Probably because this is the issue that will fell the govt.
There is going to be major social dislocation in regional NZ and by election time it will be blowing through the cities as well.
IMHO the govt has made a tactical blunder in trying to downplay this issue. Farmers won’t necessarily blame the govt but they will expect empathy beyond being called ” resilient ” and hearing platitudes about how “very bright” the future is.
That said, opposition parties need to articulate a credible suite of policies to position NZ inc further up the value chain. Rod Oram has been giving them the template for ages.
Remember this is MMP and it only takes a small shift to change the guard.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 1.1.1.1
That is a ill informed comment on so many levels The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell, it is hard to know where to begin with your obvious gaps in education.
Next, you will be blaming the left for the failure of capitalism.
Yet, where it had been practiced, poverty has decreased, the rights of minorities have gained growing respect, women are more equal and life expectancy rises.
In comparison to every other system ever tried, it is doing fabulously. Which is why record numbers of people are fleeing those other systems to get into capitalist ones.
You should try hooking up with the Shining Path, Draco. Bet it disappoints.
In fact, social democracies and mixed economies have achieved the results you claim for Capitalism. You should try hooking up with Augusto Pinochet Gormless.
Yet, where it had been practiced, poverty has decreased, the rights of minorities have gained growing respect, women are more equal and life expectancy rises.
Nope. Where it has been practised we’ve seen growing poverty, decreased human rights and decreasing life expectancy.
The only reason why we’ve increases in those over the last century is because of socialism. Now that capitalism is back in force we’re seeing the reversal.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrel …
those ‘social democracies’ are all based on Capitalist principles.
Typical semantic bullshit.
Every one of them incorporates some capitalist principles, as well as some socialist principles.
Not one of them is entirely based on capitalism.
Capitalism is a big dog that needs to be trained, restrained and caged while it serves whatever purpose is required. In a social democracy, socialism is the restraint. And democracy is what ensures only the right dog is restrained at the right time.
@ Gormless ‘What alternative are you proposing that has worked in the real world. Time and place, please’
You will have noticed that none of the ‘revolutionaries’ here ever answer that question, no matter how many times it is asked.
But if course, they must have something in mind? You couldn’t get that far in your thinking without having some glimmering of an alternative to the current situation?
Why can’t they say it then eh? What’s there to be shy about?
I’ve said many times that we need to get rid of the rich as they are the problem and not the solution. That means getting rid of private ownership of land, homes and businesses.
The land would be owned by the state and people would have a lease on it.
Homes should be rented from the state with a life time lease. First in, first served. Having a home would be a right.
Businesses would be a legal entity that has no shareholders and is run as a cooperative by the people who work there. The monetary reforms above would ensure that they have access to the money necessary to start up.
Politics would be Participatory Democracy rather than the Representative Democracy that we have at present that only represents the will of the rich thus making it an oligarchy/plutocracy.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell …
Yup. I give you credit for that, and that is a very clean and straight forward statement of your alternative thanks. Pity more of those who want to tear the current system down aren’t nearly so willing to state their beliefs so honestly.
Of course your system is completely unworkable, because humans beings simply aren’t built like that. You have as much chance of getting humans to agree to live in that manner as you have convincing Great Sharks to go vegetarian.
lol
another example of sheepy plastering bullshit over their outright lies (“none of the ‘revolutionaries’ here ever answer that question, no matter how many times it is asked”) after the falsehood has been shot down in flames, and hoping nobody notices.
‘Wrong. We no longer work on instinct but on intelligence and can choose’.
In that case putting your system into place will be very straight forward.
All those who share your belief will form a Political Party and put your alternative system to the people.
The people will very ‘intelligently’ realise that it is an option they are much keener on than the current system, and so they will ‘choose’ to vote for your Party.
Of course there is – it was drawn up by a RWNJ and designed to fail.
What we on the Left will do and keep doing is telling and showing people that there are better ways than the dystopia (Yes, that is actually what you describe every time you imply that things are the way things are that’s all they’ll ever be) of the RWNJs. Slowly, but surely, we’ll win out.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell …
Well, over the last 200 years slavery has been made illegal, child labour outlawed, worker safety measures vastly improved, state pensions and benefits introduced, national healthcare systems introduced, the voting franchise extended to women and poor people, the death penalty abolished, husbands no longer allowed to rape or beat their wives, same sex marriage legalised, abortion legalised, capital punishment abolished, unions legalised, the monarchy fading into a constitutional niche, and significant environmental protections and national parks created.
Pendulum swings abound from sector to sector, year to year and even decade to decade, but in the long term the times are a’changing.
‘dystopia (Yes, that is actually what you describe every time you imply that things are the way things are that’s all they’ll ever be
As McFlock has pointed out Draco, things do change and thank fuck for that. But If Humans had a natural inclination towards completely egalitarian communal principles and committee based social organisation then under democratic conditions we would be moving towards that.
But as democracy evolves Human societies are actually moving in the opposite direction, with the freedom and status of the individual ever more strongly expressed than adherence to a ‘hive’ mindset.
That is because we ARE all individuals, and we DO have an individual worldview, and that’s why there is zero support for the kind of system you propose.
Thank fuck for that I say. Your system looks like a nightmare to me, and in the highly unlikely event of finding myself in such a situation I would have no option but to subvert it.
I talked about the progress over centuries, you’re cherrypicking some areas of the last few decades with no evidence that it’s a change in the long term trends.
If you insist on looking at things in terms of recent history, I have two words for your ‘freedom ever more strongly expressed’ bullshit: “patriot act”.
$57 trillion of more debt put into the system since 2008 to what end? 3rd world countries run by corporations and democracy suppressed. New Zealand runners up to the capitalist big dogs the US in incarceration rates. Rocketing inequality straining society. 300,000 kids with dreams are punished because their parents don’t work 24/7. Nope, it’s tearing itself apart.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell …
Nothing to do with ” the left” it has everything to go with being a farmer and living this reality and knowing how things are affecting my wider community. I am old enough (just) to have been farming in the 80s and know how this plays out. There will be great pain for many and like it or not the govt will be held accountable to some degree. The govt claimed credit when they rode the terms of trade up and they will cop it on way down. This will change the govt.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 1.1.1.1.2.1
Sorry to hear that, Cowboy. Your point about the government taking credit is well made. It’s a fiction they like to perpetuate when things are going well: we did it. Really, they didn’t (and nor should they).
Judging from English on RNZ this morning he hinted at an enhanced R&D package in budget. The issue is wether it placates the masses or looksike too little too late?
“member this is MMP and it only takes a small shift to change the guard”
Yes. And we don’t generally give govts 4 terms. Much still depends on Labour appearing competent and the left/centre coalition parties presenting as working together before the election.
“Remember this is MMP and it only takes a small shift to change the guard”
You have spotted the danger in this ‘small shift’ idea I take it?
A similar small shift towards National (1-1.5%) would edge them over the ‘rule alone’ line? A 4th term with a majority for JK and the perfect opportunity for him to put through a few ‘legacy’ projects?
At this stage of the previous electoral cycle Labour/Greens were sitting on 45% in the polls, but currently they are stuck on the same 40% odd they haven’t been able to shift since the last election.
Just saying. Maybe it really is time for a change of strategy from the LW?
(P.S. waiting for events outside your control to happen is not a strategy.)
“(PS waiting for events outside your control is not a strategy)”
I agree with that but in reality govts generally get kicked out. The Nats only really need to shed a couple of % and they are in trouble.
On that I am surprised at Key not feigning more respect for Winston. I watched replay of question time last night and Key mocked Winston mercilessly during an answer. I would have thought Key bright enough to read the tea leaves. Hard to imagine them sitting down and having a reasoned discussion around a coalition.
We’ve had 4 x 4 term Governments in NZ, so self evidently that can happen again, and as I say, at this stage it looks likely.
