yup, she’s a bubble all night. (just keep shuttin’ out those first home buyers and await the inevitable increase in liabilities; RNZ-landlords trying to get tenants to pay the water and rates bills in addition to rent)
Keep pulling that bow string back, bruv. You’ve still got a fair way to go before you can link DS with EM. Nice try though.
Show the poll that shows if UK Labour had ditched pm Brown before the last election, their losses would have reduced to the point of forming a legitimate coalition with the lib dems.
Yip, elections are popularity contests these days…is there much of a difference between Labour UK & Labour NZ policies?
edit – just read Karol’s comment below…now my question is, if NZ Labour brought in more policies like UK Labour, would Shearer be popular in the polls?
Miliband does have a reasonable amount of parliamentary experience: been an MP since 2005, has been a cabinet minister, was secretary of state for energy and climate change, has experience in student politics, has been an political speech writer and taken a lead in drafting Labour Party policy, is articulate and is very good at delivering speeches. He also has explicitly articulated his political position: he has stated he is a socialist, is for civil liberties, wants to scrap uni tuition fees and implement a graduate tax, is for an FTT, is against welfare cuts.
He still panders to neoliberalism, but I’d position him to the left of Shearer.
karol – both Millibands were raised by seriously socialist parents. IIRC his dad was a published marxist.
He still panders to neoliberalism
Not quite; I would suggest that he panders to capitalists. That is slightly different, and also necessary, given the economic structure the world runs on today.
Interesting that you consider Milliband “indifferent” yet I have a far better idea who he is and what he stands for than I do Shearer.
And that’s despite Milliband living on the other side of the planet and me having only a passing interest in anything he says.
Still, you can prove us all misguided any time you like by publishing the glowing poll results showing that Shearer has mumbled Labour ahead of National here too.
If not, you’re really only highlighting his failure to do so.
Ed Milliband speaking at his old comprehensive, during the UK Labour leadership challenge.
Listen to how he speaks off the cuff.
“My parents taught me something very very simple. Which is a faith really. If you see an injustice in your society you shouldn’t just walk by on the other side, you shouldn’t just get angry, you should do something about it.”
Oooh lads, your ignorance about Ed Miliband’s status in the UK is kinda cute.. He was initially regarded as being hopeless and is often ridiculed as being as being a Mr Bean like character. Like Shearer, he is starting to grow on the voters there. He is also, like Shearer, facing a whispering campaign to unseat him. Like it or not, its an apt comparison.
And, if you are going to claim reasonable knowledge of him and his works, felix, you should at least know how his name is spelled.
Actually, a quick google suggests TRP might be on to something.
Just from the line snapshots in google:
Sep 29, 2012 â NEARLY half of Labour voters think that Ed Miliband is too WEAK to be Prime Minister, a poll has revealed.
Jun 23, 2012 â Mr Miliband is used to being told that he is well placed to attract … Ed Miliband got some bad news: A private poll suggested his party’s lead …
Voters cannot see Ed Miliband in power http://www.newstatesman.com/node/40683/Sep 14, 2011 â The Times has released its annual pre-conference poll (ÂŁ), and it shows that Ed Miliband is still failing to command the support of his party.
with a year and a half advantage in time – sarc>so, no knives out before 2014, eh? /sarc>
Oh, and I’m not sure there was a Cunliffe grandstanding at Ed’s party conference address, refusing to say whether he’d challenge for the leadership in Feb.
Oh, and Iâm not sure there was a Cunliffe grandstanding at Edâs party conference address, refusing to say whether heâd challenge for the leadership in Feb.
Well, the UK Labour caucus had the sense to put their leadership out to a democratic vote by all members and all affiliates.
12 points, felix, put your glasses on. Itâs an apt comparison for the reasons Iâve given above. Feel free to point out the social democratic party leader anywhere in the world more like Shearer than Miliband.
And seeing as you appear to have forgotten what I wrote, here it is again:
âIndifferent Labour leader who nobody much likes in poll shock:â
My intention was to make people immediately think of Shearer, when the article was actually about Miliband. It’s a jokey juxtaposition of the two leaders, both of whom suffer from a lack of public enthusiasm. It’s a very common form of comedic one liner. Oddly enough, I’m sure you’ve cracked a few jokes along similar lines yourself in the past, so I’m surprised you’ve forgotten how it works.
The others get it, felix*. You used to be pretty funny yourself, back in the day. Why so sad?
*edit: Ok, you and the alien (below) don’t get it. Can I recommend the Guardian’s Fiver to you both? You’ll soon pick up how this comedic reversal stuff works.
You’re no dummy, so it must be my cunning goodness, Al1en! At the heart of it I was comparing Miliband and Shearer and the two Labour Parties. The leaders both got their jobs despite apparently better candidates being available and neither enjoys uncritical support. Both have a long way to go to convince voters to trust them, but UK Labour has found a way to turn disenchantment with the coalition government into positive support for them. NZ Labour have a couple of years to do the same, but the point is, it can be done.
Oh I get how it works. You say the same sort of stuff all the time and usually try to argue it, then every now and then instead of arguing it you say “I was joking, I actually meant the opposite, not just of what I said just now but of what I say all the time.”
Fuck me, you’re really losing it felix! I’m not going to put smiley’s on every mildly wry comment I occasionally make just because you have a cobb on. Cheer up, for fucks sake!
“And seeing as you appear to have forgotten what I wrote, here it is again:
âIndifferent Labour leader who nobody much likes in poll shock:â”
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.
Is it Ed is perceived indifferently by some yet get’s good poll numbers, DS is perceived indifferently by many Labour members and voters, so it’s no surprise he’s continually gets the shit numbers his nothingness deserves?
I don’t get it.
And yet on the old BBC polltracker, despite alleged misgivings, on the numbers, UK Labour have been able to form a government for the past couple of years.
So the poll about dumping Brown pre election equating to reduced parliamentary losses.
Not applicable here?
Would dumping the extremely unpopular Shearer not bounce the polls?
Argue otherwise.
We should aim for indifferent spokespersons, backbench MPs and NZ Council members too.
Hey, why not go the full hog and insist that our canvassers/activists be indifferent and relatively unlikeable. That should do it. We are half way there. All we need now is for National to hang out the white flag, roll over and hand us the keys to the Beehive.
A) One so sure of the rightness of his convictions – and thus that all non-Catholics are bound for Hell* – that he mobilises all the tools available to any wealthy organisation in the 21st Century to assault the great unwashed with his version of the truth (including an all-out assault on the mistaken beliefs of those other misguided People of the Book presently lopping the limbs off non-believers in various parts of the world), or
B) A Pope who declares ex-cathedra that the whole thing is really just a crock of merda, or
C) A Pope who converts Roman Catholicism into its true role as an entertainment business, as “The Church Ltd.” and moves the Vatican to Hollywood, or
D) A Pope who completes his entire Papacy without a single scandal,
E) a lady Pope who manages not to get pregnant.
*Pope Boniface VIII: “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.
Yup! (according to RNZ report; he just could not reconcile all this kiddy-fiddlin’ and there is a lot more to come out of the woodwork in this pornocratic age)
Prime TV has taken on 60 Minutes. Last night they did a great (?) Public Relations job for Mr Key and Sir Peter Jackson. The happily used the 3,000 employed and the saving of the Hobbits thanks to clever, brave action by Key and Jackson, leading to billions (!) of dollars for needy NZ.
Especially telling given the current wait for the emails.
They still categorise that program as “current affairs”, I just wonder “whose” “current affairs”?
“The Nation” on TV 3 has also struck me as having a “kind inclination” towards presenting the government in good light (remember the live cast from the National Party Conference and lengthy interviews with Ministers and co-hosted with selected media personalities).
This all calls for a solid return to fair, balanced public broadcasting, so turn TVNZ into something like the ABC in Australia. As for advertising “paying” for private or semi private broadcasting, in reality consumers pay for the broadcasting through buying the products advertised.
Only pay per view or so is acceptable, competitive “private” broadcasting.
Good skills, i love the Maori electorate seats, in my view an actual physical expression of Tinorangatiratanga within the Parliament,
Maori who deserve a central and pivotal role in the central decision making process are given that with the Maori electorates where they can at once vote for a candidate from within the rohe and if they so choose Party vote for who they see as being the major party of Government,
Speaking from Wellington i believe the Maori Party burned a lot of young people when it went into coalition with the National Government,
i was highly impressed having young Maori knocking on my door at the 2008 election seeking my vote for the party,(as i explained then i had to decline as Tariana’s motivation for foriming that party in the first place, no matter how justified She was in doing so, precluded the Maori Party from supporting a Labour lead Government),
It only took 18 months here for the Maori Party flags to all but disappear and the window stickers to be hastily scraped from the back windscreens of the waka,
2011 brought no canvassers for the Maori Party to the door round here and i can only assess the damage done to all those young Maori that once so proudly trod those miles supporting ‘their’ party against my own experience of having trod similar miles on behalf of the Labour Party which helped elect Sir(spit)Roger Douglas into a Government, which provided me a serious imperative to view myself as a fool for having been fooled by those people,
Good luck with inspiring your young voters we need them involved, not only as voters but as activists who have a voice in the political process…
It makes you wonder about the suggestion that Tamihere was going to get West Auckland Whanau to go over to the European roll. This would weaken the case for another seat so that he could try and take Bennett on. He would be better off going up against Pita Sharples.
