If our finances are so dire and Joky Hen has identified where we can make serious adjustments that will put us back on the right track, how come he won’t implement those changes with immediate effect? Seems to me that if you are haemorrhaging then you apply the tourniquet now This is a sticking plaster approach to managing the economy, where the bleeding is of the government’s making in the first place.
So what do you say to Phil Goff who, although bleating about the changes to kiwisaver, is also reported to have said that Labour would not reverse them.
Another “Axe the tax” campaign coming up?
Phil Goff is still the best leader of the opposition the government can have.
The Herald reports that Goff said “Labour would spread the burden more evenly, although such cuts were difficult to reverse all at once when there was a big deficit.”
He has not said he will not reverse them, only that the timing will need to be managed because of budgetary constraints.
Remind me never to believe anything you say ever again.
lovely .JM. we should use that in a core-flute at election time.Bye the way how many people picked up Brash’s comment on morning report ‘That the poor spend to much money on groceries. Perhaps he wants us to only eat tinned peas?
Was checking on whether I had typed something or changed my mind at the last minute and found the follow-up comments … you guys might like one previously posted:
The above, is the likely main issue around which the General Election will be about.
– and which all the contending political parties will be judged on.
One of the groups that has sought to make tax an election issue is the Tax Justice Campaign.
One of the main calls of the Tax Justice Campaign is the introduction of a Robin Hood tax, relabelled in this country the Hone Heke Tax, after the popular folk hero of New Zealand history.
Tax Justice are asking Kiwis to send a message to John Key following the release of the budget, next week.
“Employers and employees are going to have to shoulder more of the burden.”
and Phil O’Reilly agrees.
Kerr and his mates in the Round Table, however, have said that it is not
the responsibility of business to be involved in socially responsible issues.
It is their business to be as efficient and as profitable as possible.
Seems they would assert that the employee should be providing for himself, work harder, get more money and find his/her own retirement scheme.
Children and teachers at a fifth of the 1,600 schools in Fukushima are receiving at least 20 millisieverts of radiation per year, said Nakate, according to readings from the government. That’s the limit for a nuclear power plant worker, according to Japan’s nuclear safety commission.
Prior to this thing happening children were legally ‘permitted’ 2 millisieverts per year, the Japanese government has OKed the higher dose.
Fukushima is the latest growing disaster the MSM are ignoring, did anyone hear that reactor buildings 3 & 4 were burning for a few days over the weekend, and might still be? And radio active steam and water are still gushing from the plants? With contaminated ground water moving IN land. ‘We’ got more accurate and up to date information from the Russians re Chernobyl …. which was under control 6 weeks after it shit itself, where as Fukushima is at best 9 months away from being ‘under control’ if ever.
There is song that describes what is going to happen globally regarding cancer – Turning Japanese, oh yes I think so ….
For more info that is way beyond our idiot editors, and the even bigger sacks of shit, you know the ones in the Beehive.
Nuclear collapse looms? Fukushima No. 4 reactor ‘leaning’
Look at 4:27 ish on this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxbm7iJTT8U
What you can see is the side of the spent fuel pond gone.
Not that anyone gives a rats arse
Yeah not even to demand the truth out of the ruling cartel, because that would mean learning something themselves …. then dragging themselves off the couch and acting.
There are a few positive moves around the World in terms of closing old Nuclear reactors down and undertaking more inspections. This has been a direct result of people making their voices heard. It’s also a result of some politicians waking up and realising that if they don’t do something, similar “accidents” will occur. However not enough is being done to ensure our safety and the human species survival for that matter.
“The company had “no association” with the contract for the ministerial cars which he said would have been negotiated directly with BMW New Zealand.”
Question: Who has the maintainance contract on these cars. My guess is that it will probably be a Wellington dealership?
There are still questions that need answering…will the great Radio NZ political editor Brent Edwards go looking…or is he happy to regurgitate the National spin.
Speaking of smears and big issues and not fronting them, perhaps the PM might want to put his big boy pants on and do a sit down interview with this guy:
Although deceptive people do not say much, they tend to spontaneously give a justification for what little they are saying, without being prompted.
They are more likely to press their lips when asked a sensitive question and are more likely to play with their hair or engage in other “grooming” behaviors. Gesturing toward one’s self with the hands tends to be a sign of deception; gesturing outwardly is not.
Well this week’s award recipient was pretty easy to choose. Kyle Chapman jumped up and yelled; “I’m an asshole, look at me.” So naturally he was our top candidate. Kyle’s latest ridiculous crusade after taking a break from his National Front duties (to become a Mormon and rut his new wife Claire Clifford), was to start the fundamentalist group Right Wing Resistance (RWRNZ). Incidentally, Claire left the fascist in 2009 when he again became involved in hate campaigns. Wise move.
