Maybe, just maybe this means we shouldn’t be dairy farming in the Canterbury Plains.
To combat the hot summers and dry periods irrigation is installed on the farm and he says, “Dairy farming in Canterbury would be a struggle without an irrigation system.
“Dairy farming in this area wouldn’t exist.
“We couldn’t milk cows in this area without irrigation so it is absolutely critical that we have these machines.”
Maybe, just maybe this means we should be farming sustainably.
Can the World Find Solutions to the Nitrogen Pollution Crisis?
More and more nitrogen keeps pouring into waterways, unleashing algal blooms and creating dead zones. To prevent the problem from worsening, scientists warn, the world must drastically cut back on synthetic fertilizers and double the efficiency of the nitrogen used on farms.
Maybe, just maybe this is connected to our destruction of the planet.
Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world’s top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said on Friday.
About a third of the world’s soil has already been degraded, Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a forum marking World Soil Day.
The causes of soil destruction include chemical-heavy farming techniques, deforestation which increases erosion, and global warming. The earth under our feet is too often ignored by policymakers, experts said.
Enough of that annoying science with those pesky facts please.
It gets in the way of the plunder and anyway for every credible scientist the dairy industry has a contrary opinion to counter it, already included in the price of milk.
Gosh it’s as if dairying should only be done where rainfall is high like Waikato and taranaki but hey fed farmers backing national know best.
Maybe, just maybe this means we shouldn’t be dairy farming in the Canterbury Plains.
Nor, as a host on RNZ’s Country Life admitted in a rare moment of candour in December, should they be dairy farming on the flood plains of the Bay of Plenty….
Combined with a total disregard for the environmental impacts of trying to turn a dry plain that was never suitable for dairy into a lush meadow.
Wait till the water tables they’re draining start pulling up mud and/or get to the levels of nitrates and other residuals which make it not fit for purpose.
Then the hand will be out whining along the way with fed farmers feeding them the lines as per usual.
Hope this means the government will reduce the herd significantly.
By 80% or more.
That is if we’d prefer an environment over cows’ milk.
“Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says putting on hold changes to Fonterra’s enabling legislation will allow a broader review of New Zealand’s dairy sector and whether it is adding enough value to the nation’s biggest export commodity.”
“New Zealand needs to get rid of 80 per cent of its dairy cows because dairying is dirtying our water.
That was the message delivered to the annual meeting of Wanganui Federated Farmers by its former president.
Rachel Stewart, president of the group for four years in the early 2000s and guest speaker at Friday’s annual meeting, is an “ardent critic” of farming.
Ms Stewart, recently crowned Opinion Writer of the Year at New Zealand’s premier journalism awards, began her talk by saying she loved farming – but dairy farming was responsible for 80 per cent of the degradation of New Zealand waterways and Federated Farmers needed to stop denying it.”
Exactly they are crazy to dairy farm in drought prone areas. Even investing in irrigation relies on water to fill which relies on rain. Far better to work with the land conditions and farm something that requires less water such as sheep/forestry that can be relied on in the future.
Also where is the user pays? Why should the tax payers be funding private farms irrigation schemes.
Maybe, just maybe this means we shouldn’t be dairy farming in the Canterbury Plains.
There’s no maybe about that – that’s exactly what it means. If the farming can’t survive within the limits imposed by the natural water flows then it shouldn’t be there.
Maybe, just maybe this means we should be farming sustainably.
Technically, we don’t have an option. Farming unsustainably must result in a crash of the environment.
Over the next few decades, if farming continues the way it is, food production will decrease resulting in famine for billions of people.
And the only thing people will be able to do when that happens is say Oh, Malthus was right.
What a silly old fool Brendan Telfer has become. Even the dolts on
three’s A.M. show were staggered by his ignorance this morning. A.M., three, Thursday 8 February 2018, 7:20 a.m.
Duncan Garner, Amanda Gillies, Mark Richardson, Melody Robinson, Brendan Telfer
Brendan Telfer has long been a figure of fun over on Radio Sport. Callers and hosts routinely deride him as a joyless old fogey, and rail against him (often unfairly) as “politically correct.” As well as Radio Sport, Telfer appears every Friday morning on RNZ National, where Kathryn Ryan treats him as an elderly sage, and never contests anything he says.
No such luck for Telfer this morning, however. It’s Halberg Awards time, and so he was wheeled on to talk about likely winners. Also invited on was former Black Fern Melody Robinson. Telfer’s first mistake was to scoff at the prospects of the Black Ferns, and to announce, with his trademark straight face, that the Americas Cup was “bigger than rugby”. Robinson, clearly offended rather than just amused by the silly old git, turned her back on him.
A bit later, after Robinson had praised the kayaker Lisa Carrington, Telfer kept digging:
BRENDAN TELFER: No disrespect for Melody, but—
MELODY ROBINSON:[glaring with anger] I’m sitting beside you!
[Awkward laughter from Garner, Gillies, and Richardson]
Telfer, rattled, continued to chunter on, but he’d clearly lost the room. In an atmosphere of tension, he eventually stopped talking, with nobody listening seriously, and it was time for a commercial break. Telfer, flustered, left the studio in a hurry, but Melody Robinson remained in her seat. The host wasn’t going to let the moment disappear….
DUNCAN GARNER:[chortling] Mel’s staying put. She’s not leaving the studio!
I’m sure that if other sports were funded by the taxpayer and billionaires they also would be international winners.
Yep, they won the cup, but it’s a step too far to steal the harbour of Auckland to celebrate and make the long suffering rate payers of Auckland already paying more than 1/2 the near 1.5 billion budget of the Auckland Transport each year also pay for a billionaire yachting village for Aucklanders Super yachts. (Because of course we all own super yachts, sarcasm)
I think you will find that they were funded to a lot lower level than the other teams.
Also if you got off your high horse you would see that the 000’s of kiwis that enjoy the viaduct and wynard quarter are also not super yacht owners either. Yet it is still an extremely fun and pleasant place for people to enjoy.
More like spineless wankers I reckon. They could have all taken a united stand and said that they would not be competing in the regatta as it was being held in a tax haven and they don’t support tax havens. This would have made major, major news throughout the world and may have made people stop and think.
They could have become heroes to millions but simply didn’t have the balls to make a stand. gutless greedy cowards one and all. (IMHO)
So once again the needs of the perpetrator are put ahead of the victim; a person murdered and never able to live life again:
“This morning Justice Cull QC began her sentencing by acknowledging Puna would receive a second strike for the offending after being convicted of aggravated robbery in 2016.
This meant he was subject to a sentence of life imprisonment without parole unless it was manifestly unjust, and Justice Cull QC said she had determined it would be manifestly unjust.
She accepted Puna had been deeply affected by the offending, as shown in his remorse following Beale’s death, and acknowledged his youth, cultural background and level of intoxication.
Puna had “positive prospects for rehabilitation” and acknowledged he wished to address his anger and alcohol issues, she said.”
Puna should have received a second strike and if 14 years minimum is the price we put on taking another life then there are problems with our judiciary
You don’t care that your pathetic vengeance fantasies will cause more crime, because your ethics are in the gutter. If you had to do the work judges do you’d start crying.
If someone committed a serious violent act against a member of your family that left them scarred for life or even dead, would you still want to go easy on them?
However, I learned not to be ruled by my ‘wants’ a long time ago. What kind of pathetic right wing loser would I be if I thought that satisfying my vengeance fantasies would be of any use to anyone?
Yes, and acting on it would make me a pathetic right wing loser, especially if I insisted it be allowed to influence penal policy: then I’d be swimming in the same gutter as Graham Capill and David Garret.
While nat MPs especially judith are complaining about the restructuring of charter schools, wailing about how it will hurt the most vulnerable, maybe they should take a minute to think.
national tried and tried to shut down one of NZ’s most important schools for the most vulnerable, Salisbury School, a boarding school for girls with disabilities, girls who had been abused sexually, mentally, physically. Girls who had been through hell. Our community and many others, especially Tracey Martin fought tooth and nail to keep Salisbury School open, it saved girls lives.
So judith get off your high horse, national is a bunch of freaking hypocrites, you are the ones that failed the most vulnerable, shame on you and your party, shame on you for wanting schools with unqualified teachers, shame on you for bullying the vulnerable Salisbury School girls and their families.
There is rightful concern in the disability community with these residential schools and as always there’s a temptation to throw the good out with the bad. To save dollars National declared a fatwah against Salisbury, strenuously disregarding the very positive role it plays.
I agree with you on the school that they wanted to close.
However – there is no need for charter schools to be closed – some of them are doing extremely well and helping students get results they simply were not in mainstream schools.
Ah yes, Vanguard Military School to give it the full title.
Getting kids and putting them into an environment of bizarre fetishisation of militaristic caperings about like marching up and down a square, lots of shouting, an obsession with cleanliness (ah, Pompo Heneage, what did you start?) and doing mock assault course with toy guns is ridiculous in the extreme and hardly likely to inculcate them with the values required to participate in pluralistic, democratic society.
Shutting down obscene military schools like Vanguard is a victory for common sense.
But Hipkins told Radio New Zealand the government shouldn’t have signed performance-based funding contracts with the schools if it wasn’t going to stick to them.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the documents showed that the schools’ achievement targets appeared to have been met, but the Ministry admitted there was limited data and it was difficult to draw definitive conclusions after only one year.
The areas of non-compliance were roll numbers and student engagement. Vanguard Military School didn’t meet its minimum roll requirements, but said that was because some students left after achieving NCEA early. Nor did it meet engagement targets – having too many suspensions and expulsions – but said this was due to its hard-line behaviour policy.
Not meeting targets but get bonuses any way.
BTW, there is no reason for charter schools to exist in NZ. Integrated Special Character Schools would have worked fine but investors wouldn’t have been able to get a profit from it.
Vanguard, while odd, is fine as an integrated special character school, the special character being military service based education in preparation for the armed services.
Same with Maori charter schools. They too will be able to become integrated special character schools, the special character being providing an education promoting the preservation of Maori language and culture.
“What kind of society do we live in where we’re always prioritising money over the welfare of the citizens?”
PS Thank you to the new government for keeping Salisbury open, more people need to know about it, and now that can happen. If Salisbury can work so well for so many many girl all over Australasia for over a century and it’s not a charter school, then why can’t the current charter schools adjust and evolve?
