Open mike 11/06/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, June 11th, 2019 - 116 comments
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116 comments on “Open mike 11/06/2019 ”

  1. Another failure in court for the self described 'justice campaigner', better described as vexatious and hopeless.

    [10] As to that, Mr Nottingham has entirely failed to persuade us that any of the material now sought is necessary for the due conduct of the appeals.

    [12] This application is, therefore, an ill-assessed distraction from the issues on appeal. These must focus on the admissibility of the evidence adduced, the inferences properly to be drawn from that evidence and the directions given by the trial Judge, rather than on evidence neither before nor capable of being before the Court, or the background motives of those who did or did not give evidence, to the extent that was not already put in evidence. There is a limit. It has long since been crossed in this application.

    So now on to the delayed appeal:

    [2] The Solicitor-General has appealed Mr Nottingham’s sentence on the basis it is, she says, manifestly inadequate. Mr Nottingham has appealed both conviction and sentence. These appeals are to be heard by Criminal Appeal Division on 25 June 2019.

    https://yournz.org/2019/06/11/nottingham-fails-in-court-again/

  2. Chris T 2

    Reminds me of Labour refusing to rule out blocking KDC's deportation if it was ruled and them and the Greens hanging out at his mansion, in case he got in.

    Politicians will do anything to get in.

    [TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]

    [lprent: Trolls will do anything to get a false equivalence. Excellent diversion – however your reward will be that the next time I see you do that then you will get a ban. ]

    • Muttonbird 2.1

      The they-all-do-it defence.

      I’m not sure Simon Bridges has a feel for politics at all.

      • greywarshark 2.1.1

        What does he feel instead? As for Chris T, that remark above fully demonstrates his mean little mind, so remember how he is whenever he appears to be making some useful objective comment – it is just a front which he will soon resile from.

    • mickysavage 2.2

      Proof please.

      • Chris T 2.2.1

        "There was good news for Kim Dotcom last night. David Cunliffe and Russel Norman said a Labour-Greens government might block Kim Dotcom from being extradicted to the US, should he lose his case (scheduled to start July 31).

        "I've always said I didn’t support the extradition process," Mr Norman told 3News. "In a number of respects, I just don’t think it’s fair."

        Mr Cunliffe offered more qualified support for the accused pirate, saying, telling the broadcaster, "Prima face, the current government’s operation against Mr Dotcom appears to have been outside the law in a number of respects."

        https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/dotcom-sets-deadline-internet-party-self-destruct-ck-151704

        In 3News' report, the Labour leader doesn't voice support for blocking extradition but later, when challenged on social media, 3News political editor Patrick Gower later said Mr Cunliffe said he was open to considering the option."

        • mickysavage 2.2.1.1

          Good attempted diversion.

          Extradition cases involve a judicially reviewable decision by a Minister. If Cunliffe had said that the Government were not open to considering the matter and would extradite him no matter what then that would have been perfect grounds for Dotcom to seek judicial review.

          Holy false equivalence.

          • Chris T 2.2.1.1.1

            Me – "Reminds me of Labour refusing to rule out blocking KDC's deportation if it was ruled "

            You "Proof please."

            Me – Proof

            You – "Good attempted diversion. "

            • lprent 2.2.1.1.1.1

              Perhaps you should read a little law? Then you might be able to understand what MS wrote.

              Incidentally I agree completely with Norman's position. That means that I also agree with several courts who also have said that the police approach to such things as the search warrants and many other matters was appalling.

              If you want to relitigate Kim DotCom, then stick to posts on the subject or OpenMike.

            • Hamish Stevenson 2.2.1.1.1.2

              Perhaps Micky wanted proof about Labour and the the Greens hanging out at KDC's mansion…?

          • greywarshark 2.2.1.1.2

            MS You are talking about Dotcom not the Bish.

        • Gabby 2.2.1.2

          If Kim's been practising his kickpunching Ian LazyGalloway might bestir himself.

    • Incognito 2.3

      Reminds me of false equivalence and whataboutism but you’re right, National will deal with just about anybody to get back in power. They’ll throw out any convention, anything that stands in their way. They’ll fight dirtier than dirty, they’ll fight feral. The media will lap it up, of course.

    • Chris T 2.4

      Understood

      And I am sure you will consistent with whataboutism the other way.

  3. Muttonbird 3

    One time political journalist turned tabloid shock-jock, Duncan Garner, must be under immense pressure from his bosses to bring in eyeballs and ears to the AM Show.

    Here he takes an infantile and worryingly reckless position in aggressively demanding the PM tells him how she's going to vote in any cannabis referendum.

    The PM of course quite correctly states that her position being made public would influence the vote, so she declined his advances.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/06/jacinda-ardern-duncan-garner-clash-over-cannabis-legalisation-stance.html

  4. A 4

    It's not possible for prices to go up indefinitely. We are at or near the top…first home buyers would be foolish to buy anything at this point.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018698951/fletcher-living-homes-in-central-christchurch-struggle-to-find-buyers

  5. cleangreen 5

    CEAC supports NZTA estimate on speed limits being too high on most roads,

    We often drive along the entire ‘East Coast Provincial Highway 2’ and it’s network ‘city’ links carrying heavy truck freight to our Ports,

    Napier & Gisborne and in all cases we observe far to high speeds all vehicles are attempting to navigate the narrow winding hilly roads that plague these regions with single lane roads.

