Open mike 11/09/2020

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 11th, 2020 - 130 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

130 comments on “Open mike 11/09/2020 ”

    • Ad 1.2

      Best Bond girl ever.

      And an excellent baddie on Game of Thrones.

      • Stuart Munro 1.2.1

        I think she was a better feminist role model than most too.

        Sure she was sexy and seemed deadly – but she was always smart as a whip, in a time when a lot of actresses just made tea for the male leads.

    • Molly 1.3

      Most recently enjoyed watching her on Detectorists, playing mother to her real life daughter, Rachael Stirling.

      Good role, could have been a typical Mother In Law beat up, but well written and well played, with genuine affection and warmth apparent within the irritation.

    • Austringer 1.4

      What a woman!.

  1. Dennis Frank 2

    Tim Watkin isn't impressed by the party he usually supports. https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/labours-tax-trauma-victims-and-how-they-might-help-the-greens

    looks like Ardern and Robertson are tax trauma victims. Having seen John Key and Bill English wipe out Helen Clark and Michael Cullen’s 39 percent rate in a single blow and watched Phil Goff, David Shearer, David Cunliffe and Andrew Little all eviscerated by various versions of “show me the money!”, they are now cowered.

    Clark and Cullen’s 39 percent rate cut in at $60,000; around $90,000 in today’s money. Labour this time has brought it in at twice that amount. Sure, they hope to say they succeeded where Goff, Shearer, Cunliffe and Little all failed, but it’s the most pyrrhic of victories. It’s estimated to bring in a measly $550m a year. Robertson said that would go into health, education and covid debt.

    That’s nonsense. That amount will buy you today a sum total of one week’s worth of wage subsidy. Yep, one week. The government budgeted $50 billion to save the economy this year; half a billion achieves next to nothing in that context.

    Then he alerts us to a potential upside for the Greens:

    I suspect this position does the Greens some favours. This tax timidity gives space the Greens can exploit to Labour’s left, arguing they are the only voice for change that has a chance of being in government after this election.

    So we will wait & see if all those lower-class folk the Greens are trying to represent will actually get up and vote for them! It could even be remotely possible that Grant & Ardern have ditched them for precisely that reason – to measure the numbers of losers who are willing to participate in democracy. A social science experiment.

    • Stuart Munro 2.1

      "they are now cowered"

      That's cowed Watkin, you illiterate bumpkin.

      • Dennis Frank 2.1.1

        That's cowed Watkin, you illiterate bumpkin.

        Yeah, he did write cowered, as quoted. If commentators such as myself adopted a policy of refusing to quote illiteracy, how could we quote msm journalists?? You set too high a bar for contemporary society, Stuart.

        There's also the fact that cowering often shows up. Which tends to suggest that past tense usage does actually have grammatical logic…

        • Stuart Munro 2.1.1.1

          Old ESL teacher – couldn't help myself 😉 I miss the effect of subediting.

          You're right about the logic though.

          • McFlock 2.1.1.1.1

            A funny ESL story came from a cop – a witness to the crime had english as a second language.

            In court, the defense lawyer asked the witness how they came to be at the scene. "I was proceeding into town to do some shopping, and as I proceeded down the street towards the corner I saw that man proceeding to hit the other man". The lawyer's ears pricked up:

            "Mr X, for how long have you been learning english?"

            "Ever since I came to New Zealand, a year".

            "And yet you use words like 'proceeding'"? [lawyer glances meaningfully at cop who took the witness statement]

            "Yes, we learned it last week in language class and I use new words as much as I can".

            Defendant found guilty.

            lol

        • Incognito 2.1.1.2

          It is quite simple, Watkin, use [sic] in the quote.

      • mauī 2.1.2

        Indeed, stuning odiousity from Watkin their.

      • AB 2.1.3

        If the cowed cower, are they cowards?

    • Barfly 2.2

      "lower-class folk"……

      "numbers of losers who are"

      Go stuff yourself angry

      • Dennis Frank 2.2.1

        Ought I to apologise for usage of marxist class analysis here? Nope. How about the lingo of the land? Nope. Therefore I'll remain unstuffed…

        • Sabine 2.2.1.1

          seriously Dennis, i read what you said, and these insults were literally just bashing down to the working poor, dis-regarded poor on the benefit and the even less regarded poor that have given up on work and on Winz.

          Fact is the non voters that i know are well to do white people sitting in nice and expensive houses in Auckland who can't even be bothered to vote for their children, cause "Non of hte parties do anything for me' and fact is also that if the highly paid critters that screw us over year by year can get to 'abstain' from voting then people can get also to 'abstain' from rubber stamping another government that gives about as much of fuck as hte previous one.

          You want better participation in the rubber stamping model of democracy we have then maybe get better people in to the parties that you and others so support here.

          • Dennis Frank 2.2.1.1.1

            No I don't want them to endorse representative democracy. The concept hasn't seemed even remotely valid during my lifetime.

            Their freedom to choose will determine the outcome. The interesting bit is whether the Greens get voter support for the wealth tax or not. The election result will measure that. Let's await the verdict of the electorate.

            • Sabine 2.2.1.1.1.1

              yep, and insulting them is what is gonna get you there.

              Maybe call the political parties losers for not giving these people any ANY reason at all to vote.

              And yes, there is about a million + people who don't vote, and you know why? Because they don't have a reason to. Heck, i don't have a reason to vote for any of the current clown brigade trying desperately to hold on their 180.000 NZD plus jobs.

              So don't blame the people, blame the 'elite' for being tone deaf, whimpy, with no guts what so ever to speak of , that think that tinkering on the sides is a vote getter. And that includes the Labour Party, the Green Party, NZFirst, Conservaties, Hannah Tamaki and the Church party and the No mates Party.

              All just in there for a job that they would otherwise not get anywhere in private industry.

              If anything the non voters are the ones who have it correct, 'Non of the above' right now is about the most honest vote anyone could cast.

              but but … judith will be worse. Lol. Fucking lol, that is a vote getter, right?

              Yeah, nah, you just insulted a whole bunch of people who vote. And you were not even funny doing it.

              • Draco T Bastard

                If anything the non voters are the ones who have it correct, 'Non of the above' right now is about the most honest vote anyone could cast.

                The people in power love the non-vote as it means that things don't change.

              • Dennis Frank

                People who don't make a collective effort to play a constructive role in our political system deserve to be called losers. The cap fits them, therefore I will put it firmly on their heads!

