Simon Power is at it again, engaging in US type defense counsel bashing. He insists on Law Society reform to deal with unidentified lawyers who are supposedly rorting the system but Power and the Government have the very simple and effective tool of tearing up the contract the Legal Services Agency has with any errant lawyer. No reform is necessary if what he says is true.
Been bashing and lawyer bashing for political advantage, how predictable.
One further comment, no mention of the Roy Morgan poll in the Herald or Stuff as far as I can see. How surprising …
This sounds a little familiar. It won’t surprise many of us that research by California-based Oakland Institute shows that the foriegn land grabs in Africa do not benefit the countries that US unis and other interests are investing in:
Researchers say foreign investors are profiting from “land grabs” that often fail to deliver the promised benefits of jobs and economic development, and can lead to environmental and social problems in the poorest countries in the world.
Harvard is one of the US unis named as being major participants in these African landgrabs, and Harvard also already has endowment investments in NZ land:
Potential bidders reported to have shown an interest include Chinese dairy giant Bright Dairy, which last year invested $82 million in struggling South Island milk processor Synlait; a pastoral fund owned by Australian investment bank Macquarie Group; British private equity firm Terra Firma; US private equity firm Carlyle Group; and the Harvard Endowment Fund, which already owns a swag of forests and farmland in this country.
Basic English seems to be a problem for our leaders.
First Key and now Barnett – (captains of industry some would say).
A small point but why do these people murder the language.
…”There’s lots of things happening … There’s plenty of differing views…”
Perhaps Delorus Umbridge could apply some of her standards and advise her mates.
They’re not alone though – I’ve noticed it a lot with MBAs during public interviews.
I just about spat my porridge across the breakfast table this morning on reading Minister of Fisheries Phil Heatley’s plans for paua takes post-election.
He said that in order to counter poaching the rules would be changed to make that poaching legal. Then voila! No more poaching and the government gets a return.
Seriously. That is what he said.
Now lets apply that reasoning to say, speeding, tax evasion, … um …. (insert any crime).
It is the most shallow and poor drivel just about ever. What a fuckwit.
He said that in order to counter poaching the rules would be changed to make that poaching legal. Then voila! No more poaching and the government gets a return.
He’s pretty on the money about the dirty tricks being used in this beat up. But I suspect nobody in the parliamentary press gallery is going to rat out Bennett as an abuser of power because they’d rather have a stream of pre-written ‘news’ stories from her PR team that can be cut and pasted under their own bye-lines in a minute or two. A bloody sight easier doing that than actually doing journalism.
ak – I like logie97’s latest inventive name Petulant Bean, I thought of Paua Bennie but can’t think of a good caption for it, so it’s a bit lacking. It seems that name-calling is all one can do with her, she has no shame, and is a favoured MP doing exactly what the NACTs want and making squids in pay doing something that she apparently enjoys.
The RW love a female who puts on jackboots and whips the lower orders. Margaret Thatcher, for instance and Ruth Richardson was being questioned as over the top in a 1991 newspaper sheet I have. Jim Bolger had to defend giving her the position of Finance Minister. Incidentally it is interesting to see the similar state of political matters seen for 1991 repeated in 2011.
In 1991 SWMinister Jenny Shipley could not rule out office closures after departmental review. Kindergartens face funding crisis, Wellington doctors declare crisis, Treasury approves its own pay rise, Government wins oil field fight (Ngaere land issue in Taranaki), a television poll showed 55% against benefit cuts, the Prime Minister Jim Bolger ‘failed to spell out government growth strategies but instead continued to focus on cutting the deficit’. Welfare system under attack -meeting of 300 people discussing the Employment Contracts Bill.
The National Party announced for 1990 general election that to vote for them would give –
1 Real Growth 2 More Jobs 3 Better Pay, NZ Banks face tighter lending limits after DFC collapse Dr Don Brash, Reserve Bank governor states. Australian Wool Corporation hopes to raise hundreds of millions with bonds which would be government guaranteed, Fruit giant Chiquita Brands goes to NZ government over NZ Kiwifruit Marketing Board refusal to allow it to sell 20 million trays on world markets and wants second-exporter status.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. If you don’t know the meaning of that you coulf have learned French at night school if Anne Tolley wasn’t hostile to anyone learning more than she knows.
ak – I like logie97′s latest inventive name Petulant Bean,
Point of order, that was mine! I posted it in the middle of the night one insomniac weekend… it’s from an anagram generator I had discovered… I am young enough and neuro-typical enough to be a bit off-piste that he started using it, even in a post in which he attacked me, without acknowledging that it my name for Bennett in the first place!
Good on ya Vicky32 – as you grow up you will learn that “immitation is the highest form of flattery”. In future every time Petulant Bean is used (and as you quite rightly observed was apt), I will ensure that I acknowledge you as the originator if that relaxes you. As for your other comment that I attacked you – I should be interested in the link where I “attacked you”. But then you quote ak when it would appear to be “prism” who is making reference so your accuracy and recall are somewhat questionable.
In the meantime, feel free to use Joky Hen and Professor Delorus Umbridge as often as you like – perhaps then we can make them part of the vernacular and everyone will know who we are referring to.
Good on ya Vicky32 – as you grow up you will learn that “immitation is the highest form of flattery”. In future every time Petulant Bean is used (and as you quite rightly observed was apt), I will ensure that I acknowledge you as the originator if that relaxes you.
Please, don’t be so childish! Acknowledgement the first time you took credit for it, would have been nice, but then if 97 is your birthdate, then I suppose you can’t help the ‘childish’ bit… 🙂
As for your other comment that I attacked you – I should be interested in the link where I “attacked you”.
I am not hunting for a link.. you can find it as well as I can. It was when you accused me of supporting Bennett in her use of of the “toolkt’ when all I wanted to say is that I knew Ian and Mary Grant, and they weren’t the fascistic fundies everyone was claiming them to be.
In the meantime, feel free to use Joky Hen and Professor Delorus Umbridge as often as you like – perhaps then we can make them part of the vernacular and everyone will know who we are referring to.
The first would appear to be John Key, the second, who? Tolley? If you’re the originator of those, congrats, but as to the 2nd, I rather think J K Rowling might have something to say…
Got to love you Vicky32. But for your information I have never entered into any correspondence on this site regarding the Petulant Bean and the Grant’s toolkit.
Clearly, my dear, your insomnia has affected your memory badly.
I have never ever claimed naming rights for any or all of these alternative names for these politicians – just think they are apt and enjoy using them. Congratulations once again on finding the Petulant Bean.
As for Delores Umbridge – she attempted at Hogwarts what Tolley is attempting here. (Read the Order of the Phoenix).
As for Delores Umbridge – she attempted at Hogwarts what Tolley is attempting here. (Read the Order of the Phoenix).
Er – that would be re-read for the nth time, which is why I said if you were laying claim to the name, Rowling might have something to say. Please, just leave it alone, you’ve made your point, and now you’re being – dare I say it, petulant? 😀
BTW, I am not your ‘dear’, don’t be a sarcastic patronising berk. Thanks in advance.
Glad you’re a Potter Fan. No room for berks in that community.
Trust we can now direct our efforts collectively to keep the Petulant Bean, Joky Hen and Professor Umbridge honest.
and the poor Lisa Blakie’s convicted murderer Taylor.
Rob Pope resigned when he realised the public has cottoned onto his deadly and evil ways and the politicians didn’t want a bar of him. He is one of NZ’s most crooked cops imo.
Page 1 New Zealand Journal of History, 33,2 (1999)
The Devil You Know: NEW ZEALAND’S RECOGNITION POLICY TOWARDSCAMBODIA
FROM 1978-1990 [1]
by ANTHONY SMITH
THIS ARTICLE looks at New Zealand’s policy of recognition towards Cambodia (or Kampuchea [2]) between 1978 and 1990. New Zealand policymakers had to make the difficult decision as to which political entity to recognize, if any at all, after the Vietnamese invaded and installed a puppet government in Kampuchea in 1978. The Vietnamese army’s removal of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, or Democratic Kampuchea (DK), led by Pol Pot, provoked mixed reactions from the international community. There was universal relief at Pol Pot’s removal, but the Association of South East AsianNations (ASEAN), China and the United States expressed the concern that a Soviet-sponsored Vietnam was attempting to achieve sub-regional hegemony.These nations all
supported the anti-Vietnamese resistance forces.Controversially, New Zealand also opted to give diplomatic recognition to the ousted Khmer Rouge regime-in-exile as the legitimate representatives of the Cambodian people.
What emerges about New Zealand foreign-policy decision-making over this issue is that it contained a great deal of ambivalence. ……
Read the rest of this apologetic and biased, but revealing article HERE…
I’m told that TV one’s Sunday program is leading with a damning report on safety standards at Pike River which is going to raise the possibility that some miners survived the initial blast but were left to die by the company.
Exellent. This is the exact direction many of us have been hollering about for some time. Others keep saying shut up and let the Royal Commission of Inquiry do it all – to which I say get stuffed. There is absolutely no requirement whatsoever to so shut up. Lives have been lost here and I have contended since dot that it is human and corporate and govt culpability. It was not an accident. It was gross negligence at several levels. Heads must roll.
Local councils that amalgamate into a larger body can exert more influence on central government but are unlikely to make any cost savings or lower rates, according to a trans-Tasman report out this week.
That bits actually fairly obvious when you think about it. All the work still needs to be done which is why Auckland is having to get in contractors now – the ATA went and fired over a thousand people and left Auckland without the people needed to do the jobs that they were doing.
There were few robust examples of such savings being achieved, yet many in central government and some in local government “still cling to the belief that substantial savings can and should be made”.
Yep, politicians, especially the ones on the right of the political spectrum, seem to make decisions that affect all of us on their beliefs rather than on the facts. This really needs to change as it hurting us.
Concerns about loss of democracy resulting from less representation were “muted”, suggesting the issue was being managed well or that it was not a major factor for communities, the report says.
So, does “managed” mean that it’s been kept out of the public eye because the MSM are ignoring it because if they actually reported it people would begin to question the governance?
But getting rid of people and/or making them re-apply for their old jobs can be used to drive down the cost of wages in the long term ie, employing more people to do the jobs that were axed, but offering them a lower salary.
This weekend is Bilderberg weekend.
For those of you who have never heard about this illustrious group: the Bilderberg group named after the hotel were the first meeting was held with our the Dutch/German Nazi prince Bernhard (the father of the current Dutch queen) in attendance consists of the most powerful Money men, Corporate CEO’s combined with Political leaders such as Hillary Clinton and New Zealand’s own Globalist and current Ambassador to the US Michael Moore who was an invite to the meeting in 2000 (Just in case you’re wondering who John Key’s handlers are.)
Here is the one and only (And yes, he does rant a bit) Alex Jones reporting on it.
For those of you who still think that Alex Jones only represents the fringe; the man gets about 24 million listeners a month and is the fastest growing info talk show in the world.
I don’t think Jones represents the fringe, Ev, though his personal politics (libertarian) are obviously of appeal only to a minority. That’s the same in NZ where ACT, the LibertariaNZ and the various offshoots thankfully struggle to get support from more than a handful of Kiwi voters.
However, rabid right wingers such as Jones and Beck have a huge following in the States for their various media outlets because their shows bash easy targets and appeal to ignorance, fear and bigotry. There’s no substance, of course, just innuendo, exaggeration and froth, but it sells well to people who know they are being ripped off, but don’t know who by.
As long as the likes of Jones say it’s the gummint, the illuminati, the New World Order, or whatever the fantasy of the day is, the real truth will alway remain hidden from his audience. And that truth is that it’s capitalism’s fault. But, as capitalism is making Jones rich, he’s not going to rock that particular boat, eh?
Interesting! So for clarity what is right wing in your view? Or more precise what is rabid right wing? Do they hate blacks, women, Arabs, peaceniks and other scary leftists for example? Is a clan member rabidly right wing? Is an Obama hater guaranteed right wing?
I am honestly curious as four years ago I would have agreed with you for more than 100 % but now I look at it totally different.
So for the sake of civilised debate (promise) give me your ideas about what defines rabid right wing.
Anything that supports the exploitation of the many by the few is right wing in my estimation. I look at things from a marxist perspective, so my default position is to support things that benefit the majority.
Jones is a libertarian, which is a subset of the right. Broadly speaking, I see communists, socialists and social democrats as the left. Liberals (including our Green party) I see as being inclined to the left, but also capable of going to the right if it suits their temporary interests. The right I see as mainly made up of the petit bourgious, the monarchists and, of course, the established capitalists.
Oddly, the right really only represent the interests of a small minority and it always amazes me that they manage to keep a reletive political balance despite this fact. Having most of the money must help!
Shit, I wrote this whole thingy already and now I have to start again in order to respond properly to your comment.
Again four years ago I would have concurred totally with your but things have changed for me to a point that none of what I used to take for granted as my reality is there any more so bear with me. OK?
Coming from Europe and believe it or not from a socialist/Communist background it took me a while to come to the conclusion that while the socialist ideal of sharing was a grand one it just did not happen that way. Not in the East block at any rate.
I have come to the conclusion that any “ism” including the current US state of Capitalism is a totalitarian system.
I don’t think there is a “system” that will solve all our problems and that no matter what the balance between individual needs and those of the community at large will sometimes conflict and that it will always be a tight rope act to prevent disintegration of society as we find out which is more important at what time. I’ve once found this nice schematic of this and it was the mature individual or component of the group which makes this possible. i.e. Childish narcissistic, me me me is one side of the equation and the overbearing parental attitude of rules and sharing and group thinking is the other side. The mature individual or the mature individuals in a group will try to balance their own needs and those of others making it acceptable to live in that group as an individual.
So I don’t have a problem with liberals flicking from right to left or whatever their self interest dictates because if they are mature individuals they will take others needs into account. That is one part of my response.
