"Boomers will live a long time. I think the life expectancy at 65 is now 89 years. So they will consume a lot of wealth to fund their retirement. There may be less left than their children may want."
The level of deprivation among severely disabled in the benefit system is so great that they may not be living until retirement age. They should at least have parity in terms of the amount they receive so they too can live.
"they should at least have parity in terms of the amount they receive so they too can live. "
No one has parity of amount in the existing super system. Women live longer than men .Those still working indeed receive a bonus on top of their income.
For a person at 65 now the median years left is 21.7 yrs female and 19.6 males.
All that possibly can be offered is 'early retirement' before 65 not parity of amount.
According to an NZ Herald article from yesterday that is behind their paywall (of course it is!), the government is ditching the education hub proposal.
This is less a backdown than a capitulation to the richest schools in the country, such as Auckland Grammar, etc, who are benefiting the most from the Tomorrow's School's setup.
Yes they are ditching the hub but likely replacing it with a system to assist the failing schools in other ways. One of the reasons for the hub had been to assist the 20% of failures.
Remember how the previous Government bulldozed changes without consultation? This time consultation has resulted in modification. Can't have it both ways.
Look you can recite the entire Ardern achievements video if you like. Go ahead and form a little glee club if a bit of a critique is too snowflakey for you.
None of the achievements she states refer to the actual benchmarks they legislated that they would be held against.
They are ok at redistributing tax money.
They are just shit at structural or public sector reform.
"They are just shit at xxxxxxxxxx xx public sector reform."
except that I think they've only just worked out where most of the bullshit has been emanating from.
Maarten Wevers just suprised me I have to say, but then I 'spose after 37 years that wasn't too surprising. "No surprises" in fact.
One thing to tell a Minister of a politician's actions which could potentially become a big issue. The need to actually name the politician (especially given past record) quite another
Hey #nzpol how come NZ doesn't have political movements that then set up a political party? Looks like Social Credit was the last one, none under MMP (all are break away parties).
Do we have any established movements that have the potential to set up a political party? https://t.co/g3okRYpQRK
Arent the Greens such a movement. Yes they broke away from the Alliance , but that was as it name suggests a group of pre -existing parties and they still had an 'identity' within the Alliance
yes. I think voters look for authenticity in movements.
I just found out the other day Apirana Ngata and others founded the Young Maori Party at the turn of the century. So creating political partys isnt new. Clearly maori political aspirations existed as a movement too.
It still exists in a different form as the YMP Sports club on the East Coast
I think that proves my (unspoken) point. TOP thought they had popular support, rather than building actual popular support via a movement. Parachute parties.
Tava says he wants 10% of the vote next year. Why?
Not so sure about that with TOP. Yes, it was mostly Morgan's money, but the entire UBI/flat tax/social justice model had been building popularity separately to TOP.
As opposed to Conservatives, which AFAIK had no new or significant policies other than Craig's chequebook.
Even the Density crowd could be assured of leveraging some support from existing organisations.
Tav's dreaming about 10% – if there's any basis to it, it would probably a guess as to what the Greens' base vote would be and the tory assumption that they'll just take most of the Greens' vote. But more to the point, I'm not sure there is a clearly delineated "blue/green" bloc, within or outside the Greens. It's a party being built in the belief that it will create such a movement, rather than leverage existing divisions.
Yes, there are conservatives who fancy themselves as environmentalists, but as someone said recently (and I forget who) "the only place blue-greens exist is on a colour palette"
"Yes, it was mostly Morgan's money, but the entire UBI/flat tax/social justice model had been building popularity separately to TOP."
True, but that's not what TOP or Morgan was promoting. His pre-TOP think tank produced a model that was economic not socially just. His TOP policy was a mess. I don't see a lot of movement buy in for what he was suggesting before he formed TOP, more that there was interest from different parts of society (which is a different thing). Movement to me would be like SS4C, where you have a reasonably coherent set of groups with similar aims and working together. If there was one thing that characterised TOP it was that we were supposed to follow the leader (of TOP not of any movement).
My thinking is that there's a wide range in the size of movements, and that TOP (not just Morgan) did expect to get the support of a lot of the folks who were vocal about a UBI. And Density have managed to get thousands in the streets before now, so I think they think there might be a movement there.
But I don't think Tava's crowd have a genuine belief that there is such a movement in NZ – I think it's more a general punt that they might get somewhere, or at least and ACT-style sinecure/rotten seat for their personal income.
I don't think it's in the nature of "movements" to have a centralised decision to form a party. Political parties follow centralised hierarchies and bureaucracies, while movements are largely people who turn up if they have a moment to spare. So whle prominent people in a movement might leverage their prominance for a new political party, I suspect it's much more grey than the movement setting up the party.
The only exception that comes to mind is ACT coming from the "association of consumers and taxpayers", for whatever that counts as a "movement".
"and that TOP (not just Morgan) did expect to get the support of a lot of the folks who were vocal about a UBI"
Yes, but isn't this the problem? That rather than doing the mahi from within the movement or even alongside the movement, there is this tendency to set up the party and expect people to get on board. The IP did something similar and did get some decent engagement. But because it was based around a massive ego who then gave up when things didn't go his way, there was no movement that existed for its own sake.
Destiny might be different, given they have a congregation that exists whether the party exists or not.
“His banging on about wanting evidence based policy is what got my interest.”
He talked a good game, but when it came down to it, he was really antagnostic to his policy and the evidence behind it being examined. Which was odd, because it should have been able to stand up to scrutiny if it was well based on evidence. He came in with a large bias from his personal philosophy and was unable to admit that (or maybe he just thought was right and everyone else was wrong, lol).
He and Susan Guthrie wrote The Big Kahuna in 2011:
One day, when he was contributing to the Tax and Welfare Working Group, economist Gareth Morgan made an off-the-cuff remark that the solution to all of New Zealand's tax and welfare woes lay in abolishing the present welfare system and radically overhauling the tax system. He called this idea the big kahuna.
The Big Kahuna takes as its base assumption that we don't, as a society, accept that huge differences in income are acceptable and that we therefore choose to redistribute wealth. While they are generally regarded as separate, the tax and welfare systems are fundamentally both methods of doing just that – redistributing income from those who have plenty to those who don't.
Morgan was a dick when he lost because simply he is a dick.
If he weren't such a dick he would not have thrown away the baby because he lost.
He would have known that sometimes stuff is harder then just selling some investments and making gazillions of it – tax free of course.
btw, did morgan start to pay any taxes yet, or is he still one of these proud smart rich people who don't ever have to pay taxes at all cause loopholes for rich people, while calling workers who have to pay income tax 'paye slaves'? Cause that is what the dick called tax payers in a conversation with me.
He did have sensible tax policies, unlike the left wing parties with their illogical and ineffectual capital gains tax. I have the impression that he attracted votes from the more thoughtful on both sides of the political spectrum.
