The page may not last long (too overtly political?).
All donations go to the Christchurch City Mission, a charity I have no connection with.
And I have used the words of UncookedSelachimorpha without permission I’m afraid (I hope you don’t mind) because you expressed the indignation I felt far better than I could.
"For Michael Woodhouse, as health spokesman, former CEO of a hospital and person with a Masters of Health Administration, to merely delete emails that wilfully breach patient privacy is disgracefully inadequate.
"He knew the leak he received was outrageously unethical and went against all standards of medical practice. It was incumbent on him to take decisive action to expose and shut down this appalling behaviour. Reporting the breach to the proper authorities (e.g. MOH, privacy commissioner) would be the minimum decent action he could take."
Gordon Campbell hones in on a key point of the saga:
And what are we to make of National’s Health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse, whose credibility is fast receding to vanishing point, what with that invisible homeless person he alleged had snuck into quarantine last week. Woodhouse is obviously a big Bob Dylan fan (‘How does it feel to be without a home/like a complete unknown ?’) Subsequently, Woodhouse could offer no evidence that the mystery tramp even existed. Now comes this latest epic fail. As we stare into the vacuum of his eyes, his words make ironic reading:
National health spokesman Michael Woodhouse said the leak represented “another serious failing” of the Government.“Reports coming in this morning of personal details being leaked which reveals the identity of New Zealand’s current active cases, is yet another serious failing from this incompetent Government. This is unconscionable and unacceptable that those suffering from the incredibly dangerous virus now have to suffer further with their private details being leaked. The Government needs to get to the bottom of this, and quickly. The Ministry of Health has been assuring people since the beginning of the epidemic in New Zealand that personal details would remain private, it’s unfathomable that it couldn’t handle a simple task like this.”
Editorial note: `stare into the vacuum of his eyes' ought to be in single quotes, Gordon, to remind readers that it's a line from the Dylan song that hit top of the charts in '65.
Perhaps a journo will do the sleuthing to establish the extent of woodlouse guilt? Did he admit that he saw the email Boag sent him before he accused the govt of the privacy breach? If he did know it was a Nat conspiracy before mouthing off, Muller ought to punish him. While staring into the vacuum of his eyes, preferably…
Yes, the drift towards shallow journalism has been evident for some years now. I saw it happening in the TVNZ newsroom while I was working there in the '90s but those doing investigative journalism provided suitable balance then. I blame social media for the subsequent worsening of the effect.
Commentators lack the inside view: deadline pressure motivates quick production of stories. So there's a real economic cost to doing research. A journalist will only invest the time to get to the crux of a skullduggery situation if their conscience prevails over expediency. Journalism in the public interest remains de-institutionalised!
The Anglosphere is a term first used by science fiction author Neal Stephenson but taken up by historians and others as a useful signpost for those nations formerly part of the British Empire. It includes Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand and in some formulations, South Africa, and Ireland. Countries bound by culture, political traditions and a mutually intelligible language (hence the debate over South Africa and Ireland). In his book ‘How We Invented Freedom and Why It Matters’, ace Brexiteer and former Euro MP, Dan Hannan makes the argument that political freedom – the state deriving its power from the consent of free individuals, rather than individuals being granted freedom by an almighty state – is a uniquely British rather than ‘Western’ phenomenon.
This freedom was wrought by history and circumstances peculiar to the British Isles: the Anglo-Saxon Witan system, the common law, the Protestant break with Rome, the absence of a large, potentially tyrannical standing army and the individualist property rights that provided the basis for capitalism. Hannan argued that in the face of encroachments on political liberty (he was thinking foremost of the EU) the ideal of ‘the Anglosphere’ should be reignited.
Hong Kong is another opportunity. It prospered as a loyal British colony for over 150 years with its people never demanding self-government. Then for the sake of diplomatic expediency, its people were handed to the CCP without the democratic consultation usually required elsewhere (see the Falklands). Britain has a moral duty to its former subjects. Hong Kong, spat out by the Lion, shouldn’t be left to be swallowed up by the Dragon.
Inasmuch as we all remain embedded in cultural ambience produced by the residue of the British empire, it's a good idea to reflect on how distinctive its imperialism actually is – and likely due to having no emperor!
In a 2015 email addressed to the Mayor, Brady said she had been told at a meeting she “was being banned from participating in any official events related to China and or Antarctica…”. She claimed pressure had been placed on an individual (whose name is redacted) to have her banned, and asked if this pressure was “made under Mayor Dalziel’s knowledge, if she too is bending to Chinese pressure…
“Banning was a common practice of the South African regime and is a classic means to isolate, discredit, and silence someone whose views might be an inconvenient truth,” Brady wrote.
The mayor seems reluctant to embrace the notion that she may be a stooge of the communist regime in China. Quite why the prof got banned isn't clear though.
A council staff member responded saying “we are not aware of any ‘ban’ or ‘blacklisting’”, and rejected the suggestion there had been any such “policy or pressure” to do so.
So it seems to be a Schrodinger's ban: real if one official says it is, unreal if another says it isn't. Social reality gets created according to who you believe…
Here is the submission from: Professor Anne-Marie Brady
This submission provides: 1. An overview of China’s foreign interference activities; 2. Suggestions for a resilience strategy for local and central government.
We really need better, otherwise conspiracy theories fill in the gaps. My neighbour was telling me yesterday that he's "heard" that everyone's covering up that the guy who did a runner from quarantine the other day went to a brothel instead of the official story. First time I've ever heard a conspiracy theory of any kind from him.
Mosa publicised this article a couple of days and it has been discussed a bit on the Standard.
It would be good if there was a post based on this article.
Caitlin Johnson, one of my favourite writers, writes regularly on the issue of the daily narrative we are fed. An Aussie, her main focus is the U.S. ; however, her take is accurate for all the 5 eye nations.
Her most recent report is entitled 'As Long As Mass Media Propaganda Exists, Democracy Is A Sham. ' I recommend it.
The article looks at a recent poll that shows most Americans believe Russia targeted U.S. soldiers, despite this being a "completely discredited narrative ."
It looks at the power of the media to sway people's thinking.
Why? I'll leave that to Caitlin…..
"But people are not as objective and adept at critical thinking as we tend to believe we are. People have many cognitive biases which distort our ability to objectively process information and understand events, including one which causes us to believe something is true just because they’ve heard it said multiple times. This makes us easily susceptible to mass media propaganda, where our encounters with daily news headlines can shape our perception of what’s going on in the world regardless of whether or not those headlines are backed by actual facts."
But people are not as objective and adept at critical thinking as we tend to believe we are. People have many cognitive biases which distort our ability to objectively process information and understand events, including one which causes us to believe something is true just because they’ve heard it said multiple times. This makes us easily susceptible to mass media propaganda, where our encounters with daily news headlines can shape our perception of what’s going on in the world regardless of whether or not those headlines are backed by actual facts.
As I've said many times, the spreading of misinformation needs to be made illegal with serious consequences for those doing so. The concept of free-speech does not give anyone, especially media services, a right to lie.
Kim Hill's "brave" (that's how he describes himself) guest this morning came up with a completely ridiculous solution to the problems facing the world
RNZ National, Saturday 11 July 2020, 8:10 a.m.
First up on Dame Kim's programme this morning: yet another from that endless conveyor belt of glib and talkative "woke" commentators that she and her producers go to almost without thinking. This fellow likes to hang out with billionaires and deliver mild critiques of them to their face in places like Aspen, Colorado. Early on in this interview he called himself "brave" for this daring behaviour…
Described by a Guardian reviewer as "superb hate-reading", writer and columnist Anand Giridharadas's latest book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World investigates the hypocrisy of billionaire "do-gooders".
He questions how and why we have become reliant on the philanthropy of the super-rich to help solve our biggest global issues, and their role in eroding the public institutions that should be leading the way.
Giridharadas is an editor-at-large for TIME and was a foreign correspondent and columnist for The New York Times from 2005 to 2016. His two previous books are India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking and The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas.
As I suspected, Giridharadas could not help himself; a few minutes after praising himself for daring to speak to Bill Gates and Peter Thiel—"brave", he calls himself—he then went on to claim that there was one person who could save the world from this. That saviour is…. wait for it!.… Barack Obama.
I dropped the following hasty email to Lady Kim…
Anand Giridharadas' bizarre praise of Obama
Dear Kim,
Anand Giridharadas was doing well until he suddenly started to spruik Barack Obama. If ever there was a tool of corrupt billionaires, it was that machine politician.
Yours in disgust at glib and thoughtless New York Times hacks,
Anand had a pretty good analysis of neo liberalism and its origins I thought regardless of his pedigree and acquaintances.
Morrissey, is there anyone in this whole damn world that has got it right in your esteemed opinion–or is everyone a sell out dog, and working class heros exist no more?
I googled working class heroes and got this: http://www.workingclassheroes.co.uk selling "mens streetwear from Patagonia". Nice to know they have embraced capitalism while doing `hands across the water' with the folks in Patagonia eh? 🤣
Bet it got Marx spinning in his grave. No more revolution. Evolution instead.
I've been wondering if capitalism is the last stage of development for a civilisation. After all, once capitalism arises in a civilisation its always been destroyed allowing for a new civilisation to arise to replace it and thus giving us civilisational evolution.
People who take Girardharadas seriously would worry about such symbolism, Dennis. Symbolism and right-on messaging is the only thing that matters for them.
I respect and admire many ethical, rigorous and brave academics and journalists—really brave, that is, not someone who delivers mild critiques to billionaires in luxury resorts.
I do not rate someone who hobnobs with Bill Gates and delivers glib homilies on the hipster channel Vice, and advocates for, of all people, Barack Obama.
I agree, Ed. He says many things that are perfectly correct. But anyone who posits Barack Obama as any sort of a solution cannot be taken seriously, other than by the same folks who wept in despair after Saint Hillary was beaten in 2016.