Using Treasury figures Nick Smith is claiming that Labour’s KiwiBuild will not bring down the cost of housing in Auckland,(RadioNZ National news),
I have yet to see this Treasury report but it’s obvious from what Nick Smith has been saying that the Treasury has started from the point of a ‘false’ initial premise,(that the entire ‘build’ is a one off 10,000 homes), and then extrapolated their conclusions upon that false premise, in other words created for it’s own purposes a ‘strawman’ argument with which to attempt to discredit Labour’s ‘KiwBuild’ program,
Treasury of course get everything right in their advice to Minister’s like getting right the assertion that the GST rise to 15% along with the associated shuffling of the tax burdon to the detriment of those reliant on the lower income brackets for their daily needs by the Slippery lead National Government would be ‘fiscally neutral’,
Such a getting of it’s advice right to Government blew a billion dollar annual hole in the Government’s revenue from taxation, not that Slippery and Co gave a big one about that as their only intent with such a ‘tax switch’ was to ensure the loyalty of the current National Party vote,
The new Minister of un-Housing NZ Nick Smith tho thrives on such ‘strawman arguments'(if the truth were known it’s possible that He dictated the contents of the Treasury report to those who wrote it),and the 2009 settlement of Nick’s defamation of a South Island building supply company settled by over 200 grand of your and my monies shows that Nick hasn’t yet realized that mostly what is ejected from His mouth turns out to be s**t…
Did anyone read the Richard Prosser column in investigate magazine, where he refers to all muslims as being from “wogistan”, and states that anyone looking even vaguely “muslim” shouldnt be allowed on western airlines.
“In his latest column he refers to certain people as coming from âWogistanâ and also declares that no young male who is a Muslim, looks like a Muslim or is from a Muslim country should be able to fly on a Western airline.”
That rules out Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis ever flying again đ
What does a Muslim look like anyway? I think Prosser means Arab. What a dick.
Looks like pretty clear grounds for a Race Relations complaint. I guess he is after the publicity.
If they are happy with “White Mother Fuckers” – since it was an opinion (of somebody that is generally popular on this forum) – then Prossers opinion (as messed up as it is) should be ok also.
Private emails and published magazine columns are completely the same thing! Using a naughty word and advocating institutional oppression are completely the same thing!
God, could white dudes get over what a meany-pants Hone Harawira is already?
Messers felix and QoT, I aint diving into this one except to put this to your good minds…. this is exactly where the left misses huge portions of the population. Either the left has the wrong end of the stick in defending one disparaging racist comment and supporting the other disparaging racist comment, or the left is totally useless in explaining what is wrong with the point james makes. It just leaves the population shaking its head and dismissing it. QoT’s explanation comes across as splitting hairs to support personal preferences in the political realm.
This is what they see. I mean, what is going on when the two “sides”, left and right, just cannot understand each others points. Especially on issues as basic as this. It just comes across as two sets of rules for two different groups to the rightish types…
Yeah – Hone isnt a rasist – he is taken out of context. :Tui:
Its people like you – and the fact that labour will die in the ditch with Mana / NZ First if you needed that are driving your voters away in droves.
So dont worry about poor James – Felix Viper, worry about your own party who are sinking and will continue to do so. After all you are judged by the company you keep.
If you ever needed an example of why a Labour-Green-NZFirst coalition will never work you only have to look at the stupidity and racist bigotry contained in Richard Prosser’s (or is that Tosser’s) article. And fancy writing for Investigate magazine!
If you ever needed an example of why a Labour-Green-NZFirst coalition will never work …
This, exactly this.
Nobody on the (broad) left has to pander to the likes of Prosser. A Labour/Green majority is achievable. Now we just need Labour to say they really want one. And mean it.
Completely agree micky and gobsmacked. It scares me everytime I see someone here talk about a threeway coalition that included NZF as if it’s a good thing. And yeah, Labour really need to get their shit together on who their allies are.
Based on this article, will Shearer have the balls to ask Winston that he either dumps Prosser or Labour will not go into coaliation win NZF?, or does getting into power trump everything else?
Excellent, Winston has just about passed His used by date, Brendon Who has been kneecapped and bundled off to Siberia along with His leadership aspirations,
Prosser, the loose cannon in this little game of ‘Texas holdem’ has not only jumped off of the 17th floor in an act of political suicide far grander in scale than that of Brendon Who, Prosser has also managed to introduce the possibility that NZFirst wont feature in the next Parliament,
Bravo Richard Prosser lets have you on the TV news for a week raving about muslims and ‘Wogistan’ a guaranteed provocation that should have the left arm of NZFirst walking away in droves…
Winston was just on RadioNZ National distancing Himself from Richard Prosser’s comments, saying that there are zillions of law abiding Muslims and he knows a few personally as they are Party members,
Richard Prosser’s political future in NZFirst=Zero, NZFirst’s chances of returning to the Parliament in 2014= Fading fast…
Yet again, Mike W agrees with almost everything that Hooton says and so yet again the seemingly
only leftwing voice comes from the bloody presenter. (Hint Mike: It’s not Kathryn’s job to call Mathew out on his shit, it’s yours)
Lowlights: When asked why NZ doesn’t have enough sailors to operate its vessels, Hooton bizarrely goes into a rant about how the Green party are hypocrites because they aren’t pushing for a strong military given their position on climate change. (Hooton apparently thinks that consequences of climate change for NZ will be millions of Indonesians trying to invade us.)
After this Kathryn, once more, called him on his shit of not answering the question.
Then….
Right at the end Hooton, like a love-sick puppy, can’t sing enough praise for David Shearer, ‘oh David’s so savvy, oh David’s fought off three leadership challenges, oh David oh David….etc’
I used to think the problem with the show was hooton but it’s not, it’s Williams.
He’s too bloated (in all senses of the word) to do the job properly. Too close to the beltway. He’s spent too many years on the good paddocks, getting fat on the very system he should be railing against. I hear him speak and I feel, as he nods along with Hooters, that his mind is straying to the pasta and beer he’s going to have for lunch, or the afternoon nap in a comfy chair.
Please step down Mike. Please let someone with vitality and enthusiasm do the job properly.
The problem is the Nine to Noon producers. Maybe they need a few emails of alternative suggestions and encouragement to change, or at least trial some different people. Maybe making complaints would help.
Yeah I understood that it was a 10 vote abstention as well. In otehr words, 70% of caucus decided that there was no need to give a voice to the members and affiliates.
Don’t just blame the 70%, CV! The other 30% of caucus also decided that there was no need to give a voice to the members and affiliates and bottled it by abstaining.
And, encouragingly, 100% of caucus endorsed the democratic process the members and affiliates wanted and voted in at conference.
Even if this report was true, and I seriously doubt it, so what? The minority didn’t have the courage of their convictions., Shearer is endorsed and we move on …
The next government will be a Shearer led Labour /Green coalition.and Shearer will prove to be an excellent Labour PM. I just wish some of you so called Labour Supporters would just start to fully support the LP, party . I think a lot of you are just Tories in drag if you are not well join the Nat’s and moan and groan to those Po faced creeps or better still join NZ 1st and join the Muslim bashers At least they give the Jews and Asians a break. from their Racist utterances .
Ha, it’s “Muslim” now. I noticed earlier in the day though that it was “Moslem” except for the name of the NZ Muslim Association. So who do you reckon the numpty is, Kurt Bayer or Matthew Theunissen?
Labour leader David Shearer said the remarks were ”completely inappropriate for this Parliament”.
“It’s not something that came off the top of his head as a mistake, it was calculated. I think MPs… should act responsibly. And in this case I think it could lead to inciting violence.”
Other nations – particularly in the Middle East – will look on New Zealand “with some disdain”, Shearer said.
His instincts. are ‘OMG what will people think’ rather than the principle. And he includes a weird little aside about how he thinks Muslims might riot if he’d said it in the middle east. At least he didn’t call it wogistan I guess.
No, his instincts were to say Prosser’s comments were offensive and completely inappropriate for Parliament.
THEN to look into the further problems with them, and the impact they could have locally and internationally. And that the comments were premeditated, not just a slip of the tongue.
incorrect for two reasons: firstly, Shearer doesn’t do “ladsy” very well. Using the patois of the gutter wouldn’t be convincing from him – it would be patronising. And referring to “my government” at this stage would be fodder for key and yourself (seriously – if he’d said what you just typed, are you seriously saying you wouldn’t call him something like “try-hard and deluded”?).
So Shearer needed to go to the second characteristic of leadership: show decorum and geopolitical competence. Which he did.
Hone’s line was best, Peters did the minimising self-serving statement, and key was pretty noncommittal until fed the angle by the journalists.
Was he incorrect to start blathering about how he reckons Muslims might have reacted (hint Violent muslims)? Yes.
the point isn’t that what he said might hurt us internationally, the point is he’s a bigoted halfwit. How hard is it to say:
âItâs outrageous and he wonât be a minister in any government I leadâ ?
If he needs to follow up on that go with how he wouldn’t have future in the party if he was a Labour MP but that’s a matter for Winston.
Or talk about how this is the sort of nonsense we last heard when Bush was in power, and the National party wanted to join in on the stupid war in Iraq, where John Key said we were missing in action.
My fault, should’ve been clearer. I just meant all he needs to do is strongly disagree and NOT waffle on about how you shouldn’t piss muslims off ‘cos they get a bit stroppy, or anything else.
Trouble is the more he does this sort of thing, the more I think he’s just saying what he really thinks.
And that’s way worse than what I was giving him credit for.
Shearer did strongly disagree with Prosser’s comments.
I disagree with your interpretation of Shearer’s comments relating to civil stability in the Middle East. I think they were valid, especially given his extensive experience in the area. But feel free to correct him. I suggest repeating Prosser’s statements in downtown Cairo. Let us know how you get on.
“I suggest repeating Prosserâs statements in downtown Cairo. Let us know how you get on.”
Ah, so you mean if you just take Shearer’s literal words, squnting away all context and subtext, you could say he was factually accurate in that you shouldn’t actually go to the middle east and be all anti-muslim.
