I hope you all at least click the link. Maybe if Stuff highlights more of these stories MSD will be publically pressured to allocate funds specifically to build this type of housing.
44% of the price of a litre of petrol goes to the government. There is a price floor for petrol because of tax. The petrol companies need to make a profit out of the remaining 55% after they purchase it from off shore. then they need to pay tax on that profit. The lower the price of petrol, the greater the tax component.
The Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc has outlined “serious concern” about a local bill designed to enable construction of the proposed Waimea dam, near Nelson.
On September 19, the Tasman District Council (Waimea Water Augmentation Scheme) Bill passed its first reading in Parliament. It was referred to the governance and administration committee, which accepted submissions until midnight on Friday.
The bill seeks to gain an inundation easement over 9.67 hectares of conservation land in the Mount Richmond State Forest Park, needed for the reservoir of the proposed dam. It also aims to vest in the council 1.35ha of Crown riverbed in the Lee Valley on which the dam will be built.
In a written submission to the select committee, which it also released to Stuff, Forest & Bird says the use of a local bill “is misguided in attempting to override sound conservation legislation and reduce the amount of public scrutiny that should be given to this activity on public conservation land”.
…
National, Labour, NZ First and Act MPs supported the bill at its first reading while the Greens opposed it. Labour Minister David Parker said he didn’t know of a “better water augmentation scheme in New Zealand than this one”.
97% MINIMUM EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS BREACHED BY CHORUS SUBCONTRACTORS!!!!!
Absolutely disgusting. Also considering how it takes Chorus about 3 or 4 tries before they can send somebody who is competent about time they actually worked out how many of the workers have paid for the job to get residency and actually can’t do the job and are probably paying for the job.
This is a huge issue for the country. Under the Natz a staggering amount of employment and immigration breaches have been tolerated or indeed encouraged.
The poor broadband roll out alone is costing the country in lost productivity. It is very difficult to get a decent Internet service around Auckland and a lot of it is the contractors who have now shown the 97% investigated were breaching minimum employment standards!
“An MBIE investigation into the industry found that 73 of the 75 Auckland-based sub-contractors investigated had breached minimum employment standards. Breaches included employers failing to maintain employment records, pay employees’ minimum wage, pay holiday entitlements, and provide employment agreements.
E tū Communications Industry Coordinator Joe Gallagher says this is alarming, but not surprising.
“We have known about the effect of this contracting model since they started it,” says Joe.
“This model of contracting and sub-contracting has allowed Chorus to pass the buck, resulting in contractors exploiting their workforce to keep to budgets and schedules.
“It has resulted in terrible outcomes for the affected workers, as well as poor delivery of services in many areas.”
The first thing they need to do is put Chorus and their subcontractors on the employment stand down list and ban them from hiring more overseas workers for minimum 5 years!
Then actually test some of the subcontractors and see how many do not have any skills for the job and work out how many of these unskilled, unlicensed contractors are actually victims of or involved in immigration scams.
It is amazing how many foreign workers who don’t speak any English from places like Nigeria work for Chorus and also weird how they can’t do the job either and you have to wait weeks for someone else to come and fix the numerous faults that Chorus can’t fix the first, second or third time.
Even the other providers like Spark and Vodafone and 22 degrees who rely on Chorus are sick to death of them as you have a massive rigmarole to get anything done and you have to go through the provider in most cases!
Chorus should be voted worst company in NZ and they can’t do their job and when they go bankrupt through their incompetence, hopefully another competent firm can do the job.
Chorus is what’s left after various telecom managements plundered the customers for large profits without reinvesting in the network. Then it got Chinese walled yet somehow I hear spark still clip the sth cross cable ticket which is network not retail.
I have sympathy for them as most internet services which perform badly could be down to the retailer failing to manage capacity. Looking at you spark and voda.
You’ll probably find few faults are actually down to a poor install and the industry is bleeding workers to the NBN in oz who are flashing the cash.
Yep but my point is, NZ to be competitive needs to raise wages to retain the skilled people, not just rely on cheap bodies to do the work, who actually can’t do it and are paying to get residency in many cases.
We can’t be competitive with fake internet and phone lines and fake workers!
Agree the telecom providers didn’t invest either and just are coining the profits and then every day, it just gets worse and worse for customers and business relying on the service and eventually guess what, they move their businesses to OZ or Singapore or apparently even central Nigeria has faster Internet access than Auckland.
You also wonder how long a company can survive for when you ring their call centre (Spark for example) and wait 1 hour for someone to pick up your call!
Seriously a telecom company that has a 1 hour waiting time to answer your call!
And most of them are similar and some (22 degrees I think) , even demand a per minute fee to answer a phone call about their service!
Something is wrong! NZ is a race to the bottom and our government is obsessed with dirty deals with business for water and oil yet fail to notice the constant routs in banking and telecoms ripping off consumers and businesses for years, decades really, yet another reason why NZ is losing business and productivity with it completely off government radar because they are encapsulated with lobbyists.
In our area a Chorus contractor who has had to come out numerous times to fix a common distribution box serving about 50 houses said the problem was that in the Phillipines where he comes from they had gotten rid of that type years ago because it was too old even then.
Ok faulty, banned materials, incompetent illegally working staff, not being able to fix anything for months, sounds like a NZ roll out then of IT funded by taxpayers, from the Natz.
Different problems.
One is the broadband rollout and the connections to homes- dodgy contractors
Other one is Chorus own copper network with its ancient tech ..oh and again using contractors but at least these seem to be qualified in copper line phone tech.
My advice to Adrian, ditch the copper line and go all mobile, some providers even provide broadband services over the mobile system.
It started to play up a few months back. I often couldn’t get a connection after the modem had been shut down for several hours (especially overnight), and I had frequent dropouts.
After numerous calls and opine chats (the latter often unsuccessful as had dropout in the middle of the chat), Spark sent some Chorus guys (with proviso that if the fault was with my stuff, then it would cost me $80.00 plus labour etc.
Anyway, 2 Chorus guys came. One spoke English, and they conversed with each other in another language – maybe from Indian sub continent or Indonesia, or somewhere in that region.
The English speaking guy eventually pronounced they had found a fault with one of my 2 jack points and a cable from it, and had fixed it.
Well, the dropouts then became less frequent, but I still often had problems getting a connection – though had discovered that when I dialed 123 on my landline, listened to the Spark welcome message for a few seconds, then hung up, I’d get a Net connection straight away.
Spark then said they could send Chorus out again, but, again it could cost me. I talked to the estate agent property manager who told me something similar had happened to a few of their tenants after fibre had been connected to the tenants building. I was also told that when fibre had been connected to my building last year, they’d done a lot of work on the property.
Anyway a couple of weeks later, I got an email from Spark saying my copper broadband was going up by $5.00 a month, and that it would be more expensive than fibre. So I did the switch.
It isn’t noticeably faster or any easier to access online video content – in spite of this article claiming more people are switching to fibre, so must be there’s a growing hunger for more online content.
+10000 – Carolyn_Nth – completely normal – then the consumers end up picking up the tab, again and again. Used to have a fixed phone line, but had to abandon it because it’s a waste of time with Chorus as fixed lines don’t work – wonder why so many don’t have land lines any more in NZ – answer is Chorus incompetence.
Considering Chorus got 70% of the taxpayer funded roll out of crown fibre, pretty sure that like leaky buildings, we will be seeing big problems down stream as they are big issues occurring even at the start!
Going for the cheap and unregulated approach works a treat (sarcasm) and ends up being massively expensive as well as not actually providing the service that was needed in the first place, reliably.
Thats because your own old equipment is limiting the service. What is the age of the device you are using . 5 years plus ? I liked my old desktop ( 2012) but I upgraded it both with more memory chips and a solid state drive. That enabled me to disable some tech that chews up the CPU . No compressed memory and no disk caching.
Even the slowest fibre option which I have with 30Mbs is 10x faster than the old copper network which used to slow to a crawl at night.. But then I dont do a lot of downloads until I got netflix and there is no way the copper would cope and I’m only 1km from the telephone exchange.
My main laptop is about a year or two old. My second one is a refurbished offlease SSD which is pretty fast on both copper and fibre. Not much faster on either laptop online.
But, I probably don’t access a lot of material that requires a noticeably faster system either.
@dukeofurl, Sadly for consumers Chorus is involved both in the fixed lines and significantly in the crown fibre roll out of Internet.
It was a good idea by the Natz (the only decent thing Joyce ever did) for the crown fibre roll out, but sadly using Chorus and their Ponzi monopoly and dodgy employment practices has made what should have been a massive success a partial one, with lots of skeletons awaiting at the expense of consumers and businesses in NZ.
Like other companies that suddenly go under in NZ, Chorus has become an immigration and accounting Ponzi a long while back and held NZ sustainable business growth, back significantly.
Is it really that hard to hire professional people and vet them to make sure they can do the job and pay to do the job right in the first place ?
When will NZ even learn, just having a cheap warm body count in the workforce does not actually lead to productivity gains or a finished product (constructions) or service (tech/hospitality)?
Why not ask to go to Nauru and offer the island some help so they are not dependent on Australia and under their thumb? Then we can release the prisoners from the concentration camp and have to nurse them back to near normality and hope.
It would be a sign that we can be humanitarian.
nauru is 11,000 people who pissed away their wealth but still have a better standard of living than their neighbours. Closing the camps just means Australia will shift them elsewhere
Solomons is 600,000 people who are dirt poor.
Thats a correct choice to pick the most needy population.
Bring back the stocks and whipping for destructive useless men (and women) who vandalise and destroy.l
A man has attempted to climb and has broken a Len Lye sculpture in Wellington – costing much money, has injured himself, costing us hospital time and dollars.
What would be better is having safe places and counselling for people with mental problems that can be improved and controlled without medication. I think that a farm where the men can be kept enclosed where they can work and have decent conditions and attention as needed.
“Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says New Zealand seems to be playing catch up when it comes to instilling indigenous cultural values into the prison system.”
Marty you seem to be the one who introduced ‘race’ with your comment “Try not putting people in prison especially indigenous people’s.” The punishment should fit the crime, not the race or ethnicity of the perpetrator.
Yes in wonderland. In the real world ALL indigenous populations devastated by colonisation suffer disproportionate numbers, compared to other groups, of their members arrested, charged and put into prison. This is a FACT.
Note – “instilling indigenous cultural values into the prison system” is the context.
Perhaps you should read or watch a bit. Moana Jackson has some nice videos that might help try Google.
“Note – “instilling indigenous cultural values into the prison system” is the context.”
And I don’t have a problem with that. What I object to is your suggestion that indigenous people should somehow be treated differently to the rest of the population regarding sentencing.