Now how about this pertains to Alex Jones whom I regard to be hugely different from the likes of Glenn Beck and other shock jocks in the right wing spectrum.
For instance of all the radio hosts in the US he is the only one who will interview someone like Cynthia McKinney. She is a high profile black female politician who once served in the senate and who is currently the leader of the Green party and presidential candidate for this party and who is currently living in Tripoli Libya to endure with the local population the incessant bombardments perpetrated by the NATO and US.
Alex Jones is the only radio host who from day one called the wars started after 911 illegal and criminal and who calls out the “good ole boys” for believing the propaganda and dehumanisation of Muslims.
He hosts Black and Hispanic political activists and rappers and allows them plenty of air time.
He called George Bush a war criminal as much as he calls Obama a war criminal (And seeing as he has expanded the drone attacks on Pakistan, started the war in Libya which even you must see is not the humanitarian action they claimed it to be and expanded the military action in Afghanistan when he won the election on a promise to pull out).
You argued that Alex Jones is getting rich of his program but I leave you with this to ponder.
First of all the ads he runs are not the high end corporate big money spinners. In fact he attacks those with a vengeance.
He puts all his films, radio shows and documentaries on your tube in low res for all to see for free.
Rather than claiming copy right and limited viewing he actively encourages people to copy and spread his material around for free and as a member I can give my password to his site to 5 other people without any repercussion.
Alex Jones believes in the Capitalism free trade system but claims that the US is not a free trade system but corporatism/fascism with the big corporations monopolising their money spinners and while I don’t agree with some of his political points of view I do agree with him on that but his generosity with regards to the fruits of his labour tells me he belongs in may ways to that mature part of the population I like to relate to and that makes him in many ways OK with me.
What am I doing wrong. My comments end up in moderation?
[lprent: Nothing that I can see from the filters. Just random from the anti-spam would be my guess (I haven’t released them so I’m not sure which comments you’re referring to). It will eventually correct itself. ]
I ended up in moderation the other night, no ant-spam issue as I was logged in, so what gives? Have I been declared a RWNJ cause I’m black? “religious’? 😀 (Before QoT nuts off at me, I’ll remind him/her of Ali G)…
[lprent: Nope. The anti spam checking operates on ALL comments except for editors and above. Login just means that the system will not ask you for a antispam word. ]
Mind you, the TV versions of Bruno and Borat were funny. And Borat (the movie) was funny for a while, until you realize just what a disgusting individual Baron Cohen is. He really is Borat.
There are many smart British comedians—Jack Dee, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, and scores more. But Sasha Baron Cohen, like Madonna, gets there not through talent but an implacable work ethic.
Really, I agree. Baron Cohen is desperately unfunny, and a rather nasty individual… What happens is that things I am about to say remind me of other things, and sometimes I just burble! 😀
Don’t feel bad about quoting or referencing him, Vicky. He is funny, on one level. You weren’t burbling; I just saw the opportunity to have a blast at someone I despise.
The Following story emerged after completion of Baron Cohen’s film Bruno:
“A Palestinian grocer from Bethlehem filed suit against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen on Monday for the sum total of $115 million in libel damages over his film Bruno…..According to the Daily Mail, the Palestinian, Ayman Abu Aita, who is also a Christian peace activist, said that Baron’s depiction of him as a Lebanese Islamic Terrorist in his recently-released and controversial movie has ruined his life…..He has also filed suit against NBC, Universal Studios and famed American talk show host David Letterman for being part of the film which tricked him into meeting Cohen under the false pretext that Cohen was a German producing a film about the Palestinian cause…..Abu Aita told the Daily Mail that since the film was released to cinemas this summer, he has received several death threats despite the fact that he is a firm opponent of terrorists…..During the scene, Abu Aita was depicted as a leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, according to the film’s caption which referred to him as ‘Terrorist Group Leader, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.’
But more than this, when promoting the film on Letterman, Baron Cohen stuck rigidly to the fiction that Abu Aita was indeed a Lebanese Terrorist tracked down by the CIA and that the filming had taken place at “a secret location”. Subsequently, journalists discovered that Baron Cohen’s “interview” with Abu Aita had, in fact, taken place directly across from an Israeli military compound (in Occupied Palestinian territory).
Baron Cohen was a very active member of Zionist Youth Organisations in the UK during his teenage years.
Figured out the problem with the auto-moderation. When akismet is unable to get an answer to a query about a comment from the main server immediately, it pops the comment into moderation and waits a while before retrying it.
A present we’re seeing about a 10 fold increase in spam comment attempts in the past few days, and it looks like many many other sites are having the same attack going on. So the main akismet server is obviously failingto handle every comment in a timely fashion, but does so soon afterwards. Explains why I never saw any of these moderated messages.
The battle in the net appears to be starting to subside from our spam comment rate – got up nearly a thousand per day and is now about 700. Normal service is resuming. The war will continue…
I really don’t want to get into a scrap about this, I’ll just say that up front, and there is much of what he says that is appealing to people from all over the spectrum (or rather, to radicals on various fringes of the spectrum). But trying to put him in a non-US context is a mistake.
He opposes many things that various leftists oppose. As you outline. Going back before GWB he opposed Clinton and Bush the elder. He was right into the whole Ruby Ridge and Branch Davidian stories in the nineties, and consequently with the black helicopters, militias/posse comitatus/sovereign citizen movement.
All I’m saying by that, is that just as he will interview Cynthia McKinney, he’s interviewed all sorts of people who were deep in to the whole ZOG NWO scene, (where the US govt is ZOG, Zionist Occupied Government), As a taste of how that stuff was going, Jones maintained that one of the space shuttles that exploded was an inside job. I forget the details, but it was to do with there being an Israeli on board. The space shuttle explosion was a false flag operation somehow aimed at sparking a war to benefit Israel.
But what I’m getting at with all this at is that to view Jones in his context, you are right to ignore left right divisions as they are more broadly understood. He has to be understood in a USian context.
Right throughout US history the big division hasn’t been Capital vs Labour, or any of the other left/right fights that we see elsewhere. Right from the beginning the fight has been between the federalists and the anti-federalists. Jones is with the latter, and that’s where all his stuff starts to makes sense. Viewing him through any other lense he becomes incoherent.
I agree. I listen to him with a great many reservations and indeed from the point of view that he is very much a US based entity.
I think though that it is interesting to listen to him and his attempts at shining light on the secretive meetings of the ultra powerful and whether you believe all the things he says or not that is up to the individual.
There is one thing I don’t agree with you in this and that is his “anti Zionist” stance as he is very careful to avoid this controversy. In fact among the more extreme his avoidance of the subject has let ot speculations as to whether he could be a “Zionist” agent. LOL.
In fact he only recently spoke about Israel and his opinion on the matter. He is an equal opportunity anti war activist though. His opinion with regards to Libya, Syria, Yemen and Israel is simple; Why are we not bombing the shit out of Israel which has ignored every single UN resolution since ’67 while we have no compunction about doing the same with Libya to name one country? In his opinion we should not be involved in wars with any of the country’s the US is currently bombing. Not Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen or Pakistan but if we are we should be even in our response to all countries killing peacefully demonstrating. That includes Israel, Bahrein and other countries serving the interest of the US currenly getting a free pass for their torture, abuse and indiscriminate killing.
I tend to agree.
His opinion with regards to Libya, Syria, Yemen and Israel is simple; Why are we not bombing the shit out of Israel which has ignored every single UN resolution since ’67 while we have no compunction about doing the same with Libya to name one country? In his opinion we should not be involved in wars with any of the country’s the US is currently bombing.
Well sure. But that rhetorical question is an interesting one if that’s the way he framed it. One answer to why the US federal government isn’t bombing Israel is ZOG.
And he was always careful about his interviews with militia types even in the nineties, he’d always ‘just be giving them a platform to speak’, because the federal government silences it’s critics; he doesn’t endorse, he’s just fightin for these folks civil liberties.
But the theme is almost always that the federal government is the enemy of the people. That’s why the wars are bad. It’s the damnable federal government usurping power and using fear to control the populace and maintain it’s tyrannical rule.
People who hinted that maybe a domestic war against the federal government wouldn’t get the ‘war criminal’ treatment.
What’s his current line on state level government civil violations? He always used to be pretty quiet on that score.
On immigration, (‘illegals’) for example, they were a threat to state governments and the federal government ignored the problem deliberately, probably hoping for internal grassroots reaction that they could use as a pretext to steal everyone’s guns and lock folks up in FEMA camps.
The moderation happened to me too. I thought maybe I used a bad word like, er, liberal.
My take on Jones is that he is a traditional Republican, as opposed to the Reagan generation that lead the GOP now. He leans to the armed rebellion end of right wing politics, who believe the Government is a conspiracy against the People. Jones is not a dry righty, totally focussed on the bottom line, so I’m pleased to hear that he gives a bit back, but with the numbers you suggest (24 million listeners a month) he can afford to. I’d imagine the Tshirt sales alone would be huge, eh.
The thing with American politics is that there are a hell of a lot of very specific beliefs that enjoy levels of support at a state, regional or national level that never get beyond single digit support, federally. These groupings coalesce in either the democrat or republican parties.
Jones represents a particular strain of thought that is shared by maybe only 1% of Americans, but shares enough similarities with other fringe beliefs to generate that 24 million listenership and also a voice within the republican party.
I agree that the US is not best practice when it comes to free trade, by the way. Pork barrel politics, special interest lobbying and the pandering to farming interests has always meant that the US talks the talk, but has never walked the walk when it comes to genuine free trade.
Genuine free trade has never been promulgated by any of the major western powers.
In fact, its highly likely that true “free trade” only exists as an academic theory which was then used by commercial powers to humiliate the sovereignty of foreign countries and their markets.
I’ve once found this nice schematic of this and it was the mature individual or component of the group which makes this possible. i.e. Childish narcissistic, me me me is one side of the equation and the overbearing parental attitude of rules and sharing and group thinking is the other side. The mature individual or the mature individuals in a group will try to balance their own needs and those of others making it acceptable to live in that group as an individual.
That sounds like transactional analysis with a scheme of dividing behaviour into three – it arises from the parent, the adult or the child state. I think it is an excellent shorthand for getting a fast understanding of one’s and others’ mindsets.
Yes it seriously amazes me that Farrar is taken seriously by others. He chooses the subject of the day most likely to fire up his cretins (like something taniwha, something Clark, something sexist) and lets them go. It is like the most disgusting and ignorant of talkback radio writ large.
I have a bash over there sometimes but it always immediately degenerates into a stinking shithole screamfest.
It is worse that The Penguin gets comfort from Jim Mora as a panelist on Afternoons on national radio. Mora bills his guest as a leading blogger and mentions the name of the notorious blog as well. Just perhaps, Mora never reads beyond the Penguin’s posts – Farrar, however, is responsible for what he allows to be appended to his blog.
Why do you call those fools “rednecks”? That implies they work hard in the sun like honest farmers and labourers. I wonder how much manual work the likes of Farrar, Slater, Hooton, Leighton Smith, and Paul Holmes actually do.
What lies behind this trans-Atlantic policy paralysis? I’m increasingly convinced that it’s a response to interest-group pressure. Consciously or not, policy makers are catering almost exclusively to the interests of rentiers — those who derive lots of income from assets, who lent large sums of money in the past, often unwisely, but are now being protected from loss at everyone else’s expense.
Sounds a lot like what’s happening in NZ as well. The rich are protected (SCF, AMI, farmers subsidies via the ETS) from their bad decisions and everyone else pays for them. Especially the small businesses.
On the back of the National Government ordering that the entire Christchurch unemployed population not be included in recent welfare statistics, comes another blatant attempt by National to trick the public into believing unemployment rates have fallen. The difference between the cons is that one completely disregards a large sector of unemployed and the other ensures that more people are not eligible or do not reapply for their benefits because of harsh new criteria imposed by WINZ.
What’s the new hoop jumping UB’s have to do to reapply?
If the reapplying thing is merely policy (that’s not in statute) then it should be challengeable. 5,000 is a very large number of people to not have an income all of a sudden. I’d like to see an analysis of that number.
An analysis of that number? In a recent article it was reported that only 1400 out of the some 5000 removed from the unemployment benefit said they had found work, with over 1000 no longer eligible according to the harsh rules leaving 2600 unaccounted for. Or perhaps you mean an analysis to see what has actually happened to the 2600? Like how many have committed suicide and left for Australia for instance. I’d be interested in seeing those figures as it would be proper way to glean the effectiveness of the policy change.
According to the WINZ website:
When you re-apply, you’ll also need to complete a Comprehensive Work Assessment.
Work obligations include things like:
attending scheduled job interviews
actively looking for a job
taking a suitable job that’s offered to you
attending work experience, training or workshops that Work and Income think would be helpful.
The first time you don’t meet your work obligations, your main benefit will be reduced by 50%. You’ll continue to receive any supplementary assistance that you’re entitled to.
The second time you don’t comply, your benefit and supplementary assistance will be suspended.
The third time you don’t comply all your benefits will be cancelled.
Failing to complete the 52 week reapplication process If a client reapplies before their expiry date but does not complete the reapplication process on or before the expiry date, their benefit will stop.
If a client reapplies after their expiry date and does not have an exceptional circumstance for not reapplying on or before the expiry date, their benefit must be manually cancelled from the expiry date.
Note if a client does not complete the reapplication process within 20 working days after the expiry date the benefit will automatically be cancelled.
Client still wants to apply for benefit
Clients who fail to complete the 52 week reapplication process but want to continue to receive a benefit must be advised to reapply for a benefit as a new applicant. The client will be subject to the normal commencement date rules, including initial stand-downs.
Note if the client advises they want to reapply you can use their reapplication form as their application.
If a client does not want to reapply for a benefit, they should be advised to apply as a non-beneficiary for supplementary assistance (such as Accommodation Supplement).
