I’m writing this in response to Ollie Neas’s excellent piece The Greens’ Labour problem, in which he questioned whether the Green Party was the right focal point for leftwing political energy in New Zealand… it’s an intelligent and cogent contribution to the debate and honestly, I’m just relieved it wasn’t another Blue-Green take.
Youngsters still in the keen phase, yet to go through burn-out…
And as usual, your commentary is nothing but snide remarks about the messenger(s).
You are obviously too lazy, unable, and unwilling to come up with “an intelligent and cogent contribution to the debate” and your attempt at a Yoda impersonation causes cracks in the Force.
David Williams is Newsroom's environment editor & South Island correspondent. He does a thoughtful appraisal of the Green electorate victory trend extending southward.
The Greens now have two list MPs from Christchurch – Carter and Lan Pham – as well as Otago’s Scott Willis, boosting its South Island representation. Across Banks Peninsula, Christchurch Central, Christchurch East, Ilam, and Wigram, the Greens gained almost 11,500 raw party votes on the 2020 election results. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/seeds-planted-for-a-green-win-in-christchurch
Pham, a former Environment Canterbury councillor, got 8325 votes in Banks Peninsula… a big gain on outgoing list MP Eugenie Sage’s 2020 result of 6222. Party vote for the Greens was 19.6 percent in Banks Peninsula, and 19.4 percent in Christchurch Central, well up on 2020’s proportions of 14.3 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively.
Dunne, the former United Future leader, says the Greens will be reviewing its overall strategy – and he suspects it’ll go "all out" for two-tick campaigns at the next election in a bid to win more electorate seats.
Yeah that makes sense. No more being nice to Labour. Ride the wave.
The natural Greens target would be Dunedin where the Greens got 11,500 Party vote and Labour 13,000. That's now very reversible in 2026.
Brooking was 9,000 votes ahead of the Green candidate, but frankly after Mt Albert and Auckland Central that's do-able. I’m sure Greens’ Scott Willis has figured this out already.
I shouldn't be surprised but disgraced former ministers pop up as a lobbyists.
"Since then, Kiri Allan resigned as Justice Minister and has started her own consultancy and lobbying firm. Stuart Nash also quit as a Cabinet Minister and now has a role which includes lobbying for global recruitment firm Robert Walters."
There is a lot of talk about lobbyists and MPs. This still doesn't go far enough, contact with officials, advisors or any in the public service should be bought under any reforms.
We live in an age where trust in institutions is at an all time low, it is disheartening to hear that the Commerce Commission had to pay more $ on top of the $1.7million they pay their own comms staff.
The arrangement has been condemned from across the political spectrum. Writer and analyst Max Rashbrooke is quoted by Espiner explaining why this is a problem: “If you’ve got a lobbying firm – whose job it is to get government decisions changed in favour of its clients – embedded right in the heart of government, then I think that’s totally inappropriate.”
Similarly, the Taxpayers’ Union has called for an investigation, saying “the Commission has effectively allowed a lobbying firm to infiltrate and potentially manipulate regulatory processes. This is a blatant conflict of interest, undermining the Commission’s role as an unbiased regulator and betraying public trust.”
When lobbyists get attacked from both left & right simultaneously, do they respond "Hey you guys, commercial democracy is where it's at!"? Yes, if they have a sense of humour. Can always follow up with a history lesson on how the establishment parties have legislated for it for half a century. Teach youngsters a thing or two…
Rather than focussing on Edwards’ hypocrisy and arrogance, perceived or not, and his disclosed and undisclosed funding sources, perhaps you could try to address the content of his piece?
Agreed. National's rhetoric about Labour's failure to "deliver" over-simplified a complicated reality. There were indeed failures to deliver (tax reform), and there were also cases such as this, where National hated the fact that Labour delivered stuff for the 'wrong' social class.
There was a major wordpress update last night. You may have caching issues.
I’ll try resetting all of the caches. But you might need to force a reload on your browser on at least one TS page to get it fixed in the short-term. Can’t tell you what that is in your browser/OS without knowing what you are on. Common ones are in this line.
You're not alone, my Android has the weird format as of today too. couldn't figure out a Hard Refresh being a "Dinosaur" myself, so only back to the computer to read The Standard for now.
Perhaps the biggest pre-2024 barometer was Virginia, where the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, who has assailed voting rights, poured tens of millions of dollars into an effort to gain full control of the statehouse and impose a 15-week abortion ban.
Instead Democrats secured both chambers, simultaneously killing off rumours of a last-minute Youngkin presidential bid.
Joe Scarborough, a cable news TV host and former Republican congressman, commented on Wednesday: “The overturning of Roe has got to be the most devastating single event for the Republican party since Watergate.”
One man who understands this is Trump himself. Although he likes to remind religious conservatives that his supreme court appointments made the overturning of Roe v Wade possible, he has also used 2024 election campaign speeches to urge pragmatism and warn his base that abortion bans are a vote loser.
Reproductive rights supporters won big in an Ohio ballot measure. The Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, was re-elected in Kentucky by campaigning on reproductive rights while his challenger, the state attorney general, Daniel Cameron, touted his endorsement by former president Donald Trump. A Democrat won an open seat on the Pennsylvania supreme court after campaigning on his pledge to uphold abortion rights.
Chris Christie, who is challenging Trump for the nomination, cited Tuesday’s result in deep-red Kentucky. “Cameron was a rising star in the Republican party until he decided to throw his lot in with Donald Trump,” he told CNN. “Let’s face it, Donald Trump is political and electoral poison down ballot.”
Looks like an ebb tide going out on Trump & Republicans.
Cases like this wouldn't be an issue if the full plan for health and accident compensation as recommended in the Woodhouse Report had been put in place instead of only half of it, which is what we have today, the other half being axed by Muldoon in 1975. Luxon says he’s gonna fix everything. Maybe the prick can fix this?
in addition to letting things slide like NZ has, we're now in a mess from the pandemic and ongoing staff shortages, system break downs, and general sub par performance. We really need to be shifting into transition and adaptation thinking instead of expecting someone to return us to previous normal.
Something I find really annoying about our democratic process is the amount of money wasted when governments change. One government may have spent millions or even billions on some projects or another only for a new government to scrap said projects because they don't align with their own priorities, or they see things a different way.
I think there needs to be some sort of cross party strategic committee that makes decisions about strategic projects. A good example would have been Three Waters. It appears that both Labour and National realise there are problems that need to be solved. It would have been good if that issue could have been put to a cross-party strategic committee so that a solution that all sides can agree on could be implimented.
Such a process would likely result in much more sustainable and better solutions to significant problems.
From National's perspective, it makes sense to leave the problem to Councils whose only tools are to increase rates or borrow. Higher rates, along with rising insurance costs due to CC, will see a number of people who own houses but have lower incomes (e.g. the retired) having to sell up. If you simultaneously inflate asset prices through foreign buyers and re-incentivising domestic investors, then it becomes harder for first home buyers as well. Like a beautiful pincer movement, these two forces will accelerate the concentration of home ownership into the hands of mega landlords. The new feudalism beckons.
Mucked up formatting the link to David Hargreaves analysis of the electricity company asset sales – this one works.
Almost a year after the last (official) state asset sale, David Hargreaves has a look at how the investors – and the taxpayers – have fared [Feb 2015]
It is still much too early to judge the success or failure of the asset sales programme – but worth having a look at where we are right now anyway in terms of dollars and cents.
The early signs are that the investors are doing okay, thanks very much, while the taxpayer – maybe not so much.
In the end the number of people investing in the asset sales was only in the low hundreds of thousands (hard to come up with exact figures because there will undoubtedly be double-ups).
