Open mike 10/02/2021
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The gift that keeps giving: David Seymour has now opened a split in the coalition over the future of National’s promise to build a new medical school. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / TheKakaKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...3 hours ago - Weekly Roundup 22-November-2024
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The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...6 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
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The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...24 hours ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
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The latest Predator Free 2050 Board appointments will help to strengthen biodiversity efforts across Aotearoa New Zealand, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says. Mr Potaka today announced two appointments to the Board of Directors of Predator Free 2050 Limited, a key player in the wider Predator Free 2050 Programme. “The Predator ...1 hour ago - New facility in Christchurch will improve the lives of young New Zealanders
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey today opened Kahurangi, an innovative and much-needed facility for Canterbury’s Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health Services. “The new state of the art outpatient facility opened today will be a gamechanger for the way mental health is delivered for young people in Canterbury,” says Mr ...1 hour ago
- Driver safety screens to be installed on Auckland buses
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed news from the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) that bus driver protection screens will be installed across Auckland’s bus fleet by 2026.“The Government is committed to improving the safety of working environments for bus drivers, and Budget 2024 allocated $15 million of Crown funding over ...2 hours ago
- Government action provides Southland farmers more time to meet plan requirements
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- Bill reaffirms Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending
The Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Bill had its first reading at Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending, Minister for Children Karen Chhour says. “In recent years we have seen an unacceptable spike in youth offending. “This Bill makes ...19 hours ago
- Critical milestones for earthquake buildings review
Fairer, more sensible rules about managing earthquake risks are a step closer with the passing of legislation and the appointment of an independent chair to provide expert advice, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The Government is committed to reinvigorating our cities and regions to support economic growth, ...19 hours ago
- State of the art radiology machine for Auckland
People in Northland and Auckland will benefit from a new machine for cancer treatment installed at the Regional Cancer and Blood Service at Auckland City Hospital. The MV5 linear accelerator, or LINAC machine, officially opened today targets cancer tumours with pinpoint accuracy. Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says this new, ...20 hours ago
- Foreign Minister to visit Europe
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- First arrests made under gang patch ban
Police have made their first arrests under the new gang patch legislation, with two gang members arrested, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. “Just before 11 this morning, Police in Wairoa apprehended a gang member for wearing a patch to the supermarket. He has been arrested and will now face enforcement ...22 hours ago
- Better support for victims of sexual violence
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- Government moving forward with Regional Deals
Cabinet has agreed to invite all regions to submit proposals for Regional Deals between central and local government that drive economic growth and deliver the infrastructure our country needs, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop say. Inviting all regions to propose a Regional Deal that boosts ...23 hours ago
- MSA pilot participant update
One of the ten young men selected to participate in the Military-Style Academy Pilot has allegedly reoffended. Children’s Minister Karen Chhour is disappointed but says it would be naïve to think that none of these young men would reoffend. “I’m saddened that this young person has not taken this opportunity ...23 hours ago
- Fighting for Kiwis in Trade
Delivered at Auckland Trade and Economic Policy School Good morning and thank you Deputy Vice Chancellor Lithander for your warm welcome and for inviting me to open Auckland Trade and Economic Policy School today. A Special thanks to the University of Auckland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ...1 day ago
- Attendance rates increase, again
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that school attendance is continuing to rise. In Term 3 of 2024 51.3 per cent of students attended school regularly, an increase of 5.3 percentage points from 46 per cent in Term 3 of 2023. “This Government has prioritised student attendance and it is ...1 day ago
- Improving the lives of young New Zealanders
Ensuring New Zealand is the best place in the world for children and young people is the vision at the heart of the Government’s new Child and Youth Strategy, Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston says. “Childhood represents a huge opportunity to set people on a positive path towards living ...1 day ago
- Government continues work to reinstate livestock exports by sea
