And we foolishly put it down to a simple cocktail of stupidity and nastiness, extended by a few glasses of Martinborough and a little Chanel fragrance in the air. It is even simpler than that. Someone wants/needs to make a few dollars!
When/if Annette creates a by-election there is no certainty that a) her replacement is solid ABC and b) the selected candidate actually wins.
438 votes is all that separates Labour from National in Rongotai! And Chris Finlayson was the Natz boy in 2011. And Russel Norman was the Green candidate! Top drawer stuff! A three way race or even a two way race would not be attractive to the ABC gang. http://electionresults.org.nz/electionresults_2011/electorate-45.html
As Shearer won the Caucus leadership by only one vote, the Rongotai issue must be playing on some minds! The 2013 50% “endorsement” vote for the ABCs is at risk.
So one $0.75 gets me a Dollar if Annette creates a by-election, which in turn would buy me nearly four shares in Shearer loosing, which pays $4.00.
So I can turn $0.75 into $4.00 in six months. All I have to do is keep Cunliffe overseas!
Now which Labour MP comes to mind when you think of iPredict and a dodgy cash raising scams?
See, I told you it was as simple as ABC!
(all a bit of fun to take our minds of the stupid mess in which we find ourselves. Try your own version of this game)
Continued silence from Shearer on the caucus crapping on Cunliffe plus the Grey speech seems to have turning the blog tide from frustration and despair to anger. A party member’s resignation petition has been started – I doubt it will get legs but it’s indicative of the level of feeling – and even Red Alert is turning sour.
PG no offence but why do you copy & paste the exact same comment on Kiwiblog & the standard?
Its kinda weird & shows that you’re not really making an effort to introduce a new thought on a particular topic.
Be original man, anything else is plain boring and/or odd.
I would suggest that you take a break from blog commenting for a while – get out in the real world, take a breath of fresh air, and you will find that you will get better perspective on life.
The comment is there to get you to click on the link to his site where you will get a larger version on the ill informed and badly written views on how the world should work according to Pete George.
It is called link-whoring for obvious reasons, and we tolerate it provided it is related to the post (anything is a topic for Open Mike) and is kept short. Since the intent is to sell a link, the text is a come hither and really isn’t designed to promote discussion here, KB, or the other sites that it has been pasted into.
Even worse Jimmie, Pete gets banned here periodically, for eventually stepping over a line. But that line happens in the context of him pissing of large numbers of people by doing things like grabbing post one of Open Mike each day, link whoring, concern trolling, and posting excessive amounts of the most inane, stupid and disingenuous posts we see here.
The ugly “hate Cunliffe” campaign reveals the politics of envy, worsened by stabbing him in the back while he is abroad. Certain members clearly are threatened by Cunliffe’s superior talents. There are indeed a lot of “dead bodies” in Labour and I doubt Cunliffe would desire to preside over this funeral. Would the Greens for one moment even want to be in coalition with Labour as it is at this time?
Would the Greens for one moment even want to be in coalition with Labour as it is at this time?
It might be ok, just never let any MP leave the country.
Seriously, this sort of destructive behaviour should be a serious concern to Greens. The Green and Labour cultures are further apart than the policitics of Act and Mana. And as we can see, Labour clashes, whether inter party or intra party, are not pretty.
The Green and Labour cultures are further apart than the policitics of Act and Mana.
You can’t be serious? Act has policy that is directly targeted at Maori to ensure they remain repressed. Acts membership is bursting at the seems with openly racist bigots who are not afraid of promoting their divisiveness with a bit of race baiting. The Mana party on the other hand is concerned with poverty, which disproportionately effects Maori. The proposed Hone Heki tax, which abolishes GST is lightyears away from Acts tax policy that would mean no new initiatives for ten bloody years. Act is already dead in the water, while Mana is still a rising force.
In contrast to the division between the Act and Mana parties, the Greens and Labour find many similarities between their policies… So much so that some claim they’re stealing each others ideas. Their policy on how to eradicate child poverty and ensure the conservation estate is respected are now almost identical. There are differences, but there are more similarities that make a coalition between Labour and the Greens workable. One cannot say the same thing about Mana and Act.
I invite you to a tour fo the heartland. Not the pastoral base you’re travelling through now. But here, The Standard.
According to all rankings, this site is the Leader of the Digital Opposition. We are the crowded town hall that in analogue space now rarely exists.
We are the proving ground for a Labour-Green coalition by 2014. Nowhere else does what we are doing.
Over the past 48 hours your caucus has shown itself to be out of control, with attacks from within on Louisa Wall and David Cunliffe.
Please explain how you will demonstrate the leadership that forms a united Labour caucus.
Please explain how you will set things right with these MPs.
At the moment it looks like you have neither the will nor the power to lead a united caucus. At the moment you do not appear capable of unifying us. Show us your leadership.
Your leadership is being questioned on this site because normally such egregious behaviour by your MPs would have been dealt with swiftly and surely.
Without your action in this matter Labour activist discontent will focus on the constitutional review and make for a deeply destabilised November Labour annual conference. This conference will of course evaluate everything you have done to date.
The futre of the activist base of a Labour-Green coalition could be formed here on this site, by your participation. Or, by your sustained absence, broken. Trust me, it’s breaking already.
Failure to apepar in front of New Zealand’s progressive activist base, as Leader of the Opposition, means of course we will all get to describe you in a single word.
If you truly believe that the caucus has a “fear” of a bunch of half witted shut ins and spotty political nerds then Labour has got bigger problems than I thought.
How many commentators were responsible for the 380 comments? My guess would be under 100. Not really the power base of Labour activists that you think it is when half of those are greens stirring shit and alot of the rest retarded Marxists (quite a bit of crossover between those groups as well).
If you think this site is a heavy weight political power broker then you are deluded. It has probably the equivalent impact that online strategy war gamers have on the war in Afghanistan.
I said paying attention, not basing their whole future on it. They and all parties need to listen to all of their constituents and whether you like it or not people who comment here are voicing their valid opinions that any party should listen to. Some of the people who comment on here are also out on the street (not “half witted shut-ins”) working for the party and are entitled to their opinion both here and at local meetings, without the fear of being insulted with crass bullies like you KK.
I’m one of those 5,000 readers and although I don’t add any comments, I can assure you I read the Standard every day as an antidote to the shallow, one dimensional views in the mainstream media. I also read Kiwiblog, but find many commenters on that site don’t really discuss anything in depth and seem to be really bigoted and nasty just like a bunch of red-neck crackers really.
You’re right. It is a hell of a strapline. I’ll test it out with the other authors.
Damn it. The reason I support people silly enough to want to be politicians is because otherwise I would feel this frigging sense of responsibility to do the frigging job myself. That seriously interferes with programming.
