The calls from the right to freeze the minimum wage underline the fact that the coronvirus issue will be used as yet another excuse to rip any semblance of purchasing power from those at the bottom.
Rather than raising the minimum wage (and all the inflation that goes with it), I think it would be better to give them more money in the hand via a tax rate reduction.
Tricky thing with tax cuts going into a downturn is that they only help those that are paying tax, and do absolutely nothing for those that don't have an income or make a profit, who are the ones who need the assistance that comes from aforesaid tax cuts. For business the impact of tax cuts is also delayed for 12 – 18 months by the way the tax system works.
Likewise just putting up wages is going to have the odd perverse outcome, like accelerate the impending unemployment of the min wage earner. But the problem here isn't the 5-10% increase, it's really the other 90% of the wage bill.
Reality here is that what's needed is massive stimulus to keep money circulating in the economy, however this could be tricky with the international supply constraints this event is going to cause. All that could be thought of in 2009 was John Key's cycleway project, which around here met it's aims quite well. Projects will need to be small enough to not need lots of inputs from overseas, but big enough to get plenty of cash moving around.
As an aside, years ago a Nat candidate came bouncing into my business saying National's tax cut policy was going to be the best thing out for my business. My reply was "It'd just be nice to be paying some tax" The look on his face as the realisation sank in and he scuttled out the door was priceless.
In the economic conditions of recent years, more businesses are paying tax than not. Most will be paying provisional tax, and relief could be as close as the next payment due in just 18 days.
As to a massive stimulus, I simply don't trust this or any government to make the right calls around that. Return more money into the pockets of NZ's, target low and middle income families, and let them make individual choices about whether they save, spend or pay down debt.
There's a lot of businesses who won't be paying tax next year, most of the forestry and tourism sectors, and I'd say most of the discretionary retail are in for a very tough year. We're in tourism and after a very good year last year, this year is going to be a loss, and we have virtually no exposure to the Chinese market. Tax cut sounds pretty hollow.
Many of those businesses will be paying provisional tax, in about 18 days!. That tax is based on historical profits (at least to a large degree), so a cut in the tax rate would have an immediate benefit. Not hollow at all.
Provisional tax can be reassessed if there is justification – not making any profit is justification, and if they pay the provisional tax and then don't make a profit and it has to be refunded, that's a terrible outcome as they paid the money for nothing at the worse possible time.
That is time consuming for both the IRD and the businesses involved. And then there’s the consequences of getting the assessment wrong. Much more sensible would be a simple mechanism to reduce the amount of the provisional tax. Like a reduction in the tax rate.
Actually it's not that difficult according to my accountant. Tourism has an advantage as most businesses have a June balance so by the time you're paying your prov tax you've got a pretty good idea how the year is going. Busy time for accountants, but it's dealt with regularly as we go through our cycles. You just don't want to get it too far wrong, IRD don't like that.
A few % here or there in the rate is fuck all compared with what a lot are facing, so I don't you're in business, just cranking out ideology from your bedroom.
I didn't say it was difficult, I said it was time consuming. And I know, because I am accountant who now runs a group of businesses. And not from my bedroom. I also happen to be averse to corporate welfare. Businesses are facing a ‘rainy day. We’ve also been enjoying good economic conditions for many years, which was when we should have been putting money away for this rainy day, not expecting government assistance at the first signs of clouds gathering.
If government was to cut tax a zero rated threshold would be the way to do it. Another option would be a cut in GST, but most of that would go to retailers who wouldn't pass it on.
Nope beneficiaries never benefit from tax cuts. The net rate stays the same and less PAYE is paid to IRD. Only NZS benefits from tax cuts.
Just another way beneficiaries have been impoverished.
Benefits originally weren’t taxed but bean counters realised if you taxed it you added it to total income for tax purposes and if people worked during the tax year you could get some of the now pittance paid back through the tax system.
A look at why Biden is suddenly the prohibitive front-runner. And no, it's not "the establishment", Democratic party leaders have been bending over backwards to avoid even the appearance of trying to influence the choice.
Biden's frequent inability to articulate a coherent thought is offensive to those of us strongly interested in politics and the ability to concisely present clear ideologies and plans. But most voters don't care. Especially general election voters. Just look at Reagan, Shrub, and the Don the Con.
Politics tragics almost always have almost zero self-awareness about where their personal views sit on the distribution of political ideas.
Lurking beneath the theory that high turnout would disadvantage Joe Biden is what we might call the “disappointed nonvoter thesis.” Scratch a political devotee and you’ll almost always find the same theory of turnout underpinning their plans: If only a candidate would say what I already think but louder. This reflects the disappointment that the very engaged have with their leaders: Practicing politicians have to appeal to mixed constituencies to win reelection or pass anything in Congress, and so they compromise their beliefs, sand down their edges, trim their ambitions.
The idea that there's a hidden mass of non-voters just waiting to turn out for the candidate that echos your personal views invariably ends in tears.
Then the coming election will be almost entirely a referendum on Hair Farce One. The chaos and divisiveness of the past few years is fatiguing and distressing, so for most voters a return to something vaguely familiar is much more attractive than yet more revolution, chaos and divisiveness.
Your assessment of what's happening may well turn out to be right. My quibble is with the reasoning behind it, i.e. "a return to something vaguely familiar is much more attractive than yet more revolution, chaos and divisiveness."
The status quo before Trump was already a place of chaos and divisiveness – not to mention the barbarism and cruelty of economic life. The only path to a place of civilised, and rational reasonableness is through major reform. We are all living inside a radical right-wing experiment, and we need to get out of it.
If the electorate don't see it this way and go for Joe – I see no sign that the Sanders campaign will berate them for it. Instead Sanders will swing behind Biden as he did for Clinton, and do his best. The 'Bernie Bro' narrative, like the 'deplorables' designation, is a classist myth perpetuated by elite centrists who think their opinions are above criticism from their economic and social inferiors.
