After calls yesterday by various people in regards to the locking down the gates for Indians, dear Leader was made aware that the UK variant is now pretty much the dominant virus anywhere and that the virus is 'surging' in every other country and that thus the quick decision to keep out Indians might be considered a bit tacky or singular, or damn or maybe they are just running scared because since the beginning of this shitshow they never did anything else but by 100 ventilators (did we finally get the nurses that are trained to man these machines actually?) and our hosptial system and our medical system can not even keep up with us getting just standard sick, let alone pandemic sic.
Never mind, she 'listened' and is doing what should have been done yesterday in order to be fair at the very least.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is not ruling out extending the unprecedented Indian travel suspension to other high-risk countries in order to keep New Zealand Covid-free.
She, and her director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, were yesterday at pains to point out that outside New Zealand's borders, Covid-19 is ravaging countries such as Brazil and the US.
Keeping New Zealand's Covid-free status was a key reason Ardern announced there will be a two-week suspension of all travel from India to New Zealand.
She can't keep us Covid free, we never were Covid free, we currently have a hundred cases of Covid in Isolation and at least one case who got Covid in isolation. Good grief, these guys you really can't fucking make them up.
as for the unvaccinated Guard – from the same article further down.
"They had several opportunities to be vaccinated, they didn't take up those opportunities so we need to understand why that was. Ultimately we're getting into that phase where those people won't be working at the border any more."
He said expectations of contracted workers in MIQ were clear when it came to vaccinations.
However, rates of vaccinations appeared to be lower in the "fluid" contracted border workforce, with Hipkins saying this was due to rosters and the casual nature of jobs.
The Government would now be working with the contractors to make sure the health requirements were clear, including plans for what happens to staff who were not or did not plan to be vaccinated
so first they have the right to refuse a vaccine and give it a thought, then they leave it to contractors to make sure their staff gets vaccinated or not, then we learn that the staff who works these places are in 'casual jobs'.
We really have no idea just how lucky all of us have been over the last year. Good grief. Good fucking grief.
I honestly can not state just how much contempt i have for these guys. How about 'Vaccinations are mandatory' for anyone who works in the Isolation wards, at the Airport, every cleaner, every front of house, every security guard, every dog and every donkey too.
These are comments from todays article in the Herald that i have linked to? would you care to articulate a thought about that?
Have i broken any rules that would allow you to 'moderate' my thoughts on the open mike?
I have also yesterday stated that i support the Idea of no one coming in until vaccination of at least 70% of the population has happened to give us at least a chance of 'herd immunity'. And that includes people from O z,
Last but least, i expect a plane load of people coming from India to be Indians and thus the majority of sick people to be from that continent, as much as i expect a planeload from the US or Brazil or Europe to be then the majority of the sick people. So personally i am happy that she now thinks of closing the border to other countries where the Virus is currently surging. She should have announced that yesterday before people complained about the singeling out of Indians.
Third, lastly, non so blind as those that don't want to see.
Btw, have you got anything to say to the article and the highlighted comments from our polititians and the fact that it appears that government did not work with the Contractors for the Plague hotels in regards to assuring that vaccinations are being taken up in a timely manner and that no unvaccinated staff works the plague hotels.
This is the open mike, my comment is to the rules, i supported my argument, i am polite, i insult no one and thus consider your comment more of a feeble attempt at an insult.
If you seek to ban me because my not praying at the altar of the current government do so, but at least be honest about it.
Have i broken any rules that would allow you to 'moderate' my thoughts on the open mike?
…
This is the open mike, my comment is to the rules, i supported my argument, i am polite, i insult no one and thus consider your comment more of a feeble attempt at an insult.
If you seek to ban me because my not praying at the altar of the current government do so, but at least be honest about it.
FFS, get a grip! It was a comment and one that clearly went down the wrong hole with you. Your aggressive and negative style is becoming legendary and your ignorance is grating. An no, you are not polite and you do insult many because you think that they somehow deserve it!? There are bloody good reasons why they temporarily stopped flights with Kiwis from India and fairness is not one of them. Your insinuation that I seek to ban you because you criticise Government is so ludicrous that I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Get over yourself, thanks.
Think there is a communication miss going on here, I read Sabine as direct, polite in the style it's written and feel insult is been taken where it's not intended.
I am on team Sabine albeit disagree with her politics and lefty solutions, some commentators are very precious and have their favourites and not so favourites, likewise unconscious bias that’s triggered simply by the handle of a commenter
[You have used so many e-mail addresses and aliases here in the past that this one had been missed, which allowed you to circumvent your permanent ban. Not to worry though, I’ve updated the Blacklist 😉 – Incognito]
Good for you cricklewood. You have found that The Standard is a great place to come when you have nothing to do and like to fill the hours reading some commenters contentious, reiterative opinions and arguments.
A significant number lead nowhere, not enlightening, not suggesting practical repairs on our body politic; which is just not good enough and that fact can never be stated enough or too strongly. End of current message, to be repeated ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
Having a counter point of view adds to the discussion. If we limit ourselves to only the views of those who hand clap every government announcement or announcement of an announcement, what’s the point of this blog site?
