Open mike 10/02/2015

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:40 am, February 10th, 2015 - 185 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

185 comments on “Open mike 10/02/2015”

Comments are now closed

Paul 1
10 February 2015 at 6:59 am
Key has a lot of defending to do today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11399194
- One Anonymous Bloke 1.1
  10 February 2015 at 7:10 am
  Mr Key’s office has previously confirmed Mr Sabin told Mr Eagleson directly a day or two before Labour informed Mr Eagleson.
  That wasn’t when they found out though, was it. I wonder whether it was a day. Or two. A day or two certainly means at least a week in National Party English.
  In any event, they found out before the 2011 election.
  Why do they want to look so donkey deep in this? Just how much involvement has the National Party had in Sabin’s activities?
- tc 1.2
  10 February 2015 at 7:11 am
  Think of johnny as the goalkeeper, they have to get past a well resourced defense of audrey, clare, armstrong, editorial authors, tvnz, radio rantland etc etc who love to protect the brand.
  - travellerev 1.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 8:33 am
    They have to get past that lot who are organised by their “trainer” Mark Textor too.
- Skinny 1.3
  10 February 2015 at 7:57 am
  we are lead to believe the NBR as Hooton outlined that they were aware of issue/s surrounding Sabin dating back to 2011, then using your ‘better’ judgment as PM wouldn’t you personally sit down with Sabin to get clarification that no more trouble can be expected. When you also consider Key had short listed Sabin for a Ministers position, and was about to appoint him to chair the law & order select committee.
  I find Key’s hands off approach negligent, or just too unbelievable for Kiwi’s to be expected to swallow. If no plausible reasons are forthcoming in parliament tomorrow, and given the seriousness of the matter a full independent inquiry into corruption should take place.
  - One Anonymous Bloke 1.3.1
    10 February 2015 at 9:05 am
    Depends on how much power the Sabin-enabler wing of the party has.
    - Skinny 1.3.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 10:58 am
      Yes dirty play within the National Party. Joyce contracted Sabin & son to do a number on Collins who is his only real challenger to take over from Key. She is just too tough and has a shrewd legal mind, batting the milk saga away with relative ease. It wasn’t till Brook Sabin went after her like a blood hound did Key finally feel safe to clip her wings. He also culled some of her MP fan base sending a signal to others by demoting Maurice Williamson one of her biggest fans.
      So in the end Collins will be back sooner than people thought possible, after she goes after Joyce with a little help from her rightwing friends. This is the start of the self destruct of the Nat’s. Collins will be leaking all sorts of hits on Key and Joyce and anyone else that stands in her way.
      ACT smells blue blood and are looking to capitalise, isn’t this correct Gosman?
Paul 2
10 February 2015 at 7:01 am
The government has enough for failing charter schools, but not enough for books.
Further shame on Peter Dunne.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11399117
- tc 2.1
  10 February 2015 at 7:15 am
  The man has no shame as you know it Paul, an A grade trougher and willing sellout merchant. Bet schools in his electorate are well resourced.
- freedom 2.2
  10 February 2015 at 8:31 am
  Did you spot the glaring contradiction in that article?
  “Mr Macnaught said teachers who wanted hard copies of a specific book would be able to borrow them from the National Library, through a request sent by the school library.”
  This is completely contradicted by
  “Lending changes
  • The National Library will this year stop allowing teachers and school librarians to request non-fiction books on a particular topic.”
  The second quote stating the lending changes is verified by this article yesterday on RNZ
  http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20166464
  - Clemgeopin 2.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 10:26 am
    This is a government of the liars, by the liars for the very wealthy and the poor gullible.
- Draco T Bastard 2.3
  10 February 2015 at 11:28 am
  I applaud them going to digital copies but to drop the hard copy format before everyone has digital access in entrenching the digital divide. Of course, once we take in to account National’s ongoing attacks on education creating a less educated populace does seem to be their goal.
Morrissey 3
10 February 2015 at 7:03 am
One very bewildered and intimidated fat guy….
One Anonymous Bloke 4
10 February 2015 at 7:05 am
This will give the Sabin apologists something to cheer about: showercam in prisons
“Dehumanising a person and taking away their rights makes it harder to rehabilitate them.” Michael Bott.
So it will increase the crime rate too. Bravo authoritarians. Who needs a secret prison when you can get away with it in the open?
Paul 5
10 February 2015 at 7:05 am
Wonder when the government is going to have to pay for its appalling mismanagement of the economy.
Putting all its bets on dairy starting to look like a really stupid idea.
Still, we’ve got a ‘rock star’ economy. What a joke!
‘Deutsche Bank is painting a grim picture of the impact of dry conditions on the dairy industry, predicting it could be worse than the 2012-13 drought.
Two years ago global prices soared by 40 per cent because of Chinese demand, boosting New Zealand dairy farmers as they moved out of drought, but the bank does not believe this scenario will play out again.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/65977073/bank-bearish-on-droughts-effect
- One Anonymous Bloke 5.1
  10 February 2015 at 7:15 am
  I wonder what Deutschebank’s angle is. Obviously it suits their interests to tell this story at this time; perhaps it’s even true.
  I wouldn’t take a banker’s word for it though.
  - Draco T Bastard 5.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 11:37 am
    I wouldn’t take a banker’s word for it though.
    QFT
    Probably lining up the repossessions of farm land so that they can sell it for a huge profit to offshore investors.
- whateva next? 5.2
  10 February 2015 at 5:34 pm
  Feathering the nest, then off to Hawaii with his lifetime salary for being a PM for over 5 years, just to top up his already overflowing coffers. Lovely photo album to keep him company if he gets lonely.
phillip ure 6
10 February 2015 at 7:59 am
(it wd be interesting to hear northshoredocs’ take on this take-down/expose..
..seeing as he claims ‘there is nothing to see’ here in nz..eh..?..)
“..John Oliver Eviscerates the Stunningly Corrupt Practices of Big Pharma..
..John Oliver dug deep into the corrupt practices of the pharmaceutical industry in a 17-minute rant Sunday –
– that will be one for the ages.
It’s a must-watch video tha lays bare just how deeply invested Big Pharma is in getting doctors to prescribe their drugs to millions of people –
– no matter what..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/video-john-oliver-eviscerates-stunningly-corrupt-practices-big-pharma
- phillip ure 6.1
  10 February 2015 at 9:30 am
  so i guess we are expected to believe that here in nz..
  ..big-pharma/doctors are squeaky-clean…
  ..eh..?
  ..and if we still believe that..we also believe in the tooth-fairy…
  ..maybe northshoredoc wd fancy being a whistleblower..?
  ..detailing for us the hows/whys of it happening here..
  ..y;know..’conferences’ all funded/paid-for by big pharma..?
  ..plus what oliver details..
  - Murray Rawshark 6.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 9:47 am
    Why wait for him? Expose it yourself. What’s the next conference paid for by big pharma in Aotearoa?
    - phillip ure 6.1.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 10:06 am
      ‘cos a whistleblower from inside will gain more traction..
    - Draco T Bastard 6.1.1.2
      10 February 2015 at 11:59 am
      I’ve had a time or two when a doctor has pushed drugs on me when I didn’t need them.
      - Philip Ferguson 6.1.1.2.1
        10 February 2015 at 9:07 pm
        Very good expose by Ben Goldacre on Bad Pharma, how drug companies foist drugs on doctors who then foist them on patients:
        https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/bad-pharma/
        One to particularly watch out for is statins. They nearly drove my old man round the bend; he seemed to be going crazy but when Psych Services for the Elderly tested him and did a scan, nothing was revealed out of the ordinary.
        My mother had started following horror stories about statins and I did some internet research. We took him off them and in about a month all his erratic/crazy behaviour and paranoid delusions stopped.
        There’s a massive amount of anecdotal evidence, and slowly-accumulating research evidence, that statins can have very serious side effects. Some people seem to handle them Ok, but a lot of people – abut 12 out of 15 cases I know of personally – where people had all kinds of side effects ranging from kidney problems to paranoid delusions.
        They don’t really do much for most people’s cholesterol, plus there is now plenty of evidence that cholesterol in and of itself isn’t such a problem.
        When my mother, brother and I decided to take the old man off statins his doctor wasn’t at all pleased. But other doctors and various medical professionals I’ve spoken to since are much more up-to-date with trhe problems re statins.
        Phil
  - b waghorn 6.1.2
    10 February 2015 at 8:32 pm
    Keep up the good work on this phill my mum was sick as recently, the doctor had here on a cocktail of drugs after research on the net she discovered that they were a bad mix and she didn’t really need one of them.
    When she told the the doc he rolled his eye’s and muttered something about the internet then said stop taking it if you want. She’s much improved without it.( the step fathers kidneys nearly stopped awhile back as well due to the amount of voltaren they had him on while he waited for a bionic bit.)
Northsider 7
10 February 2015 at 8:01 am
Funeral Insurance is a very very profitable business for Cigna.
It is lousy value for those who buy the products: when contributions are discontinued the Insurer holds the cream; people are less likely to “claim” in their younger years.
Every day I see Michael Jones use his legend status to front the very heavy advertising aimed at poorer Pacific Island families. Keith Quinn has also fronted Cigna ads.
Michael Jones is failing in his leadership responsibilities by fronting these ads.
- phillip ure 7.1
  10 February 2015 at 8:28 am
  plus of course..many of the customers for the funeral-ads..
  ..are those who have died prematurely from consuming the fast-food junk jones peddles..
  ..i have been following/commenting on this christian who prays over (sorry..!..that’s preys upon) the poor/his own people..for some time now..
  ..and i am/have been quite toxic/scathing on the business-interests of michael jones…
  ..to me he is the current exemplar of hypocrisy/exploitation of own people..
  http://whoar.co.nz/?s=michael+jones
  - ropata:rorschach 7.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 8:39 am
    Thanks Phil, good links there. Especially Tapu Misa’s piece.
    - phillip ure 7.1.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 8:44 am
      where is tapu misa..?
      ..has the herald fired her..?
- Lanthanide 7.2
  10 February 2015 at 9:26 am
  I’ve long thought that any endorsement by a celebrity needs to devote 1/6th of the advert time / space (either in print or on radio / tv, minimum 5 seconds) to the celebrity plainly saying:
  “I have been paid $xxxx by [company] to appear in this advertisement”.
  In the case of TV, it would require a head-and-shoulders close up of the celebrity speaking directly to camera without any music playing.
- adam 7.3
  10 February 2015 at 10:04 am
  You mean Cigna who did not pay out the fire-fighters in New York after September 11. That Cigna?
- Draco T Bastard 7.4
  10 February 2015 at 12:19 pm
  As far as I can make out, insurance itself is fraud. They take the money and then try not to pay out and this happens in NZ as well as I was reading in an article the other day (which I can’t find now – think it was in the NZHerald). This is a related article.
  Why insurance should be a state monopoly
  - Colonial Rawshark 7.4.1
    10 February 2015 at 12:29 pm
    Big corporations have turned societally useful activities into scams and rorts.
    Par for the course in this game of crony corporate capitalism that we have landed ourselves in.
One Anonymous Bloke 8
10 February 2015 at 8:25 am
‘Things’ by John Key:
There are the things we remember
That we forgot,
The things we forgot,
That we remember,
And then there are the other things,
The things we forgot we forgot.
- Rosie 8.1
  10 February 2015 at 9:04 am
  Lolz 😀
travellerev 9
10 February 2015 at 8:45 am
Observations On The Day Before Waitangi Day 2015. A Deafening Silence!
- ianmac 9.1
  10 February 2015 at 9:13 am
  A bit eerie Trav. Thanks for the report.
- Molly 9.2
  10 February 2015 at 9:22 am
  Managed to go to Waitangi with the kids for the first time last year.
  Similar to what you described, and notable for the lack of non-Maori NZ attendees. Most non-performers seemed to be tourists.
  The blue line was there in force last year as well. Looking ridiculously out to sea.
  - ropata:rorschach 9.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 2:01 pm
    Went there last year too, shame about the weather. But really cool to see Maori celebrating alongside (a few) Pakeha! It’s a great day, sadly the good news doesn’t get air time.
- vto 9.3
  10 February 2015 at 9:34 am
  From the very get-go it seemed like the locals had made a conscious decision to stay away and ignore Key, thereby removing any hope he had of making hay over disturbances.
  - TE 9.3.1
    10 February 2015 at 11:15 am
    Hi vto your are correct there, we dont want to give key any more credibility than his party loyals do, we also don’t want to be locked out of te marae by the thickening blue line, that just cause’s frustration and then sometimes violence and then key will be right … in his and his party loyals own feeble minds.
    why would we want to celebrate this day of the great colonial lie?
Rosie 10
10 February 2015 at 9:03 am
Hi BLiP, if you’re around this one’s for you.
Yesterday we had a discussion about doing some crowd funding, a give a little campaign was suggested, to publish your chronicles of Key’s lies.
The motivation for this and benefits of publishing such a book are outlined in this thread, starting here:
Open mike 09/02/2015
It’s your work we’re talking about so your thoughts are required before we go any further.
I think it could be done and should be done. It’s time there was a public response to the media’s lack of holding Key to account, in a post Dirty Politics NZ. We can’t leave it to opposition parties to do all all the work. As NZer’s, ordinary people, we can also hold a mirror up to the govt.
If you think the idea is daft, just say, and I’ll drop it.
- vto 10.1
  10 February 2015 at 9:04 am
  The idea is on a par with Bob Jones “Achievements of the third Labour government” which consisted entirely of blank pages… hee hee what a hoot that was…
  same same for key key
  Get into it
- Molly 10.2
  10 February 2015 at 9:10 am
  (moved from below. Posted at same time as Rosie)
  Been thinking about BliP’s list, and if it could work as an interactive website.
  (I realise that the conversation has been about printed form, but just putting this out there…)
  Trying to think of a framework that would be appealing, and allow people to dip into it now and again, while also keeping track of new and relevant material. (And we all know that is going to happen.)
  So far:
  1. Create a “wall of lies” like filmforaction.org ‘s Wall of Films
  2. You could also have a Top 100, and allow people to search by interest
  3. Also a calendar that shows the lies by dots, so you can view clusters and the sheer number of them.
  4. Include a separate category for Brain Fades/or my office statements
  5. On The Century of Self – there is a clip where they were trying to show the public how to avoid being manipulated by the media. Eg. analyse the articles by headline tone, emotive words logic etc. A big undertaking, but one that would be interesting to see how little attention is paid to the failings of National, and the imagined bottle of wine of Labour.
  6. Maintain some kind of timeline that matches media reports with problems, and diversions. (I think of this diversion technique as “You don’t know how lucky you are!”)
  7. Try and find someone who can critique and maintain something similar to Russell Brand’s Trews – True News, subscribe here – subscribe here!
  - phillip ure 10.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 9:15 am
    i think the online-option is more feasible/preferable to dead-tree publishing..
    - Rosie 10.2.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 10:05 am
      Phillip. See response below to Molly. It’s as much about then power of group work as providing info.
    - lprent 10.2.1.2
      10 February 2015 at 11:11 am
      Online is easy enough to setup
      - phillip ure 10.2.1.2.1
        10 February 2015 at 11:25 am
        plus no trees have to die…
        ..and no need for a major fundraising-exercise..
        ..it’s a no-brainer..really..
        Rosie 10.2.1.2.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 11:34 am
        No need to pour cold water all over the idea phillip.
        Are books redundant in your view? Should we close down the libraries as they would do in Liverpool?
        http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/10/writers-join-fight-to-save-liverpool-libraries-caitlin-moran-cathy-cassidy
        And re your comment at 10.2.2, Is Whoar a roaring success changing the way NZer’s think and bringing down the establishment?
        phillip ure …
        10 February 2015 at 11:56 am
        i am just pointing out the inevitabilities/difficulties of doing a dead-tree book..
        ..that won’t be present if done online..
        ..in no way am i dissing the idea..i have advocated an online-version previously..
        ..(what have you got against trees..?..)
        ..and did you feel like lashing out did you..?
        ..and as i am involved in the dissemination of news/information/ideas..
        ..i wd hope that information wd change wrong/entrenched ideas/mores..(c.f..cannabis..vegan..as the two obvious ones that i don’t see anyone else covering..)
        ..but ‘a roaring success’ wd b in the eye of the beholder..wouldn’t it..?
        ..wd u look at it if someone else told you it was worth the effort..?
        ..do u need those nudges/group/herd-approvals..do you..?
        (if it helps..a site-audit by zeald told me that over 20,000 other websites..spread over 96 countries..
        ..have whoar on their best/recommended-sites lists..)
        ..and somehow..that i do commentaries on questiontime..
        ..cd become more relevant/readable in the reasonably near future..
        ..you’d think..?
        b waghorn …
        10 February 2015 at 12:00 pm
        It could work well as toilet book with every second page in it, tear off too ply with keys mug on it.
        ropata:rorschach …
        10 February 2015 at 2:06 pm
        lol yep. Only problem is, if you print teflon john on the paper, it will be too slippery and shit won’t stick to it.
        Rosie …
        10 February 2015 at 12:34 pm
        “..and did you feel like lashing out did you..?”
        Sorry phillip. Saying the online option only over the printed version was “no brainer” got me. I read this as “your idea sucks”.
        I don’t have anything against plantation tree’s being used for paper for printing books.
        In fact I descend from one of NZ’s early conservationists and have a deep love and respect for forests. I have askully wept upon hearing chain saws start up to remove a massive and very old stand of macrocarpa’s on the development where I live. They destroyed the habitats of a variety of ground nesting birds and assorted critters over the three days it took to destroy those lovely lungs. An ugly scar was left on the landscape. The full moon doesn’t appear in her Gothic glory on a rocky bit of clay, as she had previously done, gliding up slowly and majestically above the tree’s.
        As for your site, I have visited it when you have linked it, for music. I’m not your target audience for your cannabis n vegan info though. But we’ve been through all that, in the past.
        phillip ure …
        10 February 2015 at 1:00 pm
        it is a generalist news site..rosie..
        (focusing on high-quality content/commentary..sourced from what i deem to be the best publications around the world..basically the best of the best..each/every day..)
        ..the vegan/pot stories wd be 1-2% of the content..
        ..and i presume you regularly moan that there are no good left/progressive daily news sources in nz..
        ..eh..?
        ..part of the general deploring..isn’t it..?
        Rosie …
        10 February 2015 at 1:33 pm
        You presumed wrong phillip.
        I can’t recall a time where I’ve ever “moaned” about the lack of left/progressive daily news sources in NZ.
        I only have an expectation that news should be factual, unbiased and uninfluenced by advertising dollars, which it is of course, not.
        Which brings me back the idea of crowd funding the publication of BLiP’s Chronicles. It would be, in part as I’ve already said, a challenge to the media, highlighting their inability and unwillingness to bring the full picture to the public. Which sounds like one of the motivations for you, for the work you do on your site.
        No point “moaning”, when you can at least try, to do something about it eh? As you have done?
        phillip ure …
        10 February 2015 at 2:11 pm
        “..I can’t recall a time where I’ve ever “moaned” about the lack of left/progressive daily news sources in NZ…”
        so…where do u get yr news from..
        ..that is ‘left/progressive’ here in nz..?
        ..i’ll link to them..
        Rosie …
        10 February 2015 at 2:52 pm
        Well, by saying I don’t moan, It doesn’t mean I said the opposite either, which would be “we have an abundance of progressive news services here in Aotearoa”. That’s simply not true.
        Before I became unwell I would use Democracy Now as well as receive email news from labour rights groups such as Labourstart and International Labour Rights Forum (I have an interest in this area and wanted to keep up with overseas labour rights news).
        I don’t have the energy to keep up with that at the moment so start my day with RNZ news, then switch to Radio Active, especially on a Thursday if I’m up in time for the Scoop report, have a squizz at the scoop site most mornings, then have a squizz on The Standard.
        In the evening for junk food news lols it’s TV3 at 6pm, followed by Al Jazeera. (not lols)
        I haven’t read the Herald since 2006 and only look at stuffed.co.nz a couple of times a week, where I remind myself why I don’t visit that site.
  - phillip ure 10.2.2
    10 February 2015 at 9:17 am
    in the sense of holding the bastards to account..
    ..each/every day..
    ..and/or as a stop-gap measure ’till yr ideal appears..
    ..can i suggest http://whoar.co.nz/ ?
    ..and as an example of that in action..i wd point you at the cache on the business-dealings of michael jones (in the comment above..)
    ..where else wd u find that..?..
    - Molly 10.2.2.1
      10 February 2015 at 9:26 am
      … sure you can, 😉 …
    - ropata:rorschach 10.2.2.2
      10 February 2015 at 2:50 pm
      A collaborative site such wikia or hackpad would be effective and easy for several contributors to edit. I’m thinking the URL could be something like “crikey.hackpad.com” (or hokey, flakey, keynotes, offkey, snakey, wonkey…)
  - Molly 10.2.3
    10 February 2015 at 9:20 am
    If there were enough resources, another “wall of” tracking back through legislative changes that passed by unnoticed and uncommented would be a good addition at a later date.
    Particularly if comments were permitted.
  - Rosie 10.2.4
    10 February 2015 at 10:03 am
    Hi Molly.
    Thats a great idea. The wall of ideas I especially like. Something visual you can click on discover what’s behind. As an aside,the NZ equivalent of Russell Brand’s Trews can be found every morning on the breakfast show hosted by Redbird Jnr on Radio Active 88.6 fm or listen to on line if you’re not in Wellington. As mentioned previously, they do the Scoop report with Alistair Thompson every Thursday morning too.
    Agree that there needs to be an on line resource as the lies and the agenda isn’t a static thing and people have come to expect that everything is available on line. Then again, a site like The Standard is doing that anyway. Authors produce posts that critique our government’s work, and analyse media response to political events.
    The idea for a book though, isn’t simply to release information. I see it as a people’s project. Something tangible, like a crowd funded book, represents a public response and in a way a public movement, a challenge to those who refuse to bring the full picture to light and as a service from members of the public to members of the public.
    It’s an exercise in organisation as much as an exercise in education.
    - Molly 10.2.4.1
      10 February 2015 at 10:19 am
      OK, Rosie.
      Coming from an entirely different intent than I was thinking.
      Personally, I’m more interested in getting people informed so that critical conversations can be had over the next couple of years. It’s very difficult to have a reasonable conversation with people that don’t even have the basics of knowledge about what is going on. For that reason, I prefer the idea of preaching to the unconverted, and that would be something I’d put time and effort into if it was needed.
      I’ll have to check out Redbird Jnr, appreciate the info.
      In the end, I’m a book hoarder from way back, and would contribute what I could to help the publishing of Blip’s list.
      - Rosie 10.2.4.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 11:02 am
        Yes, the core purpose of publishing the chronicles is to inform and educate.
        I’m just saying there is more than one aspect to it, and yes, the audience would be those who don’t have the basics, as well as others, to my mind at least. There isn’t much point publishing a crowd funded book for a those who follow politics closely, or if there is that can be left to some one else. That WOULD be preaching to the converted.
        There seems to be thousands upon thousands of NZer’s who have been turned off the concept of politics and fail to understand how critical a part they play in a democracy. These are the people that need to be reached and I agree, it’s very difficult to have a reasonable conversation with them.
        The trick is engaging them. It’s working out a way to do that. I’m guessing the writing style is one way of doing that. But there’s a a lot to think about before we get to that stage and BLiP hasn’t entered the craic yet………….
        ropata:rorschach 10.2.4.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 3:35 pm
        Kia ora,
        I have gone ahead and created a wiki site: https://offkey.hackpad.com/
        BLiP’s list will go here: https://offkey.hackpad.com/The-List-kUC4LW4cyFQ
        It needs a lot more work, feel free to jump in, or write your thoughts in this thread.
        Rosie …
        10 February 2015 at 4:12 pm
        Aw! Thats fantastic Ropata. Love your work! Well done you. Love that AB’s image too. 😀
        Those lies and” misremberings” though, so many and so many I’d forgotten about. It’s a real bollocks-a-thon.
        ropata:rorschach …
        10 February 2015 at 6:33 pm
        If anyone wants to edit, drop me a line at
        robertpnz AT hotmail DOT com
  - freedom 10.2.5
    10 February 2015 at 11:36 am
    here’s a very rough concept:
    The JK Casino Game
    Do it as an interactive flash-animation site
    base it on a One Armed Bandit
    have various topics represented on the wheels – in icon form, or words
    when the player pulls the arm, the wheels spin
    a simple animation runs as the wheels spin
    when it stops, the machine pays out currency
    when the currency is clicked, (collected) the link is activated
    the link could go to an article or an analysis of the item or a video etc
    Different buttons on the dashboard could group different ‘lies’ into topics so the pay out relates to that topic
    has smartphone ap potential also
    just a thought.
    - phillip ure 10.2.5.1
      10 February 2015 at 12:15 pm
      a good ‘thought’..
    - Rosie 10.2.5.2
      10 February 2015 at 12:37 pm
      I like it! Creative and fun, as well as educational.
- BLiP 10.3
  11 February 2015 at 3:11 am
  ‘
  Hello hello . . .
  Don’t always dwell in the Open Mike but found your comment today. Wow!! Go ahead: do whatever you wish with any of my lists. While I am happy to compile them, they are Copyleft and available to anyone who wants to make use of them.
  Here’s my current, updated list of John Key’s Lies:
  I promise to always be honest
  we are not going to sack public servants, the attrition rate will reduce costs
  we are not going to cut working for families
  I firmly believe in climate change and always have
  We seek a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. 50 by 50. We will write the target into law.
  National Ltd™ will provide a consistent incentive for both biofuel and biodiesel by exempting them from excise tax or road user charges
  there is no truth in Nicky Hager’s book “The Hollowmen”
  I didn’t know about The Bretheren election tactics
  If they came to us now with that proposal [re trans-Tasman Therapeutic Goods regime], we will sign it
  I can’t remember my position on the 1981 Springbok Tour
  Tranzrail shares
  I did not mislead the House (1)
  Lord Ashcroft
  National Ltd™ would not have sent troops into Iraq
  Standard & Poors credit downgrade
  the double-down grade doesn’t really matter and its only about private sector debt
  I did not mislead the House (2)
  I didn’t say I want wages to drop
  I can’t remember why I voted against increasing the minimum wage
  lifting the minimum wage to $15 an hour will increase unemployment
  the real rate of inflation is 3.3 percent.
  the tourism sector has not lost 7,000 jobs
  no I have never heard of Whitechapel
  I won’t raise GST
  people who are on the average wage and have a child are $48 a week better off after the rise in GST
  the purchase of farmland, by overseas buyers will be limited to ten farms per purchase
  the Pike River Mine was consented to under a Labour Government
  no promises were made to get the remains of the miners out of the Pike River mine
  I did not provide a view on the safety of the Pike River coalmine
  I did not mislead the House (3)
  capping, not cutting the public service
  raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will cost 6000 jobs
  north of $50 a week
  privatisation won’t significantly help the economy
  wave goodbye to higher taxes, not your loved ones
  I never offered Brash a diplomatic job in London
  Tariana Turia is “totally fine” with the Tuhoe Treaty Claim deal
  Kiwisaver
  National Ltd™ is not going to radically reorganise the structure of the public sector
  tax cuts won’t require additional borrowing
  New Zealand does not have a debt problem
  New Zealand troops in Afghanistan will only be involved in training, not fighting
  the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia has closed under my National Ltd™ government
  It took 9 years for Labour to make a complete and utter mess of the economy
  National Ltd™ has changed the Overseas Investment Act to include 19 different criteria
  the price of goods and services has risen by 6 percent since the last election, while the after-tax average wage has actually gone up by 16 percent
  no, although its a week ago and here I am being interviewed on television about them, I havn’t seen Gerry Brownlee’s comments regarding demolitions in Christchurch and which caused such outrage, but I can talk all about them
  our SAS soldiers were not involved in the Kabul Hotel gunfight
  the use of the Vela brother’s helicopter was required so I could attend meetings relating to national/international security concerns
  the DPS makes the decision about accompanying the Prime Minister or not, I had no choice but to take them on holiday to Hawaii
  I did not mislead the House (4)
  oh, maybe our SAS soldiers were in the Kabul hotel gun fight but they weren’t wounded by friendly fire
  New Zealand has lost $12 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . oh, it might actually be around $15 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . Blinglish said what?
  10,000 houses will have to be demolished in Christchurch due to the earthquake
  14,000 new apprentices will start training over the next five years, over and above the number previously forecast
  our amendments to the ETS ensure we will continue to do our fair share internationally
  we are committed to honouring our Kyoto Protocol obligations
  any changes to the ETS will be fiscally neutral
  New Zealand has grown for eight of the last nine quarters”
  National Ltd™ will tender out the government banking contract
  we will be back in surplus by 2014-15
  Nicky Hager’s book “Other People’s Wars” is a work of fiction
  unemployment is starting to fall
  we have created 60,000 jobs
  we have created 45,000 jobs
  the 2011 Budget will create in the order of 170,000 jobs
  I don’t know if I own a vineyard
  no, I did not mislead the House (5)
  the Isreali spy killed in the Christchurch quake had “only one” passport
  the Police will not need to make savings by losing jobs
  I voted to keep the drinking age at 20
  New Zealand is 100% Pure
  I’ve been prime minister for four years, and it’s really 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year
  baseball in New Zealand is attracting more government support
  the decision to buy brand new BMWs was made by the Department of Internal Affairs without reference either to their minister or to me
  I didn’t have a clue that Ministerial Services, which I am in charge of, was going to buy brand new BMWs
  even though four of my ministers knew all about it, I didn’t have a clue that brand new BMWs were being bought.
  even though my Chief of Staff met with officials to discuss purchase of the the brand new BMWs, I didn’t have a clue
  even though I personally signed papers discussing the matter, I still didn’t have a clue
  Labour forced us into buying the brand new BMWs, its their fault
  ummm, look, sorry about that BMW thing , it was because I was so upset
  I did not describe David Beckam as thick as batshit
  I did not mislead the House (6)
  the public demanded that we change the labour laws for The Hobbit
  “The Hobbit” created 3000 new jobs
  we have delivered 800 extra doctors in the public service
  I did not mislead the House (7)
  I wasn’t working at Elders when the sham foreign exchange deals took place
  I was starting School Certificate exams in 1978
  I don’t know who arrived on the CIA jet to visit the spies I am responsible for
  reducing barriers to property developers will increase the availability of affordable housing
  Labour left the economy in poor shape
  forecasts show unemployment will fall
  we have closed the wage gap with Australia by $27
  Ngati Porou and Whanau Apanui are not opposed to mining
  I have not had any meetings with Media Works
  our [NZ’s] terms of trade remain high
  the TPPA is an example of democracy
  the TPPA will still have to be ratified by Parliament
  National Ltd™ will use the proceeds of state asset sales to invest in other public assets, like schools and hospitals
  New Zealand troops will be out of Afghanistan by April 2013
  overseas investment in New Zealand adds to what New Zealanders can invest on their own
  overseas investment in New Zealand creates jobs, boosts incomes, and helps the economy grow
  National Ltd™ will build 2000 houses over the next two years
  there are only 4 New Zealand SAS soldiers in Bamiyan and all working in the area of logistics and planning only
  selling state assets will give cash equity to those companies
  the Sky City deal will provide 1000 construction jobs and 800 casino jobs
  all five bidders for the convention centre were treated equally
  my office has had no correspondence, no discussions, no involvement with the Sky City deal
  I did not mislead the House (8)
  I can’t remember what was discussed at my meeting with the SkyCity Chief Executive on 14 May 2009
  I have no record of the 12 November 2009 email from Treasury advising that the SkyCity deal was dodgy and needed to be referred to the Auditor General
  there was nothing improper about the Sky City deal
  SkyCity will only get “a few more” pokie machines at the margins
  any changes to gambling regulations will be subject to a full public submission process
  Sky City has approached TVNZ about the purchase/use of government-owned land
  I did not mislead the House (9)
  this government has been very transparent about all its dealings with SkyCity
  I did not mislead the House (10)
  the Auditor General has fully vindicated National over the Sky City deal
  I did not mislead the House (11)
  the Deputy Auditor General supports the view that there was nothing inappropriate about the Sky City deal
  I did not mislead the House (12)
  I did not breach the confidentiality of the Auditor General’s Report into the Sky City deal
  the Labour Government did exactly the same sort of deal back in 2001
  Labour has promised to not revoke the Sky City legislation
  there’s a 50/50 chance the Hobbit is going off shore unless we do something
  David Shearer has signed up for the purchase of shares in Mighty River
  Solid Energy asked the government for a $1 billion capital investment
  fracking has been going safely on in Taranaki for the past 30 years without any issues
  no frontline positions will be lost at DOC
  Iain Rennie came to me and recommended Fletcher for the GCSB job
  I told Cabinet that I knew Ian Fletcher
  I forgot that after I scrapped the shortlist for GCSB job I phoned a life-long friend to tell him to apply for the position
  I told Iain Rennie I would contact Fletcher
  I haven’t seen Ian Fletcher in a long time.
  I did not mislead the House (13)
  I have no reason to doubt at this stage that Peter Dunne did not leak the GCSB report
  I called directory service to get Ian Fletcher’s number
  the new legislation narrows the scope of the GCSB
  the GCSB has been prevented from carrying out its functions because of the law governing its functions
  because the opposition is opposed the GCSB law ammendments, parliamentary urgency is required