For more information:
One thing I would like to note is that this is the Policy that WINZ is meant to follow. It is likely that Paula Bennett has instructed WINZ employees to utilize any means to remove people from the unemployment benefit. It is the application of the new rules that is ultimately the problem. Because beneficiaries are not being informed about their rights, they are being taken advantage of, which is not acceptable in a democracy.
Jackal
“Or perhaps you mean an analysis to see what has actually happened to the 2600? Like how many have committed suicide and left for Australia for instance. I’d be interested in seeing those figures as it would be proper way to glean the effectiveness of the policy change.”
I too wondered what had happened to the 2600. Does anyone apart from us care?
The government certainly appears not to care by publishing the fact as a ‘win’.
What has happened to humanity under neoliberal ideology. Oh I remember, from the merry 80s and 90s -we have been economically quantified and there is no such thing as society which – makes it easier to forget people exist and think only of that lovely money. Why on earth do they still call Ms.Bennett’s department Social Development-from these shocking facts it should be called the Society Nihilation department. Such a name would really cheer the Right Wing exploiters of humanity up.
How could John Key say National’s ways were closer to Destiny Church. Destiny Curch is meant to be Christian and Christ spoke against most of what National enforces.”Love thy neighbour as thyself,”said he.John key needs to get a Bible.
Just heard on the news that apparently the outpatient departments in New Zealand hospitals are not geared to cope with drunken idiots. WTF. When was a festival of sport a license to be drunk and disorderly?
The worst of this is that we have a Prime Minister who has countenanced “Party Central” (in other words unbridled piss up time). Now take away the involvement of international rugby, and what would the reaction be to a mob of drunken louts roaming the streets.
Try to imagine foreigners in such places as France, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong et cetera, being drunk and disorderly in the streets – doesn’t bear thinking about.
But given the inevitability of this, who is going to have to stump up for the cost of this behaviour and treatment? I bet it won’t be the RFU – they are already staring down the barrel of massive debt.
We could have strategically placed billboards at every international terminal advising rugby fans that there will be a zero tolerance of abuse of alcohol. That may be an approach…
F#ck the World Cup, if it is going to mean streams of urine in our gutters…
Watching the second round of Nkii kaye vs Jacinda Ardern on Citizen A with Bomber on Stratos. This time, Jacinda & Bomber are not letting Nikki get away with so much interuptions…. although she did that just now. Kaye has claimed poverty grew under the 9 years of the Clark government…. is that correct?
This time Kaye has ditched the repetitive “Let me be clear” and is instead repeating “The reality is” or “the point is”.
Yes! Poverty did increase under the last Labour Government. Another indicator was the comparison with Australia (GDP, Cost of living ect), which also worsened under Labour. However the gap between rich and poor has increased at twice that rate under National with a similar doubling of the disparity with Australia compared to New Zealand under a John Key led Government. Labour is just the lesser of two evils in my opinion. Perhaps they’ve changed but we wont know until they’re able to form a Government. Where is Phil Goff anyway?
Was a good debate. Just wish Bomber the egotist would get the damn audio sorted.
When you look at the levels of benefits compared to the average weekly wage, the last Labour Govt did little to bring them back to pre-Ruthanasia ratios.
Of course, under Labour, unemployment and youth unemployment were far far lower and so this affected fewer people. What Labour didn’t get is that on the downslope of the economic cycle, it would end up affecting a hell of a lot of people.
So what they did instead of increasing benefit levels to livable ratios, was to increase the minimum wage and to focus on tax breaks to couples with children (what about everyone else in this country?!).
Problem is of course that income tax breaks and increases in the minimum wage only mean something if you have work.
Best laugh of the day: a comment on the NZ Herald to Farrar’s weekly column:
“David – my advice would be to take your own advice, except the only difference would be that I for one would prefer you didn’t come back in a couple of years. Actually I would prefer that you never came back at all.
While you are at it – take John Key with you. I would recommend Gerry Brownlee as well but I sincerely doubt you can afford the cost of the excess baggage.”
Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a 2010 SAS killing raid in Afghanistan. The most recent Colmar Brunton ...
In New Zealand, we've just had the report of the Hit and Run inquiry, which found that a New Zealand led raid had accidentally killed civilians, including a child. meanwhile, around the same time, the British SAS was conducting its own raids in Afghanistan, and theirs were a hell of ...
In addition to establishing a process for setting emissions reductions plans, the Zero Carbon Act established a process for managing the risks of climate change. The first part of this is the preparation of regular risk assessments, looking at the risks to our economy, society, environment, and ecology. The first ...
Over on The spinoff, Amnesty International's Meg de Ronde has a response to Friday's release of the Hit and Run report. And in response to Attorney-General David Parker's claim that the government was being "transparent" by releasing the report, its titled "we shouldn’t have to work this hard to get ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study FindsAs climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...
There's an election next month, so you'd be expecting political parties to be telling us what they stand for and what they'd do if they'd win. But while the Greens have given us a detailed policy platform, and National has talked about roads and austerity, Labour, currently leading the polls ...
"Who's youse accusin' of innference?" Without the timely intervention of a team of top American political consultants and campaign experts, Boris Yeltsin would never have won his second term as President of the Russian Federation. The Russians waited 20 years to return the favour.WHEN IT COMES to the disinformation game, ...
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 26 through Sat, Aug 1, 2020Editor's ChoiceThe four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them allThe shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological ...
Over the last few days, reports have emerged of people travelling from New Zealand and testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at their destination. First in South Korea and now in Australia. What might these positive tests mean?They’re false-positives As Toby Morris and I have explained before, there are ...
Former National Minister - Wayne MappYou could tell that the Hit and Run book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson was right on the money by the way former National Party Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, reacted to its now largely vindicated claims.Even though the recent inquiry into ...
So, the Hit and Run inquiry has reported back, and found some appalling shit at NZDF and NZSIS. And while they quibble a few of the details - the name of a dead child - they basicly uphold Hager and Stephenson's version of events. The SAS went to those villages. ...
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...
Michelle Boag - LeakerThe Heron report (PDF) was released yesterday, and it was a bit disappointing to say the least. It correctly found that former National Party president Michelle Boag and National Party MP Hamish Walker were politically motivated in leaking peoples private medical information, but didn’t look further into ...
On different trajectories and from different ends of the political spectrum, last night’s One News/Colmar Brunton poll has the Green Party and ACT converging around the five percent mark. And, as odd as it may sound, they head into the election campaign with a lot in common.Putting the Greens and ...
Truth In Advertising: Labour, it would seem, is the party that knows nothing about running the economy right up until the moment that it does. HOW DID LABOUR acquire its reputation for being a poor economic manager? As with most things political and historical, it’s a long story.In the beginning, the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Government rulemakers looking to decide how much money to spend to avoid adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere need a good estimate of what a warming climate will cost in social damages, for example through more extreme weather events. That point makes ...
Fact Check: New Zealand’s own relationship with China might, however, be salvageable if our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was willing to equip its minister, Winston Peters, with a few facts. Legislating for the protection of national security – the very action our Foreign Minister is decrying – ...
I hope we can all agree that charging only certain returning expats for isolation costs is the right call. Instead of a blanket fee, which may have resulted in a small number of Kiwis deciding not to return home because of financial reasons, the Government has chosen to implement a ...
Back at the beginning of this government, the Greens made a foolish decision to support the Electoral Integrity Act - demanded by Winston Peters to keep his own backbench in line as part of his coalition deal with Labour - as an act of good faith within the coalition. It ...
SATURDAY AUGUST 1Artefact (Prime, 7.30pm). The series presented by Dame Anne Salmond screened on Māori Television, but is totally worth revisiting if you saw it the first time. Dame Anne tells the stories of taonga that highlight the history of Aotearoa. Further reading: this 2013 interview with Dame Anne by the lovely ...
Have unions and the Government sold workers short with their attempt at fixing the so-called “Hobbit Law”? Unionist Ian Powell argues that the union movement has been outmanoeuvered, and the Government has agreed to a new piece of anti-worker legislation that retains the principles of the previous National Government’s hated ...
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source:Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ...
An article in the EETimes suggests that advances in autonomous vehicles are not moving as quickly as expected because those working on them have confused complicated problems with complex ones. Engineering can only take you so far in complex worlds. Complicated systems tend to have fairly predictable inputs, processes and outputs. Complex systems (like ...
Last week, after Judith Collins announced that National would be cruel and vicious to kiwis caught overseas by the pandemic, and rob them at the border if they returned home, Labour looked like it was falling all over itself to cry "me too". But now, it looks like kindness has ...
If entry into New Zealand from abroad is safe, it should be allowed. People arriving from places that are Covid-free, or no more risky than New Zealand, and who get here on flights that do not intersect with risky places, should return to normal travel arrangements. Currently, the Cook ...
Liz SlootenScientists from the University of Otago, working with colleagues from around the world, have found that New Zealand right whales are doing much better than right whales in other parts of the world. The research was published as the feature article in the journal Marine Ecology Progress ...
Back in 2019, the government asked for a comprehensive, independent review of the Resource Management Act and associated legislation. That review has now reported back and recommended a complete repeal and re-enactment. Despite the headlines, this is not a "scrapping" - we're still going to have a resource management law, ...
By Associate Professor Mik Black, Department of Biochemistry, University of OtagoThe increased availability of complex biological data sets means that analysis and computation are becoming critically important skills for New Zealand’s future scientists. Because of this, we need to be doing everything we can to help our students develop ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIs humanity doomed? If in 2030 we have not reduced ...
Britain's spy agencies are supposedly overseen by various watchdogs, including the investigatory powers tribunal. But it turns out that MI6 at least has contempt for those watchdogs, and attempted to interfere with the operations of the tribunal by concealing evidence from its judges: MI6 has been accused of “inappropriate interference” ...
Daphna Whitmore So far this year over 7.4 million people have died from preventable communicable diseases. There were 4.3 million children who died under the age of five. Nearly one million people have died of HIV/AIDS in the past six months. A similar number of people have died from malaria ...
Four weeks ago I wrote about the last time a sizable asteroid hit our planet – the ‘Tunguska Event’ of 1908, when an object about 50 metres across exploded above the Siberian taiga – but smaller cosmic rocks shoot close by Earth fairly frequently. In the past 42 hours ...
Last month, China imposed a new "national security law" on Hong Kong. The law imposes a penalty of life imprisonment for secession, subversion, and "colluding with foreign forces" - which basicly means peacefully advocating for democracy or independence. It has been used to crush peaceful protests and interpreted by the ...
Powerful Connection: Neoliberalism is the antithesis of everything that has traditionally been associated with the feminine aspects of human nature. Kindness and compassion, nurturance and inclusiveness: such qualities have no place in the neoliberal order. When Jacinda proclaimed her determination to practice the “politics of kindness”, she was, wittingly or ...
The bad news: Jacinda Ardern still wants to bill exiled kiwis for returning home. The good news: it would require a law change, which the Greens won't back, so she'll need to go grovelling to National. The other good news: she's running out of time to do it. This ...
. . For the mainstream media, today (22 July) was even a better day than yesterday. More Sex. More Politics. More Sex AND Politics. Yesterday, the msm dealt with Andrew Falloon. The obscure backbench MP had been found to have sent pornographic images to at least four women. The woman’s ...
If you want to understand what is happening in this year’s election campaign, it’s worth looking to the past for guidance. Colin James delves into recent contests and finds some interesting parallels. July 28 is 53 days before the 2020 election. Just 53 days before the 2017 election ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters Wildfires burned much less acreage in the U.S. than average during the first half of the year, but with hot and dry conditions expected over much of the nation in the coming months, fire activity is likely to ramp up. ...
Today a full bench of the High Court is hearing Andrew Borrowdale's challenge to the legality of the COVID-19 lockdown. That lockdown ended two months ago, so the point seems moot - but it was never about ending it. Instead, as Andrew Geddis points out, its about a key principle ...
So far, this has been a relatively policy-free election campaign. The government has been trying to keep a low profile, on the basis that anything they say will only piss someone off, so better to say as little as possible. When its not knifing its leader, National has promised roads, ...
I hardly ever comment on polls, because horse-race politics is superficial and boring and most changes are statistically meaningless and so unworthy of attention (let alone the excitement they provoke amongst mathematically illiterate political journalists desperate to fill airtime). But we've now had two polls in a row showing Labour ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on its inquiry into the operation of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020. As you'd expect, they find that the law was "necessary and appropriate", but would like to see a permanent replacement providing for health emergency powers as the Health ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... John Cook in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Major new climate study rules out less severe global warming scenariosAn analysis finds the most ...
It hasn’t taken long for the advent of Judith Collins as National party leader to change the tone of the political debate. After several days of headlines and airwaves dominated by reports of a National MP sending pornographic images to young women, the National leader had had enough of that ...
Don Franks An already fired up general election looks like getting even edgier. When final votes have been counted, a rather unlikely coalition government now seems possible As National and Labour implode with sexual proclivities while New Zealand First fling their last toys from the cot, others show more maturity. ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 19 through Sat, July 25, 2020Editor's ChoiceThe Climate Expert Who Delivered News No One Wanted to Hear From 2009: How a scientist known as the “father of global ...
There’s ultimately two key narratives overall that are seeking to take front row in order to reshape the world as a whole going forward from the COVID pandemic. The first is a very desperate attempt to reimpose “a return” to what is perceived as “the old normal”, quite impossible. ...
Henry Anderson-Elliott, University of CambridgeOn the morning of August 31 2017, I didn’t meet a remarkable polar bear. It was my third week of fieldwork-based out of Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, studying the conservation of the bears on the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Having spent a few days transcribing interviews in ...
SUNDAY JULY 26Country Calendar (TVNZ 1, 7.00pm). Tonight, kiwifruit growing in the King Country. Crazy!Normal People (TVNZ 1, 10.30pm). Holy cow, if you thought it was slow on a binge-watch, imagine what it's like in weekly doses. Nevertheless, it's like Richard Linklater's Boyhood – you don't really see the scope of ...
