Open mike 12/08/2024
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6:00 am, August 12th, 2024 - 38 comments
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- An average 219 NZers migrated each day in July
Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, September 11:Annual migration of New Zealanders rose to a record-high 80,963 in the year to the end of July, which is more than double its pre-Covid levels.Two ...60 mins ago - What you’re wanting to win more than anything is The Narrative
Hubris is sitting down on election day 2016 to watch that pig Trump get his ass handed to him, and watching the New York Times needle hover for a while over Hillary and then move across to Trump where it remains all night to your gathering horror and dismay. You're ...1 hour ago - National’s automated lie machine
The government has a problem: lots of people want information from it all the time. Information about benefits, about superannuation, ACC coverage and healthcare, taxes, jury service, immigration - and that's just the routine stuff. Responding to all of those queries takes a lot of time and costs a lot ...4 hours ago - Christopher Luxon: A Man of “Faith” and “Compassion” Speaks on the Treaty Pr...
Synopsis: Today - we explore two different realities. One where National lost. And another - which is the one we are living with here. Note: the footnote on increased fees/taxes may be of interest to some readers.Article open.Subscribe nowIt’s an alternate timeline.Yesterday as news broke that the central North Island ...4 hours ago - Member’s Day
Today is a Member's Day. First up is the third reading of Dan Bidois' Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill, which will be followed by the committee stage of Deborah Russell's Family Proceedings (Dissolution for Family Violence) Amendment Bill. This will be followed by the second readings of Katie ...7 hours ago
- Northern Expressway Boondoggle
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has been soaring high with his hubris of getting on and building motorways but some uncomfortable realities are starting to creep in. Back in July he announced that the government was pushing on with a Northland Expressway using an “accelerated delivery strategy” The Coalition Government is ...10 hours ago - Never Enough
However much I'm falling downNever enoughHowever much I'm falling outNever, never enough!Whatever smile I smile the mostNever enoughHowever I smile I smile the mostSongwriters: Robert James Smith / Simon Gallup / Boris Williams / Porl ThompsonToday in Nick’s Kōrero:A death in the Emergency Department at Rotorua Hospital.A sad homecoming and ...10 hours ago - Question Two of The Kākā Project of 2026 for 2050 (TKP 26/50)
Kia ora.Last month I proposed restarting The Kākā Project work done before the 2023 election as The Kākā Project of 2026 for 2050 (TKP 26/50), aiming to be up and running before the 2025 Local Government elections, and then in a finalised form by the 2026 General Elections.A couple of ...11 hours ago - Why is God Obsessed with Spanking?
Hi,If you’ve read Webworm for a while, you’ll be aware that I’ve spent a lot of time writing about horrific, corrupt megachurches and the shitty men who lead them.And in all of this writing, I think some people have this idea that I hate Christians or Christianity. As I explain ...12 hours ago - Inside the public service
In 2023, there were 63,117 full-time public servants earning, on average, $97,200 a year each. All up, that is a cost to the Government of $6.1 billion a year. It’s little wonder, then, that the public service has become a political whipping boy castigated by the Prime Minister and members ...13 hours ago
- New Models Show Stronger Atlantic Hurricanes, and More of Them
This is a re-post from This is Not Cool Here’s an example of some of the best kind of climate reporting, especially in that it relates to impacts that will directly affect the audience. WFLA in Tampa conducted a study in collaboration with the Department of Energy, analyzing trends in ...1 day ago - Where ever do they find these people?
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, is how Winston Churchill described the Soviet Union in 1939. How might the great man have described the 2024 government of New Zealand, do we think? I can't imagine he would have thought them all that mysterious or enigmatic. I think ...1 day ago - Motorway madness
How mad is National's obsession with roads? One of their pet projects - a truck highway to Whangārei - is going to eat 10% of our total infrastructure budget for the next 25 years: Official advice from the Infrastructure Commission shows the government could be set to spend 10 ...1 day ago
- Our transport planning system is fundamentally broken
Ever since Wayne Brown became mayor (nearly two years ago now) he’s been wanting to progress an “integrated transport plan” with the government – which sounded a lot like the previous Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) with just a different name. It seems like a fair bit of work progressed ...1 day ago
- Thou Shalt Not Steal
And they taught usWhoa-oh, black woman, thou shalt not stealI said, hey, yeah, black man, thou shalt not stealWe're gonna civilise your black barbaric livesAnd we teach you how to kneelBut your history couldn't hide the genocideThe hypocrisy to us was realFor your Jesus said you're supposed to giveThe oppressed ...1 day ago - How mismanagement, not wind and solar energy, causes blackouts
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections In February 2021, several severe storms swept across the United States, culminating with one that the Weather Channel unofficially named Winter Storm Uri. In Texas, Uri knocked out power to over 4.5 million homes and 10 million people. Hundreds of Texans died as a ...1 day ago
- The ‘Infra Boys’ Highway to Budget Hell
Chris Bishop has enthusiastically dubbed himself and Simeon Brown “the Infra Boys”, but they need to take note of the sums around their roading dreams. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, September ...1 day ago - Media Link: “AVFA” on the politics of desperation.
