‘One of America’s most wanted fugitives has been able to stay ahead of justice and tax officials by hiding some of his assets in New Zealand, US media say.’
The photo of Ayre and his friends is rather reminiscent of Kim Dotcom’s wild years. After all the fuss about KDC, isn’t it great that we’re still allowing fugitives from American justice to stash their loot here? Our PM’s a big believer in the redemptive power of large amounts of money.
‘Greenpeace and Amnesty International are calling for Prime Minister John Key to set the record straight over comments he made on their links to foreign trusts.
Mr Bayldon said it was a known fact that trusts listed charities as beneficiaries, so the real owners could avoid scrutiny by tax authorities, and charities were not aware when their names were used in this way.
He said Amnesty had no knowledge of any real links with foreign trusts and he was disappointed Mr Key would insinuate otherwise.
Mr Norman, the head of Greenpace, said he was shocked that Mr Key would implicate his organisation, and the comments were misleading.’
It transpires the Greenpeace link didn’t come from the Panama Papers, but another set of documents released 2 years ago – something of which Key would have been well aware. Referring to the Panama Papers Whitney link, Key told Little at QT:
Incrimination by insinuation could be a very dangerous game
He then went on to incriminate Greenpeace, Amnesty and the Red Cross.
Yes Mr Key, you falsely incriminated 3 internationally respected organisations. You
are a clever dick aren’t you Mr Key.
“The bullsh*tter is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.”
A great little paper, ‘On Bullshit’. Worth a read.
“There’s a sad fact about violence in this country: how safe you are is determined the second you are conceived. Your gender is the single biggest predictor of your lifelong risk”
Don’t men suffer more violence? A quick google indicates thus ..
Its basic maths . if you’re 3 times more likely to be beaten because of your gender then ” your gender is the single biggest predicator of your lifelong risk ”
Now crucially, I’ve never pointed to the fact of women being as abusive (albeit nowhere near as physically damaging) as men as any sort of “ Labour did it too” argument. My sole, and I would have hoped obvious point, is that abuse and a failure to understand it’s underlying causes is a human problem.
And that to my mind is a far more constructive framework.
Just a heads up- you’re in the wrong end of the political “scene” if you expect anyone here to tolerate the suggestion that women aren’t inherently predisposed to being “good”- and that men aren’t inherently predisposed to being “bad”.
Really makes me sick to see you and CV drawn across the coals in that other thread- but that’s what you get.
You’re making utterly idiotic comments. No-one that I’m aware of has ever written anything even close to the type of lines you’re spewing about. And by the way, your vile attack comment on the other thread has been deleted. Come around here with that kind of shite again and I’ll ban for you for a very long time.
“I’ll ban you from The Standard!” he said, in his most menacing voice. Bill growled as he fondled his mouse, “we don’t like your type around here.”
Read the comment thread in “Broken”- it’s dripping with misandry. I’d love if you’d be willing to have a rational discourse about the comments of mine you deem to be “utterly idiotic”.
P.S. I’m not entirely sure you can “ban” someone from an unauthenticated site- but it was a wewwy wewwy good try.
[I couldn’t give a flying monkeys about ‘types’, but your cry for martyrdom has been heard and answered – Six months. Goodbye.] – Bill
@RedLogix…I appreciate your arguments trying to open up the issue…and I dont think you are sexist…imo violence and abuse begets violence and abuse…just as victimhood can breed victimhood
…to me it is quite clear that women can also be abusive…and men and boys can be abused and victims also
…animals and the environment can also be abused
….agree “abuse and a failure to understand it’s underlying causes is a human problem”….probably one of the most important issues of our time
(the answer is probably one for social psychologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, social workers…etc…and those who examine the morals and ethics of societies and religions)
I have been unable to follow much on TS over the last little while but your arguments make sense to me; it is indeed a human problem in the first instance.
When referring to Domestic Violence it is often about (but not limited to!) violence in a relationship between partners. There are many ‘triggers’ for this but I’d like to point out that it is now, sadly, becoming increasingly common to see this happening in same-sex relationships also.
To understand violence and to try deal with it we need to know the underlying causes but also the potential trigger points. The way I see it, and I will probably be blasted for saying it, is that violence has many similarities with depression and suicide, for example.
A last point I’d like to make that is that violence comes in many levels (gradations) of severity – it is a continuum; it can escalate but also de-escalate depending on many factors. Will humans ever be completely free of violence? If not, where do we set the line and why?
I will probably be blasted for saying it, is that violence has many similarities with depression and suicide, for example.
Exactly. The more I read over the years the more intriguing insights and hints like this come to the surface.
For instance there seem to be two emotional responses to the ‘loss of control’ threat in an intimate relationship; one is outwardly directed and projects onto the other person as jealousy; the other is more inwardly directly in the form of humiliation.
These are not responses we have much conscious control over; for example personally I just cannot do jealousy, but humiliation is easy. Understanding how I am wired in this sense was a critical tool in learning to direct how I responded.
Then comes the action response and again this can be directed outwardly as overt violence and abuse onto another person, or inwardly as anxiety, depression or suicide. The latter just being covert forms of violence directed onto yourself.
Of course as always in a blog comment I’m simplifying and leaving out a whole lot more that should be said, but there a plenty of ideas around that strongly support what you are saying.
All these issues that you touched on, including violence, tell us much about ourselves (and others at the same time) and what it is to be human. It is essential for full understanding of the human condition to look at all aspects: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
A blog might not be the optimal or ideal forum to discuss complex stuff like this, which will induce strong responses, but what medium is? There are not many places where you ‘meet’ such a diverse range of people: the good, the bad, and the ugly – metaphorically speaking, of course.
As with depression, suicide, but also precarious living & working conditions, for example, it is essential to have these debates to evolve as individuals and thus as a society.
TPP, TTIP- bypassing the World Trade Organisation where every country has an equal vote. US Using TPP and TTIP to Challenge ‘Sovereignty of Nations’ – Ex-Diplomat
While the World Trade Organization has failed to amalgamate the economics and trade of its various member nations, Washington is using the TPP and the TTIP to impose its intellectual property rights as well as its own labor standards.
…
He says that the TPP’s curbs on State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and indeed the state itself as an independent and autonomous dispute settlement body, curtail the sovereignty of nations.
In fact, there is now pressure to introduce these issues to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Program, which includes the ASEAN nations, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. Considering that among the ASEAN nations, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are also members of the TPP, they want put that kink in the RCEP.
Saran, a veteran negotiator, thinks that the US and a ‘Coalition of the Willing’ are seeking an approach that is the very anti-thesis of multilateralism. They would eventually like to migrate the mega-trade deals into the WTO.
Mr David Farrar’s take on Slater’s plot to hack The Standard: Yes, hacking is wrong and Cameron was wrong, but … far more concerning … “he (Slater) was taken advantage of by a guy who lied constantly to Cameron and fed him months and months of lies. Poor old Cameron, it seems, was taken “advantage of”.
As expected all the DP players rush to cammys defence with slippery hooten getting a long overdue permanent ban for his part in this whole sordid episode.
Yep, but I have to say the defence seems just a little too desperate and laboured from Young Master Farrar. Notice the repetition in just one brief passage: “But while Cameron was wrong, he was taken advantage of by a guy who lied constantly to Cameron and fed him months and months of lies. He took advantage of Camerons …”
I mean that’s just a hack job (excuse the pun). Normally, you’d expect rather less clumsy rhetorical strategies from a would-be Spin-Meister who has the PM’s ear.
These stats for the ownership of Auckland housing in the news this morning are seriously skewed in some way or another. Just for the street where I reside there are only 5 Kiwi residents left in a street of some 35 or so houses. All in a matter of 3/4 years. Our suburb also reflects the same numbers of Chinese owning the housing stock. Even if these persons are NZ residents – all this explains about the situation in our suburb is there are too many residencies being granted for the amount of existing housing for this area.
If Nick Smith is saying that its just zenophobia, then why don’t they attack the situation another way and slow down the inmigration and allowing of residency to allow further housing to be supplied. Why cannot this Government also just apply such a simple law – to only allow new residents to buy or build new houses – this would increase the supply of housing and ease up on existing housing. Too many auctions in this area deny kiwis ownership, we see it all the time – they may be residents who buy but they are outstripping the supply for our own citizens.
Also are these stats New Zealand wide or just for Auckland – it would be seriously out of kilter if it was for NZ wide.
Change of topic – our PM needs to apologise to these charities he has insulted. What a knee jerk low blow nasty response in the House yesterday. Typical of him and not surprising for one minute.
Further to comments yesterday since some may have misinterpreted it, Cameron Slater broke the law, when you break the law you face the consequences (or should, no matter who you are)
I can understand why he did it as I’m sure anyone that’s been hacked can understand his feeling on that matter could but it doesn’t change that what he did was against the law and morally wrong (the two don’t always go together) and now he has to take his punishment
Some may feel he has got off lightly and they may be right, some may feel his reputation (such as it is) has been irreparably damaged and they may also be right and the vast majority will feel he brought it all on himself
Hopefully he’ll learn from this and will come back a better person (I won’t hold my breath though)
…and I won’t hold my breath waiting for you to provide a single recent example of a right winger taking personal responsibility for anything. It’s all lip service.
“when you break the law you face the consequences (or should, no matter who you are)”
I’m not sure what your point actually is, I’m saying what I think should happen in situations like this.