Morrissey you find fault with the guy for referring to Obama in a positive way. So he is to be hit over the head with that. Yet you write here with so many flaws in your thinking and still demand your right to be taken seriously: I would rate you only 65/35 right, which isn't all that high. Try being more objective and not so excitable about others why don't you.
I made the decision that that sleazeball does not deserve an hour of my time transcribing his crap; so I'm using only a little bit of that demolition job by Katherine Ryan, as part of a dramatization I'm doing of a recent emergency meeting of Muller's caucus.
Giridharadas said that the progressive ideas of Sanders and Warren were popular – but that there were barriers to them actually winning electorally. And to overcome those barriers would need someone with the charisma, rhetorical fluency, charm, likability (call it what you will) of Obama.
That doesn't seem like an unreasonable comment – whatever you think of what Obama actually did – his skills as a politician are undeniable. We have seen this close-up with Ardern, how relatability, charm, being in tune with the mood and language of the times is so important. I took it as more of a comment about Bernie's limitations as an electoral politician, rather than errors in his policy.
Admittedly – Giridharadas,s solution does seem rather week in comparison to the strength of his diagnosis.
The coalition of left/progressive voters (especially in the USA) have many conflicting values and agendas, and normally only win when the Democrats can put up a candidate who has the charisma and political fluency to get them all to turn out and vote.
(Biden is the exception only because Trump is so intensely polarising.)
Please don’t spoil Morrissey’s carefully crafted narrative; it took him ages to draft that carefully worded e-mail to Kim Hill. We need more brave public intellectuals like Morrissey.
It's going to be interesting to see the reponses in here to Kim Hill's interview with Anand Giridharadas (link not up yet @ Sacha – except maybe https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday for today 11/07/2020 )
Pass the popcorn
Edit: Fark me! How did I guess @ Mozza
I mean Obama had his chance …for the first 2 years Democrats had a majority in both houses , and yet still Guantanamo , despite all his noble promises remains open for business
No one was prosecuted for the disaster of the GFC, and the torturers “we tortured some folks”got off scot free.
Ask the people of Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Libya what they think of Obama.
Ask the people of 138 countries in the world where US special operators could be found in 2016.
“In 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. This means that every day last year, the US military blasted combatants or civilians overseas with 72 bombs; that’s three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day.”
This issue of alcohol came up yesterday on DR I think. My understanding is they can buy wine from the hotel, but not order it in. Prices are likely to be higher than a liquor outline. And the hotel can control how much is supplied, which would be essential…..imagine unlimited alcohol in quarantine……what could possibly go. wrong
I see some friend/family member said she tried to persuade our Queenstown business owner not to abscond. I hope she informed the police of his intention to commit a crime. If not suggest a visit from the police and charges.
BTW. Shout out to Gabby and Observer for having me LMAO last night. Observer quoted from the media that the Queenstown man had been difficult to manage in social isolation and had very strong political views (?" Cindy's locking me up????")
Gabbys response…."look like the Nats have found their next candidate forSouthland/Clutha " Ha ha ha bloody funny.
I also saw a headline from a contact of the new candidate saying he's a really nice guy. Yeah right….
most businesses already offer delivery – have been doing so since level 4 and three.
so no point using an underpaid uber driver – the only ones making money is the app/shareholder.
But the government could legislate just how much these hotels can charge to people in isolation for say beer and wine. Usually mini bar prices are way up because many people actually don't use them. They leave their hotels for drinks. And again in saying that, non of these fuckwits actually have a cost to pay for food n bed, so fuck it they should be able to either hold their need or suck it up and pay the price.
Have yet to see a good write up of what is available and seeing a range of opinions on it, I suspect it probably varies a bit from place to place. But the restriction on alcohol might be causing some problems, also for people that smoke. Stressful situation alongside not being able to self-medicate enough is not a good mix.
Of course not! The binary brigade will still stick to its simplistic morals of right or wrong, for or against. Anything in between has too much nuance and is too complex to consider for more than a fleeting moment – hang on, there’s another message/tweet/reckon I need to give my undivided attention as if my life depends on it. There is no position in the middle, there is no room for negotiation and debate (!), and there is definitely no possibility for consensus or agreeing to disagree.
People are not really left- or right-handed, as they would use both hands for most stuff. Similarly, people are not as politically pure and on either side of the political left-right spectrum as they believe they are. It is heuristic approach by the mind to make things simpler than they are and save time (another illusion) and energy.
Don’t blame the media, blame your lazy mind and start thinking.
Referendums don’t come out of the blue and don’t sit in some kind of vacuum. There is much debate before, which leads to a decision to hold a referendum, and then after, to implement any changes. I wasn’t referring to any specific action but to thinking, binary thinking.
This binary thinking also sits alongside that "cancel culture" letter that famous people signed, then some people took their names off when they realised who elses name was on the letter. It's about agreeing with the goal, but for different reasons. Like marching for free speech, but when you look around and see you're in a group of neo nazis you decide to quietly leave, even though you have the same goal (free speech), but for totally different reasons.
I agree. I suspect some of this is political (court report from one case suggested this). But some might also be stress. People do weird shit when in unusual and stressful situations.
A story in the Herald this morning stating unemployment was reaching " the same levels as it did during the GFC".
The recession that NZ suffered from was in 2011, nearly three years after the GFC, it was the only country in the world to claim this 3 years on, most countries were in recovery stage.
The recession in 2011, was at the time described by most economists as the direct as a soft recession, the result of the Drought that affected Northland and the East Coast, the other contributing factors was the CHCH earthquakes and the combination of the National Party Tax cuts and the increase in GST which did more harm to the economy than the GFC three years earlier.
NZ was fortunate in 2008, to have ridden the GFC on the back of Australia's economic plan, they injected over a billion dollars directly into their economy by sending a $1000 check to every house hold to maintain spending in the local Economy
At that time, Australia was NZs biggest export market and maintained their demand for NZ products.
I get really tired of the media and National saying the recession was due to the GFC, it wasn't, it was created by a Failure of the Govt of the day to recognize it wasn't the time to push through there famous tax cuts and the increase in GST that saw many on low incomes with lower spending power.
Ideological stupidity was at the forefront, but they didn't care, it was a really good excuse to run Austerity and a low wage economy, which, by any measurement, was a Complete and Total failure for most Kiwis.
NZ had the lowest average income in the OECD measured against similarly developed countries, any economist worth anything will tell you those two things lead to a shinking economy, so National imported nearly 800,000 migrants, bringing their money with them to prop up the failing economy.
Asking this again, anyone know what this piece of legislation is for? Apparently it's in older acts too. Am curious what the intent is, and how often it gets used (and why).
Schedule 8 clause 6 provides that a “chief executive of a department or the board of an interdepartmental venture may request an applicant for appointment or an employee to undergo a medical examination”. The department or venture may nominate a “medical practitioner” and must pay.
The Chief Ombudsman notes that the discretion provided to chief executives already exists in section 82 of the State Sector Act, but suggests that the Committee consider amendments to provide guidance as to the purpose of the discretion and the circumstances in which it could be exercised.
Submissions by the PSA national delegates within the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Inland Revenue Department (IR) express shared concerns. Both submit it should be clear that the requirement should be relevant to the work of the role, for example by adding to subclause (1) “… to ascertain any medical conditions that could affect fulfilment of the role”. They comment that “request” implies that an applicant could refuse a request and, if that is not the case, it should change to “require”. The DOC delegates comment that they support drug testing of workers for health and safety reasons. The IR delegates comment there is no mention of how mental health would be viewed/managed and how the principles of Nga Kaupapa are incorporated into this and the required medical examinations.
The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties considers the power provided to chief executives is broad and untrammelled. It recommends that the Bill incorporate the safeguards found in the United Kingdom Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 (these include, for example, requiring the person seeking the medical report to obtain the person’s consent, and to provide them with information about their rights to see and amend the report before it is provided to the employer). The Council also recommends that the Bill require chief executives to keep data on the frequency and circumstances with which they use the power to ask people to undergo a medical examination, and to report this data to the Commissioner annually.
Commentary: As the Chief Ombudsman notes, the provision in the Bill already exists. It has existed in some form since 1912.
Public Service Act 1912: the Commissioner shall make regulations prescribing (among other things) “a medical examination as to the health of candidates”. Candidates were held to comply.
State Services Act 1962: the Commission or permanent head may require any applicant or employee to submit to a medical examination at ‘his’ own expense.
State Sector Act 1988: a chief executive may require any applicant or employee to undergo a medical examination at the expense of the department.
Public Service Legislation Bill: provides for a chief executive or interdepartmental venture to request and must pay.
The Bill changes an ability to “require” to an ability to “request”. This change is deliberate in the contemporary context of human rights and privacy considerations. A request cannot be enforced. If not followed, it could become the subject of an employment-related conversation between the employer and employee.
The Bill does not detail particular types of medical examinations. It would not be suitable to attempt to include either a positive or negative list. However, the term “medical practitioner” is defined in clause 5 as “a health practitioner who is, or is deemed to be, registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand continued by section 114(1)(a) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 as a practitioner of the profession of medicine”.
In practice, the provision is not used extensively. However, there can be circumstances where it is appropriate, notably when a medical examination would be relevant:
for the purpose of determining the person’s ability to perform their job, or to fulfil their requirements of being a good employer, including good and safe working conditions.
The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties makes a number of helpful suggestions with regard to international examples. In New Zealand, however, the Privacy Act 1993 would apply to the information and provide for matters such as protecting the individual’s rights to access to it, correction, and storage. Advisers agree that the information resulting from the medical examination may only be provided to a chief executive or board or an interdepartmental venture with the consent of the applicant or employee. Advisers also agree that the only information that should be provided to the chief executive or board is information that is relevant to the purpose of the medical exam.
Recommendation 35: We recommend that an addition to this clause be inserted to the effect that:
a chief executive or board of an interdepartmental venture may request a medical examination for the purpose of determining the person’s ability to perform their job or to fulfil their requirements of being a good employer, including good and safe working conditions
the request must be in writing and state the purpose
the information resulting from the medical examination may only be provided to a chief executive or board or an interdepartmental venture with the consent of the applicant or employee
only information relevant to the purpose of the medical exam is to be provided
Now that the language is “request” not “require”, the civil liberty issue isn’t really there in the same manner. Note that employers can require medical examinations for H&S reasons now e.g. to determine if an employee is fit to return to work.
