Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
“The best thing that could happen is an increase in the minimum wage. Minimum wage earners spend every dime they get. Putting more money into the hands of the poor is money that will be spent immediately.
Can’t say the same about tax cuts, which disproportionately go the rich who simply hoard the money.”
Well credit where credits due. Ive been one to highlight Fran O Sullivan’s hopeless and thoughtless blind devotion to free market philosophies over the years. But she has nailed it in todays NZ Herald.
And I particularly like this bit, hopefully this will be the last time we hear the phrase “man ban”, because I think we now know where that phrase was coming from.
“It is to Labour’s credit that the party is trying to even the score when it comes to evening up gender representation in Parliament.
The party has faced down criticism from the usual media jocks who label such policies a “man ban”.”
I hope Farrar and Gower now realise they are part of the club of dinosaurs when they continue to criticise Labour over its remit to have AT LEAST 50% women, I suggest after this debacle it should be AT LEAST 75%.
Well there’s some good n FO’S’s piece. And yes there are some misogynist elements within Labour. But she fails to mention how the right used those nasty smears about Clark as a deliberate ploy to undermine Clark as PM. I have heard the content of the smears originally came from within the left. But it was the right that crafted them into one of the nastiest, most underhand smear campaign’s in NZ’s political history.
FOS makes out the misogyny is all Labour’s. Sheesh – and WO, KB?
And Key’s government has hardly been a friend to the majority of women.
Did I hear Moira Coatsworth reported on radio yesterday pointing out that there were processes in the Labour Party in terms of membership for the likes of Tamihere?
Am I correct in thinking that (like the police?) she needs a formal complaint? If so, can anyone enlighten me about how to do this?
Any Labour Party member, but ideally a constitutional branch or LEC, can write a formal complaint about the conduct of a member to the Labour Party’s New Zealand Council, usually via their Labour Region’s representative on that Council.
I am not a Labour member so I realize I’m asking somebody else to do the work, but I really hope that the party receives complaints by the dozen about Tamihere’s behaviour.
It’s important to remember that media attention spans are short, and people who are “persona non grata” soon return. (case in point: Paul Henry).
Tamihere’s media status will be rehabilitated to “lovable rogue” in a matter of weeks/months. Even now, fools like Josie Pagani are defending him.
He must NEVER be a Labour candidate. It is that simple.
Agreed, K. She glosses over the worst misogyny Clark faced, that of the right. I have a complete wtf reaction to that piece. It’s so calculated that its worthy message is fatally undercut.
The phrase “man ban” had its origins in the same misogynistic/patriarchal attitude that we see from Jackson and Tamihere. I understand that Farrar created it. Gower highlights it at every opportunity. I hope out of this whole episode we end up with a public who gain a better understanding of where these phrases are coming from and consequently Labour (Moira Coatsworth in particular) get some support for sticking to their guns on this.
I have heard the content of the smears originally came from within the left.
Not strictly correct. It came from the neoliberal faction back in the late 70s and early 80s at a time when their ‘star’ was on the rise. They ruled the Labour roost for about seven years and then they were gone. They joined ACT in the early 90s.
Of this whole ‘roast buster’ saga. The news media a making me increasingly angry with the headlines. Specifically radio where every bullitin I would hear something along the lines of ‘supply young girls with alcohol and have group sex’ the reality is they targeted girls stupefied them the PACK RAPED them.
The media sugar coating it as they are I believe is symptomatic of the whole problem. The two dickheads at radio live been at the top of the pile.
some of the international headlines use the ‘pack rape’ title, they dont hold back at all! like i guess our media wouldnt if it concerned australia or something.
This matter is certainly not a good look internationally; still, more representative when you get down to it than 100% pure. Just been reading how Fonterra chiefs are revealing how the company is 6-10 years behind the sustainability achieved by dairying in Europe, and that further expansion / intensification here is going to hit a wall of environmental constraints.
These are the serious facts of the matter for the nation!
a constructive way to use your anger is go to your mp office and demand increases in funding immediately for rape crisis for programmes in schools. Ask for asset sales to stop and tge millions in costs to sell going to these programmes.
email pm.. mps.
anyone noticed how silent tje social development minister is on this tip of a serios social development iceberg?.
Writer for young people, Mandy Hager brilliant on National Radio this morning talking about “seething world of misogyny”……. in the most civilised and charming way…. but not pulling any punches
….well worth listening to on: John Tamihere , Willy Jackon interview with young girl about rape ( something I have been arguing about with my son who listens to Radio Live )
…..Hager has written a book for young people on date rape called ‘Smashed’ and recommends a doco on sexism in music videos called ‘Dream Worlds’
Kathleen Ryan has also been superb this last week on these issues ….comprehensive examinations of the recent Auckland gang rapes, drawing in experts from different perspectives and the most moving personal testimonies by rape victims of the situations they innocently found themselves in and the long term damage rape did to them
Radio NZ really is to be very highly commended…for the calibre of women it puts on in its programmes and the quality of debates !
There must be some terrorist plots involving foreigners out there to foil. The assault rifles raid with the Hells Angels associates was a good start and in the right vein. More of the same needed.
The people behind the website pretend to be 13 or 14-year-old-girls and make contact with men through social networking sites.
This question was never adequately answered by that article. Who exactly is putting resources into this…uh…’entrap, publicise, and shame’ website??? That it’s not the police seems clear.
Noelle McCarthy stops the snickering
Pretends to be serious about victims of state repression
Saturday Morning, Radio NZ National, 9 November 2013
Kim Hill is still away, so the host for this week is NOELLE McCARTHY.
This morning’s first interview was with American journalist Kevin Gosztola, who spoke about the sinister, threatening, steadily growing surveillance regimes in the United States and Britain. Naturally, he talked a lot about Edward Snowden. Amongst other things, Kevin Gosztola observed that Snowden was isolated and called a traitor by the U.S. regime and its snooping agencies, and that the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ had repeated the slander during their farcical appearance before the British parliament’s Intelligence and Security committee this week…. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2013/11/british_surveillance_hearing_parliament_s_interrogation_of_u_k_spy_agencies.html
As he pointed out the plight of the dissident NSA whistleblower, I wondered whether Kevin Gosztola realized that his interviewer was one of those who has enthusiastically participated in the Government-sponsored shunning and ridiculing and libeling of Edward Snowden. I wonder if he would have even spoken to McCarthy if he had realized how callous and flippant she has been towards Snowden and other dissidents. Here’s a representative sample of her comments on Snowden’s plight up until this morning’s miraculous transformation into a concerned and humane liberal thinker….
NOELLE McCARTHY, 10 July 2013: Y-y-y-y-yeeeeeessss, …. [snort] ….he he he! He’s still in hiding. He he he! …. He he he he he! Yes he is still in that terminal! …[snort]… He he he he he he! ….[snort]…. He’s got a choice! Venezuela, Bolivia or Ecuador! …. Bolivia would be hard with the altitude! …. http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10072013/#comment-661123
Rod Drury needs to realise that National is not the party to be building “exciting new assets” — well not any more anyway. National has, since 1990 has been the party of tearing things down.
I think that piece was well written and shows the caliber of the man leading NZ 🙂 of course when the puff pieces come in for Labour I’m guessing it’ll be a different story
The fiction is that “5 years” is some special anniversary that requires full-on puffery across all the media. So … after 5 years of Clark, where was it?
Go on, show us the saturation ass-kissing from 2004.
I don’t know if you really believe this “all the same” line you keep trotting out, or if it’s just feeble spin, but it isn’t true, and never was. Find evidence to the contrary, please.
Current account deficit:
2018: 7.8 per cent
Forecast 2013: -5 per cent
Actual 2013: – 4.7 per cent
Was this meant to be 2008: 7.8%.
And does actual 2013: -4.7% If this is a minus figure for a deficit measurement does that mean that there is a surplus?
This morning on radio nz on Kim Hill’s session with Noelle McCarthy today, Mandy Hager was interesting. She is very informed about teenage sexuality and is distressed about the gang rape in Auckland with informative background. She has written a book called Smashed which I think she says is about teenage culture.