Especially if one party is using it to set up shots (for later editing) of their MPs asking questions about whatever they like, even knowing they will be dismissed or ruled out of order. Still has the right background visuals to lend some authoritah.
Another con in its use is the chance for the Minister to choose a reply whereby he or she highlights some aspect of their work or policy. Bit like a free shot before the targeted questioning begins. Jacinda Ardern is very good at this.
Yes, using the latitude Speakers have always given in exchange for the nonsensically broad scope of the Question. Not good for accountability in any way.
Much like patsies, whose speedy death I would welcome.
Yes Jacinda really nails the opportunity and to my mind she undermines the lame questions that follow from Bridges. And for some Opposition members they seem unable to adjust and ask the question after the answer. Inflexible?
For anyone who has had their life turned upside down by the depredations of private equity companies. Nicholas Shaxon lays out nicely the architecture of wealth extraction -which is the opposite of wealth creation, but cynically claims that mantle.
The World has a mass extinction going on at the minute. The beautiful creatures of the world are our gifts from God we are there caretaker we should have a culture where we value our mokopuna future and the past to give them a harmonious Future.
Its logical to behave like I have described our tamariki will not be happy with there future if we carry on making a big mess of it.
The loss of habitat is the biggest threat to jaguars in Ecuador, particularly along the coast, where more than 70% of the original forest cover has been lost. The vast majority of this destruction has taken place over the last 50 years with the expansion of the logging and agriculture industries, including coffee, cacao, palm oil and bananas, one of the country’s largest agriculture exports.
The coastal jaguar population has been declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Galo Zapata-Ríos, science director at the Wildlife Conservation Society Ecuador, says only a few remain in one small area on the coast, in the Cotacachi-Cayapas national park, in the northern province of Esmeraldas.
“Jaguars historically were distributed along all the Ecuadorian coast, but now they’re only in Esmeraldas,” says Zapata-Ríos, who has been studying the big cat for 10 years. “That’s the consequence of the advancement of human activity.”
As one of the largest predators in Latin America, the jaguar is essential to maintaining equilibrium in rainforest ecosystems. If it disappears, everything below it in the food chain is affected, with an overpopulation of rodents – the jaguar’s prey – that would eat more bugs and seeds, and decrease the regeneration of trees and other plants in the forest, says Zapata-Ríos
New Zealand rainforest: the trees and birds are the children of Tāne
The children of Rangi and Papa grew frustrated at their confinement in the cramped space between their parents. Tū, future god of war, proposes that they should kill their parents. But Tāne (or Tāne-mahuta) disagrees, suggesting that it is better to separate them, sending Rangi into the sky and leaving Papa below to care for them. Tāne's brothers Rongo, then Tangaroa, Haumia-tiketike and Tū all try in vain to separate the parents. After many tries, Tāne lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs, and finally forces his parents apart, and Rangi rises high into the heavens (Grey 1956:2-3).[2] Then Tāne searched for heavenly bodies as lights so that his father would be appropriately dressed. He obtained the stars and threw them up, along with the moon and the sun. At last Rangi looked handsome (Orbell 1998:145).
Tāwhirimātea, the god of storms and winds, is angry that the parents have been torn apart. He joins his father in the sky and punishes the earth and sea with violent storms (Grey 1956:3-6, Tregear 1891:54). Tāwhirimātea attacks the forests of Tāne, snapping the trunks of the trees, shattering the trees to the ground, leaving them as food for decay and insects. Then he attacks the oceans, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, flees. Two of Tangaroa's descendants, Ikatere, father of fish and Tu-te-wehiwehi
The Venice flooding the highest in 50 years it great that a lot of the Mayors of the World’s climate are pointing out the true fact that the causes of their deasters.
I say we need our population to stop being inflated by new people. Our environmental footprint is growing rapidly because of this phenomenon.
It's quite easy to accept that Climate change has caused a lot of old civilization to collapse. not enough Kai because of droughts no Wai.
The Neo-Assyrian empire was a mighty superpower that dominated the near east for 300 years before its dramatic collapse. Now researchers say they have a novel theory for what was behind its rise and fall: climate change.
The empire emerged in about 912BC and grew to stretch from the Mediterranean down to Egypt and out to the Persian Gulf
Now scientists say the reversal in the empire’s fortunes appears to coincide with a dramatic shift in its climate from wet to dry – a potentially crucial change in an empire reliant on crops.
“Nearly two centuries of high precipitation and high agrarian outputs encouraged high-density urbanisation and imperial expansion that was not sustainable when climate shifted to megadrought conditions during the seventh century BC,” the authors write.
In other words, while civil war, overexpansion and military defeat played a role in the empire’s collapse, the underlying driver could have been crop failures that led to economic collapse, exacerbating political unrest and conflict.
Prof Nicholas Postgate, an expert on Assyria from the University of Cambridge who was not involved in the study, said it was plausible that climate change helped finish the empire. “We don’t have any better explanation for what happened to the Assyrian empire during those times,” he said, adding that there was a dearth of written records from about 645BC to the sack of Nineveh Ka kite Ano link below.
It took someone close to me 15 years to get through the court process but she did not get treated fairly by the system she got shredded by the court process and is still negatively affected by that trauma I have posted about it in my past post.
Coke should not be using tangata whenua names to sell their products.
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The 2015 Schol Bio paper included a question about a group of birds known as honeycreepers, specifically, the 56 species endemic to the Hawaiian islands. (Or, were endemic: 18, or perhaps 19, are still living; the others are extinct.) Students who’ve already had a look at this paper as part of ...
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Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation The West Coast forests of Mount Te Kinga at Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner are the latest predator free project to receive Government funding, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
Budget 2020 is about rebuilding together, supporting jobs, getting business moving and the books back into the black. It’s an integral part of our COVID-19 economic response, and our plan to grow our economy and get New Zealand moving again.Here’s a quick look at the five top things you ...
The Coalition Government has approved $206 million in essential upgrades at Ōhakea Air Base. Defence Minister Ron Mark said the money would be spent on improving old infrastructure. He said safety issues would be addressed, as well as upgrades to taxiways, accommodation and fresh, storm and waste water systems. "This ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First “I am not persisting with this case just for myself, but for all people who have had their privacy breached. Privacy of information is a cornerstone of our country’s democracy. Without it our society truly faces a bleak future. We now ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has introduced a Bill to Parliament that he says will "force more transparency, integrity and respect" for the domestic wood-processing sector through the registration of log traders and practice standards. The Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill had its first reading in ...
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is joining over 300 lawmakers from around the world in calling on the big banks and the IMF to forgive the debt of developing countries, in the wake of the COVID crisis. ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says concerns that carbon foresters are planting pine trees that will never be harvested are the result of "misinformation". "The billion tree strategy is an excellent idea, unfortunately from time to time it's tainted by misinformation spread by the National Party or their grandees, hiding in scattered ...