I didnt say that. ffs I want EQUALITY. Are you saying that the extremely high % of Māori men and women in jail, compared to % of Māori in society, is because they are treated the same as other ethnic groups? Why are the percentages different then?
There is clear institutional racism in the NZ justice system but it’s a problem bigger than justice – the problem needs to be unraveled as a whole because there are so many things wrong with our current system and priorities of government.
“This is COMPLETELY BOGUS. Try not putting people in prison especially indigenous people’s. Ffs”
Thats just a fanatsy , most people in prison are in there for violence and the rest are who have stolen large amounts of money or atrocious drink driving records or scores of burglary convictions.
You can’t even get to ‘buzz words’ – I don’t think you even know what the hell you’re talking about in this sub thread. What is the reason Māori are negatively disproportionately represented in prisons? Do you want to make prisons indigenous cultural paradises? Or do you want to stop people going to prison in the first place? It’s not fucken rocket science mate.
You did specifically refer to ‘instilling indigenous cultural values’
And this works how ? Its a prison, Im not opposed to indigenous cultural values but what ever way you do it rehab can only work if they really want to.
Indigenous people are undisputedly imprisoned more than other groups;
“Māori are significantly over-represented in our prisons. While only five percent of Māori come into contact with the justice system, they make up 50 percent of our prison population,” David Rutherford said.
“Over 60 percent of prisoners have a learning or mental health disability. I believe that better identification of these issues early on will mean the lives of most of these people will stay on track. Many of these people simply shouldn’t be in prison.”
Your link shows that 80% of people in prison are there for “violence, sexual offences, dishonesty” or “traffic” (presumably intoxication related) offences. Is that inconsistent with what Dukeofurl said?
> Indigenous people are undisputedly imprisoned more than other groups;
You have collected 3 separate categories into your 80% The majority of prisoners are not imprisoned for violence which is what Duke asserted. Duke also said:
and the rest are who have stolen large amounts of money or atrocious drink driving records or scores of burglary convictions.
I don’t know where this info came from.
Also Duke is contesting that, as are others in this thread. Duke called it a fantasy.
Didnt say majority , said most. And its true 60% are sexual or physical violence that includes murder and homicide which could be around 500 prisoners for those two offences alone.
Who in their right mind wouldnt would be saying prison isnt the answer for these sort of offences.
arkie seems to think the 20% that are sexual offences are ‘not violence’ ?
This is the sort pig ignorant attitudes you have then its hardly worth discussing.
Are you thinking that because they didnt struggle enough it wasnt rape or sexual assault.
Unbelievable .
“they’ve had the most success”
synonyms: nearly all, almost all, the greatest quantity/part/number, the majority, the bulk, the lion’s share, the mass, the preponderance
“she spends most of her time in London”
the majority of; nearly all of.
“the two-pin sockets found in most European countries”
synonyms: nearly all, almost all, the greatest quantity/part/number, the majority, the bulk, the lion’s share, the mass, the preponderance
“she spends most of her time in London”
yes . Most of the people have serious violence or scores of previous convictions ( which means the non prison sentences havent ‘worked’)
Your numbers have 40% for violence , 20% sexual offences.
So those two types of violence are 60% right away – which is what I said
Dishonesty is 20% which means scores of burglary convictions per prisoner or stealing very large amounts of money – often from the community.
The real problem is men, who are often affected badly by drink or drugs so they commit offences …over and over.
Ask the judges . have you never been in a courtroom for a day ?
It figures if you have led a cotton wool life and dont even read the papers.
I dont know what ideas you are advancing by quibbling over what the definition of violence is or what the background to far too many offences are or whether 60% is a majority.
these arent some numbers from a cricketers annual. real people are affected by violence
So you acquired this information from asking judges?
I’m asking you to clarify because you asserted that Marty was fantasising about the over representation of Māori prisons. You then mentioned what you thought their crimes were. I’m just asking you where you got these ideas.
‘A gang member who abducted a woman and subjected her to a night of sexual assault, threats, violence and forced drug-taking has been jailed for six years and five months….. and as the court heard had relapsed into regular methamphetamine use.
“Stephenson, a member of the Filthy Few gang ….”
Dont be a dickhead arkie . These are real people and you are talking
contemptible nonsense.
By showing you cant even add up % shows the level of your knowledge
@Arkie. Stop quibbling. The numbers are out there.
For instance Duke said “the real problem is men, who are often affected badly by drink or drugs”. A quick google search finds that “about 80% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs or is commited to feed an addiction” – this is from Roger Brooking on Pundit (https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/explaining-nzs-record-high-prison-population), who is anything but a lock-em-up-and-throw-em-away-the-key guy.
Weird how there does not seem to be much interest in preventing the drugs getting into NZ in the first place in fact under globalism it seems to be yet another thriving industry going from strength to strength.
Didn’t the colonists of old, give small pox blankets to the locals to help them in the take over?
Then it comes out that the meth test standards the woke lefties meet far righties decided were pretty much made up and no scientific evidence for it – but a lot of state house land sold and people evicted, which certainly benefited a few interested parties, in particular politicians and consultants and developers.
@Dukeofurl, Sadly the. people stealing the most money from NZ seem to be outside our justice system and are actually celebrated or under the radar or benefit from generous loop holes in the law to allow the stealing to continue.
Then there has become a secondary justice issue of giving very light sentences to fraudsters who are based overseas or just arrived in NZ or commit crimes for years between the countries without detection. .
The bizarre message seems to be, come to NZ and steal money and break our laws here… (since we already have enough criminals ourselves born here, not sure why our government and immigration seems hell bent on adding and encouraging more criminals into NZ – compete with OZ and Asia maybe for corruption, (sarcasm) who knows!)
If you try look up Maori and even Pakeha offenders for these types of crimes they seem to be punished more severely for similar or smaller impact crimes.
The guy that did the Fonterra hoax for example gets 8 years prison while the Chinese turned NZ resident with previous violence convictions actually handled stolen honey worth $40k but only given a fraction of that as a fine and no prison? It was just pocket change for him to pay the fine.
Where is biosecurity in that context with people obtaining illegally gotten NZ produce and then repackaging it and redistributing it with the potential hazards? (honey can kill you in some circumstances if it has a certain bacteria in it and loss of NZ reputation aka the Fonterra hoax guy who got 8 years prison for not actually doing the crime aka not contaminating the milk ).
Conspiracy type crimes are always treated much harsher than others and this was a blackmail offence rather than biosecurity
So you dont think threatening to poison baby formula isnt all that serious.
Judge didnt think so.
‘Justice Geoffrey Venning said it was “near the most serious case” of its kind
as he didnt just write a letter he sent baby formula laced with 1080.
The case had to be treated as though he had done it.
The Kiwi guy got 8 years in prison for threatening to do a crime NOT doing the crime, but the Chinese guy did get caught red handed in the crime which he DID do and actually did threaten NZ honey industry, but just got a small fine, lower than the stolen honey so actually profited still even after being caught and no jail time at all.
Likewise the Indian guy that profited from the fake drivers licences also got no jail time and not even a fine so he got away with tens of thousands of dollars of bribes. But god knows how many people have been injured or killed by his greed in traffic accidents.
In sentencing, Judge Johns described Brar as a 25-year-old with potential. She gave him time off for his previous good record and his early guilty pleas.
The judge also did not follow the recommendations of the pre sentencing which wanted much harder penalty.
Can anyone see a Maori youth being described like that by a judge if they were involved in $60k of bribes and then judge then allows them to pretty much get away with it?
Where is the incentive to stop these crimes in our justice system from migrants screwing NZ over, because I don’t see any. It’s being minimised and encouraged by our justice system and police and immigration and government.
So this is the thing Marty, if you say “Try not putting people in prison especially indigenous people”, everyone thinks you mean that indigenous people should not be imprisoned even when they commit serious crimes.
If you instead lead off with “I want equality” and “indigenous people should be treated the same as other people”, a lot of wrangling will be avoided.
And further, when people hear Andrew Little talking about wanting to reduce the prison population by 30%, they think he means not putting people in jail even when they have committed a serious crime. Or letting serious criminals out early.
Hence much of the apparent right/left divide on the subject.
Don’t be flabbergasted. It’s a typical tory reaction.
The only people they see going to prison are Very Bad People, because their mate who committed a wee bit of white-collar fraud only got homeD or a couple of years at most. They don’t see the fact that benefit “fraud” is treated more harshly than tax evasion. They don’t see the impact of little offences here and there meaning that someone doesn’t get “good character” credit. They don’t get that not knowing how to wear a suit or not having “respectable” people as character witnesses can all skew judicial attitudes. They don’t get that “not looking right” means more police attention which means a greater number of arrests, even if the actual offence rate were lower or the same.
It’s just like how they think other ideas about equity/equality mean “levelling down”, rather than “building up”.
yes its harsh for extreme cases of benefit fraud who go to jail, maybe they have previous convictions. Most just have to repay the money when they fall foul of a complicated and ponderous system.
If your issue is with locking too much people up then whether or not they are ‘indigenous’ is irrelevant. Deal with the underlying issue and don’t attempt to have a justice system treat people differently because of an accident of birth.
A judge will look at the crime and the previous criminal history. Discounts come for pleading guilty early enough, remorse when interviewed by probation.
Where maori miss out is lack of things like references from people in community and sometimes cant make reparation.
Its quite analytical. Doesnt have ethnicity in it. However we do have a history of too easily imprisoning maori which has carried through to today because they will have existing convictions.
The issue of locking too many people up seems to be your issue, as you seem to want to use that as a way to ignore that we lock up too many Māori.
If you want to address our inflated prison numbers then a major underlying issue is that too many Māori are in prison and you would need to address that.
“Hong Kong triads are working with some of New Zealand’s most notorious crime gangs to cash in on the country’s growing methamphetamine business.
Organised crime groups the 14K, Sun Yee On, Water Room, and Big Circle Gang all have a presence in the country and most recently gangsters from Fujian have become prominent. They work with New Zealand’s most powerful organised crime groups, the Headhunters and Hells Angels, buying and selling the addictive hyper-stimulant.
Police in New Zealand say indigenous gangs saw the profits to be made from methamphetamine and realised they needed contacts to buy the drug, or its main ingredient, pseudoephedrine, from a source country like the mainland. Quickly, Asian organised crime groups became crucial players in the drug trade and over time their international links made them the real power brokers.
‘Commodity is power,’ Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Cahill, of the Auckland Metro Crime Squad told The New Zealand Herald. ‘The Asians have the commodity. So they have control.'”
