Off the topic of comment marvellosity, that same IP address thing from the other day has been background nagging at me. I've come across some info that talks about IPv4 running out of addresses, so some ISPs can implement ways of some users sharing the same public IP address. So unless lprent enlightens us to an alternate explanation, I'll go with that.
Superb brief comment. Many people are jealous, and for any number of reasons, but no one should be envious of your command of the English language.
"Methinks means “It seems to me.” Originally, it was spelled as two words. The me is an indirect object: “It seems to me.” Now it is spelled as one word, although some modern speakers, imagining that it means, “I think” spell it as two words."
"Note: Using methinks as if it meant, “I think” equates to such baby talk as “Me wants a cookie.”"
I always used to think that me thinks meant I seem to think to indicate that one wasn’t too sure of oneself, i.e. whether one was thinking something or whether one was in fact assuming that somebody else was thinking something that could be consistent and in fact quite similar to what one was thinking being that might be the case, in actual fact, presumably. In these situations, I usually praise the other for their sublime reasoning and clarity of communication, which is a precious rarity nowadays that I seldom encounter but highly value, nonetheless.
The main thing now is that the situation is contained, that it is established how it was and is transmitted and the resources required to test, contact trace and support on every level are available.
The options for the school need to be carefully considered. School holidays start on 28 September.
And how many people from Auckland meant to be at 2.5 left town and swanned about other parts of New Zealand and awarded themselves a level 2 to possibly spread it around. 2.5 should mean very limited inter regional travel.
Probably the next super spreader will be an MP or a candidate or their election support staff. I was for continuation of no regional travel into or out of Auckland at 2.5. I understand the reason for allowing regional travel at 2.5 was that it was too hard to enforce. People are not coming back into central Auckland and this is contributing to the final blow to businesses reliant on foot traffic. The rest of the country needs to return to 10 in a group and sport needs to be rethought.
Many sleepless nights are ahead for the government and a reset needs to take place after the weekend.
Nation wide transmission was always any day at anytime. The backstop is another level 4 lockdown and this might not be sustainable.
Certainly another 14 days at level 3 would have prevented this but I'm not sure it was an option given the pressure from business. I hope this isn't our Melbourne. As for the case and contacts, you canna help stupid. I'm reminded of Einstein – "Two things are infinite, the universe and stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe"
the pressure from business came simple from having no income and the government not allowing the wage subsidy for the full duration of level 3.
If the government wants to impose a lock down at the restriction set at Level 3 and up, then the government must provide legally binding rules that would allow for a rent break/bill break + food rations (yes, i can see rationing in our future) for the duration of the lock down at a bare minimum. Essentially it puts us in Home D with all the restrictions that come with it and sadly we still live in a capitalistic world and people thus must pay rent/ bills in order to survive really – and that will never work, not for the workers not for the businesses. I personally would have loved to see AKL go to L4 for 4 weeks on full pay, the rest of the country on 2 with access to aid for those that need it.
But here we are at 2.5 and we all wait for it to explode.
Duration of lockdown in Melbourne has been 6 weeks and another 2 week extention. Then a further review. Were Brisbane and Sydney to have a lockdown like in Melbourne Australia would take a big hit. The problem with Auckland is the size of the population and the hit to the economy.
Evidence is starting to come through that mask-wearing also reduces severity of infection as well as reducing likelihood of transmission.
For example, on an Argentinian cruise ship with an outbreak where masks were issued to everyone as soon as infection was detected, 81% of infections were asymptomatic. Compared to less than 20% asymptomatic on other plague ships where masks were not used.
Then there's a study on hamsters showing that masking reduced the likelihood of transmission, and reduced the severity of disease when it did happen.
Of course, increasing the proportion of asymptomatic cases has the minor downside of making it likelier an infection will pass through several generations undetected. Which makes contact tracing more difficult, so it increases the importance of the Covid app or some other means of movement tracking.
Couldn't anyone be the next super spreader based on the lack of mask wearing ?
Basics not being followed everywhere and Europes going off again with positive cases from elite sport, holiday making, gatherings in their many forms etc
Nice to be here but we've still got a lot of work to do. Did we ever trace that cluster origin ?
Matariki I’ve no issue with. It could replace Queens Birthday
Drop the anniversary day. Most anniversary day holidays are too close to another public holiday. Having an event in late June or in July during the coldest months of the year is ideal. From early June to late October there is no public holiday.
Yes, the concept of a Sabbath day that is sacrosanct to the extent possible from worldly concerns is an old one I'd like to see revived. It's meant to be a day of rest, not just physically, but mentally as well. A chance to restore and reconnect with what's important, family, community and one's own inner life.
Interestingly the Muslims do theirs on a Friday, the Jews on a Saturday, and the Christians of course on a Sunday. Therefore a truly multi denominational society could achieve a 3 day weekend no trouble .
It's meant to be a day of rest, not just physically, but mentally as well.
I always found working six days a week mentally and physically exhausting. 70 hours I could do – just so long as I had a full weekend to rest over and it wasn't every week.
Therefore a truly multi denominational society could achieve a 3 day weekend no trouble .
We only have one religion now – neo-liberal economics.
Christians don’t “of course” celebrate Sabbath on a Sunday. Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh-day Baptists celebrate Sabbath on a Saturday. Just FYI 🙂
Its starting to look like this evangelical church in Mt.Roskill, Auckland is one of the nut-job churches. If that is the case, then no doubt they're into conspiracy theories and denial.
I see Hipkins has put the police on the job. Good for him. I'm not one of the… we must treat these people gently mob. If they're dangerous and putting other people's lives at risk then come down hard on them. Make an example of them so that other nut-jobs think twice before behaving in the same way.
My first thought on reading the article was that it might have been the kind of behind-the-bike-shed close contact that wouldn't have received parental approval. Hence the failure to disclose.
Mt Roskill was always known as the Bible Belt in my youthful days. I have no quarrel with the main-stream churches. Indeed I was brought up in one of them. But I do have problems with the Johnny Come Lately bible bashing crowd who latch on to every bizarre theory they can lay their hands on. They're ignorant and dangerous and I'm not surprised the cluster numbers continue to increase.
Yeah, a bit more is coming out suggesting the church is kinda out there. But that doesn't negate the idea that the contact wasn't disclosed because of family dynamics, rather than, ahem, unorthodox views of the church group as a whole.
[Hipkins] said this sub-cluster has been a challenge to work with as some members do not understand the seriousness of the situation.
"There are certainly some within the cluster that perhaps don't accept or haven't previously accepted the science involved here."
They are now being educated on the gravity of the situation, he said.