The Green Party welcomes funding in the budget to reunite more refugees with their families, ensuring they have the best chance at a new life in Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
This year’s Budget is about rebuilding New Zealand together in the face of COVID-19. Jobs are central to how we’re going to do that.There’s a lot of targeted investment for employment in this year’s Budget, with announcements on creating new jobs, training people for the jobs we have, and supporting ...
Speaking to Stuff's Coronavirus NZ podcast, Foreign Minister Winston Peters revealed China tried to dissuade New Zealand from going into lockdown.“Without speaking out of turn, they wanted a discussion as to why we were doing it, because they thought it was an overreaction,” Mr Peters told Stuff’s Coronavirus NZ podcast.He also ...
The Coalition Government is making changes to the Overseas Investment Act to ensure New Zealand assets don't fall into the hands of foreign ownership in the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Associate Minister of Finance David Parker announced the Act will be amended to bring forward a national interest ...
A quick start to a trans-Tasman bubble could see the tourism industry make a swift recovery, according to Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. "I believe tourism will turn around dramatically faster than people think," Mr Peters told reporters after Thursday's Budget. "Why? Because I think the Tasman bubble is [going ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Please check against deliveryhttps://vimeo.com/418303651 Budget 2020: Jobs, Business and Balance Introduction Acknowledgements to all Cabinet colleagues, and party ministers Tracey Martin, Shane Jones and Ron Mark, Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau and to caucus colleagues. Thank you for your support, your ...
The 2020 Budget includes significant support to stabilise New Zealand’s family violence services, whose work has been shown to be so essential throughout the COVID-19 lockdown. ...
The Green Party says huge new investment in public and transitional housing will get thousands more families into the warm, safe homes they deserve. ...
The Green Party says the $1.1 billion environmental investment in this year’s budget to create thousands of green jobs will help jump start a sustainable recovery from the COVID crisis. ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today the Coalition Government told foreigners at the start of the Covid-19 crisis that if their circumstances had changed dramatically, they should go home. "And 50,000 did," Mr Peters said. Official advice to Cabinet revealed there is potentially 380,000 foreigners and migrant workers in ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the decision today to go to Alert Level 2 from midnight Wednesday, says Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters. Alert Level 2 will mean a return to work for the vast majority of New Zealand’s businesses. A return ...
Nurses now look set to get more protection from violence at work, under a proposed new law.This after NZ First MP Darroch Ball's "Protection for First Responders Bill", which introduces a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders, will now also cover emergency department healthcare workers. The ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Law and Order Spokesperson An amendment to the ‘Protection of First Responders Bill’ is being tabled which will see emergency department healthcare workers included in the legislation. “During this COVID-19 crisis we have seen reports of violence and specifically increased incidents of spitting towards ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is breathing new life into the proposal to move Auckland's port to Whangārei to help in the economic recovery post Covid-19 pandemic.If New ZealandFirst was returned in the September general election, Minister Jones said a priority would be development of an "economic haven" at Northport, ...
A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package in a crucial economic boost to support the ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has welcomed the First Reading of a Bill that will make legislative changes to further improve the veterans’ support system. The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2, which will amend the Veterans’ Support Act 2014, passed First Reading today. The bill addresses a number of ...
Views sought on Order in Council to help fast track the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Poto Williams, will be seeking public written comment, following Cabinet approving the drafting of an Order in Council aimed at fast-tracking the reinstatement of the ...
The law setting out New Zealanders’ basic civil and human rights is today one step towards being strengthened following the first reading of a Bill that requires Parliament to take action if a court says a statute undermines those rights. At present, a senior court can issue a ‘declaration of ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today reiterated the deep concern of the New Zealand Government following confirmation by China’s National People’s Congress of national security legislation relating to Hong Kong. “New Zealand shares the international community’s significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand ...
Thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and heritage organisations have been given much-needed support to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The cultural sector was amongst the worst hit by the global pandemic,” Jacinda ...
Key New Zealand assets will be better protected from being sold to overseas owners in a way contrary to the national interest, with the passage of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Bill. The Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, also cuts unnecessary red tape to help attract ...
Setting higher health standards at swimming spots Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams Putting controls on higher-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feed lots Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health Ensuring ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, has today announced the appointment of Tristan Gilbertson as the new Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission. “Mr Gilbertson has considerable experience in the telecommunications industry and a strong reputation amongst his peers,” ...
The Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa have agreed to settle the pay equity claim for teacher aides, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This will see more than 22,000 teacher aides, mostly women, being valued and paid fairly for the work they do. “Teacher aides are frontline ...
Subcontractors will have greater certainty, more cashflow support and job security with new changes to retention payments under the Construction Contracts Act says Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa. A recent review of the retentions money regime showed that most of the building and construction sector is complying with ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have marked the first anniversary of the New Zealand-Singapore Enhanced Partnership with a virtual Leaders’ Meeting today. The Enhanced Partnership, signed on 17 May 2019, provides the framework for cooperation across the four main areas of trade, defence and ...
On 17 May 2019, New Zealand and Singapore established an Enhanced Partnership to elevate our relations. The Enhanced Partnership – based on the four pillars of trade and economics, security and defence, science, technology and innovation, and people-to-people links – has seen the long-standing relationship between our countries strengthen over the ...
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters has welcomed KiwiRail’s announcement that it is seeking a preferred shipyard to build two new rail-enabled ferries for the Cook Strait crossing. “This Government is committed to restoring rail to its rightful place in New Zealand. Bigger, better ships, with new technology are yet another ...
Better protection for seabirds is being put in place with a new National Plan of Action to reduce fishing-related captures, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. The National Plan of Action for Seabirds 2020 outlines our commitment to reduce fishing-related captures and associated seabird ...
Almost $1 billion in interest-free loans for small businesses More than 55,000 businesses have applied; 95% approved Average loan approx. $17,300 90% of applications from firms with ten or fewer staff A wide cross-section of businesses have applied, the most common are the construction industry, accommodation providers, professional firms, and ...
Thousands of children will have healthier lungs after the Government’s ban on smoking in cars with kids becomes law, says Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa. This comes after the third reading of Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Bill earlier today. “This law makes it ...
The special Epidemic Response Committee (ERC) has successfully concluded its role, Leader of the House Chris Hipkins said today. The committee was set up on 25 March by the agreement of Parliament to scrutinise the Government and its actions while keeping people safe during levels 4 and 3 of lockdown. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced four diplomatic appointments: New Zealand’s Ambassador to Belgium, High Commissioners to Nauru and Niue, and Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism. “As the world seeks to manage and then recover from COVID-19, our diplomatic and trade networks are more important than ever,” Mr Peters said. “The ...
New Zealanders will be better protected from online harm through a Bill introduced to Parliament today, says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “The internet brings many benefits to society but can also be used as a weapon to spread harmful and illegal content and that is what this legislation targets,” ...
New Zealand’s world-first plan to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis is on track the latest technical data shows, says Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two years ago the Government, DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand and industry partners made a bold decision to go hard and commit ...
Further support for New Zealanders affected by 1-in-100 year global economic shock 12-week payment will support people searching for new work or retraining Work programme on employment insurance to support workers and businesses The Government today announced a new temporary payment to support New Zealanders who lose their jobs due ...
