So – has any information EVER been shared between NZ and the Cook Islands regarding tax evasion and avoidance by NZ citizens using Cook Island tax ‘structures’ on NZ Prime Minister John Key’s watch?
Winston Peters says tax avoidance in the Cook Islands has happened under the watch of prime minister John Key.
Key has rubbished accusations from the Panama Papers leaker that he has enabled financial fraud in the Cook Islands, which exists in free association with New Zealand.
But the New Zealand First leader, who triggered the Winebox Inquiry in Cook Islands tax avoidance in the 1990s, said the prime minister does have a role to play.
He said New Zealand and the Cook Islands have an ongoing Tax Information Exchange Agreement which was updated in July 2009.
“That updating was to do with exchange of information about two things, tax avoidance and tax evasion, so Mr Key is 100 percent wrong about his responsibility.”
Everything is connected stunned mullet – even you to everyone in your street, town, island etc. It’s good that Penny is trying to do something about the unsatisfactory situation outside Auckland. Do you think that Auckland needs her focus? What suggestions have you to improve the broken systems in your area?
I’ve put my freehold home on the line to protect my lawful rights as a citizen to ‘open. transparent and democratically accountable’ local government in Auckland.
I have disputed and refused to pay Auckland Council (previously Auckland City Council) rates, because ‘the books’ are NOT open, and citizens and ratepayers do not know exactly where hundreds of million$ of public rates monies are being spent by Auckland Council and Council (Corporate) Controlled Organisations (CCOs) on private sector consultants and contractors.
This is the information to which I believe I and ALL citizens are entitled under the Public Records Act 2005, s.17 :
The unique contract number.
The name of the consultant / contractor.
A brief description of the scope of the contract.
The contract start and finish date.
The exact dollar value of every contract – including those sub-contracted.
How the contract was awarded – by public tender or direct appointment.
How can you ‘follow the dollar’ – if you don’t know exactly where it’s going?
How can you check for ‘cost-effectiveness’ if you don’t know exactly where the costs fall?
How can you have genuine transparency, or accountability with proper public records available for public scrutiny?
Nobody asked you to do this Penny. And what sort of corruption can a redundant welding tutor find that qualified auditors etc cannot? And what sort of return have the Auckland ratepayers had for your 7 or so years of investigations? How many cases of corruption have you uncovered? Nada, none, zip.
I suppose it gives you something to do.
Challenge the system by all means, but if every one followed our not so Penny Brights lead where would we be, i.e simply avoid paying rates and tax based on your personal belief, right or wrong, wether you pay simply comes down to your own personal bright line test
Visubversa
I don’t think you sound as if you have any qualifications to even put a criticism here. Why don’t you find something positive to do with your rime instead of sneering at someone who attempts to make a protest and show up a fault in the system. You apparently find excuses not to do anything yourself because you haven’t the integrity or strength to stand up for something better.
edited
“He said New Zealand and the Cook Islands have an ongoing Tax Information Exchange Agreement which was updated in July 2009.
“That updating was to do with exchange of information about two things, tax avoidance and tax evasion, so Mr Key is 100 percent wrong about his responsibility.”
A very useful point Penny. And with a bit of luck John Key will have to address this next week in light of his flat denial last week. Wiggle will he?
“Marcos was one of the first to exploit the rats’ nest of secret jurisdictions and hidden ownership then in the early stages of being built beneath the floorboards of public life.
But what is most important about Marcos is that he committed his crimes as a politician. His career starts with a cynicism that now seems familiar – manipulating electorates, using money to buy power and power to make money. But he went one big step further in merging politics and finance, converting the instruments of government into one vast cash machine. A handful of other autocrats were also busy stealing from their people in that era – in Haiti, Nicaragua, Iran – but Marcos stole more and he stole better. Ultimately, he emerges as a laboratory specimen from the early stages of a contemporary epidemic: the global contagion of corruption that has since spread through Africa and South America, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Marcos was a model of the politician as thief.”
Ultimately, he emerges as a laboratory specimen from the early stages of a contemporary epidemic: the global contagion of corruption that has since spread through Africa and South America, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Marcos was a model of the politician as thief.
And is now emerging in NZ, the UK, the US, Europe…
“If you want to talk about what the government or political parties should be doing, or that CC is the responsibility of governments not individuals, please go to Open Mike. This post is for discussion about what NZers can do themselves and how that is part of the politics of Climate Change.” Weka
Weka gives us his opinion on how to combat climate change, and asks, if we disagree with him to raise it here;
In his post, “Climate Change Pt 1: What are we waiting for?” Weka asks that anyone who thinks “that CC is the responsibility of governments not individuals, please go to Open Mike.”
Hopefully in Pt 2: of his post, (if it ever turns up), Weka will set out what he thinks political parties and governments should do.
In the meantime while we are waiting, I thought that we could set the ball rolling.
Preamble:
There is no task that is truely worth being done by human beings, that does not require team work. Whether it is building a house, or building a road, or crossing an ocean. There is hardly any major task that I can think of that doesn’t require teamwork and cooperation. it is our greatest strength as a species. And teamwork always requires leadership. This is an inescapable fact.
And the fight against climate change is the biggest most monumental task humanity has ever faced. it will require the teamwork of millions to solve.
So how should we go about it?
Can we just leave it up to personal responsibility?
Something Weka calls a “Riot for Austerity”
Or should we also be campaigning for a change in public policy?
In my opinion, the individual approach to fighting climate change, is a philosophical approach to climate change, that even the ACT Party could agree with. ACT, the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers say they are the party that is all about individual choice. A campaign based on the power of consumers is I imagine something that they could agree with.
Less government intervention and regulation, leaving more room for personal choice, and individual action, is the ACT mantra.
In fact they are always going on about it. Recently an ACT spokesperson said that the reason some tenants live in damp unhealthy homes is because of personal choices they have made.
Others beg to differ:
“Put simply, it’s not choice. It’s not choice that our kids are suffering with poor health, living in damp homes and less likely to do well at school. It’s also not the child’s choice – or their families – to live in poverty,” says Children’s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills.
“There is choice around how we as a country respond to this. We have to take it seriously, we need a clear national plan for doing better…..”
In my opinion what could be said for poverty, can be said for climate change.
Climate choice is a fine thing for the Association of Consumers and Taxpayer members, whose leader David Seymour, (to prove his climate change credentials), turned up to the ACT Party Conference in a NZD $140,000 Tesler S1.
Weka argues that we exercise our choice as consumers to combat climate change.