  the increasing number of cyber intrusions which I can’t detail or discuss prove that the GCSB laws need to be extended to protect prive enterprise
  it was always the intent of the GCSB Act to be able to spy on New Zealanders on behalf of the SIS and police
  National Ltd™ is not explanding the activities of the GCSB with this new law
  cyber terrorists have attempted to gain access to information about weapons of mass destruction held on New Zealand computers
  the law which says the GCSB cannot spy on New Zealanders is not clear
  it totally incorrect that the Government effectively through GCSB will be able to wholesale spy on New Zealanders
  we self identified that there was a problem with the GCSB spying on Kim Dotcom
  the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom was an isolated incident
  The advice I have had in 4 years as a Minister is that in no way ever has there been an indication of unlawful spying
  the Ministerial Warrant signed by Bill English did not cover anything up
  I wasn’t briefed about the raid on Kim Dotcom’s home.
  first I heard I heard about Kim Dotcom was on 19 January 2012
  first I heard about the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom was in 17 September 2012
  I did not mislead the House (14)
  I won’t be discussing Kim Dotcom during my Hollywood visit.
  The Human Rights Commission couldn’t get its submission on the GCSB legislation in on time.
  it would cost too much to for the police and SIS to carry out the spying on New Zealanders that this new legislation will permit
  critics of the GCSB legislation, including the Law Society, the Human Rights Commission, and the Privacy Commission, are all uninformed
  no, I did not mislead the House (15)
  I do not know how Mr Henry is conducting the Enquiry
  no, I did not mislead the House (16)
  the Henry Enquiry had permission to view Ministers’ emails
  no, I did not mislead the House (??)
  we do not spy on journalists
  the passing of phone records to the Henry Enquiry was an error on the part of a contractor
  I wasn’t aware that my own Chief of Staff was instructing Parliamentary Services to hand over information concerning journalist Andrea Vance
  National Ltd™ has never tried to impinge on the role of the media
  I had nothing to do with information on a journalist being handed over to the inquiry into the leaking of the GCSB report
  the terms of the enquiry made it clear to everyone that it was only the phone records of parliamentary staff and ministers that were to be provided
  I have the utmost respect for the media and the role it plays in New Zealand’s democracy
  the Henry Enquiry did not access a journalist’s building-access records
  the Henry Enquiry did not ask for phone and email records
  no, I did not mislead the House (17)
  the Greens are opposed to the GCSB and the SIS even existing
  the GCSB needs to spy on New Zealanders because there are al-Qaeda terrorists in New Zealand
  the GCSB is not sharing meta-data with the NSA
  John Minto is in the Green Party
  the GCSB needs to spy on New Zealanders because of the terrorist threat, even though official reports released over my signature say there is no risk and the SIS has the matter in hand
  the GCSB Bill does not give the GCSB the power to look at the content of communications as part of its cyber-security functions
  no, I did not mislead the House (18)
  Edward Snowden hacked into the NSA data base to obtain the documents which show details of the GCSB setting up a mass surveillance system
  I will release documents which show that an operation to provide mass surveillance data only ever made it to the business plan stage.
  Ummm . . . now that people are paying attention, the programme got underway but I stopped in in March 2013 or, askshully, it might have been September 2013.
  Kim Dotcom is paying Glenn Greenwald to come to New Zealand
  There’s no ambiguity. No middle ground. I’m right and Glenn Greenwald is wrong,
  there will be no mining on Conservation land in the Corromendel
  no, I did not say we would follow the US and Australia into a war against North Korea
  New Zealand has an arrangement to have asylum seekers processed in Australian detention camps
  I did not mislead the house (19)
  I paid for that lunch and I’ve got the credit card bill to prove it
  I am honest and upfront
  the only way net new jobs can be created is by private investors putting their money into businesses in New Zealand
  you can’t hide if yuu’re Prime Minister
  an increase in the number of people looking for work indicates that confidence is returning to the economy
  the 10 percent of taxpayers in New Zealand who are the top earners pay 76 percent of all net personal tax.
  I did not mislead the House (20)
  Aaron Gilmour was >a href= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHlarcvmR7U&feature=youtu.be> one of a number of people in a group who were badly behaved
  the substantial wage growth under Labour was eroded by inflation
  National Ltd™’s 2010 tax changes were fiscally neutral
  I did not mislead the House (21)
  the bulk of New Zealanders earn between $45,000 and $75,000 a year
  Pike River Coal did not put profits and its production ahead of the safety and lives of those 29 workers.
  Radio Live had sought advice from the Electoral Commission about my show just before the election
  it is because of National Ltd™’s policies that the price of fresh fruit and vegetables has dropped.
  the length-of-the-country cycleway will create 4000 jobs.
  police training for next year has not been cancelled
  National Ltd™ has only cut back-office jobs in the health service
  The Crown’s dividend stream from the Meridians, the Mighty Rivers of the world is large and there is no motivation to sell assets; actually we’re about creating assets not selling assets.”
  National believes employment law should treat all parties fairly. It should . . . Protect employees and employers.
  I am not trying to tackle such issues in a “fearful” way ahead of the next election
  Wellington City is dying.
  National Ltd™ has been working on a number of things with New Zealand First on a number of things one of which has a financial component but I can’t talk about it
  the best way to get growth in the economy is to reduce public debt
  New Zealand mum and dad investors will be our number one priority in the allocation of Mighty River shares
  we won’t let “cowboy” oil exploration companies operate here in New Zealand
  the Green Party is racist by not allowing Chinese residents in New Zealand to buy a house
  the Labour Party is promising a four-bedroom house in Auckland for $300,000
  the food in schools programme is in the 2013 budget
  the meat exports are being held up in China because of issues in relation to the Chinese looking to trace counterfeit meat
  its notoriously difficult to win three elections in a row
  I am deeply concerned about every child in New Zealand who is in poverty
  there is no manufacturing crisis in New Zealand
  the government’s exposure to MediaWorks’ going into receivership is reasonably limited
  the money from the sale of state assets will not be used to prop up Solid Energy
  I don’t see a place for a Winston Peters-led New Zealand First in a government that I lead. It’s not a matter of political convenience, it’s a matter of political principle.
  The vast majority of the buildings in Christchurch came through the earthquakes in good shape
  the commemoration of New Zealand’s involvement in the Korean War will not be used to bolster trade talks
  third generation Chinese New Zealanders will be required to present their passport before buying a house under the Labour government
  the Labour housing policy is an attempt by David Shearer to save his leadership
  the Labour housing policy is in breach of free trade agreements
  only 2% of the proceeds of the sale of Mighty River will be spent on the sales process
  David Cunliffe is lying to you
  Labour wants to nationalise the super market industry
  The government will engage in no further negotiations with Rio Tinto
  Without a government subsidy of hundreds of millions of dollars Chorus will go broke
  No, I did not mislead the House (??)
  the justice system is already adequate for handling situations involving new evidence
  my Minister Nick Smith was not aware of the content of the leaked draft submission on the Ruataniwha situation until 17 September
  New Zealand First will nationalise a host of industries and businesses
  I have no responsibility for the statements I make
  Mark Mitchell was just gossiping at a cocktail party when he tipped Webster off about Len Brown’s affair
  it was a lack of external analysis and accountability which put Solid Energy into its debt crisis
  the Commerce Commission misinterpreted the law when deciding the price for access to the Chorus copper infrastructure
  no analyist predicted that the cost of access to the copper infrastructure would go down
  there has been only one problem with oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
  If it was my vote, it would be no pay increases for Mps
  Greenpeace are just scare mongering about any oil leaks off the New Zealand coast
  For every election for the last five elections , we have had royal visitors to New Zealand.
  No decision has been made on the timing of the sale of Air New Zealand shares
  its not true that in New Zealand the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer
  This summer is the most active season ever for oil and gas exploration, with the industry spending up to $750 million. At the same time, the Government is strengthening the regulations that govern drilling, particularly in deep water.
  Labour is trying to mislead people about eligibility for Best Start because they don’t get the payment while they also get paid parental leave.
  A mountain of evidence shows that the quality of teaching – inside the classroom – is the biggest influence on kids’ achievement
  Governor General Jerry Mateparae has been jostled while walking onto Te Tii Marae at Waitangi .
  Cameron Slater, who I speak to regularly and who told me about Winston meeting Kim Dot Com, has got absolutely nothing to do with the National Party.
  Cameron Slater rang me
  What I do know is that when this Government came in, there were predictions that unemployment would rise to over 10 percent.
  The Cabinet Office had cleared Judith Collins of a conflict of interest
  The golf tournament in which I played the chairman of Oravida was for charity.
  The Cabinet Office has cleared Collins of a conflict of interest after it translated comments on Oravida’s website which stated that she had praised its products
  My Justice Minister, Judith Collins, didn’t lie to Parliament, she just didn’t understand the question.
  The [MFAT] paperwork shows right through this that not only did the Minister have a very busy programme, all on judicial and justice issues, but, secondly, all the way through it talks about a private dinner.
  No, I did not mislead parliament. (??)
  No, I did not mislead the House(??)
  The Unions decide the leadership of the Labour Party and picked David Cunliffe
  Unions give the Labour Party millions of dollars a year
  The economic mess inherited by the Abbott government in Australia can be likened to the economic mess inherited by National Ltd™ when it came into office in 2008.
  National Ltd™ inherited an economic mess from Labour
  National Ltd™ inherited an economic mess from Labour in 2008
  No, I did not mislead the House(??)
  Twelve percent of New Zealand households pay 76 percent of all net tax in New Zealand
  Natinal Ltd™ ignored the plight of babies living in the poorest famililies because there is other assistance available
  the Malaysian government declined to waive diplomatic immunity for the man charged with burglary and attempted rape
  the UN officials visiting down south are focussing on sustainable agriculture
  I would apologise to the woman if I knew who she was
  My government has led the charge on the transperancy of MPs’ spending
  Only 1 percent of New Zealand farm land is in foreign ownership
  Internet Mana put together the video depicting a burning effigy of me.
  Under National Ltd™ the prison population has gone down.
  National Ltd™ has been nowwhere near the Labour party computer system
  The OIA request to the SIS about Phil Goff’s briefing on the Isreali spies had nothing to do with my office.
  National Ltd™ talks to the blogs exactly the same way we talk to the MSM
  The allegations in Nicky Hager’s book are all wrong.
  Nicky Hager has got nothing to prove any of the allegations.
  All this stuff in “Dirty Politics” is coming from the left.
  National Ltd™ is not using blogs as attack sites any more than anyone would do
  The release of “Dirty Politics” is part of a coordinated attack from the left because it is unable to win the discussion on the issues that matter.
  Very little of the book “Diry Politics” is about me.
  Most of the assumptions and allegations made by Nicky Hager in “Dirty Politics” are dissolving before his eyes.
  All of Nicky Hager’s allegations are unravelling.
  Nicky Hager didn’t check the facts before publishing “Dirty Politics
  When National came into office the economy was in tatters.
  Over the last year an extra 84,000 jobs were created.
  In our party we believe in supporting families.
  The Greens have two co-leaders who want to be co-deputy-prime ministers in some kind of bizarre job-sharing experiment.
  “Internet-Mana put the burning efigy video together
  No one other than Cameron Slater asked for the SIS document confirming that Phil Goff had been breifed on the Israeli spies in Christchurch.
  I wasn’t informed that the SIS was going to release the information about the Israeli spies in Christchurch to Cameron Slater.
  Under Labour, family homes held in a trust will attract the Capital Gains Trust
  More than 300,000 New Zealanders have their homes held in a trust
  2014 Election
  There will be no more asset sales
  David Seymour did not ask for a Ministerial position with the National Party
  There will be no New Zealand military intervention in Iraq, barring an unlikely United Nations Security Council mission.
  The New Zealand military personnel are just attending a regular ordinary meeting in the United States (x 13 times)
  New Zealand is not involved in any coalition to fight in the Middle East
  It is not currently illegal for someone to fight overseas for a terrorist group
  When it comes to requests for official information, my ministers always act within the law.
  I have never called or texted Cameron Slater in my capacity as Prime Minister
  No, I did not mislead the House. (??)
  I did not admit to having abused the OIA process.
  I did not mislead the House(??)
  The Gwynn Report into the handling of OIA requests by the SIS completely exonerated me
  Its not true that the process I put in place for the SIS reporting to me was politicised
  The review into Judith Collins has got nothing to do with the release of information to Cameron Slater
  My office had nothing to do with the release of informaton to Cameron Slater
  No, I did not mislead the House (??)
  I can’t remember all the phone texts I exchanged except when I say I can
  I did not engage in an exchange of text messages with Cameron Slater, I just acknowledged one unsolicited message from him
  The DPMC head attended the Roger Sutton PR conference because his department is taking over Cera next year.
  New Zealand was one of the very few countries in the world that were settled peacefully.
  I was being asked a specific question about the Chisholm report when I said I had had not contact with Cameron Slater
  No, I did not mislead the House
  When the particular question was asked there was quite a lot of noise in the house and so I genuinely only heard the first bit.
  I have not been in contact with Cameron Slater ahead of the release of Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn’s report into the SIS’s role in Slater’s 2011 political attack on former Labour Leader Phil Goff.
  No, I did not mislead the House (??)
  The number of children in those low decile schools which I have visited who actually require lunch is the odd one or two
  My office was advised in late January 2015 that Mike Sabin was resigning
- BLiP 10.4
  11 February 2015 at 3:15 am
  ‘
  ‘
  Here’s my list of the actions taken by the National Ltd™ Cult of John Key in its systematic attack on the environment of New Zealand. There’s some work to do in the latter part, its just got too depressing for me but, if anyone’s interested, I can steel myself to the task of writing each item up.
  Since its election in 2008 National Ltd™ has:
  been caught out repeatedly lying in the run up to and during the election campaign about its real intentions in relation to the environment
  celebrated the opening of the foreign-owned Pike River Coal Ltd mine on DOC land adjacent to the Paparoa National Park from which 1 megatonne of coal will be extracted per year for the next 20 years – Pike River Coal Ltd has announced that it has found additional coal in the national park
  cancelled a proposed efficiency standard (MEPS) on incandescent lightbulbs
  reversed a moratorium on building new gas/oil/coal power stations
  removed the bio fuel subsidy
  scrapped the scheme that would have penalised imported vehicles producing high emissions
  removed regulations for water efficient new housing by Order in Council
  renewed leases on sensitive high country farms which were meant to return to DOC
  reversed restrictions on the freeholding of vast swathes of land on the edge of the Southern Lakes
  arbitrarily excised 400 hectares from the brand new Oteake Conservation Park, including the most important and, ecologically, the rarest part of the new Park, the tussock and shrubland that went right down to the banks of the Manuherikia River, to enable future access to lignite
  said nothing to say in regard to the World Commission on Protected areas of IUCN’s severe criticism of its intention to investigate mineral resources and mining opportunities in protected conservation areas including our three UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Te Wahi Pounamu-South West New Zealand, Tongariro National Park and the Sub Antarctic Islands
  approved two prospecting permit applications lodged by Australian iron-ore giant Fortescue Metals Group subsidiary FMG Pacific lodged in June – areas covered by the two-year permits include an 8204-square-kilometre area of seabed adjoining the west coast from Cape Reinga to the Manukau Harbour and a 3798-square-kilometre prospecting area of land from Cape Reinga to the Kaipara Harbour including Ninety Mile Beach, the west side of the Aupouri Peninsula, Kaitaia and the Hokianga.
  approved an additional prospecting permit for Fortescue Metals in relation to 3568sq km right next door to the Kahurangi National Park where the Heaphy Track is
  was forced to release its Ministry of Economic Development (MED) report under the Official Information Act that proclaims “significant mineral potential” in the Fiordland, Kahurangi and Paparoa national parks – the report said the Waitutu area of the Fiordland National Park had sufficient petroleum reserves to be “worthy” of inclusion in a review of conservation land protected from mining
  secretly granted the minerals industry the right to veto proposed National Park boundaries and permission for any such vetoes to be kept confidential – in spite of recommendations from its own officials against any such a veto
  called for caring New Zealanders to halt their “emotional hysteria” and recognise that conservation land should be mined for minerals and went on to say “Mining in a modern, technological way can have a negligible effect”
  rubished the Department of Conservation (“Canterbury Farming” June 2010 issue – now offline) suggesting it was incapable of looking after the high country reserves and parks under its control
  gutted the home insulation scheme
  pulled $300 million out of public transport, walking and cycling schemes and added it to a pot of $2 billion to ‘upgrade’ state highways
  changed the law to provide billions of dollar in subsidies for polluters via the ETS casino
  begun a process of gutting the Resource Management Act to make it difficult/impossible for the public to lodge appeals against developers
  removed the ability of Auckland to introduce a fuel levy to fund planned public transport upgrades
  left electrification of the Auckland rail network up in the air without promised funding commitments and then came through with a dodgy loan scheme and then unilaterally reorganised the local government structure before finally setting about the privatisation-by-stealth model when busting KiwiRail
  removed the programme to make Government Departments ‘carbon neutral’ and also began its first wave of public sector redundancies starting with the Ministry for the Environment which was responsible for the scheme
  removed funding for public tv advertising on sustainability and energy efficiency
  pulled funding for small-town public litter bin recycling schemes
  displayed cabinet ministers expressing public support the bulldozing of Fiordland
  reduced Department of Conservation funding by $54 million over three years
  cancelled funding for the internationally acclaimed ‘Enviroschools’ programme
  usurped the democratic role of local Councils of determining policies for their citizens by requiring the abandonment of the efficient and well-established tree protection rules for urban areas
  set about revamping Auckland governance in a way that is likely to greatly reduce the ‘Environmental Watchdog’ role of the the current Regional Council (since completely fucked it up with the SuperShitty)
  removed Auckland’s metropolitan limits and opened the gateway for unfettered urban sprawl
  defended internationally the importation of rain-forest-wrecking palm kernel and stood silent while Federated Farmers called Greenpeace “despicable” criminals, traitors, and robbers
  stood silent while Godfrey Bloom, a Member of the European Parliament and infamous Climate Change Denialist, publicly rejoiced in the 1985 bombing of the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior – who was doing so while standing on a dock next to the replacement vessel
  took a 0% emissions reduction target to Copenhagen. Yes, seriously, that isn’t a misprint – that was the lower bound of their negotiation platform – then missed the 01/02/10 deadline for commitment to action it had agreed to – meanwhile 55 of the 80 countries which attended did make the deadline
  secretly cancelled the internationally recognised scheme for the mandatory labelling of exotic woods to ensure the timber has not been taken from rain forests in direct contradiction of its own statements made at the 13th World Forestry Congress in Argentina
  supported the Department of Conservation’s decision to open up the pristine Cathedral Cove to an ice-cream franchise
  gave the Department of Conservsation $1.7 million to further develop commercial activities on DOC land and started an “off set” plan allowing company’s to damage the conservation estate if they agree to improve land elsewhere – no monitoring regime has been suggested on put in place
  left DOC director-general Al Morrison to announce that DOC is to charge for services that had been free and, to soften the public up to the idea that there will be more “energy generation schemes” operating on DOC land
  took no action to reduce existing pollution pouring into the Manawatu River and is “leaving it up to industry” to come up with solutions to heal the river which was described by the Cawthorn Institute as “one of the worst polluted in the Western world”
  announced a $1.69 million industry subsidy to kick start marine farming without identifying no-go areas nor putting in place a consultation process for individiuals, communities, and other general coastal users
  been forced to release documents under the Official Information Act which confirm that DOC has “giving up” on ecologically valuable high-country land in the Mackenzie Basin because of funding cuts. The released documents cite “statements made by ministers”, “diminishing funding” and the Government’s new high-country policies as reasons for the changed stance – the comments from DOC were made after Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which manages the tenure review process, ignored DOC’s previous conservation recommendations for the farms
  used former National Party minister and current director of Open Country Cheese – a company convicted of filthy farming practices and found by the supreme court to be a dodgy employer – Wyatt Creech to head up an enquiry into Environment Canterbury which had been standing up the dairy farmers’ demands for more and more water resources and less and less regulation. The Creech report recommended the Environmental Canterbury be sacked and replaced with government appointments and the voters of Canterbury do without democracy until the water situation had been resolved. The Canterbury area holds 50 percent of New Zealand’s fresh water reserves and 50 percent of the water required for hyrdo energy. The Creech report said Environmental Centerbury put too much focus on the environment
  been subjected to international condemnation for knowing next to nothing about the parlous state of the New Zealand fisheries
  bucked international trends and poured more acid on the 100% Pure brand and increases the bluefin tuna quota
  squirmed when New Zealand is subject to international criticism for its backing of commericial whaling which National Ltd supports
  funded Government-owned company Solid Energy runs an essay competition entitled “ The role of coal in sustainable energy solutions for New Zealand” for school children. First prize is a trip to New Zealand’s largest coal customer, China.
  supported access fees for entrance onto DOC walkways – fee introduced following cuts to DOC’s budget.
  pressed on with PR bullshit about how New Zealand’s environment would profit from mining national parks, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson says.
  Department of Conservation director-general Al Morrison said the conservation estate created “opportunities to do a whole lot for a lot of different people . . . we’ve got to get away from this idea that somehow we have to protect one-third of New Zealand for a certain constituency and put it in a jar of formaldehyde and leave it
  created random fantasies of abundant wealth to promote all forms of mining
  ignored reports on sustained non-compliance with resource consents and worsening pollution of water ways.
  ignored its own Ministers possible conflicts of interest
  done nothing as both its own SOE Meridian and the Department of Conservation to withdraw appeals against an 85m high damn with a 14km long reservoir on conservation land.
  granted Energy Resources permission to ship Australian yellowcake uranium ore through New Zealand.
  apologised but does nothing else for breaching the Treaty of Waitangi by granting a mining exploration permit to Brazilian company Petrobras
  continued to remove environmental protection powers from local authorities
  totally reversed gains made in the protection of National Parks and other high-value conservation areas in the South Island.
  commenced a divide-and-rule strategy by attempting to paint New Zealanders interested in protecting the environment as outside of the “mainstream” and in defence of the fact that the media is catching to its bare-faced lies in the lead up to the 2008 election
  carried on with more lies by talking about modern mining like that at Reefton being carried out by Oceana Golds as being like “key hole surgery”
  appeared to believe that the tourists it is attempting to bring to New Zealand are all blind and won’t see for themselves the impact of the dairy farming it is subsidising to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars
  appeared itself to be blind when it comes to the Chairman of Fonterra
  forced the Commissioner for the Environment to delay the release of a report into the ramifications for climate change in regard to lignite mining and proposals to convert the lignite into diesel
  employed financial sleight of hand in shuffling funds towards business interests and away from community groups looking to protect the environment
  made more empty promises when a report showing that a third of New Zealand lankes have poor quality water is released
  backed down on promises to protect New Zealand children (and the environment cleaner by more informed disposal) from harmful chemicals by improving labeling and imposing mandatory standards on containers
  Ignored the findings by attacking the messenger when a World Health Organisation report confirms that New Zealand’s main centres have the worst air in Australasia and Auckland is the most polluted with twice the concentration of damaging airborne particles as Sydney.
  studiously ignored so as to take piss about dire warnings concerning the quality of drinking water in Reidstone
  failed to mention in its 100% Pure promotions that visitors to the Kerikeri Basin near the Stone Store – one of Northland’s iconic tourism and heritage sites – could come face-to-face with warning signs telling them the water is polluted
  failed to mention in its 100% Pure promotions that tourists in the Coromandel could come face to face with New Zealand’s environmental standards when finding hundreds of dead snapper washed up on Beaches
  presented bogus evidence concerning air pollution
  made more empty promises in relation to air pollution while also extending deadlines for local councils to reduce air pollution
  extended deadlines for businesses previously require to reduce air pollution by 2013
  put tourism operators in Akaroa at risk by refusing to make the harbour a marine reserve . . . and then rubs salt into their wounds
  done nothing after the United Nations finds that National Ltd™’s targets for reducing pollution are not consistent with the measures put in place to achieve those targets
  attempted to defend the Emissions Trading Scheme from comparisons with the Australian model while Environment Minister Nick Smith indicates there’s little chance of the two schemes being integrated any time soon
  then further slowed down the implentation of New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme
  allowed major retailers to reap the benefits of its earlier and secret decision to abandon the mandatory labelling of exotic woods after it is found that the retailers are contributing to the death of native Australian forests despite an independent, year-long investigation which finds otherwise
  tried to keep a meeting between John Key and mininng company Anadarko’s boss secret. The company is responsble for a massive oil spill and is looking to to start drilling off New Zealand soon
  continued to ignore yet more evidence of farmers failing to comply with environmental regulations
  handed over $400 million to farmers to extend water storage and allow for more land to be used for dairy farms. No mention or provision is made for additional protections required to deal with the increased pollution
  failed to point out in its 100% Pure promotion that tourists (and locals) should avoid the Opihi River along State Highway 1 because of the risk of exposure to toxins from phormidium
  failed to point out in its 100% Pure promotions that tourists arriving at New Zealand’s “nuclear free” sea ports will be sharing the environment with up to 5,000 tonnes of radioactive yellow cake uranium
  lied about how bad the RMA is
  ignored top scientists and academics who point out that its underfunding of the Department of Conservation will send more species into extinction and hurt its 100% Pure image.
  Ignored John Key making an international arse out of himself in regard to New Zealand’s 100% Pure image
  carried on with its lies as New Zealand is identified as jeoparising its good name by allowing us to become one of a small number of states stalling progress in forming an international climate agreement
  kept stringing us along even after Next thing, New Zealand received the 2nd place Fossil Award for “proposing the most Flexible Mechanism imaginable with no oversight or review. Bring on the wild west. They want to be able to use any market mechanisms they wish with absolutely no oversight or international review! There would be no way to ensure that the units from one mechanism have not been sold two or three times to another such mechanism. This would likely unleash a wild west carbon market with double or triple counting of offsets and a likely increase of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.”
  stood silent when Fonterra was caught out lying by overstating its farmer’s compliance on excluding stock from waterways by 100%
  put World class surfing waves and Maui’s dolphin’s at Raglan at severe risk by encouraging a proposed iron ore seabed mining in New Zealand’s coastal waters
  never followed up after the scientific models created by New Zealand and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to allow fishing are called into question
  set the scene for our children heading down to the park to find an overseas’ owned company had set up a dairy farm in one corner. Over time the shit builds up
  ignored data which shows the expansion of fish-farming in the Marlborough Sounds could cause unacceptable changes in the coastal environment
  strategically removed the word “environment” from the lexicon of local and central government
  failed to tell the tourists it hopes to attact with its 100% Pure campaign that every year, New Zealand drops huge quantities of poison-laced food into its forest ecosystems; enough poison to kill its human population 4 times over, every year. No country has ever done anything remotely similar, on such a scale
  failed to tell the tourists it hopes to attract with its 100% Pure campaign that more than a third of Auckland’s beaches fail water quality checks and are closed for swimming
  ignored the closing of the beaches, this time as extremely high concentrations of the bacteria enterococci are identified
  ignored Ministerial conflicts of interest, this time involving John Key who is identified as shareholder in the Bank Of America which is backing mining in New Zealand and Australia . . . even when more information is made available . . . and more information . . . and more information
  pressed on with additional policies that move away from the protection of the environment towards exploitation
  limited , as part of its effort to cash-in on the environment, access to some of New Zealand’s most endangered species and isolated islands only to those who those who contribute financially displacing conservation staff and scientists
  ignored a World Wildlife Fund report, Beyond Rio, which makes clear New Zealand now risks some of the highest rates of biodiversity loss on Earth unless urgent action is taken
  continued to give confidence to Fonterra director Colin Armer being convicted and fined $72,000 for “fouling” a Bay of Plenty waterway after a judge found he could have prevented the pollution were it not for his “systemic” failure to monitor what was happening on his company’s farm
  lied when it said New Zealand has the environmental laws and regulations to control oil and gas development on the continental shelf because there is no equivalent of the Resource Management Act to control oil and gas activity outside of the territorial sea (12 nautical miles offshore).
  lied when it had already agreed coastal plans to allow marine farming consent holders in the Waikato and Marlborough to move from mussel farming to finfish farming without considering the additional environmental effects imposed
  placed short-term business interests ahead of long-term consequences to New Zealand’s environment, particularly biodiversity by allowing damage in one area on the condition that it be “off set” in another creating a dangerous precedent in that such a provisin means that one part of biodiversity can be wrecked in return for “protecting” an area that was never under threat anyway.
  promoted proposals that include include a plant producing about 2 billion litres of diesel per year, using at least 12 million tonnes of lignite per year and another producing 3 billion litres using 12-17 million tonnes of lignite annually. A further project would produce by 2016 1.2 tonnes of the nitrogenous fertiliser, urea, using 2 million tonnes of lignite annually
  tried to hide the fact that its Department of Conservation was ordered to permit Meridian to to build a damn on the Mohikinui River despite its position that “the public conservation land within the Mokihinui River has such high value that it is most unlikely to be suitable for exchange at all
  continued to ignore the slow-motion extinction of Maui’s dolphins:
  gone into hiding after it was discovered that significant cuts to the Ministry for the Environment in the 2012 Budget are not publicly detailed or announced
  continued to ignore its international obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to “protect and preserve” the martime environment
  refused in the face of repeated calls to set national standards for water quality despite mounting evidence of the need to do so
  further weakened protection for wild rivers in Canterbury with the ECan Act and indicates that further weakening provisions will follow.
  rubber stamped a motorway project with no economic benefit and likely to waste over $1 billion of tax payers’ funds.
  been forced to admit that it has spent $1.67 million in a survey of minerals on the West Coast of New Zealand, including within the Te Wahipounamu South West New Zealand world heritage area. Te Wahipounamu is one of 183 natural heritage
  secretly ordered that world heritage sites on the West Coast be surveyed as part of a $3 million mineral study spanning more than 16,000 square kilometres. The survey was only puiblicy revealed after Green MP Catherine Delahunty asked for details in a parliamentary question
  appointed thoroughtly unsuitable but politically useful members to the Establishment Board for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  facilitated by neglect the employment of inexperienced managers, making poor policy decisions resulting in additional threats to New Zealand’s biosecurity.
  under resourced New Zealand’s biosecurity system to such an extent that it is fundamentally flawed preventing any way of identifying how the Kiwifruit killer virus got into New Zealand and, thus, no way of preventing it from happening again.
  handed over a further $80 million to business and farmers to subsidise their pollution.
  ignored its own guidelines to provide consent the Milford Dart tunnel and Fiordland Link Experience which would otherwise never have been granted.
  appointed an advisory group to recommend a significant rewrite of the Resource Management Act to remove references to the protection of coastal areas, wetlands, lakes and rivers and indigenous flora and fauna.