However if you really want an example I’ll give you one: I have a DDI, I plead guilty to the charge and I didn’t ask for diversion
So there you go, some on the right do take personal responsibility for their actions
I’ll also point out that had Cameron Slater got the information and published it he could have claimed it was in the publics interest to know and that he wouldn’t give up his source
But he didn’t, he was stupid and sloppy and got caught
“he could have claimed it was in the publics interest to know”
He could have claimed it was the names of those involved in the casting of Avatar Two – but that would not necessarily make it so”
You may need to take some time to read a bit more about “public interest” before posting again. “Public interest” as a legal definition means what is of public importance not what the public is interested in.
Here is a small article to get you on your way. I’m sure you will ignore the information as you so gleefully practise your willful ignorance.
BTW, I don’t know if you noticed, – but your moral compass is missing its needle.
“My moral compass is just fine”
I understand you think so – but – could you check? The way your morality is leaping around and changing direction it could take someone’s eye out.
(Might account for some of the one-eyed commenters when you come to think of it…)
“”Jk took responsibility for defeating labour in 3 elections 😀”
Jk should take responsibility for defeating labour in three elections by using the most underhanded filthy dishonest methods seen in nz history.
Has there been any evidence that taxes have not been paid in their homeland or is this just an assumption by Labour and the Greens and anyone else who hates John Keys rich prick mates
[BLiP: Typical Tory Twit jumping in first on comment thread with distraction from main point of post. Banned for one week.]
FFS! These allegations at Greenpeace, Red Cross, and Amnesty etc by Key are old hat and have been shown to be false. Repeating untruths do not make them true.
Stop repeating lies uttered under Parliamentary “Privilege” by Key.
New Zealand is being used as a tax haven, that is not in doubt: as your Prime Minister says, “Labour did it too!”
The proliferation of offshore trusts since 2011 may be a simple coincidence, or it may be the result of legislative changes. People who know more than I about tax law are going hammer & tongs over it, and the list of clauses affected by just one law change of many is a paragraph.
I’ve been reading commercial legal websites to try and make sense of it to no avail.
Several species of illegality, including specific cases, have been identified thus far. Key has not been accused of any of them, nor do I expect him to be, and still the whole sloppy ethical lobbying misrepresentation thing makes him look foolish at the very least.
How would we know if they are hiding their assets? IRD can only assess them on their declared, visible and known earnings? Even if you will not admit it here, be honest with yourself. If this was Helen Clark in Key’s position, the calls for resignations and and end to corruption would be deafening by you and others like you.
I actually thought when I heard this it was a good idea for Green Peace to hide assets offshore. All it takes is a protest gone wrong, an over zealous prosecutor and a move to freeze assets and the organization could be crippled, at least momentarily. Who knows how the political situation can change. Same would go for any other major activist group.
this is pretty much exactly what has happened to GP in india
they weren’t even able to pay there staff after they stopped the development of huge coal project ad were labelled “environmental terrorists” by the indian govt
The evidence is the large number of New Zealand offshore trusts that are structured in such a way that tax evasion is easily enabled.
It’s a bit like the old days of making P from pseudo: is there any evidence that a large number of gaunt, ill-dressed individuals buying twenty boxes of cough medicine each (many of them asking for the medicine after referring to handwritten notes) and paying by cash are committing a crime? Nope, there was nothing particularly linking the individual purchases with the empty boxes found at busted P labs. But we changed the law on pseudo-based medicines anyway.
“An Ipsos poll of some 6,000 Europeans found that half think the UK will leave the EU and half think Brexit could lead to a ‘domino effect’ in their own country.
The online survey of people aged between 16 and 64 in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Poland and Hungary focused on the upcoming British referendum on whether to leave the European Union…
…and a reason why many have reservations about the EU is Nato warmongering:
Betting in the UK strongly favours a Remain win.
Current Betfair odds: Remain 68% / Leave 32%.
There’s a clear and enduring divide between on-line and phone-based Polls on the EU Referendum. The former almost always call it neck-and-neck (usually with Leave a point or two in front), the latter always place Remain in front with a fairly clear lead of 5-10 points.
Phone-based Polls do tend to have a slightly better record in the UK over recent years.
Turnout will be interesting: On the one hand, Generational variations in turnout should favour Leave (Older Britons are much more likely to favour Brexit and are also – as in NZ – more likely to get out and vote on the Day). But, more importantly, socio-economic variations in turnout favour Remain. ABC1s strongly favour staying in Europe and are even more likely to vote than the over 50s.
I assure you that I had nothing to do with the delightful Emma Watson being named in the Panama leak
But I think it does show that the attempted demonizing of those using foreign trusts is disingenuous, I’m sure there are bad reasons for using foreign trusts and I’m also sure there are legitimate reasons for using them
“A specialized industry has developed in attempting to circumvent these provisions. The promoters of offshore schemes often advance technical arguments which purport to show that their scheme is legal. These arguments are used to provide some comfort to their clients, who are then induced to enter into a scheme which usually involves concealing the true ownership and control of assets and income.”
The American IRS on foreign trusts. The provisions referred to are of course those enabling American citizens to pay tax on their world-wide income.
Under a topic titled “Abusive Offshore Tax Avoidance Schemes”, the following is to be found from the IRS.
“In recent years, a significant increase in offshore activity has been noted among U.S. taxpayers. Numerous schemes have been devised in which the true ownership of income streams and assets is hidden or disguised so as to improperly shield substantial amounts of financial activity from the U.S. tax system.
Such offshore transactions generally involve foreign jurisdictions that offer financial secrecy laws in an effort to attract investment from outside their borders. These jurisdictions are commonly referred to as “tax havens” because, in addition to the financial secrecy they provide, they require little or no taxation of income from sources outside their jurisdiction.”
A commentator on Campbell on Nat Radio postulated that 1% of trusts have a legitimate purpose.
From memory I recall some posts a fair while back about the death penalty and how and why it was wrong, one of the arguments someone brought up (as I say from memory so take it with a grain of salt if you like) was that it was better that 10 guilty men go free rather than one innocent man be imprisoned
No laws have been broken yet all those people brought up are being suggested that they’ve done something illegal
The point is rather that; unethical business practices should be illegal, but that our Government has shown no interest in ensuring this to be so. All the way from “Dear Leader” Key, to erstwhile revenue minister Peter “legitimate tax avoidance” Dunne.
“I haven’t been convicted of a crime therefore nothing I’ve done is wrong (nor can it be questioned)”, is the kind of thinking I would expect from an insect that gnaws on decaying wood. Even you are better than that.
Ok so some of the laws are badly worded and need fixing but we shouldn’t go around convicting people in the court of public opinion because they might be doing something some of us don’t like
“The court of public opinion” is simply people’s opinion of someone.
So what you’re pleading in the court of public opinion is that the fact that someone might be doing something reprehensible shouldn’t affect our opinion of that person.
Well say you sell your business and you pay the tax on that (as you should) I don’t think its unreasonable to keep the money in an off shore trust instead of a bank account where it can be hit with more tax
And as Emma Watson was saying (although as a British celebrity I take it with a grain of salt) it was more about the privacy aspects
I’m sure there are other good reasons for a foreign trust, something myself and James Shaw have in common
I don’t think its unreasonable to keep the money in an off shore trust instead of a bank account where it can be hit with more tax
Why would it be hit with more tax? As you said, you’ve already paid the tax.
EW has specific personal safety issues that do not involve money laundering and tax evasion. That’s one reason. You’re sure there are others, and yet it took you long enough to come up with that one, whereas the illegal or immoral reasons are innumerable.
You’re hit with a tax on the interest accumulated so from the hypothetical person point of view they probably don’t want to be double hit with taxes
Maybe you’re in a country where inheritance taxes are punitive and you feel you want to leave something to your kids without the government taking a far too large chunk out of it
Maybe you want to leave something in trust so it doesn’t become entangled up with a will especially with wives, ex-wives, kids, step-kids etc etc
I dare say there are more but as I’m not an accountant or lawyer specialising in trusts I can’t give you anymore unless I go trawling through goggle and there’s really no need especially as even James Shaw says there are good reasons for a foreign trust
So two reasons you have are relating to “avoiding” tax that your country thinks you should pay, and another relates to cutting relatives and former partners out of property that the courts might think you should give them.
If one doesn’t like the price of living in a country with taxes that pay for benefits like a judicial system, maybe one should leave that country rather than pretending that one’s money has. Otherwise it’s demanding the benefits of living in that country without paying for them.
I’ve no idea what James Shaw’s reasons are, so have no opinion on whether he is right or wrong.
I’m having fun watching you try to come up with an ethical reason to do it though. It’s the moral equivalent of watching Mr Magoo drive a car, but now I’m not seven I know that disabilities and stereotypes aren’t joking matters. A broken moral compass, however, is not a disability: it’s the product of a life poorly led. In that case I reckon it’s okay to get the popcorn.
I thought I’d bring the “Broken Standard” issue back to the fore again here. Why put this on a post that is already in the past for most.
So here goes:
In February my blog Aotearoa A Wider Perspective made it to number 15 on the Open Parachute list of over 300 New Zealand bloggers. My blog currently rates around the 24-25th place.
I warned people in 2008 about John Key and his financial connections and his plans to privatize and sell NZ to the highest bidder. I did so based on solid research into his history. And have continued ever since to educate and inform people of the current economic disaster and John Key’s connections to the international financial world. You would think that would be an area of interest to the people reading the Standard.