. . “The Martians had no resistance to the bacteria in our atmosphere to which we have long since become immune. Once they had breathed our air, germs, which no longer affect us, began to kill them. The end came swiftly. All over the world, their machines began to stop ...
In October 2018, Sealord's fishing boat Ocean Dawn repeatedly bottom-trawled in a Benthic Protection Area on the Chatham Rise. It was a crime which devastated a pristine marine environment. And today, they've been properly punished for it: Sealord has today been ordered to forfeit a $24 million fishing vessel for ...
Jovan Byford, The Open UniversityWith prospects of a COVID-19 vaccine looking up, attention is also turning to the problem of anti-vax ideas. According to a recent survey, one in six Britons would refuse a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. Although vaccine hesitancy is a complex problem with ...
Paula Koelemeijer, Royal Holloway and Stephen Hicks, Imperial College LondonSeismic activity doesn’t just come from earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. Everyday human activity also gives rise to vibrations that travel through the ground as seismic waves, something we call “anthropogenic noise”. When pandemic lockdown measures brought daily life to a ...
Last night, the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2020 was passed unanimously by Parliament. The Act updates the 1972 Equal Pay Act to create a bargaining framework for equal pay claims and hopefully avoid the need to take them to court. It doesn't go far enough - there's no pay transparency ...
The New Zealand government has done the right thing and granted journalist Behrouz Boochani refugee status: Eight months after arriving in New Zealand, acclaimed author Behrouz Boochani has been granted refugee status. The Kurdish-Iranian writer joins a small group of successful applicants – with almost two thirds of asylum ...
Carve-Up: 120 years after the Eight-Power Intervention of 1900 the racist assumptions of the Western powers vis-à-vis China have hardly changed at all. They still arrogate to themselves the right to dispose of the future of the Chinese people as they see fit. There remains the same racist assumption that ...
Both Labour and National are talking about requiring people arriving in New Zealand to pay $3,000 of the cost of the mandatory managed isolation/quarantine period. The policy has been criticised as “shameful”. There are petitions against it. I have some concerns about the politics behind the proposal, but I’m neither ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity and Migrante Aotearoa are jointly holding a rally to speak up for human rights in the Philippines. The human rights situation in the Philippines has deteriorated significantly since President Duterte came to power in 2016. As many as 27,000 people have been killed in police operations during ...
Just where in the economic spectrum does the current National Party stand? In government, a political party is so busy it rarely has time to have a political ideology (neoliberals and communists excepted). Most policy is driven by necessity, instinct (which, I suppose, is a kind of ideology) ...
Together, Not Apart: In political terms, 2020 represents the exact reverse of 1984. Then, the tide was running with the challengers. Now, it is running with the incumbents. If Labour and the Greens can plausibly guarantee to keep us working and keep us safe, then traditional demographic voting patterns will ...
Hosted by Selwyn Manning and EveningReport.nz, ” A View from Afar” is a podcast series dedicated to exploring current affairs, international relations, political events and military-security issues from somewhat uncommon angles. In this first episode we continue the coverage of the Portland protests first offered on these pages. The conversation ...
A ballot for five Member's Bills was held today and the following bills were drawn: Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill (No 2) (Shane Reti) Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill (Louisa Wall) Lawyers and Conveyancers (Employed Lawyers Providing Free Legal Services) Amendment Bill ...
A farmer in Te Anau has slashed and burned 800 hectares of native forest: A Te Anau farmer accused of slashing and burning down 800 hectares of native forest in two years has been served with an interim court order to stop. Southland District Council says Peter Chartres caused ...
WELLINGTON – Thursday July 23, 2020 Good morning everybody. I’m the latest leader of the National Party. It’s me! Judith Collins. There has been a lot said over the past week month few months years about the culture within the National Party. Today I would like to clear a few ...
Last night, the New Plymouth District Council approved the creation of a Māori ward to ensure that Māori would have a voice in their local government. Its the second time they've tried to do this - an earlier attempt in 2015 was overturned by a racist referendum. And predictably, there ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
The Green Party have secured legislative amendments in a bill expected to pass third reading this week, to ensure better rules for school teachers and staff, so they can de-escalate children with diverse needs and cognitive differences, such as autism, rather than using unnecessary and often traumatising force. ...
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says.Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has ridiculed the National Party "circus", with the politician saying it was in "chaos" after the resignation of another MP.Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon announced on Monday he would retire from politics after he allegedly sent inappropriate pornographic images to a young woman. Following a ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today outlined what he saw as the requirements to re-open New Zealand's borders for tourists and travellers. If New Zealand was dealing solely with an Australian state such as Tasmania, we wouldn't need a vaccine, said Mr Peters, but these moves were complicated by the ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants. Mr Peters told reporters on Wednesday said that he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to. He said he ...
Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprise and New Zealand First List MP Shane Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new NZ Post "super depot" in Wellington. The state-owned postal service, which got $280 million from the Coalition Government last month, is expanding its operations to handle surging parcel volumes. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYIntroduction Good afternoon. Welcome to you all here today and party supporters watching from around the country. We appreciate your hard work keeping New Zealand First strong; thank you for keeping the faith. Sixty-three days out from Election Day, ...
The diversity of conservation boards around Aotearoa is increasing with 47 appointments to 14 of the 15 conservation boards across New Zealand announced today by the Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party is honoured to be remembering former co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today at a public memorial service in the heart of Wellington at the Cathedral of St. Paul’s. Following her passing in March, this celebration of her life brings together her friends, family and colleagues to honour her life ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced a $2.5 million boost for South Westland to help a regional alliance of local businesses and government agencies provide nature based jobs. ...
Investing in infrastructure is one major way we can create jobs, stimulate the economy, and keep New Zealand moving post COVID-19. That's why this week we rolled out a massive number of infrastructure announcements - in Tairāwhiti, Wairarapa, Otago, Southland and more! ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters says the National Party’s Auckland Transport announcement today is a breath-taking plan on the never never. While it is promising to see that National all of a sudden has rediscovered railways in Auckland, including trains ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP A range of projects announced by the Hon Shane Jones in Southland and Otago will build communities and create jobs, according to New Zealand First List MP Mark Patterson. The town of Gore received funding to build a new public library and ...
News that Rio Tinto has announced that it is planning to wind-down operations at the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter could not have a come at a worse time for the people of Southland. While it has been clear that Rio Tinto was never going to support Southlanders over the long haul, ...
Whenua/land, roto/lakes and awa/rivers in the central North Island will benefit from increased habitat protection with new biosecurity investment across iwi and Crown-managed lands and lakes announced Conservation and Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage in Rotorua today. ...
As part of a broader plan to reduce the increasing amount of rubbish ending up in New Zealand’s landfills, the Government is to fund new recycling infrastructure and expand the national waste levy scheme.$124 million Government investment in recycling infrastructurePlans confirmed to increase and expand the waste ...
The Government is providing an investment totalling more than $100 million for regions to protect against and mitigate the effects of climate change, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones have announced. Six regions will receive funding from the $3 billion allocated to infrastructure projects from the ...
Three major local projects at Te Kuiti and Otorohanga have been given the money to get moving after the impact of Covid 19, says the Minister of Māori Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta. The projects range from a Sports Centre for Te Kuiti, a redevelopment of the Otorohanga Kiwi House and ...
The Coalition Government has extended three New Zealand Defence Force deployments to the Middle East and Africa by two years, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “These deployments promote peace in the Middle East and Africa by protecting civilians and countering the spread of ...
The release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment shows that the progress this Government has made to solve the climate crisis is essential to creating cleaner and safer communities across New Zealand. “Because of this report, we can see clearer than ever that the action our Government is taking ...
The second round of the Community Resilience Fund is now open for applications for sport and recreation organisations experiencing financial hardship between 1 July and 30 September 2020. “The fund opens today for five weeks – closing on September 6. The amount awarded will be decided on a case-by-case basis ...
Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today declared Rakitū Island, off the coast of Aotea/Great Barrier Island, predator free. “I’m delighted to announce that with rats now gone, Rakitū is officially predator free. This is a major milestone because Rakitū is the last DOC administered island in the Hauraki Gulf Marine ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.75 million to restore significant historic sites at Ōhaeawai in the Far North, upgrade marae and fund fencing and riparian planting. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones made the announcements following a service at the historic St Michael’s Anglican Church at Ōhaeawai today. Just ...
The Chatham Islands will receive close to $40 million for projects that will improve its infrastructure, add to its attraction as a visitor destination, and create jobs through a planned aquaculture venture, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the islands, first ...
The Government is delivering more initiatives to reduce energy hardship and to give small electricity consumers a voice, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods said today. “In addition to the initiatives we have already delivered to support New Zealand families, we are responding to the Electricity Price Review with further ...
Government, iwi, NGOs and rehabilitation groups are working together to turn around the fortunes of the nationally endangered hoiho/yellow-eyed penguin following a series of terrible breeding seasons. The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage helped launch the Five Year Action Plan at the annual Yellow-Eyed Penguin symposium in Dunedin today. “I ...
The membership of the Tourism Futures Taskforce has now been confirmed, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced at an event at Whakarewarewa in Rotorua today. “The main purpose of the independent Tourism Futures Taskforce is to lead the thinking on the future of tourism in New Zealand,” Kelvin Davis said. Joining ...
More than $300 million in funding has been approved to protect strategic tourism businesses, drive domestic tourism through regional events and lift digital capability in the tourism industry, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. A $400 million Tourism Recovery Package was announced at Budget 2020, and with today’s announcements is ...
From 2021 permits will be required for New Zealanders wanting to export hard-to-recycle plastic waste. The Associate Minister for the Environment, Eugenie Sage, today announced the requirements as part of New Zealand’s commitments to the Basel Convention, an international agreement of more than 180 countries which was amended in May ...
The building and construction sector is still showing strong growth, with the number of new dwellings consented up more than 8 per cent compared to last year, reflecting a welcome confidence in the Government’s COVID-19 response package, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. “While it is still too ...
Government investment of $23 million for Bay of Plenty flood protection will allow local communities to address long-standing flood risks and provide jobs, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced in Rotorua today. These projects are being funded by the Infrastructure Reference Group’s (IRG) shovel ...
Investment for projects that will create hundreds of jobs in Rotorua were announced today by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. These projects will provide opportunities for economic development in a region that has been hard hit by COVID-19,” Winston Peters said. Fletcher ...
For the first time, primary schools will have access to funding for counsellors for their students, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. “A major investment of $75.8 million will provide greater access to guidance counsellors to help primary and secondary school students deal with mental health and wellbeing issues,” ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark today welcomed the release of the Report of the Government Inquiry into Operation Burnham and related matters, and the Government response. “I thank the Inquiry for their thorough and detailed report, on a highly complex issue. I accept the recommendations of the report, and fully support ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has announced $6 million of One Billion Trees funding for seven regional initiatives to create jobs and provide long-lasting environmental and economic benefits. The projects range from improving one of the poorest-quality water catchments in Otago to restoring 52km of waterways around Hokianga Harbour. Six of the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today announced $5.5 million in funding from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) for two Kawerau projects and says this is a significant boost for the people of Kawerau. “These projects will bring much-needed investment and will create up to 60 jobs for locals,” Mr Peters ...
Kaingaroa Village in the Bay of Plenty is to get $5 million to help fund a comprehensive upgrade of its infrastructure, facilities and housing, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. Mr Tabuteau travelled to the remote village to make the announcement, telling Kaingaroa residents how the funding ...
The Rangiuru Business Park project near Te Puke is getting $18 million from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This is all about unlocking the potential of this region. When it’s finished, the Rangiuru Business Park will be the Bay of Plenty’s ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has today announced that a $26 million investment in Ōpōtiki will see important public amenities upgraded and further progress made on new aquaculture opportunities. “The people of Ōpōtiki have been waiting decades for real investment in key infrastructure, and support for the incredible aquaculture opportunities ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio wishes to congratulate the Cook Islands community throughout Aotearoa for the 9th year of Te ‘Epetoma o Te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani, the Cook Islands Language Week. “This is a proud milestone that reflects on the huge effort made by the Cook ...
Aucklanders in the Eastern Suburbs will soon have more ways to get around, with Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter kicking off construction on Section 2 of Te Ara Ki Uta Ki Tai, the Glen Innes to Tāmaki Drive Shared Path today. The Glen Innes ...
The Government is stepping up the fight against measles and protecting hundreds of thousands more young adults by investing up to $40 million for a year-long measles-catch-up campaign and $23 million to fully fund and develop the National Immunisation Solution, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced at Mangere ...
Attorney-General David Parker has today released the findings of the Government inquiry held into Operation Burnham and related events. The operation took place on 21-22 August 2010 in Tirgiran Valley, Afghanistan, and was carried out by NZSAS troops and other nations’ forces operating as part of the International Security Assistance ...
From tomorrow, community groups around New Zealand can apply to a $36 million fund established to encourage locally-led solutions as communities rebuild and recover from COVID-19, announced Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni and Minister for Community and Voluntary Sector Poto Williams. “The Community Capability and Resilience Fund (CCRF) builds ...
The Government has committed to improving Māori health and wellbeing over the next five years. The Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) today released Whakamaua: Māori Health Action Plan 2020-2025 which sets the pathway towards achieving healthy futures for all Māori. “As kaitiaki of the system, the Ministry of Health ...
New environmental standards will make the re-consenting of existing marine farms more consistent across the country. The new regulations for the National Environmental Standards for Marine Aquaculture (NES-MA) will come into effect on 1 December, Environment Minister David Parker and Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash said. “The NES-MA removes complexities and ...
Today marks a milestone as the Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni and Minister for Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta co-sign an Addendum – with the Iwi Chairs of Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto and Te Aupōuri – to the Te Hiku o Te Ika Iwi-Crown Social Development and Wellbeing Accord (the ...