She is involved with something called Dare Foundation and talks about schools, society’s failure to impart ethical values and I think the Foundation is running a project to talk about this. She mentions a culture of meanness being presented on the visual media to teenagers, Miley Cyrus having a persona built by men, ‘reality’ tv with ostracism and abandonment to picked members who are voted out, etc. No kindness no caring group involvement in those. The Dare Foundation, which I have been part of, also offer excellent programmes that would address some of this behaviour – including a ground-breaking new ‘ethical bystander’ programme to empower young people to support each other. http://robin.hosts.net.nz/~admin219/mandy-hager-writes-2/
Radionz Notes and later audio will be on – 8:30 Mandy Hager http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday
Mandy Hager has written eight novels, including award-winning young-adult books Smashed, The Crossing, and The Nature of Ash, as well as short stories, scripts, and non-fiction resources for young people. Her latest novel, Dear Vincent was published earlier this year (Random House, ISBN: 978-1-77553-3276).
Currently a tutor in novel writing at Whitireia NZ, Hager is the 2013 winner of the Menton Fellowship, one of New Zealand’s oldest and most esteemed literary awards. While resident in France, she plans to work on a book about the life of nun, scholar and writer Héloïse d’Argenteuil.
It is interesting that Mandy’s family originally came from Vienna, I think they were Jewish getting away from Europe to a safer place. So much of our creativity and drive seems to have come after such people came here, to Levin actually. Compare with NZs general background of colonials, which seems to have been farm sourced, or rather stultified aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations, adopting customs of artistic pretension that middle class people followed rather than it arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.
Just a musing on my part.
Interesting that Mandy Hager should be such a brilliant writer and her brother Nicky Hager should also be so prominent as a journalist/activist. Their Mum and Dad were pretty impressive also, and Mandy’s younger sister is also talented. In Levin they lived a life dedicated to conservation and human welfare. And as Mandy says they stood out as “different” in Levin, but I think in the nicest possible way.
One day on The Panel, Dr Michael Bassett snarled that Nicky Hager was a Holocaust-denier. Host Jim Mora did nothing, and said nothing. Nor did the other Panelists, including the producer who was also present in the studio. Nothing happened to Bassett after that; in fact he returned to the programme several times.
This kind of thing, which happens frequently, somewhat undermines Chooky’s praise (on the thread above) for the quality of National Radio’s discussions.
@ greywarbler ….re your criticisms ….”Compare with NZs general background of colonials, which seems to have been farm sourced, or rather stultified aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations, adopting customs of artistic pretension that middle class people followed rather than it arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.
Just a musing on my part.”
note ….Nicky and Mandy Hager’s Mother is a NZer …she did not come from Vienna like his Grandfather …….as far as I know and she may have come off a farm….the Grandfather from Vienna and Father had a clothing factory in Levin I think.
It is interesting that Mandy’s family originally came from Vienna, . If the grandfather came from Vienna, then my statement is correct. I’m talking about originally which can be a while in the past, and not all the original family need to have come from Vienna. I would like to be able to say something on this post without it being picked apart and critiqued. It would be good to be allowed to put an opinion up that isn’t blatantly RW without the gatekeeper mentality censoring it.
Although I’ve been known to *occasionally* extol the virtues of Vienna, I can’t agree with you on this gw. Is it possible they are the kind of people they are because their forebears came to NZ rather than despite them coming to NZ? A love of books, reading and writing can be nurtured anywhere that has a set of societal and economic conditions that encourages it. In that, NZ has done quite well.
Whether that is endangered is something being argued now with changes in teaching, access to books, and changes in societal values – probably the most important of which, are indifference, judgementalism and buying into bigotry, imo.
As for NZ writers from farming and middle class stock – have you forgotten the cleverness of, say, John Mulgan, Jock Phillips and Michael King who wrote about the NZ male pysche while being part of it. Also remember, off the top of my head Katherine Mansfield, Witi Ihimaera, J.K. Baxter, Keri Hulme, Emily Perkins (who wrote one of the best short-ish novels I’ve ever read.. ‘A novel about my wife’. Even the Brits appreciate her, given a column in The Guardian while she was off on the OE), and the latest in a long line… Eleanor Catton
@greywarbler …the critique was of your statement: “Compare with NZs general background of colonials, which seems to have been farm sourced, or rather stultified aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations, adopting customs of artistic pretension that middle class people followed rather than it arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.
Just a musing on my part.”
It is a bullshit statement …. as any NZ art historian or English literature historian and many school children could tell you…..there have been lots of NZ colonials who have been highly creative and successful internationally( not just pretentious pretenders as you suggest) …and many have come from the “aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations” eg Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) whose father was a banker is just a start
…there are other NZers too numerous to mention…but just off the top of my head,what about Keri Hume ( winner of the Booker Prize) ?…Elsie Locke ( children’s writer,historian, environmentalist,peace activist, feminist ,organiser of family planning and fighter for social justice for Maori and the working class) who wrote many books? …Ngaio Marsh, theatre director and crime writer of international repute?…what about the painters: Francis Hodgkins (1869-1947)….Margaret Stoddart(1865-1934)…..Rita Angus?..and many many Maori writers of calibre eg….Patricia Grace?…
I have only touched on a few women here …what about Ernest Rutherford, father of nuclear physics?….the list of highly creative intellectual NZers could go on and on…
“@greywarbler …the critique was of your statement: “Compare with NZs general background of colonials, which seems to have been farm sourced, or rather stultified aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations, adopting customs of artistic pretension that middle class people followed rather than it arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.
Just a musing on my part.” ”
Well put Chooky, a bullshit statement albeit just a musing on the gerygone’s part.
Speak for your own colonial ancestry if you will…GW.
For the criteria”- arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.”
How about adding one of my direct grandfathers on one colonial branch – Carl Hinrich Andreas Mumme. Co founder of the The Freedom Group formed on 9 July 1913 .The Freedom Group’s struggle for social change—for a society based on people before profit was the driver. They were tired of oppression and sheeples accepting tyranny. “They were active in their trade unions, on the street corners, and in their communities.” What set them apart was “their critique of coercive relations, wage slavery, and a vision of a more equitable and humane world.” He went on to accrue mobs to organise and arm themselves and fight back during the Great Strike! Great expressionism don’t you think?
And for Creativity on another branch was a Professor/ doctor of medicine who robbed graves for corpses so his students could have cadavers to learn with and advance medicine. That’s pretty creative eh?
“Sewing Freedom: Philip Josephs, Transnationalism & Early New Zealand Anarchism”
@ Not Another Sheep…lol….sounds like a very fine and worthy NZ ancestry of creative and intellectual thinking and integrity! …most impressed!
..one of my ancestors was a humble whaler ( from Yorkshire I think) and the first Pakeha in the Christchurch area to give descriptions ….he wrote accounts of a horse and rider disappearing in the Avon river….he was an interpreter between Maori and British….his two reading books were the Bible and ‘Herodotus Histories’ ( which he educated his children with)…he married Puia the daughter of Chief Iwikau ( Akaroa, who signed the Treaty )…and when the French turned up he hurriedly hoisted up the Union Jack flag to let the French know the British had got there before them….lol……..his son became a local identity on the Chathams
Maori Prophecy on Christchurch :
Some three hundred years ago Maoris of vision prophesised thus:—”Behind the tattooed face, a stranger lurks, his face is white, he owns the land,” and “Weep not for me, weep for yourselves, for the time will come when white feet shall desecrate my grave.” True they have proved, in both cases. The Maoris dwelling amid the swamps of Christchurch were nicknamed by the natives of other parts O-roto-repo (swamp dwellers).
This is what I mean by critical response. You can’t just reply with what about .. and haven’t you overstated this because … you have to demolish and sling off because it’s a different idea from your own favourite position.
Where is the opportunity for discussion? It’s ‘You want the truth, you couldn’t handle the truth’ time, as in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And what is being broached may not be the truth, or part truth. But because you don’t see my point then it must be wrong, because you are right.