We’ve shown how you can do the digital job with a minimal budget, crowd sourced, and probably with a wider readership than anything else on the labour/green spectrum apart from Greenpeace. But Labour limps on with a website that is still a shocker for finding information and looks half dead, and red alert which is starting to have a permanent mid winter slump. I must recheck the greens digital stuff again…
Meanwhile in Employerland here’s todays forecast…..
Raining..expect flight delays for visitors, and some telecom outages stuffing up online services….means extra work and overtime to be paid
Check the post box and bank account, lovely recession, debtor days blown out by 10 in last quarter to unreasonably unhealthy level….talk to bank re extending overdraft for working capital to cover the slow payers on big projects.
See Debt Collection re bills being chased…write off significant amount as one company has gone belly up, send legal letter to government department.
Employees telling me they want a pay rise….check Profit @ Loss ledger, revenue flat, behind target, profitability down…so you want a pay rise?
Taxman GST, fabulous. Pay now, do not anny, ever! Check who we can pay late as we juggle cash.
Cold weather, people sick..more rain, transport delays, lost work hours.
All good fun when the economy and weather is good, now for the painful time. Do you employees want to share some pain? Paycuts? I thought not.
You’re in business mate. You take the risks and in return you profit more than workers do in the boom times. That’s the deal. If you can’t make your business work in a country that has one of the most business-friendly environments in the world then maybe it’s just not meant to be.
Hole in one Bill, as we say “on the money”. Yes the good years are good and the bad can kill you. The reason I laid it out was to put some balance in some of the posts I see where all employers equal blood sucking parasites. My biggest gripe is actually other businesses (especially corporates) and their “business school managerial” class who occupy their power structures BUT who have no ownership or cares thereof.
I agree with you on that. I think you’ll find most people at TS have nothing against small employers (in fact I think you’d find a few of them are small employers) but would share your view of the corporates. And let’s face it, large enterprises employ something like 80% of all private sector workers and many, if not most, large enterprises in NZ are multinationals. I think that when people rail against business they’re generally talking about big capital rather than the small, locally owned, IT firm that employs ten people. In fact I think most here would welcome a degree of corporate welfare if it were for small, kiwi owned businesses rather than the big aussie and US owned ratbags it mostly goes to.
Good of you to speak out Bored. Does Labour even see the small business owners going under on and off the main street of small towns and cities all over NZ.
Does Labour even see the small business owners going under on and off the main street of small towns and cities all over NZ
However disillusioned I am with Labour, it seems they do recognise the small businesses in small town NZ. One of the reasons for the heartland meetings, and talking in business language during those meetings, I suspect. Whether they have the solution right or not is a whole other topic.
Well yeah, according to the Gospel of Dave as outlines to the Pip-Growers in Nelson we all have to grow a lot more apples and get really smart with them,
We don’t do tenure in New Zealand because our labour laws are not (quite) as barbaric as those in the US.
Perhaps my humour was a bit gruff. I think that small business in NZ has it hard in good part because nobody in this country has much money. When the world bank says we’ve got a great business environment they mean for big multinational business. I think these two facts are connected.
IB
Yes I agree with that. But small business is not a baddie and needs to be encouraged and most business is hard under the conditions and the political jerks we have now. Let’s have more business and good tax laws and better pay to revolve round the business. I know tht’s the sort of thing you want.
And let’s hear more talk about the multiplier. More economic literacy. It isn’t hard to come up to the 101 level which then means we would all be informed to the level of most of our pollies and small business managers. And though a little bit of learning can be a dangerous thing, being on the same level playing field is fairer and other applicable cliches.
Small business is hard because New Zealanders are not paid enough to buy their products, finance is extremely difficult to get beyound the house mortgage and the playing field is slanted to help offshore large corporates.
Business owners need to realise that the same things that hurt NZ employees, hurt them too.
Again we have a recessive National Government. And again we see local shops and businesses closing.
I went back to a wage job when National got back in. Knowing that there would be the inevitable right wing policy caused downturn.
Most people here are/were either SME owners or supportive of small NZ business.
Small innovative business deserves our help.
Business which can only compete by being the lowest payer on the block does not deserve help and even under right wing terms should fail.
“A business which cannot pay the costs of its resources should fail to allow more efficient use of resources”.
Businesses which require tax payer top ups to employees so they can live are not viable.
I suppose we should be more clear, that we are attacking corporates, especially financial ones, who have power, and income, way in excess of their usefulness.
National is the party of big business and corporates. Labour gifts them the SME sector by not differentiating between struggling small businesses and the ticket clipping corporates who rip them off.
Thanks all the respondents (IB, Prism, KJT, CV), seems we have identified that there is an opportunity for Labour to differentiate themselves with small business (make National the party of the “evil corporates”).
From where I sit the future for corporates looks grim, they are too growth orientated, and find it hard to add value at a local level plus hold longer term “goodwill” based arrangements. As we become a non growth localised solid state economy small business will become the norm.
I do indeed, funny thing is that most people who ask for a raise get a bit of a shock when their true cost versus profitability is revealed. I can be a bit biased because I prefer all business partners and as many employees as possible to have some skin in the game i.e profit share etc.
Myself I have always pushed my base salary as low as possible and the risk versus reward as high. Certainly keeps you focused on not getting burnt. On the downside some months pickings can be slim and it pays to make sure your valuable staff (which is everybody) get enough to keep them going and focused, which is why retained earnings are vital. Too many employers forget that all businesses need a buffer, and pay themselves out. Then they lose key staff and consequently go bust.
This is interesting from KapiMana (local paper Porirua) by Andrea ONeil
Not on line
“Horses Died on Hobbit Time
John Smythe aFormer horse wrangler formerly working for 3 foot 7 about the death of 3 horses. maintains he has been fired for speaking out.
The first, was a small horse killed by ‘highly strung gelding”
We questioned it but was told to do our jobs.
The second was when a horse was put in a paddock with a sheer bluff down to a stream.
Again the wranglers questioned the decision, but were assured the horses would be OK
Two days latter the horse was found submerged in the creek.
Then it was decided all horses would be stabled because of the 2 deaths. They were fed on grain, and a third horse died because of the grain feed when used to grass.
When Mr Smythe talked to management about the decisions he lost his job.
Mr Smthe formerly owned a horse trekking business and a shepherd
3foot7 did not answer questions but release a statement
we worked closely with American Humane Association and have taken grat care to follow thre guidelines. We also worked closely with a local vet …. ”
Sort of sounds as if we know best by 3foot7. Not a good look.
Also I would have thought there was interest in this BUT i haven’t seen anything on any other new.
Now the “theonering” online article, links, and comments have been removed… spooky. Perhaps PJackson’s legal team has been sending some “desist” letters around.
Anyhow, the story is still there in black and white in various Wgtn community newspapers, including one right in front of me.
