According to Pete George, this does not constitute a crisis for our democracy.
Bryce Edwards sees it differently.
Nearly 64% of the electorate did NOT vote.
18% of the electorate voted for Bidois.
“But what about the fact that there was a low voter turnout. According to the Electoral Commission, voter turnout is estimated to be 43.7%. This figure is based on the numbers that have voted, as a percentage of those enrolled. However, the Electoral Commission and Statistics New Zealand previously estimated that in Northcote there is an eligible voter population of 54,790 (of which about nine per cent are not enrolled). So, when you take that into account, the 19,900 who voted, make up an even smaller “real” voter turnout – which is well under 40%.
It also means that the vote for each candidate as a proportion of all eligible voters in Northcote is somewhat smaller than it might initially appear, since about 35,000 eligible voters choose not to vote – which somewhat overshadows the 10,147 who voted for the winning candidate.”
Compulsory voting is the solution. Oz have done it for decades and there’s engagement across the demographics as a result.
National rejected that along with pretty much every other suggested reform, my how surprising. Keeps the bastards honest, where that’s practical for some parties, when they know the disaffected are forced to vote.
Like road rules they serve a greater good even if they’re not popular.
This was a by-election at the start of the term of a new government for a seat previously held by the opposition. Of course turnout will be low. There was nothing really at stake. Jumping up and down and trying to call this the death of democracy in NZ is ridiculous.
Does it Draco? This from a stuff article after their 2016 Federal Election:
“A long winter federal election campaign in Australia that clashed with school holidays has resulted in the biggest voter no-show in the country since compulsory voting began in 1925.
More than 1.4 million Australians last month failed to cast a vote for the House of Representatives in what ultimately became a cliff-hanger election. The figure represents more than 9 per cent of 15.7 million eligible voters.
The turnout is the worst since 1922, when voting was optional and just 59 per cent of eligible people cast a lower house vote.”
It’s a political hot potato. As you say, it’s those doing it toughest that are least inclined to vote. Fining those that struggle to keep food up to mouths is popularity suicide. If zero punitive measures against non voters, there’s no point introducing the fresh law.
Yeah ok, I’ve gone and done some more reading on it. I’m not as partisan as I was. I lived in Oz for a long period, it is no hardship to vote. Chasing up non voters appears to be a token effort, 12 people in Darwin taken to court after the last election.
I dread the influx in….”I voted for that chappie with the straight teeth, whatisname? I once saw him in a Crusaders jersey” vox pops.
Chasing up non voters appears to be a token effort, 12 people in Darwin taken to court after the last election.
I suspect that it actually isn’t. Most would be given a warning and to vote next time or else. Many would be given the voting slip and told here and now or else.
You probably just don’t hear about it which is unfortunate.
If you’re not on the electoral roll how do they know who to chase up?
Just because you’re not on the electoral roll doesn’t mean that you can’t be traced. Got a bank account? Pay your taxes? Drive a car?
Yeah, I’m one of the few people who have no difficulty with the government doing data matching to catch criminals. Especially when those criminals are fucking over our democracy.
But also, in order to enrol you have to sign a form. No person can legally be forced to sign any form they don’t wish to sign.
It is a legal requirement to be enrolled. You must sign that form whether you like it or not.
According to Pete George, this does not constitute a crisis for our democracy.
Bryce Edwards sees it differently.
How exactly does Bryce Edwards see it differently, Ed? His piece is actually very noncommittal and empty of firm opinion on the matter at hand.
I think your comment has put a few here on the wrong foot …
You could have made the argument as to why you think the numbers reflect badly on the current state of our representative democracy but you didn’t. Why not?
I am struggling to work out what Andrew Little was thinking in putting about his agenda to dump the three strikes legislation without first getting his political ducks in a row. Is he a political idiot?
Little floats idea, gives Winston the opportunity to make his mark, both postpone the issue for a while and a satisfactory result flies through the House; everybody wins. Meanwhile, the Right enjoy a temporary lift, to no eventual gain. The Coalition Government works, and is seen to be working, as it should.
8.3 and in any case, is your “dogs” reference to the poor autistic man, savaged yesterday by rottweilers near Winton? That’s harsh for this time of the morning, Ruby. For any time really.
That seems an excessively generous interpretation to me.
Occam’s says more like Little, who was a politically inept leader, simple fucked up the politics.
I agree the politics are nowhere near as bad as our aggressively authoritarian political media seem to think, but the Likes of Audrey Young seem very under employed most of the time. Not a lot of substance happens in our politics, so they are reduced to making mountains out of molehills and reporting two flies climbing a wall with breathless urgency.
I just wonder why they don’t occupy their copious spare time writing in depth backgrounders.
“politically inept leader”, even if true, doesn’t translate to inept politician. I suggest that in fact, Little is a good and efficient politician, especially when out of the “leader” spotlight. In this instance we can only speculate, but my view is that he’s not so “inept” as to be unaware of what Winston’s position would invariably have been, and in fact played the game to the satisfaction of all-but-you (and some other posters 🙂
Now this is clearly overblown but Politics is as much about perception than reality and if the perception is a Government that is unstable soon enough it will be.
Headlines, schmedlines – they’re froth, Gosman, eye-catching dross, the don’t mean anything; that you’re enchanted by them is… a shame. Nevermind, there are others who can see past the headlines .
Your believing that illusions are real is … cute. Serious political commenters though, don’t fall for illusions. The Government won’t become “unstable” simply because National declares that to be the case; your confidence in that sort of fickleness marks you as … fickle.
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) serious political commentators don’t generally dictate the popularity of political parties. If the perception gains traction that a governing coalition is unstable then people will think is is likely to fall and stop supporting it. Yes this is unfair to a degree but it is political reality.
Three years of parties disagreeing in public (but respectfully) without the government being brought down will show those headlines as stupid.
The media need crises to sell copy. I can understand why the populace might not be used to a government of adults, but they’ll learn what should be the norm rater than the exception.
I was thinking about that possibility except it has had a negative impact on the Government generally. It looks like the political management skills of Little and by extension the PM are flawed. Just listen to the attack by Guyon Espiner on Morning report this morning.
Guyon’s attack was, by accounts I’ve read, a failed one. Little would have been attacked even more vigorously, had his proposal gone ahead un-modified, as you know – Farrar et al would have been shrieking heedlessly; as it is, they’re crowing prematurely. What the media does is of little consequence, pun intended, and a smart operator will play them. Little’s a clever guy and Winston’s not too shabby either.
Little clever? Nah, he’s either stupid or arrogant. Clearly he didn’t have NZF on board with the three strikes policy, and Peters has rescued his plummeting polling at the expense of the hapless Mr Little.
Little should never had floated this idea as essentially a done deal. He could have made out that he was very keen to review the law including and then allowed Winston credit for nixing it.
The whole thing has been a shambles.
Luckily Winston’s going after MSD and Bennett et al plus the shenanigans in Singapore will quickly push it off the news cycle (for now).
But the ongoing government messiness and poor comms etc can only be explained away by Ardern for so long before it starts to become a major liability.
“the ongoing government messiness” is a message constructed and broadcast by the Right. There’s a grain of truth in it, as there would be for any and every “new” coalition Government, but the blue magnifying glass is being held over that small issue as part of National’s programme of denigrating the Government.
I admire your rather generous assessment of the situation Robert and I’d like to be able to agree with you but I can’t.
Three Strikes and law and order issues generally are just too sensitive electorally to be allowed to play out like this has. Apparently there was almost outright panic in Little’s office a week or so ago when the OIA on 3 strikes was released to media and they realised how it was going to go.
Oh well, I can’t argue with “apparently”…
Mind you, to say that “Three Strikes and law and order issues generally are just too sensitive electorally” shows me that any approach would bring problems, so this way, the usual attack lines are blurred and criticism blunted; in fact, the “usual suspects” are crowing with delight; that’s a pretty clever strategy if in fact, Little and Peters colluded. I’d do it the way they have; play some feints and switches and slip the soul through while confusion reigns.
That’s the thing though, apart from the lock-‘em-up-and-throw-away-the -key crowd pleasers any sensible measures on crime and justice are always problematic to put in front of the electorate.
It’s hard to see how giving the Opposition and their pals in the media an even bigger stick with which to beat the government on this is going to blur attack lines and blunt criticism?
Hard to see? Not for me 🙂
Will the Government get a progressive package of law & order reforms through in the near future? Yes, I believe they will. Will there be less noise around it, due to the “moderating” effect of Winston’s recent action? Yes, I believe there will. Clever play? Yes, I still believe so. I don’t take much note of the wailing and gnashing of Righty teeth around this issue.
What is missing throughout this debate, especially in the MSM, is the fact the 3 Strikes is a stupid politically motivated law, a blunt instrument that doesn’t work.
The MSM, if it was being even-handed, should be making the point that Labour and the Greens are right to try to get it repealed rather than treating this as an issue they hope will destroy the coalition.
Well done Andrew Little for sticking to his guns on Morning Report this morning.
An even-handed MSM would do itself out of a job, consequently, it always tips the table one way or the other, to maintain tension. We readers love tension; makes us feel alive!
Recent history would indicate our MSM are incapable of/disinterested in exploring the effects of policy as opposed to ‘political drama’…..and yet ‘we’ persist in our support.
““the ongoing government messiness” is a message constructed and broadcast by the Right.”
No, the messiness is surely and simply the result of inexperience combined with incompetence mixed with hubris. From the coalition agreement that gifted a billion dollars to a NZF slush fund, to the election of the Speaker (Labour’s screw up and then cover up), to the disgraceful decision making around oil and gas exploration, through to the incompetence of MIA Ministers such as Curran, Jackson, Davis, Twyford et al, this is a shambolic government mislead by a PM whose previous claim to fame had been working in a fish and chip shop. You were warned.
No, the messiness is natural and unavoidable. It’s the reporting that’s unnatural; the endless whine that you are part of, babayaga, that’s the twitter. Plus, You Have Been Warned!!!
Bomber’s on the money here.
“By publicly dumping a law that was only rhetoric and theatre in the first place (it’s only impacted 20 prisoners) Labour…
gives NZ First oxygen at a time when Labour desperately requires their coalition partners to survive
blunts National’s law and order attack which they will be playing all year with new tough on crime members bills.
Allows the perception to the petty consumers of bitterness that Labour have had to back down on prison reform when the actual process will continue. Liberal twitter and NGOs on twitter will lambast Little and scream at the injustice which will convince the petty consumers of bitterness in muddle Nu Zilind that Labour must have changed their position to outrage the Twitterratti in such a way.
Little loses the battle so he can win the war.”
If thats true its a bit short sighted because from now until the next election National can point to Labour being soft on crime so a vote for NZFirst is a vote for being soft on crime whereas a vote for National is a vote for three strikes
I’m sure he’s like most politicians, a decent, well meaning, reasonably intelligent person.
However your question: “Is he a political idiot?” is an easy question to answer. He’s failed twice to win an electorate seat and was driving Labour to oblivion before he did the smartest thing he’s ever likely to do, politically, and resign so yes, politically speaking, he is an idiot
However he is rocking a decent beard so thats something in his favour
You call that a beard?
It is just like Mallard’s.
All it is is that the hair from the top of his head has slipped down his face.
The only halfway decent beard any recent MP has had is the one Gareth Hughes showed off.
That added about 10 years to his age and made him look old enough to vote.
Even then he couldn’t compare to some of the early PMs like Seddon, Vogel, Stafford or Weld.
Best I can manage is councillor, Southland Regional Council, 2010 – 2018. I wonder if I’m on my own in being a bearded councillor in NZ? I certainly don’t meet many others.
They do, yes; well, mostly. I was told by my wife’s maiden aunt, way back, that she could “never make love to a man with a beard”. I guessed she meant something more arcane than it seemed by that, but still, I was taken aback. Didn’t stop me though!
“Didn’t stop me though”
How could I let that slip through???
I’m a “share the love” kinda guy. Truth to tell, Maiden Aunt’s comments didn’t deter me from wooing her niece (much more seemly, aye, though not quite the story it was shaping up to be 🙂
Crikey! Is Guyon looking for a bonus? His interview smacks of desperation. Fortunately Jacinda was able to make him sound just that. DESPARATE. She treated him like the bad mannered child that he is and he achieved absolutely nothing with his hectoring,bullying attitude. Maybe he should try a measured professional approach and he might get taken seriously. An excellent, sensible calm and clear attitude from Jacinda with her replies was wonderful to hear. At least one adult in the conversation! Guyon is past his used by date.