    There is an urgent need to reduce the road speeds on these “primary second class roading network roads” to a lower speed. We often see evidence of truck crashes being attributed to these “soft roads” are unable to allow high speed travel safely for those heavy laden unstable vehicles when approaching many sharp corners, roundabouts and intersections.

    When these obstacles are present, high sided laden logging and soft sided trucks are frequently seen to overturn on those locations.

    Nick Leggett of the “Road Transport Forum” (RTF) is correct that a lower truck speed will increase the cost of consumer goods as freight cost will rise and we will all face those price rises, and has our support for that assumption.

    In 2001 we attended a regional HBRC Land transport Committee Forum in Napier’s Marine Parade “War memorial” and the guest speaker was the current 2001 spokesperson of the (RTF) “Road Transport forum” a past National MP Tony Freidlander who began to address the forum with a statement ‘QUOTE’ “we have to face the facts that trucks are ‘not welcome’ so we need to make trucks more acceptable to the community.”

    I later contacted Tony Friedlander when he returned to his home, and we both discussed how to solve the problem then, and we basically agreed NZ regional roads were not designed for trucks, and a better way was to have a separate “dedicated four lane truck route” as are seen most places overseas.

    Our roads are referred to by some roading engineers as “soft roads” due to the ‘unstable soft clay base’ with a low weight bearing capability for trucks, so now when high weight laden trucks that are freely entering our roads that are unable to navigate our narrow winding roads that are actually collapsing the soft pavement of our roads under the weight of the heavier 63 tonne trucks we have all over most soft roads” in NZ the road surfaces are becoming very ‘uneven in contour’ making then difficult to drive on.

    We approached three roading engineers about this issue of our (now named) “soft roads” inability to carry the laden weight of many (HPMV) 63 tonne trucks today; – and they advised us that we need a series of concrete steel reinforced slabs under base placed under our truck routes now.

    We then looked around where we could find these type of roads that were now seen around NZ, and we found only a few sections of the Napier Hastings section of Highway two along the ‘Mangatere straight’ between Clive and Whakatu and that section was constructed with a concrete under-base during the 1940’s second world war era when the US Troops were stationed here and offered to construct this section to assist the movement of heavy trucks to take sheep carcasses to the US forces during the “Pacific war” in 1942 to 1945, and another advised us that the US offered to build an entire heavy road in NZ during that time during the war offering the same US highway standards they use so we missed that opportunity didn’t’ we?

    I lived in Canada and Florida during 1960s to 1990s and saw many truck roads there were being dig up and concrete slabs were placed beneath them, so this is the reality that we need to ‘fund truck routes’ as a ‘toll road system’ as the US and EU does to build proper truck roads.

    Meanwhile we must now move forward to restore rail freight and passenger services in our regions again as our ‘prime mover of freight’ as we had before so we can cope with road transport safely.

    For the medium term now NZTA is right, we need to reduce the speed as NZTA correctly estimated and then plan to design new truck routes with the upgrades to those roads to a 21st century standard using the US style road building and toll road systems.

    • You can't compare the concrete roads the US have had (since ca 1950) with the situation in NZ. During and after the post war boom, the US built roading infrastructure using thick concrete. This was enabled by their vast limestone resources which they quarried extensively and their burgeoning economy.
      In NZ we built thin flexible pavements using greywacke aggregate basecourse with a sprayed bituminous surface. These roads were fit for purpose until the demise of rail (under Prebble) and the expansion of trucked freight.
      In the late 1990s Opus Central Labs were researching concrete roads for NZ while looking fondly across the Tasman to Australia's new Pacific Highway – which was concrete. They also looked at cement treated basecouse. Neither technology could be justified. NZ could not afford concrete roads and we don't have limestone quarries in the right places (transport of aggregates is the killer). And the lean mix cement basecouses crack and fail.
      So we stick with unbound bases, chipseal and asphalt. What we need is less trucks!

      • WeTheBleeple 5.1.1

        yes Well said.

      • ianmac 5.1.2

        In Christchurch there is a mile of concrete road. It runs from Papanui up Main North Road. It was laid certainly before 1950s and was intact for at least 70 years but the last I saw it, it had many star cracks ex earthquake, and each crack was filled with some sort of tar. Must have cost heaps to put down the original concrete road but it lasted for at least 70 years that I know of without much maintaining.

        Cost effective? Very but the outlay must have been horrendous.

        • WeTheBleeple 5.1.2.1

          I recall marveling over that when driving over it. Concrete roads, it was alien to me.

        • greywarshark 5.1.2.2

          Well we certainly can't outlay anything to last 70 years. We very possibly will have felt the Alpine Fault earthquake by then already overdue on its 300 year average, movement. Also who knows what we will be doing. It will be good to have roads to drive our horse and carts along, real goers will set up skateboard marathons along them etc.

          So adequate stuff till we get rail to take over much of the produce, localise production and processing again, and cut out glossy magazine production which weigh too much, encourage dissatisfaction amongst the wealthy as they see new toys and lounge suites, also using far too much ink, requiring much processing, and no good for toilet paper. And the piles of glossy magazines that look hardly read that accumulate at op shops will no more have to be dumped at expense to the charity and forming slimy lumps in landfill.