Hi there. I also worked as a wrangler for the Hobbit alongside John Smythe and also after he was fired. What he claims is absolutely true. There were also other incidences before and after John left. Two horses had a leg each degloved in seperate incidences where they got caught in fences. There was also cruelty to one of the horses at least that I know of where it was hobbled and left tied on the ground for half a day because it was too “fresh” for the rider and this horse ended up with severe rope burns on it’s legs which had to be covered with make up for filming
From John Armstrong http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10825624
“Faced with plenty of tricky questions during a press conference yesterday, the Minister of Education reverted to her preferred gambit of answering such questions with a bland statement about something which more often than not bore little relation to what was being asked.”
I have a solution for the schools who dont believe the Stds data has any relevance.
Take a lead for the Minister
Schools should such questions with a bland statement about something which bear little relation to what is being asked.
Oil market volatility is the new norm. So far 2012 is the fourth most volatile year for oil prices since 1982. The other top three years were 2007, 2008 and 2009. Since the production of oil from conventional sources peaked in 2005 we have reached a new paradigm: highly volatile oil prices. My take on the situation: http://www.southernlimitsnz.com/2012/08/the-new-paradigm-volatile-oil-markets.html
Wongers is of course right next to the Rangitikei electorate which voted in Bruce Beetham, so there is no accounting for what weirdness might have crossed over. I’m speculating (maybe unfairly I admit) that the Rangitikei Rednecks would have a way of “fixing” the “different” person even Wonganoovians might be alarmed by!
David Shearer emphatically endorses David Cunliffe here; albeit, typically, he is only quoted at the end of Tracey’s article.
“But Shearer yesterday hit out at the speculation and said Cunliffe had his full backing.
There was no suggestion that Cunliffe would be demoted.
“God no, the guy’s got a huge brain. He’s really across economy policy. Hell no, I want him to be there and want him to keep doing what he’s doing . . . I don’t think there would be anybody else in the caucus who could do it as well as him, to be honest.”
What is this new expression “across”? eg He’s really across economy policy Does that mean he understands it? Is good at it? Where did it come from (NZ or ?)?
Gee i have been supporting the ‘give David Shearer a chance camp’ waiting to see what we could actually expect from Shearer as a Labour Prime Minister,
What a difference a day makes, i had the chance to read a speech Shearer made to Grey Power the other day and a few paragraphs into it Shearer deliberately launches into a bit of beneficiary bashing, and, i have to say that i have never seen the present Slippery little Shyster we have as Prime Minister mount such an open attack,
I havn’t been a member of the Labour Party for at least 20 years and guess what Shearers speech to Grey Power has just about given me the political motivation to sign up as a member,
In all honesty tho, if i do so it will only be for the negative ideal of ridding the Labour Party of a leader(spit) who would fit right at home among the ACT party,(all 2 of them),
a) You could accuse Garner of having or assisting agendas, but I doubt you can show when he has ever made things up like that.
b) No denial, no clarification, so the story stays as read unchallenged.
c) No unprompted defence or endorsement of Cunliffe.
There’s nothing to suggest the story is false, and there’s nothing to suggest Shearer disapproves of it. That leaves:
a) Shearer backs the story (and could be a source), or
b) Shearer doesn’t have the will or want to stick up for Cunliffe.
Good point bad12. Duncan Garner was recently removed as head of The Nation program soon after making unfounded statements against Shearer. Of course a bullshit excuse was made up to save face.
Garner has form on this kind of thing, as does Chris Trotter, Cameron Slater, David Farrar and all the other hacks who are working for Keys government. They have nothing constructive to offer, because National is not a constructive party, and so attacking Labour is their preferred option.
PG is showing his political naivety… Anybody recall when Garner told Chris Carter: “I am going to fucking get you, Carter. If it takes me to Christmas I am going to fucking destroy you.” Clearly he’s motivated to do as much damage to Labour and its MPs as he can… Whatever Duncan Garner reports, especially when there’s no corroborating information, should be taken with a grain of salt.
Yeah, Labour people might have their reasons for wanting to believe Garner but allowing the likes of a TV3news reporter to set the political agenda of the left is pretty much the attitude of defeatism,
Whether those reasons are anti-Mallard or anti-Shearer does not to me really matter, allowing the Garner’s of this world a say in the political process simply gives encouragement for them all to be spreading rumor and innuendo as fact…
The fact that she tried to shut down one the biggest employer and economic powerhouse of Rongotai will make that a bit harder than you think. People there absolutely hate her
Joke post of the week don’t you think, i do live there and while not personally having met Helen Kelly from what i have seen of Her published comments She would be able to represent the diverse views of this electorate with aplomb,
What you really mean with your ill thought out comment is that Sir(spit)Peter Jackson and His acolytes,(those that suck at that fat pricks appendage), despise Kelly for standing up for the rights of the average worker in the industry thus making it harder for the likes of Jackson to be able to view another zero on the bank balance,
While Jackson and the few make and stash the bulk of the profits of movie making while denying the average worker is just that,a waged employee, there is very little to be gained by anyone in this electorate from Jackson’s movie making except bragging rights,
Bragging rights do not serve to put food upon the table and while Jackson and His inner circle are busily spending their gains elsewhere there is hardly a huge economic boost to the local industry out here on the island…
He went nuts on the Hobbit hating thing. I got at least two flyers in the mail box, and he talked it up on the stump. I think there was even a billboard, but can’t be sure. In an election where National recieved it’s record highest ever blah blah he managed to lose votes running on the Hobbit hating meme.
To paraphrase Palin, I can see Weta from my house ( ie I live in the place you call “there”), my kid’s mates are mostly in weta families. I haven’t heard shit about any hate. Not one peep. The Nats get laughed at a lot though.
If the billboard you are thinking of was among the forest of them at the Miramar cut it got kicked over early in the piece, strangely enough even the ACT one survived…
On a completely seperate note, the Dotcom case has been moderately interesting. Apparently police had blocked all the phone lines, so when Mona Dotcom needed medical attention to do with her pregnancy the police ended up dialling 111 themselves.
Which raises the point: if the police thought there was enough of a risk of violence to use overwhelming force and armed police, two helicopters, and mobilise the STG, why didn’t they have an ambulance at a safe hold point?
Surely if you think violence is enough of a risk to carry automatic weapons, then at least one ambulance in your pocket would be a prudent step – particularly if your target is a “large” man and there is a pregnant woman on site.
In news today, Slippery the Prime Minister has said He will not be attending the service for the 2 soldiers killed in Afghanistan,
Apparently our Prime Minister finds that attending a baseball game in which His son is playing is Far Far more important than actually fronting up and showing due respect to those who have served and died in a war on behalf of the Prime Minister,
Respect for our allies in such a war was also missing in action the other day when the Prime Minister made snide reference to Hungarian soldiers serving next to the Kiwi troops in Afghanistan cracking jokes which insinuated that those Hungarian soldiers were cowardly in their service in that country,
The sooner New Zealand troops are home from that country the better, and, the sooner that disrespectful Slippery little shyster is removed from the office of Prime Minister the sooner we all might gain a small modicum of hope that as a country we do have a brighter future…
ourism New Zealand has unveiled a new campaign to capitalise on the release later this year of the first of three Peter Jackson Hobbit films.