Commenters who fill in the Name and Email fields frequently, has something changed in the past few months? We're getting a lot of typos, which means the system treats you as a new commenter and the comment gets held in Pending to be released by a moderator. Would love some feedback and what kind of device you are using.
I sometimes type too fast and notice I've been typing in the email field, so more bozo user fault than system. I back up but sometimes leave the odd extra letter.
it seems odd that there is a sustained spate in the past few months. Might still be user error, but I am curious if the interface or something has changed.
I did comment some months ago that my text field kicks me off sometimes while I'm typing, and the cursor resets to the Name field. Most of the time I pick it up but sometimes I hit submit with the last bit of a sentence in the Name field instead of where it should be. Desktop version on laptop.
Also can't use the desktop version on mobile because the text field doesn't have a cursor or accept text.
ta, that's the kind of thing I was thinking about. There's been a few where sentences have turned up in the name field. Or email addresses. I'll mention it to Lynn (he's aware of the mobile issue, I find it is intermittent on my iphone). What's your OS and browser?
I hope people start to read and get informed before adding the knee-jerk comments on these "escape" stories.
Yesterday there was a flurry of Confident Reckons, many of which were made to look silly soon after, once we had some facts. Sharing instant ignorance adds nothing.
It appears that each of runners had different reasons, one only wanted some shopping, the older person is suggested as having health issues, the other man had been abusive and a "strong political viewpoint", I'm not sure about the first woman.
Amy Adams suggested that the reason was because the motel/hotel accommodation was below scratch.
Actually, I think the MSM are partly responsible. They’ve been making a big thing out of these break-outs and, I suspect, generating both copy-cat scenarios and over-reactions among some in the community.
They should leave the police and related services to deal with them and stop high-lighting the escapees unless there is good cause to notify the populace at large – something the police would do anyway.
Because these people weren't in the country as we went through L4 and L3, it looks like they may have missed out on some shift in consciousness that the rest of us have been through. The idea of sacrificing immediate self-interest for the collective good, was strong through L4 and L3. Strong enough for the phrase 'team of 5 million' not to feel completely cringey and embarrassing, which under normal circumstances it would. Alternatively – it might be that at all times, and under all circumstances, there is simply an irreducible minority of dipsh*ts.
After what I have heard about the prevalence of meth and P in the country, and the fact that we have such a high drug taking score, it is likely that there are many people affected by abstinence of their chosen pasttimes. I had an eye operation requiring me to lie still face down for long periods and regret to say that I couldn't manage the required periods. So I can be understanding of people who have drug habits or are freedom-loving reckless individuals.
Good assesment AB but there were still quite a few doing runners or walkabouts under 4 and 3, was it something like 6-700 arrests and lots of talking too's ?.
Remarkable that Labour lead National on the economy, 45-30. That might not be the case if Todd had been doing what he promised on his first day as leader … talking about the economy.
Instead he's been barking at the cars like Bridges, except with a much smaller vocabulary.
So, now it’s woof, woof instead woof, woof, wuff. That’s not vocabulary but the use of onomatopoeias to sound like a dog. All is well in NZ politics. Miaow!
The faces of Adams, Muller and Brownlee on TV1 news last night when Muller was being questioned should be set in stone. Never seen quite that level of discomfort!
Bloody Hell! Another conspiracy for Mr Muller to sink his teeth into.
First it's portraits of JA on bus shelters, now it's pavement stickers telling us all to "Keep Left Unite Against Covid 19"
The Electoral Commission really should get involved!!!! I mean ….why NOW?
And while they're at it, we should get them to declare all those "Keep Left Unless Passing" signs as electioneering – nobody takes heed of them anyway! And half the people are driving on a fishing licence too!
The link is along Cable Street Wellington – plastered over the footpath. A bloody disgrace! And I bet those bloody radical left-wing Labour Party supporting New World franchise owners are responsible.
I'm just getting more cynical as I approach dotage @ Chris T. It's a right of passage. Won't be long before the folks at ZB will be offering me a job in their bid to be fair and balanced.
I think Mike Baker on NewShubs the Nation this morning had some good ideas re handling people in quarantine. But as you know, these things take time
We can all be shit at spelling. Even i can mispell misspel. But I have seen trolls mkae dumb claims about dyslexia, and dumb lefties bekieve it and roll over for them. We can all type a message in a rush and have errors in it.
I'd hope that mental health workers are available.
But if they're sitting around in hotels at midnight waiting to respond, then I'd volunteer for isolation tomorrow. Back in the day when I had some (helpful) counselling, they kept office hours. And the taxpayer didn't pick up the tab.
There was more than enough outrage at going to Rotorua – I'm not sure how a barbed wire internment camp would go down.
But given the ongoing warnings about novel viruses, we should probably start looking at a dedicated facility or three. Maybe prefab units that can be clipped together in a public park.
Hotels work in a pinch, but they're not suitable for longer term use. Not just the absconding, they obviously have issues with cohort control and separation, especially at check in.
Chris T, NZ has no detected post-elimination Covid-19 community transmission (so far) due to an ENORMOUS dollop of good management and a near-invisible dusting of "pure luck" – you sound put out by our excellent health outcomes.
Maybe it's mostly good management in NZ and Australia, with a little bad luck in Victoria. Personally I think it's mostly good management in NZ and Victoria (slightly better management in NZ?), and luck has little to do with it.
You and Todd just need to be patient – there will be community transmission of Covid-19 again in NZ, but no-one knows when.
Has luck really got "a lot" to do with the comparatively bad Covid-19 health stats in Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil? If you think NZ's Covid-19 health outcomes owe more to good luck than good management, then I respectfully suggest that you re-examine your understanding of the factors affecting the spread of global pandemics.
Apologies for lumping you in with Todd – you tend to come across here as being more critical of left-leaning policies/governments than those on the right of the political spectrum, but maybe that’s just me.
There is an element of luck/chance as to whether that positive person (just the one was it?) infected someone else in those 70 minutes.
It's management (by public health services and other government institutions), aided and abetted by the general populace (team of nearly 5,000,000), that’s the primary determinant of a country’s overall health outcomes in a global pandemic. That management can be anything ranging from ‘very tight’ to ‘open slather’.
Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil each have a Covid-19 death rate per million of population that’s at least 75 times NZ's rate – if you thinks that's due to luck, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil each have a Covid-19 death rate per million population that’s at least75 times NZ's and Australia’s rates. The number of Covid-19 cases per million population in NZ is at least 14 times lower than those five countries.
If you think that's due to (blind) luck, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
The management part is stopping staff having sex with people in isolation. It's literally a staff management issue. And not the only lapse they had.
Our worse lapse is someone speaking to a checkout person or a cop or a neighbour, not tongue-lashing them
Because the bloke only had to splutter on one person (If he did indeed not, in the missing 40 odd minutes) And we could just as easily be looking at Victoria numbers,
Who knows as the testing has turned to shite
But hey, The govt is doing brilliant when people aren't running off.
Based on measured Covid-19 health outcomes, our Government has indeed done a brilliant job to date. If, despite your relentless carping, you're genuinely keen on holding "all parties to account", then I look forward to your critique of the behaviour of opposition National party MPs over the last week – bit of a shocker eh?
Still think the Jamie-Lee Ross deBaclay was the opposition’s ‘lowlight‘ for this term so far, but who knows what the next 2 months will bring
And I'm struggling to understand your apparent inability to grasp the relative contributions of "blind luck" and 'management' (by governments, public services et al.) to a particular country's long-term health outcomes during a global pandemic of a novel virus.
Surely you can see that the ideology and Covid-19 health advice offered by Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro etc., are having an appreciable effect on the measurable Covid-19 health outcomes of the countries they ‘lead‘.
Although I will have to concede that NZ got pretty lucky with Ardern and Bloomfield. We don’t know how lucky…
I give up too – if you can't see a relationship between the ‘economy over health‘ ideology and ‘leadership/management‘ styles offered by Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro etc., and the measurable Covid-19 health outcomes of the countries they 'lead', but would rather attribute the hugely different health outcomes of countries to "blind luck", then we are indeed at an impasse.
As an aside, I think we should be using schools rather than hotels as detention centres. Schools are so much more like prisons, and most are now already surrounded by horrible spiky fences to keep the nasty local gangsters out. (Thanks to social policies of most governments since the 1980s.)
It would be so easy to use schools as concentration camps – only a few would be needed, and minimal security staff would be needed to patrol the perimeter.
Some people on various social media demanding to know "Where's Tova? Jessica? Why aren't they going after Todd?".
On a break, is the answer. With an election campaign coming, there won't be any time off for political journos. Parliament is in recess, so this was the obvious time to book. It's not as if they could predict the mad meltdown of the past week (who did?).
As with the timing of polls and much else, a lot of things that inspire conspiracy theories are simply arranged in advance.
(and no, that doesn't excuse Newshub's lamentable coverage, at all. But that's the fault of people who are in the building, not one reporter who isn't).
From Luke Malpress on Stuff and I thought Luke was an enthusiastic National man. Again he hints at the National being saved last week by the runaways. But not all MPs are happy. (Reference the faces of Adams and Brownlee during Mullers presser.)
It is also understood that the National Party had a caucus teleconference on Thursday night at 9.30pm which left many caucus members unhappy. First, according to sources, Muller did not specifically ask if anyone else had received information from Boag. And second, in his first big economic speech, Muller criticised the Government for not having a plan while not presenting a plan himself, instead delivering a directional, but vague, five-point framework to the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce.
It is reported that the Virus has mutated and is much more infectious. It is said to be no more dangerous but just more easily spread. So hands up that we keep the border closed longer? Waiting for confirmation.