I have reached, to date, more than a 146.800 individual IP addresses in New Zealand alone. On Twitter and Facebook I have the ear of several high profile NZ journalists and politicians.
I speak regularly on at least three different online radio shows globally about banking, financial terrorism and the illegal wars of aggression waged in the aftermath of 9/11.
In fact I have even been contacted by a NZ Herald on Sunday journalist once, who when I asked her why she was reading my blog answered with: “We’d like to know what is really going on.” I kid you not.
I speak regularly in New Zealand for audiences such as NZfirst and ratepayers groups, (and even spoke at Waitangi day 2015 about the TPPA) on the subjects of finance and John Key. I speak regularly at TPPA demonstrations to which I am invited to do so by the organisers.
All this is quite and achievement for a single person, let alone a WOMAN. A Woman who has only lived here in NZ for the last 10 years!
I put it too you that If I had been a man, even with my convictions, also based on solid research of not just me but millions of people including more than 2500 + Architects and Engineers, that we need a new and independent investigation into the events of 9/11, I would have been invited for at least a guest post on say the subject of John Key.
Even if just for the fun of it! (After all Red Logic, Colonial Viper, and several other Standard authors have also clearly spoken about their doubts about the official 9/11 story)
The Standard has been known to invite other female bloggers with their own blog to post on the Standard. So why not me? Is it because I write about global politics and not my gender and the issues that brings with? (Which is what seems to be what women writers here are confined to) Is it because what I do write about makes people uncomfortable because it challenges the existing paradigm?
In TRP’s “Broken” post I challenged Iprent to invite me to write a quest post. I have yet to get a response.
“Is it because I write about global politics and not my gender and the issues that brings with? (Which is what seems to be what women writers here are confined to)”
I really don’t think it’s that. I’ve had two guest posts published (I wasn’t invited, I submitted them to one of the authors). Neither were from an overtly feminist perspective (one was about the Green Party, the other about AGW). Many of the posts written by women over the years haven’t been about gender.
Please write a post (or several). Saw your interview with Bill Black. The general public needs to be more engaged with the matters people like him raise. At present the level of public engagement there is low, too low, and the debate is held behind closed doors and with special interests (as shown by the trust legislation debacle).
Yesterday morning various commenters on Open Mike were promising that there would be a momentous news story later in the day.
What was it? I never saw anything of any particular significance coming up.
Major world news was one of the more hyperbolic offerings if I remember correctly. I can’t reread the post as every time I try and look at OM for yesterday the screen just remains blank.
Please, somebody tell me what the great news item was?
Silly Alwyn pay closer attention please, Elvis was found alive and well in NZ living a handsome lifestyle thanks to his offshore trust – oh and some other stuff
Well the one about Elvis is certainly the most significant.
I was a great fan of the King in much younger days.
However I expected something of importance from the way the little boys seemed to be giggling to each other on Open Mike.
I thought it might be something truly earthshaking like Jacinda Ardern’s cat had just had a litter of kittens and was going to be a solo mother.
Instead Slater and some unknown Green Party supporter having a trust?
I see yesterday’s people really were far in the past and puerile.
Bob is a RWNJ here to defend FJK. What he’s doing there is trying to prove that The Standard did it too. A typical action of the RWNJs when they or their leaders get caught being corrupt.
“A typical action of the RWNJs when they or their leaders get caught being corrupt”
Key’s Lawyer/Legal Adviser used to be a director in a company, that had a client, that owned two businesses, that had subsidiaries in the British Virgin Islands that used Mossack Fonseca’s services (no mention of what services). So this makes John Key corrupt and me the nut job? You must be mighty tall to draw a bow that long!
They weren’t lies. Greenpeace etc were mentioned in the Panama Papers. Mojo Mathers has an offshore Trust, she just doesn’t understand the meaning of the term. Key’s point was obvious to all but the loony left who are in such a lather…if you are prepared to smear by association, be prepared to wear some of the s*(T that falls around you.
[BLiP: Obvious lie is obvious – Greenpeace was NOT mentioned in the Panama Papers. Plus unwarranted abuse of Mojo Mathers. Banned for one week. Comment moved to Open Mike
An educational message for the chronically simple-minded:
The issue is not whether some particular individual is a settlor or beneficiary of a foreign trust. The issue is that NZ isn’t requiring disclosure to NZ officials of the settlors and beneficiaries of foreign trusts, which invites tax evasion and money-laundering. If your blather isn’t relevant to that issue, don’t crap all over people’s posts with it.
This is a fascinating RNZ live Q@A by Deborah Russell on Tax Havens and the Panama Papers. MW stands for; “Megan Whelan, RNZ’s community engagement editor” who appears to be moderating. My favourite thus far:
[Q] “I lived in Europe and was legitimately paid tax free. Why should I not keep these earnings off shore in a safe place? What ethical argument demands I pay tax here on this earning?”
[A] …New Zealand tax law says that income earned by New Zealand tax residents is subject to taxation in New Zealand, no matter where it is earned. So if you are living in New Zealand, you are almost certainly a New Zealand tax resident, and that means the income is subject to tax here. NB: that doesn’t mean income earned while you were a tax resident overseas. It’s only income earned during the time that you are a New Zealand tax resident.
The other argument is that taxation is the price of civilisation… if you don’t want to pay taxes in New Zealand, you probably need to think about whether you want to live here at all.
I’m not sure what JK should be apologising for . Everything he said was true -the charities were mentioned in the papers and Mojo does have a foreign trust
[BLiP: More repetition of the lie that Greenpeace appeared in the Panama Papers and more smearing of Mojo. Moved to Open Mike. First and last warning.]
Interesting. This is being touted as broad support for TPP.
The latest MYOB Business Monitor research of more than 1,000 SMEs across New Zealand, conducted for MYOB by Colmar Brunton, showed that more than one third of local businesses (36 per cent) said they favoured staying in the TPP. Just a quarter of business owners said New Zealand should pull out of the deal, while 39 per cent said it would not affect their vote.
I see that the Labour Party have also spotted this.
“Govt hasn’t made the TPP case for small business”
Almost two-thirds of small businesses do not fully support staying in the TPP – showing the Government has struggled to sell New Zealand businesses on the deal, says Labour’s Trade and Export Growth spokesperson David Clark.
“Todd McClay has desperately spun the latest MYOB figures to try to sell a good news story for the Government. The figures are clear though. The MYOB press release says, ‘36 per cent said they favoured staying in the TPP’. That means two-thirds are either against the deal or haven’t yet formed a strong enough view to affect their vote.
“Just 39 per cent of exporting small businesses support the TPP. This shows there are growing concerns that the TPP is more than just a trade deal.
If you google [BLiP: Deleted Mojo Mather’s UK family trust details.] there’s hits going back several years, including one from 2013 on Whaleoil (no I didn’t read that one). ISTR it was disclosed in the assets register, but I can’t be bothered chasing down a link.
[BLiP: Enough with the dragging of an unrelated, innocent party into the issue concerning the Panama Papers. First and last warning. Comment moved to Open Mike.]
Sorry BLiP. I was trying to point out that that information has been public domain for at least several years. And that Mathers herself had made that information public, as someone with integrity would do. It’s not some kind of revelation that Mathers has been acting in some kind of hypocritical underhanded manner, which is what Key seems to be trying to make it out to be.
Well, the PM has got a reprieve from questions in the House by conveniently getting himself ordered out of the House for his constant yelling etc. Some clever person suggested I think yesterday here on The Standard that he was devious enough that he might deliberately do this – well he guessed correctly – what a tosser that he can’t stand the heat in the kitchen and has got himself out of coventry. Typical.
“Johnny Bondtrader”, también en los “Panama Papers”
Por: Gerardo Venegas
La firma legal Mossack Fonseca incorporó a empresas de nombre Goldfinger, Crusher, SkyFall, GoldenEye, Oravida, Moonraker, Whale Oil y Octopussy, relacionados a las películas del agente secreto
Panamá.- El despacho legal panameño Mossack Fonseca en el centro de un escándalo de filtración de documentos sobre cuentas en el exterior conocido como “Panama Papers”, habría incorporado una serie de empresas con los nombres de las películas de James Bond.
El Proyecto de Reporteo sobre Crimen Organizado y Corrupción (OCCR, por sus siglas en inglés) que tuvo acceso a los documentos filtrados, dice que la firma legal Mossack Fonseca incorporó a empresas de nombre Goldfinger, Crusher, SkyFall, Teapot Tape, GoldenEye, Oravida, Moonraker, Whale Oil y Octopussy.
También hay nombres de empresas como Blofeld, Hager y Spectre, como los villanos de las películas del agente secreto. Al parecer hay un cliente de nombre Austin Powers, que aparentemente es su nombre real.
En Nueva Zelanda, el Servicio de Administración Tributaria investiga a 33 personas vinculadas a los llamados “Papeles de Panamá”, para determinar si incurrieron en una evasión fiscal o delitos financieros.
Gobiernos de todo el mundo están indagando filtraciones de más de 11.5 millones de documentos del bufete de abogados panameño Mossack Fonseca, especializado en crear empresas en paraísos fiscales, que mostraron cómo políticos y personajes públicos han evitado el pago de impuestos.
Con información de: AP
TRANSLATION
WORLD SECURITY Published on 05/08/2016
“Johnny Bondtrader” also in the “Panama Papers”
By: Gerardo Venegas
The law firm Mossack Fonseca created shell companies named Goldfinger, Crusher, Skyfall, Teapot Tape, GoldenEye, Oravida, Moonraker, Whale Oil and Octopussy, relating to the films of the Secret Agent.
The Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in the center of a scandal of leaked documents on accounts abroad known as “Panama Papers” incorporated a number of companies with the names of James Bond movies.
Project Reporting on Organized Crime and Corruption (OCCR, for its acronym in English) which had access to the leaked documents, said the law firm Mossack Fonseca created companies named Goldfinger, Crusher, Skyfall, Teapot Tape, GoldenEye, Oravida, Moonraker, Whale Oil and Octopussy.
There are also names of companies like Blofeld, Hager and Spectre – the villains of the movie secret agent. Apparently there is a client named John Banks, which is apparently his real name.
In Mexico, the Tax Administration is investigating 33 people linked to the so-called “Panama Papers” to determine whether they are involved in tax evasion and financial crime.
Governments around the world are investigating leaks of more than 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in creating offshore companies. These show how politicians and public figures have avoided paying taxes.
With information from AP
[BLiP: Off topic in a thread about Cameron Slater finagling diversion. Moved to Open Mike]
Interesting if true. Ive seen my share of bond films but I cant remember any named oravida, whale oil, crusher, nor teapot tape. But as a new zealander they do have an odd sense of familiarity about them.
And a bond villian named hager? Nope. But…
And john banks, isnt he a notoriously dodgy former nz politician who wasnt responsible for a piece of paper he signed because he didnt read it?
Apparently, the IRD relies on investigative journalists to notify them about possible money-laundereing.
Andrew Little: If New Zealand is not a tax haven, as he has been claiming, why is an online gambling magnate, Calvin Edward Ayre, who is on the run from US authorities for money-laundering and tax evasion, able to use a New Zealand foreign trust to stash his assets?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Firstly, I do not have those details, and the Inland Revenue Department will not be able to until it gets all of the data, which has not been released yet by the investigative journalist. But if it does, it will be able to look through that, and if that trust is true and the person has been established—and established by someone who is covered under the anti – money-laundering rules in New Zealand—then it will be quite clear, because that person who had established it will have failed in their obligations.
When do you plan to apologise for the lies you tell about me?
You’ve been offered the chance to do so on a number of occasions.
Why don’t you put up or shut up?
[BLiP: Attempted derail/flamewar distraction. First and last warning. Comment moved to Open Mike]
A few articles and opinion pieces on Clinton’s Aggressively Hawkish Foreign Policy:
“Hillary Clinton Promises a More Muscular Foreign Policy as President … From Iran to Syria to Ukraine, Clinton wants the US to be more aggressive … While the speech focussed on Iran, Clinton also addressed foreign policy elsewhere, highlighting areas in which she thought Obama was too hesitant to use military might to exert American influence abroad …”
How many men, women and children are going to die over the next few years so that this uber-Hawk can demonstrate her toughness to US Elites, the US Electorate and future American historians ?
Are GOP Neo-Cons getting ready to ally with Clinton ? “Neocon elites are probably the likeliest faction to defect to Clinton, and what they want is blood-curdling aggressiveness”
The American people have a long history of being very conflicted over this. I strongly suspect that left to their own devices, and their politics not so utterly captured by elite interests … then for the most part their military machine would rarely leave home.
My point, dear, isn’t quite what you’re alluding to-
You’re aware that some studies show that men interrupt women more than other men- some of those studies also show that women interrupt other women at a greater rate than men interrupt women. “the male method dominates and drives away dissenters”- mull over that the next time you see any sort of feminist rally.
Differences in communication styles have nothing to do with a lack of FAIRNESS. You have every right to type shit into this textbox- as do I. Yet you feel disadvantaged, maligned, and “unsafe”?
Do you feel this because we aren’t muzzled, chained, or broken in like good little boys? That we’re not all waiting in turn to have a say, having a great big group hug and singing “kumbaya” before departing?
A lot of the men commenting on this thread are merely trying to FIX and/or HELP- because that’s what men do. You can’t see past the massive chip on your shoulder to realize this fact- and instead seem to be slighted by the fact that men are intruding this conversation (girl power!).
No- you’re quite right- we need safe spaces for women- because they are patently disadvantaged and are unable to speak for themselves. We need to silence those dastardly men (and women!) who dare to interrupt or get in the way of a good ol’ fashioned civil discussion. Heaven forbid anyone have a contrary or controversial opinion (trigger warning!).
/thread
[BLiP: Trolling detected. First and last warning. Comment moved to Open Mike.]
Of course they are innocent victims. However it is Little and Shaw who were pushing the line that all overseas trusts are evil and anyone involved with them is a criminal. Unfortunately the people who set up that database did it without any attempt to vet it.
Mathers only got involved because she is a beneficiary of an overseas trust. In spite of her seeming to think that it wasn’t one it really is. If the trust is in Britain and you are in New Zealand that is an example of an overseas trust and according to Shaw et al is therefore something used only for tax evasion for tax evasion.
I fail to see any connection between this and rape or domestic violence. No doubt it makes sense to your fevered little brain.
[BLiP: Increasingly shrill wall papering of thread with Tory spin lines and smearing of Mojo Mathers. Banned for one week. Comment moved to Open Mike.]
You’re a well known Key idolator Confused Troll so fuck off to where what you mutter means something. I don’t know who should be more embarrassed. You or that effete thing thinks he’s an All Black.
[BLiP: Frustration understood but if you are going to abuse someone, at least make a point which contributes to the discussion. Moved to Open Mike.]
To the people who are calling for the dropping of pseudonyms and anonymity from commentators and authors on the Standard:
I mean seriously.
This issue about anonymity and pseudonyms has come up exactly as Cameron Slater has blatantly reminded all of us again how desperate and underhanded the right is to reveal who the commentators on The Standard actually are.
So that information can be used against us personally and against the Left in general.
I really have to shake my head at how this discussion on making Standard commentators and authors out themselves is being entertained for even one millisecond.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Opinion: New Health NZ commissioner Lester Levy is authorised to assume operational leadership – chief executive Margie Apa is effectively relegated to his operational deputy The post All-powerful Levy is feudal baron of a $28b fiefdom appeared first on Newsroom. ...
‘One of America’s most wanted fugitives has been able to stay ahead of justice and tax officials by hiding some of his assets in New Zealand, US media say.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/panama-papers/303541/us-fugitive-hid-assets-in-nz-reports
The photo of Ayre and his friends is rather reminiscent of Kim Dotcom’s wild years. After all the fuss about KDC, isn’t it great that we’re still allowing fugitives from American justice to stash their loot here? Our PM’s a big believer in the redemptive power of large amounts of money.
Key really has no shame.
‘Greenpeace and Amnesty International are calling for Prime Minister John Key to set the record straight over comments he made on their links to foreign trusts.
Mr Bayldon said it was a known fact that trusts listed charities as beneficiaries, so the real owners could avoid scrutiny by tax authorities, and charities were not aware when their names were used in this way.
He said Amnesty had no knowledge of any real links with foreign trusts and he was disappointed Mr Key would insinuate otherwise.
Mr Norman, the head of Greenpace, said he was shocked that Mr Key would implicate his organisation, and the comments were misleading.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/303550/charities-reject-foreign-trust-link
Is there even one utterance from John Key on this issue that is not total bullshit?
Can anyone point to one?
its a red herring anyway – was JK able to make such a claim without the aid of the leaked docs?
no
therefore the case against the way foreign trusts are set up in NZ still stands
It transpires the Greenpeace link didn’t come from the Panama Papers, but another set of documents released 2 years ago – something of which Key would have been well aware. Referring to the Panama Papers Whitney link, Key told Little at QT:
Incrimination by insinuation could be a very dangerous game
He then went on to incriminate Greenpeace, Amnesty and the Red Cross.
Yes Mr Key, you falsely incriminated 3 internationally respected organisations. You
are a clever dick aren’t you Mr Key.
Harry Frankfurt has the measure of Mr Key..
“The bullsh*tter is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.”
A great little paper, ‘On Bullshit’. Worth a read.
http://www.stoa.org.uk/topics/bullshit/pdf/on-bullshit.pdf
A terrific opinion piece on why domestic violence is a male problem. Defenders of Tony Veitch might want to look away:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11636340
that was a good article TRP, but the second line of your comment was not needed 🙂
Yes, point taken 😉
So much for TRP changing his ways!
Oh you mean like this, the opening line?
“There’s a sad fact about violence in this country: how safe you are is determined the second you are conceived. Your gender is the single biggest predictor of your lifelong risk”
Don’t men suffer more violence? A quick google indicates thus ..
his opening line might be a dud
Did you read the whole article??
Yes. Point not addressed.
Its basic maths . if you’re 3 times more likely to be beaten because of your gender then ” your gender is the single biggest predicator of your lifelong risk ”
It s not saying that men don’t get assaulted
It is not a male problem, it is a society problem.
In the same Herald section above is an account from a man which almost precisely mirrors my own.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/family-violence/news/article.cfm?c_id=178&objectid=11636220
Now crucially, I’ve never pointed to the fact of women being as abusive (albeit nowhere near as physically damaging) as men as any sort of “ Labour did it too” argument. My sole, and I would have hoped obvious point, is that abuse and a failure to understand it’s underlying causes is a human problem.
And that to my mind is a far more constructive framework.
Good luck with that… you should know by now there are many women here who have been victims, that seems to go over your head every frickn time.
