Despite the Green party very slender response to the Tiwai Aluminium Smelter controversy, and the likely hood of it being propped up by further government or Power Company subsidies. And despite the benefits accruing to the environment, and in particular the climate, if the Tiwai Smelter is allowed to close. The Green Party generally kept out of the debate.
The Green Party obviously did not want to be seen to be arguing for the closure of the smelter no matter how much the science demanded it.
But despite thier weak performance over Tiwai, the Green Party have decided to call a conference on climate change. This is tremendous news.
Despite their backpeddling overclimate change, for which their weak showing over Tiwai is just the latest manifestation. There is much that the Green Party does, that I find commendable. The Green Party are the main movers in the very powerful campaign against State asset sales. To which they have won the majority of parliament to. (Which made their silence over Tiwai so out of place. As the closure of Tiwai, as well as being a great boon to the climate, would pretty much torpedo the privatisation of Meridian Energy.)
So it is with great hope that I look forward to this parliamentary conference on climate change.
The Green Party have also announced a new initiative around public transport.
This also, is great, and I look forward to this as well. Good for them.
These are great initiatives.
It is not easy to swim against the tide.
I see that the detail for the climate change conference has yet to be announced. But I do see that it is being held in parliament on June 7 in the Legislative Council Chamber of parliament.
This is great news. All the other parties in parliament should feel obliged to send representatives to give their Party’s views on this pressing existential matter vital to all our futures.
By bringing the issue of climate change into the open, the voting public will be able to find out where all the parties stand.
This can only be a good thing.
The Labour Party in particular should be given a prominent place to lay out their position on climate change.
Personally I would love to see David Cunliffe speak for Labour on this issue. (That is if he has not been gagged).
I would also like to see Sir Peter Gluckman speak. He has been a strong advisor to the government on the need to take action against climate change.
If the major parties, Labour, National refuse to send representatives, or refuse to give civil servant Professor Gluckman leave to speak, or refuse to take part in this parliamentary conference, this in itself would be a clearer indication as to where they stand on Climate Change than if they attended and presented their views.
I have some questions:
Will the conference be open to the public to attend in any capacity?
Can the public make submissions towards the climate change conference?
Will there be a media presence?
Will the precedings be broadcast, or filmed, or otherwise recorded?
Apart from the politicians will there be any invited expert speakers?
The Greens could make a significant impact on energy use by re-instating a 40 hour working week, including closing business down on Sunday as a minimum and from Saturday lunch time as well.
Would be interesting to see the growth in energy use from allowing shops and businesses to open on weekends when that change occurred.
Such a change would benefit families and increase activity in sports, etc and reduce stress on families who would get a genuine break.
Yes Rob, National’s sort of meetings where they sell stuff off, pat each other on the back, and then have a few celebratory whiskys while laughing at pictures of poor people are much, much better. Real men of action, that lot.
Personally I would love to see David Cunliffe speak for Labour on this issue. (That is if he has not been gagged).
I think he’s still gagged Jenny.
Had a prominent member of the ABC club visit my local Labour monthly electorate meeting recently. During a discussion on Labour’s economic policies (still being formulated), this member listed the names of those colleagues who are involved in their preparation. He left out David Cunliffe. It would appear irrational vengeance for fabricated misdeeds still rules the caucus roost.
You’re kidding, right? If he’s gagged, somebody forgot to tell him, because I’ve heard him on the radio, seen him on the telly, read him in the papers and and a quick google search confirms he was fully ungagged as little as 13 hours ago:
In a celebration of human triumph over adversity. Tuhoe build for the future.
Using some of the money from their settlement for past injustices visited on them by the crown, Tuhoe are constructing a new completely sustainable headquarters as a long term asset for the generations to come.
No corporate ponzi schemes or financial wheeling and dealing this will be a real asset for their people and indeed for the wider community and the country.
All New Zealanders of good will, have cause to celebrate Tuhoe’s settlement with the crown and wish them every success with this ambitious and inspiring project.
Through all the years of brutality, theft, murder, injustice racism and unfair imprisonment inflicted on Tuhoe, Tuhoe have endured.
Much more than just environmentally friendly, Te Wharehou o Tuhoe is being built with the future in mind, to be an asset for future generations. Concerns about climate change and seismic events are incorporated into it’s structure.
The building is to be completely self sufficient.
And is being built to an exceptional international standard of care for people and the environment not attempted by anyone else anywhere in this country before. (A least not since Occupation)
TĆ«hoe Chairman Tamati Kruger said the decision to build the iwiâs new headquarters to such tough environmental standards reflects the environmental values of the TĆ«hoe people. âThough the cost may be higher initially, over the years the building will more than pay for itself. We hope itâs something that all the people of the Whakatane district will be proud of and will use as their own.â
Together with Kiwi building company Arrow International and architects Jasmax, TĆ«hoe will be trialing innovative building methods and overcoming many hurdles to meet the Living Building Challenge (LBC) guidelines, many of which are made tougher by New Zealandâs remote location.
âThis building is a lighthouse in a world awash with climate change and social inequality, it shows the way to a different future, where we value people and a healthy environment which supports life and the economy, not one at the expense of the otherâ
Jerome Partington, Jasmax
After a troubled past, Kruger says heâs excited TĆ«hoe has embraced the Living Building concept and will be creating something all New Zealanders can be truly proud of
If you have time, listen to the Radio NZ interview with the architect. Inspirational.
Meanwhile, three politicians, one of them (only just) still functioning, spray the praise around like particularly stupid tomcats marking their territory. A territory called Sycophancia….
1.) Convicted criminal and writer of some of the worst novels of the 20th century, Jeffrey Archer: “She changed this country for the better.”
2.) “She stood for British values and she was quite beautiful.”—Winston Peters, speaking on Te Karere, TV1, 10.8.13 (This only lends weight to rumours that he has started drinking again.)
3.) That piece of idiocy was immediately topped by this contribution by former MP Koro Wetere, who asserted, with a straight face: “She sold British public assets to strengthen the economy for her people.”
I see a business opportunity here: print up a big bunch of cards with the lyrics to “Ding, dong, the witch is dead” on them. Good luck getting a minute’s silence then…
John, take it easy. Everything is working out. We received your seven emails sent last night. Really, there’s no need to panic. Ferguson is on our side. He doesn’t want to go to jail either. The “smoking dope”jibe was planted. It gives the narrative sufficient tension to soothe the media plants’ desire to seem “balanced” in their reporting. People are watching now, these sorts of ruses are required. Don’t take it personally. Everyone knows that you have never smoked marijuana, except for that one time we have on film.
Fletcher is doing a “marrrrvellous” job – heh, geddit? Remember how he pulled it off? Lie to parliament then RETROSPECTIVELY change the record. Same thing here. You have the script – stick to it: “yes, mistakes were made, the law is so confusing, the people involved only ever had the best interests of New Zealand at heart, no point in going over old ground now, we’re going forward with this, national security means details can’t be discussed, the independent overview has determined no one suffered unjustifiable intrusion, no convictions were based on evidence illegally obtained, public confidence must be maintained, the law will be changed retrospectively. Also, we’re going to have one agency to handle everything and align with the Australian reorganisation”. Game over.
The only difficulty we are having with Operation Privatise NZ Security is when you do not stick to the script. What was that about a “long history” of supporting allies – what??? Pull your head in, stop panicking, and stick to the script. By the time you get home, the idea will have been planted into the public consciousness that the matter has been dealt with and now its just a case of going through the process. We have plans for another major story to “break” just before your return home and the chooks will be off chasing that. No need to fill you in at this stage but, rest assured, the situation is under control.
Get some sleep, see some sights, take your meds, practise your lines, and don’t speak to the media without checking your cell phone first.
Had a great long chuckle te other day when I heard a North Island iwi bemoaning the unfairness of the first-in-first-served principle that operates under the Resource Management Act in allocation of New Zealand’s natural resources.
Perhaps they had simply forgotten that the same principle underlies their own various, upheld, claims to New Zealand’s resources.
All the more reason to get behind the Wellington Benefit Rights service which has just become a registered charity : ) Laws may change, but the advocates endure…
There was a lot of rhetoric about the changes and claims the Government didn’t care, Bennett said, “I recognise that these are people’s lives and that they are living them in reality”. Well TG for that.
In this morningâs Herald she says, â⊠I think living on the full DPB is hard. I donât know how you can live on 50%.â
Yet Paula Bennettâs welfare reforms are the very vehicle by which more and more people are being sanctioned.
Sanctions can mean having your benefit cut by 50%, losing it altogether â or never being granted assistance in the first place.
The governmentâs own figures show that over the last six months an average 4,654 beneficiaries a month have had at least half their benefit taken from them, or had it cut completely.
Last month, in March 2013, 5,600 people were officially sanctioned.
National loves her. Sheâs doing a much better job than Jenny Shipley ever did at fronting harsh welfare changes.
Much better to have a Maori woman, a former solo mum, taking the lead, than a former school teacher from the white South Island heartlands.
And Bennett knows what sheâs doing.
She knows it even more than someone like Shipley, which makes her leadership role in this even worse. Paula Bennettâs seeming naivety and smiling, bubbly front mask a long, deep commitment to Nationalâs ideology â a belief in helping the already-rich get richer while the poor are forced into ever deeper poverty, no matter the downstream social and economic costs.
Iâm no psychologist, but Iâm sure thereâs a name for the psychopathy she so evidently displays â a complete disconnect between âcaring for peopleâ and the ideological principles which drive her political career.
freedom: Chilling statement from Bradley more so since the State is determined to not only with-hold disclosure of his statement, but the State is determined to find him guilty of all charges including “aiding the enemy.”