I think the WHO investigation into the origins of the virus will at best be a barometer displaying the alignment of Dr Tedros.
Although beyond redemption, I think Trump is right to take a step away from the UN. It's become a pit of snakes, past it's best before date. It's an organisation that should have it's foundation in a love for each other and it just hasn't. The CCP can have it.
A worthwhile WHO would bring together the 200 best vaccine minds in the world and give them all they required.
Wuhan in Hubei province was locked down, residents welded into their apartment buildings, meals passed through railings. At this time 5 million people departed on international flights from Wuhan International Airport, domestic was closed.
You or I, we'd slam the gates down at Mangere wouldn't we? The thought of knowingly jetting hot-spot people off to all points around the globe conjures up images of Mike Myer's Dr Evil in my mind.
I get the Chinese need to save face, reluctance to admit fault etc. But sheeesh. I don't think the CCP form is aligned very well with the sentiments and emotions of the 1.4 billion.
Leading via fear works, but it is always finite, comes to an end. It is natural that our love and respect for each other will rise to be dominant. We are a social animal, inclined to be friends.
So Former National Party President Michele Boag has resigned – from a few things. National's Southland MP Hamish Walker has resigned too, as did the MP he took over from Todd Barclay. Then there was Mike Sabin in 2015, Maurice Williamson in 2014, Aaron Gilmore in 2013, Phil Heatley and Pansy Wong in 2010, Richard Worth in 2009…………..all for things they knew they shouldn't be doing, but did anyway.
The Serious Fraud Office filed criminal charges against four people in relation to an alleged NZ$100,000 donation paid into a National Party electorate bank account which senior National Party personnel who clearly should have known something about it apparently didn't.
And Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics revealed (along with a few other examples of 'dirty politics') that Judith Collins had passed on private information about public servants to right-wing attack-blogger Cameron Slater Again senior National Party personnel who clearly should have known something about it apparently didn't. Collins was also the subject of controversy after an overseas trip where she appeared to be promoting milk products produced by Oravida – a New Zealand company of which her husband was a director.
There's more, but it doesn't need to be catalogued.
What's here is surely sufficient to make one question the validity of National's superior attitude towards being the 'natural party of government'. Why would anyone want to vote for more of that?
And National's claim of being 'superior economic managers' is just as flawed and will be examined in the next post.
Righties and idiots often claim, "Both sides are dirty in Politics." The last one I heard was a woman on RNZ's 'The Panel' on Friday – she made that claim, and then quoted sex scandals associated with Labour Conferences.
Well, none of them were schemes calculated to make National look bad. More like Labour being made to look bad through the media publicizing 'bigly' rumours and accusations. And let us not forget that the big headlines from Andrea Vance's accusation that Jacinda Ardern had 'covered up' a big sex scandal was later withdrawn and apologized for – at the bottom bit of page 126 where few would notice it…
National has been constantly caught out at Dirty Politics – manoeuvres deliberately calculated to make Labour look bad. This current one is only the latest. The worst was the deliberate use of material from GSCB (or SIS?) to denigrate Goff during his 2011 election campaign.. only exposed several years later. That election result should have been revoked, the abuse of knowledge explained to the public, and a new election held.
Come on, you Righties and idiots who say both sides are dirty:
Please give me a list of Labour's dirty deeds which have been deliberately calculated using foul means to make National look bad.
Nicky Hager has made a big long list of National doing that to Labour, and none of his accusations has been disproven in court – because they are valid.
Righties – please tell us exactly how many times the Labour Party or the Left in general have been shown to use subterfuge like Boag's email leaks to deliberately make the other side look bad.
I don't believe you can supply anything much of substance. Usually the mud slung at Labour is own-goal stuff, exaggerated by hostile news media.
Ed – I now think it was Thursday, not Friday. I managed to listen to Friday on RNZ website, and it was not her. I got lost in trying to hear Thursday's panel in their demands that I enrol for ipods and God only knows what..
Thanks. It was near the start, and I now know it was not Alexia. I could not access Thursday so I do not want want to accuse Nalini in case it was Wednesday..
The worst was the deliberate use of material from GSCB (or SIS?) to denigrate Goff during his 2011 election campaign.. only exposed several years later.
That was former SIS Director, Warren Tucker. The current Director, Rebecca Kitteridge formally apologised to Phil Goff a few years down the track.
Cameron Slater requested the SIS held material on Phil Goff and Tucker sent it to him. My suspicion is: Tucker was directed to supply the material to Slater from either John Key himself or someone from the PM's Office acting on his behalf.
One day the truth about that scandalous affair will be released.
“Inspector General of Intelligence and Security Ms Gwyn has been investigating allegations made in author Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics that as part of a long-running National Party dirty-tricks campaign, the Security Intelligence Service and Mr Key’s office worked together to release politically embarrassing material to Slater, who used it to discredit Mr Goff.”
You are not a Rightie giving me what I asked for, but you have magnificently reinforced what I wrote about the travesty of the 2011 election. And from what I recall, that 'embarrassing material' was not even true…
So the story of the 60 year old who busted through a window, out of quarantine, and went banging on the neighbour’s doors is already slipping out of the news sites headlines. No push for the story from the opposition I guess. So, provided we don’t go down Victoria’s unhappy path these few incidents, at odds with the 99.9% of people who are going through quarantine properly, will become nothing more than what they should be, the background noise to our successful Covid response.
Some clever, smart thinking going on in the rest of the country out side the Gnats bubble. (I don't know what they've got but I'd keep at least 2m away).
A couple of sheep are looking thoughtful about this idea, and I think probably like it. It seems the sort of thing that practical TS would go along with. How about signing the petition.
A Southland farmer is calling for New Zealand wool to be used in all publicly-funded buildings and KiwiBuild homes, for carpeting and insulation.
A petition has been started and signed by more than 7000 people.
Thanks to – Greywarshark – And thanks also to – Just is-
We are getting some very good uptodate Information and wisdom !
It does not amaze me that GrannyPoof Herald writes lines and lines of lies, and squeezes its endless Army of Bias, out of it's much treasured enormous Ass.
As David Attenborough might say – the Herald Species is breathing out its last few breaths.
Hi Grey I see on Newshub that Michael Baker the Epidemiologist is suggesting that some returnees are presenting with addiction problems and need help staying in isolation for 14 days. He suggested as one of the props to help their stay over being Nicotine patches. I thought to myself maybe my email to the Hon Chris Hipkins (which was then forwarded to Dr Megan Woods) has been actually taken in and discussed. I can hope but its probably such an obvious idea that many others have proffered their opinions as well. But I did the deed and the next day it has been suggested. Amen to that.
The eminent doctor also suggested health checks and help for other mental health issues. They need to get on top of it whatever the outcome.
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 5, 2024 thru Sat, May 11, 2024. (Unfortunate) Story of the week "Grief that stops at despair is an ending that I and many others, most notably ...
Last night the largest solar storm in decades resulted in Aurorae being seen across Aotearoa, causing many to ask why?Why was the sky pink? What was all this stuff about the power grid? Have we, as so many have wondered since the election, reached the end of days?I had a ...
We have been on the road in England, squeezing down narrow lanes, flying up the M6, loving hedgerows and villages and cathedrals, liking the 21st century less.There have been moments when it’s felt like a movie trope. The pub in Exford, lovely seventeenth century bar, almost more dogs than people, ...
There’s a solar-storm on at the moment, and since the South Island is having a day and night with clear skies, that means Aurorae. I have just got back from a midnight visit to Tunnel Beach – southwards-looking over the Sea, and without the light pollution. Quite a few others ...
Michael Bassett writes – I’m not sure that it’s much comfort to anyone to know that the post-Covid surge in violent crimes, gang activity, ram raids, random shootings, thuggery and stabbings is occurring in other countries as well as New Zealand. These days, wagging school, out-of-control welfare and ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – Cast your mind back to mid-December. A new Prime Minister had just been sworn in, the new Government started its 100-day programme, and Christmas was only days away.Amid all the haste, a report landed that would have deserved our attention.I am talking about the ...
TL;DR: An unseasonally early icy blast at the same time as some long-overdue maintenance almost caused Aotearoa-NZ’s electricity system to black out this week. That’s because a quadropoly of gentailers1 have prioritised paying dividends from their rising profits and adding debt over investing in 1.5 GigaWatts of new wind farms ...
Hi,Before we crack into today’s Webworm, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that Israel is pushing into Rafah. Over 100,000 Palestinians are now attempting to flee the one place that was deemed “safe”.Trouble is, the place they’re fleeing to is already destroyed. Total annihilation is the end goal here.“Israel is ...
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “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 look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“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 look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – 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. ...
Brian Easton writes – 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 (I will report on them ...
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 ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
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. ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
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. ...
By Repeka Nasiko in Suva “Justice has won,” says Fiji’s acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku following the sentencing of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho. Speaking to The Fiji Times, Rabuku said that while they welcomed the judgment by acting Chief Justice Salesi ...
The foreign affairs minister has landed in Solomon Islands for the first leg of his Pacific tour, and an audience with the newly elected Prime Minister. ...
PNG Post-Courier New Zealand High Commissioner Peter Zwart and PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph welcomed a C-130 Hercules to Port Moresby this week to support Papua New Guinea’s response to the March 24 earthquake and recent severe flooding. “Papua New Guinea has requested New Zealand’s assistance to transport emergency ...
Grub Street King Luxon rode through the streets Of King’s Landing, and was troubled By the sight of hungry urchins in the mud. “Who would be the best of my Lords To deal with this negative optic?” He pondered. The answer came to him instantly. “Seymour!” he said to himself. ...
“The Bill does not provide environmental protection, good quality decision making, certainty, public participation or speed. It should be withdrawn.” ...
RNZ News Television New Zealand has breached its collective agreement with the E tū union when deciding on discontinuing programmes, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled. It was announced in March that 68 staff members who work for news programmes Midday and Tonight, consumer justice programme Fair Go, current affairs ...