***My other issue… it’s not too much to ask that all schools have qualified/registered teachers is it? It’s about keeping kids safe among other things.
“So judith get off your high horse, national is a bunch of freaking hypocrites, you are the ones that failed the most vulnerable, shame on you and your party, shame on you for wanting schools with unqualified teachers, shame on you for bullying the vulnerable Salisbury School girls and their families.”
If we all agree Salisbury School should never have been told to close down…then the same applies to Charter schools.
Or is it ok when Labour with the help of the Greens close down schools that help the disadvantaged?
“Charter schools should be shut down because they’re not.”
Like this one then?
“South Auckland Middle School (SAMS) began in 2014 with only a four month lead-in and $1.1 million to cover all establishment costs. A comparative state school startup would have been approximately $27 million and an 18 month staffed lead-in. SAMS has flown since day one and currently has 180 students and approximately 70 on wait-lists. We teach the New Zealand curriculum, have had a very stable student body with minimum transience, and in 2016 showed an 18% improvement for our Year 7 and 8 students in their national standards, in contrast to the national pattern. At SAMS, 93% of our students are Māori or Pasifika.”
He’s keeping an election promise. And better still, if the Charter Schools don’t cooperate they’ll be issued with ‘termination for convenience’ notices and closed anyway. That should act as a huge deterrent to any future wannabe National Party collaborators.
So he’s doing what I expected of him, this makes me happy, and your bitter tears are a bonus.
I can’t get past the kids, nor should a government that places children front and centre in matters relating to poverty.
Just as with Salisbury School, aren’t we taking our eyes off the prize that matters if we’re using their lives as leverage for or against a political party or union interests?
I suspect there is a healthy helping of propaganda accompanying the good news we read about student application and outcomes at charter schools but I can’t get away from thinking we should be kicking them to the kerb or not on a decision primarily rooted in: Are they genuinely giving the tail-end kids a jolly good leg-up in life?
You really are a nasty piece of work.
You don’t care if they benefit the children failed by State Schools.
You don’t care if it is a way to achieve better life outcomes for PI & Maori children.
Isn’t there something in your treasured UN Human Rights Declaration about the right to education?
Can only imagine it’s your own self-loathing that makes you hate so much.
POS
If children are being failed by state schools then that needs to be looked at, researched and addressed through the state system. What we don’t do is throw those children at private schools running on unproven ideology or, even worse, ideology proven to be damaging.
Yawn. Running your mouth at me won’t help you sweety. It isn’t a way to achieve better outcomes for anyone. I’ve explained why repeatedly, but just once more for the hard of brain: the single most influential factor in education outcomes is household income.
Lifting people out of poverty (which you refuse to even measure) will have a far more beneficial effect than privatising education, so which one of us is the piece of shit?
Your right wing Madrassa failed everywhere else in the world and don’t work here either. The teachers’ unions want us to more closely emulate the Finnish model, and I agree with them.
“In any case, privatisation of education must be resisted at all costs. ”
1. Why? Private and non-state agents have provided education for many years. Why should the state have a monopoly?
2. Virtually all of the partnership/charter schools are non-for-profit.
3. There are currently hundreds of non-government, private and non-profit schools/centres providing excellent results across the education sector, from ECE onwards. Labour is not proposing shutting any of those.
Fuck the election promise. They are good at breaking them. Look at TPP.
I have no idea why there is such opposition to this alternative form of education which is being provided to those who do not fit into the state school box for whatever reason.
I can not find one case of these new schools being anything other positive.
So what’s stopping you finding out the motivation for opposing privatisation? How hard is it to use Google to do a site search for “charter school” at the NZEI website, for example?
I’ve known of cases before where schools have gone down to no students then gone back up again
Rikki Sheterline NZEI.
Also, it has the support of the Ministry and the NZSTA. But not you or Mordecai, Maninthemiddle, Acrophobic, Groundhog and the rest of the commenters who look exactly like you.
What I have been looking at seems to indicate that few if any are meeting their contractual requirements to supply accurate data on how they are performing for these kids. I would consider supporting them if they could actually prove that they are providing positive out comes rather than just expelling difficult kids and keeping those who are performing.
The fact that these schools aren’t required to have qualified teachers is concerning as it shows that they are already focusing on profit over quality. Add to this the governments strange decision to exclude them from National Standards (I am a fan of consistency, not National Standards) unlike all public schools and it reeks of a cover up.
I am a relatively new defender of partnership schools because I know families for whom these schools have been transformational. If you are genuinely interested, you can get more information on their performance at http://www.partnershipschools.education.govt.nz/. Also, each PS is required to publish its own results (eg http://www.vanguard.school.nz/student-success/), and the MofEd holds data on the schools performance.
There has been a huge amount of misinformation spread by opponents of partnership schools, and it is based on ideology taking precedence over genuine concern for educational outcomes for children the state has failed. I would ask you to read this article https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/05/09/25916/a-rough-school-day-for-labour, that shows Labour’s considerable duplicity over these schools for quite some time. It is a good indication of what these schools are up against.
I guess I don’t read that the same way you do. It seems to me that Willie Jackson thought because he was in favour of charter schools and he is oh so special he was going to be able to just shoot his mouth off and change policy. That got a firm response from Hipkins and the actual Labour position never changed. They are happy for Charter schools to stay open if they employ qualified teachers and teach the national curriculum. That seems reasonable to me.
Is Jackson a dick? Yes
Was communication bad? Yea
Have they been 2 faced? well it would seem the policy has remain consistent. This is also one article from May last year that has the Labour position lining up with what they are doing now so rather than duplicitous it would seem they have been publically consistent in words and actions.
It would be good if you could provide an article that backs up the misinformation claim you made because the one you linked to doesn’t actually discuss Charter Schools and how they are performing in any depth. The only somewhat reliable info I have been able to find is on the ERO web site where it seems they are not reporting required information and are not meeting their role requirements in some cases.
As I say I don’t ideologically have an issue with them. I do think they should have to meet minimum standards for the benefit of the children involved. Especially when there is the ability for those involved to make a profit off of them.
“It seems to me that Willie Jackson thought …”
I would agree with you if it was just Jackson. But it wasn’t. There have been comments from:
1. Peeni Henare.
2. Kelvin Davis (“Labour’s Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis has promised he’ll resign before the two charter schools in his Northland electorate are closed…” https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/95039162/labour-to-tweak-special-character-schools-save-charter-schools-from-closure).
3. Chris Hipkins (On Monday, responding to Davis’ pledge to resign over them, Hipkins said “tweaks” would be made so there weren’t any “unnecessary barriers” for new special character schools.” – same source),
4. Jacinda Ardern, who said in parliament that there was a ‘pathway’ to these schools remaining open.
And by way of further information…two of the most common claims made against PS’s are that they don’t employ qualified teachers, and that they don’t follow the NZ curriculum. Were you aware that neither of these claims are correct?
“I do think they should have to meet minimum standards for the benefit of the children involved. ”
I totally agree. The irony is that in the place of compassion towards children who the state system has failed, the opponents of PS’s put their own ideological prejudice.
Oh I see anon. You hit and run posts about whatever takes your fancy, abuse other contributors, and then refuse to engage. I hadn’t realised you were so shallow.
Was it Kelvin Davis who promised to resign if either of the Whangarei Partnership Schools were closed?
And what about the PM’s claims in Parliament that there was a ‘pathway’ the these schools remaining open? All lies, it would seem.
The fact is that children are doing better in these schools than they did in the state system, and it appears that is unacceptable to labour and the teacher unions. Why? Who knows.
The schools just have to become integrated special character and the owners drop their demands for bulk funding. They must use qualified teachers and pay them the going rate. Otherwise they are free to use special character to help kids who, for whatever reason, haven’t done well at the local school.
“The schools just have to become integrated special character and the owners drop their demands for bulk funding.”
What demands? How do these ‘demands’ differ from any other school?
“They must use qualified teachers…”
They do now.
“…and pay them the going rate.”
They do now.
“Otherwise they are free to use special character to help kids who, for whatever reason, haven’t done well at the local school. ”
That is precisely what they are doing now!
They want a lump sum from the taxpayer to distribute as they please. This is how charter schools make money of course, they ‘distribute’ money into their own pockets.
They do use some qualified teachers but they are currently not bound to.
Ditto, they are not bound to pay teachers on the state scale so more money for the owners.
Check out the failed Whangaruru Charter School set up at huge taxpayers expense which included an 81 hectare farm. What happened to the valuable farmland when it was closed? According to the contracts set up for charter schools, the private owners retain the property rights. What a rip off of the taxpayer!
The public should not be funding these private schools at higher funding rates than state schools. They claim their “success” ( few have demonstrated reaching agreed targets in their contracts) is because of smaller class sizes. Why should public funding privilege privatised education when state schools are running down because of nine years of underfunding?
James, I found out some more info and there’s nothing to worry about, I know are a supporter of Salisbury School just like many of us, as you’ve voiced your support before for Salisbury 🙂 kudos on that.
It’s a bullshit narrative that’s happened in an attempt for the opposition to gain traction, let’s face it they are in the media atm for all the wrong reasons (ie leadership etc).
Easiest way to spin a bullshit narrative to the public, exploit a common ground vulnerability, in this case education, but it could be health etc. Remember to hand pick the info, pull on heart strings if possible, weave that web of delusion with threads of misinformation.
Kelvin supports schools that are performing well, as anyone would especially in their own electorate.
If any “charter schools’ close down, that’s on their CEO and Board of Directors, it’s up to them to make the changes in order to stay open as a ‘School of Special Character’. IMO No doubt Kelvin would support those CS’s in his zone to make the transistion, so would any MP a the school was performing well.
All they have to do is improve their current situation, ie ensuring all teachers are registered, be governed by a BOT instead of a BOD etc among other things.
It’s a big storm in a teacup. Spot the missing dialogue used as part of the closure narrative in the text belollololooooo
Article 23 July 2017 RNZ. “So if they were to close they would no longer exist, that would be a bottom line for me, so the fact is they can exist as special character schools, that’s the bottom line to me.”
Mr Davis said the Labour Party wouldn’t close schools that were performing well.
