When does the God-awful summer “program” end on RNZ and civilization return?
I hate the way RNZ use the summer break to spend one month on a cost cutting shut down. The two idiots who do the afternoon show are one trick ponies whose get their jollies by banging on forever with their one big idea of playing bad music around some stupid theme. That gets old real, real quick. Shoot them. I’ll lie on the stand if you need an alibi.
And I hate the constant repeating of slight magazine trivia from Jim Mora and the rest of them as mind-numbingly tedious filler to make it seem like RNZ isn’t on auto-pilot.
I agree with all those sentiments. sigh and fill are dingbats without a doubt but there are more things to discuss about RNZ summer dumbdown. number one is they try and break in new post modern announcers who dont read the news scripts before they announce them and stumble over words that are just too big for them. secondly they go and get the worst right wingers for their road trip playlist songs. this morning it is kirk hope from business new zealand which is a total misnomer. business new zealand is in business solely to keep wages down. have you ever heard of a new business they have created or sponsored?
Jimmy Barnes would DETEST this creep.
Megan Whelan interviews Kirk Hope
RNZ National, Friday 12 Jan. 2018
Last Wednesday morning, listeners were subjected to a hapless, unprepared Megan Whelan providing an uninterrupted, uncritical sounding board to the disturbingly dishonest Robert Ayson:
Today, she had another soft-spoken, sinister ideologue on the program:
Business New Zealand Chief Executive Kirk Hope joins Megan to talk about his favourite tunes for a summer road trip. He also discusses the big issues facing companies in 2018 including the minimum wage increase, pay equity as well as what the future holds in the way businesses operate.
Unlike her failure last week, today she at least showed a little spirit and the glimmering of a social conscience as Hope smoothly pushed his nightmarish vision of a New Zealand organized like Communist China.
KIRK HOPE: ….and a band not many people have heard of, Grant Lee Buffalo.
MEGAN WHELAN Oh I loved Grant Lee Buffalo!
KIRK HOPE: But the next song I’ve chosen is “Singularity” by New Order. I thought New Order was just crap after 1983, but they’ve returned to form with this one. I was in Tokyo and I put a pair of headphones on and, as you do, I put Spotify on and I tell you this is the way you want to walk around Tokyo, listening to this kind of music!
…..The song plays. After it, Megan Whelan decides to get serious….
MEGAN WHELAN I talked recently to Richard Wagstaff of the CTU about the future of work.
KIRK HOPE: China is an example of a rapidly industrializing country which is also rapidly digitizing. It’s replaced the fulltime jobs of an industrial economy with trading. That’s the secret behind the success of Ali Baba! One or two people on line.
MEGAN WHELAN[clearly dubious] That’s significantly less secure, though.
KIRK HOPE: I’m not sure it is. We have to think about what it will look like. There’s a LOT of work to go on in the education system; our funding models, what’s happening at the secondary level.
MEGAN WHELAN Another thing with Richard—-I realize I’m sounding like a socialist revolutionary, and I don’t mean to, ha ha ha ha!—but he was worried about workers’ rights.
KIRK HOPE: People will have more flexibility. They might want to take six months off and travel.
MEGAN WHELAN Yeah but not a lot of people have this option. It’s different when it’s thrust on them. …. Anyway, what’s the last song you’ve chosen?
KIRK HOPE: I’ve chosen “Driving Wheels” by Jimmy Barnes. My mates and I drove from Wanaka to Dunedin in a Valiant Regal one New Year’s Eve many years ago, listening to the album for this, Freight Train Heart…..
MEGAN WHELAN Kirk Hope, thank you!
That’s enough of Kirk Hope, but here’s more Megan Whelan if you can bear it…
My radio alarm goes off at 6 am and RNZ comes on. Now, during summer. I hear the news straight up and then the music starts.
The music is awful; its even worse than what’s played on Matinee Idol during summer afternoons on RNZ. At least there they know when to mock and know when to salute the music and do so in an interesting way.
RNZ’s early morning music selection seems like it provides an excuse for RNZ to play stuff that probably hasn’t been played since it was first released (I can understand why – there was never an audience for it in the first place). Its ‘music’ without structure, melody, interesting lyrics or anything else that constitutes a good musical composition. Much of it is NZ music sad to say. In my opinion its simply tedious noise.
As a result I hang out for some of the “slight magazine shows”, such as the BBC’s “Witness Programme” so I don’t have to listen to such terrible music.
Be nice to get some alternative music – something that is not just a bloody noise to assail the ears first thing in the morning. “What the hell” is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear Paul Brennen’s tracks he plays. I enjoy the blues and some country music which I know is not everybody’s choice, but I also enjoy classical music and anything which has a melody. There is one thing positive about the summer programme, it drives me out of bed to do something more constructive like watering plants etc.
Can I suggest that you, and Grantoc, should ask some convenient child to show you how to tune your radio to some other station?
Radios allow that you might be interested to know. Think of the amazing discoveries you will make. You might even find the Concert program.
Ah, the new thrills you are going to have if, instead of just complaining, you take advantage of the amazing new technology that exists on your bedside table.
I’m picturing you typing that with an insufferably smug expression on your face. “Look Mum! I’ve discovered sarcasm and condescension! Can I have a pat on the head now?”
All right, if you must.
Consider your head to be patted, you smug condescending prat.
I will have to ask you to take the head pat in absentia though.
I really don’t want to get nits from your unwashed noggin.
Nice to hear you enjoy classical music wk. Some people seem to think that anyone who enjoys classical music must be peculiar. They don’t know what they are missing.
Far preferable to Mora.
But I agree….it’s a bit like the kids are in charge. There’s one ‘Sound Engineer’ who keeps forgetting what a cue button is …. or whatever they call it these days. Though given RNZ financials, its probably a ‘Audition/Programme’ key designed by British Telecom
I replied, but it disappeared up its own rrrr’s
Summer time is a time for the kids and the up and coming to exercise their gloriousness.
EVEN the Auckland Sound ‘ engineer ‘ who still can’t cope with a ‘CUE’ button.
Once or twice
…Ok….. but constantly?
He….yes…HE has managed to destroy a couple of interviews I was interested in listening to without being overwritten by HIS wish to cue up the ‘cumming up’
I’d say…if it were down to me…knock off the fucking P and get some rest….and realise RNZ has an audience.
Either that, or you and the delightful Megan could hook up some time and create something you’re rilly rilly peshnit about.
Perhaps Mex (K) could help
Oh stop moaning about RNZ. Most people are enjoying it or slagging off Phil and Simon, in a rude way enjoyable to themselves and P &S just go on. The music is mostly okay and some new people are having an opportunity to show their stuff.
If you like concert music there is a whole special broadcast of it and Eva Rakich, is it, comes on every now and then and introduces some into the ‘mainstream’. The items they have got are interesting, they have BBC World also, and I think you are all uptight. Turn it off if it doesn’t suit and play some of your DVDs or maybe some of your tapes if you still have a machine for that. You will hear some stuff not heard for decades.
That’s how our rentier economic system works. Ticket clipping makes a few people rich for which they produce no value at all while everyone else is fucked over to the point where they can no longer support those rich bludgers.
Indeed. Thus it’s no surprise similar is happening here too.
Many moons ago I worked for a company that installed a similar regime. Employees would become contractors and would start the working week in debt to the company. Having to lease the van and equipment required off the company.
We all gave notice and left.
And as for the reasons the article highlighted (harder to decline) the employers then turned to WINZ for new recruits.
“Aye you’ve seen the shifting of employer costs to workers under the guise of contracting…”
Indeed. We did the numbers (of the previous year, which was a good year) to compare what it would be like under the new regime and of course, we (the employees) were the big losers. Hence, we quit.
is it ok to hold back evidence of mistreatment of animals so as to cause maximum impact damage to the farming industry , or should it be handed over straight away?
i say it should be handed over as soon as possible
Who is making those animals suffer bwaghorn? The businesspeople farming them or the protesters? You seem to be a bit confused about what seems very straightforward.
And the protesters are putting themselves at risk from vengeful farmers and those that are agriculture-connected. Also they need to have irrevocable evidence to bring about change for the better. It is no use sacrificing their time and life to get information that is easily refuted or just unverified observation. I hope that you would not be vengeful but I note that you are quick to change the focus away from those causing the harm.
It seems to me that you are suffering a case of Triangulation (psychology related) which is something that all who discuss and argue on TS ought to understand so as to increase the effectiveness of an argument. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulation_(psychology)
Also the Karpman triangle where one person involved in discussion about a problem can shift in approach through three positions like the points of a triangle – Victim (We’re having it tough) – Rescuer (Now taking the side of the victim) – The Persecutor (It’s your fault, you bring about the bad outcome.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle
In your comment bwaghorn you turn on the protesters and become Persecutor, blaming them for withholding information so as to reveal a mass of evidence later at a hearing to judge whether there was bad treatment of animals. You think it should be released straight away to the authorities who could decide immediately to force a change in conditions. That is a theory and supposition on your part that the protesters have rejected as unlikely, from their experience in the past which would be greater than yours.
You present the farmers targeted, because you identify with them, as Victims.
And in the third point, you yourself are the principled Rescuer, wanting to help those receiving criticism in the agricultural sector.
So you are avoiding facing up to the object of the protest action, and presenting the protesters as unethical, (because you now accept there is bad treatment that the protesters themselves have established as fact through their action), and you now turn and blame them for it continuing. You should instead be blaming those carrying it out.
That is a very neat psychological trick that academics have had to study for a long time, observing,and finally explaining it as in the two examples given above.
” if they do not promptly hand over their evidence exposing animal cruelty to the authorities in a timely manner.”
as the usual suspects have turned up to defend their hobbie horse , i’ll type this slowly so you fallas can understand it,
know where does it say that the will let farmers off , what it says is they will turn a blind eye to radicals illegal spying on farmers if they hand over the evidence of the farmers crimes quickly , not let animals continue to suffer so they can get more wow factor.
i personaly potted a coworker to the gm of an outfit i worked at for animal abuse , (the guy was not coping and the gm feared he would suicide so nothing was done , as the guy was leaving).
while i dont condone illegal spying it helps me count to 10 when i ,ve been doing 10 hour days and a simple sheep is winding me up
I bet you can’t be bothered to research the issue and find out what is done to animals in factory farms.