In this podcast Selwyn Manning and I talk about what appears to be a particular type of end-game in the long transition to systemic realignment in international affairs, in which the move to a new multipolar order with different characteristics … Continue reading ...2 days ago - The cost of flying blind
Just over two years ago, when worries about immediate mass-death from covid had waned, and people started to talk about covid becoming "endemic", I asked various government agencies what work they'd done on the costs of that - and particularly, on the cost of Long Covid. The answer was that ...2 days ago
- Seymour vs The Clergy
For paid subscribers“Aotearoa is not as malleable as they think,” Lynette wrote last week on Homage to Simeon Brown:In my heart/mind, that phrase ricocheted over the next days, translating out to “We are not so malleable.”It gave me comfort. I always felt that we were given an advantage in New ...2 days ago - Unstoppable Minister McKee
All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this townI'll do it 'til the sun goes downAnd all through the nighttimeOh, yeahOh, yeah, I'll tell you what you wanna hearLeave my sunglasses on while I shed a tearIt's never the right timeYeah, yeahSong by SiaLast night there was a ...2 days ago - Could outdoor dining revitalise Queen Street?
This is a guest post by Ben van Bruggen of The Urban Room,.An earlier version of this post appeared on LinkedIn. All images are by Ben. Have you noticed that there’s almost nowhere on Queen Street that invites you to stop, sit outside and enjoy a coffee, let alone ...2 days ago
- Hipkins challenges long-held Labour view Government must stay below 30% of GDP
Hipkins says when considering tax settings and the size of government, the big question mark is over what happens with the balance between the size of the working-age population and the growing number of Kiwis over the age of 65. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s ...2 days ago - Your invite to Webworm Chat (a bit like Reddit)
Hi,One of the things I love the most about Webworm is, well, you. The community that’s gathered around this lil’ newsletter isn’t something I ever expected when I started writing it four years ago — now the comments section is one of my favourite places on the internet. The comments ...3 days ago - Seymour’s Treaty bill making Nats nervous
A delay in reappointing a top civil servant may indicate a growing nervousness within the National Party about the potential consequences of David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill. Dave Samuels is waiting for reappointment as the Chief Executive of Te Puni Kokiri, but POLITIK understands that what should have been a ...3 days ago
- 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #36
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, September 1, 2024 thru Sat, September 7, 2024. Story of the week Our Story of the Week is about how peopele are not born stupid but can be fooled ...3 days ago
- Time for a Change
You act as thoughYou are a blind manWho's crying, crying 'boutAll the virgins that are dyingIn your habitual dreams, you knowSeems you need more sleepBut like a parrot in a flaming treeI know it's pretty hard to seeI'm beginning to wonderIf it's time for a changeSong: Phil JuddThe next line ...3 days ago - Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Six.
The “double shocks” in post Cold War international affairs. The end of the Cold War fundamentally altered the global geostrategic context. In particular, the end of the nuclear “balance of terror” between the USA and USSR, coupled with the relaxation … Continue reading ...3 days ago
- Buried deep
Here's a bike on Manchester St, Feilding. I took this photo on Friday night after a very nice dinner at the very nice Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon, on Manchester Street.I thought to myself, Manchester Street? Bicycle? This could be the very spot.To recap from an earlier edition: on a February night ...4 days ago - Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies, Excerpt Five.
Military politics as a distinct “partial regime.” Notwithstanding their peripheral status, national defense offers the raison d’être of the combat function, which their relative vulnerability makes apparent, so military forces in small peripheral democracies must be very conscious of events … Continue reading ...4 days ago
- Leadership for Dummies
If you’re going somewhere, do you maybe take a bit of an interest in the place? Read up a bit on the history, current events, places to see - that sort of thing? Presumably, if you’re taking a trip somewhere, it’s for a reason. But what if you’re going somewhere ...4 days ago - Home again
4 days ago - Dead even tie for hottest August ever
Long stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer:The month of August was 1.49˚C warmer than pre-industrial levels, tying with 2023 for the warmest August ever, according ...4 days ago
- The Hoon around the week to Sept 7
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts and talking about the week’s news with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on the latest climate science on rising temperatures and the debate about how to responde to climate disinformation; and special guest ...5 days ago
- Have We an Infrastructure Deficit?
