Wouldn’t say suppresses wages, but they have been far too hands off with the property market and immigration.
The only way forward is for the government to build as many rentals as possible to drive down the cost of living, this will flow on by bringing down the cost of houses within that lower tier,
Forget the KiwiBuild first homes bullshit, no one should be buying a new home as their first home it’s financially irresponsible to get that far in debt.
I believe it’s hurting the whole economy and agree that a third of household income is about as much as you want to be paying on rent or a mortgage.
Obviously, a single person or people without dependents could spend more.
All that money heading overseas into foreign banks is money that’s not being spent within the NZ economy, less money in the economy equals fewer jobs.
Also, means an unhappy disillusioned populace and that’s not really something a political party wants.
Both the major political parties have both run with these policies. But the reality is that national have been in power for almost 9 years, and done virtually nothing.
As for the Aussie banks bleeding us dry. Kiwis need to stop banking with them, that is simpler said, than done though. But if you are on a low income – moving to a co-operative bank makes more sense. And by law these are all locally owned.
It’s not just the Austrailian banks or banks in general, it’s more the way kiwis perceive property.
Property is how you make money so you buy property and because property always goes up in value you can’t lose( I personally disagree), so people buy property at inflated prices.
Unfortunately, the knock on effect is that people who just want to buy a house to live in and raise a family end up paying through the nose to purchase a place.
The solution is to make residential property less attractive, rental WOFs and actually ping people for buying and flicking houses within a short period of time.
I’d have a sliding level of capital gains tax depending on how long you’ve been in a place
3 months or less 25%
3 -6 months 20%
6-12 months 15%
1-2 years 10%
yes they have BM (Supressed wages through there immigration policies) they have brought in cheap labour to stop the trickle down effect and keep the trickle up effect going. So they have interfered with the market when it suit them just like John did with Keytruda when it suit and when they want something like the dummies who keep voting for them.
Should property prices drop by any meaningful % no one has thought of how many spec builders that would wipe out, and the consequences to the trades as they have to suffer from bad debts then who will build all these houses ?
Plus banks will cut off funding to land developers so little land is made available to be built in.
The development sector is far more complexed than many realise.
There are plenty out there, but its has become increasingly challenging; some have immigrated here & setup business, ( And I note build quality houses),immigrants spec builders entered the market in the 1990’s and more have been added with the recent influx. There are also the franchise owners. the ones you see on TV pushing their brand.
There are murmerings that some of the so called “Big Boys” are being squeezed and have been forced by the banks to reduce their debt/exposure to their banks.
So what may appear a blessing also has a sting !!
Yep, back in the day when our current, or really retiring, middle class was being formed in the late 70’s this is what we did.
Keith Hay, Universal and Neil built thousands of 70 – 90 m2, very basic houses all around the country, but especially in Auckland. A young couple could capitalise their Family Benefit and have a deposit, government loans and other incentives and they were in a house at around 1/3 of income.
This did not happen without disruption though: “…By the late 1960s, many pobladores began to mobilize collectively, seizing land at an unprecedented rate in the country’s main cities. Between 1967 and 1973, some 400,000 people—about 14% of the city’s population—occupied land in the capital, Santiago. Other land seizures took place in the 1980s and 1990s, albeit on a smaller scale.
The occupations were a response to abysmal housing conditions. During the 1950s and 1960s, the proliferation of shantytowns and run-down tenements stood as a powerful symbol of injustice and underdevelopment. For many observers, and especially for those on the left, the seizures showed that pobladores could become more politically assertive and lay the revolutionary foundations for a more just society. During their mobilizations, housing activists adopted such mottos as “from the seizure of land to the seizure of society.”
One of his projects is Villa Verde, which provides “incremental” housing. This project rehoused a community displaced by an earthquake, and after providing half a house, allows residents to fill in the remainder as resources and time allows.
The development cost per unit of one of his projects is $USD 7,500.
University of Otago associate professor Marilyn Hibma says the HPV vaccine is “extremely effective” and “extremely safe”. Oh there is so much to say about that. Of course this type of bias is to be expected with a distinct absence of any research that has not funded by drug companies who ultimate benefit.
“The HPV vaccine is one of the most effective and safest vaccines ever developed. This is an established fact, backed by a phenomenal amount of international and local scientific research,” she said.
That statement from a so called expert, whom, by some accounts could end up on trial in Japan
Along with Denmark and even in the Uk,the damage has been recorded
Oh bullshit – as with every developed nation, NZ monitors drug and vaccine reactions as a matter of course. Nobody just says “oh, the drug company says it works? Right then, lets buy a few million doses and distribute it based only on that, and we won’t even bother monitoring efficacy and adverse events that might happen afterwards”.
Unless you think everyone in the health system is a callous bastard who wants to inject kids with useless crap and then suppresses anything bad that happens afterwards, of course.
Gardasil is a vaccine specifically for four of the hundreds of HPV, and are not the only ones that can lead to cervical cancer.
Despite the vaccination it is recommended that those vaccinated continue with regular smear tests that can lead to appropriate early and (most likely successful) intervention in the case of irregular cell development.
My concern with this particular vaccine, is that those who have it are likely to avoid or delay regular smears on the assumption that they are already “protected”.
Further problems arise, when the HPV strains that fill the niche left by the vaccinated strains are more malignant that those that have been replaced, or when people have already been exposed to those strains – leading to a higher rate of malignancy.
Some of the comments on the stuff article, take the position that ALL vaccines are good, and ALL vaccines are necessary.
If you consider the likelihood of contracting cervical cancer or genital warts, and the possibility of successful treatment, this vaccine fails in two ways:
1. In some people can create an environment that predisposes you to cancer,
2. Is likely to create a personal reassurance that means that many avoid regular checks, which then delays treatment if infection or cancer occurs. This reduces a near 100% successful treatment outcome to a lower one, depending on the delay.
You don’t comment about the possible repercussions to regular cervical smears. Many women I know, avoid them for as long as possible. It can be an uncomfortable and undignified procedure often done by complete strangers – unless you are lucky enough to have a long-standing relationship with an individual health care provider.
The successful treatment of cervical cancer is close to 100% if caught early.
Can’t find the current costs of the the current Gardasil programme, but I am not convinced that it is without critique, and a good spend of our health money. From the stuff article that refers to a rollout of 100,000 people at $450 each, an estimate would be $45,000,000.
(Perhaps someone else can find the actual figure)
Like I said, that’s why it’s for young ‘uns. It’s not an argument against gardasil as such.
As to the downstream effects, the number of women delaying their smears would need to increase dramatically to reach the efficacy of the vaccine. It might happen, but if it becomes a problem it can be compensated for with more advice/advertising.
You provide no links to substantiate your assumptions.
As you say, “Young ‘uns” are unlikely to develop cervical cancer or genital warts so it is almost a self-fulfilling efficacy prophecy using that cohort. There is no mention of the length of time for protection, and whether booster shots should be required. I did read at one stage that six years was the expected protection time. That means that the protection given to 12-14 year olds is no longer there when they are likely to be more sexually active at 18-20 years old.
I’m guessing you haven’t researched this at all.
Advice/advertising would add to the cost without necessarily being successful, and you have provided no cost/benefit analysis in all this – and neither does the government literature when promoting the uptake.
I’ve read up a bit on gardasil, but I’m not paid to have intimate knowledge of every vaccine on the schedule. More general, my field is.
The thing is, we don’t know how long it will be effective for. That’s another thing ongoing monitoring is for. The original vaccine is only about ten years old so if your article that said “six years” was a few years old… there’s your answer. It works until it stops, so then they’ll have data on when to have boosters, like tetanus.
To Molly,
“I’m guessing you haven’t researched this at all”. You’re correct Molly, if you like to check his other posts, McFlock has very little knowledge about anything. However this doesn’t prevent him from continually running off his mouth. It seems that he likes the sound of his own opinions.
Some things I know a lot about.
Lots of things I have a nodding acquaintance with.
I’ll bow to experts on an issue, but not folks who seem to mouth off with even less knowledge than me, or who combine that with broad categorical statements and no evidence.
But in general I usually find that if you don’t throw out an opinion, it won’t be challenged. Even if we end up disagreeing, something interesting falls out of the discussion. At the very least I end up googling the fuck out of a random issue, rather relying on links that scream “nutbar”.
How many kids die of measles, mumps or rubella these days? How many people suffer the ridiculously low quality of life those struck down by polio have to endure?
More importantly, of the millions who are vaccinated, how many actually wind up with these side effects you claim with no actual scientific basis?
I hope anti vaxxers get the exact disease they think they’re, and others, kids don’t need. Enforcing your beliefs on others with no thought to the consequences. hang your head in shame
I’ll address your comment, but only one time, and using language you might have a chance to understand..