As if I never read, and don’t know of NZ creatives. There still is a knuckle dragging approach from many but I try not to be one such. And readers, who are they who look for truth and ideas? Women make up the bulk of readers. Men low on that activity, high on sport, mountain biking over every track in NZ – look out they’ll want a track down your hall soon – and driving 4WD up river beds as in the Mitsubishi advertisement etc. With a spot of shooting, that’s quite widespread as an activity in town and country (sometimes people – collateral damage). Less of that stuff, and more creativity of the mind is much needed in this country.
Thought, discussion, reading and thinking and philosophy should be something that all are familiar with and participate in. Not just the few, and not mainly women. And I don’t think there has been enough of it in NZ in the past, and less now with the commercial response to everything. Now there’s a thought for discussion.
Not another sheep
So what sort of country did your ancestor want to leave for you? Mine were busy trying to achieve stuff, working hard with an interesting history.
But in NZ we haven’t been able to break through an attitude that came over from the early colonials with their land speculation being the main drive of the NZ Company, selling plots and plans they didn’t own and that were a fraud. They wanted a place where there was still a class system with them at the top. And not too particular as to how they got their land or social position.
There is more required than just quoting what has been achieved by individuals. It is no use to be complacent and ready to criticise individuals with ideas thatare uncomfortable. There is hard work ahead to progress what our ancestors hoped for even to maintain what they achieved.
It’s a deal-breaker for me. I can put up with MPs I don’t much like (Cosgrove, Mallard) because broad church yadda yadda … but Tamihere is way, way over the line.
I’m 99% certain he won’t be standing for Labour again, but I’d like the last 1% to be confirmed.
I think his chances have been shot for a long time. There are a lot of us Labour stalwarts who would picket any selection he was part of, or any List conference that had his name. I don’t think the Party leaders think he is worth the risk.
John Key does not front on National Radio for the same reasons? But does a weekly slot on lots of soft radio stations.
I read the article and the writer lost me at being the one of the 10% who pay 70% of taxes, thinks double Dipton is ‘one of us’, and you wonder why Cunliffe thinks he will not get a fair hearing.
Well yes Cunliffe is a dick but I think in this case he really just doesn’t care about rural NZ and I don’t blame him ’cause its not like rural NZ contributes anything to the NZ economy
no your just inventing things – perhaps your a dick too?
look, the guy is one of those rank idiots if he believes that 10% of people pay 70% of tax
its a lie
its been pointed out as a lie for ages
any one with any serious notion of whats going on will know this
its only the blow hards and woefully manipulated who keep parroting this idiocy
1) you need to include how much % you earn
2) you need to include all forms of tax
so maybe cunliffe should front – but not because you, or this other guy want to behave like fools
in this case he really just doesn’t care about rural NZ and I don’t blame him ’cause its not like rural NZ contributes anything to the NZ economy
you’re 100% wrong on that. Cunliffe grew up in a rural area of Canty and has first hand experience working in the farming sector as a youth. The decision not to appear on that radio show, which I personally find a bit unusual (what pollie turns down media air time?) , will have been based on other factors.
” When I think of Labour, I think of politicians such as Damien O’Connor, David Shearer, Grant Robertson, Annette King and Phil Goff. They’re eminently sensible people and, at a push, I could live with them running the country . ” yeah right ! So why should Cunliffe go on a program with such a di–head ?
“economic and environmental handbrakes on farming”
So this guy thinks he should be able to pay bugger all tax, foul our water ways and makes kids sick, and make his workers work all day and all night for bugger all pay. Cool.
His father sounded like a man with his head screwed on though — realising the Labour did more for farmers than National ever did.
IMO, this has bearing upon the actions of the police in regards to Roastbusters:
Police could have – again, should have – caught Rewa much earlier even than that. They were given the opportunity on a plate. They could have arrested him after the very first of his serial rapes.
“I rung the Glen Innes police station. I gave them the name Hama, and the response was, ‘Well, that’s just a gang nickname. You know you need to come back to us with a real name.'”
It seems endemic that the police always seem to want more evidence in rape cases – usually from the victims – rather than going out and finding it themselves as they’re supposed to do.
Wow. I bet if Hama had been wanted for assault on police they would have figured out who he was pretty quickly. I am rapidly firming in my opinion that ngati poaka have the systemic attitude that there’s not really a lot wrong with rape.
“There is no evidence that capitalism exists today,” says former congressman Ron Paul. A leading libertarian voice in American politics, Paul says the land of the free no longer has free markets but an economy centrally planned by powerful elites, one that “allows major benefits to accrue to the politically connected,” not the most deserving.
These days, “corporate subsidies” and “privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex” are the path to riches, says Paul. “This is not capitalism!”
If one defines capitalism as a system designed by and for the interests of those who hold capital (what it is), capitalism is what the United States has today. It is a system based not on principles of freedom and liberty and justice for all, but the accumulation of wealth for people called “capitalists.” It entails structuring an economy in such a way that natural resources are exploited for private gain and land is parceled off into mortgage-backed securities. It means rich people using their money to buy power and shape economic relations to their advantage, which makes them more money.
Speaking about libertarians, seems Paul junior has another problem to go along side his plagiarising.
Since 2005 Rand Paul has not been certified by any board recognized by the state of Kentucky, and since 2011 has had no certification since the NOB was dissolved. I asked Rand Paul’s staff a series of questions, trying to determine why he still held himself out as a “certified” ophthalmologist:
More hopeless, hapless or criminal liars….
No. 31 John Palino: “Suggestions that I am somehow orchestrating some grand right-wing conspiracy to unseat Len after the election are so wrong…”
No. 30 Alan Dershowitz: “I will give $10,000 to the PLO if you can find a historical fact in my book that you can prove to be false.”
No. 29 John Banks: “I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. And never, ever would I ever knowingly sign a false electoral return. Never ever would I ever.”
No. 28 John Kerry: “…we are especially sensitive, Chuck and I, to never again asking any member of Congress to take a vote on faulty intelligence.”
No. 27 Lyse Doucet: “I am there for those without a voice.”
No. 26 Sam Wallace: “So here we are—Otahuhu. It’s just a great place to be, really.”
No. 25 Margaret Thatcher: “…no British government involvement of any kind…with Khmer Rouge…”
No. 24 John Key: “…at the end of the day I, like most New Zealanders, value the role of the fourth estate…”
No. 23 Jay Carney: “…expel Mr Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice…”
No. 22 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton had integrity beyond reproach.”
No. 21 Tim Groser: “I think the relationship is genuinely in outstanding form.”
No. 20 John Key: “But if the question is do we use the United States or one of our other partners to circumvent New Zealand law then the answer is categorically no.”
No. 19 Matthew Hooton: “It is ridiculous to say that unions deliver higher wages! They DON’T!”
No. 18 Ant Strachan: “The All Blacks won the RWC 2011 because of outstanding defence!”
No. 17 Stephen Franks: “Peter has been such a level-headed, safe pair of hands.”
No. 16 Phil Kafcaloudes: “Tony Abbott…hasn’t made any mistakes over the past eighteen months.”
No. 15 Donald Rumsfeld: “I did not lie… Colin Powell did not lie.”
No. 14 Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
No. 13 Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
No. 12 U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11 Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10 Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9 NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
No. 8 Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question….”
No. 7 Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
No. 6 Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5 Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
No. 4 Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3 John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2 Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.”
No. 1 Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
Tamihere is embarrassment to all Labour Members and supporters .The LP.Council need to expel him now. This is the second time he has made unexceptional comments .Forgive once but not twice.
Most of us Lefties are working for a Socialist or Social Democratic Government in 2013.we do not need comments from the likes off Tanihere,Come on Moira take action and get rid of this clown
just to paraphrase the essence ‘…the rise of the purple-greens , avocados?…whine-gums?…who pontificate and wring their grapes in despair…’ There, now that the steering of the nation in is in the capable hands of Peter and his 30 denying disciples I can relax with a Saturday matinee.
I wouldn’t write Dunne off. He’s lasted far longer than most politicians ever do. And Labour’s best chance of unseating him, Chauvel, has unfortunately left our shores.
Yeah — personally I think he should take a lot of credit for ensuring that the Douglas-Richardson reforms staying more or less intact. It was him that ensured that Labour didnt stray to far to the left..