          Glossy magazines like a lot of that glossy life that the wealthy live is just extraneous stuff and the in-reading will become gardening books and those on philosophy and the art of communication and living fully and how to learn different languages and laugh together and learn each others’ arts and cooking styles – see its already happening. May it be so!

          There will be a lot less to cart around in trucks then, and I predict that will happen within ten years.

        • Macro 5.1.2.3

          The concrete roads in NZ were mainly built by the US when they were here in the 1940's using NZ as a base for their operations in the Pacific. Many of those roads would have been new or enlargements of existing roads to the hospitals and supply bases they established around NZ. I remember one such road in Mangaroa, by Upper Hutt where they had a large supply base. Another was by the Silverstream Hospital. They had a massive presence here during WW2.

      • greywarshark 5.1.3

        I think you miss the point Hamish S.

        Thanks for the detail cleangreen – you are well informed. And we better.

      • Siobhan 5.1.4

        Thanks for that explanation. Now A.T. and I can finally put to rest the inevitable question 'why don't we have concrete roads like America' …which always comes up on our long and noisy road trips.

      • Macro 5.1.5

        Mind you the roads on the US are now in a pretty deplorable state – as are their trains. You might recall a couple of weeks ago during "infrastructure week" when Nancy P and Adam S were "stood up" by the Orange Buffoon at the WH. They were there to discuss a $1T bipartisan Infrastructure package aimed at restoring the rapidly deteriorating National roading and rail. Of course Trump didn't really want to have any thing to do with anything that might actually improve things for average Americans, because he would rather have all the attention on himself, and went out to the Rose Garden to give a pre-arranged "impromptu talk" complete with fake outrage, pre-printed signs and script about how he was totally exonerated ,and how hard done by he was.

      • lprent 5.1.6

        In NZ we built thin flexible pavements using greywacke aggregate basecourse with a sprayed bituminous surface. These roads were fit for purpose until the demise of rail (under Prebble) and the expansion of trucked freight.

        They also have the property of not being so damn hard to repair after major earthquakes.

        Heavy concrete roads are a real pain when the ground shifts under them. While the roads from something like the large set of Kaikoura earthquakes might take a year or so to reform and repair deformed tarseal roads, it gets to be total pain with a rigid concrete road that fractures.

        In NZ this is particularly noticeable with the US roads that were built here. This around Wellington and the Hutt in the earthquake zone look wrecked at the concrete layer compared to the ones in Auckland. Auckland is (for NZ) relatively earthquake free.

        Personally I think that the US roads are going to get wasted when they get another New Madrid cycle of earthquakes

        • Andre 5.1.6.1

          Even if an earthquake doesn't get 'em, if the ground underneath shifts just a little bit so you get a little bit of mismatch between the slabs – it's almost as bad as water torture. Schenectady NY to Scranton PA was several continuous hours of gadunk .. gadunk .. gadunk .. gadunk .. gadunk ..

          Woulda thought they'd be somehow pegged together across the joints to prevent that mismatch. Maybe they were originally pegged with rebar but the winter salt rusted it out.

  6. Ankerrawshark) 6

    Hey was polled by Curia last night about preferred parties, leaders etc. some interesting things about it. They contacted us by l line. They didn’t ask for much in the way of demographic info. Initially spoke to husband who hates surveys and handed over to me.

    didnt ask age, ethnicity asked about children under 18 years living at home. No income question. Then some rather odd IQ type questions.

    the most interesting thing to me though was the leadership questions. They asked about jacinda, Winston, James Shaw, kelvin d,bridges and Paula b. No Judith………….is this an attempt by Curia to tip the leadership towards Bennett?

    • Puckish Rogue 6.1

      Jude doesn't need no stinkin' polls, the ground swell support will be enough to sweep her into power!

      Jude is coming!!

      • ianmac 6.1.1

        Is that Jude or Judas?

      • Incognito 6.1.2

        After June comes July, not Jude 😉

        • Puckish Rogue 6.1.2.1

          Jude comes whenever she likes…wait what?

          https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/06/judith-collins-tempering-talk-of-national-leadership-coup.html

          Gee she comes across well though, intelligent, personable, charismatic…a real leader, the kind of leader the National party, nay NZ, deserves

          I'll bet she wouldn't do a deal with Brian Tamaki

          • Incognito 6.1.2.1.1

            But will she deal with Hannah? Brian might ride the Harley but Hannah is wearing the trousers, I reckon.

            • Puckish Rogue 6.1.2.1.1.1

              Not much of a contest, I mean in all seriousness here are Judes credentials:

              ‘In 1977 and 1978 she studied at the University of Canterbury. In 1979 she switched to the University of Auckland, and obtained first an LLB and then a LLM (Hons) and later a Master of Taxation Studies (MTaxS)’

              ‘She worked as a solicitor for four different firms between 1981 and 1990, and then became principal of her own firm, Judith Collins & Associates (1990–2000). In the last two years before election to Parliament, she worked as special counsel for Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (2000–2002)’

              ‘She was active in legal associations, and was President of the Auckland District Law Society (1998–1999) and Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society (1999–2000). She served as chairperson of the Casino Control Authority (1999–2002) and was a director of Housing New Zealand Limited (1999–2001)’

              She also married a Samoan-Chinese policeman would certainly would have put the cat amongst the pigeons given her conservative background, so while I'm sure Hannah is a very competent women in her own right I don't think it'd be a fair fight…just ask Phil Twyford 🙂

          • Robert Guyton 6.1.2.1.2

            To use your own word, nay.