Anti slavery campaigners were smeared as radicals.
Nelson Mandela and the ANC were smeared as radicals.
Sure. Industrial farming is nothing like slavery, because cows aren’t people. It doesn’t excuse animal crualty, but it does explain why someone might think you’re a sanctimonious dickhead and avoid the majority of your comments. So even if you had an argument, fewer people would read it than if you were a reasonable human being.
People like waghorn and pm would have decried anti slavery movements in the 1770s, calling the activists smug for be against slavery and cruel for not telling the authorities about who wrote a secret report on the inside of a slave ship.
But the purpose of the legislation is not to promote animal welfare – quite the opposite. The purpose is to identify, expose, punish and deter whistleblowers who report animal abuse.
There will need to be an anonymous release channel for whistleblowers, if this type of legislation is passed.
“It’s not common practice, just a few bad farmers letting the rest of us down” – this is the line we hear so much from the farming lobby (and that Mr and Ms meat, egg and dairy consumer want to hear, so that they don’t have to consider their role in creating the demand that sees animals (mis)treated as commodities rather than conscious, living beings). If groups like SAFE and Farmwatch need to gather evidence to show that a particular practice is widespread, then let them. We definitely don’t need this kind of law, and I doubt very much that we’ll have one imposed under this government. I wish animal welfare was a stronger priority for them, although I recognise that mine is a minority viewpoint.
…Mr and Ms meat, egg and dairy consumer want to hear, so that they don’t have to consider their role in creating the demand that sees animals (mis)treated as commodities rather than conscious, living beings).
Meanwhile, Mr and Ms meat, egg and dairy consumer are at least willing to acknowledge and face the fact that their diet involves killing animals, something rarely to be found among smug, moralising vegans.
I really doubt most New Zealand meat eaters are remotely aware of what industrial farming looks like.
In reality factory farming is the prolonged torture and cruel killing of billions of animals.
I recommend Jonathan Safran Soer’s book ‘Eating Animals.’
Particularly the chapters on the industrial ‘farming’ and killing of chickens and pigs.
There’s nothing smug about the book.
If you look a bit further up this thread I think you’ll find plenty of smug (insincere) moralising from BW. Not, from what I can tell, a vegan!
And this site is filled with people expounding on their political and ethical viewpoints, arguing with others and getting pretty smug at times, too. It’s by no means limited to people espousing veganism. How often have you noticed me smugly moralising about (or mentioning) my 30+ years of veganism? Note the comment above about recognising that mine is a minority viewpoint. Hardly hardline…
If you’re feeling defensive about your choice to continue eating animals, that’s your problem. I don’t eat animals and I don’t eat any products that come from animals. It’s not the main thing I choose to discuss on this site, but I’m not going to be bullied by name-calling into never mentioning it.
So, this is the first time you’ve publicly expressed the view here that people who don’t share your diet are moral failures. Big whoop. If you comment denouncing people like me for eating food, I’m going to comment pointing out my dislike of people doing that. Try not suggesting that people who don’t share your diet are moral failures, it works wonders.
“It also removes the possibility for whistleblowers to build evidence of systemic industry-wide cruelty by forcing them to report incidents in isolation only.
“Some of the most important developments in animal protection laws have stemmed from undercover surveillance and the work of journalists in bringing the realities of factory farming to the public.”
So, yeah, need to build up the evidence to show the systemic aspect of the abuse of animals else it will just be ignored.
The filming inside these factories which house the torture and killing of millions of sentient beings has to be stopped by the industrial farming lobby.
If people knew what happened there, they would be out of business.
The answer is to adopt a plant based diet permanently.
If people are serious about fixing our planet, then we know what we must do and we must do it.
One simple and easy sacrifice to make in the interests of preventing climate catastrophe.
There are animal rights and environmental issues surrounding the industrial processing of billions of sentient living animals into meat.
Clearly you don’t care about either the damage being done to the end by industrial animal agriculture nor the welfare of the sentient creatures who endure the barbaric conditions inside these factories.
Assumptions fucking much. Actually i will be protesting outside the rodeo tomorrow. I haven’t eaten mammal flesh for more than thirty years.
I usually don’t bother to engage in discussion with you as it is clearly pointless. You have made up your mind what is right for you and you are hell bent now on forcing that on everybody else. I do really care about both animal welfare and climate change and watching you run around alienating people is therefore painful.
Perhaps if you cared more for animals you might talk more about stricter laws and enforcement which would be much more achievable than universal veganism.
Perhaps if you cared more for people you might come to understand that some of us find it hard to meet our nutritional needs from just plants. I can’t eat most grains and nuts for health reasons for example, and eggs and fish are an important part of my diet.
Perhaps if you cared more for the environment you would understand that chickens and cows form an integral part of many permaculture systems.
My comments are about industrial farming, not permaculture.
I would have stricter laws. They would entail the closure of all industrial farming methods.
But catastrophic climate change is happening very soon unless we act.
People are going to have to be forced to make significant sacrifices if we are to mitigate the worst outcomes.
In World War 2, people’s food was rationed to help win the war.
Is it too much to ask that people are forced to move to a plant based diet to save the planet?
Clearly you don’t care about either the damage being done to the end by industrial animal agriculture nor the welfare of the sentient creatures who endure the barbaric conditions inside these factories.
Solkta:
I haven’t eaten mammal flesh for more than thirty years…
For someone whose supposed to love animals, and purports to have their best interests at heart, Ed/Paul certainly loves beating on that dead donkey of his.
This is the year when people have to begin the fightback against the right wing media. The easiest way is micropulse radio stations which are cheap to buy and incur no music royalties if there are no ads. These radio stations are low powered and line of sight and more effective than the msm whould have you believe.
If tribesmen in in the hindu kush can run their own in discrete valleys then what is stopping comparatively wealthy pakehas with disposable income from getting their arses into gear and taking the tories head on at their own game.
Are you sure atomising the shared public spaces is actually a good idea for a healthy civil society? rather than calling for more and more micro-services where people can have their views reinforced in tiny echo chambers wouldn’t it be better to campaign for a well funded publicly owned public service broadcasting network with a wide audience and a range of diverse voices?
+100 you’d also regenerate the local content production landscape as it’s been flogged off over the past years so we need the ‘local’ put back.
Drama, childrens, comedy, documentaries all get a lift if you adopt the ABC model from Oz. Light entertainment as one example is an easy category to make content for and TVNZ showed they can’t even get that right with appalling efforts.
TVNZ is our public broadcaster it just needs some legislation and funding to reshape it as a proper one and flush out the Kendricks and Co for proper broadcasters before it’s too late as they are a dying breed.
you dont understand. it is important that people have real input into the affairs of the community which is based on non profit social justice and the easiest way to do it is with local radio. especially when you play renaissance and pre renaissance music.
rnz can look after itself very well .
and the 60’s hippy revolution was backed by the first fm stations who cleaned up later and sold out when the wave receeded. Cant go back now but if you want a revolution NOW then you gotta know what you are doing.
I think there’s value in having community follow-up for people who’re fresh out of prison (for example). I don’t think the police are the right agency to be doing this, though.
Everything depends on the police involved – they can range from the kind who harass to the kind who give a damn and become genuinely supportive. These human factors are hard to measure from the outside, though the people they visit can probably work out what’s going on pdq.
Agreed – it can be all of those things – but it can be done in a way that is positive. Whether it should be done rather depends on how careful they are not to infringe rights, and to avoid alarming neighbours and so forth.
There is a behavioral aspect to some kinds of offending, and support can assist if it is genuine. It is the kind of thing that perhaps should be part of a rehabilitation system – and my understanding of burglary is that a very small number of active burglars may generate a considerable amount of loss and damage.
Yes – but there is some validity in the human contact angle, as well as the impressionistic assessment of whether things are going ok. It would be unwise to confine an assessment of a recovering alcoholic to phone calls, and to some extent the same might be true of burglars.
Do you suppose that the presumption of innocence extends to preventing the police from making enquiries? I think you’ll find it doesn’t. But successfully rehabilitated people – those who have managed to get their life back together – can probably be excluded from many enquiries.
Much would depend on what resources the police might have at their disposal to make a ‘helping hand’ approach actually helpful.
Calling around to someones home and making inquiries on no other grounds other than an individual’s past history does seem to rob one of the presumption of innocence, but I’m no legal expert.
“Climate change needs more action and less advocacy. Unlike other world issues such as racism, sexism and starvation, climate change will one day be unsolvable. We are losing control of the situation. We know what we need to do, we know what we can expect, we just have to act.”
George Monbiot on Theresa May’s 25 year environmental plan.
“It’s as if it were written with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. In terms of rhetoric, Theresa May’s 25-year environment plan is in some ways the best government document I’ve ever read. In terms of policy, it ranges from the pallid to the pathetic.
Those who wrote it are aware of the multiple crises we face. But, having laid out the depth and breadth of our predicaments, they propose to do almost nothing about them. I can almost hear the internal dialogue: “Yes, let’s change the world! Hang on a minute, what about our commitment to slashing regulations? What about maximising economic growth? What would the Conservatives’ major funders have to say about it? Oh all right, let’s wave our hands around instead.”
“The more an economy grows, the more resources it will consume. If it’s not plastic, it will be cardboard, and the cardboard is likely to be made from chewed-up rainforest. Clamp down on the use of cardboard, and something else will take its place. An economy that keeps growing on a planet that does not will inevitably burst through environmental limits, however sincere a government might be about seeking to reduce its impacts. The big conversation we need within government has still not begun. ”
I shall distil Monbiot’s passage into a few simple words.
Will be interesting to see what the Greens do about this
In 1999, speaking against an earlier party-hopping bill, Green co-leader Rod Donald reminded the House that “had this bill existed prior to the last [1999] election, we [Donald and Fitzsimons] would have been removed from this House and denied our opportunity to stay here for the full parliamentary term”.
Jim Anderton left Labour mid-term to set up NewLabour (which later merged into the Alliance).
And he did it in the 1980s and held his own electorate so not a good example.
In fact, any ‘party hopping’ prior to the 1996 election has no bearing on it.
Rod Donald and Jeanette Fitzsimons left the Alliance for the Greens
Which is untrue. The greens were part of the Alliance but were still The Greens. Donald and Fitzsimons would still have been Green MPs.
They didn’t leave their party – their party left The Alliance. And it could be argued that their seats were the Green Party share of the Alliance vote they should have kept them anyway.
As Donald said in the 1999 speech to Parliament, MPs are not “party robots”,
I don’t expect MPs to be ‘party robots’ but if they leave the party then they damn well shouldn’t keep their seat because they’re no longer representing those that voted for them on the party ticket.
Take the recent example of Green MPs Kennedy Graham and David Clendon publicly calling for the resignation of co-leader Metiria Turia. They were then excluded from the Green caucus and could have then been ejected from Parliament, after various bureaucratic processes had been gone through, if the current party-hopping legislation had been operational.
Exactly as it should be.
Resorting to legislation to get rid of an MP potentially involves the courts, which are not equipped to handle political or process disputes within parliamentary caucuses.
Then we need better law…
…Oh, wait.
It is safer, and more democratic, to leave decisions on the makeup of Parliament to the voters.
That’s what the party vote does. If an MP then leaves a party then they’ve removed themselves from that decision by the voters and should be removed from parliament.
Electorate MPs are more complex because they’ve actually been voted for by the electorate. We actually need the power of recall given to the voters so that an electorate can remove if they deem it necessary.
List MPs are there on the basis of their party’s share of the vote, it’s the party’s mandate, not the MP’s, therefore if they leave the party they loose the right to that party’s mandate and should be gone from parliament and replaced by the next person on that party’s list.
Electorate MPs have a personal mandate from their electorate, so it’s the MP’s mandate, not the party’s.
I’d argue that not allowing them to leave means that the party needs to take more care in their original selection and in how they treat and deal with them for the term of the government.
It’s a fixed term and if the party has screwed up then they need to live with it.
Just shoving any fuckwit on the list is best stopped by not being able to get rid of them til the next election.
Having an internal revolution and changing direction at the hierarchical level shouldn’t mean you can offload the MP’s you don’t like post the revolution.
Then there’s also the issue of the workers for those MP’s. It’s enough that they only have certainty of work for an electoral term without adding to the possibility that the may become out of work cause the party no longer loves an MP – or the MP no longer loves the party.
It’s not often I agree with Nick Smith (actually I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with him and there is some strong irony in some of what he says) but on this I do.
Just shoving any fuckwit on the list is best stopped by not being able to get rid of them til the next election.
Your language says that you are not considering the matter in a balanced way. Political parties are a group of people trying to get into a position to have some sway in the country. They are trying to be part of the political process; they may do things wrongly but talking about them and those involved as ‘fuckwit’ doesn’t add anything to the discussion.
Calling an individual a ‘fuckwit’ when they obviously are failing to achieve anything worthwhile and make statements that fail to take in the reality of the position may be justified, but not some blanket dismissive. You have proved by the way you used that term generally that individually it might be applied to you.
I’ve used the extreme end of the spectrum i.e. the party selecting someone completely inappropriate to make the point that it should not be justified under any circumstance.
I’m not leaving any grey for the party to say ooops we got it wrong.
They need to take that care in the first place – not have an escape clause.
To an extent we have that in the way Party lists remain in place for the term of the Parliament. If a list member dies, leaves for a diplomatic post or fucks up and has to go, the Party is stuck with ringing in the next person on their list. Sure we see a bit of gymnastics to get the one the Party really wants, but it is a strong incentive for Parties to be reasonably circumspect on who’s on their lists.
I’m waiting to see what unfolds if there is a string of departures when the National leadership eventually blows open. Fully expect the new leader to try and reshape the caucus in their form. Maybe that’s what the squatter is about in his rather confused and paranoid rant.
Aye that’s why I like what we have and not what is proposed.
Examples from the early days of MMP I think are a poor case to justify change as I’m sure parties are now a little wiser in selecting their list MP’s than when MMP first came in – if they’re not then they should be.
There’s another interpretation of the squatter’s rant. Maybe he’s pissed that National won’t be able to induce defections of NZ first MPs, again.
I’m not so sure about the squatter’s assertion that the waka jumping bill allows the party to “fire” list MPs any more than the current arrangement allows a party to request the member to consider their future.
I’d argue that not allowing them to leave means that the party needs to take more care in their original selection and in how they treat and deal with them for the term of the government.
They’re allowed to leave it’s just that if they do and they’re a list MP then they also leave parliament.
Just shoving any fuckwit on the list is best stopped by not being able to get rid of them til the next election.
If they leave then they’ve removed themselves.
Then there’s also the issue of the workers for those MP’s. It’s enough that they only have certainty of work for an electoral term without adding to the possibility that the may become out of work cause the party no longer loves an MP – or the MP no longer loves the party.
Such risk obviously comes with the job and one of the reasons why they’re paid quite well.
Looks like the government’s plans are working to drive out the speculative class.
The article has the usual Herald bias, as the rag represents the rentier class, but it does provide some interesting facts if you can peel away the propaganda.
It’s always seen as a sensible investment to have a rental property. I don’t see it as speculative and it wouldn’t be a problem if Labour hadn’t gone feral and National hadn’t gone plutocratic and together they have skewed the country so badly.
See Jeremy Corbyn take on Margaret Thatcher about housing in 1990.
The link is at No. 17 here. The facts he was quoting were bad back then for Britain.
Well, yeah. But the fact is that the nats and labz were what they were, and so for the last thirty years people have bought a rental property on the basis that the capital value will increase enough for them to afford to pay off the property when they sell it down the line, and frequently make up the gap between their income and the mortgage with the rent the property gets.
Official figures prepared for the new housing minister estimate a shortfall of 45,000 houses in Auckland, with supply of new homes well behind increased demand.
It’s not ‘weather weirdness’ NZ Herald.
It’s climate change.
And the sooner you’re honest about this, the quicker New Zealand will start acting decisively to deal with it.
British politics.
First – Jeremy Corbyn v Margaret Thatcher on Housing in 1990
Housing – People sleeping on the streets, children brought up in b*Bs, but Councils have empty houses so there is no difficulty.
There would be many benefit for New Zealand if we banned plastic bags come on let’s get this environmentally friendly economy going don’t listen to the nay Sayers. We have all the raw materials to make paper bags what’s the problem we will create jobs come on
I think that Theo Spiering should take my advice on the solarpanel on cow sheds maybe Papatuanuku will let up on that cow disease and it mite stop spreading that’s my view on that subject P.S. I seen the thunder in action yesterday on thestandard many thanks to all my viewers ka pai ka kite ano
“Jim Anderton was New Zealand’s last significant social democratic politician. While some are claiming he pulled Labour Party back ‘from the brink’ and back to the ‘centre-left’ this is a convenient rewriting of history. The Labour Party today bears little resemblance to the Labour Party that Jim Anderton once knew.”
I read one comment saying that its a totally different country .I say that this country has a major influence on all the SOCIETIES on Papatuanuku/MotherEarth .So If we can voice All OUR concerns about the direction that we see that country going down If we let them Know NOW this will save a lot of pain and suffering in the future . Kia Kaha
Here is a song I like from the next generation Ka kite ano
A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a health-related FB page that had published a post from a homeopathist, offering homeopathic “vaccination”¹ against measles (using something called a “Morbillinum nosode” at a “potency” of 200C, which I’ll explain shortly). I followed the link, left a comment ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This year marks the 20th anniversary of the La Gabarra massacre. The community organised an event to remember the most well-known of the horrendous heart-breaking events that befell the communities of this area of the municipality of Tibú: the massacre carried out on August 21st 1999. ...
There was another police chase in Christchurch this morning, resulting in a crash which killed one person and injured five more. Because someone died, the chase is being investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority. And based on previous reports by the IPCA, we know how it will go: the ...
Just a month ago we saw the biggest protest in a generation as people marched to demand stronger action on climate change. A core demand of the protesters was to strengthen the Zero Carbon Bill's target to net-zero by 2040. So what is the government's response? Judging by the ...
Back in 2010, I wrote about the strange tale of the zombie ants, which do the bidding of their fungal overlords. (They’re not an isolated example; a range of parasites change their hosts’ behaviour. See here and here for example – though as you’ll find, the toxoplasmosis story may be ...
Shouldn't That Be: "Wrong White Crowd"? Rather than apportion guilt, would it not have been wiser for the makers of Land Of The Long White Cloud to accept that the Pakeha of 2019 are not – and never will be – “Europeans”? Just as contemporary Maori are not – and ...
One, Two, Many Truths: With the collapse of “actually existing socialism” in 1991, the universities of the West found themselves saddled with a new mission. With their ideological competitors now soundly defeated they were no longer required to demonstrate the superiority of capitalist values. Their job now was to cement ...
by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...
I spent some time reading the Regulatory Impact Statement and Bill of Rights Act advice for the government's odious control order scheme today. I am not impressed with either of them. Starting with the RIS, it is built on some pretty questionable assumptions. For example:Unless individuals have been convicted of ...
#NoFly: Walking the talk on climate change, by Shaun Hendy. BWB Texts, 2019. Reviewed by Robert McLachlan In June 2018, Swede Maja Rosén founded We stay on the ground with a pledge not to fly in 2019, and a goal of persuading 100,000 other Swedes to join her. In August, ...
We all know that NZ First is a party of and for old people who hate the young. But they've topped their previous pedophobia with a proposal that all young people be forced to do 100 hours community work:NZ First wants all young people to do 100 hours of community ...
A couple days ago the NZ Herald published a story with the headline, “Science says Bella Hadid is world’s most beautiful woman“, and followed up with the ridiculous statement that Supermodel Bella Hadid has been declared as the world’s most beautiful woman following a scientific study into what constitutes as ...
A Sustainable Proposition: With as much as 18 percent of the electorate declaring itself “undecided” about who to vote for, there is obviously plenty of space for a party like former Green Party member, Vernon Tava's, about-to-be-launched "Sustainable NZ Party" to move into. The most hospitable political territory for such ...
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...
In 1994, I was the editor for an issue of Planet magazine focused on cannabis, its culture and the prospects for the end of its prohibition. Part of that issue was an interview with 'Ringo', an experienced cannabis dealer.I recently posted my essay from that issue, and I figured it ...
Dr Helen Waite, sports sociologist and former elite athlete, on the invasion of women’s sport by men and the anti-scientific and misogynist ideology used to rationalise it. ...
As Brexit comes to a grisly conclusion (perhaps) people on all sides are saying intemperate and uwise things. Some, like the Daly Mail, have been doing it for years.People as normally level headed as Jon Lansman are calling for automatic deselection of MPs who vote against a (likely) Labour three ...
I've got one source saying more Labour MPs than expected are mulling whether to vote for the deal - including names who were not on the letter to Juncker and Tusk— Emilio Casalicchio (@e_casalicchio) 17 October 2019 I've compiled a list of possible reasons why Labour ...
On Wednesday, the government was loudly telling us that it needed to legislate to allow it to impose "control orders" - effectively a parole regime, but imposed without charge, prosecution, conviction or real evidence - on suspected terrorists because they couldn't be prosecuted for their supposed crimes. Today, it turns ...
On Monday, the Hit and Run inquiry heard from NZDF's former director of special operations, who claimed that the defence Minister knew everything about the Operation Burnham raid. Today, the inquiry heard from that (former) Minister - and it turns out that he didn't know nearly as much as NZDF ...
Yoga gurus and cult leaders – I’ve seen a few. Two weeks ago, I unknowingly joined an alleged new-age cult at the Kāpiti coast, together with a giant kraken and some neatly dressed pensioners who would make any book club proud.They were among the two hundred people of all ages ...
The last decade has seen a trend of increasing weapons availability to police. Assault rifles. Tasers on every hip. Guns in cars. And following the march 15 massacre, pistols on every hip, all over the country. At the same time, its also seen an increase in the abuse of force: ...
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy preparing for our summer paper on Science Communication. Looking for something amusing about ‘risk’ in science, I came across this neat xkcd.com cartoon about why so many people come knocking on my door (or phoning me, or emailing me) desperately wanting ...
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
"Auckland City Mission: 10% of Kiwis experiencing food insecurity", RNZ, 16 October 2019:About half a million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to new research from the Auckland City Mission. Food insecurity, or food poverty, is defined as not having enough appropriate food. The City Mission said over the last ...
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...
There is plenty of evidence of the way the business mentality has permeated every level of society since the recrudescence of market liberalism 35 years ago. You only need to think of how citizens in need of help from their government, their state, their country, are now routinely described as ...
John MacCormickOver the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...
Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
After a brief dalliance with 'hard Revoke' it looks like the Lib Dems are changing ground on on Brexit, with leader Jo Swinson reverting to calling for a second referendum on Johnson's deal.The party has tabled an amendment to the Queen’s speech requesting that any deal brought back from Brussels ...
The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
So, Judith Collins has done a Facebook rant about climate change, peddling the same shit National has been shovelling for the past twenty years: the impacts are overstated, there's no need to do anything about it, and its too hard anyway (oh, and its so unfair that people who peddle ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThere is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...
I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
While many imagine that countries like the USA and Europe dominate space activities, in fact India is now a major player on this stage. It launches satellites for its own purposes and also commercially, and has constellations orbiting our planet and returning data of vital importance to that nation in ...
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Hassan Vally, La Trobe UniversityWho doesn’t want to know if drinking that second or third cup of coffee a day will improve your memory, or if sleeping too much increases your risk of a heart attack? We’re invested in staying healthy and many of us are interested in reading ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
Journalist Andrew Dickens, reporting from the 2019 New Zealand First Conference, states that the Party once again proved “they are more than a sideshow”. In his op-ed article for NewstalkZB, Mr Dickens said he has always been an admirer of the Party, saying they are “a true centrist party”. “[NZ ...
New Zealand First's potential policy of compulsory community service for ages 15-19 years old has been getting support from those in the industry. A policy remit was passed during their recent Conference in Christchurch, gaining the support of a majority of its membership. Party leader Winston Peters has been talking ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the Party hopes to decide it’s stance pill testing at music festivals "before the season of concern", with festivals generally held during the summer months. Mr Peters' comments come in an interview with TVNZ's Q+A and follow a remit from the party's youth ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he has been told to be "alert" to potential cost blowouts for the light rail project in Auckland. Mr Peters said no such concerns were raised with him from ministerial colleagues, including Transport Minister Phil Twyford of the Labour Party. He suggested that ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters Leader of New Zealand First The Benefits of having New Zealand First in the Centre: Security, Experience & Balance 2.00pm, 20th October 2019 Ladies and Gentlemen Thank you all for your warm welcome to this, the party’s 26thConvention. Speaking on behalf of caucus colleagues, it’s great to ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Fletcher Tabuteau is travelling to the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu this week to continue toadvance important bilateral relationships in our region consistent with thePacific Reset. Mr Tabuteau will engage in a range of bilateral meetings and visit New Zealand development ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
A Bill to improve prison security and ensure the fair, safe, and humane treatment of people in prison while upholding public safety has passed its third reading. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the Corrections Amendment Bill makes a number of changes to ensure the Corrections Act 2004 is fit for ...
Minister for Māori Development, Nanaia Mahuta, has selected Arihia Bennett MNZM, Chief Executive Officer of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, as the Te Puni Kōkiri appointed representative on the New Zealand-China Council. The New Zealand-China Council (the Council) was established in 2012 as a New Zealand led and funded organisation ...
Responsibility for processing the small number of Southern Response claims still to be settled will be transferred to EQC by the end of the year. “As claim numbers reduce, it no longer makes sense for the Crown to have two organisations processing the remaining Canterbury claims,” Grant Robertson says. “Since ...
Health Minister David Clark is encouraging Whanganui residents to take up the opportunity for free bowel screening, which can detect cancer early when it’s easier to treat. Over the next two years 12,000 Whanganui locals, aged 60 to 74 will be invited to participate in the National Bowel Screening ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, heads to Oslo today to represent New Zealand at the sixth Our Ocean Conference, which is being hosted by the Norwegian Government from the 23-24 October. “The Our Ocean Conference mobilises real action on issues like marine plastic pollution and the impacts of ...
Two secondary-school initiatives are being expanded as part of the Government’s plan to see more young New Zealanders take up a trade to help close the skills gap. This includes the largest single increase in Trades Academy places in recent years. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris ...
Session 4: Pacific Connectivity – Youth, Media and New Opportunities Kia ora tatou katoa and Warm Pacific greetings to one and all. Representatives of Tainui, the local people of the land, or manawhenua – the indigenous peoples of this area – have welcomed you this morning in accordance with ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Feedback sought– Lyttelton commercial zone parking The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to remove on-site car parking requirements for new developments in the Lyttelton commercial zone. The proposal, by Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section 71 of the Greater ...
Hon Minister Poto Williams Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration MEDIA STATEMENT Tuesday 15 October 2019 Feedback sought – Hagley Oval The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal about Hagley Oval. The proposal was developed by Regenerate Christchurch ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
By Rebecca Ananian-Welsh Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an unlikely coalition of Australian media organisations fighting for press freedom and source protection. A key reform advocated by a ...
Surrounding sites evacuated and one reported hospitalised in serious condition as blaze rips through two floors of the under-construction building in the Auckland CBDLast updated: 6.30pmParts of central Auckland have been brought to a standstill this afternoon after a major fire broke out shortly after 1pm at the Sky City ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phil McManus, Professor of Urban and Environmental Geography: Head of School of Geosciences, University of Sydney In the wake of a shocking ABC report on the dismal end of many racehorses’ lives in slaughterhouses, many Australians are questioning whether the horse racing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lecturer of Computing & Security, Edith Cowan University Machines and the internet are woven into the fabric of our society. A growing number of users, devices and applications work together to produce what we now call “big data”. And this ...
After an unusually nasty campaign for their country, Canada has gone to the polls. They’ve decided that Justin Trudeau will continue as prime minister, but just like in New Zealand, he’ll have to work with coalition politics. What’s happened?After a brutal and at times humiliating campaign, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has ...
“The Prime Minister must publicly support an immediate ban on Gay Conversion Therapy . If I was Jacinda I would feel morally obligated to give more confidence on where I stand, when I have asked for, and received, support from that community.” ...
New abortion law marks significant and needed progress for reproductive rights in New Zealand Amnesty International has today made its submission to the Abortion Legislation Committee in Wellington. The rights at stake in the legislation include the rights ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Transport Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): NZ Transport Agency to Phil Twyford: We should have done better ...
Crisis of Safety and Confidence in our Engineering, Building and Construction Industries Please find attached a copy of an Open Letter from Professor Maan Alkaisi, Spokesperson CTV Families Group. This was sent a short time ago to the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, ...
Safe speed limits are survivable speed limits and this is what AT has endorsed in its step change decision today. This decision is a landmark that sets the scene for a new focus on road safety in New Zealand. ...
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) says the inadequate treatment of urology patients in Southern District Health Board is distressing and should serve as a broad reminder to DHB management to listen when specialists raise concerns. ...
Informed via telegram that Netflix has released a full trailer for the new season of The Crown, Tara Ward puts on her best boxhat and white gloves to find out what round three will bring. The good Lorde told us we’ll never be royals, so the first full trailer for the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie has some sobering reading to do over the coming weeks: an 88-page Senate report into the government-sponsored bill to repeal the medevac law that allow refugees and asylum seekers in Papua ...
Eric Crampton has fun imagining a version of MBIE that worried it could be subject to cartel criminalisation provisions for the anticompetitive regimes it has established. ...
Criminologist Antje Deckert has just completed a two-year study of how women offenders are portrayed in New Zealand newspapers. The results show that journalists are telling very different stories abut Māori and Pākehā. That our criminal justice system is in desperate need of reform and that we need to reduce the ...
China continues its march into the Pacific with a China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum in Samoa this week. Ahead of the forum, Beijing has signed seven new agreements with Samoa covering education, trade, e-commerce, investment, infrastructure and agriculture. China’s Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua heads his delegation in Apia ...
It might be tempting to yell, but there are more effective ways to talk to doubters about the value of vaccines, write Julie Leask and Maryke Steffens.Your neighbour is telling you about his new baby. He feels nervous about vaccinating, and says he’s considering delaying Lucy’s vaccines.Your mother’s group is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Wain, Academic in Professional and Creaive Writing, Deakin University Why do we tell stories, and how are they crafted? In this series, we unpick the work of the writer on both page and screen. Anna Spargo-Ryan’s debut novel, The Paper House ...
The Movies, a documentary series that celebrates movies and their impact on culture, is available on TVNZ OnDemand today. Sam Brooks pulls some of the best quotes from its galaxy of stars.Ever wanted to get a snapshot of cinematic history without leaving the comfort of your couch, or even your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ronald F Pol, Senior researcher NZ, La Trobe University Money laundering rarely gets as literal as the case in Thailand last week, where police raided homes of a ring suspected of laundering a billion baht (about A$48 million) of drug proceeds and ...
The NZTA chair has acknowledged the agency dropped the ball in its early handling of Auckland's light rail project, as the NZ Infra proposal grips ministers. ...
On Friday it was announced that Armed Offenders Squad patrols will be trialled in Counties Manukau, Waikato and Canterbury over the next six months. The data suggests this will increase police violence and unfairly target Māori, writes Emilie Rākete.Police Commissioner Mike Bush announced on Friday that cars of Armed Offender ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Court’s judgment. It does not comprise part of the reasons for that judgment. The full judgment with reasons is the only authoritative document. The full text of the judgment and reasons ...
There’s something about the feeling of wind whipping my face that brings me out of my head and into the moment. Once a month we pedal as a group: recreating the feeling of childlike glee riding our bikes together, writes Helen King.The first bike I learned to ride belonged to ...
More than 10,000 school support staff around the country have begun two weeks of paid union meetings to discuss progress on pay equity, and next steps following the Ministry of Education's failure to present a collective agreement offer. ...
Government ministers are adamant New Zealand’s economic fundamentals are solid, unemployment is at a record low, growth is faster than in Australia, and the surplus in the government accounts and low debt present further opportunities to strengthen the economy. Yet, across the road from the Beehive, the view from the ...
Wellington's mayor-elect Andy Foster says talk about a recount is causing a "distraction" for the council at the start of their term, but the incumbent Justin Lester says it's essential for a democratic process. ...
Police Commissioner Mike Bush has today announced an independent review of the systems and processes NZ Police has in place to address complaints of bullying. ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has formalised an integrated pathway for survivors to seek justice for the abuse they suffered in State care or in the care of faith-based institutions. ...
The small-claims mediation process is meant to give real people a voice, but the financial and emotional sacrifice just isn’t worth it, writes Jai BreitnauerWhen we moved to the semi-rural dreamland of Te Henga (Bethell’s Beach) in 2017, we couldn’t imagine that anything would be able to tarnish the beautiful ...
The New Zealand Bar Association welcomes a Court of Appeal decision which gives detailed guidance on sentencing people convicted of offences related to the importation, manufacture and supply of methamphetamine. ...
Methamphetamine (meth) dealers who can prove their own addiction caused their drug offending could have their sentences cut by 30 per cent, according to a landmark judgement released by the Court of Appeal. The role of an offender in a drug network ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, Senior Lecturer, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney The slaughter of horses bred for racing in Australia, as revealed in the ABC’s investigation, highlights the challenge of what to do with racehorses when their careers are over. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carlina Black, PhD candidate, La Trobe University It’s a year since the national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. While national apologies can acknowledge survivors, sorry is just the beginning. Access to healing is needed. Our research shows ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Hepburn, Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Law, Deakin Law School, Deakin University Right now, two projects have been proposed to import gas from overseas to supply eastern Australia. This is an absurd prospect. Australia is a resource-rich ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Pitman, Senior Research Fellow, Curtin University In a recent nation-wide survey by online tutoring company Cluey Learning, 75% of Australian senior students said their ATAR score would impact on the rest of their life. And more than 80% said a score ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shih-Wen Sue Chen, Senior Lecturer in Writing and Literature, Deakin University There is a new challenger to Disney’s hold on the global animation industry, and he is a Chinese demon child. [embedded content]Ne Zha: Birth of the Demon Child, from Chengdu Coco ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Wellington’s new mayor faces difficult three years, Zero Carbon bill select committee report comes back, and extremist preacher barred from NZPartly because it was a widely unexpected result, the opening days of Wellington mayor Andy Foster’s tenure have been gripping. He ...
Laurence Fearnley, author of a best-selling novel about perfumes, proposes a radical new scheme in which people of refined noses set out together and establish a sniffing group. ...
A string of failures over the past 25 years has drawn attention to the quality of regulatory practice in NZ. Jeroen van der Heijden looks at what we can do differently. ...
After her own troubled teenage years, Fran McEwen doesn't want to see other girls going through the same challenges. So she's running a race across a Middle Eastern desert to help them. ...
Last night, the two titans of the cannabis referendum came together for their first televised debate on the issue – Paula Bennett and Chlöe Swarbrick.From a distance, Paula Bennett and Chlöe Swarbrick don’t feel like the most likely opponents. What with Paula Bennett recently-ish stating she would not seek re-election ...
Andrew Little’s terrorism suppression bill is facing two very different forms of resistance, from National and from the Greens. What is the legislation, and why is it controversial?What this then? The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill, introduced to parliament by the justice minister, Andrew Little, last Wednesday, seeks to introduce “a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Given her status as holding two vital Senate crossbench votes Pauline Hanson is at times, in the eyes of senior government figures, She Who Must Be Obeyed. And so it was last week, when Hanson ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says he'll be watching out for potential cost blow-outs for Auckland's light rail project, after warnings from a source within the transport industry. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Fully Sikh, directed by Matt Edgerton, Perth’s Studio Underground The foyer is adorned with colourful fabric and bunting. We’re welcomed by the sounds of Indian music while members of the Sikh community offer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Fully Sikh, directed by Matt Edgerton, Perth’s Studio Underground The foyer is adorned with colourful fabric and bunting. We’re welcomed by the sounds of Indian music while members of the Sikh community offer ...
New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters with Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Trying to make sense of the New Zealand First party can be difficult at the best of times. Political journalists and commentators attempt to work out where the party ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.TV3 sale Tim Batt (Metro): What if THREE’s problem isn’t TVNZ but… MediaWorks? Alex Braae ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Miller, Professor of Violence Prevention and Addiction Studies, Deakin University Over recent weeks, the alcohol industry has been drumming up mediadiscussion around Australia’s new drinking guidelines. Australia’s guidelines on alcohol consumption are under ongoing review by the National Health and ...
Extremist Baptist pastor Steven Anderson has just been blocked from entering New Zealand, making us the 34th country to reject his hate speech-filled sermons. American pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church has been denied entry to New Zealand on character grounds, putting a stop to his plans to ...
Twenty years ago Stephen Chbosky had a massive hit with coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Now the director/producer/scriptwriter is back with an epic, kid-centric horror. Early on in Stephen Chbosky’s frustrating new horror novel, Imaginary Friend, its seven-year-old protagonist Christopher is sitting down to watch his favourite cartoon, ...
Hold on to your sponge nubbins, New Zealand’s loveliest reality show Great Kiwi Bake Off is back for a second serving. Before the show’s return on November 3, Tara Ward takes a sneak peek at 2019’s contestants. Lay me down on a soft bed of whipped cream and swab my forehead with a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ronald F Pol, Senior researcher NZ, La Trobe University Money laundering rarely gets as literal as the case in Thailand last week, where police raided homes of a ring suspected of laundering a billion baht (about A$48 million) of drug proceeds and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wilfred Wang, Lecturer, Communications & Media Studies, Monash University The Australian society has changed significantly since cemeteries in Victoria were planned and designed 150 years ago. But there haven’t been any major redevelopment or review of the community’s changing requirements for what ...
NZ Post’s failure to maintain an adequate postal voting infrastructure has been the subject of two submissions to Parliamentary Select Committees by the Postal Workers Union since the last Local Authority postal vote in 2016. The union maintained that ...
New Zealand honey growers appear to have so far avoided the heavy hand of the Australian government in their dispute with apiarists across the Tasman. ...
A downturn in Tourism Holdings' (THL) vehicle sales business in the United States is likely to have a material negative affect on its full year results, the company warns. ...
The troubled Auckland Light Rail project is back in the news again, and not for good reasons. So what does it all mean for transport and traffic congestion in New Zealand’s biggest city?What’s all this then?It seemed like such a good plan at the time. Over the course of 10 ...
Open Mike 12/01/2018 
A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a health-related FB page that had published a post from a homeopathist, offering homeopathic “vaccination”¹ against measles (using something called a “Morbillinum nosode” at a “potency” of 200C, which I’ll explain shortly). I followed the link, left a comment ...4 hours ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This year marks the 20th anniversary of the La Gabarra massacre. The community organised an event to remember the most well-known of the horrendous heart-breaking events that befell the communities of this area of the municipality of Tibú: the massacre carried out on August 21st 1999. ...4 hours ago
There was another police chase in Christchurch this morning, resulting in a crash which killed one person and injured five more. Because someone died, the chase is being investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority. And based on previous reports by the IPCA, we know how it will go: the ...8 hours ago
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by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...1 day ago
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...2 days ago
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When does the God-awful summer “program” end on RNZ and civilization return?
I hate the way RNZ use the summer break to spend one month on a cost cutting shut down. The two idiots who do the afternoon show are one trick ponies whose get their jollies by banging on forever with their one big idea of playing bad music around some stupid theme. That gets old real, real quick. Shoot them. I’ll lie on the stand if you need an alibi.
And I hate the constant repeating of slight magazine trivia from Jim Mora and the rest of them as mind-numbingly tedious filler to make it seem like RNZ isn’t on auto-pilot.
GIVE THAT STATION MORE MONEY ALREADY!!!!
I agree with all those sentiments. sigh and fill are dingbats without a doubt but there are more things to discuss about RNZ summer dumbdown. number one is they try and break in new post modern announcers who dont read the news scripts before they announce them and stumble over words that are just too big for them. secondly they go and get the worst right wingers for their road trip playlist songs. this morning it is kirk hope from business new zealand which is a total misnomer. business new zealand is in business solely to keep wages down. have you ever heard of a new business they have created or sponsored?
Jimmy Barnes would DETEST this creep.
Megan Whelan interviews Kirk Hope
RNZ National, Friday 12 Jan. 2018
Last Wednesday morning, listeners were subjected to a hapless, unprepared Megan Whelan providing an uninterrupted, uncritical sounding board to the disturbingly dishonest Robert Ayson:
Today, she had another soft-spoken, sinister ideologue on the program:
Unlike her failure last week, today she at least showed a little spirit and the glimmering of a social conscience as Hope smoothly pushed his nightmarish vision of a New Zealand organized like Communist China.
KIRK HOPE: ….and a band not many people have heard of, Grant Lee Buffalo.
MEGAN WHELAN Oh I loved Grant Lee Buffalo!
KIRK HOPE: But the next song I’ve chosen is “Singularity” by New Order. I thought New Order was just crap after 1983, but they’ve returned to form with this one. I was in Tokyo and I put a pair of headphones on and, as you do, I put Spotify on and I tell you this is the way you want to walk around Tokyo, listening to this kind of music!
…..The song plays. After it, Megan Whelan decides to get serious….
MEGAN WHELAN I talked recently to Richard Wagstaff of the CTU about the future of work.
KIRK HOPE: China is an example of a rapidly industrializing country which is also rapidly digitizing. It’s replaced the fulltime jobs of an industrial economy with trading. That’s the secret behind the success of Ali Baba! One or two people on line.
MEGAN WHELAN [clearly dubious] That’s significantly less secure, though.
KIRK HOPE: I’m not sure it is. We have to think about what it will look like. There’s a LOT of work to go on in the education system; our funding models, what’s happening at the secondary level.
MEGAN WHELAN Another thing with Richard—-I realize I’m sounding like a socialist revolutionary, and I don’t mean to, ha ha ha ha!—but he was worried about workers’ rights.
KIRK HOPE: People will have more flexibility. They might want to take six months off and travel.
MEGAN WHELAN Yeah but not a lot of people have this option. It’s different when it’s thrust on them. …. Anyway, what’s the last song you’ve chosen?
KIRK HOPE: I’ve chosen “Driving Wheels” by Jimmy Barnes. My mates and I drove from Wanaka to Dunedin in a Valiant Regal one New Year’s Eve many years ago, listening to the album for this, Freight Train Heart…..
MEGAN WHELAN Kirk Hope, thank you!
That’s enough of Kirk Hope, but here’s more Megan Whelan if you can bear it…
My radio alarm goes off at 6 am and RNZ comes on. Now, during summer. I hear the news straight up and then the music starts.
The music is awful; its even worse than what’s played on Matinee Idol during summer afternoons on RNZ. At least there they know when to mock and know when to salute the music and do so in an interesting way.
RNZ’s early morning music selection seems like it provides an excuse for RNZ to play stuff that probably hasn’t been played since it was first released (I can understand why – there was never an audience for it in the first place). Its ‘music’ without structure, melody, interesting lyrics or anything else that constitutes a good musical composition. Much of it is NZ music sad to say. In my opinion its simply tedious noise.
As a result I hang out for some of the “slight magazine shows”, such as the BBC’s “Witness Programme” so I don’t have to listen to such terrible music.
Be nice to get some alternative music – something that is not just a bloody noise to assail the ears first thing in the morning. “What the hell” is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear Paul Brennen’s tracks he plays. I enjoy the blues and some country music which I know is not everybody’s choice, but I also enjoy classical music and anything which has a melody. There is one thing positive about the summer programme, it drives me out of bed to do something more constructive like watering plants etc.
Can I suggest that you, and Grantoc, should ask some convenient child to show you how to tune your radio to some other station?
Radios allow that you might be interested to know. Think of the amazing discoveries you will make. You might even find the Concert program.
Ah, the new thrills you are going to have if, instead of just complaining, you take advantage of the amazing new technology that exists on your bedside table.
I’m picturing you typing that with an insufferably smug expression on your face. “Look Mum! I’ve discovered sarcasm and condescension! Can I have a pat on the head now?”
All right, if you must.
Consider your head to be patted, you smug condescending prat.
I will have to ask you to take the head pat in absentia though.
I really don’t want to get nits from your unwashed noggin.
🙂
It’s trending doncha know
Nice to hear you enjoy classical music wk. Some people seem to think that anyone who enjoys classical music must be peculiar. They don’t know what they are missing.
Love the music, can’t stand more of Mora!! Especially his rw pals.
Far preferable to Mora.
But I agree….it’s a bit like the kids are in charge. There’s one ‘Sound Engineer’ who keeps forgetting what a cue button is …. or whatever they call it these days. Though given RNZ financials, its probably a ‘Audition/Programme’ key designed by British Telecom
I replied, but it disappeared up its own rrrr’s
Summer time is a time for the kids and the up and coming to exercise their gloriousness.
EVEN the Auckland Sound ‘ engineer ‘ who still can’t cope with a ‘CUE’ button.
Once or twice
…Ok….. but constantly?
He….yes…HE has managed to destroy a couple of interviews I was interested in listening to without being overwritten by HIS wish to cue up the ‘cumming up’
I’d say…if it were down to me…knock off the fucking P and get some rest….and realise RNZ has an audience.
Either that, or you and the delightful Megan could hook up some time and create something you’re rilly rilly peshnit about.
Perhaps Mex (K) could help
Oh stop moaning about RNZ. Most people are enjoying it or slagging off Phil and Simon, in a rude way enjoyable to themselves and P &S just go on. The music is mostly okay and some new people are having an opportunity to show their stuff.
If you like concert music there is a whole special broadcast of it and Eva Rakich, is it, comes on every now and then and introduces some into the ‘mainstream’. The items they have got are interesting, they have BBC World also, and I think you are all uptight. Turn it off if it doesn’t suit and play some of your DVDs or maybe some of your tapes if you still have a machine for that. You will hear some stuff not heard for decades.
“At its very worst, it could be alleged that it is coordinated exploitation.”
http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=262348&fm=psp,tsf
That’s how our rentier economic system works. Ticket clipping makes a few people rich for which they produce no value at all while everyone else is fucked over to the point where they can no longer support those rich bludgers.
And the rich are always bludgers.
“That’s how our rentier economic system works”
Indeed. Thus it’s no surprise similar is happening here too.
Many moons ago I worked for a company that installed a similar regime. Employees would become contractors and would start the working week in debt to the company. Having to lease the van and equipment required off the company.
We all gave notice and left.
And as for the reasons the article highlighted (harder to decline) the employers then turned to WINZ for new recruits.
Aye you’ve seen the shifting of employer costs to workers under the guise of contracting ever since Robbin’ Douglas and his bunch of un-merry men.
Robbing the poor to give to the rich.
Whether it’s vehicles, whether it’s equipment, whether it’s uniforms, whether it’s sick leave,whether it’s redundancy,….
These are all costs that employers have shifted onto workers and convinced workers they are better off for it.
“Aye you’ve seen the shifting of employer costs to workers under the guise of contracting…”
Indeed. We did the numbers (of the previous year, which was a good year) to compare what it would be like under the new regime and of course, we (the employees) were the big losers. Hence, we quit.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/100480922/no-we-dont-need-aggag-laws-in-new-zealand
is it ok to hold back evidence of mistreatment of animals so as to cause maximum impact damage to the farming industry , or should it be handed over straight away?
i say it should be handed over as soon as possible
Those sort of laws should be seen for what they are – purchased politicians pushing the agenda of their donor corporate interests.
so you are ok for animals to suffer longer so it suits the filmers agenda , and so they can frame it for maximum impact , and edit it accordingly
The filmers’ agendas is to stop the torture and execution of billions of sentient beings in industrial killing factories.
Seems worth it to me.
Who is making those animals suffer bwaghorn? The businesspeople farming them or the protesters? You seem to be a bit confused about what seems very straightforward.
And the protesters are putting themselves at risk from vengeful farmers and those that are agriculture-connected. Also they need to have irrevocable evidence to bring about change for the better. It is no use sacrificing their time and life to get information that is easily refuted or just unverified observation. I hope that you would not be vengeful but I note that you are quick to change the focus away from those causing the harm.
It seems to me that you are suffering a case of Triangulation (psychology related) which is something that all who discuss and argue on TS ought to understand so as to increase the effectiveness of an argument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulation_(psychology)
Also the Karpman triangle where one person involved in discussion about a problem can shift in approach through three positions like the points of a triangle – Victim (We’re having it tough) – Rescuer (Now taking the side of the victim) – The Persecutor (It’s your fault, you bring about the bad outcome.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle
In your comment bwaghorn you turn on the protesters and become Persecutor, blaming them for withholding information so as to reveal a mass of evidence later at a hearing to judge whether there was bad treatment of animals. You think it should be released straight away to the authorities who could decide immediately to force a change in conditions. That is a theory and supposition on your part that the protesters have rejected as unlikely, from their experience in the past which would be greater than yours.
You present the farmers targeted, because you identify with them, as Victims.
And in the third point, you yourself are the principled Rescuer, wanting to help those receiving criticism in the agricultural sector.
So you are avoiding facing up to the object of the protest action, and presenting the protesters as unethical, (because you now accept there is bad treatment that the protesters themselves have established as fact through their action), and you now turn and blame them for it continuing. You should instead be blaming those carrying it out.
That is a very neat psychological trick that academics have had to study for a long time, observing,and finally explaining it as in the two examples given above.
” if they do not promptly hand over their evidence exposing animal cruelty to the authorities in a timely manner.”
as the usual suspects have turned up to defend their hobbie horse , i’ll type this slowly so you fallas can understand it,
know where does it say that the will let farmers off , what it says is they will turn a blind eye to radicals illegal spying on farmers if they hand over the evidence of the farmers crimes quickly , not let animals continue to suffer so they can get more wow factor.
i personaly potted a coworker to the gm of an outfit i worked at for animal abuse , (the guy was not coping and the gm feared he would suicide so nothing was done , as the guy was leaving).
while i dont condone illegal spying it helps me count to 10 when i ,ve been doing 10 hour days and a simple sheep is winding me up
I bet you can’t be bothered to research the issue and find out what is done to animals in factory farms.
Anti slavery campaigners were smeared as radicals.
Nelson Mandela and the ANC were smeared as radicals.
Nelson Mandela was not, however, a sanctimonious tosser.
Debate the issue.
Drop the name calling.
Don’t you mean THE issue? Veganism that is.
Keep trying to derail the debate away from the mistreatment of animals.
This is a debate on industrial farming and whistle blowing.
Not veganism.
Ironic supersonic!
My first comment on this thread stated
“I really doubt most New Zealand meat eaters are remotely aware of what industrial farming looks like.”
Completely relevant to industrial farming and whistleblowers.
The reason for people’s ignorance is a lack of transparency in the industry.
and quickly devolved to:
“The answer is to adopt a plant based diet permanently.”
People like waghorn and pm…
Hypocrite.
Debate the issue.
Drop the name calling.
Your abusive hypocrisy isn’t a debate: that’s the issue. Lift your game.
Sure. Industrial farming is nothing like slavery, because cows aren’t people. It doesn’t excuse animal crualty, but it does explain why someone might think you’re a sanctimonious dickhead and avoid the majority of your comments. So even if you had an argument, fewer people would read it than if you were a reasonable human being.
People like waghorn and pm would have decried anti slavery movements in the 1770s, calling the activists smug for be against slavery and cruel for not telling the authorities about who wrote a secret report on the inside of a slave ship.
🙄
Absolutely.
Puppet politicians delivering laws for their corporate overlords.
But the purpose of the legislation is not to promote animal welfare – quite the opposite. The purpose is to identify, expose, punish and deter whistleblowers who report animal abuse.
There will need to be an anonymous release channel for whistleblowers, if this type of legislation is passed.
Clever idea though, using the guise of animal welfare to ride their high horse and help push it through.
“It’s not common practice, just a few bad farmers letting the rest of us down” – this is the line we hear so much from the farming lobby (and that Mr and Ms meat, egg and dairy consumer want to hear, so that they don’t have to consider their role in creating the demand that sees animals (mis)treated as commodities rather than conscious, living beings). If groups like SAFE and Farmwatch need to gather evidence to show that a particular practice is widespread, then let them. We definitely don’t need this kind of law, and I doubt very much that we’ll have one imposed under this government. I wish animal welfare was a stronger priority for them, although I recognise that mine is a minority viewpoint.
…Mr and Ms meat, egg and dairy consumer want to hear, so that they don’t have to consider their role in creating the demand that sees animals (mis)treated as commodities rather than conscious, living beings).
Meanwhile, Mr and Ms meat, egg and dairy consumer are at least willing to acknowledge and face the fact that their diet involves killing animals, something rarely to be found among smug, moralising vegans.
I really doubt most New Zealand meat eaters are remotely aware of what industrial farming looks like.
In reality factory farming is the prolonged torture and cruel killing of billions of animals.
I recommend Jonathan Safran Soer’s book ‘Eating Animals.’
Particularly the chapters on the industrial ‘farming’ and killing of chickens and pigs.
There’s nothing smug about the book.
If you look a bit further up this thread I think you’ll find plenty of smug (insincere) moralising from BW. Not, from what I can tell, a vegan!
And this site is filled with people expounding on their political and ethical viewpoints, arguing with others and getting pretty smug at times, too. It’s by no means limited to people espousing veganism. How often have you noticed me smugly moralising about (or mentioning) my 30+ years of veganism? Note the comment above about recognising that mine is a minority viewpoint. Hardly hardline…
If you’re feeling defensive about your choice to continue eating animals, that’s your problem. I don’t eat animals and I don’t eat any products that come from animals. It’s not the main thing I choose to discuss on this site, but I’m not going to be bullied by name-calling into never mentioning it.
Maybe BWaghorn and Ed can get their own post where the “debate” can continue at their level.
of all the nasty shit you put on here comparing me to ed is the lowest i’ve seen ,
cheers arse wipe
I didn’t: Red-Blooded did. Cheers.
So, this is the first time you’ve publicly expressed the view here that people who don’t share your diet are moral failures. Big whoop. If you comment denouncing people like me for eating food, I’m going to comment pointing out my dislike of people doing that. Try not suggesting that people who don’t share your diet are moral failures, it works wonders.
Your question was answered in the article:
So, yeah, need to build up the evidence to show the systemic aspect of the abuse of animals else it will just be ignored.
The filming inside these factories which house the torture and killing of millions of sentient beings has to be stopped by the industrial farming lobby.
If people knew what happened there, they would be out of business.
The answer is Veganuary. It’s like the month of January but without meat.
The answer is to adopt a plant based diet permanently.
If people are serious about fixing our planet, then we know what we must do and we must do it.
One simple and easy sacrifice to make in the interests of preventing climate catastrophe.
Stop
Eating
Meat
You are doing it again – conflating animal rights and environmental arguments.
There are animal rights and environmental issues surrounding the industrial processing of billions of sentient living animals into meat.
Clearly you don’t care about either the damage being done to the end by industrial animal agriculture nor the welfare of the sentient creatures who endure the barbaric conditions inside these factories.
So you make smart comments instead.
Debate the actual issue.
Assumptions fucking much. Actually i will be protesting outside the rodeo tomorrow. I haven’t eaten mammal flesh for more than thirty years.
I usually don’t bother to engage in discussion with you as it is clearly pointless. You have made up your mind what is right for you and you are hell bent now on forcing that on everybody else. I do really care about both animal welfare and climate change and watching you run around alienating people is therefore painful.
Perhaps if you cared more for animals you might talk more about stricter laws and enforcement which would be much more achievable than universal veganism.
Perhaps if you cared more for people you might come to understand that some of us find it hard to meet our nutritional needs from just plants. I can’t eat most grains and nuts for health reasons for example, and eggs and fish are an important part of my diet.
Perhaps if you cared more for the environment you would understand that chickens and cows form an integral part of many permaculture systems.
My comments are about industrial farming, not permaculture.
I would have stricter laws. They would entail the closure of all industrial farming methods.
But catastrophic climate change is happening very soon unless we act.
People are going to have to be forced to make significant sacrifices if we are to mitigate the worst outcomes.
In World War 2, people’s food was rationed to help win the war.
Is it too much to ask that people are forced to move to a plant based diet to save the planet?
NO, your comments are about VEGANISM. Animal rights and climate change are just the issues you hang it off.
“The answer is to adopt a plant based diet permanently. … we know what we must do and we must do it.”
Yes must must do it to save the planet.
Ed:
Solkta:
Deja vue all over again.
For someone whose supposed to love animals, and purports to have their best interests at heart, Ed/Paul certainly loves beating on that dead donkey of his.
This is the year when people have to begin the fightback against the right wing media. The easiest way is micropulse radio stations which are cheap to buy and incur no music royalties if there are no ads. These radio stations are low powered and line of sight and more effective than the msm whould have you believe.
If tribesmen in in the hindu kush can run their own in discrete valleys then what is stopping comparatively wealthy pakehas with disposable income from getting their arses into gear and taking the tories head on at their own game.
Are you sure atomising the shared public spaces is actually a good idea for a healthy civil society? rather than calling for more and more micro-services where people can have their views reinforced in tiny echo chambers wouldn’t it be better to campaign for a well funded publicly owned public service broadcasting network with a wide audience and a range of diverse voices?
+100%, Sanctuary.
+100 you’d also regenerate the local content production landscape as it’s been flogged off over the past years so we need the ‘local’ put back.
Drama, childrens, comedy, documentaries all get a lift if you adopt the ABC model from Oz. Light entertainment as one example is an easy category to make content for and TVNZ showed they can’t even get that right with appalling efforts.
TVNZ is our public broadcaster it just needs some legislation and funding to reshape it as a proper one and flush out the Kendricks and Co for proper broadcasters before it’s too late as they are a dying breed.
Yes absolutely. tc.
you dont understand. it is important that people have real input into the affairs of the community which is based on non profit social justice and the easiest way to do it is with local radio. especially when you play renaissance and pre renaissance music.
rnz can look after itself very well .
R.P., could you expand this idea a bit.
It’s a bit truncated.
you have to pay if you want the playlist.
and the 60’s hippy revolution was backed by the first fm stations who cleaned up later and sold out when the wave receeded. Cant go back now but if you want a revolution NOW then you gotta know what you are doing.
Once a criminal, always a criminal?
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347909/police-cold-calling-strategy-labelled-creepy
Two words
Social Investment
Coppers have been doing it for years, actually started in 1976 with this toy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Law_Enforcement_System in Whanganui.
I think there’s value in having community follow-up for people who’re fresh out of prison (for example). I don’t think the police are the right agency to be doing this, though.
Everything depends on the police involved – they can range from the kind who harass to the kind who give a damn and become genuinely supportive. These human factors are hard to measure from the outside, though the people they visit can probably work out what’s going on pdq.
Some may find it embarrassing with the neighbours or any visiting guests wondering why the police are calling.
Some may find it intimidating, thinking they are being watched or are going to be pinned for any burglaries in the neighbourhood.
Some may find it a total infringement of their rights, being innocent of any recent crime but being harassed nonetheless.
Agreed – it can be all of those things – but it can be done in a way that is positive. Whether it should be done rather depends on how careful they are not to infringe rights, and to avoid alarming neighbours and so forth.
There is a behavioral aspect to some kinds of offending, and support can assist if it is genuine. It is the kind of thing that perhaps should be part of a rehabilitation system – and my understanding of burglary is that a very small number of active burglars may generate a considerable amount of loss and damage.
They could simply call (on the phone) to see if help is required.
Yes – but there is some validity in the human contact angle, as well as the impressionistic assessment of whether things are going ok. It would be unwise to confine an assessment of a recovering alcoholic to phone calls, and to some extent the same might be true of burglars.
Isn’t this something that parole officers would be for if we actually had a decent rehabilitation system?
Yes – there should probably be some overlap between the functions in fact.
So the friendly offer of support has now turned into an assessment, leading to the presumption of innocence taking a further step backwards.
Do you suppose that the presumption of innocence extends to preventing the police from making enquiries? I think you’ll find it doesn’t. But successfully rehabilitated people – those who have managed to get their life back together – can probably be excluded from many enquiries.
Much would depend on what resources the police might have at their disposal to make a ‘helping hand’ approach actually helpful.
Calling around to someones home and making inquiries on no other grounds other than an individual’s past history does seem to rob one of the presumption of innocence, but I’m no legal expert.
George Monbiot.