I started this as an open Letter to old smile and wave, but then I figured he would just ignore and delete so I will put it up here All comments are welcome. BTW I do not write for a living.
John Key You really think you are smart don’t you? you don’t give a flying fuck that you are leading New Zealand to Financial ruin. And you, who worships, and loves nothing more than money, and a job well done, why do you continue to sabotage Ordinary Kiwi’s?? you could have been a good prime minister. however you are a joke now. They Call you Shonky, Jonky, Smile and Wave and other less flattering things. What a legacy. The rich fool who hated his own country so much, that he lived in America. Until he came home to take his revenge against the very system that made him, gave him a safe environment, an education, (school and University) he went on to make millions, and what did he do ? He extracted his revenge on the very system that made him what he is. State Housing (ruined) ACC (ruined ready to be sold) Power Companies (readying them for sale 100% ( Don’t bullshit me)) WINZ ruined (where staff have been gutted, and now are overworked, demoralised, and underpaid). Early learning centres , Kindys and such funding slashed . The Family court that’s screwed now for sure. How will anyone ever get Free legal assistance ever again, or a competent lawyer, the Legal Aid service Slashed and cut. The Womans Refuge for gods sake the last bastion of safety for a battered woman, Funding Gutted. And I am sure others could add many more. And the numerous, faceless public servants that he has ruined, their lives in tatters, Bills to pay, bills that were incurred on a high income, and NO money or help, except to default. Because Winz won’t help if you can get an appointment in under 2 weeks, then you have to be like a performing dog, jumping through what ever hoops they feel like putting you through (You have NO choice in this. No do. NO MONEY). And then along come the vultures your mates they buy up NZ companies that you have ruined for a song. There are no jobs or if there are they don’t hire you. The minimum wage plummets, benefits are slashed, and crime increases and there you have it John Keys Utopia for all to see. A prison country..
Who would have thought Key would have watched Star trek Voyager episode 1 season 1 where a guy called Paris was serving on a prison colony in New Zealand.
Elections tend to be won or lost in Auckland – so, in my considered opinion, opposition to the proposed Auckland ($upercity) Council 4.9% increase, is not to be underestimated.
When the good folk in Epsom, living in their medium/ high value properties, realise that the Citizens and Ratepayer Councillors on 13 December 2010 supported a 3.9% rate increase – when they were led to believe that the Auckland ‘$upercity’ was going to achieve ‘economies of scale’ – I believe that some form of electoral backlash is to be expected….
Nominations are open for an Act candidate to replace Rodney Hide and contest the Epsom electorate in the November 26 election.
“Act has always had a strong presence in Epsom – from 1996, when the party won 22% of the party vote, to the present day,” Auckland South board member Barbara Steinijans said.
“In Rodney Hide the people of Epsom have had strong local representation for the past six years. Once again, Act will be running a strong electorate vote based campaign.”
The incumbent MP, Mr Hide, does not have the support of new party leader Don Brash, although Mr Hide is yet to formally rule himself out from standing in the seat.
Mr Hide won 56% of the vote in the 2008 election, although National won 63% of the party vote.
John Banks was a loud and proud ‘$upercity’ supporter from Day One.
But – the first thing the $upercity -$uper RIP OFF Auckland Council wants to do is to put up residential and commercial rates 4.9%.
So much for the ‘economies of scale’ that were to be achieved by forcibly amalgamating our 8 former Councils, in another ‘Rogernomic$ blitzkrieg’ (without a binding poll of citizens and ratepayers).
For those who just want to jump on the band wagon and blame Mayor Len Brown and the ‘left-leaning’ majority on the Auckland Council – here are the FACTS:
C&R Councillors on 13 December 2010 voted in support of a 3.9% rates increase.
(You will note that young National Party ‘Wonder boy’ (?) Jami-Lee Ross supported a 3.9% rate increase? )
Auckland Council Finance and Strategy Committee meeting 13 December 2010 (Pgs 7-8)
12. Annual Plan 2011/2012 – High Level Budget Review
(c) That the Strategy and Finance Committee agrees a rates target of 4.9% for 2011 -2012 to inform the Mayor’s development of the draft annual plan.
MOVED by Councillor Wood seconded Councillor Fletcher
That a rates increase of not more than 3.9% be struck and officers work to identify further savings.