I don't think there are many, if any, here who hand clap every announcement by this government, that in itself is an incendiary comment. You and your like and Sabine from the opposite end of the spectrum seem to come here to constantly bad mouth every opportunity you get. If you wish to point me to a recent post where you have come here to praise the government I will happily apologize. No government will get everything right but the fact that this one seems to outrage both the left and right seems to point to it being the Centre Left Government it professes to be.
Bear in mind that according to the numbers less than 2% of humans have been infected with Covid-19. The real percentage will be higher, but the Covid-19 virus still has plenty of unvaccinated naïve hosts available to it and, while regional vaccination programmes will help, reversing the global tide is still some way off.
Much to my surprise, BAU will not be resuming; we've got about as close to BAU as possible in NZ and Australia. I under-estimated the effect of this pandemic on behaviour, and the next global challenge will be along before this one’s been mopped up, imho.
Generally if an Author is moderating they will use [bold]. I think it's reasonable for commenters to assume that if bold isn't being used, then it's not moderation. Sometimes I make suggestions in comments that I'm about to switch into bold mode, and it's up to people to decide if they want that to happen. I'll make a note in the back end about clear lines between commenting and bold, as it's been a bit problematic in recent times.
Given it is the 7th largest country on earth and has a population of over 1.3 billion I would hate to imagine what the real figure is.
Same thing is happening in Brazil which is at least as badly run at a federal level as India is.
I suspect that the US and France are racing between the rate of vaccination and the rate of new variant infection. In both cases I think that they're going to get another wave of infection and deaths.
But for NZ – what actually matters are the number of people detected in MIQ as a proportion of the number of people arriving from a particular source. If we jump from having 5 or 6 new cases per day and start climbing to over 20 per day with most of the additional coming from a just a couple of sources (Mumbai, Delphi, and presumably Dubai) we wind up increasing the risk of outbreaks as we overwhelm the available highly secure treatment spots and increase the infected density in MIQ as well.
That is really the only issue. Balancing the immediate entry 'right' of a relatively few travelling citizens against the 'right' of those arriving infected to have effective safe treatment against the 'right' of non-travelling citizens to not get infected by a potentially lethal disease.
Since they all have the same basic rights, the question is actually one of relative risk to the many against the risks to the few. The risk is a lot lower if we don't have too many infected people arriving in an uninfected zone. All quarantine law including ours states that pretty explicitly.
If people want to test that, then they have the 'right' can take it up with the courts . Probably after the pandemic. But they won't get the answer that they like would like. When it comes to overall immediate widespread public safety with disease, war and contamination, then rights tend take a big back seat to risk.
Which incidentally is what Sabines silly tantrum above doesn't move me at all. Nothing that she wrote or linked to has any particular analysis of risk here outside of what was stated by the NZ authorities about their decision.
There is a no risk-free state with anything to do with covid-19 (or other diseases, or fire, or war or contamination). Consider the enlightening contrary case of an extreme but quite clear position. We could completely stop all imports of material and people, and all that would do is to increase our collective risk levels. Outside of what we produce inside the country – no vaccines, no medicines, no vitamins. not particular types of food to deal with the known deficiencies in the trace elements in NZ, no machine parts to keep our food, transport and power systems running, no offshore specialised engineers and medical staff, etc etc. But hey – we'd be safe against covid19! And that is all that counts right?
I'd invite Sabine and supporters to comment on that risk case and explain if they have any disagreement with it? And why they wouldn't pursue it to prevent the risk from covid-19? After all it does appear to just be a simple extrapolation of the end result of their idiotic rants.
I suspect they'd dislike that as well. And everything between those and the government's position is just a balance of relative risks. So they should also state their analysis of the risk case for each change every one else can asses their worth.
Because if you can't assess risk analytically then you haven't thought it through and all will become aware that there are useless ineffectual critics amongst us and who they are. Which would be useful to know.
Sabine you seem to have missed (in your rant) the bit where the rest of the world is in awe of NZ for its covid response. It has been phenomenally successful.
Of course there have been a few blips-this virus is incredibly hard to contain.
As to India, check out my post today on the "Covid India" thread where I suggest there may be 250,000 cases or more a day in India.
Where India alone has been the source of 56% of imported covid cases over the last 2 months, and where covid spread is now going gangbusters in India (check the India graph on the link below) it is entirely logical and proportionate for the government to do what it announced yesterday.
After calls yesterday by various people in regards to the locking down the gates for Indians, dear Leader was made aware that the UK variant is now pretty much the dominant virus anywhere and that the virus is 'surging'
Suspicions are that it is the Maharashtra double mutation that is forcing the spike in covid in India.
The government response under uncertainty is to remove doubt,until more is known on the new variant.
Chris Lucks In by claiming taxpayer money for living in his own house and using his own office.
Taxpayers are paying to rent two of the seven properties in the portfolio of National MP Christopher Luxon, who is among more than a dozen MPs that use Parliamentary accommodation allowances to effectively rent property from themselves.
I wonder where Porky the wasted pig from the Taxdodger's Union is on this 'rort'?
would like to think that some good journos(?) do a followup on this, "prospective nat party leader rorting the system, has learnt from bill english ,etc,etc."
