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.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
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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.