"It would certainly appear that they were sceptical at the beginning," Hipkins said. "I think that a lot of work has been done with them since then."
are not ALL religions 'nut jobs', ignorant and dangerous?
The main stream churches, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish are little different, praying to an invisible man who knows all and created all. And as for those holier than thou Buddhists, check out their prayer request pricelests. The ChCh Buddhist Temple in Riccarton Road charges from $50 to $300 for a mention in a prayer, as an example, exploiting peoples vulnerabilities.
political parties, organised religions, gangs. three sides of the same bad egg(does an egg have sides?answer ,yes, your either with us in the shell or against us out in the pan)..
And I will not be kind and accepting of those whose beliefs put the health of others at risk. In doing so they burden unwitting rate/tax payers. I do not feel kind to speeding drivers whose self belief of invincibility puts others at risk.
'Someone' needs to explain to this group about real Christianity ie New Testament stuff not doing to others rather than the hardline Old Testament stuff that many of these churches believe in (the church that Israel Folau attended has similar people hating views).
So we have to be kind and accepting of idiots and crack-pots who are denying reality and putting others at risk?
These people are selfish and self-centred. Anyone who disregards the rules as laid down during the pandemic crisis for whatever reason deserve punishment.
The reason for not disclosing the contact could be not thinking children can get Covid-19 or that they cannot transmit it. The student is not to blame in any way, the adult responsible needs educating. The contact tracing system needs to have a process for eliminating another undisclosed contact to reduce a positive case.
Chris Hipkins: "It’s been a challenging cluster …There are certainly some within the cluster that perhaps don’t accept, haven’t previously accepted, the science involved here …”
So there are some who don't believe stuff like social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks and so on is likely to help stop the spread of the virus. The science.
They need educating because they're dumb. All the while we hear complaints about Ardern speaking to us as if we were kids, we were dumb. Some are.
Then again there are those who think they're not dumb who rubbish advice around the safety measures. Smart arses, they know best. Those two groups put everyone at risk, put all the hardship and effort at risk and are prepared to flush it all down the toilet.
Of course there are religious nutters here like in some places in the USA too who think God will protect them. All in the three groups should have to sign "Don't waste medical attention on me if I get Covid-19" waivers. Trouble is they'd happily infect innocent others along the way.
It's the result of Individualism and the idea hat all opinions are valid.. Both have been spread and encouraged over the last few decades across the globe and now we're seeing the result as stupid people act as if they know better than the scientists.
I plan to start with myself first when it comes to being educated about Covid – 19. How to avoid it and how to not transmit it.
Even the school does not allow people in the grounds to collect children. I have a marker for collecting gran kids and supervise hand washing after school.
Single biggest thing – get everyone to wear masks. Not only does it protect you and your whanau, the more mask-wearing gets normalised the better protection for everyone and the less risk we'll have to go back into lockdowns.
I really don't get why the government is so shy about introducing a mask mandate for all public places, especially indoors.
What will it take for a person to wear a mask when they leave their home?
Well, the government could get really brave (or suicidal) and mandate it like they have for masks on public transport.
Or if enough people start doing it, it will just get normalised as the right thing to do. Education and official encouragement could certainly help.
When I was a teenager, nobody wore helmets when skiing or biking. Helmet wearing kinda got normalised over the 90s and noughties, so now it's rare to not see them. Masks were quite normalised in a lot of Asian cities before the pandemic, because of pollution, but that almost certainly gave them a head start on controlling it at lower levels of coercion.
I would like to know how much it costs to produce a disposable mask?
I do not expect you to know the answer.
Some people might not like soaking and washing a material mask.
Distribution of material, elastic and cotton thread would help people with a sewing machine and some people would be prepared to sew for community groups.
Efeso Collins was on the radio addressing this issue this afternoon. He had the point that while some congregations may hold beliefs that are not mainstream, we still need to take them along with us.
When engaging with them, the messenger is more important than the message. So if the police are used with these people, then hopefully they are able to speak Samoan or Tongan.
I accept all of that gsays but it doesn't alter the fact that people who allow themselves to be sucked into following disinformation and so-called alternative belief systems which deny realities… have to be brought into line one way or another.
Climate change deniers were some such group and one of the reasons we have not addressed this increasingly deadly problem is because of them – aided and abetted by an idiotic media equivalence notion which saw them have too much influence on ignorant and naive peoples.
Seems to me that National has limited room for movement during this campaign. They are occupying a thin slice of ground:
They have fallen into line with the elimination strategy on Covid – the mumblings back in March-May about an alternative of 'living with the virus' are pretty much gone. They are left with insinuating that they would somehow do elimination 'better' and allow a greater degree of opening. This has little credibility – their flailing around on things like getting foreign students back in earlier, suggests they lack commitment to the elimination task, and in any case they would be working with the same health bureaucracy
They agree with Government borrowing to get through the crisis. Again the dubious insinuation is that they would borrow more effectively by directing money to the 'job creators' in business. This ignores the obvious – that if demand has tanked, then no business is going to create jobs to produce more goods and services. Borrowing has to be directed (as it has been) to support incomes at the bottom end of the economy – this money then trickles up – or in government-funded infrastructure.
They insist that the borrowing must be paid pack more quickly than can be achieved by letting economic growth wash it away over an extended period. They are setting an arbitrary 30% of GDP as the ceiling for Government debt. We know they are ideologically opposed to CGT, wealth tax, inheritance tax, higher top marginal income tax, and financial transaction tax. With those off the table – what tools are they left with? GST increases (which they prefer as it is regressive) or reductions in Government spending/services – the English/Joyce slow strangulation.
The reasons for voting National are now to do with culture/culture wars – or a matter of brand loyalty. The question is how big this bloc is – can it break through 35 or 40%?
good post. think brand loyalty in todays electorate is around 30%. its the swingers that decide elections, and expecting them to swing in behind a party that has swung in the wind over policies and leaders recently is a big ask.
September 17 has the NZ GDP 2quarter release. I thought it was already out, but that was an artifact of misreading the OECD chart. lol, my bad (we still look pretty good compared to the rest of the OECD in the march quarter).
So if we've got like a 20% hit to the economy, the planBleaters will make hay with their fortunate tragedy, and this might help the nats.
Otherwise, a couple of random clusters moght do it for JuCo, otherwise the nats are screwed.
The bigger problem for Natinal is that they have shown through this Covid episode that they are profoundly unfit to govern.
Their former health spokesperson making shit up about homeless in isolation and his toilet seat bullying, the then and current leaders refusing to ask hard questions of their senior MPs and, as you point out, their many and varied approaches to dealing with the crisis.
That is without looking at the likes of Brownlee, leading CERA and failing to dupe earthquake victims and a former defence minister who can 'forget' the murder of children by our elite forces.