The Provincial Growth Fund will play a vital role in New Zealand’s post-COVID-19 recovery by creating jobs in shorter timeframes through at least $600 million being refocused on projects with more immediate economic benefits, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The funding is comprised of repurposed Provincial Growth ...
Government exempts some home improvements from costly consents Homeowners, builders and DIYers will soon have an easier time making basic home improvements as the Government scraps the need for consents for low-risk building work such as sleep-outs, sheds and carports – allowing the construction sector to fire back up quicker ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says the New Zealand Government has reacted with concern at the introduction of legislation in China’s National People’s Congress relating to national security in Hong Kong. “We have a strong interest in seeing confidence maintained in the ‘one country, two systems’ principle under which Hong ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, says the theme for the 2020 Samoa Language Week is a perfect fit for helping our Pacific communities cope with the unfolding COVID-19 crisis, and to prepare now for the journey ahead as New Zealand focuses on recovery plans and rebuilding New ...
A nearly 40-year programme to protect one of New Zealand’s most critically endangered birds is paying off, with a record number of adult kakī/black stilt recently recorded living in the wild, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. “Thanks to the team effort involved in the Department of Conservation’s ...
The story of the Waikato-Tainui Treaty process and its enduring impact on the community is being told with a five-part web story launched today on the 25th anniversary of settlement, announced Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni. “I am grateful to Waikato-Tainui for allowing us to help capture ...
Taita College in the Hutt Valley will be redeveloped to upgrade its ageing classrooms and leaky roofs, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “The work is long overdue and will make a lasting difference to the school for generations to come,” Chris Hipkins said. “Too many of our schools are ...
The Government is allocating $36.72 million to projects in regions hard hit economically by COVID-19 to keep people working, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Projects in Hawke’s Bay, Northland, Rotorua and Queenstown will be funded from the Government’s $100 million worker ...
A $35m boost to financial capability service providers funded by MSD will help New Zealanders manage their money better both day to day and through periods of financial difficulty, announced Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni. “It’s always been our position to increase support to key groups experiencing or at risk ...
Dunedin barrister Melinda Broek has been appointed as a District Court Judge with Family Court jurisdiction to be based in Rotorua, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Broek has iwi affiliations to Ngai Tai. She commenced her employment in 1996 with Scholefield Cockroft Lloyd in Invercargill specialising in family and ...
The Coalition Government has approved a business case for $206 million in upgrades to critical infrastructure at Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Ohakea, with the first phase starting later this year, Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. The investment will be made in three phases over five years, and ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today released the Ministry of Transport’s review of the organisational culture at the Civil Aviation Authority. Phil Twyford says all employees are entitled to a safe work environment. “I commissioned this independent review due to the concerns I had about the culture within the CAA, and ...
Ensuring that Stats NZ’s direction and strategy best supports government policy decisions will be a key focus for a new Governance Advisory Board announced today by the Minister for Statistics, James Shaw. The new Governance Advisory Board will provide strategic advice to Stats NZ to ensure it is meeting New ...
Environment Judge David Kirkpatrick of Auckland has been appointed as the Principal Environment Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Judge Kirkpatrick was appointed an Environment Judge in February 2014. From December 2013 to July 2016 he was Chair of the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel. Prior to appointment he ...
A programme to connect marae around the country to the internet has received $1.4 million to expand to include urban marae in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister Kris Faafoi and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The funding for the Marae Connectivity Programme ...
The Government will provide $500,000 to the Hawke’s Bay Mayoral Drought Relief Fund to help farmers facing one of the worst droughts in living memory, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Yesterday afternoon I received a letter from Hawke's Bay's five local Government leaders asking me to contribute to the Fund. ...
Budget 2020 provides a major investment in New Zealand’s documentary heritage sector, with a commitment to leasing a new Archives Wellington facility and an increase in funding for Archives and National Library work. “Last year I released plans for a new Archives Wellington building – a purpose-built facility physically connected ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natalie Stoianoff, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney With research laboratories around the world racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine, a unique challenge has emerged: how to balance intellectual property rights with serving the public good. Questions of patent protection ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with Professor Caroline Fisher (remotely) about the week in politics, including the treasury’s miscalculation on JobKeeper, the prime minister’s promise to “make the boat go faster”, and the limitations of the coronavirus ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Blakers, Professor of Engineering, Australian National University Australia’s latest greenhouse gas figures released today show national emissions fell slightly last year. This was by no means an economy-wide effort – solar and wind energy did most of the heavy lifting. Emissions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hitchcock, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Canberra Each year the ocean is inundated with 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic washed in from land. A big proportion of this plastic is between 0.001 to 5 millimetres, and called “microplastic”. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As Australia slowly emerges from isolation, the nation’s economy is reopening, and even looking rather better than expected. But Australia still faces grim months ahead as unemployment numbers grow and the true extent of business ...
Lady Gaga’s sixth album, Chromatica, sees the popstar stepping back into big pop after the experiment that was Joanne, but at what cost, asks Sam Brooks.Since Lady Gaga’s last album, 2016’s critically shrugged off Joanne, the star has stepped as far away from her meat-dress persona as possible, collecting a ...
The National Party’s JobStart policy — under which businesses could claim $10,000 per new employee, for up to ten new employees — looks great on paper but would fail in practice, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Taxpayers’ Union spokeswoman ...
With million-dollar losses and huge staff cutbacks, there are fears rugby is in its death throes. Two Cents' Worth looks at the economics of our national sport. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zac Rogers, Research Lead, Jeff Bleich Centre for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security, and Governance, Flinders University The coronavirus pandemic has sped up changes that were already happening across society, from remote learning and work to e-health, supply chains and ...
Put on the back foot over a lack of vision, National leader Todd Muller has announced the first policy under his rule - aimed at helping employees get back into work National has unveiled a proposal to provide $10,000 cash payments to businesses who hire additional employees, in what is ...
The Department of Conservation (DOC) and Ngāi Tahu in consultation with the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board have agreed to start a new review of the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park Management Plan. The process for reviewing both the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marilyn McMahon, Deputy Dean, School of Law, Deakin University Twenty-year-old Sydney woman Renae Marsden died by suicide after she was the victim of an elaborate catfishing scam. A recent coronial investigation into her 2013 death found no offence had been committed by ...
National and Labour have once again dominated the Electoral Commission’s broadcast allocation, reports The Spinoff’s minor party correspondent Alex Braae.The pot of money for political parties to spend on election advertising on radio, television and the internet has been divvied up for 2020, with Labour and National securing more than ...
As part of a $175 million arts package, a new $7.5 million ‘Careers Support for Creative Jobseekers’ programme was announced today, building on ‘the most successful aspects’ of the former Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment (Pace) programme, which ran from 2001-2012. Former Pace-recipient Henry Oliver writes on what he ...