New Zealand did not register on the international drug market until the millions of dollars being made from methamphetamine grabbed the attention of bigger players overseas. Police here do not call them “triads”, as they’re referred to in popular culture, as the hierarchy here is a fluid, molecular structure rather than the traditional pyramid but the links to notorious international syndicates are real. Gangs like Hong Kong-based 14K, rival Sun Yee On, Water Room, and Big Circle have all had a presence here, as well as Malaysian, Thai, Taiwanese and Vietnamese gangs.
There is plenty of business to go around. Police and underworld sources agree that the organised Asian criminal groups “sit around the board room table together” with the local gangs, rather than starting a turf war, in the interests of making money.
Nothing is worse for the drug business than violent crime, such as the death of Prutsiriporn.
That’s a concern when the tppa kicks in, that the situation gets exacerbated more. That type of corruption could pretty quickly over run the corruption that we already have to the political system, which was already pushing NZ into abit of an anarchic breakdown state of affairs.
Once that type of corruption got a foothold, it’s not like NZ has a KGB type of tradition that would be capable of clearing it out.
All the fraudsters are rushing into government departments and jobs to make money from bribes, been going on for decades now but increased significantly with Natz help.
You used to be able to pay a bribe and then get a state house for example, the British women who helped herself and gave her relatives fake jobs and took nearly 1 million under the nose of the new governor general while also committing benefit fraud, the cash for fake licenses, god knows how many corrupt or receiving cash payoffs in police and justice system and the councils are bound to be rife.
However I believe the worst pushers of TPPA are the Kiwi born neoliberals and politicians both local and government who are refugees from the Rogernomics era and never left their cushy job from the 1980’s.
Turns out that the free water to the Chinese was actively encouraged by NZTE for example…
If only the NZTE traitors could live in the real world and swap places with the Chorus subcontractor would be illuminating for those government advisors …. rather than having a huge army of nobodies in Wellington crunching out the same shit for decades and being lapped up by governments as the only thing they know.
I heard a sound bite of someone phoning an order through for drugs from some Asian country. Yes, how much was the approach. Don’t know how the payment was made but I understand that it is easy to order and there seem to be numerous ways to deliver it.
If people have a job and a life, they would limit their drug taking no doubt, but so much opportunity for a good life has been withdrawn from low income NZs and they have established a sub-culture. so have to be treated as addicted and helped rather than criminalised. (We all have a tendency to be addicted to some habit, some have the habit of passing stern judgments on others as losers!)
It is interesting to read Alan Duff’s Out of the Mist and Steam where he talks about his journey through his culture to where he is now. It was unique journey and not easy.
On Trademe – reliable NZ seller – $4 start and closes tomorrow – postage $4.50
Out Of The Mist And Steam – ALAN DUFF
Listing #: 179042211
I think it’s the dairy owners that seem to be robbed the most and petrol stations… or places that have those items… but maybe there are those going about robbing fashion outlets, who knows.
It’s the above lobby group full of dairy owners that seem to be campaigning the most for lock em up justice.
They even started their own party… a bit of a stumbling block there though
“A New Zealand political party’s general secretary has been charged over failing to properly declare more than $200,000 in donations.
Police charged New Zealand People’s Party general secretary Anil Kumar Sharma with breaching the Electoral Act by failing to correctly file details of significant donations with the Electoral Commission.”
“The People’s Party target voter base is mainly migrant voters and its focus was law and order following a spate of aggravated dairy robberies and taxi driver muggings.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has previously called the party “a National Party front”.”
The charges were filed in the Auckland District Court last Friday, while the case will be heard again later this month.”
My comment was about the fact that dairy owners are not making much money these days, and that cigs and alcohol have good margins (everything else has tiny margins) and they bring in loyal customers.
So you could (on a good day) terrify a small and easily alarmed shop owner, but how would you get away with that, i.e. what’s stopping the shop owner from dobbing you in?
Maybe an otherwise good customer, from a ‘good family’, etc.?
Observer T
Don’t laugh at what I say, I am sure that you are being sarcastic. All that you write has happened. We have to look at it and try and rise above it, not mock those who draw attention to it and what needs to be done to prepare for the various trials that climate change plus the broil of political and immoral misdeeds will bring.
I know a lot of bad things happen in NZ. I get upset but still hold onto the knowledge of good people I have dealings with and meet here. So after getting down, I come up with hope and work with those good people. I keep on trying but I don’t fool myself that everyone wants to live in a country that offers reasonable quality and respect. And it is sad that so many won’t bite the bullet and prepare for a harder future and try being the good citizen.
It is the future first world cultural striving of gender equality that is in the best sense of, for example, a trad. Aryan aesthetics to an unquestionable type of corporate structure.
The world is forever seeking to hold and grasp, Freedom and Adaptability/Efficiency, & the above is the modern symbolism to that.
It is the New Zealand traditional egalitarian spirit, (which many immigrants will not readily understand) that has given the entrepreneurial class the massive opportunity to have these societal Values assocated with their products which as a nation who’s relative power will only ever be that derived from trade, is what should be getting built upon rather than the anarchist slash and burn neo-liberal nothing burger nation.
Hard to know where to begin.
Should it be the continued muppetry in central government agencies – such as Trade and Industry encouraging the sale of water; or should it be to do with Chorus subbies being royally ripped – all alongside the public servant (Stu Lumsden’s) assurance that we had “enough Labour Inspectors” just shortly before the election; or perhaps the state of Wellington’s bus ‘debacle’ – you know – that ‘space’ where we have a wee bit of a problem.
I thought I’d just pop up to Newtown (Constable Street) from Mount Victoria where what I needed to do would normally have been completed within the hour. I’d try out GRWC’s new improved service. Under the old system, that would have been completed within an hour.
I never realised just how bad this complete FUCKUP is. I left home before the nauseating ‘old school’ Jessie Mulligan kicked in after 1pm., before he had to don his lycras and bike up the hill to Teev 3. Midday Report was still rolling – in fact I think Maddison Ready was referring to the exceptional expertise of someone from Craig’s Investment Partners, giving what we were expected to believe was some sort of impartial and valuable take on the state of the meerkats.
3.30pm, I’ve arrived home. The majority of it I walked.
The only people I encountered not fussed on that journey was a guy on a Gold Card taking his mum for a day out on a bus journey. And she’d obviously lost the plot a few years back (not unlike my mother). Why they could even get a ride from the southern suburbs on the flat, up to Kingston. I think routes 23 and 29 figured in their journey.
Meanwhile, others crowding the Newtown footpaths who simply wanted to get to Courtenay Place needed a transfer if they didn’t want to wait what transpired was up to half an hour.
And while we watched the info boards (after having been told we’d have to walk down to the next stop), one #1 was Sched, then disappeared, and then 3 #1 services to places north turned up almost together.
Sorry mate. It’s not JUST about implementation despite your creds, it’s the entire project from start to finish, and perhaps you should have had the gumption to check the requirements before you began your design.
I’m going to be waiting for the next lot of spin with phrases like “change averse”.
Already there’s been a consultant telling us it’s all about implementation rather than design.
FUCK ME with a feather duster. Sometimes the bleeding bloody obvious seems to escape many. Oh, and for the privilege of taking advantage of this new improved service I’m expected to believe is superior to what happened before, as a cash fare payer, the fare is 25% more expensive.
NEVER AGAIN.
A bloody case study in how NOT to do things.
Lucky for GWRC and its verbally flatulent apparatus they’ve been given till December. THe longer it goes on, the worse it gets
@OOTim. Not batting an eyelid here unfortunately. I’m pleased to report I was able to get from Kilbirnie to Mirimar very successfully yesterday, but there’s still severe apprehension every time a bus trip is needed, even a short hop like that one (I allowed myself 45mins to get there). I have however had to stop going out in the evenings altogether now for the foreseable future due to the very real risk of being stranded far from home after dark.
It will be interesting to see if this driver’s strike goes ahead. Even as someone totally dependent on buses, I’d actually quite like to see the entire bus network taken out of action for a week and see if the resulting chos would be enough to force central Govt to take over.
Once was Tim
I am a newcomer to Wellington and was travelling in Constable Street just recently. I was worried about a hub transfer but didn’t need one on my route thank goodness. You have my sympathy and i heard two drivers talking and they were confused and unhappy too. All the best.
Yep well, when all said and done, a bloody MINOR inconvenience by comparison with Chorus contractors being exploited, people trafficked (yes right here in ‘lil ole NuZull), and public servants flogging off water to the highest bidder and at the expense of those paying for the positions representing a public they’re expected to serve.
And as I listen to Checkpoint, I’m kind of wondering why it’s taken this long for some of them to now feel comfortable enough to state the bleeding obvious publicly (such as a Devoy and a Lumsden).
Again!!! time for some analysis of what’s all gone wrong in our public service over the past decade or so.
(https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/10/07/nz-government-officials-caught-red-handed-helping-chinese-companies-take-nz-water/#comment-441531)
The good thing is I’m now fairly sure the coalition is beginning to wake up, and recognise that in many circumstances the advice of their “officials” is not always what it seems to be.
The world is burning.
Yet the Herald is leading with this as news.
A headline that reflects the selfish first world problems that trouble its readers.
As Draco repeatedly says, we can’t afford the rich.
“Air New Zealand’s Koru Club full: Passengers diverted to airport’s Strata Lounge.”
Profiles in Courage. NOT
No. 3: Sen. SUSAN COLLINS
cowardy-custardn., A coward; a timid or fearful person (prob. suggesting trembling in fear like a custard wobbles.)
….Collins’s wholehearted embrace of these vapid GOP talking points is emblematic of her entire justification for supporting Kavanaugh, which basically consisted of her closing her eyes and plugging her ears to information that would prove inconvenient to the creation of a conservative Supreme Court majority. The “process has finally hit rock bottom,” she said. That—not Kavanaugh’s lies, or his troubling judicial record, or Ford’s credible testimony about what he did to her—was what Collins felt the need to lecture Americans about.
Her choice is so disappointing because her Republican colleagues—the McConnells and Grassleys and Grahams of the world, who long ago turned into cartoonish, misogynist supervillains—are honest about who they are and what they want. Collins, who helped save the Affordable Care Act, and sometimes tut-tuts about President Trump, and has proven herself capable of abandoning the stock GOP position, is not. Like Jeff Flake and Ben Sasse and Joe Manchin, she cares far more about appearing moderate and independent than doing things that a moderate, independent legislator would do.
Profiles in Courage. NOT is an occasional series commissioned by Daisycutter Sports Inc. to highlight the moral (and sometimes physical) cowardice of politicians and their lackeys.
TS’s very own malignant anti-semite was triggered, too.
President Donald Trump’s Twitter attack last week on George Soros set off a round of anti-Semitic attacks on the Jewish financier, as well as authoritarian calls from key Trump supporters for the president to use state power to freeze or seize Soros’ assets.
