Josie Pagani stirring up trouble for the progressive side of politics as ever.
Why doesn’t she just go and join Peter Dunne’s gang or be really honest and ask for membership of the National Party?
Would love to know who’s funding her?
Doesn’t her husband work for New Zealand Oil and Gas?
It would be interesting to know her sources of finance and the networking she does with corporates.
‘Real Labour’.
She has no shame and is actually worse than Key, Joyce etc
I Do like Nike L from the little I’ve of him. Guess Pagani means well though the messaging can be a bit hit & miss. I didn’t like her admonishment of this blog site and the punters on here.
Be interested in seeing the development and what they achieve.
was she introduced as a voice of the Left? If so, it is nearly at the stage where RNZ could be done under the Fair Trading Act for misleading and deceptive conduct 😉
And they can join Pagani as a third party on the same basis.
I really wish they’d gone with ‘True Labour’ because then it would have been obvious what they are up to and how blind they are. Plus, better ridicule factor.
I’m a little confused is she an active member of labour ? And as she is causing more trouble then good why doesn’t Mr Little publicly cut her loose and labour cancel her membership.
probably also because in order to cancel a membership you’d have to do something pretty serious. Pagani is not doing anything overtly negative to the Labour party, it’s all covert.
It just leaves them so open to being sold as a party in a mess having loud mouths running around making there own news . I fully intend to join a political party before the next election and as a worker who believe s in a fair go for all it should be labour but at this stage the greens are winning.
Mr Little has been following in previous leaders footsteps in very publicly courting business. he doesn’t publicly court Unions by the way…
My guess is he is happy for her to do this if it means stealing voters from National… while he can try to appeal to “other” Labour potential voters and then somehow serve them all if elected to government benches.
While I agree with the general principle of what you have said, there is a critical issue here of power. We don’t have the kind of power that Pagani has. She has standing and influence and actual positions of power (eg her role as a left wing commentator) that most of us here don’t have. There is no level playing field, and because of that she can continue to do damage no matter how much we challenge her ideas.
She won’t come to a place like the standard to debate.
Micky has been pointing out that she isn’t saying what policy she wants to be changed. I take that as a sign that she will use covert methods to achieve her ends. So that’s another area where she can’t be defeated on her ideas.
‘Broad church’ does not simply mean ‘whatever you like.’The Labour Party describes itself as a democratic socialist party, and has a set of principles outlining its general position: http://campaign.labour.org.nz/our-vision
Ideas, positioning and such ought rightly to be able to be justified in relation to these general principles, although they may come from different perspectives. When I hear people saying such things as “Labour needs to take the tough decisions” without further explanation, I shudder. Historically, that sentence has tended to mean, you deserve to be screwed over, I deserve to be well-paid for contributing to your being screwed over – it is brave of me to do this and not fair if you hate me for it.
Are there any specific examples of Pagani doing damage to Labour? I admit this isn’t the best look for Labour having a group think idea that hasn’t come from your leader.
I don’t pay much attention to her commentaries either, but I do remember her being frustrated with Labour. Is that really a crime though in these times? It may be I just haven’t picked up on the subtleties of what she does.
Josie Pagani, a former Labour Party candidate, confirmed she was involved in setting up a “think-tank” called Progress targeting Labour’s right and centre.
“They have to realise if you’re talking about modernising the Labour Party, it is not a right- wing conspiracy.”
If it’s got Pagani and Nash supportive of it then yes it is. And it’s not modernising it but helping take NZ back to feudal times.
Nash, Pagani, Leggot, Quinn, Leyland – all on the right, neoliberal flank of Labour. Sounds like a right wing conspiracy to me.
This needs to be stomped on before it does some real damage. If these people have ideas they wish to promote they should do it the democratic way. Write a remit and take your idea to a regional conference to be debated.
What this so called think tank is designed to do is give this right wing cabal a way of not having to have their ideas debated by party members before promoting them in the media. They have been undermining any leftward movement in the Labour Party for years – in Quinn’s case it began in the 1990s. They can’t be expelled, but they must not be allowed to claim they are spokespeople for Labour.
the likes of this crowd were pivotal to the destruction of Labour as a political force in the 1980s, and the loss of 95% of its membership.
There is also significant support for the right wing think tank in the Labour Caucus. Little seems quite fine with giving the project a chance to stretch its legs and get established.
According to Josie P on RNZ, Little tried to talk her out of it, but eventually accepted he had no ability to stop the group forming. Which I suppose is Ok, really. Even if we think this project is pants, I don’t think the party should be stopping people talking. However, if it does real damage, then there are processes for that. Not that I’m comparing Josie to John A Lee, of course!
Spot on, Draco. The third way isn’t a gentle nudge to the centre, it’s a lopping off of anything that remotely looks like genuine Labour policy. It’s also a sneering middle class rejection of the very people Labour should be aiming to represent.
It isn’t only Little who is unhappy with the proposal. I have the impression many in caucus (including deputy Annette King) are totally opposed…
By all means have your think tank but you do NOT involve the Labour Party Madam Pagani and friends. If you want to be involved in policy decisions then do what everyone else has to do: take your ideas to the Policy Council.
This strikes me as an attempt to commandeer the policy making process of the Labour Party to suit their own agendas.
maybe Pagani, Nash, Leggot et al should start their own Party ?…the Pagani Big Mouth Party…I am sure Hoots Possum would help
…i am all for a Labour ‘think tank’ …(so politicians dont put their foot in their mouth eg super ….and the Labour /Left strategises to oust jonkey nact) ..but Pagani et al aint it imo
What this so called think tank is designed to do is give this right wing cabal a way of not having to have their ideas debated by party members before promoting them in the media.
I think your observation is spot-on Karen – it looks like an attempt to circumnavigate the party via the media and force caucus’s hand.
What I would like to know is who the hell said that J Pagani is the splokesperson for the Labour Party.? I have been a member for over 60 years and Life member for 30 years yet I have never met this lady or what is more important is in all the committe elections I have voted for, her name has never come up.These self styled spokespeople need to be silenced. Her continued presence on Q&A the Nation and other public media slots needs to be explained. And to finish Im sick to death of these outspoken so called Labour reps whom have no interest in the LP policies or philosophy whatsoever. Please somebody shut these smarmy slime bags up now!!.
‘Former Labour Candidate’ says it all. Pagani is not from the left. Andrew Little needs to have a quiet word in her ear, and if he has already, suggest she join Act et al.
Pagani backed Shearer, then when that didn’t work out she backed Shane Jones!
I would just like Labour to make it clear she does not represent the Party, she is just someone who paid her membership, and if she wants more influence she should go to regional conferences and argue for policies she likes.
Talking about sheep did anyone see TVNZ morning programme this morning? I could not believe it . I was watching Cross Talk on RT. The in depth discussion was on the Ukraine. I happened to turn in error to TVNZ and guess what the discussion was between that simpering blonde female and Christy? Humpty fucking Dumpty being egg shaped or something. Did not get it all as I immediately turned back to RT.