In the spirit of international cooperation and mutual chair dancing, Sam Brooks and New York City-based culture critic Mark Blankenship are revisiting the top 10 singles from key weeks in their respective countries. This week, Sam and Mark discuss the top 10 singles from the chart dated May 28, 2000 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew McLachlan, Head of School and Dean of Pharmacy, University of Sydney A paper published in The Lancet has cast fresh controversy on the use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The study’s authors reported they were ...
A new poem by Wellington writer Joanna Cho.Dig deep! I have to write a poembut I’m finding it quite hardso I call Jos and he says‘Dig deep!’ He is driving back from basketballin Palmy, where he trains three times a week. I say ‘I just wanted to run some ideas by you’and he ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jayashri Kulkarni, Professor of Psychiatry, Monash University We’ve recently heard experts raise concerns about a looming mental health crisis, warning COVID-19’s psychological toll on Australians could be like a second wave of the pandemic. Suicide modelling from the University of Sydney’s Brain ...
The government will start publicly releasing wage subsidy audit and repayment data weekly after it was revealed it was only being collected every three months. ...
Creative Kiwis and cockies are among the beneficiaries of government decisions announced yesterday. The creative crowd was given support amounting to $95 million (or so), announced by Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern, who said thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)Winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, the most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Clarke, Associate Professor, National Security College, Australian National University There were certainly questions asked when Victoria first signed a memorandum of understanding to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2018, but it wasn’t until the past week that the ...
The brains trust at World Rugby have conjured up some optional law trials to obviate the risks of coronavirus. Scotty Stevenson is intrigued.The World Rugby Executive Committee yesterday announced that it had “approved 10 optional law trials which are designed to provide national member unions with Covid-19 transmission risk reduction ...
The Government’s lax approach to monitoring wrongful wage subsidy claims sends a dangerous message, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The Government must regularly release figures highlighting how ...
In announcing the Covid Income Relief Payment this week the Hon. Grant Robertson stated the Government is also considering an “enduring solution” to support New Zealanders experiencing job loss beyond the current crisis. The Career Development ...
Workers at Dunedin Railways have rejected Dunedin City Council claims there is not enough time for a feasibility study and commuter rail trial this year. Keep Dunedin Rail Rolling spokesperson Dave Kearns says workers at DRL were bitterly disappointed ...
We’ve published The Auditor-General’s strategic intentions to 2025 . Our strategic intentions describe the outcomes and impacts we are ultimately working towards, and the strategy we have developed to help get us there. Every three years, we publish ...
A new first-person photography game set in a dystopian Tauranga under lockdown is the best work of Māori science-fiction this decade, writes Dan Taipua.Umurangi Generation is a first-person photography game set din the shitty future. Designed and developed by Naphtali Faulkner (aka Veselekov) the game has you move about a ...
“Queen’s Birthday holiday is the most irrelevant public holiday on our calendar. It’s time for a holiday that actually reflects Aotearoa’s unique place in the world” said Lewis Holden, Campaign Chair of New Zealand Republic. New Zealand Republic ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Fredericks, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement), The University of Queensland National Reconciliation Week is a time of reflection, talking and sharing of histories, cultures and achievements. It is a time to think about our relationships as Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This year’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thami Croeser, Research Officer, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University As Australia re-opens, the bars, cafes and restaurants that give life to our streets face a tough ask: stay open and stay afloat with just a fraction of the customers. From June ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week announced plans for a potential “grand bargain” on industrial relations. Speaking at the National Press Club, he framed the issue as one of boosting economic productivity: We must ...
A low toothfish catch hits Sanford's result, but it is less affected by Covid-19 as factories kept working in Level 4 and a high-margin strategy pays off ...
The milestone pay settlement for teacher aides is both good news for gender pay equity and for valuing the education of disabled children, says Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero. “The pay rates have negatively impacted women disproportionately ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Dahlen, Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean Research and HDR, Midwifery Discipline Leader, Western Sydney University Group B streptococcal (GBS) is a common bacteria that likes to live in the human gut and migrate down the rectum, vagina and sometimes to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hitchcock, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Canberra Each year the ocean is inundated with 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic washed in from land. A big proportion of this plastic is between 0.001 to 5 millimetres, and called “microplastic”. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Malcolm Burt, Amusement academic and disruptive media researcher, CQUniversity Australia In the not-so-distant past I commuted fairly hefty distances in a fairly garbage car. But you didn’t hear me complaining – I had an extensive library of podcasts (or “my stories” as ...
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 two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mixed views on freshwater rules, pay equity settlement for teacher aides, and concerns raised about new internet filtering proposal.The final form of a major package of freshwater reforms was announced yesterday, and it was notable how little anger came from ...
Up-to-date data on breaches of the $10 billion wage subsidy scheme are not being provided, with Carmel Sepuloni's office saying it is "not something we're interested in". ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias.FICTION 1 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35) Hard-out story of a tragic family, and winner of the best novel of the year at the 2020 Ockham New ...
A case over the treatment of pigs in New Zealand will be in court in less than two weeks. Pat Baskett takes a look at the potential impacts of the outcome. Phoebe was a pig I wrote about some years ago. Her life was a misery. She lived in a ...
Tāmati Kruger speaks to Rod Oram about Tūhoe's response to Covid-19 in the Te Urewera mountains, and how the iwi is looking to a much stronger NZ society that's aware of its obligations to be a far wiser caretaker of our natural resources. ...
Those working to stop family violence must keep consider both victims and the violent - but those at greatest risk of harm must be paramount, writes Julia TolmieIf we are to stop family violence, then offenders need to stop using violence. It follows that we need to engage more ...
How many languages do you think are spoken in New Zealand on a daily basis? Five, 10, 50? The answer is that more than 160 languages. That being the case, how do we make sure all our children are receiving the best possible education? Dr Corinne Seals from Te Herenga ...
After a pandemic-induced lockdown, a ministry pulls services from terror victims because of “minimal contact”. David Williams reports Imam Abdul Alabi Lateef opens the new, sturdy door at Christchurch’s Linwood Islamic Centre which, little more than a year ago, was the scene of a terrorist attack. The first thing he ...
The government is heralding its $700m Te Mana o te Wai package as a game-changer for the health of New Zealand waterways. But for freshwater scientist Russell Death, it’s a bitter disappointment.Two weeks into alert level two, it seems we have already forgotten all those resolutions about the pandemic being ...
The prime minister yesterday announced a package including $25m to ‘provide artists whose projects are funded by Creative NZ with jobs.’ An even more substantial investment in the creative arts will help drive our post-Covid recovery, argues Paul Millar.When Covid-19 forced the postponement of the popular international literary festival WORD ...
