Fisheries minister Semi Koroilavesau said the Pacific cannot protect its greatest resource through advocacy and action on its own.
"As stewards of the Ocean, our task is to lead, to be a beacon of Blue leadership that inspires the world to turn away from the model of development that harms our ocean and threatens to strip off our life given resources," he said.
Once the government breaks the supermarket duopoly & New Zealand Food & Grocery Council is successful in gaining better conditions for its members. How will we spend the $1/week that we are told is being gouged by the industry. FFS $1/week is going to make any difference to everyone’s financial position. It’s about time even blind govt supporters started to expect REAL action and not some pathetic side issue in distraction.
I expect it is a rough (very) calculation based on the Consumer statement that supermarkets are making excess profits of 1 million per day….there are approx 1.85 million households in NZ.
I am very skeptical of the numbers I have seen on this. Here in Brisbane we do 98% of our grocery shopping at ALDIs. Our average weekly spend to fill a trolley for two of us is $120pw. This is after a recent round of price rises.
Im not sure how they calculated the 'excess' profit, but 120 a week for 2 is slightly less than we spend…maybe by around the exchange rate.
It is probable however food inflation has some way to go given that the inputs to production have yet to work their way through….a lot of the stuff we are eating now will have been contracted some time ago and those contracts will be being reviewed as the new growing season approaches.
Yes they do…and apparently the basket of goods works out cheaper here…that is of course a comparison involving Countdown, the result may be even more favourable if compared to Pak n Save, or worse if compared to New World…..and of course we dont have Aldi.
Reds 120 AUD a week is pretty much our 140 NZD that we spend
Yes …I recall a few years ago Australia had very expensive bananas ($30 kg?) as to protect banana growers in Queensland they dont import and there was crop damage….an issue that will impact more and more markets worldwide as weather patterns become more erratic.
The peak of that coincided with a time when we had lots of Aussies in Queenstown and the local supermarkets did a loss leader on bananas, like a couple of dollars kg. Resulted in some seriously spun out Aussies
Section 3.54: If the average ROACE was 5.5% (our central estimate of WACC), the major grocery retailers’ profits would reduce by approximately $430m per year.101
Footnote 101: If the major grocery retailers’ average ROACE was 6.6% (our higher WACC estimate), their profits would reduce by approximately $365m per year.
Lots of technical stuff on methodology and various approaches to make realistic comparisons, some of which were challenged, of course. However, the take-home message is quite clear. NB this is excess profit, i.e. above and beyond what might be considered ‘reasonable’.
600 odd pages is why I dont know how they arrived at their million a day…..I dont dispute it, indeed it is probably erring on the side of caution and in any case is subjective….like most our concern is the ability to meet the cost and we are fortunate we no longer have to feed a horde of teenagers…my sympathies for those who do is great and solutions few.
‘kay, I’d hoped you could help – it will take me way too long to get my little head around it. From the little I can gather they tried their best to come up with the best-possible and most realistic estimates of excessive profit by making comparisons within NZ and with overseas.
Of course, everything is subjective, but that’s a weird benchmark and yardstick to use in debates like this!?
Life has become a lot more expensive for me too recently and I don’t expect it to level off any time soon. The supermarket profiteering is merely a drop in the ocean but it has been going on many years and unless something is done about it will continue to add to our living costs every day of the week.
Im guessing they took an industry wide margin (possibly international) and applied it to turnover and determined they were operating at a higher margin here….as always there are potential market peculiarities that may be claimed.
Yes the cost of living is becoming increasingly problematic, but as the saying goes the cure for high prices is high prices….eventually something breaks….thats no help of course while we live through it….for some us, again.
3.22 We have compared each of these [three] profitability measures against relevant benchmarks to assess the level of profitability and its persistence over time.
Funny that nobody at the moment seems to be talking much anymore about the housing crisis or the skyrocketing rents.
A lot of the supermarket market share has increased at restricting competition in building complexes such as malls across a broad range of goods.
A lot of ‘mum and dad’ stores had disappeared from shopping malls, she said.
“I used to think they left because of competition. I now realise they've left probably because the supermarket has declined their tenancy.”
Rich said restrictions in some leases had prohibited a range of retailing that went well beyond “core retail grocery”.
“Most New Zealanders would not think a supermarket is something that sells clothing, fashion, luggage, sports and fitness goods, appliances, shoes, computers, insurance, hairdressing services, banking, arts and crafts, or childcare services. But according to this lease, they do.”
The 6000-square-metre property has been sitting vacant for over a decade, with Foodstuffs purchasing the building from Tip Top for $8.25 million in 2009, for “strategic reasons”.
It is not clear whether Foodstuffs planned to develop on the site, but the purchase cramped further development of the neighbouring Countdown supermarket owned by rival company Progressive Enterprises.
"Funny that nobody at the moment seems to be talking much anymore about the housing crisis or the skyrocketing rent"
They are…and it has a much greater impact than even food or energy ….spend some time over at Interest.co and you will find that the economics of housing is the predominant topic of conversation….and for good reason, but it does get repetitive, you can only observe the obvious so many times before you begin to bore even yourself.