I want to know how involved the Arab gentleman is in this whole thing . apparently the stock were quarantined on his property in rakia .I’d be interested to know if he owns land in Mexico
I’m not against the of live export idea if its done right, and its not cutting our meat workers out of the loop,
But given national s carry on lately around this subject I am very curious to know if this is all above board and just business or are the nats doing a bit more” facilitating”
I did laugh at her look of befuddlement when John Key started going on about his mother speaking german, her ‘wtf are you talking about’ moment. He was hopeless, every sentence starts with ‘to the best of my knowledge’ or ‘or so I have been told’, I did wish she kept on asking ‘what do you know for sure’ lines, but time was short I guess.
I’m not on facebook so am not aware of that conversation.
I was also surprised that Grant Robertson didn’t mention Peter Conway on the scoop report on the radio this morning. Maybe he didn’t think it wasn’t the time or place.
I don’t have criticism for the MSM silence, it’s just an observation.
“… it’s nine oh six on Radio Standard, Thursday morning, hope you’re up and moving along nicely in that rainy Auckland traffic hmmmm yes mmmkay? ….and a special little song going out to all the National Party supporters, from a special dreamy-eyed boy all the way down, deep deep down, way down … in Nelson…”
The continuing tale of TPPA and Tim Groser.
Wikileaks have released “the Healthcare Annex to the secret draft “Transparency” Chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), along with each country’s negotiating position. The Healthcare Annex seeks to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices. It forces healthcare authorities to give big pharmaceutical companies more information about national decisions on public access to medicine, and grants corporations greater powers to challenge decisions they perceive as harmful to their interests.” https://wikileaks.org/tpp/healthcare/press.html
“The purported aim of the Annex is to facilitate ‘high-quality healthcare’ but the Annex does nothing to achieve this. It is clearly intended to cater to the interests of the pharmaceutical industry. Nor does this do anything to promote “free trade”: rather it tightly specifies the operation of countries’ schemes for subsidizing pharmaceuticals and medical devices with the aim of providing greater disclosure, more avenues for pharmaceutical industry influence and greater opportunities for industry contestation of pharmaceutical decision making.” http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/06/10/leaked-text-shows-big-pharma-bullies-using-tpp-undermine-global-health
2014. Open letter by Tim Groser in Dom Post 12 May 2014
Minister Ryall recently wrote about his perspectives as Minister of Health on the TPP
negotiations (nzdoctor.co.nz). I would urge practitioners in the New Zealand medical
community to read that article closely. It reaffirms the strong health focus we bring to areas like investment, intellectual property and Pharmac issues in the negotiation. The Ministry of Health, a core part of New Zealand’s negotiating team, works closely with my negotiators to ensure our health policy priorities are protected in TPP. On countless occasions, both in New Zealand and abroad, I have said that we will not negotiate on the fundamentals of the public health system, including Pharmac. http://www.mfat.govt.nz/downloads/trade agreement/transpacific/Response%20to%20open%20letter%20on%20health.pdf
For those who believe in the school voucher system and Free (Charter?) schools then Sweden has a cautionary tale for you. From the Guardian:
“Sweden’s decline follows a raft of changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s that transformed the educational landscape. A system that had been largely centralised was devolved to municipalities, teacher training was changed, exams and grades changed, and a voucher system was introduced giving parents the power to choose which school to send their child to. Each child was funded by the state, and if the child chose to go do a different school, the money would follow.
Since then, almost 800 publicly funded private schools – or free schools – have been set up across Sweden, many of them by companies who are allowed to make a profit. ….
Critics on the left in Sweden blame the voucher system for declining results, saying it has opened the door for schools more interested in making a profit than providing education. Conservatives who support free choice say students have been given too much influence in the classroom, undermining the authority of teachers…..” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/10/sweden-schools-crisis-political-failure-education
Government-owned Landcorp is in the process of converting swathes of land in the Upper Waikato area to dairy farms, and introducing 29,500 extra cows to the environment. The impact of those cows and the waste they produce will undermine the good work farmers have been doing to revive the river downstream.
The Government and Landcorp should do the right thing by our environment and responsible farmers and support a moratorium on dairy conversions. There’s only so much the environment can take, and we – along with many Waikato farmers – believe we’re at the point where it can’t take anymore.
We’re asking you to help us back our great farmers and rivers by calling for a stop to massive unsustainable dairy conversions. You can sign using the form below or by returning a completed petition form to us.
Good luck with that. I seem to remember that in the past when farming got financially unsustainable, farmers just had their land sold our from under them i.e. I don’t think the banks care about sustainability (environmental or economic)
yeah, and then next, it will be like in Australia when banks such as ANZ began to foreclose on many farming properties and force famers off the land, e.g. drought-stricken ones who missed repayments
Yes – it is also one of the forces used to pressure ordinary people into giving their monies to Wall St fund managers to gamble with, in the desperate search for net positive returns.
The interest rate drop may offset the increase in rates, so, no, rents will not drop from the drop in interest rates.
Also landownerswill be hoarding any extra cash to improve heat and warmth later on. But only spending it when forced to by law tho.
Article in “The press” today shows rents dropping quite significantly (in the middle and upper price ranges) in Chch as supply starts to exceed demand.
rates increases are already embedded in many rents Haranger.
@landlords hoarding cash to improve heat and warmth later on…
Thanks for the chuckle. Some might but what about the ones who have had lots of interest rate cuts and still haven’t warmed up their homes?
it was inevitable that rents would drop in CHCHCH as labour left in the slow down of the rebuild. I wonder which parts of Auckland those folks are returning to cos not all of them are moving into repaired or new built home sin CHCHCH.?
There are some damn good landlords out there. The ones I rent my warehouse/offices from here in Chch havent raised the rent since 2008 when I took over the lease.
And on one of my commercial properties (not in Chch), my rental income has come back by $25,000pa as the property values have dropped in the provinces.
I read a year or two back (sorry cant give the reference) that there are more individuals receiving interest on investments in NZ, than there are borrowers who benefit from the lower rates.
So maybe we are more of a “nation of savers” than we thought we were.
well that is partly because the borrowing rules got changed remember that which moved a bunch of borrowers from the market.
There are still a few hundred thousand kiwis who can’t save because they are too busy working out which utility bill to delay paying this month without it getting cut off.
“1. Learning involves the active construction of meaning by the learner. This well-established principle involves the fact that students link new information with information that they already know. New and old information are assembled into mental models. If the old information is faulty, that compromises the learning of new information. “Learning can be thought about as a process of conceptual change in which faulty or incomplete models are repaired.” (p. 161) Fixing faulty mental models can be very difficult, as witnessed by research documenting that even after taking a course (physics is often used as an example), students still hold serious misconceptions. ”
Michael, J. (2006). Where’s the evidence that active learning works? Advances in Physiology Education, 30, 159-167.
5 months later, it is still very difficult, if almost impossible, to track down which mobile phone he was using, with which SIM card, in which capacity he bought/used it or deleted messages, and where the phones are now.
What about the 3.8% rise in rates one Council that I know of is imposing on its ratepayers for the next 10 years? Because these increases are cumulative this means that the rates will increase by a whopping 50% over that period without allowing for any additional “levies” they impose and without taking into account the three yearly review of property valuations.
What about the latest rort by the Power Companies where standing charges have risen an enormous amount over the last two years (around 80% by our power company) and power unit charges have reduced minimally by about 3%.