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Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...2 days ago
- New Zealand’s COP29 National Statement
Tēnā koutou katoa. Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. New Zealand, and all nations represented here today, are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Our households, businesses, and economies are bearing the costs of its effects. The choices we make now will shape the severity of these impacts for generations ...2 days ago
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The free ride for gangs is over when the clock strikes midnight tonight, with tough new laws officially coming into effect, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell say. “Gang patches will no longer be able to be worn in public. To earn the right to wear a ...2 days ago
- LGFA increases borrowing capacity to support high growth councils
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- Temporary Traffic Management costs revealed
The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“When I became Minister, I was surprised to learn that that NZTA did ...2 days ago
- Jurisdiction of Disputes Tribunal to double
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- Protecting New Zealand from foreign interference
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Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says findings from the annual Health Survey highlight the need to continue driving better health outcomes for New Zealanders. The New Zealand Health Survey is an annual snapshot of key metrics measured from July 2023 – July 2024. Findings released this morning include: In 2023/24, ...3 days ago
- Final push needed to get to Smokefree 2025
A renewed effort to get people to quit smoking will build on what has worked to date and target the groups who most need support, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said today. “The latest New Zealand Health Survey results show the daily smoking rate at 6.9 per cent and we ...3 days ago
- New diplomatic appointments
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- Next steps for Regulatory Standards Bill
Regulation Minister David Seymour has today announced the next steps in the Government’s plan improve the quality of regulation by opening consultation on a proposed Regulatory Standards Bill. “New Zealand's low wages can be blamed on low productivity, and low productivity can be blamed on poor regulation,” says Mr Seymour. ...3 days ago
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- Youth Parliament 2025 announced
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- Police stats show promising change
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- Better coordination of anti-scam efforts
With the launch of Fraud Awareness Week, the Government is committing to new coordination efforts across industry and government to combat online scams, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Online financial scams are a growing problem for New Zealand. New data released today shows that Kiwis lost nearly ...4 days ago
- Minister to consider 7AA select committee report
Minister for Children Karen Chhour will consider the recommendations made by the Social Services and Community Committee in its report back to Parliament on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill. “I want to thank the people who made submissions and those who appeared before the committee in ...4 days ago
- Defence Minister to attend ASEAN meeting
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Vientiane, Laos. “We need to take every opportunity to engage with our international partners, given the increasingly unstable geo-political situation,” Ms Collins says. “New Zealand has a long-standing commitment to this ...4 days ago
- Launching the White Ribbon Ride
The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Karen Chhour, was on hand to wish riders well at the start of the North Island leg of the White Ribbon Ride in Whakatāne this morning. The ride helps mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ...5 days ago
- Construction to begin on next stage of Papakura to Drury
Construction on the next stage of the SH1 Papakura to Drury project will begin early next month, with the contract for works awarded to Fulton Hogan, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. "SH1 Papakura to Drury is a key project that will drive economic growth and productivity, reduce congestion, and enable people ...6 days ago
- NZ signs trade deal with Costa Rica, Iceland and Switzerland
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has signed a pioneering trade agreement that prioritises New Zealand’s sustainable exports at a ceremony during APEC in Peru today. “The Agreement on Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS), between Costa Rica, Iceland, and Switzerland was concluded in July of this year and opens up significant ...6 days ago
- Government and iwi work together on aquaculture
Five new Aquaculture Settlement Areas will help ensure Ngāi Tahu shares in the opportunities aquaculture offers for Southland’s economy, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. “The Aquaculture Settlement Areas (ASAs) I’m announcing today set aside space so the Crown and Ngāi Tahu can assess their potential for aquaculture development. ...7 days ago
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The committee plans to hold hearings in the week starting Monday, 27 January and the weeks starting 10, 17 and 24 February 2025. ...26 minutes ago - Watch live: Christopher Luxon faces questions during power station visit
It comes as Labour accuses National of not listening to evidence about boot camps. ...35 minutes ago - Survivors of abuse in care know how redress should work – will the government finally listen?