Was Guyon ever that “persistent” with Key?
Don’t remember him being so. Guyon was grateful that Key would allow a very sparse minute just before the 8 o’clock news and treated him gently in case he didn’t turn up at all.
Of course he was as persistent with Key and English. You just can’t remember because you obviously thought that any persistent questioning of Key/English was justified as a result of your political bias.
Totally agree. Guyon Espinor is a hectoring bore. I am tired of his style of interviewing. He’s more suited to Fox News.
And as for John Key – for years he refused to be interviewed on Morning Report.
If President Trump gets a good poll bump from the results of this North Korean summit he will be sending a strong signal to Romney and the traditional conservative Republican wing that there is only one Republican nomination for the next Presidential contest – and it’s him.
If the Dems don’t get their house sorted in pretty quick order instead of folding and undercutting each other like they did in the banking reforms, then they will be very hard pressed to beat Trump.
The rest might be a bit too far into the future, but Trump’s massive strength of perpetual chaos, drama, and through that total name-domination in the media is sustaining a very strong base to build from.
@ffloyd….agreed. I loved both Little and Jacinda taking it to Espiner this morning on Morning Report-well worth a listen to anyone who hasn’t heard it.
Both showed themselves to be smart and on top of the issue. I’m still reveling in this government after 9 years of hell.
Our future trade focus should be Asia and we should be part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, hanging off the USA’s coat tails is not going to do us any good in the future, the future trade growth region is Asia.
It’s better to trade with countries that make different stuff. Korea makes real steel and computers, and does not compete with our ag goods. The US, with its weird corn subsidies and mad cow disease doesn’t want our stuff.
Korea makes real steel and computers, and does not compete with our ag goods.
We make steel. Around 1.5 million tonnes of it per year. We export around 1 million tonnes of it. And that doesn’t even take into account all the raw iron sand that we export.
The problem with that scenario is that we will, quite rapidly, run out of iron deposits.
Our focus on farming is depleting our soils as well poisoning our waterways. So, that’s not sustainable either.
Electronics tend to made out of silicon and doping with semi-conductors. We have significant deposits of both of those as well. So, we could easily make our own electronics from our own resources. Just need to develop those deposits and build the factories. Do that and buying our own would be cheaper than importing due to distance and transport costs.
The US, with its weird corn subsidies and mad cow disease doesn’t want our stuff.
Our main agricultural export ATM seems to be dairy. The US is massively over-producing dairy to the point where their farmers are losing money on sale of it. In other words, even if we had an FTA with the US, we wouldn’t be able to export there simply because they can provide it themselves cheaper. And once they get that over-production sorted it’ll still be cheaper to buy US produced milk in the US than to buy NZ milk in the US.
An export led economy is doomed due to the very real physical limitations of available resources.
An economy that uses it’s own resources and recycles them is actually sustainable due to the resources always being available.
In other words, reality makes trade unsustainable.
God. Who gave Armstrong the kiss of life. ANOTHER opinion piece on his intimate knowledge of Jacindas state of mind, this time on Andrew Littles 3strike postponement. Definitely on a Labour sabotage mission.
Is Armstrong working as a psychologist now, just wait till after the baby is born and the post natal depresssion kicks in, Guyon, Richardson, Garner and Armstrong will have a fieldday ?
Armstrong is a devious National Party shill (as opposed to a journalist).
He lost all credibility as a commentator when he demanded Cunliffe’s resignation over a meaningless 10 year old letter. He later admitted he was wrong to do this, but of course he knew that at the time.
Justice! Fair play! Good for Nicky and for future police action. Though it still doesn’t explain why the police were so active for Slater.
“Investigative journalist Nicky Hager has accepted a police apology and payment of “substantial damages” following the unlawful search of his home during the investigation into the hacking that led to the Dirty Politics book.”
Just listening to K Ryan talking to someone? regarding the meeting between dumb and dumber. He says it is just a publicity exercise and won’t achieve anything. Does this mean it will be all about ‘summit and nowt?
“Ms Berryman is commencing immediately with the initial focus of her investigation on the Young Labour camp in February. The review is expected to take between two and three months,” said Nigel Haworth, Labour Party President.
Why should expect to hear anything? t has nothing to do with you. It was a purely internal matter for the Labour Party.
However I will tell you the gist of the enquiry.
Nothing happened.
The stories about it were all fabrications by lying members of neo-Nazi organisations like the National Party.
There were no members of the Party at the affair.
The people who were there all went to bed early and no one saw or heard anything.
The only problems were caused by fifth columnists from the National Party and other Fascist organisations.
But nothing happened.
Nothing further will be said.
It is time to move on.
But nothing happened.
There. I think you would agree that is a pretty fair summary of the matter.
Hopefully the IRD will do an audit on John Key’s affairs and determine whether he paid tax on the NZRail shares which he failed to disclose to the NZ Public, as he may have bought those shares with the intention of selling them (ie speculation) as he was definitely not a long term investor in NZRail, similar to one of the other major shareholders Fay Richwhite ?
I’d like to think that those in power should have automatic audits to make sure they are not profiting from their power. In particular due to the rise of the super rich to being in politics, aka financial trader makes PM aka KEY, the property developer/reality TV star make President aka Trump, the lawyer who makes his own laws aka Rodrigo Duterte…
But the trouble is that interviews aren’t as useful as employers think. Indeed, organizations can still make great (and arguably better) hiring decisions without them. What would happen if we all agreed to scrap job interviews tomorrow, and focused instead on other indicators of career potential? Unthinkable as it may sound, there are at least three important data points that suggest replacing interviews with other, more predictive measures is the way to go.
Most of the attributes interviewers try to evaluate by gut feel–a candidate’s competencies, skills, personality, values, “culture fit,” and so on–are more rigorously inferred from other data like resumes, simulations, tests, and past performance ratings. Interviews certainly create opportunities for candidates to make claims about these qualities, but as I argue in my latest book, there’s little reason to believe them. Indeed, there’s not much overlap between the talents people say they have and the ones they actually possess. (Plus, interviewers often use the idea of “good culture fit” to justify hiring people from their own in-groups.)
In fact, so-called “dark side” personality traits, such as narcissism and psychopathy, are found among people with otherwise strong social skills, at least in short-term interactions, which makes them perform rather well on interviews. In that sense, interviews are just like a first date: Just because someone charms you the first time you meet them doesn’t mean you should marry them. The regrettable fact is that there are parasitic people in just about every organization–those who climb the ladder while sucking up resources and taking credit for others’ work, all at the expense of strong performers who go unrecognized and stagnate in their careers. De-emphasizing job interviews–or ditching them completely–might help alleviate this this problem.
I’m sure that there are many managers and business owners who think that they’re great at interviews and yet are probably the most biased and make the worst mistakes because of that bias while they hire people just like them.
You have to wonder how a $6000 fine is going to deter employers after a 3.5 year breach of employing an illegal worker and not paying taxes and of course this is a person who is sponsoring in migrant workers too, for a liquor store.
If you calculate how much is being lost in each case, 3.5 years of someone else not getting a job, the police costs to prosecute, the deportation costs and the justice system and then the guy just gets a fine of $6000 and the loss of business to other stores who employ legal workers paying taxes! Crime sure does pay in this country!
Weird that you can’t get somebody who needs a job locally to work at his store and how the government keeps bringing in low wage workers at the drop of a hat and the government doesn’t understand why poverty is increasing.
Apparently over 60% of people who end up in prison are unemployed… maybe have a think about, rather than building more prisons and having 3 strikes laws and work for dole schemes – actually employ our own citizens in real jobs at 40 hours a week so that they don’t need to turn to crime!
There is no longer an equal playing field in this country both for businesses and workers because there has become a culture of paying for for a fake job to get residency, underpaying for a job or having illegal workers paying no taxes taking jobs.
Even the sex workers are fed up with the illegal workers coming in on student and tourist visas!
You can’t run a country with less and less people paying taxes and ignoring the problem of fake jobs and illegal workers!
Start with the criminal employers who are not paying taxes, probably collecting many benefits like AS and WFF and creating these Ponzi schemes buying up more small and medium businesses and perpetuating the growing problems for other legitimate businesses and workers.
They can’t read well enough, for example, to be able to get a driver’s licence because they can’t do the written tests.
They can’t get a job in today’s society because they can’t read.
When I was young I used to spend the University Summer break working in Wool Stores. You could get a job like that even if you could barely read or write. Being able to pick out the right numbers on the stencil when marking the weight was pretty much all you needed to be able to do.
Those sort of jobs simply don’t exist any more, but there are still people who can’t read well enough to do anything else. That is what is the best thing we can do to get people into jobs and out of prison.
I’m not saying that that is the only reason why this firm doesn’t hire locals. There are always ratbags who will hire immigrants at illegally low wages. It is however indicative of why there are people who can’t get jobs and just drift from one jail sentence to another.
My personal opinion is that the schools should make their absolute priority getting people up to a minimum level of literacy and numeracy before they worry about anything else at all. Cultural topics can wait. If you can’t read you can’t learn anything else anyway.
Agree literacy in prisons is a problem aka anyone illiterate should all be doing the primary school syllabus while in prison. I’m not talking about dinky little online courses, I think there should be full on schools in prisons for the inmates with one teacher per 20 inmates for example.
However once they get out of prison they should have an opportunity to get a job or even better not go to prison because they got a job when they left school/tertiary in the first place…
But my link was about an illegal worker working in a liquor store, I don’t think you need high literacy for that, in fact they seem to use symbols now on tills for products and the tills do all the calculations for the cash customers. So I think that illegal workers are a bad idea, we are just getting worse and worse in NZ, encouraging poor work practises with pathetic sentences and encouraging more of the same.
To give an example the guy who poached some Paua got 12 months in prison, his dive gear confiscated and not allowed to fish for 3 years. Someone who sent a hoax note to Fonterra got 8 years in prison. Grow a bit of cannabis and you could lose your house!
But poor working practises from employers, if they even get caught, actually seem to have a fine below what they made by their illegal actions!
The law should be banning employers caught hiring illegal workers from owning/managing a business for 3 years, let alone allow them to bring more people in as well as a fine of $100,000. They should also have IRD doing full audits to see if any suspicious payments are being made (aka bribes for jobs) and check if they are compliant in other tax matters.
The point is, people need to be doing something if they are unemployed and getting $150 p/w on the dole aint a good prospect and even worse ‘work for the dole at $150’, and a $600 p/w job in a liquor store, although not great, is better than nothing!
So if we are getting employers owning multiple businesses who have people paying for the job, working illegally or getting $2p/h (and there are many cases occurring of that), then it’s cutting someone else’s prospects down to get that job or someone else operating a business that operates within NZ law.
I’m sorry to have derailed your comments with my pet hobby horse.
I got distracted by the comment about prisoners having been unemployed.
Having people who are literate isn’t going to help very much with employers like the one in the case you quote of course. They employ people who will work for very little because otherwise they get deported.
The only real way to deal with such employers is to belt them with truly massive fines. Fines so high that it simply isn’t worth them offending. Then pay at least some of the money out to the people who were employed illegally or on less than the minimum wage. Treat their wealth as being like the money seized from the gangs. It is proceeds of a crime and should be forfeited.
On a different subject I would allow the employment of people who simply cannot produce enough to justify them having to be paid the minimum wage. There used to be sheltered workshops for such people. Sure they were paid very little. It did however give them something they could do. Make their living costs up with a benefit from the state.
alwyn, I would put it to you that the minimum wage is now so low that it is the equivalent of a sheltered workshop wage.
How desperate would you have to be to do hard, physically hurtful labour like picking Kiwifruit for possibly less than $15 an hour? (They jiggle it by paying by the basket, I believe.)
Be honest.
Well, to be honest your first statement is simply wrong.
If you compare the minimum wage to the median wage for a full time worker New Zealand has a very high ratio when compared to similar countries. In 2016, according to the OECD the ratios for a few selected countries was
New Zealand 0.61
Australia 0.54
Germany 0.47
France 0.61
USA 0.35
Canada 0.46
UK 0.41
The numbers for lots of other countries are here. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=MIN2AVE
I would fail to see how that can be described as “low”.