                Complain all you like, you can't hide from this reality. You know they've got the numbers to make themselves a substantial political force.

        • Gabby 2.2.1.2

          No need to apologise for what you are, dizzwiddizz as the yankistanis say.

      • weka 2.2.2

        DF has a commenting style that tends to be a bit obscure at first read. In this instance I think the comment can be read as sarcasm rather than dissing working and underclass people as losers.

        • Dennis Frank 2.2.2.1

          Or it can be read as indicating the thinking behind Labour's policy design. Remember Labour politicians are wannabe control-system operatives. As such, they must relegate the role of compassion for sufferers into a less-influential part of their minds. Their political advisors get this.

          The cynicism involved is relative to the individual psyche, but a certain amount of elitism pervades their political culture – likely often in the minds of political commentators who remind us that Labour are middle-class (pseudo)intelligentsia, not the working class reps they were a century ago.

          • weka 2.2.2.1.1

            You think Labour policy designers think the underclass are losers? I mean I can see how you get there but I doubt Labour would use that framing.

            • Dennis Frank 2.2.2.1.1.1

              No, it influences them tacitly. Tacit beliefs are known to be more powerful determinants of behaviour than beliefs advocated, usually, because they are habitual. There's an entitlement syndrome, due to social class origins & habitat providing a niche of base support. More evident in the Nats, of course!

              Framing can have a subconscious basis but is usually overt – expressed as design. So the utility factor is more important with framing. What works.

              • weka

                unconscious belief in people as losers makes more sense. My point stands. Often your commenting style is not straightforward, and requires additional parsing that many don’t so. I tend to agree with Sabine, it was easy to misread the comment. If you are going to do that kind of convoluted inference, some care is required.

        • Sabine 2.2.2.2

          yeah, right.

          Maybe next time ad a sarcasm tag here, cause anyone reading this is entitled to their opinion that dear Dennis is another one of these chardoney swoilling liberals/labourites/greens that have nothing but contempt for the ones that are considered the 'essential worker' or 'low wage losers'. /s

      • greywarshark 2.2.3

        Barfly You are outraged at someone describing what we can see plainly for ourselves? You are too sensitive to be involved in plain discussion about our politics. What makes me anxious is the number of losers out there who are not getting any help with their living standards, to get regular work, medical and hospital treatment when needed etc. They are definitely losing out on the services that wealthier people get partly because they are lower-class folk and haven't learned the ways to improve their lot. No use putting angry faces about it., be abusive for saying what is, that you apparently don't want to know. Don't get angry, get busy trying to help – put the energy of your anger to some useful action to help people at the bottom of the ladder.

        • Sabine 2.2.3.1

          yeah, how dare he be outraged that some schmuck call people that have been left behind by the system losers for not participating in a system that have left them behind.

          maybe dennis needs to channel his outrage at the non voting loser by working to get them to the polls. I am sure insults work a great deal.

          btw, todays losers were yesterdays 'essential workers'. Just saying.

          • Dennis Frank 2.2.3.1.1

            I feel no such outrage. Those who refuse to vote for a party that is endeavouring to represent them are understandable, imo. Not rational.

            One must have spent a significant part of one's life in similar oppression to feel for them. I fall into that category. However deep the hole, one always has the choice of trying to climb out. Loser is the term for one who gets defeated by the system and stops trying. It is a technical term only.

            That said, I get your emotional reaction. Emotional intelligence is usually not factored into politics, but it ought to be.

            God helps those who help themselves. Old saying. Losers who refuse to help themselves by voting Green this election deserve the label!

            • JO 2.2.3.1.1.1

              However deep the hole, one always has the choice of trying to climb out. Loser is the term for one who gets defeated by the system and stops trying. It is a technical term only.

              And winner is the term for one who gets rewarded by the system and keeps trying to get more. It is a technical term only.

              Technical term only Dennis? Really. Maybe this will help…

              https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/06/michael-sandel-the-populist-backlash-has-been-a-revolt-against-the-tyranny-of-merit

              Sandel is determined to aim a broadside squarely at a left-liberal consensus that has reigned for 30 years. Even a perfect meritocracy, he says, would be a bad thing. “The book tries to show that there is a dark side, a demoralising side to that,” he says. “The implication is that those who do not rise will have no one to blame but themselves.” Centre-left elites abandoned old class loyalties and took on a new role as moralising life-coaches, dedicated to helping working-class individuals shape up to a world in which they were on their own.

              The Tyranny of Merit is the latest salvo in Sandel’s lifelong intellectual struggle against a creeping individualism that, since the Reagan and Thatcher era, has become pervasive in western democracies. “To regard oneself as self-made and self-sufficient. This picture of the self exerts a powerful attraction because it seems on the face of it to be empowering – we can make it on our own, we can make it if we try. It’s a certain picture of freedom but it’s flawed. It leads to a competitive market meritocracy that deepens divides and corrodes solidarity.”

              • Dennis Frank

                I appreciate your link. There's deep thought consequent. Although I've always preferred meritocracy to democracy, I have always opposed the establishment's privilege system of vested interests.

                I've never seen neoliberalism as offering much credible meritocracy: gaming the system when you're competitive and able merely provides personal benefits (perhaps trickling down to partner & family).

                What Money Can’t Buy sealed Sandel’s status as perhaps the most formidable critic of free-market orthodoxy in the English-speaking world. But as an age of violently polarised, partisan and poisonous politics has taken hold, it is that early encounter with Reagan that has begun to play on his mind.

                “It taught me a lot about the importance of the ability to listen attentively,” he says, “which matters as much as the rigours of the argument. It taught me about mutual respect and inclusion in the public square.”

                Consensus politics teaches the same. But only to those who actually do the leg-work of that! It probably remains pie in the sky idealism to all others. So as someone who made it work for the Greens initially, I see those shrill sectarians who now pollute our social ecosystem as exhibitors of shadow narcissism, busy betraying real Greens. I do wish them luck with the wealth tax, though, since it would be a useful corrective…

              • Draco T Bastard

                A book that I've been meaning to read:

                No Contest stands as the definitive critique of competition. Contrary to accepted wisdom, competition is not basic to human nature; it poisons our relationships and holds us back from doing our best. In this new edition, Alfie Kohn argues that the race to win turns all of us into losers.

                More and more the research is showing how capitalism, and the individualism it promotes, fails us.

                • Dennis Frank

                  Likewise, except that I have owned a paperback of the original edition since the '90s and still not got around to it!