Insurance premiums on properties have also increased massively in recent times.
On top of all of this will be increased GST!
It makes you wonder what items are actually measured to arrive at annual inflation rates in this country because it doesn’t appear that everyday items such as power, rates and insurances are included.
world economies are under attack by price deflation at the moment – especially if you leave out the financial asset price bubbles which have been expanding last few years.
Consumers are ever poorer and tapping out, while the world is awash with production over capacity.
world economies are under attack by price deflation at the moment – especially if you leave out the financial asset price bubbles which have been expanding last few years.
Yep, without the financial bubbles the world would still be in the recession that started in 2k8 and with all the austerity for the poor going round it would have deepened into a depression.
Nah nah, You have got to get your priorities right smokes, Inflation is never measured on everyday unavoidable items like rates, power etc, it is based on more important things like the cost of Caviar, bottles of Moet, international travel or the price of the latest Merc. Get you thinking right.
FYI – just had confirmation from Transparency International Canada that Canada HAS passed legislation outlawing ‘facilitation payments’:
———————————————————————————————–
“Dear Penny: Thank you for your email.
Indeed, Canada has moved forward with regard to facilitation payments, with the amendments that were passed regarding the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, in 2013. If you visit: https://www.gowlings.com/KnowledgeCentre/article.asp?pubID=2940 you will see the comment re. facilitation payments (bullet #4). Unfortunately, we don’t yet know the date these will be phased out.
They’re in the first comment in this thread. I’ve never banned you for telling the truth. But if you want to try self martyrdom, keep writing in this vein.
[lprent: Based on your comments in the spam, I suspect that you didn’t actually address the issue that you got banned on in terms of the policy in this comment. You probably did it in terms of your outraged ego and by attacking the moderator. That was why the comment got deleted.
We would generally allow a single comment through that addresses the point that you got banned on. But continuing to attack a moderator who gave you a ban is not exactly the right idea. Take a further two months off from me.
If you want to argue that further in spam, then I’m perfectly happy to keep doubling up. But we are merely the poor buggers who spend a *lot* of time and effort working on it. We are not a famous critic like you seem to think you are. To me, you just appear to be a useless idiot having severe issue of having no brain in either head. ]
Fact! gets used a bit in comedic banter, but Aussies sports commentators HG and Roy used it most shows. That’s where I picked it up from. Can’t find any specific examples, but this will give you a sense of their comedic approach:
“1. Learning involves the active construction of meaning by the learner. This well-established principle involves the fact that students link new information with information that they already know. New and old information are assembled into mental models. If the old information is faulty, that compromises the learning of new information. “Learning can be thought about as a process of conceptual change in which faulty or incomplete models are repaired.” (p. 161) Fixing faulty mental models can be very difficult, as witnessed by research documenting that even after taking a course (physics is often used as an example), students still hold serious misconceptions. ”
Michael, J. (2006). Where’s the evidence that active learning works? Advances in Physiology Education, 30, 159-167.
That’s weird, your “modern economies” are crashing throughout the world and have required trillions of newly printed money to stay alive on life support all the while pushing 40M people in those developed nations into unemployment. (And probably twice that undermployed).
It’s odd that you would be so proud of that.
Mind you the 1% and especially the 0.1% have done very well out of it so maybe your pleasure is justified.
Last century saw the victory of capitalism over socialism, so your economic model is a third-way or what?
Let me quote Santayana: “Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.”
@Clean_power…urh …i think it is capitalism that is breaking down now …and this was forecast by Marxists ( agree with the quote by Santayana)…the third way is beginning to happen…but will it be Bankster technocratic fascism or revolutionary grassroots democracy?
Every week Max Keiser looks at the scandal behind the financial headlines.
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss leaving the Troika to gloat over the devastation that is Europe. In the second half, Max interviews Ross Ashcroft of RenegadeInc.com about crowdfunding his own content in order to educate the population about the economic news that the BBC refuses to tell. They discuss the fact that there has already essentially been a “Grexit.” Greece is gone. What else can be done?
Last century saw the victory of capitalism over socialism, so your economic model is a third-way or what?
Huh? Corporate socialism, corporate welfare and broken markets are more rampant than ever. How do you see that as a “victory” of capitalism over socialism?
Let me quote Santayana: “Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.”
Then I suggest you read some history. I suggest is Debt: The first 5000 years (large pdf) by David Graeber as it clearly spells out how capitalism has failed for the last 5000 years.
Then I suggest looking at the Great Depression and how that started. HINT: It was capitalism
Then I suggest looking at the Great Recession and how that started. HINT: It was capitalism
History shows, quite conclusively, that capitalism always fails and that it takes societies with it when it does.
I am pleased to announce that the Medical Cannabis orientated organisation, United in Compassion NZ, now has the support of the NZ Drug Foundation, in Addition to the Hemp industry association and the Epilepsy Foundation of NZ.
Where do employees rank in a large company’s priorities?
Well at Fonterra, a wee way down
“Fonterra staff informed hundreds of jobs would go hours after comments made to media Fonterra only told staff about the potential for hundreds of jobs to go several hours after chief executive Theo Spierings told media.”
So, to be clear, some relatives may have text or email or phoned employees to ask about their jobs before the employee even knew there was a problem.
And how come Fonterra which is, I assume, supplying roughly the same volume of product but at lower prices suddenly discovers that it doesn’t need the work that all these people are doing?? Looks like they’d better get rid of the 17 overpaid executives who didn’t realise that they had so many people doing nothing for so long (sarc).
And my thoughts are with all those who were doing a good job only to find themselves out the door
Clean_power – what policies do you think Labour should drop or keep?
Do you support privatisation?
Do you support US style health care?
Do you want unions banned and employment law rolled back?
Do you support privatisation education?
Are power prices not high enough?
Would you can welfare?
Would you get rid of state housing?
Is it Ok for the air and water to be poisoned
My answers:
Do you support privatisation? Yes.
Do you support US style health care? No.
Do you want unions banned and employment law rolled back? No.
Do you support privatisation education? Yes.
Are power prices not high enough? Compared to what?
Would you can welfare? No. It should be given to the needy, old and infirm.
Would you get rid of state housing? Yes.
Is it Ok for the air and water to be poisoned? Absurd question.
I am very surprised that you do not support US style healthcare. The US health sector is highly profitable, brings consistent large returns to investors, and delivers the highest tech, most advanced, most clinically effective treatments known to mankind.
privatisation of education is a disaster…especially when taxpayers money is used to support private education and the state education system is run down as the jonkey nacts have been doing
….I suggest you look at the history and results of of the USA education privatisation vs state education in Finland
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Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
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I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
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This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Kiwis planning a swim or heading out on a boat this summer should remember to stop and think about water safety, Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop and ACC and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “New Zealand’s beaches, lakes and rivers are some of the most beautiful in the ...
The Government is urging Kiwis to drive safely this summer and reminding motorists that Police will be out in force to enforce the road rules, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“This time of year can be stressful and result in poor decision-making on our roads. Whether you are travelling to see ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
A separate passport, citizenship and membership of the United Nations are only available to fully independent nations, Winston Peters' office says. ...