Asia Pacific Report Barangay New Zealand’s Rene Molina has interviewed the country’s first Filipino Green MP Francisco Hernandez who was sworn into Parliament yesterday as the party’s latest member. This is the first interview with Hernandez who replaces former Green Party co-leader James Shaw after his retirement from politics to ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
In a week of cold rain and frost, the climate in courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill courthouse was simmering with restrained indignation. At times it felt like the famous Mexican standoff scene from Reservoir Dogs, or, as someone watching the proceedings described it, there was so much throwing of ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
Dear Standard readers,
I have created a fun Give a Little page:
“Buy Michael Woodhouse a moral compass.”
https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/buy-michael-woodhouse-a-moral-compass
The page may not last long (too overtly political?).
All donations go to the Christchurch City Mission, a charity I have no connection with.
And I have used the words of UncookedSelachimorpha without permission I’m afraid (I hope you don’t mind) because you expressed the indignation I felt far better than I could.
'outrageously unethical ' seems very much the brand these days, hope mattys enjoying this ride as they've shambolic'd this one all themselves.
Awesome, I just donated!
Me too!
Tony, why don't you just make a page: "Michael Woodhouse must resign."
Or, even better: "Woodhouse, Kaye, and Muller Must Resign."
i shared that on my evil FB page 🙂
Gordon Campbell hones in on a key point of the saga:
Editorial note: `stare into the vacuum of his eyes' ought to be in single quotes, Gordon, to remind readers that it's a line from the Dylan song that hit top of the charts in '65.
Perhaps a journo will do the sleuthing to establish the extent of woodlouse guilt? Did he admit that he saw the email Boag sent him before he accused the govt of the privacy breach? If he did know it was a Nat conspiracy before mouthing off, Muller ought to punish him. While staring into the vacuum of his eyes, preferably…
Denis, the 4th estate is equally to blame for this fiasco, they parroted the mumblings of a recidivist liar, knowingly.
We need honest Journalism at a time like this, peoples lives are at risk
WAKE UP MEDIA, get your heads out of the sand.
Yes, the drift towards shallow journalism has been evident for some years now. I saw it happening in the TVNZ newsroom while I was working there in the '90s but those doing investigative journalism provided suitable balance then. I blame social media for the subsequent worsening of the effect.
Commentators lack the inside view: deadline pressure motivates quick production of stories. So there's a real economic cost to doing research. A journalist will only invest the time to get to the crux of a skullduggery situation if their conscience prevails over expediency. Journalism in the public interest remains de-institutionalised!
.”…….and say, do you want to…….make a deal?”
[Fixed error in e-mail address]
Homes in, in praxis. Go hone your wit.
BFD has something worth reading for a change: https://thebfd.co.nz/2020/07/10/a-free-taste-of-an-insight-politics-article-8/
Inasmuch as we all remain embedded in cultural ambience produced by the residue of the British empire, it's a good idea to reflect on how distinctive its imperialism actually is – and likely due to having no emperor!
The writer seems unaware of the constraint imposed by international law: 19th centuries treaties dictated the outcome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handover_of_Hong_Kong
Two prominent women in spat over free speech: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122101004/christchurch-mayor-lianne-dalziel-rejects-china-corruption-claim
The mayor seems reluctant to embrace the notion that she may be a stooge of the communist regime in China. Quite why the prof got banned isn't clear though.
So it seems to be a Schrodinger's ban: real if one official says it is, unreal if another says it isn't. Social reality gets created according to who you believe…
Here is the submission from: Professor Anne-Marie Brady
This submission provides: 1. An overview of China’s foreign interference activities; 2. Suggestions for a resilience strategy for local and central government.
https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/52SCJU_EVI_93630_JU69172/ec59cb5bfacf8217b4d55c2200ba6e5875ce9943
Here's an article about the media's quality of reporting during COVID:
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/zealand-media-endangered-public-health-200707103532946.html
We really need better, otherwise conspiracy theories fill in the gaps. My neighbour was telling me yesterday that he's "heard" that everyone's covering up that the guy who did a runner from quarantine the other day went to a brothel instead of the official story. First time I've ever heard a conspiracy theory of any kind from him.
Thank you Gareth. I agree with your summation.
Mosa publicised this article a couple of days and it has been discussed a bit on the Standard.
It would be good if there was a post based on this article.
Caitlin Johnson, one of my favourite writers, writes regularly on the issue of the daily narrative we are fed. An Aussie, her main focus is the U.S. ; however, her take is accurate for all the 5 eye nations.
Her most recent report is entitled 'As Long As Mass Media Propaganda Exists, Democracy Is A Sham. ' I recommend it.
The article looks at a recent poll that shows most Americans believe Russia targeted U.S. soldiers, despite this being a "completely discredited narrative ."
It looks at the power of the media to sway people's thinking.
Why? I'll leave that to Caitlin…..
"But people are not as objective and adept at critical thinking as we tend to believe we are. People have many cognitive biases which distort our ability to objectively process information and understand events, including one which causes us to believe something is true just because they’ve heard it said multiple times. This makes us easily susceptible to mass media propaganda, where our encounters with daily news headlines can shape our perception of what’s going on in the world regardless of whether or not those headlines are backed by actual facts."
We need a better media.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/07/09/as-long-as-mass-media-propaganda-exists-democracy-is-a-sham/
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/03/26/the-illusory-truth-effect-how-millions-were-duped-by-russiagate/
As I've said many times, the spreading of misinformation needs to be made illegal with serious consequences for those doing so. The concept of free-speech does not give anyone, especially media services, a right to lie.
Kim Hill's "brave" (that's how he describes himself) guest this morning came up with a completely ridiculous solution to the problems facing the world
RNZ National, Saturday 11 July 2020, 8:10 a.m.
First up on Dame Kim's programme this morning: yet another from that endless conveyor belt of glib and talkative "woke" commentators that she and her producers go to almost without thinking. This fellow likes to hang out with billionaires and deliver mild critiques of them to their face in places like Aspen, Colorado. Early on in this interview he called himself "brave" for this daring behaviour…
As I suspected, Giridharadas could not help himself; a few minutes after praising himself for daring to speak to Bill Gates and Peter Thiel—"brave", he calls himself—he then went on to claim that there was one person who could save the world from this. That saviour is…. wait for it!.… Barack Obama.
I dropped the following hasty email to Lady Kim…
Anand Giridharadas' bizarre praise of Obama
Dear Kim,
Anand Giridharadas was doing well until he suddenly started to spruik Barack Obama. If ever there was a tool of corrupt billionaires, it was that machine politician.
Yours in disgust at glib and thoughtless New York Times hacks,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
Anand had a pretty good analysis of neo liberalism and its origins I thought regardless of his pedigree and acquaintances.
Morrissey, is there anyone in this whole damn world that has got it right in your esteemed opinion–or is everyone a sell out dog, and working class heros exist no more?
To call Obama a working class hero is quite a stretch.
He was there for the billionaires.
I googled working class heroes and got this: http://www.workingclassheroes.co.uk selling "mens streetwear from Patagonia". Nice to know they have embraced capitalism while doing `hands across the water' with the folks in Patagonia eh? 🤣
Bet it got Marx spinning in his grave. No more revolution. Evolution instead.
Capitalism is destroying the planet.
So not evolution, but regression.
I've been wondering if capitalism is the last stage of development for a civilisation. After all, once capitalism arises in a civilisation its always been destroyed allowing for a new civilisation to arise to replace it and thus giving us civilisational evolution.
Can you give me an example please?
Ancient Rome
Ancient Greece
Ancient Egypt
The list goes on.
People who take Girardharadas seriously would worry about such symbolism, Dennis. Symbolism and right-on messaging is the only thing that matters for them.
I respect and admire many ethical, rigorous and brave academics and journalists—really brave, that is, not someone who delivers mild critiques to billionaires in luxury resorts.
I do not rate someone who hobnobs with Bill Gates and delivers glib homilies on the hipster channel Vice, and advocates for, of all people, Barack Obama.
Morrissey.
I'm 10 minutes in and Anand Giridharadas is making a lot of sense, especially regarding the Tech billionaires, like Thiel, Gates and Bezos.
I agree, Ed. He says many things that are perfectly correct. But anyone who posits Barack Obama as any sort of a solution cannot be taken seriously, other than by the same folks who wept in despair after Saint Hillary was beaten in 2016.
Totally agree.
How is that manuscript coming along of the Woodhouse interview?
Morrissey you find fault with the guy for referring to Obama in a positive way. So he is to be hit over the head with that. Yet you write here with so many flaws in your thinking and still demand your right to be taken seriously: I would rate you only 65/35 right, which isn't all that high. Try being more objective and not so excitable about others why don't you.
I made the decision that that sleazeball does not deserve an hour of my time transcribing his crap; so I'm using only a little bit of that demolition job by Katherine Ryan, as part of a dramatization I'm doing of a recent emergency meeting of Muller's caucus.
No he didn't. You need to clean your ears again.
Actually, he said we need "someone like Obama."
Utterly inane, utterly Hillary for President.
Giridharadas said that the progressive ideas of Sanders and Warren were popular – but that there were barriers to them actually winning electorally. And to overcome those barriers would need someone with the charisma, rhetorical fluency, charm, likability (call it what you will) of Obama.
That doesn't seem like an unreasonable comment – whatever you think of what Obama actually did – his skills as a politician are undeniable. We have seen this close-up with Ardern, how relatability, charm, being in tune with the mood and language of the times is so important. I took it as more of a comment about Bernie's limitations as an electoral politician, rather than errors in his policy.
Admittedly – Giridharadas,s solution does seem rather week in comparison to the strength of his diagnosis.
The coalition of left/progressive voters (especially in the USA) have many conflicting values and agendas, and normally only win when the Democrats can put up a candidate who has the charisma and political fluency to get them all to turn out and vote.
(Biden is the exception only because Trump is so intensely polarising.)
That's a fair point
Indeed, AB.
And it was a great interview by the way. It's something we should be focused on.
Egg Zachary, LIKE Obama. The persuader, not the warmonger.
