Open mike 10/08/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 10th, 2011 - 61 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step right up to the mike…

61 comments on “Open mike 10/08/2011 ”

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  1. Bored 1
    10 August 2011 at 6:47 am

    Great commentary from a lady stuck in a house in the middle of the London riots.

    http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-08-09/panic-streets-london

    She makes the telling point “Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up in a community where there are no jobs, no space to live or move, and the police are on the streets stopping-and-searching you as you come home from school. The people who do will be waking up this week in the sure and certain knowledge that after decades of being ignored and marginalised and harassed by the police, after months of seeing any conceivable hope of a better future confiscated, they are finally on the news.”

    • Morrissey 1.1
      10 August 2011 at 9:28 am

      “Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea…”

      Did you hear Deborah Hill Cone blithering about this yesterday on Jim Mora’s “The Panel”? She was full of scorn for the idea that there were any problems in London or in Great Britain: “What social issues are they protesting about? I didn’t know there WERE any social issues. ARE there social issues?”

      The other people in the studio—Jim Mora, Sharon Brett-Kelly and Bernard Hickey—all decided to stay silent and let her rave.

      But a little later, Hill Cone was at it again. “It’s all RELATIVE, isn’t it! These people in London are all so much better off than their parents were. They are all living comfortably.”

      Sharon Brett-Kelly couldn’t let that go on unanswered. “Oh, the conditions in many parts of London are bleak and many people feel hopeless and abandoned. I have lived there, and I know how desperate the people there are.” Bernard Hickey agreed with Sharon Brett-Kelly.

      Deborah Hill Cone could say nothing. She had no answer.

      It’s a pity these vacuous voices of the smug right and the far right are not challenged more often in this forthright manner.

      • Bored 1.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 3:46 pm

        I resent those fekkers using up my tax dollars up on their fat salaries at Radio NZ, Hill Cone can take a fly jump.

      • Vicky32 1.1.2
        10 August 2011 at 4:22 pm

        “What social issues are they protesting about? I didn’t know there WERE any social issues. ARE there social issues?”

        The woman is a fracking idiot!

        • Ianupnorth 1.1.2.1
          10 August 2011 at 4:40 pm

          +1 – especially when she wore those dumb specs. She was ranting about being stuck in Queenstown and having to drive to ChCh to get back to Auckland the other week – bless her cotton socks, at least she can afford a holiday in the snow!

    • uke 1.2
      10 August 2011 at 9:39 am

      Read an interesting book a while back: “Hooligan – A history of respectable fears” (by Geoffrey Pearson). He identifies a recurring history of disorder and riots in working class English areas, nearly always accompanied by middle-class panic, outrage, and hand-wringing in the newspapers, often waxing nostalgic about how people were so much better behaved twenty years earlier. The irony is that things were pretty much the same twenty years earlier, just the folk devils had a different name (skinheads, football hooligans, mods, teds, larrikans, cads and roughs, garroters etc.).
       
      Pearson’s point is that there has for centuries been a strong anti-police tradition in poor, working class English neighborhoods. It’s a class thing. But the media have nearly always defined it in terms of rampant criminality and moral decline. At this point in the London riots, the pattern seems to holding true.

      • Morrissey 1.2.1
        10 August 2011 at 9:58 am

        … the media have nearly always defined it in terms of rampant criminality and moral decline. At this point in the London riots, the pattern seems to holding true.

        The more bewildered commentators in the New Zealand media are repeating the same reactionary line. Here’s a selection of comments from yesterday…

        NewstalkZB: The Mike Hosking Breakfast—Hosking talks to TVNZ’s London correspondent Paul Hobbs, who is presumably paid to live in London so he can interpret the situation there with increased insight. If so, TVNZ should demand its money back…

        HOBBS: There’s nothing political about this at all! It’s just a sport for these young men!
        HOSKING: What are the reasons they’re giving for the rioting?
        HOBBS: There’s no rhyme or reason for any this. It’s just a SPORT!
        HOSKING: Have the police locked it down yet?

        NewstalkZB Eight to Midnight with Kerre Woodham…

        WOODHAM: Those little toe-rags. This is when I wish I was in the police! I’d love to turn a fire-hose on them! Those little TOE-RAGS!
        CALLER: I was talking to a friend of mine who knows what’s going on over there, and he says all this is because of the GIRL GANGS over there!
        WOODHAM: thoughtfully Hmmmmmm. That’s interesting. I had a caller earlier on who said it was the EASTERN EUROPEAN GANGS who are organizing it all.
        CALLER: There’s nothing spontaneous at all about these riots. It’s all highly structured.
        WOODHAM: Those little TOE-RAGS…

        • Carol 1.2.1.1
          10 August 2011 at 10:07 am

          Lisa Owen on TVNZ7 news last night was going on about how people couldn’t be rioting because of austerity as they were taking all kinds of non-essential consumer items (especially the latest and most pricey electronic goods eg plasma TVs and laptops). She seemed to miss the significance of any class war angle, or of the significance of the focus of much looting – ie on the artefacts of a rampant consumer society.

          • Morrissey 1.2.1.1.1
            10 August 2011 at 10:16 am

            She seemed to miss the significance of any class war angle, or of the significance of the focus of much looting – ie on the artefacts of a rampant consumer society.

            I don’t think she misses the significance of it. I think—in fact I know—that she routinely self-censors. She knows it’s unacceptable to give any sort of political analysis. Everything is devoid of context, devoid of history. Riots just happen, and all the people in them are “toe-rags”.

            Lisa Owen, Kerre Woodham, Mike Hosking and Paul Hobbs do not lack brains or understanding. What they lack is the courage to state what they and everybody else knows to be the truth.

        • uke 1.2.1.2
          10 August 2011 at 10:19 am

          Yeah, that’s classic. Same dynamics playing out. “Girl Gangs”, ha.
           
          The Independent seems to partly get it: “There is a context of mistrust of the police here. After the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005, the police allowed false reports that the Brazilian had been wearing a bulky coat and had run from officers to circulate without contradiction. And after the 2009 death of Ian Tomlinson, the police denied that the newspaper vendor had been pushed by an officer. It was only when a video emerged showing that this was the case that the police admitted the truth.”

