An article by Soper about National’s obsession with and hatred of Winston.
Soper has now written at least two articles critical of English.
As a true Nat boy, I wonder which right clique he supports
“Their elephant’s Winston Peters and they should be discussing why they failed to convince him that running the show is their natural habitat.
That’s part of their problem of course, they like Hillary Clinton, couldn’t see themselves losing, it wasn’t part of their thinking.
…….To do that though surely they’ll have to understand what went wrong and there are so many obvious things that they’d do well to consider.
For starters they set out to destroy the very man they had to sit down with to try and do business with.
English urged voters to cut out the middle man, during the campaign, and said he was a difficult character to deal with.’
Good morning breakfast people I say it ok to us a phone were ever you want I’ve spent 1hour at a jym .But I would ban them when one has children as the mokos are missing out on quality family time because there mum’s and dad’s have there faces stuck in there phones I rub my children out because of this Tec effect. 4 of my mokos have thrown parents phones In the toilet when they were in there terrible TWO’s I laughed when I was told and said to there parents put the phone down and pay more attention to my mokos. Lucky they always have phone insurance. Ka kite ano
Good story on kiwi saver there needs to be a inquiry into this industry as shonky would change the regulation to line his pocket and his m8 pocket at the expense of the PEOPLE. Most people don’t pay attention to there kiwis saver so there saving end up in a default fund who knows what these players do with it then. One can get %40 more by learning how the fund works and when the time is right move it into high risk high return fund that could be 10 of thousands more at retirement.
The interview on our power industries was excellent to ECO MAORI all the organization of our electricity industry that are not floated on shonkys m8 stock exchange are highly regulated. This leaves the companies that are floated on the stock exchange un regulated .This situation lets these companies be in a situation to cream ally the profits at the expence of the regulated lines companies ETC and THE PEOPLE. We wonder why our transmissions network needed to have huge investments by the Government the profits are all flowing up to the 1% .
Now it’s STUPID NOT TO HAVE POLICIES that make sure that all OUR transmission lines have NO TREES or any thing that could compermise OUR vital supply of eletrisity to the PEOPLE .This ignorance is costing NZ millions of dallors having the ambulance at the bottom of the hill once again. WTF come on let’s clean this mess up .Sorry
Ka kite ano
No fertility problems with ECO MAORI offspring my problem is getting them to slow down lol but I feel for all the people in a position were the opposite is the fact of there lives .Ka kite ano P.S. yes Jack I have the same problem of people recording me and my Whano on there phones it a phenomenon that goes with FAME some one should invent a device that jams any devices within 50 mtrs I would give one to my mokos so they will get more quality time lol
I can see that the morning Rumble Rock radio show is awesome I was going to say something else but I don’t want you good people get a bit of heat from my comments Ka pai
Here is how we treasured OUR mokos and then the bad apples infected our people the neolibrals try and tar us MAORI cultured people with the brush they created here is a link that opens my eyes I have ignored paul moons words as suppression of Maori MANA
You can oppose factory farming because it is smelly.
And the farm is certainly big.There will be over 1 million sentient beings existing inside it.
And it will be ugly on the outside. Large Industrial buildings are not usually attractive with a rural backdrop.
There is a much bigger reason to oppose Tegels factory farming plan.
Animal cruelty.
Because the real ugliness will be on the inside of that building.
Hidden from sight.
I bet you Tegel won’t be building their factory with glass walls.
Because if they did, people would not buy their chicken.
For the last few years I’ve only bought free range chicken, pork and eggs, its a little more expensive but I’ve noticed that there are more free range eggs available and a greater selection of free range meat at the supermarket
If more people buy free range then there’ll be less battery farming going on, hopefully
How nice of all you lovely people to be able to afford the choice of free range or organically farmed, an option not on the agenda of probably three quarters of the population.
You are, of course, right but hell’s bells stop talking about it as if it is a real option for most.
This tends to be the problem thinking of those who are blind to the bleeding obvious – there is no real equity or even equality in this country. However, the born to rule don’t or won’t understand that.
Interesting.
Doogs makes a completely uncontroversial observation – that many people can’t afford organic/free range food – and is accused of having “a chip on his shoulder”.
Doogs’ concern about this inequality is then mocked by likening it to a kids’ song about free stuff popping out of the ground or growing on trees. The implication being that any dissatisfaction with the way things are is just childish fantasy.
Nasty RWNJ stuff.
“How nice of all you lovely people to be able to afford the choice of free range or organically farmed, an option not on the agenda of probably three quarters of the population.”
I personally found that this was quite condescending
“You are, of course, right but hell’s bells stop talking about it as if it is a real option for most.”
I wasn’t saying its an option for most (even though it is) I was saying what I do and making the observation that if more people did as well then the prices for free range will probably come down over time
“This tends to be the problem thinking of those who are blind to the bleeding obvious – there is no real equity or even equality in this country. However, the born to rule don’t or won’t understand that.”
I acknowledged that some can’t afford it but I can (for which I do not and will not apologise) and for those who also can afford it they should eat free range as well
So yeah I mocked Doog because I get a bit bloody sick and tired of the perpetually outraged actively looking for things to be outraged about
But for what its worth I’ve given Doog something else to be outraged about so Doogs probably happy
I’m afraid you’re right PR – about one thing – I am perpetually outraged – about one thing – the fucking last 9 years of pretend government.
We gave them a go for 3 years, and they did nothing and lied.
We gave them another go, for another 3 years . . . and guess what?
Then they sleep-walked into another 3 years thanks to John boy the flexible man who had an opinion about everything and stood for nothing in particular.
Yep, you’re right, I am purple with incandescence about what that useless lying bunch did to this country for 9 long years.
Otherwise, I’m pretty relaxed and quite a nice bloke . . . really.
It’s not just a cost issue. Plenty of people in poverty smoke tobacco even though it is extremely expensive, because they are addicted. I don’t buy the idea we have to be cruel for cost purposes. People have priorities and they run their lives to what makes them feel the best or if they don’t know any different.
I’d like bad products (like soft drinks for example) to be taxed more as they are less expensive than bottled water in many cases.
Cheap eggs and chicken with antibiotics and growth hormones as well as inhumane living conditions are like soft drink, they are so bad they have to make them cheap or else nobody would buy them.
Yep, the rise of bottled water – another pollutant. Yep good for emergencies like floods but yes agree a problem in itself and should not be ‘the better’ choice than tap water.
I guess my point is, why should poorer people be expected to buy worse and less healthy products and the poor buying them blamed for the unhealthy or cruel products existence and prosperity.
If the government really wanted the poor to have cheap eggs how about co operatives in deprived places operating as an alternative.
It’s just another way for poor business practise and ‘the markets’ to oppress people (and animals) and the environment when there is plenty of other alternatives.
The free range movement is well intended, yet there are some problems:
1) intensively farmed chickens can be healthier ( parasites etc)
2) free range isn’t necessarily, laws around labelling/ claims should be better
This is not intended as a defence of the industry.
3) Unfortunately too at our house we shop on price and don’t have ability to choose the more expensive free range option as many of us in this low wage economy must.
The illusion of choice is relative to the size of your wallet ( wage and union busting laws) and the handful of corporations who control our food.
3) Unfortunately too at our house we shop on price and don’t have ability to choose the more expensive free range option as many of us in this low wage economy must.
Yeah I accept some can’t always go the free range route but, maybe, if most farms go free range then the free range prices will drop, never drop as low as battery farming but it might help
Free range chicken, you can use more. In economic terms, buying a free range chicken makes more sense Keepcalmcarryon. Not only do you get healthy liver – the bones are better for stock and soup.
Seeing at this time of year soup is really not on the cards, as stock bones, free range is way better. One chicken will get you a good stock, whereas for budget chickens it can be two, three, or more to get a good stock.
1. [Citation Needed]
2. True. There are many people who like the extra profits but not the extra work. Another great example of the profit motive bringing about poor outcomes.
3. That is true for the majority of people.
The illusion of choice is relative to the size of your wallet ( wage and union busting laws) and the handful of corporations who control our food.
Here you go DTB re factory confined hens ( at least sometimes) showing better health outcomes. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/135594.php , quality of life must come in to it too and surely that is better where hens can get outside.
The authors emphasize that, because of the change in housing systems that occurred between 2001 and 2004, many of the farmers caring for these flocks lacked the experience and knowledge that would have prevented the higher mortality and disease rates. According to Fossum, “birds kept in indoor litter-based and free-range housing are more prone to disease but measures can be taken to counter this.” Fossum adds,“the health of Swedish laying hens kept in these systems has improved as the farmers have become more experienced in managing the new housing systems.”
For sure, the point is there have been some health benefits noted to caging birds if we are examining all the facts. Note the conclusion does not say things have improved to the point of equivalence.
Again, not defending the industry, our handful of chooks get to scratch around outside, but we should keep both eyes open eh
Actually looks like the farm under discussion IS considered freerange as birds have access to outside ( whatever that means).
Also 32 jobs, is this all bad Ed (yes you don’t agree with any farming)?
There is no making ed happy on this matter. Free range or not he only accepts the “vegan way”.
I raise and have home kill my own beef and lamb – yet ed still finds this disgusting and went on about it – despite the animals being well treated and cared for.
If you like the nicer taste of free range – you will love home kill. It taste soooo much better again.
There is truth in better meat quality in an unstressed animal killed instantly as per home kill, however much the thought annoys those who don’t eat meat.
Long story short, the more stressed the animal the tougher the meat so treating animals better is not only morally the right thing to but also means a better meal
Yes we could force them to be humane.
And part of this would be to control the language used.
I note below that many people still think that ‘free range’ chickens mean cruelty free chickens.
You don’t really have to do much to get the label free range in New Zealand.
You certainly don’t need to care about their welfare.
The only requirements free-range farmers must meet are set out in the code of welfare for layer hens, developed under the Animal Welfare Act. The code states hens should have access to an outdoor range area.
Access can be a small hole at the end of a very large barn.
What’s Wrong with Free-Range?
Commercial free range farms are often large-scale operations involving many thousands of animals. Due to the sheer scale of production, the welfare and individual treatment of the animals is compromised. The animals, especially chickens, are kept in unnaturally large groups that can cause stress and fighting. Free range animals are still killed at a very young age and suffer trauma both on the journey to the slaughterhouse and during the killing process.
For many of us the term ‘free-range’ means that chickens are raised in much the same manner as you would imagine if you were to raise your own chickens at home (much like the two images above). Access to large fields roaming about free looking for worms amongst the grass. Well you find that this association is almost entirely untrue, despite what pictures on egg cartons and chicken wrappers will indicate. This is for the very simple reason of economics. Large scale, cheap eggs and chicken even if it is free-range needs to adhere to certain constraints of economics which revolve around the cost of land and the cost of chicken feed.
I think this is really bad. They say they can’t get enough local workers and that the imports will be paid the “NZ market rate”. But of course this is directly suppressing nz wages, because the local rate is obviously too low because it won’t attract enough workers.
Why are we developing things like this hotel again? Neoliberals only support markets when they can be used to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich – otherwise they want to intervene.
New Zealand has become a slave state.
Thanks Roger Douglas, Ruth Richardson and John Key.
We know why you were given your knighthoods.
Jail for treason would be a more fitting prize.
Look BM, things laid down by Douglas et al have been so fundamental and life changing that it will in fact take decades to undo them. Their policies have put tentacles into so many places and affected so many aspects of society that it will take many doses of worm tablets to clean out the parasites from the gut of our nation. Remember also that we, as part of the world fabric, are also inter-twined with cancerous elements of other nations.
This government has had 3 months to begin the process of reversing 30 years of harm.
FTA with China, she won’t be changing anything, especially with Clarkula pulling all the strings.
If anything I’m expecting to see a massive increase in Chinese workers coming to NZ to build houses and apartment blocks.
How will that make you feel, thousands upon thousands of Chinese workers flooding into the country keeping locals out of work and it will be done under a Labour government!
If I was a moderator repeating that lie and that abuse would get you banned.
How will that make you feel, thousands upon thousands of Chinese workers flooding into the country keeping locals out of work and it will be done under a Labour government!
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t surprise me. I’ll continue to vote Green and, hopefully, many others will also lose their fanboi admiration of Labour and vote Green.
No – I wouldn’t like that to happen, but in fact they are already talking about 200 Chinese workers coming in to finish a large building. Bad move.
However, my statement about it taking a long time to fix deep-seated and systemic problems still stands. It will likely take at least as long as the Key/English tribe were in power to even make a dent in the edifice.
To answer your thing about the Chinese workers – it will take a large, complex and determined gear-up to provide training of our own resident workers to obviate the imbalance in the work force. That takes time, among other things.
Yea that’s one of the problems with these so called free trade agreements, it isn’t a level playing field. For example the average wage in China is $3 an hour so how can any NZ company possibly compete? There should be allowances within the FTA’s for these sorts of disparities I’m all for free trade if it’s fair free trade.
Yep it seems our government loves/fears China so much but I’m less sure that the Kiwi public wants NZ to be part of Asia with a $3 an hour, factory farmed workers, extreme pollution, corruption and no democracy. So why are we still going in that direction?
What’s not gonna happen mikes? They won’t be given a chance?
Oh yes they will. How many followers they have in November 2020 will depend entirely on how they handle it. And I for one am prepared to give them space and rope to operate in exactly the way they intend and have started with already.
This must be one of the first times i’ve agreed with you Ed…yay!… Roger Douglas and his cronies should have been charged with treason. There’s probably a reason the Labour party abolished the death penalty for treason in 1989.
(Not that i agree with the death penalty, although there’s always an exception)
I feel there should be a limit on temporary exemptions to NZ labour laws. If you bring in a technician for a few days work perhaps that can be controlled by the rules of where you hired him. But if he’s here for longer than that his employer should meet NZ minimums in terms of wages and conditions.
