Open mike 12/06/2023
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6:00 am, June 12th, 2023 - 15 comments
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I had occasion yesterday to visit our health centre. My doctor had said that I needed a blood test. The first thing I noticed was that the phlebotomist was acting as her own receptionist. She was handing a number to prospective patients in the order in which they presented themselves. ...11 hours ago - Real Kiwis Say Welcome
One day there will come a timeWhen the person you are named after diesAnd all of a sudden, you're the only one leftSong: The Smith Street BandThis headline jumped out at me yesterday: Racism fallout at North Shore Hospital after patient request to avoid Asian staff.The article is sparse in ...17 hours ago - A better way of living
Nicola Willis and her boss have been peddling a fake short history of the previous government that runs as follows:They spent and spent, they had nothing to show for it and that is not how you grow the economy, because You can't tax yourself to prosperity.There is a sort of ...21 hours ago - The End of the Beginning of a Curate’s Egg: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power, Episode 8...
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This is a live page and will be updated with updates and resources.Facebook page: No to Privatisation by StealthSigns ...1 day ago - If the Rain Comes
If the rain comes they run and hide their heads.They might as well be dead,If the rain comes, if the rain comes…Can you hear me that when it rains and shines,It's just a state of mind,Can you hear me, can you hear me?Song: Lennon-McCartneyIt’s been quite a week for Dunedin ...2 days ago - Up and down
2 days ago - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head: Dunedin Flooding
I noted a few days ago that the Hospital protest happened to coincide with favourable weather. Well, it was a very happy coincidence, because the past twenty-four hours have been rather wet in this part of the world. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/weather-pictures-dunedin-flooded-as-state-of-local-emergency-declared/HNOB5YIEWFCUXNWXYIWGICZ6ZU/ In terms of sheer amount of rain, it’s one of those ...2 days ago - Is the New Zealand’s Retirement Strategy Sustainable?
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Cartoon: Guy BodySam Sharpe Studio brought “Wrecking Ball Luxon” to the marchPlease consider supporting my work and subscribing. Thanks, Tui.Oliver Mould provided an exciting statistic yesterday.He wrote in the comments:Source: Why Civil Resistance Works The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent ConflictAnd I paused…It was exciting to read that. Thanks, OM. A ...7 days ago - Monday 30 September 2024
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35,000 strong march in Dunedin to protest Government hospital cuts - showing us how it’s done. Thank you Dunedin!IN PICTURES Photo Credits : RNZ, ODT, Debunking Conspiracies Aotearoa, BHN, NZH, Stuff Related Reading:Bye Bye Health Verrall to Levy: "Health NZ NDAs are North Korean - Get rid of it."Lester Levy ...1 week ago - Stranded in paradise
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And another pitch shattersAnother little bit gets lostTell me what else really mattersOh, such a costLike pebbles on a beachKicked around, displaced by feetOh, like broken stonesThey're all trying to get homeSong by Paul WellerDoes it feel as though your country has been hijacked? That terrible people have taken the ...1 week ago - I’m Glad The Right Wing Coalition Won
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Education Minister Erica Stanford still can’t confirm when the Government will deliver the $2 billion worth school upgrades she cut earlier this year. ...3 days ago - Release: Govt failing NZ’s manufacturing sector
Labour acknowledges the hundreds of workers today losing their jobs as the Winstone Pulp mill closes and what it will mean for their families and community. ...3 days ago
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Te Whatu Ora’s financials from the last year show the Government has manufactured a financial crisis to justify making cuts that are already affecting patient care. ...4 days ago
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The New Zealand business community is unique. It has always punched well above its weight on the world stage. ...4 days ago
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Over 41,000 Palestinian’s have been murdered by Israel in the last 12 months. At the same time, Israel have launched attacks against at least four other countries in the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. “You cannot play the aggressor and the victim at the same time,” said ...4 days ago
- Release: Costello makes a fool of the PM
Associate health minister Casey Costello has made a fool of the Prime Minister, because the product she’s been fighting to get a tax cut for and he’s been backing her on is now illegal – and he doesn’t seem to know it. ...5 days ago
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The Finance and Expenditure Committee’s inquiry into climate adaptation is something that must be built on for an enduring framework to manage climate risk. ...6 days ago - End of free RAT tests means more exposure to virus
The end of free Rapid Antigen Tests today is another sign the Government is giving up on the challenge of protecting the community from Covid-19. ...7 days ago
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Time has run out for Nicola Willis who has failed to keep her promise to deliver a solution to replace the Interislander ferries by today. ...7 days ago
- Release: Labour supports marches for better health
Labour supports Buller and Dunedin communities who are marching today and calling on the Government to act urgently to fix the health crisis. ...7 days ago
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The Government’s move to disregard all evidence and increase speed limits will result in serious harm. ...1 week ago
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The Green Party stands in solidarity with the Buller community in its silent protest for better healthcare. ...1 week ago
- Release: Proposed job losses devastating for Timaru
News that the Smithfield meatworks could close is devastating for the hundreds of people who work there, Timaru and the wider region. ...1 week ago
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The Government is taking tertiary education down a worrying path with new reporting finding that fourteen of the country’s sixteen polytechnics couldn’t survive on their own,” Labour’s tertiary education spokesperson Dr Deborah Russell says. ...1 week ago
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Today the government announced a $30m cut to Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori- a programme that develops te reo Māori among our kaiako. “This announcement is just the latest in an onslaught of attacks on te iwi Māori,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader Rawiri Waititi. ...1 week ago
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The Green Party is calling on the Government to honour its promise to Dunedin and build its new hospital to full capacity. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Dunedin Hospital d-listed by Government
The non-announcement in Dunedin today had Ministers leaving broken promises and a likely severely diluted hospital build in their wake. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour welcomes UAE trade deal
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed today with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). ...2 weeks ago
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The Government has shown its true intentions for the public service and economy – it’s not to get more public servants back to the office, it’s more job losses. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt not addressing health workforce crisis
The National Government is hiding the gaps in the health workforce from New Zealanders, by not producing a full workforce plan nearly a year into their tenure. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Government cuts fair pay for bus drivers
The Government has cut funding for bus drivers to get paid fairly for the work they do, Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...2 weeks ago
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Today, the Crown Mineral Amendment Bill was read for the first time, reversing the ban on oil exploration off the coast of Taranaki. It was no accident that this proposed law change was read directly after the Government started to unravel the ability of iwi and hapū Māori to have ...2 weeks ago
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Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Justice, Tākuta Ferris, has hit out at the Government, demanding the Crown prove its rights to the foreshore, following the Marine and Coastal Area Amendment Bill, passing its first reading. "Māori rights to the foreshore pre-exist the Declaration of Independence, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and ...2 weeks ago
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The Government must immediately help evacuate New Zealanders and Lebanese whanau caught up in the current conflict unfolding across south Lebanon. ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party vows to reinstate the oil and gas ban and revoke permits when it returns to government following the coalition’s introduction of legislation to reopen offshore oil and gas exploration this afternoon. ...2 weeks ago
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The Government’s introduction of its interventions in the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act threatens to throw relations between Māori and Crown into deeper disharmony. ...2 weeks ago
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Gun lobbyist Nicole McKee and her conflict of interest has struck again, this time removing safety regulations from shooting clubs and ranges in New Zealand. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt forgetting the 6000 jobs they’ve cut
The real problem in the public sector is ongoing job losses and cuts to the front line. ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party says the Government’s retrograde move to tighten up on Work from Home arrangements is the latest in a series of blows to the Public Service. ...2 weeks ago
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The National Government is oblivious to the impact cuts to services will have on New Zealanders who are doing the hard yards caring for mentally ill family members. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Public service set up to fail under National
Nicola Willis has set up the public service to fail to pay for reckless tax cuts for landlords and the tobacco industry. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Coalition cooking up costly RMA replacement
National continues to dismantle environmental protections in the interests of rushing through unsustainable development that will ultimately cost communities. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National red-faced as benefit numbers skyrocket
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https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/132254746/christopher-luxons-properties-affected-by-density-laws-he-plans-to-scrap
Hopelessly conflicted,
Thank you bwaghorn. Christopher Luxon got lower and lower, and redder and redder.
He very nearly squirmed.
Having his beneficial property ownership advantages spelled out was very revealing.
The "Monopoly " game rules are affecting his wealth so he wants to change them. imo.
So Luxon has a clear and significant COI worth potentially millions.
Meanwhile Michael Wood owned one millionth of AIA (not one ten thousandth as calculated by Luke Malpass) which could never be called a COI. Peanuts. And he donated the 13k to charity when he sold the AIA shares
The rules have to change.