The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill (No 2) passed its third reading today and will become law, announced Minister for Veterans Ron Mark. This amends the Veterans’ Support Act 2014 in response to recommendations from the 2018 review of the operation of the Act by Professor Ron Paterson. “Veterans have been ...
Minister for Racing Winston Peters says race courses can improve safety with this year’s first round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. The Racing Safety Development Fund makes available $990,000 for distribution over two funding rounds for the 2020/21 financial year. “The racing industry is integral to the ...
The Government’s commitment to increase primary sector jobs and opportunities has been further boosted today with the re-opening of the Taratahi Agriculture Centre, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The Wairarapa-based training centre is reopening its doors after two years to deliver industry taster and familiarisation courses, to help workers displaced ...
New Zealanders are being invited to help recognise the work of the many “unsung heroes” in our ethnic communities during COVID-19. “Aotearoa New Zealand is home to 920,000 people who identify their ethnicity as Middle Eastern, Latin American, African, Asian, and Continental European. During the extraordinary time of the COVID-19 ...
The Government is allocating $40 million to assist with the cost of mediation and arbitration for New Zealand businesses and landlords to resolve issues about adjusting rent as they face the economic impacts of COVID-19, Justice Minister Andrew Little said. The Government had previously announced funding to improve access to ...
The Government has announced details of a planned new law to give Police the power to conduct random roadside drug testing of drivers, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter and Minister of Police Stuart Nash announced today. The Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill was introduced to the house today ...
More warmer, drier homes and a big building boost for regional centres across New Zealand are two of the major benefits from a $500 million investment in the upgrade and renewal of state homes. Associate Housing Minister Kris Faafoi has confirmed the multi-million dollar expansion of the Kāinga Ora – ...
The Government will provide $8 million towards the revitalisation of the Paihia waterfront in the iconic Bay of Islands, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Bay of Islands is the cornerstone of Northland tourism and Paihia the hub for maritime-based tourism and recreation in the area. “Weather and economic ...
Health Minister Chris Hipkins welcomes confirmation of Canterbury DHB’s move into state-of-the-art Christchurch Hospital Hagley building which will serve the community well for decades to come. The Ministry of Health is on track to hand over the facility on 10 August 2020. Sterile Services is due to be operational on ...
A man accused of online sexual harassment was allowed back into Young ACT’s online spaces after being removed for making Islamophobic comments. Marc Daalder and Laura Walters report One of the men at the centre of a Young ACT sexual harassment inquiry was previously removed from the organisation’s online forums ...
Desperate to get her ‘glide’ back after a double injury blow, sevens star Portia Woodman returned to her sporting beginnings – netball and athletics – and her Kaikohe hometown to play rugby again. Watching Portia Woodman flying down the rugby field is like witnessing a champion sprinter running on clouds, striding out ...
Victoria University of Wellington's Dr Dean Knight was at the High Court case that examined the legality of our lockdown - a hearing that told us something about the rule of law The legality of our Covid-19 lockdown was challenged in the High Court last week, with three judges considering a judicial review ...
Judy Bailey considers a new book dealing with the referendum subject of assisted dying I’ve had too many close encounters with death and dying lately. I guess it comes with the territory as you hit the slide side of 60. Too many funerals.There have been the inevitable losses of parents, ...
When it comes to child protection in New Zealand, it is time to lay the corporate warrior and troubled Pākehā conscience to rest, writes Dr Ian Hyslop The intent of this article is to provide some wider background and context to the current critique of child protection policy and practice within ...
Cat MacLennan looks at where the political parties stand on animal policies ahead of the election, using a questionnaire to mark and rank them so voters can can take it into account when casting their ballots Progress on animal issues has stalled over the past three years, with no significant initiatives to ...
Peakon is a fast-growing Danish employee success platform with its Asia-Pacific office in Auckland. Luke Amundson, its regional head based here, says lockdown demonstrated how important Slack has become "It is pivotal," he said in a Zoom video interview. "Without Slack, our business wouldn't be operating at the pace or the scale that ...
Men from all over New Zealand are invited to join prominent violence-prevention voices in a show of solidarity and call for national change. This will culminate in a group pledge at Parliament grounds on 06 August 2020 from 10am-12noon. The pledge ...
The disability community should stop making excuses for candidates who don’t take the opportunity to hear from us directly – and that includes the prime minister herself, writes disabled journalist Michael Pulman.This time four years ago, forums promoting the disability vote gave the politicians who showed up a chance to ...
Welcome to memebers of parliament, a politics column for people who just want the memes.This column began because for one fortnight last month there seemed to be daily breaking news involving the actions of MPs. There was so much to digest and the only solution was for me to condense ...
The science on transgender women in sport, from the person whose scientific work informed World Rugby's controversial new proposed policy The man who helped write guidelines on transgender players in women’s rugby says he hates that his work has created a platform for people to attack transgender people as cheats. ...
Kāpiti Coast commuter rail campaigner Gwynn Compton says the National Party’s announcement that, if elected to government, they will fund the electrification and double tracking of the Wellington metropolitan commuter rail network to Ōtaki is ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Timor-Leste’s Journalist Association (AJTL) and journalism students marched through the streets of the capital Dili today calling on the government to scrap plans to change the law to make defamation a criminal offence. Under the proposed law journalists could face jail sentences. Opponents of the proposed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute The announcement of stage 4 restrictions in Victoria marks a new, and depressing, stage in Australia’s response to COVID-19. The new measures will close non-essential retailers and most child-care centres across Melbourne, and impose ...
China said on Monday it will suspend its extradition agreement with New Zealand in response to Wellington suspending its existing extradition treaty with Hong Kong, Reuters reports. ...
China said on Monday it will suspend its extradition agreement with New Zealand in response to Wellington suspending its existing extradition treaty with Hong Kong, Reuters reports. ...
On Saturday the man behind Game of Thrones hosted the ceremony for the prestigious Hugo Awards. Sam Brooks recaps. In a blog post just over a year ago, American writer George R.R. Martin said that New Zealand had “formal written permission” to jail him if he didn’t have The Winds of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Wood, Chief executive officer, Grattan Institute How do you occupy a child for long enough to get any work done? This will be the question confronting more than 150,000 Melbourne families for at least the next six weeks. The Stage 4 ...
China said on Monday it will suspend its extradition agreement with New Zealand in response to Wellington suspending its existing extradition treaty with Hong Kong, Reuters reports. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Non-essential retailers across Melbourne will be shut except for “click and collect” and delivery sales, and industries including meatworks and construction will be drastically scaled back, under Victoria’s unprecedented lockdown. The business shutdown details came ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Russo, Associate Professor, Director Cabrini Monash University Department of Nursing Research, Monash University Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced sweeping changes to businesses across metropolitan Melbourne, including closure of retail stores and restrictions on some industries, including construction. The new constraints ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan University In what seems to be a common occurrence, Chinese video-sharing app TikTok is once again in the headlines. After months of speculation about national security risks and users’ data being harvested by ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Controversial Papua New Guinea citizen Joe Chan has been arrested in Malaysia – this time under the name Djoko Soegiarto Tjandra. And also this time as an Indonesian, a wanted and convicted fugitive and graft convict, reports the PNG Post-Courier. He has been on the run ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a ...
We need to crack on with building the systems and infrastructure necessary to be able to safely accommodate far more travellers than the system can currently handle. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Trigg, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of English Literature, University of Melbourne In our series Art for Trying Times, authors nominate a work they turn to for solace or perspective during this pandemic. The Greeks are at the gates, and the city ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there are plans to increase testing of staff at airports and isolation facilities and to equip GPs to ramp up testing. ...
What happens when New Zealand’s queen of K-Pop rallies a room full of kids to become homegrown popstars? You get TVNZ On Demand’s K-Pop Academy.Korean pop music – or “K-pop” – is, arguably, the biggest musical genre on the planet. BTS is its most famous name, but South Korea is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University Creative destruction “is the essential fact about capitalism”, wrote the great Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942. New technologies and processes continuously revolutionise the economic structure from within, “incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is condemning Kaikoura District Council and Tararua District Council for failing to identify earthquake-prone buildings , as required by law. Union spokesperson Louis Houlbrooke says, “These Councils broke the law ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has welcomed today’s release of the first National Climate Change Risk Assessment , but say that unless it’s paired up with a framework that enables councils to act on the assessments, communities will be ...
With women leading both major parties and the highest number of female MPs (38%) since women were first allowed to stand for Parliament in 1919, it’s time that proper attention was paid to one of the most fatal of women’s cancers. ...
Taxpayer handouts to electric car buyers will not save the planet, says the car review website dogandlemon.com . Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who has studied electric cars for over a decade, says: “The lobby group Drive Electric , which wants the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, UNSW With Victorians heading into a new round of even harsher lockdown measures, there will again be a focus on how people will cope — the ...
Respected business journalist Rod Oram visits the Nelson region next week to give two talks on the opportunities that Covid-19 presents for New Zealand to tackle climate change, poverty and what he calls “other deeply systemic failures”. Oram has ...
Transparency and clear disclosure of actions and policies have been key to the COVID-19 response, Reserve Bank Head of Financial System Policy and Analysis Toby Fiennes said delivering a speech in Wellington today. Market discipline is one of the three ...
Latest from the Beehive- The tourist industry is the biggest beneficiary of government funding distributed as loans or grants from an array of programmes and pots in the past few days. The $311 million of funding involved has resulted in the $400 million Tourism Recovery Package being fully allocated. Invitations, ...
As Victoria locks down again over a second wave of Covid-19, Andrew Geddis looks at how New Zealand might respond should community transmission be again detected here Melbourne’s adoption of “stage 4” restrictions to combat its Covid-19 outbreak - stay-at-home orders, limited exercise time, a night-time curfew - are a timely warning to us here ...
A major new report has outlined the biggest and most pressing risks New Zealand faces from climate change, and they go well beyond the science of changing weather patterns. What’s all this then?One of the most dangerous and concerning aspects of climate change is the unpredictability of it all. Some ...
The country's first national climate change risk assessment has identified 10 significant areas that need to be urgently addressed by the government in the next six years. ...
The first ever National Climate Change Risk Assessment has found 'New Zealand’s climate is warming, sea levels are rising, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe', Marc Daalder reports Over the next 70 years, wildfires and extreme storms will become more common in New Zealand, vast swathes ...
Time is running out to make voting easy in the 2020 General Election and referendums. About 500,000 eligible New Zealanders still haven’t enrolled to vote and half of them are under the age of 30. “Make voting easy this year by getting your enrolment ...
By Bryan Kramer, Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Police Assistant Commissioner Lesa Gale of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) staged a press conference to announce the arrest of five members of an Australian drug syndicate connected to the recent drug bust in PNG. This was a multi-agency operation that had ...
Announcing eight new episodes coming soon to The Spinoff and RNZ.Good news for people who love Bad News – Alice Snedden’s docu-comedy series tackling some of Aotearoa’s most contentious social and political issues is back for a second season.Like the first, which saw Alice go head-to-head with Don Brash in ...
One of the puzzling aspects of the global Coronavirus pandemic has been the absence of an international accord to grapple with the greatest challenge since the Second World War. After the global financial crisis of 2008-9, world leaders agreed to devise solutions – US presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama, ...
The Crazy Rich Asians author creates froth that may in fact be genius, says Sam Brooks. Kevin Kwan’s first novel Crazy Rich Asians had the kind of success every populist author dreams of. It became a beloved bestseller, which turned into a slightly less beloved trilogy, which then turned into ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Labour's economic plan is to focus on Covid recovery with investment in training and jobs, and that National's plan to reduce debt would mean $80 billion in cuts. ...
heTruly making a difference to New Zealanders’ mental health means addressing factors that go far beyond the health system’s remit. There’s a plan ready to go, writes Shaun Robinson of the Mental Health Foundation, and the next government must put it into action. “I need help.” That’s how many of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Celia Harris, Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, Western Sydney University We are all living through a major historical event, a once-in-a-century pandemic that has radically changed how we work, learn, travel, socialise and spend our free time. But for many of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Howard Manns, Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University Things are really jeffed up for Karens right now. The Miley (“coronavirus”) did a Melba (“made yet another a comeback”), and Joe and Jane Bloggs are being drongos. In the process, “Karen” has become the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn Moore, Social Researcher, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania In his book Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe writes that settler Australians wilfully misunderstood, hid and destroyed evidence of Aboriginal Australians’ farming practices. My analysis of secondary school textbooks shows this behaviour ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carl Grodach, Professor and Director of Urban Planning & Design, Monash University COVID-19 and the growing recession concentrated in the services sector will not just increase social inequality, but accelerate the growing spatial divide in our cities. As our new research report ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Glennda Scully, Professor, Curtin University The COVID-19 pandemic has driven a surge of calls to domestic violence support services, as survivors of violence spend more time at home with their abusers due to lockdowns and other restrictions. Many feel they can’t leave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide In our series Art for Trying Times, authors nominate a work they turn to for solace or perspective during this pandemic. There is a genre of novel that I have relied upon for many ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 3, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz7.45am: PM defends limited border chargesJacinda Ardern has defended the government’s decision to only charge Kiwis returning back into ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Exploring the rapid rise of Billy TK’s NZ Public Party, report finds senior military officers misled ministers over Operation Burnham, and Lake Taupō water monitoring to be led by iwi.Within the space of a few months, Billy Te Kahika Jr ...
There are four big decisions to get ready to make in this year's elections. As well as picking a preferred party and candidate, voters will vote on the End of Life Choice Bill and whether they support a bill which would legalise cannabis. Here are the basics on the Cannabis Legalisation and ...
The Health Ministry ticked off the aged care sector for restricting visitors to rest homes before the national lockdown. David Williams reports On March 17, the coronavirus outbreak was seemingly in its infancy – yet it was closer to pushing politicians into drastic action than many thought. Ministry of Health ...