It is also much greater than would have been a typical wage in a sheltered workshop. They were, until the were forced out of existence by the Clark Government something like a couple of dollars/hour.
The workers didn’t live of that of course. They, or their families got benefits. It gave the people involved something to do each day and gave some meaning to their life.
Would I like to do something like Kiwifruit picking? At my age and physical condition of course not. When I was younger I quite happily spent about 3 months each year labouring and enjoyed it. It is amazing how much muscle you can put on in a few months when away from the student life.
I can’t really discuss the topic with you unless you see that your beliefs about minimum wages in this country are simply wrong, can I?
How can 50% of prisoners be illiterate surely they went to school until they were 15 years old, I thought we had a good education system or have we had teachers just f’ing around ? Sounds like B/S to me ?
@Tamati Tautuhi, sadly I think it is true, I have heard similar, sadly the result of Rogernomics and our ‘new’ educational systems like Tomorrow’s Schools where schools are run more like businesses. Personally I’d like to see our school principals have a more education focus, nowadays they are more like administration managers working our asset depreciation and infrastructure maintenance budgets… because in the old days the ministry took care of all that but now it’s up to the individual schools the burden often falling on principals… which has encouraged a certain type of principal more on the economic side than the educational side..
Of course in the business world, you have a CEO, CIO, CFO and CTO… but school principals are expected to do all that in one role, plus be the educational leaders..and of course the health and safety side.
Quite frankly it’s lucky we even get the results we do get with the weird ideas that have come about. The casualties are the kids who are failing 30% and the syllabus not getting every kid through.
It’s also not just for people who are going the criminal route that these jobs are useful for, I know people with intellectual disabilities who are all working in places like Supermarkets, or people who work in hospitality because they have other issues. The people I know are good workers who have been working for nearly a decade in that type of job. But they are being replaced and forced out of the work force by a growing issue of imported low wage workers, who as well as taking out jobs need more hospitals/schools/roads/houses.
So not only are people at the bottom facing job pressure, they also now have more competition for getting a house to rent and the rest of the country are subsidising these employers who are increasing at an alarming pace around the country. It used to just be Auckland, no more it’s spreading everywhere.
Likewise the quality of tourist experience. Stayed at a formally upmarket hotel taken over by an overseas firm who are buying up hotels around the country. If hardly any staff members, stinky minibar, dirty bathroom, un maintained rooms with bits falling off door, and rat bait packages under the bed in a resort that used to be luxury stay, sound like a good tourist experience, welcome to the ‘new’ New Zealand experience…
@Tamati. I can’t confirm the numbers but I am certainly willing to believe Mike’s comments. Did you read the article at that link?
I once tutored someone in one of our Prisons. That was about 40 years ago. He was, I think, in for selling drugs and he was doing part-time University courses at Massey. Definitely an odd one out. He said that many inmates couldn’t read and he would read their letters to them.
There have always been people like that. It isn’t a new thing or something that Tomorrow’s Schools caused. It just didn’t matter so much when there were lots of manual labour jobs available. When I was at High School we had a lot (around 20%) who arrived at the school for the third form at age 13 who really could not read or write. There were a couple of teachers who spent nearly all their time teaching them to read. You see without that skill they couldn’t learn anything else. Once they had, if ever, achieved that skill they could learn other things.
That was about 60 years ago. At least, as I suggested, in those days you could find work with very low skills. Now you can’t. In fact you may not even be able to get to work if you can’t drive.
If you don’t get the hang of reading early on at school I have been told you will withdraw from learning. You know you aren’t as good as other kids but you don’t want to admit it or to show up as being behind. So you say nothing. Then you stop attending school and things just never improve.
And no, it isn’t just “teachers f”ing off” as you put it. Kids missing school because they can’t keep up can’t be helped if they aren’t there.
On the other hand I think there are far too many things in the curriculum that could be ignored as long as this skill isn’t there. It might be a good thing to learn about all sorts of topics but they should be left until the three R’s are at some minimal level.
Good comment, alwyn (just for a change..)
Some time ago during my time as a teacher of languages I remember a very interesting lecture/article by some linguistic guru who claimed by some research or stats or who-knows-what that even in the best utopian country with the finest possible education system, a minimum of 8% (it could have been 1 in 8) in any population will inevitably remain functionally illiterate.
It is just the way humans are born.
So while some prisoners may be capable of becoming literate, it may well be that many will remain the way they are despite our efforts.
To my mind we need to reinstitute well-paid jobs for such people.
My surprising choice for an example of such nature is – rubbish collection!
In the good old days: a gang of 5 or so people with one truck. One drives; one or two stand up on rear, catch the bins lifted or thrown upwards to them, empty the bin into the truck, then toss the empty bin back down to the several runners, who place it back on the footpath upside-down. (A popular member of the old Waikato Rugby team used to do that job because it helped him keep fit for rugby.)
A radio would be blaring pop music on the back of the truck, the guys would be calling out to one another (including to driver) to maintain coordinated effort.
My toddler daughter would hear the parade coming, rush to the front window: the guys on the back of the truck used to look out for this, and would wave and grin, causing little toddler to wave back energetically. They seemed to love waving to little kids. They were cheerful enough to smile!
Lamentably, there is no such thing any more. Automated trucks, max of two people; no music; one might get fit by stepping on and off running board to toss bags (PLASTIC!!) of rubbish into the rear… The worst I saw was in Auckland where one sad-looking guy drove the truck that had mechanised arms to pick up wheely-bins and replace them (emptied out) back on the footpath. He looked bloody miserable. Probably paid far less than those earlier guys.
This disaster must apply to many other jobs as well. Fewer people less happy, being paid less money. I would not have minded working with those guys back when I was young. I would hate to work in modern rubbish collection.
This is how the Market leads us to bad places: mechanisation that is not well-guided is the enemy of human society. (The Luddites were right!)
The economy makes a good servant to society, but a very poor master.
And we have RWNJs still stupid enough to want the economy and the market to rule….
So weird though that although those jobs are apparently going, NZ seems to have so many ‘unskilled’ jobs on it’s ‘skilled’ migrant list… our productivity has been stagnant for years and our migrants are even lower qualified and less skilled than 5 years ago and so many lobby groups jumping up and down about how there are so many shortages of labour because apparently Kiwis are not suitable anymore. What a strategy for the future, sarc.
Posted an article a few days ago where an offshore hotel being built wanted 100’s of workers bought into Auckland on $20 p/h as decorators.
$20 p/h was the rate for a painter/decorater about 28 years ago!!! There are plenty of painter/decorators in Northland, but do you really think it is worth someone’s while to come to Auckland for a pay rate that comes from circa 1990 and is impossible to live on once you have a family ????
How the fuck can local construction survive when you are getting this under cutting?
Careful, dear alwyn – you have almost agreed with me.
What is the way ahead? They say that further automation is going to cut even more jobs. Would a sensible society not be concerned to see that its members were usefully and reasonably happily occupied, and use automation only as required to meet those needs, and improve the economy without social damage??
Instead we have a greedy group who use automation to maximise their profits, without caring that they create one hell-hole of a society.
A recipe for massive disaster.
Your thoughts? (As The Chairman was so fond of demanding..)
Even better he is a “Polynesian Jew” playing Adolf Hitler, the imaginary friend of a young German lad whose mum is active in the Resistance (and Scarlett Johansson to boot!).
Simon No Bridges says Winston should concentrate on governing the country rather than taking out vendettas against Senior Government Officials and MP’s.
What the clown needs to realize is it is a separate issue to NZF, the Coalition or the governing of the country. These people deliberately released Winston’s personal information into the public arena, to smear him and influence the outcome of the 2017 General Election. Dirty Politics Paper 102
If people are not brought to account by the judicial system these things will keep happening.
We had blatant fraud and corruption with the collapse of the BNZ which was covered up by the NZ Government and the NZ Judiciary in the Winebox Enquiry. Hence we have systemic failures of companies here in NZ ever since then, as “white collar crime” is considered a legitimate business activity here in NZ. However stealing pinky bars from the local petrol station will get you locked up for a good length of time.
It sends a message to the crooks “if you are going to commit fraud here in NZ do it for a reasonable sum of money ? ” Doug Graham would be a classic case and example.
The Standard used to be, Worthwhile. But now that it is infested with Trolls it is so dull and childlike. It iooks and acts like a toddler with a dirty bottom.
Observer; The Standard is still worthwhile and then some. Those folk you “name” are our “creative tension providers” – without them, we are soft. Harden up, enjoy the creative stress!
You just have to scroll, or scribe past them, throw them the odd lure or live bait when you want a bit of entertainment, as it doesn’t take them long to come up the berley trail, just don’t feed them too much as they can chew up a lot of precious time and bait.
Report: We had good early activity by two trolls Gossie was up early and I am not sure who the other one was, today we have had good troll activity throughout the day, and it is highly likely we will get the Pick 6 today b4 12.00am, yesterday we didn’t get the last leg b4 12.00am but we got 5 legs in. So far today we have had activity from, Gossie, Mullet Head, James, Puckish Rogue & Baby Gaga. I will post the results later once we have analysed all the days trolling activity across T/S.
As I have suggested they should set up there own Blog Site and go all out, I guess they are over here undercover from Kiwi Blog & Whale Oil websites to keep themselves entertained ?
And how do we classify contributors? Who could decide whether a certain genuinely concerned Leftie (who often makes comments that look so) is in fact not what he seems?
Watched Question Time today. Bridges all geared up to smash Andrew Little but crashed out having to face Winston “On behalf Of the PM.”
Winston was at his best. Succinct. Amusing. And made Simon look like a very very silly little boy. Winston will be great as Acting PM.
Apologize to the ambulance service people it’s not like Eco Maori rings a ambulance every day. I was informed that the service is busy and the time was 40 min. The last time I had a ambulance rang was a hcoptter I did not wait I got my son to take me to hospital.
Ka kite ano
Sure, we’re all entitled to put our hand out for government support in times of need. No question about that. But THESE GUYS*? What a joke. (Except it’s real. Check for yourself: COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Employer Search) – P * We’ve discussed them before, here, a little bit. ...
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Connett promotes Riddell et al (2019) as one of the only four studies one needs to read about fluoridation. But he misunderstands and misrepresents the findings of this study. Image credit: Fluoride Action ...
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Last month I wrote my blog on covid-19 pointing out the in our pre Alert Level 4 days that a subject no one had heard here months ago was now dominating the media. An amazing feature of this crisis is how quickly it has swept every other issue aside worldwide. ...
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E tangi ana a Taranaki iwi, e tangi ana te ao Māori, otirā e tangi ana te motu. Mōu katoa ngā roimata e riringi whānui ana, mōu katoa ngā mihi. E te kaikōkiri i te reo Māori, e Te Huirangi, takoto mai. Takoto mai me te mōhio ko ngā ...
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Across New Zealand 120 sites are taking samples to be tested for COVID-19. 68 community based assessment centres (CBACs) have been established to take samples from people with COVID-19 symptoms. Alongside this, 52 other centres including designated general practices, swabbing centres, and mobile clinics are now testing people for ...
The Ministry of Education is working with partners to develop a package of options so that students can learn at home when Term 2 begins on 15 April, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. Supports are also being prepared for households with children under five, to help parents and whānau ...
Māori Television to begin educational te reo programmes Ki te Ao Mārama – a new online learning space Thousands of hard copy learning packs ready for distribution Helpdesk and advice service for kōhanga, kura and wharekura Television, the internet and hard copy learning packs are some of the ways whānau ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced an initial package of support to help the people and the Government of Vanuatu respond to the impact of Tropical Cyclone Harold. “Our Pacific neighbours have been hit by a Category 5 Cyclone at the same time as dealing with the economic impacts ...
Tourism New Zealand to lead work reimagining the way tourism operates in post-COVID-19 world. Ministers to review International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy investment plan. The Government, industry and business are working together to develop a plan for how tourism will operate in a post-COVID-19 world, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis ...
More New Zealanders are taking up the chance to work in horticulture as the sector keeps New Zealanders fed and in jobs during the COVID-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown. “Our horticulture sector has long been one of New Zealand’s export star performers, contributing around $6 billion a year to our ...
The Provincial Development Unit is working through applications and projects to see where Provincial Growth Fund money can be repurposed for initiatives deemed more critical to fighting the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “We need to be throwing everything we have at ...
