So, the government has been shown, while in the international spotlight, how much Auckland’s public transport fails to meet acceptable standards. Will they take note? I doubt it. Joyce will keep on in his blinkered way with his RONZ, and Key will be too busy sledging heads of other governments cause he reckons he has some responsibility for the ABs.
Its a National shame. They came from all quarters of the globe to see the opening
and National have dropped the ball. They could not get the crowds the few kms from
the centre of our largest city, to our National Stadium in time to see the opening
kick off. WTF.
Over the last 60 years it was mostly National and their local council flunkies but Labour have to take some of the blame as well. They were told when they got the RWC that Auckland PT wasn’t up to it and yet they still spent more money on roads than on PT.
… and we have a Prime Minister who is all class. What an astoundingly immature conclusion to his “Opening” speech at Eden Park last night. Must make you so proud
Hooten et al. The dignity shown of a lout in a pub. Expressed the same partisanship as he probably showed (but denies) in 1981.
Saturday Mornings with Kim Hill, Radio New Zealand National, 3 September 2011:
Kim Hill interviews cartoonist/satirist/author/playwright, Tom Scott, about the 1981 Springbok Tour and his latest television docu-drama, Rage, on the same subject:
Over the first 11 minutes, Scott waxes lyrical about his impeccable anti-apartheid credentials –
– “For me personally, I had a long battle with apartheid – it’s something I really cared about…”;
– He outlines how, in 1976, 1978 and 1981, he either lost or nearly lost various cartooning/journalism jobs by submitting cartoons critical of either apartheid or, more specifically, sporting contacts with South Africa;
– Following his 1981 job loss he tells us “I thought, I’ve got three children and no job again over apartheid”;
But then at a cocktail party in Melbourne a few weeks later, Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere praises Scott and thanks him for the Springbok Tour protests;
And, lastly, Scott tells Hill that “straight away after the Tour, when I was invited to speak to police groups and rugby groups, I accepted every invitation from the people I disagreed with…..so I took every rugby and police invitation I could.”
So far so good (well, except for Scott’s tendency to play ‘the burning martyr’ just a little bit – ‘look how particularly sensitive and caring I am and how much I’ve sacrificed for the cause, I truly am a moral exemplar’. Arguably a tendency characteristic of more than a few middle class liberal members of the Hippy Generation).
All of which makes the following admission absolutely friggin astounding:
At 11:40, Kim Hill puts it to Scott that “…in the drama Rage, the pro-tour people are generally depicted as beer-swilling, abusive thugs.”
Tom Scott replies: “Yeah, well they were…and, I mean, I was Pro-Tour, so…”
Kim Hill: “Pro-Tour and Anti-Apartheid ?”
Tom Scott: “Yeah, I was anti-apartheid. But there were some really ugly things happen (sic)…really dreadful, ugly things happened, but there were young policemen – Phil Gifford told me a story – he was standing in the crowd…”
This Pro-Tour admission is extraordinary on two levels:
First, it doesn’t sit too well with the way Scott depicts himself in the first 11 minutes, in fact it verges on rank hypocrisy. So much for the burning martyr who somehow felt black African suffering so much more acutely than everyone else !!!!!
Second, Kim Interuptus Hill – the woman known for butting-in on her guests’ replies – lets him get away with it Scott-free (as it were) !!!!! As you can see, she allows him to completely change the subject, rather than highlighting this astonishing admission.
… acshly, there is a great deal of reservedness and dignity left in New Zealand. Remember, this is not New Zealand’s RWC, but NZ is simply the stage for hosting it. The seemingly alcohol-tainted speech from Key (and his astounding aping of Len Brown not 60 minutes earlier) does not and should not resonate with “normal” New Zealand.
Hello there ! Have I not been saying for some time that Key has a drink problem. My observations of this PM convinces me he drinks more alcohol than is good for him. Just observe how he behaves 90% of time.
I was being lulled into a feel-good place by the wonderful light show and then someone announces John Key. I went from a dream state feeling good about NZ to stomach churning awareness as if I had been hit by a foul smelling, rotting and wet haddock. You just want to burn your clothes and delouse and shower!
Not all that was on display to the world was the best of NZ.
I wonder if someone overseas said, “Hey look! It’s that boob from Letterman!”
@ Brett Dale – Yes, you do have a point to be considered. It must be remembered that John Key and his political organ grinders have deliberately reduced NZ politics, the politics of National and this coming election into a personality contest in an effort to hide the truth of what they stand for.
That sets John up as a idol to be worshiped by the ignorant but it also sets him up as the object of scorn by those detect that whiff of sulphur that surrounds him.
We have our moments of focusing on his cardboard cut-out “personality” and the carefully Textor-Crosby created narrative of the poor boy made good. We get sick of the whole smile and wave routine.
But we will discuss policies any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
The more you lot try to put down JK the funnier it is.