Personally I would think the LW would find that 4th term a wee bit torturous, and would be highly motivated to avoid it.
But to be honest, I don’t see much sign at all of an urgency to break the current pattern and make the change happen.
But never a 5th term….so I guess you could say that’s an impossibility. Confident about that? Happy to wait for it?
As for Winston Peters, JK has known him a long time, and I believe he is perfectly confident that Winston will do the pragmatic thing and join coalition with the Party that gets the strongest mandate at the next election…if he gets the opportunity.
Anyone who believes that Winston is likely to go into a coalition that involves The Greens is barking mad. Labour yes. National yes. But let me remind you of his comments shortly before the last election…
Any coalition he was willing to make with The Greens would have to be on terms that rendered The Greens irrelevant, and which they would never accept.
“If the Greens think they are going to take over the levers of economic management they are assuming that other parties are not watching their record.”
Peters said there was still a chance for Labour and NZ First to form a government together, claiming that in 2005 the combination delivered the largest surpluses in recent times……
“Voters need to be disabused of the view promoted by the Greens that we in New Zealand First would stand by whole they promote extremist views in government,” Peters said.
Peters praised both Finance Minister Bill English and Labour spokesman David Parker as men of integrity.
“I see both of them as capable of being Ministers of Finance.
If you saw Country Calendar last week then everything is fine. Guy owned 4 dairy farms and taking on debt was just part of the game and healthy risk taking… I think they said his dad had been through the 80s crash as well and lesson was apparently learnt..
I probably would have not so long ago, and I reckon since it was being shown by the authority that is Country Calendar that most of the audience would have been fine going along with it too.
I see….my experience is those who were in the industry during the eighties have a much more realistic view than those involved since….even within family.
“Council chief executive Doug McKay said the cost of implementing computer systems was scary, but as far as he could tell the transition agency ran a good process.
The former private sector boss said he had implemented three new computer systems in the past and each time there had been serious cost blowouts.”
Seems he can add a fourth to his resume, that article was rather prophetic. I can’t help but think there’s something badly wrong when a CEO who’s already overseen three IT cost blowouts lets another happen on his watch. What does a CEO actually do these days?
Tom Lewandowski, the president of the Northeast Indiana Central Labor Council in Fort Wayne, puts it even more bluntly when I asked him about working-class Trump fans. “These people aren’t racist, not any more than anybody else is,” he says of Trump supporters he knows. “When Trump talks about trade, we think about the Clinton administration, first with Nafta and then with [Permanent Normal Trade Relations] China, and here in Northeast Indiana, we hemorrhaged jobs.”
“They look at that, and here’s Trump talking about trade, in a ham-handed way, but at least he’s representing emotionally. We’ve had all the political establishment standing behind every trade deal, and we endorsed some of these people, and then we’ve had to fight them to get them to represent us.”
And from the comments thread:
I was struck how similar Sander’s arguments are to those of Trump. Sanders passionately spoke out against free trade and NAFTA saying shouting “how stupid is that trade policy?” to audience applause. And I’ve noticed in the Republican debates, Trump is the only one who repeatedly discusses jobs. The others never even mention jobs AFAIK.
We tend to assume the left is automatically the choice of the working class, but history shows right-wing authoritarian nationalism can also be very attractive if the people peddling it focus on making sure the working class has work that pays.
Enforcing the laws they already have, fixing the mental health system and fixing the background checks will do more to lower gun deaths then anything (reasonably) else
When a major part of your policy relies on a fairly strong circumstantial case….
A study (really a study of studies) suggests there is “fairly strong circumstantial case for Exile’s impact” on crime rates. But there’s a fairly strong circumstantial case that a program similar to “Exile” worked in Rochester, NY, while the economy was humming along, and then didn’t once it wasn’t.
If Sanders and Trump are both talking about jobs and the problems of free trade then why are those working class people supporting Trump? Underneath the concern about jobs is something else.
There’s nothing inherently left-wing about a voter just because they’re working class. Which means that, given a choice between left and right candidates who are both talking about jobs for workers, there’s no reason to assume workers will all be attracted to the left-wing one. The 1930s demonstrated that pretty clearly.
Yes, I understand that. I was just curious what the rationale was for so many working class supporting Trump, when Sanders is saying the same things re jobs and free trade. i.e. it’s not about the jobs and free trade, it’s about something else. The man quoted above from the Guardian seemed to be arguing that it was about the jobs. I’m not convinced.
The German working class (particularly, the urban, industrial working class) were largely immune to the Nazi electoral appeal. Along with the unemployed, they were the Nazis’ weakest demographic, immersed as so many of them were in the SPD (Social Democrat) and KPD (Communist) sub-cultures.
Only the (non-unionised) rural and small town working class (often working in small handicraft factories with less than 10 fellow employees) moved to the Nazis in appreciable numbers.
It was the German rural and urban middle class Right and Centre-Right that swung en masse to Hitler.
Wellington’s Labour mayoral aspirant Justin Lester is at it again! This time, he is advocating that a community park should be fenced off, furnished with ‘all-weather’ turf and given to a private professional football club (Phoenix) AT RATEPAYER EXPENSE!!! Where does this guy get off his endless proposals for subsidising the private sector with rates funding that should be used to maintain the city’s sagging infrastructure and public amenities. It is a sad day when Nicola Young, the true-blue candidate for the mayoralty has a better grip on Council responsibilities than the disingenuous Deputy Mayor.
What park is this Petertoo? Phoenix FC is one of his pet projects and one I’m not willing to fund. He’s wealthy, he can sell his Kapai chain and fund them himself.
Does he have any comment on Illot Green by the way? I haven’t heard anything. Being on the Developers Advocacy Board I should imagine he’s keen to hock it off for the short term gain of raising the $$$ for earthquake strengthening for the council building.
They could of course scrap the 9 million dollar corporate welfare programme known as WEID and fund the work that way.
Rosie – Martin Luckie Park in Berhampore. The man has no qualms about this well used public space and the kids league team being shunted by the sound of it.
It is a widely held belief that the thought of John Illott Green being retained as open space is anathema to Lester. It has also been mooted that Pike, the City Shaper has already been talking deals with his surrogate boss, Mark McGuinness who owns much of what is likely to become known the Willis Bond Waterfront when the privatisation progresses further with the Site 10 (& 11?) developments.
As for the income from the sale of John Illott Green being used to strengthen the Town Hall – it wouldn’t make much of a dent. The land value, based on sites of similar size on Jervois Quay would be less than $6m. Much less than the nearby site that the ratepayers are paying to kick off the Peter Jackson et. al. museum and a Conference Centre. Obviously the ratepayers have much deeper pockets than Mark Dunajtschik who obviously wan’t prepared to pay an over the odds price to proceed with a proposed Hilton Hotel/Conference Centre on the same Cable Street site.
Obviously, Lester’s short-termism doesn’t factor in the obvious, that a future Council will have to buy and demolish other commercial buildings (like Midland Park at $millions) to provide open space for urban apartment dwellers.
I’m hoping that talk of turning the park in Berhampore into an all weather ground for the Phoenix is only talk. It would be deeply unfair to push children’s and adults sports clubs off the field – or would they be expected to concede to the Phoenix when ever they chose to practice on it? I have no idea why we have to fund a professional sports team anyway.
Re the $134 million convention centre/Jackson film museum site that Mark Dunajtschik couldn’t stump up for, for his hotel plans – he’s also on the executive for the Property Developers Advocacy group, alongside Lester. Maybe he said “here Justin, I’m not having it, you can have it”.
It is a widely held belief that the thought of John Illott Green being retained as open space is anathema to Lester.
Such people find anything public is anathema – especially democracy. They will work hard to privatise everything leaving the rest of us as serfs to the new owners. Democracy will be killed by the simple act of selling off the public’s wealth and thus leaving them powerless.