A man showing great courage and integrity under fire from his own country.
There is a great no-holds-barred section against the cowardice of the MSM and the people who staff it. A section which every journalist should make themselves watch, then go sit quietly for a few minutes and ponder.
i won’t mark a timestamp because it is best you watch the panel discussion in its entirety đ
Queenstown is changing its Council services delivery structure back in house. Comment was that some employees connected with Council-owned businesses had been spending too much time and money doing things they wanted rather than what the ratepayers wanted?? Sounds like blaming the workers who were just following the style that the old management had created.. Former Nat who became Mayor Warren (Mini) Cooper thinks its a good idea and is positive about it.
This fits in with my earlier expressed observation that being Right means you never say you have been wrong. Or you look for someone to blame for ineffective outcomes. Reminds me of The Simpsons where Homer confided his methods of dealing with criticism – he just looked for the newest immigrant worker with poor English capacity and blamed it on him. That’s how incompetents manage to survive.
This fits in with my earlier expressed observation that being Right means you never say you have been wrong.
Exactly and because these idiots never get held to account they never learn from their mistakes and so they go through life making the same mistake again and again and again and we’re the ones that end up paying for them.
Let’s be clear though, it’s not limited to politicians but it does seem to be a prerequisite for anyone wanting to climb a ‘corporatists’ ladder.
Next thing ya know these buffons will be promoting themselves as ‘change agents’. I notice elsewhere the corporatists are about to trot out the ‘kaizen’ buzz again (in the name if fishincy n fektivniss n produktivtee). It’s a shame those that initiate the buzz don’t seem to see the need to abide by it themselves – though I have to admit, they are the new Royalty after all!
Bearing in mind as well we currently have lots of baby boomers running businesses who are no longer building a business but a looking to maximise (loot) the last vestiges of profit from them for their retirement.
Low wages, youth rates, etc plays into their hands quite nicely.
Let’s not think that they are there for the long term.
fec,
from Morning Report;
Yep! Maori people committing offences are disproportionately prosecuted compared to non-maori, (30-40% more ) except for a “creeping” of the same “suggestion of a systematic bias” effect for Pasifika. Very little improvement concerning this matter since report in the 80s; let us be Blunt, James, effectively the MOJ and and related blue-tooth agencies are racist. Funnily enough felix, it was the MOJ hacked next.
Yep! Child Poverty in NZ has hovered between 20-25% now for over 20 years.
“-a persistent significant Public Health issue.
-these are (revolving) cohorts now spread across decades (penetrating into the present adult populations, with concomitant health, educational etc issues).
-compounding economic cost will eventually be unaffordable
–requires a societal response, like tobacco, (yet that in itself may take decades).
-Julie Peters, College of Public Health.
National Radio at 12:00 says Mr Key admits that he mislead the public in that he knew in July 2012 of the illegal nature of GCSB and not September 2012 as he publicly said. Throws into question that the “illegality” might have been within the context of Dotcom? Surely the illegality would have been a topic within that framework?
I wonder if the question of Mr Key’s credibility will be aired in the House today? Might come up in Q7 with Russel Norman.
Ian Fletcher : we got it “profoundly wrong”.
“poor performance tolerated because sacking staff = risk”
Key acknowledged that public confidence in GCSB “knocked”. Stout.
“Ian Fletcher : we got it âprofoundly wrongâ.”
Oh Dear….. what to do now what?
I know – let’s see if we can keep this circus running a little longer aye?
I’m not sure which (witch) of the MSN’s latest I saw the Fletch on – but here’s a public advisory:
He lies when his top right hand lip tightens – I should probably charge thousands for that
Questions to Ministers
Dotcom CaseâActions of Government Communications Security Bureau
1. Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-LeaderâGreen) to the Minister responsible for the GCSB: Does he consider that he should have been informed about the unlawful bugging of Kim Dotcom earlier than Monday, 17 September 2012; if not, why not?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Minister responsible for the GCSB) : No. I was informed by the director of the Government Communications Security Bureau on 17 September, which was the first day I was in Wellington following travel to Russia and Japan, and the first opportunity I had to meet with the director in a secure environment once he had confirmed that it was likely an unlawful activity had taken place.
a Linn Sondek ME Dallion Rodney explains all these bolts lying in the cycle-ways not quite covering Subterranean Homesick Blues 461Ocean Boulevard Let It Flow : Rust Never Sleeps : A multi-layered transcription In deed. Will the circle be unbroken, by and by Lord, by and by. Impressed. đ
actually – you should be directing that question to those that inhabit that edifice on Murphy Street, and quite a few on Molesworth St.
We could see the SIS and GCSB directing their efforts towards tracing the sinners – Colin Moyle style
Tim you raise a subject which is unfinished business for me and a QC would need to be appointed before I could proceed in exposing dirty cops who I have dealt with in my cycles of police complaints (mainly cop involved in the incident with Moyle, who is a career cop).
17 April 1978 Sir Alfred North’s report was released into the December 1976 inquiry where perjury occurred. The full police evidence is still in lock up.
There is no way that the SIS or GCSB would spy on dirty crooked cops.
To some extent I have followed how Thomas was treated by the NZ Police and the denial and reluctance of the police to admit how they altered the course of Arthur’s life and that he is owed a public and written apology.
Did anyone else hear the RNZ News at 11am today? I’m certain I heard Steven Joyce say that the drop in post-grad study was probably/most likely due to an increase in the availability of jobs.
If so, thanx for that Stevie. Here’s me thinking it was more likely due to the fact that
a) students were finding it increasingly more difficult to survive, and rather than suffer another 2 years of hand-to-mouth, beg, borrowing and stealing, they figured there were easier ways….. and
b) because those made redundant from career positions and a lifetime of work, were no longer able to obtain any form of assistance in order to ‘retrain’, let alone pursue things of interest…..
and probably ..c) and d) as well.
I defer to Stevie Joyce’s superior intellect however!
Next thing you know he’ll be telling us that poverty and starvation is the best cure for the obesity problem.
In any event, my advice to the undergrad possessing salesman-like qualities, an aptitude for spin, dishonesty, and a passing interest in ethical behaviour is to stand for parliament – preferably for one of those parties that are right of the new ‘centre’ (sorry – err those of a neo-centrist position).
That’d be OK by me Rob, just as soon as they realise that using large corporate HR companies with template style matching criteria doesn’t necessarily make candidates suitable for ploymint tuneties too. Many a career has been built on it – which is one reason why (as someone else on here has noted) the same old same old fuckups with the same old same old weasels keep happening.
I hear all hospital kitchens are to be fully privatised now.
Don’t know how anyone is supposed to get better on the crap they will be feeding patients, but I guess longer stays and poorer healing is a small cost to pay.
Darien Fenton directed the salient issues to Ryall in Q.T.
“Health Benefits” (Ltd). imagine job losses will primarily be amongst provincially-based moderate “precariat” income workers. Yep.
appendix : get some campylobacter, C. perfringens (letting food sit) or Salmonella onboard in-flight and…well, at least folk will already be in the right location to be sick.
How can they be wrong? They’re talking about privatising another publicly funded service and killing off even more jobs to transfer more taxpayer funds to a private overseas owned corporation. That is their programme. You support that.
When you eventually get around to posting patient health and safety, more unemployed and more lower paid contract workers, I’m only going to reply with knowing the human cost to our fellow Kiwis “youâll go and vote NACT anyway”. You’re shit. đ
Here we go again… The contractors provide a lower than realistic bid, then raise the cost to the hospitals later + increases occur in food borne illnesses due to lax food H&S as workers are paid peanuts and not given enough sick days. So have to come into work just to make ends meet.
All in all, it ends up costing more than doing it in house, as food borne illnesses in a hospital situation can end up very, very expensive due to isolation, clean up and extra medical support, life support or deaths. And if the company collapses it’s even more fun.
But hey, it’s not like externalities and long term cost accounting has ever been popular with National /sigh
I think they’ll be working on shorter stays. They’ll get some failed idiot from the UK to come and say that post operative hospital care is as bad as drug addiction and doctors need to discharge patients far earlier, for their own good. In fact, I bet something like this will happen within the next year.
This is one thing that really annoys me about the right – their complete predictability and lack of imagination. They really are stupid in many ways, which is possibly what makes their ideologies so appealing. Anyone can grasp it in 3 seconds flat – private good, public bad, hate the poor, white is good, but keep the sheets in the wardrobe a bit longer yet.
Do we have a left wing political opposition? I haven’t noticed anything much resembling an organised one. I expect Labour might want to ensure that the private company doesn’t pay youth rates, and Winston would say the hospitals are full of Asians. The Greens say some good stuff, and Hone is in there by himself.
How about a response from the opposition like this.
“Mr Ryall proposes outsourcing. We imagine he has chosen this option as he cannot figure out how to demand that a patient’s family bring in all their food bedding and attend to all their other nursing needs. So he has chosen this as a waystation and then by gradually decreasing the service he will achieve his desired end. This will be headlined as – The patient’s family are in partnership with the Health system to meet their non medical needs- . This has been successfully trialed overseas in [insert name of very poor third world country]
Are the Nact’s so policy deficent that they think this is a good way to cut costs.
“
I reckon that the government could trial the out sourced meals for a few months down at parliament and report back to Ryall.
Visitors would have to supplement patient hospitals meals as the vitamin and mineral content will be reduced with reheating. I also suspect that food poisoning/salmonella would increase. Food poisoning can cause post infective arthritis and hepatitis.
