Boo hooo the landed gentry already well off people paying their share of taxes .
Capital gains income should be no different why does a business and an wage and salary earner have to pay full taxes and a property investor less or no tax.
And then effectively tax the tenant and record rental prices forcing the govt to top up rent through the rent subsidy.
Double dipping welfare for landlords who don't want to pay tax because they are investing in property.
Facts and photos are (yet again) ruining the relentless propaganda of the Israeli regime and its supporters….
The Israel Narrative Is Crumbling Because Of Phone Cameras And The Internet
by Caitlin Johnstone
…The mass media are working furiously to spin this in a way that rivals my satire piece from the other day. The New York Times has been cartoonishly re-writing its own reporting in a desperate attempt to make Israel look like an innocent victim of unprovoked attacks instead of the obvious aggressor against people protesting a brutal apartheid regime backed by an entire empire. The New York Post falsely reported that the deaths on Monday were caused by "Airstrikes from Hamas militants" (when did Hamas get an air force?) when sharing an article which falsely implied that those fatalities were inflicted by both sides. DW News framed its headline in a way that suggested the nine children killed had been involved in "fighting" against Israeli forces, and the word "clashes" is being thrown about willy nilly to describe a very one-sided assault.
But it isn't working.
Social media is teeming with viral video footage of police assaulting peaceful worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, of Israelis cheering and chanting "Yimach shemam (may their names be erased)" at the sight of a fire near the mosque, of Israeli soldiers arresting Palestinian protesters using the signature knee-on-neck maneuver made famous by the murder of George Floyd, many of which have millions of views. Mainstream politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are putting out statements explicitly condemning Israel as the aggressor in these attacks, and the White House is facing some actual adversarial journalism for once regarding its refusal to denounce the killing of Palestinian children and its absurd position that Palestinians have no right to defend themselves…
Anyone used this line yet, Morrissey? It seems to have become the standard reply when uniformed thugs are filmed in action (at least Aotearoa):
such videos often exclude relevant context, and the one in question was a small excerpt from a “fast-moving and dynamic situation”
But the Israeli (and Hamas, for that matter – given their rockets' lack of aiming ability) military are certainly engaging in Collective Punishment in violation of International Humantiarian Law. And their own rules for that matter:
Israel’s Manual on the Rules of Warfare (2006) states: “The disciplinary and punishment rules applicable in the army of the imprisoning country will also apply to the prisoners-of-war. Group punishments … are absolutely forbidden.”
Cynicism from someone in a comparative paradise Ad. Palestinians would love to be so hard-stretched as you are. Can you not extend some concern rather than the objective, strong man's overview?
Maybe they are just filling a void that opens up when things start to crack up, and of course there they have cracked up long ago. So which strongman/group gets in? We have a version of that here. So spare me your world-weary comments. I know a bit about what is going on, though not as much as you. And I feel they are all locked into a dance to the death. We should feel sorry for them and try to keep away from being locked in here. There are enough competing negative shits to watch out for here. What you know about Israel may help you to work out how to keep it at bay here, that is if you don't want army law and government stepping in to run the country that is not managing that adequately.
Missiles are flying both ways; land 'confiscations' are one way – BAU.
A Threshold Crossed
Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution
A couple of opinion pieces.
What is happening in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah? Dozens of Palestinians are facing imminent dispossession from their homes in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in what they say is a move to force them out and replace it entirely with a Jewish settlement.
The Jerusalem District Court ruled at least six families must vacate their homes in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday, despite living there for generations.
Jerusalem, the unfolding tragedy Jabotinsky argued that the Palestinians are no fools to be deceived or bribed into giving up their homelands to the Jewish newcomers, and no reward would ever be enough to compensate them for the loss of their homeland, and therefore, they must be driven into total despair by coercion or force.
Israel is a colonial war machine that never sleeps. Its mounting provocations in Jerusalem in recent weeks have predictably driven Palestinians to the streets in protest.
The Israeli occupation, repression, disruption, discrimination, property confiscation or home demolition are a decades-long daily affair. Likewise, racist and violent provocations by Israeli fanatics are common practice in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Evictions in Jerusalem Become Focus of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Palestinians and their advocates consider the evictions — coupled with restrictions on building permits, which force Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to either leave the city, or to build illegal housing vulnerable to demolition orders — as a kind of ethnic cleansing.
“It’s a land grab,” said Sami Abu Dayyeh, owner of the Ambassador Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah, some of whose land has been confiscated by the Israeli state in a separate case. “They are stealing land left and right.”
A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said Friday that the evictions “would violate Israel’s obligations under international law” prohibiting the forced transfer of residents from occupied territory.
So nothing to do the IDF attack on Muslims congregating at Damascus Gate? Or the IDF's heavy handed thuggery with worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque? Or the eviction of Palestinians from their homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers?
The current Hamas rocket bombardment by what are basically glorified sugar rockets is classic asymmetric warfare. A Qassam rocket costs around US$800 to make. An Iron Dome missile costs (depending on source) anywhere between US$40,000 to US$100,000 -most say US$70,000. If Hamas can maintain today's rate of fire of around 1000 rockets for even two more days then the Iron Dome system will most likely run out of ammunition. I would guess this is why the Israelis are currently indiscriminately bombing Gaza – they are frantically trying to destroy the Qassam storage areas. Otherwise, they'd just use artillery.
In 2014 this was one of the reasons Israel agreed to a ceasefire – after intercepting around 780-800 incoming rockets they ran out of Iron Dome missiles. So if that happens and if Hamas have enough rockets to keep up the bombardment they'll start giving the Israeli civilian population a taste of their own medicine. At that point Israel will either have to conduct what will likely be a bloody and costly ground attack on Gaza (the mainly occupation duties of repressing people throwing stones has turned the IDF into a sloppy army heavily reliant of massive firepower superiority and it got a rude shock in 2014, losing 67 KIA in the first two days of their operations in the urban rabbit warren of Gaza and I'd bet Hamas will not care about it's losses and has turned Gaza into a defensive position that would attract the admiration of Vasily Chiukov and the 62nd Army) or back down soon and negotiate before they run out of missiles.