                  I'm comfortable with that since adopting the synthesis frame (competition plus collaboration). I've always been an individualist, so didn't acquire a collectivist self easily, competitive by nature yet keen to collaborate on a credible basis.

                  If you look at it from the perspective of ethos, the competitive ethic is a survival skill (enhancing fitness & merit) plus reputation-building, but the collaborative ethic is likewise. Hunter-gatherers proved their matrix resilient & sustainable and those who proved themselves good at teamwork got enhanced reputations within clan or tribe.

              • Treetop

                Winners never quit and quitters never win.

                This is one of my mantras.

          • Stuart Munro 2.2.3.1.2

            Yup – The use of the term losers by the representative class indicates that they have usurped the people's franchise and see themselves as rulers.

            People don't want to be losers, they want a government that represents their interests – that doesn't steal public assets or free education or fishery rights or any of the other ladders that used to allow NZ people to succeed.

    • Ad 2.3

      If the Greens or any party want to go after voters by saying that they will tax them much harder that Labour will, they are welcome to it.

      But it will just be another weight that pulls them under 5%.

      • solkta 2.3.1

        You mean "not nearly so softly", surely.

      • AB 2.3.2

        "If the Greens or any party want to go after voters by saying that they will tax them much harder that Labour will, they are welcome to it."

        Yep. Labour are doing a really good job of showing us what a sane and civilised centre-right government looks like. Their strategically near-flawless Covid response is setting about saving as much of BAU as possible. They are rocking few boats with tax or climate change initiatives. Who but those mentally vitiated by habit and the psychopathology of culture wars needs National now? Labour is opening significant space on their left – if there is a genuine constituency there, someone can take it.

    • Pat 2.4

      Increased taxation on the middle class is not (or shouldnt be) the goal, that is the area of most discretionary spend within the economy….about the only thing Labour got right with its tax policy was its target and is why the Greens policy is far superior.

      The purpose is redistribution and incentive

      • Draco T Bastard 2.4.1

        Increased taxation on the middle class is not (or shouldnt be) the goal, that is the area of most discretionary spend within the economy

        To a degree I agree with that. I've even pointed out that we should be able to do without income tax altogether but, IMO, we could only do that if we had a minimum and maximum income. The former ensures everyone has enough to live on and the latter ensures that people don't have too much.

        People having too much is, of course, the bigger problem.

  2. Pat 3

    "On the face of it, the promise from Labour that it would make New Zealand's electricity system fully renewable by 2030 seems a bold climate pledge.

    In reality, it is little more than a red herring to distract from the woeful lack of policy to reduce emissions in sectors that pollute far more than the energy industry."

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/100-percent-renewable-energy-is-a-red-herring

    'Red herring' was the first thought I had, closely followed by 'eating Greens lunch'…the closing comment however nails it.

    "So long as we are unwilling to commit to the hard work needed to decarbonise our society, political parties like Labour will continue to get away with offering stingy emissions reductions as if they're game-changing climate policies."

    • Draco T Bastard 3.1

      "Our plan will start by rolling out the recently announced $70m Government investment to support large businesses to replace the use of fossil fuel in industrial heat processes and connect to the grid. This includes transmission line upgrades, and direct support to industrial users to convert their coal boilers to electricity or other renewable alternatives," the policy fact sheet reads.

      I do hope that means that the government will be buying back the power shares rather than giving the bludgers millions of dollars so that they can bludge better.

  3. Morrissey 4

    Will the vassal U.K. state have the courage to resist the Trump regime?

    Under British law, no one may be extradited for political reasons.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNFEXvyZdyU

    • RedLogix 4.1

      Given that a post-Brexit UK is quietly trying to negotiate a free-trade deal with the USA right now … a deal that will not be concluded until the Yanks have more or less crushed the Brits will to live … then yes political considerations will likely trump legal ones.

  4. Molly 5

    Good post on Auckland's water care woes on Joel Cayford's planning blog:

    Auckland Water Shortages and Watercare

    Goes into the history and detail of the formation of Watercare, and the consequences of that.

    • Andre 5.1

      As a historical review it's fine. But at best it just barely touches on alternatives to Waikato River water for the water supply situation Auckland is now in, and what the infrastructure implications of those alternatives might be.

      Briefly, one issue is that drinking quality water is supplied for everything – toilet flushing, golf course irrigation, industrial cleaning etc, as well as actual drinking. But the infrastructure implication of going to a two-tier quality water supply means effectively a double-up on water supply infrastructure.

      Another related issue is the use once and dump we have for almost all users. While there is some water recycling in individual businesses – car washes are just the first that comes to mind – re-using grey water in general implies a lot of doubling up on waste-water infrastructure.

      • Molly 5.1.1

        There is mention and references in the article about how drinkable quality water is utilised for everything, where many other muncipal or state systems have had a dual tier system for water for industrial use, and water for consumption.

        The investment in a double up in this case, is an investment in public health outcomes, and a reduction in use and dump situations if possible. Taking water from the Waikato has been a strategy pursued for years, without any alternative option being proposed.

        NZers are used to having lots of land, lots of water, lots of fuel and the consequences of this largesse is that sometimes use and planning – at personal and institutional level – does not result in these resources being used efficiently.

        • Andre 5.1.1.1

          Other places that have gone to dual-tier supply, and reuse and recycling systems, tend to be in places where water really truly is a very scarce resource. For instance, Windhoek Namibia, and southwestern US are just the first two I'm directly aware of. None of them have a massive river flowing into the sea right where water is needed, and the need could be supplied from under 2% of that flow.

          The overwhelming impression I've developed of opposition to taking Waikato water is that opponents have zero conception of how small Auckland's take really is compared to the general flow of the river, nor how close the intake is to where the river becomes tidal and salty, meaning there simply is almost zero length of river run where ecological effects or other users could conceivably be affected by the miniscule reduction in flow. Then there's the woo-woo objections on the basis of water is precious with no other arguments attached.

          Then, when it comes to ideas about disturbing the historic flow of the river, the Tongariro power scheme diverted a lot of water into the Waikato that used to flow down the Rangitikei, Whangaehu and Whanganui rivers starting in the early 80s. That extra flow amounts to around 10% of the Waikato flow at the river mouth – about 5 times Auckland's proposed maximum take.

          • RedLogix 5.1.1.1.1

            Having worked in the water supply industry for a considerable period I can only confirm this comment 100% Andre.