A division was called for, voting on which was as follows:
For
Councillors
Cameron Brewer
Hon Chris Fletcher
Des Morrison
Callum Penrose
Noelene Raffills
Jami-Lee Ross
Sharon Stewart
George Wood
Against
Councillors
Anae Arthur Anae
Len Brown
Dr Cathy Casey
Sandra Coney
Alf Filipaina
Ann Hartley
Penny Hulse
Richard Northey
Sir John Walker
Wayne Walker
Penny Webster
Councillors Michael Goudie and Mike Lee were absent.
The division was declared lost 8 votes to 11
________________________________________________________________________________
The Auckland Council ‘books’ are NOT open.
If a giant scalpel were to be applied to all that consultant and private contractor BLUBBER, and core council services returned to ‘in-house’ provision (cutting out all these private ‘piggies-in-the-middle’), in my considered opinion, rates could be slashed by hundreds of millions of dollars.
That’s why I’m standing in the Howick by-election.
To help achieve that.
‘OPEN THE BOOKS! – CUT OUT THE CONTRACTORS!’
PS: If you think replacing the ‘bureaucracy’ with the ‘contractocracy’ is so ‘efficient’ – ask yourself this one simple question.
Over the last 20 years – have YOUR rates gone up or down?
Penney I fully sympathasise because we are experiencing the same phenomenon with the Selwyn District Council who have just put up our rates nearly 15% on top of a 20% increase last year for Lake Coleridge Village.
The situation is a wee bit different as these increases are mostly on targeted rates like water and sewage on a small village of 40 households, but having said that we have to pay for a new swimming pool at Rolleston that is about 2 hours drive from here.
This pool cost about 14 million was approved regardless of earthquake damage in the area and on top of $14 million that was spent on building the new council chambers two years ago.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote to Mr Hide (a bit late) but I also wrote to Sue Kedgley we are trying to get the audit office in to have a look at the books.
Yes I agree the more it is outscoursed the less accountability there is, well I guess the most obvious example is contractors putting in their tenders, that has to be treated as commercially sensitive information. Still an auditor can still go through the books without compromising anyones privacy.
Yet they seem powerless and furthermore there doesn’t seem to be any political will to back them up.
So much for Rodney Hide’s promise to put a cap on Rates that exceed the rate of inflation, that promise can’t even be held in a supercity such as Auckland where the economies of scale is vastly different to the Selwyn District in Canterbury.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her colleagues from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden will gather in Greenland’s tiny capital of Nuuk to discuss how to manage the [Arctic’s] development while protecting its fragile ecosystem….
…It “is a historic turning point to deepen and strengthen international cooperation in the Arctic as we seek to meet the dramatic challenges of the equivalent of a melting continent over the next several decades,”…
…”By working together to ensure the safety of human life in a newly emerging region of human activity we can show in particular that Russia and the United States are key actors in helping to propel cooperation on core issues.”
…Earlier this month scientists said that warming in the Arctic is occurring at twice the global average and is on track to lift sea levels by up to 1.6 metres (5.3 feet) by 2100, a far steeper jump than predicted a few years ago…
wait for it, wait for iiiiit…
…
…Washington wants the Nuuk talks to launch a task force designed to negotiate an instrument for handling Arctic oil spills.
“We know that there are significant deposits of oil and gas that were in the past difficult to access and may become more accessible over time,” he said.
The United States wants the Arctic countries to be prepared to both prevent oil spills or other disasters and to create “effective mechanisms to deal with accidents should they happen,” Steinberg said.
More than one fifth of the world’s undiscovered but technically recoverable reserves of hydrocarbons are located north of the Arctic Circle, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The region accounts for about 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, USGS data shows. About 84 percent of the resources are offshore.
Exploration off Greenland has yet to produce any commercially exploitable reserves, but that did not stop British firm Cairn from boosting its investment there by one billion dollars on the back of “encouraging” first results.
I’ve always been puzzled by the apparent certainty that the Arctic holds huge amounts of ‘undiscovered’ resources. Isn’t it also possible that it actually holds very little? Or that some other part on the planet that hasn’t been thoroughly explored (and there are lots) could actually turn out to have the motherlode?
Anthropocene: Have humans created a new geological age?.
Dr Jan Zalasiewicz of the University of Leicester is one of the leading proponents of the Anthropocene theory. He told BBC News: “Simply put, our planet no longer functions in the way that it once did. Atmosphere, climate, oceans, ecosystems… they’re all now operating outside Holocene norms. This strongly suggests we’ve crossed an epoch boundary.”
Yeah. Hopefully he’ll be able to sort EQC out and get some proper co-ordination going there.
I really think they need to move to a model where people have case managers to deal with their claims so there’s some continuity of information and handling, instead of getting the ridiculous run-around of ringing up the call center, being put on hold for 20 minutes only to be told “no, we have no information for you”.
