The Nats are just short of camping and sleeping with the Oravida staff – but according to Bryce Edwards, the Govt is being “pragmatic”, which must be a Right Wingers’ synonym for “cronyism” or “corruption”.
If it was Labour doing this, the public would be asking for heads to roll.
A beautiful example of PR front footing – power bills rise, John Key points at up grades to national grid, Transpower say isn’t us, for some reason it comes across as David Shearer is supporting the PM with his Private Members Bill…. nothing is said at all about recent power asset sell off!
And the latest rort from John Key’s privatising profiteers at Genesis….. The account arrives and is to be paid within four days or the 10% late payment tax is imposed.
Electricity has become like water to people. Water is an essential life source and is provided at no (well, ratepayers mostly) cost. Imagine if people started drinking less water because it cost too much….. there would be all manner of uproar.
Well, electricity has become the same. In many places we are not allowed to burn wood etc for heating and cooking. So to warm ourselves and feed ourselves we are required to use electricity. This is the place that electricity has taken in society – an essential. Absolutely essential for survival.
As such, electricity cannot be left to the vagaries of the “free market” to supply such, like plastic buckets and undies can be. Lack of plastic buckets and undies are not threatening to life, so they can stay with the slave labour suppliers in the east. But not electricity.
Electricity is an essential to life survival in Aotearoa and as such must be supplied in the appropriate manner to us. Free market supply is utterly wrong for this reason.
Thanks for the access to the interviews. Cunliffe did well to not dwell on the media beatups of him in the last week or so, and to not accept the untrustworthy smear.
… but i do wish Morning Report would not waste time on the flag issue….it is such a USA Republican Party red herring and diversion by John Key from the real issues facing this country
….Simon Mercep should not be buying into this and giving it air time….we want the real issues!…
The perception of a conflict of interest, Judith Collins acting in Her capacity as the Minister of Justice visits Oravida in China later claiming under questioning that this was simply a spur of the moment decision to drop in for a cuppa,
Lies???, you bet, a letter released under the Official Information Act shows the visit was not one of a spur of the moment nature which leaves Collins open to accusations of Ministerial conflicts of interest and having deliberately mislead the Parliament,
Spin???, so fast your eyeballs will nearly roll out of your head trying to follow the trajectory, up pops the Herald’s David Fisher a veritable unknown who appears to have the dubious ‘honor’ of being that in-august ‘rags’ senior reporter of the year,
In a piece in today’s Herald online Fisher gives every impression of a display that would have the ‘senior reporter of the year’ title replaced with ‘well past His used by date’ and i have to wonder if the story as presented to the public is a verbatim copy of the words of Steven Joyce or simply a precis of an earlier phone call,
Prevaricate, by spreading Collins’s shit in a wide arc across the National Party listing every man and his dog as having ‘visited’ Oravida in Auckland,(do not muse aloud about the depth of this particular companies pockets with what appears to be the whole spectrum of the ‘Right’ lining up with their hands out),
Disregard, the intelligence of everybody by attempting to cover Collins tracks by not mentioning that it is Her actions while on an official visit to another country that are in question,
Wheel out, a tame ‘expert’ in the form of Dr Bryce Edwards ‘a political scientist’ to pronounce over the corpse of the National Government ‘pragmatism’ in the vein of a priest giving the rites of absolution,
Lie by omission, treat the readers as if their intellectual level has been seriously devalued by previous readings of the Herald by not including the ‘fact’ that the wheeled out ‘political scientist’ in the form of Edwards is a paid hack for the ‘rag’,
Can the Herald stoop much lower looking for excuses for Collins and National’s ‘pragmatic’ Hands Out political management in what gives every appearance of a ‘grease my palm with ten pieces of silver and all your fortunes will bask in the warmth of the Sun’ explanation which paints all of them in the same light,
You bet, the Herald jonolists have barely scratched the surface in their attempts to paint the innocent actions of one simply helping a friend into something far darker than that while painting the ‘Hands Out’ politics in the National Parties approach to business as simple pragmatism…
Probably been invited to a few more clever dinner parties of late. Seems they all go that way. Look at Edwards the Elder. No more analysis. Just commentary on the “game” and declaration of “winners” – effective congratulations to the the winners they declare. No matter how scurvy.
When change comes (of neccesity it will…….or choose civil unrest) there are going to be some worried yuppies……….
Winston’s the only one who really calls them for what they are.
Flag referendum. Classic boycott material on the basis that it’s an expensive piece of patently unnecessary bullshit devised by ShonKey Python to distract in election year. Since it’s for his benefit alone let him pay for it alone – he’s got 50 mill’ – a drop in the bucket to him. Maybe an Antoine’s coffee and muffin would spread the burden……..update the already bestowed honour to “Sir…….whatever-his-name-is”.
I really cannot see why we need to change the goddamn thing. I like our current flag. I am not all that worried about the Union Jack — after all, rightly or wrongly, that is our heritage. The Hawaiian flag also has UJ on it, and it had much looser links with the Empire, I dont see anyone there jumping up and down.
As for people getting our flag mixed up, I dont think it bothers the people of Poland, Indonesia, Chad, Moldova, Romania, Senegal and Cameroon that much?
Though, if there has to be a change, the United Tribes flag seems the most appropriate choice, given that it was the flag of a truly independent New Zealand.
Xox. I’ve been disappointed that Bryce Edwards has leant more to the right as he gets more mainstream media coverage. I suppose this is how the MSM works. You give them what they want and they ask you back. You scratch my back…
Ianmac, you mean the flag is not more important as fairness, employment, better wages and working conditions, freedom and opportunity, education, health and social inclusion, peace and shared prosperity?
I wonder whether a nice nationalist issue like flag-waving is not a cunning plan to get right wing voters into the polling booth and voting?
Interesting. Patrick Gower has a whole column on Scoop (Politics) transcribing his interview with John Key on The Nation. Haven’t seen that before. Could it possibly be because there were complaints about is interview with Cunliffe on The Nation ? ? I haven’t bothered to include the link – its easy enough to find on Scoop – because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of having something up on The Standard.