            The superficial reasons given for objections to the increased take for Auckland are absurd. The actual motivations can have nothing to do with the health of the river.

            Time for the government to step and sort this out.

        • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1.2

          NZers are used to having lots of land, lots of water, lots of fuel and the consequences of this largesse is that sometimes use and planning – at personal and institutional level – does not result in these resources being used efficiently.

          I recall when Labour were going to put in place shower head restrictions. National and its supporters got really upset about but what really stood out, to me, was some idiot journalist going on about how we have infinite water, that it just falls from the sky, and thus we didn't need to restrict people's use of it.

          He'd obviously missed all the droughts that NZ keeps having and Auckland's last water crisis in the 1990s.

  5. Dennis Frank 6

    Labour's move to outflank National on the right seems shrewd on the basis that the number of people who see that are politically insignificant. Most suckers believe Labour is the party of the left, not the party of the rich.

    Geoff Simmons is a former Treasury economist, and leader of The Opportunities Party. He examines the likely reality created by Labour's tax policy: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/122723279/election-2020-wholl-gain-from-labours-plan-to-tax-the-rich-the-rich

    the real winners from Labour’s policy are real estate agents and wealthy people themselves. That is because the tax change is likely to send property prices even higher.

    The real problem with our tax system is the different tax treatment of property compared with other investments. People with money in other forms of investments – KiwiSaver, bank deposits and businesses – pay some of the highest tax rates in the world on the returns from those investments. Meanwhile, property investments – especially the family home – pay some of the lowest taxes in the world.

    This provides a massive incentive to speculate on property. That is why we put more of our money into property than any other country in the world. That means we put less into businesses (which actually create jobs and exports) than any other country. This is also one reason why we have some of the most unaffordable housing in the world. Increasing the top tax rate to 39c will make the problem worse.

    Since the worsening of the problem will not become apparent until the medium-term future, Labour's deceit strategy is likely to be effective. A clever ploy.

    • Muttonbird 6.1

      Remind us of your stance on a Capital Gains Tax, or an Asset Tax, Dennis?

      • Dennis Frank 6.1.1

        I agree with both, in principle, since they enhance equity. Not sure it's relevant to how the ex-Treasury dude sees Labour's policy operating though…

    • Andre 6.2

      Simmons isn't wrong on the general point that NZ tax is very low on returns from capital and wealth.

      But Simmons is very wrong that taxes in NZ are comparatively very high on returns from businesses in particular. The complete absence of capital gains taxes in NZ means the biggest form of returns from business is completely untaxed – unlike the US, UK, Australia, China etc.

      Company profits in NZ are also effectively only taxed once on the way to individual pockets, unlike at least the US where profits are taxed first at the company level, then dividends distributed from profits are then taxed at the individual level.

      • Dennis Frank 6.2.1

        Are you an economist? Your comment reads as if. Re Simmons; takes one to know one. I get your logic though and it seems valid.

        If so, then it is a status quo historically co-created by Labour & National: this left/right collusion makes us more business-friendly than those other countries.

        Will we see Labour supporters go public and explain why they support capitalism? Hell will freeze over before that happens. Hypocrisy is better than honesty for them.

        • Andre 6.2.1.1

          No I'm not an economist. I'm an engineer that has lived and worked in NZ, the US, and Mexico, and paid a broad range of taxes in all three of those jurisdictions. Plus the state income taxes in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and California.

        • Andre 6.2.1.2

          As for why I support some capitalism as part of a mixed economy, I've travelled through places that don't have a healthy private capitalist sector. Fuck that for jokes of places to live.

          In any society there will always be those compelled to somehow flaunt "success". So they can have sex with the most attractive partners, enjoy the most interesting experiences, eat the tenderest tastiest food, live in the biggest house, have others pander to their whims. Capitalism provides a good avenue for the likes of Jobs, Musk etc to fulfill that urge by creating stuff the rest of us value.

          Capitalism works well where there's low barriers to entry, there's genuine product differentiation, consumers can reasonably evaluate in choose among competitors. Food, clothing, transport, recreational activity etc.

          Capitalism doesn't work well where there are natural monopolies (eg electricity, water), where the consumer can't reasonably evaluate different options and make reasonable choices and life effects may be disproportionate (healthcare, education).

          Hence the value of a mixed economy in being able to take advantage of the strengths of different systems.

          • Sabine 6.2.1.2.1

            +1

            a social market economy is actually a thing.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_market_economy#:~:text=The%20social%20market%20economy%20(SOME,market%20and%20a%20welfare%20state.

            also 'for the greater good' should be made the underlying basis of said social market society.

            But NZ what stills ails the country imo, is a very old fashioned system in which two thirds of the country peasants working for a few Landlords to whom the political class either belongs, or wants to belong to, or is indebted too, and a bunch of highly paid stenographers that don't even want to pretend to being journalists, lest it costs them access to the landlord class.

          • AB 6.2.1.2.2

            That's a solid framework to work with. Markets are useful tools which we can use in selected areas to meet pre-existing social/ethical goals, and avoid using in other areas where they would undermine those goals. Once that is established, then we can get down to arguing about which bucket (market/non-market) things should be in – and we will have taken the insanity of markets as ends in themselves off the table.

    • Draco T Bastard 6.3

      That means we put less into businesses (which actually create jobs and exports) than any other country.

      No business has ever created a job.

      Job creation is always dependent upon demand for the product/service in the community thus we can say that it is the community that creates jobs. If there is no demand there are no jobs.

      Other than that, he's probably right. Capitalists always look for the easiest way to scam the rest of us and property in NZ is a very easy way to become a rentier.

  6. Logie97 7

    I may have missed it, but where are the united voices of the leadership of our opposition parties condemning the fundamentalists for their conspiracy theories. Perhaps they see some votes being lost. Or do Collins and Peters believe Covid is not a threat?

    • Stuart Munro 7.1

      It's more that they're so desperate they'd love a few votes from the loons.

    • Robert Guyton 7.2

      I'd like to hear comments about this also, Logie97.

    • Red 7.3

      Why even credit them with a response, they are loons you do not need to convince non loons of that.

      • logie97 7.3.1

        Not sure I understand your response Red. Unfortunately the loons are gaining traction (spreading-like-a-virus amongst their fellow loons). And their actions are the current outbreak spreaders of covid. Why are we pussyfooting around with them and not shaming them and their leaders. A chance for Collins to show some leadership as well.