“Nicola Young, the true-blue candidate for the mayoralty has a better grip on Council responsibilities than the disingenuous Deputy Mayor”.
There. I trimmed of the totally unnecessary words from the sentence. Why on earth do you put “It is a sad day when ” in front of them?
Are you planning to vote for Nicola then? God help us if we have another term of Wade-Brown and Lester sounds even worse, if such a thing is possible.
Nearly all our present councillors seem to have this delusion that they are far-seeing business entrepreneurs. Then they stuff things up. It isn’t their money and they don’t give a damn about what they waste. I have always held the view that at least one councillor should have to take a personal financial interest in any of these projects they push on the ratepayer. When any guarantee is requested or some “can’t fail” expenditure, such as the Visitor Centre at Zealandia is proposed there should have to be one of the council who says “Yes, I believe it will work. If it falls in a heap I will return all the money I have been paid while on the council to help make up for the losses”. I bet they would be a great deal more careful then.
The other problem they, like all politicians, have is that they will never admit that anything they do is a failure and should be scrapped. They would rather just keep throwing other people’s money at it for ever. It is one of the reasons we need to get new people on Governing bodies at regular intervals. New people can throw out things that are useless because their ego isn’t involved.
It gets the same way of course in Central Government. Only the numbers are bigger. The problem at the moment is that there is no viable alternative Government. The opposition at the moment aren’t fit to be allowed near the Beehive. Can’t Labour have a clean out and get people who are capable into Parliament. They still have the fools who should have been dumped at the 2011 election.
Good point at the beginning of your comment alwyn. Guess it reflects how pissed off some, self included, where when we felt obliged to vote for the city damaging faux-Green Wade-Brown to block Morrison last time round. There is obviously some trepidation as to how neo-liberal Nicola Young might be, but then, could she be more in the pockets of business and the developers than Lester? Now waiting to hear if Paul Eagle does a screeming reverse on the earlier statement of support for Lester’s Mayoral campaign.
Getting back to the former Cr. Morrison, it was a real bummer to find out that the Mayor and her gang of three paid off him off with a $300 000 unrecoverable ratepayer ‘donation’ to establish his favourite Aussie owned call-centre, a cause that morphed into being his employer. Also, impressed with the idea that you consider Cr. Foster should be liable for some of the Zealandia debt. Didn’t the ACT apparatchik Catherine Isaac had a finger in the Visitor Centre pie too?
No I don’t think Foster is liable for the debt. I wouldn’t back date my proposal.
Also Isaac was never a councillor so it couldn’t apply to her.
To expand on my view.
The Council is approached to guarantee a loan, or make a loan for something. The people responsible claim that it will not only be self-sufficient but will be so popular that it will be able to repay the loan. See Zealandia.
When it all goes belly up the Council claims that they couldn’t possibly have known that it would happen and it isn’t their fault. The ratepayer gets screwed.
I would argue that before any such loans are made, or guaranteed, ONE councillor must be found who will put his/her money where their mouth is. If it crashes they will have to repay to the Council every bit of money they have ever received, up to a maximum of the money the Council has lost.
No Councillor willing to do that? No Loan is allowed.
If Foster had been willing to make the promise he would be out of pocket. He has been at the public trough so long we would get back quite a nice little bit of change. He wouldn’t have done it of course.
That would take care of the “Loans” for Zealandia or for the Stadium. It would have prevented the guarantees for the Embassy Theatre or for the sinking of that old frigate. We were promised that fundraising would mean that the guarantee would never be called on but they were.
The Council could still spend money on such activities but they would have to vote the money directly, not hide it away to blow up in the future.
alwyn – yes backdating the proposal would be unreasonable but the comment was meant in the hypothetical. The reference to Catherine Isaac was in a different realm though. It is galling that people are shoulder tapped for roles on a ‘political’ and/or ideological basis – stuff up, then there are no consequences. Strange how this is more apparent in the realms of the higher paid – not unlike today’s expose regarding the Ministry of Health and also applicable with regard to Theo Sperrings.
So the Labour Party, CTU and Unite are merely annoying yapping dogs he had to shut up by throwing a concession over zero hour contracts and workers are the passing cars causing the distraction for the yapping dogs.
What a smug little Fwit. He really needs to get a dose of reality, like having a look at the demands from employers on job ads. The extract below from seek.co.nz is typical of the type of attitude I see every day looking at job ads.
“This role would suit someone who is mature and savvy with no other commitments to allow for flexibility.”
This is a part time customer service role with a stated 18 hours a week over two specified days. The rest of the time you need to be on call to cover shifts as required. If you can’t come into work on call because you’re sick, you’re looking after someone who is sick, and well, you have have other commitments because you know, “life” happens then you’ll probably be fired under the 90 day law.
Its’ these kinds of employers that have to wake up to their responsibilities and that’s why the zero hour law is so important.
“Throw a bone at someone to stop barking at cars – call it a backdown if you wish.” My jaw dropped on reading that. I am utterly fed up with the culture of contempt that attends this government. Who does he think he is? Nero?
And by the way, your link didn’t work for me – possibly RNZ has taken the piece down.
Hi Olwyn. I just clicked on the link and it worked………………..?
I saw Woodhouse say that on newshrub last night – a jaw dropping moment for me too. You’re right about the culture of contempt. This Government is rife with it. No standards, no professionalism, no manners.
I have barked at cars and have subsequently needed screws and titanium thrown at my bones. I happily accept the Zero Hours outcome in this vein – not all bones are meal. The merit of barking prevails.
Watching this was odd, I started thinking this does not apply to Auckland, nor New Zealand.
Then I remembered all the small towns which are now effectively ghost towns up and down this nation.
The ever increasing prison system
and the masses of unemployment.
I know many here don’t want to see capitalism as evil, and I know many here think it can be reformed, but capitalism itself is it’s own worst enemy. We should not be trying to reform it, because in a few generations – it will do all this again.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5.1
It’s a fair question Gormless is asking Adam?
Do you really expect the Workers to rise up and destroy their current situation, if you cannot tell them what you would replace it with?
The New Deal was a set of policies implemented within a Capitalist system, and in fact is widely credited with saving Capitalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
So, no. It won’t be very difficult for Adam to find the system we already have.
Workers of the world awaken. Break your chains, demand your rights.
All the wealth you make is taken, by exploiting parasites.
Shall you kneel in deep submission from your cradle to your grave?
Is the height of your ambition to be a good and willing slave?
Joe Hill
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5.1.2.1
Workers of the world awaken. Break your chains, demand your rights.
All the wealth you make is taken, by exploiting parasites.
Shall you kneel in deep submission from your cradle to your grave?
Is the height of your ambition to be a good and willing slave?
No, no, I want you to be a bit less specific, please.
In the context of this discussion then, is it fair for me to suggest that this is an ideal that might be achieved in the future, as opposed to something that has actually been achieved in the past?
We’ve had egalitarianism as the main organising principle, and those cultures definitely let women have power. How we get from where we are now to that I don’t know, but it does seem sensible to give the power to the people least likely to abuse it and most likely to use it for the good of all.
If you mean changing from a capitalist system, then I don’t know if that’s ever been done.
The recently signed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will “dramatically” restrict access to affordable medicine in every country that ratifies it, according to a US law expert.
Writing in scientific journal PLOS Medicine, Professor Brook Baker of the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston argues the TPP will:
lead to more patents being placed on new medicines
extend the length of new patents
restrict access to clinical trial data
prevent the introduction of new generic medicines
toughen penalties for patent infringements.
“TPP member states can expect an avalanche of IP-related claims from disappointed pharmaceutical companies that think their legitimate expectations of future profits have been thwarted.” Instead of helping Big Pharma, Prof Baker says the TPP provisions affecting access to healthcare should be scaled back to guidelines and standards agreed at the World Trade Organization in 1994.
“Health advocates should convince the US Congress and opponents in other countries to reject an agreement that could so adversely impact access to medicines.”