Launching proper in August, the new advertisement will amount to “the latest evolution of the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign”, says the tourism group’s boss in a press release.It will “draw together the themes ’100% Pure’ and ’100% Middle Earth’”.
It is the United Nations’ International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples today.
The Mana Movement have produced a scorecard. Needless to say the Government has scored zero – which I consider optimistic.
• Give consent to projects affecting our lands and resources, particularly water:
(Article 32)
Government pushed ahead with selling shares in state-owned power companies without the consent of Māori, and before Māori ownership interests in water have been determined and settled. Government has indicated they will legislate against Māori ownership in water. FAIL
Metiria Turei has also issued a very strong statement
“If the international commitments that New Zealand signs up to are to have any meaning, then the Government must honour them at all times, not just when it is convenient,” said Mrs Turei.
“The Key Government must honour the pledges it has made and negotiate in good faith with the representatives that Maori select for themselves on the issue of water rights and asset sales.
“The Key Government also needs to give proper consideration to the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal.
4. For what would you throw the remote at the television?
The news. I’m a great admirer of escapist fiction, publicity handouts and celebrity drivel in a general sense but why call it The News. Perhaps it’s the title that doesn’t work.
So in first public servants are under-performing workers in a bloated public sector so need to be gotten rid of, the next thing you know they’re highly skilled, knowledgeable people who can be sold to other countries for their expertise.
The main reason Key is going to the US is to meet with top tier banks and financial insitutions there. It is partly a sales trip and preparations for asset sales will be discussed.
That’s why he can’t cancel the trip to attend our soldiers’ funerals.
Still it is grotesque. I’m sick of the left in New Zealand being accused of being weak on defence and armed services issues. The right may wrap themselves in the flag but that doesn’t hide their indifference and cynicism. They are willing to send young men and woman into harms way but not willing to pay for it (National can whine about skyhawks all the want. Every major defence purchase has been made by labour since the sixties)
Interesting, i would have thought that Slippery the Prime Minister would have fallen all over Himself to be seen attending the funeral of the Kiwi Soldiers killed in action,
Perhaps after all but accusing the Hungarian troops serving next to the Kiwi’s in Afghanistan of being cowards He has had a sudden case of ‘shyness’ at being close to military matters,
Perhaps i connect matters of seemingly totally differing nature far to easily but the 2 incidents of military matters simply draws me back to a 3rd one earlier in the piece,
I cannot for the life of me ‘see’ why it is that after cancelling the upgrade to the surrounds of the National War Memorial soon after coming into office in 2009 He is now dead keen for this now to go ahead, its as if our Slippery Prime Minister, one who cannot be said to have ever entertained a close relationship with the truth, is expecting the war memorial to have a far greater use in the future than the annual pilgrimages to the 2 world war ceremonies thus far,
Could our Prime Ministers wee trip back to ‘ the masters’ country be purely educational so as to appraise Him of what is expected of us in the next one…
By tomorrow morning, thast link will be with most of the country’s media.
Whatever our feelings on our involvement in Afghanistan, if the government is going to send our men and women into harms way in another country, the least that the PM of the day can do is attend their funerals.
Who knows, it may make our leaders more wary before deciding to kow-tow to Washington.
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Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
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Duh! It was staring us straight in the face.
And we foolishly put it down to a simple cocktail of stupidity and nastiness, extended by a few glasses of Martinborough and a little Chanel fragrance in the air. It is even simpler than that. Someone wants/needs to make a few dollars!
Annette wants to be Mayor of Wellington. iPredict is currently trading at $0.75 on there being a by-election in Rongotai.
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=B.E.RONGOTAI
When/if Annette creates a by-election there is no certainty that a) her replacement is solid ABC and b) the selected candidate actually wins.
438 votes is all that separates Labour from National in Rongotai! And Chris Finlayson was the Natz boy in 2011. And Russel Norman was the Green candidate! Top drawer stuff! A three way race or even a two way race would not be attractive to the ABC gang.
http://electionresults.org.nz/electionresults_2011/electorate-45.html
As Shearer won the Caucus leadership by only one vote, the Rongotai issue must be playing on some minds! The 2013 50% “endorsement” vote for the ABCs is at risk.
Getting rid of Shearer in 2013 only requires a $0.27 punt to win a $1.00!!!!
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=SHR.DEPART.2013
And iPredict is only asking $0.40 for Grant Robertson.
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=LABLEAD2.ROBERTSN
So one $0.75 gets me a Dollar if Annette creates a by-election, which in turn would buy me nearly four shares in Shearer loosing, which pays $4.00.
So I can turn $0.75 into $4.00 in six months. All I have to do is keep Cunliffe overseas!
Now which Labour MP comes to mind when you think of iPredict and a dodgy cash raising scams?
See, I told you it was as simple as ABC!
(all a bit of fun to take our minds of the stupid mess in which we find ourselves. Try your own version of this game)
Continued silence from Shearer on the caucus crapping on Cunliffe plus the Grey speech seems to have turning the blog tide from frustration and despair to anger. A party member’s resignation petition has been started – I doubt it will get legs but it’s indicative of the level of feeling – and even Red Alert is turning sour.
Is Shearer facing a Labour revolt?
Regardless of whether this spreads and grows or not it’s an awful look for Shearer’s leadership (or lack thereof).
And it’s a worrying sign for New Zealand politics, which needs a strong and credible opposition. It’s getting neither from Labour.
🙄
🙄
PG no offence but why do you copy & paste the exact same comment on Kiwiblog & the standard?
Its kinda weird & shows that you’re not really making an effort to introduce a new thought on a particular topic.
Be original man, anything else is plain boring and/or odd.
I would suggest that you take a break from blog commenting for a while – get out in the real world, take a breath of fresh air, and you will find that you will get better perspective on life.
Just saying ya know…..
The comment is there to get you to click on the link to his site where you will get a larger version on the ill informed and badly written views on how the world should work according to Pete George.
It is called link-whoring for obvious reasons, and we tolerate it provided it is related to the post (anything is a topic for Open Mike) and is kept short. Since the intent is to sell a link, the text is a come hither and really isn’t designed to promote discussion here, KB, or the other sites that it has been pasted into.
Even worse Jimmie, Pete gets banned here periodically, for eventually stepping over a line. But that line happens in the context of him pissing of large numbers of people by doing things like grabbing post one of Open Mike each day, link whoring, concern trolling, and posting excessive amounts of the most inane, stupid and disingenuous posts we see here.
