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.
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. ]
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.
"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."
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Well thanks very much. Bang. That is what happened to messengers with bad news.
We all really do need to read this and keep it in mind. I'm thinking I'm in a wooden house, etc etc. I'll also send a copy to my son. They are busy and doing okay and tend to want everything to be like it was last century when we had hopes for a recognisable, realisable future. So ta, after all.
One must allow for interference from some people when it takes their fancy.
The seven decorated pigeons were found at the aviary shortly after the antics of the bird decorator reached news headlines. Prior to the discovery, other birds such as sparrows had been found with tinsel wrapped around them.
Many of the sparrows had died as the decorations stopped them from being able to eat or drink
Since 2015, SPCA's Wellington Centre have had 30 cases of birds arriving at the centre either dead, or with injuries so severe they have had to be euthanised. Decorations were removed from the pigeons by SPCA's veterinary team, and they each underwent a full vet examination. SPCA's inspectors will continue to investigate the case, and are calling on Kilbirnie residents to help.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
‘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 🙂
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.
'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
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.
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
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.
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.
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…
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
'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.'
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.
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'.
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.
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.?
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.
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.
Simon never gives up but now seems a bit pathetic.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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?"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 → ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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,” ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
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 Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
Another failure in court for the self described 'justice campaigner', better described as vexatious and hopeless.
So now on to the delayed appeal:
https://yournz.org/2019/06/11/nottingham-fails-in-court-again/
How much of our money has this guy wasted? Sick of seeing his spite filled name.
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. ]
The they-all-do-it defence.
I’m not sure Simon Bridges has a feel for politics at all.
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.
Proof please.
"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."
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.
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. "
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.
Perhaps Micky wanted proof about Labour and the the Greens hanging out at KDC's mansion…?
MS You are talking about Dotcom not the Bish.
If Kim's been practising his kickpunching Ian LazyGalloway might bestir himself.
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.
Understood
And I am sure you will consistent with whataboutism the other way.
I’m fond of analogies.
'And I am sure you will consistent with whataboutism the other way.'
On a political blog in NZ ?……… are you drunk ?
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
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
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!
Well said.
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.
I recall marveling over that when driving over it. Concrete roads, it was alien to me.
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.
And poetry! Bring back poetry.
Today's fare….
You liked my like
I like that you liked my like so I liked
your like of my like and you liked in reply
A like of my like of your like of my like.
I'm looking for a suitable icon WtB.
Haven't used this one before. 😮
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/e/ed/Carcharodons_Banner.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110218062759
I take back my like. Then what? If you turned that poetry into pottery I could throw it at you.
I was taking it easy on you. The second verse involves a dick pic – modern love…
“You liked my like
I like that you liked my like so I liked
your like of my like and you liked in reply
A like of my like of your like of my like.”
I like it
AF8 will change the lives of all NZ.
There will be significant power outages in both islands for around a month.
No power,no food,no fuel no jobs.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/90364889/magnitude82-the-disaster-scenario-on-new-zealands-most-dangerous-fault
Well thanks very much. Bang. That is what happened to messengers with bad news.
We all really do need to read this and keep it in mind. I'm thinking I'm in a wooden house, etc etc. I'll also send a copy to my son. They are busy and doing okay and tend to want everything to be like it was last century when we had hopes for a recognisable, realisable future. So ta, after all.
I think part of our communications set up could involve homing pigeons.
Here is some detail:
http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/animals/chickens-poultry/how-raise-homing-pigeons/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/77451800/racing-pigeons-fly-the-coop-and-return-under-enthusiast-with-80-birds
https://www.nzpoultryassociationsinc.co.nz/south-island-contacts/
https://www.nzpoultryassociationsinc.co.nz/south-island-clubs-and-activities/clubs/
http://www.prnz.org.nz/news-and-articles/rota-virus
One must allow for interference from some people when it takes their fancy.
The seven decorated pigeons were found at the aviary shortly after the antics of the bird decorator reached news headlines. Prior to the discovery, other birds such as sparrows had been found with tinsel wrapped around them.
Many of the sparrows had died as the decorations stopped them from being able to eat or drink
Since 2015, SPCA's Wellington Centre have had 30 cases of birds arriving at the centre either dead, or with injuries so severe they have had to be euthanised. Decorations were removed from the pigeons by SPCA's veterinary team, and they each underwent a full vet examination. SPCA's inspectors will continue to investigate the case, and are calling on Kilbirnie residents to help.
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.
I think you miss the point Hamish S.
Thanks for the detail cleangreen – you are well informed. And we better.
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
Jude doesn't need no stinkin' polls, the ground swell support will be enough to sweep her into power!
Jude is coming!!
Is that Jude or Judas?
After June comes July, not Jude 😉
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
But will she deal with Hannah? Brian might ride the Harley but Hannah is wearing the trousers, I reckon.
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 🙂
Is that a “Yes”?
This is what Jude'll do to Hannah (metaphorically speaking of course)
https://giphy.com/gifs/fighting-fight-11jokITGudhl8Q
To use your own word, nay.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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…
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
So good. So many of early TV's gay characters were widely loved, shame about the laws/haters.
Remember these guys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE3xM_LQ0hY
Wouldn't be allowed to make programs like those these days…
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
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?
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.
…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.
I wouldn't mind seeing something like this being built:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1QQD7MVehY
But I doubt any government would have the courage to do so, its not exactly a vote winner but it'd be the right thing to do
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.
(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…
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.
The military spend up equation is simple. Increased risks (climate change, super power confrontations) = increased military spending.
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.
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.
They will have to drink the water.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/first-up/audio/2018699006/only-70-percent-of-auckland-public-water-fountains-drinkable-clean
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.?
Yeah I questioned a Watercare guy testing a reservoir out West.
"Would you drink Auckland water?"
"No".
Nah … he was probably taking the piss.
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.
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.
Simon never gives up but now seems a bit pathetic.
Wasn't it 3minutes 42 seconds after the time the Junior Staffer took down the petition?
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
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.
….but Judith's floral technicolor dreamcoat is amazing.
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
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
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.
What a dummy Bridges is. Unauthorised access it certainly was!
Jesus Christ how bad can Bridges get. That's just an embarrassment.
Ardern ate him alive, Peters passed her the salt and pepper.
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.
It's hilarious.
Thanks for the links Ian 🙂
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?"
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.
Someone might even name a planet after him
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.
Ianmac @ 13.2 . Jacinda makes mince meat of Simon. He looks ridiculous.
#lets keep Simon
#let's d’oh this
# let's d'oh this
Simon's effort in Parliament was pathetic.
It's like fizzle, phut, phut….is that it?
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.
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.
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.
There is certainly quite the disconnect going on between where he thinks he stands, and where he's headed.
Problem for Pulla is that she is tied to Bridges and when he goes, she goes.
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.
I think she can untie herself faster than Houdini.
Time to chuck the towel over the ropes Goodfellas, your guy's throwing air punches and his legs are going.
Perhaps he should wear a mouth guard when in the ring?
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
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.)
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
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
https://youtu.be/QAB6aXOfUmU
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
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.
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