and nobody really cared about the mad ravings of a pack of loons, then against Clark or now against Key.
It is MPs who have to avoid looking like idiots.
Hi Alwyn, were you watching yesterday? I noticed a very cohesive group of opposition MP’s in the house yesterday, concentrating their questions on possible nat party leaders.
3. ANDREW LITTLE to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement that “the prices you pay for a house are ridiculous”, given New Zealand house prices have risen by over 50 percent since he made that statement? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b09iWjnarLE
4. Hon ANNETTE KING to the Minister of Health: Does he expect an estimated 533,000 New Zealanders who did not visit a GP due to cost in the last year to continue to wait for primary care reform which might “form part of a future Budget”, possibly under a different health Minister as stated by him? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUg1JikLdLg
7. PHIL TWYFORD to the Minister for Social Housing: Does she stand by her statement, “look I can’t guarantee that”, when asked if anyone living in a car can go to a Government agency today and get a roof over their head tonight? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bksgViHJ1MM
9. DAVID CLENDON to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement to this House that “having surpluses does not mean that the Government can go spending more money on ineffective public services or infrastructure that may not be needed”? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqvLUqaRuWA
11. STUART NASH to the Minister of Police: Does she think there is any correlation between the closure of over 20 Community Policing Centres and the 13,000 increase in victimisations in the last 12 months; if not, why not? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMfQ7MtdWkk
However the debate that followed gave way for all to vent or praise the outgoing PM or in the case of Crusher, Coca Coleman and Dippy a chance to push their own agendas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGgIWCeyHiA
Currently the outgoing government are infighting flat out with a leadership war. And the choices are so sad, I almost feel sorry for Nat voters, almost
The questions, except for Turei’s one to John Key were the MPs being sensible. They were focussing on now, not on something that has passed
The speeches in the debate were not. He’s gone. Give up. You couldn’t lay a glove on him while he was PM and there is simply no point in trying to do it now. Have a read of Turei’s speech yesterday in that debate. The words of a bitter twisted woman who is still trying to fight what is yesterday’s war. https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/HansS_20161206_056100000/turei-metiria
As for your dream of there being a leadership war. Forget it. The National Party hasn’t had a real war since Muldoon came to be leader and even that wasn’t really out in the open.
It isn’t quite the word I would use but still.
He was, as Chris Trotter pointed out once, the cleverest politician of our generation. He was vastly ahead of anyone else of his time.
I remember looking at that list of stories blip used to link to. He claimed they were Key’s “lies”. When I checked some of them I found they weren’t lies at all. They may have been carefully composed statements that people “thought” were lies but they weren’t. People tended to read into the things he said meanings that simply weren’t there.
If you didn’t like him you might say “slippery”. If you did like him, and clearly most New Zealanders do, you would simply say he was a master of his art. The only one in my lifetime who was in the same class was Keith Holyoake.
Actually, we are on the cusp of something special and at the end of the day I’m relaxed and comfortable about that.
Is that positive enough for you Pete? Not that this implies in any way or form that I am or speak for “the left” because that’s typically just a lovely meme for people that grapple with reality.
Pete, if that’s all you can see then you a blinded by the “light”.
Now let us get on with the rejoicing – because the “evil one” has gone.
And yes he is evil. Some may think the sun shines from his posterior – but for many* he brought nothing, but hardship and suffering. He was appointed by the people to care for them, (that is the primary role of Government), but like the Levite, he simply walked by on the other side.
*
40,000 more unemployed
41,000 homeless
300,000 children living in poverty
foodbank cupboards around the country are now under severe threat of becoming empty as the number of parcels isssued this year doubles.
Emergency shelters are permanently overflowing.
the cost of providing shelter for oneself, or ones family, has doubled.
Wages have risen barely 10% in the same period (if your lucky enough to earn a full time wage) – or stayed the same. Key on the other hand receives twice the renumeration for the “job” as does the British PM.
Mental health services run down to such an extent, they can no longer care for the vulnerable.
Our DHBs have been held to the same funding for almost a decade despite rising costs, and can now barely provide critical services, let alone “elective” surgery; and patients are pushed off, or kept off, “waiting” lists to make the statistics look good.
Schools have been forced from providing education to children and are now mere training centres for a National testing regime that sees our children’s ability falling in comparison with children from other countries. But never mind soon there will be COOL, and they can stay at home and do nothing.
And those are only the Social Justice Issues of the day.
Key has overseen the embeggarment of future generations. His largesse to the wealthy has come at the expense of every one else, and the failure to provide for future generations will see him held responsible for a deriliction of duty. NZ’s GHG emmissions have continued to increase as he trashed the ETS, and removed all incentives for saving energy. Our rivers are now cess pits for the dairy industry. Our seas are denuded of their fish, and marine life, and the Tasman Sea is a garbage dump of plastic and flotsum endangering the lives of 50% of sea birds that breed on our Islands. There is virtually nothing that he has not seen deteriorate under his watch, except the bank balances of his mates.
About the only thing “good” I can say is “GOOD RIDDANCE”
Sacha
That was such a good story too. And you spoil it with the facts!
And Pete George fertilises the post and I think 15 comments grew up in his shadow.. He certainly is stimulating. Like an electric shock, he can jerk everybody into a response. Some of them are very detailed and no doubt informative. So that is a positive result.
Russia is primarily concerned with supporting Assad. All his opponents are therefore fair game so far as the Russians are concerned.
As someone who is far from an expert on the subject – indeed I am normally among the populace who leave such complex discussions to those who know what they’re talking about – I am nevertheless sure your premise that Russia is primarily concerned with supporting Assad is correct. But I will go further and posit the theory that their support has less to do with Assad himself, and more to do with the desire to gain dominance of the Middle East oil supply chain. And of course America’s basic premise for being so intimately involved in the region is exactly the same. That is, both sides are fighting to gain dominance over the same supply chain.
The above will be seen by some as simplistic, but I venture to suggest that the moment technology produces an acceptable and easily produced alternative fuel hey presto… both sides will clear out of the Middle East and leave them to their own devices which is precisely what most of the M.E countries want to see happen.
Syria is the wrong country to choose if you want to dominate the oil trade; it has no significant oil and, while close to Iraq, is not on a major oil trade route. Also Russia is a major producer in its own right so could influence the market more effectively by altering its production. As could the US.
However, Syria has long provided a Mediterranean port and two airbases to Russia. Without these, Russia’s presence in the Middle East and the Med would be very much reduced.
Russia is generally hemmed in by geography. All the ‘Stans and deserts to the South. Mostly hostile Europeans to the West. Ice to the North and a bleak Pacific coast on the East.
The Black Sea is their easiest access to much of the world and Syria figures in that. Less about oil, more about centuries old geo-politics.
Fair enough Wayne but lets balance the situation. Whilst America has oil wells of it’s own, it is also dependent upon M.E. oil to cover the balance of it’s needs. That is my understanding anyway.
I read an analysis by Robert Kennedy Jr. a month or two ago where he talked of a major pipe-line still on the drawing board which both East and West are currently attempting to gain control over by way of the proposed route it will take. I can’t remember the exact details but it certainly brought home to me the fundamental essence of most of the warring factions… and it is really all about oil.
It is the Kurdish population that is playing a major role in the alliances chosen by Russia, Turkey and the US.
This is a comment by Dr Ismail Besikci:
“why did the British and the French decided to erase Kurdistan from the map and deny the Kurds existence by parting Kurdistan into four between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria?”
This is as much about access to the Mediteranian as it is about a deal that has a Kurdistan to be kept from forming (Kurds refer to their ancestry back in 600BC, Arabs mentioned Kurds in the 7th century as nomadic people) Turkey plays a big role in that.
And then most of the time it’s the Kurd’s doing the hard yards on the ground.
I read recently, and can’t find the piece. That Russia is mainly avoiding ISIS so as not to rack up the Muslim at home. Chechnya has been, and still is a major thorn for Russia.
I don’t think the Chinese will be viewing Trump’s agenda as isolationist, not after the “Fuck you” messages he’s been sending them the last week. Still, the fact they’re not chuffed with him might also explain that veto.
Political broadcast brought to you via exiting entertainer Paul Henry interviewing Judith this morning…
Crusher says….
She will make Pike a memorial tomb.
She will suck up to Winny, says he is one of the best politicians who has ever been in Parliament and wants more options with support parties.
She’s not into English, he’s been preventing an increase in the police force apparently
Has no faith in Coleman
With a wavering voice says she wants more police
IMHO she doesn’t appear to be very confident in her chances. If her leadership bid fails will she form a breakaway party? Interesting times ahead.
PS Merry Christmas Paddy, maybe the Nation should do a special episode in the weekend, you’ll be bumming a bit that last week was your Christmas final. And you thought the Trump election was the highlight of your year lololol been thinking of you, happy for you, i don’t like you, but i’m happy for you. What a year huh?
Rachel Stewart pulls no punches in saying honestly what she thinks of John key. She tells of voting Nats for Key’s first term – I’m constantly surprised that people couldn’t tell Key was slippery as from the getgo.
Stewart fell out of support for Key over water quality, and it was all down hill from there, through rising inequality to tasteless media stunts and women being relegated to cheerleaders.
A good money man? Key’s bold and brassy belief that he managed the Global Financial Crisis well is, shall we say, deluded. He got lucky. Pure and simple.
I’ll wager that within the next 12 months, and well before the 2017 election, our economy will match the global outlook perfectly. It’ll be munted. He is less an economic guru and more a tinny bastard, frankly.
I say this in complete awe at Key’s uncanny ability to ride the rollercoaster of pure providence. Despite the poor getting poorer, and the rich getting richer, he somehow managed to convince the wider electorate that he was a financial whizz – as opposed to the money trading gambler he ultimately is.
1. Destruction of waterways and lack of care for the environment.
2. Mismanagement of the economy so we have become a very unequal society.
3. His gutter behaviour towards women.
This – “He seemed to me to care only for running New Zealand like a huge corporation by squeezing every last dollar out of it – no matter the downstream consequences.”
A country isn’t a corporation and shouldn’t be run like one. Hell, even a corporation shouldn’t be run like corporations are run these days. Every business should care about the environment and about the people it employs and their well being.
Do the Nat MP’s ask their constituents whom they feel would be the best choice in the race for leader of the national party and then vote accordingly?
Or do the MP’s vote according to their own wants and needs?
It just doesn’t seem very democratic to me, I’d be a bit pissy i think if i was a nat party member and did not have a say in whom the leader of the party i belong to should be.
Leader
82.
(a) The Parliamentary Section shall appoint its Leader as soon as
practicable after each General Election.