Hence the 🙄 lines. 😉
“posting excessive amounts of the most inane, stupid and disingenuous posts we see here. ”
Damn, I thought that was me. I guess I’ll settle for second place.
Don’t flatter yourself.
You’d probably pip gold on quality, but pg aces it on quantity
Awesome, misson achieved.
I like how he writes in the authoritative, but everyone thinks he’s an idiot.
Jimmie that one was a test to see which blog would produce the most diversionary disses.
link-whoring in the name of science… 🙄
Lol. 🙄
The ugly “hate Cunliffe” campaign reveals the politics of envy, worsened by stabbing him in the back while he is abroad. Certain members clearly are threatened by Cunliffe’s superior talents. There are indeed a lot of “dead bodies” in Labour and I doubt Cunliffe would desire to preside over this funeral. Would the Greens for one moment even want to be in coalition with Labour as it is at this time?
It might be ok, just never let any MP leave the country.
Seriously, this sort of destructive behaviour should be a serious concern to Greens. The Green and Labour cultures are further apart than the policitics of Act and Mana. And as we can see, Labour clashes, whether inter party or intra party, are not pretty.
Pete George
You can’t be serious? Act has policy that is directly targeted at Maori to ensure they remain repressed. Acts membership is bursting at the seems with openly racist bigots who are not afraid of promoting their divisiveness with a bit of race baiting. The Mana party on the other hand is concerned with poverty, which disproportionately effects Maori. The proposed Hone Heki tax, which abolishes GST is lightyears away from Acts tax policy that would mean no new initiatives for ten bloody years. Act is already dead in the water, while Mana is still a rising force.
In contrast to the division between the Act and Mana parties, the Greens and Labour find many similarities between their policies… So much so that some claim they’re stealing each others ideas. Their policy on how to eradicate child poverty and ensure the conservation estate is respected are now almost identical. There are differences, but there are more similarities that make a coalition between Labour and the Greens workable. One cannot say the same thing about Mana and Act.
Stop with the inflammatory nonsense PG.
I didn’t say ‘policies’, I said ‘cultures’. The Labour and Green parties have vastly different cultures.
In practice Labour is closer to National than the Greens on most policy.
Dear Mr Shearer,
I invite you to a tour fo the heartland. Not the pastoral base you’re travelling through now. But here, The Standard.
According to all rankings, this site is the Leader of the Digital Opposition. We are the crowded town hall that in analogue space now rarely exists.
We are the proving ground for a Labour-Green coalition by 2014. Nowhere else does what we are doing.
Over the past 48 hours your caucus has shown itself to be out of control, with attacks from within on Louisa Wall and David Cunliffe.
Please explain how you will demonstrate the leadership that forms a united Labour caucus.
Please explain how you will set things right with these MPs.
At the moment it looks like you have neither the will nor the power to lead a united caucus. At the moment you do not appear capable of unifying us. Show us your leadership.
Your leadership is being questioned on this site because normally such egregious behaviour by your MPs would have been dealt with swiftly and surely.
Without your action in this matter Labour activist discontent will focus on the constitutional review and make for a deeply destabilised November Labour annual conference. This conference will of course evaluate everything you have done to date.
The futre of the activist base of a Labour-Green coalition could be formed here on this site, by your participation. Or, by your sustained absence, broken. Trust me, it’s breaking already.
Failure to apepar in front of New Zealand’s progressive activist base, as Leader of the Opposition, means of course we will all get to describe you in a single word.
No-one wants this.
Sincerely.
I agree Ad.
I hear there are some in Labour’s caucus who despise the Standard. This hate is obviously motivated by fear.
When a simple post can attract over 380 comments and outpourings of disgust you know something is up.
Shearer needs to man up and demote the person responsible.
And the MPs should show some guts and come over and debate matters.
Also agreed, would love to know the Labour leadership were paying attention to The Standard comments, positive and negatives.
If you truly believe that the caucus has a “fear” of a bunch of half witted shut ins and spotty political nerds then Labour has got bigger problems than I thought.
How many commentators were responsible for the 380 comments? My guess would be under 100. Not really the power base of Labour activists that you think it is when half of those are greens stirring shit and alot of the rest retarded Marxists (quite a bit of crossover between those groups as well).
If you think this site is a heavy weight political power broker then you are deluded. It has probably the equivalent impact that online strategy war gamers have on the war in Afghanistan.
I said paying attention, not basing their whole future on it. They and all parties need to listen to all of their constituents and whether you like it or not people who comment here are voicing their valid opinions that any party should listen to. Some of the people who comment on here are also out on the street (not “half witted shut-ins”) working for the party and are entitled to their opinion both here and at local meetings, without the fear of being insulted with crass bullies like you KK.
For every hundred commentators here there are probable 5,000 readers. That is the activist base. Without these people Labour would struggle.
And you are sure that theses silent lurkers fully support the comments here that you want Labour to take notice of.
My suspicion is that alot of them are more like zoo patrons, coming to watch funny looking fuckers lob shit at each other.
Ah I guess that explains your choice of handle. 😈
very good
I’m one of those 5,000 readers and although I don’t add any comments, I can assure you I read the Standard every day as an antidote to the shallow, one dimensional views in the mainstream media. I also read Kiwiblog, but find many commenters on that site don’t really discuss anything in depth and seem to be really bigoted and nasty just like a bunch of red-neck crackers really.
+1, but without the Kiwiblog
+1
As so far as the Standard goes. Although I would rather castrate myself than visit the Penguin and the rest of the RWNJs at ‘Red-neck Crackerblog’.
kk so why do you bother with your neanderthal comments.
did someone let you out of the weta workshops closet.
Leader of the Digital Opposition
Lprent, I’m just saying, total candidate for a new strapline.
You’re right. It is a hell of a strapline. I’ll test it out with the other authors.
Damn it. The reason I support people silly enough to want to be politicians is because otherwise I would feel this frigging sense of responsibility to do the frigging job myself. That seriously interferes with programming.
We’ve shown how you can do the digital job with a minimal budget, crowd sourced, and probably with a wider readership than anything else on the labour/green spectrum apart from Greenpeace. But Labour limps on with a website that is still a shocker for finding information and looks half dead, and red alert which is starting to have a permanent mid winter slump. I must recheck the greens digital stuff again…
Meanwhile in Employerland here’s todays forecast…..
Raining..expect flight delays for visitors, and some telecom outages stuffing up online services….means extra work and overtime to be paid
Check the post box and bank account, lovely recession, debtor days blown out by 10 in last quarter to unreasonably unhealthy level….talk to bank re extending overdraft for working capital to cover the slow payers on big projects.
See Debt Collection re bills being chased…write off significant amount as one company has gone belly up, send legal letter to government department.
Employees telling me they want a pay rise….check Profit @ Loss ledger, revenue flat, behind target, profitability down…so you want a pay rise?