At 4.5% headline unemployment and falling, people with any specialist skills in the construction industry are working about as much as they can.
Definitely need more specialist construction staff, but they aren’t trained, and there are not even enough coming through the tertiary education centres.
There are multiple five star hotels in Auckland and Queenstown either underway now or consented and ready to go. Much of this is leading up to APEC and Americas Cup, but we’ve had a five-star room shortage for a while now.
So in that absence we have to go and get them from overseas.
There are none left, unless you steal them from another company. Sometimes they do that. Other times it’s faster just to wholesale import.
There’s no racism in it.
If you are asking me the broader question: why aren’t there enough highly skilled stonemasons trained up and ready to go here, I would say after the earthquakes there is no excuse for it. So yes, this is a National-caused capacity problem.
Plus weak unions from anti-union legislation that has kept wages low while productivity in construction continues to be high. Again, caused by National.
The trouble with your rational assessment Ad is that again, it is only the discarded sector of the population- the untrained unemployed and under-employed- that must suffer the burden of 30years of cheaper options. let industry and its various hangers-on suffer the consequences of their actions over this same 30 years.
‘So in that absence’- they can reflect on the failure of their plan to undermine and supplant appropriate local trades training with cheap imported labour.
Fuck the developers. Where were they when successive governments destroyed the institutions that would have prevented this situation occurring in the first place?
That’s because of the move to tertiary training with expensive courses rather than the on the job training apprentices for trades people. Everyone’s been told they need to be an accountant or lawyer and get a degree in that.
I’m all for having people qualified but whatever the hell they came up with, migrant workers and some hybrid apprentice/training scheme, clearly isn’t working.
And having so many migrants coming in then takes away the opportunities for local people to learn to do the work while keeping the wages and conditions suppressed which then leads to nobody wanting to go into that trade.
Hey in the old days, there were plenty of houses and plenty of builders. Under the last 30 years all that has changed and I’m not sure we are better off with the leaky buildings and constant remedial work we have under the new system of all these ‘trained’ overseas workers and tradies with student loans.
The overseas visas and residencies are a rout for developers to make more money and we now know that some migrants are paying the employer (often unwillingly and certainly outside of NZ law) to get into NZ not the other way around. It’s a scam.
Also don’t worry if anything goes wrong in that luxury hotel, guess what, the ratepayers will pay for the remedial work due to the council signing it off. Seen it again and again. The developers will be working next door under a different name to avoid liability.
The education thing is a classic example of why education should be free. Back in the day, professional courses had much more restricted entry. Yes, lawyers and doctors made more cash, but they also paid higher taxes.
Snobbery over the trades was part of the problem, too, but also I suspect that a lot of trades are now more technical – navvies don’t dig trenches, they operate heavy machinery. Plumbers don’t just do pipes and brazing, they use air compressors and cameras and pump trucks. Builders use laser levels and nailguns. Mechanics work around engine management computer systems.
But in the 1990s “bums on seats” became the norm for education and things became tougher for people, so there was a rush to the better-paying and newly opened up “professions”.
As a mate of mine put it, when his local factory closed down he was offered relocation and training to work in another factory. He turned it down to get an education.
Ten years later, he was getting his masters (which ain’t worth what it used to be) and his mate who took the forklift job had earned a few hundred thousand more than he had. Fortunately, he took the education for it’s own sake, but it’s interesting how time change.
Lots of people “took a chance” to raise themselves up – the flipside is that if you lose the bet, you don’t get an inspirational movie made about you. And the house always wins
I accept the correct labour might not be immediately available locally, but if causing delay to this project and others is what is needed to create pressure to lift wages and investment in training in NZ, then that is what should happen.
The problem with low training and wages in nz is hugely important.
While his reply included that investment in skills was not done by the previous government, he also said that he had asked for a urgent report from the appropriate ministries. It seems that the applications were being done as individual ones rather than a block one. Although a fairly light response, Lees-Galloway had contacted RNZ re their initial report of his own accord, rather than failing to front up.
The first thing the government should do is to remove the overseas work permits and residency paths. Then guess what, everything will change. Wages will go up not just for Maori, Pakeha but also the 15% of migrants already here! Then the taxpayers will get more revenue and less money going out in top ups. Then training will start to happen as after throwing out all their toys, the developers, food outlets, petrol stations and farmers will knuckle down with local labour and get it done. Hey they might have to import Australians if worst comes to worst. But I doubt it.
There was a statement made by the MD of the firm Building Recruitment in this first interview at 6.10am that was removed from the repeat broadcast at 7.17am.
He said that “The people letting us down most are the locals we employ. They’re the ones not turning up on jobs”.
RNZ cut it out later in the program when they only played the first part of what was, after all, a very short clip (less than a minute).
They also left it out of the report linked to at comment 4.
That comment of the MD of course backs up the things that Bill English said he was being told about New Zealand workers.
Am I being unduly paranoid when I think first of the probability that someone in the PMs Office, monitoring Morning Report, immediately rang the RNZ news people and demanded that this particular piece of the interview must not be repeated? It didn’t match the line that this Government are spinning. New Zealand workers are wonderful and only the evil Bill English is telling lies about them. Red Radio would of course oblige and the line will never be repeated on their news service.
The problem is they are both right. Loads of Kiwis have got terrible work practises and don’t get to work on time or take it seriously. But we used to have an excellent work reputation for Kiwi workers overseas, so what’s changed?
In my view, the last 30 years and in particular the last decade have robbed people the chance to have continual work at decent wages. In addition decisions like 180,000 work permits a year have robbed locals the ability to start part time work at an early age (aka part time time work as teenagers or students). This has mean’t more and more Kiwi’s were never given opportunities and have not been able to understand the process of work. If they can be fired after 30 days, made redundant after 30 years with little compensation the relationship has become adversarial.
Bring in cheap workers bribed by the cost of a residency and citizenship is making the situation worse. We are cannibalising our own work force and replacing it with one that is often less skilled and educated but more able to be exploited. Our productivity shows this is not a workable situation of thinking overseas labour will help us.
It’s pretty much like asset sales but with labour. The government has sold out our local labour force saying that the market will decide, but then the wages money just goes overseas while the locals have to be paid to be unemployed, imprisioned, going through the courts, drug and alcohol rehab etc etc. It’s a VERY expensive option and social experiment and why everything needs to be looked at as a whole, not just individual silos.
Couln’t agree more @savenz, alongside ur 7 and 8 comments on openmike 1/1/2018.
The bullshit continues! I see it daily here with false promises being made by consultants that should be monitored properly by IAA.
INZ AND ASSOCIATED agencies under MBIE have been no care no responsibility-whether thru under resourcing or whatever. BOTH the immigrant AND The Kiwi workforce have been royally ripped. The gNats had no long term plan other than cheap labour with churn to keep it all propped up. It is actually a matter of record. The case today of the Philipinos being ripped is the tip of the iceberg.
The starting point is as you say in 4.5.1 above. We need a starting point AND for those wh’ve ALREADY been lied and cheated to and who are already here, for say 5,6,7 years, allow them to stay in order to pass on their skills and train Kiwi labour – many I know are anxious to do so in various sectors.
I’m still of the view that MBIE has the wrong organisational culture to be involved in immigration matters…..’the business of immigration” takes little account of any other imperative than the economic.
That’s one reason, as you suggest, things have become particularly bad over the past ten years.
As I travel around atm, I’m gathering more and more info of immigrants having been shafted by the NZ experience over and above the many I met 18 months ago.
People trafficking is not too strong a fescription, however they have cared to dress it up.!!!! AND at the expense of Kiwi labour and education standards. It’s been all about the money
Out of nowhere, Finance Minister Grant Robertson has made a significant U-turn, reversing what seemed to be a core Labour position.
After years of criticising National for a significant growth in Crown debt to more than $60 billion over the last decade, Robertson now seems to think the state of public debt is the best thing about the New Zealand economy.
Yeah, this is the idiot that has just lifted rents by $50 per week low & mid income families so he can get a few 1000 more young people into Sociology 101 courses.
This Govt will (if not already) go down as the most incompetent in NZ History.
But babies, & feelz, & conversations, & “we care more”…
Sociology a la NZ Tertiary Institutions – an uncritical (and unhinged) love of Socialism & Marxism conveniently leaving out the 100% failure rate, the 100’s of million of deaths due to murder or starvation.
FIFY
Mao was much worse of course. Estimates of the number of deaths in the 1959-1962 famine his policies caused were probably in the region of 45 million.
That only counts the 2 major figures of course. It doesn’t count minor figures like Pol Pot and his monsters for example.
Even so there were less than 100 million deaths so faroutdude is exaggerating, isn’t he? Nothing wrong with killing of less than 100 million people is there?
Actually Mao probably saved more lives than any other political figure in history – the most rapid and stunning mortality declines and consequential increases in life expectancy perhaps in world history happened in China under his watch.
From 1966 to 1976 (the years of the cultural revolution), life expectancy rose by over ten years, from 51 to 64 years! https://tinyurl.com/y9aa32qr
Other researchers point out: “Despite China’s relatively low level of economic development at the time and that a large part of the population still lived in poverty, China’s mortality decline was faster than many countries with similar or markedly higher socio-economic development levels. This together with the successful experience of some other countries, such as Sri Lanka and Costa Rica, were widely regarded as “routes to low mortality in poor countries” https://tinyurl.com/y8b9jqug
Dikotter (the source of your linked article), gets his 45 million kill count by simply calculating excess deaths over 10 per thousand – essentially the same as the advanced industrialized nations of the time – which is patently ridiculous. As the renowned famine expert Cormac O’Grada points out (emphases are mine) “much hinges on what ”normal” mortality rates are assumed, since the archives do not distinguish between normal and crisis mortality. The crude death rate in china in the wake of the revolution was probably about 25 per thousand. It is highly unlikely that the communists could have reduced it within less than a decade to the implausibly low 10 per thousand adopted here (p. 331). Had they done so, they would have ”saved” over 30 million lives in the interim! One can hardly have it both ways.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00398.x/pdf
I think Your being dishonest Alwyn …. or is there another reason you leave out important story changing facts ???
Things like Scorched earth ecocide and Infrastructure destruction, war crimes and extermination policy practiced on your population, support and recruitment of Nazis for sabotage, proxy fighters, economic warfare, bombings, overt and covert warfare … and every other means of dirty tricks combined with constant state aggression …all these things things …. were used by ‘the free west’ against russian and chineese people.
Pol Pots millions of dead can go on the usa death ledger though … seeing as they armed and supported them … as a extra gift to the people of Cambodia from uncle sam … after years of bombing. Pol Pot is in the following video
William Blum provides books worth of information and details that help get a better more truthful record of the past.
Korea: “The two sides had been clashing across the Parallel for several years. What happened on that fateful day in June could thus be regarded as no more than the escalation of an ongoing civil war.
The North Korean Government has claimed that in
1949 alone, the South Korean army or police perpetrated 2,617armed incursions into the North to carry out murder, kidnapping, pillage and arson for the purpose of causing
social disorder and unrest …”,
…. “A State Department official, Ambassador-at-large Philip C. Jessup, speaking in April 1950, put it this way: There is constant fighting between the South Korean Army and bands that infiltrate the country from the North. There are very real battles, involving perhaps one or two thousand men. When you go to this boundary, as I did … yo usee troop movements, fortifications, and prisoners of war. Seen in this context, the question of who fired the first shot on 25 June 1950 takes on a much reduced air of significance. ”
Chinas food growing conditions :” By 1949, United States aid to the Nationalists since the war amounted to almost$2 billion in cash and $1 billion worth of military hardware; 39 Nationalist army divisions had been trained and equipped.”
13
“Yet the Chiang dynasty was collapsing all around in bits and pieces. It had not been only the onslaught of Chiang’s communist foes, but the hostility of the Chinese people at large to his tyranny, his wanton cruelty, and the extraordinary corruption and decadence of his entire bureaucratic and social system.”
“American political and military leaders had no illusions about the
nature and quality of Chiang’s rule. The Nationalist forces, said General David Barr, head of the US Military Mission in China, were under “the world’s worst leadership”.
14
The Generalissimo, his cohorts and soldiers fled to the offshore island of Taiwan (Formosa). They had prepared their entry two years earlier by terrorizing the islanders into submission—a massacre which took the lives of as many as 28,000 people.
15
Prior to the Nationalists’ escape to the island, the US government entertained no doubts that Taiwan was a part of China.”
The actions to make Russians suffer have gone on the longest.
World War One did not end until 1920 for them .. British and usa forces invaded them, blockaded them, mined their harbours …. and fought against them, on the side of the czar … for the continuation of serfdom … which was much like slavery for the poor.
As bad as the russian ‘communist’ economy was …. and it was really bad in many ways when they abandoned it under Glasnost ….
The following right wing free market economic ‘reforms’ with its privatization of state assets … plunged tens of millions into abject poverty……. Living standards collapsed for most …. Mortality soared.
Poverty, corruption ….. and a criminal Oligarch class of Billionaires and Millionaires have grown.
Mao is called a mass murderer because of an elevated mortality rate during the Great Leap Forward. But this is compared to the stunning decline in mortality otherwise achieved in the first decade of the PRC.
Anti-communist critics (most of them completely innumerate) forget to mention that the mortality rates during that 2 or 3 year period (around 25 to 30 per thousand per year) were in fact quite typical for other developing countries of the time, and were in fact lower than the mortality rates China had endured for decade after decade up to the success of the 1949 revolution.
The Maoist era was by and large was defined by a huge decline in mortality —-with a reversal during the years of the Great Leap Forward (caused by the tragic convergence of a number of factors —most of them out of the control of the Chinese communists, and none of them intended to result in deaths, much less so murder).