If they only hold an nz passport then yes we take them . If they have a passport to another country that they had before their nz residency then na they can stay where they are
but what about kiwis? there are quite a few dual pass port holders that are actually born and bred kiwis? They too get a place on the boat to where ever they came from ? 🙂
The dial has literally gone back to zero in terms of immigration, in sharp contrast to the previous year when the overall numbers and net gain were New Zealand’s highest ever. What is unclear is what the country’s immigration management system or migrant flows will look like as we emerge from a pandemic. Will there be a major reset or will the old normal return?
Equilibrium, I hope. In nature, ecosystems attain that via the cancelling effect of negative feedback. Here, collusion by govts of the left & right has produced people pollution due to cramming them into Auckland without providing infrastructure to ameliorate negative consequences.
Enhancing cultural diversity is good, but I'm glad the pandemic pulled the plug on left/right mass insanity.
In March 2020, the immigration tap was all but turned off as New Zealand, and many other countries, closed their borders. But few countries have experienced quite the immigration arrival and net gain story that New Zealand has over the last two decades.
At this point, the drop in arrivals, apart from returning New Zealanders, is of such a magnitude it raises some fundamental questions: when will international mobility, both temporary and permanent migration, restart? And what will – or should – the new normal look like?
Sustainable, I hope! Wanting to present as a conventional academic, Spoonley carefully avoids answering his own questions. Must get readers thinking for themselves! Not to suggest he lacks credibility, mind you:
Spoonley is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Massey University… a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand… and a Research Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity… a Board member of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology and is the current Chair of the TEC PBRF Panel for Social Sciences and Other Cultural/Social Studies.
An inverted population pyramid and a smaller prime working age population are going to provide us with significant challenges. Immigration is one of the options to address these major demographic shifts. It will be interesting to see whether our politicians and policy communities see it this way and construct an appropriate immigration model for a future New Zealand.
The politicians have been aware of those challenges for some time. It's pretty much why we've had almost unrestricted immigration for three decades as well as why we have short term workers being abused.
The law places responsibility on the gatekeeping/refereeing of our democracy to our independent Electoral Commission. They decide which parties meet the criteria to be registered and legal, and which are legitimate enough to receive significant public funding. The purpose of the Electoral Commission is to administer our electoral system “to provide an effective and impartial electoral system that New Zealanders understand and trust”.
Part of that role requires the Electoral Commission to determine how much funding different parties should receive to broadcast their message to the public. This independent assessment carried out by the country’s actual electoral referee should carry far more weight – and the media have a duty to respect that assessment.
In this case, the commission ranked TOP in Category 4. That is the same category as ACT and the Māori Party. There is no justification for treating us differently to them, and thereby giving more broadcast time to other parties in the same category. The TVNZ and TV3 decision undermines the intention of the law -–that is, to give the commission oversight over broadcast time – not the media.
The TVNZ and TV3 criteria mean that they are providing a significantly louder voice to two parties who were given the same level of broadcast funding as TOP – even though that classification signals that the Electoral Commission has determined we should be treated equally. It also means that TVNZ and TV3 are giving a far greater platform to one party that was ranked at Category 5 – below TOP – by the independent Electoral Commission process.
Simmons seems to have made a robust case. Both msm media corps have adopted arbitrary rules that defy the spirit of democracy exemplified by the EC decisions.
Good point. ACT shouldn't be on at all, the Maori Party has a position as part of our bi-cultural status, and if ACT is allowed on then TOP should be too. It seems a decision of grace and favour with these television luvvies at the top of the tree.
"The The, Pro-truth, pledge.incorporates 12 countermeasures to the psychological factors that foster misinformation. Signers pledge their earnest efforts to make it a practice to:
Share truth
Verify: fact-check information to confirm it is true before accepting and sharing it
Balance: share the whole truth, even if some aspects do not support my opinion
Cite: share my sources so that others can verify my information
NEW DELHI — India and China accused each other Tuesday of firing warning shots during a confrontation the day before at their disputed border in a marked escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Yeah, just the final turd garnish this shit sandwich of a 2020 needs. A third of the world's population, armed with nukes, to start shooting at each other.
Looks like China is pushing for an actual war there:
Such protocols did not prevent the two countries from engaging in their deadliest violence in more than 50 years in June, when Chinese soldiers armed with clubs studded with nails and metal rods clashed with Indian troops in a remote area of the western Himalayas.
More of their aggressive territorial grabbing similar to what they're doing in the South China Sea.
“These are serious military provocations of a terrible nature,” Zhang said. China demanded that India restrain its troops and punish the soldiers who fired their weapons.
Looks to me like its China doing the provoking.
Xi has said that the country will never give up an inch of territory, and Beijing has become more strident in asserting such claims in recent years, Glaser said, whether in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait.
And China has extended that to areas that were never under its control.
All indications are that China is making a massive land grab.
So disappointed that the Children commissioner is using old folks pension as an excuse for child neglect and poverty.
So we now will just have the old folks die of cold/hunger as we take their earned money (most have paid taxes all their lives) from them Its like taking from Peter to pay Paul.
And lets not forget that the Government gets millions of overseas pensions paid into the coffers.
To play one vulnerable group against the other is disgusting.
FFS Robertson is displaying lack of understanding tax. Increase the top rate whilst keeping other rates e.g. Coy and trusts at the same level. Just watch those at the very top end manipulate their affairs to reduce the tax. We deserve better, and Labour SHOULD be deliver better than this.🤬But to divert attention lets talk about National.
"Labour will not implement any new taxes or make any further increases to income tax next term," Robertson promised this morning."
Fairly shrewd. Targets the 1%. Then also targets the 1% below that. Can't say that's not socialist, eh?
Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Grant Robertson has unveiled the party’s long-awaited tax policy, announcing a return of the 39 per cent tax bracket. But Robertson sweetened what would otherwise be a bitter pill by saying the top rate would only apply to income earned above $180,000 – meaning that only 2 per cent of taxpayers would actually pay it.
"The proposed new tax rate would cost $23 a week for someone earning $200,000 a year, but would make it easier for the Government to help the economy “bounce back” from Covid-10, while leaving income tax levels unchanged for about 98 percent of people."
No kidding! A pittance. Still, the `victims' will feel it as a tiny prick, as of a gnat, and will decide neoliberal Grant ain't so bad after all. Win/win all around?
The tax is on an individual's income so as he points out a couple earning $120,000 each have no change.
Compare that kind and fair attitude to the beneficiary who is friendly with a male, earning or not, and is dubbed in a relationship 'in the nature of marriage' and has her already straitened benefit and allowances cut back.