In 1991 the Nats introduced the Energy Sector Reform Bill (later split to become five separate acts, including the Energy Companies Act 1992 and the Electricity Act 1992), containing provisions facilitating the corporatisation of electricity supply authorities and a wide range of regulatory measures.
It's just the way Nat pollies and there backers think and plan (long term) – how can the wealthy maximise their extraction of unearned income from publicly-funded services and infrastructure. It has little-to-nothing to do with the wider public good – NZ is just a cash cow being milked dry by already wealthy Kiwis, imho.
Imho, many Kiwi politicians are more tribal and partisan than most commentators here, and most "bottom feeders", so yes, "no show" as the effects of inequality and overshoot play out. Aotearoa NZ could do with a bit more of "He Waka Eke Noa", but Mammon demands absolute loyality.
For National, that means getting farmers back onside, so they're kicking the emissions can down the paddock by five years.
…
The Government's aiming for an agricultural emissions scheme by 2025 but that's looking unlikely given the stalemate on He Waka Eke Noa, a plan it designed with 14 sector groups.
"There was a plan produced a year ago by the sector. The Government blew it up, shot it to bits and killed it," Luxon said.
A good first step would be the independent costings unit, as proposed previously, and as practised in other democracies. Test policies against financial reality, and tell the public before they vote.
A mainstream media channel window on IDF butchers going about their work. I just hope that international solidarity keeps building to the point where Israel has to stop the slaughter and destruction, and that somehow a negotiated settlement will begin.
Cultural and economic boycotts bought South Africa’s apartheid state to account, and BDS can do that now, and provide a way from this distance to help the Palestinian cause. Check that Tahini jar label, and don’t buy a new Sodastream or Puma shoes.
"I just hope that international solidarity keeps building to the point where Israel has to stop the slaughter and destruction, and that somehow a negotiated settlement will begin"
Israeli Zionists have never wanted to negotiate, and they won't stop their slaughter because they are doing what they have always wanted to do, and have the full protection of the USA to carry out their ethnic cleansing….
This is The Western Rules Based Order in all it's glory is on display for the entire world to witness… impotently doing nothing..it is a fucking disgrace.
It is like watching a twisted version of the Warsaw uprising being played out right in front of us in 2023.
Notice how all the Ra RA Never Negotiate Ukraine war crowd on this site have been almost silent on this Ethnic Cleansing… I doubt if many of those idiots have had an original thought pass through their lazy brains for decades…not told to be outraged and support the people of Gaza…so they aren’t…it is as simple as that.
A misrepresentation surely – given the 1947 UN partition plan was based on the League of Nations mandate, which was based on the Balfour Declaration (1917).
I should have thought that the complete ethnic cleansing of Jews from the surrounding Arab countries would be a relevant factor, in Israeli trust (or otherwise) of Arab intentions.
In total, around six million Ukrainian refugees were registered across Europe and 6.2 million worldwide as of September 2023. Most of them fled the country by crossing the border with Poland.
After over a decade of conflict, Syria remains the world’s largest refugee crisis. Since 2011, more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety. More than 6.8 million Syrians remain internally displaced in their own country where 70 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance and 90 percent of the population live below the poverty line.
War results in refugees. An oppressive regime results in refugees not wanting to return, even when the war is over.
how many people of Gaza have left the area of Gaza?
Given you cannot answer – what is known is that Egypt is only allowing nationals not of Gaza across the border.
War results in deaths – 600,000 in Syria. Recent resumption of urban bombing in Syria and Ukraine has caused more deaths.
Why are deaths of civilians called ethnic cleansing in Gaza, but not those in Ukraine or Syria?
What is also known is that Israel wanted the population of Gaza City to move to southern Gaza so it could then move in the IDF to fight Hamas (who have underground bases there) in that area.
What in Syria is called displaced persons.
Israel can be accused of killing civilians in Gaza (because of an acceptance of deaths within a zone of a target), but not of ethnic cleansing.
You know what, I am not going to engage with you..anyone whose moral compass is so broken that they can sit there and play down (so in essence defend) the war savage crimes that the degenerate, apartheid state of Israel is commiting on civilians in Gaza and the West Bank as we speak, is not someone I want to have anything at all to do with, so please don't engage with me on this site in the future please…Get It.
I do not think so Gabby. The IDF will pull its head in as the international BDS takes stronger effect, and pressure on the US ruling class is too much for them. Southern hemisphere countries in the main do not like Israel one little bit.
@Gabby
"I imagine the slaughter may stop when hamas no longer exists"……..Israel and the USA has ensured that Hamas will become bigger and more extreme and dangerous than we can possibly imagine….how many Muslim men and woman around the world do you imagine have become prepared to Martyr themselves for this cause now?
I would imagine the slaughter would stop a lot quicker if the Terrorist IDF would stop doing the slaughtering.
Hipkins was confirmed as the Party’s leader this Tuesday and said he would fight on to the 2023 election. However the party has shown signs of instability in the days that followed the vote.
by Thomas Coughlan
So writes a miserable rat who can't stop with the slurs and innuendoes. This in his column about a complaint about Ginny Anderson who yelled at a helper. Go back to sleep Coughlin!
When the Party General Secretary confirms that a complaint has been made and that it is being investigated his story certainly isn't what you are saying. It certainly isn't innuendo is it?
Should he have simply ignored the story? Are we not to be allowed to know about the behaviour of the people who want the right to rule us?
"Imho, the primary role of all MP's should be to serve (all) Kiwis, rather than "rule us"."
On that point I am totally in agreement with you. I'm not sure that most of the MPs would agree with us though. Particularly the ones who make it into the leadership jobs in a party or the front benches in the House.
The Thomas Coughlan article is about allegations of verbal abuse of two teenagers.
At the end, there are these unrelated comments which are not enlarged upon or substantiated.
"Hipkins was confirmed as the Party’s leader this Tuesday and said he would fight on to the 2023 election. However the party has shown signs of instability in the days that followed the vote."
What connection is Coughlan making between Hipkins as leader for the 2023 election (does he mean 2026?) and signs of instability? The two sentences are in the same paragraph and therefore must be linked.
Perhaps it is in the same well constructed and researched vein as his 2023 error…….
Recently I read of an Israeli spokesman who originated the idea of "river to the sea." He did so in a speech about 10 years+ ago. So not new and could be interpreted as a call for Israel to take over the whole region.
Would be useful to be quoted exactly esp in defence of Chloe. Anyone?
Thanks Francesca. That is a reasonable expression of peaceful option. And it also shows how a phrase "river to the sea" has been used to create anger against people such as Chloe. And used by many people on all sides of the "debate."
Imagine the group of Israelis discussing options for peace with say, Chloe. Makes me wonder if the outrage is organised to distract?
Political groups have employed the slogan since the 1960s to advocate for Palestinian liberation, with origins in the Palestinian National Council's initial charters, which demanded a Palestinian state geographically encompassing the historic boundaries of Mandatory Palestine, and a removal of a majority of its Jewish population
From 1964 in accord with the original Arab position of a unitary state (many of the Jewish population left Arab nations in the late 1940's).
Likud did their 1977 statement after that.
Then the Hamas Charter in support of the 1964 position in 1988.
The PNC position changed with the Oslo Accords and founding of the PA – when the PLO moved to justice of Arabs in Israel, right of return for refugees and a Palestine state on 67 borders.
Hamas under pressure from Egypt in 2017 agreed with this as an interim step before a later move to a unitary state (thus without any recognition of an Israeli state).