An Infrastructure New Zealand report says we are keeping up with infrastructure better than we might have thought from the grumbling. But the challenge of providing for the future remains.I was astonished to learn that the quantity of our infrastructure has been keeping up with economic growth. Your paper almost ...5 days ago - Councils reject racism
Last month, National passed a racist law requiring local councils to remove their Māori wards, or hold a referendum on them at the 2025 local body election. The final councils voted today, and the verdict is in: an overwhelming rejection. Only two councils out of 45 supported National's racist agenda ...5 days ago
- Homage to Simeon Brown
5 days ago
- Government of deceit
When National cut health spending and imposed a commissioner on Te Whatu Ora, they claimed that it was necessary because the organisation was bloated and inefficient, with "14 layers of management between the CEO and the patient". But it turns out they were simply lying: Health Minister Shane Reti’s ...5 days ago
- The professionals actually think and act like our Government has no fiscal crisis at all
Treasury staff at work: The demand for a new 12-year Government bond was so strong, Treasury decided to double the amount of bonds it sold. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, September ...5 days ago - Weekly Roundup 6-September-2024
Welcome to another Friday and another roundup of stories that caught our eye this week. As always, this and every post is brought to you by the Greater Auckland crew. If you like our work and you’d like to see more of it, we invite you to join our regular ...5 days ago
- Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies; Excerpt Four.
Internal versus external security. Regardless of who rules, large countries can afford to separate external and internal security functions (even if internal control functions predominate under authoritarian regimes). In fact, given the logic of power concentration and institutional centralization of … Continue reading ...5 days ago
- A Hole In The River
There's a hole in the river where her memory liesFrom the land of the living to the air and skyShe was coming to see him, but something changed her mindDrove her down to the riverThere is no returnSongwriters: Neil Finn/Eddie RaynerThe king is dead; long live the queen!Yesterday was a ...5 days ago - Bright Blue His Jacket Ain’t But I Love This Fellow: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power E...
My conclusion last week was that The Rings of Power season two represented a major improvement in the series. The writing’s just so much better, and honestly, its major problems are less the result of the current episodes and more creatures arising from season one plot-holes. I found episode three ...6 days ago - Who should we thank for the defeat of the Nazis
As a child in the 1950s, I thought the British had won the Second World War because that’s what all our comics said. Later on, the films and comics told me that the Americans won the war. In my late teens, I found out that the Soviet Union ...6 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #36 2024
Open access notables Diurnal Temperature Range Trends Differ Below and Above the Melting Point, Pithan & Schatt, Geophysical Research Letters: The globally averaged diurnal temperature range (DTR) has shrunk since the mid-20th century, and climate models project further shrinking. Observations indicate a slowdown or reversal of this trend in recent decades. ...6 days ago
- Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm
Photo by Jenny Bess on UnsplashCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with special guests:5.00 pm - 5.10 pm - Bernard and ...6 days ago - Media Link: Discussing the NZSIS Security Threat Report.
I was interviewed by Mike Hosking at NewstalkZB and a few other media outlets about the NZSIS Security Threat Report released recently. I have long advocated for more transparency, accountability and oversight of the NZ Intelligence Community, and although the … Continue reading ...6 days ago
- How do I make this better for people who drive Ford Rangers?
Home, home again to a long warm embrace. Plenty of reasons to be glad to be back.But also, reasons for dejection.You, yes you, Simeon Brown, you odious little oik, you bible thumping petrol-pandering ratfucker weasel. You would be Reason Number One. Well, maybe first among equals with Seymour and Of-Seymour ...6 days ago - A missed opportunity
The government introduced a pretty big piece of constitutional legislation today: the Parliament Bill. But rather than the contentious constitutional change (four year terms) pushed by Labour, this merely consolidates the existing legislation covering Parliament - currently scattered across four different Acts - into one piece of legislation. While I ...6 days ago
- Nicola Willis Seeks New Sidekick To Help Fix NZ’s Economy
Synopsis:Nicola Willis is seeking a new Treasury Boss after Dr Caralee McLiesh’s tenure ends this month. She didn’t listen to McLiesh. Will she listen to the new one?And why is Atlas Network’s Taxpayers Union chiming in?Please consider subscribing or supporting my work. Thanks, Tui.About CaraleeAt the beginning of July, Newsroom ...6 days ago - Inflation alive and kicking in our land of the long white monopolies
The golden days of profit continue for the the Foodstuffs (Pak’n’Save and New World) and Woolworths supermarket duopoly. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, September 5:The Groceries Commissioner has ...6 days ago - The thermodynamics of electric vs. internal combustion cars
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler I love thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is like your mom: it may not tell you what you can do, but it damn well tells you what you can’t do. I’ve written a few previous posts that include thermodynamics, like one on air capture of ...6 days ago
- Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Three.