How can the country return to normal and still keep the good things about lockdown? That includes kinder politics, and working from home. New Zealand’s Covid-19 pandemic isn’t done and dusted quite yet. But considering daily new cases are now odds-on to be zero, what lessons have we learned from the past ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra It was Greg Combet, one-time ACTU secretary and former Labor minister, who got Christian Porter and Sally McManus together in the early days of the pandemic. Recalling what happened, Porter told the Australian Financial Review ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kristy Hess, Associate Professor (Communication), Deakin University With swift and savage force, the COVID-19 pandemic has inadvertently attacked Australia’s local news media ecology, which was already battling a weakened immune system. As a researcher working on Australia’s largest academic study into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael (Mike) Joy, Senior Researcher; Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand’s government has been praised for listening to health experts in its pandemic response, but when it comes to dealing with pollution ...
Rod Oram spoke to the leaders of 16 Kiwi businesses over seven weeks, during which they and their businesses rose to meet unprecedented demands. Here's what he learned. ...
Tenants in the commercial property market continue to wait for Covid-19 relief while government coalition partners Labour and New Zealand First hammer out a deal. ...
They call themselves the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, but they’re not a church, and the treatment they sell is called Miracle Mineral Supplement – but it’s chlorine dioxide, commonly known as bleach. Susan Strongman reports for RNZ.A New Zealand website is advising people with symptoms of coronavirus ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin. On Project Syndicate – and in other places in recent months – orthodox US economist Kenneth Rogoff has presented the case for deeply negative interest rates. Another financial sacred cow falls; yes, interest rates can be negative, even substantially negative. It can take ...
The Government is cracking down on nitrogen fertiliser use and asking councils to speed up their planning processes in order to clean up the country's waterways, Marc Daalder reports One in five farmers will have to reduce the amount of nitrogen fertiliser they are using under a new rule announced ...
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 New Zealand investor and business advisor David Bell. As a university professor ...
The calls for public health specialists for more taxpayer funding could be taken more seriously if they stopped wasting money on pointless public relations campaigns under the guise of public health, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Union Executive ...
The New Zealand College of Midwives is calling on the Government to release details of the funding allocated to maternity services in this year’s budget, and is supporting their GP colleagues in asking the Minister of Health to immediately release Heather ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Esterman, Professor of Biostatistics, University of South Australia Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy told a senate inquiry earlier this week our COVID-19 public health response had avoided about 14,000 deaths. This is in contrast to his deputy Paul Kelly, who ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi, contributing editor Pacific Media Watch Homegrown Australian television shows to the tune of $17.1 million will be broadcast in the Pacific in a bid believed intended to stymie China’s diplomatic and media rise in the region. Shows such as The Voice, Border Security, Neighbours and are to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nik Thompson, Senior Lecturer, Curtin University Data is the new oil, and online platforms will siphon it off at any opportunity. Platforms increasingly demand our personal information in exchange for a service. Avoiding online services altogether can limit your participation in society, ...
By RNZ News New Zealand has reported no new cases of covid-19 coronavirus today, but the death toll has risen to 22 to include a woman who died after recovering from the disease. Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there were only eight active cases in the country and ...
Fisheries New Zealand is seeking public feedback on a draft Pāua Fisheries Plan and a proposed subdivision of the pāua fishery along the Kaikōura and Canterbury coasts, known as the PAU3 quota management area. “Splitting the quota management ...
Open mike 12/11/2019 
The ownership of newspapers and televison channels is in turmoil, and they want to redisorganise public broadcasting. *Three years ago, I expressed concern in a column about the future of the (traditional) media. Nothing has happened since to reduce the concern. It was based on an earlier column which ...10 mins ago
Australia's High Court has ruled that the "palace letters" between the queen and then-Governor-General John Kerr are public records rather than private papers: Historian Jenny Hocking has won her High Court bid to access the letters exchanged between then governor-general Sir John Kerr and the Queen around the time of ...3 hours ago
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He should be on a banknote 🙂
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/116997225/a-forgotten-pioneer-the-depressed-conservationist-who-rowed-500-kkp-to-safety
I wasn't aware of Henry and I'm so pleased I now am, thanks A. I agree, he deserves to be remembered.
I like that Riccardo Scott painting of Henry in a rowboat full of parrots….Riccardo should of included a soft leather muzzled Lassie.
Wonderful man!
Richard Henry's namesake.
The level of deprivation among severely disabled in the benefit system is so great that they may not be living until retirement age. They should at least have parity in terms of the amount they receive so they too can live.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/117339974/policies-hardcoded-differences-between-baby-boomers-and-younger-generations-researcher-says
Indeed, A.
Thinking that The Kindness would be inclusive of non ACC severely disabled was foolish.
We have learned.
"they should at least have parity in terms of the amount they receive so they too can live. "
No one has parity of amount in the existing super system. Women live longer than men .Those still working indeed receive a bonus on top of their income.
For a person at 65 now the median years left is 21.7 yrs female and 19.6 males.
All that possibly can be offered is 'early retirement' before 65 not parity of amount.
According to an NZ Herald article from yesterday that is behind their paywall (of course it is!), the government is ditching the education hub proposal.
This is less a backdown than a capitulation to the richest schools in the country, such as Auckland Grammar, etc, who are benefiting the most from the Tomorrow's School's setup.
Totally agree. Labour is just so gutless, they shit themselves everytime the middle class cock an eyebrow at them.
+100 that and NZF have made this a disappointing term.
Nash,mallard, twyford, Hipkins,robertson, Jones etc blah blah on unchecked.
Yes they are ditching the hub but likely replacing it with a system to assist the failing schools in other ways. One of the reasons for the hub had been to assist the 20% of failures.
Remember how the previous Government bulldozed changes without consultation? This time consultation has resulted in modification. Can't have it both ways.
It sounded like another complicated and expensive layer of bureaucracy to me.
After all the grief they got from the teachers' and principals' unions, it just wasn't worth it.
I just haven't see a part of the public service this government has been capable of reforming.
No justice reforms
No energy reforms
No education reforms
No health reforms (other than cancer)
No social welfare reforms
No tertiary education reforms
No local government reforms
No competition reforms
No tax reforms
Some housing reforms.
Limited transport reforms.
What they will end up with at the end of the term is:
We spent more money where it was needed.
Ta-daaa!
Haven't tried yet while the very detailed review process continues. About to announce some moves this week apparently.
The rest of your list ignores what has been done – or just tells us how good your eyesight is.
Look you can recite the entire Ardern achievements video if you like. Go ahead and form a little glee club if a bit of a critique is too snowflakey for you.
None of the achievements she states refer to the actual benchmarks they legislated that they would be held against.
They are ok at redistributing tax money.
They are just shit at structural or public sector reform.
Exaggerating undercuts your argument. The word 'No' is not your friend.
Education reforms …tadaaa
Tertiary Education reforms…tadaaa
Local Government/Water supply …..tadaaa
Other reforms were advanced but blocked by coalition partners, Ad still lives in a pre 1996 world
The tertiary polytech one is a proposal.
The education one from today is a tinker that kills one reform and proposes an even milder one.
Nothing has happened in fresh water other than some standards.
Well I might agree on one thing:
"They are just shit at xxxxxxxxxx xx public sector reform."
except that I think they've only just worked out where most of the bullshit has been emanating from.