Yet the way it has been conveyed in the media and the govt has framed it is that this questionable excess profit will not flow down to the consumer, the suppliers are also after a portion of this. As my original comment the benefits to the consumer are at best nominal. Inflation has been mentioned to add $150/ week to family budgets. And the govt brings out this distraction. Get REAL🤫
Inflation goes up & down. The profiteering has been going on for years and is sucking about $400M out of our pockets each year, give or take. I’d like to this to change and improve and it is something that we/Government can influence and control, global inflation pressures we cannot. This is as REAL as it gets!
There are two of us. One vegetarian. I only eat chicken as the cheapest meat. We go to the open air market for veges (farmers market in NZ is an oxymoron as it’s essentially just artisanal items for the audi set). Our weekly shop is no less than $185. We usually have two of our frozen meals; soups, etc, to pad out the week. Its a false economy as have to buy more the following week to replace the frozen stuff used. It’s ridiculous.
Well we would have GST added to that. 15%, now allowing say 10% =$132 Plus a delivery fee of $20 fortnightly so $284 fortnightly + add wine and cat food to arrive at just over $320. (plus exchange) We do not garden anymore though we cook from scratch, freeze and make bulk meals and freeze bases.
When we stayed in Australia Aldi would save at least a third of our shop costs, and Warehouse Chemist was good for other health needs.
Apparently, according to our son, electricity insurance/Body corps have risen, and petrol has risen sharply.
Mine is $180-$200 p/week.
That includes feeding a growing teen, petfood and cleaning, etc. products as well as food.
Supplemented by $40-$50 at the local greengrocer (I don't like supermarket fruit/veggies – local is better price and better quality); and $20-30 at the bakery (we do like our fresh bread)
The supermarket shop does include some luxuries – could probably cut around $30-40 – or even more if we had to.
Buy mostly at Pak n Save – and reckon I save around $30 each trip, over New World/Countdown. As I buy house brands of most products, and stock up on specials when they have good deals — the sort of budgeting you can afford to do, if you have a reasonable income….
My average supermarket shop has increased by $20-$30 since January this year. And, I simply don't buy some products (not paying $4 for a tiny stalk of broccoli – I'll buy it frozen, instead; wait for cheese on special, rather than paying $20/kg, etc.). There are some really strangely uneven price increases, too: bizarrely, the price of organic chicken was the same as Tegel in my last shop.
Ours is about $300 for 2 including the $50 box of organic local vegetables, the organic retailers for most things, and a bit of New World for cleaning stuff and food and medication for the two 17 year old cats.
And that's with me working south on a big windfarm 1 week out of 2.
Supposedly $400m excess profits, supplies are we are told screwed so wat. Conservatively 1/3 of this going back leaves $270m and there are 5.5m pop in NZ equates to$50/person but that is sorting what the govt is using. Don’t worry it will go the same as the $0.30/l that fuel Coys are making over and above. I wonder when we can expect to see these cost savings?? Eh Prime Minister
Thanks:, Herodotus. So its profits you are saying are $1 per head per week.
My father was a grocer. On some items he had a 6% mark-up, like butter (buy for 1/10 1/2, sell for 2/-). Other goods went for much higher mark-up. That mark-up went towards the profit, and after costs for rent, maintenance, staff wages, lighting, heating, refrigeration, phone, cleaning, tax, spoilage, and theft were deducted, there was the profit.
Let's say 5% of the cost of a sale is pure profit after all deductions, (I have no idea of the actua real figure), then the customer pays x20 the profit and the $1 per week per head becomes, TO THE CUSTOMER, $20 per head per week.
These are all rough figures, but the essence of your claim that it's only a $1 per head per week refers only to the absolute profit and the actual figure is several times that, depending on the ratio of profit to retail price.
Looking through the responses above engendered by your post at #2, the comment by Incognito at 2.1.1.1.1.2 above referring to ROACE might sum up what I've been trying to argue.
Incognito refers to a return on average capital expenditure is 5.5%, very close to my 5% pluck out of the air!
So, say the extra $1 profit for the supermarket comes from a $19 sale, meaning the consumer is paying $19 on a purchase to achieve that ROACE.
[please stop using this site to drop random links with no commentary. You’ve done this enough times now for us to consider it spamming. We have an expectation that people will contribute to debate by using their own words (and those can be backed up with quotes and links). Here’s the test to see if you are spamming. You’re in premod. Next time I see you drop a link like this I will ban you. If you haven’t read this mod note it will tell me that you’re not here to engage. – weka]
Could you wipe all my posts and my name from this site please?
[Why should we? We keep a record, for future reference. People should be allowed to see what comes around and goes around here on TS. You should have thought about your actions before you started spamming the site here with your propaganda links – Incognito]
So this "doing nothing Government" has been "on song" after all. So we will have Workers Associations as well as Business Associations. Well done Labour. This was meant to attach to Sacha’s comment. We just have to get the legislation over the line now.
The term “soft power” has been bandied about recently. China trying to develop their relationships in the Pacific being local examples.
This article from The Guardian gives an explanation of how soft power, over a long period of time, can influence policy. Russian soft power influence in Africa being the example.