On Monday, responding to Davis’ pledge to resign over them, Hipkins said “tweaks” would be made so there weren’t any “unnecessary barriers” for new special character schools.
That could include allowing schools to have more than one special character, which would make it easier for some Maori and Pacifica-targeted schools, he said.
In the end it’s really up to a schools board to make decisions on whether they want to close or not re said topic. I wonder how much the BoD’s at the charter schools are paid……
Morning Rumble you guys give me a sore face lol I admire the way you let the Papatuanukue /World know you respect your ladies and give them Mana enough said Ka kite ano
The narrative that legislating for warm, dry, healthy rental homes is somehow reducing the rental stock is being exposed. Three landlords speak here:
One looks a decent sort and accepts her role as providing a service to the community – well done her.
Another is disgruntled at the increase in notice period and the scraping of depreciation – he can fuck off quite frankly. Sold his houses to either another investor or first home buyers so they are still lived in and that’s a win because that wanker is now out of the game.
It’s the third which is most troubling though and indicative of the wild west of housing in this country under light regulation. This little scumbag also is annoyed at having to provide warm, dry, healthy homes for families and is threatening to take the lot to airbnb. This type of anti-social thinking is the real reason numbers of available rentals have plummeted.
What shocked me is that Susan Edmunds has that article up as normal, legitimate practise to follow. She encourages it! Calls herself a property journalist.
There’ll be no analysis of the housing problem from people invested in the problem, like Edmunds. A decent and fair government is going to have to do something, soon.
A new zoning ordinance that quietly went into effect this week has residents trying to figure out what comes next for Airbnb’s presence in Detroit. Many hosts have received notices that the city has outlawed Airbnb for R1 and R2 zoning. Curbed Detroit reports: The new zoning ordinance apparently went through the Planning Commission and City Council in 2017, and went into effect this week. The text added to the amendment states: “Use of a dwelling to accommodate paid overnight guests is prohibited as a home occupation; notwithstanding this regulation, public accommodations, including bed and breakfast inns outside the R1 and R2 Districts, are permitted as provided in Sec. 61-12-46 of this Code.” The vast majority of Airbnb units in Detroit are in R1 and R2 districts. These do not include places like lofts, apartments, or larger developments.
Airbnb has issued a statement saying: “We’re very disappointed by this turn of events. Airbnb has served as an economic engine for middle class Detroiters, many of whom rely on the supplemental income to stay in their homes. We hope that the city listens to our host community and permits home sharing in these residential zones.”
If I get the time I will generate a specific post on this, but in the meantime , this is an analysis of what the security state of the world looks like between countries with the US in full retreat:
– An opinion poll commissioned by the MSC and McKinsey shows that a majority of Europeans want to have their armed forces to be deployable beyond their national borders, preferably around the world.
– Calculations by the RAND Corporation compare the strength of NATO’s and Russia’s military power in the Baltic States in case of a short-notice confrontation. Russia outnumbers NATO’s rapidly deployable combat units in terms of artillery and infantry by far, while NATO possesses air superiority.
– The Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation demonstrates the severe impact a cancellation of the INF treaty could have. The projection shows that Russia’s INF missiles could likely reach every major NATO/US base and nuclear weapon storage sites in Europe.
– New data provided by the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) shows the significant expansion of China’s infrastructure in the South Chinese Sea as well as the increasing global military footprint of China.
– Previously unpublished data by the International Institute for Strategic Studies show the military expenditures and procurement priorities of select African countries. The data show that patrol boats and helicopters, for example, are in demand, whereas there is no procurement contract for systems like submarines, cruisers, destroyers, frigates or corvettes.
– The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the Nuclear Threat Initiative provide an assessment of the state of the North Korean nuclear program and an analysis of what a cancellation of the Iranian nuclear deal would mean.
Unpublished projections by UNEP show the correlation between drought and low intensity conflicts in a world map.
The state of ‘what is’ ain’t too pretty, but we knew that.
If you get through it over the weekend, you’ll see it’s good to have wide and fresh analyses that bring a lot of strands together, less tainted by the ambit of US interests.
The good hard thinking afterwards is, as ever, ‘what can we do’
Cruisers are little a bit old hat and really the only countries that can afford them are the US Navy and Russia with its existing fleet of Cruisers which were built during the 70’ and 80’s. Most countries now use Destroyer in lieu of Cruisers as most are after the “utility of force” than having a single use platform.
MERICS paper on the South China Sea is a good read and in a nut shell China’s expansion into the South China Sea is due the US not maintaining a active presence in the area the US was booted out of the Philippines, in turn allowed the Chinese to move in.
The Baltic Counties and including Finland and Sweden are very concern at Russia ability to mount its Zappia Exercises in very short time. These countries do believe that these Russian exercises will lead to a some short of invasion as the US and NATO are like chalk and cheese atm. The way Russia is playing atm is like the old story of the “Boy who cried Wolf” one two many times.
One last thing and this to Ad, was my response to your thread NZDF and Climate Change was passed on to you as I really have no way of contacting you other than though here?
Lets assume that some of the schools dont agree with Hipkins and they get issued with a ‘termination for convenience’
Will be interesting to see who the next deputy leader of Labour would be (Andrew Little?) since Davis promised to resign if either of the charter schools in Whangarei close
Wrong. As someone who has taught in schools for several decades in the past, you make totally wrong assumptions, based on nil evidence in my comment.
The needs of the schools, are based on the underlying needs of all the students – as individuals and collectively.
A good teacher, and a good head teacher, is aware of all the needs of individual students – it’s part of what teacher training is about – and of schools policies, etc.
I’m not even sure what you are on about with respect to Charter Schools.
“A good teacher, and a good head teacher, is aware of all the needs of individual students”
Agree…so why close down a school/s that are producing great results?
“I’m not even sure what you are on about with respect to Charter Schools.”
I suggest you visit a Charter school then and educate yourself.
For the record I have (visited a Charter school) and seen pupils who have failed in the mainstream, thrive and succeed in an environment that was tailored to their needs.
However, NZEI wants them gone…they do not conform and must be destroyed.
Yes, it’s great news, especially since Hipkins is treating them with such contempt as to demand their obedience or he’ll close them anyway. That’ll make any future attempt to privatise education that much harder.
Charter schools are a waste of resources. A many have pointed out – if state schools had been funded just as well as charter schools they could have done better.
Its good to see you have great reading comprehension… The existing schools will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and the ones that actually work will be kept open as character schools. So those that actually do what they say will stay open and be brought into the system to ensure they are not a waste of money. Those that are not doing what they say, and/or are not an efficient use of our tax money, will be shut and the taxes sent to more effective avenues for helping children…
I would have thought that ensuring that our tax is spent effectively and efficiently would sit well with national and act
…that will no longer be private companies. That will no longer be allowed to employ unregistered random wannabes. That will be under the direct control of the Ministry.
Even if that results in a negative outcome for the children involved?
Just to remind you OAB of the segment that Charter schools help: Māori, Pasifika, learners from low socio-economic backgrounds and learners with special education needs.
Below is a key reason why students that struggle in the mainstream can flourish in a Partnership school.
“Partnership Schools have greater freedom and flexibility to innovate and engage with their students in return for stronger accountability for improving educational outcomes.”
This is the school I know and have visited (a friends daughter attends).
I would have thought that ensuring that our tax is spent effectively and efficiently would sit well with national and act.
Only when it is advantageous to themselves. Spending it effectively on the education of children from lower socio-economic backgrounds (don’t hear that expression much now) is not one of them.
The kids that attend Charter schools were failed by the “system”.
Correct: the National Party in particular, by exacerbating and refusing to even measure poverty, when we know for a fact that household income is the single most important factor in determining education outcomes.
They also underfunded state schools to the extent that there are serious problems in the school properties portfolio.
You might not be able to see through all their lies, but don’t expect everyone else to suffer your affliction.
Oh, and don’t forget that Vanguard simply expelled the kids it failed.
Most of the kids that attend charter schools were indeed failed by the system – because “I can’t deal with this child, let’s give them to someone with no qualifications and a profit motive to fudge results” is the epitome of failure.
But Labour MP Damien O’Connor says it’s the Government’s doing.
“The restrictions around access by the ministry, instructed by the minister, means it’s almost impossible for parents to get their girls into this school,” he said.
So, the National government forced the numbers down and the cost per pupil up so as to produce the desired result of freeing up “this prime, 10-hectare site”.
It looks like some developer donated huge amounts to National to get that site.
We’re stronger together for children and learning
…
We come together as NZEI Te Riu Roa to fight for quality public education—because every child is worth it.
“Semi-privatisation is not the way to go for all NZ’s children.”
Carolyn are you aware that:
1. Virtually all Partnership Schools are not-for-profit?
2. ECE is delivered in NZ in a large part by non government providers, including many for profit.
3. That in 2014, 28,000 NZ students attended private schools?
4. That in 2016 there were 87,500 NZ students in integrated schools?
When Judith Collins referred to “poor little victims of a big, fat, mean union” she lost the argument.
For her, this is about dogma and ideology and hatred of unions. There are some interesting hate words used there, as well. Why refer to a union as ‘fat’?
As for meanness, pfffft. That National government sure knew how to be that.
Judith, as usual, told us more about herself than shedding light on arguments for and against privately-run, state-funded schools.
Putting aside the probable effects of AGW on the capitalist economy in the not too distant…
The systemic change comes when we demand the systemic change; when we stop fretting about the price of our house; the returns from our pension scheme; our traction on the slippery pole of success…
And to get meaningful change (ie – change that won’t see things default back to a version or parody of “this”) we’d do well to be versed in what makes capitalism capitalism, so that those defining features are absented from whatever comes next.
But whatever – it won’t be given, gifted or “just happen”.
“…The systemic change comes when we demand the systemic change;….”
or rather when the majority demand it, and are willing to continue to demand it in the face of the consequences…..and we are not there yet, and IMO are unlikely to be in the foreseeable.
You might be right Pat. But there are fairly solid demands for and movement towards more social democratic forms of “management”.
That doesn’t fix things (not by a long shot), but it might be seen as a stepping stone or an opportunity to gather momentum behind a desired direction of travel 😉
it will take a major disruption to the comfort of a significant portion of what could be loosely described as the ‘middle class’ before that movement gains critical mass…..remembering the elites will pull every string they can to avoid that happening.
