Open mike 12/04/2024
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6:00 am, April 12th, 2024 - 25 comments
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- Thursday 21 November 2024
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When the Government says it has reduced the number of people in emergency housing, what it means is it is stopping people from accessing it in the first place. ...3 days ago
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The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. ...3 days ago
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- Government plan to reinstate live animal exports a “national disgrace”
The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. ...3 days ago
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Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, the Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill, has passed its third reading and will become law. ...3 days ago
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- Economists sound alarm on Government’s slash-and-burn approach
A group of prominent economists has released an open letter to the Government, raising grave concerns about the far-reaching consequences of its fiscal policy. ...3 days ago
- Release: Smoking numbers up under Costello’s watch
National’s repeal of Labour’s smokefree legislation has taken New Zealand further away from achieving a Smokefree 2025 and a smokefree generation. ...4 days ago
- Release: Call for Palestine recognition by NZ, Australian and Canadian MPs
Parliamentarians from Australia, Canada and New Zealand have written an open letter to their respective Prime Ministers calling on them to recognise Palestine. ...4 days ago
- Justice Select Committee opens floor for Treaty Principles submissions
Today, the Justice Select Committee has decided to officially open submissions for the controversial Treaty Principles Bill. ...5 days ago
- Power of the people on full display as hīkoi approaches Parliament
Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...5 days ago
- Hypocrisy as Te Whatu Ora contractor bill balloons
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- Stand Up for Te Tiriti
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- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
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The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
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The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice indicates Aotearoa needs to be stepping up on climate action. ...2 weeks ago
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Break out the punchlines and dust off your meme folder: Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the Ballot yesterday. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies
Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
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The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
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Pat Newman, who’s forgotten more about education than Seymour has ever known, describes his (Seymour’s) attendance plan as: “as much use as tits on a bull.”
To avoid Baldrick, the nodding head, start at about 3.30 in.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/04/principal-slams-government-s-new-truancy-plan-as-useless-calls-for-cross-party-action.html
He (Newman) makes a very good point about consistency in policy, (and making it teacher driven) just like happens in Finland.
Truancy won't be arrested.
Seymour will change the way truancy is defined.
Has anyone asked the Seymour expert just how exactly will publishing attendance figures reduce absenteeism?
AND has any one asked Seymour what is the cost of the truancy follow up.
It's the application of the purifying fire of Market Forces. If the parents of prospective students see that a school has low attendance figures, they'll send their kids elsewhere. The school will get a poor reputation, property prices in that zone will take a smallish downward hit. Teachers will not want to work there. The school’s problems will worsen. The market opening for charter schools is widened a little bit. Piece by piece the ultra-libertarian dystopian jigsaw falls into place.
This could have unintended consequences for Seymour and his mates. for some schools, absenteeism is very much parent driven.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/cheap-flights-taking-priority-over-schooling-rector
When the Right parents take the right kids out of the right schools for the right reasons that’s ok.
When the wrong parents take the wrong kids out of the wrong schools for the wrong reasons that’s not ok.
Seymour’s simplistic and cynical proposal is just a giant dog-whistle. In combination with the proposed voucher system it will widen the socio-economic divide, increase competition between schools for ever-dwindling government resources (read: funding) and create a dog-eat-dog environment, and pander to his Epsom voter base with their Koru membership.
I see this publishing of weekly absentee numbers as a possible source of gambling revenue…people could bet on weekly totals..and it could be broken down to individual schools…best/worst schools..
There are many permutations..
And the odds of winning would be better than lotto…
So..?
In one respect it will be good. In the high decile schools, you'll be able to see the spikes in non-attendance around holiday times. People don't want to pay for peak-season flight costs.
The real problem is that people will game the system. Kids with problematic attendance will be at school but won't be in class. They'll be doing something fun/non-challenging that keeps them in school but will have non-use/dubious use in qualifications (e.g. practical mathematics for sports). AKA Goodhart's law – "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure".
Actually this adage is probably more apt. Campbell's law: the more important a metric is in social decision making, the more likely it is to be manipulated.
I love an expert – a real expert – who has the guts to tell it like it really is. That interview should be mandatory listening on every media outlet in the country.
And I can just imagine the adjectives he would liked to have used to describe that slime-ball David Seymour. Slime-ball would have been one of them.
Pat’s great, a hands on advocate and practitioner for years.
That is an excellent/must watch piece of journalism from newshub..
Lux-on and atlas Dave are given first dibs..
(And the illustration of the dynamics/body-language between those two is enough reason to watch it…anyone not knowing their roles would think that atlas Dave is the p.m…with his nodding shaven-headed off-sider… fascinating..!)
Anyway..they spin their bullshit..and then pat newman..a principal of 50 yrs experience…does one of the best takedowns I have seen..
He shreds atlas Dave…and what underlines his message is that it is politically agnostic..
He also pours buckets of excrement upon all the education ministers prior to atlas Dave…heh..!
He defines politicians as being 'the problem'..
Watch it..you will enjoy seeing your anger at these clowns articulated so well..
Bernard Hickey and Cathrine Dyer from The Kākā by Bernard Hickey <thekaka+the-kaka-project@substack.com>
Bernard has published an alarming paper on the "Antarctic heat spike."
No doubt Luxon will appoint a new committee who will find that the slight warming of Antarctic signals a cooling of the planet.
This might link:
https://thekaka.substack.com/p/antarctic-heat-spike-shocks-climate?utm_source=substack&publication_id=102473&post_id=143491103&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=25honw&triedRedirect=true
Big job layoffs in the public service over most ministeries. But not in Seymour's ministry of silly smirks – funny that!
They should have called it "Ministry of Administrative Affairs" – Yes, Minister
I heard on RNZ a recommendation for a podcast.
Things Fell Apart.
Jon Ronson, a BBC 4 journalist looking at the culture wars. For a controversial subject I find him reasonably even handed. His voice is reminiscent of Julian Clary which I find helps.
The first episode is the start of the anti abortion movement.
Great half hour chunks of informative entertainment.
Yup, it's a great listen to find out, for example, how the 15 min cities conspiracy evolved. Entertaining and horrifying in equal measure.
"… anti abortion movement"
I've always disliked the term anti abortion. I guess there's not much else that can be used. As it's written I would have thought most people aren't in favor of abortions rather they believe in the right to choose. You can be anti abortion and pro choice which is my position. In an ideal world it would be great if there were no abortions, but we don't live in an ideal world and a woman is the only one who has the right to make any decisions about her body.
Except in the case of recreational drugs of course, where it seems a majority of the population still believe a person has no right to decide what they do with their own body.
Thread from Russell Brown on the closure of Public Address
https://x.com/publicaddress/status/1778540226396520779?s=46
The woman is an idiot.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/nicola-willis-finance-minister-on-the-status-of-the-public-service-cuts-to-get-spending-under-control/
Did EngLit grad Nicola ever read King Lear?
From Act III – Scene VII.
REGAN: Give me thy sword. A peasant stand up thus? [Takes a sword, and runs at the servant from behind, killing him]
"….aren't the end of the world…"
Wow.
I'd wager she's not a very empathetic person…
Could have been deliberate phrasing knowing she's talking to Hosking's audience so mirroring their views.
Which obviously doesn't change her lack of empathy.
Now Nicola, slashing those jobs, "cleaning up" allows that money to be spent on tax cuts.
Show us the savings Nicola!! Savings are as real as your "rock solid" figures.
Show us the costs again Nicola!! Lost tax take, lost skills and knowledge,
lost confidence,
lost small and medium businesses in Wellington,
Yes Nicola, even your Landlords may not find tenants, and the knock on of not being able to claim your much vaunted tax cuts.
A total bloody mess!!
Stupid does not cover it, we know what is "rock solid", and it is not your planning.