You’ll have no trouble pointing out exactly which bits are wrong, and how, then.
Unless of course you are one of the fools who swallowed all this bullshit and parrot it out at every opportunity.
Oh, hang on – that’s exactly what you do…
I don’t think he is going to answer you.
I can’t comment on whatever is taught in a Sociology course but I really don’t think he is going to try and defend the argument that it was only about one hundred rather than multiple hundreds
He’s probably just losing the will to live when considering Faroutdude’s ability to dump irrelevant bullshit onto a thread as though it were some kind of response to a person’s comment. And your own admission that you have no idea what’s taught in sociology papers hardly makes yours a persuasive endorsement of his bullshit.
You’ll have no trouble pointing out exactly which bits are wrong, and how, then.
All of it was wrong.
Sociology doesn’t teach Marxism. It teaches about society and how people interact.
Modern economics doesn’t teach about the 100% failure rate of capitalism that’s caused even more deaths throughout history than can be counted.
BTW, what Mao and Stalin wasn’t socialist either. It wasn’t even communist for that matter. It was dictatorial which more closely resembles capitalism and the dictatorial actions of the owners.
Your a liar far-out-in-the-middle-fool … a fact free idiot.
Which I will quickly prove …. as you fail to produce any free market country … to match the socialist example I’m putting forward.
We’ll ignore the capitalist free market mass starvation ….. inflicted by choice …. upon the people of Ireland and India …. killing millions.
We’ll also ignore the reversal of human rights, mass murders, torture, rape and imprisonment …..all the dramatic declines of living standards for millions ….
When Miltons free markets were inflicted by the barrel of a gun and destruction of democracy ….Resulting in the very worst of fascist police states… and vast suffering for the people…Over most of Latin America …. and many many other counties
Instead I simply challenge you to put up or shut up…. in a direct comparison of real world statistics and facts….
Or are you all piss and wind …. ??
The socialist country and economy I’m using as an example …..
“Is a country which went from one of the poorest nations in its continent into the richest nation….it also gained the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy.”
“Health care is [was] available to all citizens free of charge by the public sector.
infant mortality rates had decreased from 105 per 1000 live births in 1970 to an Infant mortality rate of 14.0
Confirmed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), undernourishment was less than 5 %,
Took literacy from 25% up to 87% with 25% going on and earning university degrees.
University education was free.
Gross primary school enrolment ratio was 97% for boys and 97% for girls (2009) .
(see UNESCO tables
The pupil teacher ratio in primary schools was of the order of 17 (1983 UNESCO data)
It Went from a country beset with cholera and unsafe water problems …. to a very low percentage of people without access to safe water (3 percent), health services (0 percent) and sanitation (2 percent)
With regard to Women’s Rights, World Bank data point to significant achievements, “In a relative short period of time … passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law… In secondary and tertiary education, girls outnumbered boys by 10%.” (World Bank Country Brief,
From the early 1980’s until 2003 it was placed under crippling sanctions by the US and UN.
The Government [was] substantially increasing the development budget for health services.
Its name is Libya ….. its socialist achievements as recorded by WHO, world bank , the UN etc, show a country which had the greatest improvements for its people in the shortest period of time ….
I hope you attempt to compete and produce a example faroutdud …. before running off and changing your user name yet again…. like the sad arsed serial loser you present yourself as on the internet …
I do not mind if you get some help, from a better rw troll than your own sorry self…. as your always faroutclassed
A short time into their tenure and this Govt already down as the most incompetent in NZ History? I can understand pique and being pissed-off seeding anger and silliness but this is at Gold Medal level.
The incompetence started at the Election of the Speaker, and it’s all gone downhill from there.
But when you have the failed & discredited idiots from the last Labour Govt (Clarke, Cullen etc) pulling the strings it’s hardly surprising.
Yep accountancy degrees are MUCH better, learn how to avoid taxes, become a day trader and you too like John Key can become PM and put in 0% taxes non resident no questions asked tax havens. What gift duty, what gift duty? gift duty gone quicker than Don Brash’s nuclear free moment so handy to move all that money around for money laundering purposes.
Yep, we certainly need more accountants for society… and lawyers too of course! Social workers are for society and as Thatcher said, ‘Theres no such thing as society’ in the brave new world of the high worth sociopath.
Partially agree with the opinion. He was a bit too quick off the mark to praise our public debt position.
Would have been more balanced for the Minister of Finance to say that, while compared to overseas OECD countries our public position is fine, the private debt position is still grossly overreached, so there are always vulnerabilities to attend to …
…. which get pretty stark when a major stockmarket shake occurs.
Given that Hamish Rutherford is a happy disciple of neo-liberal economics, I’m not overly surprised that he casually threw the “evil” prospect of higher wages into the mix. Robertson seemed desperate to avoid that wee detail. By Robertson’s account, interest rate changes come out of no-where.
It’s ye olde class war, and Robertson’s on the side of capital. That’s kind of all we need to know, realise or understand really.
Levels of public debt are of little consequence except when understood through the lens of liberal economic orthodoxy. And it’s been what might be termed “30 odd years of criminality” that has seen successive governments transfer a more or less meaningless ledger book entry onto citizens where it assumes a potentially crippling reality.
Now, about those wage increases “everyone” will be being denied because (it says in the bible of liberalism) higher wages will reduce profit, which will lead to profit seeking entities increasing prices to protect profit margins (inflation), which will entail (supposedly) independent central or reserve banks to bring in higher interest rates in a bid to maintain “economic stability”, meaning assets founded on debt lose value, which in turn means lower returns for those glorious investors as some of “their” future monies goes into servicing debt…and they will run, or cream it off the back of ‘selling short’ or whatever the casino speak is for making like a bandit off of others’ financial misfortune.
I’m sure I’ve missed some steps/details, or not quite got some of that right. But the basics of the rationale are close enough.
And you and me and who-ever else might be servicing any personal debt? Well, we’s fucked.
But that’s okay. Importantly, we have to understand that’s okay. We need to understand and accept that those accruing money from playing with money; those who treat real things and people merely as “means to their profitable ends” – it’s important we keep them in the pink, because, y’know, we simply couldn’t survive in a world where they weren’t successful.
Maybe one day a government will press medals and award them to dutiful citizens who have made appropriate sacrifices in times of need.
Yep, it’s so obvious Clark’s people are running the show, Ardern is just her mouthpiece, so much for the end of neo-liberalism, not that I’m complaining.
If you can’t have National in charge, National lite is better than nothing
Must be quite disappointing for left-wingers though, I can see the Greens doing quite well especially if they pick Davidson.
It’s almost as though both major parties were based around centrist policies rather than wholesale upheaval. But whoah, hold on – that’s just crazy talk!
Ardern is leading a change government, one that will and is already making good and useful changes to fix the crap work done by the last one. But it’s not a revolutionary government out to overthrow the liberal consensus and destroy capitalism (nice misleading “capitalism has failed” misquote there, by the way). For that reason, Robertson’s comments are unsurprising.
“If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that’s a blatant failure. What else could you describe it as?”
Because she will not increase popularity of the Greens for voters and therefore your beloved National party will prosper by default. Probably the right wingers have been polling whose worst for the Greens popularity.
The fact she will no doubt clash with Labour and NZ First is irrelevant, she’s there to represent Green voters not prop up the labour/NZ First government.
Maori, Female, Activist, Feminist, SJW, – yep so representative of society (sarcasm) – how many now living in NZ can identify with that – under 5% perhaps?
The Green Party was founded by Jeanette Fitzsimons, Rod Donald and Mike Ward… so the current idea of a narrow focus of identity politics and the cheerleading of that approach by right-wingers is not for the benefit of the Green Party survival but the survival of the National party.
NZ, as a general rule, doesn’t want upheaval. It wants Clarks and Keys government, sure make some changes around the edges but keep the government in the centre.
Look at all the issues caused by Douglas and Richardson, NZ doesn’t want radicalism it wants, for lack of a better word, conservatism
The top 1%, having grabbed everything they wanted, sure.
The lower 60%, having lost access to their traditional resources – housing, jobs, a future – they’d’ve liked a bit of conservatism back when government was practicing radical dishonesty.
Now they need change, if only to pay their (grossly inflated) rents.
I have to agree with you there Puckish, I think many voters are tired of the radical economic approaches like Rogernomics by Labour, laissez-faire capitalism by National. They just want a bit of a break from it all.
BM doesn’t realize, due to his hate for Labour, that the implementation of change takes time, planning starting with the removal of roadblocks set up by 9 years of National legislation.
National took over and radically “raped and pillaged our public assets and sold all our forests to the Chinese mainly so they have set us up for failure but all those national trolls will ignore this fact and carry on as if they are doing the right thing for us all, ha ha ha, they are a ship of fools and traitors keen to sell NZ.
Robertson, a long with the majority of Labour’s caucus, is a neo-liberal and, no, we won’t break free of the damaging chains of neo-liberalism while they’re in charge.
Totally agree. I have a lot of respect for our Prime Minister and I think on a personal level she would like to undertake some radical changes to the ‘system’. Don’t know that, its’ just a feeling I get whilst observing her as she works. Sadly, her cabinet will have other ideas (Such as keeping their jobs or keeping the globalists happy) and it will be same as same as with a few little changes here and there.
For example..Is Labour going to repeal the employment contracts act? Of course not, they’ll tinker round the edges of bits and pieces of legislation to appease some voters but the overall agenda will remain the same as it has been since the 80’s.
Whatever you thought of David Cunliffe, he would have been an infinitely better finance minister than Robertson in my opinion.
Hope to hear this means they clean up their banks, kill austerity, and does it with sufficient style that SPD doesn’t get completely annihilated in the next election.
Down this way we call it a ‘voluntary donation’ I refuse to pay it, instead I do volunteer work for the school from teaching the kids how to grow vege’s in the school garden, to making all the costumes for their school productions.
But $500 donation is off the charts, I suggest you take it to the board of trustees, maybe the school is not managing their finances very well. I understand schools have been underfunded for so very long but I’m absolutely gobsmacked at them asking you for a $500 donation. Do parents not get together and organise fund raising at your kids school Herodotus?
I am fortunate to be in a position to pay, and I value what the school delivers and my partner teachers there so I am well aware of the situation, and how over time schools have been underfunded and have to rely on outside funding eg donations. At least those who pay can get 33% back in a tax refund. Tip to claim as soon as you can in April.
Also the decile system of funding assumes “We use deciles to target funding, for state and state-integrated schools, to help them overcome any barriers to learning that students from lower socio-economic communities might face.”
The major implication will be the amount of funding given to the school by the government. As a general overview, more money per child will be provided to Decile 1 schools, than to Decile 10 schools. As a result, you will often find that parents of children at higher decile schools will be asked to contribute more in terms of fees, donations, time and equipment. https://www.education.govt.nz/school/running-a-school/resourcing/operational-funding/school-decile-ratings/
Unfortunately whose on the board, what was the PTA committee are also the ones who pay. There are some who don’t contribute anything (gala etc) in time or $$
Excluding the decile system (which is a bit of a sham), I wonder what the difference is between both of our schools?
I’m in Motueka, the school my youngest attends has a roll of around 250, Yrs1 – Yrs8. Just wondering if smaller communities are more supportive of schools/involvement/funding raising etc than larger ones? As the locals here turn out in droves for any galas that any of the schools put on, either by helping/volunteering or by attending. Also the teachers keep stationary costs for the kids as low as possible, stationary for Miss Ten cost less than $20 this year for everything.
Sounds like some on the board at yours should not be there, one would have thought that those on the board would be the biggest supporters of the school and drivers of fundraising re effort and time.
Looking forward to your reply, enjoying this discussion.
All our local schools range from Decile 8-10 . Of the 4 primary schools in the area the lowest roll is 550. Galas up here are for a specific need .eg playing field drainage (That IMO should have been installed when the school was established). All 7 of the local schools has had to do this at their own expense, and should shame those in the MOE for their lack of foresight.
Board is not the problem(and I salute all those who volunteer for this) most can afford the “fees”, the school benefits and so do the students.
here is what 1 local school has on its web page re Donations
While this has many advantages such as a vibrant learning community, positive student attitudes, and strong work ethics. It’s biggest difficulty is that annually we receive only a fraction of the Ministry of Education funding that is given to low decile schools.
This has a huge impact on what we can offer our students.
Thanks for that Herodotus, really interesting. The school deciles here are around a 5, the lowest is a 3, and the highest an 8, most are a 5 or 6.
Maybe it does have something to do with smaller communities as well as decile, most schools here are small, compared with your area, rolls vary from 100 – 250 kids.
Galas here are annually, some schools use the money to provide all of the stationary requirements for students for the following year. Others to cut down on school camp fee’s, or provide sports equipment etc. Locals are generous with their time, working bee’s, supportive local businesses and horticulture growers etc.
Decile funding aside, maybe wealthier people are not as resourceful, because they don’t have to be. A decile 6 school in our region has fires in every class room for winter heating, fire wood is gathered by locals, utilising donated wind felled tree’s from local farms that type of thing, community efforts, not just the parents of school children, everyone helps.
All that aside, every school in the country should be adequately funded, and they should all have solar panels.
It’s all rather complex, thanks for your feedback, much appreciated. Good topic, kids come first around here 🙂 Much respect to you and your partner, I’m massively supportive of educators and hold them in very high regard.
Personally I’m thrilled with our new governments education team, looking forward to some real progress in this sector over the next couple of years.
Agreed, but when sectors of our education system are being consciously under funded, how else are schools/kindys to secure these needed funds?
Some have reverted to paying overseas students, others fund raising – But only a few volunteer and they work damn hard for what they achieve eg Galas etc.