JK, perhaps tho people, even the Alfred E. Nuemann of televised political jonolism, can change, the proof of such of course can only be found in Gowers future reporting,
If Gower can find ‘political balance’, a fine line to have to walk daily, then i think He deserves a small modicum of applause,
Gower’s setting of Slippery the Prime Ministers feet on fire with the interview on the Nation was possibly the most telling against the PM in His 5 odd years of holding the office, all the more so because i don’t for a moment believe that the PM could believe Gower had the temerity to pull Him apart in such a manner,
Credit where credit is due, IF Gower can stick to the facts while reporting the politics then i would suggest He may become the working man’s Kim Hill of political reporting, the deep intellect may not be apparent but the ability to slice and dice, using the truth to do so, are certainly evident…
I cant believe the nonsense coming out of Radio NZ this morning about changing the flag. why dont they ask which if any country has ever changed its flag. The answer is none. all the pretentious greybeards trying to sound like constituional intellectuals when they are more like tired old sots.This is a bigger red herring than 1981 and the country is just sitting back and swallowing it. I just about give up when this stuff is paraded as a serious question. An old chinese confucian saying is that choice cases confusion and shifty key and his minions are in the business of creating confusion so their neo-liberal agenda slips past while the ninnies run around debating crap.
We report that a brief exposure to the American flag led to a shift toward Republican beliefs, attitudes, and voting behavior among both Republican and Democratic participants, despite their overwhelming belief that exposure to the flag would not influence their behavior. In Experiment 1, which was conducted online during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants’ Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months after the exposure to the prime. In Experiment 2, we replicated the findings more than a year into the current Democratic presidential term. These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.
It can just as easily result in separatist or other reactionary views, depending on national values, current events, and even flag culture. The flags of USA, France, and Denmark represent different ideals to their citizens.
The NZE doesn’t really stand for much in the public consciousness — certainly nothing that suggests clear political leanings.
Provoking the debate however, with it’s predictable divisiveness and unpredictable consequences, purely as a convenient distraction, is egregiously cynical enough without need for any bonus conspiracy.
[P.S. lprent — The post-with-edit-timer is brilliant. Perfect.]
+100 captain hook….. flag issue is John Keys ‘Red Herring Flag’….but stupid commentators are buying into this RED HERRING and treating it as if it is a serious issue for New Zealand voters ……they need to get their priorities sorted
Mr Pop are you talking to me ?…Calling me Simple little Chooky!?….if so …go get popped or poped or chicken pooped on! ….you are a Red Herring!
…the Flag issue is the least of NZ’s problems !……and surveys have shown most NZers want to keep the flag! ……it is a NON ISSUE…for msm simpletons to be taken in with and to dupe the population with !…it is a waste of time……..a Trickster diversion by Mr TricKey himself straight out of the right wing Republicans manual for subversion of genuine dialogue, dialectic, and democracy!
It is very important we hold the media to account. This election must be held on the debate of real issues…and not subverted by red herrings
Nah chooky don’t it too personally. Pop’s just not afraid to be catty. I’d like to see the flag change. It’s certainly a cunning move by Key, though. He’s a slippery dude all right.
@ Arfamo ..i didnt take it personally…he is a silly old Pop
….at least the Left leaders are seeing the flag issue for what it is ….a red herring … and are not falling for the Bait….just wish the media would do the same
….we dont want this election diverted by Trickey’s cunning machinations away from the REAL issues
“..Colorado Recreational Weed Sales Top $14 Million In First Month..”
“..During the first month of recreational marijuana sales –
Colorado’s licensed dispensaries generated a total of more than $14 million –
putting about $2 million of tax revenue into state coffers in the process..”
Even with that, the Department of Transportation in Texas did this analysis and said, “Fracking is doing about four billion dollars of damage to our road surfaces and bridges on a yearly basis. These eighty-thousand-pound trucks, of which it might take as many as almost twelve hundred to complete a single well—six hundred if you want to re-frack it—and those twelve hundred trucks weighting eighty thousand pounds filled with sand and water and fracking fluid and who knows what and giant diesels…
A local story here in Dunedin is a businessman who was all flash, owned three or four businesses, had great plans, etc. Now he’s skipped town owing large amounts of cash to staff and suppliers. And apparently he’s done it before elsewhere.
Key reminds me of this guy – he’s not going to be shiny forever, the media have been getting tetchy with him, and when they sense blood the fall will be sudden. And he’s the nact’s only pony, what with “conflict of interest” collins and “didn’t fix it” joyce and “didn’t even try to fix it” brownlee. And the rest of them are even worse.
we shall see. Confident that he won’t preside over the first national government that fails to win three elections? He’s not. He’s more “derp” than grin these days.
No, it’s a “win-double lose” situation: nact govt and you being insufferable, versus a leftish govt. Unless the supporters of people who want to reduce the rate of sick babies are as shallow as the supporters of people who increase the rate of sick babies, in which case it would be “double win-double lose”.
What a bunch of cry babies…myself, Shane Jones and Helen Clark all agree that the Greens should be nowhere near the levers of power so read into that what you will
Jones is following cullens shoes… really shld be in the national party.
Unlike you I understand that if we keep doing stuff the way we have for the last 30 years our children and grand children will have nothing to smile about unless they ARE amongst the 1%. You focus on winning at all costs and the rest of us will struggle thru the cost you burden us with.
Yes it’s a great site I agree, but can you link to the part where it made you “appreciative of Helen Clark in that she knew to keep the Greens away from power” please.
‘cept she didn’t do anything to the Greens, so your comments are just a wee bit odd. In fact HC came to have a good working relationship with the previous Greens leadership and was instrumental in getting them to give her Government confidence and supply in 2005 in exchange for the active promotion of some of their policies on energy and transport.
Here’s a piece from The Press for last weekend on money and ACT and money and John Whyte. And satire and the rich. From Martin van Beynen – I like this bit.
Let us look at the empirical basis for the contention that wealth does not make you happy. Show me a rich person who is unhappy. OK but they have lost their minds. If money did not make you happy, do you think the ACT party would exist? It exists because rich people want everyone to be rich as long as rich people don’t have to pay for it…
There is only one circumstance that justifies the Government intervening in the market. This is when the market is unkind to rich people. Then the Government must step in to prop up the happiness of rich people using the money of poor people if necessary.
George, the article you link to explains everything pretty well. Waters being tested and lines being drawn. Thanks, because that’s the clearest example I’ve seen of how the Labout/Gp relationship is going. Bodes well.
Propaganda: “The Dominant Grand Narrative Of Our Time”
by DAVID CROMWELL, Media Lens, 27 January 2014
‘Propaganda’ sounds like an old-fashioned word from a bygone era. It evokes images of the Nazis in WW2, particularly Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, or Soviet leaders in the Cold War and dictators in ‘Third World’ countries. Propaganda is something spewed out by official enemies of the West, and surely not a vile practice indulged by ‘our’ politicians and business leaders. This is a convenient illusion that serves powerful Western elites very well indeed.