By Emma Andrews, Henare te Ua Māori Journalism Intern at RNZ News The New Zealand fuel company Z Energy is swapping out street names for “correct” kupu on service stops around the country, with the help of local hapū. When Z took over 226 fuel sites from Shell in 2010, ...
Summer reissue: Was it a false measurement, a full-blown conspiracy or just some mild incompetence? Mad Chapman uncovers the truth of Maddi Wesche’s final throw. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Old, Associate Professor, Biology, Zoology, Animal Science, Western Sydney University Dmitry Chulov, Shutterstock At this time of year, images of reindeer are everywhere. I’ve had a soft spot for reindeer ever since I was a little girl. Doesn’t everyone? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grozdana Manalo, Career Services Manager (Education), University of Sydney hedgehog94/Shutterstock Getting casual work over summer, or a part-time job that you might continue once your tertiary course starts, can be a great way to get workplace experience and earn some extra ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ty Ferguson, Research associate in exercise, nutrition and activity, University of South Australia Peera_Stockfoto/Shutterstock It’s never been easier to stay connected to work. Even when we’re on leave, our phones and laptops keep us tethered. Many of us promise ourselves we ...
The NZ Media Council upheld the complaint under principle four: comment and fact On 5 September 2024, The Spinoff published a brief article titled Made in Palestine, found in 1970s Hastings, which highlighted an upcoming art exhibition featuring photographs of vintage cosmetic products labelled “Made in Palestine.” The piece, described ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kasey Symons, Lecturer of Communication, Sports Media, Deakin University We are well and truly in cricket season. The Australian men’s cricket team is taking centre stage against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series while the Big Bash League is underway, as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Woods, Lecturer, Nursing, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University FTiare/Shutterstock Summer is here and for many that means going to the beach. You grab your swimmers, beach towel and sunscreen then maybe check the weather forecast. Did you think to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Saman Khalesi, Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead in Nutrition, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity Australia Dean Clarke/Shutterstock The holiday season can be a time of joy, celebration, and indulgence in delicious foods and meals. However, for many, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Late Night With The Devil. Maslow Entertainment Marketing is critical to the success of commercial films, and companies will often spend half as much again on top of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francisco Jose Testa, Lecturer in Earth Sciences (Mineralogy, Petrology & Geochemistry), University of Tasmania The Conversation As a kid, it was tough for me to grasp the massive time scale of Earth’s history. Now, with nearly two decades of experience as ...
Te Pāti Māori has had to adopt a new way of debating, operating and even thinking in Parliament in response to the Government’s “onslaught” against te ao Māori, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says.In an end-of-year interview with Newsroom, the Te Tai Hauauru MP reflected on how 2024 has differed from her ...
Opinion: The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science report was announced earlier this month, yet it didn’t get the flurry of media attention and political hand-wringing that typically accompanies these announcements. This might be because it presented good news, or you could argue, no news; the results paint a ...
NewsroomBy Dr Lisa Darragh, Dr Raewyn Eden and Dr David Pomeroy
At long last, The Spinoff shells out for a nut ranking. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.It recently came to The Spinoff’s attention ...
I was one of hundreds of people who lost my government job this week. Here’s exactly how it played out. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a ...
Summer reissue: One anxiously attentive passenger pays attention to an in-flight safety video, and wonders ‘Why can’t I pick up my own phone?’ The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up ...
Summer reissue: Why do those Lange-Douglas years cast such a long shadow 40 years on? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today. First published June ...
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Josie Pagani stirring up trouble for the progressive side of politics as ever.
Why doesn’t she just go and join Peter Dunne’s gang or be really honest and ask for membership of the National Party?
Would love to know who’s funding her?
Doesn’t her husband work for New Zealand Oil and Gas?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11463086
Pagani is the classic ‘rent a rant’ that fits very nicely into the divisive memes the DP machine has running.
Thats why she gets the soapboxes to peddle the message being a friendly lefty I.e. playing to the rights agenda of divide and rule.
she is using her power (to get press coverage) for evil, not good 😉
It would be interesting to know her sources of finance and the networking she does with corporates.
‘Real Labour’.
She has no shame and is actually worse than Key, Joyce etc
She was just on morning report being interviewed by Guyon Espiner. I am still waiting to hear from her one policy area which they are proposing.
I Do like Nike L from the little I’ve of him. Guess Pagani means well though the messaging can be a bit hit & miss. I didn’t like her admonishment of this blog site and the punters on here.
Be interested in seeing the development and what they achieve.
was she introduced as a voice of the Left? If so, it is nearly at the stage where RNZ could be done under the Fair Trading Act for misleading and deceptive conduct 😉
And they can join Pagani as a third party on the same basis.
😉
I really wish they’d gone with ‘True Labour’ because then it would have been obvious what they are up to and how blind they are. Plus, better ridicule factor.
I’m a little confused is she an active member of labour ? And as she is causing more trouble then good why doesn’t Mr Little publicly cut her loose and labour cancel her membership.
Because the Labour hierarchy contains plenty of people who sympathise with the Nash and Pagani wing
probably also because in order to cancel a membership you’d have to do something pretty serious. Pagani is not doing anything overtly negative to the Labour party, it’s all covert.
It just leaves them so open to being sold as a party in a mess having loud mouths running around making there own news . I fully intend to join a political party before the next election and as a worker who believe s in a fair go for all it should be labour but at this stage the greens are winning.
Mr Little has been following in previous leaders footsteps in very publicly courting business. he doesn’t publicly court Unions by the way…
My guess is he is happy for her to do this if it means stealing voters from National… while he can try to appeal to “other” Labour potential voters and then somehow serve them all if elected to government benches.
The problem with sitting on the fence is you run the risk of falling off.
or being impaled
Paul, you have a very original view of what “a broad church” Labour is? Let Pagani speak and defeat her on ideas, but let her speak.
While I agree with the general principle of what you have said, there is a critical issue here of power. We don’t have the kind of power that Pagani has. She has standing and influence and actual positions of power (eg her role as a left wing commentator) that most of us here don’t have. There is no level playing field, and because of that she can continue to do damage no matter how much we challenge her ideas.
She won’t come to a place like the standard to debate.
Micky has been pointing out that she isn’t saying what policy she wants to be changed. I take that as a sign that she will use covert methods to achieve her ends. So that’s another area where she can’t be defeated on her ideas.
‘Broad church’ does not simply mean ‘whatever you like.’The Labour Party describes itself as a democratic socialist party, and has a set of principles outlining its general position: http://campaign.labour.org.nz/our-vision
Ideas, positioning and such ought rightly to be able to be justified in relation to these general principles, although they may come from different perspectives. When I hear people saying such things as “Labour needs to take the tough decisions” without further explanation, I shudder. Historically, that sentence has tended to mean, you deserve to be screwed over, I deserve to be well-paid for contributing to your being screwed over – it is brave of me to do this and not fair if you hate me for it.
+1
Are there any specific examples of Pagani doing damage to Labour? I admit this isn’t the best look for Labour having a group think idea that hasn’t come from your leader.
I don’t pay much attention to her commentaries either, but I do remember her being frustrated with Labour. Is that really a crime though in these times? It may be I just haven’t picked up on the subtleties of what she does.