So you now want MPs to pay for their own office rents and rents for where they stay in Wellington ? That is a rort ??
does it matter who the landlord is. From memory the greens do similar where their pension fund owns the property.
And the greens ? What about their position of the mps pension fund owning the property that the state paid the rent on ? Are they part of enriching the rich .
there was a case of a labour/new labour living in the kapiti coast and having her Wellington rental being paid for as she resided out of town, there are rules that the current govt has kept in place, why not ask them to change this . I think it was Phippipa debunkle from labour.
No wonder google could not help me out and nothing came up in my search, there was no hidden intentions there, and when I searched her name didn't appear. refer below 🙁
you would have no objection for an MP to own in some form a rental property in Wellington and rent it out to a 3rd party/uni student . Then to rent from another 3rd party a property ?
perhaps to throw out a solution get the government to build a fit for purpose apartment block that MPs would stay in. Try to be helpful
Do you know who pays for a new oven or fridge or a washing machine and a heat pump or insulation and then does the landlord own the appliances? Also this could apply to general upkeep of the property garden/lawn.
So the government pays the mortgage if you rent your own place to yourself.
Funnily enough, I see your comment after pressing "submit comment" for this.
Maybe you should consider the possibility that "thinking that nats are grasping fuckwits with varying degrees of callousness to the hardship of others, generally low levels of intelligence and a corresponding level of integrity" is an opinion that can be shared by people with diverse attitudes to specific moral questions, rather than being restricted to a homogeneous pool of fungible Labour Party acolytes.
I'm not overly worried about it, if it doesn't result in inflated costs for taxpayers and the buildings are used for taxpayer purposes. It's a bit smarmy to charge market rates for stuff you own, but still within the grey zone.
I'm currently organising workshops for clients in Wellington. While I'm up there, the only reason I make the trip is work, so work pays for my accommodation. Just like work pays for my office space in my hometown.
Now, if I lived in Wellington normally and claimed to live out of town to get the cash, or took a taxi to the airport at an inflated price and my brother was the taxi driver, that would be well wrong.
But if a mortgage is cheaper than market rent, or the rent I charge my boss is below market rates, as long as the boss knows about it (so they can check the details), it's a bit meh.
…While emissions of all pollutants inexorably rise and we waltz past tipping point after tipping point, we continue to talk and talk and set up working groups and commissions and expert panels. We commission reports – how this government loves a report! – and we monitor impacts, and we survey people. We do nothing real….
The group of frontline border workers was first believed to be about 12,000 – but now officials think there's more than 16,000, meaning hundreds may not have had a jab.
The more the merrier I say – and based on Covid-19 health outcomes those workers are doing an excellent job. Minister Hipkins reckons the number of (Covid-19) border workers is between 15,000 and 20,000.
MBIE said by next month "all work in MIQ facilities will be carried out by vaccinated workers."
In a statement it said employers had obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to take all reasonable, practicable steps to eliminate or control "known risks".
"This includes obligations to employees working at the border at this time, who have a high risk due to Covid-19," the statement said.
"MBIE provided guidance to MIQ employers from 23 March 2021 which supported them to start individual conversations with their staff about the importance of being vaccinated."
Nothing in there that the last National government would have supported. They just made sure that any regulation would be ineffectual. And their mates were making shit loads out of the caper.
It got to the stage QLDC virtually gave up ticketing them because they couldn’t collect the fine. Either the rental company couldn’t / wouldn’t chase it up or the vehicle was registered to the person who sold it into the backpacker market 10 years ago. QLDC just developed other forms if harassment which were much more efficient, both in outcome and cost.
Very pleased the Government is cleaning up that side of the industry and taking it back to where you stayed at the camping ground it DOC camp site and it was generally well controlled.
I can assure you that it’s a unique experience having up to 50 of the parked up across the road from your gate every night, their departure has been one of the great positives of Covid
It's all a nice theoretical idea, but, what happens to the homeless people living in cars/vans are we going to punish them further.
Their is a carpark near where my boat is moored and 3 or 4 people discretely sleep there, one is a young uni student, she sleeps in her station wagon Monday to Friday and goes home in the weekend. There are toilets in the parking area but they lock them at night which means they have to sneak into the marina after hours. Gave the young lass my cell number in case she has any issues, couldn't think what else to do without looking like a dirty old man
There's quite a difference between those that are discrete and those that take over large public spaces and turn them into villages.
My memory of the pre international freedom camping days was that you did it, but were discrete about it, or if you were near a town, you stayed at the camping ground.
Sadly the freedom camping thing has also legitimised living in cars, if it’s fine for tourists to do it reasonably long term, then it’s harder to see the problem with families or your student lass living in their car. A sad place we’ve come too.
I had this conversation with a friend who was seeing $$$$ . wanted to overcharge for house. couldnt understand why he couldnt keep tenants long term, and was getting financially further behind. I pointed out that overcharging led to tenants constantly looking for somewhere cheaper, and every time they moved, the risk of damage increased, even with very careful tenants. and every week his rental sat empty, he got further behind, and would never really catch up. after three years , finally saw the light, cut the rent by 10% , sacked the rental agency, and has had same careful tenants for last ten years. lesson learned….