    • William Joyce 1.3
      10 August 2011 at 12:03 pm

      People shouldn’t assign a single motive to these rioters.
      Undoubtedly there are people who want to breakout against their circumstances by opposing police and destroying property.
      Equally, there are people who want to similarly breakout but they have respect for people and the effort they are making to put food on their own tables, and so do not destroy business and homes.
      There are those who feel the pressure of a consumer society to gain status through possessions but who for too long have not been able to afford them and so they loot the shops to get them.
      There are others who feel the same status pressure but choose not to loot from other worker and their by create more victims.
      There are those who loot because they are organised by under world characters.
      There are people who burn a building for no other reason than they want to break a taboo, get a buzz from it, and film it on their cell phone to up load to youtube, and in the mean time some poor person has lost their home, or their job, their income, their possessions, their means to get to work.
      There are those who want to be part of a celebrity event and don’t care who gets hurt.
       
      Traditionally events like this are cannibalistic. They eat their own community.
      If they were really serious about “protesting” in equality and class oppression then they should target the rich, their institutions, their wealth.
       

      • Adele 1.3.1
        10 August 2011 at 11:18 pm

        His-story tells us that eventually the disaffected will attack the source of their great frustrations, whatever they may be, and the privileged, in whatever capacity, will become the stretched neck of inequity.

    • aerobubble 2.1
      10 August 2011 at 11:12 am

      I’ve lived in London during bombings, riots, and never did they spread from city to city, suburb to surburb. Now sure there are always going to be a group of youngster hanging around waiting for trouble, especially with the contempt the boomers level at them, and add to the contempt of politicians who hate the poor and unemployed (who are also citizens), but when the economics of theft and fraud, stealing billions of unaccountantable bonuses while laying down decades of social, fiscal, and ecological debts, then it would surprised me if the riots had not have happened, but hey heinsight is easy. The media is doing a good job of trying to make this into a youth problem, avoiding talking about why everyone should be on the streets, and misdirecting the debate because the Police are obviously stretched and always on the back foot as technology keeps the rioters one step ahead.

      But hey we have been here before, before radio riots and social uprisings would march through london to parliament and they were really angry. So we might be seeing a power change back to mobs and citizens brought on technology. so beware the future, not so may apathetic citizens.
      Politicians had to do much better to keep the London mobs at bay, will have to.

  4. jackal 4
    10 August 2011 at 9:32 am

    The Stream

    I make no bones about this post being a plug for a TV program. In fact I give it the Jackal’s tick of approval and full endorsement. Covering current affairs with a focus on human rights, The Stream digs out priceless bits of info from the WWW. If you’re a blogger or political commentator, The Stream is a must watch program…

    • Carol 4.1
      10 August 2011 at 9:59 am

      Actually, I tend to switch off when it comes on in the morning, and switch to RNZ. I’m developing a resistance to people enthusing over the latest e-/Internet development – been seeing it since the mid 90s. But in fact, AJ covers enough of the important news in the NewsHour and other morning shows.

    • Chris 5.2
      10 August 2011 at 10:03 am

      Her best policy is too build a bridge from Australia to NZ.

      Or she has one to relocate Christchurch to Albany…

      Edit: I notice those particular policies didn’t make her list. Must have been talked out of them

    • joe90 5.3
      10 August 2011 at 10:03 am

      A strange person indeed but hardly a RWNJ and more a very sad person who’s best ignored.

    • millsy 5.4
      10 August 2011 at 11:41 am

      She’s been around since about 2004-05.

      I think she hit the headlines for appearing in a porn magazine while saying she wanted to be PM one day.

      I recall crossing swords with her on studentz.co.nz before it merged into varsity.co.nz

      Her policies are all over the place.

    • Vicky32 5.5
      10 August 2011 at 5:17 pm

      Does anyone know who this RWNJ is?

      No, but she has the same name as a Doctor Who character! 😀

    • felix 5.6
      10 August 2011 at 6:00 pm

      My friend flatted with her when she was doing Steve Crow’s “Porn Idol” or whatever it was called, she’s a very sad individual indeed.

      It’s all about being famous, and what she’s famous for isn’t even a consideration. Politics is just the latest attempt in a long line of attempts at being recognised.

      Just as she wasn’t singing before she decided to “be a singer”, she probably didn’t have any political ideas before she decided to “be a politician”.

      She should be running for National really.

      • grumpy 5.6.1
        10 August 2011 at 7:36 pm

        Jesus F Christ – have you seen those pictures?????

        I thought she would still be in hiding.

      • Bored 5.6.2
        10 August 2011 at 9:49 pm

        Pray Felix if she was to run for National how would we tell her apart from Maggie in the next Auckland power outage? Two faintly female forms in the gloaming and some mindless high pitched meandering right wing diatribe…..

  6. john 6
    10 August 2011 at 10:19 am

    i was reading her facebook post she says she is far right wing

  8. The Peak Oil Poet 8
    10 August 2011 at 12:41 pm

    when i was a kid i bred mice to sell to pet shops – until the fashion changed from coloured mice to white mice

    left with tea chests full of mice i could not kill (being a budding Buddhist) i just kept feeding them and supplying them with the strips of torn up newspaper they used for nesting – and of course the daily task of cleaning their converted tea-chests

    one day things changed – mice started eating their babies, buggering their peers, and generally going mad

    ’til i had to let them go (in the local bush) or watch them all die

    population density – not measured in humans per square mile but in fear and despair per square politician – is what causes all societal breakdown

    http://thepeakoilpoet.blogspot.com/2011/08/london-bridge-is-falling-down-tpop.html

    http://thepeakoilpoet.blogspot.com/2011/08/peak-people.html

    and for fun

    http://thepeakoilpoet.blogspot.com/2011/08/great-australian-poem.html

    tPoP

  9. freedom 9
    10 August 2011 at 1:13 pm

    meanwhile your right to a fair and honest trial slips further out of reach as we are left to trust the Maori Party and Act to save what is left of our Justice System
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5421373/Govt-works-to-shore-up-support-for-justice-bill

    • Bored 9.1
      10 August 2011 at 1:31 pm

      The main parts of the article are summed up in these paragraphs…

      The Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill aims to save about $25 million over five years by freeing up 450 court days each year.

      It introduces measures such as allowing courts to proceed in the absence of a defendant who does not have a reasonable excuse and reserving jury trials for the most serious and complex cases

      In other words your right to be tried by your peers, and in person go west (Power seems intent on chucking away centuries of legal practiice and precedent such as habeus corpus). This is all in the name of efficiency and cost savings….justice denied in the face of the dollar.

      Now where are all those good libertarians? This should be something they are up in arms about.

      • Bored 9.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 9:52 pm

        Jeez, 8 hours later and not one RWNJ appears to care about their personal liberties……Simon Power, you are free to lock the buggers up. Seeya Gos and TS…..