Kia ora Newshub its a incredibly hard for all the USA ambassadors with the trump rhetoric . Some time’s I think when pointing out the gop flaws this alert some to there reality ??????? but no they will lose .
It’s cool the Indian Wahine are standing up for there right’s no one else will
MANA WAHINE.
I’m sure ancient India treated there wahine with much more respect than how they are treated at the minute kia kaha .
Grant Robertson is the best qualified person to run the Crown’s book’s enough said.
My offspring were all grown up before that smacking law came in .
Most time’s when a child is playing up they just need one to come down to there level and talk to them they are just seeking attention give them more attention .
I try not to take my mokopunas into shop’s when we look after them we do but only when we are buying them stuff.
Loan shark’s need to be brought into line ka pai.
That’s the problem with the World’s economy people who have the least money are charged the highest interests and people awash with money pay next to nothing that has to be reversed.
There you go alcohol has a direct LINK to domestic abuse the data curves will follow the same trajectory up with the sales curves that is one reason this problem has not gone down alcohol lobbing all lobbing should be banned I could never handle hang overs.
To the TAX working group increase the tax on alcohol and watch our bad stats drop that’s a logical move.
Space travel is part of our future you know who Eco is backing why because if it was not for him no one would making as much electric cars as is all the rage at the minute .
Xero accounting soft ware is a awesome product we have brought the other brands in the past we end up using excel and stop using them but Xero make’s accounting as easy as child’s play.
Ka kite ano
It give me a sore face when I see that more Kiwis are taking their retirement savings seriously one need to put money away for when they get older as no one else will do that for you Ka pai .
A %7 increase is awesome lump sum payments up % 39 they are making these payments so they get all the government’s Kiwisaver subsidy there is a lot of good data coming out of this story .Kia kaha kiwi’s ka kite ano link below.
Here is a story that gives me hope for a happy healthy prosperous future for ALL OUR Mokopuna’s
The Dutch Court rules in favour of OUR environment . The whole World will have to follow suit and work together to save our grandchildren’s future environment Kia kaha
Ka kite ano link is below
I remember when I was 8 there was a new kid in our class she was Indian all the other kid’s picked on her I would tell/make them leave her be next minute my
Grate grandmother and I were going to her birthday her dad is still the whano doctor.
Kia kaha to the Indian METOO movement that’s the way make your men see that with out you they would have nothing . And you wan’t your voices heard links below Ka kite ano.
I agree with the most of this story the whole Papatuanuku need to plant billions of tree’s I say and cut carbon use how.
A carbon tax and all the money is poured into saving our existing forest & plant new forest invest heavily into renewable energy
Link is below ka kite ano
Eco Maori tau toko this Idea totally urban orchards it will give healthy food for the needy all our councils have to do is change the types of tree’s they plant in and around te mokopuna’s play areas in places were its safe for people to pick them . link below
Ka kite ano many thanks for this story I say go one better and have urban vegie gardens to P.S The shops won’t lose to much profts
Kia ora te maori TV I say online troll’s bulling is a big problem in Aotearoa at the minute
As soon as there is a story about maori issues the troll’s jump onto the comments page and start spewing there racist rubbish .
But I say one has to be careful when trying to make law’s to curb this problem that the laws are not used to silence free speech so I say be real careful what one wishes for ka kite ano.
Kia ora Newshub that’s a nice big fine to stop the loan sharks predators $600 k that will make them think twice before they rip our people off .
Its cool Peter Jackson’s films he has added color to the old films I have been looking at NZONSCREEN and some of those need a brush up the sound on some are bad to.
Ka pai.
Tongan fans for the Tongan League team are staunch and proud wish them all the best.
Wow a new high rise building for Tamaki makau rau that looks like a cool design with a green floor ka pai .
With the Sydney Opera house issue Allan Jones is not as popular as him and his m8 think enough said .
Many thanks to Sea World people in Australia for saving the pepe Whale it was quite a dangerous task what I will say is animals have intelligence. They said the mother Whale new they were helping her calf . She could have easy squashed them.
Vector lines company well if you got fined I say you have not maintained the asset correctly . They have to have people checking the lines are not in danger from trees falling on them and cutting power this is the main cause of power cut’s in bad weather .
Daved Bowie was a artist who broke the mold for music like a few of his pears I liked his music It will be a bit old for the new generation .
Did you see my pick of music this arvo .
Andrew we are going to have a good couple of weeks of League Ka pai
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls all the best to the Breaker’s .
Mulls did James jandles get caught in some wires .
Congradulations to James sisters for having a new baby us men don’t know how easy we got it I get a reminder every now and then lol.
Kangaroos well Mal Meninga he is a great Australian indigenous role model for all
te mokopuna’s can’t say to much.??????? but I have a great memory.
Thats the way the wahine Black ferns kia kaha
Sam E hoa I get sore neck its a pain hurt it chasing my younger brother jumped a fence caught my foot on the fence and head butted the rock hard dirt bounced up and caught him. It did not start playing up till I got long in the tooth lol.
Ka kite ano P.S I did not kick his ass all though I wanted to
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30am include:Rachel Helyer Donaldson’s scoop via RNZ last night of cuts to maternity jobs in the health system;Maddy Croad’s scoop via The Press-$ this morning on funding cuts for Christchurch’s biggest food rescue charity;Benedict Collins’ scoop last night via 1News on a last-minute ...
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Te Pāti Māori has had to adopt a new way of debating, operating and even thinking in Parliament in response to the Government’s “onslaught” against te ao Māori, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says.In an end-of-year interview with Newsroom, the Te Tai Hauauru MP reflected on how 2024 has differed from her ...
Opinion: The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science report was announced earlier this month, yet it didn’t get the flurry of media attention and political hand-wringing that typically accompanies these announcements. This might be because it presented good news, or you could argue, no news; the results paint a ...
NewsroomBy Dr Lisa Darragh, Dr Raewyn Eden and Dr David Pomeroy
At long last, The Spinoff shells out for a nut ranking. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.It recently came to The Spinoff’s attention ...
I was one of hundreds of people who lost my government job this week. Here’s exactly how it played out. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a ...
Summer reissue: One anxiously attentive passenger pays attention to an in-flight safety video, and wonders ‘Why can’t I pick up my own phone?’ The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up ...
Summer reissue: Why do those Lange-Douglas years cast such a long shadow 40 years on? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today. First published June ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 23 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The Government’s social housing agency has backed out of a billion-dollar infrastructure alliance that would have built about 6000 new homes in Auckland – less than 18 months after signing a five-year extension.Labour says the decision to rip up the contract and sell off existing state houses could lead to ...
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Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
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https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/107671519/desperate-and-deteriorating-waikanae-man-moves-in-with-parents-as-last-resort
Another disabled person abandoned by the system.
I hope you all at least click the link. Maybe if Stuff highlights more of these stories MSD will be publically pressured to allocate funds specifically to build this type of housing.
PM quote “New Zealanders are getting fleeced by fuel supply companies ?” I guess she means the ones like Z, BP & Caltex ?
44% of the price of a litre of petrol goes to the government. There is a price floor for petrol because of tax. The petrol companies need to make a profit out of the remaining 55% after they purchase it from off shore. then they need to pay tax on that profit. The lower the price of petrol, the greater the tax component.
seems to be a lot of tax in that comment.
Damn the bloody dam!!!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/107640425/forest–bird-outlines-serious-concern-about-waimea-dam-local-bill
WAKE UP parker you egg – start thinking of the PEOPLE in Tasman not the money hungry selfish commodifiers. WAKE UP!!!
+100 marty mars – agree WAKE UP labour but I wouldn’t bet on Parker doing the right thing.
This Labour party is about votes not green policies. All the more reason to vote Green in 2 years time
97% MINIMUM EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS BREACHED BY CHORUS SUBCONTRACTORS!!!!!
Absolutely disgusting. Also considering how it takes Chorus about 3 or 4 tries before they can send somebody who is competent about time they actually worked out how many of the workers have paid for the job to get residency and actually can’t do the job and are probably paying for the job.
This is a huge issue for the country. Under the Natz a staggering amount of employment and immigration breaches have been tolerated or indeed encouraged.
The poor broadband roll out alone is costing the country in lost productivity. It is very difficult to get a decent Internet service around Auckland and a lot of it is the contractors who have now shown the 97% investigated were breaching minimum employment standards!
“An MBIE investigation into the industry found that 73 of the 75 Auckland-based sub-contractors investigated had breached minimum employment standards. Breaches included employers failing to maintain employment records, pay employees’ minimum wage, pay holiday entitlements, and provide employment agreements.
E tū Communications Industry Coordinator Joe Gallagher says this is alarming, but not surprising.
“We have known about the effect of this contracting model since they started it,” says Joe.
“This model of contracting and sub-contracting has allowed Chorus to pass the buck, resulting in contractors exploiting their workforce to keep to budgets and schedules.
“It has resulted in terrible outcomes for the affected workers, as well as poor delivery of services in many areas.”
https://foreignaffairs.co.nz/2018/10/08/mil-osi-new-zealand-labour-inspectorate-chorus-report-alarming-but-not-surprising-e-tu/
The first thing they need to do is put Chorus and their subcontractors on the employment stand down list and ban them from hiring more overseas workers for minimum 5 years!
Then actually test some of the subcontractors and see how many do not have any skills for the job and work out how many of these unskilled, unlicensed contractors are actually victims of or involved in immigration scams.
It is amazing how many foreign workers who don’t speak any English from places like Nigeria work for Chorus and also weird how they can’t do the job either and you have to wait weeks for someone else to come and fix the numerous faults that Chorus can’t fix the first, second or third time.
Even the other providers like Spark and Vodafone and 22 degrees who rely on Chorus are sick to death of them as you have a massive rigmarole to get anything done and you have to go through the provider in most cases!
Chorus should be voted worst company in NZ and they can’t do their job and when they go bankrupt through their incompetence, hopefully another competent firm can do the job.
Chorus is what’s left after various telecom managements plundered the customers for large profits without reinvesting in the network. Then it got Chinese walled yet somehow I hear spark still clip the sth cross cable ticket which is network not retail.
I have sympathy for them as most internet services which perform badly could be down to the retailer failing to manage capacity. Looking at you spark and voda.
You’ll probably find few faults are actually down to a poor install and the industry is bleeding workers to the NBN in oz who are flashing the cash.
Yep but my point is, NZ to be competitive needs to raise wages to retain the skilled people, not just rely on cheap bodies to do the work, who actually can’t do it and are paying to get residency in many cases.
We can’t be competitive with fake internet and phone lines and fake workers!