Kitchens are a core function of hospitals. After all, a patient needs food, and having an in house kitchen makes it easier for nutritional requirements to be catered to.
I can see a lot going wrong with this proposal.
The question is. Are the unions and the left going to fight this, or roll over like they did with every other change?
Can we expect to see SFWU members demonstrating outside hospitals, and taking the streets every weekend?
A few National voters still see our public health system as a taonga, and Key kept their vote be promising no major shake ups in health, can we mobilse them?
Are we just going to sit on the internet and whine, or are we going to make an effort?
…but wo takes being a spiteful small-minded hate-filled parasite to a whole new level.
And ironically it’s not caused by his depression, he’s just a complete scumbag lacking in the same basic understandings of human behaviour the rest of us have or have built that makes us not verbally shit on another person right off the bat.
Followed by uttering the litany of Yog-Sothoth three times while pouring blood (can be diluted, source doesn’t matter) onto the remains to prevent it from arising as a whale oil blog commentator/lesser-shoggoth.
It’s talking on twitter to people you know, and a pollie jumps in, and you talk to him. It’s called “Human stuff”. Generally considered a good thing, sometimes confuses, or bores, the children though.
Welcome to rape culture basics then, side-effects from delving deeper into rape culture 101 include raging at victim blaming in the news, not laughing at rape jokes, with occasional cluebattings of people making rape and other threats against females in your presence. Along with dismay and/or anger at politicians/governments not helping rape and domestic violence support services.
None probably, this is rape culture in the context of conservative rural areasâŠ
Yeah everyone knows to watch out for feral provincial types, rural men are animals and they hunt in godforsaken packs like hyenas. Shit, best to lock your daughters up at night if you ever wonder outside of bleeding liberal heart areas of urban Wellington or Auckland.
Probably it was that as far as the Mounties and the school etc were concerned it was Rehtaehâs fault for âdrinking too muchâ.
Of course, rural people are really stupid, judgemental and predictably unconscionable that way.
If you’d bother reading the gawker piece + had prior experience with other rape cases and the reactions to them you’d probably not be sounding like such a twit. As the usual rational used to brush of rape victims is blaming them, while the usual public attacks on them are of the slut/whore variety.
While per prior patterns of behaviour, generally rural areas in North America are less “nice” towards victims of sexual assault at both the police the social levels. Heck, the police in general often have patchy responses to rape and sexual assault victims, even in NZ that usual requires an inquiry or two to correct.
But hey, feel totes free to correct me with ye olde hard evidence :smugface:
(Note, Nick needzors sleep, thus the lack of linkage in this post, plus the computer be dying due to too many tabs open…)
You’re a smart guy and I do like you, but forget “rape culture”: you’re the perfect introduction to “bleeding heart intellectual elitist urban liberal culture”
This applies perfectly to the thread around 20.4.1.1.1 as well. So “smugface” that you really believe that you do know it all about patriarchal societies through the history of human civilisation, and that you are somehow superiorly and culturally fit in morals and values to judge them as being deficient (compared to what? How well we treat our own in modern day society?).
been reading about the types of things young people (and children) have been saying about their behaviour and peers on social media and the lack of awareness of content by parents / caregivers until teachers etc inform them. sigh.is not gonna end well.airplane food in an inpatient unit is not going to float your deflated boat any more than atypical anti-psychotics.
Yeah, it takes an awful amount of education (or personal experience) to get people to people to not abuse others for their sexuality, or in this case, being raped.
As for mental health care, Canada’s been in the shit in the past over it’s mental health inpatient care and suicide prevention if memory serves me right. And some of the mainstream suicide watch prevention methods are pretty fucking hopeless in terms of patients human rights, let alone reducing suicidal ideation.
By my count there are around 100-150 major pre-medieval human civilisations on different continents, the vast majority of which were likely to be patriarchial in nature.
Exactly how many of them are you familiar with that you could draw your conclusions?
Enough. The only times I’ve heard of women being treated well and not as objects to own has been in matriarchies and some nomadic tribes (which tended more to anarchy).
Even though April 9, 1948, is a day of infamy for Palestinians, few commemorative ceremonies will be held.
Sixty-Five years ago today organized Jewish terrorist groups, including the Irgun and Stern gangs, attacked the Village of Deir Yassin, a village whose population numbered some 600 people; 112 women children and old men were brutally butchered in a massacre that has been likened to the Babi Yar Nazi massacre of Jews in Kiev, Ukraine. To add insult to injury, some of the survivors were stripped, loaded on flat truck beds, paraded in a demeaning triumphal drive through Jerusalemâs Jewish neighborhoods, driven out of town, and shot to death. Under the cover of dark, 55 surviving children were loaded on trucks and dumped in a Jerusalem alleyway.
Close to 600 villages were bulldozed and permanently wiped off the map. Some ironies: the Israelis would change the name of the village to Kfar Shaul, move Holocaust survivors into homes that were not destroyed, build a mental institution on the site, and the site itself is within full view of the Holocaust Memorial, a site just recently visited by Barack Obama…
Morrissey Thanks. We need to remember such things.
Lest we forget as a devout promise takes on nightmare proportions when we allow the scope of attention to widen. It isn’t easy being a sentient human being with belief in our basic goodness.
better to be wide-mouthed frog with quick reflexes; young wide-mouth frog is left parent-less prior to the amphibian equivalent of weaning due to a temporary spike in the futures / derivatives / hedges / commodities market for what is between a wide-mouthed frog’s lips. young wmf commences bildungsroman / entwicklungsroman / erziehungsroman ,picaresque ,epic odyssey through local jungle food-hall questing of those just-so neighbours of varying species he / she meets in his / her ecological niche what it is they are to now sustain themselves with; request goes, to say, for example, a mole, “excuse me, but I’m a wide-mouth frog, can you please advise me what is appropriate on the menu for me to eat” (request, when telling joke is with fingers at side of own mouth stretching it, wide “hawo, i a vi mout fwog..”. Mole, for example replies, “well I don’t know what wide -mouth frogs eat but I’m a mole and I eat worms” (politicians)…and so on it goes until frog meets snake đ …”Well, I’m a snake and I eat wide-mouth frogs…”
Wide-mouth frog purses lips and exclaims “ooooh, iz zat wight”.
Andrew Williams on John Key in Parliament. Recounts Key’s history and states:
1. Key double crossed Blinglish in the leadership vote in 2003 despite pledging support for him.
2. Knew about his blind trust.
3. Forgot about his Westpac shares.
4. Forgot about his meeting with the Exclusive Bretheren.
5. Said he never met with Media works to discuss a $43 million loan despite the fact he had.
6. Said that S&P would downgrade NZ’s rating even though it said it would not.
7. Promised that Westpac’s banking would be opened up to competition but did not and then Simon Power went to work for them.
8. Says he cannot recall when he was told by the GCSB about Dotcom.
9. Could not recall shoulder tapping his mate Fletcher for the job of head of GCSB.
He ends up by saying we cannot trust Key and calls for an independent inquiry. Williams does well.
Ultimately that doesn’t really matter for the purposes of this discussion, even if it’s true, which I doubt very much given his usually high standard in the house.
The speech was good. The simple narrative needs to be repeated.
Except that he didn’t and has never claimed that he did. He obviously remembered quite well when pressed on the number he held and that proves that he had used the lesser number on purpose. Probably thinking that having less would magically decrease the amount of conflict of interest he was engaging in.
You may have noticed the ‘meat alternative’ Quorn that has recently appeared on our shelves.
Any of the science folk out there have any advice for us laymen. The manufacturer states it wants to be the first billion dollar meat alternative. Seems it is not a fungus or a mushroom, it is a mould grown in industrial vats. Now where’s that copy of Solyent Green?
Just asking and all, but if someone was to cut the fuel line on a person’s car, in order to intimidate them for a political purpose; that would be terrorism right? And the sort of thing that, in NZ, the SIS should be investigating right, paying attention to groups who routinely vilify the group to which the victim belonged?
I’d have thought most terrorism would be, but we’ve got terrorism laws now right, in this cold new post 9/11 era? So I assume parliament expects them to be used.
If what Iti was doing was possibly terrorism, then this was, surely.
“To think that somebody would attack a nurse for carrying out her duties is really quite deplorable,” said Hilary Graham-Smith of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation.
The centre has been conducting abortions since the early 1970s. And some pro-choice campaigners fear it could signal the beginning of a new era of extremism.
“We’d be concerned that this might be sort of an upscale of activism in terms of a fringe anti-choice movement that are looking to target abortion clinics,” said Dr Morgan Healy of ALRANZ (Abortion Law Reform Association).
In the 1980s a Christchurch clinic was torched, while on the same day an Auckland clinic was threatened with firebombing.
However pro-life campaigners are adamant they would draw the line at the kind of sabotage police are investigating.
“We’re not here to attack people, we’re not here to take away people’s rights but at the same time they take people’s rights away and they attack people in the womb,” said protester Trevor ‘Ofamo’oni.
The president of pro-life group Right To Life said extreme tactics are a thing of the past.
“The whole movement would be totally opposed to such an action,” Ken Orr told ONE News.
Don’t know where the terrorism law has ended up. It turned out to be useless in the Urewera case because as drafted it could only be legally applied to international terrorists, didn’t it? I thought the police have a counter-terrorism role as well? Is this in relation to the abortion clinic nurse whose car was interfered with referred to on TVOne newsotainment tonight?
Dr Collins outlined several requirements that would have had to be filled to meet the act’s criteria:
* That the act in question was a terror act (inducing terror in a civilian population or forcing a government to do or not do an act).