“Wouldn’t it be great if journalists asked themselves “what is important?” rather than “what is topical?”.“
Edgar McGregor
“Climate change needs more action and less advocacy. Unlike other world issues such as racism, sexism and starvation, climate change will one day be unsolvable. We are losing control of the situation. We know what we need to do, we know what we can expect, we just have to act.”
George Monbiot on Theresa May’s 25 year environmental plan.
“It’s as if it were written with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. In terms of rhetoric, Theresa May’s 25-year environment plan is in some ways the best government document I’ve ever read. In terms of policy, it ranges from the pallid to the pathetic.
Those who wrote it are aware of the multiple crises we face. But, having laid out the depth and breadth of our predicaments, they propose to do almost nothing about them. I can almost hear the internal dialogue: “Yes, let’s change the world! Hang on a minute, what about our commitment to slashing regulations? What about maximising economic growth? What would the Conservatives’ major funders have to say about it? Oh all right, let’s wave our hands around instead.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/11/theresa-may-plastic-plan-economy-consume
One notable line.
“A plastic-free aisle in supermarkets will not deliver a plastic-free isle.”
And his conclusion.
“The more an economy grows, the more resources it will consume. If it’s not plastic, it will be cardboard, and the cardboard is likely to be made from chewed-up rainforest. Clamp down on the use of cardboard, and something else will take its place. An economy that keeps growing on a planet that does not will inevitably burst through environmental limits, however sincere a government might be about seeking to reduce its impacts. The big conversation we need within government has still not begun. ”
I shall distil Monbiot’s passage into a few simple words.
We need to rid ourselves of capitalism.
Or die.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11971853
Will be interesting to see what the Greens do about this
In 1999, speaking against an earlier party-hopping bill, Green co-leader Rod Donald reminded the House that “had this bill existed prior to the last [1999] election, we [Donald and Fitzsimons] would have been removed from this House and denied our opportunity to stay here for the full parliamentary term”.
“Will be interesting to see what the Greens do about this”
Indeed.
Instead of a green belly, we will see true yellow belly of the Greens…
The flipside is when you have an MP who remains too long in the party and does as much as possible to burn it down before leaving.
Party hopping is much less damaging than that.
And he did it in the 1980s and held his own electorate so not a good example.
In fact, any ‘party hopping’ prior to the 1996 election has no bearing on it.
Which is untrue. The greens were part of the Alliance but were still The Greens. Donald and Fitzsimons would still have been Green MPs.
They didn’t leave their party – their party left The Alliance. And it could be argued that their seats were the Green Party share of the Alliance vote they should have kept them anyway.
I don’t expect MPs to be ‘party robots’ but if they leave the party then they damn well shouldn’t keep their seat because they’re no longer representing those that voted for them on the party ticket.
Exactly as it should be.
Then we need better law…
…Oh, wait.
That’s what the party vote does. If an MP then leaves a party then they’ve removed themselves from that decision by the voters and should be removed from parliament.
Electorate MPs are more complex because they’ve actually been voted for by the electorate. We actually need the power of recall given to the voters so that an electorate can remove if they deem it necessary.
Yes!! 1000% DracoTB, they should seek a new mandate from the voters.
Yeah, spot on Draco
List MPs are there on the basis of their party’s share of the vote, it’s the party’s mandate, not the MP’s, therefore if they leave the party they loose the right to that party’s mandate and should be gone from parliament and replaced by the next person on that party’s list.
Electorate MPs have a personal mandate from their electorate, so it’s the MP’s mandate, not the party’s.
Good explanation Graeme. Makes it clear for the unsure.
I’d argue that not allowing them to leave means that the party needs to take more care in their original selection and in how they treat and deal with them for the term of the government.
It’s a fixed term and if the party has screwed up then they need to live with it.
Just shoving any fuckwit on the list is best stopped by not being able to get rid of them til the next election.
Having an internal revolution and changing direction at the hierarchical level shouldn’t mean you can offload the MP’s you don’t like post the revolution.
Then there’s also the issue of the workers for those MP’s. It’s enough that they only have certainty of work for an electoral term without adding to the possibility that the may become out of work cause the party no longer loves an MP – or the MP no longer loves the party.
It’s not often I agree with Nick Smith (actually I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with him and there is some strong irony in some of what he says) but on this I do.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/100357490/house-of-representatives-or-party-poodles
Just shoving any fuckwit on the list is best stopped by not being able to get rid of them til the next election.
Your language says that you are not considering the matter in a balanced way. Political parties are a group of people trying to get into a position to have some sway in the country. They are trying to be part of the political process; they may do things wrongly but talking about them and those involved as ‘fuckwit’ doesn’t add anything to the discussion.
Calling an individual a ‘fuckwit’ when they obviously are failing to achieve anything worthwhile and make statements that fail to take in the reality of the position may be justified, but not some blanket dismissive. You have proved by the way you used that term generally that individually it might be applied to you.
You take the comment far too non-contextually.
I’ve used the extreme end of the spectrum i.e. the party selecting someone completely inappropriate to make the point that it should not be justified under any circumstance.
I’m not leaving any grey for the party to say ooops we got it wrong.
They need to take that care in the first place – not have an escape clause.
To an extent we have that in the way Party lists remain in place for the term of the Parliament. If a list member dies, leaves for a diplomatic post or fucks up and has to go, the Party is stuck with ringing in the next person on their list. Sure we see a bit of gymnastics to get the one the Party really wants, but it is a strong incentive for Parties to be reasonably circumspect on who’s on their lists.
I’m waiting to see what unfolds if there is a string of departures when the National leadership eventually blows open. Fully expect the new leader to try and reshape the caucus in their form. Maybe that’s what the squatter is about in his rather confused and paranoid rant.
Aye that’s why I like what we have and not what is proposed.
Examples from the early days of MMP I think are a poor case to justify change as I’m sure parties are now a little wiser in selecting their list MP’s than when MMP first came in – if they’re not then they should be.
There’s another interpretation of the squatter’s rant. Maybe he’s pissed that National won’t be able to induce defections of NZ first MPs, again.
I’m not so sure about the squatter’s assertion that the waka jumping bill allows the party to “fire” list MPs any more than the current arrangement allows a party to request the member to consider their future.
They’re allowed to leave it’s just that if they do and they’re a list MP then they also leave parliament.
If they leave then they’ve removed themselves.
Such risk obviously comes with the job and one of the reasons why they’re paid quite well.
Young Nats
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/university-of-otago/students-excluded-sadistic-flat-initiation
I thought it was the Daisycutter sports New Year’s bash ?
Sadly, Mullet, there was a shortage of sadists at the last one. A stark contrast to 2005.
Goat runs amok in Carrickfergus
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2016/dec/06/goat-runs-amok-in-carrickfergus-video
Looks like the government’s plans are working to drive out the speculative class.
The article has the usual Herald bias, as the rag represents the rentier class, but it does provide some interesting facts if you can peel away the propaganda.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=11973924
If person owns just one property as a rental property, do they fit into the “speculative” class?
They certainly fit into the ‘rentier’ class.
Yes, if likely capital gains were a significant part of their motivation to purchase it.
Otherwise… probably.
It’s always seen as a sensible investment to have a rental property. I don’t see it as speculative and it wouldn’t be a problem if Labour hadn’t gone feral and National hadn’t gone plutocratic and together they have skewed the country so badly.
See Jeremy Corbyn take on Margaret Thatcher about housing in 1990.
The link is at No. 17 here. The facts he was quoting were bad back then for Britain.
Well, yeah. But the fact is that the nats and labz were what they were, and so for the last thirty years people have bought a rental property on the basis that the capital value will increase enough for them to afford to pay off the property when they sell it down the line, and frequently make up the gap between their income and the mortgage with the rent the property gets.
@ Ed
“Mum and dad investors ‘fleeing’ property…”
Who will fill the void?
Institutional investors?
And will tenants be any better off?
Perhaps the Government could buy them and turn them into state homes?
More building permits issued in Auckland since 2005 in November.
Official figures prepared for the new housing minister estimate a shortfall of 45,000 houses in Auckland, with supply of new homes well behind increased demand.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98519361/weve-inherited-a-disaster-official-figures-show-45000-home-shortfall-in-auckland
It’s not ‘weather weirdness’ NZ Herald.
It’s climate change.
And the sooner you’re honest about this, the quicker New Zealand will start acting decisively to deal with it.
30 degrees in Invercargill
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11974054
Record marine heatwave
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11973975
Zzzzzz….. The vinyl’s scratched..
Ah well, you just ignore it all then.
Go back to sleep, mikes.
Nothing to see here.
Trump cancels UK trip because of fear of mass protests.
Good news.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/12/donald-trump-visit-to-london-called-off-amid-fears-of-mass-protests
“Of 21 Winter Olympic Cities, Many May Soon Be Too Warm to Host the Games.”
https://t.co/ah8TwqdbLD?amp=1
British politics.
First – Jeremy Corbyn v Margaret Thatcher on Housing in 1990
Housing – People sleeping on the streets, children brought up in b*Bs, but Councils have empty houses so there is no difficulty.
Jeremy Corbyn v Margaret Thatcher
Theresa May v Tony Blair
then question on Brexit
There would be many benefit for New Zealand if we banned plastic bags come on let’s get this environmentally friendly economy going don’t listen to the nay Sayers. We have all the raw materials to make paper bags what’s the problem we will create jobs come on
I think that Theo Spiering should take my advice on the solarpanel on cow sheds maybe Papatuanuku will let up on that cow disease and it mite stop spreading that’s my view on that subject P.S. I seen the thunder in action yesterday on thestandard many thanks to all my viewers ka pai ka kite ano
Steve Cowan nails it.
“Jim Anderton was New Zealand’s last significant social democratic politician. While some are claiming he pulled Labour Party back ‘from the brink’ and back to the ‘centre-left’ this is a convenient rewriting of history. The Labour Party today bears little resemblance to the Labour Party that Jim Anderton once knew.”
http://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.co.nz/2018/01/jim-anderton-new-zealands-last-social.html?m=1
I read one comment saying that its a totally different country .I say that this country has a major influence on all the SOCIETIES on Papatuanuku/MotherEarth .So If we can voice All OUR concerns about the direction that we see that country going down If we let them Know NOW this will save a lot of pain and suffering in the future . Kia Kaha
Here is a song I like from the next generation Ka kite ano