  10. Carol 10
    10 August 2011 at 1:27 pm

    Opportunist crimes should be punished:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/5421331/Britains-most-wanted-Looters-tried-on-shoes-in-rampage

    Police in London have released images of the “most wanted” suspects behind the ransacking of the English capital as stories emerge of the incredible behaviour of emboldened looters.

    But I also think an equivalent approach would be to release images of the Most Wanted for pillaging the potential & necessary income for the least well-off in diverse countries.

    • uke 10.1
      10 August 2011 at 3:23 pm

      Yeah, how about some of those hedge fund managers.
       
      Apparently there has not been a single charge laid yet over the post-2008 financial collapse in the US. Compare with the 1980s Savings and Loan scandals in which hundreds of bankers were convicted and that was only around a paltry US$140 billion total fraud.

      • KJT 10.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 5:13 pm

        When are people like Roger Douglas, Prebble, Ruth Richardson, Faye Richer rail and Don Brash going to be charged for the money they have cost us over the last few decades.

        “Steal a million you get a knighthood, Steal $100 you are put in jail”.

  11. Ianupnorth 11
    10 August 2011 at 4:51 pm

    Is there any other band wagon this prat would like to jump on?
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup-2011/news/article.cfm?c_id=522&objectid=10744212

    Prime Minister John Key has called on adidas to admit it had overpriced All Blacks jerseys in New Zealand and “fix” its mistake.

    Can I ask said Prime Minister to admit he has under taxed the rich and ‘fix’ his governments mistakes?

  13. logie97 13
    10 August 2011 at 5:40 pm

    Nice to see the Mum’s and Dad’s investors have been playing the stock market again over the last couple of days. Surprise, surprise, all the losses have been recovered.
    Same goes for the foreign currency traders. Who do these money-men think they are kidding. Let’s talk up a storm because we know we are going to be able to cash in on it any day soon…

    Meanwhile life for the masses goes on as usual – shafted again.

  14. Vicky32 14
    10 August 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Nice to hear 3 News bashing Sue Bradford and letting Petulant Bean have her say about the ‘massive fraud committed by beneficiaries” in the form of ‘over-payments’ although (was it Gower, I believe so?) did mutter quickly that most of the breath-taking amount was caused by WINZ staff messing up – as I can attest! I declare income, they forget to charge it, then when they ‘discover’ it, it’s added to my breath-taking debt. (There wouldn’t be a debt, if they did what they were supposed to do when I declare income… 🙁 )

    • Lanthanide 14.1
      10 August 2011 at 6:31 pm

      Since WINZ are obviously so incompetent at paying you the correct amount of money, why don’t you work out what they should be paying you yourself? If they pay extra, put it in a bank account and don’t touch it (unless you need it for an emergency or something).

      Then when they want it paid back, it’s all sitting there, and may have got you a few extra dollars in interest, too.

      My sister and her boyfriend, while studying for Phds and doing clinical psychology, ended up knowing the student loan/student allowance rules better than the people in the office on campus did, just based on the numbers of times they got it wrong or told them something that was wrong. In the end they stopped going.

      • felix 14.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 6:39 pm

        Easy to say, Lanth, harder to do when you’re broke with bills to pay.

        Besides, why should she have to?

        • Jum 14.1.1.1
          10 August 2011 at 7:52 pm

          Yes Felix,

          WINZ get paid to get it right, but considering their numbers are being reduced as we speak what can we expect from a stressed out organisation.

          My question is: I wonder which party the WINZ social workers will vote for?

          Are they keen to bash the beneficiary along with Paula Bennett just because they see a few people doing the fraud bit or are they going to get rid of Bennett by considering the other beneficiaries that are actually real human beings enduring a financially hard time – a hard time, I might add, that anyone might experience.

          • logie97 14.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2011 at 8:00 pm

            Anyone know what the Petulant Bean’s work history is. How much of her adult life has she drawn her money from the public purse in one way or another – of course, a princely chunk now that she is a Minister of the Crown. Has she no conscience?

      • Vicky32 14.1.2
        11 August 2011 at 3:40 pm

        Yes, I did manage after a lot of trying, to apply, but you’ve missed my point, which is that your technology fails more often than not!
        I will continue to try to contact your ‘clients’ to point this out. They should not be paying you when your service is so poor!

        You’ve missed the point, Lanth.. They didn’t pay me ‘extra’! I rang up as I am supposed to do, to ‘declare earnings’. They’re supposed to reduce or cancel the following week’s payment depending on how much I earned. 
        At least one woman didn’t know how to do that, or so I was told when I rang days later to ask why it hadn’t been done. Instead, she’d added the payment she should have reduced, to my debt. Another woman said “Oh, I’ll just add it to your debt then”, and I protested, saying “No, you have plenty of time to adjust my next payment” and she said something like “Meh, no, adding it to your debt is easier”.
        This angers me so greatly, because many of us were told at a job seminar, that having a debt (or even having had one!) disqualifies us from applying for any government job. I think that’s a new thing, only since PB has been Minister, as under Labour they had no policy against hiring “bennies”. (It reminds me of what I learned during my brief sojourn on ATS : in the USA, almost all employers advertising vacancies state that they will not accept applications from anyone who is not currently employed! If that comes oin here, and it’s starting to, it may be necessary to stretch the truth – as I have in fact done, pretending casual work is permanent…)

    • Campbell Larsen 14.2
      10 August 2011 at 8:26 pm

      Totally agree – the rules and WINZ admin re part time work and income need to be improved. Days worked and day paid can differ and support differs depending on which is taken as the basis for an income evaluation. Both methods create inequities and the whole thing is as clear as mud. IMO it should be administered in conjunction with IRD on a no fault basis. Any debts on part time work should be interest free and calculated quarterly using the kindest measure (one which creates the least debt) and then repaid gradually out of benefit or income or both.
      WINZ has shown itself to be incapable of operating the system it designed and yet wants to prosecute individuals. There is a better way.

      • freedom 14.2.1
        10 August 2011 at 10:04 pm

        the removal of secondary income tax would be a start. That is a dinosaur from a different era and only hurts current employment options. It not only restricts the options for those under WINZ but everyday working people are also harmed by it. Many many people need two or three jobs to get by these days and secondary tax is a vehicle that needs a new WOF. We have a fully adequate range of tax rates to fairly accommodate the income tax generated. Secondary Income Tax is a pecuniary punishment.

  15. millsy 15
    10 August 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Well folks, just heard on TV3 today that John Key is going to announce welfare reforms at the National conference this weekend.