To me he sounded like someone that was genuinely enjoying himself and having a great time (suspect he may have had one or two of the sponsers product) which means that once again hes connecting with the majority of voters in way Goff can’t
But who cares as long as the tournaments a success and the ABs lift the cup!
So the tournament was an abject failure last night. Trains not working, central city patalysed, buses running people down. But yay for our drunk leader!
Who gives a shit what you think – we debate policy on other threads, you never make a comment there, quite simply because you cannot string an argument supporting the dire policies that your bessie mate Johnny Key has screwed the country with.
Where are you on the threads about CGT, about NS, about creating jobs, about sorting out ChCh – absent. You never squeak once on those threads, but anyone dares to challenge Mr. Squeaky clean your responsie is “is that all you have got”
Piss off back to Kiwiblog or Blubber boy; come back when you actually have grown some balls to DEBATE POLICY, not simply defend the prick that is messing up this country (and embarrassing it quite frequently too)
But who cares as long as the tournaments a success and the ABs lift the cup!
My second try, I had a sodding browser crash!
Wow, bread and circuses, hey Chris? Two thirds of New Zealanders don’t give a tinker’s about the RWC. We will not be distracted. 😛
Does anyone qualified want to give John Key a few Te Reo Maori lessons? Or even suggest that he learn a greeting or two for occasions like that? Why did it take a Frenchman to introduce our other official language to the world?
The Standard blogsite is one of New Zealands highest rating political blogsites.(1) Not just an invite only collaborative blog, The Standard is a collective of various politically left-aligned commentators.
I would prefer to keep it generic instead of saying #2 so I don’t have to edit for changes.
Half of the traffic through kiwiblog comes from Crosby Textor / National MPs looking for a home I’m guessing?
The Standard allows collaboration as you say and this is what sets it apart. It’s not about ego, nor propagandist PR; it’s about sharing ideas, stimulating thought and generating discussion on many subjects. That’s why I’ve started coming here and that’s why I’m guessing many others have … congrats to the Iprent and the guys!
AND they end up going to trademe
the hatred towards the left is alive and well in there
they dont moderate much so tend to get real nasty
but im a gay man and i got a comeback to most of them lol
its fun to watch THEM squeal
Breaking: High explosive residue has been found in the lung tissue of 911 first responders.
Because it had to be been determined whether 911 first responders who died in the aftermath of 911 died of diseases caused by the dust they inhaled and swallowed on 911 and the days after their bodies had to be autopsied.
It has just been announced at the Toronto hearings that their lungs contained high explosive residue. This connects the dust of the buildings to the explosive particles found in the dust collected by New Yorkers on that day as analysed by the team lead by prof. Nils Harrit of the Danish University of Copenhagen. Prof. Harrit is a scientist specialised in Nano technology.
Day Two of the Toronto Hearings are now available with videos to view and download at the UStream site
various youtube broadcasters are also starting to repost the Facts as they get presented throughout this detailed and legitimate presentation of evidence
There is already a very clear interest in the report from these hearings when it gets released
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A member of the 9/11 commission said Wednesday that panel members so distrusted testimony from Pentagon officials that they referred their concerns to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
The panel even considered taking the matter to the Justice Department for a possible criminal probe, commission member Tim Roemer said.
“We were extremely frustrated with the false statements we were getting,” Roemer told CNN. “We were not sure of the intent, whether it was to deceive the commission or merely part of the fumbling bureaucracy.”
The issues concerned Pentagon officials’ testimony about the timeline of events on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked four U.S. airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
The scope of the new evidence being presented at Toronto is chilling in its clarity.
The deniers have been presented a clear choice, believe the proof delivered with fact based evidence, or continue to poison their life with the Official Story of deceptions and lies.
Reminds me of the debate about CGT. That if you don’t
tax Capital gains then you only prolong and deepen recessions
and hold the economy back from change.
If you don’t stay engaged, have ongoing contact with your
economy, or the revoltion, you cannot act as quickly or
as precisely.
They get my vote.
By all accounts his autobio is a white wash of himself and blames everyone else. It’s been speculated that he’s afraid of being tried as a war criminal.
Canada being one of the only countries where there is an actual law permitting the legal and binding action of a citizens’ arrest, Cheney should be very very nervous, and i doubt this talk date will happen as the amount of interest during the Toronto Hearings are proving he is not a popular guy
This was briefly on the stuff website this morning – been taken down now. At a time when hundreds of Ministry of Heallth workers are losing their jobs someone with no background in health, and no appointment process, but with great connections to government, is paid a lot of money to develop some sort of health network.
Hilary, from experience on here you really need to elaborate of this! Bill English’s brother has been handed a contract to ‘trim the fat’ from the Ministry of Health – 400+ jobs to go in the next three years.
Jobs for the boys, eh!
” Frank 6 You said:
9 September 2011 at 12:41 pm
oh and by the way…regarding your main blog – you people just believe everything you read in the media right?!
It’s the whole truth right there yeah?!