Agree the telecom providers didn’t invest either and just are coining the profits and then every day, it just gets worse and worse for customers and business relying on the service and eventually guess what, they move their businesses to OZ or Singapore or apparently even central Nigeria has faster Internet access than Auckland.
You also wonder how long a company can survive for when you ring their call centre (Spark for example) and wait 1 hour for someone to pick up your call!
Seriously a telecom company that has a 1 hour waiting time to answer your call!
And most of them are similar and some (22 degrees I think) , even demand a per minute fee to answer a phone call about their service!
Something is wrong! NZ is a race to the bottom and our government is obsessed with dirty deals with business for water and oil yet fail to notice the constant routs in banking and telecoms ripping off consumers and businesses for years, decades really, yet another reason why NZ is losing business and productivity with it completely off government radar because they are encapsulated with lobbyists.
In our area a Chorus contractor who has had to come out numerous times to fix a common distribution box serving about 50 houses said the problem was that in the Phillipines where he comes from they had gotten rid of that type years ago because it was too old even then.
Ok faulty, banned materials, incompetent illegally working staff, not being able to fix anything for months, sounds like a NZ roll out then of IT funded by taxpayers, from the Natz.
Different problems.
One is the broadband rollout and the connections to homes- dodgy contractors
Other one is Chorus own copper network with its ancient tech ..oh and again using contractors but at least these seem to be qualified in copper line phone tech.
My advice to Adrian, ditch the copper line and go all mobile, some providers even provide broadband services over the mobile system.
Interesting. I had copper til a month ago.
It started to play up a few months back. I often couldn’t get a connection after the modem had been shut down for several hours (especially overnight), and I had frequent dropouts.
After numerous calls and opine chats (the latter often unsuccessful as had dropout in the middle of the chat), Spark sent some Chorus guys (with proviso that if the fault was with my stuff, then it would cost me $80.00 plus labour etc.
Anyway, 2 Chorus guys came. One spoke English, and they conversed with each other in another language – maybe from Indian sub continent or Indonesia, or somewhere in that region.
The English speaking guy eventually pronounced they had found a fault with one of my 2 jack points and a cable from it, and had fixed it.
Well, the dropouts then became less frequent, but I still often had problems getting a connection – though had discovered that when I dialed 123 on my landline, listened to the Spark welcome message for a few seconds, then hung up, I’d get a Net connection straight away.
Spark then said they could send Chorus out again, but, again it could cost me. I talked to the estate agent property manager who told me something similar had happened to a few of their tenants after fibre had been connected to the tenants building. I was also told that when fibre had been connected to my building last year, they’d done a lot of work on the property.
Anyway a couple of weeks later, I got an email from Spark saying my copper broadband was going up by $5.00 a month, and that it would be more expensive than fibre. So I did the switch.
It isn’t noticeably faster or any easier to access online video content – in spite of this article claiming more people are switching to fibre, so must be there’s a growing hunger for more online content.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=12138863
I say BS – just a desire for some of us to get a reliable connection.
+10000 – Carolyn_Nth – completely normal – then the consumers end up picking up the tab, again and again. Used to have a fixed phone line, but had to abandon it because it’s a waste of time with Chorus as fixed lines don’t work – wonder why so many don’t have land lines any more in NZ – answer is Chorus incompetence.
Considering Chorus got 70% of the taxpayer funded roll out of crown fibre, pretty sure that like leaky buildings, we will be seeing big problems down stream as they are big issues occurring even at the start!
Going for the cheap and unregulated approach works a treat (sarcasm) and ends up being massively expensive as well as not actually providing the service that was needed in the first place, reliably.
Isnt noticeably faster ?
Thats because your own old equipment is limiting the service. What is the age of the device you are using . 5 years plus ? I liked my old desktop ( 2012) but I upgraded it both with more memory chips and a solid state drive. That enabled me to disable some tech that chews up the CPU . No compressed memory and no disk caching.
Even the slowest fibre option which I have with 30Mbs is 10x faster than the old copper network which used to slow to a crawl at night.. But then I dont do a lot of downloads until I got netflix and there is no way the copper would cope and I’m only 1km from the telephone exchange.
My main laptop is about a year or two old. My second one is a refurbished offlease SSD which is pretty fast on both copper and fibre. Not much faster on either laptop online.
But, I probably don’t access a lot of material that requires a noticeably faster system either.
@dukeofurl, Sadly for consumers Chorus is involved both in the fixed lines and significantly in the crown fibre roll out of Internet.
It was a good idea by the Natz (the only decent thing Joyce ever did) for the crown fibre roll out, but sadly using Chorus and their Ponzi monopoly and dodgy employment practices has made what should have been a massive success a partial one, with lots of skeletons awaiting at the expense of consumers and businesses in NZ.
Like other companies that suddenly go under in NZ, Chorus has become an immigration and accounting Ponzi a long while back and held NZ sustainable business growth, back significantly.
Is it really that hard to hire professional people and vet them to make sure they can do the job and pay to do the job right in the first place ?
When will NZ even learn, just having a cheap warm body count in the workforce does not actually lead to productivity gains or a finished product (constructions) or service (tech/hospitality)?
Joyce also didn’t stop chorus from overbuilding the other non chorus govt funded fibre rollouts.
Their inadequate duct capacity has opened up the area to other players in dark fibre which thankfully keeps it rolling along.
Checking in on the neighbours
From The House, 7:30 am on 7 October 2018
Daniela Maoate-Cox, The House senior producer
dmaoatecox danielamaoatecox@gmail.com
A group of MPs from the Labour and National parties have been chosen to visit Vanuatu and Solomon Islands but before they went Daniela Maoate-Cox asked why the trip is necessary.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house/audio/2018665221/checking-in-on-the-neighbours
Why not ask to go to Nauru and offer the island some help so they are not dependent on Australia and under their thumb? Then we can release the prisoners from the concentration camp and have to nurse them back to near normality and hope.
It would be a sign that we can be humanitarian.
nauru is 11,000 people who pissed away their wealth but still have a better standard of living than their neighbours. Closing the camps just means Australia will shift them elsewhere
Solomons is 600,000 people who are dirt poor.
Thats a correct choice to pick the most needy population.
Bring back the stocks and whipping for destructive useless men (and women) who vandalise and destroy.l
A man has attempted to climb and has broken a Len Lye sculpture in Wellington – costing much money, has injured himself, costing us hospital time and dollars.
What would be better is having safe places and counselling for people with mental problems that can be improved and controlled without medication. I think that a farm where the men can be kept enclosed where they can work and have decent conditions and attention as needed.
Whipping, stocks, camps – sounds pretty retrograde and scarey.
Something to act on! Think, plan and act quickly on something perhaps!
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/368231/climate-target-not-viable-for-nz-economy-expert
“Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says New Zealand seems to be playing catch up when it comes to instilling indigenous cultural values into the prison system.”
https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MjAyOTg/Grizzly-bear-guards-for-indigenous-prison
No, no and no again. This is COMPLETELY BOGUS. Try not putting people in prison especially indigenous people’s. Ffs
When they don’t commit crimes
A.
Racial profiling
Very few people of any ethnic group get put into prison in NZ without committing a bunch of crimes
A.
(Now maybe some crimes shouldn’t be crimes, but that’s a different matter)
Prove it.
Prove what?
Prove what what?
Disprove it! Point at lots of indigenous people, in prison in modern NZ, who have not committed either a serious crime, or lots of crimes.
A.
Fail. Not proof – try again brainbox.
Marty you seem to be the one who introduced ‘race’ with your comment “Try not putting people in prison especially indigenous people’s.” The punishment should fit the crime, not the race or ethnicity of the perpetrator.
Yes in wonderland. In the real world ALL indigenous populations devastated by colonisation suffer disproportionate numbers, compared to other groups, of their members arrested, charged and put into prison. This is a FACT.
Note – “instilling indigenous cultural values into the prison system” is the context.
Perhaps you should read or watch a bit. Moana Jackson has some nice videos that might help try Google.
https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/moana-jackson-prison-should-never-be-the-only-answer/
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/latest-news/time-abolish-prisons-moana-jackson
“In the real world ALL indigenous populations devastated by colonisation suffer disproportionate numbers, compared to other groups, of their members arrested, charged and put into prison. This is a FACT.”
No, it isn’t. At least not the ‘devastated by colonisation’ bit. Colonisation in the 19th century does not make anyone commit a crime in the 21st century, and if you excuse crime on that basis you end up with this https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/colonisation-no-excuse-for-violent-crime/news-story/25770058c2fa144581d9084175048a3e.
“Note – “instilling indigenous cultural values into the prison system” is the context.”
And I don’t have a problem with that. What I object to is your suggestion that indigenous people should somehow be treated differently to the rest of the population regarding sentencing.
I didnt say that. ffs I want EQUALITY. Are you saying that the extremely high % of Māori men and women in jail, compared to % of Māori in society, is because they are treated the same as other ethnic groups? Why are the percentages different then?
“I didnt say that. ffs I want EQUALITY. ”
Same here.
“Why are the percentages different then?”
It’s a complex issue, but blaming events that happened up to 170 years ago is unhelpful. I like a lot of what is covered here https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/05/maori-zealand-prisons-160525094450239.html
marty, you may want to include a link like this so people have some idea where you are coming from: Justspeak publication 2012: Māori and the Criminal Justice System: A youth perspective
Yeah good point thanks. Although I quite like seeing what people assume.
There is clear institutional racism in the NZ justice system but it’s a problem bigger than justice – the problem needs to be unraveled as a whole because there are so many things wrong with our current system and priorities of government.
“This is COMPLETELY BOGUS. Try not putting people in prison especially indigenous people’s. Ffs”
Thats just a fanatsy , most people in prison are in there for violence and the rest are who have stolen large amounts of money or atrocious drink driving records or scores of burglary convictions.
Rubbish. Try reading the context. Hint “instilling indigenous cultural values into the prison system”
really . Buzz words make people like you feel good but dont change peoples lives.
You can’t even get to ‘buzz words’ – I don’t think you even know what the hell you’re talking about in this sub thread. What is the reason Māori are negatively disproportionately represented in prisons? Do you want to make prisons indigenous cultural paradises? Or do you want to stop people going to prison in the first place? It’s not fucken rocket science mate.
You did specifically refer to ‘instilling indigenous cultural values’
And this works how ? Its a prison, Im not opposed to indigenous cultural values but what ever way you do it rehab can only work if they really want to.
meanwhile just from today- some one who you think shouldn’t be kept in prison ?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/107699652/woman-kidnapped-beaten-forced-to-take-drugs-and-sexually-assaulted
Go ahead , say ‘lock him up’…. I know you can do it.
How are you certain of your description of the people in prison?