The notion of geopolitical “periphery.” The concept of periphery used here refers strictly to what can be called the geopolitical periphery. Being on the geopolitical periphery is an analytic virtue because it makes for more visible policy reform in response … Continue reading ...6 days ago
- Venus Hum
Fill me up with soundThe world sings with me a million smiles an hourI can see me dancing on my radioI can hear you singing in the blades of grassYellow dandelions on my way to schoolBig Beautiful Sky!Song: Venus Hum.Good morning, all you lovely people, and welcome to the 700th ...6 days ago - I Went to a Creed Concert
Note: The audio attached to this Webworm compliments today’s newsletter. I collected it as I met people attending a Creed concert. Their opinions may differ to mine. Read more ...7 days ago - Government migration policy backfires; thousands of unemployed nurses
The country has imported literally thousands of nurses over the past few months yet whether they are being employed as nurses is another matter. Just what is going on with HealthNZ and it nurses is, at best, opaque, in that it will not release anything but broad general statistics and ...7 days ago
- A Time For Unity.
Emotional Response: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon addresses mourners at the tangi of King Tuheitia on Turangawaewae Marae on Saturday, 31 August 2024.THE DEATH OF KING TUHEITIA could hardly have come at a worse time for Maoridom. The power of the Kingitanga to unify te iwi Māori was demonstrated powerfully at January’s ...1 week ago - Climate Change: Failed again
National's tax cut policies relied on stealing revenue from the ETS (previously used to fund emissions reduction) to fund tax cuts to landlords. So how's that going? Badly. Today's auction failed again, with zero units (of a possible 7.6 million) sold. Which means they have a $456 million hole in ...1 week ago
- Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Two.
A question of size. Small size generally means large vulnerability. The perception of threat is broader and often more immediate for small countries. The feeling of comparative weakness, of exposure to risk, and of potential intimidation by larger powers often … Continue reading ...1 week ago
- Nicola Willis’s Very Unserious Bungling of the Kiwirail Interislander Cancellation
Open to all with kind thanks to all subscribers and supporters.Today, RNZ revealed that despite MFAT advice to Nicola Willis to be very “careful and deliberate” in her communications with the South Korean government, prior to any public announcement on cancelling Kiwirail’s i-Rex, Willis instead told South Korea 26 minutes ...1 week ago - Satisfying the Minister’s Speed Obsession
The Minister of Transport’s speed obsession has this week resulted in two new consultations for 110km/h speed limits, one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. There has also been final approval of the Kapiti Expressway to move to 110km/h following an earlier consultation. While the changes will almost certainly see ...1 week ago
- What if we freed up our streets, again?
This guest post is by Tommy de Silva, a local rangatahi and freelance writer who is passionate about making the urban fabric of Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland more people-focused and sustainable. New Zealand’s March-April 2020 Level 4 Covid response (aka “lockdown”) was somehow both the best and worst six weeks of ...1 week ago
- No Alarms And No Surprises
A heart that's full up like a landfillA job that slowly kills youBruises that won't healYou look so tired, unhappyBring down the governmentThey don't, they don't speak for usI'll take a quiet lifeA handshake of carbon monoxideAnd no alarms and no surprisesThe fabulous English comedian Stewart Lee once wrote a ...1 week ago - Five ingenious ways people could beat the heat without cranking the AC
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Every summer brings a new spate of headlines about record-breaking heat – for good reason: 2023 was the hottest year on record, in keeping with the upward trend scientists have been clocking for decades. With climate forecasts suggesting that heat waves ...1 week ago
- No new funding for cycling & walking
Studies show each $1 of spending on walking and cycling infrastructure produces $13 to $35 of economic benefits from higher productivity, lower healthcare costs, less congestion, lower emissions and lower fossil fuel import costs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note ...1 week ago - 99
Dad turned 99 today.Hell of a lot of candles, eh?He won't be alone for his birthday. He will have the warm attention of my brother, and my sister, and everyone at the rest home, the most thoughtful attentive and considerate people you could ever know. On Saturday there will be ...1 week ago - Open Government: National reneges on beneficial ownership
One of the achievements of the New Zealand’s Open Government Partnership Fourth National Action Plan was a formal commitment from the government to establish a public beneficial ownership register. Such a register would allow the ultimate owners of companies to be identified - a vital measure in preventing corruption, money ...1 week ago
- Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt One.