Don’t think we’ll see any change until we have a leader step up and utterly reject neo-liberalism. I believe this will happen when they see enough of the peasantry demanding it. As much as I admire our present govt, we are a long way from achieving this
We got neo-liberalism against the wishes of the majority. The only people calling for it was the business community and they are, by default, a very small minority.
The majority want something better but the government still listens mostly to that very small minority.
“We got neo-liberalism against the wishes of the majority.” but the active support of the business community (who finance the political parties)treasury, the RBNZ, and the cabinet of the day…..all cheered on by the worlds most powerful country and institutions
To change would require a repudiation of nearly all of those listed while dealing with counter measures (impediments) that wernt active during the neolib conversion
This is the respect these neo liberal run council all around Atoearoa show for OUR tuna and other native fresh water fishes here a link to show that they worship $$$$$$ instead of our wild life longfin tuna are a ENDANGERED native species WTF
Seems the company wanting to bypass the nz labour market and bring in 200 temporary Chinese workers has not made any serious effort to hire nz workers :
Possibly but the issue that the firm says in that article is that that they’d have to get multiple contractors in to do the work meaning that there’d be even more bureaucracy on their end to organise it all.
Competition and the fragmentation that it brings is, apparently, the problem.
Of course, the firm has been brining in workers ten at a time rather than all 200 at once which does tend to undermine their stated reasons.
It probably is just the money. Is it possible that those workers are still hired in China and being paid Chinese wages rather than NZ wages?
When one of our companies sends workers to do temporary work in Australia do those companies pay Australian wages while they’re over there or do they pay the lower NZ wages?
lololol they probably want to try the same tactics as when the chinese engineers came to remove the aspestos from the trains, far out that was apalling how they were treated/paid etc – the loophole.. NZ employment laws did not apply hence they were able to be treated like crap by their Chinese employer
Trevor brought it to light a few years back.. This article from April 2015….
“On April 18 the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment released its investigation into allegations the Chinese workers, stationed at Kiwirail’s yards in Lower Hutt and elsewhere, were paid below the minimum wage, living in cramped conditions.
MBIE found that the allegations were not supported, however it admitted its efforts to establish how much the workers were paid were blocked when both the employees and employer, CNR Dalian Locomotive, refused to release wage records.
However MBIE said this did not affect its investigation as “it is more than likely New Zealand employment law does not apply to these workers as they are based in China and here only temporarily for work”.
Please don’t criticise capitalism. It is literally lifting millions of third world slaves from medieval working and living conditions (AKA poverty) to slightly better medieval working and living conditions and, more importantly, guarantees billionaires a spot on Forbes 500. Everybody wins! Especially the first world consumers and that’s you & me …
“it’s class warfare all right, and my side is winning” — Warren Buffett.
The comfortable Nat voting professional class don’t have a problem. Stories of “thousands of people suffering in poverty” are just leftie whinging. Who cares if kids are dying of cholera in South Auckland. Kohi and Takapuna beaches are very pleasant at this time of year, and property is up again, so all is well.
See no evil, hear no evil, attack the coalition and anybody and everybody who threatens your rightfully-gained profits, property & wealth, because it’s yours and you can do with it whatever you like, e.g. pass it on to the fruits of your loins, all tax-free, of course.
The senile old geriatric Bob the Knob Jones puts his foot in his mouth like the other silly old clown Bill Gallagher from the Waikato, Waitangi Day brings out the Alzheimers in silly old white men ?
Many of us have family members who are senile and geriatric and silly and old and white and male and suffering from Alzheimers. We treat them with respect and love. It is sad to read these words used as insults.
The main reason I’m advocate for equality for Lady’s is I know that neoliberals Men are stuffing up Papatuanukue they worship $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. YOU think I have not worked out the farcical gifts well sorry I have figured that out all by my self.
Ana to kai
The sandflys director thinks he can play ECO MAORI like a flute. But in reality it is ECO that is the flute player as I see all there players and plays.
I am just defending myself and my whano from them. It turns out that My wife of Great genealogical heritage all ready had most of the information I need my wife tepuna was Ropata companion. Ka pai
I think that some farmers should get advice from ECO before listen to a neoliberals saleman who will sell ice to Eskimos its all good intentions on the farmers behalf but I think the product they got is not going to achieve there goal of minermizing nitrates getting into our water a lot of $$$$$$ spent to.
KA KITE ANO
Many thanks lea from Rock radio station for the songs UNFUCK the world and QUEENS MAMA HE was a brilliant artists Anthony mundane get your head out of the sand its 20018 not 1818 Ana to kai
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Flag-bearing duties were shared between boxer David Nyika and Black Ferns Sevens captain Sarah Hirini in Tokyo three years ago. Triple Olympic medallist in boardsailing, Barbara Kendall was the first female flag bearer in Atlanta in 1996. Since 2004, the flagbearers have worn a kākahu (cloak) as they led ...
Maybe, just maybe this means we shouldn’t be dairy farming in the Canterbury Plains.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/100713719/irrigation-an-essential-tool-for-canterbury-farmers
Maybe, just maybe this means we should be farming sustainably.
http://e360.yale.edu/features/can-the-world-find-solutions-to-the-nitrogen-pollution-crisis
Maybe, just maybe this is connected to our destruction of the planet.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/
Enough of that annoying science with those pesky facts please.
It gets in the way of the plunder and anyway for every credible scientist the dairy industry has a contrary opinion to counter it, already included in the price of milk.
Gosh it’s as if dairying should only be done where rainfall is high like Waikato and taranaki but hey fed farmers backing national know best.
Their grandchildren will never forgive them.
Maybe, just maybe this means we shouldn’t be dairy farming in the Canterbury Plains.
Nor, as a host on RNZ’s Country Life admitted in a rare moment of candour in December, should they be dairy farming on the flood plains of the Bay of Plenty….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-12-2017/#comment-1427213
Greed.
Combined with a total disregard for the environmental impacts of trying to turn a dry plain that was never suitable for dairy into a lush meadow.
Wait till the water tables they’re draining start pulling up mud and/or get to the levels of nitrates and other residuals which make it not fit for purpose.
Then the hand will be out whining along the way with fed farmers feeding them the lines as per usual.
“We couldn’t milk cows in this area without irrigation so it is absolutely critical that we have these machines.”
Farmer logic!
Dirty Dairy logic.
Hope this means the government will reduce the herd significantly.
By 80% or more.
That is if we’d prefer an environment over cows’ milk.
“Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says putting on hold changes to Fonterra’s enabling legislation will allow a broader review of New Zealand’s dairy sector and whether it is adding enough value to the nation’s biggest export commodity.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11990690
“New Zealand needs to get rid of 80 per cent of its dairy cows because dairying is dirtying our water.
That was the message delivered to the annual meeting of Wanganui Federated Farmers by its former president.
Rachel Stewart, president of the group for four years in the early 2000s and guest speaker at Friday’s annual meeting, is an “ardent critic” of farming.
Ms Stewart, recently crowned Opinion Writer of the Year at New Zealand’s premier journalism awards, began her talk by saying she loved farming – but dairy farming was responsible for 80 per cent of the degradation of New Zealand waterways and Federated Farmers needed to stop denying it.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11648542
Exactly they are crazy to dairy farm in drought prone areas. Even investing in irrigation relies on water to fill which relies on rain. Far better to work with the land conditions and farm something that requires less water such as sheep/forestry that can be relied on in the future.
Also where is the user pays? Why should the tax payers be funding private farms irrigation schemes.
The whole thing is crazy.
There’s no maybe about that – that’s exactly what it means. If the farming can’t survive within the limits imposed by the natural water flows then it shouldn’t be there.
Technically, we don’t have an option. Farming unsustainably must result in a crash of the environment.
Over the next few decades, if farming continues the way it is, food production will decrease resulting in famine for billions of people.
And the only thing people will be able to do when that happens is say Oh, Malthus was right.
What a silly old fool Brendan Telfer has become. Even the dolts on
three’s A.M. show were staggered by his ignorance this morning.
A.M., three, Thursday 8 February 2018, 7:20 a.m.
Duncan Garner, Amanda Gillies, Mark Richardson, Melody Robinson, Brendan Telfer
Brendan Telfer has long been a figure of fun over on Radio Sport. Callers and hosts routinely deride him as a joyless old fogey, and rail against him (often unfairly) as “politically correct.” As well as Radio Sport, Telfer appears every Friday morning on RNZ National, where Kathryn Ryan treats him as an elderly sage, and never contests anything he says.
No such luck for Telfer this morning, however. It’s Halberg Awards time, and so he was wheeled on to talk about likely winners. Also invited on was former Black Fern Melody Robinson. Telfer’s first mistake was to scoff at the prospects of the Black Ferns, and to announce, with his trademark straight face, that the Americas Cup was “bigger than rugby”. Robinson, clearly offended rather than just amused by the silly old git, turned her back on him.
A bit later, after Robinson had praised the kayaker Lisa Carrington, Telfer kept digging:
Telfer, rattled, continued to chunter on, but he’d clearly lost the room. In an atmosphere of tension, he eventually stopped talking, with nobody listening seriously, and it was time for a commercial break. Telfer, flustered, left the studio in a hurry, but Melody Robinson remained in her seat. The host wasn’t going to let the moment disappear….
DUNCAN GARNER: [chortling] Mel’s staying put. She’s not leaving the studio!
Hardly a surprise Team New Zealand won when fools like Telfer have helped make this decision in the past.
On one side…….a rich sport team populated by wealthy, globalist men with big toys.
On the other…..a grassroots women’s sports team
With the misogyny that exists amongst sports commentators and reporters, who would not be surprised?
I heard Telfer on that show as well and was appalled at the way he spoke over Melody.
Chuntering on…..such a perfect description of the old git.
Wonder if Ryan will give him a free run this morning to do his sexist thing.
It’s hardly surprising team New Zealand won _ given the amazing feat they pulled off. Amazing and well deserved winners.
“Amazing feat”…
“Amazing and well deserved”..
48 year old man is ‘totes amazed’…
Oh James, you’re so far behind where 48 years of life should have prepared your mind to be…
Agitating on a left wing blog site, telling fabricated porkies….
Well the voting judges agree – thus their win.