A Dunedin academic is criticising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for refusing to attend a community-organised meeting on the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement.
“I think it’s unacceptable, and it calls into question the genuine nature of this public information exercise,” University of Otago Emeritus Prof Sir Alan Mark said.
As chairman of the Wise Response society advocacy group, Prof Mark has helped organise a public meeting at 7.30pm on March 14, following the Government-organised, TPP-themed road show presentation in Dunedin.
Prof Mark said the meeting was designed to be more open than the Government-organised one, which required registration and had a limited number of places available.
Thanks for your first link, I very seldom look at the TV3 website nowadays (didn’t even know that 7days had started up again). I had read that ODT piece earlier and particularly liked this bit:
Prof Mark said he and Wise Response secretary Dougal MacTavish had signed up to attend the MFAT meeting on March 14.
Prof Mark said he would promote the community meeting at the Government’s workshop.
Prof Mark said the meeting was designed to be more open than the Government-organised one, which required registration and had a limited number of places available.
The government is openly showing derision for the people and their right to govern the country, and control the government that has been voted in to work for the people. Aren’t I naive. But I still think that.
The first part of your post should get wider publicity. Serious stuff and one that we should be able to articulate it in the MSM.
And the second part is much closer to home and should get wider attention as well and beyond the ODT.
I wonder how to do that?
Well spotted Tautoko Mangō Mata.
Even more from Stiglitz. Forget ISIS, worry about ISDS foreign trade pact clause, economists say
Giving the keys to the country away
What is it that has put Stiglitz, a professor at New York’s Columbia University, on the warpath? It is the obscure treaty enforcement mechanism called the Investor-State Dispute Settlement, referred to by those “in the know” as “ISDS.”
Stiglitz told reporters recently at a National Press Club event (which I moderated) that the ISDS clause within the pact would allow foreign firms in America to sue “when the U.S. government passes a regulation that they think hurts their profits.”
He notes that American firms would not have this power under the law. Stiglitz calls it “fundamental discrimination against Americans, particularly small businesses.”
How might this work if Congress were to ratify the trade agreement?
Stiglitz makes an analogy comparing to what might have happened decades ago when asbestos was found to be a health risk and banned. If “the U.S. government would have to compensate any foreign-owned asbestos company” for future lost profits — as under the TPP — in effect, he says companies would have to be “compensated for not killing people or for not destroying their lives.”
And that means taxpayers would be on the hook for billions of dollars.
Blowhards, trolls and rat-fuckers – say it ain’t so.
And as probability becomes clearer, I’ve been hearing and reading people who profess to be leftists or progressives saying they will never vote for Clinton but might instead vote for Trump.
Anybody who does that is a freaking numbskull. Anybody claiming to be on the left who votes for Trump deserves not an ounce of respect. Anybody who thinks putting this billionaire bully into the White House makes any kind of sense has none. And anybody who urges people to vote for him is dead to me.
I have no idea how many actual Sanders’ supporters are considering a vote for Trump if Bernie fails to get the nomination.
I don’t know how many of the people who are saying Trump is a good option for progressives in November actually are progressives themselves, how many are blowhards and trolls, and how many are rat-fuckers who have all along favored Trump and are eager to exploit our division. Too many, whatever the count.
Glad to hear that SAFE are not feeling threatened by this move, as the believe they meet the criteria for operating as a charity, otherwise that status wouldn’t have been granted it by the charities commission.
Several Native Americans disrupted the state Senate on Monday to protest Utah’s continued observance of Columbus Day.
Three men and woman began shouting from the gallery in the Senate chamber just as senators returned to the floor about 2:15 p.m. One held a sign reading, “Abolish Columbus Day. Stop Celebrating Genocide.”
Protester Charles Aoires said the group came to speak out against Weiler’s words about Native Americans last week.
“The native population gave the early explorers syphilis, which they brought back to Europe. Blaming Columbus for the extermination of the native population is as fair as blaming the native population for people who die using tobacco and cocaine, which the natives introduced to the Europeans,” Weiler said during debate over SB170, a bill that would have changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
Why do people in the USA celebrate Columbus day anyway?
He never landed in North America, but only on islands in the Caribbean.
Any refugee from the USA who can explain?
Just looking for the frequency for local community radio and looked on ite called Love NZ which listed all in locality and National Radio genre is Talkback.
The response to radio on the site is so vacuous that it is automatically regarded as a music service in the main, classic, adult contemporary, feel good, variety, easy listening etc. Rhema is Christian, Sport is sport so that didn’t try their brains much, then there is Community, RADIONZ Concert is listed as Live Concert for goodness sake, as if that is the only concert music they can envisage.
They have no word that is suitable to describe our peerless feeder of information, thought, culture and news. Except to call national radio, RADIONZ, ‘Talkback’, as if this was the highest intellectual offering they could conceive. Thinking, a bit sterile!
Video killed the radio star! It certainly dims when it comes to marketing music for profit,
and not mainly for the musicians either.
Ironic given the hole that Kim Dotcom is in over copyright law that:
“Lawyers for Eminem, National Party back in court.
In September, spokesman for the publishers Joel Martin said Eminem was never approached for permission to use his work in National’s rowing-themed election ads, which featured backing music similar to the riff of Lose Yourself.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11602702
Thanks! Useful for me too. I liked the driving to work analogy both in the context of ecomomics but also why thinking about the collective is important in general.
Hard not to draw the conclusion that it’s that Keynesian or Monetarist economics are wrong, but that all economics is 😉 (or maybe it’s just that the economy shouldn’t be based primarily on economics but other things like well being, the collective good, our place in the environment).
Our 100 000 Hindu speakers in NZ have no choice on the flag referendum: they are asked to tick the box they want for the new New Zealand flag. Careless mistranslation or devious manipulation?
Fuck up by someone. I doubt that it was intentional.
As an aside, I was surprised about the 100,000 Hindi speakers number though. Seemed high, although the 2013 census says 66,309, which is nearly doubled since 2006.
Old Billy Boy Ralston standing for Auckland Council finally broken cover aye ? Been on JohnTheNeolib/ParnellBBQ payroll for however long, one way or another. Finally come clean. Hope his splendid benign pomposity doesn’t grow with this. Could be life threatening.
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
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Farmers on the brink of selling their farms.
New Zealand on the brink of economic collapse.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/298360/fonterra-drops-forecast-milk-payout
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201792286/fonterra-cuts-dairy-payout
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/297689/dairy-downturn-could-get-worse-lawyer
Why so excited then?
Probably because this is the issue that will fell the govt.
There is going to be major social dislocation in regional NZ and by election time it will be blowing through the cities as well.
IMHO the govt has made a tactical blunder in trying to downplay this issue. Farmers won’t necessarily blame the govt but they will expect empathy beyond being called ” resilient ” and hearing platitudes about how “very bright” the future is.
That said, opposition parties need to articulate a credible suite of policies to position NZ inc further up the value chain. Rod Oram has been giving them the template for ages.
Remember this is MMP and it only takes a small shift to change the guard.
The Left love misery and are so eager for it.
That is a ill informed comment on so many levels The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell, it is hard to know where to begin with your obvious gaps in education.
Next, you will be blaming the left for the failure of capitalism.
He’s trolling.
Capitalism is going fine.
Yep, it’s destroying society just like it always has.
Yet, where it had been practiced, poverty has decreased, the rights of minorities have gained growing respect, women are more equal and life expectancy rises.
In comparison to every other system ever tried, it is doing fabulously. Which is why record numbers of people are fleeing those other systems to get into capitalist ones.
You should try hooking up with the Shining Path, Draco. Bet it disappoints.
In fact, social democracies and mixed economies have achieved the results you claim for Capitalism. You should try hooking up with Augusto Pinochet Gormless.
Nope. Where it has been practised we’ve seen growing poverty, decreased human rights and decreasing life expectancy.