Does that make it a smart thing to say? I suppose it depends what message you’re trying to send.
A bit like Hone’s ‘white motherfuckers have been raping our land for centuries.’ Factually accurate if you allow a little poetic license, but potentially highly offensive, mainly to those with no grasp of basic set theory.
Many thought at the time that it was politically naive of him to say such things, but again, it depends who the message is for. Who do you think Shearer’s message about muslims being prone to violence was for?
“Many thought at the time that it was politically naive of him to say such things, but again, it depends who the message is for. Who do you think Shearerâs message about muslims being prone to violence was for?”
That wasn’t the message I detected. So I guess is wasn’t for people who generally try to see if there’s any realistic reason for outrage before displaying it.
Maybe Shearer was simply pointing out that having a racist MP won’t make us friends in the Middle East, and might make us a few enemies? But once again Shearer can’t mention an issue without it apparently being an intentional dogwhistle.
Option B is that people are going well out of their way to detect cause for offense.
It’s all very well saying Shearer will led a Labour/ Green coalition but he’s not exactly shining when it comes to actually having some talent on the front benches – still the same old, same old. Even Key has managed to gain the march on him when it comes to bold moves (and that’s saying something). The vindictive way he has treated Cunliffe is rediculous. When Shearer starts pulling the party together, we will start winning!
Can someone who really knows what the Labour Constitution changes were please explain one thing for me.
Did Shearer have to get 60% of the caucus to vote for him to keep his position without a party-wide vote or did 40% have to vote against him to force a vote?
In the first case an abstention would be just the same as a no vote wouldn’t it?
In the second case it wouldn’t but there would surely have to be another candidate who stood against him.
Er, Shearer did get 100% support, if this lie is true. 100% support from those with the courage to vote. The interesting thing in this beat up is how low opposition to Shearer now is. Ok, it’s not true, but if its down to just ten, Shearer’s here for the long run.
Assuming you’ve replied to the wrong comment there, but anyhoo…
“for all the reasons I’ve given above” would seem to me to include the bit about how Ed is starting to grow on voters, and how the polls are showing it.
No?
edit: This was a response to a comment from TRP which appears to be missing.
[lprent: He probably deleted it. It can be done in the editing window. ]
I replied in the wrong place, felix, and deleted it. It’s now a bit further down the page.
And in answer to your question, a qualified yes. Both leaders are starting to gain some small traction in the preferred PM polls, but both have a long way to go. In terms of the UK poll support for Labour, it really has a lot to do with voter disgust with both the other parties, rather than anything Miliband is doing. But then, its probably easier to gain support in a 3 way, FPP contest where the other 2 parties form the current Government than it is in a 7 way MMP contest. In the UK situation, Labour is the default depository of the anti-coalition vote, though UKIP are also hurting the Tories by taking the important taxi driver, white van man and Little Englander vote.
A pondering… one tane huna and meself just had another ding dong over when someone becomes a hater rather than a person with simply a different view.
When does someone become a hater? You know, like a hater of homosexuals. A hater of old white men. A hater of the yellow peril. A hater of pakeha. When? Because as far as I can see there remain so many issues where there is blanket hypocrisy e.g. supporting of separate institutions… is this bigotry of a form? Or is it not? Or another example, supporting of inclusive institutions … is it this that is a form of prejudice? Or does it depend on what side of the political specturm your view apparently stems from according to political fashion of the day?
When does racism exist? When does ageism exist? When does any form of bigotry exist? It is such a mish-mash of varying rules and determinants that it renders so many of these accusations and labels empty and useless. There is no consistency. Or is there? Where is it? Who has it?
Peters’ response ain’t far from what Shearer said really. All that stuff about how the muslims would turn violent if you said that in the middle east etc, that’s pretty much just another way of saying there’s an element of truth to it.
I disagree. Peters was saying that there was an element of truth that muslim males pose a significant risk to air transport (when apparently Boeing batteries are more dangerous). Basically the only non-Muslim terrorist he knew of was McVeigh.
Shearer was simply pointing out that sometimes cartoons can clock off riots in the MidEast.
But Shearer should know that cartoons that insult the prophet have sparked riots. This is not like that. All he did was reinforce that those crazy Muslims riot at the drop of a hat over there in wogistan.
But this perfectly illustrates Shearer’s problem. He’s hopeless at politics.
I am quite certain that David Shearer the person – the guy who has worked in all those places, alongside so many people of different faiths, ethnicities etc – would be genuinely offended by Prosser’s comments. He’s thinking “What a racist sh*t”.
But Shearer the politician thinks he has to second-guess and run it by whoever the handlers are and generally dilute and diminish his own real response. He condemns, but … as always, with qualifiers. Every time he speaks, he qualifies.
According to NRT he couldn’t even say that he wouldn’t have Prosser in his team. But I bet he wouldn’t have Prosser in his team … he’s just been brainwashed into thinking he mustn’t say so. Or say anything that would interfere with the Sleepwalk Strategy.
FFS David, stop this. You lose both ways. The liberals and left only think less of you, the so-called centre (conservatives?) just think you’re a wimp.
Projection.
Just because you or I think in obscenities it doesn’t mean Shearer does.
And did KEY say Prosser couldn’t be in HIS government? If Shearer had said it he would be arrogant and delusional. He doesn’t so he gets flak. Key doesn’t, not a whisper. Shearer’s already losing both ways, right here.
Shearer can’t determine what Key says. Or what the media say about what Key says. But (and this really, really isn’t hard …) –
Shearer can determine what HE says. Jessica Mutch asked him a question. It wasn’t a fair question, it was a “Gotcha” if you like, but if Shearer can only cope with what’s fair, he should quit politics right now.
Do you seriously have any difficulty in deciding on the spot how to answer a question about standing Prosser down? Of course you don’t. Nor do I. Nor would anybody with an ounce of political smarts.
He is lost.
[lprent: I am getting concerned about your head banging. Is there anything we can do to help? đ Personally at present I find that standing directly in front of te aircond….]
Who in the blogosphere has criticised key for not ruling prosser out of government, was my point. But it seems to be a drumbeat against the guy the drum-circle seem to think will never be IN government, anyway.
Mutch with a gotcha? What are you referring to? The only searches I’ve found that quote Shearer are print – got a link? Or am I to wait for 6pm?
Which still means issuing statements about who he’d govern with is arrogant to the point of delusion. Or it’s a serious omission by a probable future prime minister. Damned both ways.
He doesn’t have to issue statements. He simply has to respond to questions. Exactly what he’ll be required to do in the election campaign, without benefit of minders 24/7.
For the Twitter reaction, here’s a good starting point:
The relevance here is that this is part of a consistent pattern. Shearer is not faced with a tough challenge, condemning Prosser. But he can only deal with the prepared line (Stage 1), not follow-ups (Stage 2). That tells us a lot about both his political instincts, and his underlying principles. Both are found wanting, frequently.
There’s no “drum beat” from many of those (like Russell Brown) who were annoyed on Twitter. The idea that Shearer’s critics are only a Standard few is a delusion.
Yeah, on current polling it probably would be arrogant.
But that’s where he should be now: Being taken seriously as a contender for the top job, articulating an alternate vision for the country, describing the kind of govt he’ll lead.
@gobsmacked: I’m sure it’s just a one-off stumble, he won’t be like this all the time, he’s stared down warlords, his media training will kick in any day now, he’s only like this when there are cameras or people around etc etc.
You could point out how my characterisation is completely inconsistent with the measured and rational tone with which issues are logically discussed whenever Shearer’s name is mentioned. Good luck with that.
Yes, it’s getting quite difficult to criticise anything Shearer (or Labour) says without inviting quite irrational and emotional responses from certain commenters here.
Oh I think there’s been plenty of decent criticism. You’re bound to get a bit of mad barking when all the decent criticism goes so unheeded for so long though.
Cannot see anything wrong with the Shearer comment myself, if such a story became a feature of news in many of the Arab Muslim countries there is a likelihood of demonstrations being provoked…
I thought you wound up that little ding dong rather well!
Seems like the ground is always shifting as to what’s ‘a different opinion ‘ and what’s ‘enter derogatory name here’. I get fed up with the race to label someone and box them into a place where they have no choice but to hold their ground. What do you (as in anybody) want – to “win the contest” ? Have a frank exchange of views? Learn something? Bring someone round to your point of view? If you want to alter someone’s perception, giving them no option but to defend themselves at all costs results in a ‘not achieved.’
It’s interesting how one’s own views get challenged in unexpected ways. A couple of years ago, I was in a large workplace where I was one of the 5% minority by ethnicity and gender. That place fractured in ways I never expected, much of it was destructive, cut-throat and detrimental to the people it was meant to serve. It was very ugly and a timely warning that greed, ambition and egotism reside everywhere. And that for me is the crux of the matter – the best ideals can be subverted by ugliness.
I like authenticity. Where the walk matches the talk.
I’m very fond of the word ‘and’. Like, I think there’s room in the Labour Party for Louisa Wall AND John Tamihere. Personally, neither is my cup of tea, but both voices need to be heard. Room in the Green Party for Russel Norman AND David Cunliffe – yeah, I know, in my dreams.
Indeed, thanks for the feedback. You are especially right about the race to pigeonhole someone and the effect, often cumulative, that that has on healthy debate and inclusiveness – it does the opposite, as it did. For no gain.
This entire issue around pigeonholing and labelling and hypocrisy is on the watch list …..
Been trying to find an online copy of Tom Scott’s cartoon of Steven Joyce sicking a turtle onto Novopay in Sat 9 Feb DomPost. Stuff have conveniently not shown it, nor is it on their Tom Scott page. It’s sad/funny and spot on. Can anyone supply a link please?