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, which describes itself as conservative and nationalist, has been a staunch promoter of the concept of “Eretz Israel”, or the Bible-given right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the party’s original party manifesto in 1977 stated that “between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty”. It also argued that the establishment of a Palestinian state “jeopardises the security of the Jewish population” and “endangers the existence of the state of Israel”.
This is because this increase in possession is of consequence not only in itself, but because through it we increase our strength, and every increase in strength helps in the possession of the land as a whole. The establishment of a state, even if only on a portion of the land, is the maximal reinforcement of our strength at the present time and a powerful boost to our historical endeavors to liberate the entire country.[2][3][4]
The same sentiment was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such as at a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938,[5] as well as by Chaim Weizmann.[4][6] Ben Gurion said:
We shall smash these frontiers which are being forced upon us, and not necessarily by war…."
That was in the 1930s Israel's intention to 'acquire land' was well stated decades before it's multiple wars of conquest in 1967
I suggest you read the original question, which was about the origin of the phrase "river to the sea"
There is no question that extremists on both sides want sole occupation of Israel/Palestine – and have done since the 19th century.
However, Israel has citizenship and democratic participation by Palestinian Arabs in the Knesset. Care to take up the challenge to name a Middle Eastern country which extends the same privilege to Jews?
I suggest you learn the geographical area covering Ben-Gurions statement – it is the area the river to the sea – If you consider that Zionist leadrers clearly stating they planned to 'ACQUIRE' it all in the 1930's Is of no importance then that says an awful about your motivations. If you want simply to be pissy about a phrase well it's interesting that in english it rhymes but it doesn't in Arabic – perhaps suggesting it was coind by english speaking individual.
1. the decision of the UN to partition the area into two states
2. from 1949 acquisition of territory war is no longer recognised by the UN (so the relative share is stuck at the 1949-1967 border).
Thus only two states, via a peace settlement, can change the 1949-1967 international status quo.
Israeli negotiators might want to retain some WB settlements (usually those near Jerusalem) within Israel – Palestinian negotiators might want a transport corridor (road and rail) between WB and Gaza etc.
I see Newshub is still operating from the Septic Tank. A teenage girl got yelled at supposedly. Why does that warrant an allegation of bullying? And headline in the news? Because it was a Labour MP. If it had been Nat member it wouldn’t rate a mention. Just the same as they wouldn’t have followed up on the Uffindull saga which was outright assault on a teenager. Potential police charge but daddy got him off. Now they’re going full on into Chris H doing an U turn on taxes. Which he can do if he so wishes. John Key was the king of Uturns.He set the precedent. ‘ No,we will never raise GST, golly gosh’… nek minnit GST 15%! 3% raise! Chris Hipkins should get a small department dedicated to dealing with these allegations the minute they are published. Hit them back immediately with their side the story. This smacks of what seems to be going to be a three year long onslaught by Newshub.
So it's OK for a Labour politician to yell at teenage volunteers, and blame them because she lost her seat.
Really?
Andersen is the person with the position of power here. It's outright bullying.
And before you get into the "whaddabout". Uffindell was absolutely wrong. I don't think there is any debate about this. He admits it, and has apologized. However, he was also a teenager at the time (16) – and certainly not in Parliament.
The two cases are not at all comparable.
The closest parallel is Meka Whaitiri (who was stood down as a Minister by Ardern, for bullying a staffer). You could also list Mallard, who made allegations in Parliament about a staffer committing 'rape' which were completely unfounded – an abuse of his power/authority as Speaker. But received no consequences from the Labour party or PM for his error of judgement.
The most recent National MP accused of bullying was Tim van de Molen – accused of stand-over tactics and bullying towards Shanan Halbert.
It was widely covered in the media – and Van de Molen was stood down from his portfolios by Luxon, and apologised both to the House and to Halbert.
We don't know the circumstances around the incident yet. It is possible the MP was provoked – not necessarily by the teenagers concerned. It is also possible a mountain is being made out of a molehill. My advice is for people to shut up until the facts are known.
Ah, the media doing what it does best – policing the opposition once National is back in government. We are going to get three years of a TPU-fed forensic focus on Labour while Luxon (like Key) gets a free ride.
Mark Mitchell the ex mercenary soldier is not liked by a lot of people. I have no doubt National members included. Do we hear a peep out of the media about that? Nah.
Maggie Barry had a reputation for being a bully. The media treated her pretty kindly even after staff attested to the fact.
Top Nat Party figures were in the spotlight from time to time but none of them subjected to the kind of 'forensic analysis' applied to Labour miscreants. Unless they commit offences of a serious nature, the spotlight does not shine anything like as fiercely on the Nats.
Doesn't sound to me like this was a serious case of bullying. Anyone who has been to a political party election night function knows there is usually a lot of noise – TVs blaring and people reacting to the outcomes. Its not a place for calm, considered conversations:
In a letter of complaint, which was leaked to media outlets yesterday, the mother alleges poor behaviour over a period of three years, but particularly on election night this year.
I wonder why the teenager hung in there for 3 years?
Why the mother didn't intervene earlier?
I've been yelled at in all kinds of circumstances .Paid employment .But if this had been regular and I had been volunteering, you wouldn't see me for dust .
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Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical ScienceSkeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise “informed by” head ...
One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found …. Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item: Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki: “Section ...
A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on FridayRoutinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023. Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chiefExclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website,Point of Order turned today to Scoop’sLatest Parliament Headlines for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
“And there’ll be no shortage of ‘events’ to test Luxon’s political skills. David Seymour wants a referendum on the Treaty. Winston wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Labour’s handling of the Covid crisis. Talk about cans of worms!”LAURIE AND LES were very fond of their local. It was nothing ...
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Misinformation is debated everywhere and has justifiably sparked concerns. It can polarise the public, reduce health-protective behaviours such as mask wearing and vaccination, and erode trust in science. Much of misinformation is spread not ...
A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is not even an entry in Wikipedia. ...
So New Zealand has a brand-spanking new right-wing government. Not just any new government either. A formal majority coalition, of the sort last seen in 1996-1998 (our governmental arrangements for the past quarter of a century have been varying flavours of minority coalition or single-party minority, with great emphasis ...
And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the tree with its gold ribbon but can turn out to be nothing more than a big box holding a voucher for socks, so it ...
So, after weeks of negotiations, we finally have a government, with a three-party cabinet and a time-sharing deputy PM arrangement. Newsroom's Marc Daalder has put the various coalition documents online, and I've been reading through them. A few things stand out: Luxon doesn't want to do any work, ...
Nothing says strong and stable like having your government announcement delayed by a day because one of your deputies wants to remind everyone, but mostly you, who wears the trousers. It was all a bit embarrassing yesterday with the parties descending on Wellington before pulling out of proceedings. There are ...
Winston Peters will be Deputy PM for the first half of the Coalition Government’s three-year term, with David Seymour being Deputy PM for the second half. Photo montage by Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR:PM-Elect Christopher Luxon has announced the formation of a joint National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government with a ...
THERE ARE SOME SONGS that seem to come from a place that is at once in and out of the world. Written by men and women who, for a brief moment, are granted access to that strange, collective compendium of human experience that comes from, and belongs to, all the ...
It’s Friday again! Maybe today we’ll finally have a government again. Roll into the weekend with some of the articles that caught our attention this week. And as always, feel free to add your links and observations in the comments. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt ...
The COP28 countdown is on. Over 100 world leaders are expected to attend this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which starts next Thursday. Among the VIPs confirmed for the Dubai summit are the UK’s Rishi Sunak and Brazil’s Lula da Silva – along ...
By scrapping Aotearoa’s world-leading smokefree laws, this government is sacrificing Māori lives to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Not only is this plan revolting, but it doesn’t add up. Treasury has estimated that the reversal of smokefree laws to pay for tax cuts will cost our health system $5.25bn, ...