You an i both know joe that this war is as much about propaganda as it is about the battles on the ground therefore the messages coming back from the conflict to us are in the main designed to obfuscate the true situations in order to promote one narrative or another and mostly in our neck of the woods that narrative is essentially pro ukrainian in nature so " the russians are losing " the russians are running out of missiles and ammunition " the russians are deserting " etc etc etc
Ive commented on these factors numerous times and ar'nt about to repeat myself further seems to me you"d have to have been living under a rock not to have heard the one about them running out of ammo .
For those wanting an up to date daily analysis Alexander Mercouris is hard to pass up .
You may find Schindler's take enlightening. His politics are far from my own but he's an historian of note who knows his stuff.
For all their defects, which are legion, the Russian military understands the crushing power of gunnery. For centuries, artillery and lots of it, applied on a massive scale to pound the enemy into submission, has been their signature move. Stalin called such gunnery his “God of War,” yet Russian artillery acumen long predates the Bolsheviks.
Sorry to nit pick, also the Red God caused the German Army Centre to spectacularly collapse in 44 & cut off Army Group Nth.
Which also meant that Germans had to abandon Ukraine in the Sth which had a flow on effect with Germany's last remaining Axis Allies in Eastern Europe.
French TV crew at one of the Mariupol region's cemeteries.
Thread.
We visited one of the cemeteries in #Marioupol last week. We saw there thousands of recent graves, surmounted by a number. On this side of the cemetery the numbers went beyond 3000
On most tombs there is only a number written in felt-tip pen and which is already being erased. Who are 768? 739? 442? 834? How did these inhabitants of Mariupol die? Will they be identified? Where are their relatives? Did they survive?
.
Sometimes we can read a name and a first name like that of Janna Dozorets, number 1423, born in 1957 and died in Mariupol on April 14, 2022.
Jane Clare Jones on form 🧵 🧵 on why gender critical feminists have their own politics separate from the right, and calling GC women nazis or accusing them of allying with the right is a massive ignorance.
Sometimes she locks her account overnight. Because gender critical feminists get targeted and harassed for saying things like biological sex matters, and women have a right to their own politics.
That thread is 🔥🔥🔥. Phew! Good summary. A snippet:
7. Who am I protecting?????
The fact you ask this question is gratuitous evidence of your refusal to grant the existence and interests of female people.
I am protecting the rights of female people to:
a) Exist in law as a sex class
b) Organise politically as a sex class
c) Speak the analysis of our own oppression along the axis of sex
d) Have spaces and resources dedicated to our own needs and interests as a sex class
e) Not be redefined in law as a sexist projection and have our needs and interests subjugated to male interests
I am also protectiong:
– Gender non conforming children from being needlessly medicalised
– Same sex oriented people's right to define their sexual orientation
– Lesbian women's sexual boundaries
– Due democratic process and transparency from policy capture by a sex denialist ideology
– The coherence of human meaning from political tyranny
– The functioning of a public sphere in which people are free to express their own perceptions of reality
I think calling GC women Nazis or associating them with the right is another way of avoiding the debate and trying to shut us up. What the left don’t realize is that in misrepresenting us in this way, it fractures and alienates many women from left wing politics where we have experienced solidarity.
The failure of the left and politicians within Labour and Greens not to critique the new gender ideology and pause before accepting and embracing it, leaves me mistrustful of them.
the uncritical acceptance of something referred to as gender identity is utterly baffling to me.
the term was first used by NZder Dr John Money (psychologist). His famous case was with twin boys, one of whom had had his penis irreversibly damaged during a botched circumcism. His suggestion to the parents was to bring this unfortunate child up as a girl. He saw the twins and part of his “therapy” was to get them to enact sex acts together. Both brothers committed suicide as young adults.
Yes, 10 years ago nobody was saying that of course some women have penises. Now we have men jumping on the bandwagon to mansplain who and what we are.https://thecritic.co.uk/mansplaining-womanhood
One need not be particularly incisive to notice Trump did his best to overthrow a valid electoral result.
The Stuff editor that acted to conceal the fact should lose his job – news media are to get the truth out, not to cover up crap like the capital riot. The occupy freaks are part of the same trash – fifty years ago they'd've been done for treason, and a good thing too.
Best turn to CNN for the actual Jan 6 coverage; incisive is not the word springing to mind describing Stuff.
If by occupy freaks you mean the anti-vaxxers not the Occupy lot from 2014, well, I'd have preferred to have seen them shown the respect of any political interest at all. Being a moron isn't yet treasonous.
Any National Party supporters that have purchased National branded tee-shirts will need to return them for a refund if their leader gets his wish of banning gang patches.
Your comment is really uncalled for. To firstly call another political party a gang is not only childish but really shows an increasingly desperate attempt to discredit other parties in a democratic country (it still is, isn't it?). Secondly, to minimize that NZ has become a literally lawless country with gang warfare going down the path like in South America is just pathethic. But then again not a surprise given that the labor government gave millions to the Mongrel Mob for drug prevention treatment. Oh well, that helped…sarc
Secondly, to minimize that NZ has become a literally lawless country with gang warfare going down the path like in South America is just pathethic. But then again not a surprise given that the labor government gave millions to the Mongrel Mob for drug prevention treatment. Oh well, that helped…sarc
Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant laden with hyperbole and BS. The irony of your own desperate childish comment is obviously lost on you.