Has Robertson got any children? How close can he be to the basic circumstances of an ordinary person in a relationship?
I think for it to be described as 'shrewd' it would have to have a good chance of convincing enough voters that it will have a positive impact…..so no win in that respect IMO
And if you belief this will achieve its Headline Stealing aims will be, then you are far too innocent to be blogging on a political site. 😉.
Those at the very top that have the ability to "Manage" their affairs 0.1% will not be inconvenience at all they will reintroduce what was in place when the top rate was well out of step with the coy and trust rates or income splitting with family members.
"If you want a fairer New Zealand, you need to vote for people who actually support one. And based on current policy, the only party who fits that criteria is the Greens. As for Labour, they are the problem, not the solution – a complete waste of politicla space. Don't vote for them."
Pricing is flexible but conforms to market demand.
It's more a question of if BMW will forgo selling those cars and getting the profit or not. Personally, I think that they'll still want the profit.
And then there's the questions:
Are all of the doctors going to leave or will enough stay?
How many doctors is India training up?
An article I read a few years back was about the established lawyers in the US complaining that the universities were producing too many lawyers and they were thus having to drop their fees. We could probably do the same here with doctors.
Just watch those at the very top end manipulate their affairs to reduce the tax.
Yep, Watch as the highest net wealth individuals have their declared incomes stay at 70,000 while having actual incomes significantly higher than that. That estimated $7 billion in tax fraud isn't about to get any lower.
And this is why i would rather see a an untaxed income of say first 25.000 NZD a year (based on average rent) as that would actually benefit society. (even the rich would benefit)
They will never pay the tax increase because they are already not paying taxes currently levied at them. This is just a load of hogwash.
And this is why i would rather see a an untaxed income of say first 25.000 NZD a year (based on average rent) as that would actually benefit society. (even the rich would benefit)
Although I agree with the sentiment all it would do is have the rich put prices up so that they catch the all the extra money that the poor would have available.
well they already do that anyways, so no harm done.
secondly, if we ever get a government with guts (and no the centrist greens of today i don't think have what is needed) we might actually get some legislation as to when and how much a rental can be increased, we might get a rent mirror, etc etc all legal and binding.
But this charade is just mind numbing dumb and uninspired.
That is is for the election 2020 – the year of the global pandemic, we try even less then we did last election. Here have a token tax increase that non of the rich will ever pay, now shut up peasants…you see we are all in the boat that you poor suckers get to row while we the rich get to set the speed banging on the drums.
After watching "The Salisbury Poisoning" and how washout Tracy Daszkiewicz the( Director of Public Health and Safety for the county of Wiltshire) was portrayed, it just reinforces to me what our skilled medical and government officials are going thru currently. The pressure they are under. I hope that there are means for the country to display our gratitude to many of them. As the toll on these people and their families are huge, perhaps many of the high end Titular Honours are appropriate?
Well Tracy had to cope with disinformation coming from her own prime minister
‘Three children fell ill after feeding ducks there’, she is quoted saying, referring to the hospitalisation of children who had been in the park where Mr Skripal was found. ‘Yes, it’s horrible and disgusting’, Mr Trump agreed. ‘The US and the UK must stand together on this’, Mrs May said, according to the notes.”
April last year Tracy corrected this
Asked by the Guardian to comment on the New York Times report, Tracy Daszkiewicz, the director of public health at Wiltshire council, said: “There were no other casualties other than those previously stated. No wildlife were impacted by the incident and no children were exposed to or became ill as a result of either incident.”
Which when you consider was pretty remarkable considering the bread came straight from the freshly contaminated hand of Sergei, and one of the boys ate a piece
Later vast portions of Salisbury that the Skripals had passed through post the duck feeding ,were shut down and deep decontaminated ,such was the lethality of the nerve agent on the Skripal's hands, fresh from the doorknob
This duck feeding incident is fondly known as the Salisbury miracle, whereby God(Salisbury after all being a cathedral town )protected the innocent children and ducks from the most lethal nerve agent known to mankind
Hmm. Interesting! So half the Green voters of yore are rabid leftists willing to stab the others in the back, and opposed to teaching sustainability. I suspected they were that flaky, but this proof is provisional. I will await the next msm poll…
"UMR polls are private polls (paid for by Labour and corporate clients) but have been more often leaked when they have been favourable to Labour and bad for National"
The practice may not be legal, but that hasn't stopped seven Wellington electoral candidates, including a minister, a deputy and a co-leader, admitting to smoking weed
Refreshing honesty from the Nat contender. When high, did she see the big picture? Did she later forget that? Counter-culture gnosis accepted marijuana as the truth drug half a century ago. Doug Sahm did a cool song about that at the time.
I remember back to the early days in California,
When everybody spent their days in Golden Gate Park,
And I look for that smile on my friends today,
And I wonder, I wonder how it has slipped away.
Stoned faces don't lie, baby when you're high,
Stoned faces don't lie, baby when you're high.
Kim Dotcom (KDC) back on the Twitter wire again (last 24 hours) on Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden and D J Trump.
A fail in relation to reliance on the NZ court system to permit disclosure of security and intelligence material in a (seemingly, but perhaps not) "fishing expedition", but I am sure that KDC would have considered this to almost be a foregone conclusion ahead of the decision in any case, even by a New Zealand court, perhaps more especially by a New Zealand court.
The nation and it's system infrastructure aren't THAT "open and friendly" when it comes to such matters as the material he sought, nor many "commercially sensitive" matters pertaining to assets and even land property holdings.
Many believed that whatever material he had accrued might have been likened to an "Aucktoberfest" of disclosure. Hope still springs eternal for him and his, I guess.
However, (or in any case), Hollywood certainly sounds like an interesting path to follow in relation to various enterprises and pathways leading to "enlightenment".
Just reflect, (for a few minutes even) and it will be worth your while.
Hollywood and what it produces has a massive influence on people all around the globe, and has done for around a century.
Do not discard the power of mainstream media, and both the film and entertainment industry and the impact they can have on political decision making and decisions made by certain facets of industry and commerce.
Look at the power or radio alone as it was prior to television sets being a standard domestic living room item.
Orson Welles and the fictionalized "invasion by Martians" (1938) as a piece leading to mass hysteria. On the other side of the coin, real time reporting by by foreign correspondents not just in a war zone, but actually reporting as the bullets whizzed past their heads.
Maybe he (KDC) is or was onto something here in relation to power base utilization of Hollywood to serve their own and various personal agenda as opposed to the simple and generally accepted national interest ramifications historically evidenced throughout the decades.
Yes Hanna Barbera had an affect on our politics with their cartoon "Reds under the Beds" Dancing Cossacks… anyone remember those? In Bill Rollings time.