Like housing we all know there is an issue but … Solutions are lacking (I note that IMO housing issues are so great that we have gone well beyond any real solutions- no answers- only means to attack peripheral issues)
And a “free” education system is about as true as “100% pure”- Just PR spin
You mentioned the core problem IMO “housing issues” driven by the greed of Aussie banks and the property industry. It’s sucking the life out of the economy. Kiwis may be more “productive” but we have more people working longer hours for lower wages than ever.
Netanyahu is going down and I’m going to enjoy every freaking minute of it.
News reports for this corrupt piece of shite are just coming through, police chiefs have decided to recommend indicting him for corruption.
Will post some links as soon as more info becomes available.
“The Times of Israel reported Wednesday that police chiefs, including the general commissioner of Israel’s police force, were in “unanimous agreement” that Netanyahu should be indicted for allegedly accepting bribes and receiving lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors, including Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.”
IKR, they are saying he shouldn’t stand for next election. Bibi says the attorney general will not take action, wouldn’t surprise me if he is bribing him as well, they are quite close. Bibi is such a dodgy bugger and media controller
“The case for the defence M’Lud, is that although my client took bribes, someone else did a bad thing somewhere else, and after all, personal responsibility is for other people, not right wingers.”
The big PICTURE is that there is a direct link to the way the neoliberals who run the CROWN and the same type of neoliberals who ran the CROWN in the 1840 .
That is in the way they are behaving and treating ME with propaganda lies and deceit .
They weave a VALE over the common people eyes to justify there malicious ways they are treating me If the common people new how these neoliberals were treating MAORI
during THE NEWZEALAND WARS they would have been up in arms over there behavior and put a stop to that ever happening . The NEWZALAND settlers were coned that all the LAND transactions were being carried out in a fair and Just way this was a Fallacy .
It was a small % who benefited the most from this the neoliberal 1% this is how they gained so much control of the western society this is how shonky managed to cheat and change OUR society in the last 9 years to benefit the 1% .
Give the police all they want to get there cooperation in his goal of the 1% dominance of OUR society. They will dispose of people who call them out on there real actions against the 99% of common people this is what they are trying to do to ECO MAORI but I have the internet and a brain that will beat them into submission in the END .
They used Te kooti OWN people against him as they are doing that to me I know every single one of YOU I will forgive most of you but not all will be forgiven .
MAORI have a lot to thank my Te puna Ropata Wahawaha and his advisers for saving us from total dominance from these neoliberals animals is to good a word to describe the un humane people .
Ropata worked out that the CROWN was deceiving him he worked with the CROWN till he got well armed gave them a BROWN EYE lol retreated to his strong hold
Te tairawhiti Ngati Porou .
The neoliberals were not happy when they figured out Ropata had made fools of them as I am. They thought of taking OUR land by force they changed there minds when reality hit them that Ropata was to well armed so they tried other dirty tactics to under mine Ngati Porou as they are still doing to this day.
Ropata Wahawaha move to counter there moves to dominate Maori was the nurturing and education of OUR GREAT leader my Te puna Sir Api Ana Ngata.
Ngata and his helpers saved Maori from total dominance from these neoliberals .
This is one of the reason that Ngati Porou have such High regards from all the Maori ELDERS the other is OUR Te puna we have a strong lineage so to those neoliberals ECO Maori gives you a BROWN EYE this is a major insult to MAORI .
Ana To Kai Ka kite ano P.S can all my clients pay me as I provide a honorable service thanks Why is the book east coast myths and legends missing
I doubt there will be any ructions. Greens should have as many people standing as possible to say their special strengths and hopefully make the type of decision that changed Labour’s fortunes by electing someone that people can relate to and feel they can trust with policy that is meaningful to enough voters who will vote for them.
I am not a mind reader so would not presume to say why. I am also not a Green Party member, so it is not for me to speak for her or the Party. (I am certainly not anti-Greens at all; far from it.)
There are plenty of interviews etc going on with her today that you could find for yourself to see what she herself says as to her reasons.
Who knows, maybe she has thrown her hat into the ring because yesterday Mike Hosking endorsed her as his choice of co-leader if the Greens really think they need one. LOL. ( /sarc)
Genter is easy to respect in government already. She’s been such a consistent and wise transport and urban form advocate, a natural as Minister, and solid in central Auckland.
Key (and Bridges comes to mind) didn’t spar, even when journos came after them (which was rare enough).
Bridges just got shouty and yelled over the interviewer, whereas Key would just shrug and maintain bullshit, saying things that sounded reasonable but were actually conflicting and inconsistent bullshit, like trump. Closest key got was the Hardtalk interview, and even then all he did was say he could pay other experts to agree with him.
Whereas Jackson and Espiner actually debated a commonly-agreed reality.
Emperor (lets face it a knighthood simply isn’t enough for a man of his stature) John Key took John Campbell to the woodshed and vigorously spanked him for over a quarter of an hour on live TV
To be an Emperor the shithead would have required a foreign possession, so I guess we’re seeing an instance of Fontaine’s “flatterer living at someone else’s expense” – though it’s certainly true that the vile satrap had no democratic mandate whatsoever. Your craven style of submission is however more suited to Saudi society, where the blade is never very far from the miscreant’s neck.
No doubt the COL will solve this. How much training will be needed to get those 100,000,000 trees planted this year? Oh, hang on – that’s another back track isn’t it..
Well, at least those 100,000 houses will suck up 1000’s of the unemployed – oops, see above, & it’s only a few more than existing plans isn’t it?
It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic.
“Backtrack” must be one of those irregular words: National makes promises it doesn’t follow through on, they’re “savvy”. LabNZ1Grn make promises that take more than 100 days to reach capacity, they “backtrack”.
Yeah, seen it yesterday while I was reading the morning paper over a coffee down at the local cafe and I wasn’t really surprised at what I was reading, but somehow I still managed to choke on my coffee.
Further to a comment I made a week or so ago on the effect airbnb is having on the rental market with respect to the recent stats released by real estate and property management companies showing an up to 50% drop in the number of rental listings in the past year – here is what this trend looks like in practise:
I think there is very poor information available on the numbers of multiple property owners who have taken their houses off the rental market and listed them as tourist accomodation but without that information it is easy to conclude it’s having a dramatic effect.
Some councils are moving to regulate airbnb as has happened all over the world where there is housing issues and/or pressure from traditional tourist accomodation providers.
Imo this information is pretty crucial nationwide. I imagine it’ll only eventuate when the bite really starts to come on employers not being able to get staff because there’s nowhere for them to live…
This is a fine example of research commissioned by the public service of our universities and technical institutes.
Whether or not this is also an example of Bill English’s big data/social investment approach I’m not sure because how that works in practise has never been explained.
Regardless if it is, there’s no point in collecting valuable social data which says vulnerable transience is damaging and that is increasing while at the same time you’re pulling down state houses, the very thing that fights vulnerable transience at the coal face.
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A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
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An article by Soper about National’s obsession with and hatred of Winston.
Soper has now written at least two articles critical of English.
As a true Nat boy, I wonder which right clique he supports
“Their elephant’s Winston Peters and they should be discussing why they failed to convince him that running the show is their natural habitat.
That’s part of their problem of course, they like Hillary Clinton, couldn’t see themselves losing, it wasn’t part of their thinking.
…….To do that though surely they’ll have to understand what went wrong and there are so many obvious things that they’d do well to consider.
For starters they set out to destroy the very man they had to sit down with to try and do business with.
English urged voters to cut out the middle man, during the campaign, and said he was a difficult character to deal with.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11990008
Good morning breakfast people I say it ok to us a phone were ever you want I’ve spent 1hour at a jym .But I would ban them when one has children as the mokos are missing out on quality family time because there mum’s and dad’s have there faces stuck in there phones I rub my children out because of this Tec effect. 4 of my mokos have thrown parents phones In the toilet when they were in there terrible TWO’s I laughed when I was told and said to there parents put the phone down and pay more attention to my mokos. Lucky they always have phone insurance. Ka kite ano
Good story on kiwi saver there needs to be a inquiry into this industry as shonky would change the regulation to line his pocket and his m8 pocket at the expense of the PEOPLE. Most people don’t pay attention to there kiwis saver so there saving end up in a default fund who knows what these players do with it then. One can get %40 more by learning how the fund works and when the time is right move it into high risk high return fund that could be 10 of thousands more at retirement.
The interview on our power industries was excellent to ECO MAORI all the organization of our electricity industry that are not floated on shonkys m8 stock exchange are highly regulated. This leaves the companies that are floated on the stock exchange un regulated .This situation lets these companies be in a situation to cream ally the profits at the expence of the regulated lines companies ETC and THE PEOPLE. We wonder why our transmissions network needed to have huge investments by the Government the profits are all flowing up to the 1% .
Now it’s STUPID NOT TO HAVE POLICIES that make sure that all OUR transmission lines have NO TREES or any thing that could compermise OUR vital supply of eletrisity to the PEOPLE .This ignorance is costing NZ millions of dallors having the ambulance at the bottom of the hill once again. WTF come on let’s clean this mess up .Sorry
Ka kite ano
No fertility problems with ECO MAORI offspring my problem is getting them to slow down lol but I feel for all the people in a position were the opposite is the fact of there lives .Ka kite ano P.S. yes Jack I have the same problem of people recording me and my Whano on there phones it a phenomenon that goes with FAME some one should invent a device that jams any devices within 50 mtrs I would give one to my mokos so they will get more quality time lol
Ka pai
I can see that the morning Rumble Rock radio show is awesome I was going to say something else but I don’t want you good people get a bit of heat from my comments Ka pai
Here is how we treasured OUR mokos and then the bad apples infected our people the neolibrals try and tar us MAORI cultured people with the brush they created here is a link that opens my eyes I have ignored paul moons words as suppression of Maori MANA
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/76526/maori-punishment-research-challenged-by-historian
Ka kite ano
You can oppose factory farming because it is smelly.
And the farm is certainly big.There will be over 1 million sentient beings existing inside it.
And it will be ugly on the outside. Large Industrial buildings are not usually attractive with a rural backdrop.
There is a much bigger reason to oppose Tegels factory farming plan.
Animal cruelty.
Because the real ugliness will be on the inside of that building.
Hidden from sight.
I bet you Tegel won’t be building their factory with glass walls.
Because if they did, people would not buy their chicken.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11989880
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSas705XDN4
Can we just legally force the meat industry to be humane* already? I like eating chicken :(.
(*no, I don’t consider slaughter inhumane simply because it’s taking life.)
For the last few years I’ve only bought free range chicken, pork and eggs, its a little more expensive but I’ve noticed that there are more free range eggs available and a greater selection of free range meat at the supermarket
If more people buy free range then there’ll be less battery farming going on, hopefully
I find free range tastes better – in particular the bacon. Maybe psychosomatic/placebo but that’s my opinion
Yeah I think theres a whole (free :-)) range of reasons to buy free range, taste, morally etc etc
I do think the free range bacon frys up better and shrinks less, maybe less water?
How nice of all you lovely people to be able to afford the choice of free range or organically farmed, an option not on the agenda of probably three quarters of the population.
You are, of course, right but hell’s bells stop talking about it as if it is a real option for most.
This tends to be the problem thinking of those who are blind to the bleeding obvious – there is no real equity or even equality in this country. However, the born to rule don’t or won’t understand that.
True, however I also think that for people that can afford it, buying only free range can be a political act.
(whether what one is buying is actually free range is another matter).
For me its more a moral act in that i feel if we raise animals for slaughter we should at the least give the animal some sort of quality of life
Hugh explains it lot better than i do in this:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jun/19/highereducation.houseandgarden
That is how it is for me too PR, and that’s a political act underpinned by a core value 🙂 That’s a value we share, nice.
Indeed!!!
Yes it is more expensive so I reduce my consumption. If I am going to eat pig at all I will only buy free range and budget accordingly.
Don’t worry about Doogs you’ll never be hungry when you’ve got that massive chip on your shoulder
I wasn’t saying its an option for everyone, I’m saying its what I do but heres a song that might help you feel better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vTomEuuIZA
It’s just that my concept base seems to be a lot wider than yours, oh comfortable one.
Interesting.
Doogs makes a completely uncontroversial observation – that many people can’t afford organic/free range food – and is accused of having “a chip on his shoulder”.
Doogs’ concern about this inequality is then mocked by likening it to a kids’ song about free stuff popping out of the ground or growing on trees. The implication being that any dissatisfaction with the way things are is just childish fantasy.
Nasty RWNJ stuff.
“How nice of all you lovely people to be able to afford the choice of free range or organically farmed, an option not on the agenda of probably three quarters of the population.”
I personally found that this was quite condescending
“You are, of course, right but hell’s bells stop talking about it as if it is a real option for most.”
I wasn’t saying its an option for most (even though it is) I was saying what I do and making the observation that if more people did as well then the prices for free range will probably come down over time
“This tends to be the problem thinking of those who are blind to the bleeding obvious – there is no real equity or even equality in this country. However, the born to rule don’t or won’t understand that.”
I acknowledged that some can’t afford it but I can (for which I do not and will not apologise) and for those who also can afford it they should eat free range as well
So yeah I mocked Doog because I get a bit bloody sick and tired of the perpetually outraged actively looking for things to be outraged about
But for what its worth I’ve given Doog something else to be outraged about so Doogs probably happy
I’m afraid you’re right PR – about one thing – I am perpetually outraged – about one thing – the fucking last 9 years of pretend government.
We gave them a go for 3 years, and they did nothing and lied.
We gave them another go, for another 3 years . . . and guess what?
Then they sleep-walked into another 3 years thanks to John boy the flexible man who had an opinion about everything and stood for nothing in particular.