And finally, if the thought of Sleepy Joe facing Trump's comic power doesn't worry everyone, then it should. Here is Trump ridiculing Bloomberg – and also getting at Warren by implying she is a 'mean woman'.
There's that thing about hanging out in spaces where politics tragics congregate again – very few ordinary voters would see their life as living inside a radical right-wing experiment in the way most commenters here do. In general, they are at best interested in whether government is going to promote things they like and move away from things they don't like.
Undoubtedly there's a voting segment that wants upheaval and "sticking it to the establishment" more than anything else, and are less concerned about the direction it takes, whether left or right. You can see that here, in the commenters that show very little concern for the myriad damaging shit the Terracotta Turdface pulls all the time but are very quick to post things he or his sycophants have done that lefties might be OK with. But for most of these voters, the genital-grabbing golem is delivering on the demolition they crave – so why would they switch from a proven wrecker?
As for Darth Drumpf alleged comedic genius, again that's appealing to a small and frankly juvenile subset of the electorate. Even then, it only works when it builds on already existing prejudice. So Bloomberg was a sitting duck. Hillary had decades of smears to leverage off.
But for anyone not already strongly predisposed towards Genghis Don, trying to damage Biden by pointing at his apparently declining cognition is simply going to invite comparison to the alternative. Unbelievable as it may be to anyone considering Biden in isolation, the comparison to the Spraytan Stalin is flattering to Biden. Also, Biden has a long history of verbal mess-making, so for a lot of people it's just Joe being Joe.
In 2016, some of Bernie's supporters (and to a lesser extent Bernie himself) were disruptive and divisive all the way to the convention and beyond. Post-convention, I'd hardly describe Bernie as an enthusiastic campaigner for Hillary – it appeared frankly grudging. And yes, the BernieBros subset of his supporters were indeed a thing, and some of them actively worked against Hillary to the end. Hopefully Bernie and his more reasonable supporters have learned for this time and have a plan for dealing with it.
Union leaders and their members can be on divergent paths re elections as the Nevada Primary showed. And now a union forum between Mr Biden and Mr Sanders has been cancelled. Joe’s minders will be relieved…
@ Tiger Mountain, Good to see at least one sane leftie pushing back against centrists on this site…keep up the good work, though I fear any tonic to remedy the amount of free market liberal kool aid this lot have consumed might well have little or most probably no effect.
Still planting seeds I guess might be a kinder way to think about it.
The passengers are going to end up owning a cruise company.
An alert about a coronavirus infection sat in an unmonitored inbox. A cruise doctor saw “no point” in disinfecting the ship. And Japan disregarded medical guidelines to contain an outbreak.
[…]
“Would kindly inform the ship related parties and do the necessary disinfection,” Princess’s port representative wrote on Feb. 1, relaying a warning from Hong Kong health officials. “Many thanks!”
Nothing happened. Princess says it believes the alert sat unread in unmonitored inboxes. Grant Tarling, the company’s top doctor and the person in charge of responding to outbreaks, said he hadn’t learned about the infection until the following day — after being alerted to a post on social media.
The US legal system is going to have a great time with Carnival. There mightn't be much left by the end.
Carnival are also a very large company and have a dominant share of the cruise market. If they end up getting taken to bits global tourism will be changed quite a bit. Although I think our, and the global tourism industry will be unrecognisable after COVID19 has done it's thing.
I love how he tried to pretend that he needed someone else's permission to talk about why he chose to sue and then why he chose to withdraw the case.
How cool would that be as a catch-all evasion: "I know I said I'd go to softball practise today and that I have now chosen to not go, but due to a confidentiality agreement I cannot disclose why I changed my mind or what I will be doing instead"
Australian Doc says don't wait, isolate everyone now. It's a good call considering the overwhelming toll on emergency and ICU resources, although 3 weeks might be better.
And yes, expecting retired doctors to go back to work and expose themselves to illness when we already know they are in a high risk group is incredibly unrealistic. A smart retired doctor would stay retired.
I am concerned that preparations within healthcare for the cases to come are already behind the level of need. Healthcare workers are ill, or in isolation, or worried to go to work. Healthcare workers have died elsewhere. Facilities are short-staffed. Work safety, especially in smaller institutions or general practice, is threatened by lack of consistent guidelines, inadequate protective clothing, design of safe places for changing gowns, and by the fact they cannot know which patients may be carrying the virus. Retired doctors can’t fill gaps in service. Already out of practice by definition, by age they are in a high-risk group.
Yes. Western govts everywhere have wasted a months warning and are miserably failing to proactively get in front of this crisis. Everywhere they're waiting until too late to act.
While we have a post headlined about the state not listening to women, maybe it would be good to look at the ratio of men to women in the comments feed on The Standard. Then consider why TS has so few women's voices and what that might mean for the left or the labour movement. By consider I mean listen to women (or ask), not start in with reckons if you are male.
…"By consider I mean listen to women (or ask), not start in with reckons if you are male"..damn and I had already started typing, lol.
No but seriously, that is a good point you bring up concerning TS there Weka, and I would be very interested to see those male/female comment numbers.
I have to say it yet is another reason why I have liked the Sanders movement so much, as is it has proved to have been such a big unashamed and prominent platform for the powerful Woman of the progressive Left, young and old.
Excuse me while I contemplate a thread set up by a woman specifically asking to hear from women and for men to listen, and the first comment is from a man touting his perception of inclusiveness from the Sanders campaign when actual exit polls show a significant gender gap with Sanders receiving a lot lower support from women than from men.
Well, there's an Adrian Thornton that has somewhat of an online presence outside TS that's male and has a very close correlation of interests and circumstances with what the Adrian Thornton persona has disclosed here on TS.