The only reason why we’ve increases in those over the last century is because of socialism. Now that capitalism is back in force we’re seeing the reversal.
OK , Draco. What alternative are you proposing that has worked in the real world. Time and place, please.
Poor OAB. Can’t bring himself to say that those ‘social democracies’ are all based on Capitalist principles.
‘Smash it all down’ eh. And still, after all the discussions I’ve seen here, no one can propose a compelling alternative.
Typical semantic bullshit.
Every one of them incorporates some capitalist principles, as well as some socialist principles.
Not one of them is entirely based on capitalism.
Capitalism is a big dog that needs to be trained, restrained and caged while it serves whatever purpose is required. In a social democracy, socialism is the restraint. And democracy is what ensures only the right dog is restrained at the right time.
You me and OAB agree on this much at least then McFlock.
Any viable system must incorporate at least some Capitalist principles.
@ Gormless ‘What alternative are you proposing that has worked in the real world. Time and place, please’
You will have noticed that none of the ‘revolutionaries’ here ever answer that question, no matter how many times it is asked.
But if course, they must have something in mind? You couldn’t get that far in your thinking without having some glimmering of an alternative to the current situation?
Why can’t they say it then eh? What’s there to be shy about?
🙄
I talked about social democracies.
You dragged that out to “any viable system”.
You really are a disingenuous piece of shit. And that’s when you’re not outright lying.
Actually, I have – many times.
http://thestandard.org.nz/universal-income-the-minimum-wage/
http://thestandard.org.nz/real-monetary-reform/
Cashless
How an economy works
I’ve said many times that we need to get rid of the rich as they are the problem and not the solution. That means getting rid of private ownership of land, homes and businesses.
The land would be owned by the state and people would have a lease on it.
Homes should be rented from the state with a life time lease. First in, first served. Having a home would be a right.
Businesses would be a legal entity that has no shareholders and is run as a cooperative by the people who work there. The monetary reforms above would ensure that they have access to the money necessary to start up.
Politics would be Participatory Democracy rather than the Representative Democracy that we have at present that only represents the will of the rich thus making it an oligarchy/plutocracy.
Lot of “would be”s, Draco. Got an example of that working anywhere in the history of the world ever?
@ Draco ‘Actually, I have – many times.’
Yup. I give you credit for that, and that is a very clean and straight forward statement of your alternative thanks. Pity more of those who want to tear the current system down aren’t nearly so willing to state their beliefs so honestly.
Of course your system is completely unworkable, because humans beings simply aren’t built like that. You have as much chance of getting humans to agree to live in that manner as you have convincing Great Sharks to go vegetarian.
lol
another example of sheepy plastering bullshit over their outright lies (“none of the ‘revolutionaries’ here ever answer that question, no matter how many times it is asked”) after the falsehood has been shot down in flames, and hoping nobody notices.
Yes. Go read David Graeber’s Debt: The first 5000 years for details.
Wrong. We no longer work on instinct but on intelligence and can choose.
Of course, RWNJs tend to choose not to be intelligent.
‘Wrong. We no longer work on instinct but on intelligence and can choose’.
In that case putting your system into place will be very straight forward.
All those who share your belief will form a Political Party and put your alternative system to the people.
The people will very ‘intelligently’ realise that it is an option they are much keener on than the current system, and so they will ‘choose’ to vote for your Party.
No possible flaw in that plan Draco?
Of course there is – it was drawn up by a RWNJ and designed to fail.
What we on the Left will do and keep doing is telling and showing people that there are better ways than the dystopia (Yes, that is actually what you describe every time you imply that things are the way things are that’s all they’ll ever be) of the RWNJs. Slowly, but surely, we’ll win out.
That explains your unprecedented electoral success.
Well, over the last 200 years slavery has been made illegal, child labour outlawed, worker safety measures vastly improved, state pensions and benefits introduced, national healthcare systems introduced, the voting franchise extended to women and poor people, the death penalty abolished, husbands no longer allowed to rape or beat their wives, same sex marriage legalised, abortion legalised, capital punishment abolished, unions legalised, the monarchy fading into a constitutional niche, and significant environmental protections and national parks created.
Pendulum swings abound from sector to sector, year to year and even decade to decade, but in the long term the times are a’changing.
‘dystopia (Yes, that is actually what you describe every time you imply that things are the way things are that’s all they’ll ever be
As McFlock has pointed out Draco, things do change and thank fuck for that. But If Humans had a natural inclination towards completely egalitarian communal principles and committee based social organisation then under democratic conditions we would be moving towards that.
But as democracy evolves Human societies are actually moving in the opposite direction, with the freedom and status of the individual ever more strongly expressed than adherence to a ‘hive’ mindset.
That is because we ARE all individuals, and we DO have an individual worldview, and that’s why there is zero support for the kind of system you propose.
Thank fuck for that I say. Your system looks like a nightmare to me, and in the highly unlikely event of finding myself in such a situation I would have no option but to subvert it.
what a load of crap.
I talked about the progress over centuries, you’re cherrypicking some areas of the last few decades with no evidence that it’s a change in the long term trends.
If you insist on looking at things in terms of recent history, I have two words for your ‘freedom ever more strongly expressed’ bullshit: “patriot act”.
$57 trillion of more debt put into the system since 2008 to what end? 3rd world countries run by corporations and democracy suppressed. New Zealand runners up to the capitalist big dogs the US in incarceration rates. Rocketing inequality straining society. 300,000 kids with dreams are punished because their parents don’t work 24/7. Nope, it’s tearing itself apart.
New Zealand runners up to the capitalist big dogs the US in incarceration rates.
No.
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/government_finance/central_government/nz-in-the-oecd/justice.aspx
No no, NZ is 2nd behind the US in the OECD.
Only if you ignore the statistics.
If you take into account the actual incarceration rates (which you obviously choose not to) we are seventh, one place behind Mexico.
Nothing to do with ” the left” it has everything to go with being a farmer and living this reality and knowing how things are affecting my wider community. I am old enough (just) to have been farming in the 80s and know how this plays out. There will be great pain for many and like it or not the govt will be held accountable to some degree. The govt claimed credit when they rode the terms of trade up and they will cop it on way down. This will change the govt.
Sorry to hear that, Cowboy. Your point about the government taking credit is well made. It’s a fiction they like to perpetuate when things are going well: we did it. Really, they didn’t (and nor should they).
Judging from English on RNZ this morning he hinted at an enhanced R&D package in budget. The issue is wether it placates the masses or looksike too little too late?
We only like your misery fool – payback for all the people who’ve suffered under your vicious and false economic model.
“member this is MMP and it only takes a small shift to change the guard”
Yes. And we don’t generally give govts 4 terms. Much still depends on Labour appearing competent and the left/centre coalition parties presenting as working together before the election.
“Remember this is MMP and it only takes a small shift to change the guard”
You have spotted the danger in this ‘small shift’ idea I take it?
A similar small shift towards National (1-1.5%) would edge them over the ‘rule alone’ line? A 4th term with a majority for JK and the perfect opportunity for him to put through a few ‘legacy’ projects?
At this stage of the previous electoral cycle Labour/Greens were sitting on 45% in the polls, but currently they are stuck on the same 40% odd they haven’t been able to shift since the last election.
Just saying. Maybe it really is time for a change of strategy from the LW?
(P.S. waiting for events outside your control to happen is not a strategy.)
Keep it up: perhaps Cowboy will switch sides 😆
“(PS waiting for events outside your control is not a strategy)”
I agree with that but in reality govts generally get kicked out. The Nats only really need to shed a couple of % and they are in trouble.
On that I am surprised at Key not feigning more respect for Winston. I watched replay of question time last night and Key mocked Winston mercilessly during an answer. I would have thought Key bright enough to read the tea leaves. Hard to imagine them sitting down and having a reasoned discussion around a coalition.