Put it this way. Everything she does indicates that she agrees more with National than with Labour.
If it’s got Pagani and Nash supportive of it then yes it is. And it’s not modernising it but helping take NZ back to feudal times.
Nash, Pagani, Leggot, Quinn, Leyland – all on the right, neoliberal flank of Labour. Sounds like a right wing conspiracy to me.
This needs to be stomped on before it does some real damage. If these people have ideas they wish to promote they should do it the democratic way. Write a remit and take your idea to a regional conference to be debated.
What this so called think tank is designed to do is give this right wing cabal a way of not having to have their ideas debated by party members before promoting them in the media. They have been undermining any leftward movement in the Labour Party for years – in Quinn’s case it began in the 1990s. They can’t be expelled, but they must not be allowed to claim they are spokespeople for Labour.
the likes of this crowd were pivotal to the destruction of Labour as a political force in the 1980s, and the loss of 95% of its membership.
There is also significant support for the right wing think tank in the Labour Caucus. Little seems quite fine with giving the project a chance to stretch its legs and get established.
This is 21st century Labour for you.
According to Josie P on RNZ, Little tried to talk her out of it, but eventually accepted he had no ability to stop the group forming. Which I suppose is Ok, really. Even if we think this project is pants, I don’t think the party should be stopping people talking. However, if it does real damage, then there are processes for that. Not that I’m comparing Josie to John A Lee, of course!
I have no problem with the think tank itself – just that it’s identifying itself with Labour and the Left when it isn’t either of those things.
Spot on, Draco. The third way isn’t a gentle nudge to the centre, it’s a lopping off of anything that remotely looks like genuine Labour policy. It’s also a sneering middle class rejection of the very people Labour should be aiming to represent.
Edit: The latest from Blair: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/11/tony-blair-warns-against-labour-move-to-the-left
Blair? Blair? Oh the guy who lied about WMD to get us all into a new war?
Exactly, some people want LP to be more like National = they are in the
wrong party
+100 DTB
I was more referring to involvement and support by members of caucus.
Ok, gotcha. That’s a tricky area for a leader who didn’t get many votes from his colleagues 😉
Yes indeed.
It isn’t only Little who is unhappy with the proposal. I have the impression many in caucus (including deputy Annette King) are totally opposed…
By all means have your think tank but you do NOT involve the Labour Party Madam Pagani and friends. If you want to be involved in policy decisions then do what everyone else has to do: take your ideas to the Policy Council.
This strikes me as an attempt to commandeer the policy making process of the Labour Party to suit their own agendas.
QFT
It’s just going to become another lobbying firm.
” If you want to be involved in policy decisions then do what everyone else has to do: take your ideas to the Policy Council.”
agree 100%
that was her reminding people how important she is, that she has direct access to Little or that he pursued her…
i still recall her sermon from the mount here two christmases ago…
🙄
maybe Pagani, Nash, Leggot et al should start their own Party ?…the Pagani Big Mouth Party…I am sure Hoots Possum would help
…i am all for a Labour ‘think tank’ …(so politicians dont put their foot in their mouth eg super ….and the Labour /Left strategises to oust jonkey nact) ..but Pagani et al aint it imo
What this so called think tank is designed to do is give this right wing cabal a way of not having to have their ideas debated by party members before promoting them in the media.
I think your observation is spot-on Karen – it looks like an attempt to circumnavigate the party via the media and force caucus’s hand.
What I would like to know is who the hell said that J Pagani is the splokesperson for the Labour Party.? I have been a member for over 60 years and Life member for 30 years yet I have never met this lady or what is more important is in all the committe elections I have voted for, her name has never come up.These self styled spokespeople need to be silenced. Her continued presence on Q&A the Nation and other public media slots needs to be explained. And to finish Im sick to death of these outspoken so called Labour reps whom have no interest in the LP policies or philosophy whatsoever. Please somebody shut these smarmy slime bags up now!!.
Well said Pink Postman.
‘Former Labour Candidate’ says it all. Pagani is not from the left. Andrew Little needs to have a quiet word in her ear, and if he has already, suggest she join Act et al.
Little seems fine with the project. Labour is a “broad church” after all.
isnt Pagani a supporter of Shearer?
Pagani backed Shearer, then when that didn’t work out she backed Shane Jones!
I would just like Labour to make it clear she does not represent the Party, she is just someone who paid her membership, and if she wants more influence she should go to regional conferences and argue for policies she likes.
The shipment of 50,000 sheep to Mexico is cruelty on an industrial level. Animal cruelty is illegal in this country. Call the cops!
Should ease the housing shortage though
“Should ease the housing shortage though”
Ha I like it,
Talking about sheep did anyone see TVNZ morning programme this morning? I could not believe it . I was watching Cross Talk on RT. The in depth discussion was on the Ukraine. I happened to turn in error to TVNZ and guess what the discussion was between that simpering blonde female and Christy? Humpty fucking Dumpty being egg shaped or something. Did not get it all as I immediately turned back to RT.
As I won’t watch henry I switched to tv one recently ,what a shit show it is ,fortunately my free view has nat radio so good bye morning TV for me.
I want to know how involved the Arab gentleman is in this whole thing . apparently the stock were quarantined on his property in rakia .I’d be interested to know if he owns land in Mexico
we have been exporting stock to Mexico for some time.
I’m not against the of live export idea if its done right, and its not cutting our meat workers out of the loop,
But given national s carry on lately around this subject I am very curious to know if this is all above board and just business or are the nats doing a bit more” facilitating”
Watched John Key being interviewed by Mahingarangi Forbes last eve on Maori TV. Key was bloody hopeless and could hardly string a sentence together.
Quite astounding really.
But there you go – nothing new in that. Apparently New Zealanders like having an incoherent leader.
Yes Vto. A dodgy looking Key. A must watch. Interview about 15min in.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/native-affairs/S09E014/native-affairs
I will miss Mahingarangi Forbes when she departs native affairs.
Is it my imagination, or does Key start speaking faster when he’s lying? And his hand movements look trained/measured when he’s doing it too?
duplicitous and slick I would describe him ….but Mahingarangi Forbes was insistent on the truth
I did laugh at her look of befuddlement when John Key started going on about his mother speaking german, her ‘wtf are you talking about’ moment. He was hopeless, every sentence starts with ‘to the best of my knowledge’ or ‘or so I have been told’, I did wish she kept on asking ‘what do you know for sure’ lines, but time was short I guess.
RIP Peter Conway. Chris Trotter posts a thoughtful tribute to this admirable man.
Perhaps a Standard author might do the same.
A few of us acknowledged Peter Conway’s death on Open Mike on Tuesday.
Apart from the notice from the family on stuffed.co.nz I haven’t seen much else in the media, which has surprised me.
It is quite possible however, the family’s preference is for privacy at this time.
There’s been quite a bit about Peter Conway and his untimely death on various Facebook sites plus comment from both Labour and Green Parties.
I’m not on facebook so am not aware of that conversation.
I was also surprised that Grant Robertson didn’t mention Peter Conway on the scoop report on the radio this morning. Maybe he didn’t think it wasn’t the time or place.