1. Stop using the term anti-vax, it gives away your low level of critical thinking capabilities
2. Don’t use polio or smallpox as shining examples, it gives away how little you’ve read about the history of vaccines and ‘germs’
3. Do not ask where all the side effects sufferers are, because it gives you away as not having read at the even the shallowest of levels about documented cases globally. Nor do you know of the ‘vaccine court’ in The USA and other entities which have paid out billions in compensation
4. Do not wish harm onto others..I’ll assume you’re clever enough to figure out why not to do this
So you’ve given one pathetic example to back up all the slurs you’ve made against me. basically ACC through it’s “no-fault” basis. Hardly proof vaccines are detrimental to humans
Typical of the anti-vax low lifes who believe in a pseudo science while enjoying all the gains of life made by the actual science of inoculating and protecting human populations against communicable diseases.
Ignorance is when all the facts are right there in front of you, but you choose to believe a completely different set because of an extremely rare occurrence in one instance out of several million instances.
Oh bullshit – as with every developed nation, NZ monitors drug and vaccine reactions as a matter of course. Nobody just says “oh, the drug company says it works? Right then, lets buy a few million doses and distribute it based only on that, and we won’t even bother monitoring efficacy and adverse events that might happen afterwards”.
What’s the process if I go to my GP and say I took x drug and had this reaction? Genuinely curious.
I accessed some statistics for Suspected Medicine Adverse reactions (SMARS) for isotretinoin on the Medsafe website, by clicking on “I want to … search for adverse reactions to medicines”.
It showed a range of adverse reactions were reported. However, these include a small number for most reactions. One criteria with the highest number of reported reactions was for “depression”. However, these statistics alone are inadequate for drawing any conclusions, the number averaging to about one report per year of a depression reaction. There is no indication of how this relates to the rate of isotretinoin use.
Medical practitioners don’t always report adverse reactions as far as I could see. The stats show nurses are the most likely practitioners to report adverse reactions.
As a last ditch effort you can report it to CARM yourself, but your doctor should report it if there’s temporal plausibility or a reason to associate it (website). That’s one reason why they say to hang around for 20 minutes after a vaccination. But for a serious event that causes a hospitalisation, if the hospital or GP doesn’t report it there are also periodic studies comparing specific precriptions with hospitalisations/deaths.
But the first step would be that the GP reports it to CARM where it’s reviewed by another clinician. If it’s a “maybe” it goes into the database and they see if similar issues start cropping up. If it’s a pretty well documented case that’s clearly associated, they might not wait for other events but actually start the process of looking for contraindications and reviewing its safety. There might be additional studies, or advisories distributed. Or it could be withdrawn completely until those further studies have been done.
There can be some delays – which make it harder to determine whether it is the result of medication (vaccine or other) for both the patient and the doctor.
One of my children, after childhood vaccinations went from a verbal to a non-verbal stage in development for a period of six months. Without any intensive and specific research, it would be hard to determine one way or the other whether this was related. So, incidents like this would never make it to the adverse reactions data.
I know this is anecdoctal, but it shows the difficulty of relying on patient feedback to record reactions, especially when the results are not immediate (or within 20 minutes).
My personal experience of relaying this information to my medical practitioner (the health nurse on reception) at a subsequent visit, was that it was not related. No chance of that making it to a national register when it is dismissed at that point.
Yeah, it does get iffy with more subtle or hard-to-quantify side effects.
Funnily enough, I wouldn’t be surprised if all the research done to make absolutely sure that wakefield was a fraudulent piece of @$%^#$ has actually standardised some of the detection and classification tools related to developmental symptoms, not that it makes up for anything.
That having been said, there are still lots of things we don’t know. We’re quite good if not outstanding at picking up big, sudden adverse events (e.g. needle in, patient drops dead). More subtle stuff needs work – even depression (as Carolyn linked to) can be controversial in both detection and assessing the appropriate level of response.
It’s not perfect by any means, but nobody’s come up with a better system of identifying actual risks, rather than fears.
Yeah, I agree – I recognise the flaws but can’t think of any practicable improvements that would be able to be quantified with good data collection practice.
However, this makes it even more important to ensure that any medication/medical procedure is given with clear knowledge of cost/benefits side effects.
I don’t believe this is the case at present, so there is work to do there as well.
Well, we’re pretty solid on the pre-cancerous lesions front, and the serious or immediate adverse events is almost zip. It’s a pretty clear window – but then I’m always of the perspective “good enough” is better than “perfect”, because “perfect” always takes too damned long.
It’s always a perspective that bemuses the academics I work with on occasion, but I tend to work quicker than they do, so they pay me lol
On researching isotretinoin, I found that the company that started marketing it for acne, hid some of the adverse reactions showing in their research. It was only after time and some public agitation that the adverse reactions got taken seriously.
I also saw that CARM, PHARMAC and Medsafe tended to follow the findings from overseas research as it developed, rather than doing much proactive research of their own – other than gathering stats.
Thanks McFlock. Re vaccines, I haven’t followed recently, but back in the day, well before the whole MMR thing, one of the concerns of grassroots groups was that there was seriously inadequate reporting of adverse effects. Given the polarisation of the vaccine debate and the reluctance to talk about side effects now, I’m not going to assume it’s better (it might be different).
Essentially what you are saying is that GPs are the gate keepers on what is considered a reasonable understating of adverse effect, which means that there will be a wide variation in reporting across GPs and clinics.
I was also curious about other drugs. Are you saying that if someone comes back to their GP after starting to take something like statins, and says they have muscle pain and weakness (a relatively well known side effect) that the GP will go through a process of reporting that officially every time? I’ve not come across anyone saying they’ve had that happen. Does Medsafe or whoever keep a public resource for that?
The patient probably knows f-all of all the paperwork that goes on in any given practise, frankly.
GPs have proforma reporting for a whole bunch of stuff, some of it being required (e.g. notifiable disease) and others as merely “if you see X, please tell us”.
Some of the groups gathering reports use online tools like CARM (anyone can use that one), others work through clinical networks, while still others send most likely observers (e.g. GPs) regular updates on the latest criteria they’re seeking to have reported. Sometimes it’s down to the specific condition, for others it might be looking for broad symptom clusters that might have multiple possible causes (e.g. flaccid paralysis meeting certain criteria for polio).
Reporting might be just numbers, or could be full patient history and identifiers.
Not many people realise that the Health Act gives some health monitoring bodies more search and information demanding powers than the police (with serious penalties for breaching privacy/ethics/security). I once shared a cubicle farm with researchers for one unit and had to do background checks and sign criminal liability for disclosure forms, and get an accreditation, simply on the offchance that I’d overhear something. Closest I got was signing for an envelope to pass on to them.
This statement below doesn’t align with the findings further below.
University of Otago School of Medicine associate professor department of pathology Marilyn Hibma said the vaccine was made up of benign proteins that formed the outside of the virus, which naturally assembled as a virus like particle in the human body.
“It looks to our body like the virus itself, but it’s not the virus because it doesn’t contain the viral DNA, it doesn’t even contain all the components of the natural virus particle.
“All you are being injected with is a protein and an adjuvant, a substance to help the body respond to the protein, otherwise its so inert the body wouldn’t bother responding to it.”
Yet , Neuroscientist Professor Christopher Shaw of the University of Columbia in Vancouver told the inquest there was aluminium in all the samples he tested and there were some abnormalities in the samples.
Prof Shaw said the human papillomavirus (HPV16) was found in her brain, which could have only got there through the vaccine.
So maybe people will think twice before following the trump into war. Seems Belgium is already coming to this decision. Maybe even ordinary people will come to see the folly of this because if we dont start to say a very clear and lou no to warmongering then not much else is going to matter
Sadly it looks like blowing shit up far away is about the only thing that gets the Chump a momentary burst of positive comment, even from people who should know better. Given the Chump shows all the rationality and emotional maturity of an attention-seeking toddler, we should expect a lot more blowing shit up far away.
Bizarrely with the changes in technology it’s the creative subjects and people who are creative, that are going to be needed as they can’t be replicated by technology.
If you’re a member of the creative class who rarely does business in the nation’s industrial heartland or visits relatives there, you might not notice the magnitude of economic disruption being caused by lost airline service and skyrocketing fares. But if you are in the business of making and trading stuff beyond derivatives and concepts, you probably have to go to places like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Memphis, St. Louis, or Minneapolis, and you know firsthand how hard it has become to do business these days in such major heartland cities, which are increasingly cut off from each other and from the global economy.