  splashed tax payer cash around its consultants considering conservation and environmental protection of the Mackenze Basin and Waitaki Valley
  further weakened the resource consent process for foreign-owned mining companies,
  locked New Zealanders out of the consultation process on the alloting of areas being made available for resource exploration.
  ignored the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and scrapped government grants for solar water heating
  used the Navy along with police and Crown Law to bully environmental protesters in a legal case they knew could not be won
  put 23 massive blocks of deep and wild waters east of Wellington and Dunedin on the international market for exploratory oil drilling
  allowed its own consultants do a u-turn on the economic benefits of additional roading and then handed them a $200 million contract for further consultation work
  Supported the Department of Conservation into granting foreign-owned multinational mining company OceanaGold permission to destroy 55 hectares of beech forest so as to extend its Reefton mine to a total 81 hectares without public notification
  envouraged the Minerals Industry Association to bully local authorities to step aside from what little environmental protections they are able to impose
  reduced its environment agencies to little more than a ramshackle collection of underfunded and ineffective small back offices with no direction or policy for dealing with the vast marine resources of New Zealand
  eroded New Zealand’s bio-security to such an extent that Christchurch Airport is found to have failed at a basic level
  removed the directive terms “protect”, “preserve”, “maintain” and “enhance” from the RMA fundamentally weakening the legislation and deliberately introducing confusion as to its overall intent.
  futher ensured that New Zealand tax payers continue to subsidise 95% of big polluters’ emissions
  drastically reduced the size of proposed marine reserves off the West Coast so much so that one advocate says they are “an insult” to those who spent years trying to establish them
  instructed its delegates at the world’s largest conservation conference , the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s conference in Korea, to oppose any further measures to protect Maui and Hector dolphins in defiance of 117 other countries and 460 environmental organisations requesting New Zealand ban gill and trawl nets in waters up to 100 metres deep
  lied about the environmental impact of fraking
  refused to enforce its own legislation to protect the environment
  ignored concerns about fracking which has seen the practise banned around the world
  twisted the knife by exploiting news of redundancies at Solid Energy in a statement which claims opponents to a proposed mine are “getting in the way of” potential jobs as part of an effort to discourage legal action
  changed to law allowing a consideration of the effects on climate change to allow Australian-owned mining company Bathurst Resources (also known as Buller Coal) to build a 200-hectare open-cast coal mine on the plateau and excavate 80 million tonnes of coal that, when burnt, will release about 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
  further ensured the extinction of New Zealand sea lions by failing to extend necessary fishing restrictions
  failed to protect the New Zealand marine environment and ignored international obligation with its Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Act oil drilling legislation
  continued to obfuscate and dither while More than half of monitored recreational sites on our rivers are declared unsafe for swimming
  ignored its own scientific evidence and advice from its own authorities to lock-in tax payer funding of business which pollutes New Zealand’s air
  refused to enforce its own laws in respect to water pollution
  changed the law to make it more difficult to build a deck on a house than it is to drill for oil
  avoided its international obligations “to ensure the conservation and management of sharks and their long-term sustainable use” while its fishers carry on with the barbaric practise of shark finning.
  ignored public support for conservation by ordering another round of cuts to the Department of Conservation.
  stood alone at the world’s largest conservation summit and voted against more protection for species at risk
  further gutted environmental protection legislation to speed up the building consent process for developers
  vancelled without notice the five-yearly State of the Environment report put together by the Ministry of the Environment, the report is the largest stock-take of trends relating to land, water, air, plants and animals
  abandoned the Kyoto agreement completely
  allowed its on lobbyist to publicly attack a prominent New Zealand scientist for speaking truth about New Zealand’s environment in an effort to silence the accurate reporting of scientific evidence
  attracted international mockery for the fact that the pristine landscape featured in The Hobbit and used as the basis for the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign as fantastical as dragons and wizards
  remained “relaxed” about the fact that New Zealand is now the 18th worst out of 189 nations when it came to preserving its natural environment
  pulled out of Kyoto just weeks after the OECD reports that global greenhouse gas emissions could rise 50 per cent by 2050 without more ambitious climate policies, as fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy mix
  laughed when New Zealand received two “Fossil of the Day” – first-equal and second place – awards on the first day of international climate talks in Doha, Qatar
  used Hobbiton – Waikato – as the centrepiece of its 100% Pure campaign when the area is the country’s major source of pollution to the Hauraki Gulf
  handed over responsibility for the monitoring and reporting of fraking activity , for which it has inadequate legal protections, to the foreign-owned multi-nationals which are carrying out that activity thus totally ignoring its own Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
  lied, obfuscated and used government resources to attack and undermined local authority plans to improve water quality
  sanctioned an unnamed foreign-owned multinational to go ahead with a major road through pristine South Island National Parks
  employed disingenuous gobbledeegook to defend its decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Agreement.
  turned a deaf ear to calls for New Zealand to assist pacfic island nations by taking a stronger position on climate change
  displayed contempt for existing agreements and Environment Case law by approving new salmon farms in recreational areas within the Marlborough Sounds
  refused to investigate the impact on increasing use of neonicotinoid pesticides which is likely to be a major contributor to the sudden and dramatic decline (aka colony collapse disorder) of the New Zealand honey bee population, National Ltd™ also refused to consider the development of a strategy to protect what is left of the honey bee population.
  lied about its commitment to addressing climate change
  failed to monitor Sanford Ltd’s pollution resulting in an international embarrassment
  allowed foreign-owned multinationals to proceed with oil exploration without the financial resources available to mitigate any environmental damage should it occur
  been caught out ignoring its own advice on implementing environmental monitoring procedures
  used changes to the Resource Management Act to remove local authorty’s rights and planning for the protection of trees
  commenced removing local authority’s rights to plan for housing
  allowed more than 53 percent of Canterbury’s major water users to avoid having meters installed
  mixed the cooperative model of climate change negotiations with the competitive model used in trade negotiations, thus putting outcomes in both areas a risk
  ducked questions asking for evidence as to the safety of genetically engineered food
  ignored the fact that New Zealand carbon credits are no longer the unit of choice in the New Zealand’s own carbon market. Figures from the official Emission Unit Registry show that emitters who initially supported NZUs are now using a range of international units to meet their carbon obligations under the Emissions Trading Scheme
  used highly dodgy figures in calculating the reduction New Zealand’s net carbon emissions by including trees due to be harvested in the next few years
  ignored news that New Zealand’s first glyphosate resistant weed has been found and the resulting call for the use of glyphosate (Monsanto’s “Roundup”) to cease
  stayed silent for five months after being advised that Fonterra’s milk product were contaminated with dicyandiamide (DCD) and now face an international backlash.
  set no maximum level of contamination of dicyandiamide (DCD) (AKA cyanoguanidine) in milk products for consumption by New Zealanders, stood silent while the farming industry says the withdrawal of dicyandiamide (DCD) will result in yet more pollution of New Zealand’s waterways
  stood silent as NIWA announced findings of research which showed 20 per cent of marine life in the Milford Sounds port area could be killed off as a result of copper leaching from anti-fouling paints on boat hulls
  secretly without consultation and any right of appeal used a short-term draconian law to ammend a water conservation order for the Rakaia River
  been locked out of the international carbon market because of its trucculent attitude
  continued in its efforts to eliminate tree protection of any kind in Auckland and elsewhere
  stood alone as the only developed country not to have tabled an unconditional single number target as part of the international climate change negotiations
  cut funding into research about protecting the last remaining giant kauri
  continued to endanger the 100% Pure brand
  been unable to explain how genetically engineered mould escaped from Massey University laboratories and remains unable or unwilling to provide further information
  introduced foreign species without a consideration of the risk to human health
  allowed oil companies to ignore breaches of resource consent and set neihhbours against neighbours
  obfuscated on the negative economic benefits of major raod works
  obfuscated on the level of cuts to the Department of Conservation
  disengaged the previously widely held concept of environmental protection from any consideration of economic development
  sacked 140 staff at the Department of Conservation
  inserted last minute changes to environmental legislation that were not announced and, thus, not considered during public submissions and earlier readings of Bills.
  lied about the practise of fracking going on in New Zealand for the past 30 years
  funded its Economic Development Ministry’s membership of the Coal Association lobby group
  staged a consultation process on the restructuring for the Department of Conservation and then completely ignored any submissions generated
  proposed handing over recreational paua gathering areas to commercial operators
  opened a further 190,000 square kilometers of New Zealand’s coastal waters for oil exploration
  allowed the Minister of Energy’s own political adviser to make public calls for the boycotting of the environmental iniative Earth House
  held secret meetings with oil company executives known international as irresponsible and mendacious
  exposed Auckland beaches to the unmonitored risk of oil exploration by companies unable to afford any clean up operations if required
  breached international law and used parliamentary urgency and ignored international guidelines to rush through legislation depriving New Zealanders of the right to protest against drilling for oil within 350 miles if New Zealand coast
  given permission for oil drilling to take place over earthquake ridden continental plate fault lines just off shore from Wellington
  stood idle while water quality used by households continyes to worsen
  ensured that the MacKenzie Basin is turned from a conservation estate into a development area
  used parliamentary urgency to avoid public notification, consultation and/or consideration of a law allowing companies with no experience nor financial resources to drill for oil on earthquake-ridden fault lines lying in New Zealand coastal waters
  here would be significant and irreversible adverse effects on the conservation values and overall ecological integrity of the application area and the Denniston Plateau should the proposed activity be approved”?
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0903/S00452.htm <— back up on Chris Bishop
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869801 <— irony much
  It is disgusting that if you are a sportsperson you get no conviction for an offence that endangered peoples lives because it might affect their ability to play overseas, but an actress convicted for taking part in an environmental protest gets no such consideration.
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1306/S00244/savage-attack-on-bee-health.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1306/S00240/positive-changes-to-fishing-regulations-announced.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1306/S00219/report-highlights-risk-of-governments-mining-agenda.htm
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10892481
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pollution/news/article.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10884397
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10892985
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1306/S00647/new-zealand-waste-policies-stuck-in-the-past.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1306/S00309/environment-commissioner-releases-water-report-update.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1307/S00024/iwc-says-govt-must-act-for-survival-of-mauis-dolphins.htm
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10895428
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10904557
  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2013/jul/29/hobbit-new-zealand-lord-of-the-rings-middle-earth-oil-gas-drilling
  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/06/us-newzealand-milk-image-idUSBRE97503H20130806
  http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/xinhua/2013-08-05/content_9769307.html
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10910158
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10913041
  http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/nz-commits-2020-climate-change-target-5534697
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00273/national-admits-defeat-on-climate-change.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00257/gutted-emissions-trading-scheme-damaging-forestry.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00219/public-silenced-on-oil-well-consents.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00179/rma-changes-risk-further-damage-to-nzs-reputation.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00177/key-stacks-deck-plays-cute-with-rma.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00172/government-welcomes-king-salmon-decision.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00154/minister-must-shoulder-the-blame-for-mpis-mistakes.htm
  http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/planned-oil-exploration-outrages-kaikoura-residents-5535929
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00287/more-deforestation-following-ets-changes.htm
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11115218
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9099326/Nats-plan-to-remove-right-to-oppose-drilling
  http://www.3news.co.nz/Residents-against-proposed-Fonterra-mine/tabid/423/articleID/311296/Default.aspx
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1309/S00100/bills-failure-highlights-nationals-empty-slogan.htm
  http://www.mfe.govt.nz/website/closed-sites/bioethics.html
  http://www.indymedia.org.nz/articles/1255
  Environment Canterbury (
  Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Act 2010
  Denies access to the Environment Court for the resolution of environmental and resource
  –
  management matters in the
  Canterbury region
  Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Act 2010
  Enables the Minister for the Environment to choose what law will or
  will not apply to Commissioners appointed to replace
  the Canterbury regional councillors
  http://www.rethinking.org.nz/assets/Newsletter_PDF/Issue_112/02_United_Nations_Universal_Periodic_Review_170613.pdf
  http://lsa.net.au/wcb-content/uploads/lsa/files/2011/Henry%20VIII%20clauses.pdf
  Henry VIII Clause
  http://www.rethinking.org.nz/assets/Newsletter_PDF/Issue_112/02_United_Nations_Universal_Periodic_Review_170613.pdf
  ^^ law society UN submission
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/business/9107225/Rod-Oram-Time-for-economic-leadership
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9121336/Deep-sea-oil-plans-anger-stars
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/9134466/Ross-Sea-proposed-sanctuary-slashed
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1309/S00064/concerns-over-revised-plan-for-ross-sea-protection.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1309/S00059/serious-risk-in-fed-farmers-short-term-thinking.htm
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9143526/Environmental-OK-for-holiday-highway
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1309/S00108/analysis-of-proposed-freshwater-rma-sir-geoffrey-palmer.htm
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11122601
  http://www.labour.org.nz/news/why-not-wholly-independent-reporting-minister
  http://www.labour.org.nz/news/minister-buying-needless-fight-with-local-authorities
  http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/221858/doc-paper-says-dam-proposal-%27risky%27
  http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/222020/eight-new-o-and-g-exploration-areas-up-for-grabs
  Nick Smith and the Ruataniwha dam
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1309/S00222/coal-trumps-climate-at-supreme-court.htm
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=11126724
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9190899/Govt-calls-for-platinum-mining-tenders
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9143526/Environmental-OK-for-holiday-highway
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11130588
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9222669/Fears-for-goldmine-grants-on-green-land
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9242194/Turoa-diesel-spill-contaminates-town-water-supply
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11137661
  EDS attacks Nick Smith’s Ruataniwha Dam process
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9278305/Spill-leads-to-fuel-tank-use-review
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9302439/Digging-deeper-on-coal
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9302591/Homeowners-undermined-by-decision
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9284604/Loophole-allows-DOC-to-swap-land
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/9278492/Voluntary-groups-may-fail-rare-birds
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/rena-crisis/9247168/Rena-row-still-raging
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1310/S00198/eds-gets-leave-to-appeal-approved-by-supreme-court.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1310/S00195/grazing-not-normal-behaviour-for-dairy-cows.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1310/S00184/eds-says-proposed-new-oil-drilling-regulations-not-adequate.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1310/S00292/epa-board-appointment-announced.htm
  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1310/S00257/fonterra-gains-consents-for-coal-mine.htm
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11143781
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9310767/Dirty-dairying-inspection-tipoffs-criticised
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9309575/Most-RMA-breaches-dairy-related
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9293549/Fonterra-dumping-milk-byproducts-in-Taranaki
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9306679/Buttermilk-lake-investigation-under-way
  ^^disposal at sea
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9285515/Record-114-000-Waikato-dirty-dairying-fine
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/8027832/74k-fine-for-dirty-dairy-farming
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/7857273/Dirty-dairying-fouling-Golden-Bay
  http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/21626
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/opinion/9317016/One-rotten-apple-spoils-dairy-farmers-lot
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9320472/Rural-water-quality-concerns-mount
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9299807/Farmers-fighting-proposed-animal-welfare-changes
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/canterbury/931591
  - BLiP 10.4.1
    11 February 2015 at 3:17 am
    ‘
    . . . continued from above
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1311/S00125/holes-in-govts-freshwater-policy-create-licence-to-pollute.htm
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9372047/Good-and-bad-in-Canterbury-dairy-report
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9366266/Big-fine-for-dairy-farms-effluent-dumping
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9385615/Aquifer-fears-spur-call-for-exploration-rethink
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9427016/Risks-of-deep-sea-drilling-kept-secret-Labour
    http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/22286
    Ms Adams said that the EPA only had to assess the “completeness” of an application and not its effectiveness.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11160976
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1311/S00277/urgent-action-required-in-response-to-water-quality-warnings.htm
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1311/S00274/anadarko-oil-spill-equipment-grossly-inadequate.htm
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1311/S00255/report-change-in-land-use-putting-pressure-on-water-quality.htm
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/228548/fears-over-possible-business-influence-at-doc
    http://www.doc.govt.nz/about-doc/news/media-releases/new-doc-chief-executive-appointed/
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11161882
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9425289/Waterways-will-get-worse-Commissioner
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/9431281/Salmon-decision-reserved
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1311/S00328/councils-around-the-country-warn-against-changes-to-rma.htm
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/229478/nz-may-face-challenge-over-dolphin-measures
    NRT: Who’s scaremongering now?
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/230744/eds-unhappy-about-new-drilling-rules
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11174568
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=11174771
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11175901
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1312/S00405/independent-advice-sought-on-monorail-financial-viability.htm
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1312/S00405/independent-advice-sought-on-monorail-financial-viability.htm
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/232289/experts-say-5-degreesc-rise-disastrous-for-nz
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11188369
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/241553/nz-%27not-playing-part%27-in-helping-climate
    http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/video/32516
    http://www.3news.co.nz/Minister-didnt-know-park-was-in-drilling-plan/tabid/1607/articleID/339311/Default.aspx
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10023498/Major-defects-in-environmental-bill
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11251714
    http://www.3news.co.nz/Collins-wetlands-comments-outrage-environmentalists/tabid/1160/articleID/343032/Default.aspx
    http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/video/33390
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/246245/report-urges-drilling-rule-changes
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11268239
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11268406
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11245986
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10171432/Mauis-dolphin-sanctuary-in-oil-drilling-move-Greens
    http://www.3news.co.nz/Govt-gave-Shanghai-Pengxin-conservation-land/tabid/1607/articleID/355268/Default.aspx#ixzz39JLdw9y7
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20147474
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20147479
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/10457343/Dairy-company-cops-35-000-fine-for-stink
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/10444703/Farmer-tried-to-influence-inspectors
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/10436385/Resident-worried-by-Fonterra-stink
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/10452599/Big-leap-of-faith-for-Fonterras-baby-food-future
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11319558
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/253832/massey-questions-milk-test-results
    http://publicaddress.net/speaker/vote-for-water/
    http://publicaddress.net/speaker/science-and-democracy/
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/257187/doc-denies-giving-reserve-permission
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/257211/public-told-to-avoid-toxic-algal-bloom
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1410/S00147/move-from-clean-and-green-to-mega-farms-spells-disaster.htm
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1410/S00143/government-misleading-public-over-1080-and-trout.htm
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20154644/environment-minister-threatens-to-fast-track-planning-rules
    NRT: National lets Shell drill illegally
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1411/S00331/stop-fracking-in-our-big-blue-backyard-frack-free-kapiti.htm
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/64377272/questions-remain-on-1080-risk-to-anglers
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11388336
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/65751239/department-of-conservation-revamp-badly-flawed
- BLiP 10.5
  11 February 2015 at 3:19 am
  ‘
  And here’s my list of what the police have been up to since the National Ltd™ Cult of John Key took over . . .
  05/12/08 – Wellington police officer Jason Manu Casson is discharged without conviction for stealing $90.
  11/12/08 – Another police chase, another crash.
  16/12/08 – Palmerston North police officer Timothy Hesketh, 27, who lied during investigations and showed no remorse was found guilty of breaking a prisoner’s neck yet escapes a jail sentence.
  09/02/09 – A police recruit escapes assault charges and is permitted to graduate with any sanction or note on his personal file. He first posting was South Auckland.
  11/02/09 – Lower Hutt police leave confidential documents behind after executing a search warrant putting witnesses at risk of gang violence and then fail to own up at a subsequent IPCA enquiry. The inquiry noted: “The conflicting accounts given by the two officers, and the facts that no officer has taken responsibility for the loss of the Operation Order and that the Police investigator has not been able to identify that officer, are undesirable. Whilst there is no evidence of criminal conduct in relation to the loss of the order, its loss does amount to misconduct.” The Mongrel Mob say they know who left the report behind but were never interviewed.
  17/03/09 – The IPCA criticises police for their continuing failure to develop procedures for the prompt drug and alcohol testing of officers involved in serious incidents.
  27/03/09 – A Christchurch officer broke a number of police protocols in the lead up to the fatal shooting of Stephen Bellingham. The IPCA finds that the unnamed officer: did not tell his communications controller he was going to the scene, nor did he advise them he was armed, failed to brief two other officers who were on their way to the scene so that he could tackle Bellingham with support, and, crucially, a dog patrol unit, which would have been a huge asset to the effort to contain Bellingham, was diverted to another crime.
  30/03/09 – Nelson police officer Anthony Dale Bridgman is convicted of two counts of dangerous driving after he pulled out in front of two motorcyclists, seriously injuring both.
  24/03/09 – Another police chase, another crash.
  19/05/09 – Head of the Police Prosecution Service Superintendent Graham Thomas steps down after it is revealed that he refused to undergo a breath test.
  29/05/09 IPCA states that Auckland Police officer Constable Aaron Holmes was breaking the law and ignoring official policy when he seriously injured innocent teenage Farhat Buksh.
  20/06/09 – An unnamed police officer is reprimanded for writing out the employment details of a driver on a speeding ticket as “kitchen bitch”.
  25/07/09 – Northland police run down two pedestrians, killing one and injuring another.
  15/08/09 – An Auckland constable is suspended after it was alledged that he leaked sensitive information to help a known criminal to avoid arrest. The unnamed officer was in a squad which targets “volume crime”, in particular burglaries, and had access to the police intelligence database.
  05/08/09 – Hamilton police tell a disabled man they are too busy to investigate the alleged theft of $1600.
  07/09/09 – Senior Instructor at the Porirua Police College, Detective Sergeant John Gualter, is convicted for drunk driving after being found to have an alcohol reading at more than twice the legal limit.
  09/09/09 – A Wellington man has his neck broken by a police baton while a party is being shut down.
  19/09/09 – Auckland police officer Constable Matt Hooper is charged with perverting the course of justice after attempting to make use of a legal loop hole to avoid drunk driving charges.
  26/09/09 – National Head of Police Professional Standards, Superintendent Jon Moss resigns after news of an affair he had with a junior colleague comes to light. Moss helped introduce the new “professional distance policy” last year which covers sexual conduct for officers with the public, victims of crime and work colleagues.
  28/09/09 – Masterton detective Sue Mackle goes public on the fact that police are failing to investigate hundreds of sexual abuse complaints in favour of focussing on property crimes because doing so makes the statistics look better.
  04/10/09 Revelations that a senior police was a paedophile and interfered with investigations into the activities of Bert Potter and the Centrepoint commune come to light.
  09/10/09 – Dunedin police fail to follow procedure and a prisoner is found dead in the cells when they finally get around to checking.
  09/10/09 – Nelson police officer Senior Constable Garry Dunn is sent to trial for assault after a two day depositions hearing was told he rammed a cyclist with his car and then pepper sprayed the man for not wearing a safety helmet.
  04/11/09 – Whakatane police prosecutor Adrian Hilterman was sentenced in Tauranga District Court today to 150 hours community work for assaulting his wife. He was convicted and discharged on three charges of assaulting his children. In the same court last month, he was found guilty of assaulting Deborah Hilterman, 37-years-old, by kicking her around the groin area between June 1 and June 29 last year at Whakatane. He was also found guilty of assaulting her in a car travelling from Auckland to Whakatane on June 30, 2007. He was discharged on 10 other charges of assaulting his wife, a Whakatane general practitioner.
  09/11/09 – Figures released under the Official Information Act show that half of all police officers charged with drunk driving are convicted.
  16/11/09 – Auckland police officers Patrick Garty, 32, and Wiremu Bowers-Rakatau, 21, charged with assault.
  21/11/09 – 51 police officers were disciplined in the year to date for a variety of things including turning up to work drunk, unlawfully using their police ID, assault, speeding, using excessive force, and inappropriate behaviour on duty.
  08/12/09 – Former constables Reuben James Harris and Benson Lyle Murphy are accused of making false statements in regard to the prosecution of a third officer who was charged with manslaughter. Harris and Murphy had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring to defeat the course of justice. Their jail sentence was subsequenrly quashed by a judge who refused to explain why.
  17/12/09 – Christchurch police officer Nathan Thorose Connolly is sent to jail for inducing sexual connection from the sex worker by means of a threat.
  19/12/09 – Another police chase, another crash.
  23/12/09 – The IPCA announces a nation wide investigation into how police are dealing with child abuse complaints, following on from revalations made public in November.
  05/01/10 – Police are filmed carrying out illegal road stops and searches.
  12/01/10 – Taranaki police are criticised by the IPCA for not preventing a drunk driver going on to kill three people when Hawera officers could have taken steps to immobilise the driver’s vehicle when they found it parked up outside a pub after a chase.
  19/01/10 – Two unnamed police officers fail in their duties resulting in the otherwise avoidable death of a Hamilton woman.
  22/01/10 – Rotorua District Court convicts an ex police officer for possession of child porn.
  23/01/10 – Two Papakura detectives charged with indecent exposure and offensive behaviour after a drunken escapade.
  31/01/10 Unnamed police officers are filmed putting the public at risk with a crazy display of dangerous driving at a school fair
  14/02/10 – Auckland High Court takes two minutes to throw out a murder charge brought by police who had used huge amounts of resources and dodgy investigation techniques to manufacture the arrest and 16-month incarcertation of an innocent man.
  16/02/10 – Christchurch police are slammed in a report for failing to adhere to policy during a chase which left an innocent bystander in hospital with horrific head injuries.
  20/02/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  21/02/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  26/02/10 – Innocent Auckland man, 62 year old Brett Abraham is admitted to hospital for weeks of treatment after being savaged by a police dog. The police dog handler left Mr Abraham alone, bleeding and crawling up the driveway to his home.
  28/02/10 – Christchurch police, despite a complaint of theft, failed to arrest a man who, the next day, committed murder. Police said at the time they were too busy to handle the theft complaint. Area police commander, Dave Cliff, refused to discuss the matter.
  01/03/10 – Union’s criticise a double-jeopardy situation produced by police circumventing privacy legislation in grubby deals with employers to ensure drink drivers are dealt to at work as well as in Court.
  01/03/10 – 1300 Police officers fail their fitness test.
  01/03/10 – Auckland police go to great lengths to keep the identity of the officer who shot to death innocent man Halatau Naitoko secret. His lawyers had earlier sought to deny justice by seeking to have the shooter exluded from attending the hearing at all.
  13/01/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  02/02/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  03/03/10 – Dunedin police reveal that they failed to follow up a possible sighting of missing British girl Madeline McCann after a local security guard’s approach to police was disregarded.
  04/03/10 – A man helping police is bitten by a police dog.
  05/03/10 – Invercargill District Court throws out an assault charge brought against a bus driver by local police after the driver was arrested for allegedly “assaulting” a child by stopping the child from assaulting another child on the bus.
  07/03/10 – Detective Sergeant Lloyd Schmid is investigated for encouraging a junoir staff member to have sex with an informant in order to gain additional information.
  14/03/10 – An unnamed senior police officer is accused of abusing his powers after a friend of his is held up at a check point when on the way to a sports match.
  18/03/10 – Police management refuse to name two officers being investigated for fraud.
  19/03/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  27/03/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  27/03/10 – Another police chase, another crash. Two in one day.
  31/03/10 – Senior police deny systemic faults played a part in the fact that Senior Constable Len Snee broken a number of rules in the lead up to him being shot by Napier gunman Jan Molenaar.
  1/04/10 – A police officer who works in a serious crash unit is under investigation for alleged drink-driving after he was reported for backing into a parked car.
  1/04/10 – Karl Walter Vincent, a North Otago police officer loses name supression in a case involving accusations of indecent assault.
  4/04/10 – Independent Police Complaints Authority Investigator Larry Reid describes a man who had his neck broken while in police custody as a “complete arsehole”.
  04/04/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  18/04/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  24/04/10 – Queenstown Police Sergeant Ian Collin, who prosecutes in the Queenstown and Alexandra district courts, was issued with an infringement notice and an instant 28-day suspension after being caught driving a police car at 149 kph.
  30/04/10 – Significant faults in the “Kahui Twins” police invesitgation are identified and which hampered both the defence and the prosecution teams.
  04/05/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  08/05/10 A three-year-old boy was mauled by a police dog at a kindergarten visit that was meant to teach the children about dog safety.
  14/05/10 – Police are found to have failed in their duty to protect after delaying the arrival of emergency medical staff to the scene of Navtej Singh’s fatal shooting.
  18/05/10 – A senior Wellington police officer receives name supression when appearing in court on assualt charges.
  21/05/10 A senior under cover police officer admits interfering with and removing objects from a murder scene. No disciplinary action follows.
  21/05/10 – An man helping police is bitten by a police dog.
  30/05/10 – A police officer’s vile on-line diary is investigated in the hope of identifying the officer concerned. All posts from the gpforums are deleted shortly thereafter.