Great woodart. That is good to hear. How do we share this sort of experience and advice? It's the sort of thing that comes over well in Tedtalks. Could there bea number of landlords with experiences that could speak to audiences and be videoed. Some of our doco makers might be able to organise it and find a way to get some earnings to make it viable for them. It could be announced as one of a series of 'Get your life and your country back, enjoyable and affordable'.
I've noticed that you tend not to get stuff unless you ask for it. Sometimes you have to be brash and some people get annoyed, because many NZ don't seem to have a mid-setting between putting up with things, and getting bloody mad.
But when times are tough, the tough get going – and all the books that I have read about war and hard times, those who are alert and achieve co-operation are the ones who make it through. We have to change our mindset as your friend did so well woodart – do you agree?
…Associate Housing Minister Poto Williams says the government “has no further plans to make changes regarding rent” – so such a move is off the agenda for now.
I guess that is all she can say with the country and all the smart middle class people riding high on their upwardly moving housing values like invisble flying carpets. I wonder if they have been reading about Roald Dahl's story 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator' and got caught up in the fantasy world of kids where anything can happen but comes right, usually. They might find it familiar as it is nearly as calamitous as real life is for the real people on or near Struggle Street.
A positive mindset can accomplish far more than one set to outrage as a default setting. having an open mind and trying to see things from others viewpoints can be very helpful. trump sees himself as the great dealmaker , but as a self-absorbed narcissist, he is useless as he cant see anybodys elses point of view. when asking for "stuff"? try and think what the giver of stuff might need,want,etc. yes, co-operation is huge, a champion team will always beat a team of champions etc. even dealing with large faceless corporations can be advanced if you do a bit of actual personal communication(talking on the phone), rather than texting,email,etc. it shouldnt be a surprise but many workers in those large faceless corporations crave real personal contact, and can be very helpful. I learnt a lot yrs ago, when looking for sponsorship for a race car, again think about what I could do for a prospective sponsor, in return for mostly goods or services(much harder to get $$$$ from sponsors, they are more willing to do the goods or services route).
The sort of behaviour that will attract court attention is price fixing or market manipulation. Andy Matthews from the law firm Matthews Law said it was on firms to get their commercial arrangements double checked to ensure they were not engaging in any anti-competitive behaviour.
Blah blah. When I worked for a law firm for a while I noticed that their attitude was objective, to follow the law and carry it out in all things. That was fair enough. But to leave it to them to decide on laws means that they turn to what their customers with money require, and there is little soft spot for the difficulties of ordinary people who tend to fall into legal holes quite often. Control cartels, but do help the ordinary person getting caught up in the legal mesh. It could get so bad that dispassionately it would seem better for the government to lessen the laws that can tie up people's lives. One that comes to mind is the drug-testing before being accepted for work, I have read that is very tight. Let's see legal controls spread evenly; huge interest payments on a daily rate – that shouldn't be allowed. If people cannot afford to live, allowing them to be stripped of everything and be in debt is a shame on government. That should get through their thick, self-satisfied skin.
Also it is hard to pin down the small-time shysters setting up people in ways that sound legit, and then oh dear something goes wrong, and it's not their fault. Getting to them to serve papers to come to Court is hard and then they have a string of measures so they can wiggle out. And they do this over and over with impunity.
It is absolute shit for the people caught out by them and the government is massively unconcerned with the way that their supposed control and punishment systems are so hard to handle. In fact a lot of the problems that people are having are brought about by the poor government measures that have cropped up under nasty neolib and user pays – (out of wages decimated by housing costs (leaving just enough to get drunk on and eat hamburgers which people resort to just to get by).
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Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
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After calls yesterday by various people in regards to the locking down the gates for Indians, dear Leader was made aware that the UK variant is now pretty much the dominant virus anywhere and that the virus is 'surging' in every other country and that thus the quick decision to keep out Indians might be considered a bit tacky or singular, or damn or maybe they are just running scared because since the beginning of this shitshow they never did anything else but by 100 ventilators (did we finally get the nurses that are trained to man these machines actually?) and our hosptial system and our medical system can not even keep up with us getting just standard sick, let alone pandemic sic.
Never mind, she 'listened' and is doing what should have been done yesterday in order to be fair at the very least.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-jacinda-ardern-not-ruling-out-extending-india-travel-ban-to-other-high-risk-nations/K3V7L573UCJEE6JNAYUQDBH3KY/
She can't keep us Covid free, we never were Covid free, we currently have a hundred cases of Covid in Isolation and at least one case who got Covid in isolation. Good grief, these guys you really can't fucking make them up.
as for the unvaccinated Guard – from the same article further down.
so first they have the right to refuse a vaccine and give it a thought, then they leave it to contractors to make sure their staff gets vaccinated or not, then we learn that the staff who works these places are in 'casual jobs'.
We really have no idea just how lucky all of us have been over the last year. Good grief. Good fucking grief.
I honestly can not state just how much contempt i have for these guys. How about 'Vaccinations are mandatory' for anyone who works in the Isolation wards, at the Airport, every cleaner, every front of house, every security guard, every dog and every donkey too.