The Government’s wage subsidy to protect jobs and keep workers and businesses connected during the lockdown has now supported over a million New Zealanders, with $6.6 billion already paid out. “We’re supporting businesses to pay wages, and stay connected with their workers so that we are all in a better ...
The Government is stepping up efforts to help protect New Zealand’s Pacific communities in the fight against COVID-19. Cabinet has agreed that $17 million will be allocated to support a COVID-19 Pacific Response Package, which will: Support Pacific health and disability services facing increased demand; Ramp up public health messaging ...
“Yesterday evening the Health Minister advised me of his trip to a beach during the lockdown and offered his resignation,” Jacinda Ardern said. “Under normal conditions I would sack the Minister of Health. What he did was wrong, and there are no excuses. “But right now, my priority is our ...
Last night as part of my preparation for the Epidemic Response Committee, I provided the Prime Minister with a complete picture of my activity outside my home during Alert Level 4. That included the fact that on the first weekend of the Alert Level 4 lockdown I drove my family ...
A range of support is being rolled out across New Zealand to help people look after their mental health during COVID-19 Health Minister David Clark said this morning. “COVID-19 has brought a lot of uncertainty into our lives and many of us will be feeling some level of distress or ...
The New Zealand Government has made arrangements to charter a flight for New Zealanders stranded in Peru to depart the country, following agreement with the Chilean government to allow the necessary transit through Chile, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. “Like many travellers around the world at the moment, ...
Hospital preparations for COVID-19 are well advanced says Health Minister David Clark. “Hospitals across New Zealand are repurposing buildings and training staff to get ready for COVID-19 patients. This gives me confidence that we are well prepared for any potential increase in COVID-19 patients needing hospital level care,” said David ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
The Government has stepped in to support vital air links to our offshore islands, the Chatham Islands, Great Barrier Island and Motiti Island, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. “As part of our $600 million support package to minimise the impacts of COVID-19 on the aviation sector, the Government has ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
In spite of the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, the New Zealand Parliament’s Health Select Committee is continuing to progress its mandate to regulate vaping and prevent young people from using vaping products. RELX Technology, Asia’s leading independent ...
A new poem by Vincent O’Sullivan. Once Once in my life I’ve been fishing. A brother-in-law assured, ‘You don’t need to talk out there,’ so we didn’t. After an hour or so he liftedthis reluctant silvery strip from its hook and walloped its head againstthe ridge of the dinghy we sat in for those aeons ...
Friday, April 10: Austrian oil giant OMV has announced today that it’s indefinitely postponing its last remaining oil and gas exploration plans in the Taranaki Basin. Greenpeace is claiming "a win of generational significance" that signals ...
Analysis - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is preparing the country for a marathon recovery and life under "the new normal" is starting to take shape, writes Peter Wilson. ...
Misinformation, disinformation and just plain lies about Covid-19 are boiling up on the Internet and spilling over into real life. Peter Bale explains how some powerful forces use the chaos and trolling for their own reasons. Christchurch man Raymond Coombs, 38, thought it would be hilarious to pretend he had Covid-19 and cough over fellow shoppers ...
Tara Ward talks to Spencer Stoner, the producer of Go Further South, the slow TV sensation that hits our screens this Easter. Let’s change Good Friday’s name to “Great Friday”, or maybe “Even Better Friday”, because Prime is giving us the television tonic every lockdown needs. Go Further South, the ...
This versatile ingredient is brilliant for roasting and frying, and it’s a great way to extend the shelf life of butter. It’s also super easy to whip up at home. Until about a year ago I religiously used olive oil to fry and roast with. I preferred using this oil over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University COVID-19 has left parents grappling with the challenges of online learning, entertainment and work. It’s natural the amount of time children spend using screens will now increase. But that’s OK. Screen time recommendations ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Sanderson, Professor and Inaugural Judith Neilson Chair in Architecture, UNSW The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned coronavirus poses “an existential threat to our continent”. Evidence from past crises shows not everyone is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gillian Triggs, Emeritus Professor, University of Melbourne Grandmothers as social activists? What a radical idea … but one that is increasingly true of today’s generation of grandmothers. Witness the determination and courage of Karen Nettleton in pulling out all the stops to ...
Holiday towns around the country have been on edge, fearing Easter visits from city folk going to their baches. But in one instance, the fears might have been over-stated. Tim Murphy reports. Truth is the first casualty of war, and we keep getting told we are in a war against ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Senior Lecturer Sport Management, Western Sydney University Against a global backdrop of cancelled sports leagues, and as part of their season opening, National Rugby League (NRL) fans recently packed the stands of Townsville’s new Queensland Country Bank Stadium. Fortunately, professional ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dianne McGrath, Environmental Engineering PhD candidate; sustainability and food waste expertise, RMIT University As a food waste researcher, I’m interested in how humans prepare food, eat and manage leftovers. This interest is not just confined to Earth – it extends to other ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Kayne Peters leaves his Auckland home to spend the lockdown in his whanau bubble in the King Country and help look after those most in need. Ka mate kainga tahi. Ka ora kainga rua. “One dwelling place is overcome, but the second is secure” This whakatauki or proverb well describes ...
The natural isolation of small Pacific islands set in the huge Pacific Ocean could prove to be the defining factor if these vulnerable nations manage to remain free of Covid-19. There is every reason to be optimistic if these small nations can keep rigid restrictions in place. Of course, the ...
How will we know when we’ve been successful in stopping Covid-19 within New Zealand? Farah Hancock reports. As the country moves into its third week of lockdown and the daily number of cases continues to drop, how can we be certain it's safe to move levels and how will we ...
Are we nearly in the clear? It's too early to tell and we can't take anything for granted, says Professor Nicholas Agar of Victoria University of Wellington. Our nation’s fight against Covid-19 seems to be going well. As a Kiwi, I’m enjoying the global applause for our “go hard and ...
The government yesterday announced it would step up its arrivals policy to mandate hotel quarantine or ‘managed self-isolation’ for all returning New Zealanders – people like Andrew Todd, who describes what it’s like to live in a Covid-19 quarantine zone.Four weeks ago, I was living in Canada, earning a meagre ...
Christchurch’s arterial routes, and the air around them, are being transformed by the lockdown. David Williams takes a look As the days shorten, the nightly commute comes ever closer to sunset. That would normally mean thousands of cars lining up at busy Christchurch intersections, sending plumes of carbon monoxide into ...
A doctor's note from novelist Eileen Merriman, a haematologist at North Shore hospital. At the hospital where I work is a critically ill patient infected with Covid-19 in our intensive care unit – younger than me, with no pre-existing medical conditions. And today I overhead a couple of doctors discussing ...
Every Friday of lockdown, LockerRoom shares posts from Kiwi sportswomen who've caught our eye with novel ways of keeping on top of their game. This week, gymnasts put their own spin on the toilet paper challenge, the Black Sticks captain gets her pet in on lockdown training, and a triathlete ...
If you’re out on the road this weekend, be prepared to be stopped – and not just by the police. Kayne Peters reports on the official and unofficial roadblocks springing up all over the motu. Iwi across the country have stepped up efforts to secure their borders ahead of Easter ...
The Covid-19 challenge for disabled people is two-fold: keeping them safe, and ensuring disability support continues to be available to them. What's the plan for this? asks Samuel Murray. While we are rightfully focused on eliminating Covid-19, we need a specific plan that addresses the needs of both the disability ...
Although New Zealand-based e-commerce companies like TradeMe are toeing the line on non-essential sales, Facebook Marketplace remains a wild west where buying and selling hasn't stopped, Marc Daalder reports Want a pair of high-heeled Converse shoes to wear during lockdown? How about a cashmere scarf or new jigsaw puzzle? You're ...
Halfway through the lockdown, government restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus seem to be taking hold. But the latest suite of measures show the Prime Minister is awake to the dangers of overconfidence, Sam Sachdeva writes “This is going to be a marathon.” Jacinda Ardern’s choice of metaphor to ...
Responding to sudden, shocking change requires a double lens, writes Fiona Farrell.Read more from the Lockdown letters here.My granddaughter has been making a newspaper. The Daily Chirp. It’s very small, as befits a newspaper designed for birds, but it contains news (a worrying rise in Tweet-19), “Adds” for birdseed medicine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Education Minister Dan Tehan has warned non-government schools that if they fail to open for the next term they will face losing funding. He said on Thursday that “as part of the funding requirement” a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Remember how last year’s Easter felt bizarre because the country was in election-mode? How normal that seems, now everything is surreal, with the nation “holidaying” in this peculiar, unpleasant limbo. As we contemplate the grimness ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with MPs Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Victoria), Fiona Martin (Reid, NSW), Clare O’Neil (Hotham, Victoria) and Helen Haines (Indi, Victoria) about how they do their job during the pandemic. They discuss the operation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nic Geard, Senior Lecturer, School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne; Senior Research Fellow, Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne Following the emergence and rapid spread of COVID-19, several countries have succeeded in bringing local outbreaks under ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Today’s chart shows the per capita level of testing performed in a number of countries. While the highest testing rate shown is Norway, we should note that Iceland has tested over eight percent of its population; too high to show on this chart. A ...
By RNZ News New Zealand has recorded just 29 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, but the prime minister says a decision on changing the alert level will only be made two days before the lockdown ends. It is the fourth day in a row there ...
The Guardian’s Pacific Project disaster video.By the Pacific Project Tropical Cyclone Harold lashed the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, ripping off roofs and downing telecommunications, before moving towards Fiji and Tonga. The powerful cyclone made landfall on Monday in Sana province, an island north of Vanuatu’s capital Port ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elyse Methven, Lecturer in Law, University of Technology Sydney The message to everyone during the coronavirus pandemic is to stay at home and only leave if you really need to for, say, food, health care or exercise. Police now have powers to ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Pat MacFie from Manaaki.This week we have another special podcast highlighting some of ...
NZ First leader Winston Peters today said he wants the election held on November 21, Radio NZ reported. He says he believes the health system would be under the pump in September with the winter flu season and the country potentially still dealing with the impacts of Covid-19. Prime Minister ...
New Zealand Rock Lobster (crayfish) are once again heading to China with the first small consignment being airfreighted last week. It was one of the first primary industry sectors in New Zealand to be affected by Covid-19, and as we now know, the sledgehammer that hit this industry was just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Bloomfield, Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame Australia Lockdown measures aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19 should actually help cut the cases of flu this year. That’s because keeping people apart to reduce the spread of coronavirus ...
New modelling from Te Pūnaha Matatini projects the impact of the lockdown, and what our next steps could be, Marc Daalder reports New figures from a team of mathematicians and scientists modelling the way Covid-19 could affect New Zealand indicate the lockdown has significantly dampened the spread of the virus. ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr about the latest retail spending data and the Reserve Bank's call for banks to step up as market-makers for corporate and local government bonds. In their latest daily 'Bernard Zooms out to lunch with Jarrod' video, Bernard Hickey and Jarrod ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Georgie Russell, Senior Lecturer, Deakin University This Easter will be especially challenging, with family isolation and many parents under financial strain, or other stressors. So, many parents will be looking to restore some sense of “normality” by welcoming the Easter bunny into ...
The Beths’ live-streamed concert yesterday showed that even in lockdown, music isn’t dead. Here’s why it worked, and where you can see Kiwis live streaming for the next week.Yesterday at 9am, Liz Stokes put a giant pineapple mask over her head and played the Animal Crossing theme on a trumpet ...
New Conservative Leader Leighton Baker has lived in and around the Waimakariri district since 1992 and is revelling in the opportunity to represent the electorate in Parliament after the 2020 general election. “Waimakariri is a diverse district with a strong ...
“Hard-hit councils, who oversee half this country’s public infrastructure, require financial support from central government that is tied to shared priorities through Urban Growth Partnerships,” says Paul Blair CEO of Infrastructure New Zealand. ...
Airways may close seven of its regional air traffic control towers because of a collapse in traveller numbers. The services under review are provided at Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Invercargill Airport as well as the airfield flight information services provided at Kapiti Coast Airport and Milford Sound ...
Proposals to expand the role of local councils into climate change mitigation under the Resource Management Act would add confusion, complexity and duplication, according to the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ) and ...
As New Zealand enters its third week of Covid-19 lockdown, a just released set of modelling provides a flare of light at the end of the tunnel, reports Toby Manhire.On a day that the active case number decreased, it finds that “While New Zealand case numbers remain low, tracing, testing, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael L. Brown, Director of the Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences and Lecturer at the School of Philosophy, Australian National University As they released the modelling of the COVID-19 pandemic behind Australia’s social isolation policies this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison ...
The latest in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersThese posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Tognolini, Director, Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment, University of Sydney Following a meeting with states and territories, federal education minister, Dan Tehan said year 12 students were a priority, and were being sent a clear signal: “There will be no ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) is calling for an equal extension to all licencing regimes, following the Government’s announcement today offering motorists a six-month licencing grace period. COLFO says that like motorists, licenced ...
Dear Minister Jones, Firstly, let me introduce myself. My name is Adrian. I am an employee in the forestry industry, a Future Forester, a graduate of Canterbury University and, albeit very small, a forest owner. ...
As countries in Europe plan a tightrope walk back out of lockdown, the World Health Organisation warns it is too early to relax strict suppression measures in the fight against Covid-19, writes Peter Bale Two weeks into New Zealand's aggressive and early lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19, voices ...
Consumers dramatically changed their spending patterns last month because of Covid-19 and the government ordered lockdown. Official numbers show overall retail spending using electronic cards fell a record seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent on the previous month. Stats NZ senior manager Sue Chapman said spending on eating out and accommodation plunged ...
A new $200,000 business subsidy package is being launched in Christchurch to help those affected by Covid-19. The ChristchurchNZ business support subsidy will offer eligible businesses up to $1000 each to seek professional advice. The scheme - funded by ChristchurchNZ, the city's economic development agency, will support small to medium ...
Large retailers have been quick to apply for government wage subsidies during the Covid-19 lockdown. The Warehouse has received $67.7 million to cover the labour costs of the shutdown of its Red Shed, Torpedo, Noel Leeming, and Warehouse Stationery chains, which between them employ about 11,000 staff. "The receipt of ...
A new report Quantifying the wellbeing costs of Covid-19 by the New Zealand Initiative shows how an economic hit of about 6.1% of GDP would be justified if it meant saving 33,600 lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. The figures, compiled by research fellow ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dougal Sutherland, Clinical Psychologist, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of people to live under strict lockdown conditions, but the psychology of human behaviour predicts they will find it harder to stick to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Smillie, Associate Professor, University of Melbourne The coronavirus pandemic has caused tens of thousands of deaths around the world and pushed major economies into a tailspin. Beyond those impacts, almost all of us will face psychological challenges – trying to maintain ...
We asked Tony Baird, of Newsroom foundation supporter Vodafone NZ, to provide some insights into how New Zealanders have been using online and their smartphones during the first fortnight of lockdown. At Vodafone NZ, we entered new territory in this lockdown as New Zealanders have been turning to their smartphones and devices ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has launched a new campaign to temporarily reduce the remuneration of politicians, senior bureaucrats, and council bosses to match those voluntary and involuntary efforts in the private sector where pay is being ...
Analysis by Keith RankinWhat is Mercantilism?Keith Rankin. Mercantilism is the form of public policy that was dominant in Europe – especially Northern Europe – in the ‘early modern’ period; meaning in the period loosely between 1500 and 1800 (sixteenth to eighteenth centuries). In a political sense it ...
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency says legislative changes to driver licensing and vehicle certification requirements coming into effect tomorrow (10 April) will help drivers and vehicle owners safely navigate through the COVID-19 lockdown period and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Woolaston, Lawyer, Queensland University of Technology Never before have we seen how the human use of wildlife can yield such catastrophe, as we have with COVID-19. The current available evidence indicates COVID-19 was first transmitted in a wildlife market in Wuhan. ...
In a week alone there was an increase of about 10,000 people now relying on welfare to get by. As the number of benefit recipients rapidly increases as a result of COVID-19, Auckland Action Against Poverty is calling on the Government to urgently lift benefits ...
CEAC stands alongside Forest & Bird, Greenpeace, WWF-New Zealand, Generation Zero, EDS and Ecologic letter to Jacinda Ardern calling on the Government to transform the New Zealand economy to tackle climate change, save native species, improve freshwater ...
Better Public Media welcomes the announcement that the Ministry of Education will fund Television New Zealand and Māori Television to provide up to six hours daily of educational content for our children and students, beginning next week. It is ...
It’s OK if you don’t come out of lockdown with abs.We are living through the worst global pandemic since the Spanish Flu in 1918 and the beginning of an economic calamity that has already claimed the jobs of millions of workers the world over. Hospitals are full, schools are closed and many countries are in ...
One thing is abundantly clear, when this lock down is over, many tourism related businesses will be reliant on Domestic Tourism to stay afloat. But what will that mean from a Freedom Camping point of view? While it has been true, that many towns ...
The Government has announced that all incoming travellers will be quarantined away from their homes and families for a 14 day period, after a public campaign that received widespread support The Government has bowed to a public campaign led by epidemiologists and the National Party to have all returning New Zealanders ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet ...
Open Mike 12/06/2018 
Sure, we’re all entitled to put our hand out for government support in times of need. No question about that. But THESE GUYS*? What a joke. (Except it’s real. Check for yourself: COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Employer Search) – P * We’ve discussed them before, here, a little bit. ...33 mins ago
A Fluoride Action Network (FAN) propaganda video where Paul Connett urges listeners to consider only four studies when considering the possible harmful effects of fluoridation. Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), now claims “You only have to read four studies…” to come to the ...3 hours ago
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The pandemic has shown us how effective our public service is. They've pulled together a massive policy response, from a lockdown to economic support to healthcare to planning how to keep everything running when this is over, and done it in next to no time. They are heroes, who have ...19 hours ago
In 1968 Canadian sociologist Laurence Peter coined the phrase “Peter Principle” as a contribution to the sociology of organisations. It explains that in complex organizations people rise to the level of their own incompetence. That is, they get promoted so long as they meet or exceed the specified criteria for ...20 hours ago
The practice and business of music has been one of the sectors most gravely impacted by the virus sweeping the world. The emphatic nature of our government's response, necessary as it was, has slammed the industry and the people who work in it.There are New Zealand artists – Nadia Reid, ...21 hours ago
. . April 8: Day 14 of living in lock-down… The good news first: the downward trajectory of new cases appears to be a real thing. In the last four days, since Sunday, new infections have been dropping: Sunday: 89 new cases Monday: 67 Tuesday: 54 Today (Wednesday): 50 The ...23 hours ago
The anti-fluoride movement wants to restrict your reading to “just four studies.” They actively ignore or attempt to discredit other relevant studies. Image credit: Censorship in media. For earlier articles in this series see: ... 1 day ago
52 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Sensitivity of ice flow to uncertainty in flow law parameters in an idealized one-dimensional geometry (open access) Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Will heat stress take its toll on milk production in China? Uncoupled El Niño ...1 day ago
We are seeing what has been termed “a greater challenge than the crash of 2008” by a growing number of economists and more rational, sane commentators, because whilst that was a shocking exposure of the levels to which hubris had sunk, right down to the blank cheque given those who ...2 days ago
It’s a beautiful autumn afternoon, we need to get out of the house, and so our bubble sets off on a bike ride around our local neighbourhood, Cambridge Park. The bikes come out of the garage, and, being really certain we have a front door key, close the garage door ...2 days ago
The Queen’s coronavirus broadcast, with its overtones of Winston Churchill and Vera Lynn, prompted me to reflect on the tribulations my parents’ generation suffered during the Second World War – and I imagine that those parallels, given her own wartime experience, were very much in the Queen’s mind as she ...2 days ago
We all know that Simon Bridges has, at the best of times, an intermittent relationship with the truth. However you would think that during a pandemic and economic crisis the current opposition leader would pull his head in and start to do the right thing.Obviously leading by example should be ...3 days ago
Connett promotes Riddell et al (2019) as one of the only four studies one needs to read about fluoridation. But he misunderstands and misrepresents the findings of this study. Image credit: Fluoride Action ... 3 days ago
Last month I wrote my blog on covid-19 pointing out the in our pre Alert Level 4 days that a subject no one had heard here months ago was now dominating the media. An amazing feature of this crisis is how quickly it has swept every other issue aside worldwide. ...4 days ago
As the world economy slides rapidly towards deep recession there are growing calls for a Universal Benefit coming from some leftists and rightists. Now Finance Minister Grant Robertson is saying it is on the table. This article by a French party Workers Struggle provides analysis of various forms of universal ...5 days ago
This is the advice from the very top of the anti-fluoride movement – Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Don’t worry about reading up on all the scientific information “You only have ... 5 days ago
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...5 days ago
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...6 days ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...7 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...1 week ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 1 week ago
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Trump and Kim will meet accompanied only by interpreters.
On the agenda: real estate and money laundering opportunities, bribe management, meth and human trafficking arrangements, contract killing.
According to Pete George, this does not constitute a crisis for our democracy.
Bryce Edwards sees it differently.
Nearly 64% of the electorate did NOT vote.
18% of the electorate voted for Bidois.
“But what about the fact that there was a low voter turnout. According to the Electoral Commission, voter turnout is estimated to be 43.7%. This figure is based on the numbers that have voted, as a percentage of those enrolled. However, the Electoral Commission and Statistics New Zealand previously estimated that in Northcote there is an eligible voter population of 54,790 (of which about nine per cent are not enrolled). So, when you take that into account, the 19,900 who voted, make up an even smaller “real” voter turnout – which is well under 40%.
It also means that the vote for each candidate as a proportion of all eligible voters in Northcote is somewhat smaller than it might initially appear, since about 35,000 eligible voters choose not to vote – which somewhat overshadows the 10,147 who voted for the winning candidate.”
http://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2018/06/northcote-voter-turnout-lower-than.html
Compulsory voting is the solution. Oz have done it for decades and there’s engagement across the demographics as a result.
National rejected that along with pretty much every other suggested reform, my how surprising. Keeps the bastards honest, where that’s practical for some parties, when they know the disaffected are forced to vote.
Like road rules they serve a greater good even if they’re not popular.
Stv returns mayors in places like wellington with as little as 22% of the actual vote and as little as 11% of the enrolled vote.
No one screamed constitutional crises when the dippiest dipper ever, Celia wade brown, was voted in
Farrar and his cronies certainly did. But then, they’re constantly screaming.
I ignore broken records like Farrar. Our views align in some areas but his messaging is wrong
Some of your views align with “broken record” Farrar?
Which ones?
What a lot of silly nonsense.
Think of it as like an opinion poll, but instead of say 300 giving their view, its 19,000
In other words , THE RESULT WOULD BE EXACTLY THE SAME AS THOUGH EVERYONE VOTED.
The idea that 19,000 vote and we dont know what ALL the actual voters think is seriously nutty thinking
Bryce Edwards needs a good telling off
Probably not actually. The people who vote tend to be more right-wing and rich compared to those who don’t.
This was a by-election at the start of the term of a new government for a seat previously held by the opposition. Of course turnout will be low. There was nothing really at stake. Jumping up and down and trying to call this the death of democracy in NZ is ridiculous.
As I say, we need compulsory voting. Voluntary voting simply isn’t working.
Australia shows that compulsory voting works far better.
Does it Draco? This from a stuff article after their 2016 Federal Election:
“A long winter federal election campaign in Australia that clashed with school holidays has resulted in the biggest voter no-show in the country since compulsory voting began in 1925.
More than 1.4 million Australians last month failed to cast a vote for the House of Representatives in what ultimately became a cliff-hanger election. The figure represents more than 9 per cent of 15.7 million eligible voters.
The turnout is the worst since 1922, when voting was optional and just 59 per cent of eligible people cast a lower house vote.”
It’s a political hot potato. As you say, it’s those doing it toughest that are least inclined to vote. Fining those that struggle to keep food up to mouths is popularity suicide. If zero punitive measures against non voters, there’s no point introducing the fresh law.
Yes it does.
9% compared to more than 50%.
Or even in general elections where we’re seeing less than 80% turnout.
You also seem to have missed this line in the bit you quoted:
Seems that Australians are actually quite happy with compulsory voting.
And yet our governments keep doing it to beneficiaries.
All it takes is good advertising before each election and the number fined will be minimal.
Yeah ok, I’ve gone and done some more reading on it. I’m not as partisan as I was. I lived in Oz for a long period, it is no hardship to vote. Chasing up non voters appears to be a token effort, 12 people in Darwin taken to court after the last election.
I dread the influx in….”I voted for that chappie with the straight teeth, whatisname? I once saw him in a Crusaders jersey” vox pops.
I suspect that it actually isn’t. Most would be given a warning and to vote next time or else. Many would be given the voting slip and told here and now or else.
You probably just don’t hear about it which is unfortunate.
If you’re not on the electoral roll how do they know who to chase up?
But also, in order to enrol you have to sign a form. No person can legally be forced to sign any form they don’t wish to sign.
Just because you’re not on the electoral roll doesn’t mean that you can’t be traced. Got a bank account? Pay your taxes? Drive a car?
Yeah, I’m one of the few people who have no difficulty with the government doing data matching to catch criminals. Especially when those criminals are fucking over our democracy.
It is a legal requirement to be enrolled. You must sign that form whether you like it or not.
How exactly does Bryce Edwards see it differently, Ed? His piece is actually very noncommittal and empty of firm opinion on the matter at hand.
I think your comment has put a few here on the wrong foot …
You could have made the argument as to why you think the numbers reflect badly on the current state of our representative democracy but you didn’t. Why not?
Nanny state?
More like angry drunken big bully Brother State.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/359376/woman-has-benefit-wrongly-suspended-for-second-time
I am struggling to work out what Andrew Little was thinking in putting about his agenda to dump the three strikes legislation without first getting his political ducks in a row. Is he a political idiot?
Little floats idea, gives Winston the opportunity to make his mark, both postpone the issue for a while and a satisfactory result flies through the House; everybody wins. Meanwhile, the Right enjoy a temporary lift, to no eventual gain. The Coalition Government works, and is seen to be working, as it should.
Spin Spin Spin RG, just like a Council does when it imposes 8% rates increases. Your man was fed to the dogs, not unexpected.
8.3 and in any case, is your “dogs” reference to the poor autistic man, savaged yesterday by rottweilers near Winton? That’s harsh for this time of the morning, Ruby. For any time really.
That seems an excessively generous interpretation to me.
Occam’s says more like Little, who was a politically inept leader, simple fucked up the politics.
I agree the politics are nowhere near as bad as our aggressively authoritarian political media seem to think, but the Likes of Audrey Young seem very under employed most of the time. Not a lot of substance happens in our politics, so they are reduced to making mountains out of molehills and reporting two flies climbing a wall with breathless urgency.
I just wonder why they don’t occupy their copious spare time writing in depth backgrounders.
“politically inept leader”, even if true, doesn’t translate to inept politician. I suggest that in fact, Little is a good and efficient politician, especially when out of the “leader” spotlight. In this instance we can only speculate, but my view is that he’s not so “inept” as to be unaware of what Winston’s position would invariably have been, and in fact played the game to the satisfaction of all-but-you (and some other posters 🙂
Except his actions are generating headlines like this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/12/new-zealand-coalition-under-strain-as-jacinda-ardern-prepares-for-maternity-leave
Now this is clearly overblown but Politics is as much about perception than reality and if the perception is a Government that is unstable soon enough it will be.
Headlines, schmedlines – they’re froth, Gosman, eye-catching dross, the don’t mean anything; that you’re enchanted by them is… a shame. Nevermind, there are others who can see past the headlines .
Your believing that illusions are real is … cute. Serious political commenters though, don’t fall for illusions. The Government won’t become “unstable” simply because National declares that to be the case; your confidence in that sort of fickleness marks you as … fickle.
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) serious political commentators don’t generally dictate the popularity of political parties. If the perception gains traction that a governing coalition is unstable then people will think is is likely to fall and stop supporting it. Yes this is unfair to a degree but it is political reality.
So?
Three years of parties disagreeing in public (but respectfully) without the government being brought down will show those headlines as stupid.
The media need crises to sell copy. I can understand why the populace might not be used to a government of adults, but they’ll learn what should be the norm rater than the exception.
I was thinking about that possibility except it has had a negative impact on the Government generally. It looks like the political management skills of Little and by extension the PM are flawed. Just listen to the attack by Guyon Espiner on Morning report this morning.
Guyon’s attack was, by accounts I’ve read, a failed one. Little would have been attacked even more vigorously, had his proposal gone ahead un-modified, as you know – Farrar et al would have been shrieking heedlessly; as it is, they’re crowing prematurely. What the media does is of little consequence, pun intended, and a smart operator will play them. Little’s a clever guy and Winston’s not too shabby either.
Little clever? Nah, he’s either stupid or arrogant. Clearly he didn’t have NZF on board with the three strikes policy, and Peters has rescued his plummeting polling at the expense of the hapless Mr Little.
Yours is a simplistic world view, Baba Yaga. Sophisticated ideas must make you feel dizzy, yes?
The proposed repeal of the 3 strikes law was not sophisticated. It was stupid.
No it wasn’t; you’re like a cuckoo clock, babayaga; same phrase, over and over cuckoo, cuckoo!
Is Baby Gaga trolling again today or is he being sensible today, Gossie and Mullet Head are going stupid again ?
Little should never had floated this idea as essentially a done deal. He could have made out that he was very keen to review the law including and then allowed Winston credit for nixing it.
The whole thing has been a shambles.
Luckily Winston’s going after MSD and Bennett et al plus the shenanigans in Singapore will quickly push it off the news cycle (for now).
But the ongoing government messiness and poor comms etc can only be explained away by Ardern for so long before it starts to become a major liability.
“the ongoing government messiness” is a message constructed and broadcast by the Right. There’s a grain of truth in it, as there would be for any and every “new” coalition Government, but the blue magnifying glass is being held over that small issue as part of National’s programme of denigrating the Government.
I admire your rather generous assessment of the situation Robert and I’d like to be able to agree with you but I can’t.
Three Strikes and law and order issues generally are just too sensitive electorally to be allowed to play out like this has. Apparently there was almost outright panic in Little’s office a week or so ago when the OIA on 3 strikes was released to media and they realised how it was going to go.
Oh well, I can’t argue with “apparently”…
Mind you, to say that “Three Strikes and law and order issues generally are just too sensitive electorally” shows me that any approach would bring problems, so this way, the usual attack lines are blurred and criticism blunted; in fact, the “usual suspects” are crowing with delight; that’s a pretty clever strategy if in fact, Little and Peters colluded. I’d do it the way they have; play some feints and switches and slip the soul through while confusion reigns.
That’s the thing though, apart from the lock-‘em-up-and-throw-away-the -key crowd pleasers any sensible measures on crime and justice are always problematic to put in front of the electorate.
It’s hard to see how giving the Opposition and their pals in the media an even bigger stick with which to beat the government on this is going to blur attack lines and blunt criticism?
Hard to see? Not for me 🙂
Will the Government get a progressive package of law & order reforms through in the near future? Yes, I believe they will. Will there be less noise around it, due to the “moderating” effect of Winston’s recent action? Yes, I believe there will. Clever play? Yes, I still believe so. I don’t take much note of the wailing and gnashing of Righty teeth around this issue.
Well I hope you’re right Robert. Otherwise the future is a correctional facility on every bloody street corner.
I hope I am also, ScottGN. I think Andrew Little’s bright and will serve us well.
What is missing throughout this debate, especially in the MSM, is the fact the 3 Strikes is a stupid politically motivated law, a blunt instrument that doesn’t work.
The MSM, if it was being even-handed, should be making the point that Labour and the Greens are right to try to get it repealed rather than treating this as an issue they hope will destroy the coalition.
Well done Andrew Little for sticking to his guns on Morning Report this morning.
An even-handed MSM would do itself out of a job, consequently, it always tips the table one way or the other, to maintain tension. We readers love tension; makes us feel alive!
I guess we have to accept the msm controls the government and the electorate.
What are we going to do about?
Recent history would indicate our MSM are incapable of/disinterested in exploring the effects of policy as opposed to ‘political drama’…..and yet ‘we’ persist in our support.
Their version of ‘reality TV’?
““the ongoing government messiness” is a message constructed and broadcast by the Right.”
No, the messiness is surely and simply the result of inexperience combined with incompetence mixed with hubris. From the coalition agreement that gifted a billion dollars to a NZF slush fund, to the election of the Speaker (Labour’s screw up and then cover up), to the disgraceful decision making around oil and gas exploration, through to the incompetence of MIA Ministers such as Curran, Jackson, Davis, Twyford et al, this is a shambolic government mislead by a PM whose previous claim to fame had been working in a fish and chip shop. You were warned.
No, the messiness is natural and unavoidable. It’s the reporting that’s unnatural; the endless whine that you are part of, babayaga, that’s the twitter. Plus, You Have Been Warned!!!
Bomber’s on the money here.
“By publicly dumping a law that was only rhetoric and theatre in the first place (it’s only impacted 20 prisoners) Labour…
gives NZ First oxygen at a time when Labour desperately requires their coalition partners to survive
blunts National’s law and order attack which they will be playing all year with new tough on crime members bills.
Allows the perception to the petty consumers of bitterness that Labour have had to back down on prison reform when the actual process will continue. Liberal twitter and NGOs on twitter will lambast Little and scream at the injustice which will convince the petty consumers of bitterness in muddle Nu Zilind that Labour must have changed their position to outrage the Twitterratti in such a way.
Little loses the battle so he can win the war.”
If thats true its a bit short sighted because from now until the next election National can point to Labour being soft on crime so a vote for NZFirst is a vote for being soft on crime whereas a vote for National is a vote for three strikes
I’m sure he’s like most politicians, a decent, well meaning, reasonably intelligent person.
However your question: “Is he a political idiot?” is an easy question to answer. He’s failed twice to win an electorate seat and was driving Labour to oblivion before he did the smartest thing he’s ever likely to do, politically, and resign so yes, politically speaking, he is an idiot
However he is rocking a decent beard so thats something in his favour
You call that a beard?
It is just like Mallard’s.
All it is is that the hair from the top of his head has slipped down his face.
The only halfway decent beard any recent MP has had is the one Gareth Hughes showed off.
That added about 10 years to his age and made him look old enough to vote.
Even then he couldn’t compare to some of the early PMs like Seddon, Vogel, Stafford or Weld.
You call that a beard?
https://robertwoodlander.blogspot.com/2018/05/coming-clean.html
I am impressed. You could have been PM, or was it Premier, in 1860’s New Zealand.
Best I can manage is councillor, Southland Regional Council, 2010 – 2018. I wonder if I’m on my own in being a bearded councillor in NZ? I certainly don’t meet many others.
That’s a beard that commands respect!
I thank you, but respectfully suggest you talk with my wife who holds a slightly different view 🙂
Secretly all women like men with beards and I read it in Oblivious Male Monthly so it must be true
They do, yes; well, mostly. I was told by my wife’s maiden aunt, way back, that she could “never make love to a man with a beard”. I guessed she meant something more arcane than it seemed by that, but still, I was taken aback. Didn’t stop me though!
You made love to your wife’s maiden aunt? That’s a pretty ballsy move I gotta say. 🙂
“Didn’t stop me though”
How could I let that slip through???
I’m a “share the love” kinda guy. Truth to tell, Maiden Aunt’s comments didn’t deter me from wooing her niece (much more seemly, aye, though not quite the story it was shaping up to be 🙂
Kym Koloni NZF stood as an Independent Candidate and got 95 votes, not looking good for NZF down the track ?
Not looking good for Kym.
NZF might have to start looking for a new candidate for Northcote if they are going to contest the seat in the 2020 Election ?
Crikey! Is Guyon looking for a bonus? His interview smacks of desperation. Fortunately Jacinda was able to make him sound just that. DESPARATE. She treated him like the bad mannered child that he is and he achieved absolutely nothing with his hectoring,bullying attitude. Maybe he should try a measured professional approach and he might get taken seriously. An excellent, sensible calm and clear attitude from Jacinda with her replies was wonderful to hear. At least one adult in the conversation! Guyon is past his used by date.
+1
Agree +100% the guy is a joke.
Was Guyon ever that “persistent” with Key?
Don’t remember him being so. Guyon was grateful that Key would allow a very sparse minute just before the 8 o’clock news and treated him gently in case he didn’t turn up at all.
Of course he was as persistent with Key and English. You just can’t remember because you obviously thought that any persistent questioning of Key/English was justified as a result of your political bias.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/75031554/Theres-a-place-for-hard-nosed-interviews-but-not-aggression
Crikey iannie, you forgot the previslabagummnt, previslabagummnt, previslabagummnt, previslabagummnt, previslabagummnt, exchange already?