This project analyzes security politics in three peripheral democracies (Chile, New Zealand, Portugal) during the 30 years after the end of the Cold War. It argues that changes in the geopolitical landscape and geo-strategic context are interpreted differently by small … Continue reading ...1 week ago
- Tea and Toast
When the skies are looking bad my dearAnd your heart's lost all its hopeAfter dawn there will be sunshineAnd all the dust will goThe skies will clear my darlingNow it's time for you to let goOur girl will wake you up in the mornin'With some tea and toastLyrics: Lucy Spraggan.Good ...1 week ago - NLTP 2024 released – destroying pipeline of shovel ready local projects
Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Waka Kotahi yesterday released the latest National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) for 2024-27. The NLTP sets out what transport projects will be funded for the next three years, including both central and local government projects. As expected given the government’s extremely ideological transport policy, it’s ...1 week ago
- Can Brown deliver his roads
The Government’s unveiling of its road-building programme yesterday was ambitious and, many would say, long overdue. But the question will be whether it is too ambitious, whether it is affordable, and, if not, what might be dropped. The big ticket items will be the 17 so-called Roads of National Significance. ...1 week ago
- New paper about detecting climate misinformation on Twitter/X
Together with Cristian Rojas, Frank Algra-Maschio, Mark Andrejevic, Travis Coan, and Yuan-Fang Li, I just published a paper in Nature Communications Earth & Environment where we use the Computer Assisted Recognition of Denial and Skepticism (CARDS) machine learning model to detect climate misinformation in 5 million climate tweets. We find over half ...1 week ago
- Excerpting “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies.”
In the late 2000s-early 2010s I was researching and writing a book titled “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Chile, New Zealand and Portugal.” The book was a cross-regional Small-N qualitative comparison of the security strategies and postures of three small … Continue reading ...1 week ago
- Hating for the Wrong Reasons: Of Rings of Power, Orcs and Evil
A few months ago, my fellow countryman, HelloFutureMe, put out a giant YouTube video, dissecting what went wrong with the first season of Rings of Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ6FRUO0ui0&t=8376s). It’s an exceptionally good video, and though it spans some two and a half hours, it is well worth your time. But ...1 week ago - Climate Change: “Least cost” to who?
On Friday the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released their submission on National's second Emissions Reduction Plan, ripping the shit out of it as a massive gamble based on wishful thinking. One of the specific issues he focused on was National's idea of "least cost" emissions reduction, pointing out that ...1 week ago
- Release: Aged care will be worse off if redesign rushed
New Zealanders needing aged care support and the people who care for them will be worse off if the Government pushes through a flawed and rushed redesign of dementia and aged care. ...3 hours ago - Release: Govt fails hundreds of workers as mills close
Labour is devastated at news hundreds of workers are set to lose their jobs following the closure of Winstone Pulp mills. ...9 hours ago
- Job losses from mill closures consequence of Govt inaction
Hundreds of jobs lost as a result of pulp mill closures in the Ruapehu District are a consequence of government inaction in addressing the shortfalls of our electricity network. ...1 day ago - Release: Cabinet should stop the Treaty Principles Bill
National Party Ministers have a majority in Cabinet and can stop David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill, which even the Prime Minister has described as “divisive and unhelpful.” ...2 days ago
- Release: Staff gagged to keep fast track list secret
The National Government is so determined to hide the list of potential projects that will avoid environmental scrutiny it has gagged Ministry for the Environment staff from talking about it. ...2 days ago
- Release: Labour challenges Te Whatu Ora gag orders
Labour has complained to the Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission about the high number of non-disclosure agreements that have effectively gagged staff at Te Whatu Ora Health NZ from talking about anything relating to their work. ...2 days ago
- Greens call on Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned after letter from Christian leaders
The Green Party is once again urging the Prime Minister to abandon the Treaty Principles Bill as a letter from more than 400 Christian leaders calls for the proposed legislation to be dropped. ...3 days ago
- Sign the petition: Keep military-style firearms off our streets
Help us tell the Government that reintroducing military-style firearms should not be up for debate. ...4 days ago
- Vast majority of councils support Māori wards
Councils across the country have now decided where they stand regarding Māori wards, with a resounding majority in favour of keeping them in what is a significant setback for the Government. ...5 days ago
- Release: Government on the wrong side of Māori wards
The National-led government has been given a clear message from the local government sector, as almost all councils reject the Government’s bid to treat Māori wards different to other wards. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour congratulates Kuīni Ngā Wai hono i te po Paki