I don’t have criticism for the MSM silence, it’s just an observation.
if a top business person died it would be news…
Robertson not mentioning it is just more of LP embarassment around Unions.
You could write a Guest post and we would post it? I know TRP was deeply moved by Peter’s passing when he posted in response tot he news,.
“… it’s nine oh six on Radio Standard, Thursday morning, hope you’re up and moving along nicely in that rainy Auckland traffic hmmmm yes mmmkay? ….and a special little song going out to all the National Party supporters, from a special dreamy-eyed boy all the way down, deep deep down, way down … in Nelson…”
shows an error for me.
I will give credit where it is due. To Peter Dunne. His decision, imo, was good one.
The continuing tale of TPPA and Tim Groser.
Wikileaks have released “the Healthcare Annex to the secret draft “Transparency” Chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), along with each country’s negotiating position. The Healthcare Annex seeks to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices. It forces healthcare authorities to give big pharmaceutical companies more information about national decisions on public access to medicine, and grants corporations greater powers to challenge decisions they perceive as harmful to their interests.”
https://wikileaks.org/tpp/healthcare/press.html
“Pharmac under threat from TPP – Wikileaks”
The Annex on Transparency and Procedural Fairness for Pharmaceutical Products and Medical Devices was posted on Wikileaks last night.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/275928/pharmac-under-threat-from-tpp-wikileaks
“The purported aim of the Annex is to facilitate ‘high-quality healthcare’ but the Annex does nothing to achieve this. It is clearly intended to cater to the interests of the pharmaceutical industry. Nor does this do anything to promote “free trade”: rather it tightly specifies the operation of countries’ schemes for subsidizing pharmaceuticals and medical devices with the aim of providing greater disclosure, more avenues for pharmaceutical industry influence and greater opportunities for industry contestation of pharmaceutical decision making.”
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/06/10/leaked-text-shows-big-pharma-bullies-using-tpp-undermine-global-health
Meanwhile in 2013,”Tim Groser is confident the TPP will have a marginal impact on public institutions like Pharmac.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1309/S00247/tim-groser-adamant-trans-pacific-partnership-good-for-nz.htm
2014. Open letter by Tim Groser in Dom Post 12 May 2014
Minister Ryall recently wrote about his perspectives as Minister of Health on the TPP
negotiations (nzdoctor.co.nz). I would urge practitioners in the New Zealand medical
community to read that article closely. It reaffirms the strong health focus we bring to areas like investment, intellectual property and Pharmac issues in the negotiation. The Ministry of Health, a core part of New Zealand’s negotiating team, works closely with my negotiators to ensure our health policy priorities are protected in TPP. On countless occasions, both in New Zealand and abroad, I have said that we will not negotiate on the fundamentals of the public health system, including Pharmac.
http://www.mfat.govt.nz/downloads/trade agreement/transpacific/Response%20to%20open%20letter%20on%20health.pdf
2014 Tim Groser on RNZ “There will be no fundamental change in Pharmac’s operations as a result of the trade agreement.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/257457/medicines-%27won%27t-cost-more-under-tpp%27
Yeah right!
I think if its signed and he has clearly lied its rope and lamppost time.
not figuratively.
History shows that the elite of any given age will eventually push to such ludicrous and self serving extremes, that is what happens.
For those who believe in the school voucher system and Free (Charter?) schools then Sweden has a cautionary tale for you. From the Guardian:
“Sweden’s decline follows a raft of changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s that transformed the educational landscape. A system that had been largely centralised was devolved to municipalities, teacher training was changed, exams and grades changed, and a voucher system was introduced giving parents the power to choose which school to send their child to. Each child was funded by the state, and if the child chose to go do a different school, the money would follow.
Since then, almost 800 publicly funded private schools – or free schools – have been set up across Sweden, many of them by companies who are allowed to make a profit. ….
Critics on the left in Sweden blame the voucher system for declining results, saying it has opened the door for schools more interested in making a profit than providing education. Conservatives who support free choice say students have been given too much influence in the classroom, undermining the authority of teachers…..”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/10/sweden-schools-crisis-political-failure-education
Oh the educational model that the Nats are following now . Not what a father with a young bright mind to nurture and grow. Really wants to hear.
Sign the petition: Stop Unsustainable Dairy Farm Conversions
http://action.greens.org.nz/stop-unsustainable-dairy-conversions
via @NZGreens
Government-owned Landcorp is in the process of converting swathes of land in the Upper Waikato area to dairy farms, and introducing 29,500 extra cows to the environment. The impact of those cows and the waste they produce will undermine the good work farmers have been doing to revive the river downstream.
The Government and Landcorp should do the right thing by our environment and responsible farmers and support a moratorium on dairy conversions. There’s only so much the environment can take, and we – along with many Waikato farmers – believe we’re at the point where it can’t take anymore.
We’re asking you to help us back our great farmers and rivers by calling for a stop to massive unsustainable dairy conversions. You can sign using the form below or by returning a completed petition form to us.
convincing the banks that certain classes of dairy conversion are unsustainable will stop the activity in its tracks
Good luck with that. I seem to remember that in the past when farming got financially unsustainable, farmers just had their land sold our from under them i.e. I don’t think the banks care about sustainability (environmental or economic)
the banks are paying very close attention to dairy profitability and sustainability at the moment
in what way?
yeah, and then next, it will be like in Australia when banks such as ANZ began to foreclose on many farming properties and force famers off the land, e.g. drought-stricken ones who missed repayments
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/69283074/nz-reserve-bank-cuts-key-rate-to-325-per-cent-banks-cut-mortgage-rates
– Lower mortgage rates is what everyone wants see
Shame about those people who depend on interest rates to pay there way.
In this case it’ll be better for more people but I see your point
I was reacting to the word everyone.
Overseas zero interest rate policies have smashed savers and pensioners in favour of borrowers and speculators.
That is why people have there money in property and not the bank.
Yes – it is also one of the forces used to pressure ordinary people into giving their monies to Wall St fund managers to gamble with, in the desperate search for net positive returns.
rents will drop, right? To reflect the drop in cost for the Landlord?
The interest rate drop may offset the increase in rates, so, no, rents will not drop from the drop in interest rates.
Also landownerswill be hoarding any extra cash to improve heat and warmth later on. But only spending it when forced to by law tho.
Article in “The press” today shows rents dropping quite significantly (in the middle and upper price ranges) in Chch as supply starts to exceed demand.
rates increases are already embedded in many rents Haranger.
@landlords hoarding cash to improve heat and warmth later on…
Thanks for the chuckle. Some might but what about the ones who have had lots of interest rate cuts and still haven’t warmed up their homes?
it was inevitable that rents would drop in CHCHCH as labour left in the slow down of the rebuild. I wonder which parts of Auckland those folks are returning to cos not all of them are moving into repaired or new built home sin CHCHCH.?
I did say “only when forced to by law” tho.
There are some damn good landlords out there. The ones I rent my warehouse/offices from here in Chch havent raised the rent since 2008 when I took over the lease.
And on one of my commercial properties (not in Chch), my rental income has come back by $25,000pa as the property values have dropped in the provinces.
of course there are but the “good” ones aren’t the problem. We are focusing on housing rather than commercial.