Oh well, I’ll repeat my comment here for you again: please inform yourself before you comment here, thanks.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/124786540/covid19-what-the-numbers-say-about-the-india-travel-ban
Ignorance breeds contempt.
These are comments from todays article in the Herald that i have linked to? would you care to articulate a thought about that?
Have i broken any rules that would allow you to 'moderate' my thoughts on the open mike?
I have also yesterday stated that i support the Idea of no one coming in until vaccination of at least 70% of the population has happened to give us at least a chance of 'herd immunity'. And that includes people from O z,
Last but least, i expect a plane load of people coming from India to be Indians and thus the majority of sick people to be from that continent, as much as i expect a planeload from the US or Brazil or Europe to be then the majority of the sick people. So personally i am happy that she now thinks of closing the border to other countries where the Virus is currently surging. She should have announced that yesterday before people complained about the singeling out of Indians.
Third, lastly, non so blind as those that don't want to see.
Btw, have you got anything to say to the article and the highlighted comments from our polititians and the fact that it appears that government did not work with the Contractors for the Plague hotels in regards to assuring that vaccinations are being taken up in a timely manner and that no unvaccinated staff works the plague hotels.
This is the open mike, my comment is to the rules, i supported my argument, i am polite, i insult no one and thus consider your comment more of a feeble attempt at an insult.
If you seek to ban me because my not praying at the altar of the current government do so, but at least be honest about it.
Thanks.
FFS, get a grip! It was a comment and one that clearly went down the wrong hole with you. Your aggressive and negative style is becoming legendary and your ignorance is grating. An no, you are not polite and you do insult many because you think that they somehow deserve it!? There are bloody good reasons why they temporarily stopped flights with Kiwis from India and fairness is not one of them. Your insinuation that I seek to ban you because you criticise Government is so ludicrous that I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Get over yourself, thanks.
HTH
Think there is a communication miss going on here, I read Sabine as direct, polite in the style it's written and feel insult is been taken where it's not intended.
nah, Im with incognito on this.
I am on team Sabine albeit disagree with her politics and lefty solutions, some commentators are very precious and have their favourites and not so favourites, likewise unconscious bias that’s triggered simply by the handle of a commenter
[You have used so many e-mail addresses and aliases here in the past that this one had been missed, which allowed you to circumvent your permanent ban. Not to worry though, I’ve updated the Blacklist 😉 – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 9:53 am.
Good for you cricklewood. You have found that The Standard is a great place to come when you have nothing to do and like to fill the hours reading some commenters contentious, reiterative opinions and arguments.
A significant number lead nowhere, not enlightening, not suggesting practical repairs on our body politic; which is just not good enough and that fact can never be stated enough or too strongly. End of current message, to be repeated ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
I’m with Sabine on this.
Having a counter point of view adds to the discussion. If we limit ourselves to only the views of those who hand clap every government announcement or announcement of an announcement, what’s the point of this blog site?
I don't think there are many, if any, here who hand clap every announcement by this government, that in itself is an incendiary comment. You and your like and Sabine from the opposite end of the spectrum seem to come here to constantly bad mouth every opportunity you get. If you wish to point me to a recent post where you have come here to praise the government I will happily apologize. No government will get everything right but the fact that this one seems to outrage both the left and right seems to point to it being the Centre Left Government it professes to be.
At the rate the government is going with vaccinations, new births will keep the proportion of the population vaccinated below 10%
DukeEll, is that a prediction, a joke, or both?
Bear in mind that according to the numbers less than 2% of humans have been infected with Covid-19. The real percentage will be higher, but the Covid-19 virus still has plenty of unvaccinated naïve hosts available to it and, while regional vaccination programmes will help, reversing the global tide is still some way off.
Much to my surprise, BAU will not be resuming; we've got about as close to BAU as possible in NZ and Australia. I under-estimated the effect of this pandemic on behaviour, and the next global challenge will be along before this one’s been mopped up, imho.
Generally if an Author is moderating they will use [bold]. I think it's reasonable for commenters to assume that if bold isn't being used, then it's not moderation. Sometimes I make suggestions in comments that I'm about to switch into bold mode, and it's up to people to decide if they want that to happen. I'll make a note in the back end about clear lines between commenting and bold, as it's been a bit problematic in recent times.
From your link
"India is currently enduring a huge Covid-19 spike with a 7-day average of about 95,000 cases. "
Given it is the 7th largest country on earth and has a population of over 1.3 billion I would hate to imagine what the real figure is.
Scary stuff
Same thing is happening in Brazil which is at least as badly run at a federal level as India is.
I suspect that the US and France are racing between the rate of vaccination and the rate of new variant infection. In both cases I think that they're going to get another wave of infection and deaths.
But for NZ – what actually matters are the number of people detected in MIQ as a proportion of the number of people arriving from a particular source. If we jump from having 5 or 6 new cases per day and start climbing to over 20 per day with most of the additional coming from a just a couple of sources (Mumbai, Delphi, and presumably Dubai) we wind up increasing the risk of outbreaks as we overwhelm the available highly secure treatment spots and increase the infected density in MIQ as well.