Rob Oram, one of my favorites when commenting on either business or economics got around to being really circumspect when discussing the Mainzeal collapse on His regular RadioNZ National nine to noon spot today,
Rob got as far as pointing out that RichinaPacific the Richard Yan investment vehicle which was the majority shareholder in the collapsed Mainzeal had been de-listed from the New Zealand share-market
along with Mainzeal and RichinaPacific was then registered in the Bahamas,(a known tax haven),
Here’s one for Rob, and would tend to suggest RichinaPacific in the guise of a company registered in an extremely low tax jurisdiction being the depository for the monies from Mainzeal construction being a vehicle for claiming losses in a higher taxed jurisdiction,
December 2012, Revenue Minister, (the Hairdo from Ohariu), Peter Dunne publicly announces that He will be closing the loophole in the New Zealand tax laws which allows multi-national companies to declare losses in New Zealand and ship the profits off-shore to be declared in a low tax inviroment,
December 2012,Jenny Shiply along with a number of others quit the board of Mainzeal Construction…
If Johnny smart arse had worked in NZ for any great length of time before his need for greed completely took over and became Shylock he might have a small idea as to what NZ is loosing thru his tight wad policies
Crown Law spent $441,000 fighting Susan Couch suing corrections; as if the woman has not been through enough already nearly dying. RNZ put in an OIA request.
Yes and the awful affair has been going on since 2005!
It appears to have been settled only because the Corrections department got a new boss.
For a change I am on the side of Garth McVicar on this one.
Ok. Starting to get close. Two bugs, one (minor) enhancement, and a occasional repaint issue to go on the project. At 32 months, one product already released, a heart attack, and more than 4500 revisions in svn – I might be able to slow down from coding for a while and actually write some posts….
I’m sure that politicians will be looking forward to that. đ
But congrats … I never picked up on what the project was but I imagine it’s been all consuming. In my own technical space I’ve been pretty committed and full on myself this last year or so… finally got to a decent break myself this week.
But how the hell did you do all that and run this place too Lynn?
Mostly over the last two years by steadily dropping everything that sucked up too much time. The Labour work I dropped. Effectively stopped writing posts and cut back on comments here, but maintained tech and moderation. Driving to work rather than buses/walking (saves about an hour a day but drops the exercise way back). And above all, using an iPad in bed for blogging and reading (kicked reading speed up by about 50%)
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that MÄori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the MÄori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be âbigger than politics.â True, but the fine words, apologies and âwe hear youâ messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week â as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Governmentâs powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. Iâm talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at RÄtana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
Thereâs been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the childrenâs playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the âbotched mergerâ of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic partyâs primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housingâs ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Ministerâs metaphor of âflooding the marketâ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is Americaâs un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is Americaâs Octavian, the Republicâs youthful undertaker â and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMPâS SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the âilliberalâ prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi MÄori rallied against the Crownâs attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hÄŤkoi of a generation and the birth of Te PÄti MÄori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Governmentâs move to dilute child poverty targets is a reminder that it is actively choosing to preserve hardship for thousands of households. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israelâs illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinianâs have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinianâs who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israelâs occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Governmentâs disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whÄnau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they canât escape on ...
Te PÄti MÄori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. âThis announcement is just another example of the governmentâs anti-Tiriti, anti-MÄori agenda.â Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. âSeymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
Nationalâs Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now itâs been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didnât declare and said wasnât pre-arranged. ...
Te PÄti MÄori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. âReinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of MÄori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. âThis legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whÄnau out onto the street for no reasonâ said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. âTheir solution to the housing ...
âNationalâs campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,â Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
âThere are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,â Jan Tinetti said. ...
âThis government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this governmentâs agenda and the future of our mokopuna,â said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
âTodayâs climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,â Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how theyâre taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. âThe Abuse in Care Inquiryâs report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faithâbased institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Governmentâs online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. âIt is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
TÄnÄ tÄtou katoa, NgÄ mihi te rangi, ngÄ mihi te whenua, ngÄ mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealandâs payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. âThe Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre â Te PokapĹŤ WÄina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. âThe research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âRegions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesiaâs Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. âIndonesia is important to New Zealandâs security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,â says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kĹrero, he kĹrero, he kĹrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of NgÄti Maniapoto, Minister for MÄori Development Tama Potaka says. âMy thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust â NgÄti Maniapoto for bringing their important kĹrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.âI have received Ms Fredricâs resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,â Mr Brown says.âOn behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliamentâs test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. âSection 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are âdangerous changesâ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. âIssues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. âThe level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations Iâve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and ManawatĹŤ rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawkeâs Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. Itâs the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care âWhanaketia â through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,â was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry âWhanaketia â through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. âTax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. âIt includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. âCompetitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. âUnder current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and WhangÄrei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âFor too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. âIt is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,â Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. âI am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. âASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,â Mr Peters says. âThis will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. âThis $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,â Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. âThis support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealandâs commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. âCabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. âThe previous governmentâs botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. âNew Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. âAttending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,â Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the regionâs fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministersâ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Governmentâs plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. âOn the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.âIncreasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. âNew Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,â Mr Peters says. âWe are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, itâs a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealandâs foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro â winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 â died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Wattsâ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Governmentâs emissions reduction plan. Now Iâve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayersâ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. âThey didnât explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still havenât. Thereâs no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kÄkÄ shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character sheâd like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. âIf the phone rings, I have to answer it,â Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of PĹneke writer Flora Feltham.In âThe Raw Materialâ, the longest essay in Flora Felthamâs dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. âPounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the bandâs perfect weekend and new release. âGood speakers, good food, good music, no distractionsâ: thatâs all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Prettiesâ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this yearâs showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing â a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our Whatâs Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babuâs humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field â especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the âteal waveâ into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the worldâs most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman â specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Googleâs parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the cityâs eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, itâs predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Ă kerstrĂśm’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether youâd have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out whatâs next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because itâs not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te RĹŤnanga Nui o NgÄ Kura Kaupapa MÄori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa MÄori ...
If you havenât started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. Thereâs the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my motherâs furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The governmentâs announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old MÄori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,â Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Booksâ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkinsâ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any MÄori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among MÄori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this weekâs mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its âget tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing â the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the bodyâs immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are youâll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshullâs anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the warâs early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. Youâd barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capitalâs last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the countryâs effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealandâs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we donât yet know what the legacy of this yearâs games will be, letâs take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in todayâs extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
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I woke with a start
in the middle of the night
I realised our banking friends
just hoovered another great bite
of our daily toil you see
each time our eyes alight with glee
at the thought of hundreds of thousands
bulging our wallets so easily
. . .
all that is needed
is a 12% rise
in the price of Auckland houses
of great and wonderous size
12% you see
times $550,000 of each of 400,000 houses not many
is $26,000,000,000 (that’s 26 billion) in one short year..
So thanks mr banker for providing such a sum
is only $1,6000,000 (that’s 1.6 billion) in interest (for printed money of all things) ….
how …..
bloody ….
dumb ….
yup, she’s a bubble all night. (just keep shuttin’ out those first home buyers and await the inevitable increase in liabilities; RNZ-landlords trying to get tenants to pay the water and rates bills in addition to rent)
USA! USA! We’re No.2!
China overtakes the US in world trade. The Asian century has begun:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/11/china-worlds-largest-trading-nation
Indifferent Labour leader who nobody much likes in poll shock:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/11/labour-lead-conservative-12-point-poll
Harrumph. His brother would have done better. đ
Keep pulling that bow string back, bruv. You’ve still got a fair way to go before you can link DS with EM. Nice try though.
Show the poll that shows if UK Labour had ditched pm Brown before the last election, their losses would have reduced to the point of forming a legitimate coalition with the lib dems.
I would not call Miliband indifferent. He is a conviction politician who speaks well.
And it makes you wonder why New Zealand Labour is not doing better.
And that’s with them blamed for GBR’s financial woes and increasing taxes for the lowest paid during their last government.
Looking at caucus is reason enough to work out why NZ Labour are not doing better.
Not really the Caucus, just the hopeless leader. Replace him with someone who can speak and Labour will have a 10 point bounce overnight.
Yip, elections are popularity contests these days…is there much of a difference between Labour UK & Labour NZ policies?
edit – just read Karol’s comment below…now my question is, if NZ Labour brought in more policies like UK Labour, would Shearer be popular in the polls?
“Not really the Caucus, just the hopeless leader.”
All right, just at least 22 of them.
Miliband does have a reasonable amount of parliamentary experience: been an MP since 2005, has been a cabinet minister, was secretary of state for energy and climate change, has experience in student politics, has been an political speech writer and taken a lead in drafting Labour Party policy, is articulate and is very good at delivering speeches. He also has explicitly articulated his political position: he has stated he is a socialist, is for civil liberties, wants to scrap uni tuition fees and implement a graduate tax, is for an FTT, is against welfare cuts.
He still panders to neoliberalism, but I’d position him to the left of Shearer.
Yep and he said that the UK’s involvement in the Iraqi war was a mistake. All power to him.
karol – both Millibands were raised by seriously socialist parents. IIRC his dad was a published marxist.
Not quite; I would suggest that he panders to capitalists. That is slightly different, and also necessary, given the economic structure the world runs on today.
Interesting that you consider Milliband “indifferent” yet I have a far better idea who he is and what he stands for than I do Shearer.
And that’s despite Milliband living on the other side of the planet and me having only a passing interest in anything he says.
Still, you can prove us all misguided any time you like by publishing the glowing poll results showing that Shearer has mumbled Labour ahead of National here too.
If not, you’re really only highlighting his failure to do so.
Ed Milliband speaking at his old comprehensive, during the UK Labour leadership challenge.