The links are there because I made assertions of fact – without the links it would be just reckons.
That Adrian out there probably is me, I use my name in nearly everything politically that I do online, why wouldn't I? I actually stand behind and really believe in what I stand for, and if anyone has a problem with anything I say they can easily find me for a face to face debate if they wished…I might even make them a pretty damn good coffee (if I my say so myself) while we doing it.
I was talking about comment 10.1. Your reply to me pointing out the problem of low women commenter numbers and asking that men either listen to women or ask rather than jumping in with their reckons. Then you and Andre, both men apparently, jump in with your reckons.
Of the 20 easily visible comments in the Comment menu, two are from women, another two are from gender neutral names where I don't know the person well enough to know what sex they are. That leaves 16 from men. Sometimes there are more women around, but the ratio rarely gets to something suggesting there isn't a problem.
Of the half dozen authors active at the moment, only one is female. It's been that kind of ratio for a long time. Occasionally another woman author will post, but I'm the only one doing so regularly.
Also pertinent is the number of times a post like the headlined one is written by a male author.
Always liked the weka at the Napier Botanical Gardens. It would sprint back and forth at the back of the cage. Not a comment , just a memory.
Interesting the taxi drivers over at Kiwiblog outnumber Lefties 8 to 1 . And the Right deciding things the last many decades. The entertainmentism of individualism explains a lot but solidarity doesn't seem to have much traction.
Bit late here..but as a woman I tend not to comment on TS so much because it doesn't strike me as being a forum for 'Leftist' ideas..or even the Labour Movement ie very few stories about issues concerning workers (be it NZ or overseas).
Most contributors seem more concerned with repeating the refrain "National (or Trump, or Bridges) are Morons', which while correct, is not something I need to hear everyday. Nor the endless comments about why Bernie is a loser, and the joys of incremental change compromise
So, that could be 'just my opinion' as a Leftist idealogue (the pet hate of certain well placed individuals on TS), or, possibly, that could be be, as a woman, not enjoying the repetitive crowing (roosters crowing?) against a party that doesn't interest me, or the cocks crowing against any real political movement to the Left.
Funnily enough..Adrian T. has always told me Weka is a woman…and I've always claimed Wekea is a dude…so, there you go..
Heh. I'm gender non-conforming when it comes to behaviour.
One of the dynamics about TS is that authors are free to write what they want, so when it gets left to some authors, what they want to write about is what will be the main thing happening on site. Micky writes a lot about National (r0b did too), but it's micky that keeps the blog going by putting up a post most days. I'm averaging about one a week currently (plus some cross posts).
What I was trying to do in the past was bring in more authors with more diversity, with an initial focus on increasing women (authors, readers and commenters). There are solid reasons why I had to stop doing that, but the easiest one to talk about on the front end is what I pointed to yesterday.
Imo, if the existing commentariat valued having women here, there would be more women here, and this would change the conversations. I think the increase in diversity would also serve the site well (we lost a lot of regular commenters in the past few years). I would probably write more, if there was more support for women here. At the moment I am actively avoiding writing from a feminist perspective.
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TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. Usually we have a video chat to go with this wrap, but were unable to do one this week. We’ll be back next week.Several reports ...
The Transport Minister has set a hard 'fiscal envelope' of $6.54 billion for transport capital spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy is settling into a state of suspended animation as the Government’s funding freezes and job cuts chill confidence and combine with stubbornly high interest rates to ...
To be precise, the term “anti- Zionism” refers to (a) criticism of the political movement that created a modern Jewish state on the historical land of Israel, and to (b)the subjugation of Palestinians by the Israeli state. By contrast, the term “anti-Semitism” means bigotry and racism directed at Jewish people, ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Because hurricanes are one of the big-ticket weather disasters that humanity has to face, climate misinformers spend a lot of effort muddying the waters on whether climate change is making hurricanes more damaging. With the official start to the hurricane ...
Yesterday the Mayor released what he calls his “plan to save public transport” which is part of his final proposal for the Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP). This comes following consultation on the draft version that occurred in March which showed, once again, that people want more done on transport, especially ...
And it's a pleasure that I have knownAnd it's a treasure that I have gainedAotearoa’s coalition government is fragile. It’s held together by the obsequious sycophancy of Christopher Luxon, who willingly contorts his party into the fringe positions of his junior coalition partners and is unwilling to contradict them. The ...
The Select Committee hearing submissions on the fast-track consenting legislation is starting to become a beat-up of regional councils. The inflexibility and slow workings of the Councils were prominent in two submissions yesterday. One, from the Coromandel Marine Farmers Association, simply said that the Waikato Regional Council’s planning decisions were ...
Back in April, the High Court surprised everyone by ruling that Ministers are above the law, at least as far as the Waitangi Tribunal is concerned. The reason for this ruling was "comity" - the idea that the different branches of government shouldn't interfere with each other's functions. Which makes ...
Buzz from the BeehiveTolling was mentioned when Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the government was re-introducing the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) programme, with 15 “crucial” projects to support economic growth and regional development across New Zealand. All RoNS would be four-laned, grade-separated highways, and all funding, financing, and ...
or the past 14 years, ever since the Spanish government cheated on an autonomy deal, Catalonia has reliably given pro-independence parties a majority of seats in their regional parliament. But now that seems to be over. Catalans went to the polls yesterday, and stripped the Catalan parties of their majority. ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ report: Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said the Electoral Commission should make sure the system ran smoothly and “taking away the right of thousands of people to vote” was not the answer. “Thousands of people enroled and voted on the day. If ...