Many will be on fixed rates (for predictable cashflow and returns) so no positive impact to them to pass on.
of course, palm/head… so the rents will drop when they come off the fixed rate and move to a lower fixed rate, right?
oh what genius the system creates, where flexible rates are involved, the rents will drop to be more competitive because the market really works.
ECON101: Lecturer to class – “Prices are sticky in a downward direction”
I read a year or two back (sorry cant give the reference) that there are more individuals receiving interest on investments in NZ, than there are borrowers who benefit from the lower rates.
So maybe we are more of a “nation of savers” than we thought we were.
well that is partly because the borrowing rules got changed remember that which moved a bunch of borrowers from the market.
There are still a few hundred thousand kiwis who can’t save because they are too busy working out which utility bill to delay paying this month without it getting cut off.
“1. Learning involves the active construction of meaning by the learner. This well-established principle involves the fact that students link new information with information that they already know. New and old information are assembled into mental models. If the old information is faulty, that compromises the learning of new information. “Learning can be thought about as a process of conceptual change in which faulty or incomplete models are repaired.” (p. 161) Fixing faulty mental models can be very difficult, as witnessed by research documenting that even after taking a course (physics is often used as an example), students still hold serious misconceptions. ”
Michael, J. (2006). Where’s the evidence that active learning works? Advances in Physiology Education, 30, 159-167.
Methinks CT know this only too well.
NZ Prime Minister lives by nothing to fear, nothing to hide:
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/key-s-spy-fears-pm-throws-away-cellphone-every-three-months-6336226
/sarc
It only proves that he is actually oblivious to most things that don’t involve himself.
It beggars belief how long an investigation takes don’t you think?
“An investigation by chief archivist Marilyn Little as to whether that amounts to destruction of public records is progressing.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/260477/advice-sought-on-pm-destroying-texts
Dec 22 2014 Ms Little agreed to investigate…
over 5 months later…
5 months later, it is still very difficult, if almost impossible, to track down which mobile phone he was using, with which SIM card, in which capacity he bought/used it or deleted messages, and where the phones are now.
So the Reserve Bank has cut the OCR to 3.25% due to low inflationary pressures. Yeah right!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11463007
What about the 3.8% rise in rates one Council that I know of is imposing on its ratepayers for the next 10 years? Because these increases are cumulative this means that the rates will increase by a whopping 50% over that period without allowing for any additional “levies” they impose and without taking into account the three yearly review of property valuations.
What about the latest rort by the Power Companies where standing charges have risen an enormous amount over the last two years (around 80% by our power company) and power unit charges have reduced minimally by about 3%.
Insurance premiums on properties have also increased massively in recent times.
On top of all of this will be increased GST!
It makes you wonder what items are actually measured to arrive at annual inflation rates in this country because it doesn’t appear that everyday items such as power, rates and insurances are included.
Inflation is, apparently, 0%, outside the RB range. I am sure it will be recalled when anyone asks for a wage increase 😉
world economies are under attack by price deflation at the moment – especially if you leave out the financial asset price bubbles which have been expanding last few years.
Consumers are ever poorer and tapping out, while the world is awash with production over capacity.
Yep, without the financial bubbles the world would still be in the recession that started in 2k8 and with all the austerity for the poor going round it would have deepened into a depression.
and the bottom 50% of people in the western world pretty much remain in the Great Recession
watch for barely a flicker in our news that inflation is below RB target (statutorily imposed) range, and as you say that deflation is a problem…
and absolutely expected as consumers become paupers and corporations limit capital investment to the lowest levels in history.
Nah nah, You have got to get your priorities right smokes, Inflation is never measured on everyday unavoidable items like rates, power etc, it is based on more important things like the cost of Caviar, bottles of Moet, international travel or the price of the latest Merc. Get you thinking right.
FYI – just had confirmation from Transparency International Canada that Canada HAS passed legislation outlawing ‘facilitation payments’:
———————————————————————————————–
“Dear Penny: Thank you for your email.
Indeed, Canada has moved forward with regard to facilitation payments, with the amendments that were passed regarding the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, in 2013. If you visit: https://www.gowlings.com/KnowledgeCentre/article.asp?pubID=2940 you will see the comment re. facilitation payments (bullet #4). Unfortunately, we don’t yet know the date these will be phased out.
Kind regards. Bronwyn
Bronwyn Best
Senior Advisor
TI-Canada”
————————————————————————————————
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Shameful indeed
1. “Questioning my right to interpret language”
2. “Questioning my right to ban”
3. “Questioning my self esteem”
4. “Questioning my authority”
5. Deleting comments having stated “ I would never do that, fact ” while accusing BB of being ‘pompous’
Q. Do you realize the gravitas of your hypocrisy TRP ?
Awful
You do realise that Fact! is a joke, TM? Fact!
Q. So you were exhibiting some level of self awareness in that comment ?
Obviously. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then how can you laugh at anyone else?
Your made up examples aren’t at all funny, though, so please have a look at the policy: http://thestandard.org.nz/policy/
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08062015/#comment-1026808
“What’s pompous is his constant deletion of comments that challenge his bullshit, so that he can always have the last word. I’d never do that. Fact!
Point out the examples I have made up ?
Q. Are you going to ban me for telling the truth again ?
They’re in the first comment in this thread. I’ve never banned you for telling the truth. But if you want to try self martyrdom, keep writing in this vein.
[Deleted. Take a month off. TRP]
[lprent: Based on your comments in the spam, I suspect that you didn’t actually address the issue that you got banned on in terms of the policy in this comment. You probably did it in terms of your outraged ego and by attacking the moderator. That was why the comment got deleted.
We would generally allow a single comment through that addresses the point that you got banned on. But continuing to attack a moderator who gave you a ban is not exactly the right idea. Take a further two months off from me.
If you want to argue that further in spam, then I’m perfectly happy to keep doubling up. But we are merely the poor buggers who spend a *lot* of time and effort working on it. We are not a famous critic like you seem to think you are. To me, you just appear to be a useless idiot having severe issue of having no brain in either head. ]
@ The Murphey….holiday at the Daily Blog ?
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/author/martyn-bradbury/
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/06/11/the-daily-blog-open-mic-thursday-11th-june-2015/
Thank you te reo putake – I’m so over having to look at these type of chains.
I just wish people would take five minutes – walk away from the keyboard and laugh at themselves.
Every heated exchange you get into online – does look a lot less important – if you give yourself time to reflect.
Cheers, adam, wise words.
[deleted]
[lprent: Fuck off – don’t return. Permanent ban for being an idiot ]
“You do realise that Fact! is a joke, TM? Fact!”
That’s confusing and I wouldn’t have picked that your comment in the other thread was a joke.
Crikey, how soon they forget!
http://thestandard.org.nz/milifandom-labour-are-going-to-win-the-uk-election-fact/
Fact! gets used a bit in comedic banter, but Aussies sports commentators HG and Roy used it most shows. That’s where I picked it up from. Can’t find any specific examples, but this will give you a sense of their comedic approach:
Yeah, I just wasn’t sure if you meant that you don’t remove comments or you do. But I guess that question has since been resolved.