…
The video that made its way across the internet today is what “getting worse” looks like. Here’s the thing: when you support trickle-down economic policies that put profits before people, this is what you get. Low-wage jobs, deregulation, and tax cuts for huge corporations result in a culture in which businesses enjoy a tremendous amount of power over ordinary citizens.
Well we’ve all seen the sterling work being carried out in Christchurch by the wonderful, helpful folks at CERA. I myself am hearing nothing but good news from the many bastions of good news and choose not to believe any of that grandstanding from the likes of Erin Broka-whatsit (I’m sure that’s not her real hair colour!)
This unfortunately looks like an aberration and I’m feeling for these guys as they have been unfairly put in the spotlight (defamation maybe???) and that “allegations of any criminality were completely unfounded”.
It’s all a big mistake and mostly due some stupid officials that didn’t do their job proper like.
“Coming from a business background, we have pursued various business interests since before joining CERA, and these interests were fully disclosed to CERA.
“In fact, CERA hired us because they needed our extensive private business networks, knowledge and commercial expertise – expertise and connections that CERA did not have.
“They chose not to advise us there was a potential conflict. We acknowledge we should have declared what we were doing in writing.”
See what I mean? These poor blokes just trying to make a living were using all the resources they had available, nothing more, no corruption here. Just those other stopid officials at CERA “chose not to advise us there was a potential conflict”
Maybe, just maybe there are one or two or possibly more CERA staff that have been caught up in this malicious, gossip and rumor stirring regarding blokes just trying to be entrepreneurial and all.
I mean they weren’t just sitting around at home bludging the dole while smoking bongs and being lazy an idle and all.
Like they were working hard out at 40+ hour full time jobs with perks like holiday pay and redundancy clauses and paid sick days and probably a supplied vehicle and clothing allowances for all that PPE for visiting those homes people couldn’t live in cause the were fucked, opps being assessed.
We’re all told you got to get ahead and that making money is more important than maybe helping other people get “their” shit sorted by doing your job proper like in a reasonable time frame and all.
But you know, you see an opportunity maybe a slight gap in the market……. a bloke would be stoopid not to seize it and maybe squeeze as much money as possible out of it, I mean that’s just being aspirational, isn’t it? And we’ve been told for years that we need to work harder, be entrepreneurial and aspirational and all that.
I mean one bloke working for a company and texting his mate to buy those shares on the market is just wrong, I mean that’s insider trading. But a bloke working for a company or government department or such, just using his own skills, and expertise and contacts and market nous and maybe a little knowledge from his day job, you know like, having the brilliance to combine all that and create a gem of an idea that can grow into a grand money making business, well that’s umm, I mean that’s errr, it’s…..it’s …… it’s aspirational that’s what it is!! == Aspirational ==
And really if we’re working from this rational
“He says some of the individuals who were found to have erred have given, as part their defence, that this was going on elsewhere in the department.
“They have given us specific instances of that and we are looking at that.”
I mean these blokes are working with a “team” of aspirational people!! Why, that’s a good thing surely??
I mean black-listing these blokes from ever working again for a Govt department, or Local Govt department or a subsidiary of these ever again would not be a good idea, I mean we NEED all the ASPIRATIONAL people we can get! Shirley!!
NZ corrupt free since…………. oh and if no-one decides to press charges or such…. gee wizz we remain corrupt free!! hooray!
Oh dear. Know those moments when you speak the truth and you know you really, really shouldn’t be saying what you’re saying but can’t see a way to cover it, back away from it, or deflect away from it?
It’s a public reserve. Protected by the Reserves Act 1977. This Bill overrides this for one. ~300 or so houses yes, but a negligible effect in the grand scheme of things, at the cost of a public reserve.
Why do you use labels (Left)? I don’t think it’s that simple.
Address the issue. Agree with more houses. Build up, build out, but don’t infill.
So you want to break foundational urban planning rules like not building in parks to solve a housing problem of your own making? Seriously how far off the reservation is that thinking. Next you’ll be having a hissyfit over under used auckland hospital wards not being turned into flats or Room 3 from the high school not housing extended families.
Has anyone who commented read the website? I don’t want to come across as condescending but I’d appreciate if you would then I would know I am talking to someone who is informed.
And the govt is also using the treaty claim to futher support their case to rezone the land. So while some will look on with interest, I will be looking on longterm with fear of the precedent that this bill sets. It will be interesting to see.
“You either want houses or you don’t”
Are you suggesting that we appropriate all unoccupied houses currently being hoarded unused by property speculars, and undeveloped residentially zoned land for the purposes of providing both immediate and planned housing for all members of our country?
Well done, Fisiani – didn’t know you had it in your programming.
(and before anyone else spits the dummy about private property, reserves are also property – but owned by the collective rather than the individual. It should be much harder than it is to take)
you know it’s not that black and white
I want houses but not at the expense of public reserves. They were put aside for a reason. Particularly in this case. For instance why is this development plonked right in the middle of the reserve? That seems to benefit the developer more so. Why not build houses around the edge, keeping a great big space in the middle? But now I am into the detail. Detail that would/should probably be covered if due process was followed, but in this case it is not.
Let me ask,
what will this bill achieve? ~300 houses yes,of which ~20% social, 20% affordable which I think is a good thing. A loss of a public reserve from its current state. You will argue that enough public reserve space is left.
After all that is done, will the housing crisis be over? will Auckland be more affordable? Will there still be people sleeping in cars?
To me, the loss of public reserve far outweighs any of these negligible benefits. Especially when I feel the govt has not looked at alternatives.
Thanks for reading and thanks for signing.
but what good the petition will do, it really needs to be in the ~100’s of thousands I think for the govt to actually sit up and listen, but it must be at least tried.
That’s the thing with this bill is the actual opportunity for participating in the whole process is limited to select committee stage and then whatever lobbying you do ringing and emailing MPs. This is jsut another reason, of the many, it stinks. Because it central govt imposing itself on us, that is all new zealand not just the locals that are more directly affected. This govt needs to know that we have a voice and not just every 3 years around election time.
You are talking to someone who is cynical about the consultation process making a difference, after going through the long drawn-out debacle of the Unitary Plan.
I agree with your premise that there is little to be achieved by individuals using current consultation processes. But kudos to those that have the energy to do so, and by the signing the petition, maybe that helps them to continue.
Protecting green spaces isn’t NIMBYism. The test is whether you support protecting green spaces you don’t and will probably never use because they are not in your local area. i.e. you want to protect then because they are an intrinsically good thing.
What we really don’t want is crappy planning, rampant speculation and excessive immigration that reaches a point of such crisis that our green spaces have to be chewed up.
Have just spent time with a friend from Melbourne, she has been living there for 10 years. One thing she observed while here was the absence of green spaces in the city. She said in Melbourne there are public spaces all over the city with room for families to have barbecues, barbecues were set up ready for use, there were pergolas for shade and room for family cricket etc. She said they were used all the time. I have observed this as well here, we have large playing fields for clubs but not smaller areas set aside for people to be able to picnic and enjoy the outdoors.
Where I live in Auckland every bit of spare green space that can be found is built on, even ridiculous spaces where architects have to put their thinking caps on to find a plan which suits the space. Parks and reserves are there as lungs for the city as well – everything about city planning is crap here, we have no vision at all.
We have a history of parks and reserves being mainly active sports fields. It seems to be very easy to get rugby fields or netball courts, as opposed to social community spaces.
This may be partly a historical leftover from quarter-acre sections, where we mostly had green spaces around our houses for back-yard cricket, and tennis on the driveway. But it is continued with our houses built for entertaining and we don’t immediately perceive the loss to the individual, and the community by not having local, community social spaces.
“… everything about city planning is crap here, we have no vision at all.”
Agree wholeheartedly on this point.
The Libor rate was fixed, not to make banks to look strong, but to rip you off.
That was obvious from the beginning. The private banks had the power to rip off nations to increase profits and they did. Such actions by the banks always happened throughout history and is why, until recently, we kept putting stronger and stronger regulations on them.
The other point we should be learning is that individuals cannot hold corporations or even small businesses to account. Only government can do that and they’ve abrogated that responsibility over the last few decades seemingly because business wanted them to.
No, what we are learning is that capitalism is a failed economic model, with to many opportunities to let debase aspects of human nature take the forefront. States and governments can’t regulate it, it just mutates until it wiggles out from any control back towards monopoly, greed and destruction.
For anyone interested in finding out about one of the new Labour Party candidates the wonderful Kiri Allan has a piece up on the Spinoff. I’m hoping she gets a high list position as she is exactly the sort of person we need in parliament.
A profile of the average Australian women was that she was 38 and lived in a three bedroomed home with a mortage and a family. Nice, they don’t have a housing problem there? Or is this average business similar to holding up the rug and sweeping the unwanted dross under before dropping it onto a clean and tidy level playing field?