Taxman GST, fabulous. Pay now, do not anny, ever! Check who we can pay late as we juggle cash.
Cold weather, people sick..more rain, transport delays, lost work hours.
All good fun when the economy and weather is good, now for the painful time. Do you employees want to share some pain? Paycuts? I thought not.
You’re in business mate. You take the risks and in return you profit more than workers do in the boom times. That’s the deal. If you can’t make your business work in a country that has one of the most business-friendly environments in the world then maybe it’s just not meant to be.
Hole in one Bill, as we say “on the money”. Yes the good years are good and the bad can kill you. The reason I laid it out was to put some balance in some of the posts I see where all employers equal blood sucking parasites. My biggest gripe is actually other businesses (especially corporates) and their “business school managerial” class who occupy their power structures BUT who have no ownership or cares thereof.
I agree with you on that. I think you’ll find most people at TS have nothing against small employers (in fact I think you’d find a few of them are small employers) but would share your view of the corporates. And let’s face it, large enterprises employ something like 80% of all private sector workers and many, if not most, large enterprises in NZ are multinationals. I think that when people rail against business they’re generally talking about big capital rather than the small, locally owned, IT firm that employs ten people. In fact I think most here would welcome a degree of corporate welfare if it were for small, kiwi owned businesses rather than the big aussie and US owned ratbags it mostly goes to.
Good of you to speak out Bored. Does Labour even see the small business owners going under on and off the main street of small towns and cities all over NZ.
Does Labour even see the small business owners going under on and off the main street of small towns and cities all over NZ
However disillusioned I am with Labour, it seems they do recognise the small businesses in small town NZ. One of the reasons for the heartland meetings, and talking in business language during those meetings, I suspect. Whether they have the solution right or not is a whole other topic.
Well yeah, according to the Gospel of Dave as outlines to the Pip-Growers in Nelson we all have to grow a lot more apples and get really smart with them,
Apple pie anyone…
Hmm. 😆 or 😥 ?
IB
How smug. Presumably you don’t try this difficult enterprise. Rental properties, housing do-ups instead maybe? Or professional post with tenure?
We don’t do tenure in New Zealand because our labour laws are not (quite) as barbaric as those in the US.
Perhaps my humour was a bit gruff. I think that small business in NZ has it hard in good part because nobody in this country has much money. When the world bank says we’ve got a great business environment they mean for big multinational business. I think these two facts are connected.
IB
Yes I agree with that. But small business is not a baddie and needs to be encouraged and most business is hard under the conditions and the political jerks we have now. Let’s have more business and good tax laws and better pay to revolve round the business. I know tht’s the sort of thing you want.
And let’s hear more talk about the multiplier. More economic literacy. It isn’t hard to come up to the 101 level which then means we would all be informed to the level of most of our pollies and small business managers. And though a little bit of learning can be a dangerous thing, being on the same level playing field is fairer and other applicable cliches.
Small business is hard because New Zealanders are not paid enough to buy their products, finance is extremely difficult to get beyound the house mortgage and the playing field is slanted to help offshore large corporates.
Business owners need to realise that the same things that hurt NZ employees, hurt them too.
Again we have a recessive National Government. And again we see local shops and businesses closing.
I went back to a wage job when National got back in. Knowing that there would be the inevitable right wing policy caused downturn.
Most people here are/were either SME owners or supportive of small NZ business.
Small innovative business deserves our help.
Business which can only compete by being the lowest payer on the block does not deserve help and even under right wing terms should fail.
“A business which cannot pay the costs of its resources should fail to allow more efficient use of resources”.
Businesses which require tax payer top ups to employees so they can live are not viable.
I suppose we should be more clear, that we are attacking corporates, especially financial ones, who have power, and income, way in excess of their usefulness.
National is the party of big business and corporates. Labour gifts them the SME sector by not differentiating between struggling small businesses and the ticket clipping corporates who rip them off.
Thanks all the respondents (IB, Prism, KJT, CV), seems we have identified that there is an opportunity for Labour to differentiate themselves with small business (make National the party of the “evil corporates”).
From where I sit the future for corporates looks grim, they are too growth orientated, and find it hard to add value at a local level plus hold longer term “goodwill” based arrangements. As we become a non growth localised solid state economy small business will become the norm.
Have you considered sharing the relevant information with them (i.e, show them the books) and asking?
+1
I do indeed, funny thing is that most people who ask for a raise get a bit of a shock when their true cost versus profitability is revealed. I can be a bit biased because I prefer all business partners and as many employees as possible to have some skin in the game i.e profit share etc.
Myself I have always pushed my base salary as low as possible and the risk versus reward as high. Certainly keeps you focused on not getting burnt. On the downside some months pickings can be slim and it pays to make sure your valuable staff (which is everybody) get enough to keep them going and focused, which is why retained earnings are vital. Too many employers forget that all businesses need a buffer, and pay themselves out. Then they lose key staff and consequently go bust.
This is interesting from KapiMana (local paper Porirua) by Andrea ONeil
Not on line
“Horses Died on Hobbit Time
John Smythe aFormer horse wrangler formerly working for 3 foot 7 about the death of 3 horses. maintains he has been fired for speaking out.
The first, was a small horse killed by ‘highly strung gelding”
We questioned it but was told to do our jobs.
The second was when a horse was put in a paddock with a sheer bluff down to a stream.
Again the wranglers questioned the decision, but were assured the horses would be OK
Two days latter the horse was found submerged in the creek.
Then it was decided all horses would be stabled because of the 2 deaths. They were fed on grain, and a third horse died because of the grain feed when used to grass.
When Mr Smythe talked to management about the decisions he lost his job.
Mr Smthe formerly owned a horse trekking business and a shepherd
3foot7 did not answer questions but release a statement
we worked closely with American Humane Association and have taken grat care to follow thre guidelines. We also worked closely with a local vet …. ”
Sort of sounds as if we know best by 3foot7. Not a good look.
Also I would have thought there was interest in this BUT i haven’t seen anything on any other new.
Written about here;
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2012/08/07/60555-former-hobbit-horse-wrangler-claims-incompetence-caused-several-animal-deaths-during-production/
http://kapimananews.realviewdigital.com/default.aspx?iid=66262&startpage=page0000001
It looks like it was on stuff, but has been removed:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/kapi-mana-news/7426704/Hobbit-horse-deaths-needless-and-avoidable-wrangler
Interesting that stuff has removed it!!
On the surface it looks dodgy, but it would be good to know the real story.
Now the “theonering” online article, links, and comments have been removed… spooky. Perhaps PJackson’s legal team has been sending some “desist” letters around.
Anyhow, the story is still there in black and white in various Wgtn community newspapers, including one right in front of me.
Curious about all these disappearing articles I found this site which has some interesting background history:
http://www.transparency.net.nz/2012/08/08/horses-die-on-the-hobbit-film-set/
Wonder if the horse deaths were ever investigated by MAF.