          • greywarshark 6.1.2.1.3

            Hey Jude don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her into your heart. Then you can start to make it better.

            Hmmmm. I don't believe that Jude will make anything better. She is just National-production, Model A-, heartless but will appropriate ours if it suits her.

  7. Puckish Rogue 7

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113359223/nzs-prisons-a-colonial-eyesore-that-should-be-abolished-expert-says

    'He is calling for a prison-free society – which he said should be achievable given prisons did not exist in Aotearoa before Europeans arrived.'

    Yeah nah

    'In the society he envisaged, no-one would go to prison for non-violent offences, drugs would be legalized and anyone currently incarcerated for drug offences would be released.'

    Can't see many people agreeing to letting fraudsters out, I actually agree with decriminalizing any and all drugs for personal use and I'd only agree to releasing them IF the only offence was drug possession for personal use

    However (and I know its not scientific) but there does seem to be a massive correlation between drug use and mental illness in prison so they'd need somewhere secure to be sent to for treatment

    'In extreme cases where offenders needed to be incarcerated for public safety, this would be done on an individual basis and would not rely on the existence of public prisons.'

    I'd agree to this, stick them politicians and lawyers homes

    https://tenor.com/view/dodgeball-kidding-just-gif-4407682

    • WeTheBleeple 7.1

      Yeah the correlation between drug use and mental illness is a display of self-medication. With the proper care, at least some of that might be curtailed.

      • Puckish Rogue 7.1.1

        National and Labour have both dropped the ball on this, NZ needs more money pumped into mental health and drug addiction facilities to treat these people

        I mean what do you do with prisoners that swallow razor blades, stand in the cells and hit their heads against the wall, self harm just because they don't want to be moved…answers on a post card please

        • WeTheBleeple 7.1.1.1

          We are seeing more funding directed to mental health and addictions so hopefully it's not all sopped up by middle men.

          Person's suffering deep trauma require love and care, not cages.

          • greywarshark 7.1.1.1.1

            Here are some other people we should love and care for, and they would return all we gave them, with interest.

            https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/391720/junior-doctors-strikes-district-health-boards-pay-more-than-19m-for-cover

            Something else we should do is to supervise all placements of managers, Chief Executives to ensure that they have training in the sector suitable for the job. No more generic managers, everyone who is a NZ resident being able to do further training in appropriate leadership and management, and keep the neo lib ec. to a minimum and introduce some keynesian methods into management training.

            Kick out the old economists who are stuck in the doorway from imbibing too much neo lib propaganda. Push them out, they can go away and get a fat-cat job where they still soak in RW bullshit.

            We are a tiny country once punching above our weight, but now being badly coached. Seeing sport is the only thing that seems to have any traction in this country besides getting money, lets apply the same interest that we give to appropriate sports managers and coaches, with less bullying and no sexual harassment, and do a good job of building up our citizens to fighting fit! And regard every one of our citizens as a contender for the Gutsy NZr Most Improved annual awards. And look after our medical carers who are essential for any good, upward moving team.

        • Rosemary McDonald 7.1.1.2

          I mean what do you do with prisoners that swallow razor blades, stand in the cells and hit their heads against the wall, ….

          "I spoke of my concern that there were young men in Waikeria…who were not in the right place. "Disturbed people should not be incarcerated there, I said. With the help of government, grants, courts 'should be able to place people in supportive institutions.' Alternatives to imprisonment were a critical need."

          (Marilyn Waring "The Political Years" Chapter '1980' p. 209)

          Reading this book is producing much of my recent 'disillusionment' ,as almost every page is like going through a timewarp. There are seemingly no new issues, just variations on describing them and yet another 'We'll get it right this time!' fanfare announcement for change.

          SSDD

          • Puckish Rogue 7.1.1.2.1

            Its not that hard to understand is it, prisons should be for criminals and hospitals should be for the mentally ill and never the twain should meet

            • McFlock 7.1.1.2.1.1

              But what if the prisoner knew that what they were doing was a crime, and just happen to have a bit of mental illness?

              homourous aside: I read recently that in 1979 the Swedes stopped regarding homosexuality as a mental illness after loads of people called in sick because they were feeling too gay to work that day…

              • Puckish Rogue

                After a couple of days you generally need to produce a doctors note, I'm not sure what you'd produce to prove you're gay…

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b6c8JuWzWI&list=PLBGyvv95h6sg8hdzcq5pdfdKbH4FfNFF0

              • RedLogix

                There is a strong and underacknowledged correlation between brain injury, concussion in particular, and imprisonment. 50 to 80 % of people in criminal justice have a traumatic brain injury.

                https://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_the_surprising_connection_between_brain_injuries_and_crime?language=en

                • McFlock

                  Yeah very true.