* That the act advanced an ideological, religious or political cause.
* That it resulted in one of five outcomes including death or serious injury, a serious risk to the safety of a population, or serious damage to property of great value
* That the act had taken place, which includes whether there was a credible threat or sufficient planning if it had not been carried out.
the bold one is the only one that is arguably not met, though I only count 4 of the 5 potential outcomes?
Yes, agreed PB. It was this quote from the Solicitor-General that made me think the act had focussed on external threats. There was quite a bit of discussion at the time as to why it was so difficult to apply to domestic terrorism. I could be wrong, but I vaguely recall that it was more aimed at identifying and stopping overseas terrorists or people connected to international terrorist groups from getting here, post 9/11.
“That very quick summary might give an indication as to why I think it’s unnecessarily complicated and very, very difficult to apply. There will be circumstances where [the act] can be made to work, but certainly not in fundamentally domestic circumstances.”
Depends on the context, if it was say a business person or someone with extra-legal debts it would be a crime, but given it’s against someone working at a clinic providing abortion services, I’d class it as terrorism per anti-abortion acts in the USA. As does the FBI presently.
And political purposes generally fall into terrorism definitions historically, albeit with plenty of fuzziness depending on who’s in positions of power.
As for this:
…the SIS should be investigating right…
It depends on the threat level and reporting of prior threats, but I’d assume they’re keeping an eye on potential anti-abortion nuts at home and those we import from the USA. Much as they’ve likely bugged Kyle Chapman to hell and back (if he’s not an agent provocateur that is) to keep an eye on his various rwnj friends.
Yeah, thanks Morrissey at 21 above. We do need to know in the first place and remember, grieve really, in the second place. Gross inhumanity swept over.
Gotta say I’m a bit surprised you haven’t received the Zionist cacophany in answer.
“But they throw fucking stones at us !” – whimper bloody whimper – what ???
And for whomsoever – note I said Zionist, not Jewish.
F*** N(a)Ziland – people do NOT care, people are BRAINWASHED, people are ALL AFTER THEIR own, people have NO SOLIDARITY, people are TWO FACED, people are SELF SERVING, people are DIVISIVE, people believe CRAP, people do not bother to STAND UP, people have become the LAUGHING STOCK of any supposedly “developed” society, people let MAINSTREAM MEDIA distract and manipulate them, even ALLOW LIES AND DISTRACTION to take away their thoughts and attention, and where people SUCK UP to the BOSSES, the GOVERNMENT, the next best USELESS PARTY, the hopeless SHIT MEDIA and whatever goes wrong in this place. [Deleted]
Hey North, I do not know where you come from, but I TOTALLY MEAN it, as I have had to deal with WINZ jerks repeatedly, last time they did not believe my doctors records, so I was sent through hell. They never believe anyone, I just learned tonight, what they still do, and they are CULLING sick and disabled of benefits! This comes from someone working on the bloody frontline, and it is REAL!
They never believe you, they never give you time and credit, they hate you and consider us all that are seriously sick and diabled as FUCKING BLUDGERS!
Hey North, I do not know where you come from, but I TOTALLY MEAN it, as I have had to deal with WINZ jerks repeatedly, last time they did not believe my doctors records, so I was sent through hell. They never believe anyone, I just learned tonight, what they still do, and they are CULLING sick and disabled of benefits! This comes from someone working on the bloody frontline, and it is REAL!
They never believe you, they never give you time and credit, they hate you and consider us all that are seriously sick and diabled as FUCKING BLUDGERS!
So are you damned PROUD to be a New Zealander, when this goes on?
I met many Kiwis today, while busing and walking and else NOBODY TALKS, NOBODY RELATES, I met NO PERSON worth even socialising with.
Do you guys here not get it, part of the damned problem is this damend INTERNET communication, nobody knows how to interact face to face and normally anymore, that is also fucking up the whole left here. You guys thing you have clues and can fucking change things, look at the damned lack of results here, who bloody listens, who takes ACTION.
I said it, others said, it, without real street and other physical action, you life in damned cyber NO space, you are irrelevant, dreaming, dumb and ignorant. YOU are all losers and lost it long ago.
THERE IS NO ACTIVE LEFT IN NZ, THAT IS REALITY, IT IS DEAD!!!
I cannot believe the people of NZ tolerating such crap, even such a jerk being supported by the Ministry of Social Development and WiNZ, this is a NAZI country to me, we never have such SHIT in Europe, you guys better clean up your damned Bratt backyard, that is if you care!
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealandâs biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealandâs biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a âmoisture-ladenâ long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own governmentâs fiscal policies raised issues of substance. âToday in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media â sure enough â have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willisâ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra â that the Budget âwill deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing.  Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Itâs becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-MÄori andâŠ. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you donât like and donât ...
Don Brash writes –Â As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that countryâs mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isnât already pretty well-off? Itâs as if protecting landlordsâ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of Nationalâs ...
 Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, itâs that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxonâs ...
Robert MacCulloch writes –Â The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this yearâs Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran OâSullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm â a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon â note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinsonâs analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana â or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. Itâs a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealandâs highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes –Â Â Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – âIt is often said that behind every great man is a great womanâ. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their âLadies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxonâ. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Petersâ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes â If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshubâs closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague â whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak â has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
âIt is often said that behind every great man is a great womanâ. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their âLadies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxonâ. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Ministerâs ...
The Coalition Governmentâs plan to âget Auckland movingâ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities sheâs meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Governmentâs archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the Americaâs Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it wonât stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Memberâs Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labourâs change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand Firstâs State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared âco-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te PÄti MÄori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. âIâm calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to âtake back our countryâ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jonesâ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Governmentâs fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Governmentâs miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesnât act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. âIt was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. âThe Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend.  âThis travel will focus on a range of New Zealandâs traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,â Mr Peters says.  Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. âRoad safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. âOur relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliamentâs order paper. âThe Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,â Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams wonât be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. âThe coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. âDam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. âI have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. âThe Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023â24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the governmentâs finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Governmentâs Budget objectives. âThe coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says.                                        âThe Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says.  âThese changes are long overdue â the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealandâs growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Ministerâs Prizes for Space today. âNew Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealandâs concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. Â Â âThe Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Educationâs School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. âThere is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âToday I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of Peopleâs Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. âThe use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,â Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. âWeâre sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealandâs ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. Â Â âI am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. âI have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commissionâs online consultation portal.â Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. âComprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. âI would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. âThis is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women donât ...
Good morning, itâs great to be here.  First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Governmentâs ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Governmentâs commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools MÄori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. âThe Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, Iâm proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of todayâs address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and Iâm sorry I canât be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the WhangÄrei site where the facility will be constructed. âNorthland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata MÄori 20 years ago, says MÄori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisationâs 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliamentâs forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the âdisappearanceâ of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people âsequesteredâ in this weekâs raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Itâs Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether youâre a boomer, or an â80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fijiâs Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? â Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems thereâs one luxury most Australians wonât sacrifice â their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Educationâs claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxonâs fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20â24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50â44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayersâ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the Peopleâs Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether youâre facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, itâs always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. Itâs an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting âoff the booksâ illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Governmentâs announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is âshamefulâ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain â a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata MÄori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is âfar-off sightâ. In the contemporary and living language of te reo MÄori, âwhakaataâ as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israelâs war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Governmentâs decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for âDead in Bedâ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research â and large-scale commercialisation. Whatâs beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martinâs favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martinâs fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Heraâs help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. Iâm 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queenâs crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday â and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli militaryâs genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldnât give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this yearâs budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoffâs morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayersâ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Departmentâs Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayersâ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the countryâs top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, MÄori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina â Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellingtonâs Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservationâs biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the planâs treatment of Auckland passed through the councilâs transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealandâs Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was âimproperâ ...
As a young gymnast, Aimee Didierjean was always conscious of making sure her underwear wasnât showing on the competition floor. A peek of a bra strap, or briefs if a leotard rode up, would cost a gymnast points in her routines. âWhen I was growing and going through puberty, it ...
Jubi/West Papua Daily Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion. There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots. In 2024, weâre seeing a pragmatic, determined, ...
The House - The principle that all MPs are honourable and that they should be taken at their word has been tested multiple times this week in Parliament. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock Since the review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) released its recommendations in December, there has been a series of Town Hall events to discuss them around the country ...
‘
Some very good news from the Green Party.
Despite the Green party very slender response to the Tiwai Aluminium Smelter controversy, and the likely hood of it being propped up by further government or Power Company subsidies. And despite the benefits accruing to the environment, and in particular the climate, if the Tiwai Smelter is allowed to close. The Green Party generally kept out of the debate.
The Green Party obviously did not want to be seen to be arguing for the closure of the smelter no matter how much the science demanded it.
But despite thier weak performance over Tiwai, the Green Party have decided to call a conference on climate change. This is tremendous news.
http://www.greens.org.nz/events/climate-change-conference
Despite their backpeddling overclimate change, for which their weak showing over Tiwai is just the latest manifestation. There is much that the Green Party does, that I find commendable. The Green Party are the main movers in the very powerful campaign against State asset sales. To which they have won the majority of parliament to. (Which made their silence over Tiwai so out of place. As the closure of Tiwai, as well as being a great boon to the climate, would pretty much torpedo the privatisation of Meridian Energy.)
So it is with great hope that I look forward to this parliamentary conference on climate change.
The Green Party have also announced a new initiative around public transport.
http://www.greens.org.nz/events/reconnect-auckland-transport-campaign-launch
This also, is great, and I look forward to this as well. Good for them.