The Russian-born filmmaker Andre Vltchek, who has travelled the world extensively in making his documentaries, relates his experience of appearing in the media in different countries. He observes that when he speaks in China, he does so uncensored: “I was on CCTV – their National TV – and for half an hour I was talking about very sensitive issues. And I felt much freer in Beijing than when the BBC interviews me, because the BBC doesn’t even let me speak, without demanding a full account of what exactly I am intending to say.” (Noam Chomsky and Andre Vltchek, On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare, Pluto Press, London, 2013, p. 31)
Vltchek continued: “People in the West are so used to thinking that we are so democratic in terms of the way our media is run and covers the stories. Even if we know it’s not the case, we still, subconsciously, expect that it’s still somehow better than in other places and it is actually shocking when we realize that a place like China or Turkey or Iran would run more unedited or uncensored pieces than our own mainstream media outlets. Let me put it this way: Chinese television and newspapers are much more critical of their economic and political system than our television stations or newspapers are of ours. Imagine ABC, CBS, or NBC coming on air and beginning to question the basics of capitalism or the Western parliamentary system.” (Ibid., p. 32)
A vanishingly rare example of the BBC propaganda system being blasted open was the special edition of the Radio 4 Today programme edited by the English musician PJ Harvey on January 2, 2014. In her opening statement, Harvey explained that she wanted to “do something unusual with the format and content of the programme.” She invited people whom she considers “to be highly articulate, stimulating and extremely interesting to listen to – people who challenge us and move us to examine our deepest beliefs and feelings.”
Harvey’s guests included John Pilger talking about the propaganda role of the corporate media; Denis Halliday, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, on the urgent need to democratise the warmongering UN Security Council (here at around 49 mins); Ian Cobain and Phil Shiner on torture committed by UK forces (here at around 2 hrs : 34 mins); and Mark Curtis on how Britain’s arms trade fuels oppression around the world.
Harvey wanted her contributors to be unrestricted in what they could say, and she had asked the Today programme to agree to this before accepting the invitation to be a guest editor. She rightly noted that ‘a great deal’ of her edition of the programme was ‘about censorship in one way or another.’
Predictably, reactionary voices bewailed afterwards that the BBC had broadcast”‘left-wing tosh” and “liberal drivel”. Nick Robinson, the BBC’s “impartial” political editor, took particular exception to….
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says the United States’ spy agency has helped find or create loopholes in New Zealand law to enable widespread spying.
In testimony to the European Parliament, the exiled former NSA worker said the agency’s Foreign Affairs Division put pressure on other countries to change laws to create legal gaps through which mass surveillance could be carried out.
He said lawyers at the United Kingdom’s GCHQ were also engaged in finding loopholes and both agencies slipped changes past unwitting politicians.
“In recent public memory, we have seen these FAD ‘legal guidance’ operations occur in both Sweden and the Netherlands, and also faraway New Zealand.”
Mr Snowden offered no further detail in his testimony about pressure placed on New Zealand. His written testimony was sent ahead of a EU debate on freezing data agreements with the US.
It has been linked to new legislation passed in New Zealand last year which changed the laws governing the electronic spying agency, the GCSB, to allow it to spy on Kiwis. The government also passed legislation which extended the bureau’s powers over intercepting information sent and received in New Zealand.
Mr Snowden told the EU: “One of the foremost activities of the NSA’s FAD, or Foreign Affairs Division, is to pressure or incentivise EU member states to change their laws to enable mass surveillance.
“These efforts to interpret new powers out of vague laws is an intentional strategy to avoid public opposition and lawmakers’ insistence that legal limits be respected, effects the GCHQ internally described in its own documents as ‘damaging public debate’.”
The changes were used to “justify indiscriminate, dragnet surveillance operations”, he said.
In listing New Zealand among countries targeted, he said: “Each of these countries received instruction from the NSA, sometimes under the guise of the US Department of Defense and other bodies, on how to degrade the legal protections of their countries’ communications.”
Cyber rights group Tech Liberty’s spokesman Thomas Beagle said the new laws introduced in New Zealand last year appeared surprisingly quickly.
“It was like someone had it sitting in a drawer ready to go. Who is really writing these laws.”
He said the greater concern was the lack of oversight. “It’s never being able to test what they are doing what they say.”
David Cunliffe’s youtube message just up. Kind of direct and low tech. Not so inspirational though. But some good points about “the big end of town” etc.
Slippery the Prime Minister gets caught showing that He and speaking the truth are at best only known to each other on a fleeting basis,
Caught out again, by none other than TV3’s Alfred E. Nuemann, after slicing and dicing the Prime Minister on the Nation on the weekend Patrick Gower seems to have got a taste for a spot of ‘real Journalism’,
How long this will last and whether or not Gower’s new found enthusiasm will spread among His peers in the industry is yet to be seen, but, Gower in my estimation has just risen from sitting at the kerb to having a pew at the bus stop,
Slippery’s claim that the Cabinet Office had had translated the endorsement/promotion of Orivada’s products in their Chinese language magazine which allowed that Office to clear Collins of any supposed conflict of interest from such an endorsement/promotion while on offical Government business turns out to have been Utter Bullshit,
Just another lie from the Prime Minister and Gower proved such by asking the Cabinet Office a simple question,
Did they get an English language translation of the Chinese language magazine???, NO, definitely not said the Office of the Cabinet,
Gower is making easy work of making Slippery the Prime Minister look every bit the Liar and hypocrite that we all believe Him to be, in doing so He,(Gower), is starting to show, after an abysmal start, that he could become one of the greats in a thin field of political journalists in this country,
Scoring 2 direct hits on Slippery in a week is more than any other journalist has accomplished in 5 years,
Gower again goes up in my estimation, it’s the truth which we want Paddy, and, it’s pretty easy with a small amount of digging to expose the fact that our Prime Minister on any given day plays fast and loose with that truth…
Rt Hon John Key: Is the Minister aware of whether the Cabinet Office has provided any advice on whether the Minister’s visit to Oravida’s premises in China is in any way a breach of the Cabinet Manual?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Yes, the Cabinet Office, I understand, has advised the Prime Minister that my visit in no way contravened the Cabinet Manual.
The devious way of misleading here is staggering!..
On Monday Key told media the Cabinet Office had cleared Collins of a conflict of interest after translating comments on Oravida’s website which stated that she had praised its products.
But today Key’s office confirmed that the Cabinet office had only read the English language version on the website, which did not contain those references.
A spokesperson for Key said the Cabinet Office had been asked for guidance on the issue and its advice was clear that there was no conflict of interest and no endorsement.
“As the advice referred to the material on the company’s website, the prime minister took that advice to apply to both the English and the Chinese translation.”
He had become aware last night, however, that was not the case.