Hubba Bubba? Grape flavour? Blowing big old’ bubbles?
Theres been some interesting talk in the land of Ohariu about Dunne’s sudden revival of the UF Party from the corpse that it was. It’s been suggested that he targeted outdoor groups, perhaps Forest and Bird Members, Fish & Game etc for their membership of UF in return for representing them – luring them away from the Green vote. What else did he have left? There weren’t many tricks left up the sleeve.
He is using emotive words like the “Taliban” in order to set his party aside as the sensible party, again continuing with the moderate theme, but being the wolf in sheep’s clothing (as Millsy refers to below, with the reality being that he is more far right than anything).
Dunne will be facing calls for his accountability from locals this coming election year. His path ahead next year may not be so easy as it always has been. The difficult thing with this electorate is there are many locals blinded by his “service” to the community, which really amounts to turning up at school fairs etc and playing santa’s elf in the J’ville xmas parade (lol times, I know). They see him in a local context and can’t grasp what a true burden he is to the nation.
Is it possible with a concerted local movement to call him to account for his actions and a real kick arse Labour candidate he could gone in the next election? Katrina Shanks will not be there for the next election, (she came third in 2011 with Chauval second) who will National put in her place or will they even put a candidate up? Labour members, is there any goss on who Labour might stand in the electorate?
It really pisses me off that Peter Dunne prances around the country telling everyone he is moderate and of the ‘sensible centre’, blah blah blah..
The guy is clearly far right, closer to ACT than Labour, his opposition to any form of social democratic policy shows it, and his crap about wanting to protect the environment and conservation estate is shit, given that he didnt lift a single finger to oppose the cuts to DOC and privatisation/commercialisation the of conservation estate, and he has supported the lowering of air and water quality standards every single time.
I would love to know what cuts to government services he will I wis to keep taxes for high income earners down, and if he supported the mass closures of schools and hospitals in the 1990’s to fund Bill Birch’s tax cuts.
Part of the reason New Zealand’s environmental credentials had taken a hammering recently was because environmental policy had been “hijacked by the political left, and have accordingly succumbed to the notion that unless you are a Green, you cannot have any concern for our environment”.
😆
No, the reason why our environmental credentials have taken a hammering is because this government, including UF, have stripped environmental protections that weren’t all the great to begin with.
“In an open society, there is a place for the Green Taliban, but it is at the fringes, and not centre stage
/facepalm
“In an open society, there is a place for the United Future Taliban, but it is at the fringes, and not centre stage
Oh, wait, that’s where it is propping up a radical right government that has no concern for the environment or the people of NZ.
Don’t count Dunne out, he will be portraying himself as the champion of the hunting and fishing groups, unfortunately a lot of this group get their information second hand by word of mouth, they don’t follow politics or the MSM generally, but will get riled when someone is proposing to take anything off them, just what a he wants.
The electricity privatisation exceeded government expectations, delivering more than $20 billion to a cash-strapped state, with promises that in private hands, the delivery of electricity would be better and cheaper than the service provided by the old state-owned behemoth.
Yep, heard that one time and time again. Heard the results as well:
In a report this year, the Australia Institute used official figures to calculate that the cost of electricity increased by 170 per cent from 1995 to 2012 – four times higher than the rise in the consumer price index.
Privatisation has resulted in worse service and higher prices everywhere it’s been tried. Telecom is our poster boy for this failed experiment but our faux electricity market isn’t far behind and with the sale of those companies we can expect the prices to rise even faster.
On the elderly and making the point that economists ideas and counting our GDPon money passing hands and not measuring the Greater Domestic Prosperity by return of services and appreciation of everyone’s input. This woman is elderly and written a book that Labour should consider before they go raising the age of pensions.
11:05 Patricia Edgar 12 October 2013
Patricia Edgar is an Australian sociologist, educator, film and television producer, researcher and writer. Her new book is In Praise of Ageing (Text Publishing, ISBN: 978-1-92214-755-4). http://textpublishing.com.au/books-and-authors/book/in-praise-of-ageing/
Worth noting as a follow up to the the Plebs and Plutocrat thread:
Delivering his victory speech in the Park Slope neighbourhood of Brooklyn where he lives, De Blasio sought to temper expectations that were sky-high after his repeated campaign pledges to unite New York’s “two cities” – those of the haves and the have-nots.
“Let me be clear, our work, all of our work, is really just beginning,” he said. “We have no illusions about the task that lies ahead. Tackling inequality isn’t easy. It never has been and it never will be. The challenges we face have been decades in the making, and the problems we sought to address will not be solved overnight. But make no mistake, the city has chosen a progressive path and tonight we set forward together on it, together as one city.”
Just saw a coma’d young woman dragged out by the feet from the pub toilets. Covered in her own puke. Staff putting her in the recovery position; no movement whatsoever. Looks like emergency services are being called. Messy.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
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 ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
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Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
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A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
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A comment from an American
“The best thing that could happen is an increase in the minimum wage. Minimum wage earners spend every dime they get. Putting more money into the hands of the poor is money that will be spent immediately.
Can’t say the same about tax cuts, which disproportionately go the rich who simply hoard the money.”
Yep. Hoard the money or pile them into financial markets to inflate speculative asset bubbles.
Well credit where credits due. Ive been one to highlight Fran O Sullivan’s hopeless and thoughtless blind devotion to free market philosophies over the years. But she has nailed it in todays NZ Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11153956
And I particularly like this bit, hopefully this will be the last time we hear the phrase “man ban”, because I think we now know where that phrase was coming from.
“It is to Labour’s credit that the party is trying to even the score when it comes to evening up gender representation in Parliament.
The party has faced down criticism from the usual media jocks who label such policies a “man ban”.”
I hope Farrar and Gower now realise they are part of the club of dinosaurs when they continue to criticise Labour over its remit to have AT LEAST 50% women, I suggest after this debacle it should be AT LEAST 75%.
Well there’s some good n FO’S’s piece. And yes there are some misogynist elements within Labour. But she fails to mention how the right used those nasty smears about Clark as a deliberate ploy to undermine Clark as PM. I have heard the content of the smears originally came from within the left. But it was the right that crafted them into one of the nastiest, most underhand smear campaign’s in NZ’s political history.
FOS makes out the misogyny is all Labour’s. Sheesh – and WO, KB?
And Key’s government has hardly been a friend to the majority of women.
RadioLive, WJ & JT not getting any support from Key or Cunliffe.
Did I hear Moira Coatsworth reported on radio yesterday pointing out that there were processes in the Labour Party in terms of membership for the likes of Tamihere?
Am I correct in thinking that (like the police?) she needs a formal complaint? If so, can anyone enlighten me about how to do this?
Any Labour Party member, but ideally a constitutional branch or LEC, can write a formal complaint about the conduct of a member to the Labour Party’s New Zealand Council, usually via their Labour Region’s representative on that Council.
Please, please do this.
I am not a Labour member so I realize I’m asking somebody else to do the work, but I really hope that the party receives complaints by the dozen about Tamihere’s behaviour.
It’s important to remember that media attention spans are short, and people who are “persona non grata” soon return. (case in point: Paul Henry).
Tamihere’s media status will be rehabilitated to “lovable rogue” in a matter of weeks/months. Even now, fools like Josie Pagani are defending him.
He must NEVER be a Labour candidate. It is that simple.
I understand at least one Labour Party member has already done so, but I’m sure that additional messages wouldn’t hurt.
Agreed, K. She glosses over the worst misogyny Clark faced, that of the right. I have a complete wtf reaction to that piece. It’s so calculated that its worthy message is fatally undercut.
@ tigger..indeed..!
..with farrar the main hate-merchant/online-propagandist..
phillip ure..
True.
The phrase “man ban” had its origins in the same misogynistic/patriarchal attitude that we see from Jackson and Tamihere. I understand that Farrar created it. Gower highlights it at every opportunity. I hope out of this whole episode we end up with a public who gain a better understanding of where these phrases are coming from and consequently Labour (Moira Coatsworth in particular) get some support for sticking to their guns on this.