Hey RedLogix,
Just a heads up- you’re in the wrong end of the political “scene” if you expect anyone here to tolerate the suggestion that women aren’t inherently predisposed to being “good”- and that men aren’t inherently predisposed to being “bad”.
Really makes me sick to see you and CV drawn across the coals in that other thread- but that’s what you get.
You’re making utterly idiotic comments. No-one that I’m aware of has ever written anything even close to the type of lines you’re spewing about. And by the way, your vile attack comment on the other thread has been deleted. Come around here with that kind of shite again and I’ll ban for you for a very long time.
“I’ll ban you from The Standard!” he said, in his most menacing voice. Bill growled as he fondled his mouse, “we don’t like your type around here.”
Read the comment thread in “Broken”- it’s dripping with misandry. I’d love if you’d be willing to have a rational discourse about the comments of mine you deem to be “utterly idiotic”.
P.S. I’m not entirely sure you can “ban” someone from an unauthenticated site- but it was a wewwy wewwy good try.
[I couldn’t give a flying monkeys about ‘types’, but your cry for martyrdom has been heard and answered – Six months. Goodbye.] – Bill
@RedLogix…I appreciate your arguments trying to open up the issue…and I dont think you are sexist…imo violence and abuse begets violence and abuse…just as victimhood can breed victimhood
…to me it is quite clear that women can also be abusive…and men and boys can be abused and victims also
…animals and the environment can also be abused
….agree “abuse and a failure to understand it’s underlying causes is a human problem”….probably one of the most important issues of our time
(the answer is probably one for social psychologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, social workers…etc…and those who examine the morals and ethics of societies and religions)
Hi RedLogix,
I have been unable to follow much on TS over the last little while but your arguments make sense to me; it is indeed a human problem in the first instance.
When referring to Domestic Violence it is often about (but not limited to!) violence in a relationship between partners. There are many ‘triggers’ for this but I’d like to point out that it is now, sadly, becoming increasingly common to see this happening in same-sex relationships also.
To understand violence and to try deal with it we need to know the underlying causes but also the potential trigger points. The way I see it, and I will probably be blasted for saying it, is that violence has many similarities with depression and suicide, for example.
A last point I’d like to make that is that violence comes in many levels (gradations) of severity – it is a continuum; it can escalate but also de-escalate depending on many factors. Will humans ever be completely free of violence? If not, where do we set the line and why?
I will probably be blasted for saying it, is that violence has many similarities with depression and suicide, for example.
Exactly. The more I read over the years the more intriguing insights and hints like this come to the surface.
For instance there seem to be two emotional responses to the ‘loss of control’ threat in an intimate relationship; one is outwardly directed and projects onto the other person as jealousy; the other is more inwardly directly in the form of humiliation.
These are not responses we have much conscious control over; for example personally I just cannot do jealousy, but humiliation is easy. Understanding how I am wired in this sense was a critical tool in learning to direct how I responded.
Then comes the action response and again this can be directed outwardly as overt violence and abuse onto another person, or inwardly as anxiety, depression or suicide. The latter just being covert forms of violence directed onto yourself.
Of course as always in a blog comment I’m simplifying and leaving out a whole lot more that should be said, but there a plenty of ideas around that strongly support what you are saying.
All these issues that you touched on, including violence, tell us much about ourselves (and others at the same time) and what it is to be human. It is essential for full understanding of the human condition to look at all aspects: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
A blog might not be the optimal or ideal forum to discuss complex stuff like this, which will induce strong responses, but what medium is? There are not many places where you ‘meet’ such a diverse range of people: the good, the bad, and the ugly – metaphorically speaking, of course.
As with depression, suicide, but also precarious living & working conditions, for example, it is essential to have these debates to evolve as individuals and thus as a society.
Much more could and should be said …
+100 …..wow yes…thanks!….very good discussion !!!….reminds me of John Lennon’s song
“Fixing the Standard also starts with me”
“Fixing the Standard starts with me”, FIFY
It was a quote!
Has it not occured to you that this “week of domestic violence” might be related to the timing of the release of the panama papers?
TPP, TTIP- bypassing the World Trade Organisation where every country has an equal vote.
US Using TPP and TTIP to Challenge ‘Sovereignty of Nations’ – Ex-Diplomat
http://newseurope.eu/2016/05/10/us-using-tpp-ttip-challenge-sovereignty-nations-ex-diplomat/
Note” ‘Coalition of the Willing’ We have to tell this government that NZ does NOT belong to this group and that the TPP must NOT be ratified.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11636936
This government is just taking the piss now, sending collins to represent us at a corruption meeting.
And Bennett as Climate Change Minister.
And John Key is still a White Ribbon Ambassador.
She’ll fit in well with the other attendees David Cameron was overheard skiting to the Queen about.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/10/david-cameron-afghanistan-nigeria-possibly-most-corrupt-countries
Turkish police now shooting Syrian refugees at the border.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/10/turkey-border-guards-kill-and-injure-asylum-seekers
HRW video below.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/EGkSxVEjgMY?feature=oembed
And being paid by the EU to do so.
Mr David Farrar’s take on Slater’s plot to hack The Standard: Yes, hacking is wrong and Cameron was wrong, but … far more concerning … “he (Slater) was taken advantage of by a guy who lied constantly to Cameron and fed him months and months of lies. Poor old Cameron, it seems, was taken “advantage of”.
As expected all the DP players rush to cammys defence with slippery hooten getting a long overdue permanent ban for his part in this whole sordid episode.
Yep, but I have to say the defence seems just a little too desperate and laboured from Young Master Farrar. Notice the repetition in just one brief passage: “But while Cameron was wrong, he was taken advantage of by a guy who lied constantly to Cameron and fed him months and months of lies. He took advantage of Camerons …”
I mean that’s just a hack job (excuse the pun). Normally, you’d expect rather less clumsy rhetorical strategies from a would-be Spin-Meister who has the PM’s ear.
These stats for the ownership of Auckland housing in the news this morning are seriously skewed in some way or another. Just for the street where I reside there are only 5 Kiwi residents left in a street of some 35 or so houses. All in a matter of 3/4 years. Our suburb also reflects the same numbers of Chinese owning the housing stock. Even if these persons are NZ residents – all this explains about the situation in our suburb is there are too many residencies being granted for the amount of existing housing for this area.
If Nick Smith is saying that its just zenophobia, then why don’t they attack the situation another way and slow down the inmigration and allowing of residency to allow further housing to be supplied. Why cannot this Government also just apply such a simple law – to only allow new residents to buy or build new houses – this would increase the supply of housing and ease up on existing housing. Too many auctions in this area deny kiwis ownership, we see it all the time – they may be residents who buy but they are outstripping the supply for our own citizens.
Also are these stats New Zealand wide or just for Auckland – it would be seriously out of kilter if it was for NZ wide.
Change of topic – our PM needs to apologise to these charities he has insulted. What a knee jerk low blow nasty response in the House yesterday. Typical of him and not surprising for one minute.
@ WK well said but the Nats are deaf sadly.
Further to comments yesterday since some may have misinterpreted it, Cameron Slater broke the law, when you break the law you face the consequences (or should, no matter who you are)
I can understand why he did it as I’m sure anyone that’s been hacked can understand his feeling on that matter could but it doesn’t change that what he did was against the law and morally wrong (the two don’t always go together) and now he has to take his punishment
Some may feel he has got off lightly and they may be right, some may feel his reputation (such as it is) has been irreparably damaged and they may also be right and the vast majority will feel he brought it all on himself
Hopefully he’ll learn from this and will come back a better person (I won’t hold my breath though)
…and I won’t hold my breath waiting for you to provide a single recent example of a right winger taking personal responsibility for anything. It’s all lip service.
“when you break the law you face the consequences (or should, no matter who you are)”
I’m not sure what your point actually is, I’m saying what I think should happen in situations like this.
However if you really want an example I’ll give you one: I have a DDI, I plead guilty to the charge and I didn’t ask for diversion
So there you go, some on the right do take personal responsibility for their actions
I’ll also point out that had Cameron Slater got the information and published it he could have claimed it was in the publics interest to know and that he wouldn’t give up his source
But he didn’t, he was stupid and sloppy and got caught
“he could have claimed it was in the publics interest to know”
He could have claimed it was the names of those involved in the casting of Avatar Two – but that would not necessarily make it so”
You may need to take some time to read a bit more about “public interest” before posting again. “Public interest” as a legal definition means what is of public importance not what the public is interested in.
Here is a small article to get you on your way. I’m sure you will ignore the information as you so gleefully practise your willful ignorance.
BTW, I don’t know if you noticed, – but your moral compass is missing its needle.
Thank you for that, its most informative.
The public interest includes:
“Preventing the public from being mislead by some statement or action of an individual or organisation.”
That statement there gives quite a lot of wriggle to room to journalists and their lawyers
However please note I’m not saying he could claim the public interest and win and he’d be justified
I’m merely saying he could claim it in court and try to win
My moral compass is just fine
“I’m merely saying he could claim it in court and try to win”.
Definitions that may be of interest to you:
Pertinent
Relevant
Salient
“My moral compass is just fine”
I understand you think so – but – could you check? The way your morality is leaping around and changing direction it could take someone’s eye out.
(Might account for some of the one-eyed commenters when you come to think of it…)
Thank you for your consideration, I appreciate it.