(b) If at any time the leadership of the Parliamentary Section falls vacant,
the Parliamentary Section shall appoint a Leader to fill such vacancy.
Notwithstanding Rule 82 (a), the Parliamentary Section may at any
time between General Elections confirm or change its Leader.
(c) The Leader of the Parliamentary Section shall, upon receiving the
approval of the Board, become the Leader of the Party. The Board shall
consider such approval as soon as practicable after the appointment
by the Parliamentary Section of its Leader.
As the rules indicate it is the MP’s who decide. Otherwise how could it be done in a week.
However, I am pretty sure the MP’s will be thinking who will be the most effective in the next election and will be taking more than a few soundings on that very point.
I hope that some of those people who voted for John Key will reflect on what he actually did or didn’t do for NZ and start to consider the pressing issues facing this country and the world. That so many people could fail to see past the fawning MSM smokescreen for 8 years has never failed to amaze me. I also hope that those journalists who were “seduced’ by Key’s “friendliness” will take the opportunity to look back at their own contribution to the distraction he provided for a government that failed to deal with the pressing issues apart from a few superficial interventions. An alternative government could have made quite a difference to the current housing situation, reduced the foreign ownership of land, removed the tax haven status and worked with the Pike River families in a more compassionate manner had not the “show us the money” , the dirty politics/Ede/Slater feeding of MSM clouded the public’s view of the real issues.
How fake news has trashed the old idea of checking facts before publishing and tried to replace it with the idea that any kind of nutso raving is truth until someone else proves it wrong (to the nutso raver’s standards).
This backgrounder makes Comet Ping Pong sound like an interesting place. Also explains why malicious kooks would want to use it as a centrepiece of a fake news story.
Murtaza Hussain @MazMHussain 23h23 hours ago
2003: Rifle-toting Americans barge into Iraq after reading viral Fake News story about weapons of mass destruction.
Yep, more right wingers creating fake news with disastrous consequences. With not enough attention being paid to Hans Blix and his inspection team fact-checking and saying there’s nothing there.
Bill English will be the next PM but it will be close, very close with Jude so close in fact that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if theres a coup a year or so into Englishs reign, obviously it will be much earlier if English loses the next election
Having said that I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Jude managed to take the leadership of English
If I could pick I’d pick Coleman as he’s the freshest (or least most unknown) face and being a medical doctor is not exactly a bad thing to have on ones CV but he won’t get near the leadership
Prediction time?
Cut’n’run Key will be seen as shallower and shallower as time passes.
Cigar-smoke Coleman will be unable to hide his arrogance.
Crusher Collins will be unable to shake off the Slater on her back.
Boring Bill will fail to rid himself of his Double-Dipton title.
You must feel bereft, Pucky, and appalled by the present state of affairs.
Its not ideal but lets say National lose 7-8% over Key leaving, that leaves National on approx. 40%, I’d suggest NZFirst might gain as much as 3-4% of that which puts NZFirst well and truly over 10%
Jude would have no issues working with Winston and, probably, vice versa so the most logical outcome is a National/NZFirst government in 2017 and every other party on the outside unless Winston wants them in
Not sure how Winston and English get on though so its certainly made the upcoming election more interesting
No. It’s not ideal for the likes of you and other Key-adorers. In fact, it’s THE WORST POSSIBLE THING, and that’s, as you say, not ideal. For you. For others, myself included, this is High Humour and Pure Oxygen to the Soul 🙂 Now, you are reduced to trying to build something from a pile of fetid goop, relatively speaking, given that previously, you (believed) you were spinning with gold. How quickly that precious metal turned to straw. You must feel betrayed, as indeed you were. Key’s smiled as he assassinated National and the hopes of his sycophants such as your pucky self. These are dark days for you, Pucky, and all you can do now is try to make purses from sow’s ears. Good luck, ol’ chappy!
“These are dark days for you, Pucky, and all you can do now is try to make purses from sow’s ears”
Yes its this exactly, we could sit around and go into mourning and think the worst has happened and we should all just give up but that won’t achieve anything and would almost certainly guarantee an election loss
Or we could see what we’re left with and go from there and it looks like there’s now no real impediment to National and Winston combining that that’s a…positive I guess
Its not what I (or anyone) would have wanted but sometimes you have to play the hand you’re dealt and National did manage to win one or two elections without John Key and I dare say they’ll be able to do it again
I suppose if ones trying to look positive I’d say that John Key has the left the party in the high 40s and there won’t be a bye-election needed, which is something a certain ex-Labour leader maybe should have looked at doing
Sitting around, mourning…yes, there’ll be a lot of that going on, Pucky, and more of it to come for your horrid crew who over the past 8 years have been crowing from the top of the dunghill you now discover is all thart remains for you. You had a merry trickster as your star and he’s dumped on you all from his great height – what treachery! How neatly and heartlessly he’s slid his dagger into the heart of his party and his supporters! Smiling Assassin indeed – did you think you were exempt? What I see now, is Mr Little, solid and trustworthy, established and supported, generously suppressing his delight at Key’s feckless knee-capping of the Right, eyes fixed on his up-coming win in 2017 – Little’s played it perfectly, as he’s played you and your gutted team. A marvelous week for the Left, Pucky, and the first of many.
Well leaving National in the high 40s and with the door fully open for NZFirst is not a bad position to be in
I know you don’t like my predictions but I predict that after the next general election National will still be in power and I think its now going to be National/NZFirst
Who do you think will make up the next government?
“trying to build something from a pile of fetid goop, ”
Like the golem…
“In Jewish folklore, a golem (/ˈɡoʊləm/ goh-ləm; Hebrew: גולם) is an animated anthropomorphic being that is magically created entirely from inanimate matter (specifically clay or mud). The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing.[1]
The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many tales differing on how the golem was brought to life and afterwards controlled.”
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series features allusions to many beliefs and weaves them into his stories. The golems appear particularly in Feet of Clay. The ideas about them seem to have been carried further into the thinking about how robots could be limited in their free will by Asimov.
Good to talk with you Rosemary. Yes Terry P was a good and funny writer and man. Also I have started reading Ellis Peters who wrote a series around Cadfael the monk who was sort of an ideal man that I think some women writers like to bring to life and imagine stories around. He lives in the 1100s and she writes vividly about that time and I think has the historical background and the culture of that time probably well covered.
While we are in these dire straits in the world I am interested in what people are, under all our layers of civilisation and poncy clothes and cars and high-heeled shoes. I’m looking for nobility and soul and clever use of our machiavellian minds and love and fascination with and for each other. Things I have never bothered thinking about before but now I see clearly how humans have trouble learning from past errors and am brought to the question of what did my birth father die for in 1944 WW2, which we don’t seem to have transcended, then what are we? It seems to me that there is an insect brain in us, along with other primitive inherent cognition.
This is a bit heavy but when one starts looking into the void as is happening now, then it makes ya think doesn’t it.
(Funny just as I was closing off – Puckish Rogue’s astute comment dame up Sounds more like Frankensteins monster in that case
“she has no new policy idea’s apart from more police”.
Don’t say that Cinny.
If you give her the credit Little, Andrew will have a hissy fit. He’ll be tearing up the carpet and complaining that it was HIS idea and that she is stealing it.
I can hear the wails from here. “Tt’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair ……..”
Please, spare me. Some things just shouldn’t have to be thought of.
However, have you ever heard Winston laugh? He lasts about 2 seconds and then ends wheezing furiously. Far too many cigarettes to manage a laugh any more.
Bombers got some great descriptions on the Nat candidates on TDB – (he sadly holds back on Collins however, the worst candidate in my view a mash up of Trump, Hitler, Imelda Marcos and Thatcher with the Enron accountants, rolled into one body )
BILL ENGLISH – A RELIGIOUS FANATIC
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he whips himself to sleep nightly. English desperately needed Key because English has all the charm and personal warmth of a road accident. Key was the smiling vacant face while English spent time privatising state housing, expanding the neoliberal welfare state and pushing for mass surveillance of beneficiaries.”
COLEMAN – DALEK
“The Minister of Wheeze, Dr Croak has a voice honied by years of cigarettes and stepping on poor peoples dreams. Possibly the most hopeless Minister ever, he did a shit job with Broadcasting and he’s a joke in Health. He wouldn’t publicly eat the cheap slop he was forcing hospital patients to eat and had the audacity to privately eat it and tweet about how yummy it was.”
Nope Collins will just kick out English as PM when she sees her chance – no break away party for the Natz – they are too lazy to break away and too clueless to start a party from scratch.
I have been wondering just how deep the divisions within the National Party are over the issue of legalising euthanasia.
There have been numerous attempts by from both left and right over the years to facilitate assisted dying. This year has seen a high profile court case and a continuing exhaustive select committee hearing with over 20,000 submissions.
Despite my personal well founded reservations, I honestly thought that this time the issue would get over the line and the syringes would sharpened and extra stocks of ‘blue juice’ ordered.
But no…despite having fully supported Lecretia Seales, John Key announced a month ago that…
“There is zero chance of Government introducing legislation to legalise euthanasia even if an inquiry strongly recommends it, ”
The reason given…”Key said he personally supported euthanasia. He would not take the step himself, but he believed others should be able to.
However, there was strong opposition to it within the National caucus, he said.
Senior members of the Cabinet such as Bill English and Gerry Brownlee have previously voted against bills which would have made euthanasia legal.”
There is a real taste for physician assisted dying and the loud protagonists, although they dismiss the concerns of those who would be most at risk from misuse of such a facility, seemed to be winning.
So why the sudden back off from Key…who’s fair physiognomy dominated the Seales’ campaign page?
The politicians are too afraid of thinking deeply about anything because it just creates a precedent, and why fiddle while everything is going their way. So euthanasia, assisted dying, whatever has no chance with these peabrains.
And physician-assisted doesn’t have to come into it. If people have signed a document that they wish to do so, gone through legal measures of ensuring they have a will, left messages with a functionary with solicitor’s background if they don’t want to explain it to their children as is the best way, then they should have the right to do so. A proper procedure should be established in compliance with what older people who have thought through the process have decided and worked through with the pollies. Then there will be a peace of mind that life can be lived to the full and not in the end interfered with by forcing it to continue because of others’ beliefs and rigid principles.
At present there is this shameful and excessive watchfulness trying to prevent people even thinking or hearing about means of death. Police raids, disgusting. Politicians on top of the money heap and controlling, being the gatekeepers against those who wish to determine their own length of incapacity, they are a disgrace to their ‘profession’, incompetents and shallow. And the religious and hospices should stop trying to be Burkes in reverse.