That is really the only issue. Balancing the immediate entry 'right' of a relatively few travelling citizens against the 'right' of those arriving infected to have effective safe treatment against the 'right' of non-travelling citizens to not get infected by a potentially lethal disease.
Since they all have the same basic rights, the question is actually one of relative risk to the many against the risks to the few. The risk is a lot lower if we don't have too many infected people arriving in an uninfected zone. All quarantine law including ours states that pretty explicitly.
If people want to test that, then they have the 'right' can take it up with the courts . Probably after the pandemic. But they won't get the answer that they like would like. When it comes to overall immediate widespread public safety with disease, war and contamination, then rights tend take a big back seat to risk.
Which incidentally is what Sabines silly tantrum above doesn't move me at all. Nothing that she wrote or linked to has any particular analysis of risk here outside of what was stated by the NZ authorities about their decision.
There is a no risk-free state with anything to do with covid-19 (or other diseases, or fire, or war or contamination). Consider the enlightening contrary case of an extreme but quite clear position. We could completely stop all imports of material and people, and all that would do is to increase our collective risk levels. Outside of what we produce inside the country – no vaccines, no medicines, no vitamins. not particular types of food to deal with the known deficiencies in the trace elements in NZ, no machine parts to keep our food, transport and power systems running, no offshore specialised engineers and medical staff, etc etc. But hey – we'd be safe against covid19! And that is all that counts right?
I'd invite Sabine and supporters to comment on that risk case and explain if they have any disagreement with it? And why they wouldn't pursue it to prevent the risk from covid-19? After all it does appear to just be a simple extrapolation of the end result of their idiotic rants.
I suspect they'd dislike that as well. And everything between those and the government's position is just a balance of relative risks. So they should also state their analysis of the risk case for each change every one else can asses their worth.
Because if you can't assess risk analytically then you haven't thought it through and all will become aware that there are useless ineffectual critics amongst us and who they are. Which would be useful to know.
great post.
Sabine you seem to have missed (in your rant) the bit where the rest of the world is in awe of NZ for its covid response. It has been phenomenally successful.
Of course there have been a few blips-this virus is incredibly hard to contain.
As to India, check out my post today on the "Covid India" thread where I suggest there may be 250,000 cases or more a day in India.
Where India alone has been the source of 56% of imported covid cases over the last 2 months, and where covid spread is now going gangbusters in India (check the India graph on the link below) it is entirely logical and proportionate for the government to do what it announced yesterday.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/india/
After calls yesterday by various people in regards to the locking down the gates for Indians, dear Leader was made aware that the UK variant is now pretty much the dominant virus anywhere and that the virus is 'surging'
Suspicions are that it is the Maharashtra double mutation that is forcing the spike in covid in India.
The government response under uncertainty is to remove doubt,until more is known on the new variant.
https://theconversation.com/whats-the-new-coronavirus-variant-in-india-and-how-should-it-change-their-covid-response-157957
Chris Lucks In by claiming taxpayer money for living in his own house and using his own office.
I wonder where Porky the wasted pig from the Taxdodger's Union is on this 'rort'?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300266741/parliament-lets-mps-rent-property-from-themselves-at-the-taxpayers-expense
would like to think that some good journos(?) do a followup on this, "prospective nat party leader rorting the system, has learnt from bill english ,etc,etc."
Yeah, new church fundamentalist Christians sure do know a good deal when they see one.
So you now want MPs to pay for their own office rents and rents for where they stay in Wellington ? That is a rort ??
does it matter who the landlord is. From memory the greens do similar where their pension fund owns the property.
Meh. Lucks-in owns the house. He doesn't have to pay rent.
Just another example of the taxpayer enriching the already rich.
And the greens ? What about their position of the mps pension fund owning the property that the state paid the rent on ? Are they part of enriching the rich .
there was a case of a labour/new labour living in the kapiti coast and having her Wellington rental being paid for as she resided out of town, there are rules that the current govt has kept in place, why not ask them to change this . I think it was Phippipa debunkle from labour.
No-one's perfect – low blow, imho.
An Unfortunate Experiment at National Women's
[Sandra Coney and Phillida Bunkle]
No wonder google could not help me out and nothing came up in my search, there was no hidden intentions there, and when I searched her name didn't appear. refer below 🙁
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewLabour_Party_(New_Zealand)
Fair enough – we're all a mix of bad and good behaviour/choices.
So if I read your comments correct
you would have no objection for an MP to own in some form a rental property in Wellington and rent it out to a 3rd party/uni student . Then to rent from another 3rd party a property ?
perhaps to throw out a solution get the government to build a fit for purpose apartment block that MPs would stay in. Try to be helpful
If you have a house in Wellington, stay in it and don't charge the taxpayer to pay yourself.
Do you know who pays for a new oven or fridge or a washing machine and a heat pump or insulation and then does the landlord own the appliances? Also this could apply to general upkeep of the property garden/lawn.
So the government pays the mortgage if you rent your own place to yourself.
What about if you rent your electorate office off a union at mates rates and fleece (sorry, charge) the tax payer the market rate. Does that count?
Just as bad in my book.