These are great initiatives.
It is not easy to swim against the tide.
I see that the detail for the climate change conference has yet to be announced. But I do see that it is being held in parliament on June 7 in the Legislative Council Chamber of parliament.
This is great news. All the other parties in parliament should feel obliged to send representatives to give their Party’s views on this pressing existential matter vital to all our futures.
By bringing the issue of climate change into the open, the voting public will be able to find out where all the parties stand.
This can only be a good thing.
The Labour Party in particular should be given a prominent place to lay out their position on climate change.
Personally I would love to see David Cunliffe speak for Labour on this issue. (That is if he has not been gagged).
I would also like to see Sir Peter Gluckman speak. He has been a strong advisor to the government on the need to take action against climate change.
If the major parties, Labour, National refuse to send representatives, or refuse to give civil servant Professor Gluckman leave to speak, or refuse to take part in this parliamentary conference, this in itself would be a clearer indication as to where they stand on Climate Change than if they attended and presented their views.
I have some questions:
Will the conference be open to the public to attend in any capacity?
Can the public make submissions towards the climate change conference?
Will there be a media presence?
Will the precedings be broadcast, or filmed, or otherwise recorded?
Apart from the politicians will there be any invited expert speakers?
Who will they be?
The Greens could make a significant impact on energy use by re-instating a 40 hour working week, including closing business down on Sunday as a minimum and from Saturday lunch time as well.
Would be interesting to see the growth in energy use from allowing shops and businesses to open on weekends when that change occurred.
Such a change would benefit families and increase activity in sports, etc and reduce stress on families who would get a genuine break.
Desc of sssmith
+1
I’m actually thinking that a 32 hour work week with a three day weekend is the go.
+1
Tremendous news, they are going to hold a meeting.
Just what we need some more chin waging, shinny arse development and post meet chardonnay swilling.
Except it’s the Greens, so there’s usually actual discussion and a good chance to get them to act.
Thats a Tui ad.
đ
Yes, cos all the political parties are so totes the same /sargasm
Yes Rob, National’s sort of meetings where they sell stuff off, pat each other on the back, and then have a few celebratory whiskys while laughing at pictures of poor people are much, much better. Real men of action, that lot.
I think he’s still gagged Jenny.
Had a prominent member of the ABC club visit my local Labour monthly electorate meeting recently. During a discussion on Labour’s economic policies (still being formulated), this member listed the names of those colleagues who are involved in their preparation. He left out David Cunliffe. It would appear irrational vengeance for fabricated misdeeds still rules the caucus roost.
You’re kidding, right? If he’s gagged, somebody forgot to tell him, because I’ve heard him on the radio, seen him on the telly, read him in the papers and and a quick google search confirms he was fully ungagged as little as 13 hours ago:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Labour-concerned-about-IRD-info-sharing/tabid/1607/articleID/293652/Default.aspx
So are they going to return the buses to public ownership/control?
Nothing from the Greens about whether they will do this. And I have asked them repeatedly, only to be met with silence.
More good news;
In a celebration of human triumph over adversity. Tuhoe build for the future.
Using some of the money from their settlement for past injustices visited on them by the crown, Tuhoe are constructing a new completely sustainable headquarters as a long term asset for the generations to come.
No corporate ponzi schemes or financial wheeling and dealing this will be a real asset for their people and indeed for the wider community and the country.
All New Zealanders of good will, have cause to celebrate Tuhoe’s settlement with the crown and wish them every success with this ambitious and inspiring project.
Through all the years of brutality, theft, murder, injustice racism and unfair imprisonment inflicted on Tuhoe, Tuhoe have endured.
Much more than just environmentally friendly, Te Wharehou o Tuhoe is being built with the future in mind, to be an asset for future generations. Concerns about climate change and seismic events are incorporated into it’s structure.
The building is to be completely self sufficient.
And is being built to an exceptional international standard of care for people and the environment not attempted by anyone else anywhere in this country before. (A least not since Occupation)
http://arrowinternational.co.nz/news.php?id=49
If you have time, listen to the Radio NZ interview with the architect. Inspirational.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2551126/tuhoe-building
Street parties break out around Britain. MeanwhileâŠ
the Daily Telegraph closes Thatcher comments due to abuse
“We have closed comments on every #Thatcher story today,” said editor Tony Gallagher. “Even our address to email tributes is filled with abuse.”
In response, one Twitter user asked: “What does that tell you about public opinion on spending ÂŁ3mil on her funeral?”
Read moreâŠ.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/media/news/a471463/daily-telegraph-closes-margaret-thatcher-comments-due-to-abuse.html
Meanwhile, three politicians, one of them (only just) still functioning, spray the praise around like particularly stupid tomcats marking their territory. A territory called Sycophancia….
1.) Convicted criminal and writer of some of the worst novels of the 20th century, Jeffrey Archer: “She changed this country for the better.”
2.) “She stood for British values and she was quite beautiful.”—Winston Peters, speaking on Te Karere, TV1, 10.8.13 (This only lends weight to rumours that he has started drinking again.)
3.) That piece of idiocy was immediately topped by this contribution by former MP Koro Wetere, who asserted, with a straight face: “She sold British public assets to strengthen the economy for her people.”
I give Wetere the win but only just. Peters gets a commendation for his sexism though.
Wigan football club chairman wants one minute’s silence to be held before his side’s FA Cup semi-final game.
Good luck with that being observed, mate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22078110
Yes wouldn’t be a good look, the FA are ignoring Dave Whelan who risks the ire of Wigan supporters if he persists.
Heh, more likely they’ll chant “maggie maggie maggie, dead dead dead” if they’re asked to do that…
I see a business opportunity here: print up a big bunch of cards with the lyrics to “Ding, dong, the witch is dead” on them. Good luck getting a minute’s silence then…
Just read Ilargi Meijer on http://theautomaticearth.com/Finance/the-lady-who-made-greed-look-good.html
Truly succinct.
Winston has expressed his admiration for MT many times.
Another reason why the left should be wary of going to bed with him,.
‘
Headlines you won’t see to day:
Instead the law breakers will be given a break, and the law they flouted will be scrapped.
Corruption and law breaking to be legalised
P-R-I-V-A-T-E * * * A-N-D * * * C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L
TO: John Key
FROM: HQ
RE: Keep calm and carry on
John, take it easy. Everything is working out. We received your seven emails sent last night. Really, there’s no need to panic. Ferguson is on our side. He doesn’t want to go to jail either. The “smoking dope”jibe was planted. It gives the narrative sufficient tension to soothe the media plants’ desire to seem “balanced” in their reporting. People are watching now, these sorts of ruses are required. Don’t take it personally. Everyone knows that you have never smoked marijuana, except for that one time we have on film.
Fletcher is doing a “marrrrvellous” job – heh, geddit? Remember how he pulled it off? Lie to parliament then RETROSPECTIVELY change the record. Same thing here. You have the script – stick to it: “yes, mistakes were made, the law is so confusing, the people involved only ever had the best interests of New Zealand at heart, no point in going over old ground now, we’re going forward with this, national security means details can’t be discussed, the independent overview has determined no one suffered unjustifiable intrusion, no convictions were based on evidence illegally obtained, public confidence must be maintained, the law will be changed retrospectively. Also, we’re going to have one agency to handle everything and align with the Australian reorganisation”. Game over.
The only difficulty we are having with Operation Privatise NZ Security is when you do not stick to the script. What was that about a “long history” of supporting allies – what??? Pull your head in, stop panicking, and stick to the script. By the time you get home, the idea will have been planted into the public consciousness that the matter has been dealt with and now its just a case of going through the process. We have plans for another major story to “break” just before your return home and the chooks will be off chasing that. No need to fill you in at this stage but, rest assured, the situation is under control.
Get some sleep, see some sights, take your meds, practise your lines, and don’t speak to the media without checking your cell phone first.
We’re nearly there. Don’t fuck it up now.
Lynton and Mark
And what advice is blue state digital offering to Shearer?
Great work Lynton.
http://leejasper.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/immigration-wailing-banshee-of-racism.html
Had a great long chuckle te other day when I heard a North Island iwi bemoaning the unfairness of the first-in-first-served principle that operates under the Resource Management Act in allocation of New Zealand’s natural resources.
Perhaps they had simply forgotten that the same principle underlies their own various, upheld, claims to New Zealand’s resources.
… some people
Welfare bill passed into law today…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8531385/Welfare-shake-up-passed-into-law
All the more reason to get behind the Wellington Benefit Rights service which has just become a registered charity : ) Laws may change, but the advocates endure…
There was a lot of rhetoric about the changes and claims the Government didn’t care, Bennett said, “I recognise that these are people’s lives and that they are living them in reality”. Well TG for that.
Sue Bradford –
In this morningâs Herald she says, â⊠I think living on the full DPB is hard. I donât know how you can live on 50%.â
Yet Paula Bennettâs welfare reforms are the very vehicle by which more and more people are being sanctioned.
Sanctions can mean having your benefit cut by 50%, losing it altogether â or never being granted assistance in the first place.
The governmentâs own figures show that over the last six months an average 4,654 beneficiaries a month have had at least half their benefit taken from them, or had it cut completely.
Last month, in March 2013, 5,600 people were officially sanctioned.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/04/10/the-strange-case-of-paula-bennett/
And we thought Shippley was bad…
back to Ruthanasia days
/shudder
Mum only got through that due to her step-father letting her have the rent occasionally…
Ruthanasia was having an unrefrigerated pie for supper, Bennet is the next morning’s agony
“And we thought Shippley was bad⊔
Ae. More from Bradford –
National loves her. Sheâs doing a much better job than Jenny Shipley ever did at fronting harsh welfare changes.