In my opinion, this so called “choice”, can only be properly exercised by the wealthy or the upper middle classes, those with the leisure and the money that gives them the freedom to make such choices. There is very little choice for the time strapped and cash poor. The power of consumer choice is not for a minimum wage worker from South or West Auckland who has to struggle to work in an unregistered clapped out Toyota, because there is no affordable and reliable public transport system.
Nor is there much power of consumer choice for the solo mother or beneficiary who has to keep the bar heater on all winter because their home is badly insulated. Which is why Andrew Little has introduced legislation for minimum heating and insulation regulations for rental properties.
Changes in public policy will have more impact in combatting climate change than personal consumer choices ever will.
Of course we should all do what we can as individuals but this will never be enough, and for many, (possibly the majority), and especially for those of us with limited choices, actually impossible. No matter how much we may want to, or know we should.
A point Naomi Klein makes in her last book is that over the same era of acceleration of climate change’s harm i.e. the last 30 years, many countries willingly shrank the whole realm of the state, thereby weakening the human capacity to actually change the climate.
She may be right, but the state is still the strongest force of human agency ever devised, and probably ever will be. Popular protest can work, but it’s a massive lottery compared to putting your collective might to changing the entire government.
Trusts, NGOs, anarchy-syndicalist communes, or micro-communal vegetable gardens will never amount to the capacity of the state to change stuff on any scale the climate will notice.
New Zealand’s own electricity generation at around 85% renewable owes that performance to a legacy of command-and-control governments that continued for about 80 years (i.e. from Vogel). Unlike China and Singapore, New Zealand is a strong example of how a kind of sustainability can be achieved without sacrificing too much democracy, and at the same time attain very long term good for people and for the climate.
This is a good point about the sheer power of the state, and I agree. However it’s a false dichotomy to put that up against community initiated change. The whole point of my post was that governments aren’t changing fast enough. The value in things like the Riot and community gardens isn’t simply that they reduce emissions (although they certainly lead the way in what should be being done on that front). The real value is that those things change people, and when enough people are changing the governments will change too. Then we have real potential.
The other side of that is that should the NZ govt start on real CC action, if the people aren’t on board things will get messy. Best to have people changing now, so we are ready. The best way for people to change is to start behaving differently, in the manner in which we should be acting in the first place.
Thanks Jenny, good too see the response (and thanks for bringing it to OM).
I’d like to clarify a few things.
Neither the Riot for Austerity nor my own post were suggesting that personal action was the only thing required, or that it was a substitute for governmental and other collective action. The point of the Riot was to demonstrate that no matter what governments did or didn’t do, individuals, families and communities could still take action. We don’t have to wait for others to go first.
I also don’t believe that the Riot is essentially libertarian, and you misrepresent it and myself when you call it individual and leave out the importance of family and community. Your analysis is useful for combatting libertarian arguments, but that’s not what I was making. Mine was more anarchistic perhaps (“we don’t need government’s permission to change” is entirely different than saying that “only individuals are responsible for change”).
My own position is that because we don’t have government action (or even much political party action outside of the Greens), we have to mobilise at the individual, family and community levels. When we do that, governments and political parties will follow. Even the Greens are holding back on what needs ot be done because their very existence is dependent on votes. Once more people are demanding change and changing anyway, politicians will follow. This in no way precludes other kinds of political activism, we need it all.
My post was addressing a point that’s needed, which is that people are feeling powerless. It’s time we got past that feeling and did something.
“Hopefully in Pt 2: of his post, (if it ever turns up), Weka will set out what he thinks political parties and governments should do.”
It’s unlikely that I will be writing about that at this point. I’ve already said enough in comments, and there are huge swathes of commentary within NZ and internationally and here on ts about what governments should do. My energy is better used elsewhere. I would love to see others putting up posts on this though.
It does raise another point. We can talk about what governments should do, and we should have that conversation, but things are so urgent now that I want to also talk about what we can do, not what we should do. I can’t wait. We have to act, now.
Weka argues that we exercise our choice as consumers to combat climate change.
No, she doesn’t. She says we have to stop being consumers full stop. It’s a potent, radical act that undercuts neoliberalism, the global economy and capitalism itself. It also brings a halt to a big chunk of GHG emissions. Merely using consumer choice won’t prevent the worst of CC, although it’s still a step in the right direction. Cutting personal energy use by 90% is not consumer choice, it’s a radical rejection of the consumerist paradigm itself.
The transition to the power down from a consumerist soceity is a massive cultural paradigm shift. That’s what I was referring to.
In my opinion, this so called “choice”, can only be properly exercised by the wealthy or the upper middle classes, those with the leisure and the money that gives them the freedom to make such choices. There is very little choice for the time strapped and cash poor.
Leaving aside the inaccurate framing, one of the commenters in the thread is probably one of the lowest income Standardistas and he is powering down (Bill). I personally don’t think that the major changes need to come first from the working and underclasses, but I also don’t believe they are incapable of change or that they are not required to change. In fact I’d say the working and under classes have skills in powering down and anti-consumerism that the middle classes will come to envy in the coming decades.
We also simply cannot afford to wait for the left wing revolution that will first lift people out of poverty. That has to be done in the same context as everything else, CC is here, now. Why are we waiting to change. Someone who is poor is going to get hit just as hard when they are still relying on the global economy to bring food to their supermarket.
I agree that low income and time poor people have less choice. But many still have some choices.
whether we are talking about dodgy politicians, climate change action, inequitable taxation or unwanted tax haven status or so called free trade agreements there is one thing to remember……
they only have the power we allow them…..so why do we abdicate that power
Can’t we do both, Jenny @5 ?
As well as individual actions like growing more trees, vegetable gardens to be more self-sustainable, etc etc there also seem to be a number of group movements starting to grow – ActionStation is one, and then there’s another newer group setting up – http://act.350.org/event/break-free-world_attend/12291
This group 350 Aotearoa appear to be actively promoting the need for political action on Climate Change. I don’t know much about them – but they have some sort of event in Wellington on May 11, 2016. Have a look at this Facebook site – it’ll tell you more.
The dance between leaders and followers in a democracy is a subtle one.
Leadership initiatives from above are just as important as receptive support from below. One builds and strengthens the other. Without initiatives and leadership, individual action either falls apart, or doesn’t get started in the first place.
Without receptive supporters, leadership goes nowhere.
Though Weka didn’t explicitly advocate that individual activities is the only thing we should do. I can’t help thinking that his approach is letting the government and other policy makers somewhat off the hook. Maybe, Weka will challenge the politicians and policy makers in Pt 2: of his post, Let’s hope so.