But thanks for bringing up that very successful investment in that Mongrel Mob-run drug rehab programme in Central Hawke’s Bay. I’d say it has exceeded expectations in a positive sense.
A Mongrel Mob-run drug rehab programme in Central Hawke’s Bay is not only getting men off meth, it is getting them off “the intergenerational treadmill”.
I think you need to ask every taxpayer for that – the polls right now do not show that wide support you espouse. Drugs and related crime is connected to gangs, always has. I don't believe that there are exceptions. And perhaps you need to talk to the families of those who are affected by these drive by shootings etc. and tell them that all of that is hyperbole. Ignorance is not bliss in that instance. And there is absolutely no excuse for it. no matter whose party, group etc. anybody belongs to.
I'd happily hold that bonfire of gang patches. Hell I'd invite everyone to Eden Park for it. Doesn't matter that it would make no difference to membership. The social contract has long broken with this government and Police and it will take a few theatrical moves to bring it back.
People get so worried about looking to Australia for models of policing about gangs. Both National and Labour are doing it already.
A reporter who has covered gang violence for 15 years is clear that this is the worst he has seen it. It's quite unprecedented in West Auckland since 2020.
Tough new laws to hit organised crime including bikies
Wednesday, 8 December 2021
The Criminal Law (Unlawful Consorting and Prohibited Insignia) Bill 2021 has passed through Parliament
New crime of consorting contrary to an unlawful consorting notice will attract a maximum five-year jail term
New offence of displaying insignia of an identified organisation in a public place will attract a maximum 12 month jail term and fines of up to $12,000 or $60,000 for corporations
New offence of consorting contrary to a dispersal notice will attract a maximum 12 month jail term and $12,000 fine
Police now have the power to target individuals involved in serious and organised crime and disrupt their activities by banning them from associating with one another and wearing their patches.
Police will also have improved powers to prohibit consorting between convicted child sex offenders to better protect the community from the risk of future offending.
Tough new consorting and insignia laws have passed through State Parliament, making Western Australia the toughest jurisdiction for offenders and criminal organisations like outlaw bikie gangs to operate or expand their criminal activities.
The robust, fair and efficient laws give WA Police unprecedented powers to disrupt and restrict serious and organised crime through the introduction of three key reforms:
the prevention of unlawful consorting between offenders;
the prohibition of displaying insignia of identified organisations in public; and
powers to disperse gang members who gather together in public places.
Under the new crackdown, WA Police can issue an unlawful consorting notice on an offender, which prohibits the association with other offenders named in the notice for three years. If the notice is breached on two or more occasions, the offender may be charged and sentenced to a maximum of five years imprisonment.
The legislation identifies 46 organisations from across Australia and prohibits the display of their insignia in a public place. An insignia removal notice scheme will enable WA Police to issue a notice requiring the removal or modification of insignia that is being displayed in a public place. WA Police will have the power to remove or modify the insignia for failure to comply.
Finally, a dispersal notice scheme will give WA Police the power to issue and enforce dispersal notices with the intention of disrupting and restricting consorting between members of identified organisations occurring in a public place. A dispersal notice will prohibit a person from socialising with persons named in the notice for a period of seven days, with a breach attracting a 12 month prison sentence and a fine of $12,000.
The proposed laws include explicit safeguards, including oversight from the Ombudsman, to ensure that the new police powers are used appropriately and marginalised people in the community are not unfairly penalised.
I searched on that but not a lot to report that isn't behind a paywall. There do seem to have been a dozen or so arrests and charges brought using the new legislation.
This kind of legislation should not be measured in terms of Court appearances. It is best considered a tool that works best as a deterrent – like nuclear weapons best never used. But as with Ukraine, you find out what happens when you don't have them.
The conspiracy theory that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, is what fuels his campaign to return to office.
If anyone can, Ivanka Trump, the ultimate insider in the Trump camp, may have the ability to kill this conspiracy off, or at least marginalise its supporters within the Republican Party hierarchy, pretty much ending Trump's chances of being selected as the Republican presidential candidate.
In my opinion Ivanka Trump's testimony has yet to have its full impact.
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TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
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Good talk ? I really hope there is ACTION ! For far too long Our Earths Oceans, incl the Pacific, have been raped.
Best wishes for the Ocean Advocates
Once the government breaks the supermarket duopoly & New Zealand Food & Grocery Council is successful in gaining better conditions for its members. How will we spend the $1/week that we are told is being gouged by the industry. FFS $1/week is going to make any difference to everyone’s financial position. It’s about time even blind govt supporters started to expect REAL action and not some pathetic side issue in distraction.
I'd be keen to see the source and/or the reasoning behind the $1 per week claim.
I expect it is a rough (very) calculation based on the Consumer statement that supermarkets are making excess profits of 1 million per day….there are approx 1.85 million households in NZ.
https://campaigns.consumer.org.nz/supermarkets
I am very skeptical of the numbers I have seen on this. Here in Brisbane we do 98% of our grocery shopping at ALDIs. Our average weekly spend to fill a trolley for two of us is $120pw. This is after a recent round of price rises.