We’ve had 4 x 4 term Governments in NZ, so self evidently that can happen again, and as I say, at this stage it looks likely.
Personally I would think the LW would find that 4th term a wee bit torturous, and would be highly motivated to avoid it.
But to be honest, I don’t see much sign at all of an urgency to break the current pattern and make the change happen.
But never a 5th term….so I guess you could say that’s an impossibility. Confident about that? Happy to wait for it?
As for Winston Peters, JK has known him a long time, and I believe he is perfectly confident that Winston will do the pragmatic thing and join coalition with the Party that gets the strongest mandate at the next election…if he gets the opportunity.
Anyone who believes that Winston is likely to go into a coalition that involves The Greens is barking mad. Labour yes. National yes. But let me remind you of his comments shortly before the last election…
Any coalition he was willing to make with The Greens would have to be on terms that rendered The Greens irrelevant, and which they would never accept.
“If the Greens think they are going to take over the levers of economic management they are assuming that other parties are not watching their record.”
Peters said there was still a chance for Labour and NZ First to form a government together, claiming that in 2005 the combination delivered the largest surpluses in recent times……
“Voters need to be disabused of the view promoted by the Greens that we in New Zealand First would stand by whole they promote extremist views in government,” Peters said.
Peters praised both Finance Minister Bill English and Labour spokesman David Parker as men of integrity.
“I see both of them as capable of being Ministers of Finance.
*whoosh*
😆 too funny hahahahaha
If you saw Country Calendar last week then everything is fine. Guy owned 4 dairy farms and taking on debt was just part of the game and healthy risk taking… I think they said his dad had been through the 80s crash as well and lesson was apparently learnt..
and you believed him?
I probably would have not so long ago, and I reckon since it was being shown by the authority that is Country Calendar that most of the audience would have been fine going along with it too.
I see….my experience is those who were in the industry during the eighties have a much more realistic view than those involved since….even within family.
it is a generational, life experience difference
Following the discussion on the Auckland City IT fiasco I saw this article from 2011….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10715430
The bit that took my notice is at the bottom;
“Council chief executive Doug McKay said the cost of implementing computer systems was scary, but as far as he could tell the transition agency ran a good process.
The former private sector boss said he had implemented three new computer systems in the past and each time there had been serious cost blowouts.”
Seems he can add a fourth to his resume, that article was rather prophetic. I can’t help but think there’s something badly wrong when a CEO who’s already overseen three IT cost blowouts lets another happen on his watch. What does a CEO actually do these days?
Gets a nice, easy sinecure where s/he gets nicely rewarded for no personal risk and gives jobs and profits to the favoured.
Mckay is experienced at watching sap projects blow out from their original bs number to land on what the real cost was always going to be.
Sap is up to 20 times more expensive than similar packages that do everything it does except look as good on peoples resumes for the next sap trough.
Why Trump is filling stadiums with working class voters (and no, the answer isn’t “bigotry”): http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/donald-trump-why-americans-support
Tom Lewandowski, the president of the Northeast Indiana Central Labor Council in Fort Wayne, puts it even more bluntly when I asked him about working-class Trump fans. “These people aren’t racist, not any more than anybody else is,” he says of Trump supporters he knows. “When Trump talks about trade, we think about the Clinton administration, first with Nafta and then with [Permanent Normal Trade Relations] China, and here in Northeast Indiana, we hemorrhaged jobs.”
“They look at that, and here’s Trump talking about trade, in a ham-handed way, but at least he’s representing emotionally. We’ve had all the political establishment standing behind every trade deal, and we endorsed some of these people, and then we’ve had to fight them to get them to represent us.”
And from the comments thread:
I was struck how similar Sander’s arguments are to those of Trump. Sanders passionately spoke out against free trade and NAFTA saying shouting “how stupid is that trade policy?” to audience applause. And I’ve noticed in the Republican debates, Trump is the only one who repeatedly discusses jobs. The others never even mention jobs AFAIK.
We tend to assume the left is automatically the choice of the working class, but history shows right-wing authoritarian nationalism can also be very attractive if the people peddling it focus on making sure the working class has work that pays.
I tell you what though hes right about a couple of things in this:
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/second-amendment-rights
Enforcing the laws they already have, fixing the mental health system and fixing the background checks will do more to lower gun deaths then anything (reasonably) else
Mind you its easier said then done…
When a major part of your policy relies on a fairly strong circumstantial case….
A study (really a study of studies) suggests there is “fairly strong circumstantial case for Exile’s impact” on crime rates. But there’s a fairly strong circumstantial case that a program similar to “Exile” worked in Rochester, NY, while the economy was humming along, and then didn’t once it wasn’t.
http://www.msnbc.com/martin-bashir/whats-wayne-lapierres-love-richmon
If Sanders and Trump are both talking about jobs and the problems of free trade then why are those working class people supporting Trump? Underneath the concern about jobs is something else.
There’s nothing inherently left-wing about a voter just because they’re working class. Which means that, given a choice between left and right candidates who are both talking about jobs for workers, there’s no reason to assume workers will all be attracted to the left-wing one. The 1930s demonstrated that pretty clearly.
Yes, I understand that. I was just curious what the rationale was for so many working class supporting Trump, when Sanders is saying the same things re jobs and free trade. i.e. it’s not about the jobs and free trade, it’s about something else. The man quoted above from the Guardian seemed to be arguing that it was about the jobs. I’m not convinced.
Ummm, No.
The German working class (particularly, the urban, industrial working class) were largely immune to the Nazi electoral appeal. Along with the unemployed, they were the Nazis’ weakest demographic, immersed as so many of them were in the SPD (Social Democrat) and KPD (Communist) sub-cultures.
Only the (non-unionised) rural and small town working class (often working in small handicraft factories with less than 10 fellow employees) moved to the Nazis in appreciable numbers.
It was the German rural and urban middle class Right and Centre-Right that swung en masse to Hitler.
Wellington’s Labour mayoral aspirant Justin Lester is at it again! This time, he is advocating that a community park should be fenced off, furnished with ‘all-weather’ turf and given to a private professional football club (Phoenix) AT RATEPAYER EXPENSE!!! Where does this guy get off his endless proposals for subsidising the private sector with rates funding that should be used to maintain the city’s sagging infrastructure and public amenities. It is a sad day when Nicola Young, the true-blue candidate for the mayoralty has a better grip on Council responsibilities than the disingenuous Deputy Mayor.
What park is this Petertoo? Phoenix FC is one of his pet projects and one I’m not willing to fund. He’s wealthy, he can sell his Kapai chain and fund them himself.
Does he have any comment on Illot Green by the way? I haven’t heard anything. Being on the Developers Advocacy Board I should imagine he’s keen to hock it off for the short term gain of raising the $$$ for earthquake strengthening for the council building.
They could of course scrap the 9 million dollar corporate welfare programme known as WEID and fund the work that way.
Rosie – Martin Luckie Park in Berhampore. The man has no qualms about this well used public space and the kids league team being shunted by the sound of it.
It is a widely held belief that the thought of John Illott Green being retained as open space is anathema to Lester. It has also been mooted that Pike, the City Shaper has already been talking deals with his surrogate boss, Mark McGuinness who owns much of what is likely to become known the Willis Bond Waterfront when the privatisation progresses further with the Site 10 (& 11?) developments.
As for the income from the sale of John Illott Green being used to strengthen the Town Hall – it wouldn’t make much of a dent. The land value, based on sites of similar size on Jervois Quay would be less than $6m. Much less than the nearby site that the ratepayers are paying to kick off the Peter Jackson et. al. museum and a Conference Centre. Obviously the ratepayers have much deeper pockets than Mark Dunajtschik who obviously wan’t prepared to pay an over the odds price to proceed with a proposed Hilton Hotel/Conference Centre on the same Cable Street site.