I look forward to reading it.
P.S. Great to hear about your Break Free activities in Wellington. I have been close to the Break Free campaign here in Auckland. In Auckland 350.org are all young people full of life and fun, who organised a beach party occupation of the ANZ to call for divestment from fossil fuels,
Older, more conservative (looking), supporters like myself were asked to play an undercover role for the beach party, by arriving early and posing as ANZ customers to deflect any criticism, or manhandling of the protesters.
You can view the beach party occupation of the downtown Auckland ANZ lobby here:
The year is 1840 and Colonel Donald T Rash and David Business Roundtable disembark the Tory in a strange new land. They find the natives already have a complex capitalist system in place and everything is free to be exploited.
Shit if Hone can sit next to that toxic old shit and listen to the drivel that plummy twat from chch was spouting and not hit some one he needs to be in Parliament, common mana get your shit together.
Now I wonder what NatzKEY influenced msm serfs will do with the Panama papers data info release next week, prior to publication and reporting? Other than RNZ, there’s a good chance most msm sources will sanitize it to suit the likes of masters FJK and his chief of propaganda minister, Steven “the fixit guy” Joyce, to suit their rotten agendas!
I take it those of us who subscribe to ICIJ should hopefully receive access to the data in its entirety in our inboxes early on Tuesday 10 May.
Frankly, I don’t believe what the PM is saying.
Bring on the 10th May.
‘Prime Minister John Key says the Government is ready to crack down on wealthy tax evaders as the Government braces itself for fresh Panama Papers disclosures.
Speaking in Auckland on Sunday, Key said Inland Revenue officials would join the global stampede to ferret out tax evaders when millions of leaked “Panama Papers” go online on Tuesday.’
This getting more Crim dot com re the big damp squib reveal and day of judgement at the last ejection . what’s do we have here, NZ has forgein trusts, it had been the case for many years under labour and national governments , some ( not all) forgein trusts may be used for tax evasion of forgein tax jurisdictions, can some one tell me what’s new here and what was not know already
You missed the point.now misleading the truth.corrupt Criminals that can’t launder their money anywhere else in the world are using NZ’s good name and destroying that under the leadership of Crony Capitalist 2011 changes to the law and the undermining of rule tighning the IRD was ready to put into place.
Ken Whitney approached the PM a very close long time business associate his personal lawyer a dodgy dealing trust fund lawyer.
Who within 48hrs of approaching the minister IRD dropped all plans to tighten rules around trusts.
Nepotism
Greasing
Grifting
Corruption.
Bluelusion.
Oh please Reddelusion , you are the one in spin mode. All your, at present, fallow fan-boys.
As more paper and more information come to light it is only going to get worse.
Labour did it too. SHeesh, the argument of a two year old – this is a government that has been in power 7 odd years now, time to take responsibility for your own actions. Too soon?
I’m still struggling with the issue here, forgein trusts are not illegal, as are not registered companies, partnerships or multiple forms of entities under English law There has been no tax evasion in nz, if papers show this is the case the law will deal with it, likewise if laws of forgein incorporation, forgein trusts etc need to be tidied up, all good, albeit and international response is required here . I am just not sure what you lot are getting so exercised about, English commercial has continued to evolve ever since the formation of the royal charters and joint stock companies in the 17 and 1800s , The flexibility and innovative capacity of English law is why it tends to be the favoured law of international business and continues to evolve today to support the constant evolution and needs of the commercial sector. You need to get out of your grumpy little leftie box and just chill out on this one
Yes Paul it does and it needs and international response, as does global harmonisation of tax laws etc, trying to put all this on nz, Jk and the national party is where it’s getting ridiculous
That said, just because it’s legal is not a good defence. Being gay was illegal, and we changed that silly law. Women were legally not allowed to vote, and again we came to our scenes. Many many things have been legal which have become illegal and vice versa. It just a weak defence.
There is no smoking gun. I think you just said what everyone is upset about.
I am not claiming business as usual see my post below, there are good reason for trusts that make good business sense re separating management off assets from legal title, as does a mortgage etc, all useful tools and innovation under English law in fostering commerce etc. Deal with the issues of forgein trust if they are abused but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water Similar don’t try and turn a legal entity that has been with us since the 80s suddenly into, it’s all jk and Nationals fault , basically grow up and engage your brain and deal with the issue at at hand , likewise get over the fact that nz is not going to solve the global tax evasion issue. this can only be solved via a global response and even here is difficult as each nation has its own domestic laws, self interests etc yet all trade internationally, thus no easy answer
What pissing me off, and others is the in action by JK and Co. Then the political games. Or people creating memes to avoid having to deal with the issue.
The fact is the law change after national came to power, is the door which all this debate started with. I get Dunn was the muppet who was the lead on that.
You say we need to wait on the rest of the world, but we probably not going to do anything then either. Key and co. have not got a good track record.
If it helps there are a number of international institutions that nz is part of working on as such, in the mean time beyond legal harmonisation it just comes down to bi lateral tax treaties between countries, thus always issue between countries where such does not exist
National changed the tax on foreign trusts to “neutral” – 0%, in 2011. (Suggested by John Key himself, if IIRC). Chapman Tripp were delighted, and posted on this change. This made NZ very attractive to a larger number of very ugly trusts.
While John Key equivocateslies, we waste time on pretending that it was always like this, and we continue to lose our integrity and our self-respect by a thousand such cuts.
Zero tax is not the issue ( if no income is generated in nz, ie assets just parked here) , hiding behind the trust veil re who are the beneficiary of the trust is the issue in regard to paying tax elsewhere, tidy this up problem solved No big deal ! or corruption on nz part, so stop tearing your undies on this issue by some how extrapolating that some how foreign trust has connotations on nz reputation Any corruption is offshore by abusing nz trust laws
The War on terror was supposed to shut down terrorist funding.
Mossack Fonsecca are enabling terrorism and corruption to flourish.
NATO countries and their Allies put sanctions on Putins Russia.
MF enables Putin to undermine Sanction’s.
Nigerian Scammers once they have taken your money it can’t be retrieved.
Moassack Fonsecca hide these Nigerian scammers money.
The Mexican grifter who banked US$100 million in our tax haven when no other tax haven would touch it.
NZ govt allows Mossack Fonseca to set up here and in the protectetate of NZ Niue.
So our Allies who have trying to shut down Isis ,Putin.
The EU The US and Australia all trying to shut down tax dodgers.