Don Brash writes – There was a rather revealing headline in the Herald on Sunday today (12 May). It read “One in 8 Auckland homes on market were bought during boom, may now sell for loss”. The first line of text noted that “New data shows one in ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – At a time when universities are understandably nervous regarding the establishment of the University Advisory Group (UAG) and the Science System Advisory Group (SSAG) it may seem strange – or even fool-hardy – to state that there are long-standing issues in the tertiary sector ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist and Kelvin Anthony, RNZ Pacific digital journalist Police have used tear gas and stun grenades on rioters at an airport near Nouméa as the chaos in New Caledonia stretched into its sixth day. Five people, including two police officers, have died and hundreds of ...
Asia Pacific ReportThe global human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on France to not “misuse” a crackdown in the ongoing unrest in the non-self-governing French Pacific territory of Kanaky New Caledonia in the wake of a controversial vote by the French Parliament to adopt a bill changing the territory’s ...
A major provider of school lunches fears the government's new $3 limit for most students will see them eating more pre-packaged and processed food. ...
The star of Dark City: The Cleaner takes us through his life in TV, including the VHS revolution and the John Campbell impression that started it all. Best known for his comedic roles, Cohen Holloway says he struggled at times to maintain the stone cold facade of serial killer on ...
David Hill remembers an old friend, who you’ve probably never heard of. My friend Doug never travelled; he had little interest in the world beyond his own tiny rural town. I’ve rarely known anyone who radiated such contentment. Doug (I’ll call him that) died in March. You won’t know him. ...
Some of the earliest photos of life in Aotearoa are on display at Auckland Museum right now – but the identities of some of the people in them are a mystery.What was it like to be one of the first people in New Zealand to have their photo taken? ...
Since its founding almost a decade ago, Featherston Booktown has grown into one of the country’s most interesting and idiosyncratic literary events. Erin Banks reports from the audience. “Come in, have you had lunch? I’m about to make a cheese toastie.” Mary Biggs, operations manager of Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival, ...
After 33 years abroad, Loveni Enari recently returned to Aotearoa and Samoa in what a friend joked was an “existential crisis”. He learnt and re-learnt so much about his family, friends and both countries. Almost as an afterthought, he got a Samoan tatau. This is his story. (Accompanying it are ...
Nearly 30 years ago, two people told me they’d killed a woman they knew. I thought the truth would come out, that others would tell it. In the end, I had to. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Fact: in 1995, Angela Blackmoore ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at the week and shines a light on some increasingly rare longform journalism. Mōrena and welcome to The Weekend where there will sadly be no aurora to see. After a busy week last week of short, sharp pieces, this week we swung the other way, ...
ANALYSIS:By David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report Jean-Marie Tjibaou, a revered Kanak visionary, was inspirational to indigenous Pacific political activists across Oceania, just like Tongan anthropologist and writer Epeli Hao’ofa was to cultural advocates. Tragically, he was assassinated in 1989 by an opponent within the independence movement during ...
Forget thin is in, apparently now bigger is better … or is it? After over a decade of body positivity, girls, teens and women are even more confused about what body positivity actually is. The movement began with women confronting unrealistic expectations of how their bodies should look. But sub-strands ...
Grace always sat at the bar at the back of The Cambridge, where she could watch who came in. A huge mirror ran the length of the pub, so you could sometimes watch people without them knowing. The mirror made the place seem a lot bigger than it really was. ...
MONDAY Sheriff Mark Mitchell rose at dawn. He had a long day’s ride ahead of him. He was headed for Waikeria. Waikeria! Even the name itself stirred his blood, and set root in his imagination. There was nothing and no one in Waikeria. But he would bend it to his ...
The first phase of the inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones finished this week, turning up plenty of revelations and few answers. But through all the confusion, heartbreak and antipathy on display, the simple fact at the heart of this case remains: if little Lachie’s body had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Benjamin, Professor in Art History, University of Sydney “She’s no oil painting”. Those were the unkind words of a colleague commenting on the subject of Vincent Namatjira’s acrylic painting, Gina. Every one of the prominent Australians and cultural heroes in Namatjira’s ...
Government plans to require local councils hold a referendum on whether to have Māori wards breaches the Treaty of Waitangi, a Waitangi Tribunal report has found. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney This year the National Rugby League (NRL) opened its season in Las Vegas. It was an audacious move by the league’s ambitious head honcho Peter V’Landys to showcase the game in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate Professor, Music Industry, RMIT University Leading music organisations have praised the federal budget for its investment in the live music sector. The budget includes A$8.6 million for a program called Revive Live: to provide essential support to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marnee Shay, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, The University of Queensland The 2024 federal budget contains A$110 million for Indigenous education. This includes funding for various different organisations to represent and help Indigenous people as well as scholarships in a bid to ...
Air New Zealand has confirmed Nouméa’s Tontouta International airport in New Caledonia is closed until Tuesday. The airline earlier told RNZ it would update customers as soon as it could. Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Morning Report government officials had been working on an “hourly basis” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Linley, PhD Candidate in Ecology, Charles Sturt University Grant Linley Australia’s unprecedented Black Summer bushfires in 2019–20 created ideal conditions for misinformation to spread, from the insidious to the absurd. It was within this context that a bizarre story ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcel Scharth, Lecturer in Business Analytics, University of Sydney OpenAI executive Mira Murati launching GPT-4o.OpenAI Earlier this week OpenAI launched GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”), a new version of the artificial intelligence (AI) system powering the popular ChatGPT chatbot. GPT-4o is promoted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treasure McGuire, Assistant Director of Pharmacy, Mater Health SEQ in conjoint appointment as Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Bond University and as Associate Professor (Clinical), The University of Queensland Speedkingz/Shutterstock Menopause is a natural biological process that marks the end of a ...
A new poem by Hannah Patterson. Xiāng There’s a pear tree in our backyard And Xiāng tells me She can’t eat them anymore Not after some things that have happened in her life. She tells me, in Mandarin The word for pear sounds the same as the word for disassociation ...