And I would be careful throwing around the terrorist label – these are desperate people kept in a squalid ghetto and driven to the edge of human endurance by a brutal apartheid regime. Mandela, Mbeki, Biko – they were all "terrorists" to an apartheid regime as well. Palestinians have a right to self defense as much as Israel, and if Hamas leads that fight then whose terrorists are they? If all you've got is your courage and stones and home made rockets against all the drones and jets and missiles and tanks and artillery and electronic wizardry of an utterly brutal and violent oppressor then perhaps it might be worth considering you don't have quite the same luxuries of target choice as your opponents. What ever you think of Hamas, those guys who are currently going outside to fight back against the Israelis have got a shit ton of guts.
"…In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had said the rocket attacks would continue until Israel stopped “all scenes of terrorism and aggression in Jerusalem and al-Aqsa mosque”…"
We can all wait and see now as to who comes out on top. If the Israelis want a fight, the ball is in their court.
David Seymour and Paul Goldsmith want more bean counters counting leftover lunches at schools. Instead of giving students an education, teachers should be chasing uneaten lunches.
Class won’t start until little Johnny has eaten his lunch!
Perhaps Seymour and Goldsmith can't read. The poor little men scurrying around like ants looking for crumbs of human leftovers to turn into political hot potatoes. What could they do with polluted water or dodgy chemical stodge or sewage overflows. Gather those together with your enthusiasm for recycling and turn those into hot potatoes you dreebs.
From urban dictionary – 'Dreeb' – someone whos cocky on the outside but insecere (sic) on the inside. They over reate themself and under rate others,
Go to Act's website and check out their education policy. Seymour's not out talking about that. He's not on some south to north crusade selling it so that when he's in coalition government with National after the next election it's a surprise to people. He hasn't despatched his caucus buddies to do it either.
"ACT will give every child a Student Education Account at the age of two. Each year until a student is 18, $12,000 will be placed into that Account. At the age of 18, they will receive a further $30,000 for tertiary education, with up to $50,000 available top (sic) academic achievers through a scholarship program. Over half of students will receive a scholarship."
They have reducing 'the number of back office bureaucrats at the Ministry of Education by 50 per cent getting rid of all the backroom Ministry of Education people' so I guess Novopay will run their "Student Education Account' scheme.
'Morale in the teaching profession is at an all-time low. Teachers feel undervalued and overworked with bureaucratic compliance' so with less bureaucrats and a great funding regime, who is to count the leftover lunches?
Maybe the Epsom two, the innumerate and the dweeb will start up the Great Lunch Counting Company.
I have put some peculiar settings in inadvertently. I have removed my comment but there is a tail behind. Sorry mods. I didn't know this would happen – weird. Something carried over from a google dictionary listing. It puts a light border around comments.
Have Messrs Seymour and Goldsmith considered what would happen if not enough food was supplied due to a too tight supply regime?
$5-$7 per lunch delivered is a good price. I bought my lunch on Sunday during a meeting from a public cafeteria. There was nothing there under $5, except a small pastry pie and a banana. Even a simple sandwich was $5.50, pies from $5.
I had experience of the Japanese lunch in school scheme where a varied and nutritious lunch was provided for a low parentally paid fee which it seemed all did pay. The lunch was eaten in the classroom under the supervision of the teacher. There was obviously left over food as Mrs Mac1 and I both sat with these primary students and ate the same food. Student monitors served and cleaned up. The daily menu was displayed in the foyer with its calorific value of IIRC some 700 calories.
The surplus food in NZ is not wasted. it is given away to students or given to food kitchens. It might be surplus to daily requirements based on dietary preference, absentees and pupils providing their own lunch, but it is not wasted.
In supplication to the great God of Efficiency – I suggest that all leftover lunches are supplied to the patrons of Rosie, a very pleasant cafe in the Epsom electorate and doubtless known to its two MPs. The cheese sandwiches might balance the taste of octopus on the palate, provided one has a riesling with sufficient acidity.
Wellington City council is now completely in disarray. People are stressed, crying, feeling bullied……I really don't understand this. Why are they stressed? Because its game over with neglecting the basics for which they have been elected? Have they forgotten that they have been voted into the position to represent the ratepayer, who forks out ever increasing amounts that they hardly can afford? Are they having a bit of an entitlement hissy fit?
If any of the ordinary folks in a job would perform as some of these people they would be sacked. Who is holding these overpaid sandcastle players to account?
Maybe they need to be replaced by a interim management team until all the logistics of maintaining a city is being taken care of.
Well, no. Rates are being increased by double figures because some pet projects have got priority above the basics. You know, drinking water, waste water. Just some fancy stuff that has been invented by the Romans about 800 BC, so not really new technology mind you. But maybe we are travelling back in time? There is no excuse to have basic maintenance that people have to pay for without being able to opt out (compulsion) deferred and instead i.e. put a signage up "Windy Wellington" etc.
If you cant stand the heat go out of the kitchen, we have to stop pussyfooting around drowning in political correctness and achieving nothing. I mean really nothing.
This has nothing to do with being PC. It's just where you aim your wrath. Perhaps I spoke out of turn, but I was thinking of council workers, not council members.
Those calling the shots are the ones calling the shots. The majority of council workers are then obliged to do, or not do, as their masters bid.
All those workers on the frontline can do jack-shit about this, other than vote out the munters failing to address the cities issues adequately. In the meantime, they're getting abuse for things well out of their control.
If you are addressing the office bound idiots making the stupid calls, fair enough, I read it wrong, have at em.
I went to some of the plan meetings. As far as I am concerned fixing the pipes is the number one item and there seems to be quite a lot of public realism about that. What was much more interesting though are the figures for population increase which they are still promoting as 50,000-80,000 range over 30 years which after a lot of previous discussion looks like it is likely to be closer to 30,000 . For politics they had grabbed the largest figure they could see and didn't want to answer questions about it although they looked uncomfortable. Why does central government insist of continuing population increases as well as shovelling that population into existing cities. Letting the population drop could be very cost effective.
Even more interesting was that there seemed to be no breakdown of 3 waters costs between new dwellings/suburbs and upgrading/repairing needed for the existing system. And no idea at all of what the government will pay towards 3 waters. The estimates I have seen for fixing? are in the region of $3 billion to $6 billion over 30 years – so $100 to $200 million per annum. I'd actually like to see the 3 waters costs gathered into a group along with possibly the assets and loans that relate to them plus the existing rates used for this-so that we can look at dedicated funding options whether it's higher rates, bulk rates payments in advance at a discount or loans etc to ensure the money does go to the pipes and doesn't at any point get left in the general take forever. It would be easier to fit the government up with their share for new housing too.
I think I would be happier with a one off dob if that meant the pipes in our suburb got fixed.
This is the result of 20 years deferred maintenance and about 30% of the budget being diverted to some projects that was the fancy of the council. There was and is no accountability. The slogan Absolutely positively Wellington turns out to be an absolutely messy (sewage) Wellington.
The only way to get on top of this is to have GST of the rates returned to councils and some reporting on progress and expenses connected made mandatory. This could work for many.
To increase Rates by double digits is just outrageous. People will not be able to afford this and the elderly in particular.
There was a comment by the Union that 60k is not a high wage and makes it difficult paying rent, living costs etc. Perhaps, just perhaps it should be mentioned that a very large section of people do not earn 60K.
Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd on the #SaveSheikhJarrah campaign and his family's fight to keep their home in the face of threatened displacement.
If the court rules in favor of the landlords, the question remains of what happens to the Palestinian residents, who could be evicted as soon as next week. Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim ownership of land they vacated in 1948, but denies Palestinians the right to reclaim the properties they fled from in the same war.
Mr. Skafi, the Sheikh Jarrah resident, said his family lived in West Jerusalem before 1948, but has no legal recourse to reclaim the property.
“It’s the height of racism,” he said, shortly before the police fired another barrage of skunk water nearby. “Jews can get back their properties, but not the Arabs.”
But Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a deputy mayor of Jerusalem, said the discrepancy was necessary to preserve Israel’s Jewish character.
“This is a Jewish country,” she said. “There’s only one. And of course there are laws that some people may consider as favoring Jews — it’s a Jewish state. It is here to protect the Jewish people.”
Not in the public service, but still below $60k. So not arguing for my own pay here.
But $60k is far too low, taking in midlevel teachers, nurses, and administrators. Expecting exceptional service to get a basic scale increase at that level is taking the piss, especially when for many of them exceptional is the norm.
But the other thing is that this is levelling down, if even inflation adjustments weren't in the plan. Build up the lower paid, but playing the middle against the poor is a dirty move, in my opinion.
Just bloody make a higher tax bracket at a progressive level if the govt really needs the cash.
I'll also say "pay" doesn't mean "security" – eternal restructurings all over the public service. Not just big ones like Health, even smaller units can suddenly get the notice that they'll have to reapply for fewer jobs.
I'll also say "pay" doesn't mean "security" – eternal restructurings all over the public service. Not just big ones like Health, even smaller units can suddenly get the notice that they'll have to reapply for fewer jobs.
QFT.
Teaching is a prime example now – so many teachers are now employed on yearly contracts, not on a permanent contract, so they never know from one year to the next if they will still have a job. Easy for the school administration to manage their staffing levels from year to year – but shit for the actual teaching staff.
Just bloody make a higher tax bracket at a progressive level if the govt really needs the cash.
Heck yeah, they could increase the taxes at the higher end. And by doing so would not only lift a few select employees from the government up but all of the other low wage workers too.
But i totally understand the government needs money and it needs to come from someone.
My figuring is that they wanted to keep the public service line item static as part of the bigger picture.
But that's a catch-22: increase the public service line item to level-up the lower income workers, the opposition bleats about money for mandarins.
Level-up lower income workers by freezing the mid-to-upper echelons, they're punishing covid workers.
So the alternative to that catch-22 is do a complete tax system overhaul, which would be a gift to the nats. We've still yet to see the fallout from the stumbles the transition to the new health system will inevitably experience.
Anyone who rents in either of these brackets will have less money as rents will go up, just to name one. Never mind that interest rates will go up too, and we already have people who can't afford their mortgages.
Cost of living goes up. cost of everything goes up. 60.000 anual is about 28 NZD per hour, for someone who has a degree, student loans, family etc. Not that much if you consider that you now pay a dish washer 20.00 NZD.
So for this supposedly super educated socially woke, but fiscally austere government to come out with such an idiotic blunder – and i am being very polite here – again just shows how out of touch these guys actually are. Maybe half of them have never earned a dollar outside of government, so maybe they really believe that 100.000 per annum before tax is a lot, but it actually is not. Not when you pay up to 2.000 – 2500 NZD per month just to rent a place. (and going up), and probably more to pay a mortgage.
So you can not keep something static by puting a 'hold' or a 'freeze' on it, as inflation keeps going up, and everything else with it. Dumb, idiotic and total shambles from people who really have no clue just what it means to not live a whole working life on the government tit.
As i said, and many others have said before if you really want to move the lower incomes up, make the first 10 – 20 grand tax free and then roll out a meaningful wealth tax to claw it back.
But this was just so dumb, that i ask what they were trying to hide behind this storm in a teapot.
Stuff is always dumb after it fails spectacularly.
The impulse of increasing incomes for the lower-earners in the public service was a good one.
I suspect they were thinking "office workers", not "nurses".
The budget is next Thursday. This was part of the scheduled announcement dribble that always happens before each budget. Whether the response has resulted in a rewrite is another question.
If truly they were thinking office worker rather then nurses why is that different? Oh, the office worker not worth their wages? So let me get this right, the very rich (and all these people are very rich compared to the nurse or the office worker) will play the almost poor against the very poor – while eating the whole cake? Sounds exactly what a kind, gentle, compassionate, socially minded so called 'workers' party would do.
Seriously? the whole idea of setting the income as low as 60 grand, was dumb. The whole idea of believing that someone on a 100.000 is rich is dumb.
The median wage in NZ is about 54 grand per year. So they decided that 6 grand more is gonna make a huge difference? seriously?
And frankly what about all those that are not in government? Can hang on to their 20 NZD for their part time jobs and shut up? You got plenty?
The problem in NZ really is that the government can not increase the wages fast enough to keep up with rising cost of living, rent being one. IT can also not increase wages fast enough to start saving on various WINZ supplements to keep working people in motels while they still have money to pay food.
The reality is that the only thing this government really needs to do, before literally anything is to reign in the housing market. And the little diddling so far has had absolutely no effect, and chances are will not have any effect. Houses are going still up, rents are going still up, tenants are even less likely to complain as they have no option to find something else, etc etc etc.
So yeah, this was the dumbest action so far from this government. And even worse is to blame the news for their own blunder, and i consider that calling it a wage freeze was actually a polite thing, as actually it was a drop in wages, once you factor in raising costs in inflation and rents/mortgages/rates etc.
That is like blame the housing crisis on people wanting to live in houses, if they were happy to live in ditches we would have no crisis.
Never thought i would be happy for a Labour government to just go home, but heck i am almost there. I really can't wait for all of them to join the UN.
But the thing that i really hope about is that next time people might consider voting for some third party so non of these unsinspiring / mediocre large parties ever get majority again.
In case you haven't noticed, a handy scapegoat for all political parties (especially the rightwing, because it meshes with their hatred of democratic government) is the backroom bureaucrat and mandarin in Wellington.
Sure, it's bullshit. But it makes office workers in the public service more vulnerable than the "heroic" public servants. Of the folks you've seen to be outraged at this measure, how many brought up doctors, nurses, cops, and teachers? How many people brought up funding&planning officers or data analysts, content writers or departmental librarians?
The shopkeepers union (Retail Assn.) has been pushing for this for as long as I can remember. Good to see Labour moving to impose something realistic. National just laughed at us.
Can see the banks trying to recoup in other was though. It costs just under $100 / month to have an eftpos machine sitting on the counter with machine rental, Paymark fee and the $20 minimum charge on the interchange. For a lot of small retailers who’d probably be better off out working 40 hrs at min wage it adds up. Some if the larger retail outfits aren’t a lot better either.
It's not concerning at all. It seems even RNZ employs clickbait
"Small micro-drones could be deployed by Armed Offenders Squads, and police should consider buying one or two much more expensive – and secure – Aeryon SkyRangers or fixed-wing Aerovironment Pumas. The Defence Force has several SkyRangers.
These did not connect to the Internet at all, Shelley said.
"If the risks are controlled, certainly those benefits outweigh the risks.""
If the buyer of the drone has no control over the destination or use of the data collected they'd be fools to buy such drones.
And of course why we should be more worried about the Chinese government having access to data gathered here than the US having access to all our digital communications data is a mystery to me.
Just listened to Luxon speak in the general debate: Labour and the left will underestimate him at their cost.
He reminded me so much of Key – glib, shallow but repeating all the cliches which appeal to the shallow-thinking public who will be swayed by his empty rhetoric.
You know the sort of crap Key used to spout – appealing to the hard-working kiwis who just want to get on etc – Luxon has the patter off pat!
God help this country if we get a couple of terms of a Key-clone!
It seems that we do need a government that is actively participating in our affairs on behalf of us all. Leaving it to business is to leave matters to self-interest, unless it is profitable. How could any set of thinking people in Parliament think any differently. Now we are short of vets. Manpower forecasts and adequate training, preferably with opportunities for bonding with government scholarship would provide well. What a pity that thinking and planning went entirely out of fashion!
Veterinary Association (NZVA) chief officer Helen Beattie said the country is between 50 and 100 vets short, which is affecting the well-being of both people and animals.
What do you want Government to do? Take away the passports of vets and vet nurses that get better job offers elsewhere? Or who go to OZ to have a better wage and maybe a shot at a house?
The government could make studies free of charge, it could bond people to the country in exchange for a free education, but it seems that this country is very happy to see its young people be loaded up with debt, education, housing, and so on and then they wave them good bye when they leave.
But never fear, surely we can import some Veterinarian from some third world nations that would work for cheap as chips and not complain either. As we are doing and have done for the longest time.
The output from our university vet schools is about 70 a year I think so we are short two years grads in the workforce. So an over cooked response from the association? Any part time work on offer for older vets – summer placements for the grads in training – maybe if grads want to a slightly extended academic course along with greater placement work?
There aren't many reasons I would voluntarily go into an Anglican church, but if I'd been in Auckland on Saturday, I certainly would have:
Candlelight vigils have been held around the region to remember Tongan LGBTQIA+ activist, Polikalepo "Poli" Kefu, who was found murdered near his home in Lapaha this month…
New Zealand-based TLA members Ashley Tonga and Eva Tanya Mafi co-organised a vigil at St Peter's Anglican Church in Onehunga, Auckland, on Saturday. It was attended by many more people than Mafi expected.
"The planning and hosting was all about Poli, with the deal between the TLA in New Zealand, to build the service together. I didn't think there would be heaps of people from the community there, but I felt excited to see them there," she said.
So much of the gender-binary normativity has been built on the foundation of christian colonialism, that it just seems peculiar to have such a ceremony in a church. But, I guess, if a type of building is constructed to accommodate a large congregation of grievers, that would be it. It's all just so sad and pointless.
But at least they'll be buried as themselves. Trans/ takutāpui/ leitis aren't often allowed even that much. Which does make it difficult to tell how many of us are being murdered. TGEU puts it at 350 last year, up from 179 a decade before, for; "a total of 3664 reported cases… worldwide between 1 January 2008 and 30 September 2020".
However, these figures are not complete. Due to data not being systematically collected in most countries, added to the constant misgendering by families, authorities, and media, it is not possible to estimate the number of unreported cases.
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Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
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Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
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As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
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The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
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Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
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Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Big complaints from the capitalists about the capital gains tax rate in Stuff today. Including what seems to be an argument that paying tax under new rules is unfair because they wouldn't have had to pay tax under the old rules?