Maarten Wevers just suprised me I have to say, but then I 'spose after 37 years that wasn't too surprising. "No surprises" in fact.
One thing to tell a Minister of a politician's actions which could potentially become a big issue. The need to actually name the politician (especially given past record) quite another
"They are just shit at structural or public sector reform".
We have a virtual public sector. Everything is outsourced. Even property.
That is why Jacinda's government cannot reform it.
Big thanks to Robert for putting this link up on Daily Review last night.
Interesting information. He talks about the impacts of industrial agriculture on soils.
It bears reposting.
'Straya burns, 'Murica freezes.
Thoughts on this Standardistas?
Arent the Greens such a movement. Yes they broke away from the Alliance , but that was as it name suggests a group of pre -existing parties and they still had an 'identity' within the Alliance
true. The Greens predate the Alliance, and it could be argued that they arose out of a movement from the old Values Party and environmental groups.
yes. I think voters look for authenticity in movements.
I just found out the other day Apirana Ngata and others founded the Young Maori Party at the turn of the century. So creating political partys isnt new. Clearly maori political aspirations existed as a movement too.
It still exists in a different form as the YMP Sports club on the East Coast
Labour itself too.
What about National?
National was the amalgamation of two pre WW2 political parties – Reform and United.
I suspect most new parties think they're the groundswell of a popular movement – TOP, the various Density Church parties, etc.
If Morgan thought his ideas didn't have popular support, he wouldn't have been such a dick when he lost.
I think that proves my (unspoken) point. TOP thought they had popular support, rather than building actual popular support via a movement. Parachute parties.
Tava says he wants 10% of the vote next year. Why?
Not so sure about that with TOP. Yes, it was mostly Morgan's money, but the entire UBI/flat tax/social justice model had been building popularity separately to TOP.
As opposed to Conservatives, which AFAIK had no new or significant policies other than Craig's chequebook.
Even the Density crowd could be assured of leveraging some support from existing organisations.
Tav's dreaming about 10% – if there's any basis to it, it would probably a guess as to what the Greens' base vote would be and the tory assumption that they'll just take most of the Greens' vote. But more to the point, I'm not sure there is a clearly delineated "blue/green" bloc, within or outside the Greens. It's a party being built in the belief that it will create such a movement, rather than leverage existing divisions.
Yes, there are conservatives who fancy themselves as environmentalists, but as someone said recently (and I forget who) "the only place blue-greens exist is on a colour palette"
algae
"Yes, it was mostly Morgan's money, but the entire UBI/flat tax/social justice model had been building popularity separately to TOP."
True, but that's not what TOP or Morgan was promoting. His pre-TOP think tank produced a model that was economic not socially just. His TOP policy was a mess. I don't see a lot of movement buy in for what he was suggesting before he formed TOP, more that there was interest from different parts of society (which is a different thing). Movement to me would be like SS4C, where you have a reasonably coherent set of groups with similar aims and working together. If there was one thing that characterised TOP it was that we were supposed to follow the leader (of TOP not of any movement).
SS4C?
School Strike for Climate.
Thinking of recent movements that have the potential to become party political.
gotcha.
My thinking is that there's a wide range in the size of movements, and that TOP (not just Morgan) did expect to get the support of a lot of the folks who were vocal about a UBI. And Density have managed to get thousands in the streets before now, so I think they think there might be a movement there.
But I don't think Tava's crowd have a genuine belief that there is such a movement in NZ – I think it's more a general punt that they might get somewhere, or at least and ACT-style sinecure/rotten seat for their personal income.
I don't think it's in the nature of "movements" to have a centralised decision to form a party. Political parties follow centralised hierarchies and bureaucracies, while movements are largely people who turn up if they have a moment to spare. So whle prominent people in a movement might leverage their prominance for a new political party, I suspect it's much more grey than the movement setting up the party.
The only exception that comes to mind is ACT coming from the "association of consumers and taxpayers", for whatever that counts as a "movement".
Selfish rich people have been a movement for centuries.
"and that TOP (not just Morgan) did expect to get the support of a lot of the folks who were vocal about a UBI"
Yes, but isn't this the problem? That rather than doing the mahi from within the movement or even alongside the movement, there is this tendency to set up the party and expect people to get on board. The IP did something similar and did get some decent engagement. But because it was based around a massive ego who then gave up when things didn't go his way, there was no movement that existed for its own sake.
Destiny might be different, given they have a congregation that exists whether the party exists or not.
The biggest problem was Morgan turned out to be a one election gutless wonder. If he'd kept at it he may have got to 5% this election .
His banging on about wanting evidence based policy is what got my interest.
“His banging on about wanting evidence based policy is what got my interest.”
He talked a good game, but when it came down to it, he was really antagnostic to his policy and the evidence behind it being examined. Which was odd, because it should have been able to stand up to scrutiny if it was well based on evidence. He came in with a large bias from his personal philosophy and was unable to admit that (or maybe he just thought was right and everyone else was wrong, lol).
But Morgan and co did do work within and alongside the UBI movement, well before founding the party. And it certainly existed before he got involved.
Mana party might also be an example.
bwaghorn: yeah, totally. He seemed to follow the maxim “If at first you don’t succeed, throw a tantrum and fuck off” lol
"But Morgan and co did do work within and alongside the UBI movement, well before founding the party."
Can you give some examples?
"And it certainly existed before he got involved."
Yes, and then he went and set up a party on his own.
Agreed about MANA even though it was from HH leaving the Mp.
He and Susan Guthrie wrote The Big Kahuna in 2011:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22101818-the-big-kahuna
Does he get a bonus from his masters if he gets to 10%?
Morgan was a dick when he lost because simply he is a dick.
If he weren't such a dick he would not have thrown away the baby because he lost.
He would have known that sometimes stuff is harder then just selling some investments and making gazillions of it – tax free of course.
btw, did morgan start to pay any taxes yet, or is he still one of these proud smart rich people who don't ever have to pay taxes at all cause loopholes for rich people, while calling workers who have to pay income tax 'paye slaves'? Cause that is what the dick called tax payers in a conversation with me.
Beggars belief that he the support he did on the left.
He did have sensible tax policies, unlike the left wing parties with their illogical and ineffectual capital gains tax. I have the impression that he attracted votes from the more thoughtful on both sides of the political spectrum.
Ohh My….
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/defamation-accusations-fly-in-feud-between-alan-dershowitz-and-david-boies
Looks like the kiddy f&^*^s may be outed this time.
Mind you, if it looks like Dershowitz may lose – he may accidently just fall down some stairs.
Gotta wonder who else was on that plane…
"Does he/she stand by all his/her Government’s policies and statements" at QT?
Did the Key Government get that form of questioning from the then Opposition?
My wife says yes. I say no.
You owe her a pint. They frequently used that question in opposition.
Been going for years.
Thanks Alien and Sacha. Gee I hate it when she is right!