In short, the notion that the War of the Worlds program sent untold thousands of people into the streets in panic is a media-driven myth that offers a deceptive message about the power radio wielded over listeners in its early days and, more broadly, about the media’s potential to sow fright, panic, and alarm.
Misinformation is a serious issue and. as I say, needs to be made illegal.
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
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This would appear to be a serious concern.
A school in west Auckland has closed because a student tested positive for COVID 19.
I saw Treetop expressed the same feeling late yesterday evening on Open Mike.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425568/auckland-school-closed-after-student-tests-positive-for-covid-19
Thank you Ed, another superb comment.
An interesting/informative comment, possibly even a good comment, but "superb"?
Wonderful, wonderful comment.
Sublime comment!
Off the topic of comment marvellosity, that same IP address thing from the other day has been background nagging at me. I've come across some info that talks about IPv4 running out of addresses, so some ISPs can implement ways of some users sharing the same public IP address. So unless lprent enlightens us to an alternate explanation, I'll go with that.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/10/europol-calls-internet-providers-end-cgnat-ip-address-sharing.html
Haven’t heard back from Lprent but he’s been busy.
Someone is jealous me thinks…
Superb brief comment. Many people are jealous, and for any number of reasons, but no one should be envious of your command of the English language.
I always used to think that me thinks meant I seem to think to indicate that one wasn’t too sure of oneself, i.e. whether one was thinking something or whether one was in fact assuming that somebody else was thinking something that could be consistent and in fact quite similar to what one was thinking being that might be the case, in actual fact, presumably. In these situations, I usually praise the other for their sublime reasoning and clarity of communication, which is a precious rarity nowadays that I seldom encounter but highly value, nonetheless.
But me does want a cookie !
Least ways, that's how I sees it, says I.
As me does, but their bad for I.
The main thing now is that the situation is contained, that it is established how it was and is transmitted and the resources required to test, contact trace and support on every level are available.
The options for the school need to be carefully considered. School holidays start on 28 September.
No school on Saturday 26 September. Holidays don't start the next Monday in reality.
And how many people from Auckland meant to be at 2.5 left town and swanned about other parts of New Zealand and awarded themselves a level 2 to possibly spread it around. 2.5 should mean very limited inter regional travel.
then you need to leave it at level 3.
Probably the next super spreader will be an MP or a candidate or their election support staff. I was for continuation of no regional travel into or out of Auckland at 2.5. I understand the reason for allowing regional travel at 2.5 was that it was too hard to enforce. People are not coming back into central Auckland and this is contributing to the final blow to businesses reliant on foot traffic. The rest of the country needs to return to 10 in a group and sport needs to be rethought.
Many sleepless nights are ahead for the government and a reset needs to take place after the weekend.
Nation wide transmission was always any day at anytime. The backstop is another level 4 lockdown and this might not be sustainable.
Certainly another 14 days at level 3 would have prevented this but I'm not sure it was an option given the pressure from business. I hope this isn't our Melbourne. As for the case and contacts, you canna help stupid. I'm reminded of Einstein – "Two things are infinite, the universe and stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe"
the pressure from business came simple from having no income and the government not allowing the wage subsidy for the full duration of level 3.
If the government wants to impose a lock down at the restriction set at Level 3 and up, then the government must provide legally binding rules that would allow for a rent break/bill break + food rations (yes, i can see rationing in our future) for the duration of the lock down at a bare minimum. Essentially it puts us in Home D with all the restrictions that come with it and sadly we still live in a capitalistic world and people thus must pay rent/ bills in order to survive really – and that will never work, not for the workers not for the businesses. I personally would have loved to see AKL go to L4 for 4 weeks on full pay, the rest of the country on 2 with access to aid for those that need it.
But here we are at 2.5 and we all wait for it to explode.
Duration of lockdown in Melbourne has been 6 weeks and another 2 week extention. Then a further review. Were Brisbane and Sydney to have a lockdown like in Melbourne Australia would take a big hit. The problem with Auckland is the size of the population and the hit to the economy.
Wear your masks, people.
Evidence is starting to come through that mask-wearing also reduces severity of infection as well as reducing likelihood of transmission.
For example, on an Argentinian cruise ship with an outbreak where masks were issued to everyone as soon as infection was detected, 81% of infections were asymptomatic. Compared to less than 20% asymptomatic on other plague ships where masks were not used.
Then there's a study on hamsters showing that masking reduced the likelihood of transmission, and reduced the severity of disease when it did happen.
Of course, increasing the proportion of asymptomatic cases has the minor downside of making it likelier an infection will pass through several generations undetected. Which makes contact tracing more difficult, so it increases the importance of the Covid app or some other means of movement tracking.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2026913
The evidence has been there for a long time.
Couldn't anyone be the next super spreader based on the lack of mask wearing ?
Basics not being followed everywhere and Europes going off again with positive cases from elite sport, holiday making, gatherings in their many forms etc
Nice to be here but we've still got a lot of work to do. Did we ever trace that cluster origin ?
Matariki I’ve no issue with. It could replace Queens Birthday
Drop the anniversary day. Most anniversary day holidays are too close to another public holiday. Having an event in late June or in July during the coldest months of the year is ideal. From early June to late October there is no public holiday.
On Matiriki.
As retail employers have already turned weekends into working days, they can hardly complain about holidays.
Yes, the concept of a Sabbath day that is sacrosanct to the extent possible from worldly concerns is an old one I'd like to see revived. It's meant to be a day of rest, not just physically, but mentally as well. A chance to restore and reconnect with what's important, family, community and one's own inner life.
Interestingly the Muslims do theirs on a Friday, the Jews on a Saturday, and the Christians of course on a Sunday. Therefore a truly multi denominational society could achieve a 3 day weekend no trouble .
I always found working six days a week mentally and physically exhausting. 70 hours I could do – just so long as I had a full weekend to rest over and it wasn't every week.
We only have one religion now – neo-liberal economics.
Christians don’t “of course” celebrate Sabbath on a Sunday. Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh-day Baptists celebrate Sabbath on a Saturday. Just FYI 🙂
Its starting to look like this evangelical church in Mt.Roskill, Auckland is one of the nut-job churches. If that is the case, then no doubt they're into conspiracy theories and denial.
I see Hipkins has put the police on the job. Good for him. I'm not one of the… we must treat these people gently mob. If they're dangerous and putting other people's lives at risk then come down hard on them. Make an example of them so that other nut-jobs think twice before behaving in the same way.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425580/covid-19-student-who-tested-positive-an-undisclosed-contact-hipkins-says
My first thought on reading the article was that it might have been the kind of behind-the-bike-shed close contact that wouldn't have received parental approval. Hence the failure to disclose.