Easy solution to that complaint – make the new tax rules retrospective. Now that would be harsh.
Boo hooo the landed gentry already well off people paying their share of taxes .
Capital gains income should be no different why does a business and an wage and salary earner have to pay full taxes and a property investor less or no tax.
And then effectively tax the tenant and record rental prices forcing the govt to top up rent through the rent subsidy.
Double dipping welfare for landlords who don't want to pay tax because they are investing in property.
Facts and photos are (yet again) ruining the relentless propaganda of the Israeli regime and its supporters….
Anyone used this line yet, Morrissey? It seems to have become the standard reply when uniformed thugs are filmed in action (at least Aotearoa):
But the Israeli (and Hamas, for that matter – given their rockets' lack of aiming ability) military are certainly engaging in Collective Punishment in violation of International Humantiarian Law. And their own rules for that matter:
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule103
There's an old (grim) joke that; a terrorist is someone with a bomb, but no air-force.
Looks like a Hamas advertising campaign to gain popular support to replace Abbas in their next election. Seems to be working well for them.
Also plays well for Netanyahu for the same reason.
Minor skirmishes are excellent retail politics for both.
I guess the Yahoo really doesn't want Yair Lapid forming a government.
Cynicism from someone in a comparative paradise Ad. Palestinians would love to be so hard-stretched as you are. Can you not extend some concern rather than the objective, strong man's overview?
Spare me the usual.
The vote there is in 11 days.
The Hamas candidate list is chocka with convicted terrorists.
This is a pure electoral play.
Maybe they are just filling a void that opens up when things start to crack up, and of course there they have cracked up long ago. So which strongman/group gets in? We have a version of that here. So spare me your world-weary comments. I know a bit about what is going on, though not as much as you. And I feel they are all locked into a dance to the death. We should feel sorry for them and try to keep away from being locked in here. There are enough competing negative shits to watch out for here. What you know about Israel may help you to work out how to keep it at bay here, that is if you don't want army law and government stepping in to run the country that is not managing that adequately.
Missiles are flying both ways; land 'confiscations' are one way – BAU.
A Threshold Crossed
Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution
A couple of opinion pieces.
So nothing to do the IDF attack on Muslims congregating at Damascus Gate? Or the IDF's heavy handed thuggery with worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque? Or the eviction of Palestinians from their homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers?
I guess the next 48 hours will tell.
The current Hamas rocket bombardment by what are basically glorified sugar rockets is classic asymmetric warfare. A Qassam rocket costs around US$800 to make. An Iron Dome missile costs (depending on source) anywhere between US$40,000 to US$100,000 -most say US$70,000. If Hamas can maintain today's rate of fire of around 1000 rockets for even two more days then the Iron Dome system will most likely run out of ammunition. I would guess this is why the Israelis are currently indiscriminately bombing Gaza – they are frantically trying to destroy the Qassam storage areas. Otherwise, they'd just use artillery.
In 2014 this was one of the reasons Israel agreed to a ceasefire – after intercepting around 780-800 incoming rockets they ran out of Iron Dome missiles. So if that happens and if Hamas have enough rockets to keep up the bombardment they'll start giving the Israeli civilian population a taste of their own medicine. At that point Israel will either have to conduct what will likely be a bloody and costly ground attack on Gaza (the mainly occupation duties of repressing people throwing stones has turned the IDF into a sloppy army heavily reliant of massive firepower superiority and it got a rude shock in 2014, losing 67 KIA in the first two days of their operations in the urban rabbit warren of Gaza and I'd bet Hamas will not care about it's losses and has turned Gaza into a defensive position that would attract the admiration of Vasily Chiukov and the 62nd Army) or back down soon and negotiate before they run out of missiles.
And I would be careful throwing around the terrorist label – these are desperate people kept in a squalid ghetto and driven to the edge of human endurance by a brutal apartheid regime. Mandela, Mbeki, Biko – they were all "terrorists" to an apartheid regime as well. Palestinians have a right to self defense as much as Israel, and if Hamas leads that fight then whose terrorists are they? If all you've got is your courage and stones and home made rockets against all the drones and jets and missiles and tanks and artillery and electronic wizardry of an utterly brutal and violent oppressor then perhaps it might be worth considering you don't have quite the same luxuries of target choice as your opponents. What ever you think of Hamas, those guys who are currently going outside to fight back against the Israelis have got a shit ton of guts.
PS I notice in the Guardian just now that Hamas has in fact laid out it's war aims –
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/12/israel-gaza-violence-death-toll-rises-as-un-envoy-warns-over-escalation
"…In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had said the rocket attacks would continue until Israel stopped “all scenes of terrorism and aggression in Jerusalem and al-Aqsa mosque”…"
We can all wait and see now as to who comes out on top. If the Israelis want a fight, the ball is in their court.
A minor skirmish.
https://twitter.com/ELINTNews/status/1392275396704542720
Where is Seymour or any of our politicians on this issue?
I think I heard Golriz Ghahraman on the radio this morning but that may have been about inappropriate investment spending.
How silent will the uk labour party be.
You may have to ask the leader's wife.
Why didn’t you eat your lunch at school today?
David Seymour and Paul Goldsmith want more bean counters counting leftover lunches at schools. Instead of giving students an education, teachers should be chasing uneaten lunches.
Class won’t start until little Johnny has eaten his lunch!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125079039/thousands-of-taxpayerfunded-school-lunches-left-uneaten-by-students
perhaps Johnny can’t read
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VYEm76840Yo
Perhaps Seymour and Goldsmith can't read. The poor little men scurrying around like ants looking for crumbs of human leftovers to turn into political hot potatoes. What could they do with polluted water or dodgy chemical stodge or sewage overflows. Gather those together with your enthusiasm for recycling and turn those into hot potatoes you dreebs.
From urban dictionary – 'Dreeb' – someone whos cocky on the outside but insecere (sic) on the inside. They over reate themself and under rate others,
Go to Act's website and check out their education policy. Seymour's not out talking about that. He's not on some south to north crusade selling it so that when he's in coalition government with National after the next election it's a surprise to people. He hasn't despatched his caucus buddies to do it either.
"ACT will give every child a Student Education Account at the age of two. Each year until a student is 18, $12,000 will be placed into that Account. At the age of 18, they will receive a further $30,000 for tertiary education, with up to $50,000 available top (sic) academic achievers through a scholarship program. Over half of students will receive a scholarship."
They have reducing 'the number of back office bureaucrats at the Ministry of Education by 50 per cent getting rid of all the backroom Ministry of Education people' so I guess Novopay will run their "Student Education Account' scheme.
'Morale in the teaching profession is at an all-time low. Teachers feel undervalued and overworked with bureaucratic compliance' so with less bureaucrats and a great funding regime, who is to count the leftover lunches?
Maybe the Epsom two, the innumerate and the dweeb will start up the Great Lunch Counting Company.
Still on vouchers and voucher equivalents, huh. Bloody dinosaurs.
I have put some peculiar settings in inadvertently. I have removed my comment but there is a tail behind. Sorry mods. I didn't know this would happen – weird. Something carried over from a google dictionary listing. It puts a light border around comments.
Someone will be lined up to harvest those vouchers – like the 'free hearing assessments'.
Have Messrs Seymour and Goldsmith considered what would happen if not enough food was supplied due to a too tight supply regime?
$5-$7 per lunch delivered is a good price. I bought my lunch on Sunday during a meeting from a public cafeteria. There was nothing there under $5, except a small pastry pie and a banana. Even a simple sandwich was $5.50, pies from $5.
I had experience of the Japanese lunch in school scheme where a varied and nutritious lunch was provided for a low parentally paid fee which it seemed all did pay. The lunch was eaten in the classroom under the supervision of the teacher. There was obviously left over food as Mrs Mac1 and I both sat with these primary students and ate the same food. Student monitors served and cleaned up. The daily menu was displayed in the foyer with its calorific value of IIRC some 700 calories.
The surplus food in NZ is not wasted. it is given away to students or given to food kitchens. It might be surplus to daily requirements based on dietary preference, absentees and pupils providing their own lunch, but it is not wasted.
In supplication to the great God of Efficiency – I suggest that all leftover lunches are supplied to the patrons of Rosie, a very pleasant cafe in the Epsom electorate and doubtless known to its two MPs. The cheese sandwiches might balance the taste of octopus on the palate, provided one has a riesling with sufficient acidity.
I suggest that the leftovers are sent by courier to Bellamys where the pollies can 'eat cake' like the plebs.
Its a highly effective multi generation Labour vote harvesting machine.
Let them eat cake.
I can just see those too, cane in hand with little hard ons erect screaming at kids to eat there meat if they want pudding.
Wellington City council is now completely in disarray. People are stressed, crying, feeling bullied……I really don't understand this. Why are they stressed? Because its game over with neglecting the basics for which they have been elected? Have they forgotten that they have been voted into the position to represent the ratepayer, who forks out ever increasing amounts that they hardly can afford? Are they having a bit of an entitlement hissy fit?
If any of the ordinary folks in a job would perform as some of these people they would be sacked. Who is holding these overpaid sandcastle players to account?
Maybe they need to be replaced by a interim management team until all the logistics of maintaining a city is being taken care of.
“People are stressed, crying, feeling bullied”
“Are they having a bit of an entitlement hissy fit”
“These overpriced sandcastle players”
“ordinary folks… would be sacked”
You sure do sound like a bully from here.
Well, no. Rates are being increased by double figures because some pet projects have got priority above the basics. You know, drinking water, waste water. Just some fancy stuff that has been invented by the Romans about 800 BC, so not really new technology mind you. But maybe we are travelling back in time? There is no excuse to have basic maintenance that people have to pay for without being able to opt out (compulsion) deferred and instead i.e. put a signage up "Windy Wellington" etc.
If you cant stand the heat go out of the kitchen, we have to stop pussyfooting around drowning in political correctness and achieving nothing. I mean really nothing.
This has nothing to do with being PC. It's just where you aim your wrath. Perhaps I spoke out of turn, but I was thinking of council workers, not council members.
Those calling the shots are the ones calling the shots. The majority of council workers are then obliged to do, or not do, as their masters bid.
All those workers on the frontline can do jack-shit about this, other than vote out the munters failing to address the cities issues adequately. In the meantime, they're getting abuse for things well out of their control.
If you are addressing the office bound idiots making the stupid calls, fair enough, I read it wrong, have at em.
Not the workers, they have bugger all to say. Most would have possibly rolled their eyes when they installed the signage…
Council members seem to be in a different universe e from those who are head down work work work…
I went to some of the plan meetings. As far as I am concerned fixing the pipes is the number one item and there seems to be quite a lot of public realism about that. What was much more interesting though are the figures for population increase which they are still promoting as 50,000-80,000 range over 30 years which after a lot of previous discussion looks like it is likely to be closer to 30,000 . For politics they had grabbed the largest figure they could see and didn't want to answer questions about it although they looked uncomfortable. Why does central government insist of continuing population increases as well as shovelling that population into existing cities. Letting the population drop could be very cost effective.
Even more interesting was that there seemed to be no breakdown of 3 waters costs between new dwellings/suburbs and upgrading/repairing needed for the existing system. And no idea at all of what the government will pay towards 3 waters. The estimates I have seen for fixing? are in the region of $3 billion to $6 billion over 30 years – so $100 to $200 million per annum. I'd actually like to see the 3 waters costs gathered into a group along with possibly the assets and loans that relate to them plus the existing rates used for this-so that we can look at dedicated funding options whether it's higher rates, bulk rates payments in advance at a discount or loans etc to ensure the money does go to the pipes and doesn't at any point get left in the general take forever. It would be easier to fit the government up with their share for new housing too.
I think I would be happier with a one off dob if that meant the pipes in our suburb got fixed.
On a positive note, I really enjoyed reading this about Wellington.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/08-05-2021/once-a-biodiversity-basket-case-wellington-today-is-the-wind-beneath-our-birds-wings/?
Good article.
I went looking on RNZ site for an article I heard today about what we have lost birdwise and why.
Came across this which is longer but interesting no less.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/fight-for-the-wild/story/2018793166/1-loss-fight-for-the-wild
Good on you citizen for engaging.
If only there were more.
This is the result of 20 years deferred maintenance and about 30% of the budget being diverted to some projects that was the fancy of the council. There was and is no accountability. The slogan Absolutely positively Wellington turns out to be an absolutely messy (sewage) Wellington.
The only way to get on top of this is to have GST of the rates returned to councils and some reporting on progress and expenses connected made mandatory. This could work for many.
To increase Rates by double digits is just outrageous. People will not be able to afford this and the elderly in particular.
There was a comment by the Union that 60k is not a high wage and makes it difficult paying rent, living costs etc. Perhaps, just perhaps it should be mentioned that a very large section of people do not earn 60K.
Call it what it is, a fucking pogrom.
https://twitter.com/MariamBarghouti/status/1392220189706657804
https://twitter.com/NeriZilber/status/1392218653832237060
https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1392166361103691776
Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd on the #SaveSheikhJarrah campaign and his family's fight to keep their home in the face of threatened displacement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2T6K4FXg5A&feature=youtu.be
Local government official says it out loud.
If the court rules in favor of the landlords, the question remains of what happens to the Palestinian residents, who could be evicted as soon as next week. Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim ownership of land they vacated in 1948, but denies Palestinians the right to reclaim the properties they fled from in the same war.
Mr. Skafi, the Sheikh Jarrah resident, said his family lived in West Jerusalem before 1948, but has no legal recourse to reclaim the property.
“It’s the height of racism,” he said, shortly before the police fired another barrage of skunk water nearby. “Jews can get back their properties, but not the Arabs.”
But Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a deputy mayor of Jerusalem, said the discrepancy was necessary to preserve Israel’s Jewish character.
“This is a Jewish country,” she said. “There’s only one. And of course there are laws that some people may consider as favoring Jews — it’s a Jewish state. It is here to protect the Jewish people.”
https://archive.li/Y6isC (nyt)
I find it interesting that Labour are looking at the low paid and aiming to improve their lot (Under $60 000)
Yet I have heard all the noise from the secure. Are we becoming self-centered?
Not in the public service, but still below $60k. So not arguing for my own pay here.
But $60k is far too low, taking in midlevel teachers, nurses, and administrators. Expecting exceptional service to get a basic scale increase at that level is taking the piss, especially when for many of them exceptional is the norm.
But the other thing is that this is levelling down, if even inflation adjustments weren't in the plan. Build up the lower paid, but playing the middle against the poor is a dirty move, in my opinion.
Just bloody make a higher tax bracket at a progressive level if the govt really needs the cash.
I'll also say "pay" doesn't mean "security" – eternal restructurings all over the public service. Not just big ones like Health, even smaller units can suddenly get the notice that they'll have to reapply for fewer jobs.
QFT.
Teaching is a prime example now – so many teachers are now employed on yearly contracts, not on a permanent contract, so they never know from one year to the next if they will still have a job. Easy for the school administration to manage their staffing levels from year to year – but shit for the actual teaching staff.
Exactly! They have the mandate – just do it!
Heck, just make the first 10 – 20 grand earned tax free….that would trickle to all.
But then we tax beneficiaries the full tax rate.
Well, a tax break costs money.
The govt seems to want to make improving the incomes of lower-paid public service workers through some sort of fiscally-neutral policy.
Oh well, nothing can be done than.
Heck yeah, they could increase the taxes at the higher end. And by doing so would not only lift a few select employees from the government up but all of the other low wage workers too.
But i totally understand the government needs money and it needs to come from someone.
My figuring is that they wanted to keep the public service line item static as part of the bigger picture.
But that's a catch-22: increase the public service line item to level-up the lower income workers, the opposition bleats about money for mandarins.
Level-up lower income workers by freezing the mid-to-upper echelons, they're punishing covid workers.
So the alternative to that catch-22 is do a complete tax system overhaul, which would be a gift to the nats. We've still yet to see the fallout from the stumbles the transition to the new health system will inevitably experience.
The world ain't static for a start.
Anyone who rents in either of these brackets will have less money as rents will go up, just to name one. Never mind that interest rates will go up too, and we already have people who can't afford their mortgages.
Cost of living goes up. cost of everything goes up. 60.000 anual is about 28 NZD per hour, for someone who has a degree, student loans, family etc. Not that much if you consider that you now pay a dish washer 20.00 NZD.
So for this supposedly super educated socially woke, but fiscally austere government to come out with such an idiotic blunder – and i am being very polite here – again just shows how out of touch these guys actually are. Maybe half of them have never earned a dollar outside of government, so maybe they really believe that 100.000 per annum before tax is a lot, but it actually is not. Not when you pay up to 2.000 – 2500 NZD per month just to rent a place. (and going up), and probably more to pay a mortgage.
So you can not keep something static by puting a 'hold' or a 'freeze' on it, as inflation keeps going up, and everything else with it. Dumb, idiotic and total shambles from people who really have no clue just what it means to not live a whole working life on the government tit.
As i said, and many others have said before if you really want to move the lower incomes up, make the first 10 – 20 grand tax free and then roll out a meaningful wealth tax to claw it back.
But this was just so dumb, that i ask what they were trying to hide behind this storm in a teapot.
Stuff is always dumb after it fails spectacularly.
The impulse of increasing incomes for the lower-earners in the public service was a good one.
I suspect they were thinking "office workers", not "nurses".
The budget is next Thursday. This was part of the scheduled announcement dribble that always happens before each budget. Whether the response has resulted in a rewrite is another question.
If truly they were thinking office worker rather then nurses why is that different? Oh, the office worker not worth their wages? So let me get this right, the very rich (and all these people are very rich compared to the nurse or the office worker) will play the almost poor against the very poor – while eating the whole cake? Sounds exactly what a kind, gentle, compassionate, socially minded so called 'workers' party would do.
Seriously? the whole idea of setting the income as low as 60 grand, was dumb. The whole idea of believing that someone on a 100.000 is rich is dumb.