As the cannabis referendum draws nearer, Finlay Macdonald takes note of a new book about New Zealand's attitude towards marijuana Like any number of New Zealanders, I have a rich store of anecdote about my personal relationship with weed. Youthful adventure, horticultural experimentation, bad cabbage, Thai sticks and close shaves ...
We are more comfortable than ever telling stories about intimate experiences in public, so why is miscarriage still such a taboo subject? I recall my mother telling me a story, many years ago, about losing a baby to miscarriage. She had experienced bleeding and been told by her doctor to go home, put ...
Whether in the boardroom, or behind the lens, Angela Ruske has played a crucial part in the Otago Nuggets' golden NBL basketball season. As the Otago Nuggets were on their way to grasping their first men's NBL title, Angela Ruske was trying to stay calm courtside by focusing through her camera lens. ...
When do we get a prime minister who looks like New Zealand, asks Laura O’Connell Rapira.I want a Māori prime minister. I want a trans Samoan deputy prime minister and I want a former refugee as speaker of the house.I want a Muslim mayor. I want a disabled deputy mayor ...
People like me already don’t know when we will see ‘home’ again, thanks to the forthcoming border fees, writes Jai Breitnauer. We don’t need to be judged for it too.About eight weeks ago we got a message we had been dreading – my father-in-law was in hospital having been in ...
Open mike 10/06/2011 
Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a 2010 SAS killing raid in Afghanistan. The most recent Colmar Brunton ...13 hours ago
In New Zealand, we've just had the report of the Hit and Run inquiry, which found that a New Zealand led raid had accidentally killed civilians, including a child. meanwhile, around the same time, the British SAS was conducting its own raids in Afghanistan, and theirs were a hell of ...14 hours ago
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study Finds As climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...17 hours ago
"Who's youse accusin' of innference?" Without the timely intervention of a team of top American political consultants and campaign experts, Boris Yeltsin would never have won his second term as President of the Russian Federation. The Russians waited 20 years to return the favour.WHEN IT COMES to the disinformation game, ...19 hours ago
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...22 hours ago
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...2 days ago
Over the last few days, reports have emerged of people travelling from New Zealand and testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at their destination. First in South Korea and now in Australia. What might these positive tests mean? They’re false-positives As Toby Morris and I have explained before, there are ...3 days ago
Former National Minister - Wayne MappYou could tell that the Hit and Run book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson was right on the money by the way former National Party Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, reacted to its now largely vindicated claims.Even though the recent inquiry into ...3 days ago
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...3 days ago
TUESDAY AUGUST 4Grand Designs UK (Three, 7.30pm). ...5 days ago
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source: Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ... 6 days ago
Daphna Whitmore So far this year over 7.4 million people have died from preventable communicable diseases. There were 4.3 million children who died under the age of five. Nearly one million people have died of HIV/AIDS in the past six months. A similar number of people have died from malaria ...7 days ago
. . For the mainstream media, today (22 July) was even a better day than yesterday. More Sex. More Politics. More Sex AND Politics. Yesterday, the msm dealt with Andrew Falloon. The obscure backbench MP had been found to have sent pornographic images to at least four women. The woman’s ...7 days ago
There’s ultimately two key narratives overall that are seeking to take front row in order to reshape the world as a whole going forward from the COVID pandemic. The first is a very desperate attempt to reimpose “a return” to what is perceived as “the old normal”, quite impossible. ...1 week ago
Auckland Philippines Solidarity and Migrante Aotearoa are jointly holding a rally to speak up for human rights in the Philippines. The human rights situation in the Philippines has deteriorated significantly since President Duterte came to power in 2016. As many as 27,000 people have been killed in police operations during ...2 weeks ago
Hosted by Selwyn Manning and EveningReport.nz, ” A View from Afar” is a podcast series dedicated to exploring current affairs, international relations, political events and military-security issues from somewhat uncommon angles. In this first episode we continue the coverage of the Portland protests first offered on these pages. The conversation ...2 weeks ago
WELLINGTON – Thursday July 23, 2020 Good morning everybody. I’m the latest leader of the National Party. It’s me! Judith Collins. There has been a lot said over the past week month few months years about the culture within the National Party. Today I would like to clear a few ...2 weeks ago
Read article here ...2 weeks ago
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...3 days ago
The Green Party is calling for greater prioritisation of Māori and Pāsefika healthcare to fix systemic inequities in the health system. ...4 days ago
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...2 weeks ago
The Government is providing an investment totalling more than $100 million for regions to protect against and mitigate the effects of climate change, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones have announced. Six regions will receive funding from the $3 billion allocated to infrastructure projects from the ...13 hours ago
A man accused of online sexual harassment was allowed back into Young ACT’s online spaces after being removed for making Islamophobic comments. Marc Daalder and Laura Walters report One of the men at the centre of a Young ACT sexual harassment inquiry was previously removed from the organisation’s online forums ...9 mins ago
Desperate to get her ‘glide’ back after a double injury blow, sevens star Portia Woodman returned to her sporting beginnings – netball and athletics – and her Kaikohe hometown to play rugby again. Watching Portia Woodman flying down the rugby field is like witnessing a champion sprinter running on clouds, striding out ...9 mins ago
Victoria University of Wellington's Dr Dean Knight was at the High Court case that examined the legality of our lockdown - a hearing that told us something about the rule of law The legality of our Covid-19 lockdown was challenged in the High Court last week, with three judges considering a judicial review ...9 mins ago
Judy Bailey considers a new book dealing with the referendum subject of assisted dying I’ve had too many close encounters with death and dying lately. I guess it comes with the territory as you hit the slide side of 60. Too many funerals.There have been the inevitable losses of parents, ...9 mins ago
When it comes to child protection in New Zealand, it is time to lay the corporate warrior and troubled Pākehā conscience to rest, writes Dr Ian Hyslop The intent of this article is to provide some wider background and context to the current critique of child protection policy and practice within ...9 mins ago
Climate change is coming. Preparing for it means we may have to dramatically change how we live our lives, writes Marc Daalder. ...9 mins ago
Cat MacLennan looks at where the political parties stand on animal policies ahead of the election, using a questionnaire to mark and rank them so voters can can take it into account when casting their ballots Progress on animal issues has stalled over the past three years, with no significant initiatives to ...9 mins ago
Peakon is a fast-growing Danish employee success platform with its Asia-Pacific office in Auckland. Luke Amundson, its regional head based here, says lockdown demonstrated how important Slack has become "It is pivotal," he said in a Zoom video interview. "Without Slack, our business wouldn't be operating at the pace or the scale that ...9 mins ago
Men from all over New Zealand are invited to join prominent violence-prevention voices in a show of solidarity and call for national change. This will culminate in a group pledge at Parliament grounds on 06 August 2020 from 10am-12noon. The pledge ...18 mins ago
The disability community should stop making excuses for candidates who don’t take the opportunity to hear from us directly – and that includes the prime minister herself, writes disabled journalist Michael Pulman.This time four years ago, forums promoting the disability vote gave the politicians who showed up a chance to ...33 mins ago
The science on transgender women in sport, from the person whose scientific work informed World Rugby's controversial new proposed policy The man who helped write guidelines on transgender players in women’s rugby says he hates that his work has created a platform for people to attack transgender people as cheats. ...39 mins ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Timor-Leste’s Journalist Association (AJTL) and journalism students marched through the streets of the capital Dili today calling on the government to scrap plans to change the law to make defamation a criminal offence. Under the proposed law journalists could face jail sentences. Opponents of the proposed ...6 hours ago
China said on Monday it will suspend its extradition agreement with New Zealand in response to Wellington suspending its existing extradition treaty with Hong Kong, Reuters reports. ...8 hours ago
We need to crack on with building the systems and infrastructure necessary to be able to safely accommodate far more travellers than the system can currently handle. ...12 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive- The tourist industry is the biggest beneficiary of government funding distributed as loans or grants from an array of programmes and pots in the past few days. The $311 million of funding involved has resulted in the $400 million Tourism Recovery Package being fully allocated. Invitations, ...16 hours ago
As Victoria locks down again over a second wave of Covid-19, Andrew Geddis looks at how New Zealand might respond should community transmission be again detected here Melbourne’s adoption of “stage 4” restrictions to combat its Covid-19 outbreak - stay-at-home orders, limited exercise time, a night-time curfew - are a timely warning to us here ...16 hours ago
The first ever National Climate Change Risk Assessment has found 'New Zealand’s climate is warming, sea levels are rising, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe', Marc Daalder reports Over the next 70 years, wildfires and extreme storms will become more common in New Zealand, vast swathes ...17 hours ago
There are four big decisions to get ready to make in this year's elections. As well as picking a preferred party and candidate, voters will vote on the End of Life Choice Bill and whether they support a bill which would legalise cannabis. Here are the basics on the Cannabis Legalisation and ...24 hours ago
Briscoes and Rebel Sports sales grow almost 30 percent on last year, while Tourism Holdings is boosted by domestic tourists using its camper vans ...1 day ago
The Health Ministry ticked off the aged care sector for restricting visitors to rest homes before the national lockdown. David Williams reports On March 17, the coronavirus outbreak was seemingly in its infancy – yet it was closer to pushing politicians into drastic action than many thought. Ministry of Health ...1 day ago
Could partisan treatment of conscience issues lead to US-style culture wars in NZ? ...1 day ago
When the going gets tough, political parties turn to female leaders. ...1 day ago
As the cannabis referendum draws nearer, Finlay Macdonald takes note of a new book about New Zealand's attitude towards marijuana Like any number of New Zealanders, I have a rich store of anecdote about my personal relationship with weed. Youthful adventure, horticultural experimentation, bad cabbage, Thai sticks and close shaves ...1 day ago
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Simon Power is at it again, engaging in US type defense counsel bashing. He insists on Law Society reform to deal with unidentified lawyers who are supposedly rorting the system but Power and the Government have the very simple and effective tool of tearing up the contract the Legal Services Agency has with any errant lawyer. No reform is necessary if what he says is true.
Been bashing and lawyer bashing for political advantage, how predictable.
One further comment, no mention of the Roy Morgan poll in the Herald or Stuff as far as I can see. How surprising …
This sounds a little familiar. It won’t surprise many of us that research by California-based Oakland Institute shows that the foriegn land grabs in Africa do not benefit the countries that US unis and other interests are investing in:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/us-universities-africa-land-grab
Harvard is one of the US unis named as being major participants in these African landgrabs, and Harvard also already has endowment investments in NZ land:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/markets/news/article.cfm?c_id=62&objectid=10728265
Basic English seems to be a problem for our leaders.
First Key and now Barnett – (captains of industry some would say).
A small point but why do these people murder the language.
…”There’s lots of things happening … There’s plenty of differing views…”
Perhaps Delorus Umbridge could apply some of her standards and advise her mates.
They’re not alone though – I’ve noticed it a lot with MBAs during public interviews.
They use sloppy meaningless language as it suits their purposes of obfuscation and distraction perfectly.
i.e. it is usually deliberate.
Apart from that NAT MP who had no idea about internet copy protection, that was simple thickness.
I just about spat my porridge across the breakfast table this morning on reading Minister of Fisheries Phil Heatley’s plans for paua takes post-election.
He said that in order to counter poaching the rules would be changed to make that poaching legal. Then voila! No more poaching and the government gets a return.
Seriously. That is what he said.
Now lets apply that reasoning to say, speeding, tax evasion, … um …. (insert any crime).
It is the most shallow and poor drivel just about ever. What a fuckwit.
My giddy aunt! You’d think it was satire…
Pagani claims Bennett has been at it again.
Deliberately leaking private details of a beneficiary for political gain (SBW’s punchbag) – just before announcing a crackdown on the weak.
Disgusting if true. Well worth following up.
John’s site here.
He’s pretty on the money about the dirty tricks being used in this beat up. But I suspect nobody in the parliamentary press gallery is going to rat out Bennett as an abuser of power because they’d rather have a stream of pre-written ‘news’ stories from her PR team that can be cut and pasted under their own bye-lines in a minute or two. A bloody sight easier doing that than actually doing journalism.
ak – I like logie97’s latest inventive name Petulant Bean, I thought of Paua Bennie but can’t think of a good caption for it, so it’s a bit lacking. It seems that name-calling is all one can do with her, she has no shame, and is a favoured MP doing exactly what the NACTs want and making squids in pay doing something that she apparently enjoys.
The RW love a female who puts on jackboots and whips the lower orders. Margaret Thatcher, for instance and Ruth Richardson was being questioned as over the top in a 1991 newspaper sheet I have. Jim Bolger had to defend giving her the position of Finance Minister. Incidentally it is interesting to see the similar state of political matters seen for 1991 repeated in 2011.
In 1991 SWMinister Jenny Shipley could not rule out office closures after departmental review. Kindergartens face funding crisis, Wellington doctors declare crisis, Treasury approves its own pay rise, Government wins oil field fight (Ngaere land issue in Taranaki), a television poll showed 55% against benefit cuts, the Prime Minister Jim Bolger ‘failed to spell out government growth strategies but instead continued to focus on cutting the deficit’. Welfare system under attack -meeting of 300 people discussing the Employment Contracts Bill.
The National Party announced for 1990 general election that to vote for them would give –
1 Real Growth 2 More Jobs 3 Better Pay, NZ Banks face tighter lending limits after DFC collapse Dr Don Brash, Reserve Bank governor states. Australian Wool Corporation hopes to raise hundreds of millions with bonds which would be government guaranteed, Fruit giant Chiquita Brands goes to NZ government over NZ Kiwifruit Marketing Board refusal to allow it to sell 20 million trays on world markets and wants second-exporter status.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. If you don’t know the meaning of that you coulf have learned French at night school if Anne Tolley wasn’t hostile to anyone learning more than she knows.
One big difference is that in 1991 kiwis took the the streets and protested.