‘Cycling Works’ aims to show business support for citywide cycle infrastructure. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, supermarket giant Foodstuffs lost its attempt to block the construction of a cycle lane outside Thorndon New World in Wellington. The Spinoff’s Wellington editor ...
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 Slow Productivity by Cal Newport (Penguin, $40)Taking out the top spot in Auckland this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University For decades, Australia has exported uranium – but not used it, other than in the Lucas Heights research reactor. But change is coming. We now face a rapidly deepening commitment to ...
"In future I should walk away," Green MP Julie Anne Genter says after complaints over an exchange in Parliament and from two members of the public. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Graffam, PhD Candidate in Theatre, Monash University Gianna Rizzo/Malthouse Music pumps; lights pulsate; two sweaty bodies sway together, touching, breathing in each other’s scent. A male body framed by downlight restlessly shifts between stances and gestures. He undresses. The intensity ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra van der Laan, Professor of Accounting, University of Sydney Mtaya/Shutterstock At some point, you or someone else will need to make a decision about your “send-off”. Most Australians die in an institution, such as a hospital or aged care facility. ...
Asia Pacific Report Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai — who is also Chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group — has reaffirmed MSG’s support of the pro-independence umbrella group Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) stance opposing the French government’s constitutional bill “unfreezing” the New Caledonia Electoral Roll. It is ...
Producer Susan Leonard remembers her father Ernie, a pioneer of Māori television, and how his legacy lives on in Pathfinders.My father was a fabulous man. His name was Ernie Leonard and he started in TV in the 1970s when it was still glamorous – when TVNZ made behind the ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk, and Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist The suspected ringleaders of the unrest in New Caledonia have been placed in home detention and the social network TikTok has been banned as French security forces struggle to restore law and order. The French ...
Multi-year appropriations - which give the government authority to spend money without reapplying annually - are loosening Parliament's control of the public purse, auditor-general says. ...
Dr. Eric Chuah who stood for a centrist NZ political party in the October 2023 NZ Elections for Maungakiekie Auckland will stand as a candidate for Tauranga City Council Ward of Matua-=Otumoetai and Mayor of Tauranga. ...
If you can’t get to the comedy fest, let us bring the comedy fest to you. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is in full swing at the moment, with a veritable smorgasboard of comedy treats ...
A new poll commissioned by Unions Wellington shows an overwhelming majority of Wellingtonians oppose the Council’s plan to sell the 34% public stake in Wellington Airport. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aruna Sathanapally, Chief Executive, Grattan Institute, Grattan Institute A central focus of this week’s budget is the treasury’s forecast for inflation. By this time next year, inflation is projected to be back within the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target range. Inflation has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yolanda van Heezik, Professor of Ecology, University of Otago Getty Images Cities across Aotearoa New Zealand are trying to solve a housing crisis, with increasing residential density a key solution. But not everyone is happy about the resulting loss of natural ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Reeve, Deputy Program Director, Energy and Climate Change, Grattan Institute WDG Photo/Shutterstock For years, the electricity sector has been the poster child for emissions cuts in Australia. The sector achieved a stunning 26% drop in emissions over the past 15 ...
It’s often the last thing people want to do, but asking someone if they’re having suicidal thoughts is a critical first step to helping them. Content warning: this story discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. For a list of resources that can help if you or someone you know is feeling ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy J. Ralph, Associate Professor, Macquarie University The pyramids at Giza, like dozens of others, are located several kilometres west of the current path of the Nile.Alex Cimbal / Shutterstock The largest field of pyramids in Egypt – consisting of 31 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute ABO PHOTOGRAPHY/Shutterstock Receiving a cancer diagnosis is life-changing and can cause a range of concerns about ongoing health. Fear of cancer returning is one ...
Winston Peters has been on tour around the Pacific while two unrelated crises unfolded, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Two separate ...
This is the Mount Everest of artificial meatcraft.Ah, bacon. Pig’s gold. Toast’s consolation. Dawn’s savoury embrace. If meat was a currency, bacon would be the Benjamin Franklin. Or if you’re feeling patriotic, the Lord Rutherford. When it comes to fake bacon, the obvious question is: why bother? In the ...
From illegal milk to sprinkler bans and airplane ticket scams, Tyrone Barugh is on a one-man mission through New Zealand’s most obscure legal loopholes. I’m deep undercover, investigating Wellington’s criminal underworld. Inside this store, I’ve been told there is a million-dollar trade in illicit substances. A man dressed in black ...
It’s been a recess week at Parliament, which might indicate slim pickings for conversation topics for the Raw Politics team. But things are never dull in politics, especially with a new Government keen to follow through on its law and order promises, and a NZ First minister who wants to ...
Dear Hon Judith Collins, Minister of Defence, and Hon Christopher Penk, Associate Minister of Defence I have written to you, to attempt to give you an insight into the incredible hardship of being an NZDF family. Whilst I cannot speak on behalf of serving personnel, I can speak from my ...
Analysis: What a difference a year makes. In mid 2023, Wayne Brown the Auckland Mayor was a politician diminished by a calamitous response to the region’s Anniversary Weekend storm emergency and later forced against his preference into a half sale only of the city’s airport shares. His demeanour among his ...
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The calls from the right to freeze the minimum wage underline the fact that the coronvirus issue will be used as yet another excuse to rip any semblance of purchasing power from those at the bottom.
Rather than raising the minimum wage (and all the inflation that goes with it), I think it would be better to give them more money in the hand via a tax rate reduction.
Tricky thing with tax cuts going into a downturn is that they only help those that are paying tax, and do absolutely nothing for those that don't have an income or make a profit, who are the ones who need the assistance that comes from aforesaid tax cuts. For business the impact of tax cuts is also delayed for 12 – 18 months by the way the tax system works.