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Eddie Redmayne’s globe-trotting assassin thriller on TVNZ is worth putting your phone down for. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. This is a vulnerable thing to say as someone who often writes about television for a job, but boy am I really ...52 minutes ago - RNA editing is the next frontier in gene therapy – here’s what you need to know
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matej Lipar, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University Author provided/Google Earth Earlier this year, a caver was poring over satellite images of the Nullarbor Plain when he came across something unexpected: an enormous, mysterious scar etched ...3 hours ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney Once located 250 metres to the east of the Art Gallery of South Australia, the grand beaux-arts style Jubilee Exhibition Building was constructed to house the ...3 hours ago
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- Knowing superstitions aren’t real doesn’t stop us behaving superstitiously – why?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Gomes-Ng, Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Former New Zealand prime minister John Key has three white rabbits painted on his helicopter, a nod to his “massively superstitious” habit of repeating “white rabbits” three times at ...5 hours ago
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The coalition has "absolutely no intention of listening to the evidence that comes out of their experiment", Labour MP says. ...6 hours ago
- Smoke and mirrors in heated tobacco debate
Labour claims Government is ‘cherry-picking’ smoking trends data to hide decade-first increase in daily smokers The post Smoke and mirrors in heated tobacco debate appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 hours ago - Smoke and mirrors in tobacco debate
Labour claims Government is ‘cherry-picking’ smoking trends data to hide decade-first increase in daily smokers The post Smoke and mirrors in tobacco debate appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 hours ago
- Treasury bangs the drum on ‘unsustainable’ superannuation
The Government’s economic adviser is sending a message it doesn’t want to hear – superannuation is increasingly unaffordable The post Treasury bangs the drum on ‘unsustainable’ superannuation appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 hours ago
- Victims of sex offending welcome shift on name suppression laws
A man abused by a former political figure is "immensely relieved" at a government proposal to end secrecy around sex offenders' identities. ...6 hours ago
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There is plenty yet to play out, but the next election is at this rate shaping up as trio versus trio, writes Toby Manhire. A subplot of this week’s historic hīkoi mō te Tiriti has been the sight of the three opposition parties presenting a unified front. Te Pāti Māori ...6 hours ago
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon did not meet the Treaty Principles Bill hikoi crowd, sees “nothing” of merit in the Act-proposed law but the Parliament his Government dominates will spend six months debating a “divisive” measure.That’s because he has accepted there needs to be “aeration” of people’s views on the Treaty, ...6 hours ago
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Here's a reminder of what can be achieved by people working together against crooks, bullies, manipulators and parasites.
"This is for you, Dad"
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/this-is-for-you-dad-interview-with
Yes I think very few wealthy people realize how desperate are large part of the population had become and now accelerated by Covid…it feels like the pitch forks are on the horizon.
"Pitchforks Coming – Billionaire Nick Hanauer Unpacked – Bridging Economic, Political and Moral Gaps – Affordable Housing and Manufactured Homes"
but please keep the dress code in parliament. Call me conservative, just mho
Anket Women can wear what they want to why can't men
So long as they don't show their ankles.
Yup, definitely no ankles on display in NZ Parliament.
There's a post about that topic: https://thestandard.org.nz/parliaments-tie-issue/
Sorry everyone meant to post it on the Tie post not open mike.
Call me old fashion but I support a dress code for parliament. I can justify this by saying that pushing to change the dress code is wasting valuable time when they should be focussing on us! Realise that is not the strongest arguement, but the dress code is a distraction from what they are there to do. I think there is some sort of code for women in parliament.
Many people have to wear a uniform in the workplace. Some of us chose to dress in a way that reflects the role.
Ruffs and codpieces I say. Anything less is a shocking debasement.
Let's have a uniform for them all then. Problem solved.
… it’s about getting on and representing us on what matters to kiwis.
Exactly. So why are you fixating on what they wear?
Finally the Wuhan report is out
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300225983/coronavirus-who-team-in-wuhan-dismisses-covid19-lab-leak-theory-in-report
It'll be a disappointment for the China haters
As will be the Atlantic's report on Chinese debt traps
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/02/china-debt-trap-diplomacy/617953/
So after arriving a year too late to do any meaningful investigation – the team concludes they have no idea where the virus came from, except that it cannot possibly have come from the one lab that was working on coronavirus GoF research.
Well done.
Surely the preliminary report of the WHO investigators is good news – certainly puts the hypothesis that Covid-19 leaked from a research lab in the bin. Isn't that a relief? After all, why on earth would anyone hope that hypothesis was true?
Looks like working Americans are about to get screwed just as bad from the other side now, turns out you do get what you vote for….
Biden Caves On $15 Minimum Wage, BREAKING Key Promise
The only thing breaking is how the $15 minimum wage element has been included in the Biden stimulus bill… As he says he wanted in the first 15 seconds of your video. lol
The Senate is an undemocratic handbrake on legislation Biden like Obama have to do deals with the repugnants to get legislation passed a 2/3rd majority is required in many cases.Gerrymandering voter suppression on top of that makes the US one of the least democratic countries in the developed world.