Are going to be very unimpressed by your argument.
Bluelooney.
NZ has forgein trusts, it had been the case for many years under labour and national governments , some ( not all) forgein trusts may be used for tax evasion of forgein tax jurisdictions, can some one tell me what’s new here and what was not know already
Are you unable to read the newspaper for yourself or something? Here’s what’s new: the way NZ’s foreign trust rules were set up allows them to be used for tax avoidance and money laundering. People who aren’t Tories generally feel that we shouldn’t enable tax avoidance and money laundering. IRD warned the government about the problem with our foreign trust setup, and attempted to get it reviewed, something which appears to have been prevented by John Key intervening at the behest of his lawyer, one of the people profiting from said foreign trusts. Now, with the release of the Panama papers, the whole thing is blown wide open and NZ stands revealed as an enabler of tax avoidance and money laundering. This is not a bad thing nor a big deal how, exactly?
Anyone discussed this today?
“”As it stands, we cannot support the ratification of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement,” the Labour Party said….
..Labour leader Andrew Little said the trade minister was right to point out Labour’s long history of supporting free trade agreements.
“It goes back to the first Labour Government, and our support for free trade hasn’t changed. But what we won’t support is the erosion of New Zealanders’ democratic rights and to have a sovereign government. That’s what the National Government is selling out.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11635635
The government can prevent Jewish attacks on Arabs by taking “legitimate” revenge for Palestinian terrorism, MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.
“Presumably, if the State of Israel had not been influenced by twisted Christian morals and had not erased the word ‘revenge’ from its lexicon, and would have done it [revenge] in legitimate ways and deterred the enemy, we would not have encountered these difficult cases of private people taking the law and the revenge into their own hands,” he said.
Or antiemetic or anaemic, something – there will be criticism of criticism. The human mind must go for scapegoats – now its Christians. Have we stopped them having revenge?
What do they call what has been rained on Palestine? It’s not tit for tat, eye for eye, its rat-tat-tat for tat. It has gone beyond defensive maneouvres against a vast hostile Arab enemy.
“There is no doubt that volumes of oil – and, particularly, lower-carbon gas – will be needed well into the 2030s. The global transport system is still heavily dependent on black gold and full electrification is a long way off.
But change is happening quickly too. The sale of electric cars in Norway last year grew by 71%. Almost one in five cars there is a plug-in despite the nation being a major crude producer.
So the end of the oil era is not for the birds – or even the birdwatchers, the environmentalists, or the anti-oil obsessives. It is now becoming part of fund-manager and mainstream dialogue. Change is coming.”
Faith based pseudo science and the Prime Minister.
Pseudo science is something you believe in for no reason, based on zero evidence, but call it science.
“The world is going to heat up if it’s left unchecked,” he said. “People who get up and say ‘it’s Armageddon, it’s the end of the universe, it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened in the world, we will all die as a result of it,’ are missing one fundamental point and that is science will deal with the issues as long as we keep investing. If we did absolutely nothing and just allowed temperatures to continue to rise, then we would have a huge issue but the truth is that won’t happen.” JOHN KEY
Does John Key know something about dealing with this global crisis that the scientific community doesn’t?
Or, is he just indulging in wishful thinking?
Climate change is the government’s worst performing portfolio.
And John Key’s wishful thinking can’t cover up that fact.
There is no magic bullet. We need to cut our emissions and we need to cut them fast.
And New Zealand is better placed than most to set the pace.
No New Coal Mines.
No deep sea oil drilling.
No Fracking.
No new motorways,
Switch the $11 billion earmarked for Roads of National Significance to public transport
Close down Solid Energy
Close down Huntly
Close down Tiwai
100% Renewable electricity now
Cut the top speed limit from 100KPH to 80KPH (Don’t tell me it can’t be done, this was a fuel saving measure adopted by NZ during the energy crisis of the ’70s)
The emergency is upon us
We need to do these things right now.
Anything less from our leaders is cowardice and treachery and an abrogation of leadership in the face of the crisis.
Waiting on some magical scientific solution will damn us all.
In no way do I compare John Key to the Nazis, but they also believed without any basis in fact, that science was going to deliver them from disaster.
The Wunderwaffe
As the war situation worsened for Germany from 1942, claims about the development of revolutionary new weapons which could turn the tide became an increasingly prominent part of the propaganda directed at Germans by their government.
As the climate situation worsened, claims about the development of revolutionary new scientific breakthroughs which could turn the tide became an increasingly prominent part of the propaganda directed at New Zealanders by their government.
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The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
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Imperial war, refugees, radical writers locked in madhouses & exiled to baches: the NZ Herald acknowledges some of Auckland’s secret past: http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/the-city-of-words.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11635380
“Paying tax in NZ – it’s mandatory for poor wage slaves – avoidable by rich prick$.
Yip.”
ShonKEY.
“Paying tax in NZ – it’s mandatory for poor wage slaves – avoidable by rich prick$”
So you are a tax bludging rich prick
Don’t you have better things to do?
So – has any information EVER been shared between NZ and the Cook Islands regarding tax evasion and avoidance by NZ citizens using Cook Island tax ‘structures’ on NZ Prime Minister John Key’s watch?
If yes – what was the outcome?
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/peters-key-shirking-responsibilty-for-financial-fraud-in-cook-islands/
Winston Peters says tax avoidance in the Cook Islands has happened under the watch of prime minister John Key.
Key has rubbished accusations from the Panama Papers leaker that he has enabled financial fraud in the Cook Islands, which exists in free association with New Zealand.
But the New Zealand First leader, who triggered the Winebox Inquiry in Cook Islands tax avoidance in the 1990s, said the prime minister does have a role to play.
He said New Zealand and the Cook Islands have an ongoing Tax Information Exchange Agreement which was updated in July 2009.
“That updating was to do with exchange of information about two things, tax avoidance and tax evasion, so Mr Key is 100 percent wrong about his responsibility.”
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
What’s any of that got to do with the Auckland council elections ?
The fact, in my opinion, that New Zealand is a corrupt, polluted tax haven, is a problem locally, nationally and internationally.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Which has exactly what to do with the Auckland Council elections?
And what, exactly, do you think a “tax haven” is? Wikipedia will help.
Everything is connected stunned mullet – even you to everyone in your street, town, island etc. It’s good that Penny is trying to do something about the unsatisfactory situation outside Auckland. Do you think that Auckland needs her focus? What suggestions have you to improve the broken systems in your area?
you are not in a position to call out anyone on not paying what they owe Penny
Why on earth is that?