        • Robert Guyton 7.3.1.1

          "Shaming them" feeds their furnace, unfortunately. Naming their issues gives those issues coverage and credibility, in the eyes of the devoted, so alluding to them is the only way. The devotees have been primed to expect resistance from the "establishment" and will thrill to noise made, accusations levelled and individuals blamed; they are seeking martyrdom and have already embedded the possibility in the minds of their followers. Logical appeals to those flighty-folk are met with Gish gallop and shared glances of delight as they bolster each others cleverness in knowing that "this was going to happen". It's a tricky situation. The best approach seems to be "extinguish by ignoring" but that's frustrating when you are watching that contagion seemingly spread and hear them boast of their up-coming landslide victory!

        • Sabine 7.3.1.2

          The government set an instant fine of NZD 300 for people caught not wearing a mask on a bus.

          The government could revoke the tax exempt status of the church/es, or could just start issuing instant fines for disregarding covid instructions.

          Any day now, for sure.

          • Draco T Bastard 7.3.1.2.1

            The government could revoke the tax exempt status of the church/es

            Should do that anyway. After all, the churches are no longer the government mandated centres for welfare distribution (it didn't work).

  7. Observer Tokoroa 8

    Nationals Killers

    There is no need for Labour to be concerned about the Future. It has taken the amazing stand of clearing up the appalling mess given by national, decade after decade.

    National are a grotty bunch of money grubbers, who go out of their American way, year after year, to destroy the livings and the necessities of the New Zealand population.

    National have made sure never to build a house for the people. The People are made to crawl daily to get food from decent respectable people.

    Nothing, but nothing adequate has been given to the Population by the money thieves.

    National love suicide. Love poor Literacy. Adore Poverty. They are good at it.

    • Red 8.1

      What a ridiculous rant

      The difference between National and labour for the majority is paper thin, for those in struggle town even less Both simply manage to the centre with a couple of scraps to keep their rabid base happy re differentiation and that’s about it

  8. Sabine 9

    Has any Party so far posted something up in regards to the 11.000 covid unemployed of whom 90% are women? Something anything? Or is Carmel Sepuloni the only one who spoke of the dear 'unfortunate' that can't get better benefits as they have right now but might be pressured into 'voluntary work' cause indentured servitude is now a thing with the Labour Party.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425029/cautious-approach-taken-to-avoid-beneficiary-volunteering-becoming-work-for-the-dole-scheme

    Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni wants to look at ways the welfare system can encourage volunteering to prepare people for work.

    But officials have warned against making it compulsory.

    Trevor McGlinchey from the Council of Christian Social Services was on the Welfare Expert Advisory Group which produced a report on restoring dignity to social security.

    Also is Carmel Sepuloni so far removed from reality that she really thinks that 'volunteering' for the benefit is getting people ready for work that is not there?

    Is Carmel Sepuloni saying that the people that lost jobs since January 2020 due to Covid, need 'volunteering' to get them to understand the value of work?

    And is Carmel Sepuloni saying that people who are currently on a benefit – unemployment, social welfare, single parents, illness etc do not at all, never, or currently are not volunteering in their community.\

    and last but least, when has Carmel Sepuloni last volunteered for anything else then a government pay for which she has to do absolutely nothing and be served chardonnay with her dinner for free?

    fuck, is there anyone in our current government that actually gives a flying fuck about the misery that is currently starting to blanket the country, or are shovel ready jobs for the rich and connected the only ones that are worth their time?

    Seriously think about it, 11.000 Covid unemployed (by their own statistics), 90% of whom are women, and who now can look forward to a life of 'bene bashing' forced 'volunteering' and starvation benefits. Does anyone give a shit?

    ” Indentured servitude
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Jump to navigationJump to search

    An indenture signed by Henry Mayer, with an “X”, in 1738. This contract bound Mayer to Abraham Hestant of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who had paid for Mayer to travel from Europe.
    An indentured servant or indentured laborer is an employee (indenturee) within a system of unfree labor who is bound by a signed or forced contract (indenture) to work without pay for the owner of the indenture for a period of time. The contract often lets the employer sell the labor of an indenturee to a third party. Indenturees usually enter into an indenture for a specific payment or other benefit (such as transportation to a new place), or to meet a legal obligation, such as debt bondage. On completion of the contract, indentured servants were given their freedom, and occasionally plots of land. Indentured servitude was often brutal, with a high percentage[vague] of servants dying prior to the expiration of their indentures. In many countries, systems of indentured labor have now been outlawed, and are banned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a form of slavery.”

    Last, if there is work to be done – then the Government can start hiring these unemployed people on the benefit and pay them minimum wage. And if they don’t want to do that, than they should hang their heads in eternal shame.

    • Treetop 9.1

      No government can afford to pay the minimum wage for unpaid work.

      Why do people do unpaid work?

      Job experience, because there is a need in the family, to have purpose and construction in your life, help fill the day by being occupied, rewarding.

      I draw the line in the government becoming involved as it is a person's choice, just like if you go to church.

  9. Ad 10

    When is the next poll out?

  10. Anne 11

    Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says people in the city are, by and large, following the rules and prosecution shouldn't be ruled out for those who break them or spread misinformation.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425782/covid-19-scepticism-a-failing-of-intellect-phil-goff-says

    Good on you Phil. Its time prosecution was threatened for those who are peddling disinformation and conspiracy theories. We can't do a lot about ignorance and naivety, but we can stop the bastards who feed on it and create so much damage and fear in the process.

    Why can't the SIS and the GCSB pool their resources and dig them out of their metaphorical caves? They have the tools to do the job. A visit from the police ordering them to desist accompanied with the threat of prosecution if they don't comply should shut most of them up. And exposing the identities of the worst offenders would do no harm either.

    • Treetop 12.1

      The me too movement has many tentacles and what you raise is one of them. Sexual harassment is finally being exposed for the damage it causes. That there is no avenue for complaint that works. Taking a complaint against an employer for sexual harassment is a bit like an ACC sensitive claim. You are on your own, you need a lawyer, the legislation is not fit for purpose especially an historical case.

      I was disappointed in Dowie as she could have done a private members bill/ballot to address the hurdle of the Limitations Act and the dysfunctional ACC Act. For a historical schedule 3 ACC claim when you have complained there should be no Limitations Act date when a serious error occurred by an organisation. Now that would fix an organisation. Historical cases are being discriminated against compared to a current case as no right to sue.