Jk took responsibility for defeating labour in 3 elections 😀
“”Jk took responsibility for defeating labour in 3 elections 😀”
Jk should take responsibility for defeating labour in three elections by using the most underhanded filthy dishonest methods seen in nz history.
Fify
Please elaborate, I thought KDC, dirty politics, in coordination with vote positive was a labour hit
Has there been any evidence that taxes have not been paid in their homeland or is this just an assumption by Labour and the Greens and anyone else who hates John Keys rich prick mates
[BLiP: Typical Tory Twit jumping in first on comment thread with distraction from main point of post. Banned for one week.]
FFS! These allegations at Greenpeace, Red Cross, and Amnesty etc by Key are old hat and have been shown to be false. Repeating untruths do not make them true.
Stop repeating lies uttered under Parliamentary “Privilege” by Key.
but the accusations made against key must be true? This is a new level of stupid from the left
Which ‘accusations’? Does he have a sloppy morally grey highly ethical good mate who misrepresents him or not?
which contradiction would you like me to answer?
I was more referring the “Tax haven” “illegality” “john key is personally responsible”
I notice it’s been awfully quiet on this issue and on the niue issue. aren’t you sick of being wrong yet?
I don;t know about any others but I am still waiting for the Hagamans to sue Andrew Little then I am sure it will be all on again.
New Zealand is being used as a tax haven, that is not in doubt: as your Prime Minister says, “Labour did it too!”
The proliferation of offshore trusts since 2011 may be a simple coincidence, or it may be the result of legislative changes. People who know more than I about tax law are going hammer & tongs over it, and the list of clauses affected by just one law change of many is a paragraph.
I’ve been reading commercial legal websites to try and make sense of it to no avail.
Several species of illegality, including specific cases, have been identified thus far. Key has not been accused of any of them, nor do I expect him to be, and still the whole sloppy ethical lobbying misrepresentation thing makes him look foolish at the very least.
How would we know if they are hiding their assets? IRD can only assess them on their declared, visible and known earnings? Even if you will not admit it here, be honest with yourself. If this was Helen Clark in Key’s position, the calls for resignations and and end to corruption would be deafening by you and others like you.
Hey Tracey welcome back
+100
Nice to see you too Anne. Hope you are well?
Nice to see you PR. I am not, however back.
I actually thought when I heard this it was a good idea for Green Peace to hide assets offshore. All it takes is a protest gone wrong, an over zealous prosecutor and a move to freeze assets and the organization could be crippled, at least momentarily. Who knows how the political situation can change. Same would go for any other major activist group.
this is pretty much exactly what has happened to GP in india
they weren’t even able to pay there staff after they stopped the development of huge coal project ad were labelled “environmental terrorists” by the indian govt
So foreign trusts are useful then?
Of course they are useful.
The evidence is the large number of New Zealand offshore trusts that are structured in such a way that tax evasion is easily enabled.
It’s a bit like the old days of making P from pseudo: is there any evidence that a large number of gaunt, ill-dressed individuals buying twenty boxes of cough medicine each (many of them asking for the medicine after referring to handwritten notes) and paying by cash are committing a crime? Nope, there was nothing particularly linking the individual purchases with the empty boxes found at busted P labs. But we changed the law on pseudo-based medicines anyway.
‘Brexit poll: Almost half of Europeans want own vote on leaving EU’
https://www.rt.com/news/342500-brexit-poll-european-union/
“An Ipsos poll of some 6,000 Europeans found that half think the UK will leave the EU and half think Brexit could lead to a ‘domino effect’ in their own country.
The online survey of people aged between 16 and 64 in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Poland and Hungary focused on the upcoming British referendum on whether to leave the European Union…
…and a reason why many have reservations about the EU is Nato warmongering:
‘Chomsky: NATO is a U.S.-run intervention force’
https://www.rt.com/shows/sophieco/202967-cold-nuclear-war-nato/
Betting in the UK strongly favours a Remain win.
Current Betfair odds: Remain 68% / Leave 32%.
There’s a clear and enduring divide between on-line and phone-based Polls on the EU Referendum. The former almost always call it neck-and-neck (usually with Leave a point or two in front), the latter always place Remain in front with a fairly clear lead of 5-10 points.
Phone-based Polls do tend to have a slightly better record in the UK over recent years.
Turnout will be interesting: On the one hand, Generational variations in turnout should favour Leave (Older Britons are much more likely to favour Brexit and are also – as in NZ – more likely to get out and vote on the Day). But, more importantly, socio-economic variations in turnout favour Remain. ABC1s strongly favour staying in Europe and are even more likely to vote than the over 50s.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/79848626/panama-papers-emma-watson-latest-celebrity-named-in-data-leak
Ok the funs over, now its getting serious.
PR diversion?…cooking sherry anyone?
I assure you that I had nothing to do with the delightful Emma Watson being named in the Panama leak
But I think it does show that the attempted demonizing of those using foreign trusts is disingenuous, I’m sure there are bad reasons for using foreign trusts and I’m also sure there are legitimate reasons for using them
“A specialized industry has developed in attempting to circumvent these provisions. The promoters of offshore schemes often advance technical arguments which purport to show that their scheme is legal. These arguments are used to provide some comfort to their clients, who are then induced to enter into a scheme which usually involves concealing the true ownership and control of assets and income.”
The American IRS on foreign trusts. The provisions referred to are of course those enabling American citizens to pay tax on their world-wide income.
https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/International-Businesses/Foreign-Trust-Reporting-Requirements
Under a topic titled “Abusive Offshore Tax Avoidance Schemes”, the following is to be found from the IRS.
“In recent years, a significant increase in offshore activity has been noted among U.S. taxpayers. Numerous schemes have been devised in which the true ownership of income streams and assets is hidden or disguised so as to improperly shield substantial amounts of financial activity from the U.S. tax system.
Such offshore transactions generally involve foreign jurisdictions that offer financial secrecy laws in an effort to attract investment from outside their borders. These jurisdictions are commonly referred to as “tax havens” because, in addition to the financial secrecy they provide, they require little or no taxation of income from sources outside their jurisdiction.”
A commentator on Campbell on Nat Radio postulated that 1% of trusts have a legitimate purpose.
From memory I recall some posts a fair while back about the death penalty and how and why it was wrong, one of the arguments someone brought up (as I say from memory so take it with a grain of salt if you like) was that it was better that 10 guilty men go free rather than one innocent man be imprisoned
No laws have been broken yet all those people brought up are being suggested that they’ve done something illegal
That isn’t right
PR
The point is rather that; unethical business practices should be illegal, but that our Government has shown no interest in ensuring this to be so. All the way from “Dear Leader” Key, to erstwhile revenue minister Peter “legitimate tax avoidance” Dunne.
“I haven’t been convicted of a crime therefore nothing I’ve done is wrong (nor can it be questioned)”, is the kind of thinking I would expect from an insect that gnaws on decaying wood. Even you are better than that.
Ok so some of the laws are badly worded and need fixing but we shouldn’t go around convicting people in the court of public opinion because they might be doing something some of us don’t like
“The court of public opinion” is simply people’s opinion of someone.
So what you’re pleading in the court of public opinion is that the fact that someone might be doing something reprehensible shouldn’t affect our opinion of that person.
I’m saying its not good to smear everyone with the same brush, I’d have thought that’s a basically decent thing to do
Who’s smearing everyone with the same brush?
I’m just impressed you guys have finally come up with a defensible reason to use a secret offshore trust.
Well say you sell your business and you pay the tax on that (as you should) I don’t think its unreasonable to keep the money in an off shore trust instead of a bank account where it can be hit with more tax
And as Emma Watson was saying (although as a British celebrity I take it with a grain of salt) it was more about the privacy aspects
I’m sure there are other good reasons for a foreign trust, something myself and James Shaw have in common
Why would it be hit with more tax? As you said, you’ve already paid the tax.
EW has specific personal safety issues that do not involve money laundering and tax evasion. That’s one reason. You’re sure there are others, and yet it took you long enough to come up with that one, whereas the illegal or immoral reasons are innumerable.
You’re hit with a tax on the interest accumulated so from the hypothetical person point of view they probably don’t want to be double hit with taxes
Maybe you’re in a country where inheritance taxes are punitive and you feel you want to leave something to your kids without the government taking a far too large chunk out of it
Maybe you want to leave something in trust so it doesn’t become entangled up with a will especially with wives, ex-wives, kids, step-kids etc etc
I dare say there are more but as I’m not an accountant or lawyer specialising in trusts I can’t give you anymore unless I go trawling through goggle and there’s really no need especially as even James Shaw says there are good reasons for a foreign trust
If James Shaw is wrong on this let me know why
So two reasons you have are relating to “avoiding” tax that your country thinks you should pay, and another relates to cutting relatives and former partners out of property that the courts might think you should give them.
If one doesn’t like the price of living in a country with taxes that pay for benefits like a judicial system, maybe one should leave that country rather than pretending that one’s money has. Otherwise it’s demanding the benefits of living in that country without paying for them.
So you think James Shaw is wrong on this?
nope.
I’ve no idea what James Shaw’s reasons are, so have no opinion on whether he is right or wrong.
I’m having fun watching you try to come up with an ethical reason to do it though. It’s the moral equivalent of watching Mr Magoo drive a car, but now I’m not seven I know that disabilities and stereotypes aren’t joking matters. A broken moral compass, however, is not a disability: it’s the product of a life poorly led. In that case I reckon it’s okay to get the popcorn.