Exactly. But they way it was done in the House, without Key actually stating the lie himself, strongly suggests an intent to deceive, – without either actually directly stating the untruth the House. ie, based on a verbal technicality, they both cannot be reprimanded for misleading the House.
I caught a bit of the PM’s flag speech at Vic Uni today on the replay of the news tonight. Jeez, is it me or is he the just the most god-awful public speaker in history?
It is about time that members of the MSM when asking questions of John Key, and he includes the words “it’s in the rules”, they should respond with, “Ah yes, Prime Minister, it might be playing by the rules but is it ethical?”
Ah but Crosby Fester has anticipated the logistic of such wild card probing on the part of one or two in the popular fiction creating/embracing and generally biddable Fart Estate.
The answer, delivered with the dreadfully dead eyes of the rote learner, would be a sour little homily about an ordered society and The Rule of Law completely supported and advanced by every member of the National Party whom of course observe all the rules put in place in such a society and endorsed by all New Zealanders. Or some such effete shit. Then turn and light-foot /mince his way out.
The only real zap in that vein that I’ve ever seen was on the occasion of the recreational fisher schnapper quota stunt. Forget whom it was but a female reporter at the press conference pressed it just that bit further questioning that New Zealanders were more worried about schnapper than the GCSB – blow me down – there for all to see ShonKey Python shitting his pants and looking a complete and utter prize dork.
Typical of the ShonKey National Party and much in the vein of the “privatise the profits and socialise the losses” (non) ethics of the same.
‘Fia palagi’ (a preening wannabee caucasian) Peseta Sam Lotu-I’iga, ShonKey’s Minister of Pacific Island Affairs – you know the one, the shining lawyer boy dick who fantastically claimed on TV 3’s The Vote that $130,000 as a first home buyer’s 20% deposit on your more or less average Auckland house was more or less within reach – here he is putting out an official ‘Office of the Minister…..’ press statement claiming credit for a “new” Pasefika Anti-Violence prison programme.
Except that it’s been on foot for 10 years and he and the National Party had nothing to do with it. It was down to NZ First MP Anetasi and a number of other inspired, caring, Pacific Island people. Not Sammy nor ShonKey. But here he is taking the credit and steering it the way of ShonKey by implication.
Interesting to listen to Pasefika people when they hear some fia palagi claiming the credit for stuff they never were involved with. Very upfront and unforgiving in my experience. Tune in to their talkback.
Maybe fia palagi Sammy should pay attention to the comments of members of his own aiga (which I’ve personally witnessed) about the woeful state of his own (now deceased I recall) grandfather’s house in the village of Fasito’o-Uta on the coast road between Faleolo Airport and Apia town.
Not the shining boy he and ShonKey try to make out. Just a mainchance fia palagi really.
Liar Liar TricKEY’s pants are on fire. And somehow I don’t think that it’s just the media that he’s been lying to. Hmmm TricKEY being TricKEY with the truth.
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Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
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The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
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Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
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The Nats are just short of camping and sleeping with the Oravida staff – but according to Bryce Edwards, the Govt is being “pragmatic”, which must be a Right Wingers’ synonym for “cronyism” or “corruption”.
If it was Labour doing this, the public would be asking for heads to roll.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217337
that column from (acceptable-gatekeeper-wannabe) edwards-the-younger –
..he has basically become a mouthpiece/apologist for the right..
..and as such..
..should be studiously ignored/denigrated at will..
..(and him an ‘academic’..eh..?
..is he dunedin university’ steve hoadley..?..)
phillip ure..
Yeah – I reckon, Phil.
Well, National and the MSM would be screaming from the roof tops for heads to roll anyway.
this is what pete george/farrar/williams/edwards-the-younger/politicheck/the taxpayers union –
are up to/attempting to do..
“..China to train leaders to manage online public opinion..”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/china-online-opinion-training-programme-sina-weibo
phillip ure..
this is what we need here..
“..Mythopedia: The Website To Debunk Right-Wing Lies
“..Watchdog group Media Matters has launched a website –
cataloguing conservative propaganda..”
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mythopedia-website-debunk-right-wing-lies
(and the first entry for a local version..could be edwards-the-youngers’ latest rightwing-roundup/exercise in slanting/opinion-managing..)
phillip ure..
A beautiful example of PR front footing – power bills rise, John Key points at up grades to national grid, Transpower say isn’t us, for some reason it comes across as David Shearer is supporting the PM with his Private Members Bill…. nothing is said at all about recent power asset sell off!
And the latest rort from John Key’s privatising profiteers at Genesis….. The account arrives and is to be paid within four days or the 10% late payment tax is imposed.
and no real reaction to the news yesterday..
..that the poorest..(forced into pre-paid power-payments by their suppliers..)..
..are then forced to pay up to 60% more for their electricity..
..how is this..in any way..fair/’a level playing field’ (that claimed-destination of the right/free-market..)
..the market is ‘free’ alright..
..’free’ for these scumbag power-companies to cruelly exploit/profiteer off..the poorest/sickest/weakest in our country..
..am i the only one enraged by this..?
..what are lab/grns going to do about this..?
..about this ‘specifically’..?
..(and why not a class-action-suit..?..to force these scumbags to pay back what they have stolen..
..from the poorest..)
..phillip ure..
Electricity has become like water to people. Water is an essential life source and is provided at no (well, ratepayers mostly) cost. Imagine if people started drinking less water because it cost too much….. there would be all manner of uproar.
Well, electricity has become the same. In many places we are not allowed to burn wood etc for heating and cooking. So to warm ourselves and feed ourselves we are required to use electricity. This is the place that electricity has taken in society – an essential. Absolutely essential for survival.
As such, electricity cannot be left to the vagaries of the “free market” to supply such, like plastic buckets and undies can be. Lack of plastic buckets and undies are not threatening to life, so they can stay with the slave labour suppliers in the east. But not electricity.
Electricity is an essential to life survival in Aotearoa and as such must be supplied in the appropriate manner to us. Free market supply is utterly wrong for this reason.
+1 vto
+1111
Russell Norman & Dave Cunliffe on radio nz this, both sounding really good!
Go Left!
Russ:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140311-0640-election_2014_the_green_party_says_spring_is_a_time_for_change-048.mp3
Dave:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140311-0709-labour_says_it_can_turn_around_support_in_time_for_election-048.mp3
And right now Winston just let loose a great tirade on phony John Key!
Thanks for the access to the interviews. Cunliffe did well to not dwell on the media beatups of him in the last week or so, and to not accept the untrustworthy smear.
Sounding positive.
+100….both Cunliffe and Peters sounding great!