How does that compare to your experience in NZ?
Im not sure how they calculated the 'excess' profit, but 120 a week for 2 is slightly less than we spend…maybe by around the exchange rate.
It is probable however food inflation has some way to go given that the inputs to production have yet to work their way through….a lot of the stuff we are eating now will have been contracted some time ago and those contracts will be being reviewed as the new growing season approaches.
Interest nz has a comparative calculator with woolworths and countdown ,we come out slightly cheaper on same comparative baskets.
https://www.interest.co.nz/charts/prices/grocery-prices
i buy in bulk usually from the market gardeners for fruit and vege where most in season products are 99c kilo.eg spuds,onions,pumpkin apples.
Yes they do…and apparently the basket of goods works out cheaper here…that is of course a comparison involving Countdown, the result may be even more favourable if compared to Pak n Save, or worse if compared to New World…..and of course we dont have Aldi.
Reds 120 AUD a week is pretty much our 140 NZD that we spend
Aldi is more home brands (where you dont pay for the brands name)
Cold spell for Brisbane must limit seasonal goods, ( its warmer on the Chathams right now 16c vs Brisbane 13c)
Yes …I recall a few years ago Australia had very expensive bananas ($30 kg?) as to protect banana growers in Queensland they dont import and there was crop damage….an issue that will impact more and more markets worldwide as weather patterns become more erratic.
The peak of that coincided with a time when we had lots of Aussies in Queenstown and the local supermarkets did a loss leader on bananas, like a couple of dollars kg. Resulted in some seriously spun out Aussies
It’s well outside my area of expertise, but maybe not yours.
https://comcom.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/278403/Market-Study-into-the-retail-grocery-sector-Final-report-8-March-2022.pdf
Section 3.54: If the average ROACE was 5.5% (our central estimate of WACC), the major grocery retailers’ profits would reduce by approximately $430m per year.101
Footnote 101: If the major grocery retailers’ average ROACE was 6.6% (our higher WACC estimate), their profits would reduce by approximately $365m per year.
Lots of technical stuff on methodology and various approaches to make realistic comparisons, some of which were challenged, of course. However, the take-home message is quite clear. NB this is excess profit, i.e. above and beyond what might be considered ‘reasonable’.
600 odd pages is why I dont know how they arrived at their million a day…..I dont dispute it, indeed it is probably erring on the side of caution and in any case is subjective….like most our concern is the ability to meet the cost and we are fortunate we no longer have to feed a horde of teenagers…my sympathies for those who do is great and solutions few.
‘kay, I’d hoped you could help – it will take me way too long to get my little head around it. From the little I can gather they tried their best to come up with the best-possible and most realistic estimates of excessive profit by making comparisons within NZ and with overseas.
Of course, everything is subjective, but that’s a weird benchmark and yardstick to use in debates like this!?
Life has become a lot more expensive for me too recently and I don’t expect it to level off any time soon. The supermarket profiteering is merely a drop in the ocean but it has been going on many years and unless something is done about it will continue to add to our living costs every day of the week.
Im guessing they took an industry wide margin (possibly international) and applied it to turnover and determined they were operating at a higher margin here….as always there are potential market peculiarities that may be claimed.
Yes the cost of living is becoming increasingly problematic, but as the saying goes the cure for high prices is high prices….eventually something breaks….thats no help of course while we live through it….for some us, again.
Funny that nobody at the moment seems to be talking much anymore about the housing crisis or the skyrocketing rents.
A lot of the supermarket market share has increased at restricting competition in building complexes such as malls across a broad range of goods.
And predatory aquisition of adjacent property
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122542884/former-tip-top-building-in-wellington-to-be-demolished-after-sitting-derelict-for-more-than-a-decade
"Funny that nobody at the moment seems to be talking much anymore about the housing crisis or the skyrocketing rent"
They are…and it has a much greater impact than even food or energy ….spend some time over at Interest.co and you will find that the economics of housing is the predominant topic of conversation….and for good reason, but it does get repetitive, you can only observe the obvious so many times before you begin to bore even yourself.
Yes, you’re quite right. I should visit interest & co more often but time …
Yet the way it has been conveyed in the media and the govt has framed it is that this questionable excess profit will not flow down to the consumer, the suppliers are also after a portion of this. As my original comment the benefits to the consumer are at best nominal. Inflation has been mentioned to add $150/ week to family budgets. And the govt brings out this distraction. Get REAL🤫
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/463870/households-facing-150-a-week-extra-in-costs-as-inflation-and-interest-rates-rise-asb-bank
Inflation goes up & down. The profiteering has been going on for years and is sucking about $400M out of our pockets each year, give or take. I’d like to this to change and improve and it is something that we/Government can influence and control, global inflation pressures we cannot. This is as REAL as it gets!
There are two of us. One vegetarian. I only eat chicken as the cheapest meat. We go to the open air market for veges (farmers market in NZ is an oxymoron as it’s essentially just artisanal items for the audi set). Our weekly shop is no less than $185. We usually have two of our frozen meals; soups, etc, to pad out the week. Its a false economy as have to buy more the following week to replace the frozen stuff used. It’s ridiculous.