Totally agree. Guyon Espinor is a hectoring bore. I am tired of his style of interviewing. He’s more suited to Fox News.
And as for John Key – for years he refused to be interviewed on Morning Report.
Did you not follow the link I provided?
“Guyon Espinor is a hectoring bore. ”
QFT
If President Trump gets a good poll bump from the results of this North Korean summit he will be sending a strong signal to Romney and the traditional conservative Republican wing that there is only one Republican nomination for the next Presidential contest – and it’s him.
If the Dems don’t get their house sorted in pretty quick order instead of folding and undercutting each other like they did in the banking reforms, then they will be very hard pressed to beat Trump.
The rest might be a bit too far into the future, but Trump’s massive strength of perpetual chaos, drama, and through that total name-domination in the media is sustaining a very strong base to build from.
Yahoo! Go Andrew Little. Guyon needs to give up. He’s looking like an amateur. Three strikes AND OUT! He should stick to reporting on weather.
@ffloyd….agreed. I loved both Little and Jacinda taking it to Espiner this morning on Morning Report-well worth a listen to anyone who hasn’t heard it.
Both showed themselves to be smart and on top of the issue. I’m still reveling in this government after 9 years of hell.
Sniggering Gyno did seem a little taken aback when Andy bit back.
Why? What was the issue with the way he approached the topic this morning?
Our future trade focus should be Asia and we should be part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, hanging off the USA’s coat tails is not going to do us any good in the future, the future trade growth region is Asia.
Forget about the USA let them do their own thing.
Our future trade focus should be on minimising trade. That’s hard though and does require developing our economy and our society.
It’s better to trade with countries that make different stuff. Korea makes real steel and computers, and does not compete with our ag goods. The US, with its weird corn subsidies and mad cow disease doesn’t want our stuff.
Except that that’s a load of bollocks.
Dubious Assumptions on Comparative Advantage
Loss from Trade
We make steel. Around 1.5 million tonnes of it per year. We export around 1 million tonnes of it. And that doesn’t even take into account all the raw iron sand that we export.
The problem with that scenario is that we will, quite rapidly, run out of iron deposits.
Our focus on farming is depleting our soils as well poisoning our waterways. So, that’s not sustainable either.
Electronics tend to made out of silicon and doping with semi-conductors. We have significant deposits of both of those as well. So, we could easily make our own electronics from our own resources. Just need to develop those deposits and build the factories. Do that and buying our own would be cheaper than importing due to distance and transport costs.
Our main agricultural export ATM seems to be dairy. The US is massively over-producing dairy to the point where their farmers are losing money on sale of it. In other words, even if we had an FTA with the US, we wouldn’t be able to export there simply because they can provide it themselves cheaper. And once they get that over-production sorted it’ll still be cheaper to buy US produced milk in the US than to buy NZ milk in the US.
An export led economy is doomed due to the very real physical limitations of available resources.
An economy that uses it’s own resources and recycles them is actually sustainable due to the resources always being available.
In other words, reality makes trade unsustainable.
God. Who gave Armstrong the kiss of life. ANOTHER opinion piece on his intimate knowledge of Jacindas state of mind, this time on Andrew Littles 3strike postponement. Definitely on a Labour sabotage mission.
Is Armstrong working as a psychologist now, just wait till after the baby is born and the post natal depresssion kicks in, Guyon, Richardson, Garner and Armstrong will have a fieldday ?
Armstrong is a devious National Party shill (as opposed to a journalist).
He lost all credibility as a commentator when he demanded Cunliffe’s resignation over a meaningless 10 year old letter. He later admitted he was wrong to do this, but of course he knew that at the time.
Pretty sure you think that about much of the media given your comments in the past.
Yes, Armstrong, Cunliffe, the old, meaningless letter – nadir.
Has the old fossil Armstrong crawled out of his grave ?
Fossils can crawl?
Yikes!
There’s some HUGE fossils out there.
And some of them in graves, I read!
Justice! Fair play! Good for Nicky and for future police action. Though it still doesn’t explain why the police were so active for Slater.
“Investigative journalist Nicky Hager has accepted a police apology and payment of “substantial damages” following the unlawful search of his home during the investigation into the hacking that led to the Dirty Politics book.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12068928
Nicky Hagar getting a big pay out from the NZ Police +100%
Some very strange behaviour by the NZ Police under the previous National Government ?
Just listening to K Ryan talking to someone? regarding the meeting between dumb and dumber. He says it is just a publicity exercise and won’t achieve anything. Does this mean it will be all about ‘summit and nowt?
Nah its all about someone and newit ?
So about time we heard something about this:
https://www.labour.org.nz/maria_berryman_review
“Ms Berryman is commencing immediately with the initial focus of her investigation on the Young Labour camp in February. The review is expected to take between two and three months,” said Nigel Haworth, Labour Party President.
Why should expect to hear anything? t has nothing to do with you. It was a purely internal matter for the Labour Party.
However I will tell you the gist of the enquiry.
Nothing happened.
The stories about it were all fabrications by lying members of neo-Nazi organisations like the National Party.
There were no members of the Party at the affair.
The people who were there all went to bed early and no one saw or heard anything.
The only problems were caused by fifth columnists from the National Party and other Fascist organisations.
But nothing happened.
Nothing further will be said.
It is time to move on.
But nothing happened.
There. I think you would agree that is a pretty fair summary of the matter.
Being that the media seem to have forgotten about it as well its hard to see how the left think theres a bias against them
Also: Pony Tail
Orangutan fights off a bulldozer to protect its home
Once again a darling of many a hard core lefty has turned in to an authoritarian douchebag and is messing his country up.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/11/nicaragua-university-protest-daniel-ortega-occupation
Hopefully the IRD will do an audit on John Key’s affairs and determine whether he paid tax on the NZRail shares which he failed to disclose to the NZ Public, as he may have bought those shares with the intention of selling them (ie speculation) as he was definitely not a long term investor in NZRail, similar to one of the other major shareholders Fay Richwhite ?
You do come up with interesting conspiracy theories there. Interesting or wacky. Take your pick.
I’d like to think that those in power should have automatic audits to make sure they are not profiting from their power. In particular due to the rise of the super rich to being in politics, aka financial trader makes PM aka KEY, the property developer/reality TV star make President aka Trump, the lawyer who makes his own laws aka Rodrigo Duterte…
What if we killed the job interview?
I’m sure that there are many managers and business owners who think that they’re great at interviews and yet are probably the most biased and make the worst mistakes because of that bias while they hire people just like them.
You have to wonder how a $6000 fine is going to deter employers after a 3.5 year breach of employing an illegal worker and not paying taxes and of course this is a person who is sponsoring in migrant workers too, for a liquor store.
If you calculate how much is being lost in each case, 3.5 years of someone else not getting a job, the police costs to prosecute, the deportation costs and the justice system and then the guy just gets a fine of $6000 and the loss of business to other stores who employ legal workers paying taxes! Crime sure does pay in this country!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12069066
Weird that you can’t get somebody who needs a job locally to work at his store and how the government keeps bringing in low wage workers at the drop of a hat and the government doesn’t understand why poverty is increasing.
Apparently over 60% of people who end up in prison are unemployed… maybe have a think about, rather than building more prisons and having 3 strikes laws and work for dole schemes – actually employ our own citizens in real jobs at 40 hours a week so that they don’t need to turn to crime!
There is no longer an equal playing field in this country both for businesses and workers because there has become a culture of paying for for a fake job to get residency, underpaying for a job or having illegal workers paying no taxes taking jobs.
Even the sex workers are fed up with the illegal workers coming in on student and tourist visas!
You can’t run a country with less and less people paying taxes and ignoring the problem of fake jobs and illegal workers!
Start with the criminal employers who are not paying taxes, probably collecting many benefits like AS and WFF and creating these Ponzi schemes buying up more small and medium businesses and perpetuating the growing problems for other legitimate businesses and workers.
If Mike Williams’ numbers are correct, and he is CEO of the Howard League, much of the real problem is that more than 50% of prisoners are functionally illiterate. That is the number he gives in this link although I have seen other estimates of it being as high as 70%.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/80836726/mike-williams-and-the-howard-league-gives-prisoners-a-second-chance
They can’t read well enough, for example, to be able to get a driver’s licence because they can’t do the written tests.
They can’t get a job in today’s society because they can’t read.
When I was young I used to spend the University Summer break working in Wool Stores. You could get a job like that even if you could barely read or write. Being able to pick out the right numbers on the stencil when marking the weight was pretty much all you needed to be able to do.
Those sort of jobs simply don’t exist any more, but there are still people who can’t read well enough to do anything else. That is what is the best thing we can do to get people into jobs and out of prison.
I’m not saying that that is the only reason why this firm doesn’t hire locals. There are always ratbags who will hire immigrants at illegally low wages. It is however indicative of why there are people who can’t get jobs and just drift from one jail sentence to another.
My personal opinion is that the schools should make their absolute priority getting people up to a minimum level of literacy and numeracy before they worry about anything else at all. Cultural topics can wait. If you can’t read you can’t learn anything else anyway.
Agree literacy in prisons is a problem aka anyone illiterate should all be doing the primary school syllabus while in prison. I’m not talking about dinky little online courses, I think there should be full on schools in prisons for the inmates with one teacher per 20 inmates for example.
However once they get out of prison they should have an opportunity to get a job or even better not go to prison because they got a job when they left school/tertiary in the first place…
But my link was about an illegal worker working in a liquor store, I don’t think you need high literacy for that, in fact they seem to use symbols now on tills for products and the tills do all the calculations for the cash customers. So I think that illegal workers are a bad idea, we are just getting worse and worse in NZ, encouraging poor work practises with pathetic sentences and encouraging more of the same.
To give an example the guy who poached some Paua got 12 months in prison, his dive gear confiscated and not allowed to fish for 3 years. Someone who sent a hoax note to Fonterra got 8 years in prison. Grow a bit of cannabis and you could lose your house!
But poor working practises from employers, if they even get caught, actually seem to have a fine below what they made by their illegal actions!
The law should be banning employers caught hiring illegal workers from owning/managing a business for 3 years, let alone allow them to bring more people in as well as a fine of $100,000. They should also have IRD doing full audits to see if any suspicious payments are being made (aka bribes for jobs) and check if they are compliant in other tax matters.
The point is, people need to be doing something if they are unemployed and getting $150 p/w on the dole aint a good prospect and even worse ‘work for the dole at $150’, and a $600 p/w job in a liquor store, although not great, is better than nothing!
So if we are getting employers owning multiple businesses who have people paying for the job, working illegally or getting $2p/h (and there are many cases occurring of that), then it’s cutting someone else’s prospects down to get that job or someone else operating a business that operates within NZ law.
I’m sorry to have derailed your comments with my pet hobby horse.
I got distracted by the comment about prisoners having been unemployed.
Having people who are literate isn’t going to help very much with employers like the one in the case you quote of course. They employ people who will work for very little because otherwise they get deported.
The only real way to deal with such employers is to belt them with truly massive fines. Fines so high that it simply isn’t worth them offending. Then pay at least some of the money out to the people who were employed illegally or on less than the minimum wage. Treat their wealth as being like the money seized from the gangs. It is proceeds of a crime and should be forfeited.
On a different subject I would allow the employment of people who simply cannot produce enough to justify them having to be paid the minimum wage. There used to be sheltered workshops for such people. Sure they were paid very little. It did however give them something they could do. Make their living costs up with a benefit from the state.
alwyn, I would put it to you that the minimum wage is now so low that it is the equivalent of a sheltered workshop wage.
How desperate would you have to be to do hard, physically hurtful labour like picking Kiwifruit for possibly less than $15 an hour? (They jiggle it by paying by the basket, I believe.)
Be honest.
Well, to be honest your first statement is simply wrong.
If you compare the minimum wage to the median wage for a full time worker New Zealand has a very high ratio when compared to similar countries. In 2016, according to the OECD the ratios for a few selected countries was
New Zealand 0.61
Australia 0.54
Germany 0.47
France 0.61
USA 0.35
Canada 0.46
UK 0.41
The numbers for lots of other countries are here.
https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=MIN2AVE
I would fail to see how that can be described as “low”.
It is also much greater than would have been a typical wage in a sheltered workshop. They were, until the were forced out of existence by the Clark Government something like a couple of dollars/hour.