Quote:
The bureau also released profiles for each state and territory, and defined the ‘typical’ indigenous Australian and person born overseas.
While the ‘typical’ age in most states was 37 or 38, the ordinary Tasmanian was 42, while Northern Territorians and Canberrans were much younger, at 34 and 35 respectively.
The ‘typical’ Aboriginal or Torres Islander, is a woman, but significantly younger at 23 years old.
The Northern Territory was the only place were the ‘typical’ person was unmarried.
Although the most common home has three bedrooms, Western Australians are more likely to enjoy one extra bedroom.
The census also confirmed Australia’s growing cultural diversity, finding that in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, the ‘typical’ Australian had one parent that was born overseas.
The ‘typical migrant’ was a 44-year-old born in England, but in Queensland they were more likely to be from New Zealand, in Victoria from India, and New South Wales migrants were most commonly from China.
Changing demographics
McCrindle Research demographer Eliane Miles said that Australia’s cultural diversity was one of the key takeaways from the data.
That migrants in New South Wales and Victoria were most likely to be from China and India, rather than England, showed “the changing demographic in our cities and our closeness to Asia”, she said.
Ms Miles said the younger ‘typical’ age in the ACT reflected its wealth of young professionals, while the older median age in Tasmania was fuelled by low population growth.
“That means low migration. Migrants tend to have a younger age than the average Australian,” she said.
Last year’s census was dogged by technical issues, including a lengthy online outage, which authorities said cost the government an extra $30 million.
Ms Miles said the full census data, which will be released on June 27, will be vital for policy makers examining areas such as the distribution of the GST receipts.
“It will also be used for planning so that government departments can make decisions about infrastructure, like where hospitals, or roads or schools should be built,” she said.
Small Business Business Michael McCormack said the 2016 census had a preliminary response rate of around 96 per cent, which he said was on par with the 2006 census and the 2011 census.
He said more than 58 per cent of Australians completed their census online, an increase of 2.2 million households compared to 2011.
(Note this wonderful efficient and advanced technology to gain this useful snapshot of Australia with bits to crow about, and some to carpet, cost an extra [ie over-budget] $30 million. What was it going to cost before the blow-out then?
And wouldn’t it be better to do it the old fashioned way and pay reliable people, who I am sure are still around, to go out and distribute and pick up the forms. Or do we want to reduce all activity to machines?
Remember the song written in the 1960s – Zager and Evans. In the year 2525. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VqsONNvIs
Since this was mentioned earlier today:
“The judge presiding over the Colin Craig defamation case says a ” miscarriage of justice has occurred”.
Justice Sarah Katz said in a decision released today that damages awarded against former Conservative Party leader Craig were “well outside the range that could reasonably have been justified in all the circumstances of the case”. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11837168
This from No Right Turn
Past the tipping point
How bad are our rivers and lakes? Past the tipping point, according to the Prime Minister’s chief scientist: (Sir Peter Gluckman)
The state of some of the country’s waterways have gone beyond a tipping point, according to a report from the Prime Minister’s chief scientist.
Some will take more than 50 years to recover, and even then they will never get back to their original state.
The report said the science was clear: New Zealand’s fresh waters were under stress because of what we did in and around them.
There’s more in the Herald, and the big culprits are urban expansion (from stormwater and industrial waste), and intensive agriculture (from cowshit and fertiliser runoff). Given that agriculture employs only 6% of the workforce, I think its clear who is having a disproportionate effect here.
We need to clean up our rivers. Towns and cities have a role to play, but the primary cause of contamination is farmers, and that’s where the burden should lie. And if it drives dirty farmers out of business, so much the better for our environment.
Posted by Idiot/Savant at 4/12/2017 01:41:00 PM Links to this post
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201840080
I listened to Sir Dr Peter Gluckman on Radionz this a.m. and had the feeling that he had made an accurate report but resiled from describing the awfulness of it on radio.
In a measured voice, he stated that things were being remedied etc. and the tone of his voice was ‘steady as she goes’. But the quotes from the report were alarming.
Why is he the government’s chief scientist? His background seems to be strongly connected with children, human medicine – is that wide enough?: Born in Auckland, he attended Auckland Grammar School before studying paediatrics and endocrinology at the University of Otago gaining a MBChB in 1971. This was followed by MMedSc in 1976 and a DSc in 1987 from the University of Auckland.
He is the Professor of Paediatric and Perinatal Biology and was the Director of the National Research Centre for Growth and Development (now called ‘Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development’), hosted by the University of Auckland, until mid 2009.[3]
He was formerly Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Dean of the university’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences as well as the founding Director of the Liggins Institute.
In 2007 he was appointed Programme Director for Growth, Development and Metabolism at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences. He also holds honorary chairs at National University of Singapore and the University of Southampton.
In 2009 he was appointed the first Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and in 2014, co-chair of the World Health Organization Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO).[4]
In August 2014, in Auckland, New Zealand, he hosted and chaired the Science Advice to Governments Conference, convened by the International Council for Science (ICSU). It was the first global meeting of high-level science advisors.[5]
He is the only New Zealander elected to the Institute of Medicine of the United States National Academies of Science and a Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences of Great Britain.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Any one going to be joining the “Presidents” club
What a bunch of pillocks
Labour’s version of National’s Cabinet Club.
However, Labour president Nigel Haworth rejects that it’s a way for the rich to buy or influence policies.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/04/labour-launches-exclusive-president-s-club.html
YES! This is what is needed
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/91450578/everyone-wins-when-lowerincome-families-own-their-own-homes-says-study
Rough caculations
Average median income
$882.00 per week less tax @ 20%
$706.00
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-and-work/Income/NZIncomeSurvey_HOTPJun15qtr.aspx
No more than a third on rent or mortgage
$235.00
30 year mortgage @ 8%
$12220 per year less interest $977.00 =$11243.00
Maximiumn house value
$337290+ 80 k deposit @around 20%
$420,000 approx
Not in Auckland ah BM, so your fantasy figures are more BS than BM.
Christ.
Of course isn’t you clown, I was providing a figure to demonstrate what an average house has to cost to met the criteria in the link provided.
The amount of knee-jerking around here is starting to do my head in
the amount of knee jerking one gets is linked to the amount of jerking one does
So you agree this national government has suppressed wages to the determent of all.
Wouldn’t say suppresses wages, but they have been far too hands off with the property market and immigration.
The only way forward is for the government to build as many rentals as possible to drive down the cost of living, this will flow on by bringing down the cost of houses within that lower tier,
Forget the KiwiBuild first homes bullshit, no one should be buying a new home as their first home it’s financially irresponsible to get that far in debt.
Bad for the individual, bad for the economy.
So you agree that inflation in housing is killing the middle class then.
I believe it’s hurting the whole economy and agree that a third of household income is about as much as you want to be paying on rent or a mortgage.
Obviously, a single person or people without dependents could spend more.
All that money heading overseas into foreign banks is money that’s not being spent within the NZ economy, less money in the economy equals fewer jobs.
Also, means an unhappy disillusioned populace and that’s not really something a political party wants.
Both the major political parties have both run with these policies. But the reality is that national have been in power for almost 9 years, and done virtually nothing.
As for the Aussie banks bleeding us dry. Kiwis need to stop banking with them, that is simpler said, than done though. But if you are on a low income – moving to a co-operative bank makes more sense. And by law these are all locally owned.
It’s not just the Austrailian banks or banks in general, it’s more the way kiwis perceive property.
Property is how you make money so you buy property and because property always goes up in value you can’t lose( I personally disagree), so people buy property at inflated prices.
Unfortunately, the knock on effect is that people who just want to buy a house to live in and raise a family end up paying through the nose to purchase a place.
The solution is to make residential property less attractive, rental WOFs and actually ping people for buying and flicking houses within a short period of time.
I’d have a sliding level of capital gains tax depending on how long you’ve been in a place
3 months or less 25%
3 -6 months 20%
6-12 months 15%
1-2 years 10%
I’d also apply this to the family home as well.
yes they have BM (Supressed wages through there immigration policies) they have brought in cheap labour to stop the trickle down effect and keep the trickle up effect going. So they have interfered with the market when it suit them just like John did with Keytruda when it suit and when they want something like the dummies who keep voting for them.
Should property prices drop by any meaningful % no one has thought of how many spec builders that would wipe out, and the consequences to the trades as they have to suffer from bad debts then who will build all these houses ?
Plus banks will cut off funding to land developers so little land is made available to be built in.
The development sector is far more complexed than many realise.
I’m surprised there are actually spec builders still around?
Trying to compete with the big boys for sections must be nigh on impossible.