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research_and_statistics/quarterly_prison_statistics/prison_stats_june_2017.html
Indigenous people are undisputedly imprisoned more than other groups;
https://www.hrc.co.nz/news/un-report-says-nz-must-improve-many-areas/
What’s this ‘fantasy’ you speak of?
> https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research_and_statistics/quarterly_prison_statistics/prison_stats_june_2017.html
Your link shows that 80% of people in prison are there for “violence, sexual offences, dishonesty” or “traffic” (presumably intoxication related) offences. Is that inconsistent with what Dukeofurl said?
> Indigenous people are undisputedly imprisoned more than other groups;
I don’t think anyone’s contesting that.
A.
You have collected 3 separate categories into your 80% The majority of prisoners are not imprisoned for violence which is what Duke asserted. Duke also said:
I don’t know where this info came from.
Also Duke is contesting that, as are others in this thread. Duke called it a fantasy.
Didnt say majority , said most. And its true 60% are sexual or physical violence that includes murder and homicide which could be around 500 prisoners for those two offences alone.
Who in their right mind wouldnt would be saying prison isnt the answer for these sort of offences.
arkie seems to think the 20% that are sexual offences are ‘not violence’ ?
This is the sort pig ignorant attitudes you have then its hardly worth discussing.
Are you thinking that because they didnt struggle enough it wasnt rape or sexual assault.
Unbelievable .
most
greatest in amount or degree.
“they’ve had the most success”
synonyms: nearly all, almost all, the greatest quantity/part/number, the majority, the bulk, the lion’s share, the mass, the preponderance
“she spends most of her time in London”
the majority of; nearly all of.
“the two-pin sockets found in most European countries”
synonyms: nearly all, almost all, the greatest quantity/part/number, the majority, the bulk, the lion’s share, the mass, the preponderance
“she spends most of her time in London”
So are you catfishing veutoviper then ? Wouldnt surprise me
Excuse me?
I am not VV and you don’t know what catfishing is.
You are attempting to derail by smearing me.
Take a deep breath.
yes . Most of the people have serious violence or scores of previous convictions ( which means the non prison sentences havent ‘worked’)
Your numbers have 40% for violence , 20% sexual offences.
So those two types of violence are 60% right away – which is what I said
Dishonesty is 20% which means scores of burglary convictions per prisoner or stealing very large amounts of money – often from the community.
The real problem is men, who are often affected badly by drink or drugs so they commit offences …over and over.
I don’t find the level of info about the crimes that you seem to in those stats
Percentage of Prisoners According to Most Serious* Offence Type
Its in the link if you tried to read it.
Do you have trouble with % too? ….sheeesh.
Where do you get this information from?
Ask the judges . have you never been in a courtroom for a day ?
It figures if you have led a cotton wool life and dont even read the papers.
I dont know what ideas you are advancing by quibbling over what the definition of violence is or what the background to far too many offences are or whether 60% is a majority.
these arent some numbers from a cricketers annual. real people are affected by violence
So you acquired this information from asking judges?
I’m asking you to clarify because you asserted that Marty was fantasising about the over representation of Māori prisons. You then mentioned what you thought their crimes were. I’m just asking you where you got these ideas.
Real people are affected by over-incarceration.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/107699652/woman-kidnapped-beaten-forced-to-take-drugs-and-sexually-assaulted
‘A gang member who abducted a woman and subjected her to a night of sexual assault, threats, violence and forced drug-taking has been jailed for six years and five months….. and as the court heard had relapsed into regular methamphetamine use.
“Stephenson, a member of the Filthy Few gang ….”
Dont be a dickhead arkie . These are real people and you are talking
contemptible nonsense.
By showing you cant even add up % shows the level of your knowledge
Thank heavens for the 3 strikes law
A.
So proof by anecdata then?
Your knowledge is prejudice
@Arkie. Stop quibbling. The numbers are out there.
For instance Duke said “the real problem is men, who are often affected badly by drink or drugs”. A quick google search finds that “about 80% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs or is commited to feed an addiction” – this is from Roger Brooking on Pundit (https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/explaining-nzs-record-high-prison-population), who is anything but a lock-em-up-and-throw-em-away-the-key guy.
I could go on.
A.
Arkie is a new name for VV , who wants to derail the thread by stealing Gosmans gallop
My gosh no, Veutoviper is 1000x smarter
A.
Weird how there does not seem to be much interest in preventing the drugs getting into NZ in the first place in fact under globalism it seems to be yet another thriving industry going from strength to strength.
Didn’t the colonists of old, give small pox blankets to the locals to help them in the take over?
Then it comes out that the meth test standards the woke lefties meet far righties decided were pretty much made up and no scientific evidence for it – but a lot of state house land sold and people evicted, which certainly benefited a few interested parties, in particular politicians and consultants and developers.
@Dukeofurl, Sadly the. people stealing the most money from NZ seem to be outside our justice system and are actually celebrated or under the radar or benefit from generous loop holes in the law to allow the stealing to continue.
Then there has become a secondary justice issue of giving very light sentences to fraudsters who are based overseas or just arrived in NZ or commit crimes for years between the countries without detection. .
The bizarre message seems to be, come to NZ and steal money and break our laws here… (since we already have enough criminals ourselves born here, not sure why our government and immigration seems hell bent on adding and encouraging more criminals into NZ – compete with OZ and Asia maybe for corruption, (sarcasm) who knows!)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11905478
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11842563
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/365583/punjabi-singer-gets-home-detention-for-drivers-licences-bribes
Indian woman faces deportation after losing more than $30k to ‘parasite’ scammers
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/366859/indian-woman-faces-deportation-after-losing-more-than-30k-to-parasite-scammers
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11842563
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/365583/punjabi-singer-gets-home-detention-for-drivers-licences-bribes
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12077932
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11905478
Migrant worker describes ‘modern day slavery’ scam
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/339373/migrant-worker-describes-modern-day-slavery-scam
Sushi restaurant owner to pay $30k for exploiting workers
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/321156/sushi-restaurant-owner-to-pay-$30k-for-exploiting-workers
Jailed trafficker committed ‘crime against human dignity’
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/320465/jailed-trafficker-committed-'crime-against-human-dignity‘
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world/indian-sentenced-to-life-for-murdering-wife-in-nz/story-MpDOdR9DJXcKI2pkfpBTMK.html
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/335932/human-trafficking-definitely-a-problem-in-nz
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12111595
Another one,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/82387108/did-fraud-suspect-joanne-harrison-approve-her-own-leave-then-flee-nz
If you try look up Maori and even Pakeha offenders for these types of crimes they seem to be punished more severely for similar or smaller impact crimes.
The guy that did the Fonterra hoax for example gets 8 years prison while the Chinese turned NZ resident with previous violence convictions actually handled stolen honey worth $40k but only given a fraction of that as a fine and no prison? It was just pocket change for him to pay the fine.
Where is biosecurity in that context with people obtaining illegally gotten NZ produce and then repackaging it and redistributing it with the potential hazards? (honey can kill you in some circumstances if it has a certain bacteria in it and loss of NZ reputation aka the Fonterra hoax guy who got 8 years prison for not actually doing the crime aka not contaminating the milk ).
Conspiracy type crimes are always treated much harsher than others and this was a blackmail offence rather than biosecurity
So you dont think threatening to poison baby formula isnt all that serious.
Judge didnt think so.
‘Justice Geoffrey Venning said it was “near the most serious case” of its kind
as he didnt just write a letter he sent baby formula laced with 1080.
The case had to be treated as though he had done it.
The Kiwi guy got 8 years in prison for threatening to do a crime NOT doing the crime, but the Chinese guy did get caught red handed in the crime which he DID do and actually did threaten NZ honey industry, but just got a small fine, lower than the stolen honey so actually profited still even after being caught and no jail time at all.
Likewise the Indian guy that profited from the fake drivers licences also got no jail time and not even a fine so he got away with tens of thousands of dollars of bribes. But god knows how many people have been injured or killed by his greed in traffic accidents.
In sentencing, Judge Johns described Brar as a 25-year-old with potential. She gave him time off for his previous good record and his early guilty pleas.
The judge also did not follow the recommendations of the pre sentencing which wanted much harder penalty.
Can anyone see a Maori youth being described like that by a judge if they were involved in $60k of bribes and then judge then allows them to pretty much get away with it?
Where is the incentive to stop these crimes in our justice system from migrants screwing NZ over, because I don’t see any. It’s being minimised and encouraged by our justice system and police and immigration and government.
Why should indigenous people be treated any different to other people in relation to whether they get put in prison?
If you think prison is not the correct place for people then it should be avoided for ALL not just some based on their cultural background.
Why should indigenous people be treated any different to other people in relation to whether they get put in prison?
I think that is the point that marty is trying to make.
Thank you and yes. ‘Trying’ being the operative word.
Oh well, that I can agree with
A.
Good you get the point now. Sheesh took you long enough.
So this is the thing Marty, if you say “Try not putting people in prison especially indigenous people”, everyone thinks you mean that indigenous people should not be imprisoned even when they commit serious crimes.
If you instead lead off with “I want equality” and “indigenous people should be treated the same as other people”, a lot of wrangling will be avoided.
A.
I am flabbergasted that people thought that. Just shows my self disclosed Māori voice is often misunderstood. Kia ora to those who got it.
Now you get it.
And further, when people hear Andrew Little talking about wanting to reduce the prison population by 30%, they think he means not putting people in jail even when they have committed a serious crime. Or letting serious criminals out early.
Hence much of the apparent right/left divide on the subject.
A.
Having said that, isn’t this cool?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107556399/prison-population-drops-by-seven-per-cent-in-six-months-system-crisis-averted
I’d love to know more about it. In particular, exactly how did they achieve the reduction in the prison muster.
A.
Don’t be flabbergasted. It’s a typical tory reaction.
The only people they see going to prison are Very Bad People, because their mate who committed a wee bit of white-collar fraud only got homeD or a couple of years at most. They don’t see the fact that benefit “fraud” is treated more harshly than tax evasion. They don’t see the impact of little offences here and there meaning that someone doesn’t get “good character” credit. They don’t get that not knowing how to wear a suit or not having “respectable” people as character witnesses can all skew judicial attitudes. They don’t get that “not looking right” means more police attention which means a greater number of arrests, even if the actual offence rate were lower or the same.
It’s just like how they think other ideas about equity/equality mean “levelling down”, rather than “building up”.
Bunch of small-minded fuckwits.