Mt Roskill was always known as the Bible Belt in my youthful days. I have no quarrel with the main-stream churches. Indeed I was brought up in one of them. But I do have problems with the Johnny Come Lately bible bashing crowd who latch on to every bizarre theory they can lay their hands on. They're ignorant and dangerous and I'm not surprised the cluster numbers continue to increase.
Yeah, a bit more is coming out suggesting the church is kinda out there. But that doesn't negate the idea that the contact wasn't disclosed because of family dynamics, rather than, ahem, unorthodox views of the church group as a whole.
A couple of deaths probably helped bring the matter into perspective, sadly.
are not ALL religions 'nut jobs', ignorant and dangerous?
The main stream churches, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish are little different, praying to an invisible man who knows all and created all. And as for those holier than thou Buddhists, check out their prayer request pricelests. The ChCh Buddhist Temple in Riccarton Road charges from $50 to $300 for a mention in a prayer, as an example, exploiting peoples vulnerabilities.
political parties, organised religions, gangs. three sides of the same bad egg(does an egg have sides?answer ,yes, your either with us in the shell or against us out in the pan)..
Well, yes, any faith system that requires belief without evidence is nutjob, ignorant and dangerous.
Some are worse than others, though, sometimes also requiring belief in the face of very conclusive evidence contradicting that belief.
That is WHAT faith is . Thanks for being so kind and accepting of others. Your comment is so telling.
I'm certainly not going to be kind and accepting of people who continue to believe things that are contradicted by evidence. Why should I?
And I will not be kind and accepting of those whose beliefs put the health of others at risk. In doing so they burden unwitting rate/tax payers. I do not feel kind to speeding drivers whose self belief of invincibility puts others at risk.
'Someone' needs to explain to this group about real Christianity ie New Testament stuff not doing to others rather than the hardline Old Testament stuff that many of these churches believe in (the church that Israel Folau attended has similar people hating views).
So we have to be kind and accepting of idiots and crack-pots who are denying reality and putting others at risk?
These people are selfish and self-centred. Anyone who disregards the rules as laid down during the pandemic crisis for whatever reason deserve punishment.
The reason for not disclosing the contact could be not thinking children can get Covid-19 or that they cannot transmit it. The student is not to blame in any way, the adult responsible needs educating. The contact tracing system needs to have a process for eliminating another undisclosed contact to reduce a positive case.
I'm talking about the adults not the children.
I knew you were raising adults.
The adult(s) needs educating?
Chris Hipkins: "It’s been a challenging cluster …There are certainly some within the cluster that perhaps don’t accept, haven’t previously accepted, the science involved here …”
So there are some who don't believe stuff like social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks and so on is likely to help stop the spread of the virus. The science.
They need educating because they're dumb. All the while we hear complaints about Ardern speaking to us as if we were kids, we were dumb. Some are.
Then again there are those who think they're not dumb who rubbish advice around the safety measures. Smart arses, they know best. Those two groups put everyone at risk, put all the hardship and effort at risk and are prepared to flush it all down the toilet.
Of course there are religious nutters here like in some places in the USA too who think God will protect them. All in the three groups should have to sign "Don't waste medical attention on me if I get Covid-19" waivers. Trouble is they'd happily infect innocent others along the way.
It's the result of Individualism and the idea hat all opinions are valid.. Both have been spread and encouraged over the last few decades across the globe and now we're seeing the result as stupid people act as if they know better than the scientists.
And now that BS is coming back to bite.
I plan to start with myself first when it comes to being educated about Covid – 19. How to avoid it and how to not transmit it.
Even the school does not allow people in the grounds to collect children. I have a marker for collecting gran kids and supervise hand washing after school.
Single biggest thing – get everyone to wear masks. Not only does it protect you and your whanau, the more mask-wearing gets normalised the better protection for everyone and the less risk we'll have to go back into lockdowns.
I really don't get why the government is so shy about introducing a mask mandate for all public places, especially indoors.
Masks are important. I have both disposable and material ones.
What will it take for a person to wear a mask when they leave their home?
What will it take for a person to wear a mask when they leave their home?
Well, the government could get really brave (or suicidal) and mandate it like they have for masks on public transport.
Or if enough people start doing it, it will just get normalised as the right thing to do. Education and official encouragement could certainly help.
When I was a teenager, nobody wore helmets when skiing or biking. Helmet wearing kinda got normalised over the 90s and noughties, so now it's rare to not see them. Masks were quite normalised in a lot of Asian cities before the pandemic, because of pollution, but that almost certainly gave them a head start on controlling it at lower levels of coercion.
Cost is a factor as well.
I would like to know how much it costs to produce a disposable mask?
I do not expect you to know the answer.
Some people might not like soaking and washing a material mask.
Distribution of material, elastic and cotton thread would help people with a sewing machine and some people would be prepared to sew for community groups.
I have been sewing material masks.
Efeso Collins was on the radio addressing this issue this afternoon. He had the point that while some congregations may hold beliefs that are not mainstream, we still need to take them along with us.
When engaging with them, the messenger is more important than the message. So if the police are used with these people, then hopefully they are able to speak Samoan or Tongan.
I accept all of that gsays but it doesn't alter the fact that people who allow themselves to be sucked into following disinformation and so-called alternative belief systems which deny realities… have to be brought into line one way or another.
Climate change deniers were some such group and one of the reasons we have not addressed this increasingly deadly problem is because of them – aided and abetted by an idiotic media equivalence notion which saw them have too much influence on ignorant and naive peoples.
Seems to me that National has limited room for movement during this campaign. They are occupying a thin slice of ground:
The reasons for voting National are now to do with culture/culture wars – or a matter of brand loyalty. The question is how big this bloc is – can it break through 35 or 40%?
good post. think brand loyalty in todays electorate is around 30%. its the swingers that decide elections, and expecting them to swing in behind a party that has swung in the wind over policies and leaders recently is a big ask.
September 17 has the NZ GDP 2quarter release. I thought it was already out, but that was an artifact of misreading the OECD chart. lol, my bad (we still look pretty good compared to the rest of the OECD in the march quarter).
So if we've got like a 20% hit to the economy, the planBleaters will make hay with their fortunate tragedy, and this might help the nats.
Otherwise, a couple of random clusters moght do it for JuCo, otherwise the nats are screwed.
The bigger problem for Natinal is that they have shown through this Covid episode that they are profoundly unfit to govern.
Their former health spokesperson making shit up about homeless in isolation and his toilet seat bullying, the then and current leaders refusing to ask hard questions of their senior MPs and, as you point out, their many and varied approaches to dealing with the crisis.