Grow up, seriously, you know full well how the media love to misrepresent important facts to make things look worse than they actually are.
Take it from me personally – if you ever think someone has missed out on their full and correct entilments from WINZ, send the person’s details (full name/date of birth) to info@msd.govt.nz
They WILL look at it urgently and they WILL sort it out.
” Frank 7.1.1.2.1 You said:
9 September 2011 at 3:17 pm
Which brings me back to my original point:
You say you want competence, not perfection…. and yet whenyou are spoon-fed a media-spun story of incompetence, you are quite happy to ignorantly accept it as gospel and run your mean-spirited mouth off decrying criminal prosecutions for state employees !!! ”
AND Frank, every time someone gets crapped out by WINZ, yet another important people-service department which has had its front line services severely knocked back by this government, I hope they will come to you Frank to tell you their story when that email address does not deliver any help. Thank you so much Frank for your help.
It also reminds me of the Bay … local paper that reported John Key saying he “would love to see wages drop”. It’s in the smaller papers you often get some actual ethical journalism. e.g. By Sophie Rishworth of the Gisborne Herald
2:13 PM Thursday Sep 8, 2011 ‘The new mum approached Bronwyn Kay Agency to find accommodation after falling out with a cousin she was staying with.’
You are absolutely correct, however, about the bigger foreign owned and conservatively run Herald, etc.
Anyone that wants a little taste of the incompetence people in Canterbury are dealing with on a day to day basis, take a look quick look at the EQC Frequently asked Questions page ( http://canterbury.eqc.govt.nz/faq ), please click on one of the Questions and try reading!!!!, some of the pointy heads here at the standard will love the color layout and in my browser I have to resize the page a few times before it will fit my screen.
The site rendered ok for me (Firefox) but talk about redundant links.
They probably sold it as being able to “retoggle your offset parameters on an enterprise wide muti-layered block-advance system on an intra-office gigafloppy network of etherwire interfaced page solutions to neuro-enhance the user satisfaction experience”.
i.e. lotsa extra links that tell you nothing new but that will cost ya extra.
Australian millionaire Dick Smith is so fed up with the ”selfish” rich that he has vowed to name and shame those who aren’t giving back to their community, saying they should ”rack off” if they won’t open their wallets to donate.
”I am absolutely disgusted that most of the wealthy are so utterly selfish and I can’t work out how everyone let’s them get away with it,” the millionaire entrepreneur said.
Smith had started naming individuals not doing their philanthropic duty because they should be ashamed, he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
”I’m going to ‘out’ these people. If they don’t donate, they’re going to be embarrassed.”
More than 2000 people declared more than $1 million a year in income but claimed no tax deductions for charitable giving, showing they had donated nothing, he said. ”We’ve got to get it so it is an obligation if you’re wealthy to become a philanthropist. Otherwise we don’t want you in this country – rack off.”
I’d be happy if people got a fair wage, unlike our current one, then either there wouldn’t be so many millionaires, because they were paying all their tax and/or they were not stripping wages in order to increase their net profits.
Hidden away inthe Herald was the news item that Key wants the taxpayer to pay for Hubbard funeral . What is going on. There is something fishy about this business. Billions paid out in compensation to rich greedy speculators. Remember whennthe latre H
Hidden away in the Herald was the news item that Key wants the taxpayer to pay for the Hubbard funeral. What is going on with this sordid business.
Billions was paid out in compensation to greedy rich speculators by the taxpayer, There is something very fishy about the whole epsode.
Remember that the late Hubbard stated that nothing would have happened if Mr.Key had not been abroad. So whats it all about ? Someone with the know how should investigate the whole business, It stinks and I think the Nats are involved.
Whether the taxpayer stumps up the money depends on what funds you’re talking about.
As Fran O’Sullivan pointed this week, on that financial show that comes on before Breakfast, many people are confused about what funds are what. The Prime Minister seems to be one of them.
There is South Canterbury Finance – which is separate to the funds that were frozen – but supposedly qualified for the Retail Deposit Guarantee scheme. I say supposedly because there is some doubt that it does in fact qualify. I haven’t followed this up yet to see what she meant.
Of the funds that were frozen, from what I understand, there is Aorangi (Finance?) and a few other entities AND the Hubbard’s personal finances.
My understanding is that it is the personal finances that could be released for the funeral. As they are personal, and not subject to government guarantee, there is no obvious obligation on the taxpayer.
However, the situation is murky and people are owed a shed load of money, so money released for the funeral is less money for claimants to chase.
Key has admitted that on his FIRST DAY IN OFFICE they were told it was going bust. Yet Key and English allowed it to remain in the deposit guarantee scheme.
It is just a fucking rort. And the bad lending which took place after SCF was let into the scheme (being guaranteed of course all depositors overloaded SCF with money and it had to go somewhere – so why not into a bailout of the unsavoury positions SCF’s cronies and employees and associates were in.) has got to be criminal. Lachie McLeod is in the firing line (but note he received a $20million golden handshake for being fired for all the bad lending).