There are plenty out there, but its has become increasingly challenging; some have immigrated here & setup business, ( And I note build quality houses),immigrants spec builders entered the market in the 1990’s and more have been added with the recent influx. There are also the franchise owners. the ones you see on TV pushing their brand.
There are murmerings that some of the so called “Big Boys” are being squeezed and have been forced by the banks to reduce their debt/exposure to their banks.
So what may appear a blessing also has a sting !!
Yep, back in the day when our current, or really retiring, middle class was being formed in the late 70’s this is what we did.
Keith Hay, Universal and Neil built thousands of 70 – 90 m2, very basic houses all around the country, but especially in Auckland. A young couple could capitalise their Family Benefit and have a deposit, government loans and other incentives and they were in a house at around 1/3 of income.
Chile, not exactly the most wealthy nation, has had a national understanding and acceptance of housing provision for many years, which was not affected even by Pinochet.
This did not happen without disruption though:
“…By the late 1960s, many pobladores began to mobilize collectively, seizing land at an unprecedented rate in the country’s main cities. Between 1967 and 1973, some 400,000 people—about 14% of the city’s population—occupied land in the capital, Santiago. Other land seizures took place in the 1980s and 1990s, albeit on a smaller scale.
The occupations were a response to abysmal housing conditions. During the 1950s and 1960s, the proliferation of shantytowns and run-down tenements stood as a powerful symbol of injustice and underdevelopment. For many observers, and especially for those on the left, the seizures showed that pobladores could become more politically assertive and lay the revolutionary foundations for a more just society. During their mobilizations, housing activists adopted such mottos as “from the seizure of land to the seizure of society.”
An example of how they view current low-cost housing in Chile comes from architect Alejandro Aravena, who has made some of his projects open-source.
One of his projects is Villa Verde, which provides “incremental” housing. This project rehoused a community displaced by an earthquake, and after providing half a house, allows residents to fill in the remainder as resources and time allows.
The development cost per unit of one of his projects is $USD 7,500.
Our affordable homes are apparently $550,000.
Thanks for that Molly
Yep I’m all for as much home ownership as possible.
Interestingly the home ownership has dropped so much in the last 25 years in NZ. I wonder what caused that? sarc.
Time to throw out neoliberalism! It’s a huge social failure!
Glad this school have their heads screwed on. The truth is that nobody knows the effects of the HPV vaccine.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/91436612/timaru-school-says-stance-on-hpv-vaccinations-is-about-parental-choice-and-student-safety
University of Otago associate professor Marilyn Hibma says the HPV vaccine is “extremely effective” and “extremely safe”. Oh there is so much to say about that. Of course this type of bias is to be expected with a distinct absence of any research that has not funded by drug companies who ultimate benefit.
Remember Jasmine Renata.
Dr Helen Aspasia Petousis-Harris
“The HPV vaccine is one of the most effective and safest vaccines ever developed. This is an established fact, backed by a phenomenal amount of international and local scientific research,” she said.
That statement from a so called expert, whom, by some accounts could end up on trial in Japan
Along with Denmark and even in the Uk,the damage has been recorded
5-10 years until the curtain falls
Oh bullshit – as with every developed nation, NZ monitors drug and vaccine reactions as a matter of course. Nobody just says “oh, the drug company says it works? Right then, lets buy a few million doses and distribute it based only on that, and we won’t even bother monitoring efficacy and adverse events that might happen afterwards”.
Unless you think everyone in the health system is a callous bastard who wants to inject kids with useless crap and then suppresses anything bad that happens afterwards, of course.
Nobody’s perfect, but, shit…
Gardasil is a vaccine specifically for four of the hundreds of HPV, and are not the only ones that can lead to cervical cancer.
Despite the vaccination it is recommended that those vaccinated continue with regular smear tests that can lead to appropriate early and (most likely successful) intervention in the case of irregular cell development.
My concern with this particular vaccine, is that those who have it are likely to avoid or delay regular smears on the assumption that they are already “protected”.
Further problems arise, when the HPV strains that fill the niche left by the vaccinated strains are more malignant that those that have been replaced, or when people have already been exposed to those strains – leading to a higher rate of malignancy.
Some of the comments on the stuff article, take the position that ALL vaccines are good, and ALL vaccines are necessary.
If you consider the likelihood of contracting cervical cancer or genital warts, and the possibility of successful treatment, this vaccine fails in two ways:
1. In some people can create an environment that predisposes you to cancer,
2. Is likely to create a personal reassurance that means that many avoid regular checks, which then delays treatment if infection or cancer occurs. This reduces a near 100% successful treatment outcome to a lower one, depending on the delay.
lol mercola.
That’s why it’s on the schedule for 12 year olds, not 20 year olds.
As for the idea that the HPV one is a cure-all, that’s a fair point. It’s not fire-and-forget, but it does dramatically reduce the rates.
Name a vaccine available in NZ that’s not good.
Not all vaccines are necessary. The ones on the NZ schedule are necessary for people in NZ.
(Mercola site has a link to article in the Journal of American Medical Association, but for the purposes of the comment the mercola link was more accessible.)
You don’t comment about the possible repercussions to regular cervical smears. Many women I know, avoid them for as long as possible. It can be an uncomfortable and undignified procedure often done by complete strangers – unless you are lucky enough to have a long-standing relationship with an individual health care provider.
The successful treatment of cervical cancer is close to 100% if caught early.
Can’t find the current costs of the the current Gardasil programme, but I am not convinced that it is without critique, and a good spend of our health money. From the stuff article that refers to a rollout of 100,000 people at $450 each, an estimate would be $45,000,000.
(Perhaps someone else can find the actual figure)
Like I said, that’s why it’s for young ‘uns. It’s not an argument against gardasil as such.
As to the downstream effects, the number of women delaying their smears would need to increase dramatically to reach the efficacy of the vaccine. It might happen, but if it becomes a problem it can be compensated for with more advice/advertising.
You provide no links to substantiate your assumptions.
As you say, “Young ‘uns” are unlikely to develop cervical cancer or genital warts so it is almost a self-fulfilling efficacy prophecy using that cohort. There is no mention of the length of time for protection, and whether booster shots should be required. I did read at one stage that six years was the expected protection time. That means that the protection given to 12-14 year olds is no longer there when they are likely to be more sexually active at 18-20 years old.
I’m guessing you haven’t researched this at all.
Advice/advertising would add to the cost without necessarily being successful, and you have provided no cost/benefit analysis in all this – and neither does the government literature when promoting the uptake.
I’ve read up a bit on gardasil, but I’m not paid to have intimate knowledge of every vaccine on the schedule. More general, my field is.
The thing is, we don’t know how long it will be effective for. That’s another thing ongoing monitoring is for. The original vaccine is only about ten years old so if your article that said “six years” was a few years old… there’s your answer. It works until it stops, so then they’ll have data on when to have boosters, like tetanus.
To Molly,
“I’m guessing you haven’t researched this at all”. You’re correct Molly, if you like to check his other posts, McFlock has very little knowledge about anything. However this doesn’t prevent him from continually running off his mouth. It seems that he likes the sound of his own opinions.
Some things I know a lot about.
Lots of things I have a nodding acquaintance with.
I’ll bow to experts on an issue, but not folks who seem to mouth off with even less knowledge than me, or who combine that with broad categorical statements and no evidence.
But in general I usually find that if you don’t throw out an opinion, it won’t be challenged. Even if we end up disagreeing, something interesting falls out of the discussion. At the very least I end up googling the fuck out of a random issue, rather relying on links that scream “nutbar”.
Nobody just says “oh, the drug company says it works? Right then, lets buy a few million doses and distribute it based only on that..
Yes, the FDA/ CDC do exactly that on a regular basis
Conflict of interest and revolving doors ensure the practice will continue
“..dramatically reduce the rates..”
No test can substantiate your comment..NO Test
Your comments are as uninformed as the author of the stuff article
More reading needed for you, no more comments from me on this topic
No they don’t.
Conflict of interest goes only so far.
How’s that smallpox you’ve got – acting up again?
Your comments are emitted from your colon.
Good. Suck my balls, you pretentious moron.
How many kids die of measles, mumps or rubella these days? How many people suffer the ridiculously low quality of life those struck down by polio have to endure?
More importantly, of the millions who are vaccinated, how many actually wind up with these side effects you claim with no actual scientific basis?
I hope anti vaxxers get the exact disease they think they’re, and others, kids don’t need. Enforcing your beliefs on others with no thought to the consequences. hang your head in shame
I’ll address your comment, but only one time, and using language you might have a chance to understand..