Please don’t spoil Morrissey’s carefully crafted narrative; it took him ages to draft that carefully worded e-mail to Kim Hill. We need more brave public intellectuals like Morrissey.
It's going to be interesting to see the reponses in here to Kim Hill's interview with Anand Giridharadas (link not up yet @ Sacha – except maybe https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday for today 11/07/2020 )
Pass the popcorn
Edit: Fark me! How did I guess @ Mozza
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018754514/anand-giridharadas-beware-of-billionaire-do-gooders
Thank you, fellow link-wrangler 🙂
But you have to admit, he has a point.
I mean Obama had his chance …for the first 2 years Democrats had a majority in both houses , and yet still Guantanamo , despite all his noble promises remains open for business
No one was prosecuted for the disaster of the GFC, and the torturers “we tortured some folks”got off scot free.
The torture, mass killings, drone bombings, and persecution of journalists all increased in severity under Obama.
Ask the people of Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Libya what they think of Obama.
Ask the people of 138 countries in the world where US special operators could be found in 2016.
“In 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. This means that every day last year, the US military blasted combatants or civilians overseas with 72 bombs; that’s three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/america-dropped-26171-bombs-2016-obama-legacy
Francesca 1 GOP senator fought a legal battle for 2 years to stop Obama's policies .
got a call to day asking if we could deliver to the local isolation hotel. Why yes, we can.
And so we did. Gave the package to the guard by the fence and they took it to the customer.
So really there is no reason anyone needs to sneak out for a V and a Pie, or a bootle of whine or anything. Call and have it delivered.
but not alcohol. (thanks @lprent for giving us the in comment ctrl/right click's)
This issue of alcohol came up yesterday on DR I think. My understanding is they can buy wine from the hotel, but not order it in. Prices are likely to be higher than a liquor outline. And the hotel can control how much is supplied, which would be essential…..imagine unlimited alcohol in quarantine……what could possibly go. wrong
I see some friend/family member said she tried to persuade our Queenstown business owner not to abscond. I hope she informed the police of his intention to commit a crime. If not suggest a visit from the police and charges.
BTW. Shout out to Gabby and Observer for having me LMAO last night. Observer quoted from the media that the Queenstown man had been difficult to manage in social isolation and had very strong political views (?" Cindy's locking me up????")
Gabbys response…."look like the Nats have found their next candidate forSouthland/Clutha " Ha ha ha bloody funny.
I also saw a headline from a contact of the new candidate saying he's a really nice guy. Yeah right….
Is a bootle of whine like are a very large container of whinge..
A Peter? lol
discussion on twitter suggests that people can't get alcohol delivered (but can buy in hotel alcohol, within a certain limit eg 6 cans beer/day).
TBF given it is 4 and 5 star hotels that would probably cost a fortune.
Not that I condone rocking on down to the local bottle store.
Maybe the govt should assign someone to just get a shopping list and delivery person for each day, can't see it being much more cost.
Maybe work with Uber?
most businesses already offer delivery – have been doing so since level 4 and three.
so no point using an underpaid uber driver – the only ones making money is the app/shareholder.
But the government could legislate just how much these hotels can charge to people in isolation for say beer and wine. Usually mini bar prices are way up because many people actually don't use them. They leave their hotels for drinks. And again in saying that, non of these fuckwits actually have a cost to pay for food n bed, so fuck it they should be able to either hold their need or suck it up and pay the price.
Have yet to see a good write up of what is available and seeing a range of opinions on it, I suspect it probably varies a bit from place to place. But the restriction on alcohol might be causing some problems, also for people that smoke. Stressful situation alongside not being able to self-medicate enough is not a good mix.
True.
TBH, given the situation I would tend to just say you can smoke in your room, if it temporarily saves grief
Increased risk of fire, and cigarette smoke ruining the room? Don't think so.
also the smell for the next person. But making it easier for smokers in other ways makes sense.
Patches. Plus something else to stick in their mouth instead.
Oh how kind we are to alcohol addicts. Now when we get the marijuana okay law passed it will stop some of the silly unbalanced BS in NZ.
Of course not! The binary brigade will still stick to its simplistic morals of right or wrong, for or against. Anything in between has too much nuance and is too complex to consider for more than a fleeting moment – hang on, there’s another message/tweet/reckon I need to give my undivided attention as if my life depends on it. There is no position in the middle, there is no room for negotiation and debate (!), and there is definitely no possibility for consensus or agreeing to disagree.
People are not really left- or right-handed, as they would use both hands for most stuff. Similarly, people are not as politically pure and on either side of the political left-right spectrum as they believe they are. It is heuristic approach by the mind to make things simpler than they are and save time (another illusion) and energy.
Don’t blame the media, blame your lazy mind and start thinking.
One of the disadvantages of a referendum is the Yes/No nature of it. A bit like are you really pregnant or just a little bit pregnant?
Referendums don’t come out of the blue and don’t sit in some kind of vacuum. There is much debate before, which leads to a decision to hold a referendum, and then after, to implement any changes. I wasn’t referring to any specific action but to thinking, binary thinking.
Out of interest, when do you become pregnant?
When do I become pregnant? Er no time I hope. As an 80 year old male it might be a bit late anyway.
This binary thinking also sits alongside that "cancel culture" letter that famous people signed, then some people took their names off when they realised who elses name was on the letter. It's about agreeing with the goal, but for different reasons. Like marching for free speech, but when you look around and see you're in a group of neo nazis you decide to quietly leave, even though you have the same goal (free speech), but for totally different reasons.
Context matters.
still, one ran for a pie and a v. non of that is needed.
Anywho, the lady in question got her teas, her chocolates, her pastry, her coffee and she will be good there for two weeks before going home.
the point is, that no one needs to be a shitheel.
I agree. I suspect some of this is political (court report from one case suggested this). But some might also be stress. People do weird shit when in unusual and stressful situations.
A story in the Herald this morning stating unemployment was reaching " the same levels as it did during the GFC".
The recession that NZ suffered from was in 2011, nearly three years after the GFC, it was the only country in the world to claim this 3 years on, most countries were in recovery stage.
The recession in 2011, was at the time described by most economists as the direct as a soft recession, the result of the Drought that affected Northland and the East Coast, the other contributing factors was the CHCH earthquakes and the combination of the National Party Tax cuts and the increase in GST which did more harm to the economy than the GFC three years earlier.
NZ was fortunate in 2008, to have ridden the GFC on the back of Australia's economic plan, they injected over a billion dollars directly into their economy by sending a $1000 check to every house hold to maintain spending in the local Economy
At that time, Australia was NZs biggest export market and maintained their demand for NZ products.
I get really tired of the media and National saying the recession was due to the GFC, it wasn't, it was created by a Failure of the Govt of the day to recognize it wasn't the time to push through there famous tax cuts and the increase in GST that saw many on low incomes with lower spending power.
Ideological stupidity was at the forefront, but they didn't care, it was a really good excuse to run Austerity and a low wage economy, which, by any measurement, was a Complete and Total failure for most Kiwis.
NZ had the lowest average income in the OECD measured against similarly developed countries, any economist worth anything will tell you those two things lead to a shinking economy, so National imported nearly 800,000 migrants, bringing their money with them to prop up the failing economy.
And we all know how that ended up.
Asking this again, anyone know what this piece of legislation is for? Apparently it's in older acts too. Am curious what the intent is, and how often it gets used (and why).
https://twitter.com/JennyKayNZ/status/1281463549114462208
After some more research, this is raised in the State Services Commission departmental report on the Bill (https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/submissions-and-advice/document/52SCGA_ADV_93134_GA4111/state-services-commission-departmental-report) – because the Select Committee failed to produce a report, the SSC report is the best option remaining. To quote from the report (pp135-137):
Now that the language is “request” not “require”, the civil liberty issue isn’t really there in the same manner. Note that employers can require medical examinations for H&S reasons now e.g. to determine if an employee is fit to return to work.
Commenters who fill in the Name and Email fields frequently, has something changed in the past few months? We're getting a lot of typos, which means the system treats you as a new commenter and the comment gets held in Pending to be released by a moderator. Would love some feedback and what kind of device you are using.
I sometimes type too fast and notice I've been typing in the email field, so more bozo user fault than system. I back up but sometimes leave the odd extra letter.
it seems odd that there is a sustained spate in the past few months. Might still be user error, but I am curious if the interface or something has changed.
I did comment some months ago that my text field kicks me off sometimes while I'm typing, and the cursor resets to the Name field. Most of the time I pick it up but sometimes I hit submit with the last bit of a sentence in the Name field instead of where it should be. Desktop version on laptop.
Also can't use the desktop version on mobile because the text field doesn't have a cursor or accept text.
ta, that's the kind of thing I was thinking about. There's been a few where sentences have turned up in the name field. Or email addresses. I'll mention it to Lynn (he's aware of the mobile issue, I find it is intermittent on my iphone). What's your OS and browser?
Ummm. That sounds like a lagging javascript.
I'll have a look at it when I get some working glasses back again.
But it will be a browser problem. I really need to finish the code (and cookie) that flips the java editor off on a particular browser / machine.
I accidentally typed in the name field and did not notice.
https://twitter.com/CitizenBomber/status/1281744405276160000
You've made my day
https://twitter.com/rnz_news/status/1281754277531095041
I hope people start to read and get informed before adding the knee-jerk comments on these "escape" stories.
Yesterday there was a flurry of Confident Reckons, many of which were made to look silly soon after, once we had some facts. Sharing instant ignorance adds nothing.
I'm looking forward to eventually finding out why people are doing this. Don't have a good sense of this yet.
It appears that each of runners had different reasons, one only wanted some shopping, the older person is suggested as having health issues, the other man had been abusive and a "strong political viewpoint", I'm not sure about the first woman.
Amy Adams suggested that the reason was because the motel/hotel accommodation was below scratch.
Actually, I think the MSM are partly responsible. They’ve been making a big thing out of these break-outs and, I suspect, generating both copy-cat scenarios and over-reactions among some in the community.