But typical pathetic personal insults – typical of the envious.
SUch a tragic.
Brags about his friends, his boat…..
Pretty tragic that you can’t leave the James baiting to your sock puppets.
I’m sure that if other sports were funded by the taxpayer and billionaires they also would be international winners.
Yep, they won the cup, but it’s a step too far to steal the harbour of Auckland to celebrate and make the long suffering rate payers of Auckland already paying more than 1/2 the near 1.5 billion budget of the Auckland Transport each year also pay for a billionaire yachting village for Aucklanders Super yachts. (Because of course we all own super yachts, sarcasm)
I think you will find that they were funded to a lot lower level than the other teams.
Also if you got off your high horse you would see that the 000’s of kiwis that enjoy the viaduct and wynard quarter are also not super yacht owners either. Yet it is still an extremely fun and pleasant place for people to enjoy.
Yes Aucklander’s do enjoy the viaduct and wzynard quarter, so don’t want that public space hijacked.
“Well deserved winners”
Pfft…
More like spineless wankers I reckon. They could have all taken a united stand and said that they would not be competing in the regatta as it was being held in a tax haven and they don’t support tax havens. This would have made major, major news throughout the world and may have made people stop and think.
They could have become heroes to millions but simply didn’t have the balls to make a stand. gutless greedy cowards one and all. (IMHO)
🙄 and 😆
So once again the needs of the perpetrator are put ahead of the victim; a person murdered and never able to live life again:
“This morning Justice Cull QC began her sentencing by acknowledging Puna would receive a second strike for the offending after being convicted of aggravated robbery in 2016.
This meant he was subject to a sentence of life imprisonment without parole unless it was manifestly unjust, and Justice Cull QC said she had determined it would be manifestly unjust.
She accepted Puna had been deeply affected by the offending, as shown in his remorse following Beale’s death, and acknowledged his youth, cultural background and level of intoxication.
Puna had “positive prospects for rehabilitation” and acknowledged he wished to address his anger and alcohol issues, she said.”
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/life-term-senseless-murder
Puna should have received a second strike and if 14 years minimum is the price we put on taking another life then there are problems with our judiciary
It is better for him and for us if he can be rehabilitated and returned to having a productive life.
If the appropriate response to taking someone’s life is maximum punishment, why not just execute him then?
If an innocent person is executed, why worry?
what?
What if we lock up someone permanently who’s innocent and they die in prison?
“Tough on crime” = more recidivism = more crime.
You don’t care that your pathetic vengeance fantasies will cause more crime, because your ethics are in the gutter. If you had to do the work judges do you’d start crying.
A genuine question OAB…
If someone committed a serious violent act against a member of your family that left them scarred for life or even dead, would you still want to go easy on them?
No, I’d want to smash the nearest National Party trash I could find, because your policies create crime and misery.
I would do the same, although substitute “National Party trash” for the perpetrator…
However, I learned not to be ruled by my ‘wants’ a long time ago. What kind of pathetic right wing loser would I be if I thought that satisfying my vengeance fantasies would be of any use to anyone?
You would be displaying a normal human emotional response.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion
Yes, and acting on it would make me a pathetic right wing loser, especially if I insisted it be allowed to influence penal policy: then I’d be swimming in the same gutter as Graham Capill and David Garret.
The judiciary do seem to have decided that the strike thing is manifestly unjust. Not in a conspiratorial way of course.
While nat MPs especially judith are complaining about the restructuring of charter schools, wailing about how it will hurt the most vulnerable, maybe they should take a minute to think.
national tried and tried to shut down one of NZ’s most important schools for the most vulnerable, Salisbury School, a boarding school for girls with disabilities, girls who had been abused sexually, mentally, physically. Girls who had been through hell. Our community and many others, especially Tracey Martin fought tooth and nail to keep Salisbury School open, it saved girls lives.
So judith get off your high horse, national is a bunch of freaking hypocrites, you are the ones that failed the most vulnerable, shame on you and your party, shame on you for wanting schools with unqualified teachers, shame on you for bullying the vulnerable Salisbury School girls and their families.
+++Cinny.
There is rightful concern in the disability community with these residential schools and as always there’s a temptation to throw the good out with the bad. To save dollars National declared a fatwah against Salisbury, strenuously disregarding the very positive role it plays.
I agree with you on the school that they wanted to close.
However – there is no need for charter schools to be closed – some of them are doing extremely well and helping students get results they simply were not in mainstream schools.
examples please….
Vanguard school. Google it. There have been several articles.
Ah yes, Vanguard Military School to give it the full title.
Getting kids and putting them into an environment of bizarre fetishisation of militaristic caperings about like marching up and down a square, lots of shouting, an obsession with cleanliness (ah, Pompo Heneage, what did you start?) and doing mock assault course with toy guns is ridiculous in the extreme and hardly likely to inculcate them with the values required to participate in pluralistic, democratic society.
Shutting down obscene military schools like Vanguard is a victory for common sense.
http://www.vanguard.school.nz/student-success/
Got an actual school james rather than a rebranded bootcamp.
You are just showing your ignorance.
yes dear
Like this one:
Not meeting targets but get bonuses any way.
BTW, there is no reason for charter schools to exist in NZ. Integrated Special Character Schools would have worked fine but investors wouldn’t have been able to get a profit from it.
This.
Vanguard, while odd, is fine as an integrated special character school, the special character being military service based education in preparation for the armed services.
Same with Maori charter schools. They too will be able to become integrated special character schools, the special character being providing an education promoting the preservation of Maori language and culture.
They’ll just be renamed jimbo. Don’t worry.
Spin your shit narrative judith it won’t work on the well informed.
My other issue… it’s not too much to ask that all schools have qualified/registered teachers is it? It’s about keeping kids safe among other things. “He (a Dad) railed at the National Government’s approach to special educational needs, and said the Ministry had been attempting to close Salisbury School for years. “In my opinion, they’ve set this up from the beginning to close it, and I’m just disgusted with them,” he said.
“What kind of society do we live in where we’re always prioritising money over the welfare of the citizens?”
PS Thank you to the new government for keeping Salisbury open, more people need to know about it, and now that can happen. If Salisbury can work so well for so many many girl all over Australasia for over a century and it’s not a charter school, then why can’t the current charter schools adjust and evolve?
Ooops that was a fail..edit…
***My other issue… it’s not too much to ask that all schools have qualified/registered teachers is it? It’s about keeping kids safe among other things.
This article re Salisbury from 2016
“He (a Dad) railed at the National Government’s approach to special educational needs, and said the Ministry had been attempting to close Salisbury School for years. “In my opinion, they’ve set this up from the beginning to close it, and I’m just disgusted with them,” he said.
“What kind of society do we live in where we’re always prioritising money over the welfare of the citizens?”
“So judith get off your high horse, national is a bunch of freaking hypocrites, you are the ones that failed the most vulnerable, shame on you and your party, shame on you for wanting schools with unqualified teachers, shame on you for bullying the vulnerable Salisbury School girls and their families.”
If we all agree Salisbury School should never have been told to close down…then the same applies to Charter schools.
Or is it ok when Labour with the help of the Greens close down schools that help the disadvantaged?
Failed logic – as can be expected from a RWNJ.
Salisbury School shouldn’t have been shut down because it was doing its job efficiently. Charter schools should be shut down because they’re not.
“Charter schools should be shut down because they’re not.”
Like this one then?
“South Auckland Middle School (SAMS) began in 2014 with only a four month lead-in and $1.1 million to cover all establishment costs. A comparative state school startup would have been approximately $27 million and an 18 month staffed lead-in. SAMS has flown since day one and currently has 180 students and approximately 70 on wait-lists. We teach the New Zealand curriculum, have had a very stable student body with minimum transience, and in 2016 showed an 18% improvement for our Year 7 and 8 students in their national standards, in contrast to the national pattern. At SAMS, 93% of our students are Māori or Pasifika.”
[citation needed]
And, no, Kiwiblog is not a relevant citation.
That reads like you took an add the SAMS put out and used it as a source for their performance. Surely you wouldn’t do something so stupid.
Their report card for 2016 states that they have still not met all obligations.
http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/south-auckland-middle-school-29-08-2016/
“That reads like you took an add the SAMS put out and used it as a source for their performance. Surely you wouldn’t do something so stupid.”
Surely you are not implying that Alwyn Poole of the Villa Education Trust is just making shit up? Now that would be stupid of you.
“Their report card for 2016 states that they have still not met all obligations.”
I assume you read the whole report?
I agree with you Cinny.
In the same respect I can not see any solid reason to close down the Charter schools.
When they were proposed by ACT I was very sceptical about what was going to happen. However in my view they have been a good by and large.
Willy and Kelvin have very strong views on this so it will be interesting where it ends up.
Hipkins is just repaying his debts to the teacher unions by closing charter schools.
He is in their pockets on this issue.
He’s keeping an election promise. And better still, if the Charter Schools don’t cooperate they’ll be issued with ‘termination for convenience’ notices and closed anyway. That should act as a huge deterrent to any future wannabe National Party collaborators.
So he’s doing what I expected of him, this makes me happy, and your bitter tears are a bonus.
I can’t get past the kids, nor should a government that places children front and centre in matters relating to poverty.
Just as with Salisbury School, aren’t we taking our eyes off the prize that matters if we’re using their lives as leverage for or against a political party or union interests?
I suspect there is a healthy helping of propaganda accompanying the good news we read about student application and outcomes at charter schools but I can’t get away from thinking we should be kicking them to the kerb or not on a decision primarily rooted in: Are they genuinely giving the tail-end kids a jolly good leg-up in life?
No, they aren’t: eg: that “healthy dose of propaganda” you mentioned. In any case, privatisation of education must be resisted at all costs.
Resisting privatisation is far more important than hurting the National Party, although they’re both worthy goals.
The government needs to put teachers back in charge, instead of motel owners.
You really are a nasty piece of work.
You don’t care if they benefit the children failed by State Schools.
You don’t care if it is a way to achieve better life outcomes for PI & Maori children.
Isn’t there something in your treasured UN Human Rights Declaration about the right to education?
Can only imagine it’s your own self-loathing that makes you hate so much.
POS
If children are being failed by state schools then that needs to be looked at, researched and addressed through the state system. What we don’t do is throw those children at private schools running on unproven ideology or, even worse, ideology proven to be damaging.