Agree with you VTO. We should all be saying very loudly “Why didn’t the the Nats start rolling back the scheme, by gradually dropping coverage of the interest, the top end of each deposit, say over $200,000 and confining it to those who had money invested at the date it went into the scheme?”
The other thing I have always been curious about, is was any back to back lending uncovered?
The sort where somebody has a loan with another party or even SCF and they know it is going to be
hard going to service it so they pitch up a story about how they are going to [renovate, expand ] the business and need a bigger loan. Part of the deal is that it will take time to spend the loan so they agree to deposit back or hold an offsetting deposit of some of the funds lent. Original loan to other bank is paid back, loan drawn down on SCF and deposit put into SCF and when it all goes south it turns out that the loan is to a company in liquidation and the deposit is held by a family trust or some other entity with no security offset. Home free.
The four big corporations are Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, and Bayer. Together, they represent that truly rare thing, a visible corner being turned in human history: the rise of the first global, seed-based food oligopoly since the dawn of agriculture.
New Zealand Time:
Sunday, September 11, 2011
01:00 – 01;15 Moderators: Overview of the Day’s Testimony
01:15 – 02:30 Graeme MacQueen: Eyewitness Evidence of Explosions at WTC
02:45 – 04:00 David Chandler: WTC 7: A Refutation of the Official Account
05:00 – 06:15 Jon Cole: The Official Account and the Experimental Method
06:15 – 07:30 Kevin Ryan: Extreme Temperatures
07:45 – 09:00 Niels Harrit: Incendiary/Explosive Residue in the WTC Dust
09:00 – 09:30 Audience Question and Answer
Please be aware the schedule has remained accurate each day
Serious stiuff.
Is there any support for an ongoing blog about policies we mught like to see adopted by non Nact parties.
Me personally, I would like to see promises about restoring democracy esp to Ecan and removing the King Gerry acts, and sending all or the bulk of legislation passed under urgency back to select comittees to see what tweaking(?) it needs.
I know that no political party can promise to undo all the actions of a previous government as none of us would know where we stood and that size of repeal threat has to be reserved for the big stuff like ACC privatisation but there should be some way to make all this legislative urgency uncomfortable for those politcal parties that indulge in it, even if it is some way down the track.
“Me personally, I would like to see promises about restoring democracy esp to Ecan and removing the King Gerry acts, and sending all or the bulk of legislation passed under urgency back to select comittees to see what tweaking(?) it needs.”
Absolutely. These are the democratic outrages that made me think about voting Green instead of Labour – these and the beginnings of disenfranchising particular groups. The Greens seem more intent on protecting democratic processes. However, since then Mr Blue-Green has emerged. At least I know Labour won’t coalesce with NAct. I’ll probably have to make up my mind who to vote for on the day.
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Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
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So, the government has been shown, while in the international spotlight, how much Auckland’s public transport fails to meet acceptable standards. Will they take note? I doubt it. Joyce will keep on in his blinkered way with his RONZ, and Key will be too busy sledging heads of other governments cause he reckons he has some responsibility for the ABs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10750606
Its a National shame. They came from all quarters of the globe to see the opening
and National have dropped the ball. They could not get the crowds the few kms from
the centre of our largest city, to our National Stadium in time to see the opening
kick off. WTF.
Over the last 60 years it was mostly National and their local council flunkies but Labour have to take some of the blame as well. They were told when they got the RWC that Auckland PT wasn’t up to it and yet they still spent more money on roads than on PT.
… and we have a Prime Minister who is all class. What an astoundingly immature conclusion to his “Opening” speech at Eden Park last night. Must make you so proud
Hooten et al. The dignity shown of a lout in a pub. Expressed the same partisanship as he probably showed (but denies) in 1981.
Can’t anybody find some of Key’s friends from 1981 who can tell his position on the tour?
Or didn’t he have friends?
Did I hear Tom Scott right ??????
Saturday Mornings with Kim Hill, Radio New Zealand National, 3 September 2011:
Kim Hill interviews cartoonist/satirist/author/playwright, Tom Scott, about the 1981 Springbok Tour and his latest television docu-drama, Rage, on the same subject:
Over the first 11 minutes, Scott waxes lyrical about his impeccable anti-apartheid credentials –
– “For me personally, I had a long battle with apartheid – it’s something I really cared about…”;
– He outlines how, in 1976, 1978 and 1981, he either lost or nearly lost various cartooning/journalism jobs by submitting cartoons critical of either apartheid or, more specifically, sporting contacts with South Africa;
– Following his 1981 job loss he tells us “I thought, I’ve got three children and no job again over apartheid”;
But then at a cocktail party in Melbourne a few weeks later, Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere praises Scott and thanks him for the Springbok Tour protests;
And, lastly, Scott tells Hill that “straight away after the Tour, when I was invited to speak to police groups and rugby groups, I accepted every invitation from the people I disagreed with…..so I took every rugby and police invitation I could.”