I’ve put my freehold home on the line to protect my lawful rights as a citizen to ‘open. transparent and democratically accountable’ local government in Auckland.
I have disputed and refused to pay Auckland Council (previously Auckland City Council) rates, because ‘the books’ are NOT open, and citizens and ratepayers do not know exactly where hundreds of million$ of public rates monies are being spent by Auckland Council and Council (Corporate) Controlled Organisations (CCOs) on private sector consultants and contractors.
This is the information to which I believe I and ALL citizens are entitled under the Public Records Act 2005, s.17 :
The unique contract number.
The name of the consultant / contractor.
A brief description of the scope of the contract.
The contract start and finish date.
The exact dollar value of every contract – including those sub-contracted.
How the contract was awarded – by public tender or direct appointment.
How can you ‘follow the dollar’ – if you don’t know exactly where it’s going?
How can you check for ‘cost-effectiveness’ if you don’t know exactly where the costs fall?
How can you have genuine transparency, or accountability with proper public records available for public scrutiny?
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
(‘Activists’ – get things done).
Nobody asked you to do this Penny. And what sort of corruption can a redundant welding tutor find that qualified auditors etc cannot? And what sort of return have the Auckland ratepayers had for your 7 or so years of investigations? How many cases of corruption have you uncovered? Nada, none, zip.
I suppose it gives you something to do.
Nobody has to ask
Just pay your taxes and rates no questions asked, there’s a good citizen
There is no corruption or fraud at local or central government level….back to sleep
No – just real scrutiny by people who know what they are doing. People with qualifications.
Challenge the system by all means, but if every one followed our not so Penny Brights lead where would we be, i.e simply avoid paying rates and tax based on your personal belief, right or wrong, wether you pay simply comes down to your own personal bright line test
“No – just real scrutiny by people who know what they are doing. People with qualifications”
Dont be too harsh Penny once held a welding ticket.
Mind you i have seen her use an angle grinder and she hasn’t got a clue
how to do that safely.
Visubversa
I don’t think you sound as if you have any qualifications to even put a criticism here. Why don’t you find something positive to do with your rime instead of sneering at someone who attempts to make a protest and show up a fault in the system. You apparently find excuses not to do anything yourself because you haven’t the integrity or strength to stand up for something better.
edited
“He said New Zealand and the Cook Islands have an ongoing Tax Information Exchange Agreement which was updated in July 2009.
“That updating was to do with exchange of information about two things, tax avoidance and tax evasion, so Mr Key is 100 percent wrong about his responsibility.”
A very useful point Penny. And with a bit of luck John Key will have to address this next week in light of his flat denial last week. Wiggle will he?
Very interesting article, the Marocs even first went into exile in Hawaii, sounds like a favourite place for corrupt politicians ….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/10bn-dollar-question-marcos-millions-nick-davies
“Marcos was one of the first to exploit the rats’ nest of secret jurisdictions and hidden ownership then in the early stages of being built beneath the floorboards of public life.
But what is most important about Marcos is that he committed his crimes as a politician. His career starts with a cynicism that now seems familiar – manipulating electorates, using money to buy power and power to make money. But he went one big step further in merging politics and finance, converting the instruments of government into one vast cash machine. A handful of other autocrats were also busy stealing from their people in that era – in Haiti, Nicaragua, Iran – but Marcos stole more and he stole better. Ultimately, he emerges as a laboratory specimen from the early stages of a contemporary epidemic: the global contagion of corruption that has since spread through Africa and South America, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Marcos was a model of the politician as thief.”
And is now emerging in NZ, the UK, the US, Europe…
Climate Change Pt 1: What are we waiting for?
The rebuttal Part 1
Weka gives us his opinion on how to combat climate change, and asks, if we disagree with him to raise it here;
In his post, “Climate Change Pt 1: What are we waiting for?” Weka asks that anyone who thinks “that CC is the responsibility of governments not individuals, please go to Open Mike.”
Hopefully in Pt 2: of his post, (if it ever turns up), Weka will set out what he thinks political parties and governments should do.
In the meantime while we are waiting, I thought that we could set the ball rolling.
Preamble:
There is no task that is truely worth being done by human beings, that does not require team work. Whether it is building a house, or building a road, or crossing an ocean. There is hardly any major task that I can think of that doesn’t require teamwork and cooperation. it is our greatest strength as a species. And teamwork always requires leadership. This is an inescapable fact.
And the fight against climate change is the biggest most monumental task humanity has ever faced. it will require the teamwork of millions to solve.
So how should we go about it?
Can we just leave it up to personal responsibility?
Something Weka calls a “Riot for Austerity”
Or should we also be campaigning for a change in public policy?
In my opinion, the individual approach to fighting climate change, is a philosophical approach to climate change, that even the ACT Party could agree with. ACT, the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers say they are the party that is all about individual choice. A campaign based on the power of consumers is I imagine something that they could agree with.
Less government intervention and regulation, leaving more room for personal choice, and individual action, is the ACT mantra.
In fact they are always going on about it. Recently an ACT spokesperson said that the reason some tenants live in damp unhealthy homes is because of personal choices they have made.
Others beg to differ:
In my opinion what could be said for poverty, can be said for climate change.
Climate choice is a fine thing for the Association of Consumers and Taxpayer members, whose leader David Seymour, (to prove his climate change credentials), turned up to the ACT Party Conference in a NZD $140,000 Tesler S1.
Weka argues that we exercise our choice as consumers to combat climate change.
In my opinion, this so called “choice”, can only be properly exercised by the wealthy or the upper middle classes, those with the leisure and the money that gives them the freedom to make such choices. There is very little choice for the time strapped and cash poor. The power of consumer choice is not for a minimum wage worker from South or West Auckland who has to struggle to work in an unregistered clapped out Toyota, because there is no affordable and reliable public transport system.
Nor is there much power of consumer choice for the solo mother or beneficiary who has to keep the bar heater on all winter because their home is badly insulated. Which is why Andrew Little has introduced legislation for minimum heating and insulation regulations for rental properties.
Changes in public policy will have more impact in combatting climate change than personal consumer choices ever will.
Of course we should all do what we can as individuals but this will never be enough, and for many, (possibly the majority), and especially for those of us with limited choices, actually impossible. No matter how much we may want to, or know we should.
A point Naomi Klein makes in her last book is that over the same era of acceleration of climate change’s harm i.e. the last 30 years, many countries willingly shrank the whole realm of the state, thereby weakening the human capacity to actually change the climate.