    Hang onto your hats folks, its going to be one hell of a ride….

  16. Jum 16
    10 August 2011 at 7:31 pm

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1108/S00272/police-and-air-force-training-exercise-in-auckland.htm

    wow – it could also be training to rescue John Key when people try to tell him what they think of him selling off our assets.

  17. Oscar 17
    10 August 2011 at 8:30 pm

    Disgusting that we may have to pay to visit our third biggest island. What’s the actual purpose of this bill? It’s not like Rakiura is 100% Conservation land. If it was, I could understand.

  18. jackal 18
    10 August 2011 at 9:47 pm

    National Challenges NZ to Riot

    During a Parliamentary debate today, National MP Chris Tremain made a number of inaccurate statements that were clearly designed to limit National’s responsibility for any negative consequences due to budget cuts. What made me cringe was this statement…

    • felix 18.1
      10 August 2011 at 10:07 pm

      Unsurprising. Chris “Dennis Plant” Tremain’s primary qualification is his Dad’s rugby playing.

      • Morrissey 18.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 10:23 pm

        Chris “Dennis Plant” Tremain’s primary qualification is his Dad’s rugby playing.

        Don’t forget his ability to put on a serious face as he poses as a backdrop to John Key in parliament. He’s learned how to nod assent every now and again, just to show that he’s listening…

        • felix 18.1.1.1
          10 August 2011 at 10:27 pm

          Ha! Yeah the pair of them are like a couple of nodding dogs on the back shelf of Key’s limo.

          • jackal 18.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2011 at 11:05 pm

            It’s no wonder NZ is on the slide then with that level of “intelligence” in power. My favorite from his speech today was:

            “There were a number of economists, actually more than a number…”

            This is who you voted into power New Zealand. Wake the fuck up!

    • Jum 18.2
      10 August 2011 at 11:02 pm

      Jackal,

      Paul Hutchison said that about Franklin – no marching in the streets meant no one cared about having their local government assets stolen by Rodney Hide and their democracy removed by this government. There was a protest when Key went to a posh luncheon there with business interests that would have included the promise of even cheaper labour to decrease their expenses and maximise their profits. But it wasn’t a march down the street. This is NActMU’s Plan – enforce a police state because nobody protests. Their plan is progressing well.

      Nobody is marching in the streets. New Zealanders are too busy trying to survive in 2 or 3 jobs to waste their energy on protesting; NActMU knows this. That is why they’re trying it on in Parliament. By the time New Zealanders do realise that marching in the street is all that’s left to them, it will be too late. It has always been too late, every time National have ruined the economy; everything will have been sold, and Kiwis’ sovereignty traded away.

  19. Morrissey 19
    10 August 2011 at 10:06 pm

    http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/
    Norman Finkelstein’s website is under attack by China Israel

    Norman Finkelstein, one of the leading American intellectuals and a widely admired political dissident, has been banned from Israel. Now the Israeli government is trying to sabotage his excellent and popular website.

    How much simpler if he was just another of those Palestinian untermenschen. Then they could simply kill him, or arrest him as a “terrorist”…

    http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/

    NORMANFINKELSTEIN.COM WEB ATTACKS UPDATE.

    Recently the official website for Norman Finkelstein has come under various web attacks. We are currently trying to address the attacks. Unfortunately, while we are trying to address the issue, new posts will be delayed until a permanent solution is found.

    Thank you for your comments and concerns. Please visit back frequently or sign up to the mailing list (left side bar) in order to receive an update to the situation.

    Normanfinkelstein.com web team.

  20. just saying 20
    10 August 2011 at 11:15 pm

    THE GOVERNMENT TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT IT’S CHANGING THE FLAG TO A CONDOM, BECAUSE IT MORE ACCURATELY REFLECTS THE GOVERNMENT’S POLITICAL STANCE. A CONDOM ALLOWS FOR INFLATION, HALTS PRODUCTION, DESTROYS THE NEXT GENERATION, PROTECTS A BUNCH OF DICKS, & GIVES YOU A SENSE OF SECURITY WHILE UR ACTUALLY BEING SCREWED

    A friend sent me this. Don’t know if it has been posted here before.
    We sure as fuck are being screwed.

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    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 day ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #24
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, June 9, 2024 thru Sat, June 15, 2024. Story of the week A glance at this week's inventory of what experts tell us is extreme weather mayhem juiced by ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 day ago

  • Sunday Morning Chat
    After a busy week it’s a good day to relax. Clear blues skies here in Tamaki Makaurau, very peaceful but for my dogs sleeping heavily. In the absence of a full newsletter I thought I’d send out a brief update and share a couple of posts that popped up in ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • The Book of Henry
    Now in the land of Angus beef and the mighty ABsWhere the steaks were juicy and the rivers did run foulIt would often be said,This meal is terrible,andNo, for real this is legit the worst thing I've ever eatenBut this was an thing said only to others at the table,not ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Fact Brief – Is ocean acidification from human activities enough to impact marine ecosystems?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from the Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is ocean acidification from human ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Happiness is a Warm Gun
    She's not a girl who misses muchDo do do do do do, oh yeahShe's well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet handLike a lizard on a window paneI wouldn’t associate ACT with warmth, other than a certain fabled, notoriously hot, destination where surely they’re heading and many would like them ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Still doing a good 20
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past somewhat interrupted week. Still on the move!Share Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Coalition of the Unwilling?
    What does Budget 2024 tell us about the current government? Muddle on?Coalition governments are not new. About 50 percent of the time since the first MMP election, there has been a minority government, usually with allied parties holding ministerial portfolios outside cabinets. For 10 percent of the time there was ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    3 days ago

  • Of red flags and warning signs in comments on social media
    Somewhat surprisingly for what is regarded as a network of professionals, climate science misinformation is getting shared on LinkedIn, joining other channels where this is happening. Several of our recent posts published on LinkedIn have attracted the ire of various commenters who apparently are in denial about human-caused climate change. Based ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • All good, still
    1. On what subject is Paul Henry even remotely worth giving the time of day?a. The state of our nationb. The state of the ACT partyc. How to freak out potential buyers of your gin palace by baking the remains of your deceased parent into its fittings2. Now that New ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • The looting is the point
    Last time National was in power, they looted the state, privatising public assets and signing hugely wasteful public-private partnership (PPP) contracts which saw foreign consortiums provide substandard infrastructure while gouging us for profits. You only have to look at the ongoing fiasco of Transmission Gully to see how it was ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • The Illusion of Power: How Local Government Bureaucrats Overawe Democratically-Elected Councillors..
    The Democratic Façade Of Local Government: Our district and city councillors are democratically elected to govern their communities on one very strict condition – that they never, ever, under any circumstances, attempt to do so.A DISINTEGRATION OF LOYALTIES on the Wellington City Council has left Mayor Tory Whanau without a ...
    Bowalley Road
    4 days ago