Likewise just putting up wages is going to have the odd perverse outcome, like accelerate the impending unemployment of the min wage earner. But the problem here isn't the 5-10% increase, it's really the other 90% of the wage bill.
Reality here is that what's needed is massive stimulus to keep money circulating in the economy, however this could be tricky with the international supply constraints this event is going to cause. All that could be thought of in 2009 was John Key's cycleway project, which around here met it's aims quite well. Projects will need to be small enough to not need lots of inputs from overseas, but big enough to get plenty of cash moving around.
As an aside, years ago a Nat candidate came bouncing into my business saying National's tax cut policy was going to be the best thing out for my business. My reply was "It'd just be nice to be paying some tax" The look on his face as the realisation sank in and he scuttled out the door was priceless.
In the economic conditions of recent years, more businesses are paying tax than not. Most will be paying provisional tax, and relief could be as close as the next payment due in just 18 days.
As to a massive stimulus, I simply don't trust this or any government to make the right calls around that. Return more money into the pockets of NZ's, target low and middle income families, and let them make individual choices about whether they save, spend or pay down debt.
Internal tourism!
What better time to visit all those hotspots that are normally overcrowded with rude pushie foreign tourists.
A government backed advertising campaign and free train tickets if you book more than 5 nights away.
There's a lot of businesses who won't be paying tax next year, most of the forestry and tourism sectors, and I'd say most of the discretionary retail are in for a very tough year. We're in tourism and after a very good year last year, this year is going to be a loss, and we have virtually no exposure to the Chinese market. Tax cut sounds pretty hollow.
Many of those businesses will be paying provisional tax, in about 18 days!. That tax is based on historical profits (at least to a large degree), so a cut in the tax rate would have an immediate benefit. Not hollow at all.
Provisional tax can be reassessed if there is justification – not making any profit is justification, and if they pay the provisional tax and then don't make a profit and it has to be refunded, that's a terrible outcome as they paid the money for nothing at the worse possible time.
That is time consuming for both the IRD and the businesses involved. And then there’s the consequences of getting the assessment wrong. Much more sensible would be a simple mechanism to reduce the amount of the provisional tax. Like a reduction in the tax rate.
Actually it's not that difficult according to my accountant. Tourism has an advantage as most businesses have a June balance so by the time you're paying your prov tax you've got a pretty good idea how the year is going. Busy time for accountants, but it's dealt with regularly as we go through our cycles. You just don't want to get it too far wrong, IRD don't like that.
A few % here or there in the rate is fuck all compared with what a lot are facing, so I don't you're in business, just cranking out ideology from your bedroom.
I didn't say it was difficult, I said it was time consuming. And I know, because I am accountant who now runs a group of businesses. And not from my bedroom. I also happen to be averse to corporate welfare. Businesses are facing a ‘rainy day. We’ve also been enjoying good economic conditions for many years, which was when we should have been putting money away for this rainy day, not expecting government assistance at the first signs of clouds gathering.
That's not entirely true, If you cut by making a tax free threshold everybody wins including benificaries.
Can even be paid for my an additional bracket set at 100k.
If government was to cut tax a zero rated threshold would be the way to do it. Another option would be a cut in GST, but most of that would go to retailers who wouldn't pass it on.
Nope beneficiaries never benefit from tax cuts. The net rate stays the same and less PAYE is paid to IRD. Only NZS benefits from tax cuts.
Just another way beneficiaries have been impoverished.
Benefits originally weren’t taxed but bean counters realised if you taxed it you added it to total income for tax purposes and if people worked during the tax year you could get some of the now pittance paid back through the tax system.
Yet another way beneficiaries were impoverished.
And starve our health system.
Lets try “disaster socialism” for a change…
A look at why Biden is suddenly the prohibitive front-runner. And no, it's not "the establishment", Democratic party leaders have been bending over backwards to avoid even the appearance of trying to influence the choice.
Biden's frequent inability to articulate a coherent thought is offensive to those of us strongly interested in politics and the ability to concisely present clear ideologies and plans. But most voters don't care. Especially general election voters. Just look at Reagan, Shrub, and the Don the Con.
Politics tragics almost always have almost zero self-awareness about where their personal views sit on the distribution of political ideas.
The idea that there's a hidden mass of non-voters just waiting to turn out for the candidate that echos your personal views invariably ends in tears.
Then the coming election will be almost entirely a referendum on Hair Farce One. The chaos and divisiveness of the past few years is fatiguing and distressing, so for most voters a return to something vaguely familiar is much more attractive than yet more revolution, chaos and divisiveness.
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/9/21169367/joe-biden-electability-democratic-primary-bernie-sanders-donald-trump
Your assessment of what's happening may well turn out to be right. My quibble is with the reasoning behind it, i.e. "a return to something vaguely familiar is much more attractive than yet more revolution, chaos and divisiveness."
The status quo before Trump was already a place of chaos and divisiveness – not to mention the barbarism and cruelty of economic life. The only path to a place of civilised, and rational reasonableness is through major reform. We are all living inside a radical right-wing experiment, and we need to get out of it.
If the electorate don't see it this way and go for Joe – I see no sign that the Sanders campaign will berate them for it. Instead Sanders will swing behind Biden as he did for Clinton, and do his best. The 'Bernie Bro' narrative, like the 'deplorables' designation, is a classist myth perpetuated by elite centrists who think their opinions are above criticism from their economic and social inferiors.
And finally, if the thought of Sleepy Joe facing Trump's comic power doesn't worry everyone, then it should. Here is Trump ridiculing Bloomberg – and also getting at Warren by implying she is a 'mean woman'.
There's that thing about hanging out in spaces where politics tragics congregate again – very few ordinary voters would see their life as living inside a radical right-wing experiment in the way most commenters here do. In general, they are at best interested in whether government is going to promote things they like and move away from things they don't like.