Point of order, that was mine! I posted it in the middle of the night one insomniac weekend… it’s from an anagram generator I had discovered… I am young enough and neuro-typical enough to be a bit off-piste that he started using it, even in a post in which he attacked me, without acknowledging that it my name for Bennett in the first place!
Good on ya Vicky32 – as you grow up you will learn that “immitation is the highest form of flattery”. In future every time Petulant Bean is used (and as you quite rightly observed was apt), I will ensure that I acknowledge you as the originator if that relaxes you. As for your other comment that I attacked you – I should be interested in the link where I “attacked you”. But then you quote ak when it would appear to be “prism” who is making reference so your accuracy and recall are somewhat questionable.
In the meantime, feel free to use Joky Hen and Professor Delorus Umbridge as often as you like – perhaps then we can make them part of the vernacular and everyone will know who we are referring to.
Please, don’t be so childish! Acknowledgement the first time you took credit for it, would have been nice, but then if 97 is your birthdate, then I suppose you can’t help the ‘childish’ bit… 🙂
I am not hunting for a link.. you can find it as well as I can. It was when you accused me of supporting Bennett in her use of of the “toolkt’ when all I wanted to say is that I knew Ian and Mary Grant, and they weren’t the fascistic fundies everyone was claiming them to be.
The first would appear to be John Key, the second, who? Tolley? If you’re the originator of those, congrats, but as to the 2nd, I rather think J K Rowling might have something to say…
Got to love you Vicky32. But for your information I have never entered into any correspondence on this site regarding the Petulant Bean and the Grant’s toolkit.
Clearly, my dear, your insomnia has affected your memory badly.
I have never ever claimed naming rights for any or all of these alternative names for these politicians – just think they are apt and enjoy using them. Congratulations once again on finding the Petulant Bean.
As for Delores Umbridge – she attempted at Hogwarts what Tolley is attempting here. (Read the Order of the Phoenix).
Er – that would be re-read for the nth time, which is why I said if you were laying claim to the name, Rowling might have something to say. Please, just leave it alone, you’ve made your point, and now you’re being – dare I say it, petulant? 😀
BTW, I am not your ‘dear’, don’t be a sarcastic patronising berk. Thanks in advance.
Glad you’re a Potter Fan. No room for berks in that community.
Trust we can now direct our efforts collectively to keep the Petulant Bean, Joky Hen and Professor Umbridge honest.
There are lots of things bothering me:
What a cheek – letting Rob Pope retire before doing something about the Scott Watson debacle
How come Treasury can produce a fantasy document like the Budget and NOT be called to task? Like you’d want that one on your cv
What happened to the Pansy Wong investigation? How come her husband could spend $75,000 in domestic travel and not have that investigated.
…letting Rob Pope retire before doing something about the Scott Watson debacle
Pope was also involved in the persecution and jailing of Peter Ellis.
and the poor Lisa Blakie’s convicted murderer Taylor.
Rob Pope resigned when he realised the public has cottoned onto his deadly and evil ways and the politicians didn’t want a bar of him. He is one of NZ’s most crooked cops imo.
New Zealand governments supported the Khmer Rouge from 1978 to 1990
http://www.nzjh.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1999/NZJH_33_2_05.pdf.
Page 1
New Zealand Journal of History, 33,2 (1999)
The Devil You Know: NEW ZEALAND’S RECOGNITION POLICY TOWARDSCAMBODIA
FROM 1978-1990 [1]
by ANTHONY SMITH
THIS ARTICLE looks at New Zealand’s policy of recognition towards Cambodia (or Kampuchea [2]) between 1978 and 1990. New Zealand policymakers had to make the difficult decision as to which political entity to recognize, if any at all, after the Vietnamese invaded and installed a puppet government in Kampuchea in 1978. The Vietnamese army’s removal of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, or Democratic Kampuchea (DK), led by Pol Pot, provoked mixed reactions from the international community. There was universal relief at Pol Pot’s removal, but the Association of South East AsianNations (ASEAN), China and the United States expressed the concern that a Soviet-sponsored Vietnam was attempting to achieve sub-regional hegemony.These nations all
supported the anti-Vietnamese resistance forces.Controversially, New Zealand also opted to give diplomatic recognition to the ousted Khmer Rouge regime-in-exile as the legitimate representatives of the Cambodian people.
What emerges about New Zealand foreign-policy decision-making over this issue is that it contained a great deal of ambivalence. ……
Read the rest of this apologetic and biased, but revealing article HERE…
I’m told that TV one’s Sunday program is leading with a damning report on safety standards at Pike River which is going to raise the possibility that some miners survived the initial blast but were left to die by the company.
Could be interesting viewing.
Exellent. This is the exact direction many of us have been hollering about for some time. Others keep saying shut up and let the Royal Commission of Inquiry do it all – to which I say get stuffed. There is absolutely no requirement whatsoever to so shut up. Lives have been lost here and I have contended since dot that it is human and corporate and govt culpability. It was not an accident. It was gross negligence at several levels. Heads must roll.
The powers that be will be scrambling right now to get the show pulled. Just wait and see.
Bigger councils ‘stronger but not cheaper ‘
That bits actually fairly obvious when you think about it. All the work still needs to be done which is why Auckland is having to get in contractors now – the ATA went and fired over a thousand people and left Auckland without the people needed to do the jobs that they were doing.
Yep, politicians, especially the ones on the right of the political spectrum, seem to make decisions that affect all of us on their beliefs rather than on the facts. This really needs to change as it hurting us.
So, does “managed” mean that it’s been kept out of the public eye because the MSM are ignoring it because if they actually reported it people would begin to question the governance?
But getting rid of people and/or making them re-apply for their old jobs can be used to drive down the cost of wages in the long term ie, employing more people to do the jobs that were axed, but offering them a lower salary.
This weekend is Bilderberg weekend.
For those of you who have never heard about this illustrious group: the Bilderberg group named after the hotel were the first meeting was held with our the Dutch/German Nazi prince Bernhard (the father of the current Dutch queen) in attendance consists of the most powerful Money men, Corporate CEO’s combined with Political leaders such as Hillary Clinton and New Zealand’s own Globalist and current Ambassador to the US Michael Moore who was an invite to the meeting in 2000 (Just in case you’re wondering who John Key’s handlers are.)
Here is the one and only (And yes, he does rant a bit) Alex Jones reporting on it.
For those of you who still think that Alex Jones only represents the fringe; the man gets about 24 million listeners a month and is the fastest growing info talk show in the world.
I don’t think Jones represents the fringe, Ev, though his personal politics (libertarian) are obviously of appeal only to a minority. That’s the same in NZ where ACT, the LibertariaNZ and the various offshoots thankfully struggle to get support from more than a handful of Kiwi voters.
However, rabid right wingers such as Jones and Beck have a huge following in the States for their various media outlets because their shows bash easy targets and appeal to ignorance, fear and bigotry. There’s no substance, of course, just innuendo, exaggeration and froth, but it sells well to people who know they are being ripped off, but don’t know who by.
As long as the likes of Jones say it’s the gummint, the illuminati, the New World Order, or whatever the fantasy of the day is, the real truth will alway remain hidden from his audience. And that truth is that it’s capitalism’s fault. But, as capitalism is making Jones rich, he’s not going to rock that particular boat, eh?
Interesting! So for clarity what is right wing in your view? Or more precise what is rabid right wing? Do they hate blacks, women, Arabs, peaceniks and other scary leftists for example? Is a clan member rabidly right wing? Is an Obama hater guaranteed right wing?
I am honestly curious as four years ago I would have agreed with you for more than 100 % but now I look at it totally different.
So for the sake of civilised debate (promise) give me your ideas about what defines rabid right wing.
Anything that supports the exploitation of the many by the few is right wing in my estimation. I look at things from a marxist perspective, so my default position is to support things that benefit the majority.
Jones is a libertarian, which is a subset of the right. Broadly speaking, I see communists, socialists and social democrats as the left. Liberals (including our Green party) I see as being inclined to the left, but also capable of going to the right if it suits their temporary interests. The right I see as mainly made up of the petit bourgious, the monarchists and, of course, the established capitalists.
Oddly, the right really only represent the interests of a small minority and it always amazes me that they manage to keep a reletive political balance despite this fact. Having most of the money must help!
Shit, I wrote this whole thingy already and now I have to start again in order to respond properly to your comment.
Again four years ago I would have concurred totally with your but things have changed for me to a point that none of what I used to take for granted as my reality is there any more so bear with me. OK?
Coming from Europe and believe it or not from a socialist/Communist background it took me a while to come to the conclusion that while the socialist ideal of sharing was a grand one it just did not happen that way. Not in the East block at any rate.
I have come to the conclusion that any “ism” including the current US state of Capitalism is a totalitarian system.
I don’t think there is a “system” that will solve all our problems and that no matter what the balance between individual needs and those of the community at large will sometimes conflict and that it will always be a tight rope act to prevent disintegration of society as we find out which is more important at what time. I’ve once found this nice schematic of this and it was the mature individual or component of the group which makes this possible. i.e. Childish narcissistic, me me me is one side of the equation and the overbearing parental attitude of rules and sharing and group thinking is the other side. The mature individual or the mature individuals in a group will try to balance their own needs and those of others making it acceptable to live in that group as an individual.
So I don’t have a problem with liberals flicking from right to left or whatever their self interest dictates because if they are mature individuals they will take others needs into account. That is one part of my response.
Now how about this pertains to Alex Jones whom I regard to be hugely different from the likes of Glenn Beck and other shock jocks in the right wing spectrum.
For instance of all the radio hosts in the US he is the only one who will interview someone like Cynthia McKinney. She is a high profile black female politician who once served in the senate and who is currently the leader of the Green party and presidential candidate for this party and who is currently living in Tripoli Libya to endure with the local population the incessant bombardments perpetrated by the NATO and US.
Alex Jones is the only radio host who from day one called the wars started after 911 illegal and criminal and who calls out the “good ole boys” for believing the propaganda and dehumanisation of Muslims.
He hosts Black and Hispanic political activists and rappers and allows them plenty of air time.
He called George Bush a war criminal as much as he calls Obama a war criminal (And seeing as he has expanded the drone attacks on Pakistan, started the war in Libya which even you must see is not the humanitarian action they claimed it to be and expanded the military action in Afghanistan when he won the election on a promise to pull out).
You argued that Alex Jones is getting rich of his program but I leave you with this to ponder.
First of all the ads he runs are not the high end corporate big money spinners. In fact he attacks those with a vengeance.
He puts all his films, radio shows and documentaries on your tube in low res for all to see for free.
Rather than claiming copy right and limited viewing he actively encourages people to copy and spread his material around for free and as a member I can give my password to his site to 5 other people without any repercussion.
Alex Jones believes in the Capitalism free trade system but claims that the US is not a free trade system but corporatism/fascism with the big corporations monopolising their money spinners and while I don’t agree with some of his political points of view I do agree with him on that but his generosity with regards to the fruits of his labour tells me he belongs in may ways to that mature part of the population I like to relate to and that makes him in many ways OK with me.
What am I doing wrong. My comments end up in moderation?
[lprent: Nothing that I can see from the filters. Just random from the anti-spam would be my guess (I haven’t released them so I’m not sure which comments you’re referring to). It will eventually correct itself. ]
No worries
I ended up in moderation the other night, no ant-spam issue as I was logged in, so what gives? Have I been declared a RWNJ cause I’m black? “religious’? 😀 (Before QoT nuts off at me, I’ll remind him/her of Ali G)…
[lprent: Nope. The anti spam checking operates on ALL comments except for editors and above. Login just means that the system will not ask you for a antispam word. ]
Ali G? Unfunny, unfunny, unfunny.
Almost as dismally unfunny as Bruno.
Mind you, the TV versions of Bruno and Borat were funny. And Borat (the movie) was funny for a while, until you realize just what a disgusting individual Baron Cohen is. He really is Borat.
There are many smart British comedians—Jack Dee, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, and scores more. But Sasha Baron Cohen, like Madonna, gets there not through talent but an implacable work ethic.
Really, I agree. Baron Cohen is desperately unfunny, and a rather nasty individual… What happens is that things I am about to say remind me of other things, and sometimes I just burble! 😀
Don’t feel bad about quoting or referencing him, Vicky. He is funny, on one level. You weren’t burbling; I just saw the opportunity to have a blast at someone I despise.
I’ll tell you what, the guy’s a Fucking Creep.
The Following story emerged after completion of Baron Cohen’s film Bruno:
“A Palestinian grocer from Bethlehem filed suit against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen on Monday for the sum total of $115 million in libel damages over his film Bruno…..According to the Daily Mail, the Palestinian, Ayman Abu Aita, who is also a Christian peace activist, said that Baron’s depiction of him as a Lebanese Islamic Terrorist in his recently-released and controversial movie has ruined his life…..He has also filed suit against NBC, Universal Studios and famed American talk show host David Letterman for being part of the film which tricked him into meeting Cohen under the false pretext that Cohen was a German producing a film about the Palestinian cause…..Abu Aita told the Daily Mail that since the film was released to cinemas this summer, he has received several death threats despite the fact that he is a firm opponent of terrorists…..During the scene, Abu Aita was depicted as a leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, according to the film’s caption which referred to him as ‘Terrorist Group Leader, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.’
But more than this, when promoting the film on Letterman, Baron Cohen stuck rigidly to the fiction that Abu Aita was indeed a Lebanese Terrorist tracked down by the CIA and that the filming had taken place at “a secret location”. Subsequently, journalists discovered that Baron Cohen’s “interview” with Abu Aita had, in fact, taken place directly across from an Israeli military compound (in Occupied Palestinian territory).
Baron Cohen was a very active member of Zionist Youth Organisations in the UK during his teenage years.
I saw that interview with the official government jester Letterman, and transcribed it. Would you like to see it?