So far so good (well, except for Scott’s tendency to play ‘the burning martyr’ just a little bit – ‘look how particularly sensitive and caring I am and how much I’ve sacrificed for the cause, I truly am a moral exemplar’. Arguably a tendency characteristic of more than a few middle class liberal members of the Hippy Generation).
All of which makes the following admission absolutely friggin astounding:
At 11:40, Kim Hill puts it to Scott that “…in the drama Rage, the pro-tour people are generally depicted as beer-swilling, abusive thugs.”
Tom Scott replies: “Yeah, well they were…and, I mean, I was Pro-Tour, so…”
Kim Hill: “Pro-Tour and Anti-Apartheid ?”
Tom Scott: “Yeah, I was anti-apartheid. But there were some really ugly things happen (sic)…really dreadful, ugly things happened, but there were young policemen – Phil Gifford told me a story – he was standing in the crowd…”
This Pro-Tour admission is extraordinary on two levels:
First, it doesn’t sit too well with the way Scott depicts himself in the first 11 minutes, in fact it verges on rank hypocrisy. So much for the burning martyr who somehow felt black African suffering so much more acutely than everyone else !!!!!
Second, Kim Interuptus Hill – the woman known for butting-in on her guests’ replies – lets him get away with it Scott-free (as it were) !!!!! As you can see, she allows him to completely change the subject, rather than highlighting this astonishing admission.
Bizarre stuff.
@logie97, that’s why he is so popular…he resonates with normal NZ. All power to him! It was a great speech to welcome our visitors!
… acshly, there is a great deal of reservedness and dignity left in New Zealand. Remember, this is not New Zealand’s RWC, but NZ is simply the stage for hosting it. The seemingly alcohol-tainted speech from Key (and his astounding aping of Len Brown not 60 minutes earlier) does not and should not resonate with “normal” New Zealand.
but alcohol is good
drink more
and thats the way it is
That way the National party gets even more funding and we get weaker health policy!
Hello there ! Have I not been saying for some time that Key has a drink problem. My observations of this PM convinces me he drinks more alcohol than is good for him. Just observe how he behaves 90% of time.
I was being lulled into a feel-good place by the wonderful light show and then someone announces John Key. I went from a dream state feeling good about NZ to stomach churning awareness as if I had been hit by a foul smelling, rotting and wet haddock. You just want to burn your clothes and delouse and shower!
Not all that was on display to the world was the best of NZ.
I wonder if someone overseas said, “Hey look! It’s that boob from Letterman!”
Same at my place, a feel good scenario suddenly spoilt by dick face turning up. “Go the mighty All Blacks” good one Shonkey.
Quick reminder, that was done by Aussie’s – they gave the contract for that to, yes, Australians! makes you proud to be Kiwi Australasian!
Geeze Louise, you guys sound like the teabaggers when they talk about President Obama.
except the yanks dont have a ass like Jokey making a mockery of being a prime minister every chance it gets
he has nothing going for him
its all an act to fool the gen public in nz,some of us aint fooled and never will be
how is that teabagging?
jus remember Norway-that was a right wing nutter
and that senator who got shot in her head and lived– she wasnt a teabagger either the shooter however was a teabagger
see a pattern here?
erm…a small correction…Congresswoman Giffords is a member of the house of representatives, not a senator.
As for the rest of your comment, yup, spot on.
@ Brett Dale – Yes, you do have a point to be considered. It must be remembered that John Key and his political organ grinders have deliberately reduced NZ politics, the politics of National and this coming election into a personality contest in an effort to hide the truth of what they stand for.
That sets John up as a idol to be worshiped by the ignorant but it also sets him up as the object of scorn by those detect that whiff of sulphur that surrounds him.
We have our moments of focusing on his cardboard cut-out “personality” and the carefully Textor-Crosby created narrative of the poor boy made good. We get sick of the whole smile and wave routine.
But we will discuss policies any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
The more you lot try to put down JK the funnier it is.
To me he sounded like someone that was genuinely enjoying himself and having a great time (suspect he may have had one or two of the sponsers product) which means that once again hes connecting with the majority of voters in way Goff can’t
But who cares as long as the tournaments a success and the ABs lift the cup!
So the tournament was an abject failure last night. Trains not working, central city patalysed, buses running people down. But yay for our drunk leader!
Drunk leader? Can you please elaborate or is that just another lie?
he was swaying so badly he had to hold onto the lecturn in case it flew away, and he forgot to introduce the rugby guy to open the cup :]
Yeah hes gone up in my estimation. Its like he was a european leader.
so it’s more a “he’s not drunk! He can lay on the floor without holding on” type situation ?
chris73 Like a European leader – Berlusconi?
Yeltsin
Bit like catching Oz or repealing S59 interpretation …..what did he mean by drunk.