The workers didn’t live of that of course. They, or their families got benefits. It gave the people involved something to do each day and gave some meaning to their life.
Would I like to do something like Kiwifruit picking? At my age and physical condition of course not. When I was younger I quite happily spent about 3 months each year labouring and enjoyed it. It is amazing how much muscle you can put on in a few months when away from the student life.
I can’t really discuss the topic with you unless you see that your beliefs about minimum wages in this country are simply wrong, can I?
How can 50% of prisoners be illiterate surely they went to school until they were 15 years old, I thought we had a good education system or have we had teachers just f’ing around ? Sounds like B/S to me ?
@Tamati Tautuhi, sadly I think it is true, I have heard similar, sadly the result of Rogernomics and our ‘new’ educational systems like Tomorrow’s Schools where schools are run more like businesses. Personally I’d like to see our school principals have a more education focus, nowadays they are more like administration managers working our asset depreciation and infrastructure maintenance budgets… because in the old days the ministry took care of all that but now it’s up to the individual schools the burden often falling on principals… which has encouraged a certain type of principal more on the economic side than the educational side..
Of course in the business world, you have a CEO, CIO, CFO and CTO… but school principals are expected to do all that in one role, plus be the educational leaders..and of course the health and safety side.
Quite frankly it’s lucky we even get the results we do get with the weird ideas that have come about. The casualties are the kids who are failing 30% and the syllabus not getting every kid through.
It’s also not just for people who are going the criminal route that these jobs are useful for, I know people with intellectual disabilities who are all working in places like Supermarkets, or people who work in hospitality because they have other issues. The people I know are good workers who have been working for nearly a decade in that type of job. But they are being replaced and forced out of the work force by a growing issue of imported low wage workers, who as well as taking out jobs need more hospitals/schools/roads/houses.
So not only are people at the bottom facing job pressure, they also now have more competition for getting a house to rent and the rest of the country are subsidising these employers who are increasing at an alarming pace around the country. It used to just be Auckland, no more it’s spreading everywhere.
Likewise the quality of tourist experience. Stayed at a formally upmarket hotel taken over by an overseas firm who are buying up hotels around the country. If hardly any staff members, stinky minibar, dirty bathroom, un maintained rooms with bits falling off door, and rat bait packages under the bed in a resort that used to be luxury stay, sound like a good tourist experience, welcome to the ‘new’ New Zealand experience…
@Tamati. I can’t confirm the numbers but I am certainly willing to believe Mike’s comments. Did you read the article at that link?
I once tutored someone in one of our Prisons. That was about 40 years ago. He was, I think, in for selling drugs and he was doing part-time University courses at Massey. Definitely an odd one out. He said that many inmates couldn’t read and he would read their letters to them.
There have always been people like that. It isn’t a new thing or something that Tomorrow’s Schools caused. It just didn’t matter so much when there were lots of manual labour jobs available. When I was at High School we had a lot (around 20%) who arrived at the school for the third form at age 13 who really could not read or write. There were a couple of teachers who spent nearly all their time teaching them to read. You see without that skill they couldn’t learn anything else. Once they had, if ever, achieved that skill they could learn other things.
That was about 60 years ago. At least, as I suggested, in those days you could find work with very low skills. Now you can’t. In fact you may not even be able to get to work if you can’t drive.
If you don’t get the hang of reading early on at school I have been told you will withdraw from learning. You know you aren’t as good as other kids but you don’t want to admit it or to show up as being behind. So you say nothing. Then you stop attending school and things just never improve.
And no, it isn’t just “teachers f”ing off” as you put it. Kids missing school because they can’t keep up can’t be helped if they aren’t there.
On the other hand I think there are far too many things in the curriculum that could be ignored as long as this skill isn’t there. It might be a good thing to learn about all sorts of topics but they should be left until the three R’s are at some minimal level.
Good comment, alwyn (just for a change..)
Some time ago during my time as a teacher of languages I remember a very interesting lecture/article by some linguistic guru who claimed by some research or stats or who-knows-what that even in the best utopian country with the finest possible education system, a minimum of 8% (it could have been 1 in 8) in any population will inevitably remain functionally illiterate.
It is just the way humans are born.
So while some prisoners may be capable of becoming literate, it may well be that many will remain the way they are despite our efforts.
To my mind we need to reinstitute well-paid jobs for such people.
My surprising choice for an example of such nature is – rubbish collection!
In the good old days: a gang of 5 or so people with one truck. One drives; one or two stand up on rear, catch the bins lifted or thrown upwards to them, empty the bin into the truck, then toss the empty bin back down to the several runners, who place it back on the footpath upside-down. (A popular member of the old Waikato Rugby team used to do that job because it helped him keep fit for rugby.)
A radio would be blaring pop music on the back of the truck, the guys would be calling out to one another (including to driver) to maintain coordinated effort.
My toddler daughter would hear the parade coming, rush to the front window: the guys on the back of the truck used to look out for this, and would wave and grin, causing little toddler to wave back energetically. They seemed to love waving to little kids. They were cheerful enough to smile!
Lamentably, there is no such thing any more. Automated trucks, max of two people; no music; one might get fit by stepping on and off running board to toss bags (PLASTIC!!) of rubbish into the rear… The worst I saw was in Auckland where one sad-looking guy drove the truck that had mechanised arms to pick up wheely-bins and replace them (emptied out) back on the footpath. He looked bloody miserable. Probably paid far less than those earlier guys.
This disaster must apply to many other jobs as well. Fewer people less happy, being paid less money. I would not have minded working with those guys back when I was young. I would hate to work in modern rubbish collection.
This is how the Market leads us to bad places: mechanisation that is not well-guided is the enemy of human society. (The Luddites were right!)
The economy makes a good servant to society, but a very poor master.
And we have RWNJs still stupid enough to want the economy and the market to rule….
“A popular member of the old Waikato Rugby team used to do that job because it helped him keep fit for rugby”
He wasn’t the only one. Jerry Collins did the same thing in Porirua, even when he was a very well paid All Black. In the off season I believe but still.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/69363078/no-passengers-jerry-collins-earned-his-stripes-as-a-wellington-garbo
So weird though that although those jobs are apparently going, NZ seems to have so many ‘unskilled’ jobs on it’s ‘skilled’ migrant list… our productivity has been stagnant for years and our migrants are even lower qualified and less skilled than 5 years ago and so many lobby groups jumping up and down about how there are so many shortages of labour because apparently Kiwis are not suitable anymore. What a strategy for the future, sarc.
Posted an article a few days ago where an offshore hotel being built wanted 100’s of workers bought into Auckland on $20 p/h as decorators.
$20 p/h was the rate for a painter/decorater about 28 years ago!!! There are plenty of painter/decorators in Northland, but do you really think it is worth someone’s while to come to Auckland for a pay rate that comes from circa 1990 and is impossible to live on once you have a family ????
How the fuck can local construction survive when you are getting this under cutting?
Careful, dear alwyn – you have almost agreed with me.
What is the way ahead? They say that further automation is going to cut even more jobs. Would a sensible society not be concerned to see that its members were usefully and reasonably happily occupied, and use automation only as required to meet those needs, and improve the economy without social damage??
Instead we have a greedy group who use automation to maximise their profits, without caring that they create one hell-hole of a society.
A recipe for massive disaster.
Your thoughts? (As The Chairman was so fond of demanding..)
Prepare for much gnashing of teeth, keening and wailing from the left:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/104640010/live-donald-trump-and-kim-jong-un-meet-for-the-better-or-worse-of-the-world
That’s the chewing of popcorn, not the gnashing of teeth puckers.
Taika Waititi’s new film about to be released Jojo Rabbit where he is acting as Adolph Hitler, it should be entertaining.
Even better he is a “Polynesian Jew” playing Adolf Hitler, the imaginary friend of a young German lad whose mum is active in the Resistance (and Scarlett Johansson to boot!).
Never realised he was a Polynesian Jew ?
Were did you get that info from is it his mothers or fathers side ?
Should be a good watch.
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/06/jojo-rabbit-taika-waititi-adolf-hitler-photo-1201973380/
He says it in in the second Tweet. Possibly just Taika-speak though…
Must be on the mothers side of the family, interesting that will confuse the critics, mind you he likes to maximize the entertainment and confusion.
Taika Waititi is an amazing film director.
Amen to that.
Thorough verbal referencing conducted after interviewing is the key to making good hiring decisions, and psychometric testing can help too
Simon No Bridges says Winston should concentrate on governing the country rather than taking out vendettas against Senior Government Officials and MP’s.
What the clown needs to realize is it is a separate issue to NZF, the Coalition or the governing of the country. These people deliberately released Winston’s personal information into the public arena, to smear him and influence the outcome of the 2017 General Election. Dirty Politics Paper 102
If people are not brought to account by the judicial system these things will keep happening.
We had blatant fraud and corruption with the collapse of the BNZ which was covered up by the NZ Government and the NZ Judiciary in the Winebox Enquiry. Hence we have systemic failures of companies here in NZ ever since then, as “white collar crime” is considered a legitimate business activity here in NZ. However stealing pinky bars from the local petrol station will get you locked up for a good length of time.
It sends a message to the crooks “if you are going to commit fraud here in NZ do it for a reasonable sum of money ? ” Doug Graham would be a classic case and example.
I’m sure Slick Britches will have been careful to leave no traces of any advice to Pullya.
To Whom it May Concern
The Standard used to be, Worthwhile. But now that it is infested with Trolls it is so dull and childlike. It iooks and acts like a toddler with a dirty bottom.
Gosman, James, baba yaga. Graffiti Inc.
Observer; The Standard is still worthwhile and then some. Those folk you “name” are our “creative tension providers” – without them, we are soft. Harden up, enjoy the creative stress!
You just have to scroll, or scribe past them, throw them the odd lure or live bait when you want a bit of entertainment, as it doesn’t take them long to come up the berley trail, just don’t feed them too much as they can chew up a lot of precious time and bait.
Berley = chum – I like your style, Tamati.
12/06/16 The Standard Pick Six Troll Competition
Report: We had good early activity by two trolls Gossie was up early and I am not sure who the other one was, today we have had good troll activity throughout the day, and it is highly likely we will get the Pick 6 today b4 12.00am, yesterday we didn’t get the last leg b4 12.00am but we got 5 legs in. So far today we have had activity from, Gossie, Mullet Head, James, Puckish Rogue & Baby Gaga. I will post the results later once we have analysed all the days trolling activity across T/S.
As I have suggested they should set up there own Blog Site and go all out, I guess they are over here undercover from Kiwi Blog & Whale Oil websites to keep themselves entertained ?
“Baby Gaga” is good. What can you do with “James”?
Janus? A Roman god, after all.
*Cough cough* Feeling a bit left out here, wheres the love?
Has Baby Gaga and James both been trolling today or just James ?
And how do we classify contributors? Who could decide whether a certain genuinely concerned Leftie (who often makes comments that look so) is in fact not what he seems?
No James. A James-free day. James has not darkened our door. James has been absent (for years 🙂
James? You mean James ‘The Mad Butcher’ James?
Ha!
* Grunts: Eat! MEAT!
Watched Question Time today. Bridges all geared up to smash Andrew Little but crashed out having to face Winston “On behalf Of the PM.”
Winston was at his best. Succinct. Amusing. And made Simon look like a very very silly little boy. Winston will be great as Acting PM.
Q1 https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=200714
PS Has Simon sorted out his hair stylist?
Lovely. Paula Bennett looks scorched .
He will have to put a lot more brylecream on if he is going to be slippery enough to out smart Winston.
By the looks of it, Paula and Simon share the same hair stylist. That style suits them well; it makes Paula look older and Simon look younger.
Little bit of synergy there between the two of them lol.
both just as slimy.
I think “slick” is the word you were looking for 😉
You know the country is in trouble when a dentist launches a petition to stop DIY dentistry
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018648930/petition-launched-as-diy-dentistry-grows
Winston, cat; what’s his name, (Opposition leader) mouse. Bennett took a slamming from Mallard. All’s well in the world.
Winston is having the.time.of.his.life.
Poor National. Stuffed!
Apologize to the ambulance service people it’s not like Eco Maori rings a ambulance every day. I was informed that the service is busy and the time was 40 min. The last time I had a ambulance rang was a hcoptter I did not wait I got my son to take me to hospital.
Ka kite ano