Listen to how he speaks off the cuff.
“My parents taught me something very very simple. Which is a faith really. If you see an injustice in your society you shouldn’t just walk by on the other side, you shouldn’t just get angry, you should do something about it.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DriJZdZxFpU
This is who TRP describes as an “indifferent” leader.
There’s a lot in that video that relates to the NZ Labour Party too, eh?
If only there were someone on the front bench capable of saying it. (Or someone who understands it.)
Oooh lads, your ignorance about Ed Miliband’s status in the UK is kinda cute.. He was initially regarded as being hopeless and is often ridiculed as being as being a Mr Bean like character. Like Shearer, he is starting to grow on the voters there. He is also, like Shearer, facing a whispering campaign to unseat him. Like it or not, its an apt comparison.
And, if you are going to claim reasonable knowledge of him and his works, felix, you should at least know how his name is spelled.
Didn’t claim that at all, TRP. Quite the opposite in fact.
“Like it or not, its an apt comparison.”
Really? You must have some polling data that none of the rest of us have seen then. Apparently Ed is 10 points ahead of the tories.
How far ahead of the tories is Dave?
Actually, a quick google suggests TRP might be on to something.
Just from the line snapshots in google:
Sep 29, 2012 â NEARLY half of Labour voters think that Ed Miliband is too WEAK to be Prime Minister, a poll has revealed.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/…/Only-one-in-five-Brits-think-Ed-Miliban…Oct 1, 2012 â FEWER than one in five Brits thinks Labour chief Ed Miliband is a PM in waiting, an exclusive YouGov poll for The Sun reveals.
Jun 23, 2012 â Mr Miliband is used to being told that he is well placed to attract … Ed Miliband got some bad news: A private poll suggested his party’s lead …
Voters cannot see Ed Miliband in power
http://www.newstatesman.com/node/40683/Sep 14, 2011 â The Times has released its annual pre-conference poll (ÂŁ), and it shows that Ed Miliband is still failing to command the support of his party.
Not following you McF.
Two leaders attract the same sort of criticisms, only one defies them.
with a year and a half advantage in time – sarc>so, no knives out before 2014, eh? /sarc>
Oh, and I’m not sure there was a Cunliffe grandstanding at Ed’s party conference address, refusing to say whether he’d challenge for the leadership in Feb.
Fair point about the 18 month head start.
Well, the UK Labour caucus had the sense to put their leadership out to a democratic vote by all members and all affiliates.
Amazing the unity in UK Labour which resulted eh?
Unlike the NZ Labour conference that chose not to put the vote to the membership of caucus had confidence in the leadership.
I agree with you.
On this count both the NZ Labour caucus and the NZ Labour Conference fucked up.
12 points, felix, put your glasses on. Itâs an apt comparison for the reasons Iâve given above. Feel free to point out the social democratic party leader anywhere in the world more like Shearer than Miliband.
And seeing as you appear to have forgotten what I wrote, here it is again:
âIndifferent Labour leader who nobody much likes in poll shock:â
My intention was to make people immediately think of Shearer, when the article was actually about Miliband. It’s a jokey juxtaposition of the two leaders, both of whom suffer from a lack of public enthusiasm. It’s a very common form of comedic one liner. Oddly enough, I’m sure you’ve cracked a few jokes along similar lines yourself in the past, so I’m surprised you’ve forgotten how it works.
ps, cheers, McFlock, you’re onto it.
This “joking” of yours, I dunno if it’s working for you.
The others get it, felix*. You used to be pretty funny yourself, back in the day. Why so sad?
*edit: Ok, you and the alien (below) don’t get it. Can I recommend the Guardian’s Fiver to you both? You’ll soon pick up how this comedic reversal stuff works.
Maybe I’m just a little too dumb and/or you’re just so cunningly good.
Happy to concede to either, unless of course I’m re-polarising the humour and injecting a particle of back at you, in which case, perhaps not. đ
But being as honest as I am, I can’t lie. I just didn’t get it. đ
You’re no dummy, so it must be my cunning goodness, Al1en! At the heart of it I was comparing Miliband and Shearer and the two Labour Parties. The leaders both got their jobs despite apparently better candidates being available and neither enjoys uncritical support. Both have a long way to go to convince voters to trust them, but UK Labour has found a way to turn disenchantment with the coalition government into positive support for them. NZ Labour have a couple of years to do the same, but the point is, it can be done.
“Youâre no dummy”
Now I know you’re having a laugh. đ
“it can be done.”
No doubting you. If only NZ Labour had their own Ed.
Oh I get how it works. You say the same sort of stuff all the time and usually try to argue it, then every now and then instead of arguing it you say “I was joking, I actually meant the opposite, not just of what I said just now but of what I say all the time.”
Hilar.
Fuck me, you’re really losing it felix! I’m not going to put smiley’s on every mildly wry comment I occasionally make just because you have a cobb on. Cheer up, for fucks sake!
Oh, didn’t you get it? Was totally a joke.
Yep, you certainly are. But not a particularly witty one, I’m afraid.
1057 pedants write in to say that the Fiver’s not very funny.
“And seeing as you appear to have forgotten what I wrote, here it is again:
âIndifferent Labour leader who nobody much likes in poll shock:â”
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.
Is it Ed is perceived indifferently by some yet get’s good poll numbers, DS is perceived indifferently by many Labour members and voters, so it’s no surprise he’s continually gets the shit numbers his nothingness deserves?
I don’t get it.
Like Shearer, he is starting to grow on the voters
From the voice of reason
And yet on the old BBC polltracker, despite alleged misgivings, on the numbers, UK Labour have been able to form a government for the past couple of years.
So the poll about dumping Brown pre election equating to reduced parliamentary losses.
Not applicable here?
Would dumping the extremely unpopular Shearer not bounce the polls?
Argue otherwise.
And here the bloody Labour party can’t get past 33% What a crock!
Inspired TPR!
We should aim for indifferent spokespersons, backbench MPs and NZ Council members too.
Hey, why not go the full hog and insist that our canvassers/activists be indifferent and relatively unlikeable. That should do it. We are half way there. All we need now is for National to hang out the white flag, roll over and hand us the keys to the Beehive.
Inspired Strategy, Go TRP, the Voice of Pagani!
Aim…low..
Comprehension prob’s this arvo, KV? Try reading the words aloud. Oh, you already do that?
Worst Pope since that dork who made himself infallible. On your bike pal.
Tau Henare for pope!
lolz
If only all leaders had the humility to step down when they realise they’re not up to the job rather than letting pride get in the way…
Begs the question of what a great Pope would be:
A) One so sure of the rightness of his convictions – and thus that all non-Catholics are bound for Hell* – that he mobilises all the tools available to any wealthy organisation in the 21st Century to assault the great unwashed with his version of the truth (including an all-out assault on the mistaken beliefs of those other misguided People of the Book presently lopping the limbs off non-believers in various parts of the world), or
B) A Pope who declares ex-cathedra that the whole thing is really just a crock of merda, or
C) A Pope who converts Roman Catholicism into its true role as an entertainment business, as “The Church Ltd.” and moves the Vatican to Hollywood, or
D) A Pope who completes his entire Papacy without a single scandal,
E) a lady Pope who manages not to get pregnant.
*Pope Boniface VIII: “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.
What has really made the Pope’s job untenable?
Probably the last eight decades of child sexual assault creating a backlog of settlements.
Yup! (according to RNZ report; he just could not reconcile all this kiddy-fiddlin’ and there is a lot more to come out of the woodwork in this pornocratic age)
On the flipside, someone has at last voluntarily left a secure job, most likely just to go on a benefit.
My ACT membership fees are in the post đ
Prime TV has taken on 60 Minutes. Last night they did a great (?) Public Relations job for Mr Key and Sir Peter Jackson. The happily used the 3,000 employed and the saving of the Hobbits thanks to clever, brave action by Key and Jackson, leading to billions (!) of dollars for needy NZ.
Especially telling given the current wait for the emails.
They still categorise that program as “current affairs”, I just wonder “whose” “current affairs”?
“The Nation” on TV 3 has also struck me as having a “kind inclination” towards presenting the government in good light (remember the live cast from the National Party Conference and lengthy interviews with Ministers and co-hosted with selected media personalities).
This all calls for a solid return to fair, balanced public broadcasting, so turn TVNZ into something like the ABC in Australia. As for advertising “paying” for private or semi private broadcasting, in reality consumers pay for the broadcasting through buying the products advertised.
Only pay per view or so is acceptable, competitive “private” broadcasting.
It is that time again for Maori to decide which electoral roll to sign onto the Maori or European rolls,
The more Maori who sign onto the Maori roll, the more likely it is that there will be more Maori electorate seats in the Parliament…
running a whanau campaign as i type. Most Maori I know are on the Maori roll. Just need to educate more of our young ones.
Good skills, i love the Maori electorate seats, in my view an actual physical expression of Tinorangatiratanga within the Parliament,
Maori who deserve a central and pivotal role in the central decision making process are given that with the Maori electorates where they can at once vote for a candidate from within the rohe and if they so choose Party vote for who they see as being the major party of Government,
Speaking from Wellington i believe the Maori Party burned a lot of young people when it went into coalition with the National Government,
i was highly impressed having young Maori knocking on my door at the 2008 election seeking my vote for the party,(as i explained then i had to decline as Tariana’s motivation for foriming that party in the first place, no matter how justified She was in doing so, precluded the Maori Party from supporting a Labour lead Government),
It only took 18 months here for the Maori Party flags to all but disappear and the window stickers to be hastily scraped from the back windscreens of the waka,
2011 brought no canvassers for the Maori Party to the door round here and i can only assess the damage done to all those young Maori that once so proudly trod those miles supporting ‘their’ party against my own experience of having trod similar miles on behalf of the Labour Party which helped elect Sir(spit)Roger Douglas into a Government, which provided me a serious imperative to view myself as a fool for having been fooled by those people,
Good luck with inspiring your young voters we need them involved, not only as voters but as activists who have a voice in the political process…
It makes you wonder about the suggestion that Tamihere was going to get West Auckland Whanau to go over to the European roll. This would weaken the case for another seat so that he could try and take Bennett on. He would be better off going up against Pita Sharples.