Figures showing National needs to find another $900 million for landlords highlights the mess this coalition Government is in less than a week into the job. ...
Community organisations, mana whenua and the Greens have written to the incoming Minister of Oceans and Fisheries to call for the progression without delay of the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill. ...
"On behalf of the Labour Party I would like to congratulate Christopher Luxon on his appointment as Prime Minister,” Labour Party Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
NZ First has gotten their wish to ‘take our country back’ to the 1800s with a policy program that will white-wash Aotearoa and erase tangata whenua rights. By disestablishing the Māori Health Authority this Government has condemned Māori to die seven years earlier than Pākehā. By removing Treaty obligations from ...
Te Pāti Māori have called for the resignation of the Ministry of Foreign and Trade chief executive Chris Seed following his decision to erase te reo Māori from government communications. While the country still waits for a new government to be formed, Mr Seed took it upon himself to undermine ...
The New Zealand Labour Party is urgently calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel to put a halt to the appalling attacks and violence, so that a journey to a lasting peace can begin, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
RNZ political reporter Katie Scotcher, Newhub's political editor Jenna Lynch, and the New Zealand Herald's deputy political editor, Thomas Coughlan discuss the coalition government's first week in charge. ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists and media workers have criticised comments made by Aotearoa New Zealand’s newly-elected Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters — who claimed that a 2020 Labour government media funding initiative constituted “bribery” — as a threat to media freedom. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reports that it ...
ANALYSIS:By Tristan Dunning, University of Queensland, and Martin Kear, University of Sydney While the world remains fixated on the devastating October 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, there has been a pronounced — and mostly unnoticed — escalation in violence against Palestinians in ...
ANALYSIS:By Terence Wood In the wake of New Zealand’s recent election, and subsequent coalition negotiations, Winston Peters has emerged as New Zealand’s Foreign Minister again. I’ve never been able to adequately explain why a populist politician leading a party called New Zealand First would have an interest in a ...
NZME, the owners of the Herald, has been fined close to $200,000 after a “magnetic puzzle toy” sold through its Grabone service was deemed to be unsafe. The fine is an increase on the $88,000 penalty previous imposed by the court after the Commerce Commission appealed the decision. In a ...
On Saturday 2 December, pro-choice supporters will rally and march to defend abortion rights and to counter anti-choice conservatives. The rally starts at 1pm at Te Aro Park (Dixon/Manners) with speakers in the Park before marching. ...
The Reserve Bank surprised everyone this week by warning it may have to raise interest rates again to force inflation down, effectively eliminating the prospect of major mortgage rate cuts over the coming summer. In this week’s episode of When the Facts Change, Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr joins Bernard ...
Ōtepoti supporters of Restore Passenger Rail will slowly walk from the Railway Station to the Octagon on Monday morning, in support of their campaign’s demands that the new Government restores a nationwide passenger rail service and provides ...
Dame Jacinda Ardern observed after she stood down as Prime Minister that "Government isn’t just what you do, it's how you make people feel". While an interesting insight into how she viewed the purpose of government (and, some would argue, an ...
As the show prepares for its final episode, we look back at some of the weird and wonderful moments from the last six years of The Project NZ. The Project NZ burst into the 7pm slot in February 2017, and has since served us everything from Lizzo’s opinion on cheese ...
J Day Is Auckland’s Annual Celebration Of Our Kiwi Cannabis Culture And A Protest Against Prohibition, Held In Albert Park Every Year Since 1992. NORML and friends presents the 31st Annual J Day, usually held on the first Saturday in May every year ...
E Tipu e Rea Whānau Services are deeply concerned at the new Government's plan to scrap Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. As an organisation that works with teenage parents and their tamariki who have a history of state intervention, we know ...
Auckland is considering a move that would reduce kerbside rubbish collections to once a fortnight. It’s part of a council plan to drastically reduce the amount of rubbish produced by households, supported by the recent city-wide rollout of food scrap bins expected to reduce up to 41% of bin contents by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mike W. Morley, Associate Professor and Director, Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory, Flinders University In June, researchers led by palaeoanthropologist Lee Berger published sensational claims about an extinct human species called Homo naledi online and in the Netflix documentary Unknown: Cave of Bones. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Merja Myllylahti, Senior Lecturer, Co-Director Research Centre for Journalism, Media & Democracy, Auckland University of Technology According to a recent survey by the News Media Association, 90% of editors in the United Kingdom “believe that Google and Meta pose an existential threat ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Scott, Associate Professor (Adjunct), Science Communication, University of Notre Dame Australia Shutterstock It’s getting towards the time of the year when you might feel more overwhelmed than usual. There are work projects to finish and perhaps exams in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Wescott, Lecturer in Education, Monash University This week a new report said there was a “curriculum problem” in Australia. Education consultancy group Learning First found the science curriculum lacked depth and breadth and had major problems with sequencing and clarity. While ...
The new government has reiterated its commitment to build a stronger relationship with India. Trade minister Todd McClay will visit the country before the end of the month for a whirlwind trip to meet with his counterpart, reports Thomas Coughlan at the Herald. “I will be working with prime minister ...
The PM says deep spending cuts are needed to fix the ‘economic vandalism’ of the previous government. But Luxon and Willis are already running up some big bills of their own, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In his first week on the job, new Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell is visiting cyclone and flood-ravaged regions to hear what they need from the government. ...
They’re cold, they’re caffeinated and they’re classier than an energy drink – iced coffee in a can has gone from novelty to normal in Aotearoa in record time. We tasted 25 to sort the morning must-haves from the mediocre mud water. Just a few short years ago, coffee in a ...
Many news consumers feel a responsibility to bear witness to all sorts of distressing images and events. But deciding to tune out instead doesn’t make you a bad person, writes counsellor Ross Palethorpe. Our attention is demanded everywhere. We are exhorted to witness, to not look away, to act, in ...
Call it inflation, call it rising cost of living or call it “cozzie livs” as our Aussie friends now do. But it’s impacting different cities around the world very differently. The dry Aussie vernacular disguises a real problem in their biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, which price rises have ...
Opinion: The costs of living in New Zealand have been in the news for decades, with particular attention paid to food and housing. Food costs have been mostly blamed on the supermarket duopoly. The economics of the production and distribution of food and associated international commerce relationships and the ...
FICTION 1 The Girl from London by Olivia Spooner (Hachette, $37.99) A free copy of the wildly popular novel about a wartime shipboard romance was up for grabs in last week’s giveaway contest. Readers were asked to recount a shipboard romance in their own lives or someone they knew. ...
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It’s been a big few years for usage of New Zealand’s rail network, according to KiwiRail executives, who have reported unprecedented interest from freight customers as capital investment mounts. But they highlight the need for big jobs such as separating passenger and freight lines and bolstering the rail corridor ...
With a call for petroleum companies and the nations of the world to work together to solve the climate crisis, the United Arab Emirates’ controversial choice of President of COP28, opened the UN’s annual climate negotiations in Dubai yesterday. “Colleagues, let history reflect the fact that this is the ...
The coalition agreements contain many actions on the environment - most of them regressive and some that could take NZ back decades, writes environmentalist Gary Taylor The post New Government crashes environment appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Peter Dutton has his tail up, but he’s being careful to manage expectations. As the opposition celebrates its suddenly improved fortunes, Dutton told the party room this week that inevitably the government would recalibrate over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Breadon, Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute A Senate committee has investigated why so many Australians are missing out on dental care and made 35 recommendations for reform. By far the most sweeping is the call for universal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lester Munson, Non-resident fellow, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney Henry Kissinger was the ultimate champion of the United States’ foreign policy battles. The former US secretary of state died on November 29 2023 after living for a century. The ...