      Go to stuff news and look at the Mariya Taylor update today. Please do a link for it.

  11. greywarshark 13

    It would be good if the smart leaders at the top listened to the smart workers who make it all happen. Make them part of the process and there will be less demand, and more effectiveness for everybody.

    https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2009/S00112/council-bureaucrats-block-rail-workers-input-to-working-group.htm

    The Chair of Dunedin Holdings Limited (DHL) has refused to allow union representation on an important stakeholder group on the future of Dunedin Railways Limited (DRL).

    The RMTU wrote to DRL on 1 September requesting membership of the Council’s reference group charged with overseeing submissions into the future of the council-owned company.

    The union letter was signed by RMTU Otago Branch Secretary Dave Kearns, as well as Unions Otago Convenor Andrew Tait and Unions Otago Secretary Malcolm Deans, on behalf of local affiliates of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

  12. gsays 14

    Reply to grey @ 12.

    It's been hard to have a former hero of mine be repeatedly revealed to be one I have little respect for.

    Way back in the day I saw Bad Taste on the big screen in Palmy. A feature film made in the weekends by a bunch of guys in and around Wellys. Funny and gory.

    Fast forward to 'The Hobbitt Law' and the lies Mr and Mrs Jackson told, besmirching a true hero's name, Helen Kelly, all to serve greed and Warners.

    Now there is this.

  13. Sabine 15

    are these guys for realz? why yes they are.

    https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2009/S00109/are-you-close-to-retirement-and-aware-of-upcoming-changes-to-the-nz-superannuation-legislation.htm

    As part of this year’s “wellbeing” budget, the New Zealand Government will close the “non-qualifying partner” provision in the superannuation legislation. Until now, a pensioner could include their younger partner (under 65) in their payment, provided the couple’s combined other income was below $100 a week. Read more on https://www.govt.nz/browse/tax-benefits-and-finance/new-zealand-superannuation-and-the-veterans-pension/your-partner-and-nz-superannuation/getting-nz-super-for-your-partner/#including-your-partner

    From 9 November, the NZ Government is intending to remove this provision, so non-qualifying partners will no longer be able to be included! The closure will have an immense impact on many people who are about to retire, and without any warning, people will not have time to re-set their retirement plans! For example, a younger wife who is looking after an older man with health needs will, under the new law, no longer be applicable for the “non-qualifying partner” payment and will have to look for paid employment.

    ahh, yeah, the 'wellbeing' budget, the kinder gentler bullshit that will leave all a bit poorer, but never mind the Queen and her consorts are all in this together. Why vote fro the no – mates party when Labour does it so well.

    • greywarshark 15.1

      You can scrub and get the surface free of the neolib bullshit, nice seeming, shiny, but it soaks through the skin and stays. You never get rid of it.

    • RedBaronCV 15.2

      Actually super not being on an individual basis was causing a lot of problems. Particularly for anyone who had an overseas partner from some countries who were not eligible despite being so if they were single.

      Nor do I think super should be used as a de facto payment for individual nursing.

      It was also propping up a lot of the internet bride market – where very young women could be included in the claim and then when the male partner died they would have to transit onto some thing else. if they had any skills

      It also had a funny downside where if the couple of not too different ages claimed – one over and one under and the older partner died then the not quite 65 year old had to attempt to go back to or find work or go onto an unemployment benefit for a few years. However, a single person under 65 has no choice but continue to work or be on unemployment benefit so at least it isn't discriminating on the basis of partnership status

      But I don't like the hard edge cut off that they did Personally if a partner was under say 50 or under I would have given them 18 months to 2 years to get themselves off super and into employment or unemployment.

      As the non eligible partner got older a sliding scale to maintain some level of eligibility for those within in say 5 years of retiring would have been a fairer take.

      Any way most retirement policy doesn't do a lot for women who live longer and are more likely to go into retirement alone or to live alone in retirement.

      • Sabine 15.2.1

        i know full well that retirement for women means in many cases abject poverty, but then so does being a women on the benefit – specially if your partner actually has an income as the benefit then reduces to nothing. So that is hte other side.

        But women tend to be younger then their male partners, and they also tend to look after their partners and or sick children/parents etc. So again, its women that are being hit the hardest with this change of rules.

        Nevermind, when it comes to benefits and beneficiaries all the parties are full of shit. All of them.

      • Shanreagh 15.2.2

        They have had from 30/5/19. It is not retrospective so those who were on the books as at July 2020 will cary-on.

        There is a safety net.

        The outlook is far bleaker for singles whether male or female.

    • Shanreagh 15.3

      I agree with the move to prevent younger partners piggybacking on much older partners/husbands super. it is part of a series of moves to treat people in marriages etc as individuals. And it has been well signalled since the Wellbeing budget in in May 2019, the previous cut-off was July 2020 so it has been extended because of Covid-19 I guess.

      'Pensioners who are currently including their partner will be able to continue to do so. But if their partner is not already included in their payment at July 1, they will not be able to be included.

      A spokeswoman for Minster of Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said non-qualified partners of pensioners would be able to access support through the welfare system in the same way as other people.'

      Stuff Jan 25 2020

      The previous system was rife with abuse from older men with much younger overseas spouses, who were often in very short duration marriages because of the death of the very much older spouse, had no real ties to NZ and were then able to receive various benefits without having to work, pay tax etc.

      As the changes are not retrospective those receiving this piggybacking will continue to receive it until the younger one qualifies for super.

      If the younger spouse is entitled to receive pension from overseas then the rule that saw it deducted from the spouses pension here in NZ has been dropped.

      'From 1 July 2020, the direct deduction of a government-administered overseas pension received by a superannuitant’s partner from that superannuitant’s New Zealand Super or Veteran’s Pension will be removed.'

      and

      'The Spousal Provision clearly has been a source of extreme distress for so long for the 500 or so couples affected and the removal will greatly improve their financial situation, say the retirement experts.'

      https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2019/06/04/praise-for-amendment-to-superannuation-.html

      So it fixed up the genuine problem with super payments that younger overseas pension qualified spouses had while tightened the loophole, with plenty of notice 18months or more, for the other set.

      We have assurances that the safety net will remain and those affected will be able to access support through our welfare system.

  14. greywarshark 16

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425810/govt-to-help-stranded-immigrants-fly-home

    Good, but to finish the job they need to have enough money for food when they get there, and a train/bus to get home. No use dumping them in their country and bye bye. Many of these people have no resources left after just existing for months while no-one knew what would happen next.