  31/05/10 – An official information request shows that five police officers have been charged with drink driving over the previous 12 months, including a senior constable in the serious crash unit.
  05/06/10 – Constables Brenton David Rooney and Duncan Roy Hollebon are found guilty of assault after kicking a suspect already in custody.
  12/06/10 – Sergeant Jason Lamont gets to keep his job after being let off a drunk drive charge where he had been found to be one and a half times over the limit.
  20/06/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  23/06/10 Police are accused of improperly obtaining DNA samples from Maori.
  25/06/10 – Constables Patrick Garty and Wiremu Bowers Rakatau are convicted of assault.
  02/07/10 – Ex-Superintendent Jon Moss, the former head of “professional standards” faces new accusations of criminal behaviour.
  04/07/10 – Senior police deny a culture of violence exists in the force following the standing down of a fourth officer from one Auckland district for assault allegations.
  07/07/10 – Harsher laws for offences against police introduced but no requirement for harsher sentencing for police officers committing offences considered.
  10/07/10 – Police apologise after telling a woman she would have to wait two days for a follow-up to the burgalry of her house.
  10/07/10 – Two unnamed police officers to face charges for driving offences after crashing their police vehicles.
  10/07/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  29/07/10 – Armed police unnecessarily smash windows and fire ten tear gas cannisters into a house while searching for a suspect.
  29/07/10 – Gisborne police supress information in an effort to make the community feel safer.
  03/08/10 – a Mongrel Mob member and two associates walk free after a judge rules police acted unlawfully.
  06/08/10 – Police officers Keith Parsons, Erle Busby, John Mills, and Bruce Laing escape criminal conviction but are found to have used excessive force against a prisoner being held in Whakatane cells. The victim of the police violence subsequently received compensation.
  06/08/10 – Disbelief as the man responsible for tormenting Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui , former SIS director Richard Woods, is appointed to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) for to years.
  08/08/10 – Seedy details of a police officer’s secret life start to come to light after he is stabbed to death.
  20/08/10 – And unnamed police officer is stood down after being charged with multiple accounts of indecent assualt.
  24/08/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  25/08/10 – Police get special treatment in liquor licensing law changes.
  25/08/10 – Detective Inspector Dave Archibald who had been caught illegally accessing the police computer system to help the defence of convicted pack rapist Brad Shipton gets a promotion.
  26/08/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  04/09/10 – Coroner David Crerar finds that having an extra officer involved in a search of Jan Molenaar’s Napier home would have prevented the death of police officer Len Snee.
  17/09/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  19/09/10 – Armed police terrorise a couple for hours after raiding a house looking for a suspect who had moved out months ago, a simple fact police could easily have verified. An apology is given and $2000 spent on repairing damage caused by police in the raid.
  22/09/10 – Auckland police sergeant Martin James Folan is name as the officer charged with assaulting five prisoners over a three month period.
  01/09/10 – Police accused by lawyer of silencing dissent by arresting those who’s political views they disagreed with.
  23/09/10 – Oamaru police constable Karl Walter Vincent is found guilty of multiple counts of indecent assault.
  25/09/10 – Increasing concern expressed at rising number of fatalities due to police pursuit tactics.
  25/09/10 – Police pursuits for traffic offences result in 11 deaths in the nine months to September 2010.
  28/09/10 – Former Otago police officer Neil Ford is jailed for perjury.
  28/09/10 – Superintendent Bob Burns says that other officers were involved in covering up perjury and the wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice which is why it took five years to bring charges against only two officers.
  08/10/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  10/10/10 – Evidence given by two police officers is thrown out and the officers concerned are under investigation for failing to disclose information to a defence lawyer which would almost certainly have led to a not guilty finding.
  11/11/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  16/10/10 Veteran barrister Barry Hart details some of the history of a criminal culture within the New Zealand police force which goes back at least until the 1970s.
  19/10/10 – More evidence of endemic corruption in the New Zealand obfuscated.
  23/10/10 Superintendent Gary Smith gets promoted to a plum job despite a secret police report which states he acted unlawfully and totally mismanaged a complaint about the unlawful arrest of a justice of the peace. No charges have been laid.
  23/10/10 It is discovered that the Independent Police Conduct Authority has decided that a report which highlights illegal actions by police does not need to be published because it “is not in the public interest.
  27/10/10 – All Black coach Graham Henry gets let off a fine after being snapped travelling at over 30kmh above the speed limit.
  28/10/10 – Complaints of of “widespread police involvement” in local body electioneering in Manurewa and Papakura are being investigated by the police and the Independent Police Conduct Authority. The Authority never bothers to report back about this investigation.
  14/11/10 – The mother of a 12-year-old beaten by bullies is turned away from Christchurch Police station when she went to make a complaint because there were no officers on duty to deal with the matter.
  18/11/10 – Former police officer Dairne Olwen Cassidy gets home detention after being found guilty of wilfully attempting to pervert the course of jusitice.
  18/11/10 – Former police officer Anthony Dale Bridgman already notorious for another incident involving his dangerous driving of a police vehicle, is back in court again.
  30/10/10 – It is revealed that former Bay of Plenty district commander Gary Smith who was appointed to a senior role had previously been accused of sexual harrassment and a secret settlement of $20,000 paid out.
  04/12/10 – Another police chase, another crash.
  17/12/10 – Police are found to have failed to comply with rules regarding pursuits in case where the fleeing driver was seriously injured.
  17/12/10 Most crime in New Zealand goes unreported, a survey finds. Of those quizzed, 24 percent said they felt the police would not or could not be able to deal with the situation.
  20/12/10 – West Auckland police constables Alan Michael Douglas and Gareth John Needham are found guilty of assault. This is not the last the courts will hear of this pair.
  01/01/11 Bay of Plenty police refuse to reveal how many people were arrested during New Year celebrations.
  03/01/11 – Superintendent Ted Cox lies to a fellow officer after being pulled over for speeding on the Auckland southern motorway
  05/01/11 – Another police chase, another crash.
  07/01/11 Another “hurry up” issued to the police in regard to the culture change required as per the 2008 Bazley inquiry into police sexual misconduct.
  20/01/11 Another “hurry up”, this time from the State Services Commission is issued to the police in regard to the 2008 Bazley inquiry into police sexual misconduct.
  21/01/11 – Constable Raymond Dunbar is convicted of drunk driving.
  29/01/11 – Police National manager of youth services Superintendent Bill Harrison is under investigation for using police letterhead to lie in an effort to get out of a parking ticket.
  31/01/11 – Police are highlighted are persistent breakers of the do not drive while on the cell phone law.
  04/02/11 – Senior Constable Terry Beatson is found to have accessed the police computer system 17 times in order to assist his wife in a custody case against he ex-husband. Beatson gets to keep his job.
  18/02/11 – Detective Sergeant Mark McHattie is identified as having lied about a backlog of child abuse cases in the Wairarapa being cleared up.
  20/03/11 – Deputy Commissioner Viv Rickard failed to act for two months on allegations of criminal conduct by former police headquarters superintendent Jon Moss. An investigation was subsequently launched when the details were discovered.
  24/02/11 – Police are ordered to make an apology after being found to have released personal information containing untested factual allegations concering Tony Veitch to the media
  09/03/11 – Police are accused of assaulting a young autistic man who was then presented as the face of looting in Christchurch.
  09/03/11 – North Shore police use a taser to stop a protester.
  20/03/11 – Its revealed that Deputy Commissioner Viv Rickard did not act on allegations about a former colleague’s relationship with a senior civil servant which later led to a criminal investigation.
  29/03/11 – Start of the trail of Sergeant Martin James Folan who is subsequently found not guilty of assalt but who’s actions remain under investigation by the IPCA authority – two years later and nothing to show for it.
  16/04/11 – Police are under investigation for attempting to convince other officers not to testify against sergeant Martin Folan in an assault case.
  17/04/11 – Court actions against the police and corrections department come up against both political and institutional obstacles in what is described as a “David vs Goliath Battle for justice”.
  17/04/11 – Another police chase , another crash.
  17/04/11 Another innocent man sent to jail by dodgy police work finally receives compensation while the original case remains open and the police officers involved show little remorse or even interest in solving the case.
  06/05/11 – IPCA says rules were broken in police pursuit which ended in fatality but not action required or recommendations necessary.
  08/05/11 – Detective Sergeant Peter Govers is named as the officer responsible for sending two innocent men to jail. Govers keeps his job, even after subsequently being labelled as “reprehensible” for pressuring a female informant into giving him a blow job.
  09/05/11 – Constable Raymond John Dunbar loses appeal against his conviction for drunk driving.
  17/05/11 – Police officer Matthew Blythe fails in his bid to overturn a conviction for punching a very drunk suspect in the head as the man was being handcuffed by other officers.
  18/05/11 – Senior Constable Matthew Leslie Blythe loses an appeal in the Court of Appeal against a conviction for assault.
  26/05/11 – Former Detective Inspector Mark Franklin is arrested and charged with drug dealing in Rarotonga.
  31/05/11 – Nelson police arrest and charge a man for theft after he took pies out of a rubbish tin at the back of a petrol station. The owners of the petrol station had twice told police these did not want to press charges. The charges were withdrawn in court.
  16/06/11 An unnamed police officer found guilty of assault after punching a prisoner escapes conviction after a judge agrees that such a conviction would have effects out of all proportion.
  25/06/11 More evidence of historic and systematic police perjury surfaces.
  20/06/11 – Contables Alan Michael Douglas and Gareth John Needham are found guilty of assault.
  11/07/11 – Constable Jamie Anderson was driving on an unlit rural road and texting on his cellphone when he ran over a pedestrian. No problem says ICPA.
  11/07/11 – Unhappy with coverage of the police beating of an autistic man Christchurch Central Police Area Commander Inspector Derek Erasmus announce an investigation into TVNZ’s Sunday programme.
  18/07/11 – Another police chase, another crash.
  27/07/11 – Former police officer Neil Robert Ford gets an early release after being sent to jail for perjury.
  28/07/11 – Police employee Patrick Bruce Phipps is found guilty of charges of illegal possession of a Finnish Valmet semi-automatic rifle and a Czechoslovakian VZ58 fully automatic rifle.
  02/08/11 – Superintendent Ted Cox finally pays a $120 speeding ticket after first going through $8,000 of police budget trying to get out of it.
  13/08/11 – Senior Constable Michael Lenihan is fined $250 for careless use of a motor vehicle after doing a u-turn in front of motorcycle resulting in the death of the rider. Lenihan was acquited of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing injury
  22/08/11 – Police finally find a good enough reason to drop charges against am autistic man they had beaten and held in custody for stealing two light bulbs before charging him with looting after the Christchurch earthquake.
  24/08/11 – Hasting Senior Sergeant Luke Shadbolt says to the media about a missing girl “she is missing, but it’s not the story of the century. And if we had a major concern about the disappearance, we would have [issued] a media release about it”.
  05/09/11 Police drop charges against Tiki Taane after he was arrested for expressing his opinion on what police describe was a “misunderstanding”.
  25/08/11 – Detective Inspector Dave Archibald is promoted to a senior position despite his illegal searching of the police computer system for information to assist officers’ defence in a pack rape charge.
  13/09/11 – Police blunders at Pike River Mine subject to questioning at inquiry. Assistant police commissioner Grant Nicholls does his best.
  16/09/11 – Illegal actions of police in regard to Urewera detailed in a Supreme Court judgement that couldn’t previously be released.
  18/09/11 – Another police chase, another crash.
  20/09/11 – Police apologise for breach of privacy after faxing a confidential parenting order to media.
  25/09/11 Police get a caning from the Supreme Court for knowingly breaking to law to illegal gain evidence. No charges are ever laid and the government changes to law to cover the officers concerned.
  29/09/11 – New Zealand police officers are described as racist by visiting journalists here to cover the Rugby World Cup.
  04/10/11 – Police Inspector Turepu Keenan is snapped texting on his cellphone.
  09/10/11 – Another police chase, another crash.
  19/10/11 – Accusations that police are lying about security threats in order to get their residential properties improved.
  25/10/11 – Deputy Police Commissioner Rob Pope admits that he knew about the history of Superintendent Gary Smith who had previously been found to have acted illegally before he was later promoted to a plum police job.
  30/10/11 – Superintendent Gary Smith appointed to the plum London job had previously been accused of sexually harassing a female police employee.
  09/11/11 Police are accused for forcing an Indian woman suspected of being in the country illegally to sign documents.
  17/11/11 – Police staff are among those arrested in a drug swoop.
  17/11/11 – Former Nelson policeman Garry Dunn is found not guilty of two assaults but resigns from the police after having illegally accessed the police computer system to assist his defence in the case.
  21/11/11 Dozens of police officers face criminal charges according to details released under an official information request. Very few such cases appear to merit media coverage, it would seem.
  22/11/11 – Police officers are found to have broken pursuit rules in a fatal chase.
  16/12/11 – Police officers use excessive force in the unjustified arrest of a Christchurch man. District Commander Gary Knowles says the police will not apologise.
  22/01/12 Police officers arresting protesters at the Occupy event are filmed all wearing the same ID number in an orchestrated attempt to hide their identities and hamper the processing of any complaints about the actions of individual officers
  09/02/12 Chinese tourist Naiju Li lays complaint against the police alleging brutality in their arrest of the 56 year old woman. She suffered a dislocated elbow and required stitches to her face.
  02/02/12 – Police are filmed illegally closing a road to support the activities of a corporate
  09/02/12 – Police commence an investigation after a 65 year old deaf, mute man dies while in police custody.
  17/02/12 Police officer Karis Rewa Charnley makes her first appearance in court after being charged with lending her uniform to someone for use in the theft of a car. The charge Charnley was eventually dismissed after the judge described a “vacuum” in the evidence.
  02/02/12 – Police employee Darren Ian Hodgetts admits to providing a drug ring with access to the police computer system.
  03/03/12 – Police prosecutor Timothy John Russell Sarah pleads guilty to a representative charge of supplying methamphetamine, four specific charges of supplying the drug and one charge of dishonestly accessing the police computer – the National Intelligence Application.
  30/03/12 – Constable David Mear is found not guilty of assault . . . hmmmm.
  05/04/12 – Police officer Karis Charnley is charged with being a party to theft , being a party to impersonating a police officer and assault.
  11/04/12 – An unnamed police officer appears in court allegedly involved in a collision with another car after doing a U-turn in front of it has appeared in court, charged with careless driving. But the officer is likely to avoid conviction after being offered diversion.
  12/04/12 – A unnamed police officer was disciplined after giving false details to the Rotorua harbourmaster after being caught breaching a bylaw while riding a jetski on a lake.
  18/04/12 – Various protesters at the Glenn Innes evictions of tenants in government housing claim the police used excessive force
  15/04/12 – Detective Sergeant Rod Carpinter receives support after carrying out an illegal raid which was described by a judge as “consciously reckless”. Mr Carpinter was earlier criticised for his involvement in a drug bust in 2005 where his actions were also found to be “unreasonable and unlawful”.
  20/04/12 Superintendent Bill Harrison, one of the country’s top policemen, was found guilty of serious misconduct after accusations he used police letterhead to dodge a $200 parking fine. Superintendent Bill Harrison retired on May 17 last year, before an independent investigation was completed so no disciplinary action was taken.
  24/04/12 – Detective Senior Sergeant Mark McHattie who was at the centre of a major child-abuse cover-up has kept his job after a code-of-conduct investigation but police will not reveal the outcome of the long inquiry.
  29/04/12 – A Northland man who received paralysing neck injuries while in police custody is in a “bad way” after surgery and is struggling to breathe on his own, his parents say.
  03/05/12 – Constable David Mear returns to work after being found not guilty of using excessive force against a man who suffered a broken eye socket and cut to the head
  16/05/12 – An unnamed police officer resigned late last year after being investigated for theft in the aftermath of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
  04/06/12 – Police officer Gareth John Needham has lost his attempt to appeal his conviction for assault to the Supreme Court.
  25/06/12 – Police officer Marcus Guy Andrew Molnar is convicted of theft after admitted stealing cash and soft drinks from a bar at the police station on four separate occasions
  11/07/12 – National Crime Manager Detective Superintendent Rodney Drew defends the police force’s organised abuse of the court system by arranging the false arrest and court hearing of an undercover officer
  11/07/12 – Inspector Paul Dimery resigns and, in a parting shot, tells the media that the New Zealand police force is compromising front-line safety because it is being run like a business
  12/07/12 – Senior Constable Tony Andrews is found to have acted inappropriately due to a conflict of interest, and to have engaged incoercion and the breaching of privacy.
  14/07/12 – Another police chase, another crash – three dead, police failed to follow policy.
  28/07/12 – Another police chase, another crash
  07/08/12 – Senior Sergeant Rod Carpinter and Constable John Grantham escape criminal charges after having “materially misled” the court about a a drugs raid.
  14/08/12 – Police justifications for using anti-terrorist officers to raid Kim Dotcom’s home were partly based on claims the tycoon assaulted a former staff member with his stomach.
  24/08/12 – A police officer is filmed driving like a bloody idiot tail gating traffic on the open highway
  28/08/12 – New Zealand police have been praised by the White House for their role in the case against Kim Dotcom, but are keeping it secret.
  29/08/12 – An unnamed police officer appeared in court charged with <a href= appeared in court charged with illegal hunting. The officer appeared in the Blenheim District Court after earlier denying a charge of hunting deer and goats on land at Blue Mountain near Ward on April 17 without the authority of the property owner.
  17/09/12 – Senior Constable Sean Ramkissoon accuses senior police officers of conspiracy, corruption and dishonesty, and his employment grievance escalated to the Employment Court.
  22/09/12 – Details of the police force’s idiocy, excessive use of force, general illegality, and perjury in relation to the Kim Dotcom affairs starts to become public.
  25/09/12 – Police officer Jan Paul de Moor appears in court charged with assault
  25/09/12 – Its revealed that Police Commissioner Peter Marshall signed the indemnity order which accepts potential liability if Kim Dotcom lays a claim for damages, it has been confirmed.
  27/09/12 – The police are slated in the 2012 Ombudsman’s annual report to parliament after it topped the list of crown agencies ducking and diving official requests for information.
  29/09/12 – Police receive a rebuke in court for leaving three drunk men in a vehicle with the keys in the ignition. Judge David Saunders told police it was a recipe for disaster.
  29/09/12 – Police are heavily criticised for failing to abandon a pursuit that endangered the public and culminated in the deaths of two young men.
  03/10/12 – Two girls, aged 14 and 16, are arrested, denied contact with their family or a lawyer, strip searched, and held in a police cell for 36 hours . The 16 year old, who was nursing a baby, was forced to express breast milk into a cell sink.
  13/10/12 – Jakob Christie had his neck broken by a police baton more than three years ago. He is still waiting for the police to do something about it.
  14/10/12 – Detective Senior Sergeant Al Symonds ignores evidence and spends 18 months dragging an innocent man’s name through the mud only to have the case dismissed in minutes.
  16/10/12 – Police wait nine months after receiving instructions from the Minister before contacting a family to take formal criminal complaint
  18/10/12 – Few of the recommendations of a commission of inquiry into police conduct, concluded five years ago, have been fully implemented. Acting Police Commissioner Viv Rickard says he accepts the finding that more focus is needed on sexual assault investigations.
  19/10/12 – A report by the Office of the Auditor-General reveals an “unacceptable” level of inappropriate sexual behaviour within police and said improvements were still needed in training staff who were involved in adult sexual assault cases.
  20/10/12 – Police funding cuts have seen sex crime investigation courses slashed and firearms training reduced.
  21/10/12 – Increasing numbers of teenagers are being held in police custody for days, breaching United Nations protocols and sparking concern from human rights agencies. Child, Youth and Family statistics show the number of young people held for more than 24 hours in police cells almost trebled in the past three years.
  21/10/12 – Detective Sergeant Mark Keane and Detective Dale Forman were criticised in a stinging Independent Police Conduct Authority report for failing to fully investigate claims that Tineke Foley had been raped by a male nurse at a Christchurch mental health facility.
  23/10/12 – Police are found to be breaching basic human rights in the practises employed in the detention of young people in police cells. A review is called for, no action is taken.
  25/10/12 – A police blunder results in four alleged Chinese people smugglers being awarded a $2000 payout.
  02/11/12 – Police ignore three 111 calls to respond to an accident.
  08/11/12 – Morrinsville Police Officer, Constable Shaan Stevens, is convicted of stealing $200 from a wallet handed in to lost and found.
  12/11/12 – Another police chase, another crash.
  19/11/12 – Detective Jamie Woods is caught out providing a transcript containing “mistakes” as part of an application for a search warrant to intercept the phone calls and emails of senior Switched on Gardener staff.
  19/11/12 – Constable Gary Neil Morgan of the North Shore Police strategic traffic unit is charged with careless driving after he crashed his patrol car into a tree.
  28/11/12 – A convicted drug dealer is freed on bail pending an appeal because police involved in an investigation were found to have acted corruptly following a staged search for evidence against an undercover officer.
  21/12/12 – Mikayla Paul is found guilty of assaulting a woman may yet be discharged without conviction.
  22/12/12 – Police go over the top in protecting John Key from having to keep his word about buying a Christmas dinner for two Wellington men.
  24/12/12 – A Hawkes Bay family is left shocked and upset with the treatment they received from police after an officer smashed their windscreen with his torch at a drink-drive checkpoint this week.
  15/01/13 – Constable Perry Griffin is accused of excessive use of force after making an arrest.
  20/01/13 – After cut backs in fire arms training, almost 1000 new gun safes are removed from police cars because of potential security issues, just months after they were rolled out across the fleet.
  31/01/13 – An unnamed police officer who was sacked for using excessive force loses his case for unjustified dismissal.
  06/02/13 – Another police chase, another death
  11/02/13 – A fifteen year old girl lays an assualt complaint against police after being left bloodied and brusied when police were breaking up a party.
  15/02/13 – An unnamed police officer admits receiving money from people who had criminal charges against them dropped. At the request of defence counsel Pip Hall, Judge Brian Callaghan did not enter convictions because the defence wants to argue for a discharge without conviction.
  20/02/13 – The Independent Police Conduct Authority promises to try harder after being found out for unnecessarily keeping reports secret.
  21/02/13 – A police blunder in a major drugs investigation has revealed the identity of confidential informants and undercover officers and their secret intelligence-gathering techniques.
  23/02/13 – A former undercover officer comes clean about spying on protest groups, environmental organisations and trade unions.
  23/02/13 – The IPCA finds that police could have prevented a murder had they acted earlier on information received.
  01/03/13 – Hundreds of police officers across the country are withdrawn from the front line and told not to interact with the public, after failing a key fitness test
  03/03/13 – Another police chase, another accident.
  10/03/13 – Police officers who deliberately faked their uniform badge numbers to avoid being identified as they weighed into a violent public protest will keep their jobs and won’t be investigated by the force’s watchdog.
  16/03/13 – The police attempt to silence a retired officer for speaking to the media about the Teina Pora case.
  16/03/13 – Another police chase, another crash
  27/03/13 – Police still need time to introduce changes identified as necessary six years earlier following an investigation in its culture and practises.
  27/03/13 – About 20 people protest outside Masterton police station over claims young people have been mistreated during arrest. The protesters included two teenagers who alleged they had bones broken while being arrested.
  09/0
  - BLiP 10.5.1
    11 February 2015 at 3:21 am
    . . . continued from above:
    09/04/13 – An analysis of police statistics highlight the fact that Maori youth are far more likely to go to court after an arrest than pakeha youth.
    13/04/13 – Another police chase, another crash
    13/04/13 – More on the orchestrated miscarriage of justice in the Teina Pora case.
    15/04/13 – Retiring Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward says police officers are leaving the force in droves, frustrated with the “budgets, the judiciary, new systems in place alienating the community and traffic taking precedence over everything,”
    17/04/13 – Police admit to “dropping the ball” by failing to pay more than $5000 in rent to a tiny Christchurch community group run by volunteers and war veterans.
    20/04/13 – Former drug squad detective Ernest Langford escapes jail after being found guilty of stealing thousands of dollars from a police safe and colleagues desk. Charges involving the theft of thousands of more dollars were dropped.
    21/04/13 – Comments by Constable Paul Sharples about judges results in Auckland’s top police officer making an apology and starting an investigation into the way Sharples handled the case.
    24/04/13 – Police sergeant Blair Donaldson pleads guilty to careless driving. Magistrate Ngaire Mascelle say a conviction would outweigh the severity of the offence and discharged Donaldson without conviction.
    05/05/13 – The Independent Police Conduct Authority has received two complaints about the nation’s second-highest-ranking police officer, Mike Bush – but it will not be taking any action . The complaints were in response to Bush’s comments at the funeral of former police officer Bruce Hutton, a detective who was found to have planted evidence used to wrongfully convict Arthur Allan Thomas of murder.
    09/05/13 – Another police chase, another crash.
    17/05/13 – Police officer Peter Pakau appears in court on a raft of drug charges.
    12/05/13 – Another police chase, another crash.
    21/05/13 – an unnamed police officer appears in court accused of asking for sexual favours in return for not prosecuting a motorist on a driving charge.
    06/06/13 – Police refuse to engage with a lawyer representing teenagers seeking discussions about possible compensation.
    18/06/13 – Hastings police officer, Adam Dunnett, 37, charged with indecently assaulting five women from a Hawke’s Bay surf club loses his bid to keep his identity suppressed.
    08/07/13 – An investigation is begun after an unnamed police officer is accused of assault.
    09/07/13 – Another police chase, another crash.
    24/07/13 – Two expert reports about an incident in which a wedding guest was run over on a Waikato road were ignored by a police crash analyst, a coroner’s inquest has been told.
    04/08/13 – Lawyers are demanding a review of how police intercept private communications after a photo-journalist’s cellphone logs and messages, including exchanges with a lawyer, were obtained in and inquiry instigated by the PM.
    05/08/13 – Police officer Dugal Matheson is slammed by a judge and convicted for dragging his former partner around by her hair and “manhandling” her son.
    07/08/13 – Police officer Lotovale Ulufafo Solofa Perese appears in court charged with a variety of offences involving the smuggling of contraband for delivery to people being held in police cells.
    12/08/13 – Detective Sergeant Mike Blowers appears in court charged with supplying methamphetamine and cannabis.
    16/08/13 – Police have accidentally shot a man as he lay on the floor of a Hastings house while being taken into custody this afternoon.
    18/08/13 – Concerns are raised after police do not lay charges against a care giver who locked an austic man in a flat and who later died in a fire at the property.
    23/08/13 – An unnamed Waitakere police dog handler twice used excessive and unlawful force.
    27/08/13 – Police breach confidentiality agreement concerning compensation paid to the mother of Halatau Naitoko.
    29/08/13 – The police decide to take no action of illegal spying.
    31/08/13 – Police carrying out a “cold case” investigation of the Crewe murders demand an alibi from Arthur Thomas and members of his family.
    04/09/13 – Officers working in OFCANZ fear internal reprisals if they were to tell police bosses about inappropriate conduct.
    07/09/13 – Casual racism, ignorance, disrespect and insensitivity on the part of the police when dealing with the family of a murder victim exacerbate their grief.
    09/09/13 – A sober woman left stranded in a pub car park in the early hours after police confiscated her car keys was raped shortly afterwards.
    15/09/13 – The family of Danielle King, 15, claim she was “thrown around like a rag doll” by officers breaking up a party.
    15/09/13 – Police are being slammed for a “monumental blunder” in which they searched and damaged an Auckland family’s home in the hunt for a man who brutally bashed a police officer – but they were at the wrong house.
    15/09/13 – Hawkes Bay police leaving the force in droves amid a “draconian climate” after a regional restructure .
    19/09/13 – Inspector Richard Wilkie is discharged without conviction for assaulting two teen agers.
    21/09/13 – Police have agreed to pay a Southland farmer $14,000 in damages and costs after armed officers entered his property without permission and, in a resulting tussle, pepper-sprayed him, punched him in the face and Tasered him while he was handcuffed.
    22/09/13 – Road safety data being submitted by the public is being ignored by the police.
    24/09/13 – It is revealed that police have not investigated the February 2011 death of a man in custody and have still not completed an investigation into another death of a man in custody dating back to October 2010.
    28/09/13 – The detective who blew the whistle on his alleged drug-dealing boss was removed from his squad and investigated before senior police took his concerns seriously.
    28/09/13 – Central District commander Superintendent Russell Gibson, in a letter to convicted child rapist Robin Peter Abraham’s wife, described one of the rape victims as a willing party to the sexual abuse.
    29/09/13 – A martial arts black belt who became a morphine-dependent invalid after a beating by Senior Sergeant Ron Greatorex , has won a five-year battle for compensation. Greatorex has never been charged and still works as a senior-ranking police officer in Christchurch.
    10/10/13 – Police Association president Greg O’Connor says most complaints made against the police are from “perennial complainers who complain about everything to everyone”.
    13/10/13 – Another police chase, another accident, this one resulting in serious injuries. The IPCA finds that the police should have called off the chase well before the accident took place.
    17/10/13 – No apology and no charges after police who broke a man’s neck are found to have used excessive force.
    17/10/13 – Police prosecutor Brent William Thomson pleads guilty to possession and use of methamphetamine and cannabis.
    17/10/13 – Another police chase, another crash.
    20/10/13 – It is proved in the Privvy Council that police use dodgy evidence and failed to provide all information to the defence in the Mark Lundy case.
    06/11/13 – Police admit to having lied to the public about not receiving any complaints in relation to the Roast Buster case.
    08/11/13 – Police threaten a blogger in an effort to stifle public discussion surrounding its own inaction and mendacity concerning the RoastBuster rapes.
    18/11/13 – Senior Constable Gordon Stanley Meyer pleads guilty to bribery, corruption, and sexual assault.
    18/11/13 – Police officers Brent Liddle and Gerard Russell are convicted of assault but discharged without conviction.
    18/11/13 – Police Senior Constable Gordon Stanley Meyer pleads guilty to bribery, corruption and indecent assult. Another unnamed police officer was also investigated but no charges were laid.
    19/11/13 – Police Senior Constable Keith Rose pleads guilty to assault after grabbing a referee around the throat.
    20/11/13 – An innocent man is mauled by a police dog.
    22/11/13 – Police Sergeant Brent English is investigated after a junior police officer complains that he made a lewd suggestion and exposed his penis to her.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/229037/police-accused-of-double-standards-by-greens
    05/12/13 – police refuse to explain how a dangerous criminal escaped from Dunedin Police Station.
    11/12/13 – Sergeant James Casson takes a case to the Employment Relations Authority claiming he was subject to “bullying and threatening behaviour” by members of the Hamilton police management who had “closed ranks” against him.
    11/12/13 Tasman district police are ordered by the Emplyment Relations Authority to re-hire its business services manager after finding his redundancy was invalid. Derek Coffey had worked for police for 23 years before losing his job in February as part of a nationwide police restructure.
    The ERA found his redundancy was invalid and he was unjustifiably disadvantaged by police’s failure to redeploy him to an available suitable position.
    11/12/13 – Police Commissioner Peter Marshall admitted to police failings in the “Roast Busters” case before going on to say that a drop in the public confidence of the police from 82 percent to 76 percent wasn’t much of a change.
    13/12/13 – Police Constable Tako Cocker is arrested and suspended from duty after being arrested in Auckland for allegedly damaging a taxi side mirror after a dispute over the fare.
    20/12/13 – A group of Christchurch police officers are threaten to sue Police Commissioner Peter Marshall for defamation over comments made about leadership at the Christchurch South Station where corrupt ex-cop Gordon Stanley Meyer worked.
    17/01/14 – Christchurch Police officer Trevor Hinkley is convicted then discharged after pleading guilty to stealing $2750 meant to go to a victim support organisation.
    22/01/14 – Christchurch District Police Commander Gary Knowles is expected to make an apology to a man arrested in November 2011 when the arresting officers were found to have used excessive force leaving an innocent man bruised and humiliated.
    19/02/14 – Police use $12 million of funds set aside for crime fighting to pay for redunancies.
    23/03/14 – Queenstown police are accused of closing ranks to protect an officer caught on CCTV assaulting a taxi driver.
    04/04/14 – Former Police officer Timothy Phillip Hartnell is charged with assault following an incident when he was working as an officer.
    14/04/14 – Another police chase, another serious injury.
    24/04/14 – Police refuse to answer an Official Information Act request for details about a government minister interfering in a criminal investigation on the grounds of “maintenance of the law”.