Not strictly correct. It came from the neoliberal faction back in the late 70s and early 80s at a time when their ‘star’ was on the rise. They ruled the Labour roost for about seven years and then they were gone. They joined ACT in the early 90s.
Saarbo +1 ..interesting and well put from Fran O’Sullivan
Of this whole ‘roast buster’ saga. The news media a making me increasingly angry with the headlines. Specifically radio where every bullitin I would hear something along the lines of ‘supply young girls with alcohol and have group sex’ the reality is they targeted girls stupefied them the PACK RAPED them.
The media sugar coating it as they are I believe is symptomatic of the whole problem. The two dickheads at radio live been at the top of the pile.
Totally agree. I couldn’t believe yesterday’s ‘Dominion post’ headline: ‘Police roasted over sex saga’.
The phrase ‘sex saga’ is for discussing some All Black or movie star having an affair. This is a rape case.
In other words, the ‘Dominion post’ contributes to the rape culture discourse.
some of the international headlines use the ‘pack rape’ title, they dont hold back at all! like i guess our media wouldnt if it concerned australia or something.
This matter is certainly not a good look internationally; still, more representative when you get down to it than 100% pure. Just been reading how Fonterra chiefs are revealing how the company is 6-10 years behind the sustainability achieved by dairying in Europe, and that further expansion / intensification here is going to hit a wall of environmental constraints.
These are the serious facts of the matter for the nation!
Many people are angry over this rb thing.
a constructive way to use your anger is go to your mp office and demand increases in funding immediately for rape crisis for programmes in schools. Ask for asset sales to stop and tge millions in costs to sell going to these programmes.
email pm.. mps.
anyone noticed how silent tje social development minister is on this tip of a serios social development iceberg?.
If people are truly angry go to yoyr mps office and demand funding increases to rape crisis and school programmes etc.
Tell your mps to stop assets sales and use the saved cost of the sales to increase this funding.
stop listening, reading buying anything which supports lack of respect to men and women.
this is all much harder than being angry. Are we up to it?
Anyone noticed how silent the minister of social development has been on this most horrendous tip of a very enormous social development iceberg?
the more-healthy-message is one of the strongest in the pot v.s. booze debate-arsenal..
..and pot is winning..
“..Booze lobbyists are becoming more and more pissed off at marijuana advocates..”
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/bar-fight-booze-industry-furious-over-campaigns-saying-weed-safer-alcohol
phillip ure..
Writer for young people, Mandy Hager brilliant on National Radio this morning talking about “seething world of misogyny”……. in the most civilised and charming way…. but not pulling any punches
….well worth listening to on: John Tamihere , Willy Jackon interview with young girl about rape ( something I have been arguing about with my son who listens to Radio Live )
…..Hager has written a book for young people on date rape called ‘Smashed’ and recommends a doco on sexism in music videos called ‘Dream Worlds’
Kathleen Ryan has also been superb this last week on these issues ….comprehensive examinations of the recent Auckland gang rapes, drawing in experts from different perspectives and the most moving personal testimonies by rape victims of the situations they innocently found themselves in and the long term damage rape did to them
Radio NZ really is to be very highly commended…for the calibre of women it puts on in its programmes and the quality of debates !
Lookout for the police next week flying around like Supermen nailing the bad guys.
There must be some terrorist plots involving foreigners out there to foil. The assault rifles raid with the Hells Angels associates was a good start and in the right vein. More of the same needed.
Ah, yes… just in tme…
http://www.3news.co.nz/Underage-sex-sting-website-revealed/tabid/423/articleID/320712/Default.aspx#.Un3StPlmim4
This question was never adequately answered by that article. Who exactly is putting resources into this…uh…’entrap, publicise, and shame’ website??? That it’s not the police seems clear.
I think it is the Stop Demand website & particularly this woman who is mentioned in the website.
Ahhh thx. I should say the lines quoted from the men talked to by TV3 seem somewhat less than, ahem, credible.
Noelle McCarthy stops the snickering
Pretends to be serious about victims of state repression
Saturday Morning, Radio NZ National, 9 November 2013
Kim Hill is still away, so the host for this week is NOELLE McCARTHY.
This morning’s first interview was with American journalist Kevin Gosztola, who spoke about the sinister, threatening, steadily growing surveillance regimes in the United States and Britain. Naturally, he talked a lot about Edward Snowden. Amongst other things, Kevin Gosztola observed that Snowden was isolated and called a traitor by the U.S. regime and its snooping agencies, and that the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ had repeated the slander during their farcical appearance before the British parliament’s Intelligence and Security committee this week….
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2013/11/british_surveillance_hearing_parliament_s_interrogation_of_u_k_spy_agencies.html
As he pointed out the plight of the dissident NSA whistleblower, I wondered whether Kevin Gosztola realized that his interviewer was one of those who has enthusiastically participated in the Government-sponsored shunning and ridiculing and libeling of Edward Snowden. I wonder if he would have even spoken to McCarthy if he had realized how callous and flippant she has been towards Snowden and other dissidents. Here’s a representative sample of her comments on Snowden’s plight up until this morning’s miraculous transformation into a concerned and humane liberal thinker….
NOELLE McCARTHY, 10 July 2013: Y-y-y-y-yeeeeeessss, …. [snort] ….he he he! He’s still in hiding. He he he! …. He he he he he! Yes he is still in that terminal! …[snort]… He he he he he he! ….[snort]…. He’s got a choice! Venezuela, Bolivia or Ecuador! …. Bolivia would be hard with the altitude! ….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10072013/#comment-661123
Less than one week later, she was at it again….
NOELLE McCARTHY, 16 July 2013: [grimly] Heh, heh, heh. Well someone else with not such a good view is Edward Snowden. [snicker] Looks like he’s STILL in the airport! …
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-16072013/#comment-663663
And here she is enthusiastically taking part in another group guffaw, this time about another Government-designated political target, Julian Assange….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19072013/#comment-664870
Kevin Gosztola’s website….
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9380684/John-Key-living-the-dream
I can’t even stomach this piece, I’ve read snippets of it but the whole thing is just… so painful
John Key – still getting blowjobs from the media
Looks like the Nat’s publicity machine has hit high gear. More vomit inducing stuff:
Key credits team for National’s success
@ zorr..
..it is a ‘dear-leader’ masterpiece..
(flies were buzzing in and out of my hanging-open mouth..as i skim-read it..
..pausing only to utter the odd “whoar!..holy wholesale-sychophancy..!..batman..!’)
phillip ure
and thats how its done if you want to be re-elected
you could always be of tangible service to the nation. That would get you reelected.
Rod Drury needs to realise that National is not the party to be building “exciting new assets” — well not any more anyway. National has, since 1990 has been the party of tearing things down.
Jebus, that piece is so cloying it have me diabetes. On another site it would be considered satire.
I think that piece was well written and shows the caliber of the man leading NZ 🙂 of course when the puff pieces come in for Labour I’m guessing it’ll be a different story
Yes, it was a different story.
The fiction is that “5 years” is some special anniversary that requires full-on puffery across all the media. So … after 5 years of Clark, where was it?
Go on, show us the saturation ass-kissing from 2004.
I don’t know if you really believe this “all the same” line you keep trotting out, or if it’s just feeble spin, but it isn’t true, and never was. Find evidence to the contrary, please.
You mean like Cunliffe lounging on the beach or Jacinda Ardern showing off her cup cakes?
No, I mean exactly what I said. Lengthy, uncritcial puff pieces, celebrating 5 years. You got nothing? Case closed.
Nice attempt from diversion from the main point 🙂 its something the left is quite good at doing 🙂
Dude, the whole puff piece is a diversion from what’s actually happening. Something the right and their little helpers in the MSM are very good at.
At the end of the Stuff piece there are these figures
Debt:
2008 $10.3b
The 2008 forecast for 2013: $29b
Actual 2013: $55b
The Budget:
2008: $5.6b surplus.