I am struggling to see what the problem is here. Firstly, Luxon has declared the properties as required. Secondly, he isn't actually in a position yet to make good on any promises with respect to housing. Thirdly, it would be difficult for many MPs to make any policy about housing because the vast majority of MPs have a declared interest in property in one way or another, and thus are conflicted to one degree or another.
And, people seem to miss the point of declaring potential conflicts of interest. The point is so that conflicts of interest can be managed. It might be that the Cabinent office instructs Luxon to divest himself of said properties for instance. Or, there may be some other acceptable way to manage any perceived conflict.
I half agree with you. I'd agree more if existing systems for managing COIs were effective in managing them (whatever 'managing' means) or even-handed in identifying them in the first place. It seems unlikely that they can be – because COIs can be eliminated as a factor in decision-making only if people don't have interests at all. John Rawls has a famous thought experiment along these lines called "The Original Position" where decisions are made under the veil of ignorance. . But it is not helpful in practical terms.
The fact is that people do have interests and they conflict with the interests of others. The determination of which interests should win out or what compromises between them should be made, is the stuff of day to day politics. Therefore the greatest value in all this is simply having Luxon's potential COIs drawn to public attention rather than continuing to lurk in obscurity. Having some light cast on them in this way is therefore useful and healthy because of the limitations of official systems that attempt to mitigate COIs.
The labour mps made policy that lowered the returns to the ones that own rental s.
Luxon if elected intends to increase the returns to himself and any other mps that on investment properties.
Clear enough!!
I posted the definition of a COI a few days ago….for a COI to exist the matter causing the potential COI (the shareholding in this case) had to be of such significance that it might affect the decision making process of the holder. In this case Wood owns one millionth of AIA (13000 worth) so any gain he might make would be so tiny that it is fanciful to suggest this would influence any decision he made as transport minister
Luxon on the other hand has a clear COI where he supports law changes that will cause him to benefit greatly from his 16 million house portfolio while not explaining to the public that this will be the case.
All we need now is deportation or death penalty for stealing bread.
We’ve got a parliamentary property owning oligarchy demonising the poor and those off the ladder.
Much of this recent gain is made because the government propped up the economy during the pandemic. That’s not a model of virtue or hard work equaling reward. And the latest National policy or failure of policy is going to replicate that evaluation bubble bounce.
This makes for an interesting and at the same time very concerning read. It's doubtful we'll ever get the full truth behind covid but it seems more and more likely that it was essentially self inflicted.
The Times link is behind a paywall.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/inside-wuhan-lab-covid-pandemic-china-america-qhjwwwvm0
This one isn't
https://archive.is/BoPrc
So National and ACT oppose the Green's new tax plan.
Yet, both of them bang on about increases in crime while offering little (if anything) to solve one of the main drivers of crime, poverty.
Furthermore, both talk about wasteful Government spending failing to realise that the expense of taking a hard line on crime without addressing the causes of crime is an enormous waste of spending.
For example, National's bootcamp proposal. Which is a rehashed tried and tested failure.
What the Greens are offering is a step in the right direction to help solve not only growing crime but also many of our other social ills.
Goodness – how un-inclusive of them. Men's Health Week!
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/menshealthweek
Yes, think of all those first place cyclists missing out on healthcare!
Good lord.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/12-06-2023/its-painful-its-shocking-rnz-boss-speaks-on-pro-kremlin-garbage?utm_source=spinoff-share-button&utm_medium=web
It seems as though it was not 'editing' that was at fault – but rather a deliberate decision by a journalist to slant the news stories in a pro-Russian manner.
Comment from the original complainant:
At least one complaint was made 8 months ago – both to the broadcaster and to Willie Jackson – with apparently no action from RNZ (for which they should hang their heads in shame)
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/06/11/exclusive-rnz-received-complaint-over-russian-propaganda-months-ago/
The "digital journalist" concerned is now claiming that they have been slanting the reporting for 5 years!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/491843/pro-russia-edits-at-rnz-may-have-been-happening-for-years
This is deeply concerning. RNZ has a reputation for being an unbiased news source – something more precious than gold in this world of dubious data. To have a journalist bragging of deliberately slanting news is a huge shock to their credibility.
As the Kakhovka reservoir is emptying the remains of both Soviet and German WW2 dead are being exposed.
Germany's Volksbund will collect, identify, take care of, and in some cases, be able to return the remains of German war dead to their families.
The remains of the Soviet war dead will continue to litter the banks of the Dnipro because unlike the Germans, nobody will ever come for them.