Who gives a shit what you think – we debate policy on other threads, you never make a comment there, quite simply because you cannot string an argument supporting the dire policies that your bessie mate Johnny Key has screwed the country with.
Where are you on the threads about CGT, about NS, about creating jobs, about sorting out ChCh – absent. You never squeak once on those threads, but anyone dares to challenge Mr. Squeaky clean your responsie is “is that all you have got”
Piss off back to Kiwiblog or Blubber boy; come back when you actually have grown some balls to DEBATE POLICY, not simply defend the prick that is messing up this country (and embarrassing it quite frequently too)
jk was great! thank god it wasn’t that sour faced helen clark.
Oh bread and circuses, absolutely! It doesn’t work sorry… Two thirds of NZers could not give a tinker’s about the RWC, and won’t be distracted… 😛
My second try, I had a sodding browser crash!
Wow, bread and circuses, hey Chris? Two thirds of New Zealanders don’t give a tinker’s about the RWC. We will not be distracted. 😛
Where your union fees go.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/systemic-organised-fraud-20110909-1k21d.html
Excellent point – I’ll stop my union fees on Monday, and put the money into finance companies instead.
+1
Where National spends our taxes
http://dimpost.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/south-cantubury-finance-let-me-get-this-straight/
That’s bullshit, I live in New Zealand.
“Auatralian Tory Rag tell us where union fees are being spent.”
There – fixed it for ya!
Does anyone qualified want to give John Key a few Te Reo Maori lessons? Or even suggest that he learn a greeting or two for occasions like that? Why did it take a Frenchman to introduce our other official language to the world?
Shonkey mangles English already, please don’t let him loose on Te Reo Māori. But the point is taken and was widely noticed across the networks.
I wondered why Bill was looking sick as a dog recently. That explains it.
Joyce for DPM!!!
He’s yet to master english let alone another
Does this sound right?
The Standard blogsite is one of New Zealands highest rating political blogsites.(1) Not just an invite only collaborative blog, The Standard is a collective of various politically left-aligned commentators.
I would prefer to keep it generic instead of saying #2 so I don’t have to edit for changes.
Half of the traffic through kiwiblog comes from Crosby Textor / National MPs looking for a home I’m guessing?
The Standard allows collaboration as you say and this is what sets it apart. It’s not about ego, nor propagandist PR; it’s about sharing ideas, stimulating thought and generating discussion on many subjects. That’s why I’ve started coming here and that’s why I’m guessing many others have … congrats to the Iprent and the guys!
AND they end up going to trademe
the hatred towards the left is alive and well in there
they dont moderate much so tend to get real nasty
but im a gay man and i got a comeback to most of them lol
its fun to watch THEM squeal
Breaking: High explosive residue has been found in the lung tissue of 911 first responders.
Because it had to be been determined whether 911 first responders who died in the aftermath of 911 died of diseases caused by the dust they inhaled and swallowed on 911 and the days after their bodies had to be autopsied.
It has just been announced at the Toronto hearings that their lungs contained high explosive residue. This connects the dust of the buildings to the explosive particles found in the dust collected by New Yorkers on that day as analysed by the team lead by prof. Nils Harrit of the Danish University of Copenhagen. Prof. Harrit is a scientist specialised in Nano technology.
Day Two of the Toronto Hearings are now available with videos to view and download at the UStream site
various youtube broadcasters are also starting to repost the Facts as they get presented throughout this detailed and legitimate presentation of evidence
There is already a very clear interest in the report from these hearings when it gets released
the clean link above seems busted
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thetorontohearings
torontohearings.org
Going back to 2006, this is what 9/11 Commissioners thought of the evidence and depositions provided by the Pentagon i.e. it was crap.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/02/9-11panel.pentagon/index.html
earlier today Barbara Honegger had some choice words for Pentagon officials :]
Thanks for the link! I put it up on my blog.
The scope of the new evidence being presented at Toronto is chilling in its clarity.
The deniers have been presented a clear choice, believe the proof delivered with fact based evidence, or continue to poison their life with the Official Story of deceptions and lies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14841018
Seems cutting the internet only prolongs and deepens a revolution.
Reminds me of the debate about CGT. That if you don’t
tax Capital gains then you only prolong and deepen recessions
and hold the economy back from change.
If you don’t stay engaged, have ongoing contact with your
economy, or the revoltion, you cannot act as quickly or
as precisely.
Yay!.
http://www.straight.com/article-450786/vancouver/lawyer-seeks-cheney-arrest
They get my vote.
By all accounts his autobio is a white wash of himself and blames everyone else. It’s been speculated that he’s afraid of being tried as a war criminal.