Yep, you’re right, I am purple with incandescence about what that useless lying bunch did to this country for 9 long years.
Otherwise, I’m pretty relaxed and quite a nice bloke . . . really.
It’s not just a cost issue. Plenty of people in poverty smoke tobacco even though it is extremely expensive, because they are addicted. I don’t buy the idea we have to be cruel for cost purposes. People have priorities and they run their lives to what makes them feel the best or if they don’t know any different.
I’d like bad products (like soft drinks for example) to be taxed more as they are less expensive than bottled water in many cases.
Cheap eggs and chicken with antibiotics and growth hormones as well as inhumane living conditions are like soft drink, they are so bad they have to make them cheap or else nobody would buy them.
True but, considering the damage that it does to the environment, should bottled water be available at all?
Yep, the rise of bottled water – another pollutant. Yep good for emergencies like floods but yes agree a problem in itself and should not be ‘the better’ choice than tap water.
I guess my point is, why should poorer people be expected to buy worse and less healthy products and the poor buying them blamed for the unhealthy or cruel products existence and prosperity.
If the government really wanted the poor to have cheap eggs how about co operatives in deprived places operating as an alternative.
It’s just another way for poor business practise and ‘the markets’ to oppress people (and animals) and the environment when there is plenty of other alternatives.
The free range movement is well intended, yet there are some problems:
1) intensively farmed chickens can be healthier ( parasites etc)
2) free range isn’t necessarily, laws around labelling/ claims should be better
This is not intended as a defence of the industry.
3) Unfortunately too at our house we shop on price and don’t have ability to choose the more expensive free range option as many of us in this low wage economy must.
The illusion of choice is relative to the size of your wallet ( wage and union busting laws) and the handful of corporations who control our food.
3) Unfortunately too at our house we shop on price and don’t have ability to choose the more expensive free range option as many of us in this low wage economy must.
Yeah I accept some can’t always go the free range route but, maybe, if most farms go free range then the free range prices will drop, never drop as low as battery farming but it might help
This, this is the other reason to force humane practice.
+100 – to keepcalm not PR
Free range chicken, you can use more. In economic terms, buying a free range chicken makes more sense Keepcalmcarryon. Not only do you get healthy liver – the bones are better for stock and soup.
Seeing at this time of year soup is really not on the cards, as stock bones, free range is way better. One chicken will get you a good stock, whereas for budget chickens it can be two, three, or more to get a good stock.
1. [Citation Needed]
2. True. There are many people who like the extra profits but not the extra work. Another great example of the profit motive bringing about poor outcomes.
3. That is true for the majority of people.
QFT
Here you go DTB re factory confined hens ( at least sometimes) showing better health outcomes.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/135594.php , quality of life must come in to it too and surely that is better where hens can get outside.
You should probably read the conclusion:
My bold.
For sure, the point is there have been some health benefits noted to caging birds if we are examining all the facts. Note the conclusion does not say things have improved to the point of equivalence.
Again, not defending the industry, our handful of chooks get to scratch around outside, but we should keep both eyes open eh
Actually looks like the farm under discussion IS considered freerange as birds have access to outside ( whatever that means).
Also 32 jobs, is this all bad Ed (yes you don’t agree with any farming)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oaa-5CbWLY
There is no making ed happy on this matter. Free range or not he only accepts the “vegan way”.
I raise and have home kill my own beef and lamb – yet ed still finds this disgusting and went on about it – despite the animals being well treated and cared for.
If you like the nicer taste of free range – you will love home kill. It taste soooo much better again.
Later this year I’ll be looking at going halves with my sil about doing something like this in regards to a cattle beast
There is truth in better meat quality in an unstressed animal killed instantly as per home kill, however much the thought annoys those who don’t eat meat.
Sure does
http://animalstudiesrepository.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=acwp_faafp
Long story short, the more stressed the animal the tougher the meat so treating animals better is not only morally the right thing to but also means a better meal
Yes we could force them to be humane.
And part of this would be to control the language used.
I note below that many people still think that ‘free range’ chickens mean cruelty free chickens.
You don’t really have to do much to get the label free range in New Zealand.
You certainly don’t need to care about their welfare.
Access can be a small hole at the end of a very large barn.
https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/free-range-eggs
https://www.safe.org.nz/issue/free-range
https://roarfood.co.nz/blog/articles/features/buying-free-range-chicken-and-eggs
Developer brings in 200 temporary Chinese workers to construct luxury hotel
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/349897/200-chinese-tradies-to-complete-akl-hotel
I think this is really bad. They say they can’t get enough local workers and that the imports will be paid the “NZ market rate”. But of course this is directly suppressing nz wages, because the local rate is obviously too low because it won’t attract enough workers.
Why are we developing things like this hotel again? Neoliberals only support markets when they can be used to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich – otherwise they want to intervene.
New Zealand has become a slave state.
Thanks Roger Douglas, Ruth Richardson and John Key.
We know why you were given your knighthoods.
Jail for treason would be a more fitting prize.
Labour is in charge now you ding-bat, Ardern’s the one who’s allowing this to happen.
Look BM, things laid down by Douglas et al have been so fundamental and life changing that it will in fact take decades to undo them. Their policies have put tentacles into so many places and affected so many aspects of society that it will take many doses of worm tablets to clean out the parasites from the gut of our nation. Remember also that we, as part of the world fabric, are also inter-twined with cancerous elements of other nations.
This government has had 3 months to begin the process of reversing 30 years of harm.
Give. Them. A. Chance!!!
FTA with China, she won’t be changing anything, especially with Clarkula pulling all the strings.
If anything I’m expecting to see a massive increase in Chinese workers coming to NZ to build houses and apartment blocks.
How will that make you feel, thousands upon thousands of Chinese workers flooding into the country keeping locals out of work and it will be done under a Labour government!
If I was a moderator repeating that lie and that abuse would get you banned.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t surprise me. I’ll continue to vote Green and, hopefully, many others will also lose their fanboi admiration of Labour and vote Green.
100% Draco
BM is a long bad mouthed individual that is toxic to fairness, and civility.
That wasn’t my point, and you know it.
No – I wouldn’t like that to happen, but in fact they are already talking about 200 Chinese workers coming in to finish a large building. Bad move.
However, my statement about it taking a long time to fix deep-seated and systemic problems still stands. It will likely take at least as long as the Key/English tribe were in power to even make a dent in the edifice.
To answer your thing about the Chinese workers – it will take a large, complex and determined gear-up to provide training of our own resident workers to obviate the imbalance in the work force. That takes time, among other things.
I say again – give them a chance!
Yea that’s one of the problems with these so called free trade agreements, it isn’t a level playing field. For example the average wage in China is $3 an hour so how can any NZ company possibly compete? There should be allowances within the FTA’s for these sorts of disparities I’m all for free trade if it’s fair free trade.
Yep it seems our government loves/fears China so much but I’m less sure that the Kiwi public wants NZ to be part of Asia with a $3 an hour, factory farmed workers, extreme pollution, corruption and no democracy. So why are we still going in that direction?
Spot on
Not gonna happen Doogs. This government are globalists just like Douglas and his treacherous mates.
What’s not gonna happen mikes? They won’t be given a chance?
Oh yes they will. How many followers they have in November 2020 will depend entirely on how they handle it. And I for one am prepared to give them space and rope to operate in exactly the way they intend and have started with already.
Agree, BM, but also with Doogs’ comment.
yeah right – she can undo 40 years in 100 days.
These laws were set up previously nd not just by National governments either. This government hasn’t had time to change them yet.
Admittedly, I’d be surprised if they did.
This must be one of the first times i’ve agreed with you Ed…yay!… Roger Douglas and his cronies should have been charged with treason. There’s probably a reason the Labour party abolished the death penalty for treason in 1989.
(Not that i agree with the death penalty, although there’s always an exception)
I feel there should be a limit on temporary exemptions to NZ labour laws. If you bring in a technician for a few days work perhaps that can be controlled by the rules of where you hired him. But if he’s here for longer than that his employer should meet NZ minimums in terms of wages and conditions.
Should meet the industry-wide salaries they’re going to calculate
Everyone keeps calling them tradies but does anyone actually know if these people are actually certified in any way?
At 4.5% headline unemployment and falling, people with any specialist skills in the construction industry are working about as much as they can.
Definitely need more specialist construction staff, but they aren’t trained, and there are not even enough coming through the tertiary education centres.
There are multiple five star hotels in Auckland and Queenstown either underway now or consented and ready to go. Much of this is leading up to APEC and Americas Cup, but we’ve had a five-star room shortage for a while now.
So in that absence we have to go and get them from overseas.
Make the company pay NZ wages and accommodation and see if he still wants to pay the airfares.
Better yet charge him with racism. No NZ hires? None at all? That would be because he never even tried to hire New Zealanders.
They do.
There are none left, unless you steal them from another company. Sometimes they do that. Other times it’s faster just to wholesale import.
There’s no racism in it.
If you are asking me the broader question: why aren’t there enough highly skilled stonemasons trained up and ready to go here, I would say after the earthquakes there is no excuse for it. So yes, this is a National-caused capacity problem.
Plus weak unions from anti-union legislation that has kept wages low while productivity in construction continues to be high. Again, caused by National.
The trouble with your rational assessment Ad is that again, it is only the discarded sector of the population- the untrained unemployed and under-employed- that must suffer the burden of 30years of cheaper options. let industry and its various hangers-on suffer the consequences of their actions over this same 30 years.
‘So in that absence’- they can reflect on the failure of their plan to undermine and supplant appropriate local trades training with cheap imported labour.
Contrary to what you capitalists believe, the workers don’t actually belong to the company.
And it’s always cheaper as it won’t raise wages.
Also fails to train up people in NZ with skills.
“There are none left”
Impose a requirement of 5% of the workforce and the employer would fill that by lunchtime. Make it 10% and they’d have them by tomorrow.
You’ve been listening to employer lies so long you’re starting to believe them.
Fuck the developers. Where were they when successive governments destroyed the institutions that would have prevented this situation occurring in the first place?
The market forces have come home to roost.
That’s because of the move to tertiary training with expensive courses rather than the on the job training apprentices for trades people. Everyone’s been told they need to be an accountant or lawyer and get a degree in that.
I’m all for having people qualified but whatever the hell they came up with, migrant workers and some hybrid apprentice/training scheme, clearly isn’t working.
And having so many migrants coming in then takes away the opportunities for local people to learn to do the work while keeping the wages and conditions suppressed which then leads to nobody wanting to go into that trade.
Hey in the old days, there were plenty of houses and plenty of builders. Under the last 30 years all that has changed and I’m not sure we are better off with the leaky buildings and constant remedial work we have under the new system of all these ‘trained’ overseas workers and tradies with student loans.
The overseas visas and residencies are a rout for developers to make more money and we now know that some migrants are paying the employer (often unwillingly and certainly outside of NZ law) to get into NZ not the other way around. It’s a scam.
Also don’t worry if anything goes wrong in that luxury hotel, guess what, the ratepayers will pay for the remedial work due to the council signing it off. Seen it again and again. The developers will be working next door under a different name to avoid liability.
Recall that, according to Bill English, having trained people in NZ is less important than having people working at McDs.
This is companies and government fighting against the market.
The education thing is a classic example of why education should be free. Back in the day, professional courses had much more restricted entry. Yes, lawyers and doctors made more cash, but they also paid higher taxes.
Snobbery over the trades was part of the problem, too, but also I suspect that a lot of trades are now more technical – navvies don’t dig trenches, they operate heavy machinery. Plumbers don’t just do pipes and brazing, they use air compressors and cameras and pump trucks. Builders use laser levels and nailguns. Mechanics work around engine management computer systems.
But in the 1990s “bums on seats” became the norm for education and things became tougher for people, so there was a rush to the better-paying and newly opened up “professions”.
As a mate of mine put it, when his local factory closed down he was offered relocation and training to work in another factory. He turned it down to get an education.
Ten years later, he was getting his masters (which ain’t worth what it used to be) and his mate who took the forklift job had earned a few hundred thousand more than he had. Fortunately, he took the education for it’s own sake, but it’s interesting how time change.
Lots of people “took a chance” to raise themselves up – the flipside is that if you lose the bet, you don’t get an inspirational movie made about you. And the house always wins
Spot on savenz.
I accept the correct labour might not be immediately available locally, but if causing delay to this project and others is what is needed to create pressure to lift wages and investment in training in NZ, then that is what should happen.
The problem with low training and wages in nz is hugely important.
+111
I wonder if they’ll be ‘pooling their wages’ to pay for their accommodation and ‘other expenses’.
Initial report on Morning Report at 6.10am
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018631112/200-chinese-workers-flown-in-to-build-auckland-hotel
Ian Lees-Galloway, Minister of Workplace Relations and Immigration, was interviewed by Guyon Espiner later in the programme
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018631149/investment-in-skills-not-done-by-last-govt-lees-galloway
While his reply included that investment in skills was not done by the previous government, he also said that he had asked for a urgent report from the appropriate ministries. It seems that the applications were being done as individual ones rather than a block one. Although a fairly light response, Lees-Galloway had contacted RNZ re their initial report of his own accord, rather than failing to front up.
The first thing the government should do is to remove the overseas work permits and residency paths. Then guess what, everything will change. Wages will go up not just for Maori, Pakeha but also the 15% of migrants already here! Then the taxpayers will get more revenue and less money going out in top ups. Then training will start to happen as after throwing out all their toys, the developers, food outlets, petrol stations and farmers will knuckle down with local labour and get it done. Hey they might have to import Australians if worst comes to worst. But I doubt it.
There was a statement made by the MD of the firm Building Recruitment in this first interview at 6.10am that was removed from the repeat broadcast at 7.17am.
He said that “The people letting us down most are the locals we employ. They’re the ones not turning up on jobs”.