Well we would have GST added to that. 15%, now allowing say 10% =$132 Plus a delivery fee of $20 fortnightly so $284 fortnightly + add wine and cat food to arrive at just over $320. (plus exchange) We do not garden anymore though we cook from scratch, freeze and make bulk meals and freeze bases.
When we stayed in Australia Aldi would save at least a third of our shop costs, and Warehouse Chemist was good for other health needs.
Apparently, according to our son, electricity insurance/Body corps have risen, and petrol has risen sharply.
Mine is $180-$200 p/week.
That includes feeding a growing teen, petfood and cleaning, etc. products as well as food.
Supplemented by $40-$50 at the local greengrocer (I don't like supermarket fruit/veggies – local is better price and better quality); and $20-30 at the bakery (we do like our fresh bread)
The supermarket shop does include some luxuries – could probably cut around $30-40 – or even more if we had to.
Buy mostly at Pak n Save – and reckon I save around $30 each trip, over New World/Countdown. As I buy house brands of most products, and stock up on specials when they have good deals — the sort of budgeting you can afford to do, if you have a reasonable income….
My average supermarket shop has increased by $20-$30 since January this year. And, I simply don't buy some products (not paying $4 for a tiny stalk of broccoli – I'll buy it frozen, instead; wait for cheese on special, rather than paying $20/kg, etc.). There are some really strangely uneven price increases, too: bizarrely, the price of organic chicken was the same as Tegel in my last shop.
Ours is about $300 for 2 including the $50 box of organic local vegetables, the organic retailers for most things, and a bit of New World for cleaning stuff and food and medication for the two 17 year old cats.
And that's with me working south on a big windfarm 1 week out of 2.
Damned if I know where it goes.
Supposedly $400m excess profits, supplies are we are told screwed so wat. Conservatively 1/3 of this going back leaves $270m and there are 5.5m pop in NZ equates to$50/person but that is sorting what the govt is using. Don’t worry it will go the same as the $0.30/l that fuel Coys are making over and above. I wonder when we can expect to see these cost savings?? Eh Prime Minister
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/minister-expects-to-see-fuel-prices-drop-18c-32c-a-litre-because-of-new-petrol-company-rules/7BVIJ65L54YLD4J66AGTDRCPEQ/
And for the savings in Australia they don’t have GST on all their grocery items like we do.
Thanks:, Herodotus. So its profits you are saying are $1 per head per week.
My father was a grocer. On some items he had a 6% mark-up, like butter (buy for 1/10 1/2, sell for 2/-). Other goods went for much higher mark-up. That mark-up went towards the profit, and after costs for rent, maintenance, staff wages, lighting, heating, refrigeration, phone, cleaning, tax, spoilage, and theft were deducted, there was the profit.
Let's say 5% of the cost of a sale is pure profit after all deductions, (I have no idea of the actua real figure), then the customer pays x20 the profit and the $1 per week per head becomes, TO THE CUSTOMER, $20 per head per week.
These are all rough figures, but the essence of your claim that it's only a $1 per head per week refers only to the absolute profit and the actual figure is several times that, depending on the ratio of profit to retail price.
Looking through the responses above engendered by your post at #2, the comment by Incognito at 2.1.1.1.1.2 above referring to ROACE might sum up what I've been trying to argue.
Incognito refers to a return on average capital expenditure is 5.5%, very close to my 5% pluck out of the air!
So, say the extra $1 profit for the supermarket comes from a $19 sale, meaning the consumer is paying $19 on a purchase to achieve that ROACE.
Muriel Newman has this to say…
[deleted]
[please stop using this site to drop random links with no commentary. You’ve done this enough times now for us to consider it spamming. We have an expectation that people will contribute to debate by using their own words (and those can be backed up with quotes and links). Here’s the test to see if you are spamming. You’re in premod. Next time I see you drop a link like this I will ban you. If you haven’t read this mod note it will tell me that you’re not here to engage. – weka]
mod note. This was your third strike.
You’re a fine prime example why we need a Three Strikes Law in NZ
Could you wipe all my posts and my name from this site please?
[Why should we? We keep a record, for future reference. People should be allowed to see what comes around and goes around here on TS. You should have thought about your actions before you started spamming the site here with your propaganda links – Incognito]
International support for Fair Pay Agreements here, as expected.
https://twitter.com/AotearoaSam/status/1535215066508775424
Thanks Sacha.
Ouch.
https://twitter.com/btlane/status/1535335524671823872
So this "doing nothing Government" has been "on song" after all. So we will have Workers Associations as well as Business Associations. Well done Labour. This was meant to attach to Sacha’s comment. We just have to get the legislation over the line now.
I believe the Nats will remove FPAs as soon as they get power again.
The term “soft power” has been bandied about recently. China trying to develop their relationships in the Pacific being local examples.
This article from The Guardian gives an explanation of how soft power, over a long period of time, can influence policy. Russian soft power influence in Africa being the example.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/08/the-congolese-student-fighting-with-pro-russia-separatists-in-ukraine?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Russia's indescriminate killing spree visualized.
https://twitter.com/carlbildt/status/1534470176292454400
Especially remarkable since they've been " running out of ammunition " for so long joe !!!
Cite?