    01/05/14 – Another police chase, another serious injury.
    01/05/14 – Greymouth police sergeant Matthew Charles Frost who had nine drinks before crashing his car on a West Coast country road was convicted of careless driving but let off without punishment.
    02/05/14 – Detective Inspector Mark Gutry resigns from the police before an employment investigation into the circumstances leading to him escaping charges in relation to a criminal sex complaint.
    03/05/14 – It becomes apparent Superintendent John Tims buckled to political pressure in January 2014 after receiving a phone call from a government Minister requesting that a domestic violence prosecution be subject to review. Police National Head Quarters claims to have not been advised of the political interference until two months later when an Official Information request was made by media. Police National Head Quarters did not advise the Minister of Police about the situation until 28 April 2014.
    04/05/14 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11249346 <— katie bradford says police family relationship political preferemces
    08/05/14 – Police are found to have acted unlawfully in a ”disrespectful and degrading” breach of human rights when hundreds of New Zealanders taking part in a charity event to raise money for the Christchurch earthquake appeal were unlawfully detained.
    24/05/14 – It is revealed that two Auckland police staff allegedly filmed themselves in a sex act during work hours and sent the footage to a junior colleague as an invitation to join them.
    05/06/14 – Another police chase, another crash
    18/06/14 – Another police chase, another fatality.
    22/06/14 – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11279057
    26/06/14 – Another police chase another fatality
    04/07/14 – Detective Inspector Chris Page admits that a murder could have been prevented were it not for a series of errors by the police.
    08/07/14 – Police apologise for failing to tell the mother of a child assault victim about their decision to downgrade the charge.
    08/07/14 – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/10241968/Victims-mum-angered-by-leniency-towards-assailant
    09/07/14 – Another police chase, another accident resulting in serious injury.
    14/07/14 – It is revealed that Counties Manukau Police have been “cooking the books” with statistics to make it look like burgalry crimes have reduced.
    17/07/14 – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/10275505/Marae-angry-at-cops-waking-kids
    18/07/14 – A coroner has criticised the actions of police officers who confronted an armed man, saying their mistakes had a snow-balling effect that ended in him being shot dead.
    29/07/14 – A woman who drove straight to Whangarei police station to report an attempted carjacking was told to ring 111 to get a police officer to attend.
    05/08/14 – Detective Benjamin Joel admits in court that police bungled the collection of evidence which was subsequently lost before a murder trial.
    10/08/14 – Drug dealers, burglars and drink-drivers have walked free after a police botch-up led to officers carrying out illegal investigations. This is the third time the same botch up has occurred.
    14/08/14 – http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20145719
    15/08/14 – Police pay a pittance in compensation to a women who spent $100,000 to find evidence evidence of murder that police ignored.
    15/08/14 – another police chase, another fatality.
    15/08/14 – It is revealed that police ignored an IPCA instruction to carry out a conciliation meeting.
    17/08/14 – Police apologise to a woman for the second time after botching a domestic violence case. The latest apology was for the assigned police presecutor not turning up in Court for a hearing which resulted in the assailant receiving a second discharge without conviction after having plead guilty to breaching a protection order.
    18/08/14 – Former police officer Timothy Phillip Hartnell was discharged without conviction on an assault charge relating to him handcuffing a child for riding a bicycle on a footpath.
    28/08/14 – it is found that police officers repeatedly broke the law and used unjustified excessive force when shutting down parties.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20147968
    04/09/14 – Police Constable Setu Pio has his conviction for assaulting a pregnant woman overturned.
    08/09/14 – Queenstown Police Constable Jenny McNee, 44, was found guilty of using offensive language in a racist tirade against Malaysian-born taxi driver Ganesh Paramanathan while arguing over a fare. McNee was discharged without conviction.
    25/09/14 – New Zealand police provided incorrect statistical information to Minister Anne Tolley to bolster moves to give police more powers.
    28/09/14 – It is revealed that Manukau District Commander, Superintendent John Tims, instructed staff to not respond to a journalist’s OIA request about the fraudulent nature of the area’s reported crime statistics.
    01/10/14 – Lower Hutt police are slammed by the coroner for taking more than seven months to interview a man who supplied alcohol to a teen found dead the next morning from alcohol poisoning.
    02/10/14 – It is revealed that a Christchurch police officer ignored two instructions to abandon a chase which posed an unjustified risk to members of the public and which resulted in the death of a 15-year-old.
    09/10/14 – It is revealed that two Timaru police officers, acting in collusion with a police prosecutor and an Area Commander, committed perjury.
    09/10/14 – Nearly three years after the original incident, <a href= http://www.ipca.govt.nz/Site/media/2014/2014-Oct-09-Arrest-and-Prosecution-of-Troy-Reuben.aspx< an unnamed Timaru police officer is found to have used excessive force by shooting a man with a taser in a manner which was disproportionate to the perceived threat.
    11/10/14 – It is revealed that police spent more than three years covering up the fact that illegal drugs were being stolen by police from the Huntly station’s evidence safe.
    05/11/14 – Another police chase, another accident resulting in serious injury
    09/11/14 – An unnamed Counties Manukau District police constable is disciplined for flirting with a rape complainant he met at a party.
    09/11/14 – Two Auckland Central police officers Sergeant Neil Barton and Jo Barton resign before an investigation into them filming themselves in a sex act is completed.
    12/11/14 – Police confirm that yet another officer from Central Otago is under investigation. Police would not confirm the name of the officer nor details of what the investigation was looking into. The investigation comes hard on the heels of a series of investigations involving officers in the Central Otago/Lakes District.
    16/11/14 – Recruits at the Police Training College are stood down pending investigations of bullying.
    20/11/14 – More people are being killed each year as a result of police pursuits.
    20/11/14 – Another police chase another accident resulting in serious injuries. The IPCA finds that various unnamed officers failed to follow police policy and one officer broke the law during the chase.
    25/11/14 – Another police chase, another crash, this time five people hospitalised.
    27/11/14 – Another police chase another accident, this time leaving an uninvolved, innocent man with serious injuries. The IPCA finds that an unnamed police officer failed to comply with policy in relation to communication and site selection during the first attempted deployment of the road spikes. He also failed to comply with Police policy in relation to communication during the second attempted deployment of the road spikes. The IPCA noted: “The haphazard nature of both attempted deployments placed [the officer], Police staff and other road users at risk of harm.
    28/11/14 – Police officer Peter Pakau is sentenced to eight years jail on a raft of charges including drug dealing.
    02/12/14 – An unnamed Cromwell police officer is charged with assault after an investigation into an allegation of excessive force at the Cromwell police station
    03/12/14 – Flaxmere Police Constable Shane Greville charged with dangerous driving causing injury after an accident in September.
    04/12/14 – The public’s trust and confidence in the performance of the police has dropped. Acting Deputy Commissioner Grant Nicholls said the results were pleasing.
    11/12/14 – Two Central Otago teenagers receive letters of apology from the district’s highest-ranking police officer for the unacceptable actions of some police officers earlier this year. The one and a-half page letters, which were written and hand-delivered by Central Otago sub-area supervisor Senior Sergeant Ian Kerrisk last month, relate to a series of incidents – where the teenagers were falsely accused of committing petty crimes, and the subsequent unprofessional treatment and alleged harassment of the teenagers – over a period of time several months ago.
    11/12/14 – An unnamed Tauranga police officer is found to have used excessive force when choking a mentally ill 14-year old boy.
    12/12/14 – A Central Otago Senior Constable admits in court to using a police-issued iPhone to make an intimate visual recording of a teenager drying herself after taking a shower.
    21/12/14 – The police cover up the fact that National Party MP and former police officer Mike Sabin is being investigated for assault.
    10/01/15 – Hamilton police officer, Senior Constable Keith Ralph Paul Day, pleads guilty to multiple thefts from his station’s exhibit room and lost and found section.
    15/01/15 – South Island police are criticised for dragging their heels in a homicide investigation into the death of an infant.
    15/01/15 – An unnamed Marlborough police officer is suspected being at fault when the police car he/she was driving was involved in an accident.
    16/01/15 – A young couple and a police officer escape serious injury when the police officer pulled out into traffic on State Highway One without looking.
    19/01/15 – 100 people protested outside the Whakatane police station after an unnamed local constable escaped both criminal charges and internal disciplinary procedures after admitting he had shot a dog which wandered onto his property with a crossbow. The bolt struck the dog on the left side of its chest but missed vital organs. In agony for hours at the time and in discomfort for months after being shot by the police constable, the dog has since made a full recovery.
    22/01/15 – An unnamed Tauranga police officer was found to have failed to call a medical practitioner to assess a man who was bleeding from the mouth, nose and eyes after being involved in a bar fight and then, during his arrest, punched in the head several times by another officer. Various other procedural errors were made regarding the man’s arrest but an allegation by the man of excessive force by the police was not believed by the IPCA.
    02/02/15 – Auckland police officers are shown to be hypocrites when it comes to speeding.
    05/02/15 – Another police chase another accident. This time, the officer involved in the chase is found to have unjustifiably engaged in dangerous driving when pursuing a fleeing driver up the wrong side of the motorway, State Highway 1, near Tawa.
    - Rosie 10.5.1.1
      11 February 2015 at 10:51 am
      Phew! Right! I have just picked myself up off the floor after going through that tsunami of despair.
      You have my utmost respect for the work you have done BLiP.
      What has always struck me about your lists, apart from the bare faced key lies, is the pattern of of deceit that has woven itself throughout Key’s reign. He misleads and bluffs his way through his role as leader. He has always spoken from the position of a man whose values are constantly shifting to suit his own agenda and self advancement.
      He has no moral integrity.
      Your Chronicles illustrate his poor morality and his absolute lack of suitability to be a leader of a democracy. He will never get above level one (pre conventional, parts one and two) on Kohlberg’s scale:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg%27s_stages_of_moral_development
      Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
      1. Obedience and punishment orientation
      (How can I avoid punishment?)
      2. Self-interest orientation
      (What’s in it for me?)
      (Paying for a benefit)
      Level 2 (Conventional)
      3. Interpersonal accord and conformity
      (Social norms)
      (The good boy/girl attitude)
      4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
      (Law and order morality)
      Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
      5. Social contract orientation
      6. Universal ethical principles
      (Principled conscience)
      Back to The Book. Your master list perhaps could be broken up into areas of lies and deception: Economic, Misleading the House, Opposition politicians and their supporters, Employment, Public Service, Ministerial services and Promises to the public (eg, we won’t raise GST, etc) The environment cache of lies could be a part two.
      At this stage The Book is just an idea. Brand Key is holding up the government and NZer’s need to know what they voted for is nothing more than a brand. A product created by a PR company. A false leader. Exposing Key for what he really his, a lier, could be one way to wake people up. The media is like zopiclone to the public, keeping us dosy and sleepy. That’s why I thought it might be good to do some shaking and shouting…………
      I have no idea what happens next or if anything will happen at all………..
  - Morrissey 10.5.2
    11 February 2015 at 9:38 pm
    16/12/08 – Palmerston North police officer Timothy Hesketh, 27, who lied during investigations and showed no remorse was found guilty of breaking a prisoner’s neck yet escapes a jail sentence.
    Is he any relation of the disgraced judge Robert Hesketh?
phillip ure 11
10 February 2015 at 9:13 am
“..The Latest Cannabis Science You Need to Know..”
(excerpt..)
..’Five new cannabis-centric studies warrant major attention..
The study is not the first time that researchers have identified an inverse association between marijuana use and the development of cancer.
In 2009 Brown University researchers similarly reported that the moderate long-term use of marijuana was associated with a reduced risk of head and neck cancers – in a multi-center cohort involving over 1,000 subjects.
In addition the largest case-controlled study ever to investigate the respiratory effects of marijuana smoking – found no positive association between inhaling pot and lung cancer risk.
‘We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer –
– and that the association would be more positive with heavier use’ pulmonologist Dr. Donald Tashkin – Professor Emeritus at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA told The Washington Post.
‘What we found instead was no association at all –
– and even a suggestion of some protective effect’.
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/latest-cannabis-science-need-know
- phillip ure 11.1
  10 February 2015 at 10:10 am
  (and in related news..)
  “..Marijuana in Jamaica: Possession of up to two ounces decriminalised on Bob Marley’s birthday..
  ..Possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use has been decriminalised in Jamaica.
  Bob Marley – who died aged 36 – would have been 70-years-old..”
  (cont..)
  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/marijuana-in-jamaica-possession-of-up-to-two-ounces-decriminalised-on-bob-marleys-birthday-10034299.html
  - vto 11.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 10:25 am
    Is two ounces a ‘small amount’ Phil? Sounds like heaps to me
    - phillip ure 11.1.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 10:41 am
      in times past that wd have lasted me about two days..
      ..then i used to roll very large spliffs..(usually laced with hash..)
      ..and in fact..was known for the quality of my ‘joints’/joint-rolling..and yes..!..a filter..always..!..
      ..standards had to be maintained..
      ..nowadays when/if i smoke..it is from a very small pipe…and very small amounts..
      ..two ounces wd keep me going for yoinks..
      ..and yes..it is a reasonable amount..
      ..it’ll do..
      (i actually went to jamaica to break a crack-habit..
      ..and yes..i hooked up with vego-rastafari..
      ..and smoked shedloads of ganga to ease me thru the crack-withdrawals..)
      - vto 11.1.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 10:49 am
        hmmmm interesting….. did you find you needed more as time passed and your body / mind got used to it? i.e. you needed increasing amounts for the same hit? (within the context of either big fatties or small pipettos
        phillip ure 11.1.1.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 10:53 am
        no..not really..
        ..sure..a tolerance wd build..
        ..but that effect from smoking more depends on the quality of the pot…
        ..not the amount..
        ..’cos if the pot is crap..u can chainsmoke it and get no higher..
        ..it is different from booze in that way..’cos even the cheapest/nastiest alcohol will get u drunk…
        ..cheap/nasty pot won’t get u high..
- tricledrown 11.2
  10 February 2015 at 10:12 am
  Canterbury and Otago longtitudinal studies show otherwise.
  These studies have been published in Lancet unlike your study phil!
  which are published in a pro marjuana magazine.
  Smoking very “high”temperature substances damages airways and lungs!
  Ingested eating cannibis may be safe when not driving or working!
  Get real Phil every drug has drawbacks to Deny that is making your argument weaker!
  - phillip ure 11.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 10:33 am
    i repeat:..
    ..”..In addition the largest case-controlled study ever to investigate the respiratory effects of marijuana smoking – found no positive association between inhaling pot and lung cancer risk..
    ..and even a suggestion of some protective effect’..”
    what do you find so hard to understand about a study from the med-school @ ucla..?
    ..where the scientists/doctors had that same expectation you cite as fact..
    ..”..Smoking very “high”temperature substances damages airways and lungs!..”
    (exclamation-mark and all..)
    ..and were confounded to instead find:
    ‘What we found instead was no association at all..’
    w.t.f. do u find so hard to understand about that..?
    ..and yr ‘pot-magazine’ attempt to discredit the credibility of that study..
    ..is just fucken farcical..
    ..(and no..exclamation-marks don’t necessarily make it so.. eh..?..)
    - phillip ure 11.2.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 11:00 am
      and as anecdotal-evidence..i had a check-up about a year ago..
      ..and lung-function was tested..
      ..as you may think..i was keen/curious to hear the results..
      ..and to my surprise/delight..
      ..i was told i ‘have the lungs of a young man’..
      ..make of that what u will..
joe90 12
10 February 2015 at 9:55 am
Ms England knows why these pictures haven’t been published.
To all of us who have been charged, we all agree that we don’t feel like we were doing things that we weren’t supposed to, because we were told to do them. We think everything was justified, because we were instructed to do this and to do that.
– Lynndie England
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/05/line-sand-fight-release-thousands-photos-prisoner-abuse/
- Colonial Rawshark 12.1
  10 February 2015 at 11:22 am
  Echoes of what SS officers and other defendants said at the Nuremberg trials.
  People willingly giving up their moral agency to do the inhumane, while “just following orders.”
  - joe90 12.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 11:45 am
    People willingly giving up their moral agency to do the inhumane, while “just following orders.”
    That’ s why I cited Lynndie England because IMO it could well be the real reason behind the refusal to publish all of the images when the Ahbu Gahrib chain of command apparently stopped at the rank of staff sergeant.
    No commanding officers were prosecuted yet subsequent reports detailed the use of stress positions, humiliation, hooding, and rectal feeding as legitimate interrogation techniques.
adam 13
10 February 2015 at 10:07 am
Love these Guys. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Great report on Swiss Leaks and very dodgy outfit HSBC
http://www.icij.org/project/swiss-leaks/banking-giant-hsbc-sheltered-murky-cash-linked-dictators-and-arms-dealers?utm_campaign=swiss_leaks&utm_source=appeal&utm_medium=button_middle&goal=0_ffd1d0160d-b4353af741-100020097&mc_cid=b4353af741&mc_eid=c346e018f7
- Molly 13.1
  10 February 2015 at 10:23 am
  …. and the journalists include Nicky Hager working on some interesting stories at the moment.
adam 14
10 February 2015 at 10:10 am
And some good news
Strikes and actions from around the globe.
http://libcom.org/news/s%C3%A3o-paulo-ongoing-demonstrations-against-transit-fare-hikes-09022015
http://libcom.org/blog/lsse-struggle-next-stop-drapers-09022015
Philip Ferguson 15
10 February 2015 at 10:20 am
“State capitalism is usually described as an economic system in which commercial (i.e. for-profit) economic activity is undertaken by the state, with management and organization of the means of production in a capitalist manner, including the system of capital accumulation, wage labor, and centralized management.” – Wikipedia
While the Wikipedia writer understands that state capitalism is a form of capitalism, this is not well understood on the New Zealand left. Much of this left, for instance, supports capitalism if the capitalist company is owned fully by the capitalist state. This left campaigned in favour of such ownership in the referendum on whether the government should be able to sell 49% of shares in a number of State-Owned Enterprises.
But from the standpoint of the material interests of workers, how is being exploited by a company, functioning as a fully capitalist company, owned by the state preferable to being exploited by one 49% privately-owned, or even 100% privately-owned? Workers are no better off materially. In fact, when the state itself functions as a capitalist company it is more thorough – and more powerful – as the boss.
The widespread left support for state capitalism in New Zealand also acts to disorient workers and retard the development of any meaningful class consciousness. It reinforces illusions in the nature of the state and of capitalism where the state itself acts as the personification of capital.
SOEs: corporatised business as usual: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/soes-corporatised-business-as-usual/
“Our asset” lays off 125, threatens more: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/our-asset-lays-off-125-threatens-more/
What Solid Energy and Mainzeal reveal about private and state capitalism: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/neither-private-capitalism-nor-state-capitalism-but-workers-power-what-solid-energy-and-mainzeal-reveal-2/
State companies, capitalism and the left: a Marxist view: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/state-companies-capitalism-and-the-left-a-marxist-view/
Phil
- Colonial Rawshark 15.1
  10 February 2015 at 11:24 am
  Singapore and China uses state capitalism to accomplish strategic objectives to strengthen their nation’s capabilities and potential. NZ uses state capitalism to extract more money from its citizens.
  - Draco T Bastard 15.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 12:36 pm
    +1
  - Philip Ferguson 15.1.2
    10 February 2015 at 9:16 pm
    I was always amused when neoliberals held up the Asian Tigers as models for the NZ economy. They were all built with not only massive state intervention in the economy but a sizeable amount of state planning.
    I wrote a study of the Japanese case back in 1994: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/japan-and-the-new-world-order-1-from-postwar-take-off-to-stagnation-1945-1994/
    One of the other amusing things in relation to the neolibs was all the Asian tigers, even the tiny places like Hong Kong and Singapore, built on an industrial base whereas the neolibs wiped out much of the industrial base in this country.
    They thought that as long as some people were making heaps of money somewhere in the economy it was all fine!!! They didn’t have much understanding of the bubble economy and its consequences – the more inflated the artificial economy is the bigger the crash will be when it comes. Even after 1987 they kept ploughing ahead. . . to new and bigger disasters!
    Phil
    - mickysavage 15.1.2.1
      10 February 2015 at 9:35 pm
      Yep fast boys with cellphones and no understanding or comprehension of humanity. They continuously cause so much damage …
      - vto 15.1.2.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 9:39 pm
        The PM you mean?
        mickysavage 15.1.2.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 9:43 pm
        Aye …
- Draco T Bastard 15.2
  10 February 2015 at 12:35 pm
  Much of this left, for instance, supports capitalism if the capitalist company is owned fully by the capitalist state.
  Yep, noticed that myself. IMO, many services which are run in a capitalist way should actually be government services supported through general taxation. There may, in some cases, need to be a use charge to limit usage. Electricity would have such a usage charge but telecommunications wouldn’t.
northshoreguynz 16
10 February 2015 at 10:24 am
Great insight from Danyl M over at the Dim-Post.
“Hooton ascribes part of Key’s popularity to his preeminence as a commentator on light-entertainment shows across New Zealand media. More FM, Breakfast TV, Seven-Sharp, etc. Critically these are (a) news sources for ‘median’ or persuadable voters and (b) they’re formats in which Key can assert his version of any news story unchallenged, and then go on to tell funny stories about the All-Blacks.
So there’s a reality-based community in which, say, people read the Inspector-General of Security and Intelligence’s report and see that Key’s office was found to have abused intelligence information for political purposes, but Key can create his own reality in the minds of hundreds of thousands of voters simply by going on Breakfast TV and explaining that his office was completely exonerated while the hosts nod their heads and smile.”
So somehow Labour needs a way to get to those “median” voters. Replicating Key wont work.
Link here. https://dimpost.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/key-and-reality/
AsleepWhileWalking 17
10 February 2015 at 10:48 am
Samsung Smart TV users find out that their TV can record private conversations and pass them onto a third party.
https://twitter.com/xor/status/564356757007261696/photo/1
- Colonial Rawshark 17.1
  10 February 2015 at 11:25 am
  Every smart phone is a bug and tracking device; every laptop with a webcam in the lid is a CCTV camera.
  - weka 17.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 2:53 pm
    “every laptop with a webcam in the lid is a CCTV camera.”
    Only if I turn it on while I am connected to the internet.
    Ditto my phone. Most of that shit is turned off unless needed.
    - joe90 17.1.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 4:08 pm
      Only if I turn it on while I am connected to the internet.
      If script kiddies can do it…..
      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/miss-teen-usa-webcam-hacker-jared-james-abrahams-sentenced-to-18-months-in-prison-9200575.html
      http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/18/research-shows-how-macbook-webcams-can-spy-on-their-users-without-warning/
      - phillip ure 17.1.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 4:54 pm
        for a desktop..
        ..you can fold a business card to form a screen over the camera..
      - weka 17.1.1.1.2
        10 February 2015 at 5:32 pm
        I’m sure anything can be hacked. Bit different from my laptop being a cctv in the context of samsung’s tv.
- Draco T Bastard 17.2
  10 February 2015 at 12:39 pm
  As I’ve been saying for quite some time: The people you really need to be concerned about spying upon you is the corporations, not the government. The government can be held to account, the corporations can’t (and the TPPA will make that even worse).
  - Colonial Rawshark 17.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 1:25 pm
    Nope it’s the government you need to be afraid of. That is because governmental power to imprison you, confiscate your property, run tax audits to ruin your life/business or outright execute you (eg in the case of droning US citizens) for purely political or venal reasons is beyond the interests and capabilities of standard corporations.
    As for “holding the government to account” – that can be done in a functioning (or mostly functioning) democracy.
    - McFlock 17.2.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 2:37 pm
      Governments can legally imprison or kill you.
      Ever hear of private prisons or “military contractors”?
      Corporations can sue you to bankruptcy and suicide. Or do you for copyright infringement, or trespass, or violating terms and conditions, or keep their aggregated data on a single unsecured database, or spend millions on lobby groups.
      You can’t vote to change a corporation, though, because people with more money have more votes.
      - weka 17.2.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 2:52 pm
        NZ examples?
        McFlock 17.2.1.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 3:16 pm
        Auckland Central Remand Prison run by SERCO
        Corporate reps at TPPA negotiations
        File-sharing copyright infringment act
        Secret sources of mcvictim’s senseless-sentencing finances.
        Hager on NZ private military contractors
        Anything from the Winebox Inquiry.
        Anyone stiffed by a finance company or insurance company.
        $65 parking fines for 5 minutes too long outside dunedin stadium.
        Wheel clampers and their “fees”
        weka …
        10 February 2015 at 3:37 pm
        Sorry, I meant in the context of Samsung-esque surveillance.
        McFlock …
        10 February 2015 at 4:04 pm
        I seem to recall that the Xbox One had similar issues (camera always on) that were nuked after the public reaction.
        Not sure whether any NZ companies even make TVs.
        Colonial Rawshark …
        10 February 2015 at 3:53 pm
        All you’re pointing out is an amalgamation of government and corporate power.
        We all know what that is called.
        McFlock …
        10 February 2015 at 4:05 pm
        Tellie-tubby land?
        Colonial Rawshark …
        10 February 2015 at 5:27 pm
        It’s the way of the future, and shortly, they will be armed with real time mass surveillance of everybody.
        McFlock …
        10 February 2015 at 5:32 pm
        eh-oh!
      - Philip Ferguson 17.2.1.1.2
        10 February 2015 at 9:22 pm
        Yeh, but the private prisons and military contractors are under contract to *the government*. So Col Rawshark’s argument still stands.
        I’d say, however, government/state rather than just government.
        And you can’t really change the state or the government. You can change which party is in power but, whichever it is, it runs the same apparatus. For instance, the SIS operated just the same under Labour as National, for instance.
        I don’t want the SIS to be under Andrew Little instead of John Key. I want it abolished.
        Phil
        McFlock 17.2.1.1.2.1
        10 February 2015 at 9:37 pm
        yes, if you reduce his list to two items and ignore the instances when technical illegalities appear to have been unpunished when large corporations have been involved, then yes, you raise a valid point.
    - Draco T Bastard 17.2.1.2
      10 February 2015 at 3:45 pm
      Nope it’s the government you need to be afraid of.
      Nope. As I say, the government can be held to account and changed whereas the corporations can’t. Of course, it doesn’t help that the government is presently owned by the corporations.
      - Colonial Rawshark 17.2.1.2.1
        10 February 2015 at 3:56 pm
        You still talk as if replacing one group of elite oriented politicians with another group of elite oriented politicians is going to have any real effect on the TPPA, mass surveillance, banking hyper profits, unaffordable housing, etc.
        They got rid of Bush in the USA and Obama has been worse, from a targeted killings, civil liberties and imprisoning whistleblowers perspective.
        Draco T Bastard 17.2.1.2.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 5:08 pm
        Yes, we have to change the system so that we don’t have elites.
joe90 18
10 February 2015 at 11:17 am
FJK.
John Key said unless more money could be found, the convention centre could end up as an ”eyesore”.
Under the deal, Sky City would build and design the centre for up to $402 million.
In return, it could operate another 230 gaming machines and 40 tables.
Last year, Sky City revealed the estimated cost could reach $530 million.
Mr Key said that was because the design was bigger and ”flasher” than was originally proposed.
“Ultimately Sky City has worked off a concept through to something that looks more like a project that’s ready to go.
“I’m keen to see the best convection centre I can for Auckland because this is a very long-term asset.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/265717/taxpayers-may-cover-sky-city-shortfall
- vto 18.1
  10 February 2015 at 11:42 am
  the snake oil salesman going about his daily toil ……….
- b waghorn 18.2
  10 February 2015 at 11:47 am
  The first part of the gentle slide to tax payers subsidising another corporate has begun
  - vto 18.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 11:50 am
    I think this can easily be described as a payment to corporates rather than a subsidy to corporates.
    Taxpayers paying to build a casino…… *slowly shakes head*
    What has happened to the amazing free market? Has it failed again?
    - b waghorn 18.2.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 11:56 am
      When they say free they mean free for the wealthy to run things for there immediate benefit.
      It’s also all about keys legacy he wants a flag and a convention centre in his name plus a knighthood ,let’s hope Little can bring him to his knees this year so he gets none of it.
  - Draco T Bastard 18.2.2
    10 February 2015 at 1:05 pm
    This government have been subsidising corporations at the taxpayers expense since it got into power.
- freedom 18.3
  10 February 2015 at 12:04 pm
  I know it’s banging an old drum but for the benefit of new visitors….
  Folk might notice the items listed as part of the original Government deal do not mention a 300 room hotel. For some reason this late addition to the deal is an apparently insignificant detail. Doubleplusgood deal.
  The proposed International Convention Centre will be 38,000sq m on four levels. It will include:
  Exhibition space: 8600sq m of exhibition space for 3500 people in three halls.
  Theatre: To seat 3000 people for presentations or stripped out for large banquets and other events.
  Gallery: A series of bridges connecting people to meeting rooms and theatres across the levels.
  Meeting rooms: 3000sq m of meeting rooms and breakout spaces. Walls can be moved to adjust the size of the areas.
  Sunset Room: To accommodate up to 1000 people for dinner or cocktails. It will look across the upper harbour and Waitakere Ranges.
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11385010
  “At the end of last year, SkyCity said the original $402 million cost had been “revised” to $470-530 million.”
  “The documents the Herald obtained show SkyCity started making changes almost immediately after it secured land from TVNZ in September 2013.
  The most significant was the placement of a 300-room hotel on the TVNZ land. SkyCity had said for years the land was needed for the convention centre.”
  What does it cost to build a 300 room hotel? Who can tell but $130 million might just swing it.
  - vto 18.3.1
    10 February 2015 at 12:41 pm
    Yep both Key and Skycity know 100% about the sham scam that has been pulled here regarding the addition of a 300-room hotel
    The deal did not include a hotel…… surely the free market could deal with justifying the build of a hotel next to the country’s biggest casino and not need taxpayers to help them out? No? What the f&*k is the matter with the free market?
    - freedom 18.3.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 1:33 pm
      I have no problem with the government coughing up $130 million for a 300 room Hotel, IF we see every cent of the investment repaid in full at standard market interest rates plus a couple of points for the effort. Oh what’s that you say SkyCity? You could get a better deal than that from a bank – then go do that you %#&*^$ bunch of reprehensible parasites.
      - phillip ure 18.3.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 2:41 pm
        “.. Oh what’s that you say SkyCity? You could get a better deal than that from a bank – then go do that you %#&*^$ bunch of reprehensible parasites…”
        + 1..
phillip ure 19
10 February 2015 at 2:32 pm
i approached it with a degree of trepidation/doing-duty..
..but little is giving a ripper of a speech..
- phillip ure 19.1
  10 February 2015 at 2:44 pm
  no metiria turei there..?..
  ..why is norman giving the greens’ speech..?
  ..when he is bailing-out..
  ..shouldn’t turei be giving it..?
  ..and again..where is she..?
  - phillip ure 19.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 2:53 pm
    normans’ delivery is insipid/stilted…underwhelming..
- phillip ure 19.2
  10 February 2015 at 2:50 pm
  re little..
  ..favourite aside was to tolley and ‘woody’ woodhouse..referring to the resignation of sabin..
  .and the when did they know?-question..
  ..’the truth will set you free’..
  ..and that he ‘would come back to that’…
  - phillip ure 19.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 3:09 pm
    heh..!..
    ..peters is using his speech to taunt the national party backbenchers..
    ..over their impending leadership spill..
    - phillip ure 19.2.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 3:27 pm
      he tells them their upcoming embarrassment at the hypocricies etc will be acute..
      ..and he confirmed he will be standing in the northland bye-election..
      - rawshark-yeshe 19.2.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 3:47 pm
        did Winston confirm he will stand ? I didn’t get that .. I got his repeated promise ‘help is on its way’, but no absolute confirmation which I was hoping for ? did I miss it ? thx
        I thought he was marvelous today .. healthy and thriving.
        Link is up now .. here we go:
        