… but i do wish Morning Report would not waste time on the flag issue….it is such a USA Republican Party red herring and diversion by John Key from the real issues facing this country
….Simon Mercep should not be buying into this and giving it air time….we want the real issues!…
Mercep is useless
National is proposing a water standard that would allow 4 times the level of nitrates in our rivers that are in the Yangtze River in China??
Oh joy 2 headed fish territory. Oh TricKEY TricKEY TricKEY
Hmm TricKey what a good name that is – I have already started using it since reading your comment, thanx
Be my guest.
The perception of a conflict of interest, Judith Collins acting in Her capacity as the Minister of Justice visits Oravida in China later claiming under questioning that this was simply a spur of the moment decision to drop in for a cuppa,
Lies???, you bet, a letter released under the Official Information Act shows the visit was not one of a spur of the moment nature which leaves Collins open to accusations of Ministerial conflicts of interest and having deliberately mislead the Parliament,
Spin???, so fast your eyeballs will nearly roll out of your head trying to follow the trajectory, up pops the Herald’s David Fisher a veritable unknown who appears to have the dubious ‘honor’ of being that in-august ‘rags’ senior reporter of the year,
In a piece in today’s Herald online Fisher gives every impression of a display that would have the ‘senior reporter of the year’ title replaced with ‘well past His used by date’ and i have to wonder if the story as presented to the public is a verbatim copy of the words of Steven Joyce or simply a precis of an earlier phone call,
Prevaricate, by spreading Collins’s shit in a wide arc across the National Party listing every man and his dog as having ‘visited’ Oravida in Auckland,(do not muse aloud about the depth of this particular companies pockets with what appears to be the whole spectrum of the ‘Right’ lining up with their hands out),
Disregard, the intelligence of everybody by attempting to cover Collins tracks by not mentioning that it is Her actions while on an official visit to another country that are in question,
Wheel out, a tame ‘expert’ in the form of Dr Bryce Edwards ‘a political scientist’ to pronounce over the corpse of the National Government ‘pragmatism’ in the vein of a priest giving the rites of absolution,
Lie by omission, treat the readers as if their intellectual level has been seriously devalued by previous readings of the Herald by not including the ‘fact’ that the wheeled out ‘political scientist’ in the form of Edwards is a paid hack for the ‘rag’,
Can the Herald stoop much lower looking for excuses for Collins and National’s ‘pragmatic’ Hands Out political management in what gives every appearance of a ‘grease my palm with ten pieces of silver and all your fortunes will bask in the warmth of the Sun’ explanation which paints all of them in the same light,
You bet, the Herald jonolists have barely scratched the surface in their attempts to paint the innocent actions of one simply helping a friend into something far darker than that while painting the ‘Hands Out’ politics in the National Parties approach to business as simple pragmatism…
I’m sure that they will find away to do so.
radio just said key is gonna announce a ref regarding changing the flag…. WOW im so excited= NOT!
what a waste of $
Probably been invited to a few more clever dinner parties of late. Seems they all go that way. Look at Edwards the Elder. No more analysis. Just commentary on the “game” and declaration of “winners” – effective congratulations to the the winners they declare. No matter how scurvy.
When change comes (of neccesity it will…….or choose civil unrest) there are going to be some worried yuppies……….
Winston’s the only one who really calls them for what they are.
Flag referendum. Classic boycott material on the basis that it’s an expensive piece of patently unnecessary bullshit devised by ShonKey Python to distract in election year. Since it’s for his benefit alone let him pay for it alone – he’s got 50 mill’ – a drop in the bucket to him. Maybe an Antoine’s coffee and muffin would spread the burden……..update the already bestowed honour to “Sir…….whatever-his-name-is”.
Starting now – Boycott Boycott Boycott !
Can we have a flag issue ban on the Standard from today please?
Such a waste of this blog-National’s game is to make us talk about the flag not the real issues.
“I wanna bit o’ cloff vat will show my values” . How about a pic of a toilet on a shit brown background TricKEY. That’ll show your values
Some cheesy corporate logo.
I really cannot see why we need to change the goddamn thing. I like our current flag. I am not all that worried about the Union Jack — after all, rightly or wrongly, that is our heritage. The Hawaiian flag also has UJ on it, and it had much looser links with the Empire, I dont see anyone there jumping up and down.
As for people getting our flag mixed up, I dont think it bothers the people of Poland, Indonesia, Chad, Moldova, Romania, Senegal and Cameroon that much?
Though, if there has to be a change, the United Tribes flag seems the most appropriate choice, given that it was the flag of a truly independent New Zealand.
Xox. I’ve been disappointed that Bryce Edwards has leant more to the right as he gets more mainstream media coverage. I suppose this is how the MSM works. You give them what they want and they ask you back. You scratch my back…
Used to read him.
Gave up when he joined the Herald.
New Zealans does not need a new flag it needs new prime minister.
something seriously wrong is happening in this country.
+100
Of course the flag debate is not meant as a deflection from the important issues is it? Surely not!
Ianmac, you mean the flag is not more important as fairness, employment, better wages and working conditions, freedom and opportunity, education, health and social inclusion, peace and shared prosperity?
I wonder whether a nice nationalist issue like flag-waving is not a cunning plan to get right wing voters into the polling booth and voting?
Interesting. Patrick Gower has a whole column on Scoop (Politics) transcribing his interview with John Key on The Nation. Haven’t seen that before. Could it possibly be because there were complaints about is interview with Cunliffe on The Nation ? ? I haven’t bothered to include the link – its easy enough to find on Scoop – because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of having something up on The Standard.
JK, perhaps tho people, even the Alfred E. Nuemann of televised political jonolism, can change, the proof of such of course can only be found in Gowers future reporting,
If Gower can find ‘political balance’, a fine line to have to walk daily, then i think He deserves a small modicum of applause,
Gower’s setting of Slippery the Prime Ministers feet on fire with the interview on the Nation was possibly the most telling against the PM in His 5 odd years of holding the office, all the more so because i don’t for a moment believe that the PM could believe Gower had the temerity to pull Him apart in such a manner,
Credit where credit is due, IF Gower can stick to the facts while reporting the politics then i would suggest He may become the working man’s Kim Hill of political reporting, the deep intellect may not be apparent but the ability to slice and dice, using the truth to do so, are certainly evident…
Smart politics that would probably swing the vote Labour’s way 1#,
Announce in the middle of the first televised leaders debate the refining of the plan to raise the age of entitlement to superannuation,
Point out the three favored options, raise the age, means test the entitlement against income from all sources, or, leave the entitlement as it is,
Promise a referendum at the 2017 election to decide the issue,
The current Labour superannuation policy was a vote loser in 2011 and it still is…
+100…agreed.. “The current Labour superannuation policy was a vote loser in 2011 and it still is”…
Labour does not need to go there …and it can not afford to go there if it wants to win this election!