Coldplay will become the first musical act to play three nights at Auckland’s Eden Park when they visit the country in a year’s time. The band has just announced a third and final show at the venue as part of their global and seemingly never-ending Music of the Spheres world ...
A genuine news story quickly became a springboard for rumour and speculation, with one councillor at the centre of it. Wellington mayor Tory Whanau has a problem with alcohol. She has made that public and is clearly embarrassed. Whanau’s public behaviour was first called into questionin July after reports of ...
In light of the Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters’ recent comments about the media, a group of journalists who serve as E tū delegates say these claims are misinformed. Mr Peters has claimed the Public Interest Journalism Fund was a government “bribe” ...
RNZ News New Zealand’s opposition Labour Party has announced its shadow cabinet to face off against the conservative coalition government. The party endorsed Chris Hipkins as leader and voted Carmel Sepuloni as deputy earlier this month. Sepuloni is also Pacific Peoples minister. Many of the roles are a continuation of ...
It’s been a big few years for usage of New Zealand’s rail network, according to KiwiRail executives who have reported unprecedented interest from freight customers as capital investment mounts. But at the same time, they caution the need for big jobs like separating passenger and freight lines and bolstering ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Thompson, Associate Professor of Media Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Winston Peters had only just been sworn in as deputy prime minister when his long-standing antipathy to the news media emerged in the form of a serious ...
The Animal Justice Party Aotearoa New Zealand (AJPANZ) is joining forces with our friends across the ditch to lead a global protest against sportswear giant Adidas. AJPANZ has peaceful protests set to take place in Auckland and Christchurch this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A parliamentary inquiry has delivered a scathing indictment of Australia’s employment services, finding it does not serve the interests of job seekers or employers and urging the privatised system be partially wound back. A rigid ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has unveiled a proposal he says will encourage more uptake of public transport around the city. He’d like to see a $50 cap on public transport costs per person per week, which would cover bus, rail and inner harbour ferry services. “We need to get the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stacy Carter, Professor and Director, Australian Centre for Health Engagement, Evidence and Values, University of Wollongong Shutterstock Artificial intelligence (AI) is already being used in health care. AI can look for patterns in medical images to help diagnose disease. It ...
New Zealand’s new Government created international headlines this week for its decision to reverse the world’s first smoking ‘generation ban’. Now another major u-turn is on the cards, as New Zealand pledges to overturn the world-leading ...
The Others Way returns for 2023 at a bunch of venues on and around Auckland’s Karangahape Road on Friday night. Here’s who you can catch, where and when.The Others Way is, in general, a pretty chaotic music festival, spread over a number of venues in the busy Karangahape Road ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is offering to redesign logos for any renamed government departments for free in an effort to save taxpayers money following concerns that requiring a name change of government departments will give them an excuse to ...
The former justice minister Kiri Allan has revealed she pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to accompany a police officer in order to test a grey area in the law. Allan’s case, which related to a political career-ending car crash in July, was set to be heard in ...
New Zealand Disability Support Network is seeking assurance that disabled New Zealanders are a priority for the new government after being omitted from their 100 day plan. “Disability support providers wondering how they’ll survive financially, underpaid ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can today reveal that Grant Robertson’s attendance at the Rugby World Cup final in Paris cost taxpayers $39,605. Included in the cost was more than $32,000 in business class flights and more than $5000 in accommodation costs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney Earth’s surface is the living skin of our planet – it connects the physical, chemical and biological systems. Over geological time, this surface evolves. Rivers fragment the landscape into an environmentally diverse range of habitats. ...
For the eighth year, people in prisons will be receiving handmade holiday cards from strangers on the outside.Next to me, Amir* has drawn a beautiful streak of green across the front of a card. “Shit”, he says. The streak was intended to be the stem of a pōhutukawa, but ...
Former Invercargill mayor and national icon Tim Shadbolt will lend his name to the terminal at Invercargill Airport. The city’s councillors have agreed to pay tribute to Shadbolt’s eight-term tenure as mayor. He was first elected in 1993 and, aside from one term, held the position consistently until 2022. “Sir ...
Anna Galvan admits she’s not great on details. The former Silver Fern struggles to pinpoint a specific match that stands out to her, despite a career spanning 17 years in the elite game and 13 tests for her country. But ask the proud Cantabrian a strategic question on ...
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has unveiled a portfolio and list reshuffle as his party readies to hold the new coalition government to account. The line-up brought ministerial experience that National, Act and NZ First lacked, said Hipkins, and included six women and four men in the top 10. “I am ...
Two baby kiwi are the first to be born in the Wellington wild for over 150 years. The Capital Kiwi Project has, for more than five years, run a 4,600-strong stoat trap in the hills south-west of Wellington. Once predators had been deemed under control, 11 North Island brown kiwi ...
Wellington mayor Tory Whanau is off work with Covid-19, the day after admitting to an alcohol issue following media questions. Whanau told RNZ she was seeking “professional help” after reports of drunken behaviour in public, with the Herald reporting that a video “may be” circulating in the public domain. Today, ...
Not everyone needs to follow a tertiary pathway. But for those who do, a degree could well be ‘the experience of a lifetime’.In today’s job market, it’s hard not to feel a little hopeless. As entire industries go through massive change, it can be difficult for new entrants to ...
We invite you to read – ideally aloud – writer Emily Perkins’ speech delivered at the launch of a remarkable new novel earlier this month, republished in full below. The book launch speech is a particular and honoured art. Those who’ve attended a book launch, or many, will know how ...
ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa condemns the Luxon government’s plan to remove relationship and sexuality education (RSE) from school curricula. In striking out RSE, the government ignores decades of evidence-based research carried out in Aotearoa ...
Should we be texting and calling between dates? How can I tell if they’re really into me? Is it a crush or a dopamine spike?Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to [email protected]Dear Hera, I’m in my mid-20s and for a myriad reasons (devastating break-up, birth control-induced weight gain leading to self-esteem ...
As the Herald’s Claire Trevett and Thomas Coughlan write (paywalled), “There’s a fair bit of bad blood between some ministers in the new National-Act-NZ First government and a range of other public servants, diplomats and political appointees to public bodies.” As they explain, ministers do not hire or fire government department ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Walsh, Professor of AI, Research Group Leader, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT was unleashed onto an unsuspecting public exactly one year ago. It quickly became the fastest-growing app ever, in the hands of 100 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Dunning, Honorary Research Fellow, The University of Queensland While the world remains fixated on the devastating October 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, there has been a pronounced – and mostly unnoticed – escalation in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Peel, Director, Melbourne Climate Futures, The University of Melbourne As the COP28 climate summit gets underway in the oil production hub of the United Arab Emirates today, Australia’s climate minister Chris Bowen will detail our progress in meeting emissions cut targets ...
Ex-Labour hack explains why progressive activists oughtn't join Labour: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-11-2023/no-the-greens-dont-have-a-labour-problem
Youngsters still in the keen phase, yet to go through burn-out…
And as usual, your commentary is nothing but snide remarks about the messenger(s).
You are obviously too lazy, unable, and unwilling to come up with “an intelligent and cogent contribution to the debate” and your attempt at a Yoda impersonation causes cracks in the Force.
David Williams is Newsroom's environment editor & South Island correspondent. He does a thoughtful appraisal of the Green electorate victory trend extending southward.
Yeah that makes sense. No more being nice to Labour. Ride the wave.
The natural Greens target would be Dunedin where the Greens got 11,500 Party vote and Labour 13,000. That's now very reversible in 2026.