Hmmm
You might believe your own bullshit, but reality seems to disagree with you.
Mmmm
And has anyone found anything illegal with what the opposition is doing. Guess it’s another case of “bullshit” except when Labour rort the system.
Funnily enough, I see your comment after pressing "submit comment" for this.
Maybe you should consider the possibility that "thinking that nats are grasping fuckwits with varying degrees of callousness to the hardship of others, generally low levels of intelligence and a corresponding level of integrity" is an opinion that can be shared by people with diverse attitudes to specific moral questions, rather than being restricted to a homogeneous pool of fungible Labour Party acolytes.
Not really. Lucks-in is fleecing (sorry, charging) the taxpayer where there is no cost to himself.
Nice work if you can get it.
Some background you may not have come across- You could argue with these benefits we the voter should expect more from our reps in Wellington ??😇
Together the accommodation allowance, and the pensions contributions, gives MPs a powerful wealth boost….
An MP's accommodation allowance – currently $28,000 a year – can be legally paid to the super scheme as their landlord.
In addition, MPs can ask for their superannuation contributions to be paid into the private super scheme.
MPs get a contribution of 20 per cent of their salary, and only have to put in $1 of their own money for each $2.50 contribution from the taxpayer.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/101854679/private-super-schemes-are-mps-bridges-to-wealth
I'm not overly worried about it, if it doesn't result in inflated costs for taxpayers and the buildings are used for taxpayer purposes. It's a bit smarmy to charge market rates for stuff you own, but still within the grey zone.
I'm currently organising workshops for clients in Wellington. While I'm up there, the only reason I make the trip is work, so work pays for my accommodation. Just like work pays for my office space in my hometown.
Now, if I lived in Wellington normally and claimed to live out of town to get the cash, or took a taxi to the airport at an inflated price and my brother was the taxi driver, that would be well wrong.
But if a mortgage is cheaper than market rent, or the rent I charge my boss is below market rates, as long as the boss knows about it (so they can check the details), it's a bit meh.
Mike Joy with some measured criticisms which government should listen to. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/440120/polluted-waterways-why-are-we-subsidising-environmental-harm
…While emissions of all pollutants inexorably rise and we waltz past tipping point after tipping point, we continue to talk and talk and set up working groups and commissions and expert panels. We commission reports – how this government loves a report! – and we monitor impacts, and we survey people. We do nothing real….
(Shades of Paul Crutzen recently died finally got breakthrough about man-made climate change wile all the other muppets were calling it the Holocence Age and he got them to accept we were in Anthropocene Age. ) https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/115969257/the-anthropocene-epoch-humans-vs-the-earth
and
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-crutzen-dead/2021/01/29/97e9c200-6244-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html
Here's a bit of a challenge for anyone good at maths.
If you have an unkown number, how do you calculate 90% of that number?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/coronavirus-government-doesn-t-know-how-many-border-works-there-are-but-still-insists-90-percent-have-got-covid-19-vaccine.html
Or English?
Or
Lie | Definition of Lie at Dictionary.com
https://www.dictionary.com › browse › lie
verb (used without object), lied, ly·ing. to speak falsely or utter untruth knowingly, as with intent to deceive.
Or :
Jimmy
noun
INFORMAL•BRITISH
an act of urination
I always thought it was only an Irish saying. Either “a jimmy” or a “Jimmy Riddle”
Ummm – or a slash! My partner is a Ten Pound Pom.
The more the merrier I say – and based on Covid-19 health outcomes those workers are doing an excellent job. Minister Hipkins reckons the number of (Covid-19) border workers is between 15,000 and 20,000.
Sounds like a plan.
"Staggering" Chris B and Jimmy, simply "staggering" – keep up the 'good work'
So the number of unvaccinated front line workers is:
a. 10% of 12,000 = 1,200
or
b. 10% of 15,000 = 1,500
or
c. 10% of 16,000 = 1,600
or
d. 10% of 20,000 = 2,000
or
e. none of the above as it may not even be 10%!
Well done Jimmy, seems you have answered your own question @4. Perhaps you could forward your calculations to Chris B
“If you have an unkown number, how do you calculate 90% of that number?”
Random sample
Another example of something from Nash the nats will support:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/124777567/stricter-freedom-camping-rules-suggested-for-all-of-new-zealand
Nothing in there that the last National government would have supported. They just made sure that any regulation would be ineffectual. And their mates were making shit loads out of the caper.
It got to the stage QLDC virtually gave up ticketing them because they couldn’t collect the fine. Either the rental company couldn’t / wouldn’t chase it up or the vehicle was registered to the person who sold it into the backpacker market 10 years ago. QLDC just developed other forms if harassment which were much more efficient, both in outcome and cost.
Very pleased the Government is cleaning up that side of the industry and taking it back to where you stayed at the camping ground it DOC camp site and it was generally well controlled.
I can assure you that it’s a unique experience having up to 50 of the parked up across the road from your gate every night, their departure has been one of the great positives of Covid
It's all a nice theoretical idea, but, what happens to the homeless people living in cars/vans are we going to punish them further.