I hadn’t heard that (about Baron Cohen). But it simply confirms my opinion… What a creep!
Figured out the problem with the auto-moderation. When akismet is unable to get an answer to a query about a comment from the main server immediately, it pops the comment into moderation and waits a while before retrying it.
A present we’re seeing about a 10 fold increase in spam comment attempts in the past few days, and it looks like many many other sites are having the same attack going on. So the main akismet server is obviously failingto handle every comment in a timely fashion, but does so soon afterwards. Explains why I never saw any of these moderated messages.
The battle in the net appears to be starting to subside from our spam comment rate – got up nearly a thousand per day and is now about 700. Normal service is resuming. The war will continue…
I really don’t want to get into a scrap about this, I’ll just say that up front, and there is much of what he says that is appealing to people from all over the spectrum (or rather, to radicals on various fringes of the spectrum). But trying to put him in a non-US context is a mistake.
He opposes many things that various leftists oppose. As you outline. Going back before GWB he opposed Clinton and Bush the elder. He was right into the whole Ruby Ridge and Branch Davidian stories in the nineties, and consequently with the black helicopters, militias/posse comitatus/sovereign citizen movement.
All I’m saying by that, is that just as he will interview Cynthia McKinney, he’s interviewed all sorts of people who were deep in to the whole ZOG NWO scene, (where the US govt is ZOG, Zionist Occupied Government), As a taste of how that stuff was going, Jones maintained that one of the space shuttles that exploded was an inside job. I forget the details, but it was to do with there being an Israeli on board. The space shuttle explosion was a false flag operation somehow aimed at sparking a war to benefit Israel.
there are echos of it in this thread:
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=201697.0
But what I’m getting at with all this at is that to view Jones in his context, you are right to ignore left right divisions as they are more broadly understood. He has to be understood in a USian context.
Right throughout US history the big division hasn’t been Capital vs Labour, or any of the other left/right fights that we see elsewhere. Right from the beginning the fight has been between the federalists and the anti-federalists. Jones is with the latter, and that’s where all his stuff starts to makes sense. Viewing him through any other lense he becomes incoherent.
Thanks, Pascal’s bookie for your contribution.
I agree. I listen to him with a great many reservations and indeed from the point of view that he is very much a US based entity.
I think though that it is interesting to listen to him and his attempts at shining light on the secretive meetings of the ultra powerful and whether you believe all the things he says or not that is up to the individual.
There is one thing I don’t agree with you in this and that is his “anti Zionist” stance as he is very careful to avoid this controversy. In fact among the more extreme his avoidance of the subject has let ot speculations as to whether he could be a “Zionist” agent. LOL.
In fact he only recently spoke about Israel and his opinion on the matter. He is an equal opportunity anti war activist though. His opinion with regards to Libya, Syria, Yemen and Israel is simple; Why are we not bombing the shit out of Israel which has ignored every single UN resolution since ’67 while we have no compunction about doing the same with Libya to name one country? In his opinion we should not be involved in wars with any of the country’s the US is currently bombing. Not Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen or Pakistan but if we are we should be even in our response to all countries killing peacefully demonstrating. That includes Israel, Bahrein and other countries serving the interest of the US currenly getting a free pass for their torture, abuse and indiscriminate killing.
I tend to agree.
His opinion with regards to Libya, Syria, Yemen and Israel is simple; Why are we not bombing the shit out of Israel which has ignored every single UN resolution since ’67 while we have no compunction about doing the same with Libya to name one country? In his opinion we should not be involved in wars with any of the country’s the US is currently bombing.
Well sure. But that rhetorical question is an interesting one if that’s the way he framed it. One answer to why the US federal government isn’t bombing Israel is ZOG.
And he was always careful about his interviews with militia types even in the nineties, he’d always ‘just be giving them a platform to speak’, because the federal government silences it’s critics; he doesn’t endorse, he’s just fightin for these folks civil liberties.
But the theme is almost always that the federal government is the enemy of the people. That’s why the wars are bad. It’s the damnable federal government usurping power and using fear to control the populace and maintain it’s tyrannical rule.
People who hinted that maybe a domestic war against the federal government wouldn’t get the ‘war criminal’ treatment.
What’s his current line on state level government civil violations? He always used to be pretty quiet on that score.
On immigration, (‘illegals’) for example, they were a threat to state governments and the federal government ignored the problem deliberately, probably hoping for internal grassroots reaction that they could use as a pretext to steal everyone’s guns and lock folks up in FEMA camps.
The moderation happened to me too. I thought maybe I used a bad word like, er, liberal.
My take on Jones is that he is a traditional Republican, as opposed to the Reagan generation that lead the GOP now. He leans to the armed rebellion end of right wing politics, who believe the Government is a conspiracy against the People. Jones is not a dry righty, totally focussed on the bottom line, so I’m pleased to hear that he gives a bit back, but with the numbers you suggest (24 million listeners a month) he can afford to. I’d imagine the Tshirt sales alone would be huge, eh.
The thing with American politics is that there are a hell of a lot of very specific beliefs that enjoy levels of support at a state, regional or national level that never get beyond single digit support, federally. These groupings coalesce in either the democrat or republican parties.
Jones represents a particular strain of thought that is shared by maybe only 1% of Americans, but shares enough similarities with other fringe beliefs to generate that 24 million listenership and also a voice within the republican party.
I agree that the US is not best practice when it comes to free trade, by the way. Pork barrel politics, special interest lobbying and the pandering to farming interests has always meant that the US talks the talk, but has never walked the walk when it comes to genuine free trade.
Genuine free trade has never been promulgated by any of the major western powers.
In fact, its highly likely that true “free trade” only exists as an academic theory which was then used by commercial powers to humiliate the sovereignty of foreign countries and their markets.
Love all the comments. Will be back tomorrow. Knackered now.
travelrev –
That sounds like transactional analysis with a scheme of dividing behaviour into three – it arises from the parent, the adult or the child state. I think it is an excellent shorthand for getting a fast understanding of one’s and others’ mindsets.
Lance a festering racist boil on the red neck of kkkiwiblog and watch all the pus filled motherfuckers reveal their true colours.
priceless
Yep. Read a few of the comments on Darren Hughes. Sick people over there. Wonder if David Farrar enjoys the spleens?
Yes it seriously amazes me that Farrar is taken seriously by others. He chooses the subject of the day most likely to fire up his cretins (like something taniwha, something Clark, something sexist) and lets them go. It is like the most disgusting and ignorant of talkback radio writ large.
I have a bash over there sometimes but it always immediately degenerates into a stinking shithole screamfest.
Shouldn’t be allowed…
I’m thankful you have to register for comments and that I’m so damn lazy about such things.
Allow it to the fullest i say.
What better way to show them the error of their ways than to hold a mirror up in public for all to see 🙂
They still won’t see the error of their ways – but everyone else will.
It is worse that The Penguin gets comfort from Jim Mora as a panelist on Afternoons on national radio. Mora bills his guest as a leading blogger and mentions the name of the notorious blog as well. Just perhaps, Mora never reads beyond the Penguin’s posts – Farrar, however, is responsible for what he allows to be appended to his blog.
…the red neck of kkkiwiblog
Why do you call those fools “rednecks”? That implies they work hard in the sun like honest farmers and labourers. I wonder how much manual work the likes of Farrar, Slater, Hooton, Leighton Smith, and Paul Holmes actually do.
I guess you call them “peasants” too?
Rule by the Rentiers
Sounds a lot like what’s happening in NZ as well. The rich are protected (SCF, AMI, farmers subsidies via the ETS) from their bad decisions and everyone else pays for them. Especially the small businesses.
Fudging Welfare Figures
On the back of the National Government ordering that the entire Christchurch unemployed population not be included in recent welfare statistics, comes another blatant attempt by National to trick the public into believing unemployment rates have fallen. The difference between the cons is that one completely disregards a large sector of unemployed and the other ensures that more people are not eligible or do not reapply for their benefits because of harsh new criteria imposed by WINZ.
What’s the new hoop jumping UB’s have to do to reapply?
If the reapplying thing is merely policy (that’s not in statute) then it should be challengeable. 5,000 is a very large number of people to not have an income all of a sudden. I’d like to see an analysis of that number.
An analysis of that number? In a recent article it was reported that only 1400 out of the some 5000 removed from the unemployment benefit said they had found work, with over 1000 no longer eligible according to the harsh rules leaving 2600 unaccounted for. Or perhaps you mean an analysis to see what has actually happened to the 2600? Like how many have committed suicide and left for Australia for instance. I’d be interested in seeing those figures as it would be proper way to glean the effectiveness of the policy change.
According to the WINZ website:
When you re-apply, you’ll also need to complete a Comprehensive Work Assessment.
Work obligations include things like:
attending scheduled job interviews
actively looking for a job
taking a suitable job that’s offered to you
attending work experience, training or workshops that Work and Income think would be helpful.
The first time you don’t meet your work obligations, your main benefit will be reduced by 50%. You’ll continue to receive any supplementary assistance that you’re entitled to.
The second time you don’t comply, your benefit and supplementary assistance will be suspended.
The third time you don’t comply all your benefits will be cancelled.
Failing to complete the 52 week reapplication process
If a client reapplies before their expiry date but does not complete the reapplication process on or before the expiry date, their benefit will stop.
If a client reapplies after their expiry date and does not have an exceptional circumstance for not reapplying on or before the expiry date, their benefit must be manually cancelled from the expiry date.
Note if a client does not complete the reapplication process within 20 working days after the expiry date the benefit will automatically be cancelled.
Client still wants to apply for benefit
Clients who fail to complete the 52 week reapplication process but want to continue to receive a benefit must be advised to reapply for a benefit as a new applicant. The client will be subject to the normal commencement date rules, including initial stand-downs.
Note if the client advises they want to reapply you can use their reapplication form as their application.
If a client does not want to reapply for a benefit, they should be advised to apply as a non-beneficiary for supplementary assistance (such as Accommodation Supplement).
For more information:
One thing I would like to note is that this is the Policy that WINZ is meant to follow. It is likely that Paula Bennett has instructed WINZ employees to utilize any means to remove people from the unemployment benefit. It is the application of the new rules that is ultimately the problem. Because beneficiaries are not being informed about their rights, they are being taken advantage of, which is not acceptable in a democracy.
Here’s a run down of the WINZ sanctions:
Jackal
“Or perhaps you mean an analysis to see what has actually happened to the 2600? Like how many have committed suicide and left for Australia for instance. I’d be interested in seeing those figures as it would be proper way to glean the effectiveness of the policy change.”
I too wondered what had happened to the 2600. Does anyone apart from us care?
The government certainly appears not to care by publishing the fact as a ‘win’.
What has happened to humanity under neoliberal ideology. Oh I remember, from the merry 80s and 90s -we have been economically quantified and there is no such thing as society which – makes it easier to forget people exist and think only of that lovely money. Why on earth do they still call Ms.Bennett’s department Social Development-from these shocking facts it should be called the Society Nihilation department. Such a name would really cheer the Right Wing exploiters of humanity up.
How could John Key say National’s ways were closer to Destiny Church. Destiny Curch is meant to be Christian and Christ spoke against most of what National enforces.”Love thy neighbour as thyself,”said he.John key needs to get a Bible.
Federal Reserve, European Central Bank willing to destroy Greek sovereignty and Greek workers to prop up large Investment Banks
Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert are on to it .
Watch and weep peeps
CV,
I’ll raise you Keiser’s GIABO 154 – interesting take on copyright and how ridiculous the time period is:
🙂
More videos to watch.
Just heard on the news that apparently the outpatient departments in New Zealand hospitals are not geared to cope with drunken idiots. WTF. When was a festival of sport a license to be drunk and disorderly?
The worst of this is that we have a Prime Minister who has countenanced “Party Central” (in other words unbridled piss up time). Now take away the involvement of international rugby, and what would the reaction be to a mob of drunken louts roaming the streets.
Try to imagine foreigners in such places as France, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong et cetera, being drunk and disorderly in the streets – doesn’t bear thinking about.
But given the inevitability of this, who is going to have to stump up for the cost of this behaviour and treatment? I bet it won’t be the RFU – they are already staring down the barrel of massive debt.
We could have strategically placed billboards at every international terminal advising rugby fans that there will be a zero tolerance of abuse of alcohol. That may be an approach…
F#ck the World Cup, if it is going to mean streams of urine in our gutters…
Watching the second round of Nkii kaye vs Jacinda Ardern on Citizen A with Bomber on Stratos. This time, Jacinda & Bomber are not letting Nikki get away with so much interuptions…. although she did that just now. Kaye has claimed poverty grew under the 9 years of the Clark government…. is that correct?
This time Kaye has ditched the repetitive “Let me be clear” and is instead repeating “The reality is” or “the point is”.
Yes! Poverty did increase under the last Labour Government. Another indicator was the comparison with Australia (GDP, Cost of living ect), which also worsened under Labour. However the gap between rich and poor has increased at twice that rate under National with a similar doubling of the disparity with Australia compared to New Zealand under a John Key led Government. Labour is just the lesser of two evils in my opinion. Perhaps they’ve changed but we wont know until they’re able to form a Government. Where is Phil Goff anyway?
Was a good debate. Just wish Bomber the egotist would get the damn audio sorted.
When you look at the levels of benefits compared to the average weekly wage, the last Labour Govt did little to bring them back to pre-Ruthanasia ratios.
Of course, under Labour, unemployment and youth unemployment were far far lower and so this affected fewer people. What Labour didn’t get is that on the downslope of the economic cycle, it would end up affecting a hell of a lot of people.
So what they did instead of increasing benefit levels to livable ratios, was to increase the minimum wage and to focus on tax breaks to couples with children (what about everyone else in this country?!).
Problem is of course that income tax breaks and increases in the minimum wage only mean something if you have work.
Best laugh of the day: a comment on the NZ Herald to Farrar’s weekly column: