That’s what politicians and parties are supposed to do, debate important issues, not just shout from oner side of the argument and whisper from the other.
Dunne calls for a debate now? When he’s already had the benefit of a ministerial salary for 3 years at the whim of the privatisers and is now facing unemployment in a few short weeks. Wow, what a hero. What courage!
Saying no to the proposed programme of asset sales is not nuts. Selling assets that return profits well above the Crown’s cost of capital, that’s nuts.
Rather than pointlessly talking about opposing selling assets that neither major party is proposing to sell, tell us this: Why does Dunne support the nutty policy of selling Meridian, Genesis, Mighty River, Solid Energy, and Air NZ.
Wishful thinking, if only we could release all that wealth tied up in state assets,
if only credit agencies said downgrade would have happened under Labour,
if only we could have a debate, geez, where have they been, well its clear
where Nat/Maori/ACT and United have been, in LALA land.
Normally yes, but we just don’t know what the price of oil will be
in three years time.
Policy Labour should commit too is taking old cars off the road,
and putting heavy fees on ‘historical’ and boy racer type cars,
with removal order if they fall behind in payment.
Petrol is now food, and we should not waste it on displays of
oil waste. In fact government should pretty much wake up to
the reality that testostrone wastes resources and direct the
testorstrone to less economically precious resources.
A little insomnia had me reflecting the vitriol in which we hold Key at this site. I realised in the reaches of the night that I did not hold Key responsible for any of the crap going on: to do so was to accept the whole damned edifice of our current political / economic construct. Key is a mere cypher, a non entity, ableit a lying manipulating nasty little nothingness.
So, to conclude: get with the Owsers, the 99%ers who are out there denying the validity of the whole construct. Criticise the whole thing, its not about a “personality”, its about a rotten system, not who “drives” it.
Pete, you just dont get it do you: rotten edifices dont require votes to prop up. They require removal from the outside. Go inside and you get wood worm.
What did Charles do? Involve the public in formulating submissions by releasing the text of the bill and thereby improving it tremendously? And you call this getting into trouble?
Surely you know what he did Micky. You know a bit about legal stuff don’t you? You read other blogs like Lanthanide don’t you?
So the narrative from Charles is the brave Labour Party setting down their four bottom lines, holding fast to them, and forcing the Government to agree to them.
There are two issues here. The first is that the first press release from Chauvel was done after deliberations had started on the bill. It is a clear breach of privilege. The House has risen so it is not possible to have a complaint considered by this Parliament and anyway amazingly Chauvel is actually Chair of the Privileges Committee.
But undermining the integrity of the select committee process is only part of Chauvel’s efforts to promote himself. The actual truth is even more incredible.
I understand the press release from Chauvel setting out Labour’s four bottom lines was done around 60 minutes after Chauvel had been briefed on what changes the Government had agreed to. He already knew the Government’s position when he wrote that press release.
It would be good to hear Charles’ side of the story, maybe he can put the record straight.
So the tories attempt to trample over the rule of law and all sorts of Parliamentary customs and Charles is in the gun for putting out a press release?
It’s already happening Pete, it just hasn’t made it here yet and the media is complicit in hiding it. But you can watch it, in many many cities around the world, live, here… #99percent #occupywallstreet #globalchange
Here is an article which nicely sums up your lack of understanding of this movement..
“To be fair, the reason why some mainstream news journalists and many of the audiences they serve see the Occupy Wall Street protests as incoherent is because the press and the public are themselves. It is difficult to comprehend a 21st century movement from the perspective of the 20th century politics, media, and economics in which we are still steeped.” http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinion/rushkoff-occupy-wall-street/index.html
Here is a very inspirational and somewhat depressing talk by Vandana Shiva on the “lunacy of economic growth”
I agree that the media is complicit. But it has made it here although it is early days. There are different ways of going about it. One way is what I’ve started to do, only just getting going. The election is a means, not an end.
No, Bored is right, there needs to be a total paradigm shift, tinkering with a failed system doesn’t cut it anymore, nature won’t allow it. Ignore that at your children’s peril!
I’ll vote, but for the first time in my voting life, I’ll only do it out of contempt for the Authoritarian Regime we currently have in power, not because I believe it will change society’s trajectory.
Listen carefully and openly to Vandana’s speech, then tell me the current system works. 250,000 Indian farmers dead at their own hands because of Monsanto, the success of GDP growth!
Thanks AAMC, it seems pretty hard for people to accept that the current regime is F****D. The question of what to do is very vexing but when you are heading towards the cliff at full tilt it pays to take notice. Vadana Shiva is a great advocate of doing the right thing, and gives us some leads here, and she certainly has no trust for the system doing the right thing.
My thinking is that to try and reform from the inside invariably ends up with compromise and acceptance of the principles you fought….look at the grandchildren of the voters of 1935. The Savage / Fraser government reformed from the inside and the grandchildren of those voters who benefited most then destroyed it by voting for the likes of Douglas and Key. The insider principle corrodes and corrupts, often very quickly. Compromise dilutes.
In our case we might look toward the past for examples..St Francis set the example from outside the establishment, Gandhi, King, Mandela stating the obvious and refusing to bend, to sell out.
As a conservationist I have learned that if you give away 30% in negotiations you are left to defend 70%…then the bastards come back and get another 30% so you are left with less again. And they will keep coming…the only answer is total commitment to a realistic position, no compromise.
And so, although I’m nervous about the timing around the RWC and how it’ll be received, it’s essential that all of us encourage all we know, to participate in the #OccupyNZD events, so they are not a farce like the 350 march I walked with and observed the other day. We’re a bit behind the rest of the world – again – in our awareness in NZ, I fear it will look like a lunatic fringe if it isn’t significant.
I’ll vote, but for the first time in my voting life, I’ll only do it out of contempt for the Authoritarian Regime we currently have in power, not because I believe it will change society’s trajectory.
AAMC
I am curious AAMC, who are you casting your vote for?
Change the way we think: coercive revolution is too ineffective as it only replaces a power elite with another. Its like Tolkeins “rings of power”, you cant wield them constructively. Doing the right things and rejecting the wrong things that authority demands is the best tactic. In the case of the OWSers they have deliberately rejected the MSM, they know it is a corrupt and hollow vessel.
and they’ve rejected demands or negotiations with the establishment, they want to network their way to real change rather than to tinker with what has so plainly failed.
Key is a formidable PM because he is the perfect PR construct. The Nats have learned, they no longer use authoritarian male figures for leaders, they use leaders that smile and wave and are cheerful and who at a superficial level resonate with traditional Labour supporters. Then below them the carnage happens but they divert attention from what is really happening.
Key needs to be called out on this. The past week has seen his credibility severely shaken and we need to keep doing this.
Now you know why that particular Eagles song has been humming in your head??
“You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
and your smile is a thin disguise.
I thought by now you’d realize
there ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes.”
Perhaps a competition on The Standard to personalise the lyrics to suit our Pinocc-key-o? The winner gets to be in the front row to smile and wave him off to Hawaii.
You’re right but is there an appetite for such a radical change?
This tinkering at the edges and having no new solutions is highlighted when we consider killing the poor
You’re right but is there an appetite for such a radical change?
Well, we can do the change pro-actively or we can wait to have the change forced upon us…
Oh, wait, we went with the latter option back in the 1950s when some fuckwit thought everyone having a car was a Good Idea because it made a few people a lot of profit.
That’s a bit confusing, I guess you mean that National and Key are responsible for their poxie pixies and Labour and Goff are responsible for their own poxie pixies.
It’s just so embarrassing when bigots get their epithets confused. One never knows where to look – does one criticise them for the opinion they meant to express, or just let the entire episode slide by in a wave of incomprehensibility?
I like the Iranian Government’s description of the protests as ‘the American Spring’. Very droll, even if it’s not seasonally accurate. D’ya think Nato will enforce a No Fly zone over the Pacific Northwest? Or perhaps Blair will be sent in to start a dialogue …
Its quite predictable that there will be protests fromausterity. So makes total sense that
states need to vent the anger. Maybe like using social media to agitate youth to riot,
or starting up sit ins just as the northern hemisphere goes into winter. Glad we
pay big bucks to the state to distract us even by choosing how protest manifests itself.
Personally the best vote anyone can give is to shut their wallets on the big end of town.
Use building societies, buy at the farmers market… etc. This will be more chilling that
any bunch of well meaning sit in protests.
I felt pretty disgusted that authorities failed to stop children playing with the toxic oil that washed up on Bay of Plenty beaches early yesterday morning. It was simply outrageous that concerned citizens had to mount a cleanup, while authorities were conspicuous by their absence…
The letter was written as if it came from Auckland lawyers and attacked a political column by Fairfax journalist Andrea Vance about the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill that appeared in the Dominion Post.
“It’s pretty nasty stuff actually, I mean it’s one thing to promote yourself . . . but I think having a swipe at, or in fact calling for a journalist to be pushed aside just because you feel you didn’t get enough credit, I thought is not a nice insight on character.”
There has been a lot said here about supposed political coercion of media. This is not a good look either.
“A weak diversionary evasive attack is a poor defence.”
Never a truer word said, Pete. You can defend your leader by weak diversions all day long, but you are never going to be an MP. You’ve Dunne your dash, I’m afraid.
I saw dear leader Key on TV3 this morning proudly claiming that “for the first time ever, New Zealanders are saving more than they earn” !!!! I’m not sure what is more disturbing… that a PM can spout such stupidity, or that an interviewer can hear such nonsense and not say “John, that doesn’t really make sense…” Idiots being held to account by incompetents….. I despair for this country.
I saw dear leader Key on TV3 this morning proudly claiming that “for the first time ever, New Zealanders are saving more than they earn” !!!!
I guess that would be a first, since that hasn’t happened anywhere at any time. Save more than they earn? Huh? Dear Leader either has mad math skillz not seen in this dimension, or he is just pulling any old statement from his backside. I suspect the latter.
Reporting the expected, but no Prime Minister on National Radio this morning as per usual. He was invited apparently. The house has risen, so what is ShonKey doing, seemingly not even up to Geoff Robinson’s once over lightly ‘interrogation’.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 12
For a while there it looked as though the Mana Party just might turn into something worthwhile – a second chance for all those who were dismayed to see the Alliance crash and burn over Afghanistan back in 2001-2002.
But, no. Mana’s announcement that Kereama Pene, a minister of the Ratana Church, is to contest the Tamaki Makaurau seat has put an end to all that.
Mr Pene is a flamboyant character who has, at one time or another, been a supporter of the Mana Motuhake, Labour, Destiny and Maori parties. He is also on record as saying the Prime Minister, John Key, is “ a person who should be admired”.
Not content with singing the Prime Minister’s praises, Mr Pene has also publicly declared that: “National is actually the group that have done most of the great things for Maoridom over the past 20 years.” Identifying (erroneously) the Treaty Settlements Process, the Waitangi Tribunal and the Kohanga Reo Movement as National Party achievements, Mana’s Tamaki Makaurau candidate told the NZ Herald: “You’ve got to give praise where its due.”
In the media, several times now, its been emphasised that you can discriminate.
Yes, you can fire someone because they are ugly, or give you the hebbees,
does not matter about the toll to the bottom line, to rehire, like when have
managers lost jobs when they are also the small business owner. Yes,
you can fire someone who isn’t related to you!! to free up the position for
someone who is. But its worse, what it amounts to is the MSM basically
saying if you can get away with it, sure discriminate, but what’s really
stinks is that to prove discrimination you have to show that intent in the
mind of the discriminator, as long as they don’t let on, that its because your
small, or large, or have big hands, disabled, or just politically or ethically
different. But of course this is a awful way to lead a country, to provide
consent to discriminate.
But wait its worse. Because discrimination is rife in NZ, you can’t even
phone government departments on the free phone number from a mobile.
Those second class citizens who don’t have access to landlines now have
to pay through the nose to get access to their tax dollar paid for services
because mobile technology COST too much. And wait I’m not thinking
about bennies, I talking bottom line, for want of a horse the battle
was lost, and the kingdom fell. When someone resorts back to writin
letters, the whole efficiency gain from technology advance goes out the
window. But hey its worse than that, it forces even more off the grid,
and now they are pushing web access to government services, like
everyone can line up at the local library to do their business in half an
hour.
We are losing touch with fiscal discipline when government thinks
penny pinching, a product of cutting bureaucrats, is sensible.
Save Our Rail Northland are holding a public meeting at Forum North, Whangarei on Tuesday the 11th of October 2011 from 7 p.m.
Save our Rail Northland are a group of citizens concerned that KiwiRail is planning to close down the North Auckland and Dargaville Branch Railway Lines. The aim of the Save Our Rail Northland campaign is to: Prevent the mothballing of the North Auckland Line and the Dargaville Branch Line…
“This is empirical evidence of what’s been understood anecdotally for years,” says information theorist Brandy Aven of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.
The analysis is a first effort to document the international web of relationships among companies and to examine who owns shares — and how many — in whom. Tapping into the financial information database Orbis, scientists from ETH Zurich in Switzerland examined transnational companies, which they defined as having at least 10 percent of their holdings in more than one country. Then the team looked at upstream and downstream connections, yielding a network of 600,508 economic actors connected through more than a million ownership ties.
The campaign to marginalize and destroy the growing 99 Percent Movement is in full swing, with many in the media attempting to smear the people participating in the “occupation” protests across the country. However, several of the so-called journalists deriding, and in some cases sabotaging the movement, have paychecks thanks to a billionaire whose business practices have been scorned as among the worst of the financial elite.
#occupywallstreet as the reclaiming of popularism by the Left for the first time since the 30’s.
Hmm… coincidence that this coincides with the new Depression? Sure, the 60’s was about casting away a lot of social conservatism, was anti war & corporation, was for a less blighted future, love and peace and all that. But it wasn’t driven by inequality. If the sense of inequality could coalesce with the desire to build a more realistic future…
BREAKING NEWS….
John Key has just announced that Gerry Brownlee is in charge of the Rena disaster…”The good people of Christchurch were suprisingly happy with Gerry’s postquake leadership, despite doing nothing, eating their food and clogging their sewers, the response to Gerry has somehow been positive. Gerry has the added advantage that he resembles a whale and smells like grease, we hope he can do as little for the good people of Tauranga as he has for the good people of Christchurch.”
doesn’t King Gerry already have a very important job to do? There are still people without toilets, there are tens of thousands without new homes, new jobs, or new futures!
Reply from RNZ, John Barr re my email about Bomber Bradbury. Good that they replied but of course a “softening” of the story as expected. PR in full swing. Para 6 &7: ……Participants on The Panel on Afternoons with Jim Mora are given plenty of latitude to express personal opinions but it is expected that these will be presented for engagement and discussion and that panellists will conform to Radio New Zealand’s editorial policies and broadcast standards. A relationship of trust and confidence between the programme presenter, producers, and panellists is essential for the programme to be effective.
Mr Bradbury’s comments on The Panel on Afternoons last Thursday were inconsistent with information he had provided to programme producers before going on air and Mr Bradbury later apologised to the programme’s Executive Producer.
It was made clear to him that while his invitation to appear as an occasional guest on The Panel was being withdrawn, it was not a ‘lifelong ban’.
Future law changes will mean that there are no problems in future. Really. Seriously. Obviously because current laws allow ships to get holed but with a slight change, oil rigs and tankers won’t.
As a kid I remember the Tory Canyon up on the Cornish coast leaking huge amounts of oil. The Harold Wilson government asked the RAF to set fire to it by bombing it…a spectacular failure, hardly enough to appear effective Cold War warriors…pathetic really. The oil fires went out as the weather set in breaking the tanker up. Oil everywhere. Mess.
Only thing I can say, Wilson at least did something, Jokey Hen???????????
Today, the so-called Hon Kate Wilkinson, wrote a blog called Greens wrong on Food Bill. It’s an open attack on the Green party and more specifically Sue Kedgley, who has been tireless in her quest for food standards and labeling to ensure safe and healthy food…
Steven Joyce caught lying over Rena accusations
Source : Scoop
The Green Party has released email correspondence showing that Steven Joyce lied on TVNZ’s Close Up show last night when he said, “I have not had a single request of my office or of the Ministry for any briefing from any opposition politician whatsoever.”
“The Green Party did seek a briefing on the Rena situations directly from Steven Joyce. He lied when he said we hadn’t,” said Green Party oceans spokesperson Gareth Hughes.
“We even received a response from Steven Joyce’s office saying they had referred our briefing request to Maritime New Zealand.
“Our attempts to receive a briefing started on Friday when we unsuccessful tried to get hold of Maritime New Zealand to request a briefing for when I was in Tauranga on Saturday.
The Green Party is concerned that Steven Joyce may also be lying about other aspects of the salvage and clean-up operation.
“Locals have raised serious concerns about the lack of communication. It would be worrying if the little information they are getting is inaccurate,” said Mr Hughes.
“Now is not the time to mislead the public. There is a serious ecological matter that needs dealing with that requires honesty and transparency from the Minister.”
Copies of email correspondence are here: http://blog.greens.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/20111010joyceofficeemails.pdf
Don’t you love it when you get such authorities as The Penguin on programmes like “Afternoons”. One, they push the party line and then, when they talk about general topics, they show what empty vessels they are.
Today, the Penguin advised us that there is a typed page of “correct pronounciation” in the RNZ studio. FFS Farrar, it’s pronunciation… “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt”
Notice how the Penguin promoted the National Party policy to cut benefits such as Interest Free Loans, and Working for Families, and State Services etc? If these cuts are not made we will face a serious crash. (Funny that Key is upbeat about prospects?) Not as bombastic in his opinions but certainly a slippery election promotion and so well received as fair comment by Jim without a dissenting opinion.
Hmmm … bright young rising star leaves prior to his political prime, to pursue a lucrative position with a bank. All under the watchful eye of a well-‘finance and banking sector connected and networked’ PM.
Obviously even political ambition has its price.
I wonder who’s in line [now] once Key departs?
Of course, it would be complete conspiracy theory-land to think that conveniently timed ‘jobs for the boys’ buy-offs happen in politics so I suppose we just note and then move on.
I’ve received a ‘bounce’ for my email to Peter Cavanagh at RNZ – which I thought I sent yesterday. No such email address, yet I used the link provided (here).
Maybe that address has been shut down because of overload? Or, maybe, the link didn’t work??
It’s called “human microphone”. It allows people at the back to hear what the speaker is saying when you’ve got limited (or no) amplification equipment.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 31.1.1.1.1.1
Did you see the look on John Lewis’ face when he was told that he could not speak (by someone who was speaking) because doing so carried on implication that he was better than everyone else?
Who in NZ has even HEARD of ‘post-separation employment’?
It’s an internationally recognised form of ‘corrupt practice’ in those countries which actually have a domestic legislative ‘anti-corruption’ framewok in place – UNLIKE NEW ZEALAND!
As the new head of Westpac private bank – is National Government Minister of Commerce and Justice, Simon Power, going to be involved in lobbying, advocating or having business meetings with members of the future government, parliament, public service or the defence force on any matters on which he has had official dealings as Minister in his last eighteen months in office?
If so, and if National Government Minister of Commerce and Justice, Simon Power was an Australian Federal Government Minister – this would be seen as a form of ‘corrupt practice’ and a breach of their Standards of Ministerial Ethics, as a breach of ‘Post-Ministerial Employment’ requirements:
2.19. Ministers are required to undertake that, for an eighteen month period after ceasing to be a Minister, they will not lobby, advocate or have business meetings with members of the government, parliament, public service or defence force on any matters on which they have had official dealings as Minister in their last eighteen months in office.
Ministers are also required to undertake that, on leaving office, they will not take personal advantage of information to which they have had access as a Minister, where that information is not generally available to the public.”
In my considered opinion, the ‘revolving door’ between public office and the private sector is on permanent rotation at both central and local government level in NZ.
What did Simon Power do to help ensure, as Minister of Justice, that our domestic legislative framework was sufficiently in place to enable NZ, ‘perceived’ to be ‘the least corrupt country in the world’ (along with Denmark and Singapore – according to Transparency International’s 2010 ‘Corruption Perception Index’) to ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption?
Or would such an anti-corruption domestic legislative framework effectively be a ‘conflict of interest’ for those vested interests who work in the commerce, finance and banking fields?
As Simon Power is going to be – once he takes up his appointment as the Head of Westpac Private Bank?
That’s a fair question – isn’t it?
Penny Bright
Independent ‘Public Watchdog’
Candidate for Epsom
Campaigning against ‘white collar’ CRIME, CORPORATE WELFARE, CORRUPTION (and its root cause) PRIVATISATION.
For a “law and order” party, ACT are being very naughty by parking a billboard trailer for Banks in the Epsom electorate with an expired licence and no WOF displayed.
And the trailer was parked by a National Party supporter. What does that mean?
See it currently in the Shore Road carpark. It also wasn’t licenced a month ago when it was seen in the area. Are ACT immune to laws or something?
Plate L641Y TRAILER BILLBOARD 2008 in Silver
Valid on: 11 October 2011 at 7:44pm today
* Licence expiry: 2011, June 16th (expired 3 months 3 weeks 5 days ago)
* Latest licence issued on: 2010, December 17th at 10:49
* Subject to WOF inspection?: Yes
* WOF expiry: 2012, September 2nd (in 10 months 3 weeks 1 day)
* Last inspection: 2011, September 2nd (Pass)
***** WOF NOT DISPLAYED *****
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As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
A recent returnee has tested positive for Covid-19 after testing negative twice during her 14 days in managed isolation, Marc Daalder reports There is little information available about a new community case of Covid-19 identified by testing today - other than she is in Whangarei and used the Covid app ...
by Andi Cockroft Chairman Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of NZ An Otago Daily Times report (23 January) that nearly two-thirds of Dunedin residents think public consultation is lacking at the Dunedin City Council, according to the latest ...
“If today’s probable case of Covid-19 in Northland turns out to be community transmission the Government’s overarching objective must be avoiding another lockdown,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The best news would be that this is a false alarm, ...
E tū Lifewise homecare members have been taking strike and picket action since December 2020 for basic improvements in their working conditions. Members are asking for increased sick and bereavement leave, a collective agreement, and more guaranteed ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 24. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz1.15pm: Suspected community case in NorthlandHealth officials are investigating a suspected community case of Covid-19 in Northland, related to someone who was recently released from managed isolation and quarantine, the NZ Herald is reporting.A spokesperson for Covid-19 response ...
We’re only a few weeks into the year, and already there are two new seasons of Drag Race. Are we in danger of reaching peak Drag Race? In the first month of this year, there’s been more RuPaul’s Drag Race than ever. The 13th season of the flagship US version debuted ...
In her first years of adulthood, Jai Breitnauer found herself living in a bold and hopeful nation. More than two decades on, she laments on how the Britain we know now came to be.Apparently, fish off the coast of the United Kingdom are happier because they’re British. This is what ...
Dunedin writer Victor Billot resumes his weekly odes to New Zealanders in the news. This week: the blogging firm of Michael Bassett, Don Brash and Rodney HideThree Men in a BoatIt sounds like a conveyancing firm in Levin.It sounds like TV funny guys who’ll ...
Under a thick layer of concrete at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacramentin Christchurch is a metal box likely containing hundreds of holy relics – a historical treasure trove set to be uncovered after 50 years of near total obscurity.As the earth shook and buildings crumbled, a statue of ...
Bananas are unequivocally the best fruit in the world, and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind, writes Alice Webb-Liddall.I was about 15 when I realised that halftime banana cake wasn’t a tradition outside of my family. On the day of an All Blacks game a banana cake ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as On the Rag looks at how the world around us has been built by men, for men. First published December 7, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
At an antagonistic hearing yesterday, the internet giant laid out the ‘worst case scenario’. And Facebook is also considering an ‘amputation’. Hal Crawford was watching.Google is poised to hit self-destruct in Australia according to a fractious Senate hearing into an unprecedented law that will force digital giants to pay money ...
It’s great to hear Phil Twyford celebrating a success. Not a personal ministerial success, it’s fair to say, but a success nevertheless related to arms control. The arms on which Twyford is focused, it should be noted, will make quite a mess if they are triggered. They tend to be ...
Duncan Greive and Leonie Hayden were young hip hop heads and music journalists during the era captured in a new documentary about the rise and fall of South Auckland hip hop label Dawn Raid. Here they discuss the film and their memories (what’s left of them) of that time. Warning: contains ...
Houses might be the most popular and inflated purchases in New Zealand, but there are plenty of other products that are seeing soaring demand and prices over the past few months. Here’s a list of what New Zealanders are spending their money on with international travel out of the picture.Used ...
"The young boy leaps, the muscles in his thighs tensing and twisting as he lifts from the handrail": the noble art of bombing, by Pātea writer Airana Ngarewa A beautifully muscled boy is posted on the side of a pool, his feet fixed to the top of a pair of ...
How Waiwera Hot Pools went from New Zealand’s most visited water park to dereliction and decay. Many who grew up in Auckland likely have fond memories of Waiwera Hot Pools. Like me, they remember summer days spent racing down the slides and playing in the naturally hot pools. But how did ...
A government contract for a P rehab programme was canned after half a million dollars of taxpayer money was given out. Aaron Smale investigates. The Ministry of Health spent over half a million dollars on a P Rehab contract before pulling the pin because there were no results or progress reports. ...
Kia Koropp and her husband John Daubeny have been cruising the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean over the past decade with their two children onboard their 50ft yacht, Atea. Starting in 2011 from Auckland, New Zealand, they have sailed more than 64,000 kilometres and just completed their longest ...
We are drowning out the natural world with synthetic sounds, and it’s getting worse, writes Michelle Langstone.It used to be quiet once. Remember that? Remember the hush that settled over the cities like the silence that comes down in a snowstorm? It’s less than a year since Aotearoa first locked ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden in the latest episode of On the Rag as they examine the topic of boobs from every possible angle. First published November 16, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Seventy-five years after the US detonated the first nuclear tests in the Pacific, New Zealand pledges its support to Joe Biden's first tentative step towards disarmament. Today, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons comes into effect, making it illegal for New Zealand and the 50 other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Terry, Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland The challenge of bringing the world’s best tennis players and support staff, about 1,200 people in all, from COVID-ravaged parts of the world to our almost pandemic-free shores was always going to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Research Fellow in International Urban Development, University of Melbourne The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. That’s the fastest rate of removal in the city’s history. The scale of the investment — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Stevens, Lecturer in History, University of Waikato In a year of surprises, one of the more pleasant was the recent runaway viral popularity of 19th century sea shanties on TikTok. A collaborative global response to pandemic isolation, it saw singers and ...
The sudden departure of Graine Moss from her Chief Executive role at Oranga Tamariki is a vital first step in a sequence of changes that must take place at the Ministry according to a group of wahine Māori leaders. Dame Naida Glavish, Dame Tariana Turia, ...
A new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell.Her uncle’s eyeShe introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar.Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will.We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to ...
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki.Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer Composition, Australian National University Despite having different cultural backgrounds and experiences — Indigenous composers with an Indigenous mentor, and a pianist descended from Anglo-colonial history — it is nevertheless possible to create a project that can serve as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealand’s border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hogg, Lecturer in Psychology, Charles Sturt University Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals. The latest ...
Right now, our most fiery national debate is over whether New Zealanders were nice to the singer Amanda Palmer in a café. Desperate to restore peace in our nation, Hayden Donnell went in search of the truth.Joe Biden had barely finished calling for unity when Amanda Palmer posted a tweet ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (Pushkin Press, $37)Maths, cyanide, suicide, gardening; ye ...
Wellington artist Estère isn’t just breaking boundaries, she’s dissecting them. Maddi Rowe spoke to her about her new album, Archetypes.“That’s the story of pelicans, they’ll stab themselves in the heart to feed their young.”Despite the somewhat dark subject matter, Estère Dalton’s eyes sparkle with fascination. We’ve met to discuss Archetypes, ...
Cycling advocates are welcoming new advice from the Transport Agency on safe cycling. "Cyclists hate it when drivers pass too close. That's scary and dangerous," said Patrick Morgan from Cycling Action Network. "So it's encouraging to see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tilman Ruff, Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne Today, many around the world will celebrate the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to enter into force in 50 years. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the creation of a Chief Executive role to lead the public service’s pay equity work, and the appointment of Grainne Moss to this position. "Unions and public service employers are currently working ...
The Council of Trade Unions is warning that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures out today illustrate that the cost of living is increasing disproportionately for those on lower incomes; resulting in the poor getting poorer. CTU Economist Craig ...
Why are there so many offensive comments on the New Zealand Police Facebook page and are they breaking the law? Janaye Henry investigates. New Zealand Police Facebook pages – there are a number of them, for different regional police districts around the country – are an interesting place to spend ...
Our guide to stopping procrastinating and actually (finally) getting on top of investing. Because there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you don’t know a single thing about it.In part one, we covered some of the basic things you need to know about investing – why do it? ...
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign today was principled. “The issues facing Oranga Tamariki are beyond individual ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. With Covid19, Italy shows the classic European pattern, with its early outbreak, substantial recovery thanks to lockdowns and other public health measures, and resurgence thanks to complacency ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW This year has already seen significant progress in the government’s commitment to establish a body – a “Voice” – that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say when the government ...
Northland farmer Derek Robinson was sentenced earlier today by the District Court in Whangarei for two offences of ill-treating animals at rodeo events. Mr Robinson was found guilty in November last year, following a defended hearing. The charges ...
Under fire Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will resign, effective February 28, Marc Daalder reports After four and a half years at the helm of child protection agency Oranga Tamariki, chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will be leaving the position at the end of ...
The Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Police acknowledge the sentencing of 36-year-old Aaron Joseph Hutton on charges relating to the possession of child sexual exploitation material, and entering into a dealing involving the sexual exploitation ...
Ngā Tāngata Microfinance (NTM) is calling for tougher penalties for those caught promoting pyramid schemes. Such business models are illegal under the Fair Trading Act 1986. This call comes after the Commerce Commission issued a ‘stop now’ notice ...
British High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke is calling on young women aged 17 to 25 to apply for the annual ‘Be British High Commissioner for the Day’ competition. The winner will have the opportunity to become an ‘honorary High Commissioner’, ...
The Māori Party is welcoming the resignation of Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss after sustained pressure from leading figures within the Māori Party. This resignation is the result of the continued strong pressure of the Māori Party ...
In a historic corner of Dunedin, startup culture is thriving. Catherine McGregor visited the city’s Warehouse Precinct to meet the people driving the movement. When Jason and Kate Lindsey bought the four storey building now known as Petridish, it was an absolute wreck. Once home to a thriving hat and textiles ...
Summer reissue: The Fold’s very first guest is back to tell Duncan Greive how she pulled off the media deal of the year.The chaotic couple of weeks which finally saw the end of the Stuff-NZME saga were riveting and strange, replete with stock exchange announcements, legal challenges and finally the ...
Chris Liddell has dropped his candidacy to become director-general of the Paris-based OECD. Without support from the Ardern government and vilified in the media as somehow being involved in the encouragement by Donald Trump of the Washington riots, he plainly saw he had little chance of crowning his stellar career ...
Tara Ward hands out her first impression roses as she dives deep into the sea of single men vying to win The Bachelorette NZ’s heart. While the world burns in a searing fireball of unpredictability, we can take comfort in the fact that some things never change. The heart still yearns, ...
People from all around New Zealand will be converging on the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on Saturday January 30th. ...
In its Thursday editorial the NZ Herald speaks an important truth: “Investment important to stay on track”. This won’t have startled its more literate readers but in its text it notes the strong result in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, which prompted Westpac to raise its forecast for dairy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Mark, Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Kyoritsu Women’s University With the spread of COVID-19 steadily worsening in Japan since the onset of winter — daily records for infections and deaths continue to be broken — the fate of the Tokyo Summer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Taylor, Early Career Research Leader, Emerging Viruses, Inflammation and Therapeutics Group, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University All eyes are on COVID-19 vaccines, with Australia’s first expected to be approved for use shortly. But their development in record time, without compromising ...
Yesterday’s government announcement on new state housing is a pathetic response to the biggest housing crisis in New Zealand since the 1940s. At a time when the country needs an industrial-scale state house building programme, the government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Obadiah Mulder, PhD Candidate in Computational Biology, University of Southern California Australia is in the midst of tropical cyclone season. As we write, a cyclone is forming off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, and earlier in the week Queenslanders were bracing for a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynette Vernon, School of Education – VC Research Fellow, Edith Cowan University When the holidays end, barring a fresh outbreak of COVID-19, teenagers across Australia will head back to school. Some will bounce out of bed well before the alarm goes off, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Twenty years ago, on January 25 2001, a virtually unknown German supermarket chain quietly opened its first stores in Australia. The two stores – one in Sydney’s inner-west suburb of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney Bluey is easily the most successful Australian television show of the last decade. A record-breaking success for its local broadcaster the ABC, as well as production partners BBC Studios and Screen Australia, ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permissionIt will take $3 million to clean up 1 million litres of abandoned toxic waste from a property in Ruakaka - three times more than the last big chemical clean-up undertaken by government agencies A two-year mission to clean up 1 million ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The action Biden took on just his first afternoon in office demonstrates a radical shift in priority for the US when it comes to its efforts to combat the climate crisis. It could put more pressure on New Zealand to step up. ...
Ban Bomb Day event at the New Brighton Pier, 9am, on January 22nd, 2021 January 22nd, 2021, marks the first day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Enters into Force and becomes international law. Aotearoa NZ is one of the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve BrauniasFICTION 1 Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $29.99) Every January, there's a new best-selling crime thriller by the New Zealand-born author who lives in Melbourne. Pomare is ...
Our approach so far in trying to end what Dr Collin Tukuitonga describes as a 'racist' disease - rheumatic fever - has not worked. It's time we try something new, he writes. Acute rheumatic fever and the rheumatic heart disease it causes, long-known as a disease of poverty, is a blight on ...
Just saying NO to all asset sales is nuts. And allowing creeping sales by stealth is dishonest.
Dunne calls for debate over asset sales
That’s what politicians and parties are supposed to do, debate important issues, not just shout from oner side of the argument and whisper from the other.
But it’s an important stand to save Kiwibank, no to Aussiebank.
Dunne calls for a debate now? When he’s already had the benefit of a ministerial salary for 3 years at the whim of the privatisers and is now facing unemployment in a few short weeks. Wow, what a hero. What courage!
Dunne calls – nobody listens.
“Just saying NO to all asset sales is nuts”
Saying no to the proposed programme of asset sales is not nuts. Selling assets that return profits well above the Crown’s cost of capital, that’s nuts.
Rather than pointlessly talking about opposing selling assets that neither major party is proposing to sell, tell us this: Why does Dunne support the nutty policy of selling Meridian, Genesis, Mighty River, Solid Energy, and Air NZ.
Wishful thinking, if only we could release all that wealth tied up in state assets,
if only credit agencies said downgrade would have happened under Labour,
if only we could have a debate, geez, where have they been, well its clear
where Nat/Maori/ACT and United have been, in LALA land.
Perhaps somebody needs to be brave enough to say “you sell them we will take them back with no recompense”…what investor is going to take that chance?
Normally yes, but we just don’t know what the price of oil will be
in three years time.
Policy Labour should commit too is taking old cars off the road,
and putting heavy fees on ‘historical’ and boy racer type cars,
with removal order if they fall behind in payment.
Petrol is now food, and we should not waste it on displays of
oil waste. In fact government should pretty much wake up to
the reality that testostrone wastes resources and direct the
testorstrone to less economically precious resources.
A little insomnia had me reflecting the vitriol in which we hold Key at this site. I realised in the reaches of the night that I did not hold Key responsible for any of the crap going on: to do so was to accept the whole damned edifice of our current political / economic construct. Key is a mere cypher, a non entity, ableit a lying manipulating nasty little nothingness.
So, to conclude: get with the Owsers, the 99%ers who are out there denying the validity of the whole construct. Criticise the whole thing, its not about a “personality”, its about a rotten system, not who “drives” it.
The best way to change it is to get in and force change. The next best way to chnage it is to vote for those who are prepared to drive change.
One of the least effective things to do is to just keep criticising.
Pete, you just dont get it do you: rotten edifices dont require votes to prop up. They require removal from the outside. Go inside and you get wood worm.
How do you propse to do that? Revolution?
A start would be Charles Chauvel winning and putting your party out to pasture permanently.
Charles has got himself into a bit of trouble over his abuse of the select committee process in relation to the video surveillance bill.
What the?
What did Charles do? Involve the public in formulating submissions by releasing the text of the bill and thereby improving it tremendously? And you call this getting into trouble?
You live in a strange world Pete G …
He’ll be linking to kiwiblog soon about an email supposedly written by Charles Chauvel, or something.
Yep, he did.
Surely you know what he did Micky. You know a bit about legal stuff don’t you? You read other blogs like Lanthanide don’t you?
It would be good to hear Charles’ side of the story, maybe he can put the record straight.
Lantanide – this unfolded on Red Alert and the issue was first raised there.
http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2011/09/30/bottom-lines-on-search-and-surveillance/
It was that and press releases issued by Chauvel that suggest he has been at the very least deceitful about his self proclaimed importance.
Chauvel in. Dunne out.
And Goff twirling twirling twirling ?
So the tories attempt to trample over the rule of law and all sorts of Parliamentary customs and Charles is in the gun for putting out a press release?
He deserves a medal.
Really? Is that standard Labour practice – breaking the rules doesn’t matter if you are promoting yourself?
United First – led by Hanger On Dunne
PG – Hanger On of a Hanger On
Testing the boundaries ofthe rules are fine if you’re fighting unneeded draconian retrospective legislation.
Flogging a dead molehill to make it the mountain that got away won’t get UF back to 10%. How’s the view from Dunne’s coat-tails?
LOL
It’s already happening Pete, it just hasn’t made it here yet and the media is complicit in hiding it. But you can watch it, in many many cities around the world, live, here… #99percent #occupywallstreet #globalchange
Here is an article which nicely sums up your lack of understanding of this movement..
“To be fair, the reason why some mainstream news journalists and many of the audiences they serve see the Occupy Wall Street protests as incoherent is because the press and the public are themselves. It is difficult to comprehend a 21st century movement from the perspective of the 20th century politics, media, and economics in which we are still steeped.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinion/rushkoff-occupy-wall-street/index.html
Here is a very inspirational and somewhat depressing talk by Vandana Shiva on the “lunacy of economic growth”
+1 Bored, the whole system is in fact F$$KED!
I agree that the media is complicit. But it has made it here although it is early days. There are different ways of going about it. One way is what I’ve started to do, only just getting going. The election is a means, not an end.
No, Bored is right, there needs to be a total paradigm shift, tinkering with a failed system doesn’t cut it anymore, nature won’t allow it. Ignore that at your children’s peril!
I’ll vote, but for the first time in my voting life, I’ll only do it out of contempt for the Authoritarian Regime we currently have in power, not because I believe it will change society’s trajectory.
Listen carefully and openly to Vandana’s speech, then tell me the current system works. 250,000 Indian farmers dead at their own hands because of Monsanto, the success of GDP growth!
Carlos Latuff cartoon for #occupywallstreet
http://operamundi.uol.com.br/conteudo/opiniao/CHARGE+REACAO+CIDADA+++A+OCUPACAO+DE+WALL+STREET_1656.shtml
Thanks AAMC, it seems pretty hard for people to accept that the current regime is F****D. The question of what to do is very vexing but when you are heading towards the cliff at full tilt it pays to take notice. Vadana Shiva is a great advocate of doing the right thing, and gives us some leads here, and she certainly has no trust for the system doing the right thing.
My thinking is that to try and reform from the inside invariably ends up with compromise and acceptance of the principles you fought….look at the grandchildren of the voters of 1935. The Savage / Fraser government reformed from the inside and the grandchildren of those voters who benefited most then destroyed it by voting for the likes of Douglas and Key. The insider principle corrodes and corrupts, often very quickly. Compromise dilutes.
In our case we might look toward the past for examples..St Francis set the example from outside the establishment, Gandhi, King, Mandela stating the obvious and refusing to bend, to sell out.
As a conservationist I have learned that if you give away 30% in negotiations you are left to defend 70%…then the bastards come back and get another 30% so you are left with less again. And they will keep coming…the only answer is total commitment to a realistic position, no compromise.
And so, although I’m nervous about the timing around the RWC and how it’ll be received, it’s essential that all of us encourage all we know, to participate in the #OccupyNZD events, so they are not a farce like the 350 march I walked with and observed the other day. We’re a bit behind the rest of the world – again – in our awareness in NZ, I fear it will look like a lunatic fringe if it isn’t significant.
I am curious AAMC, who are you casting your vote for?
And why them?
Probably The Greens, because they are the closest – despite status quo mantra – to economic and ecological reality.
But they too seem to have been seduced by the system.
To clarify my earlier statement, it’s the first time I have felt my vote didn’t really matter, it’s not the first time I’ve voted.
Better than standing there Combing your hair!!! or if your like me Polishing the dome??
Change the way we think: coercive revolution is too ineffective as it only replaces a power elite with another. Its like Tolkeins “rings of power”, you cant wield them constructively. Doing the right things and rejecting the wrong things that authority demands is the best tactic. In the case of the OWSers they have deliberately rejected the MSM, they know it is a corrupt and hollow vessel.
and they’ve rejected demands or negotiations with the establishment, they want to network their way to real change rather than to tinker with what has so plainly failed.
And the really worst way is to get into Parliament and act like a lapdog poodle while grooming your coiffure and supporting the crap that is going on.
Be interesting to see next polls, can UF lift party vote from zero point zero (0.0)? or maybe as a first go into negative ranking.
How many years has dunne nothing been in parliament Dunne is as bad as key muddling through sits on the fence takes every photo op.
Agree with you Bored but …
Key is a formidable PM because he is the perfect PR construct. The Nats have learned, they no longer use authoritarian male figures for leaders, they use leaders that smile and wave and are cheerful and who at a superficial level resonate with traditional Labour supporters. Then below them the carnage happens but they divert attention from what is really happening.
Key needs to be called out on this. The past week has seen his credibility severely shaken and we need to keep doing this.
QFE
Hold the fucker in the light so that everyone can see what a manipulative, lying douche-bag he is.
Now you know why that particular Eagles song has been humming in your head??
“You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes
and your smile is a thin disguise.
I thought by now you’d realize
there ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes.”
Perhaps a competition on The Standard to personalise the lyrics to suit our Pinocc-key-o? The winner gets to be in the front row to smile and wave him off to Hawaii.
You’re right but is there an appetite for such a radical change?
This tinkering at the edges and having no new solutions is highlighted when we consider killing the poor
Well, we can do the change pro-actively or we can wait to have the change forced upon us…
Oh, wait, we went with the latter option back in the 1950s when some fuckwit thought everyone having a car was a Good Idea because it made a few people a lot of profit.
Dear John Key
I thought that I should share something with you that you could use for political advantage.
There are pixies at the end of my garden and it is all Phil Goff’s and Labour’s fault.
Look forward to the question in Parliament.
Regards,
Trustworthy Source.
That’s a bit confusing, I guess you mean that National and Key are responsible for their poxie pixies and Labour and Goff are responsible for their own poxie pixies.
I thought Chris Carter was in Kabul ?
You do realize calling a gay man a pixie isn’t a slur, hs. Wrong mythological creature…
It’s just so embarrassing when bigots get their epithets confused. One never knows where to look – does one criticise them for the opinion they meant to express, or just let the entire episode slide by in a wave of incomprehensibility?
What’s bigoted about calling Chris a pixie ?
Yes
Occupy Seattle
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/gallery/Occupy-Seattle-protest-grows-31333/photo-1657248.php
I like the Iranian Government’s description of the protests as ‘the American Spring’. Very droll, even if it’s not seasonally accurate. D’ya think Nato will enforce a No Fly zone over the Pacific Northwest? Or perhaps Blair will be sent in to start a dialogue …
I like how the Iranian government have just sentenced a young woman to 90 lashes and a years jail for all intents and purposes starring in a film they didn’t like….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/5765195/Actress-to-be-lashed-over-Aussie-film
Its quite predictable that there will be protests fromausterity. So makes total sense that
states need to vent the anger. Maybe like using social media to agitate youth to riot,
or starting up sit ins just as the northern hemisphere goes into winter. Glad we
pay big bucks to the state to distract us even by choosing how protest manifests itself.
Personally the best vote anyone can give is to shut their wallets on the big end of town.
Use building societies, buy at the farmers market… etc. This will be more chilling that
any bunch of well meaning sit in protests.
Now John Armstrong.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10758128
I remember a campaign about trust – does the rest of New Zealand remember that?
Let’s see.
Tranzrail shares.
Visit of Lord Ashton.
Standard and Poors statements.
He has been caught bare faced LYING, about those.
What was the murkiness about his electoral registration – Helensville and Parnell addresses?
So what do we now make of his explanation about “throat cutting” in the house?
Makes you wonder about his honesty around involvement in events before he entered parliament, going back to the Elders issue.
Feel free to add to the litany.
Afghanistan and the S I S role for starters.
Reasons for setting up his blind trusts.
Apparently his former colleagues referred to him as the “Smiling Assassin” – what could they have meant by that?
John Key showing S&P eyes and body language?
Lowering standard and poor with the truth!
Tsk tsk.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10758125
Would probably make a good ‘caption here’ type post 🙂
Rena Cleanup Failures
I felt pretty disgusted that authorities failed to stop children playing with the toxic oil that washed up on Bay of Plenty beaches early yesterday morning. It was simply outrageous that concerned citizens had to mount a cleanup, while authorities were conspicuous by their absence…
A weak diversionary evasive attack is a poor defence.
There has been a lot said here about supposed political coercion of media. This is not a good look either.
“A weak diversionary evasive attack is a poor defence.”
Never a truer word said, Pete. You can defend your leader by weak diversions all day long, but you are never going to be an MP. You’ve Dunne your dash, I’m afraid.
That’ll teach him to jump in the Dunney.
Will the grounding of the Rena, become Nationals “Corngate”
I suggest it will if thios grounding turns in to a split and sunken ship.
I saw dear leader Key on TV3 this morning proudly claiming that “for the first time ever, New Zealanders are saving more than they earn” !!!! I’m not sure what is more disturbing… that a PM can spout such stupidity, or that an interviewer can hear such nonsense and not say “John, that doesn’t really make sense…” Idiots being held to account by incompetents….. I despair for this country.
I guess that would be a first, since that hasn’t happened anywhere at any time. Save more than they earn? Huh? Dear Leader either has mad math skillz not seen in this dimension, or he is just pulling any old statement from his backside. I suspect the latter.
YAYZ! We’re all taking money from the credit cards and putting it into kiwisaver!
Reporting the expected, but no Prime Minister on National Radio this morning as per usual. He was invited apparently. The house has risen, so what is ShonKey doing, seemingly not even up to Geoff Robinson’s once over lightly ‘interrogation’.
Trotter on Mana:
In the media, several times now, its been emphasised that you can discriminate.
Yes, you can fire someone because they are ugly, or give you the hebbees,
does not matter about the toll to the bottom line, to rehire, like when have
managers lost jobs when they are also the small business owner. Yes,
you can fire someone who isn’t related to you!! to free up the position for
someone who is. But its worse, what it amounts to is the MSM basically
saying if you can get away with it, sure discriminate, but what’s really
stinks is that to prove discrimination you have to show that intent in the
mind of the discriminator, as long as they don’t let on, that its because your
small, or large, or have big hands, disabled, or just politically or ethically
different. But of course this is a awful way to lead a country, to provide
consent to discriminate.
But wait its worse. Because discrimination is rife in NZ, you can’t even
phone government departments on the free phone number from a mobile.
Those second class citizens who don’t have access to landlines now have
to pay through the nose to get access to their tax dollar paid for services
because mobile technology COST too much. And wait I’m not thinking
about bennies, I talking bottom line, for want of a horse the battle
was lost, and the kingdom fell. When someone resorts back to writin
letters, the whole efficiency gain from technology advance goes out the
window. But hey its worse than that, it forces even more off the grid,
and now they are pushing web access to government services, like
everyone can line up at the local library to do their business in half an
hour.
We are losing touch with fiscal discipline when government thinks
penny pinching, a product of cutting bureaucrats, is sensible.
Save Our Rail Northland Public Meeting Tonight
Save Our Rail Northland are holding a public meeting at Forum North, Whangarei on Tuesday the 11th of October 2011 from 7 p.m.
Save our Rail Northland are a group of citizens concerned that KiwiRail is planning to close down the North Auckland and Dargaville Branch Railway Lines. The aim of the Save Our Rail Northland campaign is to: Prevent the mothballing of the North Auckland Line and the Dargaville Branch Line…
Financial world dominated by a few deep pockets.
“This is empirical evidence of what’s been understood anecdotally for years,” says information theorist Brandy Aven of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.
The analysis is a first effort to document the international web of relationships among companies and to examine who owns shares — and how many — in whom. Tapping into the financial information database Orbis, scientists from ETH Zurich in Switzerland examined transnational companies, which they defined as having at least 10 percent of their holdings in more than one country. Then the team looked at upstream and downstream connections, yielding a network of 600,508 economic actors connected through more than a million ownership ties.
The effect of capitalism is to move ownership into the hands of fewer and fewer people resulting, eventually, in a dictatorship.
Heck, let’s just restore titular honours, get myself dubbed and bingo!, I’s an Aristocrat.
here is a graphic that shows it clearly
http://capitalrelations.co.uk/2011/09/11/who-runs-the-world-network-analysis-reveals-%E2%80%98super-entity%E2%80%99-of-global-corporate-control/
Vulture capitalist Paul Singer funding the smearing of Wall Street protests.
The campaign to marginalize and destroy the growing 99 Percent Movement is in full swing, with many in the media attempting to smear the people participating in the “occupation” protests across the country. However, several of the so-called journalists deriding, and in some cases sabotaging the movement, have paychecks thanks to a billionaire whose business practices have been scorned as among the worst of the financial elite.
Previously
#occupywallstreet as the reclaiming of popularism by the Left for the first time since the 30’s.
Hmm… coincidence that this coincides with the new Depression? Sure, the 60’s was about casting away a lot of social conservatism, was anti war & corporation, was for a less blighted future, love and peace and all that. But it wasn’t driven by inequality. If the sense of inequality could coalesce with the desire to build a more realistic future…
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/10/occupy_wall_street_emerges_as_first
ties into what you’re saying Bored…
OWS anthem
An honest piece about the OWS movement in the NY Times, yes really
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/opinion/panic-of-the-plutocrats.html?_r=4&smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto
“This [tax payer funded free ride ] can’t bear close scrutiny — and therefore, as they see it, there must be no close scrutiny.”
Looks like the campaign is going to deliver some good material for the countercultural media
BREAKING NEWS….
John Key has just announced that Gerry Brownlee is in charge of the Rena disaster…”The good people of Christchurch were suprisingly happy with Gerry’s postquake leadership, despite doing nothing, eating their food and clogging their sewers, the response to Gerry has somehow been positive. Gerry has the added advantage that he resembles a whale and smells like grease, we hope he can do as little for the good people of Tauranga as he has for the good people of Christchurch.”
doesn’t King Gerry already have a very important job to do? There are still people without toilets, there are tens of thousands without new homes, new jobs, or new futures!
also on Rena, another National Party lie is exposed
http://blog.greens.org.nz/2011/10/11/joyce-caught-lying-about-rena/
Love the ad for the new BMW X6 on The Standard’s front page.
Will pop down to the showrooms Sat morning and pick one up in met black. Always good to support The Standard’s advertisers.
: )
🙂
Reply from RNZ, John Barr re my email about Bomber Bradbury. Good that they replied but of course a “softening” of the story as expected. PR in full swing. Para 6 &7:
……Participants on The Panel on Afternoons with Jim Mora are given plenty of latitude to express personal opinions but it is expected that these will be presented for engagement and discussion and that panellists will conform to Radio New Zealand’s editorial policies and broadcast standards. A relationship of trust and confidence between the programme presenter, producers, and panellists is essential for the programme to be effective.
Mr Bradbury’s comments on The Panel on Afternoons last Thursday were inconsistent with information he had provided to programme producers before going on air and Mr Bradbury later apologised to the programme’s Executive Producer.
It was made clear to him that while his invitation to appear as an occasional guest on The Panel was being withdrawn, it was not a ‘lifelong ban’.
“between 130 and 350 tonnes of oil leaked out of the Rena this morning.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10758195
But there is no reason for concern about our oil spill response, silly greenies, drill baby drill.
Future law changes will mean that there are no problems in future. Really. Seriously. Obviously because current laws allow ships to get holed but with a slight change, oil rigs and tankers won’t.
Seriously.
As a kid I remember the Tory Canyon up on the Cornish coast leaking huge amounts of oil. The Harold Wilson government asked the RAF to set fire to it by bombing it…a spectacular failure, hardly enough to appear effective Cold War warriors…pathetic really. The oil fires went out as the weather set in breaking the tanker up. Oil everywhere. Mess.