It is people who make other people suffer. Their ego, and dependence of being constantly appreciated. Hang on…. mostly male I think. Yep, looking around the world and it adds up.
I don’t know if he harasses waitresses or fondles the hair of little girls, but this bloke is a real piece of work.
The Sunday Star Times reported yesterday that Dr Coleman had been punched after he allegedly blew his cigar smoke at a woman. Dr Coleman said there were two sides to every story, but he did not intend to press charges over the incident.
Coca Cole-man, calls himself a Dr, but refuses to tackle the sugar issue even though across the globe other countries are tackling it and identifying it as so harmful. We have a public health system, why would he stretch it further by not addressing sugar?
Obesity and diabetes rates are obscene in NZ, sugar is an issue. Coleman would rather push through RMA changes and dump fluoride in our water than tackle the sugar issue. By adopting this mind set he shows himself as a Dr of Death.
We have a public health system, why would he stretch it further by not addressing sugar?
Probably because he’s a MD and can identify this wailing about sugar as the kind of simplistic thinking that results in bad policy and unforeseen consequences. Obesity and diabetes are problems of carbohydrates in general, not sucrose in particular, and any minister wanting to deal with them walks into a political minefield – if Coleman doesn’t fancy using his feet as mine detectors, that’s hardly surprising.
Psycho, Coca Coleman is a fortune seeker, and not a good listener…
“A Herald poll last month suggested an overwhelming public desire to introduce a sugar tax, with more than 80% of 11,700 voters in favour of new legislation.”
“More than 84 per cent of GPs responding to the latest New Zealand Doctor/IMS fax poll believe a sugar tax should be introduced in this country.
And nearly 70 per cent reject health minister Jonathan Coleman’s view of the effect a tax would have on consumption of sugary drinks.”
To whom? If the answer is “Evidence,” yes I do want a PM who listens. If it’s “Opinion polls,” then meh, not so much. (Not that I want a Nat PM either way, mind.)
“A Herald poll last month suggested an overwhelming public desire to introduce a sugar tax, with more than 80% of 11,700 voters in favour of new legislation.” “Don’t you want a PM that listens?”
You just had one for the past 8 years and he was berated for being poll driven. Do you want him back already?
“More than 84 per cent of GPs responding to the latest New Zealand Doctor/IMS fax poll believe a sugar tax should be introduced in this country.
And nearly 70 per cent reject health minister Jonathan Coleman’s view of the effect a tax would have on consumption of sugary drinks.”
How many of those GP’s also have an MBA? Interesting that you think they would have a better understanding on the effect taxation on consumption and the wider effects of such a tax (does it just cover sucrose? what about glucose? what if Coke just switched to a fructose based sweetener, do we have to tax fruit then? Would it include pure fruit juices? What about reconstituted fruit juices? All sugars are linked to diabetes, so do we tax everything with any trace of sugar like beer and wine? It would clearly have to cover Balsamic Vinaigrette, Almond Butter, yogurt) than a GP MP with an MBA…
Need more evidence? Scandinavian countries have such a tax, as does, Mexico, France, Hungary, Britain ..
Recent evidence further suggests an association between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and preventable mortality from diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, with the majority of deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries.. says the WHO.. so why on earth would we not want to do something about this? Something sensible, something that works, just like tobacco tax. Or do you think people will start holding up their local dairy for a red bull?
Now Coca Coleman is promising more funding for health if he gets the new job.. is that just some kind of excuse for his short comings in looking after the Health Ministry?
Lots of questions, so let’s make it easy…. A sugary drinks tax or soda tax is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of drinks with added sugar. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include, carbonated drinks, uncarbonated drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks
The way I see it is any against such a tax are just pro big business aka big sugar profits, and we all know they make more than enough as it is.
Let’s be pro the NZ Health System that our taxes pay for, lets look after the people.
Need more evidence? Scandinavian countries have such a tax, as does, Mexico, France, Hungary, Britain ..
Other countries implementing simplistic policies based on noise from lobbyists isn’t “evidence” – except, maybe, evidence that weak politicians are prey for noisy lobbyists.
Recent evidence further suggests an association between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and preventable mortality from diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer…
Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and a shitload of other things that are probably more important factors. But instead of looking at the actual causes of obesity and diabetes (which come down to “foods that raise blood glucose levels rapidly”) and seeing what can be done about them, let’s tax sugary drinks because left-wingers hate the Coca Cola corporation. Why, oh why, isn’t Coleman on board with that, I wonder?
Lots of questions, so let’s make it easy…. A sugary drinks tax or soda tax is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of drinks with added sugar.
To serve what purpose? If the purpose is to reduce rates of obesity and diabetes in the population, a sugary-drinks tax is not fit for purpose for several reasons (the tax would have to be very high to actually suppress consumption, there’s extensive scope for unintended consequences, and singling out sugary drinks is pointless – if you look at the glycemic index, white bread and various other foods are actually worse than sucrose for making you fat and diabetic). The actual purpose of such a tax would be to make hand-wringers feel like they were doing something useful, which is not a good justification for new taxes.
Would you apply the same logic to a doctor that drinks alcohol? Ethanol is a Group 1 carcinogen also, not to mention processed meat, would you not trust a doctor that drinks beer or eats pepperoni pizza?
To answer your question, I would trust a doctor that smokes, or drinks, or eats pepperoni pizza.
Labour – I guess I’m from the little-known “surly curmudgeon” faction. That was the first time since 1987, though – was an Alliance voter, then Green, then fuck-who-can-a-left-libertarian-vote-for-now, then back to Labour again on the basis that these days they’re the underdog and need some support. Proud to say I’ve never voted Winston First, although to my shame I did vote ACT once – at the time, they and the Greens were the only ones backing liberty when it came to drugs, anti-terrorism over-reach laws etc and the Greens were anti-science, so I swallowed a big dead rat. Never again…
You don’t think a tax on sugary drinks would achieve anything? I disagree, it would do something to help, it would not solve the whole problem, but it would be a factor in that solution.
The tax does not appear to have dented sales in Mexico, the government is collecting tax from it that can be used in the health sector, for other factors of obesity, maybe it could be used to encourage more people into physical activity or something, maybe the tax could be enough to cover dental care for the whole population? I don’t see any loses with this kind of tax from either side.
It’s long been clear that you lack one, Pucky, as your hero-to-zero, John Key lacks anything resembling one, but I didn’t want to make an issue of it. I can see now, why you favour Collins for your next empty-vessel leader.
Actually I favour Coleman because he’s a fresher (or unknown) face whereas English, though talented, can’t really claim to be renewing and Jude has been unfortunately hamstrung by nasty lefties that fear her talent, hard work and charisma
No one will win in this race of the losers, Pucky, least of all you and silly-billies like you who believed in Key. You’ve been slam-dunked, abandoned, short-changed and abused. I’m leaving you to your stranded-fish gaspings today as I’ve got fun things to do and this is miserable stuff.
Unless you are more ignorant than I think you are, my friend, you will realize that Hager’s book was very successful. As he pointed out in this morning’s interview, the book led to Judith Collins losing her cabinet seat.
And the sordid parts of his book are the revelations of what Collins, Slater, Jordan Williams, Jason Eade and co. were doing. You’re muddle-headed to confuse the journalist with the things he reveals.
Ok its true that in my opinion the purpose of the book was to swing the election the lefts way which means it was a failure, National was re-elected, John Key was still popular and the left was still stagnating
According to Hager – and despite the right’s claims to the contrary he is a thoroughly honest person – the timing of the publication of the book just before the election was coincidental. He had hoped it would be ready for publication early in 2014 but it didn’t work out that way. Having said that, I’m sure he did want to see it published before the 2014 election.
Hager does not make claims about anybody without solid evidence to back them up. And that is precisely what happened with “Dirty Politics”. That it did not have an effect on the election is an indictment on the voters – the vast majority of whom were too glassy eyed and lazy to bother to read the book and/or digest the information that was widely reported and it’s inherent ramifications.
I recall Hager being quite open about the fact he wanted to publish the book before the election because he believed it was important that voters were aware of the dirty political machinations (Ede, Slater, Odgers, Lusk and Carrick Graham in particular) that were occurring. It was also deplorable that it was being coordinated from within “the PM’s office” and it defies logic Key didn’t know what was going on as he subsequently claimed.
Hager intended to publish much sooner but there were various delays and it ended up coming only a month before the election. Too late to have much affect on the election.
“the vast majority of whom were too glassy eyed and lazy to bother to read the book and/or digest the information that was widely reported and it’s inherent ramifications.” One of whom is you eh Pluckliss Rogue.
But it’s a great go-to for another insight and possible leads, that index.. fantastico.
GOsh it’s super exciting really… a race when you can’t stand any of the candidates, it’s like the USA presidential election all over again post Bernie of course.
Bridges I love oil is about to throw his hat in the ring too…. let the circus begin.. lmfaooooo best reality show in some time this is.
Really? One of the better selling NZ books, I would have thought.
Positive feedback for Nicky Hager’s book, Dirty Politics, keeps on coming.
“I can’t go anywhere, like the supermarket, without people coming up and thanking me for writing it – it’s like no experience I’ve had before,” he says.
The Wellington-based journalist says he intended the book to be a small sequel to The Hollow Men. “But this one really struck a chord; it’s been amazing.”
Dirty Politics has sold 18,000 copies, which is huge for New Zealand. Normally, best sellers clock up about 2000 in sales.
I thought it was telling that in that interview Collins claimed she doesn’t hold grudges but spent the entire time attacking Nicky Hager, and deliberately mispronouncing his name. She came across as vindictive and bullying – so quite accurate really.
First Policy out from The Opportunities Party. Gareth Morgan.
“The current tax regime favours owners of capital and unjustly burdens wage earners. This is not only inequitable, it results in poor utilisation of capital and lower than necessary income and employment. ”
“It addresses issues of rising inequality, housing affordability, foreign debt and poor levels of business investment. The end result will be more jobs, more businesses growth and tax cuts that leave 80% of the population better off.”
(I am watching with cautious interest.) http://www.top.org.nz/top1?utm_campaign=top1_members&utm_medium=email&utm_source=garethmorgan
“In case you missed it, I repeat
– under this policy NOT ONE
ADDITIONAL DOLLAR OF TAX
WILL BE COLLECTED. What
will happen is that some of
us will pay more (in mine and
John Key’s case, a lot more) and
for the great majority of people
they will either be unaffected
or pay significantly less. ”
It is closing a tax loop hole, not a new tax, nor an attack on the poorest on society. Quite smart really.
Being a “cash-poor homeowner” is a piss poor reason to expect tax exemptions. There are a lot of hard working people getting heavily taxed and will never own a home. What happened to a fair go?
Exactly. The idea that owning a home is somehow a special burden needs to be put to rest.
I get tired of home owners who endlessly bang on about ‘how hard it is to pay the mortgage’, as if somehow paying rent with absolutely no benefit or gain or security, till the day you die, is the easy ‘option’.
Some work to pay the rent, some work to pay the mortgage. The renter is the one left well behind in that equation.
We need some fairness in our financial and taxation systems.
A lot of kiwi homeowners think they are entitled to some kind of special privileges and tax breaks that renters never get. They are very sensitive to anything that threatens their inflated asset value
What about the older folks? They ones who have saved all their lives, survived wars and worked hard raising their families in a home as apartments obviously were not in vogue. But you could also look to the older folks that have to fork out 16 Mil for repair bills of apartments not so long ago build.
The core of it is that instead of getting off on envy and bashing people who have worked hard, work on a fairer system. This would certainly not include any tax cuts but rather have progressive tax applied.
You didn’t read Gareth Morgan’s piece didja? His proposal seems eminently fair. Taxing the top few % who are asset rich and using accounting tricks to hide their income from capital gains. Why should people who work for a living have to pay all the tax and people in million dollar houses pay none, while gaining (at least) 70K per year tax free.
You refereed to “a lot of Kiwi homeowners” – a lot? Many, many older folks are asset rich (if one could say that) because they have paid off the mortgage for the roof over their heads. With the 350 bucks a week to survive I doubt that you can add another tax.
As to your assertion of “entitlement” – there is no such thing. There is however, fairness in distribution which has never played out as for every mentioning of a group getting a share someone will put a veto in. This is what greed is all about, measuring entitlements.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins has also announced she’ll seek the leadership of the party – and the nation – but is potentially less able to relate to the financial struggles of ordinary kiwis.
Collins has no money, but purchases all her goods by silently staring people down until they cave.
Outgoing Prime Minister John Key has been tipped as a potential candidate to head the International Monetary Fund – an appointment signed off by US President Barack Obama.
Someone must be getting upset with all the research that the IMF has done recently that proves the present socio-economic system that’s been rammed down our throats, often via the IMF, doesn’t work.
With the mess he has made of promoting high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reducing poverty in New Zealand he has no hope of accomplishing the stated goals of the IMF. The IMF seeks to facilitate trade as well, but that trade is meant to be fair and balanced trade. The type of trade he has sort to facilitate but luckily has failed so far has been to give the big internationals all the power to bully the little guys and small countries with anonymous international courts paid for, staffed by and beholden to those same big internationals.
This is of course going to happen if Jonathon “We’ll have to agree to disagree” Coleman gets one of the two Top Spots.
and to confirm my earlier assertion that he could be The Man…
“‘I think [Dr Coleman] glosses over the serious plight the public health system is in, and I don’t think he sufficiently gets it.
”At our last conference he annoyed the delegates a lot, because when somebody would express a different view to his, he had a stock answer of simply saying: ‘We’ll have to agree to disagree’.””
Sounds like Someone Else doesn’t it? Not getting it and glossing over the problems….but I guess that to achieve such a constant state of ‘relaxedness’ you’d have to be that way inclined.
Has the NZ Herald published the real reason Key has resigned?
Did he get a tap on the shoulder from President Obama in his last days in office and wants an even bigger stage for his ego?
John Key named as ideal candidate to head IMF http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11762219
We will have to wait and see.
A lot of the things that job is meant to accomplish are things he has totally failed at in New Zealand. QUOTE: The IMF seeks to facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
He has only ever focused on one of those things in his time as NZ PM and the last 3 have got worse every year for us here under his government. He shrugged off as to hard reducing poverty here, imagine the mess with him in that role.
Now that makes sense at last! Hearing Key say he doesn’t know what he will do next…..casually throwing in “maybe the speaking circuit..” He has had a game plan since being a ten year old, deciding he would learn golf, because rich people play golf, so who is he trying yo kid?
LMFAO !!!!!! That headline caught my eye and i was like, nah who cares, as long as he fucks off from here, i won’t read that.
And it’s a year old, and Herald is running it today… bahahahaha. Thanks for letting us all know.
Sad, real sad, looking for click bait are we? Well it aint john the pm who quit key, any headline with his name in it is now yesterdays news or in this case yester-years news
Excellent opinion piece on Key in the Grauniad today. Includes thought-provoking discussion of the need for the political opposition to produce a viable counter-narrative.
“In this regard, Key was like a Tony Blair of the South Seas: a certain level of personal charisma and a socially inclusive façade allowed both Key and Blair to sell the nasty side of neoliberalism.”
“Like Blair, Key had the Teflon gene. Despite ignoring public preferences not to privatise state-owned enterprises (2-1 against in a referendum), increasing the GST during the global financial crisis, and more or less ignoring New Zealand’s chronic child poverty because he blames the victims, none of it stuck.”
What a brilliant summary of the PR image (not the actual human being) that was our Prime Minister.
When Labour-voting women were asked what kind of husband they imagined Key would be, they saw him as having so much social and economic capital that they would be prepared to tolerate multiple breaches of trust in the relationship before considering severing it. Such was the appeal of Key’s persona.
But the money story central to neoliberalism and so crucial to Key’s success is built on a false analogy that can be killed off with the correct mix of branding and narrative.
For a start, it is necessary to assert that we live in a society, not an economy. The national budget is not like a household budget and anyone who tells you it is, is hiding something from you. Households don’t indulge quantitative easing (ie printing money); make decisions about what levels of social inequality are tolerable; set tax levels; or decide what scale of deficits will be run in order to redistribute income, feed the poor, educate our children or, heaven forbid, help them get well (for free!) when they are sick.
These are all social decisions that determine our approach to fiscal management, rather than economic imperatives that determine our values as society. We don’t decide to starve our children until the mortgage has been paid off.
If you want to unseat the neoliberal elites, be they the Trump-style authoritarians, or the Key and Blair style charlatans of social inclusion, you have to unpick their story of fiscal morality. And you need charismatic and popular champions to tell your story about creating a society that is caring and just.
Why doesnt the entire opposition call for a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE in the government led by English
That will trigger an early GENERAL ELECTION so we can all be part of who runs our country instead of having yet another money lusting chauvenistic bully forced on us!!!
That way we dont need an expensive by election for Shearers seat if he goes.
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The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
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Every post here since Key’s announcement on Monday has been boo-Key and boo-National.
National are vulnerable. The public will have an extra look to see who they think can run Government competently. But I see mostly see Opposition mud flying, still. It seems like a stupid first impression post-Key to present to the public.
If opposition parties, and supporting online forums like The Standard, want to take advantage of National’s vulnerability surely they can at least try to look better, rather than worse.
Is the left capable of being positive?
This blog and others from the right or left of politics are not the face of a political bloc in NZ – they are the venting and ravings of a few signifying nothing. Most voters will look at those they are voting for and the respective party leaders when casting their vote at the general election not the standard where all authors and the vast majority of commenters have decided how they will vote years out from the election usually due to their entrenched views and personal prejudices
@Stunned mullet – yet you still post in to ts….
Until Key’s resignation, most voters had already made their minds up.
He has unsettled both the commercial and political markets sufficiently for the polis to pause and reconsider.
Pete, maybe you would prefer to read the thoughts of one of the Herald writers on Keys departure… ?
“I could have chosen to dress up my column today with all sorts of nuanced, insightful, and charitable words about John Key’s departure. It’d be akin to going to someone’s funeral that you consistently bagged – both publicly and privately. Tacky”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11761381
The opposition parties were on fire in Parliament yesterday, and I for one am extremely proud of how they have approached this shocking news.
The statesman like response from the future PM of NZ aka Alpha Andy and Grant Robertson on the day Key announced his resignation spoke volumes. A stark contrast to the negative little personal put downs from the PM whom has quit.
How about starting the day singing praises about the opposition parties rather than whining about Keys resignation and the fact that the national party is in tatters. Where are your positive stories about the outgoing government in the last few days Pete?
What a stream of negativity, and what could be more negative than lying about the Opposition’s response to Key’s resignation:
Why does Petty George tell so many desperate unoriginal lies? Does anyone care?
He does it for attention and no one cares because he is a very shallow thinker.
“On behalf of Metiria”
Did he talk to Metria before he came out with this statement? It certainly isn’t the approach that Turei was expounding in her mean spirited little contribution in Parliament yesterday.
Have they decided to play “good cop (Shaw) bad cop (Turei)”?
The political parties in the Opposition are crazy. They should learn from the way Key behaved after Helen Clark was defeated and stood down after the 2008 election.
She was defeated. She didn’t matter any more. He didn’t waste even a moment kicking a relic of the past on the side of the road because there was absolutely nothing to be gained.
Why are Labour and the Green MPs continuing the fight with someone who is retiring. All they do is exhibit their bitter little approach to life. Wait till there is a new National leader, and Prime Minister, and attack them. That is what Key did. He forgot Clark and aimed his fire at the new leader from that moment on. Staying on a path that attacks Key is stupid.
It doesn’t matter for people who contribute to this website, just as it didn’t matter to people who contributed to attacks on Clark on other sites after she had stood down. They were not MPs and nobody really cared about the mad ravings of a pack of loons, then against Clark or now against Key.
It is MPs who have to avoid looking like idiots.
Hi Alwyn, were you watching yesterday? I noticed a very cohesive group of opposition MP’s in the house yesterday, concentrating their questions on possible nat party leaders.
3. ANDREW LITTLE to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement that “the prices you pay for a house are ridiculous”, given New Zealand house prices have risen by over 50 percent since he made that statement?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b09iWjnarLE
4. Hon ANNETTE KING to the Minister of Health: Does he expect an estimated 533,000 New Zealanders who did not visit a GP due to cost in the last year to continue to wait for primary care reform which might “form part of a future Budget”, possibly under a different health Minister as stated by him?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUg1JikLdLg
7. PHIL TWYFORD to the Minister for Social Housing: Does she stand by her statement, “look I can’t guarantee that”, when asked if anyone living in a car can go to a Government agency today and get a roof over their head tonight?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bksgViHJ1MM
8. RON MARK to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all his statements?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FNnms6R6T8
9. DAVID CLENDON to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement to this House that “having surpluses does not mean that the Government can go spending more money on ineffective public services or infrastructure that may not be needed”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqvLUqaRuWA
11. STUART NASH to the Minister of Police: Does she think there is any correlation between the closure of over 20 Community Policing Centres and the 13,000 increase in victimisations in the last 12 months; if not, why not?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMfQ7MtdWkk
However the debate that followed gave way for all to vent or praise the outgoing PM or in the case of Crusher, Coca Coleman and Dippy a chance to push their own agendas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGgIWCeyHiA
Currently the outgoing government are infighting flat out with a leadership war. And the choices are so sad, I almost feel sorry for Nat voters, almost
The questions, except for Turei’s one to John Key were the MPs being sensible. They were focussing on now, not on something that has passed
The speeches in the debate were not. He’s gone. Give up. You couldn’t lay a glove on him while he was PM and there is simply no point in trying to do it now. Have a read of Turei’s speech yesterday in that debate. The words of a bitter twisted woman who is still trying to fight what is yesterday’s war.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/HansS_20161206_056100000/turei-metiria
As for your dream of there being a leadership war. Forget it. The National Party hasn’t had a real war since Muldoon came to be leader and even that wasn’t really out in the open.