RNZ cut it out later in the program when they only played the first part of what was, after all, a very short clip (less than a minute).
They also left it out of the report linked to at comment 4.
That comment of the MD of course backs up the things that Bill English said he was being told about New Zealand workers.
Am I being unduly paranoid when I think first of the probability that someone in the PMs Office, monitoring Morning Report, immediately rang the RNZ news people and demanded that this particular piece of the interview must not be repeated? It didn’t match the line that this Government are spinning. New Zealand workers are wonderful and only the evil Bill English is telling lies about them. Red Radio would of course oblige and the line will never be repeated on their news service.
The problem is they are both right. Loads of Kiwis have got terrible work practises and don’t get to work on time or take it seriously. But we used to have an excellent work reputation for Kiwi workers overseas, so what’s changed?
In my view, the last 30 years and in particular the last decade have robbed people the chance to have continual work at decent wages. In addition decisions like 180,000 work permits a year have robbed locals the ability to start part time work at an early age (aka part time time work as teenagers or students). This has mean’t more and more Kiwi’s were never given opportunities and have not been able to understand the process of work. If they can be fired after 30 days, made redundant after 30 years with little compensation the relationship has become adversarial.
Bring in cheap workers bribed by the cost of a residency and citizenship is making the situation worse. We are cannibalising our own work force and replacing it with one that is often less skilled and educated but more able to be exploited. Our productivity shows this is not a workable situation of thinking overseas labour will help us.
It’s pretty much like asset sales but with labour. The government has sold out our local labour force saying that the market will decide, but then the wages money just goes overseas while the locals have to be paid to be unemployed, imprisioned, going through the courts, drug and alcohol rehab etc etc. It’s a VERY expensive option and social experiment and why everything needs to be looked at as a whole, not just individual silos.
Couln’t agree more @savenz, alongside ur 7 and 8 comments on openmike 1/1/2018.
The bullshit continues! I see it daily here with false promises being made by consultants that should be monitored properly by IAA.
INZ AND ASSOCIATED agencies under MBIE have been no care no responsibility-whether thru under resourcing or whatever. BOTH the immigrant AND The Kiwi workforce have been royally ripped. The gNats had no long term plan other than cheap labour with churn to keep it all propped up. It is actually a matter of record. The case today of the Philipinos being ripped is the tip of the iceberg.
The starting point is as you say in 4.5.1 above. We need a starting point AND for those wh’ve ALREADY been lied and cheated to and who are already here, for say 5,6,7 years, allow them to stay in order to pass on their skills and train Kiwi labour – many I know are anxious to do so in various sectors.
I’m still of the view that MBIE has the wrong organisational culture to be involved in immigration matters…..’the business of immigration” takes little account of any other imperative than the economic.
That’s one reason, as you suggest, things have become particularly bad over the past ten years.
As I travel around atm, I’m gathering more and more info of immigrants having been shafted by the NZ experience over and above the many I met 18 months ago.
People trafficking is not too strong a fescription, however they have cared to dress it up.!!!! AND at the expense of Kiwi labour and education standards. It’s been all about the money
Out of nowhere, Finance Minister Grant Robertson has made a significant U-turn, reversing what seemed to be a core Labour position.
After years of criticising National for a significant growth in Crown debt to more than $60 billion over the last decade, Robertson now seems to think the state of public debt is the best thing about the New Zealand economy.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/101238392/grant-robertsons-uturn-on-public-debt-hints-at-deeper-concerns-about-debt
Yeah, this is the idiot that has just lifted rents by $50 per week low & mid income families so he can get a few 1000 more young people into Sociology 101 courses.
This Govt will (if not already) go down as the most incompetent in NZ History.
But babies, & feelz, & conversations, & “we care more”…
I wish you were right. Everybody should do Sociology 101.
Whenever I hear someone mention Sociology 101 this springs to mind:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/82/a8/f8/82a8f8a5921b393eeee9ff666d46e66e.png
Sociology – the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society, or the study of social problems.
What’s wrong with that?
Sociology a la NZ Tertiary Institutions – an uncritical (and unhinged) love of Socialism & Marxism conveniently leaving out the 100% failure rate, the 100’s of million of deaths due to murder or starvation.
FIFY
You’re delusional. Everything you’ve said so far is simply wrong.
You are quite right. There weren’t 100’s of millions of death due to murder and starvation.
In Russia under Stalin there were only about 3 million deaths by execution, in the Gulags and in forced resettlement. There were about 6 million died in the famines his policies produced.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_deaths_in_the_Soviet_Union_under_Joseph_Stalin
Mao was much worse of course. Estimates of the number of deaths in the 1959-1962 famine his policies caused were probably in the region of 45 million.
That only counts the 2 major figures of course. It doesn’t count minor figures like Pol Pot and his monsters for example.
Even so there were less than 100 million deaths so faroutdude is exaggerating, isn’t he? Nothing wrong with killing of less than 100 million people is there?
I forgot to include the source of the numbers for Mao’s madness
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/maos-great-leap-forward-killed-45-million-in-four-years-2081630.html
Actually Mao probably saved more lives than any other political figure in history – the most rapid and stunning mortality declines and consequential increases in life expectancy perhaps in world history happened in China under his watch.
Salient points as follows:
“Between 1950 and 1980, China experienced the most rapid sustained increase in life expectancy in documented global history.” https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2850698
From 1966 to 1976 (the years of the cultural revolution), life expectancy rose by over ten years, from 51 to 64 years! https://tinyurl.com/y9aa32qr
Other researchers point out: “Despite China’s relatively low level of economic development at the time and that a large part of the population still lived in poverty, China’s mortality decline was faster than many countries with similar or markedly higher socio-economic development levels. This together with the successful experience of some other countries, such as Sri Lanka and Costa Rica, were widely regarded as “routes to low mortality in poor countries” https://tinyurl.com/y8b9jqug
Dikotter (the source of your linked article), gets his 45 million kill count by simply calculating excess deaths over 10 per thousand – essentially the same as the advanced industrialized nations of the time – which is patently ridiculous. As the renowned famine expert Cormac O’Grada points out (emphases are mine) “much hinges on what ”normal” mortality rates are assumed, since the archives do not distinguish between normal and crisis mortality. The crude death rate in china in the wake of the revolution was probably about 25 per thousand. It is highly unlikely that the communists could have reduced it within less than a decade to the implausibly low 10 per thousand adopted here (p. 331). Had they done so, they would have ”saved” over 30 million lives in the interim! One can hardly have it both ways.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00398.x/pdf
Thanks for that Wei – the ill-natured cherry picking of stats gets pretty thick here sometimes.
Communism starving hundreds of millions ??
I think Your being dishonest Alwyn …. or is there another reason you leave out important story changing facts ???
Things like Scorched earth ecocide and Infrastructure destruction, war crimes and extermination policy practiced on your population, support and recruitment of Nazis for sabotage, proxy fighters, economic warfare, bombings, overt and covert warfare … and every other means of dirty tricks combined with constant state aggression …all these things things …. were used by ‘the free west’ against russian and chineese people.
Pol Pots millions of dead can go on the usa death ledger though … seeing as they armed and supported them … as a extra gift to the people of Cambodia from uncle sam … after years of bombing. Pol Pot is in the following video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5rVD_TXrjo&t=4s
William Blum provides books worth of information and details that help get a better more truthful record of the past.
Korea: “The two sides had been clashing across the Parallel for several years. What happened on that fateful day in June could thus be regarded as no more than the escalation of an ongoing civil war.
The North Korean Government has claimed that in
1949 alone, the South Korean army or police perpetrated 2,617armed incursions into the North to carry out murder, kidnapping, pillage and arson for the purpose of causing
social disorder and unrest …”,
…. “A State Department official, Ambassador-at-large Philip C. Jessup, speaking in April 1950, put it this way: There is constant fighting between the South Korean Army and bands that infiltrate the country from the North. There are very real battles, involving perhaps one or two thousand men. When you go to this boundary, as I did … yo usee troop movements, fortifications, and prisoners of war. Seen in this context, the question of who fired the first shot on 25 June 1950 takes on a much reduced air of significance. ”
Chinas food growing conditions :” By 1949, United States aid to the Nationalists since the war amounted to almost$2 billion in cash and $1 billion worth of military hardware; 39 Nationalist army divisions had been trained and equipped.”
13
“Yet the Chiang dynasty was collapsing all around in bits and pieces. It had not been only the onslaught of Chiang’s communist foes, but the hostility of the Chinese people at large to his tyranny, his wanton cruelty, and the extraordinary corruption and decadence of his entire bureaucratic and social system.”
“American political and military leaders had no illusions about the
nature and quality of Chiang’s rule. The Nationalist forces, said General David Barr, head of the US Military Mission in China, were under “the world’s worst leadership”.
14
The Generalissimo, his cohorts and soldiers fled to the offshore island of Taiwan (Formosa). They had prepared their entry two years earlier by terrorizing the islanders into submission—a massacre which took the lives of as many as 28,000 people.
15
Prior to the Nationalists’ escape to the island, the US government entertained no doubts that Taiwan was a part of China.”
The actions to make Russians suffer have gone on the longest.
World War One did not end until 1920 for them .. British and usa forces invaded them, blockaded them, mined their harbours …. and fought against them, on the side of the czar … for the continuation of serfdom … which was much like slavery for the poor.
As bad as the russian ‘communist’ economy was …. and it was really bad in many ways when they abandoned it under Glasnost ….
The following right wing free market economic ‘reforms’ with its privatization of state assets … plunged tens of millions into abject poverty……. Living standards collapsed for most …. Mortality soared.
Poverty, corruption ….. and a criminal Oligarch class of Billionaires and Millionaires have grown.
Russia around 37 minute mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg
Good post.
Mao is called a mass murderer because of an elevated mortality rate during the Great Leap Forward. But this is compared to the stunning decline in mortality otherwise achieved in the first decade of the PRC.
Anti-communist critics (most of them completely innumerate) forget to mention that the mortality rates during that 2 or 3 year period (around 25 to 30 per thousand per year) were in fact quite typical for other developing countries of the time, and were in fact lower than the mortality rates China had endured for decade after decade up to the success of the 1949 revolution.
The Maoist era was by and large was defined by a huge decline in mortality —-with a reversal during the years of the Great Leap Forward (caused by the tragic convergence of a number of factors —most of them out of the control of the Chinese communists, and none of them intended to result in deaths, much less so murder).
You’ll have no trouble pointing out exactly which bits are wrong, and how, then.
Unless of course you are one of the fools who swallowed all this bullshit and parrot it out at every opportunity.
Oh, hang on – that’s exactly what you do…
I don’t think he is going to answer you.
I can’t comment on whatever is taught in a Sociology course but I really don’t think he is going to try and defend the argument that it was only about one hundred rather than multiple hundreds
He’s probably just losing the will to live when considering Faroutdude’s ability to dump irrelevant bullshit onto a thread as though it were some kind of response to a person’s comment. And your own admission that you have no idea what’s taught in sociology papers hardly makes yours a persuasive endorsement of his bullshit.
All of it was wrong.
Sociology doesn’t teach Marxism. It teaches about society and how people interact.
Modern economics doesn’t teach about the 100% failure rate of capitalism that’s caused even more deaths throughout history than can be counted.
BTW, what Mao and Stalin wasn’t socialist either. It wasn’t even communist for that matter. It was dictatorial which more closely resembles capitalism and the dictatorial actions of the owners.
????? . . . . have you done the course then?
Of course. Proud to have opened the eyes of the young and impressionable students to the bullshit being fed to them.
Your a liar far-out-in-the-middle-fool … a fact free idiot.
Which I will quickly prove …. as you fail to produce any free market country … to match the socialist example I’m putting forward.
We’ll ignore the capitalist free market mass starvation ….. inflicted by choice …. upon the people of Ireland and India …. killing millions.
We’ll also ignore the reversal of human rights, mass murders, torture, rape and imprisonment …..all the dramatic declines of living standards for millions ….
When Miltons free markets were inflicted by the barrel of a gun and destruction of democracy ….Resulting in the very worst of fascist police states… and vast suffering for the people…Over most of Latin America …. and many many other counties
Instead I simply challenge you to put up or shut up…. in a direct comparison of real world statistics and facts….
Or are you all piss and wind …. ??
The socialist country and economy I’m using as an example …..
“Is a country which went from one of the poorest nations in its continent into the richest nation….it also gained the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy.”
“Health care is [was] available to all citizens free of charge by the public sector.
infant mortality rates had decreased from 105 per 1000 live births in 1970 to an Infant mortality rate of 14.0
Confirmed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), undernourishment was less than 5 %,
Took literacy from 25% up to 87% with 25% going on and earning university degrees.
University education was free.
Gross primary school enrolment ratio was 97% for boys and 97% for girls (2009) .
(see UNESCO tables
The pupil teacher ratio in primary schools was of the order of 17 (1983 UNESCO data)
It Went from a country beset with cholera and unsafe water problems …. to a very low percentage of people without access to safe water (3 percent), health services (0 percent) and sanitation (2 percent)
With regard to Women’s Rights, World Bank data point to significant achievements, “In a relative short period of time … passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law… In secondary and tertiary education, girls outnumbered boys by 10%.” (World Bank Country Brief,
From the early 1980’s until 2003 it was placed under crippling sanctions by the US and UN.
The Government [was] substantially increasing the development budget for health services.
Its name is Libya ….. its socialist achievements as recorded by WHO, world bank , the UN etc, show a country which had the greatest improvements for its people in the shortest period of time ….
I hope you attempt to compete and produce a example faroutdud …. before running off and changing your user name yet again…. like the sad arsed serial loser you present yourself as on the internet …
I do not mind if you get some help, from a better rw troll than your own sorry self…. as your always faroutclassed
1000++
Similarly Syria, Cuba. In fact any country that has improved life overall for its citizens are those practicing socialism in one form or another.