        phillip ure 19.2.1.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 4:08 pm
        he said ‘help is on the way’..
        ..and that:..’the campaign will start soon’..
        ..(key shouldn’t have taunted him..i thought that was a big mistake when key said it..)
        ..and it makes perfect political sense for him to stand..to build his/nz first profile..
        ..and it sets up an interesting dynamic..
        ..peters cd split the vote and labour cd walk thru..
        ..and peters wouldn’t mind if that happened..
        ..anything to bloody national…
        phillip ure …
        10 February 2015 at 4:24 pm
        and peters was on form..
        ..much better than he was for most of last yr..(going on his questiontime-appearances..)
        ..he was particularly adept at demolishing heckling national party backbenchers..
        ..naming them..and then riffing on them..
rawshark-yeshe 20
10 February 2015 at 2:38 pm
wow. Speaker David Carter has just disclosed that Sabin is the subject of the suppressed court case by shutting down all reference to an MP who resigned.
Covering Key’s backside, that’s for sure.
Sorry lprent .. don’t have a link as yet but will post asap so you are in not in any breach … spoken by David Carter interrupting and preventing Andrew Little’s speech at about 2.30 pm this afternoon.
- McFlock 20.1
  10 February 2015 at 2:52 pm
  lol
  Protecting key, or simply incompetent, I wonder, if carter left no reasonable doubt that dude A was dude B.
  Even more interesting – MPs have parliamentary privilege when speaking in the House, but does the Speaker have privilege when giving a ruling? 🙂
  - phillip ure 20.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 2:59 pm
    i was puzzled by carter..
    ..yep..!..he has gone on the record…joining the dots for the first time..
    ..he’s ‘blown the gaff’..as they say..
    ..and yet he didn’t need to..little was tip-toeing enough..
    ..but in his ruling..which must now be in/on the public record..
    ..carter made a clear statement..that cd leave nobody in any doubt..
    (..and therefor able to be commented on..?..can those who know advise if comment can be made on carter joining those dots..?..)
- freedom 20.2
  10 February 2015 at 3:00 pm
  Little was very clear to only mention that an MP was under Police investigation. He did not mention a court, or a court case or a proceeding of any other form excepting the aforementioned and publicly reported Police investigation.
  When the Speaker first rose to his feet it was understandable and to be expected as a precautionary measure, though him mentioning the suppressed court case in connection to comments on an MP under Police investigation was a shock.
  To rise a second time and again mention the court case, when Little was clearly moving away from that area of commentary, The Speaker only confirmed the connection existed.
  - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.1
    10 February 2015 at 3:43 pm
    indeed. here’s the link for Little’s nuggety attack on Key and Nats …
    - joe90 20.2.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 3:58 pm
      Timed.
    - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.1.2
      10 February 2015 at 3:59 pm
      @lprent et al : the relevant comments re court case start at 13.00 and runs to about 16.00
      - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.1.2.1
        10 February 2015 at 4:04 pm
        And Winston on the same matters is worth the viewing:
    - ianmac 20.2.1.3
      10 February 2015 at 4:12 pm
      Just watched Andrew’s fiery emphatic speech and am buoyed! Thanks for the link raw.
      - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.1.3.1
        10 February 2015 at 4:25 pm
        onya, ian !
        and Winston is worth a viewing also .. if you don’t have 20 mins, start at 17. 35 mins … link is just above from me at 20.2.1.2.1
      - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.1.3.2
        10 February 2015 at 4:25 pm
        onya, ian !
        and Winston is worth a viewing also .. if you don’t have 20 mins, start at 17. 35 mins … link is just above from me at 20.2.1.2.1
      - Chooky 20.2.1.3.3
        10 February 2015 at 5:58 pm
        +100 ianmac and rawshark-yeshe…I was also buoyed to hear it on the radio as i was driving
        Andrew Little superb in his attack on John Key….and followed up by Russel Norman and Winston Peters
        ….now if this trioka/ triumvirate could get together and cooparate to help Winnie win Northland…they are a government in waiting ….close enough to roll John Key and his corrupt government sooner rather than later …..
        rawshark-yeshe 20.2.1.3.3.1
        10 February 2015 at 6:48 pm
        if only they will listen …. and work together …
        am I right in thinking there is no party vote in a by-election ? Well, if all those who party-voted NZ First vote for a candidate, it will be game on !!
        b waghorn 20.2.1.3.3.2
        10 February 2015 at 6:51 pm
        Sure is good to watch Little when he’s in that sort of form alright, it would be even better if he eye balled the rat key while he’s ripping into him.
        Its a shame that all the fools on tv3 news tonight showed of it was Littles repeated “masters of the universe” comment.
  - Anne 20.2.2
    10 February 2015 at 3:58 pm
    The Speaker only confirmed the connection existed.
    Indeed he did. Instructions from above? Do whatever you have to, to stop Little saying anything?… then the idiot went and gave the game away himself.
  - Skinny 20.2.3
    10 February 2015 at 4:21 pm
    I see Tolley is refusing to answer media questions relating to Mike Bush contacting her. Now Carter shutting down all questions relating to the ex MP is outrageous. Some of us still believe in transparency from Central Government.
    Some of us think things may need to be amped up by excising our democratic right to protest outside National electorate offices. Some of the Northland offices during the by election is a worthy place to start. People enjoy scribing their beef on placards and banners. What they write is up to the individual 🙂
    - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.3.1
      10 February 2015 at 4:29 pm
      how about it wasn’t Tolley but Collins earlier ? Tolley is snookered if that’s the case !!
      - Skinny 20.2.3.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 5:52 pm
        Some may say Collins originally leaked details about Sabin having a scrape with the law back in 2011 through her then good friend Slater.
    - McFlock 20.2.3.2
      10 February 2015 at 4:31 pm
      I’ll be intrigued to what comes out before the by-election – Northland will still be national afterwards, but it might be interesting to see how much of a hit they take.
      - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.3.2.1
        10 February 2015 at 4:46 pm
        if it all comes out, I’d take a reasonable bet that Nats lose the seat. And Winston was very, very clear today he did not consider himself in the house to be bound by any court suppression ruling.
        Technical legal question … if someone has pleaded guilty and the court has accepted such a plea, is it still sub-judice ? ( Tracey ?Murray ? Mickey? thx for your help as always !)
        veutoviper 20.2.3.2.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 4:58 pm
        Yes, if a suppression order has been put in place by the court relating to the name (s) and/or other details.
        rawshark-yeshe …
        10 February 2015 at 5:35 pm
        thx vv
        Murray Rawshark 20.2.3.2.1.2
        11 February 2015 at 10:27 am
        In the mysterious court case we have at the moment, everything has been suppressed, and continues to be under suppression until judge lifts it.
    - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.3.3
      10 February 2015 at 4:33 pm
      skinny .. do u hv a link for that pse re Tolley avoiding questions?
      - veutoviper 20.2.3.3.1
        10 February 2015 at 5:00 pm
        Here is Katie Bradford on Twitter
        For the second time today, Anne Tolley has barged through media, refusing to answer questions about when she knew about Mike Sabin
        — Katie Bradford (@katieabradford) February 10, 2015
    - Clemgeopin 20.2.3.4
      10 February 2015 at 5:05 pm
      That is a strange back sided decision from Carter in the house today when he shut out Andrew Little making any reference to an MP being made the chair of the Law and Order committee while under police investigation.
      YET, it is JOHN KEY himself that HAS been talking to the media about this issue announcing when and what date he was told about Sabin’s case (though he kept changing the dates) and ALSO said that he was OK with SABIN chairing that conflict of interest chairman’s post (even though it happened AFTER key/his office was already made aware through multiple sources), including Matt McCarten, of the police investigation!
      How can there be one rule for Key and a different one for Little?
      So, will the courts charge Key for the breach of their suppression order for his public statements?
      - rawshark-yeshe 20.2.3.4.1
        10 February 2015 at 5:40 pm
        they really are muddling up their knitting patterns and dropping stitches all over the place, aren’t they ? lie upon lie upon lie, and not a decent memory cell between them. actually, it’s potentially hysterically funny if it were not our democracy being corrosively attacked.
phillip ure 21
10 February 2015 at 4:15 pm
f.f.s..!
..mora is defending screws watching prisoners in the shower/on the toilet..
..and the panelists are braindead fucken idiots..
..some airhead woman..(who was once burgled – and seeks revenge..is positively gleeful..almost biblical in her desire for generalised-revenge on prisoners..f.f.s..!..)
(what is it with all these new dumbarse female panelists..f.f.s..!..)
..where are they finding them..?
..greg newbold came on..and is ‘disgusted’..the airhead snaps back at him..says that ‘prisoners should have no rights’..
- phillip ure 21.1
  10 February 2015 at 4:56 pm
  ‘she’s a valley girl..!..she’s a valley girl..!’
  ..she’s doing a moon zappa riff..
  ..’fer sure..!..fer sure..!”
  - phillip ure 21.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 5:00 pm
    and the rightwing airhead male..inglis..
    ..obviously talking about something he knows absolutely fucken nothing about..
    ..and denounces the new greek govt…for ‘wanting to take ten steps back’..
    ..some more of that panel ‘balance..eh..?
    ..they were both airheads..
    (heh..!..i actually felt sorry for mora..for him it was like wading thru a thigh-deep swamp..
    ..he wd throw out conversation-starters..to dead-air..
    ..and all we cd hear was the wind whistling thru..and the tumbleweeds rolling around in..
    ..those matching airheads..
    ..it was behind-the-sofa-radio..
    ..excruciating..
    - joe90 21.1.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 7:01 pm
      A mention by the marvelous Tim Minchin.
      “In darker days, I did a corporate gig at a conference for this big company who made and sold accounting software. In a bid, I presume, to inspire their salespeople to greater heights, they’d forked out 12 grand for an Inspirational Speaker who was this extreme sports dude who had had a couple of his limbs frozen off when he got stuck on a ledge on some mountain. It was weird. Software salespeople need to hear from someone who has had a long, successful and happy career in software sales, not from an overly-optimistic, ex-mountaineer. Some poor guy who arrived in the morning hoping to learn about better sales technique ended up going home worried about the blood flow to his extremities. It’s not inspirational – it’s confusing.
      http://www.timminchin.com/2013/09/25/occasional-address/
      - phillip ure 21.1.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 8:33 pm
        heh..!
Draco T Bastard 22
10 February 2015 at 5:44 pm
Car hacked on 60 Minutes
One of the vulnerabilities Kaufman and DARPA are working to eliminate that affects many is in the automobile. Cars today are loaded with computers networked to each other, and those can be hacked remotely. In a dramatic demonstration, he and his colleagues use a laptop computer to hack into a car being driven by Stahl. Much to her surprise, they were able to take control of many of the car’s functions, including the braking and acceleration.
That is a serious concern and it makes you wonder just what these car firms were thinking or if they were thinking. The really interesting bit, though, is in the next paragraph:
Kaufman showed Stahl a prototype of a program his department is developing to pinpoint and isolate any breached or compromised computer on the military network. “And before, it’d be completely invisible to us ’cause you’re hiding among tens of thousands of computers around the world. Now you and I can see [it] very quickly.” And, he added, “from here I could say, ‘Let’s shut that computer down. Let’s quarantine that computer off.'”
Yeah, real time monitoring of computers connected to the network.
- rawshark-yeshe 22.1
  10 February 2015 at 6:44 pm
  MH 370 anyone ?
  - McFlock 22.1.1
    10 February 2015 at 6:50 pm
    lol
    why not just head straight to 9/11?
    - rawshark-yeshe 22.1.1.1
      10 February 2015 at 7:01 pm
      very different .. not into conspiracies, but what they describe above is exactly what is known of the MH370 computers …. as little as it is ..
      - McFlock 22.1.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 7:21 pm
        nothing is known of the MH370 computers, other than when they ceased communication.
        There is certainly no telemetry from the flight, which is sort of the problem.
        Could be a hacker, but could be hijack, flight crew hijack, hypoxia+autopilot, hell even a close encounter of the third kind.
        Until Bob Ballard or someone find the thing, nobody will know – maybe not even then.
        rawshark-yeshe 22.1.1.1.1.1
        10 February 2015 at 7:25 pm
        exactly. agree with you 100%. the story above simply demonstrates one possible explanation, and proves a possible scenario in particular circumstances, which is why I commented.
        I believe it deserves some oxygen and not to be forgotten, for the sake of the families, and passengers everywhere.
        McFlock …
        10 February 2015 at 8:38 pm
        Serendipity: this crash was on telly tonight.
        Yet another possible scenario. Pilots didn’t notice they’d plugged the wrong coordinates into the autopilot, flew into the middle of the Amazon.
ianmac 23
10 February 2015 at 8:41 pm
Maori TV “Rethink.”
RMA Reforms. Just watched a half hour panel discuss the intent and practice of the RMA and broadcast on Maori TV “Re-think.” This is the first time I have heard/watched any discussion on this coming issue.
Damnit! How come it is avoided on other MSM?
The changes are certainly aimed at maximising economic advantages and minimising environmental ones.
Hence the Government is politically appointing Boards of Enquiry to avoid public input and avoiding the Courts for appeal.
When the detail becomes clearer will we protest?
Host the excellent Stacey Morrison.
- Morrissey 23.1
  10 February 2015 at 9:00 pm
  And why do they automatically parrot the government-friendly formulation that these savage assaults against the right of citizens to challenge powerful interests are RMA “reforms”?
  Similar anodyne language—“reform”, “changes”, “restructuring”—is used whenever there is discussion of the massive cuts to public housing, hospitals, education and welfare.
  Rather than speak plainly, the likes of Brent Edwards on Radio NZ National seem more than happy to use the distorting and misleading vocabulary of the government.
- ianmac 23.2
  10 February 2015 at 10:52 pm
  On Demand Rethink on RMA
  http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/re-think
Morrissey 24
10 February 2015 at 8:53 pm
Je suis….