“couldn’t lay a glove on him…”
’cause, slippery.
It isn’t quite the word I would use but still.
He was, as Chris Trotter pointed out once, the cleverest politician of our generation. He was vastly ahead of anyone else of his time.
I remember looking at that list of stories blip used to link to. He claimed they were Key’s “lies”. When I checked some of them I found they weren’t lies at all. They may have been carefully composed statements that people “thought” were lies but they weren’t. People tended to read into the things he said meanings that simply weren’t there.
If you didn’t like him you might say “slippery”. If you did like him, and clearly most New Zealanders do, you would simply say he was a master of his art. The only one in my lifetime who was in the same class was Keith Holyoake.
Well you know – the more you complain – the longer god lets you live 😈
Actually, we are on the cusp of something special and at the end of the day I’m relaxed and comfortable about that.
Is that positive enough for you Pete? Not that this implies in any way or form that I am or speak for “the left” because that’s typically just a lovely meme for people that grapple with reality.
Is the left capable of being positive?
Have you stopped beating your wife?
M’eh, its a left aligned political website so what do you expect? It’d be a pretty dull place if everyone played nice all of the time.
Pete, if that’s all you can see then you a blinded by the “light”.
Now let us get on with the rejoicing – because the “evil one” has gone.
And yes he is evil. Some may think the sun shines from his posterior – but for many* he brought nothing, but hardship and suffering. He was appointed by the people to care for them, (that is the primary role of Government), but like the Levite, he simply walked by on the other side.
*
40,000 more unemployed
41,000 homeless
300,000 children living in poverty
foodbank cupboards around the country are now under severe threat of becoming empty as the number of parcels isssued this year doubles.
Emergency shelters are permanently overflowing.
the cost of providing shelter for oneself, or ones family, has doubled.
Wages have risen barely 10% in the same period (if your lucky enough to earn a full time wage) – or stayed the same. Key on the other hand receives twice the renumeration for the “job” as does the British PM.
Mental health services run down to such an extent, they can no longer care for the vulnerable.
Our DHBs have been held to the same funding for almost a decade despite rising costs, and can now barely provide critical services, let alone “elective” surgery; and patients are pushed off, or kept off, “waiting” lists to make the statistics look good.
Schools have been forced from providing education to children and are now mere training centres for a National testing regime that sees our children’s ability falling in comparison with children from other countries. But never mind soon there will be COOL, and they can stay at home and do nothing.
And those are only the Social Justice Issues of the day.
Key has overseen the embeggarment of future generations. His largesse to the wealthy has come at the expense of every one else, and the failure to provide for future generations will see him held responsible for a deriliction of duty. NZ’s GHG emmissions have continued to increase as he trashed the ETS, and removed all incentives for saving energy. Our rivers are now cess pits for the dairy industry. Our seas are denuded of their fish, and marine life, and the Tasman Sea is a garbage dump of plastic and flotsum endangering the lives of 50% of sea birds that breed on our Islands. There is virtually nothing that he has not seen deteriorate under his watch, except the bank balances of his mates.
About the only thing “good” I can say is “GOOD RIDDANCE”
That’s very negative of you thanks Pete
Sacha
That was such a good story too. And you spoil it with the facts!
And Pete George fertilises the post and I think 15 comments grew up in his shadow.. He certainly is stimulating. Like an electric shock, he can jerk everybody into a response. Some of them are very detailed and no doubt informative. So that is a positive result.
Check out that UN Security Council resolution for a Syrian ceasefire: blocked by both Russia and China.
Interesting tag team.
I think Russia and China are viewing Trumps isolationist election as a signal to rapidly accelerate their territorial ambition.
Bullshit Ad. They are trying to rout ISIS ,which is more than the stupid Yanks could do with their ratbag bunch of unorganised mish mash factions.
The resolution was seeking a ceasefire and was well supported across the Council.
“They are trying to rout ISIS..”
Or not
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-strikes-idUSKCN0SF24L20151021
garibaldi,
To believe that you have to believe the insurgents in Aleppo are ISIS. There is precious little evidence of that.
In fact Russia virtually ignores ISIS and leaves them to the western coalition.
Russia is primarily concerned with supporting Assad. All his opponents are therefore fair game so far as the Russians are concerned.
As someone who is far from an expert on the subject – indeed I am normally among the populace who leave such complex discussions to those who know what they’re talking about – I am nevertheless sure your premise that Russia is primarily concerned with supporting Assad is correct. But I will go further and posit the theory that their support has less to do with Assad himself, and more to do with the desire to gain dominance of the Middle East oil supply chain. And of course America’s basic premise for being so intimately involved in the region is exactly the same. That is, both sides are fighting to gain dominance over the same supply chain.
The above will be seen by some as simplistic, but I venture to suggest that the moment technology produces an acceptable and easily produced alternative fuel hey presto… both sides will clear out of the Middle East and leave them to their own devices which is precisely what most of the M.E countries want to see happen.
Syria is the wrong country to choose if you want to dominate the oil trade; it has no significant oil and, while close to Iraq, is not on a major oil trade route. Also Russia is a major producer in its own right so could influence the market more effectively by altering its production. As could the US.
inspider,
Agreed about Syria and oil.
However, Syria has long provided a Mediterranean port and two airbases to Russia. Without these, Russia’s presence in the Middle East and the Med would be very much reduced.
Russia is generally hemmed in by geography. All the ‘Stans and deserts to the South. Mostly hostile Europeans to the West. Ice to the North and a bleak Pacific coast on the East.
The Black Sea is their easiest access to much of the world and Syria figures in that. Less about oil, more about centuries old geo-politics.
Fair enough Wayne but lets balance the situation. Whilst America has oil wells of it’s own, it is also dependent upon M.E. oil to cover the balance of it’s needs. That is my understanding anyway.
I read an analysis by Robert Kennedy Jr. a month or two ago where he talked of a major pipe-line still on the drawing board which both East and West are currently attempting to gain control over by way of the proposed route it will take. I can’t remember the exact details but it certainly brought home to me the fundamental essence of most of the warring factions… and it is really all about oil.
It is the Kurdish population that is playing a major role in the alliances chosen by Russia, Turkey and the US.
This is a comment by Dr Ismail Besikci:
“why did the British and the French decided to erase Kurdistan from the map and deny the Kurds existence by parting Kurdistan into four between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria?”
This is as much about access to the Mediteranian as it is about a deal that has a Kurdistan to be kept from forming (Kurds refer to their ancestry back in 600BC, Arabs mentioned Kurds in the 7th century as nomadic people) Turkey plays a big role in that.
And then most of the time it’s the Kurd’s doing the hard yards on the ground.
I read recently, and can’t find the piece. That Russia is mainly avoiding ISIS so as not to rack up the Muslim at home. Chechnya has been, and still is a major thorn for Russia.
I don’t think the Chinese will be viewing Trump’s agenda as isolationist, not after the “Fuck you” messages he’s been sending them the last week. Still, the fact they’re not chuffed with him might also explain that veto.
China has a shot at a regional trade agreement in 2017 excluding all the environmental and labour controls of TPPA such as they were.
China gets Trump as the US eclipse it is, and is making its own space fast.
Keep watching MSNBC and CNN Ad, Hillary cant lose from here and there’s russian airplanes just off the coast.
Not quite sure your meaning there.
Political broadcast brought to you via exiting entertainer Paul Henry interviewing Judith this morning…
Crusher says….
She will make Pike a memorial tomb.
She will suck up to Winny, says he is one of the best politicians who has ever been in Parliament and wants more options with support parties.
She’s not into English, he’s been preventing an increase in the police force apparently
Has no faith in Coleman
With a wavering voice says she wants more police
IMHO she doesn’t appear to be very confident in her chances. If her leadership bid fails will she form a breakaway party? Interesting times ahead.
PS Merry Christmas Paddy, maybe the Nation should do a special episode in the weekend, you’ll be bumming a bit that last week was your Christmas final. And you thought the Trump election was the highlight of your year lololol been thinking of you, happy for you, i don’t like you, but i’m happy for you. What a year huh?
Rachel Stewart pulls no punches in saying honestly what she thinks of John key. She tells of voting Nats for Key’s first term – I’m constantly surprised that people couldn’t tell Key was slippery as from the getgo.
Stewart fell out of support for Key over water quality, and it was all down hill from there, through rising inequality to tasteless media stunts and women being relegated to cheerleaders.
Stewart’s column: John Key era one giant facepalm”
Her three reasons for disliking Key’s government.
1. Destruction of waterways and lack of care for the environment.
2. Mismanagement of the economy so we have become a very unequal society.
3. His gutter behaviour towards women.
This – “He seemed to me to care only for running New Zealand like a huge corporation by squeezing every last dollar out of it – no matter the downstream consequences.”
A country isn’t a corporation and shouldn’t be run like one. Hell, even a corporation shouldn’t be run like corporations are run these days. Every business should care about the environment and about the people it employs and their well being.
Questions please
Do the Nat MP’s ask their constituents whom they feel would be the best choice in the race for leader of the national party and then vote accordingly?
Or do the MP’s vote according to their own wants and needs?
It just doesn’t seem very democratic to me, I’d be a bit pissy i think if i was a nat party member and did not have a say in whom the leader of the party i belong to should be.
From the the National Party Rules
Thank you Carolyn much appreciated
As the rules indicate it is the MP’s who decide. Otherwise how could it be done in a week.
However, I am pretty sure the MP’s will be thinking who will be the most effective in the next election and will be taking more than a few soundings on that very point.
Interesting listening to talk back, some are ringing concerned at the procedure, fascinating talk back this week.