1. Stop using the term anti-vax, it gives away your low level of critical thinking capabilities
2. Don’t use polio or smallpox as shining examples, it gives away how little you’ve read about the history of vaccines and ‘germs’
3. Do not ask where all the side effects sufferers are, because it gives you away as not having read at the even the shallowest of levels about documented cases globally. Nor do you know of the ‘vaccine court’ in The USA and other entities which have paid out billions in compensation
4. Do not wish harm onto others..I’ll assume you’re clever enough to figure out why not to do this
5. Being ignorant is not a positive
So you’ve given one pathetic example to back up all the slurs you’ve made against me. basically ACC through it’s “no-fault” basis. Hardly proof vaccines are detrimental to humans
Typical of the anti-vax low lifes who believe in a pseudo science while enjoying all the gains of life made by the actual science of inoculating and protecting human populations against communicable diseases.
Ignorance is when all the facts are right there in front of you, but you choose to believe a completely different set because of an extremely rare occurrence in one instance out of several million instances.
being anti-vaccine = believing the earth is flat.
Oh bullshit – as with every developed nation, NZ monitors drug and vaccine reactions as a matter of course. Nobody just says “oh, the drug company says it works? Right then, lets buy a few million doses and distribute it based only on that, and we won’t even bother monitoring efficacy and adverse events that might happen afterwards”.
What’s the process if I go to my GP and say I took x drug and had this reaction? Genuinely curious.
Medsafe and PHARMAC monitor reactions to drugs.
I looked into this for my series of articles on the acne drug isotretinoin.
As a last ditch effort you can report it to CARM yourself, but your doctor should report it if there’s temporal plausibility or a reason to associate it (website). That’s one reason why they say to hang around for 20 minutes after a vaccination. But for a serious event that causes a hospitalisation, if the hospital or GP doesn’t report it there are also periodic studies comparing specific precriptions with hospitalisations/deaths.
But the first step would be that the GP reports it to CARM where it’s reviewed by another clinician. If it’s a “maybe” it goes into the database and they see if similar issues start cropping up. If it’s a pretty well documented case that’s clearly associated, they might not wait for other events but actually start the process of looking for contraindications and reviewing its safety. There might be additional studies, or advisories distributed. Or it could be withdrawn completely until those further studies have been done.
There can be some delays – which make it harder to determine whether it is the result of medication (vaccine or other) for both the patient and the doctor.
One of my children, after childhood vaccinations went from a verbal to a non-verbal stage in development for a period of six months. Without any intensive and specific research, it would be hard to determine one way or the other whether this was related. So, incidents like this would never make it to the adverse reactions data.
I know this is anecdoctal, but it shows the difficulty of relying on patient feedback to record reactions, especially when the results are not immediate (or within 20 minutes).
My personal experience of relaying this information to my medical practitioner (the health nurse on reception) at a subsequent visit, was that it was not related. No chance of that making it to a national register when it is dismissed at that point.
Yeah, it does get iffy with more subtle or hard-to-quantify side effects.
Funnily enough, I wouldn’t be surprised if all the research done to make absolutely sure that wakefield was a fraudulent piece of @$%^#$ has actually standardised some of the detection and classification tools related to developmental symptoms, not that it makes up for anything.
That having been said, there are still lots of things we don’t know. We’re quite good if not outstanding at picking up big, sudden adverse events (e.g. needle in, patient drops dead). More subtle stuff needs work – even depression (as Carolyn linked to) can be controversial in both detection and assessing the appropriate level of response.
It’s not perfect by any means, but nobody’s come up with a better system of identifying actual risks, rather than fears.
Yeah, I agree – I recognise the flaws but can’t think of any practicable improvements that would be able to be quantified with good data collection practice.
However, this makes it even more important to ensure that any medication/medical procedure is given with clear knowledge of cost/benefits side effects.
I don’t believe this is the case at present, so there is work to do there as well.
Well, we’re pretty solid on the pre-cancerous lesions front, and the serious or immediate adverse events is almost zip. It’s a pretty clear window – but then I’m always of the perspective “good enough” is better than “perfect”, because “perfect” always takes too damned long.
It’s always a perspective that bemuses the academics I work with on occasion, but I tend to work quicker than they do, so they pay me lol
On researching isotretinoin, I found that the company that started marketing it for acne, hid some of the adverse reactions showing in their research. It was only after time and some public agitation that the adverse reactions got taken seriously.
I also saw that CARM, PHARMAC and Medsafe tended to follow the findings from overseas research as it developed, rather than doing much proactive research of their own – other than gathering stats.
Thanks McFlock. Re vaccines, I haven’t followed recently, but back in the day, well before the whole MMR thing, one of the concerns of grassroots groups was that there was seriously inadequate reporting of adverse effects. Given the polarisation of the vaccine debate and the reluctance to talk about side effects now, I’m not going to assume it’s better (it might be different).
Essentially what you are saying is that GPs are the gate keepers on what is considered a reasonable understating of adverse effect, which means that there will be a wide variation in reporting across GPs and clinics.
I was also curious about other drugs. Are you saying that if someone comes back to their GP after starting to take something like statins, and says they have muscle pain and weakness (a relatively well known side effect) that the GP will go through a process of reporting that officially every time? I’ve not come across anyone saying they’ve had that happen. Does Medsafe or whoever keep a public resource for that?
The patient probably knows f-all of all the paperwork that goes on in any given practise, frankly.
GPs have proforma reporting for a whole bunch of stuff, some of it being required (e.g. notifiable disease) and others as merely “if you see X, please tell us”.
Some of the groups gathering reports use online tools like CARM (anyone can use that one), others work through clinical networks, while still others send most likely observers (e.g. GPs) regular updates on the latest criteria they’re seeking to have reported. Sometimes it’s down to the specific condition, for others it might be looking for broad symptom clusters that might have multiple possible causes (e.g. flaccid paralysis meeting certain criteria for polio).
Reporting might be just numbers, or could be full patient history and identifiers.
Not many people realise that the Health Act gives some health monitoring bodies more search and information demanding powers than the police (with serious penalties for breaching privacy/ethics/security). I once shared a cubicle farm with researchers for one unit and had to do background checks and sign criminal liability for disclosure forms, and get an accreditation, simply on the offchance that I’d overhear something. Closest I got was signing for an envelope to pass on to them.
“Remember Jasmine Renata.”
Yes.
This statement below doesn’t align with the findings further below.
University of Otago School of Medicine associate professor department of pathology Marilyn Hibma said the vaccine was made up of benign proteins that formed the outside of the virus, which naturally assembled as a virus like particle in the human body.
“It looks to our body like the virus itself, but it’s not the virus because it doesn’t contain the viral DNA, it doesn’t even contain all the components of the natural virus particle.
“All you are being injected with is a protein and an adjuvant, a substance to help the body respond to the protein, otherwise its so inert the body wouldn’t bother responding to it.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/91436612/timaru-school-says-stance-on-hpv-vaccinations-is-about-parental-choice-and-student-safety
Yet , Neuroscientist Professor Christopher Shaw of the University of Columbia in Vancouver told the inquest there was aluminium in all the samples he tested and there were some abnormalities in the samples.
Prof Shaw said the human papillomavirus (HPV16) was found in her brain, which could have only got there through the vaccine.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/biological-plausibility-vaccine-caused-death
The quick checklist of the Chump’s progress. For the marks he successfully conned…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/an-update-for-trump-voters_us_58ed00d2e4b0ca64d9199c3b?
So maybe people will think twice before following the trump into war. Seems Belgium is already coming to this decision. Maybe even ordinary people will come to see the folly of this because if we dont start to say a very clear and lou no to warmongering then not much else is going to matter
Sadly it looks like blowing shit up far away is about the only thing that gets the Chump a momentary burst of positive comment, even from people who should know better. Given the Chump shows all the rationality and emotional maturity of an attention-seeking toddler, we should expect a lot more blowing shit up far away.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-media-syria-attack-cd8bee9d61d6
Michael Savage on Trump’s War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTKxIyBpuF0
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/govt-paying-motel-bills-350-households
A quick calc 350*100@365 = 12,775,000
Yep 12 mill per year
dv, wow,12 mill. Who is the MOM these days? ( Minister of Motels) Nick?
nope that would be the Welfare Queen personified, Minister of Tourism Paula Bennett.
oh well, at least she is doing something for ‘tourism’.
Mark my words, these folk being housed in motels, amongst the most vulnerable, will be quoted in the occupancy rates.
i have no doubt about this.
milk it for what its worth.
Staff cuts at Waikato University ‘part of a downward spiral’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/328669/staff-cuts-at-waikato-university-'part-of-a-downward-spiral‘
Bizarrely with the changes in technology it’s the creative subjects and people who are creative, that are going to be needed as they can’t be replicated by technology.
Got to find the money for all those “Managers”!