And if you think the TPP is a good idea. This from the country who is the main driver and whose corporations want us.
http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/index/2014/3/6/nun-the-wiser
I cant believe the nonsense coming out of Radio NZ this morning about changing the flag. why dont they ask which if any country has ever changed its flag. The answer is none. all the pretentious greybeards trying to sound like constituional intellectuals when they are more like tired old sots.This is a bigger red herring than 1981 and the country is just sitting back and swallowing it. I just about give up when this stuff is paraded as a serious question. An old chinese confucian saying is that choice cases confusion and shifty key and his minions are in the business of creating confusion so their neo-liberal agenda slips past while the ninnies run around debating crap.
why dont they ask which if any country has ever changed its flag
Canada, for one.
Anyway all the flag talk is due to this, I reckon… flag talk = conservative views
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/07/08/0956797611414726
(Abstract – article is paywalled, but if you google flag + voter intentions there are plenty of reports on this study).
Who’s to say that the same exposure here may mean people vote for fairness and the left. What NZ really stands for, not get rich quick.
It can just as easily result in separatist or other reactionary views, depending on national values, current events, and even flag culture. The flags of USA, France, and Denmark represent different ideals to their citizens.
The NZE doesn’t really stand for much in the public consciousness — certainly nothing that suggests clear political leanings.
Provoking the debate however, with it’s predictable divisiveness and unpredictable consequences, purely as a convenient distraction, is egregiously cynical enough without need for any bonus conspiracy.
[P.S. lprent — The post-with-edit-timer is brilliant. Perfect.]
Are you serious? Countries change their flags all the time.
+100 captain hook….. flag issue is John Keys ‘Red Herring Flag’….but stupid commentators are buying into this RED HERRING and treating it as if it is a serious issue for New Zealand voters ……they need to get their priorities sorted
Most of us have brains complex enough to thnk about more than one thing at a time – I’m sorry if you don’t
Mr Pop are you talking to me ?…Calling me Simple little Chooky!?….if so …go get popped or poped or chicken pooped on! ….you are a Red Herring!
…the Flag issue is the least of NZ’s problems !……and surveys have shown most NZers want to keep the flag! ……it is a NON ISSUE…for msm simpletons to be taken in with and to dupe the population with !…it is a waste of time……..a Trickster diversion by Mr TricKey himself straight out of the right wing Republicans manual for subversion of genuine dialogue, dialectic, and democracy!
It is very important we hold the media to account. This election must be held on the debate of real issues…and not subverted by red herrings
Nah chooky don’t it too personally. Pop’s just not afraid to be catty. I’d like to see the flag change. It’s certainly a cunning move by Key, though. He’s a slippery dude all right.
@ Arfamo ..i didnt take it personally…he is a silly old Pop
….at least the Left leaders are seeing the flag issue for what it is ….a red herring … and are not falling for the Bait….just wish the media would do the same
….we dont want this election diverted by Trickey’s cunning machinations away from the REAL issues
https://www.greens.org.nz/
for anyone wanting to help the Greens in their electioneering delivering pamphlets etc etc etc
🙂
“..Colorado Recreational Weed Sales Top $14 Million In First Month..”
“..During the first month of recreational marijuana sales –
Colorado’s licensed dispensaries generated a total of more than $14 million –
putting about $2 million of tax revenue into state coffers in the process..”
(cont..)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/10/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue_n_4936223.html
phillip ure..
Frikkin Fracking….just been reading http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-03-10/the-oil-revolution-story-is-dead-wrong and wondered about the real cost of fracking in NZ, the things that the frakkers don’t actually pay for……
Even with that, the Department of Transportation in Texas did this analysis and said, “Fracking is doing about four billion dollars of damage to our road surfaces and bridges on a yearly basis. These eighty-thousand-pound trucks, of which it might take as many as almost twelve hundred to complete a single well—six hundred if you want to re-frack it—and those twelve hundred trucks weighting eighty thousand pounds filled with sand and water and fracking fluid and who knows what and giant diesels…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9810796/Hughes-a-mollyhawk-Jones
Jones is doing very well at the moment
Whereas Key/English are doing very poorly
I guess that explains why Keys popularity is dropping and cunliffes is rising…no wait hang on its not
Yeah the boy next door popularity contest will trump the over-hyped rock-star that failed to make it to the concert venue.
I guess we’ll not see you again after 20 Sept 🙁
Oh you’ll be seeing me alright, gotta come back and gloat after all
On the flipside, your sulking absence would add a certain icing to a labour victory
Look at the polls. People like key…
Takes the mind off
Growing deficits
Shrinking tax takes
interest on way up and
rising govt debt
earthquake rebuild is masking a great deal about this elvis impersonator economy
A local story here in Dunedin is a businessman who was all flash, owned three or four businesses, had great plans, etc. Now he’s skipped town owing large amounts of cash to staff and suppliers. And apparently he’s done it before elsewhere.
Key reminds me of this guy – he’s not going to be shiny forever, the media have been getting tetchy with him, and when they sense blood the fall will be sudden. And he’s the nact’s only pony, what with “conflict of interest” collins and “didn’t fix it” joyce and “didn’t even try to fix it” brownlee. And the rest of them are even worse.
“he’s not going to be shiny forever”
yeah keep running that line as its worked out so well for the left so far
we shall see. Confident that he won’t preside over the first national government that fails to win three elections? He’s not. He’s more “derp” than grin these days.
So no matter what its a win-win when I come back 🙂
No, it’s a “win-double lose” situation: nact govt and you being insufferable, versus a leftish govt. Unless the supporters of people who want to reduce the rate of sick babies are as shallow as the supporters of people who increase the rate of sick babies, in which case it would be “double win-double lose”.
Well it’s good to hear you will be voting Lab/Green in order to ‘gloat’.
One thing about this site is its made me appreciative of Helen Clark in that she knew to keep the Greens away from power
That you are paranoidically scared of the greens makes me more certain voting for them is the right thing to do.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9814728/Greens-complain-about-Jones-attack
What a bunch of cry babies…myself, Shane Jones and Helen Clark all agree that the Greens should be nowhere near the levers of power so read into that what you will
I dont know where you get that I am crying.
Jones is following cullens shoes… really shld be in the national party.
Unlike you I understand that if we keep doing stuff the way we have for the last 30 years our children and grand children will have nothing to smile about unless they ARE amongst the 1%. You focus on winning at all costs and the rest of us will struggle thru the cost you burden us with.