I thought I’d bring the “Broken Standard” issue back to the fore again here. Why put this on a post that is already in the past for most.
So here goes:
In February my blog Aotearoa A Wider Perspective made it to number 15 on the Open Parachute list of over 300 New Zealand bloggers. My blog currently rates around the 24-25th place.
I warned people in 2008 about John Key and his financial connections and his plans to privatize and sell NZ to the highest bidder. I did so based on solid research into his history. And have continued ever since to educate and inform people of the current economic disaster and John Key’s connections to the international financial world. You would think that would be an area of interest to the people reading the Standard.
I have reached, to date, more than a 146.800 individual IP addresses in New Zealand alone. On Twitter and Facebook I have the ear of several high profile NZ journalists and politicians.
I speak regularly on at least three different online radio shows globally about banking, financial terrorism and the illegal wars of aggression waged in the aftermath of 9/11.
In fact I have even been contacted by a NZ Herald on Sunday journalist once, who when I asked her why she was reading my blog answered with: “We’d like to know what is really going on.” I kid you not.
I speak regularly in New Zealand for audiences such as NZfirst and ratepayers groups, (and even spoke at Waitangi day 2015 about the TPPA) on the subjects of finance and John Key. I speak regularly at TPPA demonstrations to which I am invited to do so by the organisers.
All this is quite and achievement for a single person, let alone a WOMAN. A Woman who has only lived here in NZ for the last 10 years!
I put it too you that If I had been a man, even with my convictions, also based on solid research of not just me but millions of people including more than 2500 + Architects and Engineers, that we need a new and independent investigation into the events of 9/11, I would have been invited for at least a guest post on say the subject of John Key.
Even if just for the fun of it! (After all Red Logic, Colonial Viper, and several other Standard authors have also clearly spoken about their doubts about the official 9/11 story)
The Standard has been known to invite other female bloggers with their own blog to post on the Standard. So why not me? Is it because I write about global politics and not my gender and the issues that brings with? (Which is what seems to be what women writers here are confined to) Is it because what I do write about makes people uncomfortable because it challenges the existing paradigm?
In TRP’s “Broken” post I challenged Iprent to invite me to write a quest post. I have yet to get a response.
+100 Travellerev….I certainly support your open inquiring , well researched Posts….I would like to have you as a woman official Poster here!
Cheers Chooky!
“Is it because I write about global politics and not my gender and the issues that brings with? (Which is what seems to be what women writers here are confined to)”
I really don’t think it’s that. I’ve had two guest posts published (I wasn’t invited, I submitted them to one of the authors). Neither were from an overtly feminist perspective (one was about the Green Party, the other about AGW). Many of the posts written by women over the years haven’t been about gender.
Please write a post (or several). Saw your interview with Bill Black. The general public needs to be more engaged with the matters people like him raise. At present the level of public engagement there is low, too low, and the debate is held behind closed doors and with special interests (as shown by the trust legislation debacle).
+100
Its excatly the same as what labour/greens are trying on. Font moan when the shoe is on the other foot
[BLiP: Typical Infused gibberish – moved to Open Mike]
Infused
Your butchering of language is quite enough to make the; “font moan”.
[BLiP: Comment deleted. Banned on week]
You are always; “talking a crap”, so far as I see it.
+1 lmao
Reddelusion and Infused are suffering from a dose of viral conjunctivitis me thinks ?
[BLiP: Orphan comment left behind after mopping up. Moved to Open Mike]
Yesterday morning various commenters on Open Mike were promising that there would be a momentous news story later in the day.
What was it? I never saw anything of any particular significance coming up.
Major world news was one of the more hyperbolic offerings if I remember correctly. I can’t reread the post as every time I try and look at OM for yesterday the screen just remains blank.
Please, somebody tell me what the great news item was?
Silly Alwyn pay closer attention please, Elvis was found alive and well in NZ living a handsome lifestyle thanks to his offshore trust – oh and some other stuff
Evil Slater and his stupidity
Well the one about Elvis is certainly the most significant.
I was a great fan of the King in much younger days.
However I expected something of importance from the way the little boys seemed to be giggling to each other on Open Mike.
I thought it might be something truly earthshaking like Jacinda Ardern’s cat had just had a litter of kittens and was going to be a solo mother.
Instead Slater and some unknown Green Party supporter having a trust?
I see yesterday’s people really were far in the past and puerile.
Isn’t that odd!
“reverting to USA Trump Style smear politics”
Like this: http://thestandard.org.nz/sprung-again-keys-lawyer-has-close-links-to-mossack-fonseca/
[BLiP: Attempted derail – moved to Open Mike]
Yep bang on the button.
Bob is a RWNJ here to defend FJK. What he’s doing there is trying to prove that The Standard did it too. A typical action of the RWNJs when they or their leaders get caught being corrupt.
“A typical action of the RWNJs when they or their leaders get caught being corrupt”
Key’s Lawyer/Legal Adviser used to be a director in a company, that had a client, that owned two businesses, that had subsidiaries in the British Virgin Islands that used Mossack Fonseca’s services (no mention of what services). So this makes John Key corrupt and me the nut job? You must be mighty tall to draw a bow that long!
The ‘lawyer’ admitted to not being concerned with practising ethically grey actions. Also, tax havens are ethically black with no grey in them at all.
But, of course, you knew that but are here defending it anyway.
They weren’t lies. Greenpeace etc were mentioned in the Panama Papers. Mojo Mathers has an offshore Trust, she just doesn’t understand the meaning of the term. Key’s point was obvious to all but the loony left who are in such a lather…if you are prepared to smear by association, be prepared to wear some of the s*(T that falls around you.
[BLiP: Obvious lie is obvious – Greenpeace was NOT mentioned in the Panama Papers. Plus unwarranted abuse of Mojo Mathers. Banned for one week. Comment moved to Open Mike
Not this Morning IR.
Don’t be a prick you know full well the details don’t pretend ignorance of the news.
Not in the mood for eggs playing games.
An educational message for the chronically simple-minded:
The issue is not whether some particular individual is a settlor or beneficiary of a foreign trust. The issue is that NZ isn’t requiring disclosure to NZ officials of the settlors and beneficiaries of foreign trusts, which invites tax evasion and money-laundering. If your blather isn’t relevant to that issue, don’t crap all over people’s posts with it.
BLiP
You are lying. Greenpeace IS mentioned … https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/121744.
I also have to ask what planet you are on if you think my comment on Mathers was abuse. [BLiP: DELETED ABUSE]
[BLiP: I will let this comment through in order to educate you. Greenpeace was mentioned in the “Offshore Leaks” database which is different from the “Panama Papers” – see here: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/greenpeace-demands-apology-pm-over-besmirching-its-name-panama-papers-link – you are banned for another week for calling me a liar and are banned a further week for wasting my time. Do not comment here until after 02/06/16]
[BLiP: Comment deleted – banned for another week for ignoring earlier ban, that’s four weeks in total. Do not comment here again until after 08/06/16]
This is a fascinating RNZ live Q@A by Deborah Russell on Tax Havens and the Panama Papers. MW stands for; “Megan Whelan, RNZ’s community engagement editor” who appears to be moderating. My favourite thus far:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/panama-papers/303553/live-chat-the-panama-papers
In history, “civilisation” was maintained and built through the work of serfs and slaves serving a tiny ruling class.
Today, taxation is for the wage serfs and wage slaves. Not the aristocracy.
Is Scoop the first to use “Panamania” as a heading?
I’m not sure what JK should be apologising for . Everything he said was true -the charities were mentioned in the papers and Mojo does have a foreign trust
[BLiP: More repetition of the lie that Greenpeace appeared in the Panama Papers and more smearing of Mojo. Moved to Open Mike. First and last warning.]
Nationals/Farrars plan all along, seeing this repeated endlessly on social media (& it is), the more outrageous the lie etc…
Interesting. This is being touted as broad support for TPP.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1605/S00307/broad-support-for-tpp-from-smes.htm
My interpretation is less than half of the SMEs are positively in favour of staying in the TPP. Why should the “indifferent 39%” be added to the positives and called “support”?
This is what I term “propaganda.”
I see that the Labour Party have also spotted this.
“Govt hasn’t made the TPP case for small business”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1605/S00199/govt-hasnt-made-the-tpp-case-for-small-business.htm
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/79836755/unhappy-neighbours-spark-housing-nz-complaints-for-former-streetie-tepi-amohia
– Well I sympathise with the neighbours but hopefully he gets the support he obviously needs to sort the issues out
If you google [BLiP: Deleted Mojo Mather’s UK family trust details.] there’s hits going back several years, including one from 2013 on Whaleoil (no I didn’t read that one). ISTR it was disclosed in the assets register, but I can’t be bothered chasing down a link.
[BLiP: Enough with the dragging of an unrelated, innocent party into the issue concerning the Panama Papers. First and last warning. Comment moved to Open Mike.]
Sorry BLiP. I was trying to point out that that information has been public domain for at least several years. And that Mathers herself had made that information public, as someone with integrity would do. It’s not some kind of revelation that Mathers has been acting in some kind of hypocritical underhanded manner, which is what Key seems to be trying to make it out to be.
[BLiP: Understood, all good. Warning retracted.]
Ace moderation BLiP.
I was thinking that as well weka.