I hope that some of those people who voted for John Key will reflect on what he actually did or didn’t do for NZ and start to consider the pressing issues facing this country and the world. That so many people could fail to see past the fawning MSM smokescreen for 8 years has never failed to amaze me. I also hope that those journalists who were “seduced’ by Key’s “friendliness” will take the opportunity to look back at their own contribution to the distraction he provided for a government that failed to deal with the pressing issues apart from a few superficial interventions. An alternative government could have made quite a difference to the current housing situation, reduced the foreign ownership of land, removed the tax haven status and worked with the Pike River families in a more compassionate manner had not the “show us the money” , the dirty politics/Ede/Slater feeding of MSM clouded the public’s view of the real issues.
The purpose of journalism is thus to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments.
https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/what-is-journalism/purpose-journalism/
i hope for similar – but its been a cult of personality for years.
And with all cults, when your in it, its hard to see it from the outside
How fake news has trashed the old idea of checking facts before publishing and tried to replace it with the idea that any kind of nutso raving is truth until someone else proves it wrong (to the nutso raver’s standards).
https://thinkprogress.org/the-most-dangerous-thing-about-fake-news-sites-is-not-what-they-say-but-how-they-say-it-f7bd89501028#.tl759hzes
This backgrounder makes Comet Ping Pong sound like an interesting place. Also explains why malicious kooks would want to use it as a centrepiece of a fake news story.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/12/06/comet_ping_pong_is_a_haven_for_weirdos_and_now_a_target.html
Fake News-
Murtaza Hussain @MazMHussain 23h23 hours ago
2003: Rifle-toting Americans barge into Iraq after reading viral Fake News story about weapons of mass destruction.
Yep, more right wingers creating fake news with disastrous consequences. With not enough attention being paid to Hans Blix and his inspection team fact-checking and saying there’s nothing there.
+100
Had the same thought, but not the energy to be as succinct as you. Thanks for doing so.
‘Fake News’ is repackaged ‘Conspiracy Theory’ for the catch and dispatch crew
Nothing more!
Which of your ‘reliable sources’ influenced you most to parrot the latest narrative for them, Andre?
The ego explores the progressive expansion of self-knowledge.
Ok so prediction time
Bill English will be the next PM but it will be close, very close with Jude so close in fact that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if theres a coup a year or so into Englishs reign, obviously it will be much earlier if English loses the next election
Having said that I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Jude managed to take the leadership of English
If I could pick I’d pick Coleman as he’s the freshest (or least most unknown) face and being a medical doctor is not exactly a bad thing to have on ones CV but he won’t get near the leadership
Prediction time?
Cut’n’run Key will be seen as shallower and shallower as time passes.
Cigar-smoke Coleman will be unable to hide his arrogance.
Crusher Collins will be unable to shake off the Slater on her back.
Boring Bill will fail to rid himself of his Double-Dipton title.
You must feel bereft, Pucky, and appalled by the present state of affairs.
Its not ideal but lets say National lose 7-8% over Key leaving, that leaves National on approx. 40%, I’d suggest NZFirst might gain as much as 3-4% of that which puts NZFirst well and truly over 10%
Jude would have no issues working with Winston and, probably, vice versa so the most logical outcome is a National/NZFirst government in 2017 and every other party on the outside unless Winston wants them in
Not sure how Winston and English get on though so its certainly made the upcoming election more interesting
“Its not ideal”
Ha ha ha ha ha!
No. It’s not ideal for the likes of you and other Key-adorers. In fact, it’s THE WORST POSSIBLE THING, and that’s, as you say, not ideal. For you. For others, myself included, this is High Humour and Pure Oxygen to the Soul 🙂 Now, you are reduced to trying to build something from a pile of fetid goop, relatively speaking, given that previously, you (believed) you were spinning with gold. How quickly that precious metal turned to straw. You must feel betrayed, as indeed you were. Key’s smiled as he assassinated National and the hopes of his sycophants such as your pucky self. These are dark days for you, Pucky, and all you can do now is try to make purses from sow’s ears. Good luck, ol’ chappy!
I thought you might appreciate that 🙂
“These are dark days for you, Pucky, and all you can do now is try to make purses from sow’s ears”
Yes its this exactly, we could sit around and go into mourning and think the worst has happened and we should all just give up but that won’t achieve anything and would almost certainly guarantee an election loss
Or we could see what we’re left with and go from there and it looks like there’s now no real impediment to National and Winston combining that that’s a…positive I guess
Its not what I (or anyone) would have wanted but sometimes you have to play the hand you’re dealt and National did manage to win one or two elections without John Key and I dare say they’ll be able to do it again
I suppose if ones trying to look positive I’d say that John Key has the left the party in the high 40s and there won’t be a bye-election needed, which is something a certain ex-Labour leader maybe should have looked at doing
Sitting around, mourning…yes, there’ll be a lot of that going on, Pucky, and more of it to come for your horrid crew who over the past 8 years have been crowing from the top of the dunghill you now discover is all thart remains for you. You had a merry trickster as your star and he’s dumped on you all from his great height – what treachery! How neatly and heartlessly he’s slid his dagger into the heart of his party and his supporters! Smiling Assassin indeed – did you think you were exempt? What I see now, is Mr Little, solid and trustworthy, established and supported, generously suppressing his delight at Key’s feckless knee-capping of the Right, eyes fixed on his up-coming win in 2017 – Little’s played it perfectly, as he’s played you and your gutted team. A marvelous week for the Left, Pucky, and the first of many.
Well leaving National in the high 40s and with the door fully open for NZFirst is not a bad position to be in
I know you don’t like my predictions but I predict that after the next general election National will still be in power and I think its now going to be National/NZFirst
Who do you think will make up the next government?
“trying to build something from a pile of fetid goop, ”
Like the golem…
“In Jewish folklore, a golem (/ˈɡoʊləm/ goh-ləm; Hebrew: גולם) is an animated anthropomorphic being that is magically created entirely from inanimate matter (specifically clay or mud). The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing.[1]
The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many tales differing on how the golem was brought to life and afterwards controlled.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem
Jewish folklore is spattered with tales of golem failing to obey the will of their controllers and running amok….creating havoc and disorder…
Shalom.
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series features allusions to many beliefs and weaves them into his stories. The golems appear particularly in Feet of Clay. The ideas about them seem to have been carried further into the thinking about how robots could be limited in their free will by Asimov.
This is from wiki –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golems_%28Discworld%29
http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Golems
Yes…some may cast doubt upon the value of fiction and folklore, but they both have their roots in the vast arena of human experience over the ages.
I’ve always seen golem as a metaphor for the potential of one’s creation to go beyond one’s control.
Especially when the quality of raw material for that creation is less than optimal.
When I have the time I will read my way through Pratchett’s work, perhaps there is a good starting point?
Sounds more like Frankensteins monster in that case
“Sounds more like Frankensteins monster in that case”
Variations on the theme PR, variations on the theme…
True true
Good to talk with you Rosemary. Yes Terry P was a good and funny writer and man. Also I have started reading Ellis Peters who wrote a series around Cadfael the monk who was sort of an ideal man that I think some women writers like to bring to life and imagine stories around. He lives in the 1100s and she writes vividly about that time and I think has the historical background and the culture of that time probably well covered.
While we are in these dire straits in the world I am interested in what people are, under all our layers of civilisation and poncy clothes and cars and high-heeled shoes. I’m looking for nobility and soul and clever use of our machiavellian minds and love and fascination with and for each other. Things I have never bothered thinking about before but now I see clearly how humans have trouble learning from past errors and am brought to the question of what did my birth father die for in 1944 WW2, which we don’t seem to have transcended, then what are we? It seems to me that there is an insect brain in us, along with other primitive inherent cognition.
This is a bit heavy but when one starts looking into the void as is happening now, then it makes ya think doesn’t it.
(Funny just as I was closing off – Puckish Rogue’s astute comment dame up Sounds more like Frankensteins monster in that case
Crusher is promoting working with NZ First, what is the general feeling within the outgoing government towards working with Winny?
Is she wanting to work with Winny because she has no new policy idea’s apart from more police?
Probably guarantees another two terms.
How’s that make you feel another 7 years of National?
http://iforce.co.nz/i/oxzgglw5.1rg.jpg
Dear BM… what can I say but…
http://68.media.tumblr.com/a9e157e5b1b96078d1e7f41e93296e9f/tumblr_nk2pf5Z2qY1s7uqdjo4_250.gif
“she has no new policy idea’s apart from more police”.
Don’t say that Cinny.
If you give her the credit Little, Andrew will have a hissy fit. He’ll be tearing up the carpet and complaining that it was HIS idea and that she is stealing it.
I can hear the wails from here. “Tt’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair ……..”
I can hear Winston laughing hard at her attempts to seduce him
“attempts to seduce him”.
Please, spare me. Some things just shouldn’t have to be thought of.
However, have you ever heard Winston laugh? He lasts about 2 seconds and then ends wheezing furiously. Far too many cigarettes to manage a laugh any more.
Exactly alwyn. Don’t rely on Winston being up to it… a year is a long time when you have his self imposed health problems.
Bombers got some great descriptions on the Nat candidates on TDB – (he sadly holds back on Collins however, the worst candidate in my view a mash up of Trump, Hitler, Imelda Marcos and Thatcher with the Enron accountants, rolled into one body )
BILL ENGLISH – A RELIGIOUS FANATIC
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he whips himself to sleep nightly. English desperately needed Key because English has all the charm and personal warmth of a road accident. Key was the smiling vacant face while English spent time privatising state housing, expanding the neoliberal welfare state and pushing for mass surveillance of beneficiaries.”
COLEMAN – DALEK
“The Minister of Wheeze, Dr Croak has a voice honied by years of cigarettes and stepping on poor peoples dreams. Possibly the most hopeless Minister ever, he did a shit job with Broadcasting and he’s a joke in Health. He wouldn’t publicly eat the cheap slop he was forcing hospital patients to eat and had the audacity to privately eat it and tweet about how yummy it was.”
“Judith Collins – the crypto-fascist”
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/12/07/a-religious-fanatic-a-crypto-fascist-and-a-dalek-these-are-our-choices-for-prime-minister-of-nz/
Okies I predict, English will get it and National will lose next election and Judith might possibly create a break away party.
Nope Collins will just kick out English as PM when she sees her chance – no break away party for the Natz – they are too lazy to break away and too clueless to start a party from scratch.
Well well well. That was taken down quick yesterday.
Must be something in those “conspiracy theories”.
?
????
Yes.
It looks dodgy as.
I have been wondering just how deep the divisions within the National Party are over the issue of legalising euthanasia.
There have been numerous attempts by from both left and right over the years to facilitate assisted dying. This year has seen a high profile court case and a continuing exhaustive select committee hearing with over 20,000 submissions.
Despite my personal well founded reservations, I honestly thought that this time the issue would get over the line and the syringes would sharpened and extra stocks of ‘blue juice’ ordered.