Much better to have a Maori woman, a former solo mum, taking the lead, than a former school teacher from the white South Island heartlands.
And Bennett knows what sheâs doing.
She knows it even more than someone like Shipley, which makes her leadership role in this even worse. Paula Bennettâs seeming naivety and smiling, bubbly front mask a long, deep commitment to Nationalâs ideology â a belief in helping the already-rich get richer while the poor are forced into ever deeper poverty, no matter the downstream social and economic costs.
Iâm no psychologist, but Iâm sure thereâs a name for the psychopathy she so evidently displays â a complete disconnect between âcaring for peopleâ and the ideological principles which drive her political career.
The changing pace of warming.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/probing_the_reasons_behind_the_changing_pace_of_warming/2637/
from the sharing is caring file:
A short film about the Bradley Manning story
http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?id=103309
and a panel discussion from boots on the ground
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=szUgQImKD1g
freedom: Chilling statement from Bradley more so since the State is determined to not only with-hold disclosure of his statement, but the State is determined to find him guilty of all charges including “aiding the enemy.”
A man showing great courage and integrity under fire from his own country.
There is a great no-holds-barred section against the cowardice of the MSM and the people who staff it. A section which every journalist should make themselves watch, then go sit quietly for a few minutes and ponder.
i won’t mark a timestamp because it is best you watch the panel discussion in its entirety đ
P.S., apologies, meant to include this link to Manning’s Statement
http://boingboing.net/2013/03/12/leaked-audio-of-bradley-mannin.html
Gee, who woulda thunk it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/disunited-in-mourning-police-fear-thatcher-funeral-may-turn-into-security-nightmare-8566452.html
Growing momentum to turn your back on next Wednesdays funeral cortege.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22079749
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Turn-Your-Back-on-Thatcher/163397390349663
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23turnyourback&src=typd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t4-zDem1Sk
Queenstown is changing its Council services delivery structure back in house. Comment was that some employees connected with Council-owned businesses had been spending too much time and money doing things they wanted rather than what the ratepayers wanted?? Sounds like blaming the workers who were just following the style that the old management had created.. Former Nat who became Mayor Warren (Mini) Cooper thinks its a good idea and is positive about it.
This fits in with my earlier expressed observation that being Right means you never say you have been wrong. Or you look for someone to blame for ineffective outcomes. Reminds me of The Simpsons where Homer confided his methods of dealing with criticism – he just looked for the newest immigrant worker with poor English capacity and blamed it on him. That’s how incompetents manage to survive.
Exactly and because these idiots never get held to account they never learn from their mistakes and so they go through life making the same mistake again and again and again and we’re the ones that end up paying for them.
Let’s be clear though, it’s not limited to politicians but it does seem to be a prerequisite for anyone wanting to climb a ‘corporatists’ ladder.
Next thing ya know these buffons will be promoting themselves as ‘change agents’. I notice elsewhere the corporatists are about to trot out the ‘kaizen’ buzz again (in the name if fishincy n fektivniss n produktivtee). It’s a shame those that initiate the buzz don’t seem to see the need to abide by it themselves – though I have to admit, they are the new Royalty after all!
Nothing wrong with a bit of Kaizen mate. The problem being that even the Japanese are being destroyed right now, by the Koreans and the Chinese.
I agree there’s not …. just so long as its not the Kiwi corporate version (‘top’ down, and for everyone else but the ‘top’)
A lot of private sector management skill in this country – at every level – is laughably incompetent and self serving.
Bearing in mind as well we currently have lots of baby boomers running businesses who are no longer building a business but a looking to maximise (loot) the last vestiges of profit from them for their retirement.
Low wages, youth rates, etc plays into their hands quite nicely.
Let’s not think that they are there for the long term.
roll out the barrel…lets have a barrel of fun…
fec,
from Morning Report;
Yep! Maori people committing offences are disproportionately prosecuted compared to non-maori, (30-40% more ) except for a “creeping” of the same “suggestion of a systematic bias” effect for Pasifika. Very little improvement concerning this matter since report in the 80s; let us be Blunt, James, effectively the MOJ and and related blue-tooth agencies are racist. Funnily enough felix, it was the MOJ hacked next.
Yep! Child Poverty in NZ has hovered between 20-25% now for over 20 years.
“-a persistent significant Public Health issue.
-these are (revolving) cohorts now spread across decades (penetrating into the present adult populations, with concomitant health, educational etc issues).
-compounding economic cost will eventually be unaffordable
–requires a societal response, like tobacco, (yet that in itself may take decades).
-Julie Peters, College of Public Health.
National Radio at 12:00 says Mr Key admits that he mislead the public in that he knew in July 2012 of the illegal nature of GCSB and not September 2012 as he publicly said. Throws into question that the “illegality” might have been within the context of Dotcom? Surely the illegality would have been a topic within that framework?
I wonder if the question of Mr Key’s credibility will be aired in the House today? Might come up in Q7 with Russel Norman.
Ian Fletcher : we got it “profoundly wrong”.
“poor performance tolerated because sacking staff = risk”
Key acknowledged that public confidence in GCSB “knocked”. Stout.
“Ian Fletcher : we got it âprofoundly wrongâ.”
Oh Dear….. what to do now what?
I know – let’s see if we can keep this circus running a little longer aye?
I’m not sure which (witch) of the MSN’s latest I saw the Fletch on – but here’s a public advisory:
He lies when his top right hand lip tightens – I should probably charge thousands for that
Key admits that he mislead the public in that he knew in July 2012 of the illegal nature of GCSB and not September 2012
Neazor was not asked to the 17th September to review the problem.
Not just the public.
on a Lighter note, Buzzy Bee Baldrick,
a Linn Sondek ME Dallion Rodney explains all these bolts lying in the cycle-ways not quite covering Subterranean Homesick Blues 461Ocean Boulevard Let It Flow : Rust Never Sleeps : A multi-layered transcription In deed. Will the circle be unbroken, by and by Lord, by and by. Impressed. đ
has anyone here tried ‘breezing’..?
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/former-vice-mayor-allegedly-drove-90-mph-with-genitals-out-window/
phillip ure..
kind of a poor man’s frotage huh?
actually – you should be directing that question to those that inhabit that edifice on Murphy Street, and quite a few on Molesworth St.
We could see the SIS and GCSB directing their efforts towards tracing the sinners – Colin Moyle style
Tim you raise a subject which is unfinished business for me and a QC would need to be appointed before I could proceed in exposing dirty cops who I have dealt with in my cycles of police complaints (mainly cop involved in the incident with Moyle, who is a career cop).
17 April 1978 Sir Alfred North’s report was released into the December 1976 inquiry where perjury occurred. The full police evidence is still in lock up.
There is no way that the SIS or GCSB would spy on dirty crooked cops.
To some extent I have followed how Thomas was treated by the NZ Police and the denial and reluctance of the police to admit how they altered the course of Arthur’s life and that he is owed a public and written apology.
Did anyone else hear the RNZ News at 11am today? I’m certain I heard Steven Joyce say that the drop in post-grad study was probably/most likely due to an increase in the availability of jobs.
If so, thanx for that Stevie. Here’s me thinking it was more likely due to the fact that
a) students were finding it increasingly more difficult to survive, and rather than suffer another 2 years of hand-to-mouth, beg, borrowing and stealing, they figured there were easier ways….. and
b) because those made redundant from career positions and a lifetime of work, were no longer able to obtain any form of assistance in order to ‘retrain’, let alone pursue things of interest…..
and probably ..c) and d) as well.
I defer to Stevie Joyce’s superior intellect however!
Next thing you know he’ll be telling us that poverty and starvation is the best cure for the obesity problem.
In any event, my advice to the undergrad possessing salesman-like qualities, an aptitude for spin, dishonesty, and a passing interest in ethical behaviour is to stand for parliament – preferably for one of those parties that are right of the new ‘centre’ (sorry – err those of a neo-centrist position).
or C
” people are starting to realise that the endless collection of useless PG qualifications does not make you more employable”.
That’d be OK by me Rob, just as soon as they realise that using large corporate HR companies with template style matching criteria doesn’t necessarily make candidates suitable for ploymint tuneties too. Many a career has been built on it – which is one reason why (as someone else on here has noted) the same old same old fuckups with the same old same old weasels keep happening.
I hear all hospital kitchens are to be fully privatised now.
Don’t know how anyone is supposed to get better on the crap they will be feeding patients, but I guess longer stays and poorer healing is a small cost to pay.
To be centralised apparently. Auckland and Christchurch. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10876642
Labour http://www.labour.org.nz/news/hospital-catering-contract-cold-comfort-for-patients-and-workers and Greens http://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/outsourcing-hospital-food-will-cost-nz-long-run already pointing out the mass job losses and the likelihood that it will cost us in the long run.
Another day, another kick in the guts for New Zealand workers.
Darien Fenton directed the salient issues to Ryall in Q.T.
“Health Benefits” (Ltd). imagine job losses will primarily be amongst provincially-based moderate “precariat” income workers. Yep.
appendix : get some campylobacter, C. perfringens (letting food sit) or Salmonella onboard in-flight and…well, at least folk will already be in the right location to be sick.
How nice. Even fewer jobs in our small centres. How many in Ryall’s electorate I wonder?
I don’t agree with moves like this. I believe the short term saving will lead to long term losses.
And yet you’ll go and vote NACT anyway.