Obviously, Lester’s short-termism doesn’t factor in the obvious, that a future Council will have to buy and demolish other commercial buildings (like Midland Park at $millions) to provide open space for urban apartment dwellers.
Sorry, yes, town hall, not council buildings.
I’m hoping that talk of turning the park in Berhampore into an all weather ground for the Phoenix is only talk. It would be deeply unfair to push children’s and adults sports clubs off the field – or would they be expected to concede to the Phoenix when ever they chose to practice on it? I have no idea why we have to fund a professional sports team anyway.
Re the $134 million convention centre/Jackson film museum site that Mark Dunajtschik couldn’t stump up for, for his hotel plans – he’s also on the executive for the Property Developers Advocacy group, alongside Lester. Maybe he said “here Justin, I’m not having it, you can have it”.
Such people find anything public is anathema – especially democracy. They will work hard to privatise everything leaving the rest of us as serfs to the new owners. Democracy will be killed by the simple act of selling off the public’s wealth and thus leaving them powerless.
“Nicola Young, the true-blue candidate for the mayoralty has a better grip on Council responsibilities than the disingenuous Deputy Mayor”.
There. I trimmed of the totally unnecessary words from the sentence. Why on earth do you put “It is a sad day when ” in front of them?
Are you planning to vote for Nicola then? God help us if we have another term of Wade-Brown and Lester sounds even worse, if such a thing is possible.
Nearly all our present councillors seem to have this delusion that they are far-seeing business entrepreneurs. Then they stuff things up. It isn’t their money and they don’t give a damn about what they waste. I have always held the view that at least one councillor should have to take a personal financial interest in any of these projects they push on the ratepayer. When any guarantee is requested or some “can’t fail” expenditure, such as the Visitor Centre at Zealandia is proposed there should have to be one of the council who says “Yes, I believe it will work. If it falls in a heap I will return all the money I have been paid while on the council to help make up for the losses”. I bet they would be a great deal more careful then.
The other problem they, like all politicians, have is that they will never admit that anything they do is a failure and should be scrapped. They would rather just keep throwing other people’s money at it for ever. It is one of the reasons we need to get new people on Governing bodies at regular intervals. New people can throw out things that are useless because their ego isn’t involved.
It gets the same way of course in Central Government. Only the numbers are bigger. The problem at the moment is that there is no viable alternative Government. The opposition at the moment aren’t fit to be allowed near the Beehive. Can’t Labour have a clean out and get people who are capable into Parliament. They still have the fools who should have been dumped at the 2011 election.
Good point at the beginning of your comment alwyn. Guess it reflects how pissed off some, self included, where when we felt obliged to vote for the city damaging faux-Green Wade-Brown to block Morrison last time round. There is obviously some trepidation as to how neo-liberal Nicola Young might be, but then, could she be more in the pockets of business and the developers than Lester? Now waiting to hear if Paul Eagle does a screeming reverse on the earlier statement of support for Lester’s Mayoral campaign.
Getting back to the former Cr. Morrison, it was a real bummer to find out that the Mayor and her gang of three paid off him off with a $300 000 unrecoverable ratepayer ‘donation’ to establish his favourite Aussie owned call-centre, a cause that morphed into being his employer. Also, impressed with the idea that you consider Cr. Foster should be liable for some of the Zealandia debt. Didn’t the ACT apparatchik Catherine Isaac had a finger in the Visitor Centre pie too?
No I don’t think Foster is liable for the debt. I wouldn’t back date my proposal.
Also Isaac was never a councillor so it couldn’t apply to her.
To expand on my view.
The Council is approached to guarantee a loan, or make a loan for something. The people responsible claim that it will not only be self-sufficient but will be so popular that it will be able to repay the loan. See Zealandia.
When it all goes belly up the Council claims that they couldn’t possibly have known that it would happen and it isn’t their fault. The ratepayer gets screwed.
I would argue that before any such loans are made, or guaranteed, ONE councillor must be found who will put his/her money where their mouth is. If it crashes they will have to repay to the Council every bit of money they have ever received, up to a maximum of the money the Council has lost.
No Councillor willing to do that? No Loan is allowed.
If Foster had been willing to make the promise he would be out of pocket. He has been at the public trough so long we would get back quite a nice little bit of change. He wouldn’t have done it of course.
That would take care of the “Loans” for Zealandia or for the Stadium. It would have prevented the guarantees for the Embassy Theatre or for the sinking of that old frigate. We were promised that fundraising would mean that the guarantee would never be called on but they were.
The Council could still spend money on such activities but they would have to vote the money directly, not hide it away to blow up in the future.
alwyn – yes backdating the proposal would be unreasonable but the comment was meant in the hypothetical. The reference to Catherine Isaac was in a different realm though. It is galling that people are shoulder tapped for roles on a ‘political’ and/or ideological basis – stuff up, then there are no consequences. Strange how this is more apparent in the realms of the higher paid – not unlike today’s expose regarding the Ministry of Health and also applicable with regard to Theo Sperrings.
Frankly it is hard to respect any “professionals” who require extensive funding from debt ridden local councils.
I’m pretty sure the Ole(!) Football Academy didn’t ask for ratepayers in Porirua to chip in, but they have an awesome field with water views.
Yesterday Michael Woodhouse managed to insult those who actively resisted zero hours contracts AND NZ workers with this comment
“Throw a bone at someone to stop barking at cars – call it a backdown if you wish.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/298442/green-light-for-zero-hours-ban
So the Labour Party, CTU and Unite are merely annoying yapping dogs he had to shut up by throwing a concession over zero hour contracts and workers are the passing cars causing the distraction for the yapping dogs.
What a smug little Fwit. He really needs to get a dose of reality, like having a look at the demands from employers on job ads. The extract below from seek.co.nz is typical of the type of attitude I see every day looking at job ads.
“This role would suit someone who is mature and savvy with no other commitments to allow for flexibility.”
This is a part time customer service role with a stated 18 hours a week over two specified days. The rest of the time you need to be on call to cover shifts as required. If you can’t come into work on call because you’re sick, you’re looking after someone who is sick, and well, you have have other commitments because you know, “life” happens then you’ll probably be fired under the 90 day law.
Its’ these kinds of employers that have to wake up to their responsibilities and that’s why the zero hour law is so important.
“Throw a bone at someone to stop barking at cars – call it a backdown if you wish.” My jaw dropped on reading that. I am utterly fed up with the culture of contempt that attends this government. Who does he think he is? Nero?
And by the way, your link didn’t work for me – possibly RNZ has taken the piece down.
Worked for me Olwyn.
Thanks ianmac and Rosie – I tried the link again and it worked – it seems I spoke too soon. 🙂
Hi Olwyn. I just clicked on the link and it worked………………..?
I saw Woodhouse say that on newshrub last night – a jaw dropping moment for me too. You’re right about the culture of contempt. This Government is rife with it. No standards, no professionalism, no manners.
No wonder we are an international laughing stock.
Not jaw dropping- just what we expect from anti-empathetic people.
That comment’ Throw a bone…etc” typifies Tory caught in the headlights reaction.
I have barked at cars and have subsequently needed screws and titanium thrown at my bones. I happily accept the Zero Hours outcome in this vein – not all bones are meal. The merit of barking prevails.
Watching this was odd, I started thinking this does not apply to Auckland, nor New Zealand.
Then I remembered all the small towns which are now effectively ghost towns up and down this nation.
The ever increasing prison system
and the masses of unemployment.
I know many here don’t want to see capitalism as evil, and I know many here think it can be reformed, but capitalism itself is it’s own worst enemy. We should not be trying to reform it, because in a few generations – it will do all this again.
What system would you favour implementing, adam? Do you have an example of people flourishing under it?
Adam’s task should be too easy.
I’m no social democrat,
I think reforming capitalism is like keeping pet sharks,
you canny complain when it bites your face off.
It’s a fair question Gormless is asking Adam?