                  I can't really decide whether my opposition to puckish's view about mental hospitals vs prisons is because it doesn't reflect that people with mental issues are also dicks who commit crimes, while some criminals actually aren't all that bad but they have mental issues that mean they probably wouldn't have committed their crimes (e.g. TBI affecting impulse control, or FAS, or ADHD, or just general social alienation from lifelong learning disabilities). And some might be sane criminals who can be shuttled to prison, while others can be people who are totally in the domain of the mental health system.

                  Or is my opposition because prisons should be more rehabilitative than punitive, so should actually be able to provide decent mental health care for all but the most afflicted patient-prisoners?

                  Or a mixture of both?

                  • RedLogix

                    Then there was a fascinating interview Kim Hill did with QC Mike Bungay when he retired; for it's time it was a masterpiece. At one point Mike said that in his long experience defending all sorts of people, about 85% of them were otherwise ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances they were either too weak or too damaged to control. The other 15% were truly bad people and he had no compunction about locking them up for as long as possible.

                    In answer to your question 'a mixture of both', that feels to me a decent starting point. Our prisons are necessary, but they are way overused. Instead of a prison muster of 10,000 or so, it should be 1,500.

                    We know there are numerous factors correlated with crime, inequality, colonisation, an uncontrolled temperament, brain injury and leaded petrol are just some that come to mind. This strongly suggests there is no one silver bullet and any strategies need to be multi-generational, and adaptable over time.

                    The good news is that globally serious crime rates are trending downwards from a peak in the 60's. The not so good news is that NZ crime rates remain stubbornly high for reasons that are not entirely obvious.

            • Rosemary McDonald 7.1.1.2.1.2

              …and never the twain should meet

              Back in 1980 there was a late night knock on the door of the grotty flat I shared with a friend in an Unnamed Central North Island city. On the door step, looking furtive and worse for wear, were a couple of refugees from Nambassa.

              Long haired and bedraggled and glassy of eye they scuttled in and proceeded to impart to my flatmate a tale of woe involving drugs, a police checkpoint, their Cheech and Chongish effort to conceal said drugs in the engine compartment of their vehicle. As expected, accelerating away from the checkpoint the bundle under the bonnet fell into the moving parts of the engine with noisy and terminal results. The pair had been caught…if it can be described as such as neither had clearly had a rational thought in years…but one reacted with placid resignation (he was tired, man, and just wanted a sleep.)…while the other got angry and began ranting about police brutality etc. One was sent to Waikeria and the other to Tokanui.

              The one they sent to Tok was released very shortly afterwards and allowed to roam free, while the other sent to Waikeria had a sleep and a feed and was feeling much better by the next day. Brain was functioning enough that when he was waiting in an interview room to speak with a lawyer he saw security was pretty much non existent and simply strolled out. Like iron filings to magnets the two met up along the road, scored, partied and ended up on said doorstep.

              Nice enough chappies if scintillating conversation wasn't a priority, and although I'm 199% sure cannabis was the most harmless of their recreational chemicals of choice and availability, I guess they could be described as 'mostly harmless' and a danger only to themselves. They weren't bad, nor mad….at the most a little sad.

              But that was in the days before some seriously strong cannabis and before kitchen sink chemists experimented on real human brains. The days before the widespread use of prescription pharmaceuticals and the huge associated profits.

              By the mid eighties we were beginning to see more of the 'mad or bad or both' and fewer of the 'sad' at the rehab centre I was working in. It was hard to know if the disordered thinking and behaviour were due to the drugs and might wane when weaned off them, or the chemical abuse was to mask an existing psychiatric condition.

              It might just be that there will have to be a meeting of the twain…combination prisons and mental health units…with clients being directed one way or another after substance withdrawal has cleared the pitch.

        • McFlock 7.1.1.3

          Depends on whether they were like that when they got there, or whether it's a reaction to their environment.

    • The massive correlation is not between drug use and mental illness in prison Puckish Rogue. It is that the people who go to prison are already addicted to drugs and or alcohol, which is due to their being mentally unwell, which is due to the crappy life they have had, which is due to the seemingly unbreakable cycle of trauma, neglect, abuse, and so on, among the sector of our society who are dis-privelleged.

  8. Puckish Rogue 8

    (I must be bored…)

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/113363745/nz-military-20b-shopping-list-planes-boats-soldiers-satellites-and-drones

    'The plan also signals moves to bolster the army with a total of 6000 infantry men and women, by 2035. That signalled the defence force's expectation it would be required to respond to multiple incidents at once – more likely as a result of climate change, than any other reason.'

    Good but I wonder how the teachers will react…

    • WeTheBleeple 8.1

      I want to see the army moving on climate change. Invites for the community to join in as well. Earthworks like water capture, planting riparian and shore habitats, clean-ups etc. The NZ public is not wary of the armed forces (aren't we lucky) and might take heart in seeing such dedication from our government/forces.

      • Sanctuary 8.1.1

        The military spend up equation is simple. Increased risks (climate change, super power confrontations) = increased military spending.

  9. bwaghorn 9

    https://keithwoodford.wordpress.com

    Very interesting read on why the government's policy settings around foreign buyers buying farms for planted

    Short term gain for long term pain.

  10. WeTheBleeple 10

    Thank you Auckland Zoo for joining the growing number of entities examining their waste streams. Not only is this directly beneficial to our environment, but it encourages other businesses by illuminating an alternative.