She may be right, but the state is still the strongest force of human agency ever devised, and probably ever will be. Popular protest can work, but it’s a massive lottery compared to putting your collective might to changing the entire government.
Trusts, NGOs, anarchy-syndicalist communes, or micro-communal vegetable gardens will never amount to the capacity of the state to change stuff on any scale the climate will notice.
New Zealand’s own electricity generation at around 85% renewable owes that performance to a legacy of command-and-control governments that continued for about 80 years (i.e. from Vogel). Unlike China and Singapore, New Zealand is a strong example of how a kind of sustainability can be achieved without sacrificing too much democracy, and at the same time attain very long term good for people and for the climate.
This is a good point about the sheer power of the state, and I agree. However it’s a false dichotomy to put that up against community initiated change. The whole point of my post was that governments aren’t changing fast enough. The value in things like the Riot and community gardens isn’t simply that they reduce emissions (although they certainly lead the way in what should be being done on that front). The real value is that those things change people, and when enough people are changing the governments will change too. Then we have real potential.
The other side of that is that should the NZ govt start on real CC action, if the people aren’t on board things will get messy. Best to have people changing now, so we are ready. The best way for people to change is to start behaving differently, in the manner in which we should be acting in the first place.
Thanks Jenny, good too see the response (and thanks for bringing it to OM).
I’d like to clarify a few things.
Neither the Riot for Austerity nor my own post were suggesting that personal action was the only thing required, or that it was a substitute for governmental and other collective action. The point of the Riot was to demonstrate that no matter what governments did or didn’t do, individuals, families and communities could still take action. We don’t have to wait for others to go first.
I also don’t believe that the Riot is essentially libertarian, and you misrepresent it and myself when you call it individual and leave out the importance of family and community. Your analysis is useful for combatting libertarian arguments, but that’s not what I was making. Mine was more anarchistic perhaps (“we don’t need government’s permission to change” is entirely different than saying that “only individuals are responsible for change”).
My own position is that because we don’t have government action (or even much political party action outside of the Greens), we have to mobilise at the individual, family and community levels. When we do that, governments and political parties will follow. Even the Greens are holding back on what needs ot be done because their very existence is dependent on votes. Once more people are demanding change and changing anyway, politicians will follow. This in no way precludes other kinds of political activism, we need it all.
My post was addressing a point that’s needed, which is that people are feeling powerless. It’s time we got past that feeling and did something.
“Hopefully in Pt 2: of his post, (if it ever turns up), Weka will set out what he thinks political parties and governments should do.”
It’s unlikely that I will be writing about that at this point. I’ve already said enough in comments, and there are huge swathes of commentary within NZ and internationally and here on ts about what governments should do. My energy is better used elsewhere. I would love to see others putting up posts on this though.
It does raise another point. We can talk about what governments should do, and we should have that conversation, but things are so urgent now that I want to also talk about what we can do, not what we should do. I can’t wait. We have to act, now.
Weka argues that we exercise our choice as consumers to combat climate change.
No, she doesn’t. She says we have to stop being consumers full stop. It’s a potent, radical act that undercuts neoliberalism, the global economy and capitalism itself. It also brings a halt to a big chunk of GHG emissions. Merely using consumer choice won’t prevent the worst of CC, although it’s still a step in the right direction. Cutting personal energy use by 90% is not consumer choice, it’s a radical rejection of the consumerist paradigm itself.
The transition to the power down from a consumerist soceity is a massive cultural paradigm shift. That’s what I was referring to.
In my opinion, this so called “choice”, can only be properly exercised by the wealthy or the upper middle classes, those with the leisure and the money that gives them the freedom to make such choices. There is very little choice for the time strapped and cash poor.
Leaving aside the inaccurate framing, one of the commenters in the thread is probably one of the lowest income Standardistas and he is powering down (Bill). I personally don’t think that the major changes need to come first from the working and underclasses, but I also don’t believe they are incapable of change or that they are not required to change. In fact I’d say the working and under classes have skills in powering down and anti-consumerism that the middle classes will come to envy in the coming decades.
We also simply cannot afford to wait for the left wing revolution that will first lift people out of poverty. That has to be done in the same context as everything else, CC is here, now. Why are we waiting to change. Someone who is poor is going to get hit just as hard when they are still relying on the global economy to bring food to their supermarket.
I agree that low income and time poor people have less choice. But many still have some choices.
I might give it a go.
Cool!!
Thank you weka.
I will need to put proper time and effort into this; to give the topic some justice.
I lead a pretty busy life so that may take some rearranging and reprioritising.
When my contribution appears
My hope is that you and others will give my contribution a thoroughly rigorous critique.
Cheers Jenny.
whether we are talking about dodgy politicians, climate change action, inequitable taxation or unwanted tax haven status or so called free trade agreements there is one thing to remember……
they only have the power we allow them…..so why do we abdicate that power
https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/05/03/13586/
nation of sheep begets a government of wolves
+1
Nice, but tragic results.
Can’t we do both, Jenny @5 ?
As well as individual actions like growing more trees, vegetable gardens to be more self-sustainable, etc etc there also seem to be a number of group movements starting to grow – ActionStation is one, and then there’s another newer group setting up – http://act.350.org/event/break-free-world_attend/12291
This group 350 Aotearoa appear to be actively promoting the need for political action on Climate Change. I don’t know much about them – but they have some sort of event in Wellington on May 11, 2016. Have a look at this Facebook site – it’ll tell you more.
https://www.facebook.com/events/159524387777137/
Some details I’ve copied :
Wednesday, May 11, 7:00 AM
The corner of Panama Street and Lambton Quay
Wellington, 6011, New Zealand
EVENT BRIEFING
10TH May, Wellington Girls College, Pipitea St 6.30pm
+1 Nice one Jenny K.
Absolutely. I agree whole heartedly with this sentiment. Jenny.
Like the Gardening For Victory movement, national leadership and encouragement played a vital role in making this movement a success.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Gardening+for+victory&espv=2&biw=1001&bih=489&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjS56Tzu8nMAhXELKYKHe7jCGIQsAQIVQ&dpr=1
The dance between leaders and followers in a democracy is a subtle one.
Leadership initiatives from above are just as important as receptive support from below. One builds and strengthens the other. Without initiatives and leadership, individual action either falls apart, or doesn’t get started in the first place.
Without receptive supporters, leadership goes nowhere.
Though Weka didn’t explicitly advocate that individual activities is the only thing we should do. I can’t help thinking that his approach is letting the government and other policy makers somewhat off the hook. Maybe, Weka will challenge the politicians and policy makers in Pt 2: of his post, Let’s hope so.