Interesting the thought of lowering taxes for business to a really low rate.
Had a mate just come back from living in Vegas for many years and he talked to me about how well that’s not gone over there.
As a result of lowering business taxes to low levels, and in some case state taxes to zero, new business has not been attracted to states like Nevada because as they now have no money services and infrastructure and education has been cut and no business wants to move there – you can’t for instance get skilled staff because the education system doesn’t produce any.
Sure Nevada for instance has other problems such as billions of dollars of clean up needed from now absent mining companies but lowering taxes has made things worse not better.
A recent article by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), concerning a number of peer reviewed scientific papers, has received widespread global condemnation from environmentalists, scientists and some of the authors of the papers themselves. The article references more than 900 papers which, according to the GWPF, refute “concern relating to a negative environmental or socio-economic effect of AGW.
Roger Sutton will start in the role in mid-June, as the permanent chief executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. CERRA
Crikey. That was suggested by many including Jim Anderton at least 2months ago. A great leader for the job, as long as he can manage Brownlie.
# David Farrar (1,467) Says:
May 12th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
I might donate to Kelvin also.
Kelvin has no chance … labour party policy don’t give him the room to capture enough votes, and why vote your Kelvin he is already in next term at 23 on the list.
Hey David I think the last thing Kelvin would want is an endorsement from yourself, that would surely lower his mana in the north.
In the last Election Hone had a 32% mayority over Kelvin. If Kelvin wants a mandate he should also stand down from the Parliament, and remove himself from the list for the general election to test his mandate at this by election. I doubt he would.
“A number of jobs currently being advertised on Work and Income’s ‘Find a Job website offer positions below the legal minimum wage and without employment rights such as holiday pay and sick leave.
This is what I’ve been saying for years now about the building industry in Auckland especially but around the country in general. It’s possible to be offered a position as a builder (4 years on the job training) for $15/hr +GST and for that one low price you have to supply all your own tools and vehicle (and old junker won’t cut it either as it will be unreliable). The tools aren’t cheap and need to be maintained and certified every three months.
Basically, once you take into account all your expenses for that hourly rate you’re quite literally paying to go to work. Paula Bennett’s “any job’s a good job” just shows how out of touch she is.
If you’re on the UE benefit WINZ will cut you off if you turn down said job because you must accept any reasonable offer of a job and the idiots at WINZ just look at the $15/hr and think it’s reasonable.
Hon PAULA BENNETT: I suppose the difference between this side of the House and the other side is that this side thinks that any job is a good job. We do not always get to do our dream job. Sometimes we have to work hard, sometimes we have to get a bit stuck in, sometimes we have to prove ourselves to get promoted, and sometimes we have to wash dishes in a rest home for a while, or dig drains. But there are opportunities out there, and that is a great thing. Work and Income currently has 5,386 open positions, and over the last 12 months it has listed more than 65,000 positions on its website. I cannot guarantee that every single one of them is right, but I think it has got the criteria pretty strong, as much as they are.
My thought at the time was that she was assuming only young people would be looking for such jobs. But what of the people who have already proved themselves, have a lot of experience and have been made redundant, especially older people? I heard a section on Nine-to-Noon this week about discrimination against older workers by recruitment practices, making it hard for older people to get jobs.
That website is utter shite! Having been told that we have to make x applications per month through it, I look every so often. Many of the vacancies listed are old (and actually the positions are closed) and one can’t apply directly, but have to go through a case manager…
Getting the ‘case manager’ to pull finger and put in an application within the time specified is a job in itself (I have missed out on being considered for many jobs because of lazy or incompetent case managers and job brokers one of whom could not find my CV on time, although I followed her instructions and sent it to her time and time again, and it was already on their system!
All of the jobs seem to be unskilled, and some of them are frankly scams (telemarketing, pyramid selling etc.) One job broker referred me for a job I had already applied for and been turned down for, and then referred me for a job way above my competence. I was very embarassed when the employer (DOS of a language school) phoned to tell me gently that I wasn’t qualified, sorry, and I told her “I know. I didn’t want to be referred for the job, but WINZ wouldn ‘t listen”
WINZ don’t know their rectums from their ante-cubital fossae..
Summing up Goldman Sachs business practice: Finangle a sale of paper to the client that we get paid a commission for, when the paper fucks over the client it we will benefit again because we took bets out that the paper we sold the client will collapse.
Yeah, I don’t think that getting G/S to help AMI will help AMI – probably do G/S real good though.