Canada being one of the only countries where there is an actual law permitting the legal and binding action of a citizens’ arrest, Cheney should be very very nervous, and i doubt this talk date will happen as the amount of interest during the Toronto Hearings are proving he is not a popular guy
This was briefly on the stuff website this morning – been taken down now. At a time when hundreds of Ministry of Heallth workers are losing their jobs someone with no background in health, and no appointment process, but with great connections to government, is paid a lot of money to develop some sort of health network.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/5598200/Englishs-brother-lands-lucrative-health-contract
Hilary, from experience on here you really need to elaborate of this!
Bill English’s brother has been handed a contract to ‘trim the fat’ from the Ministry of Health – 400+ jobs to go in the next three years.
Jobs for the boys, eh!
Frank,
Just forwarding your comments to open mike 10/Sept/2011 because you had made such an important point about the media on:http://thestandard.org.nz/nrt-john-keys-new-zealand/#comment-373210
” Frank 6 You said:
9 September 2011 at 12:41 pm
oh and by the way…regarding your main blog – you people just believe everything you read in the media right?!
It’s the whole truth right there yeah?!
Grow up, seriously, you know full well how the media love to misrepresent important facts to make things look worse than they actually are.
Take it from me personally – if you ever think someone has missed out on their full and correct entilments from WINZ, send the person’s details (full name/date of birth) to info@msd.govt.nz
They WILL look at it urgently and they WILL sort it out.
” Frank 7.1.1.2.1 You said:
9 September 2011 at 3:17 pm
Which brings me back to my original point:
You say you want competence, not perfection…. and yet whenyou are spoon-fed a media-spun story of incompetence, you are quite happy to ignorantly accept it as gospel and run your mean-spirited mouth off decrying criminal prosecutions for state employees !!! ”
AND Frank, every time someone gets crapped out by WINZ, yet another important people-service department which has had its front line services severely knocked back by this government, I hope they will come to you Frank to tell you their story when that email address does not deliver any help. Thank you so much Frank for your help.
It also reminds me of the Bay … local paper that reported John Key saying he “would love to see wages drop”. It’s in the smaller papers you often get some actual ethical journalism. e.g. By Sophie Rishworth of the Gisborne Herald
2:13 PM Thursday Sep 8, 2011 ‘The new mum approached Bronwyn Kay Agency to find accommodation after falling out with a cousin she was staying with.’
You are absolutely correct, however, about the bigger foreign owned and conservatively run Herald, etc.
This government treats our youth like a cheap resource rather than as an investment in our future.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/09/rwc-powered-by-goodwill-volunteers-and.html
Anyone that wants a little taste of the incompetence people in Canterbury are dealing with on a day to day basis, take a look quick look at the EQC Frequently asked Questions page ( http://canterbury.eqc.govt.nz/faq ), please click on one of the Questions and try reading!!!!, some of the pointy heads here at the standard will love the color layout and in my browser I have to resize the page a few times before it will fit my screen.
Great job Gerry, great job.
The site rendered ok for me (Firefox) but talk about redundant links.
They probably sold it as being able to “retoggle your offset parameters on an enterprise wide muti-layered block-advance system on an intra-office gigafloppy network of etherwire interfaced page solutions to neuro-enhance the user satisfaction experience”.
i.e. lotsa extra links that tell you nothing new but that will cost ya extra.
Once you open the links it’s the light blue on light grey that I can’t read.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/5600315/Smith-threatens-to-out-rich-who-don-t-help-others
I know where I’ll be shopping in future.
Ianupnorth,
I’d be happy if people got a fair wage, unlike our current one, then either there wouldn’t be so many millionaires, because they were paying all their tax and/or they were not stripping wages in order to increase their net profits.
Hidden away inthe Herald was the news item that Key wants the taxpayer to pay for Hubbard funeral . What is going on. There is something fishy about this business. Billions paid out in compensation to rich greedy speculators. Remember whennthe latre H
i thought they were only wanting to release funds from the Hubbards’ accounts for the funeral costs
Hidden away in the Herald was the news item that Key wants the taxpayer to pay for the Hubbard funeral. What is going on with this sordid business.
Billions was paid out in compensation to greedy rich speculators by the taxpayer, There is something very fishy about the whole epsode.
Remember that the late Hubbard stated that nothing would have happened if Mr.Key had not been abroad. So whats it all about ? Someone with the know how should investigate the whole business, It stinks and I think the Nats are involved.
Whether the taxpayer stumps up the money depends on what funds you’re talking about.
As Fran O’Sullivan pointed this week, on that financial show that comes on before Breakfast, many people are confused about what funds are what. The Prime Minister seems to be one of them.
There is South Canterbury Finance – which is separate to the funds that were frozen – but supposedly qualified for the Retail Deposit Guarantee scheme. I say supposedly because there is some doubt that it does in fact qualify. I haven’t followed this up yet to see what she meant.
Of the funds that were frozen, from what I understand, there is Aorangi (Finance?) and a few other entities AND the Hubbard’s personal finances.
My understanding is that it is the personal finances that could be released for the funeral. As they are personal, and not subject to government guarantee, there is no obvious obligation on the taxpayer.