Links to post

BLiP and the list of Key’s lies | Your NZ: posted on 22 February 2015 at 3:37 pm

Comments are now closed

Articles RSS

Comments
Opinions

Sorting out downtown buses
One of the more interesting things we learnt from this week was that the Britomart East Bus Interchange, unofficially known as the “bus ballsack”, had been cancelled and staff sent back to the drawing board. The plan would have seen ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
3 hours ago

Online voting FAQ
The trial of online voting for the October 2019 local government elections was called off last December, for cost reasons. The online voting working party, which had been organising the trial, is now calling on central government to fund online ...
Briefing PapersBy Julienne Molineaux
4 hours ago

Climate Change: Coal is doomed
If we are to avoid dangerous levels of anthropogenic climate change which will make the earth uninhabitable, we need to stop burning fossil fuels as quickly as possible. The good news is that advances in renewables mean that coal, the ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
16 hours ago

The fear of a good example
Over the Tasman, the racist One Nation has been caught soliciting donations from the US NRA. Naturally, they've complained to police and ASIO about "foreign interference" in elections - not about themselves, of course, but about the (foreign-owned) media who ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
16 hours ago

About that silly Mr. Bridges.
In the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attacks, Simon Bridges wants to expand the powers available to the NZ security community when it comes to search and surveillance. He apparently believes that resurrecting “Project Speargun,” a 5 Eyes/GCSB 2013 effort ...
KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
18 hours ago

Hard News: Psychedelic Therapy: an expert discussion at Splore 2019
What follows is an edited transcript of the Splore 2019 panel discussion about psychedelic therapy, with Otago University researcher Geoff Noller, Will Evans, an advanced trainee in palliative care at Auckland District Health Board, who is part of a proposed ...
Public Address
19 hours ago

Those Who Do Not Learn The Lessons Of History …
The Past As Prologue: The 2002 demise of the Alliance is a sad and complicated story. But, at its heart is a single, brutal, truth. Labour has no use for a support partner determined to pursue policy objectives at odds ...
Bowalley Road
1 day ago

Addressing Climate Change Through the Transport Budget
ATAP is pretty fresh. But I think even now, what we now know today, compared to a year ago, even just one year ago, on ATAP, is vastly different. If we were doing ATAP today we’d be doing it even ...
Transport BlogBy Heidi O'Callahan
1 day ago

3 clean energy myths that can lead to a productive climate conversation
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk Energy use is the biggest cause of climate change, and it’s the first place to enact meaningful strategies to lower greenhouse emissions. It’s also a smart angle for talking ...
Skeptical Science
1 day ago

Legal Beagle: Why the censor’s total ban on possession of “the Manifesto” is wrong
On Saturday, New Zealand’s chief censor, David Shanks, issued a decision declaring the manifesto of the man accused of the Christchurch Mosque shootings to be objectionable. That means it’s banned, and as unlawful to possess as images of child sexual ...
Public Address
1 day ago

Counter hate speech with free speech
by Daphna Whitmore In stark contrast to the horror of the Christchurch terror attack there has been outspoken support for migrants at numerous gatherings around New Zealand to commemorate the victims. Solidarity with migrants was the central message from the ...
RedlineBy Daphna
2 days ago

Objectionable
The Chief Censor has declared the Christchurch terrorist's manifesto objectionable. Its not an especially surprising decision: the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 specifies whether a publication "promotes or encourages criminal acts or acts of terrorism" as a possible ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 days ago

Germany must investigate US drone murders
For the past 15 years the US has been murdering people all over Africa, Asia and the Middle East with drone strikes. At their best, these drone-strikes are simply outright assassinations. At their worst, they are indiscriminate murders or political ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 days ago

Reversing the clearances?
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Scottish landlords cleared the highlands, driving people off their land and forcing them into destitution or to emigrate. The result was a Scottish countryside full of sheep farms and deer-parks, run by and for ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 days ago

Have your say on the Reform of Vocational Education
The Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, has asked us all to help designthe future of vocational education provision in New Zealand. ...
Tertiary Education UnionBy TEU
2 days ago

Getting out alive – why we should always demand evidence
It will never happen. The corporate media will never apologise for the false narrative they have promoted. Today I am feeling vindicated. And ...
Open ParachuteBy Ken
2 days ago

Mar-19 AT Board Meeting
Tomorrow the Auckland Transport board meet again and here are the most interesting bits from their board papers. Closed Session There doesn’t seem lot of interesting items on the closed agenda this meeting with most of the items relating to ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
2 days ago

Why it might make sense to censor this ‘manifesto’
The Chief Censor, David Shanks, has ruled The Great Replacement, supposedly the manifesto of the Christchurch terrorist, to be an objectionable piece of work. Accordingly, it is an offence for any person to possess, copy or distribute the work in New ...
PunditBy Liam Hehir
3 days ago

How do we centre Muslim voices?
Friday 15 March 2019. The heart stands still. The lives of 50 people stolen by a terrorist in the most reprehensible of ways. Not a lone wolf. Not a mentally unwell individual. A terrorist armed with weapons of war committed ...
EllipsisterBy Ellipsister
3 days ago

2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #12
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 17 through Sat, Mar 23, 2019 Editor's Pick Tim Flannery: people are shocked about climate change but they should be ...
Skeptical Science
3 days ago

We need to understand hate to defeat it, not ignore it
One of the most powerful of the many powerful stories coming out of Christchurch in the past week, is that of 71 year-old Haji-Daoud Nabi, who greeted the gunman at the door of the mosque with a warm, "Hello brother...". Nabi ...
PunditBy Tim Watkin
4 days ago

Flashback Saturday: What if we hadn’t built CMJ?
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post was originally published back in September 2009. Yesterday’s post about Auckland’s Central Motorway Junction got me thinking a bit – what if we hadn’t gone down that path? What if we ...
Transport BlogBy Greater Auckland
4 days ago

Anti-trans activists fudge OIA statement – Report
. . An Official Information Act (OIA) response released to this blogger appears to confirm suspicions that anti-trans-activists mis-represented six cases of trans-women prisoners allegedly involved in violent incidences in Women’s correctional facilities. The OIA response from the Corrections Department, ...
Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
4 days ago

Keeping The Devil Down In The Hole.
Raising Hell: As the theme-song from the TV series “The Wire” puts it: “You gotta keep the Devil down in the hole”. Transforming the free speech issue into a vicious Left/Right knife-fight would be a particularly effective way of hauling ...
Bowalley Road
4 days ago

New research, March 11-17, 2019
A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below. This post has separate sections for: Climate Change, Climate Change Impacts, Climate Change Mitigation, and Other Papers. Climate change impacts Mankind Impact of ambient temperature on hospital admissions for ...
Skeptical Science
4 days ago

Speaker: An attempt at demystifying Sharia
I have written this piece, at this time, in the hope that I can contribute to removing the mystery, and therefore fear, associated with Sharia. It is intended to be my answer to the Islamophobic dog whistle of “they’re trying to ...
Public Address
5 days ago

Banning Jordan Peterson book inconsistent, but not anti-freedom
In response to the Christchurch terror attacks, Whitcoulls no longer sells 12 Rules for Life by controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson. It's hard to understand, precisely, what this will achieve. I’ve never been able to finish the book myself but that’s more ...
PunditBy Liam Hehir
5 days ago

The Method In The Madness.
An Illusory Unity? Individuals on the Far Left are insisting that our secular, humane, democracy is nothing more nor less than an evil machine for the exploitation and oppression of marginalised and despised minorities That everything that has brought us ...
Bowalley Road
5 days ago

Should the Canterbury Crusaders change their name?
Is it time for a change? ...
Imperator FishBy Scott Yorke
5 days ago

15 March: Aotearoa’s Day Of Infamy
. . On a day when our young people succeeded in prodding grownups to take notice of the looming climate change disaster bearing down on us, other “grownups” had more nefarious, murderous thoughts in mind. On a day which should ...
Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
5 days ago

Feb-19 Ridership
A few days after seeing that the cycleways a booming, we’ve now got the high level ridership numbers for February and like with bikes, the numbers are looking good. February is always an interesting as it is the first useful ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
5 days ago

banned
The government has followed up with its strong words on Monday by announcing plans to legislate to immediately ban all semi-automatic and military-style firearms, backed by an immediate order-in-council recategorising them as requiring an E-class licence (so immediately banning sale ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
6 days ago

Owning It.
FEarlier versions of this essay were published by Radio New Zealand and Australian Outlook. The terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques, which resulted in the deaths of fifty people and injuries to dozens of others, is a watershed moment in ...
KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
6 days ago

Transport Battleground – NSW Election
I thought it might be interesting to write about one of our neighbours who this Saturday will be having an election with transport being one of the major battlegrounds. The neighbour is New South Wales and polls have the race ...
Transport BlogBy Harriet Gale
6 days ago

The Anzac Legacy is White Supremacy
by Tim Leadbeater I’ve just spent two hours wading through Brenton Tarrant’s hate filled 174 page manifesto ‘The Great Replacement’. It is a sickening experience. I would not hesitate to recommend reading it: we owe it to the victims to ...
RedlineBy Daphna
7 days ago

Looking the other way
In the wake of Friday's terrorist attack, the SIS has been quick to disclaim responsibility, making increasing claims that they were looking at Nazis, really. Perhaps then they'd care to explain why there's absolutely no mention of the issue in ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
7 days ago

Let’s moderate
Out of respect for the victims of the Christchurch massacre, I have decided that all reader comments on the site will now go into moderation, unless I have verified your identity. ...
Imperator FishBy Scott Yorke
7 days ago

Words are not enough
by Daphna Whitmore There has been fulsome praise of prime minister Jacinda Ardern for her handling of the Mosque massacre. Her sympathetic demeanour resonated with many people and she was no doubt moved by the atrocity. Any other response would ...
RedlineBy Daphna
7 days ago

Gun law reform: Once again we don’t how lucky we are
After the terrible atrocities of March 15 we are, inevitably, going to get some kind of reform to our gun laws. It's very likely some classes of weapons will be subject to new restrictions, while other will be banned. Whatever ...
PunditBy Liam Hehir
7 days ago

Editorial cartoonists lampoon, praise Green New Deal
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Michael Svoboda Like journalists, opinion writers, and TV newscasters and commentators, political cartoonists were quick to respond to the Green New Deal (GND) climate change initiative put out in early February by ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

Warkworth to Wellsford updated alignment
Just before Christmas the NZTA announced they were working on route protection for the Warkworth to Wellsford project with the formal consenting process likely to kick of within the next month or two. The project is the second stage of ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
1 week ago

The rocks we carry
A haunting weight. It presses down with dizzying effect, defying easy description. Its surface etched with the familiar language of human loss, heavy with regreat and shame. But some rocks we must carry.read more ...
PunditBy Phil Vine
1 week ago

Show us the warrants
The SIS, in an effort to claim that Friday's terrorist attack which killed fifty people wasn't a failure on their part, is saying they had their eye on far-right extremists. It's an extraordinary claim, in contradiction to everything we know ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

What Does It Mean to Be A New Zealander?
When, in 1962, as a 23 year-old, I boarded the Northern Star to sail to Britain where I was to study as a Rhodes Scholar for a post-graduate law degree at Balliol College, Oxford, I took with me an LP ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
1 week ago

Giving the finger to the Nazis
Parliament met for the first time today since Friday's act of terrorism, with an abbreviated timetable for a condolence motion. It opened with a procession of a dozen religious leaders of different faiths. Parliament's normal christian-centric opening prayer was preceded ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

What Do We Do About Hate Speech?
I usually disagree with Mike Hosking because I do not share his fundamental social attitudes and beliefs. But, as to what he had to say in today’s Herald about the Christchurch massacre, I recognise that his motivations, in warning against ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
1 week ago

Little’s whitewash
One of the obvious questions which immediately arose after Friday's act of terrorism was why our extremely well-budgeted spy agencies didn't stop it from happening. The fact that it happened, and 50 people were killed, represents a huge failure on ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

Day to day actions and words matter
We have been struggling since Friday to find the right words, the right response to give to the killings at the two Christchurch mosques. ...
Tertiary Education UnionBy TEU
1 week ago

Holy Hosking, the bike lanes are booming
If the cycleways have been feeling a bit busier than usual of late, you’re not imagining things. The latest numbers are out and confirm Auckland’s bike lanes are booming, with many counters in February recording their busiest month ever, despite ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
1 week ago

The “no true Kiwi” fallacy – and how to avoid it
The “no true Scotsman” fallacyread more ...
PunditBy Simon Connell
1 week ago

New rebuttal to the myth ‘Holistic Management can reverse Climate Change’
This is the new Basic rebuttal to the myth 'Holistic Management can reverse Climate Change'. There's also an Advanced rebuttal. The Myth: Holistic Management can reverse Climate Change “Holistic management as a planned grazing strategy is able to reverse desertification and ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

Genuine inclusiveness demands more free speech not less
by Daphna Whitmore Not a single person has spoken in favour of the gunman who carried out the horrific massacre in Christchurch, yet there is talk of cracking down on free speech, and mostly it is coming from the ...
RedlineBy Daphna
1 week ago

The Aftermath
I was expecting to spend today blogging about climate change, building on the enormous message of hope sent by the school strike on Friday. Instead, like everyone else, I'm struggling to deal with the aftermath of a horrific act of ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

Hard News: These things we must now change
Wajahat Khan becomes a New Zealand citizen tomorrow. On Saturday, before leading the opening prayer at the vigil in Aotea Square, he told the thousands who had gathered there how happy and proud he was at the prospect.The fact that ...
Public Address
1 week ago

Consider carefully how to end such attacks as the Christchurch massacre
James Robb on The Christchurch atrocity and the need for a class political response Today we mourn with our Muslim brothers and sisters all those killed and injured in the Christchurch terror attack, and send our solidarity and condolences to ...
RedlineBy Daphna
1 week ago

2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #11
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Reports of Note... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

Rail Across the Waitematā: some thoughts
The North Shore Line, The Northern Line, Te Raki Tereina… NZTA in a recently released report showed that there is some urgency in starting work to replace the Northern Busway with a higher capacity rail system on a new crossing. ...
Transport BlogBy Patrick Reynolds
1 week ago

Kinds of Protests
On the Ides of March 2019, thousands of New Zealand school students – and hundreds of thousands of the world’s – marched to say that not enough was being done to stop global warming.read more ...
PunditBy Brian Easton
1 week ago

What Happened Here?
Our Darkest Day: New Zealand has been horribly scarred by a fanatical follower of the international white supremacist movement. He hid among us in plain sight, masking his murderous intentions from his Dunedin neighbours, the Police, the SIS and the ...
Bowalley Road
1 week ago

Christchurch Shooting Victims’ Fund
A Give a Little Fund was set up on 15 March 2019 and in just two days over $3 million has been donated. Donations can be made here. There has been an outpouring of demonstrations taking place around the country ...
RedlineBy Daphna
1 week ago

2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 10 through Sat, Mar 16, 2019 Editor's Pick Students globally protest warming, pleading for their future Students attend a ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

he Christchurch Slaughter
The immediate response of most Kiwis to the Christchurch slaughter will have been shock and incredulity. But as the full dimensions and implications of the outrage become clearer, we need to reach a longer-term understanding. Yes, it is unthinkable that ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
2 weeks ago

If Brenton Tarrant is a terrorist, why hasn’t he been charged as one?
The killing of forty-nine people in Christchurch was an act of terror, allegedly committed by at least one individual motivated by white-supremacist ideology. We know this, as our Prime Minister already has publicly called this evil by its true name. read ...
PunditBy Andrew Geddis
2 weeks ago

Legal Beagle: Terrorism Offences and Murder Sentencing: An Explainer
I wrote some explainers on this site about New Zealand’s Terrorism Suppression Act following the Uruwera Raids. I won't link to them as they are somewhat out of date. While still largely accurate for their descriptions of the offences of ...
Public Address
2 weeks ago

After the terror, fear must not win
As we wake up the day after 49 people were murdered at two mosques in Christchurch, it's to a flurry of comments about how New Zealand will never be the same, has lost its innocence and is no longer beyond ...
PunditBy Tim Watkin
2 weeks ago