  • Lowlights & Bright Spots
    I can feel the lowlights coming over meI can feel the lowlights, from the state I’m inI can see the light now even thought it’s dimA little glow on the horizonAnother week of lowlights from our government, with the odd bright spot and a glow on the horizon. The light ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 14-June-2024
    Another week, another roundup of things that caught our eye on our favourite topics of transport, housing and how to make cities a little bit greater. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Connor wrote about Kāinga Ora’s role as an urban development agency Tuesday’s guest post by ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to June 14
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s moves this week to take farming out of the ETS and encourage more mining and oil and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Climate policy axed in broad daylight, while taxpayer liabilities grow in the dark
    In 2019, Shane Jones addressed the “50 Shades of Green” protest at Parliament: Now he is part of a government giving those farmers a pass on becoming part of the ETS, as well as threatening to lock in offshore oil exploration and mining for decades. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Rage Bait!
    Hi,Today’s newsletter is all about how easy it is to get sucked into “rage bait” online, and how easy it is to get played.But first I wanted to share something that elicited the exact opposite of rage in me — something that made me feel incredibly proud, whilst also making ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • Bernard's Dawn Chorus and pick 'n' mix for Friday, June 14
    Seymour said lower speed limits “drained the joy from life as people were forced to follow rules they knew made no sense.” File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, June 14 were:The National/ACT/NZ First ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Friendly but frank talks with China Premier
    It sounded like the best word to describe yesterday’s talks between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and his heavyweight delegation of Ministers and officials and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and New Zealand Ministers and officials was “frank.” But it was the kind of frankness that friends can indulge in. It ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #24 2024
    Open access notables Wildfire smoke impacts lake ecosystems, Farruggia et al., Global Change Biology: We introduce the concept of the lake smoke-day, or the number of days any given lake is exposed to smoke in any given fire season, and quantify the total lake smoke-day exposure in North America from 2019 ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Geoffrey Miller: China’s message to New Zealand – don’t put it all at risk
    Don’t put it all at risk. That’s likely to be the take-home message for New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in his meetings with Li Qiang, the Chinese Premier. Li’s visit to Wellington this week is the highest-ranking visit by a Chinese official since 2017. The trip down under – ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    4 days ago

  • The Real Thing
    I know the feelingIt is the real thingThe essence of the soulThe perfect momentThat golden momentI know you feel it tooI know the feelingIt is the real thingYou can't refuse the embraceNo?Sometimes we face the things we most dislike. A phobia or fear that must be confronted so it doesn’t ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on how moderates empower the political right
    Struth, what a week. Having made sure the rural sector won’t have to pay any time soon for its pollution, PM Christopher Luxon yesterday chose Fieldays 2024 to launch a parliamentary inquiry into rural banking services, to see how the banks have been treating farmers faced with high interest rates. ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • Bernard's Dawn Chorus and pick 'n' mix for Thursday, June 13
    In April, 17,656 people left Aotearoa-NZ to live overseas, averaging 588 a day, with just over half of those likely to have gone to Australia. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, June 13 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Our guide to having your say on the draft RLTP 2024
    Auckland’s draft Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) 2024 is open for feedback – and you only have until Monday 17 June to submit. Do it! Join the thousands of Aucklanders who are speaking up for wise strategic investment that will dig us out of traffic and give us easy and ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    5 days ago

  • The China puzzle
    Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrives in Wellington today for a three-day visit to the country. The visit will take place amid uncertainty about the future of the New Zealand-China relationship. Li hosted a formal welcome and then lunch for then-Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in Beijing a year ago. The pair ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • Fossil fuels are shredding our democracy
    This is a re-post of an article from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler published on June 3, 2024. I have an oped in the New York Times (gift link) about this. For a long time, a common refrain about the energy transition was that renewable energy needed to become ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Life at 20 kilometres an hour
    We are still in France, getting from A to B.Possibly for only another week, though; Switzerland and Germany are looming now. On we pedal, towards Budapest, at about 20 km per hour.What are are mostly doing is inhaling a country, loving its ways and its food. Rolling, talking, quietly thinking. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Hipkins is still useless
    The big problem with the last Labour government was that they were chickenshits who did nothing with the absolute majority we had given them. They governed as if they were scared of their own shadows, afraid of making decisions lest it upset someone - usually someone who would never have ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • Exercising with the IDF.
    This morning I did something I seldom do, I looked at the Twitter newsfeed. Normally I take the approach of something that I’m not sure is an American urban legend, or genuinely something kids do over there. The infamous bag of dog poo on the front porch, set it on ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Helm Hammerhand Anime: First Pictures and an Old English ‘Hera’
    We have some news on the upcoming War of the Rohirrim anime. It will apparently be two and a half hours in length, with Peter Jackson as Executive Producer, and Helm’s daughter Hera will be the main character. Also, pictures: The bloke in the middle picture is Freca’s ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    6 days ago

  • Farmers get free pass on climate AND get subsidies
    The cows will keep burping and farting and climate change will keep accelerating - but farmers can stop worrying about being included in the ETS. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, June 12 were:The ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Six ideas to secure Te Huia’s Future
    This is a guest post by our friend Darren Davis. It originally appeared on his excellent blog, Adventures in Transitland, which features “musings about public transport and other cool stuff in Aotearoa/ New Zealand and around the globe.” With Te Huia now having funding secure through to 2026, now is ...
    Greater AucklandBy Darren Davis
    6 days ago

  • The methane waka sinks
    In some ways, there may be less than meets the eye to the Government announcement yesterday that the He Waka Eke Noa proposal for farmers to pay for greenhouse gas emissions has been scrapped. The spectre of farmers still having to pay at some point in the future remains. That, ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • At a glance – Does positive feedback necessarily mean runaway warming?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Climate Change: Farmers get what they wanted – for now
    Since entering office, National has unravelled practically every climate policy, leaving us with no effective way of reducing emissions or meeting our emissions budgets beyond magical thinking around the ETS. And today they've announced another step: removing agriculture entirely. At present, following the complete failure of he waka eka noa, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Presumed Innocent?
    The blue billionaireDistraction no interactionOr movement outside these glazed over eyesThe new great divideFew fight the tide to be glorifiedBut will he be satisfied?Can we accept this without zoom?The elephant in the roomNot much happens in politics on a Monday. Bugger all in fact. Although yesterday Christopher Luxon found he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on our doomed love affair with oil and gas
    What if New Zealand threw a fossil fuel party, and nobody came? On the weekend, Resources Minister Shane Jones sent out the invitations and strung up the balloons, but will anyone really want to invest big time in resuming oil and gas exploration in our corner of the planet? Yes, ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    7 days ago