    • RedBaronCV 16.1

      Be good to get a list of the countries who are refusing to help their own citizens and leaving us with the financial hit – NZ advances money to it's citizens stuck overseas with no funds

    • Treetop 17.1

      I listened to the first 17 minutes. I usually use powdered milk with Vitamin D3 added. I realise a level and the absorption of vitamin D3 is required. There probably is a safe level of Vitamin D3. Just like folate is added to bread, adding Vitamin D3 to milk would be one way of getting some of the vitamin. Ordinary milk could still be purchased.

      There needs to be a larger study. I personally think getting ahead of Covid is the way to go just by ensuring your diet has plenty of Vitamin D3.

      • RedLogix 17.1.1

        Yes the trial numbers are low, but the statistical significance is still extremely strong. And as Campbell says it also it aligns strongly with a substantial body of empirical evidence from clinicians all over the world.

        By all means larger and better trials should be run to confirm this study; indeed if they’re not conducted it would truly bring into question the integrity of the entire system.

        Of course I can only hope that Trump doesn't come out and endorse it; if that happens next thing there will be a scam study showing that historically safe doses of Vitamin D3 are now dangerously toxic and WHO will recommend banning any clinical use of it. And govts will start making it illegal to sell OTC.

    • stunned mullet 17.2

      Disclaimer; These media including videos, book, e book, articles, podcasts are not peer-reviewed. They should never replace individual clinical judgement from your own health care provider. No media-based material on this channel is suitable for using as professional medical advice. All comments are also for educational purposed only and must never replace advice from your own health care provider.

      • RedLogix 17.2.1

        Oh FFS it's a commentary on a well designed clinical study that is reporting exactly what anyone who had been paying attention knew since March sometime … that Vitamin D is strongly involved in protecting from the worst of this disease.

        If this had been taken seriously six months ago it looks like many hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been avoided.

        Shove your sanctimony up your arse.

        • Treetop 17.2.1.1

          I second that.

          I have read the benefits of Vitamin D3 else where to fight off Covid.

        • Stunned mullet 17.2.1.2

          Umm the disclaimer is John Campbell's.

          Vitamin D loading dosing for supportive treatment of covid is certainly interesting and more study is warranted.

          Normal Vitamin D supplementation of individuals is not going to do the vast majority of the population any harm whatsoever.

          Nonsense comments such as ……

          'If this had been taken seriously six months ago it looks like many hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been avoided.'

          are pretty pointless.

          There are a number of shortcomings with the spanish study which I'm sure you're aware of this doesn't mean that Vitamin D supplementation or active high dose treatment in the acute phase are a bad idea just that more study is warranted before making bold statements of efficacy or protective effect of any intervention.

          • Incognito 17.2.1.2.1

            It always helps to include a link and some comment, even with presumed self-explanatory quotes and ‘obvious’ self-evident copy & paste jobs. Moderators on this site have been droning on about this forever, for a reason.

            https://www.youtube.com/c/Campbellteaching/about

          • RedLogix 17.2.1.2.2

            The only obvious shortcoming is the number of patients in the trial. 76 is midrange, neither large nor small.

            However this limitation is largely nullified by the astoundingly strong p value in the results. If you are aware of any other problems how about telling us.

            It's very good news if the result can be replicated.

            • Stunned Mullet 17.2.1.2.2.1

              The full citation is as below

              https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960076020302764#

              As you have noted the study is with a vey small number of patients, there is no information on the degree of severity of Covid-19 in the patients at admission, and there is no information on their clinical progress other than ICU admission and death – although these are certainly worth measuring.

              The study doesn't specify the co-morbidities particularly well for instance an obese patient is more likely have a poor outcome.

              The usual care group had more people with high blood pressure and diabetes

              There was no measurement of vitamin D levels before or after administering the hormone.

              To be fair the researchers acknowledge that the study does not provide definitive answers on whether calcifediol can be beneficial for all Covid-19 patients.

  15. RedBaronCV 18

    Well labour does seem to be selling out. Nothing resembling a decent tax policy and with the move to allow 10% of incomers to be skilled visa holders 1400 visas a month are coming back in – plus they will check essential skills. There are only around 10,000 that have been here longer than 4 years so that should only be about 6 months worth.

    So much for retraining and jobs for locals. Looks like absolutely no immigration reset.

    • Sabine 18.1

      why yes, dear Cunliffe did a whole write up about that one.

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12363202

      behind the pay wall of course.

      and just yesterday a nurse at the shop told me that we have received 100 ventilators, now we only need to import the nurses that can actually work these machines becasue we don't have that talent and skill here in NZ .

      Yeah, but instead of free training for nurses to bond them to NZ for a few years it must still be more profitable to charge an arm a leg and a first born to NZ'lers who would like to work in the profession and then import from overseas when the same NZ trained nursed disappear overseas for better wages and less hassle with the student loan repayments and high living costs.

      National/Labour cause neither one of them cares.

      • Austringer 18.1.1

        Did!in!t dislike Cunliffe, he would have had a cleanout, see the change them egit engineers replaced, same like the Nat!s mistake, replacing, Spud, with their appointed first female leader, and New Zealand!s first MANOUVERED without those working outside the farm fence, female Prime Minister, who when the people decided the First ever New Zealand Female appointed Prime Minister to deliver the biggest ()ever) National Party defeat at the ballot box.

    • Shanreagh 18.2

      RBCV is there a link for that bit about the visa holders please. This is very disappointing.

      So much for retraining and jobs for locals. Looks like absolutely no immigration reset.

      Looks like the screechy ones (tourist ops, farmers, horticulturalists) have had an influence then.

  16. Ad 19

    Great to see shareholder revolt forcing the Board of Rio Tinto to get the resignations of CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques, the head of iron ore mining, and the head of corporate affairs, after massively damaging an aboriginal cave occupied 40,000 years ago.

    Shouldn't need shareholders to revolt on a board to do it, but good result.

    • greywarshark 19.1

      Blew it up didn't he? (Off piste – for those who would like a rest thinking about the present and the future, with foreboding.)

      French like blowing up things apparently. Panama Canal. The Rainbow Warrior. What will be the next French venture?

      google fact: There was approximately about 30,000,000lbs of explosives used to help clear the way for the canal.