“1. Learning involves the active construction of meaning by the learner. This well-established principle involves the fact that students link new information with information that they already know. New and old information are assembled into mental models. If the old information is faulty, that compromises the learning of new information. “Learning can be thought about as a process of conceptual change in which faulty or incomplete models are repaired.” (p. 161) Fixing faulty mental models can be very difficult, as witnessed by research documenting that even after taking a course (physics is often used as an example), students still hold serious misconceptions. ”
Michael, J. (2006). Where’s the evidence that active learning works? Advances in Physiology Education, 30, 159-167.
Methinks CT know this only too well.
Most Labour MPs have been educated into the thinking model of markets, financial systems and fiscal discipline now. Job done.
agree
Very good. That constitutes an excellent education on how to run a modern economy. Gone are the days of big, bloated, elephant-like socialist states.
That’s weird, your “modern economies” are crashing throughout the world and have required trillions of newly printed money to stay alive on life support all the while pushing 40M people in those developed nations into unemployment. (And probably twice that undermployed).
It’s odd that you would be so proud of that.
Mind you the 1% and especially the 0.1% have done very well out of it so maybe your pleasure is justified.
Last century saw the victory of capitalism over socialism, so your economic model is a third-way or what?
Let me quote Santayana: “Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.”
@Clean_power…urh …i think it is capitalism that is breaking down now …and this was forecast by Marxists ( agree with the quote by Santayana)…the third way is beginning to happen…but will it be Bankster technocratic fascism or revolutionary grassroots democracy?
http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/265822-episode-max-keiser-768/
Every week Max Keiser looks at the scandal behind the financial headlines.
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss leaving the Troika to gloat over the devastation that is Europe. In the second half, Max interviews Ross Ashcroft of RenegadeInc.com about crowdfunding his own content in order to educate the population about the economic news that the BBC refuses to tell. They discuss the fact that there has already essentially been a “Grexit.” Greece is gone. What else can be done?
“”Let me quote Santayana: “Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.”
I bet the irony is lost on you.
Huh? Corporate socialism, corporate welfare and broken markets are more rampant than ever. How do you see that as a “victory” of capitalism over socialism?
it’s the winning that matters, not the consequences of winning.
Then I suggest you read some history. I suggest is Debt: The first 5000 years (large pdf) by David Graeber as it clearly spells out how capitalism has failed for the last 5000 years.
Then I suggest looking at the Great Depression and how that started. HINT: It was capitalism
Then I suggest looking at the Great Recession and how that started. HINT: It was capitalism
History shows, quite conclusively, that capitalism always fails and that it takes societies with it when it does.
What system do you propose, Draco? Does it exist or has it ever existed?
What do you suggest? More of the same?
The gift economy, with government issue of debt free money at no interest, used for everything else.
And it’s all mostly wrong but they just don’t see it.
I am pleased to announce that the Medical Cannabis orientated organisation, United in Compassion NZ, now has the support of the NZ Drug Foundation, in Addition to the Hemp industry association and the Epilepsy Foundation of NZ.
http://unitedincompassion.org.nz/nz-drug-foundation-supporting-statement/
Great news. It’s been useful to hear some facts shine through the last few days and Dunne deserves credit for his decision.
Sanity may prevail.
What I’d give to be able to use Medical Cannabis, rather than Medical Opiates.
+100 Shane Le Brun
we need donations urgently, to fund things further while we formalise as a charitable trust, and to get people to our next meeting in wellington. 🙂
https://givealittle.co.nz/project/uicnzseedfunding#
Shane, maybe wait until you are through the moderation process… so people feel more comfortable before they donate?
Where do employees rank in a large company’s priorities?
Well at Fonterra, a wee way down
“Fonterra staff informed hundreds of jobs would go hours after comments made to media Fonterra only told staff about the potential for hundreds of jobs to go several hours after chief executive Theo Spierings told media.”
So, to be clear, some relatives may have text or email or phoned employees to ask about their jobs before the employee even knew there was a problem.
Hey with only 17 corporate executives earning over $1M each, you can’t expect for every detail to be properly managed.
And how come Fonterra which is, I assume, supplying roughly the same volume of product but at lower prices suddenly discovers that it doesn’t need the work that all these people are doing?? Looks like they’d better get rid of the 17 overpaid executives who didn’t realise that they had so many people doing nothing for so long (sarc).
And my thoughts are with all those who were doing a good job only to find themselves out the door
If those 1million dollar men took a 50% pay cut that would free up enough money to pay 85 people $100,000 each amazing A
Clean_power – what policies do you think Labour should drop or keep?
Do you support privatisation?
Do you support US style health care?
Do you want unions banned and employment law rolled back?
Do you support privatisation education?
Are power prices not high enough?
Would you can welfare?
Would you get rid of state housing?
Is it Ok for the air and water to be poisoned
etc?
My answers:
Do you support privatisation? Yes.
Do you support US style health care? No.
Do you want unions banned and employment law rolled back? No.
Do you support privatisation education? Yes.
Are power prices not high enough? Compared to what?
Would you can welfare? No. It should be given to the needy, old and infirm.
Would you get rid of state housing? Yes.
Is it Ok for the air and water to be poisoned? Absurd question.
I am very surprised that you do not support US style healthcare. The US health sector is highly profitable, brings consistent large returns to investors, and delivers the highest tech, most advanced, most clinically effective treatments known to mankind.
“The US health sector is” …. also the most expensive and least accessible healthcare system in the developed world, with some of the poorest population-based outcomes
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/interactives-and-data/us-compare-interactive#?ind=1
privatisation of education is a disaster…especially when taxpayers money is used to support private education and the state education system is run down as the jonkey nacts have been doing
….I suggest you look at the history and results of of the USA education privatisation vs state education in Finland
https://bertmaes.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/why-is-education-in-finland-that-good-10-reform-principles-behind-the-success/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Ravitch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland
http://www.educationaotearoa.org.nz/all-stories/2014/4/29/be-afraid-the-privatisation-of-public-education.html
http://azednews.com/2014/12/17/diane-ravitch-on-test-scores-equity-charter-schools-and-the-teaching-profession/
Looks like you are hard right.
And you are on record as opposing water quality standards.
You are mistaken, millsy.
Oppose water quality standard? No. I must say you phrased your question very badly.
So why do you hate the Greens?
And what privatisation do you support?
I do enjoy reading your leaps of logic
If that is logic, I must be Boole himself.
Im not the one who despises the public sector.
You seem to be confused or have misread what I wrote. Where did I say I despise the public sector?
Well you support privatisation .
You support multi-national corporations
More union hate:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/275984/meatworkers-punished-over-union-material
The Talleys will stop at nothing to purge their comapnies of union members. Such behaviour borders on human rights violations.
But it gets you knighted in planet key.
Sure does….
Well, now that blinglish has finally admitted he’s a wellingtonian, the crown limo with the heated seats is going to Auckland.
Poor little woodhouse and toddy-woddy don’t deserve it, I guess…
Lprent:
F U D G E Y O U , fantastic, fabulous fellow!
Now that I have your attention, ahem, … it seems like TS is very slow in showing the comment that I made and actually wanted to edit.
Erm, ok, it seems to working fine now. Strange.
lol