You’re not the cry baby but the Greens are
Yes it’s a great site I agree, but can you link to the part where it made you “appreciative of Helen Clark in that she knew to keep the Greens away from power” please.
Its not in the link, its just a realization (on my part) that she was a better leader then I gave her credit for…
Cunliffe should take note of what she did to the Greens and follow suit
‘cept she didn’t do anything to the Greens, so your comments are just a wee bit odd. In fact HC came to have a good working relationship with the previous Greens leadership and was instrumental in getting them to give her Government confidence and supply in 2005 in exchange for the active promotion of some of their policies on energy and transport.
And IRD redundancies costly for Kiwis where “in 2012-13, IRD spent about $53m on contractors and consultants, down from $59m in 2008-09”.
Downward tracking is all good
BEST and I mean the Best damn opinion piece I have seen in ever – period.
Oh and if can’t handle swearing – don’t follow the link.
https://www.tytnetwork.com/2014/03/09/open-letter-middle-class-spoiler-alert-fck/
Here’s a piece from The Press for last weekend on money and ACT and money and John Whyte. And satire and the rich. From Martin van Beynen – I like this bit.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/9805315/Money-makes-us-happy-so-we-exist
questiontime commentary..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/new-zealand-parliament-list-of-questions-for-oral-answer-tuesday-11-march-2014/
(excerpt..)
“..summary:..as i noted above..the encounter between key/cunnliffe should be mandatory-viewing for all in labour..
..as this could not be more of a rehearsal of how the upcoming leaders’-debates will go…
..if cunnliffe/labour do not denounce the neo-lib policies of that labour govt..(and present a strong progressive-alternative-vision..)
..they will be hung out to dry..on the record of that govt..
..and on that interaction i have to give key the performer-of-the-day accolade..
..for the ease in which he batted away the questions from cunnliffe/labour..”
and i can’t emphasise enough that question one from q-time today must be a wake-up and smell the future election-leaders-debates..for labour..
..you will ignore this warning at yr peril..
..phillip ure..
so..has anyone watched the replay..?
..am i right..?
..or am i right..?
..phillip ure..
Shane Jones is right. Why are the Greens so precious?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9814728/Shane-Jones-slams-Greens
The Greens have lodged a formal complaint with Labour over outspoken MP Shane Jones’ attacks on the party.
isn’t the question more why is jones such a douchebag/promoter of continuing to screw over the environment..?
phillip ure..
George, the article you link to explains everything pretty well. Waters being tested and lines being drawn. Thanks, because that’s the clearest example I’ve seen of how the Labout/Gp relationship is going. Bodes well.
Isn’t it ironic.
Propaganda: “The Dominant Grand Narrative Of Our Time”
by DAVID CROMWELL, Media Lens, 27 January 2014
‘Propaganda’ sounds like an old-fashioned word from a bygone era. It evokes images of the Nazis in WW2, particularly Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, or Soviet leaders in the Cold War and dictators in ‘Third World’ countries. Propaganda is something spewed out by official enemies of the West, and surely not a vile practice indulged by ‘our’ politicians and business leaders. This is a convenient illusion that serves powerful Western elites very well indeed.
The Russian-born filmmaker Andre Vltchek, who has travelled the world extensively in making his documentaries, relates his experience of appearing in the media in different countries. He observes that when he speaks in China, he does so uncensored: “I was on CCTV – their National TV – and for half an hour I was talking about very sensitive issues. And I felt much freer in Beijing than when the BBC interviews me, because the BBC doesn’t even let me speak, without demanding a full account of what exactly I am intending to say.” (Noam Chomsky and Andre Vltchek, On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare, Pluto Press, London, 2013, p. 31)
Vltchek continued: “People in the West are so used to thinking that we are so democratic in terms of the way our media is run and covers the stories. Even if we know it’s not the case, we still, subconsciously, expect that it’s still somehow better than in other places and it is actually shocking when we realize that a place like China or Turkey or Iran would run more unedited or uncensored pieces than our own mainstream media outlets. Let me put it this way: Chinese television and newspapers are much more critical of their economic and political system than our television stations or newspapers are of ours. Imagine ABC, CBS, or NBC coming on air and beginning to question the basics of capitalism or the Western parliamentary system.” (Ibid., p. 32)
A vanishingly rare example of the BBC propaganda system being blasted open was the special edition of the Radio 4 Today programme edited by the English musician PJ Harvey on January 2, 2014. In her opening statement, Harvey explained that she wanted to “do something unusual with the format and content of the programme.” She invited people whom she considers “to be highly articulate, stimulating and extremely interesting to listen to – people who challenge us and move us to examine our deepest beliefs and feelings.”
Harvey’s guests included John Pilger talking about the propaganda role of the corporate media; Denis Halliday, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, on the urgent need to democratise the warmongering UN Security Council (here at around 49 mins); Ian Cobain and Phil Shiner on torture committed by UK forces (here at around 2 hrs : 34 mins); and Mark Curtis on how Britain’s arms trade fuels oppression around the world.
Harvey wanted her contributors to be unrestricted in what they could say, and she had asked the Today programme to agree to this before accepting the invitation to be a guest editor. She rightly noted that ‘a great deal’ of her edition of the programme was ‘about censorship in one way or another.’
Predictably, reactionary voices bewailed afterwards that the BBC had broadcast”‘left-wing tosh” and “liberal drivel”. Nick Robinson, the BBC’s “impartial” political editor, took particular exception to….
Read more….
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2014/753-propaganda-the-dominant-grand-narrative-of-our-time.html
Snowden: US helped create loopholes in New Zealand law
by DAVID FISHER, New Zealand Herald, Tuesday Mar 11, 2014
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217797
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says the United States’ spy agency has helped find or create loopholes in New Zealand law to enable widespread spying.
In testimony to the European Parliament, the exiled former NSA worker said the agency’s Foreign Affairs Division put pressure on other countries to change laws to create legal gaps through which mass surveillance could be carried out.
He said lawyers at the United Kingdom’s GCHQ were also engaged in finding loopholes and both agencies slipped changes past unwitting politicians.
“In recent public memory, we have seen these FAD ‘legal guidance’ operations occur in both Sweden and the Netherlands, and also faraway New Zealand.”
Mr Snowden offered no further detail in his testimony about pressure placed on New Zealand. His written testimony was sent ahead of a EU debate on freezing data agreements with the US.
It has been linked to new legislation passed in New Zealand last year which changed the laws governing the electronic spying agency, the GCSB, to allow it to spy on Kiwis. The government also passed legislation which extended the bureau’s powers over intercepting information sent and received in New Zealand.