      (Some would have been those of USA though. And it is interesting that the Frenchman was not an engineer but a diplomat. He could talk the talk but not walk the walk. I wonder how many big ideas are agreed to on the basis of the rhetoric?)

      https://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/french.html

      De Lesseps then decided that another ceremony should inaugurate the section of the canal that would have the deepest excavation, the cut through the Continental Divide at Culebra. A ceremony was arranged, and on January 10, 1880, appropriate officials and guests gathered at Cerro Culebra (later known as Gold Hill) for the ceremony, which included witnessing the blast from an explosive charge set to break up a basalt formation just below the summit. After blessings by the local bishop, young Ferdinande again performed the honors, pushing the button of the electric detonator that set off the charge that hurled a highly satisfactory amount of rock and dirt into the air.

      As de Lesseps was a trained diplomat and not an engineer, a fact that he should perhaps have more often remembered during canal design decisions, his son Charles took on the task of supervising the daily work. De Lesseps himself handled the important work of promoting and raising money for the project from private subscription.

      Not having the least scientific or technical bent, de Lesseps relied upon a rather naive faith in the serendipitous nature of emerging technology. Thus he worried little about the problems facing this gigantic undertaking, feeling sure that the right people with the right ideas and the right machines would somehow miraculously appear at the right time and take care of them. His boundless confidence and enthusiasm for the project and his consummate faith in the miracles of technology attracted stockholders.

      • Draco T Bastard 19.1.1

        Not having the least scientific or technical bent, de Lesseps relied upon a rather naive faith in the serendipitous nature of emerging technology. Thus he worried little about the problems facing this gigantic undertaking, feeling sure that the right people with the right ideas and the right machines would somehow miraculously appear at the right time and take care of them. His boundless confidence and enthusiasm for the project and his consummate faith in the miracles of technology attracted stockholders.

        And there we have the quintessence of managerialism which has found its way onto our shores and is now blighting our government and private business.

  17. greywarshark 20

    Greed and determination to take.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/425823/loggers-fake-gazette-notice-harvest-protected-solomons-tree-species
    Sep.11/20A foreign logging company in Solomon Islands is being investigated for using fake government documents to gain access to and cut down a protected tree species.
    Local media reported the government was moving to seize a consignment of Queen Ebony, known locally as Tubi, harvested in Isabel Province.
    .

    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/01/deforestation-in-the-solomon-islands/

    Jan.3/20Up on the ridge, a Malaysian logging company named Gallego Resources had begun carving great scores through the forest— its men felling the tall, grey-barked kwila and the akwa strung with fruit, then dragging them off the slopes for export, leaving nothing to stop the rains from taking the topsoil…

    The rivers burst their banks not long after, flooding the flatland where the coconuts, mangoes, and yams grew, and laying down impermeable clay that made the earth unusable.

    So the villagers walked to the little patches of cell phone reception and called Philip Manakako, a son of Marasa who lived 30 miles across the mountains in Honiara, the capital. His father, Philip Senior, told him that there were no more fish in the rivers. The water was making children sick, an uncle said. A woman who lived nearby explained how her plants all died three days after the floods first came, and the ground around them smelled of petrol….

  18. greywarshark 21

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/09/do-new-covid-rules-mean-gyms-pubs-restaurants-universities/
    What do the new Covid rules mean for gyms, pubs, restaurants and universities?

    Resurgence of infections prompts stricter curbs, including bar and restaurant curfews and 'Covid-secure marshals'

    In the UK Boorish will lead them out of the depths, playing his flute and with any luck the mountains will close behind him and we will never see him again. You may be able to see a vid clip from the above or look up on google news.

  19. Pat 22

    Bad timing for the Labour party….and is yet another example of the disconnect between the rhetoric and the act.

    "Some questions are too sensitive for Gullery and White.

    They won’t say if they’re surprised this has happened under a Labour Government. There’s silence when they’re asked if it’s galling to watch the Government splash Covid-19 stimulus cash around the country, and spend wads of money around Christchurch on things like new sports stadiums, when they’re having to cut health services."

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/why-we-left-ex-dhb-bosses-speak-out

    • Corey Humm 22.1

      "spend wads of cash on Christchurch like stadiums and things" while I agree dhb's desperately need cash the spending on infrastructure is non negotiable and is miles away from what it should be for a center of around half a million people. This is replacing what was broken and the rebuild job by both Labour and national (it's been three years so Labour is just as guilty ) has been horrendous. East chch left to rot because it's a labour safe seat so why bother, a city the size of chch deserves a stadium and functioning roads and infrastructure, it's been a decade and that city is still a bloody mess. Damn right , they deserve every penny they get and more and it's not extra spending it's replacing what was taken. A decade. It's appalling. Labour mayor, labour council every electorate bar one is labour and sweet bugger all has happened in three years. I honestly can't believe anyone in my home town has to pay rates to live there half the cbd is still full of rubble and half the building that need to come down are just standing supported by crates cos some do gooder thinks it's heritage. I digress don't act like money going into Chch for stadiums is extra spending, extra spending would be giving that city light rail or luxuries. It's still broken as hell despite govt of all kinds praising the rebuild progress.

      Sorry for the rant every time I visit home I get furious and people seem to think chch is getting stuff it doesn't deserve

      • Pat 22.1.1

        "They won’t say if they’re surprised this has happened under a Labour Government. There’s silence when they’re asked if it’s galling…"

        • greywarshark 22.1.1.1

          From CHumm "Damn right , they deserve every penny they get and more and it's not extra spending it's replacing what was taken. A decade. It's appalling. "

          A decade!! Labour has only been in three years and been under constant attack by National. Give over Pat.

          • Pat 22.1.1.1.1

            You miss the point (as does Corey)….after a decade of National the sector was promised some relief only to find that not only was the relief not forthcoming but the burden was to be increased….meanwhile the sector observes the apparent plenty for others.

            The journalist observes this and unsuccessfully seeks opinion…..that opinion may not be expressed publicly but the voting booth is private.

  20. lprent 23

    Will be doing a quick shutdown and restart at 2130 (9:30pm) to change to a UPS with fresh batteries.

    • lprent 23.1

      Less quick than I'd like.

      • Treetop 23.1.1

        Thank you for fixing the cell phone reply issue. I still like to find time to comment. I was absent for several months from late last year until lockdown. It took me returning to realise how much you do and you do it so well. Your main authors as well deserve a big thank you.

        Edit if you are still working on the reply issue it appears to be fixed for me.

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    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    8 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    22 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
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