Evidently Cuba has one of the best health systems in the world.
You don’t have a clue – more like Anthony Giddens, for what little he’s worth.
A short time into their tenure and this Govt already down as the most incompetent in NZ History? I can understand pique and being pissed-off seeding anger and silliness but this is at Gold Medal level.
You guys all seem very excited about this, but buggered if I can see anything even vaguely interesting in it.
Meet the new boss Same as the old boss.
Liberalisms pony.
The incompetence started at the Election of the Speaker, and it’s all gone downhill from there.
But when you have the failed & discredited idiots from the last Labour Govt (Clarke, Cullen etc) pulling the strings it’s hardly surprising.
Does he require that ministers answer questions?
If so he is infinitely better than that sleazy sack of complicity Carter.
Sounds like a pretty good deal for lawyers with big kids and rentals. There wouldn’t be too many of those in and around Parlyment though.
Yep accountancy degrees are MUCH better, learn how to avoid taxes, become a day trader and you too like John Key can become PM and put in 0% taxes non resident no questions asked tax havens. What gift duty, what gift duty? gift duty gone quicker than Don Brash’s nuclear free moment so handy to move all that money around for money laundering purposes.
Yep, we certainly need more accountants for society… and lawyers too of course! Social workers are for society and as Thatcher said, ‘Theres no such thing as society’ in the brave new world of the high worth sociopath.
Partially agree with the opinion. He was a bit too quick off the mark to praise our public debt position.
Would have been more balanced for the Minister of Finance to say that, while compared to overseas OECD countries our public position is fine, the private debt position is still grossly overreached, so there are always vulnerabilities to attend to …
…. which get pretty stark when a major stockmarket shake occurs.
Given that Hamish Rutherford is a happy disciple of neo-liberal economics, I’m not overly surprised that he casually threw the “evil” prospect of higher wages into the mix. Robertson seemed desperate to avoid that wee detail. By Robertson’s account, interest rate changes come out of no-where.
It’s ye olde class war, and Robertson’s on the side of capital. That’s kind of all we need to know, realise or understand really.
Levels of public debt are of little consequence except when understood through the lens of liberal economic orthodoxy. And it’s been what might be termed “30 odd years of criminality” that has seen successive governments transfer a more or less meaningless ledger book entry onto citizens where it assumes a potentially crippling reality.
Now, about those wage increases “everyone” will be being denied because (it says in the bible of liberalism) higher wages will reduce profit, which will lead to profit seeking entities increasing prices to protect profit margins (inflation), which will entail (supposedly) independent central or reserve banks to bring in higher interest rates in a bid to maintain “economic stability”, meaning assets founded on debt lose value, which in turn means lower returns for those glorious investors as some of “their” future monies goes into servicing debt…and they will run, or cream it off the back of ‘selling short’ or whatever the casino speak is for making like a bandit off of others’ financial misfortune.
I’m sure I’ve missed some steps/details, or not quite got some of that right. But the basics of the rationale are close enough.
And you and me and who-ever else might be servicing any personal debt? Well, we’s fucked.
But that’s okay. Importantly, we have to understand that’s okay. We need to understand and accept that those accruing money from playing with money; those who treat real things and people merely as “means to their profitable ends” – it’s important we keep them in the pink, because, y’know, we simply couldn’t survive in a world where they weren’t successful.
Maybe one day a government will press medals and award them to dutiful citizens who have made appropriate sacrifices in times of need.
+111
Argh! Robertson – doing the neoliberals (and ultimately Nats’) work for them.
We will never break from neoliberal chains while he is in charge of the finances and economy.
So much for a change government.
The number of lies and backflips are off the charts, no wonder voters have such little faith in politicians.
Its almost like nothing much has changed 🙂
Yep, it’s so obvious Clark’s people are running the show, Ardern is just her mouthpiece, so much for the end of neo-liberalism, not that I’m complaining.
If you can’t have National in charge, National lite is better than nothing
Must be quite disappointing for left-wingers though, I can see the Greens doing quite well especially if they pick Davidson.
It’s almost as though both major parties were based around centrist policies rather than wholesale upheaval. But whoah, hold on – that’s just crazy talk!
That’s not the way Ardern was pitching it during and just after the election.
You know, “this is a change government”, “Capitalism has failed”, etc
Oh LOOK, a hate in.
Ardern is leading a change government, one that will and is already making good and useful changes to fix the crap work done by the last one. But it’s not a revolutionary government out to overthrow the liberal consensus and destroy capitalism (nice misleading “capitalism has failed” misquote there, by the way). For that reason, Robertson’s comments are unsurprising.
“(nice misleading “capitalism has failed” misquote there, by the way).”
I did hear Ardern say that as well, so just checked to make sure…
“Incoming prime minister Jacinda Ardern says capitalism has been a “blatant failure” in New Zealand when measured by child poverty.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11935456
BM did not misquote (other than paraphrasing blatant failure to failed).
Actual quote:
“If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that’s a blatant failure. What else could you describe it as?”
BM’s version of it:
“Capitalism has failed.”
Chuck: “BM did not misquote…”
Chuck, Psycho Milt showed BM and yourself to be Billshitting …
But quoting The Herald …. a heavy weight member of ‘Dirty Politics’ … is like quoting a serial gossip monger.
The Herald, The Dom or David Farrar have not given up dirty politics …. they prove this by continual printing of ‘ The tax payers union ‘ .
The herald should be sold with a National party symbol on their mast head ….
You can’t argue logic with a hate in Psycho Milt, that said – brave of you to try.
Yes, we all know why you want Davidson in there for the Greens, BM.
Which is what?
Because she will not increase popularity of the Greens for voters and therefore your beloved National party will prosper by default. Probably the right wingers have been polling whose worst for the Greens popularity.
Interesting I thought Davidson was the best candidate because she best reflected what the Green party membership would want in a leader.
Maori, Female, Activist, Feminist, SJW, she’s ticking all the green boxes.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/73697102/i-come-from-a-long-line-of-stubborness-marama-davidson
The fact she will no doubt clash with Labour and NZ First is irrelevant, she’s there to represent Green voters not prop up the labour/NZ First government.
Maori, Female, Activist, Feminist, SJW, – yep so representative of society (sarcasm) – how many now living in NZ can identify with that – under 5% perhaps?
The Green Party was founded by Jeanette Fitzsimons, Rod Donald and Mike Ward… so the current idea of a narrow focus of identity politics and the cheerleading of that approach by right-wingers is not for the benefit of the Green Party survival but the survival of the National party.
weka posted yesterday on what I think is a sensible analysis of where the Greens will (maybe) start to pick up votes again from here.
Which is to get back some of the support that deserted the Greens and went into Labour.
Then hope Labour picks off some of the current National support to compensate for votes that go to the Greens.
In theory a win/win for both the Greens and Labour.
Davidson appeal is perfect for those voters the Greens would like back from Labour.
@Chuck “Davidson appeal is perfect for those voters the Greens would like back from Labour”
yep I’m sure Chuck and BM would not want to advocate for anyone that might take disgruntled voters from National…
Once again with the heroic levels of false equivalence. What hasn’t changed is you – empty and cynical as ever.
NZ, as a general rule, doesn’t want upheaval. It wants Clarks and Keys government, sure make some changes around the edges but keep the government in the centre.
Look at all the issues caused by Douglas and Richardson, NZ doesn’t want radicalism it wants, for lack of a better word, conservatism
The top 1%, having grabbed everything they wanted, sure.
The lower 60%, having lost access to their traditional resources – housing, jobs, a future – they’d’ve liked a bit of conservatism back when government was practicing radical dishonesty.
Now they need change, if only to pay their (grossly inflated) rents.
“The top 1%, having grabbed everything they wanted, sure”
Define the top 1%
I think that even you are capable of that.
I have to agree with you there Puckish, I think many voters are tired of the radical economic approaches like Rogernomics by Labour, laissez-faire capitalism by National. They just want a bit of a break from it all.
BM doesn’t realize, due to his hate for Labour, that the implementation of change takes time, planning starting with the removal of roadblocks set up by 9 years of National legislation.
100% Johan you are correct there.
National took over and radically “raped and pillaged our public assets and sold all our forests to the Chinese mainly so they have set us up for failure but all those national trolls will ignore this fact and carry on as if they are doing the right thing for us all, ha ha ha, they are a ship of fools and traitors keen to sell NZ.
You do realise what you’ve said PR? Don’t you . . . don’t you . . .?
Robertson, a long with the majority of Labour’s caucus, is a neo-liberal and, no, we won’t break free of the damaging chains of neo-liberalism while they’re in charge.
Totally agree. I have a lot of respect for our Prime Minister and I think on a personal level she would like to undertake some radical changes to the ‘system’. Don’t know that, its’ just a feeling I get whilst observing her as she works. Sadly, her cabinet will have other ideas (Such as keeping their jobs or keeping the globalists happy) and it will be same as same as with a few little changes here and there.
For example..Is Labour going to repeal the employment contracts act? Of course not, they’ll tinker round the edges of bits and pieces of legislation to appease some voters but the overall agenda will remain the same as it has been since the 80’s.
Whatever you thought of David Cunliffe, he would have been an infinitely better finance minister than Robertson in my opinion.
They will struggle to repeal the Employment Contracts Act – Lab5 repealed it in 2000.
Finally, they have a government in Germany.
http://www.dw.com/en/eu-partners-welcome-german-coalitions-planned-new-departure-for-europe/a-42490408
Importantly, the Social Democrat Olaf Schulz has gone from mayor of Hamburg to Minister of Finaince overnight.
http://www.dw.com/en/olaf-scholz-the-man-headed-to-germanys-finance-ministry/a-42491906
Hope to hear this means they clean up their banks, kill austerity, and does it with sufficient style that SPD doesn’t get completely annihilated in the next election.
When will we fund out schools adequately ?
We have this from Labour (pre election) will substitute the funding from school donations
https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/98205252/labours-150-per-student-per-year-promise-over-and-above-current-funding-minister-say
Yet we are still waiting
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/101177800/four-west-auckland-schools-opt-out-of-school-donations
BUT many schools receive donations well and above the $150/student level
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/101095932/schools-split-on-governments-plan-to-overhaul-donation-system
As a parent that our local school asked for $500/student to cover MOE shortfalls of funding. So our local school would lose out from this ill thought out policy. How will they make the shortfall up ?
Then we have some who do not pay the donation for many reasons; some valid (cannot afford – fair enough) some Not. Yet those who have the means to pay, but for a philosophical reason or they don’t have to, do not pay, yet are willing for their children to receive the benefit paid for by others.
Down this way we call it a ‘voluntary donation’ I refuse to pay it, instead I do volunteer work for the school from teaching the kids how to grow vege’s in the school garden, to making all the costumes for their school productions.
But $500 donation is off the charts, I suggest you take it to the board of trustees, maybe the school is not managing their finances very well. I understand schools have been underfunded for so very long but I’m absolutely gobsmacked at them asking you for a $500 donation. Do parents not get together and organise fund raising at your kids school Herodotus?
I am fortunate to be in a position to pay, and I value what the school delivers and my partner teachers there so I am well aware of the situation, and how over time schools have been underfunded and have to rely on outside funding eg donations. At least those who pay can get 33% back in a tax refund. Tip to claim as soon as you can in April.
Also the decile system of funding assumes “We use deciles to target funding, for state and state-integrated schools, to help them overcome any barriers to learning that students from lower socio-economic communities might face.”
The major implication will be the amount of funding given to the school by the government. As a general overview, more money per child will be provided to Decile 1 schools, than to Decile 10 schools. As a result, you will often find that parents of children at higher decile schools will be asked to contribute more in terms of fees, donations, time and equipment.
https://www.education.govt.nz/school/running-a-school/resourcing/operational-funding/school-decile-ratings/
Unfortunately whose on the board, what was the PTA committee are also the ones who pay. There are some who don’t contribute anything (gala etc) in time or $$
Excluding the decile system (which is a bit of a sham), I wonder what the difference is between both of our schools?
I’m in Motueka, the school my youngest attends has a roll of around 250, Yrs1 – Yrs8. Just wondering if smaller communities are more supportive of schools/involvement/funding raising etc than larger ones? As the locals here turn out in droves for any galas that any of the schools put on, either by helping/volunteering or by attending. Also the teachers keep stationary costs for the kids as low as possible, stationary for Miss Ten cost less than $20 this year for everything.
Sounds like some on the board at yours should not be there, one would have thought that those on the board would be the biggest supporters of the school and drivers of fundraising re effort and time.
Looking forward to your reply, enjoying this discussion.
All our local schools range from Decile 8-10 . Of the 4 primary schools in the area the lowest roll is 550. Galas up here are for a specific need .eg playing field drainage (That IMO should have been installed when the school was established). All 7 of the local schools has had to do this at their own expense, and should shame those in the MOE for their lack of foresight.
Board is not the problem(and I salute all those who volunteer for this) most can afford the “fees”, the school benefits and so do the students.
here is what 1 local school has on its web page re Donations
While this has many advantages such as a vibrant learning community, positive student attitudes, and strong work ethics. It’s biggest difficulty is that annually we receive only a fraction of the Ministry of Education funding that is given to low decile schools.
This has a huge impact on what we can offer our students.
Thanks for that Herodotus, really interesting. The school deciles here are around a 5, the lowest is a 3, and the highest an 8, most are a 5 or 6.
Maybe it does have something to do with smaller communities as well as decile, most schools here are small, compared with your area, rolls vary from 100 – 250 kids.