Do you really expect the Workers to rise up and destroy their current situation, if you cannot tell them what you would replace it with?
The New Deal was a set of policies implemented within a Capitalist system, and in fact is widely credited with saving Capitalism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
So, no. It won’t be very difficult for Adam to find the system we already have.
I wouldn’t call what we’ve got now is Keynes’ form of capitalism.
It’s still Capitalism.
You’re flattering yourself that you’re a political historian now are you?
Lame tosser.
Workers of the world awaken. Break your chains, demand your rights.
All the wealth you make is taken, by exploiting parasites.
Shall you kneel in deep submission from your cradle to your grave?
Is the height of your ambition to be a good and willing slave?
Joe Hill
Workers of the world awaken. Break your chains, demand your rights.
All the wealth you make is taken, by exploiting parasites.
Shall you kneel in deep submission from your cradle to your grave?
Is the height of your ambition to be a good and willing slave?
No, no, I want you to be a bit less specific, please.
“What system would you favour implementing, adam? Do you have an example of people flourishing under it?”
Egalitarian cultures seem to do pretty well. Take the power away from white men and give it to the Māori kuia and see how we get on.
You specify ‘Māori kuia’ rather than ‘Māori’ Weka? Is there a reason for the distinction?
I think they are the group of people most likely to prioritise egalitarianism over power, and the importance of the wellbeing of everyone.
In the context of this discussion then, is it fair for me to suggest that this is an ideal that might be achieved in the future, as opposed to something that has actually been achieved in the past?
We’ve had egalitarianism as the main organising principle, and those cultures definitely let women have power. How we get from where we are now to that I don’t know, but it does seem sensible to give the power to the people least likely to abuse it and most likely to use it for the good of all.
If you mean changing from a capitalist system, then I don’t know if that’s ever been done.
TPP
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/health-law-expert-rips-into-tpp-2016030910#axzz42LwRSRtL
but wait, there’s more
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/375719/mark-slates-govt-tpp-road-show
Thanks for your first link, I very seldom look at the TV3 website nowadays (didn’t even know that 7days had started up again). I had read that ODT piece earlier and particularly liked this bit:
– See more at: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/375719/mark-slates-govt-tpp-road-show#sthash.DKKErkRE.dpuf
Perhaps an idea that should emulated at other MFAT “workshops”?
WTF –
The government is openly showing derision for the people and their right to govern the country, and control the government that has been voted in to work for the people. Aren’t I naive. But I still think that.
IIRC, Don Brash referred to the voters as “the punters out in punterland.”
It seems to be an attitude typical of the Tories high up in any organisation.
The first part of your post should get wider publicity. Serious stuff and one that we should be able to articulate it in the MSM.
And the second part is much closer to home and should get wider attention as well and beyond the ODT.
I wonder how to do that?
Well spotted Tautoko Mangō Mata.
Even more from Stiglitz.
Forget ISIS, worry about ISDS foreign trade pact clause, economists say
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/forget-isis-worry-isds-foreign-trade-pact-clause-article-1.2557485
Just an ordinary guy.
/
Ari Melber Verified account
@AriMelber
New: Trump admitted he makes UNDER $500,000 a year in a 2016 tax filing.
That got him $300 back.
-@CrainsNewYork
https://twitter.com/AriMelber/status/707285973143576578
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160308/BLOGS02/160309865/how-did-trump-qualify-for-a-middle-class-tax-break?CSDropAuthCookieSpecified=1&CSDropAuthCookie=1
Blowhards, trolls and rat-fuckers – say it ain’t so.
And as probability becomes clearer, I’ve been hearing and reading people who profess to be leftists or progressives saying they will never vote for Clinton but might instead vote for Trump.
Anybody who does that is a freaking numbskull. Anybody claiming to be on the left who votes for Trump deserves not an ounce of respect. Anybody who thinks putting this billionaire bully into the White House makes any kind of sense has none. And anybody who urges people to vote for him is dead to me.
I have no idea how many actual Sanders’ supporters are considering a vote for Trump if Bernie fails to get the nomination.
I don’t know how many of the people who are saying Trump is a good option for progressives in November actually are progressives themselves, how many are blowhards and trolls, and how many are rat-fuckers who have all along favored Trump and are eager to exploit our division. Too many, whatever the count.
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/4/1495625/-If-you-re-thinking-of-voting-for-Trump-because-you-can-t-stand-Clinton-you-aren-t-thinking-very-hard
From the “hot headed knee jerk reaction files”.
The petition to get SAFE’s status as a charity revoked has made it to the DIA
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/77647167/farmers-threaten-animal-rights-groups-charitable-status
Glad to hear that SAFE are not feeling threatened by this move, as the believe they meet the criteria for operating as a charity, otherwise that status wouldn’t have been granted it by the charities commission.
Wholesale spying on New Zealanders and the merger between SIS and GCSB recommended by Michael Cullen
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11602643
See new post on this.
That word again.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865649537/Native-Americans-protest-at-Capitol-over-observance-of-Columbus-Day.html
Why do people in the USA celebrate Columbus day anyway?
He never landed in North America, but only on islands in the Caribbean.
Any refugee from the USA who can explain?
‘Presidential primaries 2016: Americans head to polls in 4 states’
https://www.rt.com/usa/334903-primary-michigan-hawaii-idaho/
Michael Moore tweet
“The choices r a demented billionaire, a democratic socialist, maybe our 1st woman prez who’s “sorry” 4 her Iraq War vote &a Canadian Dracula”
Just looking for the frequency for local community radio and looked on ite called Love NZ which listed all in locality and National Radio genre is Talkback.
The response to radio on the site is so vacuous that it is automatically regarded as a music service in the main, classic, adult contemporary, feel good, variety, easy listening etc. Rhema is Christian, Sport is sport so that didn’t try their brains much, then there is Community, RADIONZ Concert is listed as Live Concert for goodness sake, as if that is the only concert music they can envisage.
They have no word that is suitable to describe our peerless feeder of information, thought, culture and news. Except to call national radio, RADIONZ, ‘Talkback’, as if this was the highest intellectual offering they could conceive. Thinking, a bit sterile!
Video killed the radio star! It certainly dims when it comes to marketing music for profit,
and not mainly for the musicians either.
Ironic given the hole that Kim Dotcom is in over copyright law that:
“Lawyers for Eminem, National Party back in court.
In September, spokesman for the publishers Joel Martin said Eminem was never approached for permission to use his work in National’s rowing-themed election ads, which featured backing music similar to the riff of Lose Yourself.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11602702
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11602456
Economic s for dummy’s. ( me included)
Thanks! Useful for me too. I liked the driving to work analogy both in the context of ecomomics but also why thinking about the collective is important in general.
Hard not to draw the conclusion that it’s that Keynesian or Monetarist economics are wrong, but that all economics is 😉 (or maybe it’s just that the economy shouldn’t be based primarily on economics but other things like well being, the collective good, our place in the environment).
Our 100 000 Hindu speakers in NZ have no choice on the flag referendum: they are asked to tick the box they want for the new New Zealand flag. Careless mistranslation or devious manipulation?
Fuck up by someone. I doubt that it was intentional.
As an aside, I was surprised about the 100,000 Hindi speakers number though. Seemed high, although the 2013 census says 66,309, which is nearly doubled since 2006.
I live in a very Euro-centric part of NZ :-/
http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-culture-identity/languages.aspx
Old Billy Boy Ralston standing for Auckland Council finally broken cover aye ? Been on JohnTheNeolib/ParnellBBQ payroll for however long, one way or another. Finally come clean. Hope his splendid benign pomposity doesn’t grow with this. Could be life threatening.
Ralston has been spinning for Key for ages.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/77685076/sell-aucklands-port-bill-ralston-launches-councillor-campaign
Billy Boy in earnest mode. By which he will ‘earnest’ much more pleasingly than ever before. Geezuz !