Their is a carpark near where my boat is moored and 3 or 4 people discretely sleep there, one is a young uni student, she sleeps in her station wagon Monday to Friday and goes home in the weekend. There are toilets in the parking area but they lock them at night which means they have to sneak into the marina after hours. Gave the young lass my cell number in case she has any issues, couldn't think what else to do without looking like a dirty old man
There's quite a difference between those that are discrete and those that take over large public spaces and turn them into villages.
My memory of the pre international freedom camping days was that you did it, but were discrete about it, or if you were near a town, you stayed at the camping ground.
Sadly the freedom camping thing has also legitimised living in cars, if it’s fine for tourists to do it reasonably long term, then it’s harder to see the problem with families or your student lass living in their car. A sad place we’ve come too.
Heh. Economist suggesting to landlords that market rates are not set as a whim of the supplier.
Pulling that further, someone overcharging will take longer to fill their rental and actually make less money than if they simply bore the cost.
I had this conversation with a friend who was seeing $$$$ . wanted to overcharge for house. couldnt understand why he couldnt keep tenants long term, and was getting financially further behind. I pointed out that overcharging led to tenants constantly looking for somewhere cheaper, and every time they moved, the risk of damage increased, even with very careful tenants. and every week his rental sat empty, he got further behind, and would never really catch up. after three years , finally saw the light, cut the rent by 10% , sacked the rental agency, and has had same careful tenants for last ten years. lesson learned….
Great woodart. That is good to hear. How do we share this sort of experience and advice? It's the sort of thing that comes over well in Tedtalks. Could there bea number of landlords with experiences that could speak to audiences and be videoed. Some of our doco makers might be able to organise it and find a way to get some earnings to make it viable for them. It could be announced as one of a series of 'Get your life and your country back, enjoyable and affordable'.
I've noticed that you tend not to get stuff unless you ask for it. Sometimes you have to be brash and some people get annoyed, because many NZ don't seem to have a mid-setting between putting up with things, and getting bloody mad.
But when times are tough, the tough get going – and all the books that I have read about war and hard times, those who are alert and achieve co-operation are the ones who make it through. We have to change our mindset as your friend did so well woodart – do you agree?
Here us Radionz about rent controls with some comment from government about rent controls.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018790732/the-back-firing-probability-of-rent-controls
…Associate Housing Minister Poto Williams says the government “has no further plans to make changes regarding rent” – so such a move is off the agenda for now.
I guess that is all she can say with the country and all the smart middle class people riding high on their upwardly moving housing values like invisble flying carpets. I wonder if they have been reading about Roald Dahl's story 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator' and got caught up in the fantasy world of kids where anything can happen but comes right, usually. They might find it familiar as it is nearly as calamitous as real life is for the real people on or near Struggle Street.
A positive mindset can accomplish far more than one set to outrage as a default setting. having an open mind and trying to see things from others viewpoints can be very helpful. trump sees himself as the great dealmaker , but as a self-absorbed narcissist, he is useless as he cant see anybodys elses point of view. when asking for "stuff"? try and think what the giver of stuff might need,want,etc. yes, co-operation is huge, a champion team will always beat a team of champions etc. even dealing with large faceless corporations can be advanced if you do a bit of actual personal communication(talking on the phone), rather than texting,email,etc. it shouldnt be a surprise but many workers in those large faceless corporations crave real personal contact, and can be very helpful. I learnt a lot yrs ago, when looking for sponsorship for a race car, again think about what I could do for a prospective sponsor, in return for mostly goods or services(much harder to get $$$$ from sponsors, they are more willing to do the goods or services route).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/440059/law-criminalising-commercial-cartels-comes-into-effect
The sort of behaviour that will attract court attention is price fixing or market manipulation. Andy Matthews from the law firm Matthews Law said it was on firms to get their commercial arrangements double checked to ensure they were not engaging in any anti-competitive behaviour.
Blah blah. When I worked for a law firm for a while I noticed that their attitude was objective, to follow the law and carry it out in all things. That was fair enough. But to leave it to them to decide on laws means that they turn to what their customers with money require, and there is little soft spot for the difficulties of ordinary people who tend to fall into legal holes quite often. Control cartels, but do help the ordinary person getting caught up in the legal mesh. It could get so bad that dispassionately it would seem better for the government to lessen the laws that can tie up people's lives. One that comes to mind is the drug-testing before being accepted for work, I have read that is very tight. Let's see legal controls spread evenly; huge interest payments on a daily rate – that shouldn't be allowed. If people cannot afford to live, allowing them to be stripped of everything and be in debt is a shame on government. That should get through their thick, self-satisfied skin.
Also it is hard to pin down the small-time shysters setting up people in ways that sound legit, and then oh dear something goes wrong, and it's not their fault. Getting to them to serve papers to come to Court is hard and then they have a string of measures so they can wiggle out. And they do this over and over with impunity.
It is absolute shit for the people caught out by them and the government is massively unconcerned with the way that their supposed control and punishment systems are so hard to handle. In fact a lot of the problems that people are having are brought about by the poor government measures that have cropped up under nasty neolib and user pays – (out of wages decimated by housing costs (leaving just enough to get drunk on and eat hamburgers which people resort to just to get by).