You an i both know joe that this war is as much about propaganda as it is about the battles on the ground therefore the messages coming back from the conflict to us are in the main designed to obfuscate the true situations in order to promote one narrative or another and mostly in our neck of the woods that narrative is essentially pro ukrainian in nature so " the russians are losing " the russians are running out of missiles and ammunition " the russians are deserting " etc etc etc
Ive commented on these factors numerous times and ar'nt about to repeat myself further seems to me you"d have to have been living under a rock not to have heard the one about them running out of ammo .
For those wanting an up to date daily analysis Alexander Mercouris is hard to pass up .
You've got nothing so you made shit up. Henceforth, anything you pull out of your arse can be assumed to be a fucking lie.
Goodo
/
The Ukrainian Military are almost out of Artillery Rds for it's WarPac Era Artillery pieces
Some of the Western Supplied 155m Artillery pieces have almost shot out their barrels & need replacing.
Thence the need for Western Supplied MLRS atm, to take the pressure off its Artillery Gun Units.
[Please check and correct your user name in the next comment, thanks]
Mod note
Sorry, didn't realise I managed to mangled my user name.?
Mind you it got below 15deg overnight here in Darwin's Rural Area, so I had a few other things on my mind this morning 😂.
All good. Mods don’t mind too much, generally, but when they’re busy they want to avoid dying by a thousand minor ‘cuts’.
Get the fire going.
You may find Schindler's take enlightening. His politics are far from my own but he's an historian of note who knows his stuff.
For all their defects, which are legion, the Russian military understands the crushing power of gunnery. For centuries, artillery and lots of it, applied on a massive scale to pound the enemy into submission, has been their signature move. Stalin called such gunnery his “God of War,” yet Russian artillery acumen long predates the Bolsheviks.
https://topsecretumbra.substack.com/p/military-history-repeats-in-ukraine
https://twitter.com/20committee
Actually it was called the Red God.
Sorry to nit pick, also the Red God caused the German Army Centre to spectacularly collapse in 44 & cut off Army Group Nth.
Which also meant that Germans had to abandon Ukraine in the Sth which had a flow on effect with Germany's last remaining Axis Allies in Eastern Europe.
I can see you struggle with concepts like dates and the passage of time
French TV crew at one of the Mariupol region's cemeteries.
Thread.
We visited one of the cemeteries in #Marioupol last week. We saw there thousands of recent graves, surmounted by a number. On this side of the cemetery the numbers went beyond 3000
https://twitter.com/alexdalsbaek/status/1534897804186894338
.
On most tombs there is only a number written in felt-tip pen and which is already being erased. Who are 768? 739? 442? 834? How did these inhabitants of Mariupol die? Will they be identified? Where are their relatives? Did they survive?
.
Sometimes we can read a name and a first name like that of Janna Dozorets, number 1423, born in 1957 and died in Mariupol on April 14, 2022.
https://threadreaderapp-com.translate.goog/thread/1534897804186894338.html?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Rumour/innuendo to get Mr can't see me pants going.
https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-bodyguards-collect-his-poop-every-time-travels-abroad-report-2022-6
If I was Putin I'd say that's good progress and lock it in.
Given Tsar Poot's latest rambles, I think Tsar Poot's has locked it in Eddie.
Jane Clare Jones on form 🧵 🧵 on why gender critical feminists have their own politics separate from the right, and calling GC women nazis or accusing them of allying with the right is a massive ignorance.
https://twitter.com/janeclarejones/status/1535207092331728896
Only approved people can read that account. All others see is the rather critical response.
Sometimes she locks her account overnight. Because gender critical feminists get targeted and harassed for saying things like biological sex matters, and women have a right to their own politics.
Ok, but you've linked to something most people can't read.
I think she locked it after I was looking at it. Or maybe I didn't see she had locked it. It will probably be visible tomorrow.
Her account is unlocked now.
That thread is 🔥🔥🔥. Phew! Good summary. A snippet:
Which he should know, but why bother being educated about politics when one can run lazy slurs instead.
True, but @janeclarejones merciless dissections are a public service.
and a delight! and such a relief.
I think calling GC women Nazis or associating them with the right is another way of avoiding the debate and trying to shut us up. What the left don’t realize is that in misrepresenting us in this way, it fractures and alienates many women from left wing politics where we have experienced solidarity.
The failure of the left and politicians within Labour and Greens not to critique the new gender ideology and pause before accepting and embracing it, leaves me mistrustful of them.
the uncritical acceptance of something referred to as gender identity is utterly baffling to me.
the term was first used by NZder Dr John Money (psychologist). His famous case was with twin boys, one of whom had had his penis irreversibly damaged during a botched circumcism. His suggestion to the parents was to bring this unfortunate child up as a girl. He saw the twins and part of his “therapy” was to get them to enact sex acts together. Both brothers committed suicide as young adults.
Yes, 10 years ago nobody was saying that of course some women have penises. Now we have men jumping on the bandwagon to mansplain who and what we are.https://thecritic.co.uk/mansplaining-womanhood
very good article, captures the film perfectly
Insteresting perspective. I think Matt Walsh meets a different audiencc. I understand the film has gained lots of exposure.