Undoubtedly there's a voting segment that wants upheaval and "sticking it to the establishment" more than anything else, and are less concerned about the direction it takes, whether left or right. You can see that here, in the commenters that show very little concern for the myriad damaging shit the Terracotta Turdface pulls all the time but are very quick to post things he or his sycophants have done that lefties might be OK with. But for most of these voters, the genital-grabbing golem is delivering on the demolition they crave – so why would they switch from a proven wrecker?
As for Darth Drumpf alleged comedic genius, again that's appealing to a small and frankly juvenile subset of the electorate. Even then, it only works when it builds on already existing prejudice. So Bloomberg was a sitting duck. Hillary had decades of smears to leverage off.
But for anyone not already strongly predisposed towards Genghis Don, trying to damage Biden by pointing at his apparently declining cognition is simply going to invite comparison to the alternative. Unbelievable as it may be to anyone considering Biden in isolation, the comparison to the Spraytan Stalin is flattering to Biden. Also, Biden has a long history of verbal mess-making, so for a lot of people it's just Joe being Joe.
In 2016, some of Bernie's supporters (and to a lesser extent Bernie himself) were disruptive and divisive all the way to the convention and beyond. Post-convention, I'd hardly describe Bernie as an enthusiastic campaigner for Hillary – it appeared frankly grudging. And yes, the BernieBros subset of his supporters were indeed a thing, and some of them actively worked against Hillary to the end. Hopefully Bernie and his more reasonable supporters have learned for this time and have a plan for dealing with it.
https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200306204901-02-opinion-cartoons-0306-exlarge-169.jpg
Biden just got the endorsement of the Machinists and Aero Workers union.
It was a free vote for any party candidate, and Trump got 34%. Plenty of fight in Trump yet.
That's an influential union with good ground game.
Union leaders and their members can be on divergent paths re elections as the Nevada Primary showed. And now a union forum between Mr Biden and Mr Sanders has been cancelled. Joe’s minders will be relieved…
https://www.axios.com/afl-cio-presidential-forum-canceled-coronavirus-1cbfb1a3-3106-40e4-aa3e-1216da61949e.html?fbclid=IwAR384NxZIs1OCsXeayhnWCez5sg8NkXw2wU4slOeCXNCT8-XWyctgLPGb8o
It is tough in the South…
https://labornotes.org/blogs/2017/02/viewpoint-boeing-vote-was-not-referendum-organizing-south
Little victories…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-union-idUSKCN1IW1DH
@ Tiger Mountain, Good to see at least one sane leftie pushing back against centrists on this site…keep up the good work, though I fear any tonic to remedy the amount of free market liberal kool aid this lot have consumed might well have little or most probably no effect.
Still planting seeds I guess might be a kinder way to think about it.
A fairly comprehensive look at the impact of coronavirus on the global economy.
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/9/21167391/coronavirus-economy-stimulus-recession
Smartarse optics games with coronavirus …
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/matt-gaetz-coronavirus-quarantine/
Only the best people…
https://twitter.com/RaheemKassam/status/1236843649775947776
edit:
https://twitter.com/RepGosar/status/1236822800846864386
Gosar … isn't he the dude who had the rest of his family take out TV ads saying don't vote for him?
Ted Cruz is self-quarantining as well. I s'pose he's amusing himself cooking up his breakfast bacon on the muzzle of his full-auto, again.
Oh my god.
AOC nukes him after he tweets, I shit you not, "I'd rather die in gloriously battle than from a virus"
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1237186157701664768
Seriously, what fucking planet are these microdick repugs from?
This one.
https://twitter.com/JoshuaPotash/status/1237053212886212609
https://twitter.com/xtreme_cent/status/1237064066801295362
fucksake
WOW!
Because public health advice is to gather large groups and go sticky to sticky with strangers.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1237032789700206592
..and all the gang were there..
https://twitter.com/RepDougCollins/status/1237096863624507398
https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1237099279627489281
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/cpac-2020-trump-worship-hating-socialism-bullied-victim-left-2020-2?r=US&IR=T
On plastic… LEGO uses sugarcane waste instead of…
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/lego-sugarcane-blocks-plastic-waste/?fbclid=IwAR3AoMg1olV0U9Jmv9eRKw9D5BcmojWWw_p7EQQ4iVX3-jzBZ1X9ARE6MgM
The passengers are going to end up owning a cruise company.
An alert about a coronavirus infection sat in an unmonitored inbox. A cruise doctor saw “no point” in disinfecting the ship. And Japan disregarded medical guidelines to contain an outbreak.
[…]
“Would kindly inform the ship related parties and do the necessary disinfection,” Princess’s port representative wrote on Feb. 1, relaying a warning from Hong Kong health officials. “Many thanks!”
Nothing happened. Princess says it believes the alert sat unread in unmonitored inboxes. Grant Tarling, the company’s top doctor and the person in charge of responding to outbreaks, said he hadn’t learned about the infection until the following day — after being alerted to a post on social media.
http://archive.li/vwaIX
The US legal system is going to have a great time with Carnival. There mightn't be much left by the end.
Carnival are also a very large company and have a dominant share of the cruise market. If they end up getting taken to bits global tourism will be changed quite a bit. Although I think our, and the global tourism industry will be unrecognisable after COVID19 has done it's thing.
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/411365/sir-bob-jones-to-pay-legal-costs-to-renae-maihi
lol
I love how he tried to pretend that he needed someone else's permission to talk about why he chose to sue and then why he chose to withdraw the case.
How cool would that be as a catch-all evasion: "I know I said I'd go to softball practise today and that I have now chosen to not go, but due to a confidentiality agreement I cannot disclose why I changed my mind or what I will be doing instead"
Good job. Don't forget the interest.
How to support our economy in the wake of Covid19…
Shop local.