No party is 100% correct in their decisions (ie Shearer) this is one of the times they’re wrong.
How can they be wrong? They’re talking about privatising another publicly funded service and killing off even more jobs to transfer more taxpayer funds to a private overseas owned corporation. That is their programme. You support that.
What losses do you foresee?
Actually, don’t bother. It’s a rat trap, Billy.
When you eventually get around to posting patient health and safety, more unemployed and more lower paid contract workers, I’m only going to reply with knowing the human cost to our fellow Kiwis “youâll go and vote NACT anyway”. You’re shit. đ
T_T
Here we go again… The contractors provide a lower than realistic bid, then raise the cost to the hospitals later + increases occur in food borne illnesses due to lax food H&S as workers are paid peanuts and not given enough sick days. So have to come into work just to make ends meet.
All in all, it ends up costing more than doing it in house, as food borne illnesses in a hospital situation can end up very, very expensive due to isolation, clean up and extra medical support, life support or deaths. And if the company collapses it’s even more fun.
But hey, it’s not like externalities and long term cost accounting has ever been popular with National /sigh
+1
good thing that hospitals are not full of patients with variable and challenging dietary requirements đ
I think they’ll be working on shorter stays. They’ll get some failed idiot from the UK to come and say that post operative hospital care is as bad as drug addiction and doctors need to discharge patients far earlier, for their own good. In fact, I bet something like this will happen within the next year.
This is one thing that really annoys me about the right – their complete predictability and lack of imagination. They really are stupid in many ways, which is possibly what makes their ideologies so appealing. Anyone can grasp it in 3 seconds flat – private good, public bad, hate the poor, white is good, but keep the sheets in the wardrobe a bit longer yet.
So predictable and transparent yet our left wing political opposition is outflanked at every turn?
That’s what happens when you let PR hacks manage your messages…
Do we have a left wing political opposition? I haven’t noticed anything much resembling an organised one. I expect Labour might want to ensure that the private company doesn’t pay youth rates, and Winston would say the hospitals are full of Asians. The Greens say some good stuff, and Hone is in there by himself.
How about a response from the opposition like this.
“Mr Ryall proposes outsourcing. We imagine he has chosen this option as he cannot figure out how to demand that a patient’s family bring in all their food bedding and attend to all their other nursing needs. So he has chosen this as a waystation and then by gradually decreasing the service he will achieve his desired end. This will be headlined as – The patient’s family are in partnership with the Health system to meet their non medical needs- . This has been successfully trialed overseas in [insert name of very poor third world country]
Are the Nact’s so policy deficent that they think this is a good way to cut costs.
“
I reckon that the government could trial the out sourced meals for a few months down at parliament and report back to Ryall.
Visitors would have to supplement patient hospitals meals as the vitamin and mineral content will be reduced with reheating. I also suspect that food poisoning/salmonella would increase. Food poisoning can cause post infective arthritis and hepatitis.
Kitchens are a core function of hospitals. After all, a patient needs food, and having an in house kitchen makes it easier for nutritional requirements to be catered to.
I can see a lot going wrong with this proposal.
The question is. Are the unions and the left going to fight this, or roll over like they did with every other change?
Can we expect to see SFWU members demonstrating outside hospitals, and taking the streets every weekend?
A few National voters still see our public health system as a taonga, and Key kept their vote be promising no major shake ups in health, can we mobilse them?
Are we just going to sit on the internet and whine, or are we going to make an effort?
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/04/brislen-and-robertson-square-off-in-unedifying-spectacle-on-twitter/#more-90017
Now I’m no expert but I’m guessing telling the deputy leader of a political party “fuck you” is probably not the best way to get any future work…
That’s hilarious. I don’t know what’s the funniest part.
Is it Failoil lecturing Paul Brislen(!) about internet behaviour?
Is that the part where he sotto voice suggests his idiot minions might want to email Paul’s employer?
Is it the suggestion that Paul’s employer’s think Fail’s complaint might not be ridiculous?
Is it that he is persisting in pretending that the little Twitter maps are insightful in any way whatsoever?
What an absolute tool that man is.
shit.
Actually clicked on it.
Regret.
Revulsion.
Dirty.
I mean, I’m all for calling someone a fuckwit (obviously), but wo takes being a spiteful small-minded hate-filled parasite to a whole new level.
And ironically it’s not caused by his depression, he’s just a complete scumbag lacking in the same basic understandings of human behaviour the rest of us have or have built that makes us not verbally shit on another person right off the bat.
Empty your cache AT ONCE McFlock! Then piss on it quick!
Then burn the whole machine. And run it over. And piss on it again.
Followed by uttering the litany of Yog-Sothoth three times while pouring blood (can be diluted, source doesn’t matter) onto the remains to prevent it from arising as a whale oil blog commentator/lesser-shoggoth.
that is an Excellent and Very funny observation of knickers
Yeah, pretty much did that sans pissing on the cpu đ
Ha… thanks for the warning.
Probably just thought it was funny.
Can anyone with experience in business let me know if thats considered effective networking?
It’s talking on twitter to people you know, and a pollie jumps in, and you talk to him. It’s called “Human stuff”. Generally considered a good thing, sometimes confuses, or bores, the children though.
Twitter is an excellent idiot detection system.
Now Iâm no expert…
Hurrah! He’s finally written something honest!
I don’t mind admitting I don’t know everything.
Good man. A measured and intelligent reply to my attempt to provoke.
Well done, chris73.
Caught me off guard
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/04/09/why/
Fuck.
Clear case of rape and the police did nothing, the rapist shits even photographed themselves in the act.
Fuck.
I don’t know as well. Kind of wish I hadn’t read it.
Welcome to rape culture basics then, side-effects from delving deeper into rape culture 101 include raging at victim blaming in the news, not laughing at rape jokes, with occasional cluebattings of people making rape and other threats against females in your presence. Along with dismay and/or anger at politicians/governments not helping rape and domestic violence support services.
One question comes: Who were the rapists and what were their connections to the
richgovernment?None probably, this is rape culture in the context of conservative rural areas…
Probably it was that as far as the Mounties and the school etc were concerned it was Rehtaeh’s fault for “drinking too much”.
Yeah everyone knows to watch out for feral provincial types, rural men are animals and they hunt in godforsaken packs like hyenas. Shit, best to lock your daughters up at night if you ever wonder outside of bleeding liberal heart areas of urban Wellington or Auckland.
Of course, rural people are really stupid, judgemental and predictably unconscionable that way.
đ
If you’d bother reading the gawker piece + had prior experience with other rape cases and the reactions to them you’d probably not be sounding like such a twit. As the usual rational used to brush of rape victims is blaming them, while the usual public attacks on them are of the slut/whore variety.
While per prior patterns of behaviour, generally rural areas in North America are less “nice” towards victims of sexual assault at both the police the social levels. Heck, the police in general often have patchy responses to rape and sexual assault victims, even in NZ that usual requires an inquiry or two to correct.
But hey, feel totes free to correct me with ye olde hard evidence :smugface:
(Note, Nick needzors sleep, thus the lack of linkage in this post, plus the computer be dying due to too many tabs open…)
“smugface”?
lol what are you 12?
đ
You’re a smart guy and I do like you, but forget “rape culture”: you’re the perfect introduction to “bleeding heart intellectual elitist urban liberal culture”
This applies perfectly to the thread around 20.4.1.1.1 as well. So “smugface” that you really believe that you do know it all about patriarchal societies through the history of human civilisation, and that you are somehow superiorly and culturally fit in morals and values to judge them as being deficient (compared to what? How well we treat our own in modern day society?).
đ
“bleeding heart intellectual elitist urban liberal culture”
đ
been reading about the types of things young people (and children) have been saying about their behaviour and peers on social media and the lack of awareness of content by parents / caregivers until teachers etc inform them. sigh.is not gonna end well.airplane food in an inpatient unit is not going to float your deflated boat any more than atypical anti-psychotics.
Yeah, it takes an awful amount of education (or personal experience) to get people to people to not abuse others for their sexuality, or in this case, being raped.
As for mental health care, Canada’s been in the shit in the past over it’s mental health inpatient care and suicide prevention if memory serves me right. And some of the mainstream suicide watch prevention methods are pretty fucking hopeless in terms of patients human rights, let alone reducing suicidal ideation.
What is it with the Anglo Saxon culture and the way they treat women?
It’s not just the Anglo-Saxons. It’s all of the patriarchal societies throughout history.
This.
Yes, because both of you are so knowledgeable about the range of patriarchal civilisations throughout the last five thousand years of human history.
đ
By my count there are around 100-150 major pre-medieval human civilisations on different continents, the vast majority of which were likely to be patriarchial in nature.
Exactly how many of them are you familiar with that you could draw your conclusions?
Enough. The only times I’ve heard of women being treated well and not as objects to own has been in matriarchies and some nomadic tribes (which tended more to anarchy).
Remember Deir Yassin
by RAOUF J. HALABY
Even though April 9, 1948, is a day of infamy for Palestinians, few commemorative ceremonies will be held.
Sixty-Five years ago today organized Jewish terrorist groups, including the Irgun and Stern gangs, attacked the Village of Deir Yassin, a village whose population numbered some 600 people; 112 women children and old men were brutally butchered in a massacre that has been likened to the Babi Yar Nazi massacre of Jews in Kiev, Ukraine. To add insult to injury, some of the survivors were stripped, loaded on flat truck beds, paraded in a demeaning triumphal drive through Jerusalemâs Jewish neighborhoods, driven out of town, and shot to death. Under the cover of dark, 55 surviving children were loaded on trucks and dumped in a Jerusalem alleyway.