I think the interview with the gender studies lecturer shows up how incoherant the arguements are.
We’re not fond of NZME at TS, and Bryan Gould does ask a reasonable question here.
https://bryangould.com/nzme-and-trump/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nzme-and-trump
I doubt that an answer will ever be given.
Alternatively Gould is not particularly incisive and doesn't have a useful following.
Still, Gould could always come here and join the rest of the old irrelevant wets.
One need not be particularly incisive to notice Trump did his best to overthrow a valid electoral result.
The Stuff editor that acted to conceal the fact should lose his job – news media are to get the truth out, not to cover up crap like the capital riot. The occupy freaks are part of the same trash – fifty years ago they'd've been done for treason, and a good thing too.
Best turn to CNN for the actual Jan 6 coverage; incisive is not the word springing to mind describing Stuff.
If by occupy freaks you mean the anti-vaxxers not the Occupy lot from 2014, well, I'd have preferred to have seen them shown the respect of any political interest at all. Being a moron isn't yet treasonous.
They were threatening to hang the PM – that's near enough for treason – moron is a plea in mitigation.
Any National Party supporters that have purchased National branded tee-shirts will need to return them for a refund if their leader gets his wish of banning gang patches.
Your comment is really uncalled for. To firstly call another political party a gang is not only childish but really shows an increasingly desperate attempt to discredit other parties in a democratic country (it still is, isn't it?). Secondly, to minimize that NZ has become a literally lawless country with gang warfare going down the path like in South America is just pathethic. But then again not a surprise given that the labor government gave millions to the Mongrel Mob for drug prevention treatment. Oh well, that helped…sarc
Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant laden with hyperbole and BS. The irony of your own desperate childish comment is obviously lost on you.
But thanks for bringing up that very successful investment in that Mongrel Mob-run drug rehab programme in Central Hawke’s Bay. I’d say it has exceeded expectations in a positive sense.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/128728109/inside-kahukura-the-mongrel-mobled-drug-rehabilitation-programme
So, it has been working very well, which is a reason to celebrate and do more of this kind!
I think you need to ask every taxpayer for that – the polls right now do not show that wide support you espouse. Drugs and related crime is connected to gangs, always has. I don't believe that there are exceptions. And perhaps you need to talk to the families of those who are affected by these drive by shootings etc. and tell them that all of that is hyperbole. Ignorance is not bliss in that instance. And there is absolutely no excuse for it. no matter whose party, group etc. anybody belongs to.
Well, I don’t live in South America and I don’t speak Spanish or Portuguese, so that could be a bit of a problem.
What should I be asking every taxpayer? I mean every single one?? And do I need to talk all the families as well???
Please stop your absurdism here, thanks; your comments won’t be taken seriously as they stand.
The overwhelming majority of people are sensible, socially connected and decent….that fact is always worth remembering
Yeah, man. Since 1936.
//
I'd happily hold that bonfire of gang patches. Hell I'd invite everyone to Eden Park for it. Doesn't matter that it would make no difference to membership. The social contract has long broken with this government and Police and it will take a few theatrical moves to bring it back.
People get so worried about looking to Australia for models of policing about gangs. Both National and Labour are doing it already.
Politicians look to Australia for advice about how to curb gangs | Stuff.co.nz
A reporter who has covered gang violence for 15 years is clear that this is the worst he has seen it. It's quite unprecedented in West Auckland since 2020.
The Front Page: Inside New Zealand's fight against escalating gang violence – NZ Herald
A believable plank for National is that Labour as soft on crime and crime is out of control.
As in so many other policy areas, it's now going to be very hard to turn that perception around.
EDit: Bang on queue National unveils its anti-gang plan on tv tonight. He’s not a political moron.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300610874/we-need-action-against-gangs-right-now-chris-luxon-details-new-gang-plan
"I'd happily hold that bonfire of gang patches"
I on the other hand like it that I can easily identify undesirables out in public and can give them a wide berth.
To borrow one of Luxons overused tropes it's bumper sticker stuff to say he'll stop people from gathering, and I'm no lawyer.
I think I have pointed to the WA experience before. Wildly popular Labour State govt passed this legislation late last year:
Cheers yes. Probably deserves a post on itself now that National have put out fresh policy on it .
Has there been any measurable effect at WA, or is it too early?
I searched on that but not a lot to report that isn't behind a paywall. There do seem to have been a dozen or so arrests and charges brought using the new legislation.
This kind of legislation should not be measured in terms of Court appearances. It is best considered a tool that works best as a deterrent – like nuclear weapons best never used. But as with Ukraine, you find out what happens when you don't have them.
OMG what a way to go… Fact and Fiction combine – Augustus alive again
Defanging the viper
The conspiracy theory that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, is what fuels his campaign to return to office.
If anyone can, Ivanka Trump, the ultimate insider in the Trump camp, may have the ability to kill this conspiracy off, or at least marginalise its supporters within the Republican Party hierarchy, pretty much ending Trump's chances of being selected as the Republican presidential candidate.
In my opinion Ivanka Trump's testimony has yet to have its full impact.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/us-canada/300610972/long-since-checked-out-ivanka-trumps-january-6-testimony-exposes-family-strain