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.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
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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.