Forecast 2013: deficit $3.3b
Actual 2013: deficit $4.4b
Current account deficit:
2018: 7.8 per cent
Forecast 2013: -5 per cent
Actual 2013: – 4.7 per cent
Economic growth:
2008: -0.6 per cent
Forecast 2013: 3.1 per cent
Actual: 2013: 2.5
Unemployment:
2008: 4.3 per cent
Forecast 2013: 4.6 per cent
Actual 2013: 6.2 per cent
Economic rebalancing:
The gap between income from the tradeable sector and the non-tradables sector has widened since 2008.
Hardly a ringing endorsment
Nope, not all from the better economic managers party.
Current account deficit:
2018: 7.8 per cent
Forecast 2013: -5 per cent
Actual 2013: – 4.7 per cent
Was this meant to be 2008: 7.8%.
And does actual 2013: -4.7% If this is a minus figure for a deficit measurement does that mean that there is a surplus?
-4.7% (of GDP) is the deficit
If it was positive +4.7% it they would be calling it the current account surplus.
I want to know how the frak Treasury reckons we are going to have that big a current account surplus in 2017. Impossible on our current track.
Or maybe they are expecting a Labour Government…
“Life after politics will probably involve some commercial work, a board chairmanship or two and even some “ex-prime ministerial things”, said Key.”
Oh yes, he a real do-gooder this one. Glad we could provide you with this sweet stepping stone job.
Bugger the article. Read the comments, they are way more informative, oh, and remember, they have only let thru the mildest ones.
This morning on radio nz on Kim Hill’s session with Noelle McCarthy today, Mandy Hager was interesting. She is very informed about teenage sexuality and is distressed about the gang rape in Auckland with informative background. She has written a book called Smashed which I think she says is about teenage culture.
She is involved with something called Dare Foundation and talks about schools, society’s failure to impart ethical values and I think the Foundation is running a project to talk about this. She mentions a culture of meanness being presented on the visual media to teenagers, Miley Cyrus having a persona built by men, ‘reality’ tv with ostracism and abandonment to picked members who are voted out, etc. No kindness no caring group involvement in those.
The Dare Foundation, which I have been part of, also offer excellent programmes that would address some of this behaviour – including a ground-breaking new ‘ethical bystander’ programme to empower young people to support each other.
http://robin.hosts.net.nz/~admin219/mandy-hager-writes-2/
Radionz Notes and later audio will be on – 8:30 Mandy Hager
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday
Mandy Hager has written eight novels, including award-winning young-adult books Smashed, The Crossing, and The Nature of Ash, as well as short stories, scripts, and non-fiction resources for young people. Her latest novel, Dear Vincent was published earlier this year (Random House, ISBN: 978-1-77553-3276).
Currently a tutor in novel writing at Whitireia NZ, Hager is the 2013 winner of the Menton Fellowship, one of New Zealand’s oldest and most esteemed literary awards. While resident in France, she plans to work on a book about the life of nun, scholar and writer Héloïse d’Argenteuil.
It is interesting that Mandy’s family originally came from Vienna, I think they were Jewish getting away from Europe to a safer place. So much of our creativity and drive seems to have come after such people came here, to Levin actually. Compare with NZs general background of colonials, which seems to have been farm sourced, or rather stultified aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations, adopting customs of artistic pretension that middle class people followed rather than it arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.
Just a musing on my part.
@ greywarbler..at times the discussions on ‘the panel’ are so dinosaur-like..
..as to make tamihere/jackson seem enlightened/’modern-men’….
..phillip ure
phillipu
What panel? Are you talking about Mora’s? I’m talking about an interview which I describe – definitely not like dinosaur stuff or JT and WJ.
Interesting that Mandy Hager should be such a brilliant writer and her brother Nicky Hager should also be so prominent as a journalist/activist. Their Mum and Dad were pretty impressive also, and Mandy’s younger sister is also talented. In Levin they lived a life dedicated to conservation and human welfare. And as Mandy says they stood out as “different” in Levin, but I think in the nicest possible way.
One day on The Panel, Dr Michael Bassett snarled that Nicky Hager was a Holocaust-denier. Host Jim Mora did nothing, and said nothing. Nor did the other Panelists, including the producer who was also present in the studio. Nothing happened to Bassett after that; in fact he returned to the programme several times.
This kind of thing, which happens frequently, somewhat undermines Chooky’s praise (on the thread above) for the quality of National Radio’s discussions.
note …i wasnt praising Jim Mora’s panel discussions….although not all of them are bad
True enough, Chooky. Fair comment.
@ greywarbler ….re your criticisms ….”Compare with NZs general background of colonials, which seems to have been farm sourced, or rather stultified aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations, adopting customs of artistic pretension that middle class people followed rather than it arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.
Just a musing on my part.”
note ….Nicky and Mandy Hager’s Mother is a NZer …she did not come from Vienna like his Grandfather …….as far as I know and she may have come off a farm….the Grandfather from Vienna and Father had a clothing factory in Levin I think.
Mrs Hager was the daughter of doctor and was born in S Africa (or Rhodesia?) but lived most of her life in NZ.
It is interesting that Mandy’s family originally came from Vienna, . If the grandfather came from Vienna, then my statement is correct. I’m talking about originally which can be a while in the past, and not all the original family need to have come from Vienna. I would like to be able to say something on this post without it being picked apart and critiqued. It would be good to be allowed to put an opinion up that isn’t blatantly RW without the gatekeeper mentality censoring it.
Although I’ve been known to *occasionally* extol the virtues of Vienna, I can’t agree with you on this gw. Is it possible they are the kind of people they are because their forebears came to NZ rather than despite them coming to NZ? A love of books, reading and writing can be nurtured anywhere that has a set of societal and economic conditions that encourages it. In that, NZ has done quite well.
Whether that is endangered is something being argued now with changes in teaching, access to books, and changes in societal values – probably the most important of which, are indifference, judgementalism and buying into bigotry, imo.
As for NZ writers from farming and middle class stock – have you forgotten the cleverness of, say, John Mulgan, Jock Phillips and Michael King who wrote about the NZ male pysche while being part of it. Also remember, off the top of my head Katherine Mansfield, Witi Ihimaera, J.K. Baxter, Keri Hulme, Emily Perkins (who wrote one of the best short-ish novels I’ve ever read.. ‘A novel about my wife’. Even the Brits appreciate her, given a column in The Guardian while she was off on the OE), and the latest in a long line… Eleanor Catton
@greywarbler …the critique was of your statement: “Compare with NZs general background of colonials, which seems to have been farm sourced, or rather stultified aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations, adopting customs of artistic pretension that middle class people followed rather than it arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.
Just a musing on my part.”
It is a bullshit statement …. as any NZ art historian or English literature historian and many school children could tell you…..there have been lots of NZ colonials who have been highly creative and successful internationally( not just pretentious pretenders as you suggest) …and many have come from the “aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations” eg Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) whose father was a banker is just a start
…there are other NZers too numerous to mention…but just off the top of my head,what about Keri Hume ( winner of the Booker Prize) ?…Elsie Locke ( children’s writer,historian, environmentalist,peace activist, feminist ,organiser of family planning and fighter for social justice for Maori and the working class) who wrote many books? …Ngaio Marsh, theatre director and crime writer of international repute?…what about the painters: Francis Hodgkins (1869-1947)….Margaret Stoddart(1865-1934)…..Rita Angus?..and many many Maori writers of calibre eg….Patricia Grace?…
I have only touched on a few women here …what about Ernest Rutherford, father of nuclear physics?….the list of highly creative intellectual NZers could go on and on…
“@greywarbler …the critique was of your statement: “Compare with NZs general background of colonials, which seems to have been farm sourced, or rather stultified aspiring middle class with mercantile aspirations, adopting customs of artistic pretension that middle class people followed rather than it arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.
Just a musing on my part.” ”
Well put Chooky, a bullshit statement albeit just a musing on the gerygone’s part.
Speak for your own colonial ancestry if you will…GW.
For the criteria”- arising from an individual intellectual striving for creativity and expression.”