Yawn. Running your mouth at me won’t help you sweety. It isn’t a way to achieve better outcomes for anyone. I’ve explained why repeatedly, but just once more for the hard of brain: the single most influential factor in education outcomes is household income.
Lifting people out of poverty (which you refuse to even measure) will have a far more beneficial effect than privatising education, so which one of us is the piece of shit?
Your right wing Madrassa failed everywhere else in the world and don’t work here either. The teachers’ unions want us to more closely emulate the Finnish model, and I agree with them.
In the meantime, ding dong the witch is dead 😀
“In any case, privatisation of education must be resisted at all costs. ”
1. Why? Private and non-state agents have provided education for many years. Why should the state have a monopoly?
2. Virtually all of the partnership/charter schools are non-for-profit.
3. There are currently hundreds of non-government, private and non-profit schools/centres providing excellent results across the education sector, from ECE onwards. Labour is not proposing shutting any of those.
Oh Deary me (or should I say teary me). Back to your usual nonsense OAB; projecting your inadequacies onto me.
BTW it still doesn’t change the fact that Hipkins is nothing but the teacher union’s puppet and will do their bidding come what may.
My bidding too. Don’t forget he’s following exactly what I’ve always advocated 😈
Fuck the election promise. They are good at breaking them. Look at TPP.
I have no idea why there is such opposition to this alternative form of education which is being provided to those who do not fit into the state school box for whatever reason.
I can not find one case of these new schools being anything other positive.
I have no idea
You should have: the information’s all available. Can’t use Google? David Farrar didn’t explain it properly?
Good one – You think I follow Farrar
Sigh
So what’s stopping you finding out the motivation for opposing privatisation? How hard is it to use Google to do a site search for “charter school” at the NZEI website, for example?
You mean the same NZEI who support spending 250,000 each year to keep a school open with no pupils!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/101223266/no-kids-and-no-fulltime-staff–but-tuturumuri-school-in-wairarapa-remains-open
I’ve known of cases before where schools have gone down to no students then gone back up again
Rikki Sheterline NZEI.
Also, it has the support of the Ministry and the NZSTA. But not you or Mordecai, Maninthemiddle, Acrophobic, Groundhog and the rest of the commenters who look exactly like you.
I’m sure everyone can live with that
That’s pure anecdote…Rikki doesn’t give any examples. Of the two schools mentioned by the author, Rangitaiki School even now has a roll of only 16 (https://www.schools.co.nz/listing-item/rangitaiki-school/).
At the end of the day the NZEI are happy to spend $250,000 per year to keep open a school with no pupils, and yet want to shut down popular schools.
The difference between you and Rikki is that Rikki is credible, and you are trash, just like 3stepstotheright.
Rikki is not credible, until he gives examples. One of the schools listed by the author still only has 16 pupils. And that’s somehow a good thing?
What I have been looking at seems to indicate that few if any are meeting their contractual requirements to supply accurate data on how they are performing for these kids. I would consider supporting them if they could actually prove that they are providing positive out comes rather than just expelling difficult kids and keeping those who are performing.
The fact that these schools aren’t required to have qualified teachers is concerning as it shows that they are already focusing on profit over quality. Add to this the governments strange decision to exclude them from National Standards (I am a fan of consistency, not National Standards) unlike all public schools and it reeks of a cover up.
Hi Crashcart
I am a relatively new defender of partnership schools because I know families for whom these schools have been transformational. If you are genuinely interested, you can get more information on their performance at http://www.partnershipschools.education.govt.nz/. Also, each PS is required to publish its own results (eg http://www.vanguard.school.nz/student-success/), and the MofEd holds data on the schools performance.
There has been a huge amount of misinformation spread by opponents of partnership schools, and it is based on ideology taking precedence over genuine concern for educational outcomes for children the state has failed. I would ask you to read this article https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/05/09/25916/a-rough-school-day-for-labour, that shows Labour’s considerable duplicity over these schools for quite some time. It is a good indication of what these schools are up against.
I guess I don’t read that the same way you do. It seems to me that Willie Jackson thought because he was in favour of charter schools and he is oh so special he was going to be able to just shoot his mouth off and change policy. That got a firm response from Hipkins and the actual Labour position never changed. They are happy for Charter schools to stay open if they employ qualified teachers and teach the national curriculum. That seems reasonable to me.
Is Jackson a dick? Yes
Was communication bad? Yea
Have they been 2 faced? well it would seem the policy has remain consistent. This is also one article from May last year that has the Labour position lining up with what they are doing now so rather than duplicitous it would seem they have been publically consistent in words and actions.
It would be good if you could provide an article that backs up the misinformation claim you made because the one you linked to doesn’t actually discuss Charter Schools and how they are performing in any depth. The only somewhat reliable info I have been able to find is on the ERO web site where it seems they are not reporting required information and are not meeting their role requirements in some cases.
As I say I don’t ideologically have an issue with them. I do think they should have to meet minimum standards for the benefit of the children involved. Especially when there is the ability for those involved to make a profit off of them.
“It seems to me that Willie Jackson thought …”
I would agree with you if it was just Jackson. But it wasn’t. There have been comments from:
1. Peeni Henare.
2. Kelvin Davis (“Labour’s Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis has promised he’ll resign before the two charter schools in his Northland electorate are closed…” https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/95039162/labour-to-tweak-special-character-schools-save-charter-schools-from-closure).
3. Chris Hipkins (On Monday, responding to Davis’ pledge to resign over them, Hipkins said “tweaks” would be made so there weren’t any “unnecessary barriers” for new special character schools.” – same source),
4. Jacinda Ardern, who said in parliament that there was a ‘pathway’ to these schools remaining open.
This is not consistency. It is plain dishonesty.
“the one you linked to doesn’t actually discuss Charter Schools and how they are performing in any depth. ”
The partnership schools link has links to each schools quarterly and annual reports, but i would also look at the ERO reviews, which are available for any school at http://www.ero.govt.nz/. The Vanguard review is at http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/vanguard-military-school-29-08-2016/. I won’t pre-empt your reading – I’d much rather people make up their own minds, but this does refute some of the more outlandish claims about a lack of accountability. And if you’re looking for a shortcut, you can read this http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/302550/ero-reports-on-three-charter-schools.
“It would be good if you could provide an article that backs up the misinformation claim…”
I don’t have a single article about that claim, but I have even better…a real example:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1608/S00187/tracey-martin-spreads-misinformation.htm
And by way of further information…two of the most common claims made against PS’s are that they don’t employ qualified teachers, and that they don’t follow the NZ curriculum. Were you aware that neither of these claims are correct?
“I do think they should have to meet minimum standards for the benefit of the children involved. ”
I totally agree. The irony is that in the place of compassion towards children who the state system has failed, the opponents of PS’s put their own ideological prejudice.
Irony. A right wing apologist pretending validity.
Oh I see anon. You hit and run posts about whatever takes your fancy, abuse other contributors, and then refuse to engage. I hadn’t realised you were so shallow.
“Fuck the election promise. They are good at breaking them. ”
It certainly looks that way.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/07/labour-won-t-close-my-charter-school-willie-jackson.html
Was it Kelvin Davis who promised to resign if either of the Whangarei Partnership Schools were closed?
And what about the PM’s claims in Parliament that there was a ‘pathway’ the these schools remaining open? All lies, it would seem.
The fact is that children are doing better in these schools than they did in the state system, and it appears that is unacceptable to labour and the teacher unions. Why? Who knows.
It’s because you’re lying, just like Groundhog and Mordecai.
That’s precisely the sort of reaction I expect from those who oppose Partnership Schools. Irrational.
There is a pathway.
The schools just have to become integrated special character and the owners drop their demands for bulk funding. They must use qualified teachers and pay them the going rate. Otherwise they are free to use special character to help kids who, for whatever reason, haven’t done well at the local school.
That of course is another and very big argument.
“The schools just have to become integrated special character and the owners drop their demands for bulk funding.”
What demands? How do these ‘demands’ differ from any other school?
“They must use qualified teachers…”
They do now.
“…and pay them the going rate.”
They do now.
“Otherwise they are free to use special character to help kids who, for whatever reason, haven’t done well at the local school. ”
That is precisely what they are doing now!
They want a lump sum from the taxpayer to distribute as they please. This is how charter schools make money of course, they ‘distribute’ money into their own pockets.
They do use some qualified teachers but they are currently not bound to.
Ditto, they are not bound to pay teachers on the state scale so more money for the owners.
Check out the failed Whangaruru Charter School set up at huge taxpayers expense which included an 81 hectare farm. What happened to the valuable farmland when it was closed? According to the contracts set up for charter schools, the private owners retain the property rights. What a rip off of the taxpayer!
The public should not be funding these private schools at higher funding rates than state schools. They claim their “success” ( few have demonstrated reaching agreed targets in their contracts) is because of smaller class sizes. Why should public funding privilege privatised education when state schools are running down because of nine years of underfunding?
“So he’s doing what I expected of him, this makes me happy, and your bitter tears are a bonus”.
So you support the deputy leader of Labour quitting over this? (Assuming they actually close one of the schools in Whangarei?
James, if you set the benchmark, the benchmark is corrupt.
Registered Teachers please and thank you, schools not run on a business model/as a company.
So why does the deputy leader of labour say he will quit if they close either of the one in Whangarei?
Not sure James, am interested in knowing the same, will have a google later to see if we can find out.
James, I found out some more info and there’s nothing to worry about, I know are a supporter of Salisbury School just like many of us, as you’ve voiced your support before for Salisbury 🙂 kudos on that.
It’s a bullshit narrative that’s happened in an attempt for the opposition to gain traction, let’s face it they are in the media atm for all the wrong reasons (ie leadership etc).
Easiest way to spin a bullshit narrative to the public, exploit a common ground vulnerability, in this case education, but it could be health etc. Remember to hand pick the info, pull on heart strings if possible, weave that web of delusion with threads of misinformation.
Kelvin supports schools that are performing well, as anyone would especially in their own electorate.
If any “charter schools’ close down, that’s on their CEO and Board of Directors, it’s up to them to make the changes in order to stay open as a ‘School of Special Character’. IMO No doubt Kelvin would support those CS’s in his zone to make the transistion, so would any MP a the school was performing well.