    Recyclable steel drinking cups under the label 'Again Again'.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/113386075/single-use-cups-a-thing-of-the-past-at-auckland-zoo

    Yesterday in Western Springs Park the lions in the Zoo next door had a bit of a roaring competition, all the chooks following me suddenly shut up dead still and silent – for a few seconds anyway. smiley

      • greywarshark 10.1.1

        Poission If you get really good, you may be able to turn it into wine at will. Handy that. Or failing that, we will have to turn to small beer as they had in England for years. Perhaps now we are going back to the future, we need to introduce this brew again which may give us some vim and perhaps fermenting would kill off many of the bugs, but what could we do to get rid of heavy metal traces etc.?

      • WeTheBleeple 10.1.2

        Yeah I questioned a Watercare guy testing a reservoir out West.

        "Would you drink Auckland water?"

        "No".

    • greywarshark 10.2

      Now that is a fascinating image, you and the chooks, is it your charisma of were you leaving a Hansel and Gretel trail of wheat. Good enough for Reddit which seems to gather all the animal pics there ever have been.

      • WeTheBleeple 10.2.1

        It started with this HUGE rooster following me picking mushrooms off a field. It just followed me and the hens joined in. Slow day there I only saw a few other people so they were likely just cruising for food.

        One morning very early I was there and it was all misted over. I rounded a corner and caught a guy red-handed with a knife and a duck. It was a large knife… Good morning says I, moving along quickly.

  11. ianmac 11

    Simon never gives up but now seems a bit pathetic.

    1. Hon SIMON BRIDGES to the Minister responsible for the GCSB: At what specific time on Tuesday, 28 May was he or his office first contacted by GCSB telling him that they had told Treasury that GCSB did not believe any hacking had taken place, and when did he relay that information to his ministerial colleagues or their offices?
    2. Hon SIMON BRIDGES to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government’s statements and actions in relation to the alleged unauthorised access of Budget 2019 material?
    • Peter 11.1

      Wasn't it 3minutes 42 seconds after the time the Junior Staffer took down the petition?

  12. adam 12

    So this is how modern censorship works. Start by threatening to ban a video, roll back from that when pointed out historically correct and/or truthful, go on to demotising, finally, make the algorithm move it down the search.

    Fun times people – how about you just put up with being offended occasionally, rather than demand ideas you disagree with, get censored?

    I find the centre left sickening in it's wimpiness and utter lack of spine, yes it offends me! But I don't want to censor it.

    Oh the video, Pocahontas from Biographics.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLt62E635O8&ab_channel=Biographics

  13. Peter 13

    After that lot in the House I almost feel sorry for Bridges. Not his party. If that's the best the abject lot can up with they deserve what they get.

    • Fireblade 13.1

      ….but Judith's floral technicolor dreamcoat is amazing.

    • ianmac 13.2

      Bridges tried really hard, and looked more and more desperate when each question about timing was answered fully. Nice to know that the Government timing was accurate and timely. Paula looked more and more beaten and neither looked in the least triumphant.

      To Robertson:

      https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=207106

      To Jacinda:

      https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=207110

      • I feel love 13.2.1

        Bizarre stuff, so National are whining about being accused of unauthorised access of the site on the Weds & by Thurs they admit responsibility? It's hard to know what Bridges beef is. He even used the words "unauthorised access" in his question, does he not understand what those words mean? You would think he would shut up about it. #keepsimon

        • McFlock 13.2.1.1

          Bridges seems most upset that someone mentioned "hacking" when the GCSB clearly said later that it was "unauthorised access", and that people should apologise for calling him a hacker even though they didn't.

        • Muttonbird 13.2.1.2

          What a dummy Bridges is. Unauthorised access it certainly was!

      • McFlock 13.2.2

        Jesus Christ how bad can Bridges get. That's just an embarrassment.

        Ardern ate him alive, Peters passed her the salt and pepper.

        • Cinny 13.2.2.1

          Ikr, what a crack up 🙂

          Even funnier, the public don't give a flying fork about simons 'leaks' and yet he still thinks it's a big deal.

          winkIt's hilarious. laugh

          Thanks for the links Ian 🙂

        • Psycho Milt 13.2.2.2

          I don't understand why they keep raising the issue when it just gives the government an opportunity to highlight their (National's) incredible lack of integrity. It's like he's getting up and saying to Ardern "Please remind everyone about that time I carried out a data breach of a government agency, and when will the government apologise for suggesting I shouldn't have done it?"

          • RedLogix 13.2.2.2.1

            Exactly. Despite all the sophistry from National, most people know damn well that if they treated their own employer's confidential information in the same manner, they'd out the door so fast they wouldn't bounce until next Monday.

          • Cinny 13.2.2.2.2

            Someone might even name a planet after him enlightenedsurprise

          • Incognito 13.2.2.2.3

            It must irk the former prosecutor to be ‘accused’ of hacking. It seems he’d rather be ‘found guilty’ of the lesser charges of “unauthorised access” of a government computer system and publically releasing embargoed material. I didn’t know Simon had principles.

      • ankerawshark 13.2.3

        Ianmac @ 13.2 . Jacinda makes mince meat of Simon. He looks ridiculous.