There is also an article in Citylife Porirua (link is in theonering link above).
Hi there. I also worked as a wrangler for the Hobbit alongside John Smythe and also after he was fired. What he claims is absolutely true. There were also other incidences before and after John left. Two horses had a leg each degloved in seperate incidences where they got caught in fences. There was also cruelty to one of the horses at least that I know of where it was hobbled and left tied on the ground for half a day because it was too “fresh” for the rider and this horse ended up with severe rope burns on it’s legs which had to be covered with make up for filming
From John Armstrong
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10825624
“Faced with plenty of tricky questions during a press conference yesterday, the Minister of Education reverted to her preferred gambit of answering such questions with a bland statement about something which more often than not bore little relation to what was being asked.”
I have a solution for the schools who dont believe the Stds data has any relevance.
Take a lead for the Minister
Schools should such questions with a bland statement about something which bear little relation to what is being asked.
Indeed! 🙂
Oil market volatility is the new norm. So far 2012 is the fourth most volatile year for oil prices since 1982. The other top three years were 2007, 2008 and 2009. Since the production of oil from conventional sources peaked in 2005 we have reached a new paradigm: highly volatile oil prices. My take on the situation: http://www.southernlimitsnz.com/2012/08/the-new-paradigm-volatile-oil-markets.html
Other resources coming to the same conclusions:
http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/01/weve-hit-peak-oil-now-comes-permanent-price-volatility/
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/energy-futurist/the-future-of-oil-prices/508?tag=search-river
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2011/01/onset-of-catabolic-collapse.html
http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/hard-floor-and-soft-ceiling-oil-prices-part-1/72339
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988312000060
I wonder why Whanganui does not want the weird guy? They elected Michael Lhaws as Mayor so obviously have a tolerance for ‘different’ people.
As I said yesterday it all started with an “H”……
Wongers is of course right next to the Rangitikei electorate which voted in Bruce Beetham, so there is no accounting for what weirdness might have crossed over. I’m speculating (maybe unfairly I admit) that the Rangitikei Rednecks would have a way of “fixing” the “different” person even Wonganoovians might be alarmed by!
Journalists tweet
https://twitter.com/katieabradford/status/233336652863520769
When I heard the killed soldiers were only Lance corporals I knew Key wouldn’t be attending the funerals.
David Shearer emphatically endorses David Cunliffe here; albeit, typically, he is only quoted at the end of Tracey’s article.
“But Shearer yesterday hit out at the speculation and said Cunliffe had his full backing.
There was no suggestion that Cunliffe would be demoted.
“God no, the guy’s got a huge brain. He’s really across economy policy. Hell no, I want him to be there and want him to keep doing what he’s doing . . . I don’t think there would be anybody else in the caucus who could do it as well as him, to be honest.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7443334/Fresh-ructions-hit-Labour
As I said below:
This is about how Shearer deals with those Labour MPs who BACKSTABBED A COLLEAGUE to the media at the cost of the entire Labour Party.
Shearer hasn’t even begun to address that publicly; it would be nice to know if he is addressing it internally.
What is this new expression “across”? eg He’s really across economy policy
Does that mean he understands it? Is good at it? Where did it come from (NZ or ?)?
Gee i have been supporting the ‘give David Shearer a chance camp’ waiting to see what we could actually expect from Shearer as a Labour Prime Minister,
What a difference a day makes, i had the chance to read a speech Shearer made to Grey Power the other day and a few paragraphs into it Shearer deliberately launches into a bit of beneficiary bashing, and, i have to say that i have never seen the present Slippery little Shyster we have as Prime Minister mount such an open attack,
I havn’t been a member of the Labour Party for at least 20 years and guess what Shearers speech to Grey Power has just about given me the political motivation to sign up as a member,
In all honesty tho, if i do so it will only be for the negative ideal of ridding the Labour Party of a leader(spit) who would fit right at home among the ACT party,(all 2 of them),
http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/david-shearer-speech-to-grey-power/5/131125
The google = Labour leader David Shearer speech to Grey Power…
Don’t get distracted from the issue, peeps. This is not about whether Shearer thinks Cunliffe will be demoted or is not performing.
This is about how Shearer deals with those Labour MPs who BACKSTABBED A COLLEAGUE to the media at the cost of the entire Labour Party.
CV, have you got a link to where Labour MP’s have actually back-stabbed David Cunliffe, other of course than Duncan Garner sez so therefore it is???…
a) You could accuse Garner of having or assisting agendas, but I doubt you can show when he has ever made things up like that.
b) No denial, no clarification, so the story stays as read unchallenged.
c) No unprompted defence or endorsement of Cunliffe.
There’s nothing to suggest the story is false, and there’s nothing to suggest Shearer disapproves of it. That leaves:
a) Shearer backs the story (and could be a source), or
b) Shearer doesn’t have the will or want to stick up for Cunliffe.
F off shit-stirrer… 🙄
Eat poo wankwad
That’s going a bit far bad12. To be a shit stirrer you have to be a tiny bit credible.
I stand corrected, swamp amoeba a fairer descriptive perhaps…
Good point bad12. Duncan Garner was recently removed as head of The Nation program soon after making unfounded statements against Shearer. Of course a bullshit excuse was made up to save face.
Garner has form on this kind of thing, as does Chris Trotter, Cameron Slater, David Farrar and all the other hacks who are working for Keys government. They have nothing constructive to offer, because National is not a constructive party, and so attacking Labour is their preferred option.
PG is showing his political naivety… Anybody recall when Garner told Chris Carter: “I am going to fucking get you, Carter. If it takes me to Christmas I am going to fucking destroy you.” Clearly he’s motivated to do as much damage to Labour and its MPs as he can… Whatever Duncan Garner reports, especially when there’s no corroborating information, should be taken with a grain of salt.
Yeah, Labour people might have their reasons for wanting to believe Garner but allowing the likes of a TV3news reporter to set the political agenda of the left is pretty much the attitude of defeatism,
Whether those reasons are anti-Mallard or anti-Shearer does not to me really matter, allowing the Garner’s of this world a say in the political process simply gives encouragement for them all to be spreading rumor and innuendo as fact…
Supreme Court decides against Right to Life in abortion case.
Helen Kelly will take Rongotai.
Yes please, should Helen Kelly receive the nomination for Rongotai i will definitely be joining the Party and actively working to have Her elected…
The fact that she tried to shut down one the biggest employer and economic powerhouse of Rongotai will make that a bit harder than you think. People there absolutely hate her
link?
🙄 hey this works for other complete wastes of oxygen too!
King Kong: plodding, self indulgent and dullwitted. And Peter Jackson’s remake of the film of the same name wasn’t much better, either.
trp he ended up getting shot to pieces like the pathetic arguments of his names sake.