But no…despite having fully supported Lecretia Seales, John Key announced a month ago that…
“There is zero chance of Government introducing legislation to legalise euthanasia even if an inquiry strongly recommends it, ”
The reason given…”Key said he personally supported euthanasia. He would not take the step himself, but he believed others should be able to.
However, there was strong opposition to it within the National caucus, he said.
Senior members of the Cabinet such as Bill English and Gerry Brownlee have previously voted against bills which would have made euthanasia legal.”
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/john-key-no-chance-of-govt-legalising-euthanasia/
There is a real taste for physician assisted dying and the loud protagonists, although they dismiss the concerns of those who would be most at risk from misuse of such a facility, seemed to be winning.
So why the sudden back off from Key…who’s fair physiognomy dominated the Seales’ campaign page?
The politicians are too afraid of thinking deeply about anything because it just creates a precedent, and why fiddle while everything is going their way. So euthanasia, assisted dying, whatever has no chance with these peabrains.
And physician-assisted doesn’t have to come into it. If people have signed a document that they wish to do so, gone through legal measures of ensuring they have a will, left messages with a functionary with solicitor’s background if they don’t want to explain it to their children as is the best way, then they should have the right to do so. A proper procedure should be established in compliance with what older people who have thought through the process have decided and worked through with the pollies. Then there will be a peace of mind that life can be lived to the full and not in the end interfered with by forcing it to continue because of others’ beliefs and rigid principles.
At present there is this shameful and excessive watchfulness trying to prevent people even thinking or hearing about means of death. Police raids, disgusting. Politicians on top of the money heap and controlling, being the gatekeepers against those who wish to determine their own length of incapacity, they are a disgrace to their ‘profession’, incompetents and shallow. And the religious and hospices should stop trying to be Burkes in reverse.
In a word Rosemary…. Religion. God wants everyone to suffer apparently.
It is people who make other people suffer. Their ego, and dependence of being constantly appreciated. Hang on…. mostly male I think. Yep, looking around the world and it adds up.
MEET THE CANDIDATES
No. 2: Dr. Jonathan Coleman
I don’t know if he harasses waitresses or fondles the hair of little girls, but this bloke is a real piece of work.
Coca Cole-man, calls himself a Dr, but refuses to tackle the sugar issue even though across the globe other countries are tackling it and identifying it as so harmful. We have a public health system, why would he stretch it further by not addressing sugar?
Obesity and diabetes rates are obscene in NZ, sugar is an issue. Coleman would rather push through RMA changes and dump fluoride in our water than tackle the sugar issue. By adopting this mind set he shows himself as a Dr of Death.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/287782/the-sugar-filled-elephant-in-the-room
We have a public health system, why would he stretch it further by not addressing sugar?
Probably because he’s a MD and can identify this wailing about sugar as the kind of simplistic thinking that results in bad policy and unforeseen consequences. Obesity and diabetes are problems of carbohydrates in general, not sucrose in particular, and any minister wanting to deal with them walks into a political minefield – if Coleman doesn’t fancy using his feet as mine detectors, that’s hardly surprising.
Psycho, Coca Coleman is a fortune seeker, and not a good listener…
“A Herald poll last month suggested an overwhelming public desire to introduce a sugar tax, with more than 80% of 11,700 voters in favour of new legislation.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11615519
“More than 84 per cent of GPs responding to the latest New Zealand Doctor/IMS fax poll believe a sugar tax should be introduced in this country.
And nearly 70 per cent reject health minister Jonathan Coleman’s view of the effect a tax would have on consumption of sugary drinks.”
http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/news/2016/april-2016/14/sour-on-obesity,-gps-at-odds-with-coleman-over-introducing-a-sugar-tax.aspx
Don’t you want a PM that listens?
To whom? If the answer is “Evidence,” yes I do want a PM who listens. If it’s “Opinion polls,” then meh, not so much. (Not that I want a Nat PM either way, mind.)
“A Herald poll last month suggested an overwhelming public desire to introduce a sugar tax, with more than 80% of 11,700 voters in favour of new legislation.” “Don’t you want a PM that listens?”
You just had one for the past 8 years and he was berated for being poll driven. Do you want him back already?
“More than 84 per cent of GPs responding to the latest New Zealand Doctor/IMS fax poll believe a sugar tax should be introduced in this country.
And nearly 70 per cent reject health minister Jonathan Coleman’s view of the effect a tax would have on consumption of sugary drinks.”
How many of those GP’s also have an MBA? Interesting that you think they would have a better understanding on the effect taxation on consumption and the wider effects of such a tax (does it just cover sucrose? what about glucose? what if Coke just switched to a fructose based sweetener, do we have to tax fruit then? Would it include pure fruit juices? What about reconstituted fruit juices? All sugars are linked to diabetes, so do we tax everything with any trace of sugar like beer and wine? It would clearly have to cover Balsamic Vinaigrette, Almond Butter, yogurt) than a GP MP with an MBA…
Need more evidence? Scandinavian countries have such a tax, as does, Mexico, France, Hungary, Britain ..
Recent evidence further suggests an association between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and preventable mortality from diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, with the majority of deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries.. says the WHO.. so why on earth would we not want to do something about this? Something sensible, something that works, just like tobacco tax. Or do you think people will start holding up their local dairy for a red bull?
Now Coca Coleman is promising more funding for health if he gets the new job.. is that just some kind of excuse for his short comings in looking after the Health Ministry?
Lots of questions, so let’s make it easy…. A sugary drinks tax or soda tax is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of drinks with added sugar. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include, carbonated drinks, uncarbonated drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks
The way I see it is any against such a tax are just pro big business aka big sugar profits, and we all know they make more than enough as it is.
Let’s be pro the NZ Health System that our taxes pay for, lets look after the people.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2016/mar/16/will-a-sugar-tax-actually-work-budget
Need more evidence? Scandinavian countries have such a tax, as does, Mexico, France, Hungary, Britain ..
Other countries implementing simplistic policies based on noise from lobbyists isn’t “evidence” – except, maybe, evidence that weak politicians are prey for noisy lobbyists.
Recent evidence further suggests an association between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and preventable mortality from diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer…
Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and a shitload of other things that are probably more important factors. But instead of looking at the actual causes of obesity and diabetes (which come down to “foods that raise blood glucose levels rapidly”) and seeing what can be done about them, let’s tax sugary drinks because left-wingers hate the Coca Cola corporation. Why, oh why, isn’t Coleman on board with that, I wonder?
Lots of questions, so let’s make it easy…. A sugary drinks tax or soda tax is a tax or surcharge designed to reduce consumption of drinks with added sugar.
To serve what purpose? If the purpose is to reduce rates of obesity and diabetes in the population, a sugary-drinks tax is not fit for purpose for several reasons (the tax would have to be very high to actually suppress consumption, there’s extensive scope for unintended consequences, and singling out sugary drinks is pointless – if you look at the glycemic index, white bread and various other foods are actually worse than sucrose for making you fat and diabetic). The actual purpose of such a tax would be to make hand-wringers feel like they were doing something useful, which is not a good justification for new taxes.
PM – Out of interest, do you mind sharing who you voted for at the last election (party vote)?
I have just flicked through your comments on OM and I cannot get a read on you. I am guessing either Winston First or ACT…?
Just a question on Coleman. Who would trust a doctor that smokes?
I agree with you there Garibaldi
Would you apply the same logic to a doctor that drinks alcohol? Ethanol is a Group 1 carcinogen also, not to mention processed meat, would you not trust a doctor that drinks beer or eats pepperoni pizza?
To answer your question, I would trust a doctor that smokes, or drinks, or eats pepperoni pizza.
Labour – I guess I’m from the little-known “surly curmudgeon” faction. That was the first time since 1987, though – was an Alliance voter, then Green, then fuck-who-can-a-left-libertarian-vote-for-now, then back to Labour again on the basis that these days they’re the underdog and need some support. Proud to say I’ve never voted Winston First, although to my shame I did vote ACT once – at the time, they and the Greens were the only ones backing liberty when it came to drugs, anti-terrorism over-reach laws etc and the Greens were anti-science, so I swallowed a big dead rat. Never again…
Thanks PM, that all makes perfect sense and I learnt something new, I wasn’t previously aware of Labour’s “surly curmudgeon” faction!
Unfortunately I held my nose and voted Winston First in 2005, so I know what that dead rat tastes like.
You don’t think a tax on sugary drinks would achieve anything? I disagree, it would do something to help, it would not solve the whole problem, but it would be a factor in that solution.
The tax does not appear to have dented sales in Mexico, the government is collecting tax from it that can be used in the health sector, for other factors of obesity, maybe it could be used to encourage more people into physical activity or something, maybe the tax could be enough to cover dental care for the whole population? I don’t see any loses with this kind of tax from either side.
https://www.ft.com/content/e4f36a0e-6485-11e6-8310-ecf0bddad227
“Nicky Hager is trying to scaremonger and make himself relevant again.”
What someone collapsing under pressure looks like
She’s already losing her temper and calling people names….
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/319800/collins-hager-is-trying-to-scaremonger
Sour grapes on Hagers part, his sordid little book failed and now he’s trying to flog a dead horse
You choice of words reflects the state of your soul right now, Pucky. You’re lashing out. You are bitter, thanks to John Key, and you are right to be.
I’m an atheist so the soul doesn’t exist 🙂
It’s long been clear that you lack one, Pucky, as your hero-to-zero, John Key lacks anything resembling one, but I didn’t want to make an issue of it. I can see now, why you favour Collins for your next
empty-vesselleader.Actually I favour Coleman because he’s a fresher (or unknown) face whereas English, though talented, can’t really claim to be renewing and Jude has been unfortunately hamstrung by nasty lefties that fear her talent, hard work and charisma
I just don’t think Coleman will win
No one will win in this race of the losers, Pucky, least of all you and silly-billies like you who believed in Key. You’ve been slam-dunked, abandoned, short-changed and abused. I’m leaving you to your stranded-fish gaspings today as I’ve got fun things to do and this is miserable stuff.
Aww its sweet you’re trying to do that thing where you try to bring someone from the opposite political spectrum down
I mean it won’t work because the probability of a National/NZFirst government has increased but I appreciate the effort 🙂
Dude you didn’t hear Sanso interview Crusher then Winny this morning?
Oh dang, sorries to burst your bubble. For reals it does not look good for a coalition with Sir Winston if that’s what you are excited about.
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Winston-Peters-on-Judith-Collins-calling-him-the-real-leader-of-the-opposition/tabid/506/articleID/133814/Default.aspx
If you asked him about what he said the next day he’d deny he ever said it
Jonky resigned Puckish, stop projecting.