I look forward to reading it.
P.S. Great to hear about your Break Free activities in Wellington. I have been close to the Break Free campaign here in Auckland. In Auckland 350.org are all young people full of life and fun, who organised a beach party occupation of the ANZ to call for divestment from fossil fuels,
Older, more conservative (looking), supporters like myself were asked to play an undercover role for the beach party, by arriving early and posing as ANZ customers to deflect any criticism, or manhandling of the protesters.
You can view the beach party occupation of the downtown Auckland ANZ lobby here:
The year is 1840 and Colonel Donald T Rash and David Business Roundtable disembark the Tory in a strange new land. They find the natives already have a complex capitalist system in place and everything is free to be exploited.
https://youtu.be/r_AUYsiDyBU
Shit if Hone can sit next to that toxic old shit and listen to the drivel that plummy twat from chch was spouting and not hit some one he needs to be in Parliament, common mana get your shit together.
+1000.
Talking is always better than violence
I hated watching that. Both Don Brash and David what’s his name were rude. Brash continued the rudeness right up till the end.
It like if he acted like that on any other TV show, they would have gone to an add and asked him to leave.
I’m glad Willie told him he’s never welcome back.
This is what happens in Germany when politicians try to screw the people!
http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139
Conservatively a minimum of 250,000 deaths per year in the USA
The annual number of severe patient injuries resulting from medical error could conservatively be 10,000,000
The CDC does not require reporting of medical errors
Now I wonder what NatzKEY influenced msm serfs will do with the Panama papers data info release next week, prior to publication and reporting? Other than RNZ, there’s a good chance most msm sources will sanitize it to suit the likes of masters FJK and his chief of propaganda minister, Steven “the fixit guy” Joyce, to suit their rotten agendas!
I take it those of us who subscribe to ICIJ should hopefully receive access to the data in its entirety in our inboxes early on Tuesday 10 May.
‘First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.’
‘
“Ken where are you? I need help here.
“Ken, Ken ……???”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/79745762/crack-ird-team-ready-to-join-global-panama-papers-search
Frankly, I don’t believe what the PM is saying.
Bring on the 10th May.
‘Prime Minister John Key says the Government is ready to crack down on wealthy tax evaders as the Government braces itself for fresh Panama Papers disclosures.
Speaking in Auckland on Sunday, Key said Inland Revenue officials would join the global stampede to ferret out tax evaders when millions of leaked “Panama Papers” go online on Tuesday.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/79745762/crack-ird-team-ready-to-join-global-panama-papers-search
Here is the problem-
The trusts are secret aren’t they.
So how will they know?
This getting more Crim dot com re the big damp squib reveal and day of judgement at the last ejection . what’s do we have here, NZ has forgein trusts, it had been the case for many years under labour and national governments , some ( not all) forgein trusts may be used for tax evasion of forgein tax jurisdictions, can some one tell me what’s new here and what was not know already
You missed the point.now misleading the truth.corrupt Criminals that can’t launder their money anywhere else in the world are using NZ’s good name and destroying that under the leadership of Crony Capitalist 2011 changes to the law and the undermining of rule tighning the IRD was ready to put into place.
Ken Whitney approached the PM a very close long time business associate his personal lawyer a dodgy dealing trust fund lawyer.
Who within 48hrs of approaching the minister IRD dropped all plans to tighten rules around trusts.
Nepotism
Greasing
Grifting
Corruption.
Bluelusion.
All of what you pontificate above is opinion and left spin, not fact
Oh please Reddelusion , you are the one in spin mode. All your, at present, fallow fan-boys.
As more paper and more information come to light it is only going to get worse.
Labour did it too. SHeesh, the argument of a two year old – this is a government that has been in power 7 odd years now, time to take responsibility for your own actions. Too soon?
I’m still struggling with the issue here, forgein trusts are not illegal, as are not registered companies, partnerships or multiple forms of entities under English law There has been no tax evasion in nz, if papers show this is the case the law will deal with it, likewise if laws of forgein incorporation, forgein trusts etc need to be tidied up, all good, albeit and international response is required here . I am just not sure what you lot are getting so exercised about, English commercial has continued to evolve ever since the formation of the royal charters and joint stock companies in the 17 and 1800s , The flexibility and innovative capacity of English law is why it tends to be the favoured law of international business and continues to evolve today to support the constant evolution and needs of the commercial sector. You need to get out of your grumpy little leftie box and just chill out on this one
Trillions of dollars in tax havens.
And it means nothing to you.
Yes Paul it does and it needs and international response, as does global harmonisation of tax laws etc, trying to put all this on nz, Jk and the national party is where it’s getting ridiculous
I was wondering when that meme would come.
No laws were broken, its just business as usual.
That said, just because it’s legal is not a good defence. Being gay was illegal, and we changed that silly law. Women were legally not allowed to vote, and again we came to our scenes. Many many things have been legal which have become illegal and vice versa. It just a weak defence.
There is no smoking gun. I think you just said what everyone is upset about.
The problem is – its business as usual,
and business as usual – is morally bankrupt.
Red delusion is deluded.
Clever play on words Paul, you out did yourself with that one
I am not claiming business as usual see my post below, there are good reason for trusts that make good business sense re separating management off assets from legal title, as does a mortgage etc, all useful tools and innovation under English law in fostering commerce etc. Deal with the issues of forgein trust if they are abused but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water Similar don’t try and turn a legal entity that has been with us since the 80s suddenly into, it’s all jk and Nationals fault , basically grow up and engage your brain and deal with the issue at at hand , likewise get over the fact that nz is not going to solve the global tax evasion issue. this can only be solved via a global response and even here is difficult as each nation has its own domestic laws, self interests etc yet all trade internationally, thus no easy answer
I’m happy for us to engage.
What pissing me off, and others is the in action by JK and Co. Then the political games. Or people creating memes to avoid having to deal with the issue.
The fact is the law change after national came to power, is the door which all this debate started with. I get Dunn was the muppet who was the lead on that.
You say we need to wait on the rest of the world, but we probably not going to do anything then either. Key and co. have not got a good track record.
If it helps there are a number of international institutions that nz is part of working on as such, in the mean time beyond legal harmonisation it just comes down to bi lateral tax treaties between countries, thus always issue between countries where such does not exist
National changed the tax on foreign trusts to “neutral” – 0%, in 2011. (Suggested by John Key himself, if IIRC). Chapman Tripp were delighted, and posted on this change. This made NZ very attractive to a larger number of very ugly trusts.