A class analysis of the United Airlines’ Cartman-esque approach to overbooking:
https://civicskunk.works/the-united-story-isnt-about-customer-service-it-s-about-class-warfare-52e47b455f2e
If you’re a member of the creative class who rarely does business in the nation’s industrial heartland or visits relatives there, you might not notice the magnitude of economic disruption being caused by lost airline service and skyrocketing fares. But if you are in the business of making and trading stuff beyond derivatives and concepts, you probably have to go to places like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Memphis, St. Louis, or Minneapolis, and you know firsthand how hard it has become to do business these days in such major heartland cities, which are increasingly cut off from each other and from the global economy.
…
The video that made its way across the internet today is what “getting worse” looks like. Here’s the thing: when you support trickle-down economic policies that put profits before people, this is what you get. Low-wage jobs, deregulation, and tax cuts for huge corporations result in a culture in which businesses enjoy a tremendous amount of power over ordinary citizens.
NZ corrupt free since…………..
Well we’ve all seen the sterling work being carried out in Christchurch by the wonderful, helpful folks at CERA. I myself am hearing nothing but good news from the many bastions of good news and choose not to believe any of that grandstanding from the likes of Erin Broka-whatsit (I’m sure that’s not her real hair colour!)
This unfortunately looks like an aberration and I’m feeling for these guys as they have been unfairly put in the spotlight (defamation maybe???) and that “allegations of any criminality were completely unfounded”.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/328663/cera-aware-of-business-interests,-say-accused-ex-officials
It’s all a big mistake and mostly due some stupid officials that didn’t do their job proper like.
“Coming from a business background, we have pursued various business interests since before joining CERA, and these interests were fully disclosed to CERA.
“In fact, CERA hired us because they needed our extensive private business networks, knowledge and commercial expertise – expertise and connections that CERA did not have.
“They chose not to advise us there was a potential conflict. We acknowledge we should have declared what we were doing in writing.”
See what I mean? These poor blokes just trying to make a living were using all the resources they had available, nothing more, no corruption here. Just those other stopid officials at CERA “chose not to advise us there was a potential conflict”
I rest my case…………. NZ corrupt free since foreva!
+111
oh err….. maybe I spoke too soon?
Maybe, just maybe there are one or two or possibly more CERA staff that have been caught up in this malicious, gossip and rumor stirring regarding blokes just trying to be entrepreneurial and all.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/328674/more-cera-staff-under-investigation
I mean they weren’t just sitting around at home bludging the dole while smoking bongs and being lazy an idle and all.
Like they were working hard out at 40+ hour full time jobs with perks like holiday pay and redundancy clauses and paid sick days and probably a supplied vehicle and clothing allowances for all that PPE for visiting those homes people couldn’t live in cause the were fucked, opps being assessed.
We’re all told you got to get ahead and that making money is more important than maybe helping other people get “their” shit sorted by doing your job proper like in a reasonable time frame and all.
But you know, you see an opportunity maybe a slight gap in the market……. a bloke would be stoopid not to seize it and maybe squeeze as much money as possible out of it, I mean that’s just being aspirational, isn’t it? And we’ve been told for years that we need to work harder, be entrepreneurial and aspirational and all that.
I mean one bloke working for a company and texting his mate to buy those shares on the market is just wrong, I mean that’s insider trading. But a bloke working for a company or government department or such, just using his own skills, and expertise and contacts and market nous and maybe a little knowledge from his day job, you know like, having the brilliance to combine all that and create a gem of an idea that can grow into a grand money making business, well that’s umm, I mean that’s errr, it’s…..it’s …… it’s aspirational that’s what it is!! == Aspirational ==
And really if we’re working from this rational
“He says some of the individuals who were found to have erred have given, as part their defence, that this was going on elsewhere in the department.
“They have given us specific instances of that and we are looking at that.”
I mean these blokes are working with a “team” of aspirational people!! Why, that’s a good thing surely??
I mean black-listing these blokes from ever working again for a Govt department, or Local Govt department or a subsidiary of these ever again would not be a good idea, I mean we NEED all the ASPIRATIONAL people we can get! Shirley!!
NZ corrupt free since…………. oh and if no-one decides to press charges or such…. gee wizz we remain corrupt free!! hooray!
Oh dear. Know those moments when you speak the truth and you know you really, really shouldn’t be saying what you’re saying but can’t see a way to cover it, back away from it, or deflect away from it?
Here’s Sean Spicer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0zzbxEZKdQ
He’s talking about a sovereign nation with a democratically elected parliament and contested presidential elections folks.
For flip flopping on Syria by the USA establishment – Watching the hawks from RT America. Mentioning it from RT so the wet’s don’t lose it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGd8_bWjrA
Stop the Pt Eng Dev Bill!
#SaveOurReserves
https://goo.gl/fjko6D
Pt England development will provide hundreds of houses. Why do the Left bleat for more houses yet oppose every housing development?
It’s a public reserve. Protected by the Reserves Act 1977. This Bill overrides this for one. ~300 or so houses yes, but a negligible effect in the grand scheme of things, at the cost of a public reserve.
Why do you use labels (Left)? I don’t think it’s that simple.
Address the issue. Agree with more houses. Build up, build out, but don’t infill.
So you want to break foundational urban planning rules like not building in parks to solve a housing problem of your own making? Seriously how far off the reservation is that thinking. Next you’ll be having a hissyfit over under used auckland hospital wards not being turned into flats or Room 3 from the high school not housing extended families.
Twyford needs to show he has the Ministerial steel to face locals down if he’s going to implement 10,000 new houses a year.
Fine to pander in opposition, but he needs to show he has what it takes. It’s always ugly governing out of crisis, and he needs to show he k owe that.
You either want houses or you don’t The NIMBY’s need to be ignored.
maybe it was NIMBY’s that protected some of the well known public reserves around today? e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Domain
Has anyone who commented read the website? I don’t want to come across as condescending but I’d appreciate if you would then I would know I am talking to someone who is informed.
this is part of the govt crown land programme
http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/housing-property/crown-land-development-programme/sites-identified-for-the-crown-land-development-programme
9 sites delivering ~1500 houses. This is the 9th site and the first that is a public reserve site. Other sites have been unwanted medical/transport crown land as far as I know, but I think there was less obstacles in the way there compared with here. But the numbers just don’t make sense in this case for what is at stake, not to mention the process they are using to fast track it.
And the govt is also using the treaty claim to futher support their case to rezone the land. So while some will look on with interest, I will be looking on longterm with fear of the precedent that this bill sets. It will be interesting to see.
“You either want houses or you don’t”
Are you suggesting that we appropriate all unoccupied houses currently being hoarded unused by property speculars, and undeveloped residentially zoned land for the purposes of providing both immediate and planned housing for all members of our country?
Well done, Fisiani – didn’t know you had it in your programming.
(and before anyone else spits the dummy about private property, reserves are also property – but owned by the collective rather than the individual. It should be much harder than it is to take)
you know it’s not that black and white
I want houses but not at the expense of public reserves. They were put aside for a reason. Particularly in this case. For instance why is this development plonked right in the middle of the reserve? That seems to benefit the developer more so. Why not build houses around the edge, keeping a great big space in the middle? But now I am into the detail. Detail that would/should probably be covered if due process was followed, but in this case it is not.
re the “property speculars”, you might get more than 300 houses my at the very least looking at that policy if this article is anything to go by http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11676319
Would hat not be a better win-win?
Let me ask,
what will this bill achieve? ~300 houses yes,of which ~20% social, 20% affordable which I think is a good thing. A loss of a public reserve from its current state. You will argue that enough public reserve space is left.
After all that is done, will the housing crisis be over? will Auckland be more affordable? Will there still be people sleeping in cars?
To me, the loss of public reserve far outweighs any of these negligible benefits. Especially when I feel the govt has not looked at alternatives.
Sorry, tongue in cheek response to Fisiani.
(Read your link, and signed the petition.)
Thanks for reading and thanks for signing.
but what good the petition will do, it really needs to be in the ~100’s of thousands I think for the govt to actually sit up and listen, but it must be at least tried.
That’s the thing with this bill is the actual opportunity for participating in the whole process is limited to select committee stage and then whatever lobbying you do ringing and emailing MPs. This is jsut another reason, of the many, it stinks. Because it central govt imposing itself on us, that is all new zealand not just the locals that are more directly affected. This govt needs to know that we have a voice and not just every 3 years around election time.
You are talking to someone who is cynical about the consultation process making a difference, after going through the long drawn-out debacle of the Unitary Plan.
I agree with your premise that there is little to be achieved by individuals using current consultation processes. But kudos to those that have the energy to do so, and by the signing the petition, maybe that helps them to continue.