Fixed.
Unless you are more ignorant than I think you are, my friend, you will realize that Hager’s book was very successful. As he pointed out in this morning’s interview, the book led to Judith Collins losing her cabinet seat.
And the sordid parts of his book are the revelations of what Collins, Slater, Jordan Williams, Jason Eade and co. were doing. You’re muddle-headed to confuse the journalist with the things he reveals.
Ok its true that in my opinion the purpose of the book was to swing the election the lefts way which means it was a failure, National was re-elected, John Key was still popular and the left was still stagnating
According to Hager – and despite the right’s claims to the contrary he is a thoroughly honest person – the timing of the publication of the book just before the election was coincidental. He had hoped it would be ready for publication early in 2014 but it didn’t work out that way. Having said that, I’m sure he did want to see it published before the 2014 election.
Hager does not make claims about anybody without solid evidence to back them up. And that is precisely what happened with “Dirty Politics”. That it did not have an effect on the election is an indictment on the voters – the vast majority of whom were too glassy eyed and lazy to bother to read the book and/or digest the information that was widely reported and it’s inherent ramifications.
“the timing of the publication of the book just before the election was coincidental”
and if you believe that do I have a deal for you: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=i%20have%20a%20bridge%20to%20sell%20you
C,mon PR. Read what I said.
I recall Hager being quite open about the fact he wanted to publish the book before the election because he believed it was important that voters were aware of the dirty political machinations (Ede, Slater, Odgers, Lusk and Carrick Graham in particular) that were occurring. It was also deplorable that it was being coordinated from within “the PM’s office” and it defies logic Key didn’t know what was going on as he subsequently claimed.
Hager intended to publish much sooner but there were various delays and it ended up coming only a month before the election. Too late to have much affect on the election.
“the vast majority of whom were too glassy eyed and lazy to bother to read the book and/or digest the information that was widely reported and it’s inherent ramifications.” One of whom is you eh Pluckliss Rogue.
That’s Mr Puckish Rogue Esq. if you please 🙂
But it’s a great go-to for another insight and possible leads, that index.. fantastico.
GOsh it’s super exciting really… a race when you can’t stand any of the candidates, it’s like the USA presidential election all over again post Bernie of course.
Bridges I love oil is about to throw his hat in the ring too…. let the circus begin.. lmfaooooo best reality show in some time this is.
The contents certainly were sordid, but that was down to the participants being quoted (including Collins), not Hager.
Really? One of the better selling NZ books, I would have thought.
My bold, heh.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/lifestyle/70871949/Endless-praise-for-Nicky-Hagers-book-Dirty-Politics
I thought it was telling that in that interview Collins claimed she doesn’t hold grudges but spent the entire time attacking Nicky Hager, and deliberately mispronouncing his name. She came across as vindictive and bullying – so quite accurate really.
Exactly what struck me, too, Karen. Watching her self-destruct over the next few weeks will be a diverting if ugly spectacle.
She came across as vindictive and bullying – so quite accurate really.
The problem for National in a Collins leadership, summed up nicely.
test.
Hi Mod I have two stuck – one meant for Open Mike and one for Barbecue Season. When and if you have time could you release. Ta
First Policy out from The Opportunities Party. Gareth Morgan.
“The current tax regime favours owners of capital and unjustly burdens wage earners. This is not only inequitable, it results in poor utilisation of capital and lower than necessary income and employment. ”
“It addresses issues of rising inequality, housing affordability, foreign debt and poor levels of business investment. The end result will be more jobs, more businesses growth and tax cuts that leave 80% of the population better off.”
(I am watching with cautious interest.)
http://www.top.org.nz/top1?utm_campaign=top1_members&utm_medium=email&utm_source=garethmorgan
He should really exempt the family home. Taxing cash-poor homeowners is not the way to go to fix our problems.
millsy, This from the full policy.
“In case you missed it, I repeat
– under this policy NOT ONE
ADDITIONAL DOLLAR OF TAX
WILL BE COLLECTED. What
will happen is that some of
us will pay more (in mine and
John Key’s case, a lot more) and
for the great majority of people
they will either be unaffected
or pay significantly less. ”
It is closing a tax loop hole, not a new tax, nor an attack on the poorest on society. Quite smart really.
He doesn’t want poor people to own houses.
Being a “cash-poor homeowner” is a piss poor reason to expect tax exemptions. There are a lot of hard working people getting heavily taxed and will never own a home. What happened to a fair go?
Exactly. The idea that owning a home is somehow a special burden needs to be put to rest.
I get tired of home owners who endlessly bang on about ‘how hard it is to pay the mortgage’, as if somehow paying rent with absolutely no benefit or gain or security, till the day you die, is the easy ‘option’.
Some work to pay the rent, some work to pay the mortgage. The renter is the one left well behind in that equation.
We need some fairness in our financial and taxation systems.
A lot of kiwi homeowners think they are entitled to some kind of special privileges and tax breaks that renters never get. They are very sensitive to anything that threatens their inflated asset value
What about the older folks? They ones who have saved all their lives, survived wars and worked hard raising their families in a home as apartments obviously were not in vogue. But you could also look to the older folks that have to fork out 16 Mil for repair bills of apartments not so long ago build.
The core of it is that instead of getting off on envy and bashing people who have worked hard, work on a fairer system. This would certainly not include any tax cuts but rather have progressive tax applied.
You didn’t read Gareth Morgan’s piece didja? His proposal seems eminently fair. Taxing the top few % who are asset rich and using accounting tricks to hide their income from capital gains. Why should people who work for a living have to pay all the tax and people in million dollar houses pay none, while gaining (at least) 70K per year tax free.
You refereed to “a lot of Kiwi homeowners” – a lot? Many, many older folks are asset rich (if one could say that) because they have paid off the mortgage for the roof over their heads. With the 350 bucks a week to survive I doubt that you can add another tax.
As to your assertion of “entitlement” – there is no such thing. There is however, fairness in distribution which has never played out as for every mentioning of a group getting a share someone will put a veto in. This is what greed is all about, measuring entitlements.
Interesting, once again Labour gives it to a meek and compliant Greens, please sir may I have another
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/12/labour_backs_down_on_nelson_greens_furious.html
When will the Greens learn that being a doormat means you won’t get any respect from Labour…
Bless ’em 🙂
http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/english-and-colemans-inspiring-stories-how-they-came-from-money-and-stayed-there/
Corrections Minister Judith Collins has also announced she’ll seek the leadership of the party – and the nation – but is potentially less able to relate to the financial struggles of ordinary kiwis.
Collins has no money, but purchases all her goods by silently staring people down until they cave.
And now Key’s been tipped to head the IMF:
Someone must be getting upset with all the research that the IMF has done recently that proves the present socio-economic system that’s been rammed down our throats, often via the IMF, doesn’t work.
Well that won’t please wify
With the mess he has made of promoting high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reducing poverty in New Zealand he has no hope of accomplishing the stated goals of the IMF. The IMF seeks to facilitate trade as well, but that trade is meant to be fair and balanced trade. The type of trade he has sort to facilitate but luckily has failed so far has been to give the big internationals all the power to bully the little guys and small countries with anonymous international courts paid for, staffed by and beholden to those same big internationals.
Well that wouldn’t really be a surprise seeing Key is part of the oneworld group. in fact it’s just an extension of his burning desire for the TPP.
And Michael “Beware of the Worms!” Woodhouse is tipped to be Minister of Health.
Please Goddess, end the misery now.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11762144
This is of course going to happen if Jonathon “We’ll have to agree to disagree” Coleman gets one of the two Top Spots.
and to confirm my earlier assertion that he could be The Man…
“‘I think [Dr Coleman] glosses over the serious plight the public health system is in, and I don’t think he sufficiently gets it.
”At our last conference he annoyed the delegates a lot, because when somebody would express a different view to his, he had a stock answer of simply saying: ‘We’ll have to agree to disagree’.””
Sounds like Someone Else doesn’t it? Not getting it and glossing over the problems….but I guess that to achieve such a constant state of ‘relaxedness’ you’d have to be that way inclined.
Has the NZ Herald published the real reason Key has resigned?
Did he get a tap on the shoulder from President Obama in his last days in office and wants an even bigger stage for his ego?
John Key named as ideal candidate to head IMF
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11762219
We will have to wait and see.
A lot of the things that job is meant to accomplish are things he has totally failed at in New Zealand.
QUOTE: The IMF seeks to facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
He has only ever focused on one of those things in his time as NZ PM and the last 3 have got worse every year for us here under his government. He shrugged off as to hard reducing poverty here, imagine the mess with him in that role.
Yeah.
Fucker finally got a bigger gig and bailed on his mates lol.
Now that makes sense at last! Hearing Key say he doesn’t know what he will do next…..casually throwing in “maybe the speaking circuit..” He has had a game plan since being a ten year old, deciding he would learn golf, because rich people play golf, so who is he trying yo kid?
Oh look, corruption and cronyism working hand in hand with old small hands. Nothing changes, poor C.V. must be feeling quite sick at this point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A2arZllmqw&t=73s
Lyndon Hood from Scoop NZ points out the ‘IMF wants Key’ story our local media are recycling now is actually a year old: http://www.mscnewswire.co.nz/reporters-desk/item/1019-nz-premier-john-key-imf-managing-director-prospect.html
LMFAO !!!!!! That headline caught my eye and i was like, nah who cares, as long as he fucks off from here, i won’t read that.
And it’s a year old, and Herald is running it today… bahahahaha. Thanks for letting us all know.
Sad, real sad, looking for click bait are we? Well it aint john the pm who quit key, any headline with his name in it is now yesterdays news or in this case yester-years news
Excellent opinion piece on Key in the Grauniad today. Includes thought-provoking discussion of the need for the political opposition to produce a viable counter-narrative.
“In this regard, Key was like a Tony Blair of the South Seas: a certain level of personal charisma and a socially inclusive façade allowed both Key and Blair to sell the nasty side of neoliberalism.”
“Like Blair, Key had the Teflon gene. Despite ignoring public preferences not to privatise state-owned enterprises (2-1 against in a referendum), increasing the GST during the global financial crisis, and more or less ignoring New Zealand’s chronic child poverty because he blames the victims, none of it stuck.”
What a brilliant summary of the PR image (not the actual human being) that was our Prime Minister.
Why doesnt the entire opposition call for a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE in the government led by English
That will trigger an early GENERAL ELECTION so we can all be part of who runs our country instead of having yet another money lusting chauvenistic bully forced on us!!!
That way we dont need an expensive by election for Shearers seat if he goes.