They should leave the police and related services to deal with them and stop high-lighting the escapees unless there is good cause to notify the populace at large – something the police would do anyway.
Because these people weren't in the country as we went through L4 and L3, it looks like they may have missed out on some shift in consciousness that the rest of us have been through. The idea of sacrificing immediate self-interest for the collective good, was strong through L4 and L3. Strong enough for the phrase 'team of 5 million' not to feel completely cringey and embarrassing, which under normal circumstances it would. Alternatively – it might be that at all times, and under all circumstances, there is simply an irreducible minority of dipsh*ts.
that's a really good point about not having gone through L4 here.
After what I have heard about the prevalence of meth and P in the country, and the fact that we have such a high drug taking score, it is likely that there are many people affected by abstinence of their chosen pasttimes. I had an eye operation requiring me to lie still face down for long periods and regret to say that I couldn't manage the required periods. So I can be understanding of people who have drug habits or are freedom-loving reckless individuals.
Good assesment AB but there were still quite a few doing runners or walkabouts under 4 and 3, was it something like 6-700 arrests and lots of talking too's ?.
A massive fine for any chump who sees fit to endanger what we've achieved plus the full cost also for the quarantine. Take that !
Anyway you cut it it's basically a 'F U, I'll be right' attitude which arises from not considering others.
Just heard another report that a 60 year old man broke out of a window in an Isolation facility in Hamilton, it took the police an hour to find him.
There are calls for returnees to have negative C19 test before boarding any flights to return to NZ.
Personally, I think this should be mandatory for all flights globally.
It's become evident that some of the people returnig to NZ new they had symptoms, but came here anyway.
I refer you to 14.1 above.
Sorry, the article I heard said Hamilton
Usual caveats about polls, but there's plenty of data here to reflect on.
Remarkable that Labour lead National on the economy, 45-30. That might not be the case if Todd had been doing what he promised on his first day as leader … talking about the economy.
Instead he's been barking at the cars like Bridges, except with a much smaller vocabulary.
So, now it’s woof, woof instead woof, woof, wuff. That’s not vocabulary but the use of onomatopoeias to sound like a dog. All is well in NZ politics. Miaow!
The faces of Adams, Muller and Brownlee on TV1 news last night when Muller was being questioned should be set in stone. Never seen quite that level of discomfort!
Adams eyeballs are spinning like a cartoon, it's strange to watch.
Bloody Hell! Another conspiracy for Mr Muller to sink his teeth into.
First it's portraits of JA on bus shelters, now it's pavement stickers telling us all to "Keep Left Unite Against Covid 19"
The Electoral Commission really should get involved!!!! I mean ….why NOW?
And while they're at it, we should get them to declare all those "Keep Left Unless Passing" signs as electioneering – nobody takes heed of them anyway! And half the people are driving on a fishing licence too!
(/sarc)
Link?
The link is along Cable Street Wellington – plastered over the footpath. A bloody disgrace! And I bet those bloody radical left-wing Labour Party supporting New World franchise owners are responsible.
If I had my way, I'd put them in the Army!
So no link?
Thanks
I bet those fishing are using their library cards too.
Bloody something something
brill.
Another one does a runner.
Am beginning to wonder if there are decent mental health workers in these places.
Are these issues regarding alcohol?
More likely drug related or mental health related I would think.
You mean as opposed to indecent ones? Put 'em in the stocks I reckon! NAME and SHAME is the only answer. That'd learn 'em
Not sure where that sarcastic comment came from.
I was just querying if there were councillors talking to these people.
But by all means, if you think who gives a shit, that is fine
I'm just getting more cynical as I approach dotage @ Chris T. It's a right of passage. Won't be long before the folks at ZB will be offering me a job in their bid to be fair and balanced.
I think Mike Baker on NewShubs the Nation this morning had some good ideas re handling people in quarantine. But as you know, these things take time
Counsellors surely, not councillors?
I am slightly dyslexic. Apologies.
It makes my emails that mention their or there and your and you're quite interesting to read though, which can entertain people at my expense.
🙂
Ah – trying to play a false 'PC' card, huh?
The fact that you can easily spell 'slightly dyslexic' correctly is complete proof that you are no such thing.
Never try to stand in the way of a good pedant, O careless one.
Whatever
You are awesome and probably right, and me admitting I am shit at spelling is a complete "PC" thing.
Congrats
We can all be shit at spelling. Even i can mispell misspel. But I have seen trolls mkae dumb claims about dyslexia, and dumb lefties bekieve it and roll over for them. We can all type a message in a rush and have errors in it.
You give me to much credit.
I have always just been crap at grammar since my school days.
I know big words, but often spell the smaller ones wrong.
It isn't a particularly sympathy thing.
It is just how it has always been.
too much, you rascal.
I'd hope that mental health workers are available.
But if they're sitting around in hotels at midnight waiting to respond, then I'd volunteer for isolation tomorrow. Back in the day when I had some (helpful) counselling, they kept office hours. And the taxpayer didn't pick up the tab.
Lol
That is a good point.
Huh? Nobody has thought of that, obviously.
https://covid19.govt.nz/updates-and-resources/latest-updates/miq-review/
4 cretins out of 30k do a runner and quickly get caught….NZ quarantine is working magnificently.
Hasn't it occurred to Muller that in criticising the quarantine process he is consigning himself to oblivion?
"magnificently."
One of them was infected and it is pure luck we aren't looking at infections
There was more than enough outrage at going to Rotorua – I'm not sure how a barbed wire internment camp would go down.
But given the ongoing warnings about novel viruses, we should probably start looking at a dedicated facility or three. Maybe prefab units that can be clipped together in a public park.
Hotels work in a pinch, but they're not suitable for longer term use. Not just the absconding, they obviously have issues with cohort control and separation, especially at check in.
Chris T, NZ has no detected post-elimination Covid-19 community transmission (so far) due to an ENORMOUS dollop of good management and a near-invisible dusting of "pure luck" – you sound put out by our excellent health outcomes.
Not really.
I am just starting to think it is more luck, than management.
Look at Victoria. I have family there and they have had the bad version.
Maybe it's mostly good management in NZ and Australia, with a little bad luck in Victoria. Personally I think it's mostly good management in NZ and Victoria (slightly better management in NZ?), and luck has little to do with it.
You and Todd just need to be patient – there will be community transmission of Covid-19 again in NZ, but no-one knows when.
I think luck has a lot to do with it and I wouldn't give Todd the time of day, so please don't associate me with him for zero reason.
Has luck really got "a lot" to do with the comparatively bad Covid-19 health stats in Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil? If you think NZ's Covid-19 health outcomes owe more to good luck than good management, then I respectfully suggest that you re-examine your understanding of the factors affecting the spread of global pandemics.
Apologies for lumping you in with Todd – you tend to come across here as being more critical of left-leaning policies/governments than those on the right of the political spectrum, but maybe that’s just me.
We had a positive person running around for 70 minutes
Yes. It is luck
There is an element of luck/chance as to whether that positive person (just the one was it?) infected someone else in those 70 minutes.
It's management (by public health services and other government institutions), aided and abetted by the general populace (team of nearly 5,000,000), that’s the primary determinant of a country’s overall health outcomes in a global pandemic. That management can be anything ranging from ‘very tight’ to ‘open slather’.
Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil each have a Covid-19 death rate per million of population that’s at least 75 times NZ's rate – if you thinks that's due to luck, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
And I am sure the people in Victoria would be saying the same thing if the security guard who had alleged shagged the isolated person and not got it.
It is blind luck
Ireland, Sweden, the UK, USA and Brazil each have a Covid-19 death rate per million population that’s at least 75 times NZ's and Australia’s rates. The number of Covid-19 cases per million population in NZ is at least 14 times lower than those five countries.
If you think that's due to (blind) luck, then we'll have to agree to disagree.
The management part is stopping staff having sex with people in isolation. It's literally a staff management issue. And not the only lapse they had.
Our worse lapse is someone speaking to a checkout person or a cop or a neighbour, not tongue-lashing them
BTW
I have no particular allegiance with either the Nats or Labour
Voted for Helen once and have never voted National
But I do do one thing, And that is hold all parties to account.
Edit: And I have a particular distaste for fluffy politics and crap media not asking questions
When was the last time it hit the average required 4000 a day which is required to be sure of proper monitotiring
These are Hipkins numbers, not mine,
Then lets disagree.
Because the bloke only had to splutter on one person (If he did indeed not, in the missing 40 odd minutes) And we could just as easily be looking at Victoria numbers,
Who knows as the testing has turned to shite
But hey, The govt is doing brilliant when people aren't running off.
By all means have an opinion divorced from reality but do not try to pass it off as fact.
Based on measured Covid-19 health outcomes, our Government has indeed done a brilliant job to date. If, despite your relentless carping, you're genuinely keen on holding "all parties to account", then I look forward to your critique of the behaviour of opposition National party MPs over the last week – bit of a shocker eh?
Still think the Jamie-Lee Ross deBaclay was the opposition’s ‘lowlight‘ for this term so far, but who knows what the next 2 months will bring
National have been complete idiots.
I am still struggling to see how this relates to covid infected people walking out of isolation with little detail of where they went for over an hour
And I'm struggling to understand your apparent inability to grasp the relative contributions of "blind luck" and 'management' (by governments, public services et al.) to a particular country's long-term health outcomes during a global pandemic of a novel virus.
Surely you can see that the ideology and Covid-19 health advice offered by Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro etc., are having an appreciable effect on the measurable Covid-19 health outcomes of the countries they ‘lead‘.
Although I will have to concede that NZ got pretty lucky with Ardern and Bloomfield. We don’t know how lucky…
I know this is a struggle for you to understand, but I don't support national or labour.
I couldn't give a rats arse, if both broke.
I look at thingd from both sides
Apologies if this is a complete conundrum to you
I give up.
It is obvious you don't see a covid infected person who rock off on one of the busiest streets in the country is an issue.
All good
We had some blind luck and apparently no one else is infected in his travels.