Fun fact, the increase in the minimum wage will help local economies, as that is where it will be spent, at the local shops.
Australian Doc says don't wait, isolate everyone now. It's a good call considering the overwhelming toll on emergency and ICU resources, although 3 weeks might be better.
And yes, expecting retired doctors to go back to work and expose themselves to illness when we already know they are in a high risk group is incredibly unrealistic. A smart retired doctor would stay retired.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/don-t-wait-let-s-self-isolate-everyone-for-two-weeks-now-20200309-p548ao.html
Yes. Western govts everywhere have wasted a months warning and are miserably failing to proactively get in front of this crisis. Everywhere they're waiting until too late to act.
While we have a post headlined about the state not listening to women, maybe it would be good to look at the ratio of men to women in the comments feed on The Standard. Then consider why TS has so few women's voices and what that might mean for the left or the labour movement. By consider I mean listen to women (or ask), not start in with reckons if you are male.
…"By consider I mean listen to women (or ask), not start in with reckons if you are male"..damn and I had already started typing, lol.
No but seriously, that is a good point you bring up concerning TS there Weka, and I would be very interested to see those male/female comment numbers.
I have to say it yet is another reason why I have liked the Sanders movement so much, as is it has proved to have been such a big unashamed and prominent platform for the powerful Woman of the progressive Left, young and old.
Excuse me while I contemplate a thread set up by a woman specifically asking to hear from women and for men to listen, and the first comment is from a man touting his perception of inclusiveness from the Sanders campaign when actual exit polls show a significant gender gap with Sanders receiving a lot lower support from women than from men.
https://www.edisonresearch.com/on-super-tuesday-gaps/
And yes, I get it that what I just wrote further degenerates this thread into something specifically not wanted. Sorry, weka.
edit: here’s state by state data
https://edition.cnn.com/election/2020/entrance-and-exit-polls/california/democratic
I've always assumed that Adrian is a woman.
Not sure why you had to go there with the links and stuff, although it illustrates my point I guess.
Well, there's an Adrian Thornton that has somewhat of an online presence outside TS that's male and has a very close correlation of interests and circumstances with what the Adrian Thornton persona has disclosed here on TS.
The links are there because I made assertions of fact – without the links it would be just reckons.
Hopefully they will come along and clarify.
The problem was the reckons about US pol Andre. And now you're defending the derail despite apparently understanding the reasons to not do so.
That Adrian out there probably is me, I use my name in nearly everything politically that I do online, why wouldn't I? I actually stand behind and really believe in what I stand for, and if anyone has a problem with anything I say they can easily find me for a face to face debate if they wished…I might even make them a pretty damn good coffee (if I my say so myself) while we doing it.
And yes I am a Man.
Then why ignore this "By consider I mean listen to women (or ask), not start in with reckons if you are male."?
Did you even understand what I wrote?
Settle down there, I wasn't even commenting to you, I was clarifying something to Andre..that is why the comment was addressed to Andre and not you.
Weka @ 10
Adrian Thornton @ 10.1
QED
I was talking about comment 10.1. Your reply to me pointing out the problem of low women commenter numbers and asking that men either listen to women or ask rather than jumping in with their reckons. Then you and Andre, both men apparently, jump in with your reckons.
As Incog pointed out, QED.
Of the 20 easily visible comments in the Comment menu, two are from women, another two are from gender neutral names where I don't know the person well enough to know what sex they are. That leaves 16 from men. Sometimes there are more women around, but the ratio rarely gets to something suggesting there isn't a problem.
Of the half dozen authors active at the moment, only one is female. It's been that kind of ratio for a long time. Occasionally another woman author will post, but I'm the only one doing so regularly.
Also pertinent is the number of times a post like the headlined one is written by a male author.
Always liked the weka at the Napier Botanical Gardens. It would sprint back and forth at the back of the cage. Not a comment , just a memory.
Interesting the taxi drivers over at Kiwiblog outnumber Lefties 8 to 1 . And the Right deciding things the last many decades. The entertainmentism of individualism explains a lot but solidarity doesn't seem to have much traction.
right now it's 1/20 (one commenter I know is a woman)
Bit late here..but as a woman I tend not to comment on TS so much because it doesn't strike me as being a forum for 'Leftist' ideas..or even the Labour Movement ie very few stories about issues concerning workers (be it NZ or overseas).
Most contributors seem more concerned with repeating the refrain "National (or Trump, or Bridges) are Morons', which while correct, is not something I need to hear everyday. Nor the endless comments about why Bernie is a loser, and the joys of incremental
changecompromiseSo, that could be 'just my opinion' as a Leftist idealogue (the pet hate of certain well placed individuals on TS), or, possibly, that could be be, as a woman, not enjoying the repetitive crowing (roosters crowing?) against a party that doesn't interest me, or the cocks crowing against any real political movement to the Left.
Funnily enough..Adrian T. has always told me Weka is a woman…and I've always claimed Wekea is a dude…so, there you go..
Heh. I'm gender non-conforming when it comes to behaviour.
One of the dynamics about TS is that authors are free to write what they want, so when it gets left to some authors, what they want to write about is what will be the main thing happening on site. Micky writes a lot about National (r0b did too), but it's micky that keeps the blog going by putting up a post most days. I'm averaging about one a week currently (plus some cross posts).
What I was trying to do in the past was bring in more authors with more diversity, with an initial focus on increasing women (authors, readers and commenters). There are solid reasons why I had to stop doing that, but the easiest one to talk about on the front end is what I pointed to yesterday.
Imo, if the existing commentariat valued having women here, there would be more women here, and this would change the conversations. I think the increase in diversity would also serve the site well (we lost a lot of regular commenters in the past few years). I would probably write more, if there was more support for women here. At the moment I am actively avoiding writing from a feminist perspective.