Close to 600 villages were bulldozed and permanently wiped off the map. Some ironies: the Israelis would change the name of the village to Kfar Shaul, move Holocaust survivors into homes that were not destroyed, build a mental institution on the site, and the site itself is within full view of the Holocaust Memorial, a site just recently visited by Barack Obama…
Read more….
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/09/deir-yassin-massacre-remembered/
Morrissey Thanks. We need to remember such things.
Lest we forget as a devout promise takes on nightmare proportions when we allow the scope of attention to widen. It isn’t easy being a sentient human being with belief in our basic goodness.
better to be wide-mouthed frog with quick reflexes; young wide-mouth frog is left parent-less prior to the amphibian equivalent of weaning due to a temporary spike in the futures / derivatives / hedges / commodities market for what is between a wide-mouthed frog’s lips. young wmf commences bildungsroman / entwicklungsroman / erziehungsroman ,picaresque ,epic odyssey through local jungle food-hall questing of those just-so neighbours of varying species he / she meets in his / her ecological niche what it is they are to now sustain themselves with; request goes, to say, for example, a mole, “excuse me, but I’m a wide-mouth frog, can you please advise me what is appropriate on the menu for me to eat” (request, when telling joke is with fingers at side of own mouth stretching it, wide “hawo, i a vi mout fwog..”. Mole, for example replies, “well I don’t know what wide -mouth frogs eat but I’m a mole and I eat worms” (politicians)…and so on it goes until frog meets snake đ …”Well, I’m a snake and I eat wide-mouth frogs…”
Wide-mouth frog purses lips and exclaims “ooooh, iz zat wight”.
Yep, definitely need to remember that Israel was birthed in the spilling of innocent blood.
Israel is a colonisation project. It is also consider by the Yanks to be a strategic ally in the Middle East.
So Israel can basically do what it likes without much protest from the West.
Andrew Williams on John Key in Parliament. Recounts Key’s history and states:
1. Key double crossed Blinglish in the leadership vote in 2003 despite pledging support for him.
2. Knew about his blind trust.
3. Forgot about his Westpac shares.
4. Forgot about his meeting with the Exclusive Bretheren.
5. Said he never met with Media works to discuss a $43 million loan despite the fact he had.
6. Said that S&P would downgrade NZ’s rating even though it said it would not.
7. Promised that Westpac’s banking would be opened up to competition but did not and then Simon Power went to work for them.
8. Says he cannot recall when he was told by the GCSB about Dotcom.
9. Could not recall shoulder tapping his mate Fletcher for the job of head of GCSB.
He ends up by saying we cannot trust Key and calls for an independent inquiry. Williams does well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-of-3GRv12Q
Williams is a self important drunk same as his boss, just because he disses a dickhead like Key doesn’t make him any less of a drunken buffoon
Ultimately that doesn’t really matter for the purposes of this discussion, even if it’s true, which I doubt very much given his usually high standard in the house.
The speech was good. The simple narrative needs to be repeated.
Yeah it was a bloody good speech.
Needs to be repeated at every opportunity for the next [x] months.
Except that he didn’t and has never claimed that he did. He obviously remembered quite well when pressed on the number he held and that proves that he had used the lesser number on purpose. Probably thinking that having less would magically decrease the amount of conflict of interest he was engaging in.
You may have noticed the ‘meat alternative’ Quorn that has recently appeared on our shelves.
Any of the science folk out there have any advice for us laymen. The manufacturer states it wants to be the first billion dollar meat alternative. Seems it is not a fungus or a mushroom, it is a mould grown in industrial vats. Now where’s that copy of Solyent Green?
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00253-002-0931-x#page-1
http://www.foodrevolution.org/askjohn/35.htm
http://jcp.bmj.com/content/55/11/876.2.full
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/fcn/gras_notices/grn000091.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn
http://www.quorn.us/about-quorn/
Just asking and all, but if someone was to cut the fuel line on a person’s car, in order to intimidate them for a political purpose; that would be terrorism right? And the sort of thing that, in NZ, the SIS should be investigating right, paying attention to groups who routinely vilify the group to which the victim belonged?
It’d be more of a criminal act and a police matter I would’ve thought.
I’d have thought most terrorism would be, but we’ve got terrorism laws now right, in this cold new post 9/11 era? So I assume parliament expects them to be used.
If what Iti was doing was possibly terrorism, then this was, surely.
When did this happen, Pb?
Auckland, last month: http://t.co/y3e2w4Cc4V
Fuck. Any of Slater and Farrar’s lot been laying low for a few weeks?
I could probably whip up a little list for the SIS to be starting with.
Fuck, if they start up in CHCH and I hear about it I’ll be pulling hours on escort volunteering.
And Ken Orr’s a lying sack of shit, I really doubt he’d do anything to stop an attack on property if he heard about it.
Don’t know where the terrorism law has ended up. It turned out to be useless in the Urewera case because as drafted it could only be legally applied to international terrorists, didn’t it? I thought the police have a counter-terrorism role as well? Is this in relation to the abortion clinic nurse whose car was interfered with referred to on TVOne newsotainment tonight?
I can’t remember why the Urewera one fell apart, think it was more about proving level of actual intent and planning than international stuff.
Yes, you’re right. Fairly succint explanation of the problems with the terrorism act in that case is here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10474950
The last bit suggests the act was aimed more at external terrorist threats.
Cheers.
the bold one is the only one that is arguably not met, though I only count 4 of the 5 potential outcomes?
Yes, agreed PB. It was this quote from the Solicitor-General that made me think the act had focussed on external threats. There was quite a bit of discussion at the time as to why it was so difficult to apply to domestic terrorism. I could be wrong, but I vaguely recall that it was more aimed at identifying and stopping overseas terrorists or people connected to international terrorist groups from getting here, post 9/11.
“That very quick summary might give an indication as to why I think it’s unnecessarily complicated and very, very difficult to apply. There will be circumstances where [the act] can be made to work, but certainly not in fundamentally domestic circumstances.”
Depends on the context, if it was say a business person or someone with extra-legal debts it would be a crime, but given it’s against someone working at a clinic providing abortion services, I’d class it as terrorism per anti-abortion acts in the USA. As does the FBI presently.
And political purposes generally fall into terrorism definitions historically, albeit with plenty of fuzziness depending on who’s in positions of power.
As for this:
It depends on the threat level and reporting of prior threats, but I’d assume they’re keeping an eye on potential anti-abortion nuts at home and those we import from the USA. Much as they’ve likely bugged Kyle Chapman to hell and back (if he’s not an agent provocateur that is) to keep an eye on his various rwnj friends.
Yeah, thanks Morrissey at 21 above. We do need to know in the first place and remember, grieve really, in the second place. Gross inhumanity swept over.
Gotta say I’m a bit surprised you haven’t received the Zionist cacophany in answer.
“But they throw fucking stones at us !” – whimper bloody whimper – what ???
And for whomsoever – note I said Zionist, not Jewish.
[Deleted]
I like being minimalised for speaking the truth, but then again, that is how it works. Thanks.
Mate, slow down.
Hey North, I do not know where you come from, but I TOTALLY MEAN it, as I have had to deal with WINZ jerks repeatedly, last time they did not believe my doctors records, so I was sent through hell. They never believe anyone, I just learned tonight, what they still do, and they are CULLING sick and disabled of benefits! This comes from someone working on the bloody frontline, and it is REAL!
They never believe you, they never give you time and credit, they hate you and consider us all that are seriously sick and diabled as FUCKING BLUDGERS!
And society is NO BETTER, look this thread up:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10876345
So are you damned PROUD to be a New Zealander, when this goes on?
I met many Kiwis today, while busing and walking and else NOBODY TALKS, NOBODY RELATES, I met NO PERSON
Hey North, I do not know where you come from, but I TOTALLY MEAN it, as I have had to deal with WINZ jerks repeatedly, last time they did not believe my doctors records, so I was sent through hell. They never believe anyone, I just learned tonight, what they still do, and they are CULLING sick and disabled of benefits! This comes from someone working on the bloody frontline, and it is REAL!
They never believe you, they never give you time and credit, they hate you and consider us all that are seriously sick and diabled as FUCKING BLUDGERS!
And society is NO BETTER, look this thread up:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10876345
So are you damned PROUD to be a New Zealander, when this goes on?
I met many Kiwis today, while busing and walking and else NOBODY TALKS, NOBODY RELATES, I met NO PERSON worth even socialising with.
Do you guys here not get it, part of the damned problem is this damend INTERNET communication, nobody knows how to interact face to face and normally anymore, that is also fucking up the whole left here. You guys thing you have clues and can fucking change things, look at the damned lack of results here, who bloody listens, who takes ACTION.
I said it, others said, it, without real street and other physical action, you life in damned cyber NO space, you are irrelevant, dreaming, dumb and ignorant. YOU are all losers and lost it long ago.
THERE IS NO ACTIVE LEFT IN NZ, THAT IS REALITY, IT IS DEAD!!!
There is always the “last straw” and “solution” I think of every day and night, but “enjoy” yourselves, I will not spoil the fun.
Auckland City Mission really “cares”, I suppose, the Bratt and extreme way, ok:
http://www.aucklandcitymission.org.nz/uploads/file/Calder%20Centre/Sickness%20Benefit%20explanation.pdf
I cannot believe the people of NZ tolerating such crap, even such a jerk being supported by the Ministry of Social Development and WiNZ, this is a NAZI country to me, we never have such SHIT in Europe, you guys better clean up your damned Bratt backyard, that is if you care!