But then who knows as the testing has gone down.
I give up too – if you can't see a relationship between the ‘economy over health‘ ideology and ‘leadership/management‘ styles offered by Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro etc., and the measurable Covid-19 health outcomes of the countries they 'lead', but would rather attribute the hugely different health outcomes of countries to "blind luck", then we are indeed at an impasse.
As an aside, I think we should be using schools rather than hotels as detention centres. Schools are so much more like prisons, and most are now already surrounded by horrible spiky fences to keep the nasty local gangsters out. (Thanks to social policies of most governments since the 1980s.)
It would be so easy to use schools as concentration camps – only a few would be needed, and minimal security staff would be needed to patrol the perimeter.
I would have said the grounds of military bases and campervans like originally, but if you think schools I disagree.
Sorry – I forgot that some people need a sarc tag.
We could fit 25+ people into each classroom, with some extra desks to spare.
But this ignores the fact it would be a bit dim.
But by all means roll with it trying to tell them wise.
So now we have people saying we should use schools?
Brilliant
Some people on various social media demanding to know "Where's Tova? Jessica? Why aren't they going after Todd?".
On a break, is the answer. With an election campaign coming, there won't be any time off for political journos. Parliament is in recess, so this was the obvious time to book. It's not as if they could predict the mad meltdown of the past week (who did?).
As with the timing of polls and much else, a lot of things that inspire conspiracy theories are simply arranged in advance.
(and no, that doesn't excuse Newshub's lamentable coverage, at all. But that's the fault of people who are in the building, not one reporter who isn't).
And there I was feeling sorry for Tova. Why, I thought to myself, why should she ever again believe anything at all that Todd Muller ever says ???!
Poor little Tova – I well remember her shamelessly and impudently putting that question to Jacinda Ardern over a far lesser issue during lockdown.
I was so looking forward to Todd's effort at answering her heart-wrenching question…
Something like, "Er, no… I can see where you are going with this."
But poor little Tova is away on holiday, is she?
Well, I guess both she and we are spared all that agony.
As is Todd. Typical!
It's not politics, just a bit funny. This parrot rocks Led Zeppelin.
https://www.twitter.com/planetpng/status/1281298450563371015
That's gorgeous, Fireblade.
In parts it reminded me of Michelle Boag on The Panel.
From Luke Malpress on Stuff and I thought Luke was an enthusiastic National man. Again he hints at the National being saved last week by the runaways. But not all MPs are happy. (Reference the faces of Adams and Brownlee during Mullers presser.)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/122102664/mullers-new-job-convince-the-public-nationals-not-a-moral-vacuum
It is reported that the Virus has mutated and is much more infectious. It is said to be no more dangerous but just more easily spread. So hands up that we keep the border closed longer? Waiting for confirmation.
Watch the video.
Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan. The problem that Todd Muller has and is National telling us the truth?
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/video/heather-du-plessis-allan-is-national-telling-us-the-full-truth/
I think the WHO investigation into the origins of the virus will at best be a barometer displaying the alignment of Dr Tedros.
Although beyond redemption, I think Trump is right to take a step away from the UN. It's become a pit of snakes, past it's best before date. It's an organisation that should have it's foundation in a love for each other and it just hasn't. The CCP can have it.
A worthwhile WHO would bring together the 200 best vaccine minds in the world and give them all they required.
Wuhan in Hubei province was locked down, residents welded into their apartment buildings, meals passed through railings. At this time 5 million people departed on international flights from Wuhan International Airport, domestic was closed.
You or I, we'd slam the gates down at Mangere wouldn't we? The thought of knowingly jetting hot-spot people off to all points around the globe conjures up images of Mike Myer's Dr Evil in my mind.
I get the Chinese need to save face, reluctance to admit fault etc. But sheeesh. I don't think the CCP form is aligned very well with the sentiments and emotions of the 1.4 billion.
Leading via fear works, but it is always finite, comes to an end. It is natural that our love and respect for each other will rise to be dominant. We are a social animal, inclined to be friends.
From Chris Leitch outlining the number of dodgy National MPs. These are facts rather than just opinions. New Zealand Politics. Blogger.
https://www.facebook.com/New-Zealand-Politics-155820134514358/
That is skewering.
No hyperbole, exaggeration or histrionics.
I wonder if Kiwiblog is interested?
Righties and idiots often claim, "Both sides are dirty in Politics." The last one I heard was a woman on RNZ's 'The Panel' on Friday – she made that claim, and then quoted sex scandals associated with Labour Conferences.
Well, none of them were schemes calculated to make National look bad. More like Labour being made to look bad through the media publicizing 'bigly' rumours and accusations. And let us not forget that the big headlines from Andrea Vance's accusation that Jacinda Ardern had 'covered up' a big sex scandal was later withdrawn and apologized for – at the bottom bit of page 126 where few would notice it…
National has been constantly caught out at Dirty Politics – manoeuvres deliberately calculated to make Labour look bad. This current one is only the latest. The worst was the deliberate use of material from GSCB (or SIS?) to denigrate Goff during his 2011 election campaign.. only exposed several years later. That election result should have been revoked, the abuse of knowledge explained to the public, and a new election held.
Come on, you Righties and idiots who say both sides are dirty:
Please give me a list of Labour's dirty deeds which have been deliberately calculated using foul means to make National look bad.
Nicky Hager has made a big long list of National doing that to Labour, and none of his accusations has been disproven in court – because they are valid.
Righties – please tell us exactly how many times the Labour Party or the Left in general have been shown to use subterfuge like Boag's email leaks to deliberately make the other side look bad.
I don't believe you can supply anything much of substance. Usually the mud slung at Labour is own-goal stuff, exaggerated by hostile news media.
As a matter, who was the woman on RNZ's 'The Panel' on Friday?
Wallace Chapman is hapless.
The actions of Woodhouse during a worldwide pandemic are more than Dirty Politics.
What is the definition of subversion?
I do wonder sometimes if Wallace hears the way he speaks, in which case the world would be a wondrous bowl of vigorously tossed garbled word salad.
Yes, I suspect it is Wallace's task to trivialise and divert, just as it was Jim Mora's.
Ed – I now think it was Thursday, not Friday. I managed to listen to Friday on RNZ website, and it was not her. I got lost in trying to hear Thursday's panel in their demands that I enrol for ipods and God only knows what..
It was Nalini Baruch on Thursday's The Panel and Alexia Russell on Friday.
Thanks. It was near the start, and I now know it was not Alexia. I could not access Thursday so I do not want want to accuse Nalini in case it was Wednesday..
Sorry In Vino
There is no reply link on your other post.
So repeat
When was the last time it hit the average required 4000 a day which is required to be sure of proper monitotiring
These are Hipkins numbers, not mine,
I don't know why you are asking me, Chris T: I made no statement at all about testing.
One of the goals of Dirty Politics was to seed that doubt in the public, that they "all" do it, to undermine the notion of "big" Govt.
Yeah – Why on Earth did I waste my keyboarding time? No Rightie will reply, because no Rightie has a list of anything to offer.
Pledge cards kind of rings a bell
Was that a dirty trick by Labour designed to make the Right look bad? I think not… I seem to remember it was played upon to make Labour look bad.
That was former SIS Director, Warren Tucker. The current Director, Rebecca Kitteridge formally apologised to Phil Goff a few years down the track.
Cameron Slater requested the SIS held material on Phil Goff and Tucker sent it to him. My suspicion is: Tucker was directed to supply the material to Slater from either John Key himself or someone from the PM's Office acting on his behalf.
One day the truth about that scandalous affair will be released.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11363842
Thanks, Anne.
You are not a Rightie giving me what I asked for, but you have magnificently reinforced what I wrote about the travesty of the 2011 election. And from what I recall, that 'embarrassing material' was not even true…
Correct. Whoever the spook… who put the file together was up the creek without a paddle. I'm going to see if I can find the details.
I found this:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/spy-review-slams-former-sis-director-over-goff-2014112510
The incorrect information concerned a briefing Tucker gave Goff about the suspected Israeli spy case following the ChCh earthquake.
So the story of the 60 year old who busted through a window, out of quarantine, and went banging on the neighbour’s doors is already slipping out of the news sites headlines. No push for the story from the opposition I guess. So, provided we don’t go down Victoria’s unhappy path these few incidents, at odds with the 99.9% of people who are going through quarantine properly, will become nothing more than what they should be, the background noise to our successful Covid response.
Some clever, smart thinking going on in the rest of the country out side the Gnats bubble. (I don't know what they've got but I'd keep at least 2m away).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018754423/calls-for-nz-wool-to-be-used-in-govt-buildings-and-homes
A couple of sheep are looking thoughtful about this idea, and I think probably like it. It seems the sort of thing that practical TS would go along with. How about signing the petition.
A Southland farmer is calling for New Zealand wool to be used in all publicly-funded buildings and KiwiBuild homes, for carpeting and insulation.
A petition has been started and signed by more than 7000 people.
Thanks to – Greywarshark – And thanks also to – Just is-
We are getting some very good uptodate Information and wisdom !
It does not amaze me that GrannyPoof Herald writes lines and lines of lies, and squeezes its endless Army of Bias, out of it's much treasured enormous Ass.
As David Attenborough might say – the Herald Species is breathing out its last few breaths.
Hi Grey I see on Newshub that Michael Baker the Epidemiologist is suggesting that some returnees are presenting with addiction problems and need help staying in isolation for 14 days. He suggested as one of the props to help their stay over being Nicotine patches. I thought to myself maybe my email to the Hon Chris Hipkins (which was then forwarded to Dr Megan Woods) has been actually taken in and discussed. I can hope but its probably such an obvious idea that many others have proffered their opinions as well. But I did the deed and the next day it has been suggested. Amen to that.
The eminent doctor also suggested health checks and help for other mental health issues. They need to get on top of it whatever the outcome.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/covid-19-nz-to-quarantine-people-in-isolation-for-months-maybe-years-epidemiologist/ar-BB16BkDC