Brooking was 9,000 votes ahead of the Green candidate, but frankly after Mt Albert and Auckland Central that's do-able. I’m sure Greens’ Scott Willis has figured this out already.
In a nutshell:
"Uncertainty about motivations, origins and influence of lobbyist groups can erode trust in democratic process."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/501982/revolving-door-for-lobbyists-can-result-in-unfair-access-justice-ministry
I shouldn't be surprised but disgraced former ministers pop up as a lobbyists.
"Since then, Kiri Allan resigned as Justice Minister and has started her own consultancy and lobbying firm. Stuart Nash also quit as a Cabinet Minister and now has a role which includes lobbying for global recruitment firm Robert Walters."
There is a lot of talk about lobbyists and MPs. This still doesn't go far enough, contact with officials, advisors or any in the public service should be bought under any reforms.
We live in an age where trust in institutions is at an all time low, it is disheartening to hear that the Commerce Commission had to pay more $ on top of the $1.7million they pay their own comms staff.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/501838/lobbying-and-communications-firm-senate-s-wildly-inappropriate-contracts-at-commerce-commission-revealed
Good work by Guyon Espinor and team.
Dr Bryce is on the case: https://democracyproject.nz/2023/11/09/bryce-edwards-should-government-departments-be-giving-contracts-to-lobbying-firms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bryce-edwards-should-government-departments-be-giving-contracts-to-lobbying-firms
When lobbyists get attacked from both left & right simultaneously, do they respond "Hey you guys, commercial democracy is where it's at!"? Yes, if they have a sense of humour. Can always follow up with a history lesson on how the establishment parties have legislated for it for half a century. Teach youngsters a thing or two…
Unbelievable arrogance and hypocrisy from Edwards. Funding for his own political project is as opaque as they come.
I'm intrigued, can you elaborate plz?
Rather than focussing on Edwards’ hypocrisy and arrogance, perceived or not, and his disclosed and undisclosed funding sources, perhaps you could try to address the content of his piece?
did Nash only start lobbying when he quit Parliament?
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/property/301004889/firsthome-buyers-overcome-challenges-to-take-record-share-of-purchases
Watch national destroy labours hard won gains
Agreed. National's rhetoric about Labour's failure to "deliver" over-simplified a complicated reality. There were indeed failures to deliver (tax reform), and there were also cases such as this, where National hated the fact that Labour delivered stuff for the 'wrong' social class.
Am I the only one with the standard showing up in a very odd format?
There was a major wordpress update last night. You may have caching issues.
I’ll try resetting all of the caches. But you might need to force a reload on your browser on at least one TS page to get it fixed in the short-term. Can’t tell you what that is in your browser/OS without knowing what you are on. Common ones are in this line.
https://filecamp.com/support/problem-solving/hard-refresh
On a android mobile , don't think the link covers it , but am a far better sheep shagger than tech guy
You're not alone, my Android has the weird format as of today too. couldn't figure out a Hard Refresh being a "Dinosaur" myself, so only back to the computer to read The Standard for now.
Owen Jones puts the needless Gaza slaughter in perspective here.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/08/protesting-armistice-day-peace-war
Real people, real votes… https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/08/democrat-biden-poll-election-virginia-kentucky-ohio
Looks like an ebb tide going out on Trump & Republicans.
/cue playing worlds smallest vioiln
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/133257223/wait-for-lifechanging-surgery-continues-after-acc-takes-nine-months-to-refuse-her-claim
Cases like this wouldn't be an issue if the full plan for health and accident compensation as recommended in the Woodhouse Report had been put in place instead of only half of it, which is what we have today, the other half being axed by Muldoon in 1975. Luxon says he’s gonna fix everything. Maybe the prick can fix this?
in addition to letting things slide like NZ has, we're now in a mess from the pandemic and ongoing staff shortages, system break downs, and general sub par performance. We really need to be shifting into transition and adaptation thinking instead of expecting someone to return us to previous normal.
Something I find really annoying about our democratic process is the amount of money wasted when governments change. One government may have spent millions or even billions on some projects or another only for a new government to scrap said projects because they don't align with their own priorities, or they see things a different way.
I think there needs to be some sort of cross party strategic committee that makes decisions about strategic projects. A good example would have been Three Waters. It appears that both Labour and National realise there are problems that need to be solved. It would have been good if that issue could have been put to a cross-party strategic committee so that a solution that all sides can agree on could be implimented.
Such a process would likely result in much more sustainable and better solutions to significant problems.
National don't want to solve it.
They want it to be a fuckup so they can privatise!
Just like their creeping privatisation of our public health system, that has, and is, causing it’s demise
From National's perspective, it makes sense to leave the problem to Councils whose only tools are to increase rates or borrow. Higher rates, along with rising insurance costs due to CC, will see a number of people who own houses but have lower incomes (e.g. the retired) having to sell up. If you simultaneously inflate asset prices through foreign buyers and re-incentivising domestic investors, then it becomes harder for first home buyers as well. Like a beautiful pincer movement, these two forces will accelerate the concentration of home ownership into the hands of mega landlords. The new feudalism beckons.
Yep, privatisation of Kiwi public services and assets facilitates the diversification and growth of unearned income streams for the wealthy – <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/74219/almost-year-after-last-official-state-asset-sale-david-hargreaves-has-look-how"rel="nofollow ugc"Nats have form.
Mucked up formatting the link to David Hargreaves analysis of the electricity company asset sales – this one works.
In 1991 the Nats introduced the Energy Sector Reform Bill (later split to become five separate acts, including the Energy Companies Act 1992 and the Electricity Act 1992), containing provisions facilitating the corporatisation of electricity supply authorities and a wide range of regulatory measures.
It's just the way Nat pollies and there backers think and plan (long term) – how can the wealthy maximise their extraction of unearned income from publicly-funded services and infrastructure. It has little-to-nothing to do with the wider public good – NZ is just a cash cow being milked dry by already wealthy Kiwis, imho.
If politicians are half as tribal and partisan as most commenters here, unfortunately you have no show.
I agree with yr sentiment though.
Imho, many Kiwi politicians are more tribal and partisan than most commentators here, and most "bottom feeders", so yes, "no show" as the effects of inequality and overshoot play out. Aotearoa NZ could do with a bit more of "He Waka Eke Noa", but Mammon demands absolute loyality.
National and Labour had a joint agreement about housing and land use. National scrapped it unilaterally during the Election campaign.
Yeah. I wasn't too impressed with that.
I suspect that the focus group feedback from the NP core membership, about 3x 3-story houses on every plot of land – was volcanic.
A good first step would be the independent costings unit, as proposed previously, and as practised in other democracies. Test policies against financial reality, and tell the public before they vote.
Who vetoed it? National.
Parties' 'Fiscal Holes' Highlight the Need for Independent Costings Watchdog | Newsroom
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/133261713/volunteers-from-palestinian-youth-aotearoa-help-clean-vandalised-jewish-community-centre
this is what is needed in our country right now.
That is brilliant!
Decent and sensible people on both sides.
Fascinating story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67327079
A mainstream media channel window on IDF butchers going about their work. I just hope that international solidarity keeps building to the point where Israel has to stop the slaughter and destruction, and that somehow a negotiated settlement will begin.
Cultural and economic boycotts bought South Africa’s apartheid state to account, and BDS can do that now, and provide a way from this distance to help the Palestinian cause. Check that Tahini jar label, and don’t buy a new Sodastream or Puma shoes.
https://bdsmovement.net
"I just hope that international solidarity keeps building to the point where Israel has to stop the slaughter and destruction, and that somehow a negotiated settlement will begin"
Israeli Zionists have never wanted to negotiate, and they won't stop their slaughter because they are doing what they have always wanted to do, and have the full protection of the USA to carry out their ethnic cleansing….