That is without looking at the likes of Brownlee, leading CERA and failing to dupe earthquake victims and a former defence minister who can 'forget' the murder of children by our elite forces.
Time for a heavy prune and rebuild for nats.
I think it would also be wise , and economic , to not allow people to come in from countries where covid is out of control. Like India right now.
Racist Much
And Brasil.
No commonsense, would probably still include USA right now too.
Only probably? America has had 50% more cases then India while only having 11% more recovered cases.
Anyway, we can't close out boarders to NZ citizens and their dependents.
And Pommyrania.
No, just cautious.
I'd include the USA as well and probably England.
It's not that great anywhere. Some countries are at least going in the right direction again.
http://shorturl.at/pyJPZ
Your URL doesn't work.
try this
http://shorturl.at/dhjKQ
(I'm not sure why it didn't work. I did test it before posting. Now I've tested it in chrome, opera and firefox.)
If they only hold an nz passport then yes we take them . If they have a passport to another country that they had before their nz residency then na they can stay where they are
hard to enforce.
Do you want their families to be exiled as well? And on what grounds?
If they are have been living oversea then yip.
Why should some have the luxury of dual citizenship?? When for most it's not possible.
I bet alot of double passport holders had no intention of living here till covid.
could be very well true,
but what about kiwis? there are quite a few dual pass port holders that are actually born and bred kiwis? They too get a place on the boat to where ever they came from ? 🙂
Pretty much every other country on the planet right now, especially if we include transit hubs.
And frankly, fair enough.
It's not just us – we're a gateway to the pacific. We slaughtered Samoans with the Spanish flu, we mustn't repeat that crime.
Prof Spoonley examines the dramatic halt to immigration: https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/07-09-2020/when-nzs-great-immigration-tap-suddenly-turned-off/
Equilibrium, I hope. In nature, ecosystems attain that via the cancelling effect of negative feedback. Here, collusion by govts of the left & right has produced people pollution due to cramming them into Auckland without providing infrastructure to ameliorate negative consequences.
Enhancing cultural diversity is good, but I'm glad the pandemic pulled the plug on left/right mass insanity.
Sustainable, I hope! Wanting to present as a conventional academic, Spoonley carefully avoids answering his own questions. Must get readers thinking for themselves! Not to suggest he lacks credibility, mind you:
The politicians have been aware of those challenges for some time. It's pretty much why we've had almost unrestricted immigration for three decades as well as why we have short term workers being abused.
The TOP leader seems to have a valid complaint:
Simmons seems to have made a robust case. Both msm media corps have adopted arbitrary rules that defy the spirit of democracy exemplified by the EC decisions.
Good point. ACT shouldn't be on at all, the Maori Party has a position as part of our bi-cultural status, and if ACT is allowed on then TOP should be too. It seems a decision of grace and favour with these television luvvies at the top of the tree.
"The The, Pro-truth, pledge.incorporates 12 countermeasures to the psychological factors that foster misinformation. Signers pledge their earnest efforts to make it a practice to:
Share truth
Honor truth
Encourage truth
Wonder if any one in the MSM would be willing to sign on to that.
And one of the signers is the Guardian and yet they spent a hell of a lot of time spreading misinformation about Corbyn.
why not.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/shots-fired-on-the-india-china-border-for-the-first-time-in-decades-as-tensions-flare/2020/09/08/d8c5a020-f195-11ea-8025-5d3489768ac8_story.html.
Yeah, just the final turd garnish this shit sandwich of a 2020 needs. A third of the world's population, armed with nukes, to start shooting at each other.
i hear we live in interesting times?
Looks like China is pushing for an actual war there:
More of their aggressive territorial grabbing similar to what they're doing in the South China Sea.
Looks to me like its China doing the provoking.
And China has extended that to areas that were never under its control.
All indications are that China is making a massive land grab.
Meanwhile, these tools are whining because their decision to ditch the JPCOA is a spectacular failure
https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1303367064892116998
Is that where it all went from Killary's Uranium One deal? I'm soooooo confused …
So disappointed that the Children commissioner is using old folks pension as an excuse for child neglect and poverty.
So we now will just have the old folks die of cold/hunger as we take their earned money (most have paid taxes all their lives) from them Its like taking from Peter to pay Paul.
And lets not forget that the Government gets millions of overseas pensions paid into the coffers.
To play one vulnerable group against the other is disgusting.
whodunwotnow?
I'd be very surprised if that was what he said. Seems quite out of the usual line.
FFS Robertson is displaying lack of understanding tax. Increase the top rate whilst keeping other rates e.g. Coy and trusts at the same level. Just watch those at the very top end manipulate their affairs to reduce the tax. We deserve better, and Labour SHOULD be deliver better than this.🤬But to divert attention lets talk about National.
"Labour will not implement any new taxes or make any further increases to income tax next term," Robertson promised this morning."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12363383
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300102796/election-2020-labour-to-bring-back-top-39-per-cent-income-tax-rate
Fairly shrewd. Targets the 1%. Then also targets the 1% below that. Can't say that's not socialist, eh?
Shrewd…or tokenism?
"The proposed new tax rate would cost $23 a week for someone earning $200,000 a year, but would make it easier for the Government to help the economy “bounce back” from Covid-10, while leaving income tax levels unchanged for about 98 percent of people."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/labour-proposes-new-tax-rate-for-top-two-percent
No kidding! A pittance. Still, the `victims' will feel it as a tiny prick, as of a gnat, and will decide neoliberal Grant ain't so bad after all. Win/win all around?
The tax is on an individual's income so as he points out a couple earning $120,000 each have no change.
Compare that kind and fair attitude to the beneficiary who is friendly with a male, earning or not, and is dubbed in a relationship 'in the nature of marriage' and has her already straitened benefit and allowances cut back.
Has Robertson got any children? How close can he be to the basic circumstances of an ordinary person in a relationship?
I think for it to be described as 'shrewd' it would have to have a good chance of convincing enough voters that it will have a positive impact…..so no win in that respect IMO
And if you belief this will achieve its Headline Stealing aims will be, then you are far too innocent to be blogging on a political site. 😉.
Those at the very top that have the ability to "Manage" their affairs 0.1% will not be inconvenience at all they will reintroduce what was in place when the top rate was well out of step with the coy and trust rates or income splitting with family members.
Yeah, excuse my momentary naivety – this too shall pass. Could be an effective headline stealer tonight tho eh?
"If you want a fairer New Zealand, you need to vote for people who actually support one. And based on current policy, the only party who fits that criteria is the Greens. As for Labour, they are the problem, not the solution – a complete waste of politicla space. Don't vote for them."