All they have to do is improve their current situation, ie ensuring all teachers are registered, be governed by a BOT instead of a BOD etc among other things.
It’s a big storm in a teacup. Spot the missing dialogue used as part of the closure narrative in the text belollololooooo
Article 23 July 2017 RNZ.
“So if they were to close they would no longer exist, that would be a bottom line for me, so the fact is they can exist as special character schools, that’s the bottom line to me.”
Mr Davis said the Labour Party wouldn’t close schools that were performing well.
The following day in Stuff 24 July 2017
On Monday, responding to Davis’ pledge to resign over them, Hipkins said “tweaks” would be made so there weren’t any “unnecessary barriers” for new special character schools.
That could include allowing schools to have more than one special character, which would make it easier for some Maori and Pacifica-targeted schools, he said.
In the end it’s really up to a schools board to make decisions on whether they want to close or not re said topic. I wonder how much the BoD’s at the charter schools are paid……
Standby for the 6pm News
Morning Rumble you guys give me a sore face lol I admire the way you let the Papatuanukue /World know you respect your ladies and give them Mana enough said Ka kite ano
Breakfast show that rise of people with need for help with mental problem will have a direct link to all the PEEEEE thats in New Zealand Ka kite ano
The narrative that legislating for warm, dry, healthy rental homes is somehow reducing the rental stock is being exposed. Three landlords speak here:
One looks a decent sort and accepts her role as providing a service to the community – well done her.
Another is disgruntled at the increase in notice period and the scraping of depreciation – he can fuck off quite frankly. Sold his houses to either another investor or first home buyers so they are still lived in and that’s a win because that wanker is now out of the game.
It’s the third which is most troubling though and indicative of the wild west of housing in this country under light regulation. This little scumbag also is annoyed at having to provide warm, dry, healthy homes for families and is threatening to take the lot to airbnb. This type of anti-social thinking is the real reason numbers of available rentals have plummeted.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/101215231/landlords-fear-and-loathing-of-the-new-zealand-rental-market
New Zealand has housing issues – time for the government to pull finger and make sure as many houses as possible are actually lived in!
I know you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover…….but…. is it just me or does the third one actually look mean spirited?
Time for legislation of AirBNB type arrangements as well. Landlords love to circumvent the law. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/101259878/From-290-a-week-to-4000-a-month-boost-from-joining-Airbnb
What shocked me is that Susan Edmunds has that article up as normal, legitimate practise to follow. She encourages it! Calls herself a property journalist.
There’ll be no analysis of the housing problem from people invested in the problem, like Edmunds. A decent and fair government is going to have to do something, soon.
An example:Detroit Quietly Bans AirBnB
We need this in NZ but I doubt we will if the CP-TPP is signed:
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/370133-montana-becomes-first-state-to-implement-net-neutrality-rules-following-fcc
Yep.
If I get the time I will generate a specific post on this, but in the meantime , this is an analysis of what the security state of the world looks like between countries with the US in full retreat:
https://www.securityconference.de/en/discussion/munich-security-report/munich-security-report-2018/
Some highlights from the report include:
– An opinion poll commissioned by the MSC and McKinsey shows that a majority of Europeans want to have their armed forces to be deployable beyond their national borders, preferably around the world.
– Calculations by the RAND Corporation compare the strength of NATO’s and Russia’s military power in the Baltic States in case of a short-notice confrontation. Russia outnumbers NATO’s rapidly deployable combat units in terms of artillery and infantry by far, while NATO possesses air superiority.
– The Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation demonstrates the severe impact a cancellation of the INF treaty could have. The projection shows that Russia’s INF missiles could likely reach every major NATO/US base and nuclear weapon storage sites in Europe.
– New data provided by the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) shows the significant expansion of China’s infrastructure in the South Chinese Sea as well as the increasing global military footprint of China.
– Previously unpublished data by the International Institute for Strategic Studies show the military expenditures and procurement priorities of select African countries. The data show that patrol boats and helicopters, for example, are in demand, whereas there is no procurement contract for systems like submarines, cruisers, destroyers, frigates or corvettes.
– The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the Nuclear Threat Initiative provide an assessment of the state of the North Korean nuclear program and an analysis of what a cancellation of the Iranian nuclear deal would mean.
Unpublished projections by UNEP show the correlation between drought and low intensity conflicts in a world map.
The state of ‘what is’ ain’t too pretty, but we knew that.
If you get through it over the weekend, you’ll see it’s good to have wide and fresh analyses that bring a lot of strands together, less tainted by the ambit of US interests.
The good hard thinking afterwards is, as ever, ‘what can we do’
Cruisers are little a bit old hat and really the only countries that can afford them are the US Navy and Russia with its existing fleet of Cruisers which were built during the 70’ and 80’s. Most countries now use Destroyer in lieu of Cruisers as most are after the “utility of force” than having a single use platform.
MERICS paper on the South China Sea is a good read and in a nut shell China’s expansion into the South China Sea is due the US not maintaining a active presence in the area the US was booted out of the Philippines, in turn allowed the Chinese to move in.
The Baltic Counties and including Finland and Sweden are very concern at Russia ability to mount its Zappia Exercises in very short time. These countries do believe that these Russian exercises will lead to a some short of invasion as the US and NATO are like chalk and cheese atm. The way Russia is playing atm is like the old story of the “Boy who cried Wolf” one two many times.
One last thing and this to Ad, was my response to your thread NZDF and Climate Change was passed on to you as I really have no way of contacting you other than though here?
Capitalism is in trouble, because it can’t help itself…
http://www.lauraflanders.com/f_word_drking_and_the_ram_superbowl
Hipkins moves to close charter schools:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/101287757/government-moves-to-scrap-national-standards-and-charter-schools
Lets assume that some of the schools dont agree with Hipkins and they get issued with a ‘termination for convenience’
Will be interesting to see who the next deputy leader of Labour would be (Andrew Little?) since Davis promised to resign if either of the charter schools in Whangarei close
https://www.facebook.com/KelvinDavisLabour/posts/1614807051884469
Good on Hipkins and Labour. All schools should get funding according to their needs, and well trained and qualified teachers.
Semi-privatisation is not the way to go for all NZ’s children.
“All schools should get funding according to their needs, and well trained and qualified teachers.”
That’s your problem you think of it in terms of “schools” and not the individual pupils and what may be best for their needs.
Just as Salisbury caterers for a specific type of student, so do Charter schools.
Wrong. As someone who has taught in schools for several decades in the past, you make totally wrong assumptions, based on nil evidence in my comment.
The needs of the schools, are based on the underlying needs of all the students – as individuals and collectively.
A good teacher, and a good head teacher, is aware of all the needs of individual students – it’s part of what teacher training is about – and of schools policies, etc.
I’m not even sure what you are on about with respect to Charter Schools.
You’re right Carolyn, the money allocated to Charter schools would be better spent on providing PD, and teacher aides.
“A good teacher, and a good head teacher, is aware of all the needs of individual students”
Agree…so why close down a school/s that are producing great results?
“I’m not even sure what you are on about with respect to Charter Schools.”
I suggest you visit a Charter school then and educate yourself.
For the record I have (visited a Charter school) and seen pupils who have failed in the mainstream, thrive and succeed in an environment that was tailored to their needs.
However, NZEI wants them gone…they do not conform and must be destroyed.
Yes, it’s great news, especially since Hipkins is treating them with such contempt as to demand their obedience or he’ll close them anyway. That’ll make any future attempt to privatise education that much harder.
I’m loving it.
Charter schools are a waste of resources. A many have pointed out – if state schools had been funded just as well as charter schools they could have done better.
Its good to see you have great reading comprehension… The existing schools will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and the ones that actually work will be kept open as character schools. So those that actually do what they say will stay open and be brought into the system to ensure they are not a waste of money. Those that are not doing what they say, and/or are not an efficient use of our tax money, will be shut and the taxes sent to more effective avenues for helping children…
I would have thought that ensuring that our tax is spent effectively and efficiently would sit well with national and act
kept open as character schools
…that will no longer be private companies. That will no longer be allowed to employ unregistered random wannabes. That will be under the direct control of the Ministry.
Even if that results in a negative outcome for the children involved?
Just to remind you OAB of the segment that Charter schools help: Māori, Pasifika, learners from low socio-economic backgrounds and learners with special education needs.
Below is a key reason why students that struggle in the mainstream can flourish in a Partnership school.
“Partnership Schools have greater freedom and flexibility to innovate and engage with their students in return for stronger accountability for improving educational outcomes.”
This is the school I know and have visited (a friends daughter attends).
http://www.vanguard.school.nz/about-us/staff-profiles/
Have a look at the teachers and tell me they are still “random wannabees”.
…stronger accountability…
Seriously, aren’t you even a little bit embarrassed to be so easily duped?
I would have thought that ensuring that our tax is spent effectively and efficiently would sit well with national and act.
Only when it is advantageous to themselves. Spending it effectively on the education of children from lower socio-economic backgrounds (don’t hear that expression much now) is not one of them.
“So those that actually do what they say will stay open and be brought into the system to ensure they are not a waste of money.”
The key words there are “brought into the system”.
The kids that attend Charter schools were failed by the “system”
“to ensure they are not a waste of money.”
If it’s just about the money then would you have wanted Salisbury School closed as well then?.
The average cost for wraparound service is around $27,000 per student verse at one stage the Salisbury cost of $215,000 per student.
The kids that attend Charter schools were failed by the “system”.
Correct: the National Party in particular, by exacerbating and refusing to even measure poverty, when we know for a fact that household income is the single most important factor in determining education outcomes.
They also underfunded state schools to the extent that there are serious problems in the school properties portfolio.
You might not be able to see through all their lies, but don’t expect everyone else to suffer your affliction.
Oh, and don’t forget that Vanguard simply expelled the kids it failed.
Most of the kids that attend charter schools were indeed failed by the system – because “I can’t deal with this child, let’s give them to someone with no qualifications and a profit motive to fudge results” is the epitome of failure.
Tell me McFlock do these teachers have no qualifications?
http://www.vanguard.school.nz/about-us/staff-profiles/
Vanguard school can’t meet its targets and simply expels the kids it can’t teach.