The Labour Party congratulates Kuīni Ngā Wai hono i te po Paki on being crowned as the eighth Te Ariki Nui – head of Te Kiingitanga. ...6 days ago
- Green Party welcomes new Maaori Kuiini
The Green Party welcomes the coronation of the new Maaori Kuiini, Te Arikinui Nga Wai Hono i te Po, today in Turangawaewae. ...6 days ago
- ECE teachers deserve better than this Government
The Green Party is unsurprised but disappointed by today’s announcement from the Government that will see our Early Childhood Centre teachers undermined and pay parity pushed further out of reach. ...1 week ago
- Urgent intervention needed on supermarkets
The Green Party is calling on the Government to intervene in the supermarket duopoly dominating our supply of groceries following today’s report from the Commerce Commission. ...1 week ago
- Release: Rainbow youth neglected in mental health funding
Labour backs the call from The Rainbow Support Collective members for mental health funding specifically earmarked for grassroots and peer led community organisations to be set up in a way that they are able to access. ...1 week ago
- Release: Transport in NZ has to be more than just roads
As expected, the National Land Transport Programme lacks ambition for our cities and our country’s rail network and puts the majority of investment into roads. ...1 week ago
- Speech: Barbara Edmonds Building Nations 2024
Tēnā koutou katoa, Thank you for your warm welcome and for having my colleagues and I here today. Earlier you heard from the Labour Leader, Chris Hipkins, on our vision for the future of infrastructure. I want to build on his comments and provide further detail on some key elements ...1 week ago
- Govt transport plan deepens fossil fuel fix
The Green Party says the Government’s new National Land Transport Programme marks another missed opportunity to take meaningful action to fight the climate crisis. ...1 week ago
- Greens call for public to back Wrybill in BOTY and beyond
The Green Party is calling on the public to support the Ngutu Pare Wrybill not just in this year’s Bird of the Year competition but also in pushing back against policies that could lead to the destruction of its habitat and accelerate its extinction. ...1 week ago
- Building consents data bad news for construction
News that the annual number of building consents granted for new homes fell by more than 20 percent for the year ended July 2024, is bad news for the construction industry. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori Pay Tribute to Kiingi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII
Papā te whatitiri, hikohiko te uira, i kanapu ki te rangi, i whētuki i raro rā, rū ana te whenua e. Uea te pou o tōku whare kia tū tangata he kapua whakairi nāku nā runga o Taupiri. Ko taku kiri ka tōkia ki te anu mātao. E te iwi ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Gaps still to be addressed in callouts response
The Government must guarantee New Zealanders will not be at risk after making changes to the way mental health callouts are handled. ...2 weeks ago
- Poroporoaki: Kiingi Tuheitia passing
Haere e te Kīngi o te kotahitangi Haere ki o nui, ki o rahi I te pō ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party pays respects to Kiingi Tuuheitia
The Green Party is paying tribute to the Māori King, Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero XVII, after he passed away earlier this morning. ...2 weeks ago
- Potaka Brings Whakaata Māori to its Knees
Today’s Whakaata Māori announcement is yet another colossal failure from Minister Potaka, who has turned his back on te reo Māori, forcing a channel offline, putting whānau out of jobs, and cutting Māori content, says Te Pāti Māori. “A Senior Māori Minister has turned his back on Te Reo Māori. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National restricts access to disability care homes
With disability communities still reeling from the diminishing of Whaikaha, a leaked document now reveals another blow with National restricting access to residential care homes. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt must help save 230 manufacturing jobs
Labour is calling on the Government and Mercury Energy to find a solution to the proposed Winstone Pulp mill closure and save 230 manufacturing jobs. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt shirks its responsibility to Whakaata Māori
The Green Party has called out the Government for allowing Whakaata Māori to effectively collapse to a shell of its former self as job cuts and programming cuts were announced at the broadcaster today. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ First Member’s Bill To Disestablish Auckland Transport
Today New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will restore democratic control over transport management in Auckland City by disestablishing Auckland Transport (AT) and returning control to Auckland Council. The ‘Local Government (Auckland Council) (Disestablishment of Auckland Transport) Amendment Bill’ intends to restore democratic oversight, control, and accountability ...2 weeks ago - Release: PM fails in constitutional role and leadership
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Congratulations to all our athletes who participated in the Olympics.
Just wondering about 2 ideas:
1 With 10 golds and lying 11th on the table of nations, NZ has punched well above its testosterone level (as Winnie might say!); how much of this success is due to funding of High Performance NZ by Grant Robertson?
2 Did we send any male athletes? /s
8 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze vs 2 gold, 3 silver – a team effort.