Mr Snowden told the EU: “One of the foremost activities of the NSA’s FAD, or Foreign Affairs Division, is to pressure or incentivise EU member states to change their laws to enable mass surveillance.
“These efforts to interpret new powers out of vague laws is an intentional strategy to avoid public opposition and lawmakers’ insistence that legal limits be respected, effects the GCHQ internally described in its own documents as ‘damaging public debate’.”
The changes were used to “justify indiscriminate, dragnet surveillance operations”, he said.
In listing New Zealand among countries targeted, he said: “Each of these countries received instruction from the NSA, sometimes under the guise of the US Department of Defense and other bodies, on how to degrade the legal protections of their countries’ communications.”
Cyber rights group Tech Liberty’s spokesman Thomas Beagle said the new laws introduced in New Zealand last year appeared surprisingly quickly.
“It was like someone had it sitting in a drawer ready to go. Who is really writing these laws.”
He said the greater concern was the lack of oversight. “It’s never being able to test what they are doing what they say.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217797
Article in The Guardian on the flag referendum has Key with the Australian flag. Ironic or intentional?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/11/new-zealand-to-hold-referendum-on-new-post-colonial-flag
Well spotted. It’s from here.
David Cunliffe’s youtube message just up. Kind of direct and low tech. Not so inspirational though. But some good points about “the big end of town” etc.
Be part of the movement to change the government.
Also Cunliffe is asking people to tell Labour “My EQC story”.
Slippery the Prime Minister gets caught showing that He and speaking the truth are at best only known to each other on a fleeting basis,
Caught out again, by none other than TV3’s Alfred E. Nuemann, after slicing and dicing the Prime Minister on the Nation on the weekend Patrick Gower seems to have got a taste for a spot of ‘real Journalism’,
How long this will last and whether or not Gower’s new found enthusiasm will spread among His peers in the industry is yet to be seen, but, Gower in my estimation has just risen from sitting at the kerb to having a pew at the bus stop,
Slippery’s claim that the Cabinet Office had had translated the endorsement/promotion of Orivada’s products in their Chinese language magazine which allowed that Office to clear Collins of any supposed conflict of interest from such an endorsement/promotion while on offical Government business turns out to have been Utter Bullshit,
Just another lie from the Prime Minister and Gower proved such by asking the Cabinet Office a simple question,
Did they get an English language translation of the Chinese language magazine???, NO, definitely not said the Office of the Cabinet,
Gower is making easy work of making Slippery the Prime Minister look every bit the Liar and hypocrite that we all believe Him to be, in doing so He,(Gower), is starting to show, after an abysmal start, that he could become one of the greats in a thin field of political journalists in this country,
Scoring 2 direct hits on Slippery in a week is more than any other journalist has accomplished in 5 years,
Gower again goes up in my estimation, it’s the truth which we want Paddy, and, it’s pretty easy with a small amount of digging to expose the fact that our Prime Minister on any given day plays fast and loose with that truth…
What is interesting is the level of duplicity. Key made statements to the media, but avoided saying the same in the House.
Collins answered for him, kind of supporting Key’s statements to the media. Last Wednesday, Grant Robertson questioned Collins in Question Time: John Key jumped in with a supplementary.
The devious way of misleading here is staggering!..
Stuff’s report on it tonight:
A lie based on a lie!
Exactly. But they way it was done in the House, without Key actually stating the lie himself, strongly suggests an intent to deceive, – without either actually directly stating the untruth the House. ie, based on a verbal technicality, they both cannot be reprimanded for misleading the House.
PS, feel free to use the Hansard quote, micky – or anyone else. I don’t have the energy to do a post on it.
I caught a bit of the PM’s flag speech at Vic Uni today on the replay of the news tonight. Jeez, is it me or is he the just the most god-awful public speaker in history?
Yes. Makes you wonder how he got to be PM, or registers any kind od popularity.
It is about time that members of the MSM when asking questions of John Key, and he includes the words “it’s in the rules”, they should respond with, “Ah yes, Prime Minister, it might be playing by the rules but is it ethical?”
Has John Key a conscience?
Ah but Crosby Fester has anticipated the logistic of such wild card probing on the part of one or two in the popular fiction creating/embracing and generally biddable Fart Estate.
The answer, delivered with the dreadfully dead eyes of the rote learner, would be a sour little homily about an ordered society and The Rule of Law completely supported and advanced by every member of the National Party whom of course observe all the rules put in place in such a society and endorsed by all New Zealanders. Or some such effete shit. Then turn and light-foot /mince his way out.
The only real zap in that vein that I’ve ever seen was on the occasion of the recreational fisher schnapper quota stunt. Forget whom it was but a female reporter at the press conference pressed it just that bit further questioning that New Zealanders were more worried about schnapper than the GCSB – blow me down – there for all to see ShonKey Python shitting his pants and looking a complete and utter prize dork.
Who was that real journalist ?
This is interesting:
http://pacificguardians.org/2014/03/11/accused-govt-exploit-pacific-prisoners-for-political-gain/.html
Typical of the ShonKey National Party and much in the vein of the “privatise the profits and socialise the losses” (non) ethics of the same.
‘Fia palagi’ (a preening wannabee caucasian) Peseta Sam Lotu-I’iga, ShonKey’s Minister of Pacific Island Affairs – you know the one, the shining lawyer boy dick who fantastically claimed on TV 3’s The Vote that $130,000 as a first home buyer’s 20% deposit on your more or less average Auckland house was more or less within reach – here he is putting out an official ‘Office of the Minister…..’ press statement claiming credit for a “new” Pasefika Anti-Violence prison programme.
Except that it’s been on foot for 10 years and he and the National Party had nothing to do with it. It was down to NZ First MP Anetasi and a number of other inspired, caring, Pacific Island people. Not Sammy nor ShonKey. But here he is taking the credit and steering it the way of ShonKey by implication.
Interesting to listen to Pasefika people when they hear some fia palagi claiming the credit for stuff they never were involved with. Very upfront and unforgiving in my experience. Tune in to their talkback.
Maybe fia palagi Sammy should pay attention to the comments of members of his own aiga (which I’ve personally witnessed) about the woeful state of his own (now deceased I recall) grandfather’s house in the village of Fasito’o-Uta on the coast road between Faleolo Airport and Apia town.
Not the shining boy he and ShonKey try to make out. Just a mainchance fia palagi really.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9816335/Key-misled-media-over-Collins-Chinese-link
Liar Liar TricKEY’s pants are on fire. And somehow I don’t think that it’s just the media that he’s been lying to. Hmmm TricKEY being TricKEY with the truth.