Tax evaders go to prison- why on earth would you think they dont
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11998205
Tradies sentenced to jail for $1m tax evasion
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12110217
Mortgage broker sent back to prison for tax evasion
https://www.interest.co.nz/business/96070/owner-no-stress-decorators-has-been-sentenced-26-months-prison-after-failing-file-any
The owner of ‘No Stress Decorators’ has been sentenced to 26 months in prison after failing to file any tax returns
yes its harsh for extreme cases of benefit fraud who go to jail, maybe they have previous convictions. Most just have to repay the money when they fall foul of a complicated and ponderous system.
google for a NZ study on sentencing discrepancies between tax evasion and benefit fraud. I seem to recall it was even covered on this very site.
ICBF googling it for you.
This is so right. It remains stunning that we accept these attitudes.
Our acceptance of slights inequalities and sheer cruelty, is mind blowing.
Several Maori friends did not live to get the pension. They live shorter lives!! This is NOT assessed in their pension payments.
Laws are based on Christian western dogma, seldom on cultural values. So many hurdles to be overcome.
So you won’t address a fundamental problem in our criminal justice system because of some One Nation ideology / “We are all One people” racist BS… Ok…
If your issue is with locking too much people up then whether or not they are ‘indigenous’ is irrelevant. Deal with the underlying issue and don’t attempt to have a justice system treat people differently because of an accident of birth.
don’t attempt to have a justice system treat people differently because of an accident of birth.
No attempt needed. We already have that.
A judge will look at the crime and the previous criminal history. Discounts come for pleading guilty early enough, remorse when interviewed by probation.
Where maori miss out is lack of things like references from people in community and sometimes cant make reparation.
Its quite analytical. Doesnt have ethnicity in it. However we do have a history of too easily imprisoning maori which has carried through to today because they will have existing convictions.
Its quite analytical. Doesnt have ethnicity in it.
Yes God you must be right, knowing the inner workings of all those brains and all.
The issue of locking too many people up seems to be your issue, as you seem to want to use that as a way to ignore that we lock up too many Māori.
If you want to address our inflated prison numbers then a major underlying issue is that too many Māori are in prison and you would need to address that.
Our issue is we have too much crime. Gangs are portion of that and that connects to both Maori and polynesian gangs.
European gangs are far smaller.
“Hong Kong triads are working with some of New Zealand’s most notorious crime gangs to cash in on the country’s growing methamphetamine business.
Organised crime groups the 14K, Sun Yee On, Water Room, and Big Circle Gang all have a presence in the country and most recently gangsters from Fujian have become prominent. They work with New Zealand’s most powerful organised crime groups, the Headhunters and Hells Angels, buying and selling the addictive hyper-stimulant.
Police in New Zealand say indigenous gangs saw the profits to be made from methamphetamine and realised they needed contacts to buy the drug, or its main ingredient, pseudoephedrine, from a source country like the mainland. Quickly, Asian organised crime groups became crucial players in the drug trade and over time their international links made them the real power brokers.
‘Commodity is power,’ Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Cahill, of the Auckland Metro Crime Squad told The New Zealand Herald. ‘The Asians have the commodity. So they have control.'”
https://www.scmp.com/article/724511/asian-drug-links-reach-south-meth-deals
New Zealand did not register on the international drug market until the millions of dollars being made from methamphetamine grabbed the attention of bigger players overseas. Police here do not call them “triads”, as they’re referred to in popular culture, as the hierarchy here is a fluid, molecular structure rather than the traditional pyramid but the links to notorious international syndicates are real. Gangs like Hong Kong-based 14K, rival Sun Yee On, Water Room, and Big Circle have all had a presence here, as well as Malaysian, Thai, Taiwanese and Vietnamese gangs.
There is plenty of business to go around. Police and underworld sources agree that the organised Asian criminal groups “sit around the board room table together” with the local gangs, rather than starting a turf war, in the interests of making money.
Nothing is worse for the drug business than violent crime, such as the death of Prutsiriporn.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11604108
That’s a concern when the tppa kicks in, that the situation gets exacerbated more. That type of corruption could pretty quickly over run the corruption that we already have to the political system, which was already pushing NZ into abit of an anarchic breakdown state of affairs.
Once that type of corruption got a foothold, it’s not like NZ has a KGB type of tradition that would be capable of clearing it out.
All the fraudsters are rushing into government departments and jobs to make money from bribes, been going on for decades now but increased significantly with Natz help.
You used to be able to pay a bribe and then get a state house for example, the British women who helped herself and gave her relatives fake jobs and took nearly 1 million under the nose of the new governor general while also committing benefit fraud, the cash for fake licenses, god knows how many corrupt or receiving cash payoffs in police and justice system and the councils are bound to be rife.
However I believe the worst pushers of TPPA are the Kiwi born neoliberals and politicians both local and government who are refugees from the Rogernomics era and never left their cushy job from the 1980’s.
Turns out that the free water to the Chinese was actively encouraged by NZTE for example…
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/10/07/nz-government-officials-caught-red-handed-helping-chinese-companies-take-nz-water/
If only the NZTE traitors could live in the real world and swap places with the Chorus subcontractor would be illuminating for those government advisors …. rather than having a huge army of nobodies in Wellington crunching out the same shit for decades and being lapped up by governments as the only thing they know.
I heard a sound bite of someone phoning an order through for drugs from some Asian country. Yes, how much was the approach. Don’t know how the payment was made but I understand that it is easy to order and there seem to be numerous ways to deliver it.
If people have a job and a life, they would limit their drug taking no doubt, but so much opportunity for a good life has been withdrawn from low income NZs and they have established a sub-culture. so have to be treated as addicted and helped rather than criminalised. (We all have a tendency to be addicted to some habit, some have the habit of passing stern judgments on others as losers!)
It is interesting to read Alan Duff’s Out of the Mist and Steam where he talks about his journey through his culture to where he is now. It was unique journey and not easy.
On Trademe – reliable NZ seller – $4 start and closes tomorrow – postage $4.50
Out Of The Mist And Steam – ALAN DUFF
Listing #: 179042211
Well said marty mars.
Kaua e mate wheke mate ururoa
BUT greywarshark
New Zealand is the place where you can do anything you like. Such as bash your baby against the wall.
Kill people on the road. Dozens of them.
Bash up Teachers, and Nurses. Terrify shop owners.
Booze yourself stupid – particularly if you are female – with children. Plus Bastard Fathers.
Eat all sorts of Lethal Drugs to make yourself mental – and become a Zombie
Build leaky Buildings. Build Leaky homes. Under pay Staff.
This is Aotearoa Greywarshark. Greed, Rape, Thieving, Murder and Destruction are the constants of life here.
Aoteraoa stands for no Accountability. No Decency. No Punishment. No Shame.
Aoteraoa truthfully stands for personal and mass Horror.
I have to say I would have trouble getting away with some of this, but YMMV
A.
Profiling aside, which comment(s) would you not have trouble getting away with?
D.
I could terrify a shop owner on a good day (if they were quite small and easily alarmed)
A.
If they banned cigarettes and alcohol from shop owners would solve a lot of problems but apparently that is where all the profit is.
All, no ‘only’ is the word you look for SaveNZ for dairy owners.
I think it’s the dairy owners that seem to be robbed the most and petrol stations… or places that have those items… but maybe there are those going about robbing fashion outlets, who knows.
It’s the above lobby group full of dairy owners that seem to be campaigning the most for lock em up justice.
They even started their own party… a bit of a stumbling block there though
“A New Zealand political party’s general secretary has been charged over failing to properly declare more than $200,000 in donations.
Police charged New Zealand People’s Party general secretary Anil Kumar Sharma with breaching the Electoral Act by failing to correctly file details of significant donations with the Electoral Commission.”
“The People’s Party target voter base is mainly migrant voters and its focus was law and order following a spate of aggravated dairy robberies and taxi driver muggings.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has previously called the party “a National Party front”.”
The charges were filed in the Auckland District Court last Friday, while the case will be heard again later this month.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12137518
That escalated…
My comment was about the fact that dairy owners are not making much money these days, and that cigs and alcohol have good margins (everything else has tiny margins) and they bring in loyal customers.
So you could (on a good day) terrify a small and easily alarmed shop owner, but how would you get away with that, i.e. what’s stopping the shop owner from dobbing you in?
Maybe an otherwise good customer, from a ‘good family’, etc.?
D.
White privilege mostly
A.
A!
D.
Observer T
Don’t laugh at what I say, I am sure that you are being sarcastic. All that you write has happened. We have to look at it and try and rise above it, not mock those who draw attention to it and what needs to be done to prepare for the various trials that climate change plus the broil of political and immoral misdeeds will bring.
I know a lot of bad things happen in NZ. I get upset but still hold onto the knowledge of good people I have dealings with and meet here. So after getting down, I come up with hope and work with those good people. I keep on trying but I don’t fool myself that everyone wants to live in a country that offers reasonable quality and respect. And it is sad that so many won’t bite the bullet and prepare for a harder future and try being the good citizen.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/107697600/rose-matafeo-victim-of-racist-roast-on-comedy-central
This is seriously brilliant and seriously funny. Matafeo owns it big time.
Not sure how to get rid of the add, but its about breast cancer and mamograms, so a good add to watch anyway.
It is the future first world cultural striving of gender equality that is in the best sense of, for example, a trad. Aryan aesthetics to an unquestionable type of corporate structure.
https://www.thelocal.de/20181008/too-many-hans-and-not-enough-women-in-german-government-roles
The world is forever seeking to hold and grasp, Freedom and Adaptability/Efficiency, & the above is the modern symbolism to that.
It is the New Zealand traditional egalitarian spirit, (which many immigrants will not readily understand) that has given the entrepreneurial class the massive opportunity to have these societal Values assocated with their products which as a nation who’s relative power will only ever be that derived from trade, is what should be getting built upon rather than the anarchist slash and burn neo-liberal nothing burger nation.
Wut?
A.
Chcoffoffy limits him/herself rigorously to an abstract noun quota of 98%.
So random question time but does anyone have any good links to websites on how to pronounce (and preferably the meaning of) maori words and phrases
I’ve tried searching youtube but I don’t seem to be getting anywhere so I’m wondering if anyone on here can help
Cheers
https://maoridictionary.co.nz
They also have an awesome AP you can put on your phone.
Thanks for that, thats exactly what I was looking for. I’ve got a job interview coming up and part of it is:
‘Understand and demonstrate the kaupapa values of the Department- Whanau, Kaitiaki, Rangatira, Manaaki and Wairua’
So this will help immensely
Cheers
Don’t forget to practice them
Hard to know where to begin.
Should it be the continued muppetry in central government agencies – such as Trade and Industry encouraging the sale of water; or should it be to do with Chorus subbies being royally ripped – all alongside the public servant (Stu Lumsden’s) assurance that we had “enough Labour Inspectors” just shortly before the election; or perhaps the state of Wellington’s bus ‘debacle’ – you know – that ‘space’ where we have a wee bit of a problem.