It's been a great display of the equal importance of women's sport. The IOC ensures events and medals for women and men are of identical value. There's no promotion of one gender over another and it's equal pay, none, as far as the IOC is concerned. New Zealand women have carried the load for the country's success.
Yet here we are demonising a small group for not appearing female enough. What a shame.
As for Olympic sport funding in New Zealand, HPSNZ chief executive Raelene Castle (a woman), has already pushed open the door for corporate funding and by definition reduced government funding:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/490450/corporate-dollars-needed-to-help-prop-up-olympic-sports
Reduced government funding is a given with this CoC.
After all, they have to find the dollars for landlords somewhere!
I also wonder if Bishop and Luxon, looking at the medal table, feel NZ has no right to be there.
We are sitting just outside the top 10 which includes the US, 3 Asian mega-economies, 5 European powerhouses, and Australia. Our team is even ahead of G7 nation, Canada, a highly developed economy with 7 times the population and 8.6 times the GDP of NZ.
Therefore, according to business management theory, our athletes are being over funded.
Plenty of money for Chris Bishop to have his Paris holiday! Saw him interviewed from there: First sentence, paraphrasing, began "In this time of straightened fiscal conditions…"
Expect that the gold plated Minister Bishop will proudly claim ownership of the successes. Nothing to do with Robertson or Labour.
Luxon will say, "These medals are are our example of what happens when we have high expectations of outcomes and get rid of riff-raff losers, and any sign of Wokeness. Our Goverment blah blah blah salad…."
KPI's
😉
I think any politician that takes credit for the Olympic success, or any person that gives them credit, is off the planet.
Central government funding plays a part in allowing our elite athletes to compete at the highest level. But that its one of those things that is bi partisan with both blue and red governments handing out the cash. Grant didn't wake up one morning and start something new.
Lets give credit to the athletes and their coaches (and not suits sitting in Wellington). They are the ones that have spent hours upon hours training away from home to get to where they are today.
Police Association urging Luxon to sack Nicole McKee!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/524842/police-association-urges-pm-to-strip-gun-reform-portfolio-off-nicole-mckee
There's not a hope in hell of that happening – Seymour won't allow it!
Talk about the tail (8%) wagging the dog! My Labrador couldn't do a better job!
It's never wise to have the fox guard the hen house!
Your Labrador is no doubt way more attractive than the mongrel ACT party which shits lobbiest excrement out everywhere it goes.
Mind you some gun club members would deny automatic guns and be happy to see them banned."
The Labrador has to be registered too, so it can be traced should it bite a farmer's sheep.
The gun owning farmers however are fighting tooth and nail to not have to register their guns, least they be held liable when they turn up in a criminal's possession
Yes, a good point. Our Labrador is also chipped – perhaps that needs to be done for gun owners as well! /s
Downright appalling that the government agency which has the most expertise and experience when it comes to gun control issues is left out of the consulting phase. I also agree, Luxon won't have the guts to stand up to the mealy mouthed little fascist, Seymour.
In this case it appears to be a government that "gets things done" by excluding from consultation any stakeholders it doesn't like. The political parties that are the self-proclaimed champions of individual freedom turn out to be a bunch of authoritarians – no surprises there.
There's strong evidence ACT and National are making it easier for terrorists to access dangerous weapons, and to move through society undetected and unreported.
Collins has decided to close the government response to the Christchurch terror attacks, washing their hands of any further responsibility. One of the recommendations they are refusing to adopt is:
What if members of the Dunedin gun club where the Australian mass murderer practiced were able to alert authorities "easily and safely", without going directly to an underfunded Police force? Not saying they definitely would have because most there would probably share his views on muslims and the great replacement theory, but a system like this might have helped, and might stop a similar event happening in the future.
There's two reasons NACT won't make it harder for terrorists. Cost, and scrutiny of the dangerous views of their support base.
' "The police union boss says gun-lobbyist turned politician Nicole McKee played a leading role in stopping law changes [urged by Police in 2016] which could have meant the March 15 terror attacks had “a much different outcome”.' Stuff yesterday.
So the left/right differential in males is now running at 18%: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/08/12/can-the-nz-left-win-back-male-voters/
There's a whiff of sour grapes in Bomber's critique though. He doesn't give Labour and the Greens explicit credit for their solidarity in working hard during the past decade to produce this outcome. Men have been put thoroughly in their place and left-wing politicos deserve full credit for their relentless campaign to make it happen.
Obviously Hipkins will point out that this is a classic leftist master plan. It lulls the right into a false sense of assurance that the game is stacked in their favour for the forseeable future. Labour strategists deem it a suitable handicap to motivate the troops, right?