Joke post of the week don’t you think, i do live there and while not personally having met Helen Kelly from what i have seen of Her published comments She would be able to represent the diverse views of this electorate with aplomb,
What you really mean with your ill thought out comment is that Sir(spit)Peter Jackson and His acolytes,(those that suck at that fat pricks appendage), despise Kelly for standing up for the rights of the average worker in the industry thus making it harder for the likes of Jackson to be able to view another zero on the bank balance,
While Jackson and the few make and stash the bulk of the profits of movie making while denying the average worker is just that,a waged employee, there is very little to be gained by anyone in this electorate from Jackson’s movie making except bragging rights,
Bragging rights do not serve to put food upon the table and while Jackson and His inner circle are busily spending their gains elsewhere there is hardly a huge economic boost to the local industry out here on the island…
What nonsense. The presense of the studios has made a massive difference to local industry in Miramar.
Have a look at the shops for godsake. new cinema, restaraunts, bars etc.
You will find alot of the employee’s who are fiercely loyal to Jackson live in Rongotai as well.
If Kelly stood there you might find Weta acting like a super PAC against her.
Only if they believe the CTU wanted to “shut down” weta, you tool.
And if they’re dumb enough to believe that, they’d not be voting labour anyway – nact all the way.
Finlayson 2008: 10,594
Finlayson 2011 9,132
He went nuts on the Hobbit hating thing. I got at least two flyers in the mail box, and he talked it up on the stump. I think there was even a billboard, but can’t be sure. In an election where National recieved it’s record highest ever blah blah he managed to lose votes running on the Hobbit hating meme.
To paraphrase Palin, I can see Weta from my house ( ie I live in the place you call “there”), my kid’s mates are mostly in weta families. I haven’t heard shit about any hate. Not one peep. The Nats get laughed at a lot though.
If the billboard you are thinking of was among the forest of them at the Miramar cut it got kicked over early in the piece, strangely enough even the ACT one survived…
On a completely seperate note, the Dotcom case has been moderately interesting. Apparently police had blocked all the phone lines, so when Mona Dotcom needed medical attention to do with her pregnancy the police ended up dialling 111 themselves.
Which raises the point: if the police thought there was enough of a risk of violence to use overwhelming force and armed police, two helicopters, and mobilise the STG, why didn’t they have an ambulance at a safe hold point?
Surely if you think violence is enough of a risk to carry automatic weapons, then at least one ambulance in your pocket would be a prudent step – particularly if your target is a “large” man and there is a pregnant woman on site.
Posers for the FBI is the answer.
+1+1 very ,very good point Mc Flock, thanks for raising it.
The Maugeri Oil Report that caused Monbiot’s reversal is complete bunk. Rich Turcotte tears it to shreds: http://awe.sm/j2ZsQ
In news today, Slippery the Prime Minister has said He will not be attending the service for the 2 soldiers killed in Afghanistan,
Apparently our Prime Minister finds that attending a baseball game in which His son is playing is Far Far more important than actually fronting up and showing due respect to those who have served and died in a war on behalf of the Prime Minister,
Respect for our allies in such a war was also missing in action the other day when the Prime Minister made snide reference to Hungarian soldiers serving next to the Kiwi troops in Afghanistan cracking jokes which insinuated that those Hungarian soldiers were cowardly in their service in that country,
The sooner New Zealand troops are home from that country the better, and, the sooner that disrespectful Slippery little shyster is removed from the office of Prime Minister the sooner we all might gain a small modicum of hope that as a country we do have a brighter future…
Oh dear
Talk about flogging a dead horse.
Another web page with this story removed?
It is the United Nations’ International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples today.
The Mana Movement have produced a scorecard. Needless to say the Government has scored zero – which I consider optimistic.
http://news.tangatawhenua.com/archives/18687
Metiria Turei has also issued a very strong statement
http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/govt-must-honour-declaration-rights-indigenous-peoples/5/131288
One of the best qualities of The Greens for me is their commitment to tino rangatiratanga.
http://mars2earth.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/united-nations-international-day-of.html
Nice one from John CLarke:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10825782
So in first public servants are under-performing workers in a bloated public sector so need to be gotten rid of, the next thing you know they’re highly skilled, knowledgeable people who can be sold to other countries for their expertise.
Exporting environmental standards would have to be some sort of joke surely!
And just who’s supposed to do their work while they’re off doing other peoples?
Remember that time before the election when the Prime Minister left a trade mission to the Middle-East at great cost because he was “personally devastated” at the loss of RNZAF personal in a helicopter crash:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10640901
Apparently he is not so devastated that two young men were shot dead in Afghanistan in the service of New Zealand. His son’s baseball is more important apparently:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7448686/Key-to-miss-soldiers-funeral
How low can you go?
The main reason Key is going to the US is to meet with top tier banks and financial insitutions there. It is partly a sales trip and preparations for asset sales will be discussed.
That’s why he can’t cancel the trip to attend our soldiers’ funerals.
Still it is grotesque. I’m sick of the left in New Zealand being accused of being weak on defence and armed services issues. The right may wrap themselves in the flag but that doesn’t hide their indifference and cynicism. They are willing to send young men and woman into harms way but not willing to pay for it (National can whine about skyhawks all the want. Every major defence purchase has been made by labour since the sixties)
Oh I’m not making any excuses for him, quite the opposite: his talk about attending his son’s baseball game as the main reason for going is a ruse.
No troubles CV. I just cannot get over the cynicism when it comes to the live of young people in uniform.
Interesting, i would have thought that Slippery the Prime Minister would have fallen all over Himself to be seen attending the funeral of the Kiwi Soldiers killed in action,
Perhaps after all but accusing the Hungarian troops serving next to the Kiwi’s in Afghanistan of being cowards He has had a sudden case of ‘shyness’ at being close to military matters,
Perhaps i connect matters of seemingly totally differing nature far to easily but the 2 incidents of military matters simply draws me back to a 3rd one earlier in the piece,
I cannot for the life of me ‘see’ why it is that after cancelling the upgrade to the surrounds of the National War Memorial soon after coming into office in 2009 He is now dead keen for this now to go ahead, its as if our Slippery Prime Minister, one who cannot be said to have ever entertained a close relationship with the truth, is expecting the war memorial to have a far greater use in the future than the annual pilgrimages to the 2 world war ceremonies thus far,
Could our Prime Ministers wee trip back to ‘ the masters’ country be purely educational so as to appraise Him of what is expected of us in the next one…
“Grotesque” is the word I was looking for when I blogged on this issue here; http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/john-key-and-his-priorities/
By tomorrow morning, thast link will be with most of the country’s media.
Whatever our feelings on our involvement in Afghanistan, if the government is going to send our men and women into harms way in another country, the least that the PM of the day can do is attend their funerals.
Who knows, it may make our leaders more wary before deciding to kow-tow to Washington.