This is The Western Rules Based Order in all it's glory is on display for the entire world to witness… impotently doing nothing..it is a fucking disgrace.
It is like watching a twisted version of the Warsaw uprising being played out right in front of us in 2023.
Notice how all the Ra RA Never Negotiate Ukraine war crowd on this site have been almost silent on this Ethnic Cleansing… I doubt if many of those idiots have had an original thought pass through their lazy brains for decades…not told to be outraged and support the people of Gaza…so they aren’t…it is as simple as that.
And what is your opinion about the (entirely successful) ethnic cleansing carried out against the Jews in Libya?
['Successful' as in there is not one Jew left in that country]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Libya
I can’t imagine the Palestinians were responsible for that.They’re certainly paying the price though , for what Europeans did to the jews .
A misrepresentation surely – given the 1947 UN partition plan was based on the League of Nations mandate, which was based on the Balfour Declaration (1917).
Yes , pogroms in Europe pre Holocaust
I don't recall saying the Palestinians were responsible.
And, it was the Libyans (Arabs) who were doing the ethnic cleansing – not the Europeans.
What has that got to do with this?
More than Ukraine does.
I should have thought that the complete ethnic cleansing of Jews from the surrounding Arab countries would be a relevant factor, in Israeli trust (or otherwise) of Arab intentions.
There was also the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Gaza and the West Bank.
.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1312584/ukrainian-refugees-by-country/
https://www.unrefugees.org/news/syria-refugee-crisis-explained/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/31/northwest-syria-witnesses-most-intense-military-escalation-in-three-years
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/6/kill-me-here-but-i-am-not-going-back-an-afghan-refugee-in-pakistan
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/7/as-pakistan-deports-refugees-tense-afghanistan-ties-come-in-sharp-focus
What has any of that got to do with this crime against humanity?
You referred to this ethnic cleansing – how many people of Gaza have left the area of Gaza?
Who knows…what is your point…just say what it is, and stop beating around the bush.
How would you describe the layer upon layer of war crimes the Zionists are inflicting on the population of Gaza?
You made a claim of ethnic cleansing.
I gave real world examples of the outcome of war.
War results in refugees. An oppressive regime results in refugees not wanting to return, even when the war is over.
Given you cannot answer – what is known is that Egypt is only allowing nationals not of Gaza across the border.
War results in deaths – 600,000 in Syria. Recent resumption of urban bombing in Syria and Ukraine has caused more deaths.
Why are deaths of civilians called ethnic cleansing in Gaza, but not those in Ukraine or Syria?
What is also known is that Israel wanted the population of Gaza City to move to southern Gaza so it could then move in the IDF to fight Hamas (who have underground bases there) in that area.
What in Syria is called displaced persons.
Israel can be accused of killing civilians in Gaza (because of an acceptance of deaths within a zone of a target), but not of ethnic cleansing.
Get it.
You know what, I am not going to engage with you..anyone whose moral compass is so broken that they can sit there and play down (so in essence defend) the war savage crimes that the degenerate, apartheid state of Israel is commiting on civilians in Gaza and the West Bank as we speak, is not someone I want to have anything at all to do with, so please don't engage with me on this site in the future please…Get It.
Yeah I know what cancel culture is mate. It's selective and then it gets personal when it is challenged.
I imagine the slaughter may stop when hamas no longer exists.
I do not think so Gabby. The IDF will pull its head in as the international BDS takes stronger effect, and pressure on the US ruling class is too much for them. Southern hemisphere countries in the main do not like Israel one little bit.
@Gabby
"I imagine the slaughter may stop when hamas no longer exists"……..Israel and the USA has ensured that Hamas will become bigger and more extreme and dangerous than we can possibly imagine….how many Muslim men and woman around the world do you imagine have become prepared to Martyr themselves for this cause now?
I would imagine the slaughter would stop a lot quicker if the Terrorist IDF would stop doing the slaughtering.
So writes a miserable rat who can't stop with the slurs and innuendoes. This in his column about a complaint about Ginny Anderson who yelled at a helper. Go back to sleep Coughlin!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/labour-investigates-bullying-complaint-against-ginny-andersen/FK43HD2U4BHKBNY4YYSUE32M54/
That sounds a great deal more than "innuendo".
When the Party General Secretary confirms that a complaint has been made and that it is being investigated his story certainly isn't what you are saying. It certainly isn't innuendo is it?
Should he have simply ignored the story? Are we not to be allowed to know about the behaviour of the people who want the right to rule us?
Imho, the primary role of all MP's should be to serve (all) Kiwis, rather than "rule us".
"Imho, the primary role of all MP's should be to serve (all) Kiwis, rather than "rule us"."
On that point I am totally in agreement with you. I'm not sure that most of the MPs would agree with us though. Particularly the ones who make it into the leadership jobs in a party or the front benches in the House.
The Thomas Coughlan article is about allegations of verbal abuse of two teenagers.
At the end, there are these unrelated comments which are not enlarged upon or substantiated.
"Hipkins was confirmed as the Party’s leader this Tuesday and said he would fight on to the 2023 election. However the party has shown signs of instability in the days that followed the vote."
What connection is Coughlan making between Hipkins as leader for the 2023 election (does he mean 2026?) and signs of instability? The two sentences are in the same paragraph and therefore must be linked.
Perhaps it is in the same well constructed and researched vein as his 2023 error…….
How about the last sentence from Coughlin? Innuendo?
Wonder how often hints from unsubstantiated complaints should be aired? Slurs perhaps?
Yay. This year has been pretty brutal for the industry:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/hollywood-actors-strike-strike-is-over-as-sag-aftra-union-reaches-tentative-deal-with-studios/3G3NVUIE4JFKBMGBJCPVVPOQBM/
Recently I read of an Israeli spokesman who originated the idea of "river to the sea." He did so in a speech about 10 years+ ago. So not new and could be interpreted as a call for Israel to take over the whole region.
Would be useful to be quoted exactly esp in defence of Chloe. Anyone?
Given that the slogan has been around since at least the 1960s -this source doesn't seem at all likely
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_river_to_the_sea
Thanks Belladonna. Tried that.
Here are some Jewish thoughts on that phrase
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2106/S00105/from-the-river-to-the-sea.htm
Thanks Francesca. That is a reasonable expression of peaceful option. And it also shows how a phrase "river to the sea" has been used to create anger against people such as Chloe. And used by many people on all sides of the "debate."
Imagine the group of Israelis discussing options for peace with say, Chloe. Makes me wonder if the outrage is organised to distract?
From 1964 in accord with the original Arab position of a unitary state (many of the Jewish population left Arab nations in the late 1940's).
Likud did their 1977 statement after that.
Then the Hamas Charter in support of the 1964 position in 1988.
The PNC position changed with the Oslo Accords and founding of the PA – when the PLO moved to justice of Arabs in Israel, right of return for refugees and a Palestine state on 67 borders.
Hamas under pressure from Egypt in 2017 agreed with this as an interim step before a later move to a unitary state (thus without any recognition of an Israeli state).
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, which describes itself as conservative and nationalist, has been a staunch promoter of the concept of “Eretz Israel”, or the Bible-given right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the party’s original party manifesto in 1977 stated that “between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty”. It also argued that the establishment of a Palestinian state “jeopardises the security of the Jewish population” and “endangers the existence of the state of Israel”.
from
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/2/from-the-river-to-the-sea-what-does-the-palestinian-slogan-really-mean
Thanks Barfly. That is a bit nearer."“between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty”
The Israeli flag shows two blue lines with the star in the middle, which reflects the idea of river to sea. Wish I had noted the speech.