        #lets keep Simon

    • Fireblade 13.3

      Simon's effort in Parliament was pathetic.

      It's like fizzle, phut, phut….is that it?

    • greywarshark 13.4

      It sounds like a sporting contest. What did the coach think he was doing. An own goal, yet another in the long line of mistakes and fouls. The fans are getting restless etc . It is the people we elected to run the country plus the Opposition who are supposed to ensure we are being governed to a high standard.

      • WeTheBleeple 13.4.1

        I'd turf anyone out on their ass who kept repeating the same question after it had been answered. Wasting the time of the entire government to pander to the ego of this belligerent fuckstick.

        • ianmac 13.4.1.1

          Judgement Simon?

          I think that Bridges over the last few days has convinced himself that he was in a "Gotcha" time. He would imagine himself denouncing with clever stilletto questions, and then this sad Government and would collapse onto the floor of the Chamber, battered and defeated, and begging for mercy.

          Then the reality hit and he and Paula grasped hands and realised that their Caucus was not amused or impressed and the Government showed nothing but an amused pity.

          • WeTheBleeple 13.4.1.1.1

            There is certainly quite the disconnect going on between where he thinks he stands, and where he's headed.

          • Muttonbird 13.4.1.1.2

            Problem for Pulla is that she is tied to Bridges and when he goes, she goes.

            • ianmac 13.4.1.1.2.1

              Yes Muttonbird. Paula sitting beside Simon today seemed to exude at first a cheering on of Simon but her body talk wilted as each question was answered succinctly. Oops! She quivered.

            • Incognito 13.4.1.1.2.2

              I think she can untie herself faster than Houdini.

      • Gabby 13.4.2

        Time to chuck the towel over the ropes Goodfellas, your guy's throwing air punches and his legs are going.

  14. greywarshark 14

    Bernie Sanders a study of his new approach and his background from Time.

    His approach has changed from going straight to policy, to being involved in the personal struggles. He is listening to the stories.

    https://time.com/longform/bernie-sanders-2020/

    “From the very beginning, he was always concerned about policy. Always concerned about making a meaningful difference. He didn’t have time for the niceties,” Jane Sanders, the Senator’s wife and closest adviser, told me. “He has, over time, really become more—he’s still very issue oriented, but he’s placing focus on the people and the impact that those policies have.”

    That new focus was evident this spring in a less familiar event format for Sanders: intimate, almost confessional town halls. A panel of three or four ordinary citizens would share stories of their hardships, and others in the audience would share their own tales, and Sanders would respond with a mix of awkward sympathy, synthesis of their situations and his stump speech.

    In the theater of a Burlington, Iowa, school one afternoon, three panelists, all women, sat onstage with Sanders. The first, Carrie Duncan, spoke of her trouble getting health insurance: not having coverage when she worked in a school cafeteria in a nonunion job, getting coverage when she landed a union job in an ammunition plant and then losing it again because of rising costs. “The fat cats continue to grow richer by drinking from the big bowls of cream that us little cats get for them,” she said. “It’s time to make the fat cats meow!” A nurse practitioner named Teresa Krueger spoke of living with Type 1 diabetes and her work caring for patients with that condition, many of whom cannot afford insulin, which has surged in price over recent years.

    Then came Pati French. “I’ve been married for 26 years and had three great kids,” she said. “We have had a good life. We have made lots of memories.” Then she told the story of her son. Trevor was into music and politics, and in 2016 he canvassed for Sanders. He also had a pill addiction. He struggled and then he got help and got sober and was seven months clean with his own job and apartment and was proud of himself. Then he felt a surge of anxiety, the old demons returning, and went to a clinic and got 140 pills and instructions to go see a counselor when a vacancy came up. But he didn’t get in before an accidental overdose killed him. “We have never been the same,” French said. Sanders, turning bright red and somber with emotion, reached out and gave her a few comforting pats.

    The audience began to give their testimonies. A woman spoke of the dearth of mental health care resources and how she had lost two of her friends to suicide and seen others struggle to get help—“including myself, who I have almost lost many times.” A man who works at McDonald’s spoke of scraping by on nine bucks an hour. A man from the local steel plant spoke of jobs vanishing to India and the Czech Republic. And a woman who grew up on a family farm spoke of crop prices falling and bankruptcies climbing.

    He may be watching our PM and her message very closely.

    The 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders, the junior United States Senator and former Congressman from Vermont, began with Sanders's formal announcement on February 19, 2019.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders_2020_presidential_campaign

  15. greywarshark 15

    In the UK Corbyn seems to stand strongly while emotions wash around him, and that staunchness itself provokes more emotion.

    10/6/2019

    In his speech before the interventions, the Labour leader said the party must unite to take on the “dangerously damaging policies” of the Tory leadership candidates, including tax cuts that will benefit the richest, attacks on abortion rights, and a “race-to-the-bottom no-deal Brexit”.

    He said Labour was committed to working cross-party to stop no deal. “To break the Brexit deadlock, we need to go back to the people. Let the people decide the country’s future, either in a general election or through a public vote on any deal agreed by parliament,” he said.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/10/jeremy-corbyn-lambasted-by-labour-mps-in-worst-meeting-as-leader

    The EU on the UK – UGH!