Galas here are annually, some schools use the money to provide all of the stationary requirements for students for the following year. Others to cut down on school camp fee’s, or provide sports equipment etc. Locals are generous with their time, working bee’s, supportive local businesses and horticulture growers etc.
Decile funding aside, maybe wealthier people are not as resourceful, because they don’t have to be. A decile 6 school in our region has fires in every class room for winter heating, fire wood is gathered by locals, utilising donated wind felled tree’s from local farms that type of thing, community efforts, not just the parents of school children, everyone helps.
All that aside, every school in the country should be adequately funded, and they should all have solar panels.
It’s all rather complex, thanks for your feedback, much appreciated. Good topic, kids come first around here 🙂 Much respect to you and your partner, I’m massively supportive of educators and hold them in very high regard.
Personally I’m thrilled with our new governments education team, looking forward to some real progress in this sector over the next couple of years.
School donations need to be banned.
Agreed, but when sectors of our education system are being consciously under funded, how else are schools/kindys to secure these needed funds?
Some have reverted to paying overseas students, others fund raising – But only a few volunteer and they work damn hard for what they achieve eg Galas etc.
Like housing we all know there is an issue but … Solutions are lacking (I note that IMO housing issues are so great that we have gone well beyond any real solutions- no answers- only means to attack peripheral issues)
And a “free” education system is about as true as “100% pure”- Just PR spin
You mentioned the core problem IMO “housing issues” driven by the greed of Aussie banks and the property industry. It’s sucking the life out of the economy. Kiwis may be more “productive” but we have more people working longer hours for lower wages than ever.
As does fund raising and charging for ambulances. Another basic service that should be provided for all by the state.
+1
Netanyahu is going down and I’m going to enjoy every freaking minute of it.
News reports for this corrupt piece of shite are just coming through, police chiefs have decided to recommend indicting him for corruption.
Will post some links as soon as more info becomes available.
“The Times of Israel reported Wednesday that police chiefs, including the general commissioner of Israel’s police force, were in “unanimous agreement” that Netanyahu should be indicted for allegedly accepting bribes and receiving lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors, including Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.”
http://thehill.com/policy/international/372772-israeli-police-recommend-indicting-netanyahu-for-corruption-report
http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/in-israel/local/police-recommend-to-indict-pm-for-bribery-34454
If he makes it to the election he’ll probably survive.
Can’t stand him myself.
Big question is who would replace him. And would they be better.
IKR, they are saying he shouldn’t stand for next election. Bibi says the attorney general will not take action, wouldn’t surprise me if he is bribing him as well, they are quite close. Bibi is such a dodgy bugger and media controller
@ Add, “And would they be better.”
Who could be worse????
Got everything crossed, Cinny. Thanks for this information.
De nada 🙂 Same. same with everything crossed 🙂
When was the last time Palestine had an election?
🙄
“The case for the defence M’Lud, is that although my client took bribes, someone else did a bad thing somewhere else, and after all, personal responsibility is for other people, not right wingers.”
Way too long ago Indiana, however apparently there will be one by the end of 2018. Found this info…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-talks/palestinian-factions-agree-to-hold-general-election-by-end-2018-idUSKBN1DM2H4
I’m lstening to this very good music now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFhs7WVvuXk&list=RDwFhs7WVvuXk
The big PICTURE is that there is a direct link to the way the neoliberals who run the CROWN and the same type of neoliberals who ran the CROWN in the 1840 .
That is in the way they are behaving and treating ME with propaganda lies and deceit .
They weave a VALE over the common people eyes to justify there malicious ways they are treating me If the common people new how these neoliberals were treating MAORI
during THE NEWZEALAND WARS they would have been up in arms over there behavior and put a stop to that ever happening . The NEWZALAND settlers were coned that all the LAND transactions were being carried out in a fair and Just way this was a Fallacy .
It was a small % who benefited the most from this the neoliberal 1% this is how they gained so much control of the western society this is how shonky managed to cheat and change OUR society in the last 9 years to benefit the 1% .
Give the police all they want to get there cooperation in his goal of the 1% dominance of OUR society. They will dispose of people who call them out on there real actions against the 99% of common people this is what they are trying to do to ECO MAORI but I have the internet and a brain that will beat them into submission in the END .
They used Te kooti OWN people against him as they are doing that to me I know every single one of YOU I will forgive most of you but not all will be forgiven .
MAORI have a lot to thank my Te puna Ropata Wahawaha and his advisers for saving us from total dominance from these neoliberals animals is to good a word to describe the un humane people .
Ropata worked out that the CROWN was deceiving him he worked with the CROWN till he got well armed gave them a BROWN EYE lol retreated to his strong hold
Te tairawhiti Ngati Porou .
The neoliberals were not happy when they figured out Ropata had made fools of them as I am. They thought of taking OUR land by force they changed there minds when reality hit them that Ropata was to well armed so they tried other dirty tactics to under mine Ngati Porou as they are still doing to this day.
Ropata Wahawaha move to counter there moves to dominate Maori was the nurturing and education of OUR GREAT leader my Te puna Sir Api Ana Ngata.
Ngata and his helpers saved Maori from total dominance from these neoliberals .
This is one of the reason that Ngati Porou have such High regards from all the Maori ELDERS the other is OUR Te puna we have a strong lineage so to those neoliberals ECO Maori gives you a BROWN EYE this is a major insult to MAORI .
Ana To Kai Ka kite ano P.S can all my clients pay me as I provide a honorable service thanks Why is the book east coast myths and legends missing
Julie Anne Genter has now thrown her hat in the ring for the Green Co-Leader position according to RNZ News at 11am.
“Julie Anne Genter has now thrown her hat in the ring for the Green Co-Leader”
Why?
Has she no confidence in Davidson? Or is she seeking to boost her résumé and of course, salary?
Will her standing be the start of ructions within?
I doubt there will be any ructions. Greens should have as many people standing as possible to say their special strengths and hopefully make the type of decision that changed Labour’s fortunes by electing someone that people can relate to and feel they can trust with policy that is meaningful to enough voters who will vote for them.
Jacinda changed Labour’s fortunes. However, Labour didn’t elect Jacinda.
Why has she thrown her hat in the ring?
I am not a mind reader so would not presume to say why. I am also not a Green Party member, so it is not for me to speak for her or the Party. (I am certainly not anti-Greens at all; far from it.)
There are plenty of interviews etc going on with her today that you could find for yourself to see what she herself says as to her reasons.
Who knows, maybe she has thrown her hat into the ring because yesterday Mike Hosking endorsed her as his choice of co-leader if the Greens really think they need one. LOL. ( /sarc)
This is interesting.
Genter said: “Under my co-leadership I want there to be no doubt the Green Party will not be pushed around or taken for granted.”
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/349918/green-mp-julie-anne-genter-throws-hat-in-for-leadership
What can we take from that?
Is she implying the Greens are currently being pushed around and taken for granted?
Or is she implying that under Davidson the Greens would be pushed around and taken for granted?
🙄
Look at their last press conference together. The Green schism is upon us!
Thanks for that McFlock, needed a good giggle.
Maybe she just thinks people should have a choice. But thanks for your attempt to sow discord sorry “concern”.
There is far more chance of ructions due to her throwing her hat into the ring than me asking about it on here.
“Maybe she just thinks people should have a choice”
Rather than the party displaying a united front and getting in behind Davidson?
You only need to display a united front if your internal structure is horribly fractured.
Yet again you really don’t understand that grownups can disagree without “ructions”.
If your internal structure is horribly fractured, displaying a united front is fraudulent.
There is strength in genuine unity.
I understand grownups can disagree without ructions, what you seem to fail to understand is that disagreements can also create ructions.
And as we’ve seen in the past, the Greens aren’t immune to it.
As we’ve also seen, they’re a fuckload more mature about it than most other parties. Get a life.
McFlock said to The Chairman:
“… thanks for your attempt to sow discord sorry “concern”.”
And it bears saying again.
And as I said to McFlock. There is far more chance of ructions due to her throwing her hat into the ring than me asking about it on here.
Yet, me asking about it seems to have hit a nerve with you. Wonder why?
You’ve hammed up your act again, chairperson. Stupid questions.
Will Bill English’s standing down be the start of runctions within?
Seeing as National are polling strong and are no longer in power, a messed up leadership change is one thing that could potentially harm them.
Genter is easy to respect in government already. She’s been such a consistent and wise transport and urban form advocate, a natural as Minister, and solid in central Auckland.
Julie-Anne is freaking awesome, so is Marama, geez it would be a hard choice for me.
MUST READ MAORI + HOUSING
Fascinating!!
https://www.radionz.co.nz/programmes/tangata-whenua/story/2018629805/stories-from-tangata-whenua-surveying-auckland-s-housing-crisis
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/101250500/mori-unemployment-still-needs-a-lot-of-work-despite-big-drop-in-figures-says-minister
The exchange became heated when Jackson questioned where RNZ had got its figures from.
They were from Stats NZ, said Espiner. “As the minister I’d expect you to know that – it’s only four pars in, mate.”
Boom mic drop 🙂
The sheer competence of this Govt is breathtaking. Isn’t Jackson a Minister of something?
TBH I’m more impressed with Guyon in this instance, it showed he did his homework
faroutdude. – Isn’t Jackson a Minister of something?
He is far better than your ‘minister of everything’ and propaganda (Joyce the $11 billion dollar hole man) eh
~11% down to ~9% is a 20-odd% drop to a still unacceptable level of unemployment.
Interesting interview – bit of decent sparring 🙂
Oh yeah I mean its still to high but its just good to see journalists and politicians sparring
been a while overall – nine years or so…
Feels like approximately 18 to me… 🙂
lol corngate
Campbell did good against Clark but couldn’t handle Key…I guess Campbell couldn’t manage the step up in intensity 🙂
Key (and Bridges comes to mind) didn’t spar, even when journos came after them (which was rare enough).
Bridges just got shouty and yelled over the interviewer, whereas Key would just shrug and maintain bullshit, saying things that sounded reasonable but were actually conflicting and inconsistent bullshit, like trump. Closest key got was the Hardtalk interview, and even then all he did was say he could pay other experts to agree with him.
Whereas Jackson and Espiner actually debated a commonly-agreed reality.
And the Nats all but boycotted the national broadcaster – preferred dog whistling on commercial talkback.
Campbell didn’t get to handle Key because Key ran from him like a yellow dog.
Stephen Sackur didn’t get another crack at him either – Key bravely ran away.
“Campbell didn’t get to handle Key because Key ran from him like a yellow dog.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ZCrxcte14
Emperor (lets face it a knighthood simply isn’t enough for a man of his stature) John Key took John Campbell to the woodshed and vigorously spanked him for over a quarter of an hour on live TV
To be an Emperor the shithead would have required a foreign possession, so I guess we’re seeing an instance of Fontaine’s “flatterer living at someone else’s expense” – though it’s certainly true that the vile satrap had no democratic mandate whatsoever. Your craven style of submission is however more suited to Saudi society, where the blade is never very far from the miscreant’s neck.
https://pics.me.me/i-swallowed-a-dictionary-it-gave-me-thesaurus-throat-ive-30349665.png
Oh poor baby – not a reader? I guess it explains your uncritical preference for lousy backward governments.
PK cant count can he/she.
It’s like Key’s memory – learned disability.
Is that still based on 1 hour of work a week?
yup.
One in five Māori underutilised.
No doubt the COL will solve this. How much training will be needed to get those 100,000,000 trees planted this year? Oh, hang on – that’s another back track isn’t it..
Well, at least those 100,000 houses will suck up 1000’s of the unemployed – oops, see above, & it’s only a few more than existing plans isn’t it?
It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic.
“Backtrack” must be one of those irregular words: National makes promises it doesn’t follow through on, they’re “savvy”. LabNZ1Grn make promises that take more than 100 days to reach capacity, they “backtrack”.
If anyone is in doubt about the scale of Chinese military activity on the disputed Spratly Is reefs, take a look!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11990179
Yeah, seen it yesterday while I was reading the morning paper over a coffee down at the local cafe and I wasn’t really surprised at what I was reading, but somehow I still managed to choke on my coffee.
Further to a comment I made a week or so ago on the effect airbnb is having on the rental market with respect to the recent stats released by real estate and property management companies showing an up to 50% drop in the number of rental listings in the past year – here is what this trend looks like in practise:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/101259878/from-290-a-week-to-4000-a-month–boost-from-joining-airbnb
I think there is very poor information available on the numbers of multiple property owners who have taken their houses off the rental market and listed them as tourist accomodation but without that information it is easy to conclude it’s having a dramatic effect.
Some councils are moving to regulate airbnb as has happened all over the world where there is housing issues and/or pressure from traditional tourist accomodation providers.
Imo this information is pretty crucial nationwide. I imagine it’ll only eventuate when the bite really starts to come on employers not being able to get staff because there’s nowhere for them to live…
This is a fine example of research commissioned by the public service of our universities and technical institutes.
Whether or not this is also an example of Bill English’s big data/social investment approach I’m not sure because how that works in practise has never been explained.
Regardless if it is, there’s no point in collecting valuable social data which says vulnerable transience is damaging and that is increasing while at the same time you’re pulling down state houses, the very thing that fights vulnerable transience at the coal face.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11989070
I don’t know why you bother Wayne – the double standards on this site are a thing to behold.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Yeah, Boob mones
https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/500x/61814107/fuck-you-owww.jpg
Lol
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
am hoping that if I look I don’t see a pattern of you harassing another commenter, esp as I seem to recall you being warned about that already.
Feeling a bit of colonist oppression here weka.
‘Colon’ ist? Haha, maybe your comment was a bit shitty! Maybe you were being a bit of an arsehole!
Lol, I’m sure you’ll manage.
Here, have a suck on the corner of blankie and put on these love-beads.