The median wage in NZ is about 54 grand per year. So they decided that 6 grand more is gonna make a huge difference? seriously?
And frankly what about all those that are not in government? Can hang on to their 20 NZD for their part time jobs and shut up? You got plenty?
The problem in NZ really is that the government can not increase the wages fast enough to keep up with rising cost of living, rent being one. IT can also not increase wages fast enough to start saving on various WINZ supplements to keep working people in motels while they still have money to pay food.
The reality is that the only thing this government really needs to do, before literally anything is to reign in the housing market. And the little diddling so far has had absolutely no effect, and chances are will not have any effect. Houses are going still up, rents are going still up, tenants are even less likely to complain as they have no option to find something else, etc etc etc.
So yeah, this was the dumbest action so far from this government. And even worse is to blame the news for their own blunder, and i consider that calling it a wage freeze was actually a polite thing, as actually it was a drop in wages, once you factor in raising costs in inflation and rents/mortgages/rates etc.
That is like blame the housing crisis on people wanting to live in houses, if they were happy to live in ditches we would have no crisis.
Never thought i would be happy for a Labour government to just go home, but heck i am almost there. I really can't wait for all of them to join the UN.
But the thing that i really hope about is that next time people might consider voting for some third party so non of these unsinspiring / mediocre large parties ever get majority again.
In case you haven't noticed, a handy scapegoat for all political parties (especially the rightwing, because it meshes with their hatred of democratic government) is the backroom bureaucrat and mandarin in Wellington.
Sure, it's bullshit. But it makes office workers in the public service more vulnerable than the "heroic" public servants. Of the folks you've seen to be outraged at this measure, how many brought up doctors, nurses, cops, and teachers? How many people brought up funding&planning officers or data analysts, content writers or departmental librarians?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/is-this-the-end-of-no-paywave-signs-govt-to-clamp-down-on-merchant-fees/VGHXFM7RDQDUPDPQAL7GS2NRC4/
About time!
About time +1000
The shopkeepers union (Retail Assn.) has been pushing for this for as long as I can remember. Good to see Labour moving to impose something realistic. National just laughed at us.
Can see the banks trying to recoup in other was though. It costs just under $100 / month to have an eftpos machine sitting on the counter with machine rental, Paymark fee and the $20 minimum charge on the interchange. For a lot of small retailers who’d probably be better off out working 40 hrs at min wage it adds up. Some if the larger retail outfits aren’t a lot better either.
Interesting and concerning.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/442377/police-drone-data-risks-ending-up-on-servers-chinese-government-can-access-reports
It's not concerning at all. It seems even RNZ employs clickbait
"Small micro-drones could be deployed by Armed Offenders Squads, and police should consider buying one or two much more expensive – and secure – Aeryon SkyRangers or fixed-wing Aerovironment Pumas. The Defence Force has several SkyRangers.
These did not connect to the Internet at all, Shelley said.
"If the risks are controlled, certainly those benefits outweigh the risks.""
If the buyer of the drone has no control over the destination or use of the data collected they'd be fools to buy such drones.
And of course why we should be more worried about the Chinese government having access to data gathered here than the US having access to all our digital communications data is a mystery to me.
Kim Jong Il birdied his way to a world record 38-under, too.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1391893314593513474
Pooty gone full commodus.
Wow! he is so good.
Lotsa mulligans for Poots.
Just listened to Luxon speak in the general debate: Labour and the left will underestimate him at their cost.
He reminded me so much of Key – glib, shallow but repeating all the cliches which appeal to the shallow-thinking public who will be swayed by his empty rhetoric.
You know the sort of crap Key used to spout – appealing to the hard-working kiwis who just want to get on etc – Luxon has the patter off pat!
God help this country if we get a couple of terms of a Key-clone!
Sounds like fun and games in Parliament this afternoon. How much do we pay these people?
Māori Party kicked out of Parliament denouncing 'racist questions' with rousing haka – NZ Herald
It seems that we do need a government that is actively participating in our affairs on behalf of us all. Leaving it to business is to leave matters to self-interest, unless it is profitable. How could any set of thinking people in Parliament think any differently. Now we are short of vets. Manpower forecasts and adequate training, preferably with opportunities for bonding with government scholarship would provide well. What a pity that thinking and planning went entirely out of fashion!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/442409/vet-shortage-nationwide-pushing-staff-to-breaking-point
Veterinary Association (NZVA) chief officer Helen Beattie said the country is between 50 and 100 vets short, which is affecting the well-being of both people and animals.
What do you want Government to do? Take away the passports of vets and vet nurses that get better job offers elsewhere? Or who go to OZ to have a better wage and maybe a shot at a house?
The government could make studies free of charge, it could bond people to the country in exchange for a free education, but it seems that this country is very happy to see its young people be loaded up with debt, education, housing, and so on and then they wave them good bye when they leave.
But never fear, surely we can import some Veterinarian from some third world nations that would work for cheap as chips and not complain either. As we are doing and have done for the longest time.
The output from our university vet schools is about 70 a year I think so we are short two years grads in the workforce. So an over cooked response from the association? Any part time work on offer for older vets – summer placements for the grads in training – maybe if grads want to a slightly extended academic course along with greater placement work?
There aren't many reasons I would voluntarily go into an Anglican church, but if I'd been in Auckland on Saturday, I certainly would have:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/442404/vigils-held-for-murdered-tongan-lgbtqia-activist-poli-kefu
So much of the gender-binary normativity has been built on the foundation of christian colonialism, that it just seems peculiar to have such a ceremony in a church. But, I guess, if a type of building is constructed to accommodate a large congregation of grievers, that would be it. It's all just so sad and pointless.
But at least they'll be buried as themselves. Trans/ takutāpui/ leitis aren't often allowed even that much. Which does make it difficult to tell how many of us are being murdered. TGEU puts it at 350 last year, up from 179 a decade before, for; "a total of 3664 reported cases… worldwide between 1 January 2008 and 30 September 2020".
https://transrespect.org/en/tmm-update-tdor-2020/