So add my appreation too please BLiP
Well, the PM has got a reprieve from questions in the House by conveniently getting himself ordered out of the House for his constant yelling etc. Some clever person suggested I think yesterday here on The Standard that he was devious enough that he might deliberately do this – well he guessed correctly – what a tosser that he can’t stand the heat in the kitchen and has got himself out of coventry. Typical.
The fact he would tarnish his own reputation to avoid questions speaks volumes to the lack of moral fortitude this despicable man has.
I know lots of people have posted about the use of cannabis oil – this article may be of interest.
http://survivingmesothelioma.com/mesothelioma-survivor-on-cannabis-oil-following-in-footsteps-of-ancient-herbalists/
http://kjohnsonnz.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/latest-from-panama-city.html
MUNDO SEGURIDAD Publicada el 08/05/2016
“Johnny Bondtrader”, también en los “Panama Papers”
Por: Gerardo Venegas
La firma legal Mossack Fonseca incorporó a empresas de nombre Goldfinger, Crusher, SkyFall, GoldenEye, Oravida, Moonraker, Whale Oil y Octopussy, relacionados a las películas del agente secreto
Panamá.- El despacho legal panameño Mossack Fonseca en el centro de un escándalo de filtración de documentos sobre cuentas en el exterior conocido como “Panama Papers”, habría incorporado una serie de empresas con los nombres de las películas de James Bond.
El Proyecto de Reporteo sobre Crimen Organizado y Corrupción (OCCR, por sus siglas en inglés) que tuvo acceso a los documentos filtrados, dice que la firma legal Mossack Fonseca incorporó a empresas de nombre Goldfinger, Crusher, SkyFall, Teapot Tape, GoldenEye, Oravida, Moonraker, Whale Oil y Octopussy.
También hay nombres de empresas como Blofeld, Hager y Spectre, como los villanos de las películas del agente secreto. Al parecer hay un cliente de nombre Austin Powers, que aparentemente es su nombre real.
En Nueva Zelanda, el Servicio de Administración Tributaria investiga a 33 personas vinculadas a los llamados “Papeles de Panamá”, para determinar si incurrieron en una evasión fiscal o delitos financieros.
Gobiernos de todo el mundo están indagando filtraciones de más de 11.5 millones de documentos del bufete de abogados panameño Mossack Fonseca, especializado en crear empresas en paraísos fiscales, que mostraron cómo políticos y personajes públicos han evitado el pago de impuestos.
Con información de: AP
TRANSLATION
WORLD SECURITY Published on 05/08/2016
“Johnny Bondtrader” also in the “Panama Papers”
By: Gerardo Venegas
The law firm Mossack Fonseca created shell companies named Goldfinger, Crusher, Skyfall, Teapot Tape, GoldenEye, Oravida, Moonraker, Whale Oil and Octopussy, relating to the films of the Secret Agent.
The Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in the center of a scandal of leaked documents on accounts abroad known as “Panama Papers” incorporated a number of companies with the names of James Bond movies.
Project Reporting on Organized Crime and Corruption (OCCR, for its acronym in English) which had access to the leaked documents, said the law firm Mossack Fonseca created companies named Goldfinger, Crusher, Skyfall, Teapot Tape, GoldenEye, Oravida, Moonraker, Whale Oil and Octopussy.
There are also names of companies like Blofeld, Hager and Spectre – the villains of the movie secret agent. Apparently there is a client named John Banks, which is apparently his real name.
In Mexico, the Tax Administration is investigating 33 people linked to the so-called “Panama Papers” to determine whether they are involved in tax evasion and financial crime.
Governments around the world are investigating leaks of more than 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in creating offshore companies. These show how politicians and public figures have avoided paying taxes.
With information from AP
[BLiP: Off topic in a thread about Cameron Slater finagling diversion. Moved to Open Mike]
Interesting if true. Ive seen my share of bond films but I cant remember any named oravida, whale oil, crusher, nor teapot tape. But as a new zealander they do have an odd sense of familiarity about them.
And a bond villian named hager? Nope. But…
And john banks, isnt he a notoriously dodgy former nz politician who wasnt responsible for a piece of paper he signed because he didnt read it?
Apparently, the IRD relies on investigative journalists to notify them about possible money-laundereing.
Andrew Little: If New Zealand is not a tax haven, as he has been claiming, why is an online gambling magnate, Calvin Edward Ayre, who is on the run from US authorities for money-laundering and tax evasion, able to use a New Zealand foreign trust to stash his assets?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Firstly, I do not have those details, and the Inland Revenue Department will not be able to until it gets all of the data, which has not been released yet by the investigative journalist. But if it does, it will be able to look through that, and if that trust is true and the person has been established—and established by someone who is covered under the anti – money-laundering rules in New Zealand—then it will be quite clear, because that person who had established it will have failed in their obligations.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/business/qoa/51HansQ_20160511_00000002/2-prime-minister%E2%80%94statements
438 000 watched the final episode of the Bachelor.
Maybe New Zealand deserves Key as PM.
When do you plan to apologise for the lies you tell about me?
You’ve been offered the chance to do so on a number of occasions.
Why don’t you put up or shut up?
[BLiP: Attempted derail/flamewar distraction. First and last warning. Comment moved to Open Mike]
A few articles and opinion pieces on Clinton’s Aggressively Hawkish Foreign Policy:
“Hillary Clinton Promises a More Muscular Foreign Policy as President … From Iran to Syria to Ukraine, Clinton wants the US to be more aggressive … While the speech focussed on Iran, Clinton also addressed foreign policy elsewhere, highlighting areas in which she thought Obama was too hesitant to use military might to exert American influence abroad …”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-iran-foreign-policy_us_55f05c2ae4b002d5c07786b2
How many men, women and children are going to die over the next few years so that this uber-Hawk can demonstrate her toughness to US Elites, the US Electorate and future American historians ?
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/hillary_clintons_foreign_policy_resume_what_the_record_shows_20160505
Are GOP Neo-Cons getting ready to ally with Clinton ?
“Neocon elites are probably the likeliest faction to defect to Clinton, and what they want is blood-curdling aggressiveness”
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/05/trump-unifier-are-hillary-clinton-and-neoconservatives-ready-join-forces
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n03/jackson-lears/we-came-we-saw-he-died
http://www.thenation.com/article/left-ought-worry-about-hillary-clinton-hawk-and-militarist-2016/
http://www.thenation.com/article/henry-kissinger-hillary-clintons-tutor-in-war-and-peace/
At some point when I have a free afternoon we’re going to have to have an argument about whether intervening is overall right or wrong.
The American people have a long history of being very conflicted over this. I strongly suspect that left to their own devices, and their politics not so utterly captured by elite interests … then for the most part their military machine would rarely leave home.
My point, dear, isn’t quite what you’re alluding to-
You’re aware that some studies show that men interrupt women more than other men- some of those studies also show that women interrupt other women at a greater rate than men interrupt women. “the male method dominates and drives away dissenters”- mull over that the next time you see any sort of feminist rally.
Differences in communication styles have nothing to do with a lack of FAIRNESS. You have every right to type shit into this textbox- as do I. Yet you feel disadvantaged, maligned, and “unsafe”?
Do you feel this because we aren’t muzzled, chained, or broken in like good little boys? That we’re not all waiting in turn to have a say, having a great big group hug and singing “kumbaya” before departing?
A lot of the men commenting on this thread are merely trying to FIX and/or HELP- because that’s what men do. You can’t see past the massive chip on your shoulder to realize this fact- and instead seem to be slighted by the fact that men are intruding this conversation (girl power!).
No- you’re quite right- we need safe spaces for women- because they are patently disadvantaged and are unable to speak for themselves. We need to silence those dastardly men (and women!) who dare to interrupt or get in the way of a good ol’ fashioned civil discussion. Heaven forbid anyone have a contrary or controversial opinion (trigger warning!).
/thread
[BLiP: Trolling detected. First and last warning. Comment moved to Open Mike.]
Of course they are innocent victims. However it is Little and Shaw who were pushing the line that all overseas trusts are evil and anyone involved with them is a criminal. Unfortunately the people who set up that database did it without any attempt to vet it.
Mathers only got involved because she is a beneficiary of an overseas trust. In spite of her seeming to think that it wasn’t one it really is. If the trust is in Britain and you are in New Zealand that is an example of an overseas trust and according to Shaw et al is therefore something used only for tax evasion for tax evasion.
I fail to see any connection between this and rape or domestic violence. No doubt it makes sense to your fevered little brain.
[BLiP: Increasingly shrill wall papering of thread with Tory spin lines and smearing of Mojo Mathers. Banned for one week. Comment moved to Open Mike.]
And you’re trolling for love object that effete thing Key so fuck off !
[BLiP: Settle down. First and last warning. Comment moved to Open Mike]
You’re a well known Key idolator Confused Troll so fuck off to where what you mutter means something. I don’t know who should be more embarrassed. You or that effete thing thinks he’s an All Black.
[BLiP: Frustration understood but if you are going to abuse someone, at least make a point which contributes to the discussion. Moved to Open Mike.]
To the people who are calling for the dropping of pseudonyms and anonymity from commentators and authors on the Standard:
I mean seriously.
This issue about anonymity and pseudonyms has come up exactly as Cameron Slater has blatantly reminded all of us again how desperate and underhanded the right is to reveal who the commentators on The Standard actually are.
So that information can be used against us personally and against the Left in general.
I really have to shake my head at how this discussion on making Standard commentators and authors out themselves is being entertained for even one millisecond.
Idiocy to the power of naivete.