You do realize that this is at least 10 years after it had been widely used as an anti-Zionist pro-Palestianian slogan.
It rather looks as though Likud were re-purposing, and reversing, this already-existing phrase, for their own benefit, in their ’77 manifesto.
There is zero evidence that it was 'originated' by an Israeli politician/spokesman. And certainly not 10+ years ago.
Hamas and Likud (and Religious Zionist Party) have the same policy.
I agree. However, that was not the question posed.
There seems to be no doubt at all, that it was originated as a Palestinian slogan – and later adopted/reversed by Likud.
I suggest you read this (I added the bold)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Israel
"Early Revisionist Zionist groups such as Betar and Irgun Zvai-Leumi regarded the territory of the Mandate for Palestine, including Transjordan, as Greater Israel.[1]
In 1937, the Peel Commission recommended partition of Mandatory Palestine. In a letter to his son later that year, David Ben-Gurion stated that partition would be acceptable but as a first step. Ben-Gurion wrote that
The same sentiment was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such as at a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938,[5] as well as by Chaim Weizmann.[4][6] Ben Gurion said:
That was in the 1930s Israel's intention to 'acquire land' was well stated decades before it's multiple wars of conquest in 1967
I suggest you read the original question, which was about the origin of the phrase "river to the sea"
There is no question that extremists on both sides want sole occupation of Israel/Palestine – and have done since the 19th century.
However, Israel has citizenship and democratic participation by Palestinian Arabs in the Knesset. Care to take up the challenge to name a Middle Eastern country which extends the same privilege to Jews?
I suggest you learn the geographical area covering Ben-Gurions statement – it is the area the river to the sea – If you consider that Zionist leadrers clearly stating they planned to 'ACQUIRE' it all in the 1930's Is of no importance then that says an awful about your motivations. If you want simply to be pissy about a phrase well it's interesting that in english it rhymes but it doesn't in Arabic – perhaps suggesting it was coind by english speaking individual.
All parties are constrained by
1. the decision of the UN to partition the area into two states
2. from 1949 acquisition of territory war is no longer recognised by the UN (so the relative share is stuck at the 1949-1967 border).
Thus only two states, via a peace settlement, can change the 1949-1967 international status quo.
Israeli negotiators might want to retain some WB settlements (usually those near Jerusalem) within Israel – Palestinian negotiators might want a transport corridor (road and rail) between WB and Gaza etc.
Bad luck again on small scale contained nuclear power plants.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nuscale-uamps-nuclear_n_654c317ce4b088d9a74d17db
Props to the person in Forest & Bird who came up with Bird of the Year, and then Bird of the Century.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/07/john-oliver-backs-weird-puking-puteketeke-as-he-takes-new-zealands-bird-of-century-poll-global
It's going full global.
If you pop down to StarkWhite Queenstown you can get yourself a Fiona Pardington photo of a kiwi for $25k.
Or just support Forest & Bird for $25 and keep alive the real thing.
The green parrot is in the lead, but
https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/tui-new-zealand
The tui is classier than the kea, or alpine thief, the kereru, or large drunkard. Or the promiscuous hihi.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/10/new-zealand-bird-of-the-year-adult-toy-store-endorses-polyamorous-hihi
Putting in my plug for the Ruru or Morepork.
But it's hard to go past the lovable Kakapo, or cheeky Kea in crowd appeal.
Kokako for me, every time.
Surely the kiore will win.
I see Newshub is still operating from the Septic Tank. A teenage girl got yelled at supposedly. Why does that warrant an allegation of bullying? And headline in the news? Because it was a Labour MP. If it had been Nat member it wouldn’t rate a mention. Just the same as they wouldn’t have followed up on the Uffindull saga which was outright assault on a teenager. Potential police charge but daddy got him off. Now they’re going full on into Chris H doing an U turn on taxes. Which he can do if he so wishes. John Key was the king of Uturns.He set the precedent. ‘ No,we will never raise GST, golly gosh’… nek minnit GST 15%! 3% raise! Chris Hipkins should get a small department dedicated to dealing with these allegations the minute they are published. Hit them back immediately with their side the story. This smacks of what seems to be going to be a three year long onslaught by Newshub.
Exactly Ffloyd.
Note my post at 12. This time from Coughlin
So it's OK for a Labour politician to yell at teenage volunteers, and blame them because she lost her seat.
Really?
Andersen is the person with the position of power here. It's outright bullying.
And before you get into the "whaddabout". Uffindell was absolutely wrong. I don't think there is any debate about this. He admits it, and has apologized. However, he was also a teenager at the time (16) – and certainly not in Parliament.
The two cases are not at all comparable.
The closest parallel is Meka Whaitiri (who was stood down as a Minister by Ardern, for bullying a staffer). You could also list Mallard, who made allegations in Parliament about a staffer committing 'rape' which were completely unfounded – an abuse of his power/authority as Speaker. But received no consequences from the Labour party or PM for his error of judgement.
The most recent National MP accused of bullying was Tim van de Molen – accused of stand-over tactics and bullying towards Shanan Halbert.
It was widely covered in the media – and Van de Molen was stood down from his portfolios by Luxon, and apologised both to the House and to Halbert.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/496507/national-mp-tim-van-de-molen-stood-down-from-all-portfolios
"So it's OK for a Labour politician to yell at teenage volunteers, and blame them because she lost her seat?"
Probably not. I'm looking for somewhere I can find that's an accepted and supported attitude.
Quote from the OP
It is not proven yet. That is the point.
You really need a court of law before a politician is held to account? How pathetic.
A parent defended her child from a Minister of the Crown. The Minister isn't even trying to apologise.
That is the point.
Not true.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/labour-investigates-bullying-complaint-against-ginny-andersen/FK43HD2U4BHKBNY4YYSUE32M54/
We don't know the circumstances around the incident yet. It is possible the MP was provoked – not necessarily by the teenagers concerned. It is also possible a mountain is being made out of a molehill. My advice is for people to shut up until the facts are known.
After all, silence worked for four Labour Ministers in succession this year didn't it?
Go to bed.
Ah, the media doing what it does best – policing the opposition once National is back in government. We are going to get three years of a TPU-fed forensic focus on Labour while Luxon (like Key) gets a free ride.
Tim van de Molen…. well covered in the media.
The media holds all politicians to account for less-than-acceptable behaviour.
I'm expecting that they will be heavily scrutinizing the new Government.
How true Sanctuary.
Mark Mitchell the ex mercenary soldier is not liked by a lot of people. I have no doubt National members included. Do we hear a peep out of the media about that? Nah.
Maggie Barry had a reputation for being a bully. The media treated her pretty kindly even after staff attested to the fact.
Top Nat Party figures were in the spotlight from time to time but none of them subjected to the kind of 'forensic analysis' applied to Labour miscreants. Unless they commit offences of a serious nature, the spotlight does not shine anything like as fiercely on the Nats.
Doesn't sound to me like this was a serious case of bullying. Anyone who has been to a political party election night function knows there is usually a lot of noise – TVs blaring and people reacting to the outcomes. Its not a place for calm, considered conversations:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/former-police-minister-ginny-andersen-denies-yelling-at-teenage-volunteer-but-apologises-anyway/JLSMFYDPWVGNDFQG2CARJ2PSAM/
From the article you linked
So, not 'just' on election night.
I wonder why the teenager hung in there for 3 years?
Why the mother didn't intervene earlier?
I've been yelled at in all kinds of circumstances .Paid employment .But if this had been regular and I had been volunteering, you wouldn't see me for dust .
12% to 15% is a 25% increase in the rate of GST.