However, the situation is murky and people are owed a shed load of money, so money released for the funeral is less money for claimants to chase.
Yeah on one of the groups I belong too on facebook- it has been implied they were behind the accident-
dunno wot to believe actually but theres a hell of alot of people agreeing..
I wanna know why 60 million was given bk to SCF and the govts frantic attempts @ gettin hold of said 60 million $ by trying to clkaw it back
this whole thing stinks allright but hey the RWC is on– theyll forget about it all eh
Yeah on one of the groups I belong too on facebook- it has been implied they were behind the accident-
dunno wot to believe actually but theres a hell of alot of people agreeing..
I wanna know why 60 million was given bk to SCF and the govts frantic attempts @ gettin hold of said 60 million $ by trying to claw it back
I thought when you died everything was frozen for @ least 6 months?????
When my mom died thats what happened to her estate- it was frozen for 6 months from when probate was granted.
this whole thing stinks alright but hey the RWC is on– theyll forget about it all eh
mr draco earlier today posted a good link which explains much of the rort . . .
http://dimpost.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/south-cantubury-finance-let-me-get-this-straight/
And it was indeed a rort.
Key has admitted that on his FIRST DAY IN OFFICE they were told it was going bust. Yet Key and English allowed it to remain in the deposit guarantee scheme.
It is just a fucking rort. And the bad lending which took place after SCF was let into the scheme (being guaranteed of course all depositors overloaded SCF with money and it had to go somewhere – so why not into a bailout of the unsavoury positions SCF’s cronies and employees and associates were in.) has got to be criminal. Lachie McLeod is in the firing line (but note he received a $20million golden handshake for being fired for all the bad lending).
Im surprised Botherway has gotten away with what he has so far… Why ?
Official complaint and OIA request from Hubbard supporters
All part of that cosy Christ college boys club along with sideshow.
Agree with you VTO. We should all be saying very loudly “Why didn’t the the Nats start rolling back the scheme, by gradually dropping coverage of the interest, the top end of each deposit, say over $200,000 and confining it to those who had money invested at the date it went into the scheme?”
The other thing I have always been curious about, is was any back to back lending uncovered?
The sort where somebody has a loan with another party or even SCF and they know it is going to be
hard going to service it so they pitch up a story about how they are going to [renovate, expand ] the business and need a bigger loan. Part of the deal is that it will take time to spend the loan so they agree to deposit back or hold an offsetting deposit of some of the funds lent. Original loan to other bank is paid back, loan drawn down on SCF and deposit put into SCF and when it all goes south it turns out that the loan is to a company in liquidation and the deposit is held by a family trust or some other entity with no security offset. Home free.
Closed-Source Crops
The four big corporations are Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, and Bayer. Together, they represent that truly rare thing, a visible corner being turned in human history: the rise of the first global, seed-based food oligopoly since the dawn of agriculture.
for a sharp lesson in the dangers of Corporates owning seeds, watch David vs Monsanto
Toronto Hearings
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thetorontohearings
live stream Day Three
(videos of Day One & Two avalable on site )
New Zealand Time:
Sunday, September 11, 2011
01:00 – 01;15 Moderators: Overview of the Day’s Testimony
01:15 – 02:30 Graeme MacQueen: Eyewitness Evidence of Explosions at WTC
02:45 – 04:00 David Chandler: WTC 7: A Refutation of the Official Account
05:00 – 06:15 Jon Cole: The Official Account and the Experimental Method
06:15 – 07:30 Kevin Ryan: Extreme Temperatures
07:45 – 09:00 Niels Harrit: Incendiary/Explosive Residue in the WTC Dust
09:00 – 09:30 Audience Question and Answer
Please be aware the schedule has remained accurate each day
Serious stiuff.
Is there any support for an ongoing blog about policies we mught like to see adopted by non Nact parties.
Me personally, I would like to see promises about restoring democracy esp to Ecan and removing the King Gerry acts, and sending all or the bulk of legislation passed under urgency back to select comittees to see what tweaking(?) it needs.
I know that no political party can promise to undo all the actions of a previous government as none of us would know where we stood and that size of repeal threat has to be reserved for the big stuff like ACC privatisation but there should be some way to make all this legislative urgency uncomfortable for those politcal parties that indulge in it, even if it is some way down the track.
“Me personally, I would like to see promises about restoring democracy esp to Ecan and removing the King Gerry acts, and sending all or the bulk of legislation passed under urgency back to select comittees to see what tweaking(?) it needs.”
Absolutely. These are the democratic outrages that made me think about voting Green instead of Labour – these and the beginnings of disenfranchising particular groups. The Greens seem more intent on protecting democratic processes. However, since then Mr Blue-Green has emerged. At least I know Labour won’t coalesce with NAct. I’ll probably have to make up my mind who to vote for on the day.
Quote of the Day
What’s a soup kitchen?
~ Paris Hilton
DAy three in Toronto just kicking off now
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thetorontohearings