Cheers to you both 🙂
Mines a double double if you're both buying 😉
It's not really a question these days, it's more of a ritual to avoid giving notice of what their actual question is going to be.
pros: the opposition gets to do a wee ambush
cons: if the followups are too precise, the ministerial response can dodge giving specific answers on the grounds of the lack of warning.
Whole thing is getting a bit ridiculous.
Especially if one party is using it to set up shots (for later editing) of their MPs asking questions about whatever they like, even knowing they will be dismissed or ruled out of order. Still has the right background visuals to lend some authoritah.
Another con in its use is the chance for the Minister to choose a reply whereby he or she highlights some aspect of their work or policy. Bit like a free shot before the targeted questioning begins. Jacinda Ardern is very good at this.
Yes, using the latitude Speakers have always given in exchange for the nonsensically broad scope of the Question. Not good for accountability in any way.
Much like patsies, whose speedy death I would welcome.
Yes Jacinda really nails the opportunity and to my mind she undermines the lame questions that follow from Bridges. And for some Opposition members they seem unable to adjust and ask the question after the answer. Inflexible?
What is it about Turkey these days?
For anyone who has had their life turned upside down by the depredations of private equity companies. Nicholas Shaxon lays out nicely the architecture of wealth extraction -which is the opposite of wealth creation, but cynically claims that mantle.
The World has a mass extinction going on at the minute. The beautiful creatures of the world are our gifts from God we are there caretaker we should have a culture where we value our mokopuna future and the past to give them a harmonious Future.
Its logical to behave like I have described our tamariki will not be happy with there future if we carry on making a big mess of it.
The loss of habitat is the biggest threat to jaguars in Ecuador, particularly along the coast, where more than 70% of the original forest cover has been lost. The vast majority of this destruction has taken place over the last 50 years with the expansion of the logging and agriculture industries, including coffee, cacao, palm oil and bananas, one of the country’s largest agriculture exports.
The coastal jaguar population has been declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Galo Zapata-Ríos, science director at the Wildlife Conservation Society Ecuador, says only a few remain in one small area on the coast, in the Cotacachi-Cayapas national park, in the northern province of Esmeraldas.
“Jaguars historically were distributed along all the Ecuadorian coast, but now they’re only in Esmeraldas,” says Zapata-Ríos, who has been studying the big cat for 10 years. “That’s the consequence of the advancement of human activity.”
As one of the largest predators in Latin America, the jaguar is essential to maintaining equilibrium in rainforest ecosystems. If it disappears, everything below it in the food chain is affected, with an overpopulation of rodents – the jaguar’s prey – that would eat more bugs and seeds, and decrease the regeneration of trees and other plants in the forest, says Zapata-Ríos
Ka kite Ano link below.
Other namesTāne-mahuta, Tāne-nui-a-RangiGenderMaleRegionPolynesiaEthnic groupMāori, TahitiansPersonal informationConsortsHine-nui-te-pō, RangahoreOffspringHine-nui-te-pō, Tiki, Haumia-tiketike (southern Bay of Plenty and parts of the east coast)ParentsRangi and PapaSiblingsHaumia (Arawa), Rongo, Tangaroa, Tāwhirimātea, Tū, Rūaumoko, Whiro
New Zealand rainforest: the trees and birds are the children of Tāne
The children of Rangi and Papa grew frustrated at their confinement in the cramped space between their parents. Tū, future god of war, proposes that they should kill their parents. But Tāne (or Tāne-mahuta) disagrees, suggesting that it is better to separate them, sending Rangi into the sky and leaving Papa below to care for them. Tāne's brothers Rongo, then Tangaroa, Haumia-tiketike and Tū all try in vain to separate the parents. After many tries, Tāne lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs, and finally forces his parents apart, and Rangi rises high into the heavens (Grey 1956:2-3).[2] Then Tāne searched for heavenly bodies as lights so that his father would be appropriately dressed. He obtained the stars and threw them up, along with the moon and the sun. At last Rangi looked handsome (Orbell 1998:145).
Tāwhirimātea, the god of storms and winds, is angry that the parents have been torn apart. He joins his father in the sky and punishes the earth and sea with violent storms (Grey 1956:3-6, Tregear 1891:54). Tāwhirimātea attacks the forests of Tāne, snapping the trunks of the trees, shattering the trees to the ground, leaving them as food for decay and insects. Then he attacks the oceans, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, flees. Two of Tangaroa's descendants, Ikatere, father of fish and Tu-te-wehiwehi
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81ne
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81ne
Tane Mahuta God of the Forest
Kia Ora 1 News.
Yes getting the tamariki vacancies is very important tangata.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Its good that immigration decide to change that law that discriminatied against people.
That's the way feed the tamariki and teach them cooking skills at the same time Kai Aroha Kura.
Ka kite Ano
Waiata is good for one's Wairua I'm fighting to many Wahwahi to listen to some of the ones I like.
Kia Ora The breakfast show.
The Venice flooding the highest in 50 years it great that a lot of the Mayors of the World’s climate are pointing out the true fact that the causes of their deasters.
I say we need our population to stop being inflated by new people. Our environmental footprint is growing rapidly because of this phenomenon.
Self belief is the best trait anyone can have.
Ka kite Ano
It's quite easy to accept that Climate change has caused a lot of old civilization to collapse. not enough Kai because of droughts no Wai.
The Neo-Assyrian empire was a mighty superpower that dominated the near east for 300 years before its dramatic collapse. Now researchers say they have a novel theory for what was behind its rise and fall: climate change.
The empire emerged in about 912BC and grew to stretch from the Mediterranean down to Egypt and out to the Persian Gulf
Now scientists say the reversal in the empire’s fortunes appears to coincide with a dramatic shift in its climate from wet to dry – a potentially crucial change in an empire reliant on crops.
“Nearly two centuries of high precipitation and high agrarian outputs encouraged high-density urbanisation and imperial expansion that was not sustainable when climate shifted to megadrought conditions during the seventh century BC,” the authors write.
In other words, while civil war, overexpansion and military defeat played a role in the empire’s collapse, the underlying driver could have been crop failures that led to economic collapse, exacerbating political unrest and conflict.
Prof Nicholas Postgate, an expert on Assyria from the University of Cambridge who was not involved in the study, said it was plausible that climate change helped finish the empire. “We don’t have any better explanation for what happened to the Assyrian empire during those times,” he said, adding that there was a dearth of written records from about 645BC to the sack of Nineveh Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/nov/13/climate-change-may-be-behind-fall-of-ancient-empire-say-researchers
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
Kia Ora 1 News.
I hear that accent.
Trees mitigate carbon full stop what needs to happen is a selected gradient of topography needs to be planted.
Venice is a ancient city there you go that's reality the discription of their leaders.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
It took someone close to me 15 years to get through the court process but she did not get treated fairly by the system she got shredded by the court process and is still negatively affected by that trauma I have posted about it in my past post.
Coke should not be using tangata whenua names to sell their products.
Ka kite Ano.