How about adding one of my direct grandfathers on one colonial branch – Carl Hinrich Andreas Mumme. Co founder of the The Freedom Group formed on 9 July 1913 .The Freedom Group’s struggle for social change—for a society based on people before profit was the driver. They were tired of oppression and sheeples accepting tyranny. “They were active in their trade unions, on the street corners, and in their communities.” What set them apart was “their critique of coercive relations, wage slavery, and a vision of a more equitable and humane world.” He went on to accrue mobs to organise and arm themselves and fight back during the Great Strike! Great expressionism don’t you think?
And for Creativity on another branch was a Professor/ doctor of medicine who robbed graves for corpses so his students could have cadavers to learn with and advance medicine. That’s pretty creative eh?
“Sewing Freedom: Philip Josephs, Transnationalism & Early New Zealand Anarchism”
@ Not Another Sheep…lol….sounds like a very fine and worthy NZ ancestry of creative and intellectual thinking and integrity! …most impressed!
..one of my ancestors was a humble whaler ( from Yorkshire I think) and the first Pakeha in the Christchurch area to give descriptions ….he wrote accounts of a horse and rider disappearing in the Avon river….he was an interpreter between Maori and British….his two reading books were the Bible and ‘Herodotus Histories’ ( which he educated his children with)…he married Puia the daughter of Chief Iwikau ( Akaroa, who signed the Treaty )…and when the French turned up he hurriedly hoisted up the Union Jack flag to let the French know the British had got there before them….lol……..his son became a local identity on the Chathams
Maori Prophecy on Christchurch :
Some three hundred years ago Maoris of vision prophesised thus:—”Behind the tattooed face, a stranger lurks, his face is white, he owns the land,” and “Weep not for me, weep for yourselves, for the time will come when white feet shall desecrate my grave.” True they have proved, in both cases. The Maoris dwelling amid the swamps of Christchurch were nicknamed by the natives of other parts O-roto-repo (swamp dwellers).
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TayLore-t1-body1-d5.html
I wonder if the Maori tohunga also foresaw the big earthquake?
This is what I mean by critical response. You can’t just reply with what about .. and haven’t you overstated this because … you have to demolish and sling off because it’s a different idea from your own favourite position.
Where is the opportunity for discussion? It’s ‘You want the truth, you couldn’t handle the truth’ time, as in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And what is being broached may not be the truth, or part truth. But because you don’t see my point then it must be wrong, because you are right.
As if I never read, and don’t know of NZ creatives. There still is a knuckle dragging approach from many but I try not to be one such. And readers, who are they who look for truth and ideas? Women make up the bulk of readers. Men low on that activity, high on sport, mountain biking over every track in NZ – look out they’ll want a track down your hall soon – and driving 4WD up river beds as in the Mitsubishi advertisement etc. With a spot of shooting, that’s quite widespread as an activity in town and country (sometimes people – collateral damage). Less of that stuff, and more creativity of the mind is much needed in this country.
Thought, discussion, reading and thinking and philosophy should be something that all are familiar with and participate in. Not just the few, and not mainly women. And I don’t think there has been enough of it in NZ in the past, and less now with the commercial response to everything. Now there’s a thought for discussion.
Not another sheep
So what sort of country did your ancestor want to leave for you? Mine were busy trying to achieve stuff, working hard with an interesting history.
But in NZ we haven’t been able to break through an attitude that came over from the early colonials with their land speculation being the main drive of the NZ Company, selling plots and plans they didn’t own and that were a fraud. They wanted a place where there was still a class system with them at the top. And not too particular as to how they got their land or social position.
There is more required than just quoting what has been achieved by individuals. It is no use to be complacent and ready to criticise individuals with ideas thatare uncomfortable. There is hard work ahead to progress what our ancestors hoped for even to maintain what they achieved.
hmmmm.
Thanks to his comments on Radio Live, I would say that JT’s chances of a placing on the Labour Party list have diminished…
He will just have to be happy with his position on the Waitakere Licencing Trust. Now that…is irony.
“Diminished”?
I’d like to hope/expect that his chances are completely shot!
I’ll NEVER vote for a Labour Party that has JT anywhere near its list!
Fender +1
It’s a deal-breaker for me. I can put up with MPs I don’t much like (Cosgrove, Mallard) because broad church yadda yadda … but Tamihere is way, way over the line.
I’m 99% certain he won’t be standing for Labour again, but I’d like the last 1% to be confirmed.
Has Sealord Jones had anything to say about this? I have the horrible feeling that his thoughts may not be that different from Back Pussy Tamihere’s.
I think his chances have been shot for a long time. There are a lot of us Labour stalwarts who would picket any selection he was part of, or any List conference that had his name. I don’t think the Party leaders think he is worth the risk.
hilarious..!
chris ‘i came – i saw – i did s.f.a’ auchinvale is on the nation..
..talking of his achievements/time in parliament..
..(cue long-silences..)
..phillip ure..
http://agrihq.co.nz/article/from-the-lip-red-carded-by-labours-new-leader?p=23
– So Helen Clark fronted, Russel Normans fronting but Cunliffes decided its not worth the potential hassle….yeah
Running errands for the Whangavegas kiddie farmer – that’s awfully good of you Chris..
John Key does not front on National Radio for the same reasons? But does a weekly slot on lots of soft radio stations.
I read the article and the writer lost me at being the one of the 10% who pay 70% of taxes, thinks double Dipton is ‘one of us’, and you wonder why Cunliffe thinks he will not get a fair hearing.
And yet Russel Normans fronting up, I guess it shows what Cunliffe really thinks about the agricultural sector
Or the guy is a dick.
Well yes Cunliffe is a dick but I think in this case he really just doesn’t care about rural NZ and I don’t blame him ’cause its not like rural NZ contributes anything to the NZ economy
no your just inventing things – perhaps your a dick too?
look, the guy is one of those rank idiots if he believes that 10% of people pay 70% of tax
its a lie
its been pointed out as a lie for ages
any one with any serious notion of whats going on will know this
its only the blow hards and woefully manipulated who keep parroting this idiocy
1) you need to include how much % you earn
2) you need to include all forms of tax
so maybe cunliffe should front – but not because you, or this other guy want to behave like fools
you’re 100% wrong on that. Cunliffe grew up in a rural area of Canty and has first hand experience working in the farming sector as a youth. The decision not to appear on that radio show, which I personally find a bit unusual (what pollie turns down media air time?) , will have been based on other factors.
” When I think of Labour, I think of politicians such as Damien O’Connor, David Shearer, Grant Robertson, Annette King and Phil Goff. They’re eminently sensible people and, at a push, I could live with them running the country . ” yeah right ! So why should Cunliffe go on a program with such a di–head ?
“economic and environmental handbrakes on farming”
So this guy thinks he should be able to pay bugger all tax, foul our water ways and makes kids sick, and make his workers work all day and all night for bugger all pay. Cool.
His father sounded like a man with his head screwed on though — realising the Labour did more for farmers than National ever did.
IMO, this has bearing upon the actions of the police in regards to Roastbusters:
It seems endemic that the police always seem to want more evidence in rape cases – usually from the victims – rather than going out and finding it themselves as they’re supposed to do.
Wow. I bet if Hama had been wanted for assault on police they would have figured out who he was pretty quickly. I am rapidly firming in my opinion that ngati poaka have the systemic attitude that there’s not really a lot wrong with rape.
How the current money system is damaging Businesses, Society and the Environment
That’s a video.
Might as well add this one to: Libertarians confused about capitalism
Speaking about libertarians, seems Paul junior has another problem to go along side his plagiarising.
Since 2005 Rand Paul has not been certified by any board recognized by the state of Kentucky, and since 2011 has had no certification since the NOB was dissolved. I asked Rand Paul’s staff a series of questions, trying to determine why he still held himself out as a “certified” ophthalmologist:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/11/08/rand-paul-has-another-problem/
missed the edit window
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/08/salon_exclusive_more_rand_paul_plagiarism/
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 32: Sonny-Bill Williams
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“It’s good to get the win over Papua-New Guinea, a strong Papua-New Guinea side, aahhhh….”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—-Sonny-Bill Williams, after the Kiwis’ 56-10 World Cup slaughter of a winless PNG side. Halftime score: 40-nil.
http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-LIVE-UPDATES-New-Zealand-Kiwis-V-Papua-New-Guinea-Rugby-League-World-Cup-2013/tabid/415/articleID/320650/Default.aspx#.Un1w8uD7JFQ
More hopeless, hapless or criminal liars….