Some of them indeed have none listed. Others have more industry qualifications than anything related to teaching – different skillset entirely.
They seem to be heavy in PE qualifications, though.
Salisbury School supporters fight closure
So, the National government forced the numbers down and the cost per pupil up so as to produce the desired result of freeing up “this prime, 10-hectare site”.
It looks like some developer donated huge amounts to National to get that site.
They do seem to be more concerned with private investors making a profit from government spending than better efficiency.
+ 100% well said “You_Fool”
Do not conform to what?
As an ex member of NZEI, I know that as much as anything, the union wants the best education possible for all children.
Their web site says this loud and clear:
People who are looking to exploit children don’t want people who know what they are doing in terms of education to have a say…
Did someone give this idiots a talking point about Salisbury School?
Do they have an ounce of initiative or a gram of original thinking?
“Semi-privatisation is not the way to go for all NZ’s children.”
Carolyn are you aware that:
1. Virtually all Partnership Schools are not-for-profit?
2. ECE is delivered in NZ in a large part by non government providers, including many for profit.
3. That in 2014, 28,000 NZ students attended private schools?
4. That in 2016 there were 87,500 NZ students in integrated schools?
Are you suggesting that these all close?
When Judith Collins referred to “poor little victims of a big, fat, mean union” she lost the argument.
For her, this is about dogma and ideology and hatred of unions. There are some interesting hate words used there, as well. Why refer to a union as ‘fat’?
As for meanness, pfffft. That National government sure knew how to be that.
Judith, as usual, told us more about herself than shedding light on arguments for and against privately-run, state-funded schools.
So it’s being widely reported in the last couple of hours that the Dow Jones is on the slide again.
And I’d expect the wealthy elites to move again in their own interests – to support their profits, and shift loses to those already struggling.
When will we see the systemic changes needed for the many, and for the least well off?
Putting aside the probable effects of AGW on the capitalist economy in the not too distant…
The systemic change comes when we demand the systemic change; when we stop fretting about the price of our house; the returns from our pension scheme; our traction on the slippery pole of success…
And to get meaningful change (ie – change that won’t see things default back to a version or parody of “this”) we’d do well to be versed in what makes capitalism capitalism, so that those defining features are absented from whatever comes next.
But whatever – it won’t be given, gifted or “just happen”.
“…The systemic change comes when we demand the systemic change;….”
or rather when the majority demand it, and are willing to continue to demand it in the face of the consequences…..and we are not there yet, and IMO are unlikely to be in the foreseeable.
You might be right Pat. But there are fairly solid demands for and movement towards more social democratic forms of “management”.
That doesn’t fix things (not by a long shot), but it might be seen as a stepping stone or an opportunity to gather momentum behind a desired direction of travel 😉
it will take a major disruption to the comfort of a significant portion of what could be loosely described as the ‘middle class’ before that movement gains critical mass…..remembering the elites will pull every string they can to avoid that happening.
Don’t think we’ll see any change until we have a leader step up and utterly reject neo-liberalism. I believe this will happen when they see enough of the peasantry demanding it. As much as I admire our present govt, we are a long way from achieving this
We got neo-liberalism against the wishes of the majority. The only people calling for it was the business community and they are, by default, a very small minority.
The majority want something better but the government still listens mostly to that very small minority.
Can we be a leftist site, and call it liberalism, because that is the economic system which is crushing the world is called.
Neo-liberlism is just one part of a whole junk economic system we need to remove from this planet.
Neo-liberalism is somewhat different from Classical. That’s why it’s called neo.
Sure, but it’s still liberalism
“We got neo-liberalism against the wishes of the majority.” but the active support of the business community (who finance the political parties)treasury, the RBNZ, and the cabinet of the day…..all cheered on by the worlds most powerful country and institutions
To change would require a repudiation of nearly all of those listed while dealing with counter measures (impediments) that wernt active during the neolib conversion
This is the respect these neo liberal run council all around Atoearoa show for OUR tuna and other native fresh water fishes here a link to show that they worship $$$$$$ instead of our wild life longfin tuna are a ENDANGERED native species WTF
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/101252966/NATIVE-FISH-ARE-BEING-ANNIHILATED-BY-COUNCILRUN-PUMPS AN TO KAI
Tuna’s been endangered for decades as it roams the seas so it gets plundered in open waters out of territorial eyes.
Mitsubishi are rumoured to have a million tons of it on ice waiting for the supply to collapse
I think in this instance he is referring to anguilla dieffenbachii rather than thunnus thynnus – tuna meaning different things in English and Maori.
Ha! Reminds me of a Billy T gag. “I caught a 120 lb tuna in my hinaki (eel trap) last week. It was a piano tuna.”
Our Quota Management System has been rorted and plundered ever since Adam was a Cowboy ? MPI have been complicit in allowing it to happen ?
There’s certainly no excuse for not prosecuting and requiring pump modifications now that the data is in.
Taper tantrum 2.0…..
“The Dow is now down 2776 points from its high on Jan. 26th, or 10.4 percent. Ladies and gentleman, we have an official correction.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2018/feb/08/markets-fall-back-ftse-dow-jones-bank-of-england-interest-rate-decision-business?page=with:block-5a7cbe7fe4b0365be5168502#block-5a7cbe7fe4b0365be5168502
Seems the company wanting to bypass the nz labour market and bring in 200 temporary Chinese workers has not made any serious effort to hire nz workers :
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/350003/chinese-tradies-company-says-not-given-tender-opportunity
now theres a surprise….not
Apparently, competition is the problem.
Probably be able to pay the [deleted]less money ?
[just don’t – weka]
Possibly but the issue that the firm says in that article is that that they’d have to get multiple contractors in to do the work meaning that there’d be even more bureaucracy on their end to organise it all.
Competition and the fragmentation that it brings is, apparently, the problem.
Of course, the firm has been brining in workers ten at a time rather than all 200 at once which does tend to undermine their stated reasons.
It probably is just the money. Is it possible that those workers are still hired in China and being paid Chinese wages rather than NZ wages?
When one of our companies sends workers to do temporary work in Australia do those companies pay Australian wages while they’re over there or do they pay the lower NZ wages?
Moderation note for you above.
lololol they probably want to try the same tactics as when the chinese engineers came to remove the aspestos from the trains, far out that was apalling how they were treated/paid etc – the loophole.. NZ employment laws did not apply hence they were able to be treated like crap by their Chinese employer
Trevor brought it to light a few years back.. This article from April 2015….
“On April 18 the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment released its investigation into allegations the Chinese workers, stationed at Kiwirail’s yards in Lower Hutt and elsewhere, were paid below the minimum wage, living in cramped conditions.
MBIE found that the allegations were not supported, however it admitted its efforts to establish how much the workers were paid were blocked when both the employees and employer, CNR Dalian Locomotive, refused to release wage records.
However MBIE said this did not affect its investigation as “it is more than likely New Zealand employment law does not apply to these workers as they are based in China and here only temporarily for work”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/68131192/rail-union-plans-legal-test-case-over-chinese-engineers
That’s because all Chinese companies are the same.
Top work Rameka calling them all [deleted].
Typical chickenshit from an anonymous loser bidder.
Harden up cupcake.
Yeah, why can’t NZ businesses compete with third world slave wages, shit attitudes to safety and quality, and dishonest corner cutting management?
Please don’t criticise capitalism. It is literally lifting millions of third world slaves from medieval working and living conditions (AKA poverty) to slightly better medieval working and living conditions and, more importantly, guarantees billionaires a spot on Forbes 500. Everybody wins! Especially the first world consumers and that’s you & me …
“it’s class warfare all right, and my side is winning” — Warren Buffett.
The comfortable Nat voting professional class don’t have a problem. Stories of “thousands of people suffering in poverty” are just leftie whinging. Who cares if kids are dying of cholera in South Auckland. Kohi and Takapuna beaches are very pleasant at this time of year, and property is up again, so all is well.
/sarc
See no evil, hear no evil, attack the coalition and anybody and everybody who threatens your rightfully-gained profits, property & wealth, because it’s yours and you can do with it whatever you like, e.g. pass it on to the fruits of your loins, all tax-free, of course.
It’s Friday. Ad’s on global mode. Tomorrow he’ll do a 180 and slither in protectionist style.
Maybe he’ll do a think piece on how great it would be if giant mutant ants destroyed humankind. “I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.”
The senile old geriatric Bob the Knob Jones puts his foot in his mouth like the other silly old clown Bill Gallagher from the Waikato, Waitangi Day brings out the Alzheimers in silly old white men ?
Many of us have family members who are senile and geriatric and silly and old and white and male and suffering from Alzheimers. We treat them with respect and love. It is sad to read these words used as insults.
Characters like Bob Jones, Don Brash, Mike Hosking, Duncan Garner do try quite hard to keep the stereotypes alive. The stupid (old) bastards.
“The prosecution, who are seeking a first-degree murder conviction, allege that Thinn strangled Woodward in December 2016.
Thinn faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty of first degree murder.
The 30-year-old is the stepbrother of National MP Nikki Kaye and moved to the US in 2016 to pursue a career in music”
Robert Guyton, I really would have thought you were above this sort of thing?
The main reason I’m advocate for equality for Lady’s is I know that neoliberals Men are stuffing up Papatuanukue they worship $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. YOU think I have not worked out the farcical gifts well sorry I have figured that out all by my self.
Ana to kai
Spineless, dishonest, incoherent.
Why nobody trusts the Democrats.
The contrast between Obama’s desperate need to please and the bullying certitude of the soldier staring at him could not be starker.
The sandflys director thinks he can play ECO MAORI like a flute. But in reality it is ECO that is the flute player as I see all there players and plays.
I am just defending myself and my whano from them. It turns out that My wife of Great genealogical heritage all ready had most of the information I need my wife tepuna was Ropata companion. Ka pai
I think that some farmers should get advice from ECO before listen to a neoliberals saleman who will sell ice to Eskimos its all good intentions on the farmers behalf but I think the product they got is not going to achieve there goal of minermizing nitrates getting into our water a lot of $$$$$$ spent to.
KA KITE ANO
Many thanks lea from Rock radio station for the songs UNFUCK the world and QUEENS MAMA HE was a brilliant artists Anthony mundane get your head out of the sand its 20018 not 1818 Ana to kai