Protecting green spaces isn’t NIMBYism. The test is whether you support protecting green spaces you don’t and will probably never use because they are not in your local area. i.e. you want to protect then because they are an intrinsically good thing.
What we really don’t want is crappy planning, rampant speculation and excessive immigration that reaches a point of such crisis that our green spaces have to be chewed up.
Have just spent time with a friend from Melbourne, she has been living there for 10 years. One thing she observed while here was the absence of green spaces in the city. She said in Melbourne there are public spaces all over the city with room for families to have barbecues, barbecues were set up ready for use, there were pergolas for shade and room for family cricket etc. She said they were used all the time. I have observed this as well here, we have large playing fields for clubs but not smaller areas set aside for people to be able to picnic and enjoy the outdoors.
Where I live in Auckland every bit of spare green space that can be found is built on, even ridiculous spaces where architects have to put their thinking caps on to find a plan which suits the space. Parks and reserves are there as lungs for the city as well – everything about city planning is crap here, we have no vision at all.
We have a history of parks and reserves being mainly active sports fields. It seems to be very easy to get rugby fields or netball courts, as opposed to social community spaces.
This may be partly a historical leftover from quarter-acre sections, where we mostly had green spaces around our houses for back-yard cricket, and tennis on the driveway. But it is continued with our houses built for entertaining and we don’t immediately perceive the loss to the individual, and the community by not having local, community social spaces.
“… everything about city planning is crap here, we have no vision at all.”
Agree wholeheartedly on this point.
So it’s now coming public. The Libor rate was fixed, not to make banks to look strong, but to rip you off.
Caught on tape
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39548313
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4399918/Pressure-launch-inquiry-Libor-rate-rigging.html
Here is a basic, analysis of libor from wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor
That was obvious from the beginning. The private banks had the power to rip off nations to increase profits and they did. Such actions by the banks always happened throughout history and is why, until recently, we kept putting stronger and stronger regulations on them.
The other point we should be learning is that individuals cannot hold corporations or even small businesses to account. Only government can do that and they’ve abrogated that responsibility over the last few decades seemingly because business wanted them to.
No, what we are learning is that capitalism is a failed economic model, with to many opportunities to let debase aspects of human nature take the forefront. States and governments can’t regulate it, it just mutates until it wiggles out from any control back towards monopoly, greed and destruction.
For anyone interested in finding out about one of the new Labour Party candidates the wonderful Kiri Allan has a piece up on the Spinoff. I’m hoping she gets a high list position as she is exactly the sort of person we need in parliament.
http://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/11-04-2017/kiri-allan-on-standing-in-the-east-coast-where-times-are-hard-and-the-people-shine/ the Edgecombe situation
It is also good for info about the Edgecombe situation and how it is affecting people in the area.
that was a good read, thanks.
Some highlights from australias 2016 census:
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/04/11/abs-data-typical-australian/
A profile of the average Australian women was that she was 38 and lived in a three bedroomed home with a mortage and a family. Nice, they don’t have a housing problem there? Or is this average business similar to holding up the rug and sweeping the unwanted dross under before dropping it onto a clean and tidy level playing field?
Quote:
The bureau also released profiles for each state and territory, and defined the ‘typical’ indigenous Australian and person born overseas.
While the ‘typical’ age in most states was 37 or 38, the ordinary Tasmanian was 42, while Northern Territorians and Canberrans were much younger, at 34 and 35 respectively.
The ‘typical’ Aboriginal or Torres Islander, is a woman, but significantly younger at 23 years old.
The Northern Territory was the only place were the ‘typical’ person was unmarried.
Although the most common home has three bedrooms, Western Australians are more likely to enjoy one extra bedroom.
The census also confirmed Australia’s growing cultural diversity, finding that in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, the ‘typical’ Australian had one parent that was born overseas.
The ‘typical migrant’ was a 44-year-old born in England, but in Queensland they were more likely to be from New Zealand, in Victoria from India, and New South Wales migrants were most commonly from China.
Changing demographics
McCrindle Research demographer Eliane Miles said that Australia’s cultural diversity was one of the key takeaways from the data.
That migrants in New South Wales and Victoria were most likely to be from China and India, rather than England, showed “the changing demographic in our cities and our closeness to Asia”, she said.
Ms Miles said the younger ‘typical’ age in the ACT reflected its wealth of young professionals, while the older median age in Tasmania was fuelled by low population growth.
“That means low migration. Migrants tend to have a younger age than the average Australian,” she said.
Last year’s census was dogged by technical issues, including a lengthy online outage, which authorities said cost the government an extra $30 million.
Ms Miles said the full census data, which will be released on June 27, will be vital for policy makers examining areas such as the distribution of the GST receipts.
“It will also be used for planning so that government departments can make decisions about infrastructure, like where hospitals, or roads or schools should be built,” she said.
Small Business Business Michael McCormack said the 2016 census had a preliminary response rate of around 96 per cent, which he said was on par with the 2006 census and the 2011 census.
He said more than 58 per cent of Australians completed their census online, an increase of 2.2 million households compared to 2011.
(Note this wonderful efficient and advanced technology to gain this useful snapshot of Australia with bits to crow about, and some to carpet, cost an extra [ie over-budget] $30 million. What was it going to cost before the blow-out then?
And wouldn’t it be better to do it the old fashioned way and pay reliable people, who I am sure are still around, to go out and distribute and pick up the forms. Or do we want to reduce all activity to machines?
Remember the song written in the 1960s – Zager and Evans. In the year 2525.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VqsONNvIs
Remember internationalism? Use to be a thing on the left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS83xHVRUzY
Since this was mentioned earlier today:
“The judge presiding over the Colin Craig defamation case says a ” miscarriage of justice has occurred”.
Justice Sarah Katz said in a decision released today that damages awarded against former Conservative Party leader Craig were “well outside the range that could reasonably have been justified in all the circumstances of the case”.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11837168
“Climate change again?”
The climate has been changing since day dot.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Well, it looks like the 9th floor of the beehive is going to keep pushing this case in the hope of distracting Andrew Little.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/91519350/hagamans-will-keep-fighting-labour-leader-andrew-little-in-court
Dirty Politics.
Dirty crappy politics.
These are the people that begged money off the government. They really should let it rest, and stop being such poor losers.
This from No Right Turn
Past the tipping point
How bad are our rivers and lakes? Past the tipping point, according to the Prime Minister’s chief scientist: (Sir Peter Gluckman)
The state of some of the country’s waterways have gone beyond a tipping point, according to a report from the Prime Minister’s chief scientist.
Some will take more than 50 years to recover, and even then they will never get back to their original state.
The report said the science was clear: New Zealand’s fresh waters were under stress because of what we did in and around them.
There’s more in the Herald, and the big culprits are urban expansion (from stormwater and industrial waste), and intensive agriculture (from cowshit and fertiliser runoff). Given that agriculture employs only 6% of the workforce, I think its clear who is having a disproportionate effect here.
We need to clean up our rivers. Towns and cities have a role to play, but the primary cause of contamination is farmers, and that’s where the burden should lie. And if it drives dirty farmers out of business, so much the better for our environment.
Posted by Idiot/Savant at 4/12/2017 01:41:00 PM Links to this post
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201840080
I listened to Sir Dr Peter Gluckman on Radionz this a.m. and had the feeling that he had made an accurate report but resiled from describing the awfulness of it on radio.
In a measured voice, he stated that things were being remedied etc. and the tone of his voice was ‘steady as she goes’. But the quotes from the report were alarming.
Why is he the government’s chief scientist? His background seems to be strongly connected with children, human medicine – is that wide enough?:
Born in Auckland, he attended Auckland Grammar School before studying paediatrics and endocrinology at the University of Otago gaining a MBChB in 1971. This was followed by MMedSc in 1976 and a DSc in 1987 from the University of Auckland.
He is the Professor of Paediatric and Perinatal Biology and was the Director of the National Research Centre for Growth and Development (now called ‘Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development’), hosted by the University of Auckland, until mid 2009.[3]
He was formerly Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Dean of the university’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences as well as the founding Director of the Liggins Institute.
In 2007 he was appointed Programme Director for Growth, Development and Metabolism at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences. He also holds honorary chairs at National University of Singapore and the University of Southampton.
In 2009 he was appointed the first Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and in 2014, co-chair of the World Health Organization Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO).[4]
In August 2014, in Auckland, New Zealand, he hosted and chaired the Science Advice to Governments Conference, convened by the International Council for Science (ICSU). It was the first global meeting of high-level science advisors.[5]
He is the only New Zealander elected to the Institute of Medicine of the United States National Academies of Science and a Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences of Great Britain.
The compassion of that great humanitarian Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/04/10/hitler-warns-of-humanitarian-crisis-in-warsaw-ghetto/