Only thing I can say, Wilson at least did something, Jokey Hen???????????
Correct Viper. And we have it on the PM’s authority that the Renal failure would have been much worse under Labour. Seriously. He has an email.
Hero of the Week Award – Sue Kedgley
Today, the so-called Hon Kate Wilkinson, wrote a blog called Greens wrong on Food Bill. It’s an open attack on the Green party and more specifically Sue Kedgley, who has been tireless in her quest for food standards and labeling to ensure safe and healthy food…
Steven Joyce caught lying over Rena accusations
Source : Scoop
The Green Party has released email correspondence showing that Steven Joyce lied on TVNZ’s Close Up show last night when he said, “I have not had a single request of my office or of the Ministry for any briefing from any opposition politician whatsoever.”
“The Green Party did seek a briefing on the Rena situations directly from Steven Joyce. He lied when he said we hadn’t,” said Green Party oceans spokesperson Gareth Hughes.
“We even received a response from Steven Joyce’s office saying they had referred our briefing request to Maritime New Zealand.
“Our attempts to receive a briefing started on Friday when we unsuccessful tried to get hold of Maritime New Zealand to request a briefing for when I was in Tauranga on Saturday.
The Green Party is concerned that Steven Joyce may also be lying about other aspects of the salvage and clean-up operation.
“Locals have raised serious concerns about the lack of communication. It would be worrying if the little information they are getting is inaccurate,” said Mr Hughes.
“Now is not the time to mislead the public. There is a serious ecological matter that needs dealing with that requires honesty and transparency from the Minister.”
Copies of email correspondence are here: http://blog.greens.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/20111010joyceofficeemails.pdf
http://www.thereformedbroker.com/2011/10/09/this-is-why-they-hate-you-and-want-you-to-die/
http://www.truth-out.org/bank-it-theyre-scared/1318020817
Don’t you love it when you get such authorities as The Penguin on programmes like “Afternoons”. One, they push the party line and then, when they talk about general topics, they show what empty vessels they are.
Today, the Penguin advised us that there is a typed page of “correct pronounciation” in the RNZ studio. FFS Farrar, it’s pronunciation… “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt”
Notice how the Penguin promoted the National Party policy to cut benefits such as Interest Free Loans, and Working for Families, and State Services etc? If these cuts are not made we will face a serious crash. (Funny that Key is upbeat about prospects?) Not as bombastic in his opinions but certainly a slippery election promotion and so well received as fair comment by Jim without a dissenting opinion.
surely it’s not meant to be this obvious?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/87991/power-to-head-westpac-private-bank-division
The plutocrats really don’t care how obvious it is any more. They think that they’re untouchable.
Hmmm … bright young rising star leaves prior to his political prime, to pursue a lucrative position with a bank. All under the watchful eye of a well-‘finance and banking sector connected and networked’ PM.
Obviously even political ambition has its price.
I wonder who’s in line [now] once Key departs?
Of course, it would be complete conspiracy theory-land to think that conveniently timed ‘jobs for the boys’ buy-offs happen in politics so I suppose we just note and then move on.
Hey what fat cat corporate jobs are the exiting Labour MPs gonna get from the private sector I wonder.
I’ve received a ‘bounce’ for my email to Peter Cavanagh at RNZ – which I thought I sent yesterday. No such email address, yet I used the link provided (here).
Maybe that address has been shut down because of overload? Or, maybe, the link didn’t work??
a single quote about Occupy Wall Street that is all the motivation any free person should need

Yeah? Check out the stupid hippies:
So biccy you are quite happy with the status quo?
If the alternative is living like those looneys, I’ll take this thanks. [now repeat, please].
Do you know why they were repeating like that?
It’s called “human microphone”. It allows people at the back to hear what the speaker is saying when you’ve got limited (or no) amplification equipment.
Did you see the look on John Lewis’ face when he was told that he could not speak (by someone who was speaking) because doing so carried on implication that he was better than everyone else?
Hippies aren’t stupid you gross user of the worlds resources.
You talkin’ to me? You are really going to have to learn how to use the reply function, randy.
Seen this folks?
Who in NZ has even HEARD of ‘post-separation employment’?
It’s an internationally recognised form of ‘corrupt practice’ in those countries which actually have a domestic legislative ‘anti-corruption’ framewok in place – UNLIKE NEW ZEALAND!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10758292
As the new head of Westpac private bank – is National Government Minister of Commerce and Justice, Simon Power, going to be involved in lobbying, advocating or having business meetings with members of the future government, parliament, public service or the defence force on any matters on which he has had official dealings as Minister in his last eighteen months in office?
If so, and if National Government Minister of Commerce and Justice, Simon Power was an Australian Federal Government Minister – this would be seen as a form of ‘corrupt practice’ and a breach of their Standards of Ministerial Ethics, as a breach of ‘Post-Ministerial Employment’ requirements:
http://www.dpmc.gov.au/guidelines/docs/ministerial_ethics.pdf
“Post-ministerial employment
2.19. Ministers are required to undertake that, for an eighteen month period after ceasing to be a Minister, they will not lobby, advocate or have business meetings with members of the government, parliament, public service or defence force on any matters on which they have had official dealings as Minister in their last eighteen months in office.
Ministers are also required to undertake that, on leaving office, they will not take personal advantage of information to which they have had access as a Minister, where that information is not generally available to the public.”
In my considered opinion, the ‘revolving door’ between public office and the private sector is on permanent rotation at both central and local government level in NZ.
What did Simon Power do to help ensure, as Minister of Justice, that our domestic legislative framework was sufficiently in place to enable NZ, ‘perceived’ to be ‘the least corrupt country in the world’ (along with Denmark and Singapore – according to Transparency International’s 2010 ‘Corruption Perception Index’) to ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption?
Or would such an anti-corruption domestic legislative framework effectively be a ‘conflict of interest’ for those vested interests who work in the commerce, finance and banking fields?
As Simon Power is going to be – once he takes up his appointment as the Head of Westpac Private Bank?
That’s a fair question – isn’t it?
Penny Bright
Independent ‘Public Watchdog’
Candidate for Epsom
Campaigning against ‘white collar’ CRIME, CORPORATE WELFARE, CORRUPTION (and its root cause) PRIVATISATION.
Didn’t Westpac re-tender for the government banking business? Was Power involved in this?
ANZ HEAD of wealthy account holders same job different organization
I heard a report on the radio it was anz it and i am wrong it is westpac head of wealthy individuals banking sector
I dont have to do anything. this is a free country.
Parp morganfield
For a “law and order” party, ACT are being very naughty by parking a billboard trailer for Banks in the Epsom electorate with an expired licence and no WOF displayed.
And the trailer was parked by a National Party supporter. What does that mean?
See it currently in the Shore Road carpark. It also wasn’t licenced a month ago when it was seen in the area. Are ACT immune to laws or something?
Plate L641Y TRAILER BILLBOARD 2008 in Silver
Valid on: 11 October 2011 at 7:44pm today
* Licence expiry: 2011, June 16th (expired 3 months 3 weeks 5 days ago)
* Latest licence issued on: 2010, December 17th at 10:49
* Subject to WOF inspection?: Yes
* WOF expiry: 2012, September 2nd (in 10 months 3 weeks 1 day)
* Last inspection: 2011, September 2nd (Pass)
***** WOF NOT DISPLAYED *****
One law for all (of you) and another law for NACToids.
Take a pic and give it to the police.
From here:
Someone be nice enough to embed the image please.
[Sorry – I can’t seem to make that happen in comments – Lynn? r0b]
[lprent: done. well it was there. Now it has disappeared from my iPad at the other side. ]