He sure would! Sometimes you wonder about politicians, signing onto the Maori roll as opposed to European should not be a monopoly game……
JT must earn a seat by taking it from the opposition.
Using Treasury figures Nick Smith is claiming that Labour’s KiwiBuild will not bring down the cost of housing in Auckland,(RadioNZ National news),
I have yet to see this Treasury report but it’s obvious from what Nick Smith has been saying that the Treasury has started from the point of a ‘false’ initial premise,(that the entire ‘build’ is a one off 10,000 homes), and then extrapolated their conclusions upon that false premise, in other words created for it’s own purposes a ‘strawman’ argument with which to attempt to discredit Labour’s ‘KiwBuild’ program,
Treasury of course get everything right in their advice to Minister’s like getting right the assertion that the GST rise to 15% along with the associated shuffling of the tax burdon to the detriment of those reliant on the lower income brackets for their daily needs by the Slippery lead National Government would be ‘fiscally neutral’,
Such a getting of it’s advice right to Government blew a billion dollar annual hole in the Government’s revenue from taxation, not that Slippery and Co gave a big one about that as their only intent with such a ‘tax switch’ was to ensure the loyalty of the current National Party vote,
The new Minister of un-Housing NZ Nick Smith tho thrives on such ‘strawman arguments'(if the truth were known it’s possible that He dictated the contents of the Treasury report to those who wrote it),and the 2009 settlement of Nick’s defamation of a South Island building supply company settled by over 200 grand of your and my monies shows that Nick hasn’t yet realized that mostly what is ejected from His mouth turns out to be s**t…
Did anyone read the Richard Prosser column in investigate magazine, where he refers to all muslims as being from “wogistan”, and states that anyone looking even vaguely “muslim” shouldnt be allowed on western airlines.
Tried to find it online, but best I can do is a kiwiblog link (sorry).
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/02/wogistan.html
“In his latest column he refers to certain people as coming from âWogistanâ and also declares that no young male who is a Muslim, looks like a Muslim or is from a Muslim country should be able to fly on a Western airline.”
That rules out Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis ever flying again đ
What does a Muslim look like anyway? I think Prosser means Arab. What a dick.
Looks like pretty clear grounds for a Race Relations complaint. I guess he is after the publicity.
Not really a Race Relations complaint.
If they are happy with “White Mother Fuckers” – since it was an opinion (of somebody that is generally popular on this forum) – then Prossers opinion (as messed up as it is) should be ok also.
Private emails and published magazine columns are completely the same thing! Using a naughty word and advocating institutional oppression are completely the same thing!
God, could white dudes get over what a meany-pants Hone Harawira is already?
Poor James, no grasp of set theory, takes a couple of words out of a sentence and applies his own meaning as if it were gospel.
Hint James: When I say “smart motherfuckers have been posting in this thread” I’m not necessarily talking about you.
Messers felix and QoT, I aint diving into this one except to put this to your good minds…. this is exactly where the left misses huge portions of the population. Either the left has the wrong end of the stick in defending one disparaging racist comment and supporting the other disparaging racist comment, or the left is totally useless in explaining what is wrong with the point james makes. It just leaves the population shaking its head and dismissing it. QoT’s explanation comes across as splitting hairs to support personal preferences in the political realm.
This is what they see. I mean, what is going on when the two “sides”, left and right, just cannot understand each others points. Especially on issues as basic as this. It just comes across as two sets of rules for two different groups to the rightish types…
So, what gives?
Over
I never said Hone’s comments were advisable, or helpful, or smart.
Yeah – Hone isnt a rasist – he is taken out of context. :Tui:
Its people like you – and the fact that labour will die in the ditch with Mana / NZ First if you needed that are driving your voters away in droves.
So dont worry about poor James – Felix Viper, worry about your own party who are sinking and will continue to do so. After all you are judged by the company you keep.
lol at that kb thread, not many commenters disagree with Prosser.
DPF puts on his outraged urban liberal hat and invites all his KKK mates over for a beer.
As usual.
I heard this Prosser issue make it on to National Radio. Really fucking sick bastard.
If Winston doesn’t force Prosser to retract this ASAP it will be a black mark against NZ1: evidence that it’s still a racist party at heart.
If you ever needed an example of why a Labour-Green-NZFirst coalition will never work you only have to look at the stupidity and racist bigotry contained in Richard Prosser’s (or is that Tosser’s) article. And fancy writing for Investigate magazine!
If you ever needed an example of why a Labour-Green-NZFirst coalition will never work …
This, exactly this.
Nobody on the (broad) left has to pander to the likes of Prosser. A Labour/Green majority is achievable. Now we just need Labour to say they really want one. And mean it.
Is that so much to ask?
Completely agree micky and gobsmacked. It scares me everytime I see someone here talk about a threeway coalition that included NZF as if it’s a good thing. And yeah, Labour really need to get their shit together on who their allies are.
Based on this article, will Shearer have the balls to ask Winston that he either dumps Prosser or Labour will not go into coaliation win NZF?, or does getting into power trump everything else?
Should be asking Key really, he’s the one who’s going to have to deal with Winston & co.
Excellent, Winston has just about passed His used by date, Brendon Who has been kneecapped and bundled off to Siberia along with His leadership aspirations,
Prosser, the loose cannon in this little game of ‘Texas holdem’ has not only jumped off of the 17th floor in an act of political suicide far grander in scale than that of Brendon Who, Prosser has also managed to introduce the possibility that NZFirst wont feature in the next Parliament,
Bravo Richard Prosser lets have you on the TV news for a week raving about muslims and ‘Wogistan’ a guaranteed provocation that should have the left arm of NZFirst walking away in droves…
Winston was just on RadioNZ National distancing Himself from Richard Prosser’s comments, saying that there are zillions of law abiding Muslims and he knows a few personally as they are Party members,
Richard Prosser’s political future in NZFirst=Zero, NZFirst’s chances of returning to the Parliament in 2014= Fading fast…
Darn – no cliff in a hollywood movie – on the upside it also means no Tem in a hollywood movie.
Just listened to yesterday’s RNZ politics with Hooton & Williams.
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20130211-1110-politics_with_matthew_hooton_and_mike_williams-048.mp3
Yet again, Mike W agrees with almost everything that Hooton says and so yet again the seemingly
only leftwing voice comes from the bloody presenter. (Hint Mike: It’s not Kathryn’s job to call Mathew out on his shit, it’s yours)
Lowlights: When asked why NZ doesn’t have enough sailors to operate its vessels, Hooton bizarrely goes into a rant about how the Green party are hypocrites because they aren’t pushing for a strong military given their position on climate change. (Hooton apparently thinks that consequences of climate change for NZ will be millions of Indonesians trying to invade us.)
After this Kathryn, once more, called him on his shit of not answering the question.
Then….
Right at the end Hooton, like a love-sick puppy, can’t sing enough praise for David Shearer, ‘oh David’s so savvy, oh David’s fought off three leadership challenges, oh David oh David….etc’
I used to think the problem with the show was hooton but it’s not, it’s Williams.
He’s too bloated (in all senses of the word) to do the job properly. Too close to the beltway. He’s spent too many years on the good paddocks, getting fat on the very system he should be railing against. I hear him speak and I feel, as he nods along with Hooters, that his mind is straying to the pasta and beer he’s going to have for lunch, or the afternoon nap in a comfy chair.
Please step down Mike. Please let someone with vitality and enthusiasm do the job properly.
+1
I don’t like having to listen to sound of Williams wheezing all the way through the slot. Can’t they turn his mic off when he’s not speaking?
Hah! Absolutely, quartz.
The problem is the Nine to Noon producers. Maybe they need a few emails of alternative suggestions and encouragement to change, or at least trial some different people. Maybe making complaints would help.
Yeah true, CW.
How can this be so? The secret vote is no longer secret? And whoever has leaked it is pushing Grant Robertson as leader?
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/02/was_it_10_votes_against.html
Yeah I understood that it was a 10 vote abstention as well. In otehr words, 70% of caucus decided that there was no need to give a voice to the members and affiliates.
Don’t just blame the 70%, CV! The other 30% of caucus also decided that there was no need to give a voice to the members and affiliates and bottled it by abstaining.
And, encouragingly, 100% of caucus endorsed the democratic process the members and affiliates wanted and voted in at conference.
Even if this report was true, and I seriously doubt it, so what? The minority didn’t have the courage of their convictions., Shearer is endorsed and we move on …
…to Robertson.
The next government will be a Shearer led Labour /Green coalition.and Shearer will prove to be an excellent Labour PM. I just wish some of you so called Labour Supporters would just start to fully support the LP, party . I think a lot of you are just Tories in drag if you are not well join the Nat’s and moan and groan to those Po faced creeps or better still join NZ 1st and join the Muslim bashers At least they give the Jews and Asians a break. from their Racist utterances .
How hard would it have been for Shearer to respond to Prosser’s crap by saying “It’s outrageous and he won’t be a minister in any government I lead” ?
But instead
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10864924
where are his instincts? On what do you base your belief that he’d be an excellent PM?
Why on earth is the word “Moslem” used in that NZH article??? What the frak is a “Moslem”???
An indication that the Herald’s only dictionary on site is fifty years old?
Ha, it’s “Muslim” now. I noticed earlier in the day though that it was “Moslem” except for the name of the NZ Muslim Association. So who do you reckon the numpty is, Kurt Bayer or Matthew Theunissen?
And from Stuff:
That’s my point McFlock.
His instincts. are ‘OMG what will people think’ rather than the principle. And he includes a weird little aside about how he thinks Muslims might riot if he’d said it in the middle east. At least he didn’t call it wogistan I guess.
The best bit is the subtle buying into the “Muslims are violent and lawless” meme that Prosser is promoting.
No, his instincts were to say Prosser’s comments were offensive and completely inappropriate for Parliament.
THEN to look into the further problems with them, and the impact they could have locally and internationally. And that the comments were premeditated, not just a slip of the tongue.
Was he incorrect?
The correct answer in that context is “That’s racist bullshit and I won’t have him in my govt”.
Anything else – in that context, for Shearer – is incorrect, yes.
incorrect for two reasons: firstly, Shearer doesn’t do “ladsy” very well. Using the patois of the gutter wouldn’t be convincing from him – it would be patronising. And referring to “my government” at this stage would be fodder for key and yourself (seriously – if he’d said what you just typed, are you seriously saying you wouldn’t call him something like “try-hard and deluded”?).
So Shearer needed to go to the second characteristic of leadership: show decorum and geopolitical competence. Which he did.
Hone’s line was best, Peters did the minimising self-serving statement, and key was pretty noncommittal until fed the angle by the journalists.
[edit] PB – did we cross-post?
Was he incorrect to start blathering about how he reckons Muslims might have reacted (hint Violent muslims)? Yes.
the point isn’t that what he said might hurt us internationally, the point is he’s a bigoted halfwit. How hard is it to say:
âItâs outrageous and he wonât be a minister in any government I leadâ ?
If he needs to follow up on that go with how he wouldn’t have future in the party if he was a Labour MP but that’s a matter for Winston.
Or talk about how this is the sort of nonsense we last heard when Bush was in power, and the National party wanted to join in on the stupid war in Iraq, where John Key said we were missing in action.
That was geopolitical competence? For whom, a 3rd year pol-sci undergrad?
nope. From someone with several years’ experience in the region.
I guess we did cross post.
Read this: Judith Collins ffs, sounds more like what I’d expect a NZ Labour party leader to sound like:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1302/S00126/nz-embarrassed-by-prossers-comments.htm
rain artillery on the prick, from a position of principle.
Goff’s statement.
Similar to Collins’. Which is a valid technique – the leader frowns, the front bench barks. 1-MP parties have to do both.
I didn’t mean he should say that verbatim McF.
My fault, should’ve been clearer. I just meant all he needs to do is strongly disagree and NOT waffle on about how you shouldn’t piss muslims off ‘cos they get a bit stroppy, or anything else.
Trouble is the more he does this sort of thing, the more I think he’s just saying what he really thinks.
And that’s way worse than what I was giving him credit for.
completely inappropriate for Parliament.
Totally appropriate in heaps of other contexts, though.
Shearer did strongly disagree with Prosser’s comments.
I disagree with your interpretation of Shearer’s comments relating to civil stability in the Middle East. I think they were valid, especially given his extensive experience in the area. But feel free to correct him. I suggest repeating Prosser’s statements in downtown Cairo. Let us know how you get on.
@QoT: what a load of crap.
“I suggest repeating Prosserâs statements in downtown Cairo. Let us know how you get on.”
Ah, so you mean if you just take Shearer’s literal words, squnting away all context and subtext, you could say he was factually accurate in that you shouldn’t actually go to the middle east and be all anti-muslim.
Does that make it a smart thing to say? I suppose it depends what message you’re trying to send.
A bit like Hone’s ‘white motherfuckers have been raping our land for centuries.’ Factually accurate if you allow a little poetic license, but potentially highly offensive, mainly to those with no grasp of basic set theory.
Many thought at the time that it was politically naive of him to say such things, but again, it depends who the message is for. Who do you think Shearer’s message about muslims being prone to violence was for?
“Many thought at the time that it was politically naive of him to say such things, but again, it depends who the message is for. Who do you think Shearerâs message about muslims being prone to violence was for?”
That wasn’t the message I detected. So I guess is wasn’t for people who generally try to see if there’s any realistic reason for outrage before displaying it.
Maybe Shearer was simply pointing out that having a racist MP won’t make us friends in the Middle East, and might make us a few enemies? But once again Shearer can’t mention an issue without it apparently being an intentional dogwhistle.
Option B is that people are going well out of their way to detect cause for offense.
It’s possible.
It’s also possible that he’s just not very good at making a concise, unambiguous statement.
I guess one day we’ll have enough data to figure out if there’s a pattern to support either of those hypotheses.
Ex-UNAMA worker in let’s-avoid-violence in Middle East shocker!
Cf to Harawira –
” Mana Party leader Hone Harawira said Mr Prosser’s comments were racist, and without basis in fact.
“It’s kinda like saying that no 19- to 35-year-old white guys should be allowed to go anywhere because they cause so many wars around the world.”
Lol.
I thought Hone was pretty damn good with that one.
aye, ’twas a nice response.
It’s all very well saying Shearer will led a Labour/ Green coalition but he’s not exactly shining when it comes to actually having some talent on the front benches – still the same old, same old. Even Key has managed to gain the march on him when it comes to bold moves (and that’s saying something). The vindictive way he has treated Cunliffe is rediculous. When Shearer starts pulling the party together, we will start winning!
How private was the private vote? Did some MPs abstain instead of voting because they feared repercussions?
Well, not so much supposed to be a private vote, as a secret vote…
most MPs voted for just a little democracy (eg they supported the thresholds at 50% or 60%). Only a minority of MPs voted for the 40% threshold.
I meant within caucus, in that specific vote, CV. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
Ahhhh no probs mate.
And, in fact, a minority of the R&F delegates.
Can someone who really knows what the Labour Constitution changes were please explain one thing for me.
Did Shearer have to get 60% of the caucus to vote for him to keep his position without a party-wide vote or did 40% have to vote against him to force a vote?
In the first case an abstention would be just the same as a no vote wouldn’t it?
In the second case it wouldn’t but there would surely have to be another candidate who stood against him.
“Everyone in Labour knows Grant Robertson will become the next leader. The only question is when.”
In August is my guess, six months to see if there is a poll improvement and then the chop or resignation as leader by Shearer.
The link you supplied says it all, how united the Labour caucus are over Shearer being the leader.
âEveryone in Labour knows Grant Robertson will become the next leader. The only question is when.â
I’ll add a why?
Is this the “almost certainly unanimous” vote we heard so much about?
Nah, it’s the “Shearer will have 100% support” one.
Yeah tht’s right, pretty sure I remember someone saying something about that?….
http://thestandard.org.nz/growing-the-left-vote/#comment-584523
đ
Er, Shearer did get 100% support, if this lie is true. 100% support from those with the courage to vote. The interesting thing in this beat up is how low opposition to Shearer now is. Ok, it’s not true, but if its down to just ten, Shearer’s here for the long run.
Of course, a certain backbencher might refuse to say whether he’ll challenge in 2015…
well, now that I have a telly, Shearer continues to underwhelm; maybe I’m phylum and xylem after all đ
Assuming you’ve replied to the wrong comment there, but anyhoo…
“for all the reasons I’ve given above” would seem to me to include the bit about how Ed is starting to grow on voters, and how the polls are showing it.
No?
edit: This was a response to a comment from TRP which appears to be missing.
[lprent: He probably deleted it. It can be done in the editing window. ]
I replied in the wrong place, felix, and deleted it. It’s now a bit further down the page.
And in answer to your question, a qualified yes. Both leaders are starting to gain some small traction in the preferred PM polls, but both have a long way to go. In terms of the UK poll support for Labour, it really has a lot to do with voter disgust with both the other parties, rather than anything Miliband is doing. But then, its probably easier to gain support in a 3 way, FPP contest where the other 2 parties form the current Government than it is in a 7 way MMP contest. In the UK situation, Labour is the default depository of the anti-coalition vote, though UKIP are also hurting the Tories by taking the important taxi driver, white van man and Little Englander vote.
NRT gets blogpost title of the week:
“Labour: As useless as a proverbial useless thing”
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/labour-as-useless-as-proverbial-useless.html
A pondering… one tane huna and meself just had another ding dong over when someone becomes a hater rather than a person with simply a different view.
When does someone become a hater? You know, like a hater of homosexuals. A hater of old white men. A hater of the yellow peril. A hater of pakeha. When? Because as far as I can see there remain so many issues where there is blanket hypocrisy e.g. supporting of separate institutions… is this bigotry of a form? Or is it not? Or another example, supporting of inclusive institutions … is it this that is a form of prejudice? Or does it depend on what side of the political specturm your view apparently stems from according to political fashion of the day?
When does racism exist? When does ageism exist? When does any form of bigotry exist? It is such a mish-mash of varying rules and determinants that it renders so many of these accusations and labels empty and useless. There is no consistency. Or is there? Where is it? Who has it?
Who woulda thunk it.
http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/02/11/study-confirms-tea-party-was-created-big-tobacco-and-billionaires
Anyone care to argue that Shearer handled this well?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10864924
Never mind! He’s getting Better!!
Except he’s not.
How hard is it to respond to a bunch of bigited crap from a NZ First idiot without saying ‘Muslims would riot if he said it over there’. ffs.
Jeebers. The actual words he used are worse than your summary.
The worst part is that he was quoted alongside Peters, Key, Banks and Harawira and he still looks a tool in comparison. ffs indeed.
Peters saying there’s an element of truth? Sheesh.
Nice chuckle at Banks’ describing someone else as “crazy” and “bizarre”.
Harawira had the best response I reckon, and the journos in the lobby chat with Key on tv1 website basically led him to the desired lines.
Yeah I liked that too, and Banks’ weirdness.
Peters’ response ain’t far from what Shearer said really. All that stuff about how the muslims would turn violent if you said that in the middle east etc, that’s pretty much just another way of saying there’s an element of truth to it.
I disagree. Peters was saying that there was an element of truth that muslim males pose a significant risk to air transport (when apparently Boeing batteries are more dangerous). Basically the only non-Muslim terrorist he knew of was McVeigh.
Shearer was simply pointing out that sometimes cartoons can clock off riots in the MidEast.
But Shearer should know that cartoons that insult the prophet have sparked riots. This is not like that. All he did was reinforce that those crazy Muslims riot at the drop of a hat over there in wogistan.
Firstly, I should point out that the cartoon reference was mine, not Shearer’s. Shearer referred to the Middle East.
I’m sure that the cartoon-related riots were the only incidents of civil disorder from North Africa to the Indus in the past decade.
But this perfectly illustrates Shearer’s problem. He’s hopeless at politics.
I am quite certain that David Shearer the person – the guy who has worked in all those places, alongside so many people of different faiths, ethnicities etc – would be genuinely offended by Prosser’s comments. He’s thinking “What a racist sh*t”.
But Shearer the politician thinks he has to second-guess and run it by whoever the handlers are and generally dilute and diminish his own real response. He condemns, but … as always, with qualifiers. Every time he speaks, he qualifies.
According to NRT he couldn’t even say that he wouldn’t have Prosser in his team. But I bet he wouldn’t have Prosser in his team … he’s just been brainwashed into thinking he mustn’t say so. Or say anything that would interfere with the Sleepwalk Strategy.
FFS David, stop this. You lose both ways. The liberals and left only think less of you, the so-called centre (conservatives?) just think you’re a wimp.
Projection.
Just because you or I think in obscenities it doesn’t mean Shearer does.
And did KEY say Prosser couldn’t be in HIS government? If Shearer had said it he would be arrogant and delusional. He doesn’t so he gets flak. Key doesn’t, not a whisper. Shearer’s already losing both ways, right here.
*bangs head on desk*
Shearer can’t determine what Key says. Or what the media say about what Key says. But (and this really, really isn’t hard …) –
Shearer can determine what HE says. Jessica Mutch asked him a question. It wasn’t a fair question, it was a “Gotcha” if you like, but if Shearer can only cope with what’s fair, he should quit politics right now.
Do you seriously have any difficulty in deciding on the spot how to answer a question about standing Prosser down? Of course you don’t. Nor do I. Nor would anybody with an ounce of political smarts.
He is lost.
[lprent: I am getting concerned about your head banging. Is there anything we can do to help? đ Personally at present I find that standing directly in front of te aircond….]
Who in the blogosphere has criticised key for not ruling prosser out of government, was my point. But it seems to be a drumbeat against the guy the drum-circle seem to think will never be IN government, anyway.
Mutch with a gotcha? What are you referring to? The only searches I’ve found that quote Shearer are print – got a link? Or am I to wait for 6pm?
He couldbe in govt McF, but he’s doing his darndest to avoid it so far.
Which still means issuing statements about who he’d govern with is arrogant to the point of delusion. Or it’s a serious omission by a probable future prime minister. Damned both ways.
He doesn’t have to issue statements. He simply has to respond to questions. Exactly what he’ll be required to do in the election campaign, without benefit of minders 24/7.
For the Twitter reaction, here’s a good starting point:
https://twitter.com/publicaddress
The relevance here is that this is part of a consistent pattern. Shearer is not faced with a tough challenge, condemning Prosser. But he can only deal with the prepared line (Stage 1), not follow-ups (Stage 2). That tells us a lot about both his political instincts, and his underlying principles. Both are found wanting, frequently.
There’s no “drum beat” from many of those (like Russell Brown) who were annoyed on Twitter. The idea that Shearer’s critics are only a Standard few is a delusion.
Yeah, on current polling it probably would be arrogant.
But that’s where he should be now: Being taken seriously as a contender for the top job, articulating an alternate vision for the country, describing the kind of govt he’ll lead.
@gobsmacked: I’m sure it’s just a one-off stumble, he won’t be like this all the time, he’s stared down warlords, his media training will kick in any day now, he’s only like this when there are cameras or people around etc etc.
fuck twitter – where’s the interview with the gotcha question you’re talking about?
@FV:
At the moment he’s not. And if Labour were polling 55%, people here would be calling him arrogant and jumped up.
Meh, can’t really argue with what you reckon people would say given this or that.
You could point out how my characterisation is completely inconsistent with the measured and rational tone with which issues are logically discussed whenever Shearer’s name is mentioned. Good luck with that.
Yes, it’s getting quite difficult to criticise anything Shearer (or Labour) says without inviting quite irrational and emotional responses from certain commenters here.
You’d have a point if “mad barking at contrived slights” counted as “criticism”.
Oh I think there’s been plenty of decent criticism. You’re bound to get a bit of mad barking when all the decent criticism goes so unheeded for so long though.
chicken and egg syndrome again, I guess
Trust the process and get on side guys, no more of this whining like bellyachers, victory will be ours in 2014!
Cannot see anything wrong with the Shearer comment myself, if such a story became a feature of news in many of the Arab Muslim countries there is a likelihood of demonstrations being provoked…
@vto
I thought you wound up that little ding dong rather well!
Seems like the ground is always shifting as to what’s ‘a different opinion ‘ and what’s ‘enter derogatory name here’. I get fed up with the race to label someone and box them into a place where they have no choice but to hold their ground. What do you (as in anybody) want – to “win the contest” ? Have a frank exchange of views? Learn something? Bring someone round to your point of view? If you want to alter someone’s perception, giving them no option but to defend themselves at all costs results in a ‘not achieved.’
It’s interesting how one’s own views get challenged in unexpected ways. A couple of years ago, I was in a large workplace where I was one of the 5% minority by ethnicity and gender. That place fractured in ways I never expected, much of it was destructive, cut-throat and detrimental to the people it was meant to serve. It was very ugly and a timely warning that greed, ambition and egotism reside everywhere. And that for me is the crux of the matter – the best ideals can be subverted by ugliness.
I like authenticity. Where the walk matches the talk.
I’m very fond of the word ‘and’. Like, I think there’s room in the Labour Party for Louisa Wall AND John Tamihere. Personally, neither is my cup of tea, but both voices need to be heard. Room in the Green Party for Russel Norman AND David Cunliffe – yeah, I know, in my dreams.
Indeed, thanks for the feedback. You are especially right about the race to pigeonhole someone and the effect, often cumulative, that that has on healthy debate and inclusiveness – it does the opposite, as it did. For no gain.
This entire issue around pigeonholing and labelling and hypocrisy is on the watch list …..
Well he was (DC I mean) frolicking/engaging with a few Green Party types on the Rainbow Warrior today so ….. funnier things have happened at sea
Been trying to find an online copy of Tom Scott’s cartoon of Steven Joyce sicking a turtle onto Novopay in Sat 9 Feb DomPost. Stuff have conveniently not shown it, nor is it on their Tom Scott page. It’s sad/funny and spot on. Can anyone supply a link please?
Rob Oram, one of my favorites when commenting on either business or economics got around to being really circumspect when discussing the Mainzeal collapse on His regular RadioNZ National nine to noon spot today,
Rob got as far as pointing out that RichinaPacific the Richard Yan investment vehicle which was the majority shareholder in the collapsed Mainzeal had been de-listed from the New Zealand share-market
along with Mainzeal and RichinaPacific was then registered in the Bahamas,(a known tax haven),
Here’s one for Rob, and would tend to suggest RichinaPacific in the guise of a company registered in an extremely low tax jurisdiction being the depository for the monies from Mainzeal construction being a vehicle for claiming losses in a higher taxed jurisdiction,
December 2012, Revenue Minister, (the Hairdo from Ohariu), Peter Dunne publicly announces that He will be closing the loophole in the New Zealand tax laws which allows multi-national companies to declare losses in New Zealand and ship the profits off-shore to be declared in a low tax inviroment,
December 2012,Jenny Shiply along with a number of others quit the board of Mainzeal Construction…
He’s rod oram not rob oram. And yes, he is very good.
If Johnny smart arse had worked in NZ for any great length of time before his need for greed completely took over and became Shylock he might have a small idea as to what NZ is loosing thru his tight wad policies
Crown Law spent $441,000 fighting Susan Couch suing corrections; as if the woman has not been through enough already nearly dying. RNZ put in an OIA request.
Yes and the awful affair has been going on since 2005!
It appears to have been settled only because the Corrections department got a new boss.
For a change I am on the side of Garth McVicar on this one.
Ok. Starting to get close. Two bugs, one (minor) enhancement, and a occasional repaint issue to go on the project. At 32 months, one product already released, a heart attack, and more than 4500 revisions in svn – I might be able to slow down from coding for a while and actually write some posts….
I’m sure that politicians will be looking forward to that. đ
svn = makes life worth living
But congrats … I never picked up on what the project was but I imagine it’s been all consuming. In my own technical space I’ve been pretty committed and full on myself this last year or so… finally got to a decent break myself this week.
But how the hell did you do all that and run this place too Lynn?
Carefully
Mostly over the last two years by steadily dropping everything that sucked up too much time. The Labour work I dropped. Effectively stopped writing posts and cut back on comments here, but maintained tech and moderation. Driving to work rather than buses/walking (saves about an hour a day but drops the exercise way back). And above all, using an iPad in bed for blogging and reading (kicked reading speed up by about 50%)