When a small rural state has more voting power than urbanised states,poverty will continue to rise..
Well it's great to see Cuba finally opening up its economy a wee tad more, now that their tourist enclaves are dead.
At some point they'll have to open up to having some actual human rights as well.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/americas/cuba-private-work-analysis-oppmann-intl/index.html
Yes and great to see Socialist Cuba's medical research and production sectors showing the rest of the world what can and should be done when profit motive is taken out of an essential service…and especially in a crisis…
Cuba’s COVID-19 Vaccines Serve the People, Not Profits
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/08/cubas-covid-19-vaccines-serve-the-people-not-profits/
It's a rare perfectly competitive moment to have multiple entities all releasing drugs to combat the same disease within weeks of each other.
And not a single word about the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine!? Probably because it didn’t suit his narrative.
Que?
Whose narrative ?
I believe it was Ad who brought Cuba under the spotlight.
I wasn't replying to Ad
"his narrative" ??
Whitney's a woman
No, he’s not “a woman” and it is utterly irrelevant anyway
At some point they’ll have to open up to having some actual human rights as well.
Then hopefully the United States and other rogue regimes like Australia and the U.K. might follow suit.
Although, on the grim evidence in this Reuters report, there’s little chance of that happening….
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-assange/biden-administration-plans-to-continue-to-seek-extradition-of-wikileaks-assange-official-idUSKBN2A92T4
He's gone burger.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300226344/sean-plunket-has-left-magic-talk
However, those who make the decision to 'outflank' Newstalk ZB remain on their salaries.
The advertisers that continue to pay for air time on Magic, don't cop any criticism. They only develop a conscious when a host is a little bit too racist.
Don't get me wrong, I am no Plunkett fan, nor talkhate radio, but as per usual a token sacrifice is offered to appease the twittisphere.
Commercial interests can cancel RW voices – they do so fairly rarely and it triggers a firestorm of hyperbole about 'freedom of speech'. Commercial interests have almost always stopped genuine LW voices from even making it onto the air – not so much cancellation as suppression – with very little ensuing discussion of 'freedom of speech'.
This doesn't mean that the profit motive is agnostic in matters of political/economic ideology. It isn't – but it will throw the more unruly members of its own cabal under the bus if it really has to.
oh noes, but what if left wing commentary becomes a commercial liability for talkback radio? "Can't-sell culture" might see the end of talkback hosts like… um… er… ???
What is that person doing in the background to Jacinda's response???
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/
Which video?
Marja Lübeck, in a fleeting moment of clarity, addressed Trevor Mallard, as "Mr Squeaker" !!!
Unforgettable – if you caught it 🙂
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/
Same Q again.
Question 2
Not a good look from Menendez taking a spot in MIQ (and expecting special treatment to queue jump) when people cant get spots to see sick and dying relatives.
Green MP tried to jump the queue as Kiwis stuck in the UK desperately seek MIQ spots (msn.com)
Some are more equal than others.
Horrendous look. Newshub reporting he always travels to Mexico for 6 weeks this time of year.
Link please
He was seeing sick and/or dying relatives.
JuCo echos your comment,
But RMM is a New Zealander who was spending time with his family. Why should he be any different?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/436160/green-party-gave-list-mp-ricardo-menendez-march-permission-to-travel-overseas
Family First strike back:
"Family First New Zealand
Sponsored · Paid for by Family First New Zealand
·
A legal opinion has just been released on the proposed law to ban ‘conversion therapy’ which shows that the proposed ban will be yet another attack on parents’ rights and is fundamentally flawed and dangerous.
The legal opinion says that a ban would criminalise parents who wish to protect their child from the physical, emotional, and psychological harm caused by gender dysphoria. Parents would be criminalised and liable to six months imprisonment simply for affirming that their sons are boys and their daughters are girls. These bans will lock children into transgenderism. The government wants to legislate against the discussion and practice of alternatives to hormones, surgery and confusion."
Just had a read through of the FB page for Family First. First came the overwhelming confusion as I took in the twist on reality they seem to have.