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/
QFT
We need a change, a massive change. One that's needed is a maximum income set at, as a good discussion starter, that $180,000.
We cannot afford for people to have too much.
" One that's needed is a maximum income set at, as a good discussion starter, that $180,000. "
Practicality – As a highly skilled surgeon, I stay in NZ I can only top out at 180K but can make 300K in Aus or the US…
I see a flaw in your argument.
What would the Purchasing Power Parity be though?
Remember that the market will adjust so you should still be able to buy a BMW. It'd just have half the nominal value that it would be in Aus.
Think of it this way: You could go to Zimbabwe and have an income in the multiple millions every week.
So BMW are just going to drop their pricing?
You could go to Zimbabwe and have an income in the multiple millions every week.
Yet still be unable to buy bread.
Fact remains… As a highly skilled surgeon, I stay in NZ I can only top out at 180K but can make 300K in Aus or the US…
I don't think you have thought this through.
Pricing is flexible but conforms to market demand.
It's more a question of if BMW will forgo selling those cars and getting the profit or not. Personally, I think that they'll still want the profit.
And then there's the questions:
An article I read a few years back was about the established lawyers in the US complaining that the universities were producing too many lawyers and they were thus having to drop their fees. We could probably do the same here with doctors.
Why on earth would Grant Robertson increase HIS tax burden?
The nobility of spirit evident in his martyrdom? Just guessing – don't quote me…
Yep, Watch as the highest net wealth individuals have their declared incomes stay at 70,000 while having actual incomes significantly higher than that. That estimated $7 billion in tax fraud isn't about to get any lower.
And this is why i would rather see a an untaxed income of say first 25.000 NZD a year (based on average rent) as that would actually benefit society. (even the rich would benefit)
They will never pay the tax increase because they are already not paying taxes currently levied at them. This is just a load of hogwash.
Although I agree with the sentiment all it would do is have the rich put prices up so that they catch the all the extra money that the poor would have available.
well they already do that anyways, so no harm done.
secondly, if we ever get a government with guts (and no the centrist greens of today i don't think have what is needed) we might actually get some legislation as to when and how much a rental can be increased, we might get a rent mirror, etc etc all legal and binding.
But this charade is just mind numbing dumb and uninspired.
That is is for the election 2020 – the year of the global pandemic, we try even less then we did last election. Here have a token tax increase that non of the rich will ever pay, now shut up peasants…you see we are all in the boat that you poor suckers get to row while we the rich get to set the speed banging on the drums.
After watching "The Salisbury Poisoning" and how washout Tracy Daszkiewicz the( Director of Public Health and Safety for the county of Wiltshire) was portrayed, it just reinforces to me what our skilled medical and government officials are going thru currently. The pressure they are under. I hope that there are means for the country to display our gratitude to many of them. As the toll on these people and their families are huge, perhaps many of the high end Titular Honours are appropriate?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Daszkiewicz
Herodotus
Well Tracy had to cope with disinformation coming from her own prime minister
Hmm. Interesting! So half the Green voters of yore are rabid leftists willing to stab the others in the back, and opposed to teaching sustainability. I suspected they were that flaky, but this proof is provisional. I will await the next msm poll…
nah, they're the teal crowd who jumped over to act lol.
Or maybe a point observation is often vulnerable to systemic issues within the polling organisation's methodology.
What does 'corporate poll' figures mean? Is this a business response?
no idea.
But it seems to be a bit skewed, much toward the lower end of the spread for the greens.
"UMR polls are private polls (paid for by Labour and corporate clients) but have been more often leaked when they have been favourable to Labour and bad for National"
Pete George
lol but does that mean Labour's leaking them or is it some disgruntled nat supporters who want another leadership change 😉
Outlaws, competing, speaking truth to power, score 7 out of 7 in consensus politics! https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/cannabis-referendum/122703050/cannabis-referendum-election-debate-sees-leaders-minister-confess-to-smoking-weed
Refreshing honesty from the Nat contender. When high, did she see the big picture? Did she later forget that? Counter-culture gnosis accepted marijuana as the truth drug half a century ago. Doug Sahm did a cool song about that at the time.
2020 getting weirder by the day.
https://twitter.com/36th_Parallel/status/1303251240378195968
https://twitter.com/Te_Taipo/status/1303282069418590210
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhYmsWkUMAArwQB?format=jpg&name=900×900
Fuck it, I'm all in.
We'd probably end up with good government simply because, apparently, the most evil thing he could do is eliminate capitalism.
Back in February the largest wildfires in the southern hemisphere and the deaths of millions of animals was going to be 2020's worst story.
Now …..
One of the funny bits in the legal letter is the bit about stopping Te Kahika getting into Parliament.
The Oxford vaccine has hit a wee stumble. It's why safety trials take place. Hopefully it's unrelated, and the trial can restart.
Kim Dotcom (KDC) back on the Twitter wire again (last 24 hours) on Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden and D J Trump.
A fail in relation to reliance on the NZ court system to permit disclosure of security and intelligence material in a (seemingly, but perhaps not) "fishing expedition", but I am sure that KDC would have considered this to almost be a foregone conclusion ahead of the decision in any case, even by a New Zealand court, perhaps more especially by a New Zealand court.
The nation and it's system infrastructure aren't THAT "open and friendly" when it comes to such matters as the material he sought, nor many "commercially sensitive" matters pertaining to assets and even land property holdings.
Many believed that whatever material he had accrued might have been likened to an "Aucktoberfest" of disclosure. Hope still springs eternal for him and his, I guess.
However, (or in any case), Hollywood certainly sounds like an interesting path to follow in relation to various enterprises and pathways leading to "enlightenment".
Just reflect, (for a few minutes even) and it will be worth your while.
Hollywood and what it produces has a massive influence on people all around the globe, and has done for around a century.
Do not discard the power of mainstream media, and both the film and entertainment industry and the impact they can have on political decision making and decisions made by certain facets of industry and commerce.
Look at the power or radio alone as it was prior to television sets being a standard domestic living room item.
Orson Welles and the fictionalized "invasion by Martians" (1938) as a piece leading to mass hysteria. On the other side of the coin, real time reporting by by foreign correspondents not just in a war zone, but actually reporting as the bullets whizzed past their heads.
Maybe he (KDC) is or was onto something here in relation to power base utilization of Hollywood to serve their own and various personal agenda as opposed to the simple and generally accepted national interest ramifications historically evidenced throughout the decades.
Yes Hanna Barbera had an affect on our politics with their cartoon "Reds under the Beds" Dancing Cossacks… anyone remember those? In Bill Rollings time.
Yeah, Ok, I'll look:
Misinformation is a serious issue and. as I say, needs to be made illegal.