I thought I’d just pop up to Newtown (Constable Street) from Mount Victoria where what I needed to do would normally have been completed within the hour. I’d try out GRWC’s new improved service. Under the old system, that would have been completed within an hour.
I never realised just how bad this complete FUCKUP is. I left home before the nauseating ‘old school’ Jessie Mulligan kicked in after 1pm., before he had to don his lycras and bike up the hill to Teev 3. Midday Report was still rolling – in fact I think Maddison Ready was referring to the exceptional expertise of someone from Craig’s Investment Partners, giving what we were expected to believe was some sort of impartial and valuable take on the state of the meerkats.
3.30pm, I’ve arrived home. The majority of it I walked.
The only people I encountered not fussed on that journey was a guy on a Gold Card taking his mum for a day out on a bus journey. And she’d obviously lost the plot a few years back (not unlike my mother). Why they could even get a ride from the southern suburbs on the flat, up to Kingston. I think routes 23 and 29 figured in their journey.
Meanwhile, others crowding the Newtown footpaths who simply wanted to get to Courtenay Place needed a transfer if they didn’t want to wait what transpired was up to half an hour.
And while we watched the info boards (after having been told we’d have to walk down to the next stop), one #1 was Sched, then disappeared, and then 3 #1 services to places north turned up almost together.
Sorry mate. It’s not JUST about implementation despite your creds, it’s the entire project from start to finish, and perhaps you should have had the gumption to check the requirements before you began your design.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08-10-2018/
at 15 and below, and my comment at 15.2 seems all the more reasonable.
I’m going to be waiting for the next lot of spin with phrases like “change averse”.
Already there’s been a consultant telling us it’s all about implementation rather than design.
FUCK ME with a feather duster. Sometimes the bleeding bloody obvious seems to escape many. Oh, and for the privilege of taking advantage of this new improved service I’m expected to believe is superior to what happened before, as a cash fare payer, the fare is 25% more expensive.
NEVER AGAIN.
A bloody case study in how NOT to do things.
Lucky for GWRC and its verbally flatulent apparatus they’ve been given till December. THe longer it goes on, the worse it gets
@OOTim. Not batting an eyelid here unfortunately. I’m pleased to report I was able to get from Kilbirnie to Mirimar very successfully yesterday, but there’s still severe apprehension every time a bus trip is needed, even a short hop like that one (I allowed myself 45mins to get there). I have however had to stop going out in the evenings altogether now for the foreseable future due to the very real risk of being stranded far from home after dark.
It will be interesting to see if this driver’s strike goes ahead. Even as someone totally dependent on buses, I’d actually quite like to see the entire bus network taken out of action for a week and see if the resulting chos would be enough to force central Govt to take over.
Once was Tim
I am a newcomer to Wellington and was travelling in Constable Street just recently. I was worried about a hub transfer but didn’t need one on my route thank goodness. You have my sympathy and i heard two drivers talking and they were confused and unhappy too. All the best.
Yep well, when all said and done, a bloody MINOR inconvenience by comparison with Chorus contractors being exploited, people trafficked (yes right here in ‘lil ole NuZull), and public servants flogging off water to the highest bidder and at the expense of those paying for the positions representing a public they’re expected to serve.
And as I listen to Checkpoint, I’m kind of wondering why it’s taken this long for some of them to now feel comfortable enough to state the bleeding obvious publicly (such as a Devoy and a Lumsden).
Again!!! time for some analysis of what’s all gone wrong in our public service over the past decade or so.
(https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/10/07/nz-government-officials-caught-red-handed-helping-chinese-companies-take-nz-water/#comment-441531)
The good thing is I’m now fairly sure the coalition is beginning to wake up, and recognise that in many circumstances the advice of their “officials” is not always what it seems to be.
The world is burning.
Yet the Herald is leading with this as news.
A headline that reflects the selfish first world problems that trouble its readers.
As Draco repeatedly says, we can’t afford the rich.
“Air New Zealand’s Koru Club full: Passengers diverted to airport’s Strata Lounge.”
Nike: “Just Do It.” Jeremy Corbyn’s desperate
and cynical enemies: “Just Smear Him.”
Profiles in Courage. NOT
No. 3: Sen. SUSAN COLLINS
cowardy-custard n., A coward; a timid or fearful person (prob. suggesting trembling in fear like a custard wobbles.)
Profiles in Courage. NOT is an occasional series commissioned by Daisycutter Sports Inc. to highlight the moral (and sometimes physical) cowardice of politicians and their lackeys.
No. 2: Simon William “Bill” English
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18022017/#comment-1300686
No. 1: Justin Trudeau
TS’s very own malignant anti-semite was triggered, too.
President Donald Trump’s Twitter attack last week on George Soros set off a round of anti-Semitic attacks on the Jewish financier, as well as authoritarian calls from key Trump supporters for the president to use state power to freeze or seize Soros’ assets.
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/10/08/president-trump-opened-gates-wave-authoritarian-and-anti-semitic-attacks-george-soros/221606
Hi Greywarshark
I don’t write with sarcasm. I just use actuality.
That is, I observe exactly what is taking place.
Wish you well.
Kia ora Newshub its a incredibly hard for all the USA ambassadors with the trump rhetoric . Some time’s I think when pointing out the gop flaws this alert some to there reality ??????? but no they will lose .
It’s cool the Indian Wahine are standing up for there right’s no one else will
MANA WAHINE.
I’m sure ancient India treated there wahine with much more respect than how they are treated at the minute kia kaha .
Grant Robertson is the best qualified person to run the Crown’s book’s enough said.
My offspring were all grown up before that smacking law came in .
Most time’s when a child is playing up they just need one to come down to there level and talk to them they are just seeking attention give them more attention .
I try not to take my mokopunas into shop’s when we look after them we do but only when we are buying them stuff.
Loan shark’s need to be brought into line ka pai.
That’s the problem with the World’s economy people who have the least money are charged the highest interests and people awash with money pay next to nothing that has to be reversed.
There you go alcohol has a direct LINK to domestic abuse the data curves will follow the same trajectory up with the sales curves that is one reason this problem has not gone down alcohol lobbing all lobbing should be banned I could never handle hang overs.
To the TAX working group increase the tax on alcohol and watch our bad stats drop that’s a logical move.
Space travel is part of our future you know who Eco is backing why because if it was not for him no one would making as much electric cars as is all the rage at the minute .
Xero accounting soft ware is a awesome product we have brought the other brands in the past we end up using excel and stop using them but Xero make’s accounting as easy as child’s play.
Ka kite ano
It give me a sore face when I see that more Kiwis are taking their retirement savings seriously one need to put money away for when they get older as no one else will do that for you Ka pai .
A %7 increase is awesome lump sum payments up % 39 they are making these payments so they get all the government’s Kiwisaver subsidy there is a lot of good data coming out of this story .Kia kaha kiwi’s ka kite ano link below.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/107710637/kiwisaver-lump-sum-deposits-pour-in-for-taxpayer-subsidies
Some Eco Maori music for the minute
Here is a story that gives me hope for a happy healthy prosperous future for ALL OUR Mokopuna’s
The Dutch Court rules in favour of OUR environment . The whole World will have to follow suit and work together to save our grandchildren’s future environment Kia kaha
Ka kite ano link is below
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/09/dutch-appeals-court-upholds-landmark-climate-change-ruling
I remember when I was 8 there was a new kid in our class she was Indian all the other kid’s picked on her I would tell/make them leave her be next minute my
Grate grandmother and I were going to her birthday her dad is still the whano doctor.
Kia kaha to the Indian METOO movement that’s the way make your men see that with out you they would have nothing . And you wan’t your voices heard links below Ka kite ano.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/09/india-has-metoo-moment-as-claims-of-sexual-misconduct-reach-government
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/09/himtoo-metoo-tweet-pieter-hanson-mothers-attack-on-feminism-movement-goes-wrong
I agree with the most of this story the whole Papatuanuku need to plant billions of tree’s I say and cut carbon use how.
A carbon tax and all the money is poured into saving our existing forest & plant new forest invest heavily into renewable energy
Link is below ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/09/shell-ben-van-beurden-mass-reforestation-un-climate-change-target
Some Eco Maori music for the minute
Eco Maori tau toko this Idea totally urban orchards it will give healthy food for the needy all our councils have to do is change the types of tree’s they plant in and around te mokopuna’s play areas in places were its safe for people to pick them . link below
Ka kite ano many thanks for this story I say go one better and have urban vegie gardens to P.S The shops won’t lose to much profts
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/food-news/107735320/why-its-time-for-new-zealand-to-embrace-urban-orchards
Kia ora te maori TV I say online troll’s bulling is a big problem in Aotearoa at the minute
As soon as there is a story about maori issues the troll’s jump onto the comments page and start spewing there racist rubbish .
But I say one has to be careful when trying to make law’s to curb this problem that the laws are not used to silence free speech so I say be real careful what one wishes for ka kite ano.
Kia ora Newshub that’s a nice big fine to stop the loan sharks predators $600 k that will make them think twice before they rip our people off .
Its cool Peter Jackson’s films he has added color to the old films I have been looking at NZONSCREEN and some of those need a brush up the sound on some are bad to.
Ka pai.
Tongan fans for the Tongan League team are staunch and proud wish them all the best.
Wow a new high rise building for Tamaki makau rau that looks like a cool design with a green floor ka pai .
With the Sydney Opera house issue Allan Jones is not as popular as him and his m8 think enough said .
Many thanks to Sea World people in Australia for saving the pepe Whale it was quite a dangerous task what I will say is animals have intelligence. They said the mother Whale new they were helping her calf . She could have easy squashed them.
Vector lines company well if you got fined I say you have not maintained the asset correctly . They have to have people checking the lines are not in danger from trees falling on them and cutting power this is the main cause of power cut’s in bad weather .
Daved Bowie was a artist who broke the mold for music like a few of his pears I liked his music It will be a bit old for the new generation .
Did you see my pick of music this arvo .
Andrew we are going to have a good couple of weeks of League Ka pai
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls all the best to the Breaker’s .
Mulls did James jandles get caught in some wires .
Congradulations to James sisters for having a new baby us men don’t know how easy we got it I get a reminder every now and then lol.
Kangaroos well Mal Meninga he is a great Australian indigenous role model for all
te mokopuna’s can’t say to much.??????? but I have a great memory.
Thats the way the wahine Black ferns kia kaha
Sam E hoa I get sore neck its a pain hurt it chasing my younger brother jumped a fence caught my foot on the fence and head butted the rock hard dirt bounced up and caught him. It did not start playing up till I got long in the tooth lol.
Ka kite ano P.S I did not kick his ass all though I wanted to