Flashback Saturday: Light rail to the sea
Every weekend we dig into the archives. This post by Matt was originally published in June 2016. Takapuna is considered one of Auckland’s key metropolitan centres – which the Auckland Plan describes as: Metropolitan centres, such as Takapuna and Manukau, will ...
Transport BlogBy Greater Auckland
2 weeks ago

Terrorism in Christchurch – some thoughts
A peaceful, tranquil place to sit and contemplate in the Hagley Park/Botanical Gardens area of Christchurch. It is obscene that this terrorist act occurred only ...
Open ParachuteBy Ken
2 weeks ago

The massacre in Christchurch: individual terrorism was nurtured by state terrorism
The massacre of at least 49 people – in and just outside two mosques in Christchurch- this afternoon (Friday, March 15) is a horror that has shocked much of the country. People are saying ‘not here’. Ok, that’s understandable. However we ...
RedlineBy daphna
2 weeks ago

On the night of the shootings: A prayer for Christchurch
As we reel from the shocking events at the Al Noor mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre, we can only ache for and mourn the victims of these terrible murders in Christchurch.read more ...
PunditBy Liam Hehir
2 weeks ago

Why we have a beef with the new anti-rustling laws, and perhaps you should too (1 of 2)
By Simon Connell and Colin Gavaghan, Otago Faculty of LawCattle rustling. To many of us city slicker types, it sounds like a throwback to a by-gone time. Maybe old Western films on a Saturday morning. read more ...
PunditBy Simon Connell
2 weeks ago

Why we have a beef with the new anti-rustling laws, and perhaps you should too (2 of 2)
Colin Gavaghan and Simon Connell, Otago Law Facultyread more ...
PunditBy Colin Gavaghan
2 weeks ago

Hard News: Exporting panic and greed: the meth-testing industry crossing the Tasman
After the report of the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor put to rest the disastrous and costly moral panic around supposed "methamphetamine contamination" nearly a year ago, the industry that had grown around unfounded claims about meth residues and health ...
Public Address
2 weeks ago

Minister, explain how people and quality jobs fit in your vision
Michael Gilchrist looks into the proposed new Industry Skills Bodies and highlights why tertiary staff must be able to decide how courses are delivered. ...
Tertiary Education UnionBy TEU
2 weeks ago

One week until sector comes together to discuss future
Next week, staff, students, business, industry trainers, sector leaders and policy makers will come together at forum to discuss the future of tertiary education. ...
Tertiary Education UnionBy TEU
2 weeks ago

Restore post-grad allowances urgently
NZUSA has launched a campaign calling on Education Minister, Chris Hipkins to fulfil an election promise and restore postgraduate student allowances. ...
Tertiary Education UnionBy TEU
2 weeks ago

Older posts

New Zealand bans military style semi-automatics and assault rifles
Military style semi-automatics and assault rifles banned under stronger gun laws Immediate action to prevent stock-piling Military style semi-automatics and assault rifles will be banned in New Zealand under stronger new gun laws announced today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. ...
Labour
2 days ago

Membership: Australia and New Zealand Electronic Invoicing Board
The Governments of Australia and New Zealand have announced the membership of the Australia and New Zealand Electronic Invoicing Board (ANZEIB) today. This is an important step towards implementing e-Invoicing across both countries to help businesses save time and money ...
Labour
2 weeks ago

An end to unnecessary secondary tax
Workers who are paying too much tax because of incorrect secondary tax codes are in line for relief with the passage of legislation through Parliament late last night. The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018-19, Modernising Tax Administration, and Remedial Matters) ...
Labour
2 weeks ago

Chatham Islands pāua plan approved
Efforts to reverse the decline in the Chatham Islands pāua fishery are the focus of a new plan jointly agreed between government, the local community and industry. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the plan was developed by the PauaMAC4 Industry ...
Labour
3 weeks ago

Bill introduced for synthetics crackdown
The Police will get stronger powers of search and seizure to crackdown on synthetic drugs under new legislation, which makes the two main synthetics (5F-ADB and AMB-FUBINACA) Class A drugs. The Government has today introduced the Misuse of Drugs Amendment ...
Labour
3 weeks ago

Generation Zero calls on Govt to rethink public transport
Generation Zero are today launching a new report which criticises NZTA’s public transport fares policy and calls for a new system to encourage all Aucklanders to take public transport. ...
Scoop politics
22 mins ago

Generation Zero calls on Govt to rethink public transport
Generation Zero are today launching a new report which criticises NZTA’s public transport fares policy and calls for a new system to encourage all Aucklanders to take public transport. ...
Scoop politics
22 mins ago

Blenheim’s ASB Theatre to host National Remembrance Service
The National Remembrance Service for victims of the Christchurch terrorism attacks, to be held this Friday, will be livestreamed at the McLauchlan Family Auditorium in the ASB Theatre, 2 Hutcheson St, Blenheim. ...
Scoop politics
34 mins ago

New Zealanders open to doing more to tackle climate change
New Zealanders open to doing more to tackle climate change The vast majority of New Zealanders are open to doing more about climate change – as individuals and as a nation – according to new research commissioned by the Energy ...
Scoop politics
43 mins ago

Operation Burnham – declassified Cabinet material released
The Inquiry has published its first bundle of declassified material – these are Cabinet documents for the period 2009-2010. ...
Scoop politics
54 mins ago

Strike three for Fuji Xerox members
Workers at Fuji Xerox will walk off the job for a third time this morning in an escalating dispute over the company’s absolute refusal to pay backpay on a 2% pay offer. ...
Scoop politics
1 hour ago

Agricultural sector must be held accountable
Health professionals have expressed concern about a newly-released report by New Zealand’s Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment examining how to deal with greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. While the report contains some useful ...
Scoop politics
14 hours ago

PCE Report needs clarity from government
Forest Owners want clarity for what New Zealand plantation forestry is expected to deliver on climate change targets. ...
Scoop politics
18 hours ago

New Zealand and Australia stoke tensions with Turkey
By Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group 25 March 2019 url: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/03/25/turk-m25.html ...
Scoop politics
18 hours ago

New Report: Climate policy needs a landscape approach
A report about taking an alternative ‘landscape approach’ to Aotearoa New Zealand’s long-term climate change targets and policies has been released today by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton. ...
Scoop politics
18 hours ago

Dairy and fertiliser lobbies will celebrate over PCE report
Tuesday, 26 March: The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s (PCE) just-released report, Farms, Forests and Fossil Fuels, looks to have been influenced by the agricultural lobby, says Greenpeace. ...
Scoop politics
19 hours ago

Whangārei set to host the next Ngāpuhi Hapū Hui
Whangārei is set to host the next Ngāpuhi Hapū Hui on 27 April 2019 at Te Puna o Te Mātauranga Marae, Raumanga Valley Road. ...
Scoop politics
19 hours ago

PCE report is challenge to climate change thinking
Federated Farmers believes today’s report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment on climate change puts the challenge out to the government to let science guide its policy planning, rather than politics. ...
Scoop politics
20 hours ago

Dr Cullen’s CGT history paints Govt into a corner
Dr Michael Cullen’s historical insistence that a capital gains tax should apply to all asset classes (i.e. have no exemptions) paints the current Government into a corner, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

April 1 strike is on after mediation fails
Mediation for nearly 3000 IDEA Services care workers has ended in failure after IDEA Services, the operational arm of IHC, refused to budge on key union claims to lift wages and conditions. ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

Police Minister provides detail of possible gun law changes
Police Minister Stuart Nash told TVNZ 1’s Q+A programme that he’s in favour of introducing a gun register as part of the Government’s response to the Christchurch Mosque attacks. ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

Social media bosses face jail over terror content
SYDNEY (Sydney Morning Herald/Pacific Media Watch): Executives from Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social media companies could face jail time if their platforms fail to remove terrorist content under a legislative crackdown being prepared by ...
Scoop politics
24 hours ago

Wilson must be locked up for life
“The Sentencing Judge has the power and tools to sentence Paul Wilson to Life Imprisonment without Parole if they choose to” On Thursday 28thMarch one of New Zealand’s most horrific violent offenders will be sentenced for the brutal murder ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Digital divide still exists for older people
Senior citizens are more digitally connected than ever. However, little is known about the online social connectivity of older people after they enter residential aged care. Residents are often omitted from surveys and reports, and their use of ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Donations Advice
Donations advice New Zealanders are incredibly generous and give billions of their hard-earned cash to charity each year. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Hundreds of students set to speak up for race unity
As New Zealand mourns the devastating terrorist attack in Christchurch, high school students are preparing to speak their mind on racial prejudice and unity in diversity. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

60 Alec Baldwin wielding workers take to the streets
A sea of 60 call-centre workers will stride through Britomart, downtown Auckland City today in their fight to share awareness of their pay and work conditions. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Trade Me launches Aroha for Christchurch
Trade Me has launched Aroha for Christchurch to help Kiwis show Canterbury some kindness. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Censor: Christchurch Attack Video, Publication Objectionable
A publication reportedly written by the terrorist behind the fatal attacks in Christchurch, has been officially classified as objectionable. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Royal Commission into failure of NZ’s Intelligence a must
The New Zealand Maori Council has added to the call for a Royal Commission to be held into the failure of intelligence services to pick up the existence of white supremist organisations and individuals in the lead up to the ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

LGBTI organisations call for decriminalization of sex work
During the final day of the ILGA World Conference, held in Aotearoa New Zealand, LGBTI activists worldwide resolved to address the stigmatisation of sex workers, including in the LGBTI movement. The resolution passed in the closing session of ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Let Wisdom Govern, Not Emotion.
Yesterday we gathered together to remember fifty lives snatched away by a coward; we note that the coward ran away from a brave man armed with a credit card machine. ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Turkish Embassy on NZers in Turkey
It has come to our attention that some news and commentaries are being increasingly published in some media circles alleging that there is a hostile environment in Turkey against the citizens of New Zealand and Australia and that it is ...
Scoop politics
3 days ago

Why NZ must get rid of ISDS now
Australia’s costs for tobacco case it won show why NZ must get rid of ISDS now ...
Scoop politics
4 days ago

Banning of manifesto a step too far
The Free Speech Coalition says the Censor’s banning of the Christchurch terrorist attacker’s manifesto is wrong, unconstitutional, and counterproductive. ...
Scoop politics
4 days ago

OPINION: Gun-owning Chch Politician Responds
Without wanting to add to some of the sentimental hyperbole surrounding the heartfelt love and support for our Christchurch muslims in Riccarton and Linwood, I feel a responsibility to respond to some of the emerging issues as a Christchurch local ...
Scoop politics
4 days ago

Update and information on firearm hand-ins
Since Police set up the 0800 number dedicated to the changes to firearms yesterday afternoon, 474 calls were received by 11am. ...
Scoop politics
5 days ago

Hapu to invite Tribunal to marae
Ngai Tamahaua Hapu Chair, Peter T Selwyn, and Hetaraka Biddle, chairman of the Opape Marae trustees, have today announced their intention to formally invite the Waitangi Tribunal to hold part of the upcoming historical inquiry into the Whakatohea greviences ...
Scoop politics
5 days ago

Petition call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry
Greg Rzesniowiecki has initiated a petition to NZ Parliamentary Representatives ...
Scoop politics
5 days ago

Social Media Blackout Friday March 22nd 2019
Christchurch woman, Leigh Kennedy, is calling for businesses and individuals to switch off Google and Facebook at 1:40pm tomorrow - Friday March 22nd - for 16 minutes. ...
Scoop politics
5 days ago

Condolences to our Muslim Community in Aotearoa
The Pacific Leadership Forum offers its deepest and sincerest condolences and aroha to our Muslim Community in Aotearoa, particularly those directly affected in Christchurch. ...
Scoop politics
5 days ago

National Day of mourning still needed
A National Day of mourning is still needed. One was held following the Christchurch earthquake and today's terror victims deserve at least. ...
Scoop politics
5 days ago

Intelligence Review must be open
In the wake of last Friday's horrific racist terrorist attack, Auckland Peace Action is calling for any inquiry into the intelligence services to be independent and to be open to the public. ...
Scoop politics
5 days ago

New Zealand Jewish Support for Christchurch
Following Friday’s heinous terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques, the New Zealand Jewish community has been overwhelmed by enquiries and offers of financial support from its members, as well as overseas Jewish organisations and individuals. ...
Scoop politics
5 days ago

ACEM welcomes new gun laws
The peak body for emergency medicine in New Zealand has welcomed today’s strengthening of gun laws. ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

We need to understand each other this Race Relations Day
The theme of this year’s Race Relations Day – ‘O tātou iwi, ō tātou ahurea, ō tātou reo – Our people, our cultures, our languages’ – is poignant and appropriate, says Anita Balakrishnan, Director, Office of Ethnic Communities. ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Petitioners welcome gun law reform announcement
At 11.30am on Thursday, Wellingtonian Nik Green, Industrial Designer Brad Knewstubb and mum of three Hannah Clarke presented their combined 70,000-strong petitions to Parliament for a ban on semi-automatic weapons and greater firearm advertising regulations. ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Bar Association welcomes Government ban on assault rifles
The New Zealand Bar Association welcomes the Government’s ban on assault rifles today. NZBA’s council member, Josh McBride, says that immediate changes to the underlying legislation are now required to ensure that all military specification ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Bar Association welcomes Government ban on assault rifles
The New Zealand Bar Association welcomes the Government’s ban on assault rifles today. NZBA’s council member, Josh McBride, says that immediate changes to the underlying legislation are now required to ensure that all military specification ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

CEAC press release on Environment
We are delighted for Helen Clark to become Patron of the new independent think tank with University of Auckland called “The Helen Clark Foundation.” The Helen Clark Foundation is a new organisation and needs your support to grow. Helen Clark ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Urgent changes to gun laws – Expert Reaction
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced urgent gun legislation following last week’s mosque shootings. ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Terrorism a first for NZ but decades now for Afghanistan
While last Friday’s terrorist attack in Christchurch was the first for New Zealand, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Australia and non-resident to New Zealand says his country has been victims of violence and terrorism for more than four decades. ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Government applauded for decisive action on firearms
The Police Association congratulates the government for demonstrating the courage to take decisive action and ban the firearms that have inflicted so much harm in New Zealand. ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Federated Farmers supports toughening up on firearms
"This will not be popular among some of our members but after a week of intense debate and careful consideration by our elected representatives and staff, we believe this is the only practicable solution," Feds Rural Security spokesperson Miles ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Fish & Game supports firearm law reforms
Fish and Game says the just announced changes to firearms legislation is a well considered and ensures public safety. ...
Scoop politics
6 days ago

Older posts

Mercury commits to $256 mln Turitea wind development
Mercury NZ plans to start site works for a $256 million wind farm south-east of Palmerston North in August. The company plans to install 33 Vestas turbines – each with 3.6 megawatt capacity – at the company’s consented site at ...
Newsroom
47 mins ago

Trees still best short term option on emissions – Climate Change Minister James Shaw
Planting trees to offset carbon dioxide emissions is still the best short-term option while other strategies are worked out, the Climate Change Minister says. ...
Radio NZ – political
53 mins ago

Keith Rankin’s Chart for the Month – Productivity Contradictions
Keith Rankin’s Chart for the Month – Productivity Contradictions Analysis by Keith Rankin
Paid toil now growing faster than its rewards. Chart by Keith Rankin.As the public (and many economists) see it, economic growth (growth of Real GDP; marketed ...
Evening ReportBy Keith Rankin
57 mins ago

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – March 27 2019
Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – March 27 2019 Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.Today’s content Royal Commission, role ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
1 hour ago

MPs from across the political divide previously stymied gun control
As recently as last year, New Zealand First MP Ron Mark boasted in Parliament about having repeatedly obstructed attempts to bolster gun control. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 hours ago

NZD rangebound ahead of RBNZ rate announcement
The New Zealand dollar remains steady ahead of today's cash rate review where the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is widely expected to keep rates on hold. ...
Newsroom
2 hours ago

More NZers under surveillance: Andrew Little authorises spy agencies to do more ‘intrusive’ ...
Andrew Little says he has given authority to spy agencies to do "intrusive" activities under warrant. ...
Radio NZ – political
3 hours ago

Smart speakers are everywhere — and they’re listening to more than you think
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Parker, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Melbourne Smart speakers equipped with digital voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa are now the fastest-growing consumer technology since the smartphone. Nearly 100 ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

The Bulletin: Trees aren’t a climate change credit card
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Climate change report recommends major changes to land use and policy, Westland hit by heavy flooding, and St John in trouble with paramedics over donations call.The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Braae
3 hours ago

View from The Hill: James Ashby rocks a few boats, including his own
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra It’s appalling, sinister and faintly ludicrous that Pauline Hanson’s right-hand man James Ashby and former Queensland MP Steve Dickson played footsie with the American gun ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

The inside story on crime within prison
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catharine Phillips, Acting Superintendent, Karnet Prison Farm, Edith Cowan University I’ve spent many years working within the prison system, in minimum and maximum security facilities, with adults and juveniles, men and women. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

Are more Aussie trees dying of drought? Scientists need your help spotting dead trees
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Belinda Medlyn, Professor, Western Sydney University Most citizen science initiatives ask people to record living things, like frogs, wombats, or feral animals. But dead things can also be hugely informative for science. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

We asked five experts: should Australia lower the voting age to 16?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Petrova, Section Editor: Education Voting is a key part of the democratic process. It allows all citizens of a certain age to have a say on matters important to them. Voting ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

I need to know: ‘are Kegel exercises actually good for you?’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney I Need to Know is an ongoing series for teens in search of reliable, confidential advice about life’s tricky questions. If you’re a teen, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

To protect fresh food supplies, here are the key steps to secure city foodbowls
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Carey, Lecturer in Food Systems, University of Melbourne If you’ve eaten fresh strawberries recently, they likely came from one of Australia’s city foodbowls. Around 40% of the nation’s strawberries are produced ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

When even winning is losing. The surprising cost of defeating Philip Morris over plain packaging
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pat Ranald, Research fellow, University of Sydney Australia scored a victory over the tobacco giant Philip Morris in the High Court in 2012. The court held that Australia’s plain cigarette packaging laws ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

When we celebrate Captain Cook’s voyage, let’s mark the epic journey of a Wati Wati man also
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Morey, Senior Lecturer, Department of Languages and Linguistics, La Trobe University By now, most of us would know that 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage along the East ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
3 hours ago

End forest tradeoffs for CO2: PCE climate report
Even before the embargo lifted on Simon Upton’s long-awaited climate policy report, the Minister for Climate Change had ruled out its boldest suggestion. ...
Newsroom
3 hours ago

Free speech under ATTACK! Why Stuff are reining in their comment section
With questions for media swirling about what their platforms get used for, New Zealand’s biggest news site has closed a huge swathe of their notorious comments section. Stuff editor in chief Patrick Crewdson spoke to The Spinoff about why they made ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Braae
5 hours ago

Q&A: everything you need to know about the cyber armies coming for your democracy
One of the most powerful tools of the 21st century is being allowed to operate with impunity and it’s hurting humankind, according to a silicon valley-based New Zealand AI expert.Artificial intelligence expert Sean Gourley is in the business of creating ...
The SpinoffBy Maria Slade
5 hours ago

NZ is complacent on human rights
The Human Rights Commissioner says NZ is complacent, and that needs to change. ...
Newsroom
13 hours ago

Black Sheep: NZ’s story of white supremacy
Black Sheep … an RNZ special on white supremacy. Image: RNZ COMMENTARY: By William Ray Since the mosque attacks in Christchurch earlier this month, many people have called for New Zealand to examine its history of white supremacy. In ...
Evening ReportBy Pacific Media Centre
13 hours ago

Gallery: Children head NZ’s ‘love not hate’ rally in central Auckland
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Pacific Media Centre’s Del Abcede was on the ground for last Sunday’s “love not hate” rally with about 2000 people marching down Auckland’s Queen Street in solidarity with the victims and survivors of the Christchurch mosque ...
Evening ReportBy Pacific Media Centre
13 hours ago

Sunshine and star bakers: The Great British Bake Off is back
Blessed be the fruit loaf, The Great British Bake Off is back. Tara Ward relives the best moments from episode one of the new season of the world’s kindest TV show.We could all do with a warm and fluffy escape ...
The SpinoffBy Tara Ward
14 hours ago

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Why has gun law reform failed until now?
Political Roundup: Why has gun law reform failed until now? by Dr Bryce Edwards As the Christchurch terrorist debate has unfolded, there has been astonishment that New Zealand’s gun laws are so lax. Loopholes and liberal gun laws have been ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
14 hours ago

Tomorrow when the war began
Analysis: A group of schools are rallying against the Tomorrow's Schools plan, but not all their claims are correct. ...
Newsroom
15 hours ago

We need to review how we treat graphic content in video games
As it stands only ten games are currently banned from sale in New Zealand but should we be looking at how we censor games with more scrutiny? Oskar Howell writes.Content warning: Depictions of violence are alluded to in the piece.One of ...
The SpinoffBy Oskar Howell
16 hours ago

Lonely Asian woman seeks lonely Asian women
Everyone heads to the internet to dispel loneliness and boredom. Sharon Lam headed there in search of lonely Asian women, and found them everywhere she looked.Recently I’ve found myself feeling a little less lonely, despite moving to a city where ...
The SpinoffBy Sharon Lam
16 hours ago

Who was the racism march really for?
Samuel Te Kani attended Sunday’s Love Aotearoa Hate Racism march in central Auckland, and found a confusing mix of love, solidarity, conspiracy theory and violent rhetoric. I’ve never been especially drawn to activism, not in any conventional sense. In an era ...
The SpinoffBy Samuel Te Kani
16 hours ago

Shares shrugs off Wall St weakness
New Zealand shares shrugged off the weak leads from Wall Street overnight as the defensive qualities of companies offering stable dividends found favour with investors. ...
Newsroom
16 hours ago

Former Mainzeal directors in final-hour appeal of judgment
Directors of collapsed construction company Mainzeal, including former PM Jenny Shipley, are appealing last month’s High Court judgment. ...
Newsroom
17 hours ago

It’s your money they’re spending in this election-eve budget. Here’s how we’re covering the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling Next Tuesday night is budget night, and it’s happening on the eve of a federal election where the Coalition is in for the fight of its ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
17 hours ago

Did Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation into One Nation overstep the mark?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dodd, Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne The sheer audacity of Al Jazeera’s three-year ruse is astounding. The news company’s investigation unit has carried out a sting ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
17 hours ago

Chorus shares ‘extremely undervalued’
Chorus shares hit a record earlier this month but are still "extremely undervalued", according to its biggest shareholder. ...
Newsroom
17 hours ago

How one city reduced its road toll – and gave its streets back to the people
As Auckland examines how to make its roads safer and more functional, one city has already shown us how it’s done. Teuila Fuatai looks at how slowing down changes the way a city works. On the other side of the ...
The SpinoffBy Teuila Fuatai
18 hours ago

Finn Andrews comes home to create his most forthright album yet
After living and working for years in London alongside his band, The Veils, Finn Andrews returned to Auckland last year. Gareth Shute caught up with him between performances at WOMAD to find out about his heartbreak-inflected new album, One Piece ...
The SpinoffBy Gareth Shute
19 hours ago

Drug problem in Philippines has ‘worsened’, admits Duterte
PDEA Director-General Aaron Aquino (centre) and PDEA Director III Irish Calaguas (left) led two operations in Muntinlupa on March 19, 2019, which yielded 166.5 kg of crystal meth worth an estimated 1.13 billion pesos. Image: PDEA By Nestor Corrales ...
Evening ReportBy Pacific Media Centre
19 hours ago

Govt rejects Upton proposal to restrict use of trees for emissions reduction
The government is committed to using forests as carbon 'sinks' for all greenhouse gas emissions, dismissing recommendations in a new report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment that forests should only be used to offset agricultural GHGs. ...
Newsroom
20 hours ago

Peta Clancy brings a hidden Victorian massacre to the surface with Undercurrent
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anita Pisch, Honorary Lecturer, School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University Review: Peta Clancy, Undercurrent, Koorie Heritage Trust The slaughter of Australian soldiers at Gallipoli in 1915 is claimed by ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
20 hours ago

Why new laws are vital to help us control violence and extremism online
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Co-Director Centre for Commercial Law, Bond University The terrorist attack in Christchurch is a horrific attack on society. We must consider all measures available to avoid something like ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
20 hours ago

What is the Medicare rebate freeze and what does it mean for you?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW On the weekend, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he would end the Medicare freeze in his first 50 days as prime minister if Labor won ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
20 hours ago

OCR will stay put for a long time
The official cash rate is either going to stay where it is for a long time or a very long time, according to Fergus McDonald, head of fixed interest and currency at Nikko Asset Management New Zealand. ...
Newsroom
20 hours ago

Confessions of a former racist
Growing up in the south of the South Island, Paula Simpson’s world was quiet, conservative and very white. And then she moved to India… Here she speaks to fellow Pākehā New Zealanders about prejudice and preconceptions.Content warning: racist languageIt’s hard ...
The SpinoffBy Paula Simpson
22 hours ago

China’s appetite for milk powder boosts exports
New Zealand posted a trade surplus of $12 million in February, down from a $188 million surplus in the same month a year ago, as China boosted milk powder exports while imports of cars rose. ...
Newsroom
22 hours ago

NZSA supports NZX director elections
The New Zealand Shareholders’ Association is highly critical of NZX’s performance but will nevertheless support the election and re-election of two directors. ...
Newsroom
23 hours ago

More fish, more fishing: why strategic marine park placement is a win-win
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerstin Jantke, Postdoctoral Researcher on conservation biology, University of Hamburg Australia has some of the most spectacular marine ecosystems on the planet – including, of course, the world-famous Great Barrier Reef. Many ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
23 hours ago

Kathmandu lifts 1H profit 14% on fatter margins
Kathmandu Holdings lifted first-half profit as expanding margins and a one-time tax adjustment bolstered extra sales from its recently acquired North American Oboz Footwear business. ...
Newsroom
23 hours ago

Abano expects annual net profit to fall about 12%
Abano Healthcare is forecasting annual net profit will fall 12.6 percent amid “challenging” conditions in Australia which have halted its purchases of new dental practices across the Tasman. ...
Newsroom
24 hours ago

Gun Laws and Security – ‘How to Sell a Massacre’ an Al Jazeera Investigation into Australia’...
AL JAZEERA – A three-year undercover operation by Al Jazeera has shown Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party lobbying the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) for millions of dollars to roll back Australia’s strict gun control laws. * ...
Evening ReportBy MIL_Syndication
1 day ago

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – March 26 2019
Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – March 26 2019 Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.Today’s content Royal Commission, role ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
1 day ago