No. 31 John Palino: “Suggestions that I am somehow orchestrating some grand right-wing conspiracy to unseat Len after the election are so wrong…”
No. 30 Alan Dershowitz: “I will give $10,000 to the PLO if you can find a historical fact in my book that you can prove to be false.”
No. 29 John Banks: “I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. And never, ever would I ever knowingly sign a false electoral return. Never ever would I ever.”
No. 28 John Kerry: “…we are especially sensitive, Chuck and I, to never again asking any member of Congress to take a vote on faulty intelligence.”
No. 27 Lyse Doucet: “I am there for those without a voice.”
No. 26 Sam Wallace: “So here we are—Otahuhu. It’s just a great place to be, really.”
No. 25 Margaret Thatcher: “…no British government involvement of any kind…with Khmer Rouge…”
No. 24 John Key: “…at the end of the day I, like most New Zealanders, value the role of the fourth estate…”
No. 23 Jay Carney: “…expel Mr Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice…”
No. 22 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton had integrity beyond reproach.”
No. 21 Tim Groser: “I think the relationship is genuinely in outstanding form.”
No. 20 John Key: “But if the question is do we use the United States or one of our other partners to circumvent New Zealand law then the answer is categorically no.”
No. 19 Matthew Hooton: “It is ridiculous to say that unions deliver higher wages! They DON’T!”
No. 18 Ant Strachan: “The All Blacks won the RWC 2011 because of outstanding defence!”
No. 17 Stephen Franks: “Peter has been such a level-headed, safe pair of hands.”
No. 16 Phil Kafcaloudes: “Tony Abbott…hasn’t made any mistakes over the past eighteen months.”
No. 15 Donald Rumsfeld: “I did not lie… Colin Powell did not lie.”
No. 14 Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
No. 13 Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
No. 12 U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11 Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10 Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9 NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
No. 8 Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question….”
No. 7 Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
No. 6 Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5 Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
No. 4 Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3 John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2 Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.”
No. 1 Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
Tamihere is an embarrassment to all us Labour members and supporters. The
Tamihere is an embarrassment to all us Labour members and supporters. The
Tamihere is an embarrassment to all us Labour members and supporters. The
Sorry about the repeat put it down to old age with computers .
Tamihere is embarrassment to all Labour Members and supporters .The LP.Council need to expel him now. This is the second time he has made unexceptional comments .Forgive once but not twice.
Most of us Lefties are working for a Socialist or Social Democratic Government in 2013.we do not need comments from the likes off Tanihere,Come on Moira take action and get rid of this clown
Pink Postman please look at 2.1.1.1 above and the posts following and give Moira and the NZ Council some ammunition.
Did I read that there are only 30 members attending the Dunne party . Key will be considering the nasty Conservative Party. good bye Dunne.
Oh too much
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9382476/Dunnes-rise-of-the-purple-greens
hahhahahahaha I have not laughed this painfully for ages…. so much it hurts ..
just to paraphrase the essence ‘…the rise of the purple-greens , avocados?…whine-gums?…who pontificate and wring their grapes in despair…’ There, now that the steering of the nation in is in the capable hands of Peter and his 30 denying disciples I can relax with a Saturday matinee.
I wouldn’t write Dunne off. He’s lasted far longer than most politicians ever do. And Labour’s best chance of unseating him, Chauvel, has unfortunately left our shores.
Yeah — personally I think he should take a lot of credit for ensuring that the Douglas-Richardson reforms staying more or less intact. It was him that ensured that Labour didnt stray to far to the left..
Hubba Bubba? Grape flavour? Blowing big old’ bubbles?
Theres been some interesting talk in the land of Ohariu about Dunne’s sudden revival of the UF Party from the corpse that it was. It’s been suggested that he targeted outdoor groups, perhaps Forest and Bird Members, Fish & Game etc for their membership of UF in return for representing them – luring them away from the Green vote. What else did he have left? There weren’t many tricks left up the sleeve.
He is using emotive words like the “Taliban” in order to set his party aside as the sensible party, again continuing with the moderate theme, but being the wolf in sheep’s clothing (as Millsy refers to below, with the reality being that he is more far right than anything).
Dunne will be facing calls for his accountability from locals this coming election year. His path ahead next year may not be so easy as it always has been. The difficult thing with this electorate is there are many locals blinded by his “service” to the community, which really amounts to turning up at school fairs etc and playing santa’s elf in the J’ville xmas parade (lol times, I know). They see him in a local context and can’t grasp what a true burden he is to the nation.
Is it possible with a concerted local movement to call him to account for his actions and a real kick arse Labour candidate he could gone in the next election? Katrina Shanks will not be there for the next election, (she came third in 2011 with Chauval second) who will National put in her place or will they even put a candidate up? Labour members, is there any goss on who Labour might stand in the electorate?
It really pisses me off that Peter Dunne prances around the country telling everyone he is moderate and of the ‘sensible centre’, blah blah blah..
The guy is clearly far right, closer to ACT than Labour, his opposition to any form of social democratic policy shows it, and his crap about wanting to protect the environment and conservation estate is shit, given that he didnt lift a single finger to oppose the cuts to DOC and privatisation/commercialisation the of conservation estate, and he has supported the lowering of air and water quality standards every single time.
I would love to know what cuts to government services he will I wis to keep taxes for high income earners down, and if he supported the mass closures of schools and hospitals in the 1990’s to fund Bill Birch’s tax cuts.
😆
No, the reason why our environmental credentials have taken a hammering is because this government, including UF, have stripped environmental protections that weren’t all the great to begin with.
/facepalm
“In an open society, there is a place for the United Future Taliban, but it is at the fringes, and not centre stage
Oh, wait, that’s where it is propping up a radical right government that has no concern for the environment or the people of NZ.
😎
Don’t count Dunne out, he will be portraying himself as the champion of the hunting and fishing groups, unfortunately a lot of this group get their information second hand by word of mouth, they don’t follow politics or the MSM generally, but will get riled when someone is proposing to take anything off them, just what a he wants.
He’s anti women and children too
The shocking truth about the privatisation of power
Yep, heard that one time and time again. Heard the results as well:
Privatisation has resulted in worse service and higher prices everywhere it’s been tried. Telecom is our poster boy for this failed experiment but our faux electricity market isn’t far behind and with the sale of those companies we can expect the prices to rise even faster.
On the elderly and making the point that economists ideas and counting our GDPon money passing hands and not measuring the Greater Domestic Prosperity by return of services and appreciation of everyone’s input. This woman is elderly and written a book that Labour should consider before they go raising the age of pensions.
11:05 Patricia Edgar 12 October 2013
Patricia Edgar is an Australian sociologist, educator, film and television producer, researcher and writer. Her new book is In Praise of Ageing (Text Publishing, ISBN: 978-1-92214-755-4).
http://textpublishing.com.au/books-and-authors/book/in-praise-of-ageing/
Patricia Edgar – praising ageing ( 38′ 52″ )
11:10 Australian sociologist, educator, film and television producer, researcher and
writer, whose new book is In Praise of Ageing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/20131012
Just watching “Locked Up Warriors” that I recorded earlier from 101 east on Al Jazeera.
Now this is depressing. Can be viewed online here:
Tolley arrgrrghhh!!!
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/11/nationals-rejuvenation/#axzz2jZ9rhdH0
– Heres a viewpoint I’m betting more than a few of you lot would agree with
Worth noting as a follow up to the the Plebs and Plutocrat thread:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/bill-de-blasio-wins-new-york-mayoral-election
So it turns out that the 99% ARE were the so-called ‘centre vote’ is.
Or at least the 73.7%.
The Republican candidate only got 24.9%.
Mind you Mr De Blasio will have had millionaire campaign backers as well…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_mayoral_election,_2013
Just saw a coma’d young woman dragged out by the feet from the pub toilets. Covered in her own puke. Staff putting her in the recovery position; no movement whatsoever. Looks like emergency services are being called. Messy.