  • Building better housing insights
    This is a guest post by Meredith Dale, senior urban designer and strategist at The Urban Advisory. There’s a saying that goes something like: ‘what you measure is what you value’. An RNZ article last week claimed that Auckland was ‘hurting’ because of a more affordable supply of homes, particularly townhouses ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    7 days ago

  • Putin would be proud of them
    A Prime Minister directs his public service to inquire into the actions of the opposition political party which is his harshest critic. Something from Orban's Hungary, or Putin's Russia? No, its happening right here in Aotearoa: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Public Service Commission will launch an ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Resources for debunking common solar and wind myths
    This is a repost from a Yale Climate Connections article by SueEllen Campbell published on June 3, 2024. The articles listed can help you tell fact from fiction when it comes to solar and wind energy. Some statements you hear about solar and wind energy are just plain false. ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Juggernaut
    Politics were going on all around us yesterday, and we barely noticed, rolling along canal paths, eating baguettes. It wasn’t until my mate got to the headlines last night that we learned there had been a dismayingly strong far right result in the EU elections and Macron had called a ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Numbers Game.
    Respect Existence, Or Expect Resistance? There may well have been 50,000 pairs of feet “Marching For Nature” down Auckland’s Queen Street on Saturday afternoon, but the figure that impresses the Coalition Government is the 1,450,000 pairs of Auckland feet that were somewhere else.IN THE ERA OF DRONES and Artificial Intelligence, ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago

  • Media Link: AVFA on post-colonial blowback.
    Selwyn Manning and I discuss varieties of post colonial blowback and the implications its has for the rise of the Global South. Counties discussed include Palestine/Israel, France/New Caledonia, England/India, apartheid/post-apartheid South Africa and post-colonial New Zealand. It is a bit … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    1 week ago

  • Policy by panic
    Back in March, Ombudsman Peter Boshier resigned when he hit the statutory retirement age of 72, leaving the country in the awkward (and legally questionable) position of having him continue as a temporay appointee. It apparently took the entire political system by surprise - as evinced by Labour's dick move ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • PSA: NZ's Richest Company, Zuru, Sucks
    Hi,Today the New Zealand press is breathlessly reporting that the owners of toy company Zuru are officially New Zealand’s wealthiest people: Mat and Nick Mowbray worth an estimated $20 billion between them.While the New Zealand press loses its shit celebrating this Kiwi success story, this is a Webworm reminder that ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago

  • Bernard's Dawn Chorus and pick 'n' mix for Monday, June 10
    TL;DR: The six things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty in the past day to 8:36 pm on Monday, June 10 were:20,000 protested against the Fast-track approval bill on Saturday in Auckland, but PM Christopher Luxon says ‘sorry, but not sorry’ about the need for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • In Defence of Kāinga Ora
    Given the headlines around the recent findings of the ‘independent’ review of Kāinga Ora by Bill English, you might assume this post will be about social housing, Kāinga Ora’s most prominent role. While that is indeed something that requires defending, I want to talk about the other core purpose of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    1 week ago

  • Baby You're A Rich Man
    “How does it feel to beOne of the beautiful peopleNow that you know who you areWhat do you want to beAnd have you traveled very far?Far as the eye can see”Yesterday the ACT party faithful were regaled with craven boasts, sneers, and demands for even more at their annual rally.That ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • Stopping a future Labour government from shutting down gas exploration
    A defiant Resources Minister Shane Jones has responded to Saturday’s environmental protests by ending Labour’s offshore oil exploration ban and calling for long-term contracts with any successful explorers. The purpose would be to prevent a future Labour Government from reversing any licence the explorers might hold. Jones sees a precedent ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 week ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #23
    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, June 2, 2024 thru Sat, June 8, 2024. Story of the week Our Story of the Week is Yale Climate Connection's Resources for debunking common solar and wind myths, by ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Fission by the river
    This is where we ate our lunch last Wednesday. Never mind your châteaux and castles and whatnot, we like to enjoy a baguette in the shadow of a nuclear power plant; a station that puts out more than twice as much as Manapouri using nothing more than tiny atoms to bring ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Fact Brief – Is the ocean acidifying?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by John Mason in collaboration with members from the Gigafact team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is the ocean acidifying? Acidification of oceans ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • 20,000+ on Queen St.
    The largest protest I ever went on was in the mid 90s. There were 10,000 people there that day, and I’ve never forgotten it. An enormous mass of people, chanting together. Stretching block after block, bringing traffic to a halt.But I can’t say that’s the biggest protest I’ve ever been ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • Josh Drummond's Columns
    Hi there,I wanted to put all of Josh Drummond’s Webworm pieces all in one place. I love that he writes for Webworm — and all of these are a good read!David.Why Are So Many “Christians” Hellbent on Being Horrible?Why do so many objectively hideous people declare themselves “Christian”?Meeting the Master ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago

  • Bernard’s Saturday soliloquy and weekend Pick ‘n’ Mix for June 8/9
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: On reflection, the six things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty this week were:The Government-driven freeze in building new classrooms, local roads and water networks in order to save cash for tax cuts is frustrating communities facing massive population ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • The no-vision thing
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past somewhat interrupted week. Still on the move!Share Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • When Journalists are Disingenuous
    Hi,One of the things I like the most about Webworm is to be able to break down the media and journalism a little, and go behind the scenes.This is one of those times.Yesterday an email arrived in my inbox from journalist Jonathan Milne, who is managing editor at Newsroom.I don’t ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago

  • Me, elsewhere: Just say you’ll do the thing
    Wrote something over at 1/200 on a familiar theme of mine: The way we frame the economy as a separate, sacred force which must be sacrificed to, the way we talk about criminals as invaders who must be repelled, the constant othering of people on the benefit, people not in ...
    Boots TheoryBy Stephanie Rodgers
    1 week ago

  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted
    A nice bit of news today: my 4600-word historical fantasy-horror piece, A Voyage Among the Vandals, has been accepted by Phobica Books (https://www.phobicabooks.co.uk/books) for their upcoming Pirate Horror anthology, Shivering Timbers. This one is set in the Mediterranean, during the mid-fifth century AD. Notable for having one of history’s designated ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago

  • Ministerial conflicts of interest
    Since the National government came to power, it has been surrounded by allegations of conflicts of interest. Firstly, there's the fast-track law, which concentrates power in the hands of three Ministers, some of whom have received donations from companies whose projects they will be deciding on. Secondly, there's the close ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • The 2024 Budget Forecasts Are Gloomy Prognosis About The Next Three Years.
    There was no less razzamatazz about the 2024 Budget than about earlier ones. Once again the underlying economic analysis got lost. It deserves more attention.Just to remind you, the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU), is the Treasury’s independent assessment and so can be analysed by other competent economists (although ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago

  • A government that can't see twenty feet ahead
    There are two failings that consistently characterise a National government. One is a lack of imagination, the other is their willingness to look after their mates, no matter what harm it might do to everyone else.This is how we come to have thousands of enormous trucks carving up our roads. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • A post I hope is incorrect
    In May, we learned that National MP David MacLeod had "forgotten" to declare $178,000 in electoral donations. Filing a donation return which is false in any material particular is a crime, and the Electoral Commission has now referred MacLeod to police, since they're the only people who are allowed to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Māori Cannot Re-Write New Zealand’s Constitution By Stealth.
    The Kotahitanga Parliament 1897: A Māori Parliament – at least in the guise of a large and representative body dedicated to describing the shape of New Zealand’s future from a Māori perspective – would be a very good idea.THE DEMAND for a “Māori Parliament” needs to be carefully unpicked. Some Pakeha, ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 weeks ago

  • Cowpats and Colonials.
    Dumbtown, is how my friend Gerard refers to people like ZB listeners - he’s not wrong.Normally on a Friday I start by looking at Mike Hosking’s moronic reckons of the week which he vomits down the throats of his audience like helpless baby birds in a nest, grateful for the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 weeks ago

  • Gordon Campbell on cutting the sick leave of vulnerable workers
    Should sick leave be part and parcel of the working conditions from Day One on the job, just like every other health and safety provision? Or should access to sick leave be something that only gradually accumulates, depending on how long a worker has been on the payroll? If enacted ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    2 weeks ago

  • Making it easier to build granny flats
    The Government has today announced that it is making it easier for people to build granny flats, Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop say. “Making it easier to build granny flats will make it more affordable for families to live the way that suits them ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago

  • High Court Judge appointed
    Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Auckland King’s Counsel Gregory Peter Blanchard as a High Court Judge. Justice Blanchard attended the University of Auckland from 1991 to 1995, graduating with an LLB (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (English). He was a solicitor with the firm that is now Dentons ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Health workforce numbers rise
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says new data released today shows encouraging growth in the health workforce, with a continued increase in the numbers of doctors, nurses and midwives joining Health New Zealand. “Frontline healthcare workers are the beating heart of the healthcare system. Increasing and retaining our health workforce ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Government to overhaul firearms laws
    Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has today announced a comprehensive programme to reform New Zealand's outdated and complicated firearms laws. “The Arms Act has been in place for over 40 years. It has been amended several times – in a piecemeal, and sometimes rushed way. This has resulted in outdated ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Government delivers landmark specialist schools investment
    The coalition Government is delivering record levels of targeted investment in specialist schools so children with additional needs can thrive. As part of Budget 24, $89 million has been ringfenced to redevelop specialist facilities and increase satellite classrooms for students with high needs. This includes: $63 million in depreciation funding ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Major health and safety consultation begins
    A substantial consultation on work health and safety will begin today with a roadshow across the regions over the coming months, says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden.  This the first step to deliver on the commitment to reforming health and safety law and regulations, set out in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Growing the potential of New Zealand’s forestry sector in partnership
    Forestry Minister Todd McClay, today announced the start of the Government’s plan to restore certainty and confidence in the forestry and wood processing sector. “This government will drive investment to unlock the industry’s economic potential for growth,” Mr McClay says. “Forestry’s success is critical to rebuilding New Zealand’s economy, boosting ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Government cancels forestry ETS annual service charges for 2023-24
    Annual service charges in the forestry Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be cancelled for 2023/24, Forestry Minister Todd McClay says. “The sector has told me the costs imposed on forestry owners by the previous government were excessive and unreasonable and I agree,” Mr McClay says. “They have said that there ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Speech to the LGNZ Infrastructure Symposium
    Introduction Thank you for having me here today and welcome to Wellington, the home of the Hurricanes, the next Super Rugby champions. Infrastructure – the challenge This government has inherited a series of big challenges in infrastructure. I don’t need to tell an audience as smart as this one that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Government boosts Agriculture and food trade with China
    Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard welcomed outcomes to boost agricultural and food trade between New Zealand and China. A number of documents were signed today at Government House that will improve the business environment between New Zealand and China, and help reduce barriers, including on infant formula ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • NZ and China launch Services Trade Negotiations
    Trade Minister Todd McClay, and China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, today announced the official launch of Negotiations on Services Trade between the two countries.  “The Government is focused on opening doors for services exporters to grow the New Zealand’s economy,” Mr McClay says.  As part of the 2022 New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Upgrade ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Prime Minister Luxon meets with Premier Li
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at Government House in Wellington today.  “I was pleased to welcome Premier Li to Wellington for his first official visit, which marks 10 years since New Zealand and China established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” Mr Luxon says. “The Premier and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Government and business tackling gender pay gap
    The coalition Government is taking action to reduce the gender pay gap in New Zealand through the development of a voluntary calculation tool. “Gender pay gaps have impacted women for decades, which is why we need to continue to drive change in New Zealand,” Acting Minister for Women Louise Upston ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Funding Boost for Rural Support Trusts
    The coalition Government is boosting funding for Rural Support Trusts to provide more help to farmers and growers under pressure, Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson announced today. “A strong and thriving agricultural sector is crucial to the New Zealand economy and one of the ways to support it is to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Latest data shows size of public service decreasing
    Spending on contractors and consultants continues to fall and the size of the Public Service workforce has started to decrease after years of growth, according to the latest data released today by the Public Service Commission. Workforce data for the quarter from 31 December 23 to 31 March 24 shows ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Speech to the Law Association
    Thank you to the Law Association for inviting me to speak this morning. As a former president under its previous name — the Auckland District Law Society — I take particular satisfaction in seeing this organisation, and its members, in such good heart. As Attorney-General, I am grateful for these ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • 25 years on, NZ reaffirms enduring friendship with Timor Leste
    New Zealand is committed to working closely with Timor-Leste to support its prosperity and resilience, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “This year is the 25th anniversary of New Zealand sending peacekeepers to Timor-Leste, who contributed to the country’s stabilisation and ultimately its independence,” Mr Peters says.    “A quarter ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Inquiry requested into rural banking
    Promoting robust competition in the banking sector is vital to rebuilding the economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says.  “New Zealanders deserve a banking sector that is as competitive as possible. Banking services play an important role in our communities and in the economy. Kiwis rely on access to lending when ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Ministry for Regulation targets red tape to keep farmers and growers competitive
    Regulation Minister David Seymour, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds, and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard have today announced a regulatory sector review on the approval process for new agricultural and horticultural products.    “Red tape stops farmers and growers from getting access to products that have been approved by other OECD countries. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Government to reverse blanket speed limit reductions
    The Coalition Government will reverse Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions by 1 July 2025 through a new Land Transport Rule released for public consultation today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  The draft speed limit rule will deliver on the National-ACT coalition commitment to reverse the previous government’s blanket speed limit ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Chair appointments for NZSO, CNZ and NZ On Air
    Minister Paul Goldsmith is making major leadership changes within both his Arts and Media portfolios. “I am delighted to announce Carmel Walsh will be officially stepping into the role of Chair of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, having been acting Chair since April,” Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Carmel is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Government focus on long-term food, fibre growth
    Food and fibre export revenue is tipped to reach $54.6 billion this year and hit a record $66.6b in 2028 as the Government focuses on getting better access to markets and cutting red tape, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones say. “This achievement is testament ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Govt consulting on cutting red tape for exporters
    A new export exemption proposal for food businesses demonstrates the coalition Government’s commitment to reducing regulatory barriers for industry and increasing the value of New Zealand exports, which gets safe New Zealand food to more markets, says Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard.  “The coalition Government has listened to the concerns ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • New Zealand and Philippines elevating relationship
    New Zealand and Philippines are continuing to elevate our relationship, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “The leaders of New Zealand and Philippines agreed in April 2024 to lift our relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership by 2026,” Mr Peters says. “Our visit to Manila this week has been an excellent ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Paid Parental Leave increase to help families
    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke van Velden says paid parental leave increase from 1 July will put more money in the pockets of Kiwi parents and give them extra support as they take precious time off to bond with their newborns. The increase takes effect from 1 July 2024 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Defence increases UN Command commitment
    The number of New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel deployed to the Republic of Korea is increasing, Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today.  NZDF will deploy up to 41 additional personnel to the Republic of Korea, increasing the size of its contribution to the United ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • New Zealand to attend 'Summit on Peace in Ukraine' in Switzerland
    New Zealand will be represented at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine by Minister Mark Mitchell in Switzerland later this week.    “New Zealand strongly supports Ukraine’s efforts to build a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace,” Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “Minister Mitchell is a senior Cabinet Minister and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Big step forward for M.bovis programme
    Farmers’ hard work is paying off in the fight against Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) with the move to a national pest management plan marking strong progress in the eradication effort, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard.  “The plan, approved by the Coalition Government, was proposed by the programme partners DairyNZ, Beef ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Build To Rent opening welcomed by Housing Minister
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Housing Minister Chris Bishop formally opened a new Build to Rent development in Mt Wellington this morning. “The Prime Minister and I were honoured to cut the ribbon of Resido, New Zealand’s largest Build to Rent development to date.  “Build to Rent housing, like the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Agriculture to come out of the ETS
    The Government will deliver on its election commitment to take agriculture out of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) and will establish a new Pastoral Sector Group to constructively tackle biogenic methane, Coalition Government Agriculture and Climate Change Ministers say. Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand farmers ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Luxon Tokyo-bound for political and business visit
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will travel to Japan from 16-20 June, his first visit as Prime Minister.   “Japan is incredibly important to New Zealand's prosperity. It is the world’s fourth largest economy, and our fourth largest export destination.  “As you know, growing the economy is my number one priority. A strong economy means ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Bayly travels to Singapore for scam prevention meetings
    Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Andrew Bayly, travels to Singapore today to attend scam and fraud prevention meetings. “Scams are a growing international problem, and we are not immune in New Zealand. Organised criminal networks operate across borders, and we need to work with our Asia-Pacific partners to tackle ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • More help for homeowners impacted by severe weather
    People who were displaced by severe weather events in 2022 and 2023 will be supported by the extension of Temporary Accommodation Assistance through to 30 June 2025. Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says the coalition Government is continuing to help to those who were forced out of their ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Government to reverse oil and gas exploration ban
    Removing the ban on petroleum exploration beyond onshore Taranaki is part of a suite of proposed amendments to the Crown Minerals Act to deal with the energy security challenges posed by rapidly declining natural gas reserves, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “Natural gas is critical to keeping our lights on ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand and Malaysia to intensify connections
    New Zealand and Malaysia intend to intensify their long-standing, deep connections, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “Malaysia is one of New Zealand’s oldest friends in South-East Asia – and both countries intend to get more out of the relationship," Mr Peters says.   "Our connections already run deep and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Ending contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua
    The end of Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) motels in Rotorua is nearing another milestone as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announces it will not renew consents for six of the original 13 motels, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The government is committed to stop using CEH ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • First Home Grant closure exemptions
    The Government is providing a narrow exemption from the discontinuation of the First Home Grant for first home buyers who may face unfair situations as a result, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The First Home Grant scheme was closed with immediate effect on 22 May 2024, with savings being reprioritised ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Faster consenting for flood protection projects in Hawke's Bay
    Work to increase flood resilience in Hawke’s Bay can start sooner, thanks to a new fast consenting process, Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell and Environment Minister Penny Simmonds say.  “Faster consenting means work to build stop banks, spillways and other infrastructure can get underway sooner, increasing flood ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Judge Craig Coxhead and Nathan Milner newest Māori Land Court appointments
    Tangata tū tangata ora, tangata noho tangata mate. Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka today announced acting Deputy Chief Judge Craig Coxhead as the new Deputy Chief Judge, and Nathan Milner as Judge of the Māori Land Court. "I want to congratulate Judge Coxhead and Mr Milner on their appointments ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Government signs Indo-Pacific Economic agreements to boost trade
    Trade Minister Todd McClay and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts, today signed three Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) agreements that will boost investment, grow New Zealand’s digital and green economies and increase trade between New Zealand and the 14 IPEF partners. IPEF’s partners represent 40 per cent of global GDP ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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