    Brussels is tuning in to the Westminster drama of the Tory leadership race – with both amazement and exasperation.

    “People in Brussels are fed up that the political class in the UK has gone a little bit crazy,” Jean-Claude Piris, a former head of the European council’s legal service said. British politicians seemed to have gone “on holiday”, since gaining the extension, he added.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/11/eu-view-of-tory-leadership-candidates-deeply-critical-say-sources

    And just for a bit of a change:

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/11/kim-jong-nam-half-brother-north-korea-leader-was-cia-informant

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/11/fraser-anning-candidate-given-queens-birthday-honour

    A professor who advocates for sex with robots and ran as a candidate for Fraser Anning’s far-right micro-party at the May election, has been awarded a Queen’s birthday honour.

    Adrian Cheok was made a member of the Order of Australia for “significant service to international education”. (Inter-alia perhaps.)

  16. Eco maori 16

    Kia ora The Am Show.

    The subbies are put under a lot of pressure by the big corporations companies that's the way I see it

    Good Phil and the Auckland Council for declaring climate change a emergency ka pai and Christchurch Nelson have declared climate change as a emergency.

    simon shonky was pro carbon so don't go complaining about Phil making good choices on climate change in Auckland.

    Duncan the only one waffling is you any thing positive about policy and publicity on climate change is awesome.

    That's the way Amanda you stand firm on your opinion the grey hair is genetic Mark.

    The Helicopter crash in New York would have scared a lot of people it was good of the Pilot to crash the Helicopter on top of a building and not in the crowded streets of New York there could have been heaps of people losted .

    YES people we need to donate more blood and plasma please to help our people who need it.

    Flying taxis is awesome I hope it all works out for them the testing in real life with passengers and testing in cities airspace.

    Coscos landing in Aotearoa is cool the retailers have had it to sweet in Aotearoa for to long a bit more competition is long overdue for the grocery trade.

    With the flying taxis Simon that is the reason Aotearoa has to embrace 5G technologies that is needed for all the data the self flying taxis and cars need for them to operate safer. Someone is holding back humanity advance in technology . We need to take the advance in technology to combat climate change.

    Ka kite ano

  17. Eco maori 17

    Eco Maori thanks Therasa May enshrining in LAW commitments to a net zero carbon emissions by 2050 ka pai

    Theresa May has sought to cement some legacy in the weeks before she steps down as prime minister by enshrining in law a commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, making Britain the first major economy to do so.

    The commitment, to be made in an amendment to the Climate Change Act laid in parliament on Wednesday, would make the UK the first member of the G7 group of industrialised nations to legislate for net zero emissions, Downing Street said ka kite ano link below.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/11/theresa-may-commits-to-net-zero-uk-carbon-emissions-by-2050

  18. Eco maori 19

    I agree we should not be concerned about the cost to mitigate climate change. Climate changes will cause heaps of damage and loss to the Papatuanuku/world so nitpicking about the cost of climate changes is irrelevant and just a DISTRACTION thrown up by oil barons and their PUPPETS.

    Imagine if the Australian and UK governments declined to participate in the war in Iraq because the price of bombs was a bit high. Imagine if the US waited for the price of nuclear missiles to fall before participating in an arms race with Russia. Or imagine if we criticised people for spending more on their cars, clothes or food than was “necessary”.

    'Big stick' energy bill: Coalition MP wants economy-wide power to break up big companies

    The idea that we need to weigh the costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions with the benefits of doing so is so widespread in Australia that it’s difficult to see how absurd – and uncommon – such an approach is. While economics textbooks suggest that we should solve all problems in such a manner, the simple fact is we solve almost no problems that way. Take cars for example.

    Cars are a very expensive way to move around a city. The private costs of buying, fuelling and maintaining a car are relatively high, and then there are the social costs. Without massive public investment in roads, tunnels and bridges, cars are virtually worthless. And then there are the costs of noise pollution, air pollution and congestion that car drivers impose on other citizens Ka kite ano link below.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/11/its-cheap-to-tackle-climate-change-but-that-isnt-the-reason-to-do-it

  19. Eco maori 20

    Kia ora Newshub.

    It a shame all the tamariki being taken from there mother and whanau.

    Condolences to the boy who was run over by a truck in Auckland today.

    If you look at that man who killed Nicole you can see he is emotion less phyco Paddy I won't say anymore.

    UBER air flying electric power taxis is cool I say if technology was not held back by the ruling class this would have happened years ago.

    Eco Maori will believe that Kim's brother was caught in the spiders web reference Ambush in the night Bob Marley.

    Its very cool Mel and his 50 + brass band he is turning 100 congressional Mel .

    Ka kite ano.

  20. Eco maori 21

    Kia ora te ao Maori news.

    Teuku waka Marae it's sad to see the police involved and putting the story on Facebook I'm not sure whom is correct but putting people down on Facebook is not on.

    I have stated that sips just gave them selves a Maori name but forgot the kauppa Maori that system needs to learn to love and respect Maori tangata it is good that the government has given $80 million the help Whanau Ora with all the tamariki in bad care it is well needed after the underfunding that national gave for the under privileged child services this is there MESS our new Government has to clean up Pene I know how you feel with your mahi kia kaha.

    Ka kite ano

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    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
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    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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