Yep, older Pakeha men are having a real cry in their Ford Rangers that younger generations are scrutinising their privilege and how they managed to gain it.
We can probably do an entire range of competitive framing on this topic. I mean, it's not as if there's an actual credible role model on the political right.
My preference currently is for scarcity theory: when the best role model is conspicuous by its absence, that psychological vacuum operates like a black hole in outer space (sucking everything into it – a force of gravity that's invisible).
Market theory says guys want competence, so the market supplies pretenders instead. Adam Smith, up in heaven's room for delusional economists, sighs, rolls his eyes, changes channels…
The song "Young Man's Blues" probably never was more true than now in New Zealand.
I generally agree with bomber on this one – we need much more focus on class injustice. And good outcomes for heterosexual men should be considered to be a great thing, when not at the expense of others.
Bomber has yet to assimilate the reality that older white men are privileged because they acquired assets in their youth, they now have little in common with the working class.
This is a problem because of the size of the boomer demographic, it is enabling an opportunity to neo-liberals to create a precariat society behind a "majoritarian populist front of one law for all to diminish protection for the indigenous minority.
Because of their own struggles with males of the boomer generation older feminists are more aware of class injustice and its impact on younger women.
Good news for capitalists (people who live in the capital), the city seems set to get better: https://thespinoff.co.nz/wellington/12-08-2024/windbag-the-shadowy-conspiracy-aligned-group-targeting-wellington-city-council
Takes time. A policy pillar is something rather substantial: lots of text, but with words strung together to make sense. Not just that, but also likely to get others to agree readily, and even become motivated and passionate supporters.
This is an immense task for anyone with a right-wing brain, and that's just 1! Having to do it on 6 different topics would have the average right-winger reach desperately for random thoughts such as hunting, fishing, using a power tool, etc.
Maybe he has, but I have not seen any praise for our Olympic medalists from Luxon. Could be waiting until they return to NZ and he can be photographed with them and do his shoulder grabbing and back slapping and "look at me" too.
Recently I have noticed more letters to the Post and articles more than a little critical of decisions being made by the government. So divisive and negative.
Presume it's Luxon/the government you're referring to at the end?
Every day, another reason to want the lot of them to rot in hell. Beneficiaries are such an easy target for governments, and this kind of action is simply throwing red meat to their base.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/524919/watch-government-further-increases-sanctions-for-beneficiaries
The part about putting half the benefit onto a money card that can only be used for specific reasons is more terrifying (done as part of the coalition deal between ACT and National). I'm having trouble working out if that will only be done as a sanction, or if the intention is to eventually do it to all of us. Big brother is not only watching, but controlling how you can spend your pittance.
I really, really hope that people who were stupid enough to vote for them- because, Covid- and are now losing their jobs and will have to deal with this patronising and controlling system will seriously regret what they did.
ACT- the party of small government and individual rights, except for those who need to be receipt of a benefit, no matter the reason.
I don't see much wrong with it. Having to re-apply six monthly is not that much of a hardship if you are to be given money. I assume the "putting half the benefit onto a money card that can only be used for specific reasons" is to ensure essentials like food have to be purchased with it.
How many extra staff will be required for this extra bureaucracy? How is it going to be done without putting extra costs on the beneficiary? Even getting an appointment with WINZ is often difficult, you can't just turn up at the office. Extra phone costs, extra transit costs, extra staff costs.
If they are lucky, often once rent and power and media (phone/broadband) transport to W and I cost is met, then food comes from food banks and family.
Have any journos asked Seymour what happens to beneficiaries whose rents take more than half their income? Haven't seen that question asked yet.
He was on the news telling us it's about what the govt and taxpayers are expected to pay for, like an old-time Nazi bothered by "unnützer Esser" (ie do these Untermenschen expect proper citizens to just fund their degeneracy without consequence? That cannot stand). The idea that "the govt and taxpayers" are part of a society and that society has obligations to all its members is lost on him
Maybe the Govt could also put half of super receivers funds on an essential card also, see how quick the outcry would take?
Leave them poor super annuitants alone, some can’t even pay their power bills in winter. And it’s not their fault that they’re over 65.
Despite giving $80pm to superannuitants automatically to top up winter energy payments?
You missed a keyword: “poor”.
You also missed this: “can’t”.
How much is going to people who actually need it?
I may not have illustrated clearly in my comment that the outcry from well off super receivers at being forced to only purchase what someone else seems essential would be swift and no govt would dare implement such a sub human policy on the "I've worked or been lucky with real estate class" hopefully that corrects my stance 🙂