While John Key
equivocateslies, we waste time on pretending that it was always like this, and we continue to lose our integrity and our self-respect by a thousand such cuts.Zero tax is not the issue ( if no income is generated in nz, ie assets just parked here) , hiding behind the trust veil re who are the beneficiary of the trust is the issue in regard to paying tax elsewhere, tidy this up problem solved No big deal ! or corruption on nz part, so stop tearing your undies on this issue by some how extrapolating that some how foreign trust has connotations on nz reputation Any corruption is offshore by abusing nz trust laws
The War on terror was supposed to shut down terrorist funding.
Mossack Fonsecca are enabling terrorism and corruption to flourish.
NATO countries and their Allies put sanctions on Putins Russia.
MF enables Putin to undermine Sanction’s.
Nigerian Scammers once they have taken your money it can’t be retrieved.
Moassack Fonsecca hide these Nigerian scammers money.
The Mexican grifter who banked US$100 million in our tax haven when no other tax haven would touch it.
NZ govt allows Mossack Fonseca to set up here and in the protectetate of NZ Niue.
So our Allies who have trying to shut down Isis ,Putin.
The EU The US and Australia all trying to shut down tax dodgers.
Are going to be very unimpressed by your argument.
Bluelooney.
I am not trying to Impress you just educate you, likewise the conflation and hyperbole is now getting silliy
“so stop tearing your undies on this issue”
WTF?
NZ has forgein trusts, it had been the case for many years under labour and national governments , some ( not all) forgein trusts may be used for tax evasion of forgein tax jurisdictions, can some one tell me what’s new here and what was not know already
Are you unable to read the newspaper for yourself or something? Here’s what’s new: the way NZ’s foreign trust rules were set up allows them to be used for tax avoidance and money laundering. People who aren’t Tories generally feel that we shouldn’t enable tax avoidance and money laundering. IRD warned the government about the problem with our foreign trust setup, and attempted to get it reviewed, something which appears to have been prevented by John Key intervening at the behest of his lawyer, one of the people profiting from said foreign trusts. Now, with the release of the Panama papers, the whole thing is blown wide open and NZ stands revealed as an enabler of tax avoidance and money laundering. This is not a bad thing nor a big deal how, exactly?
Opinion and speculation in regard to intent of government and action of ministers, not fact but that obviously does not matter here
The wicked David Slack has a report on the Key online interview. David explains just how clever Key is with his answers.
eg:”It’s not just what he says, it’s how he says it. If Auckland had three volcanic cones erupting, he’d talk about it as though it was just another day in heavy traffic and you know, people get volcanoes all the time.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/79681871/David-Slack-The-man-with-all-the-answers?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Anyone discussed this today?
“”As it stands, we cannot support the ratification of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement,” the Labour Party said….
..Labour leader Andrew Little said the trade minister was right to point out Labour’s long history of supporting free trade agreements.
“It goes back to the first Labour Government, and our support for free trade hasn’t changed. But what we won’t support is the erosion of New Zealanders’ democratic rights and to have a sovereign government. That’s what the National Government is selling out.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11635635
Yes ..put it on TPP thread. Here…
http://thestandard.org.nz/will-labour-endorse-the-tppa/#comment-1170124
Ooops. Thanks Paul.
Over the past fifteen years the IDF has killed more than 5,500 Palestinians with impunity and fas**st Bayit Yehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich calls for revenge attacks.
/
The government can prevent Jewish attacks on Arabs by taking “legitimate” revenge for Palestinian terrorism, MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.
“Presumably, if the State of Israel had not been influenced by twisted Christian morals and had not erased the word ‘revenge’ from its lexicon, and would have done it [revenge] in legitimate ways and deterred the enemy, we would not have encountered these difficult cases of private people taking the law and the revenge into their own hands,” he said.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-should-carry-out-revenge-attacks-on-Palestinians-rightist-MK-says-453340
Be careful. You’re criticising Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank.
Someone will say you’re antiaemitic.
Or antiemetic or anaemic, something – there will be criticism of criticism. The human mind must go for scapegoats – now its Christians. Have we stopped them having revenge?
What do they call what has been rained on Palestine? It’s not tit for tat, eye for eye, its rat-tat-tat for tat. It has gone beyond defensive maneouvres against a vast hostile Arab enemy.
On TV1 they said that the Panama Papers publication will be on TV 1 morning show Breakfast? tomorrow morning Monday.
This is an interesting site with much joined=up thinking.
http://turbulence.org.uk/turbulence-1/commonism/
And it’s on commonism, not communism. Loss of commons is a continuing theme these days so they have something very apposite to say.
“There is no doubt that volumes of oil – and, particularly, lower-carbon gas – will be needed well into the 2030s. The global transport system is still heavily dependent on black gold and full electrification is a long way off.
But change is happening quickly too. The sale of electric cars in Norway last year grew by 71%. Almost one in five cars there is a plug-in despite the nation being a major crude producer.
So the end of the oil era is not for the birds – or even the birdwatchers, the environmentalists, or the anti-oil obsessives. It is now becoming part of fund-manager and mainstream dialogue. Change is coming.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/08/brexit-not-to-blame-slowing-uk-growth-us-slowdown
Faith based pseudo science and the Prime Minister.
Pseudo science is something you believe in for no reason, based on zero evidence, but call it science.
Does John Key know something about dealing with this global crisis that the scientific community doesn’t?
Or, is he just indulging in wishful thinking?
Climate change is the government’s worst performing portfolio.
And John Key’s wishful thinking can’t cover up that fact.
There is no magic bullet. We need to cut our emissions and we need to cut them fast.
And New Zealand is better placed than most to set the pace.
No New Coal Mines.
No deep sea oil drilling.
No Fracking.
No new motorways,
Switch the $11 billion earmarked for Roads of National Significance to public transport
Close down Solid Energy
Close down Huntly
Close down Tiwai
100% Renewable electricity now
Cut the top speed limit from 100KPH to 80KPH (Don’t tell me it can’t be done, this was a fuel saving measure adopted by NZ during the energy crisis of the ’70s)
The emergency is upon us
We need to do these things right now.
Anything less from our leaders is cowardice and treachery and an abrogation of leadership in the face of the crisis.
Waiting on some magical scientific solution will damn us all.
In no way do I compare John Key to the Nazis, but they also believed without any basis in fact, that science was going to deliver them from disaster.
The Wunderwaffe
The Jonkywaffe