Today on my way to Parnell, I had the misfortune to sit right behind a chatty bus driver who insisted on pointing out John Key’s house, and telling me how much better he is under NACT, and how NACT will force his ‘malingerer’ brother on a sickness benefit to get a job, and force his prisoner ‘good for nothing’ brother in law to go straight…
Then he showed some more of his true charm by letting me off outside off at the primary school where I was going to interview for a special needs teacher aide job – and as I got off the bus saying to me “There they are, the little bastards. Rich kids!” * as he drove away.
As my son said later when I told him about it, the guy is the second type of RWNJ, a poor or middle class guy who thinks that a leader like Shonkey will make him (Mr Bus Driver) into a plutocrat, who can crap on the poor, as in his perception the ‘dictator’ Helen Clark used to do. By him Phil Goff is a weak ninny who wouldn’t stand up to Helen, and John Key is a brave knight who has rescued our economy. (Above all, my making beneficiaries ‘shape up’! )
*As the school principal interviewing me said, the school is decile 10, but it takes children from all over the show, including the children of doctoral candidates from University of Auckland, and its make up is changing. Not all “rich kids” by any means.
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My house is currently supplied electricity by Meridian. As soon as I can change I will because Meridian spilled water to hike electricity prices. They got consumers to spend an extra $80 million on power unnecessarily. Clever them. The Electricity Authority has called their behaviour an “undesirable trading situation”, or ...
When Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became the Labour Party leader shortly before the 2017 general election, she promised to lead a government of transformation. After nearly three years occupying the Treasury benches, health professionals working in public hospitals have been keenly waiting for transformational progress, including in the capacity and quality ...
Last night, One News ran a follow-up story to its Colmar Brunton poll results on the cannabis referendum, headed here as Government accuses big American anti-cannabis group of interfering in NZ politics.In truth it wasn't just the government: Justice minister Andrew Little, National's Shane Reti and the Greens' Chloe Swarbrick ...
When the government refused to put cameras on fishing boats to ensure fishers obeyed the law, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash claimed that coalition partner NZ First (which has received large donations from the fishing industry) was not responsible for the decision. He has repeated that claim repeatedly since then. But ...
Heroic Evasions: Labour needs to be unequivocal in its communications with the electorate. Either it has a plan to prevent their fellow New Zealanders from falling off the economic cliff, or it doesn’t. Either it has a fiscal policy equal to the task of funding that plan, or it hasn’t. ...
Prof John Potter*Elimination has been an effective strategy for New Zealand in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic virus (SARS-CoV-2). Most other countries have not pursued this goal and are ignoring the opportunity even now. SARS-CoV-2 is not manageable by the influenza playbook; its longer incubation period makes tracing ...
This is a re-post from Weather Underground by Bob HensonAbove: This rainbow appears unusually low in the sky because it has formed early in the afternoon, rather than toward sunset. For a rainbow to form, water droplets must be present in the air in front of an observer ...
On Monday, Todd Muller gave an important speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, He spoke firmly about his belief in the need for foreign investment, for the public sector to partner with the private sector rather than boss it around and, crucially, demanded the government deliver a clear strategy ...
Todd Muller's first act on become party leader was to appoint an all-white front bench. This understandably raised eyebrows, so he is now apparently reconsidering caucus and list rankings. Which is obviously necessary, but there's still the underlying problem: National doesn't have a lot of Māori MP's. And the reason ...
Meridian energy has been caught manipulating the electricity market for fun and profit: Meridian Energy pushed up power prices by unnecessary spilling water from its south dams in December that could have been used for generation, the Electricity Authority has ruled in a preliminary decision. The authority said the ...
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...
Hearing the Prime Minister castigate the Warehouse for laying off 1,000 workers after receiving $52 million in wage subsidies reminds me of the fabled frog who agreed to carry a scorpion across a river. The scorpion stings the frog halfway across, dooming both to drown. The frog cries “Why on ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael BakerCompared with other OECD countries NZ is a stand-out success story by ending community transmission of COVID-19. While there have been some well-publicised recent deficiencies (eg, quarantine organisation), there has still been no evidence of community transmission for many weeks. Nevertheless, ...
It’s June 30th, marked as Asteroid Day by many people of an astronomical bent around the globe. On this date in 1908, early in the morning in a remote part of central Siberia, the sky fell in. Well, not literally. What happened is a substantially-sized lump of cosmic detritus ...
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...
Don Franks Poverty, inequality – really – aren’t politicians paid to sort that stuff ? Why can’t they just get it together and come up with something fair and sensible? A cold rainy 2020 morning, a headline showed promise. “Green Party’s $8b plan would guarantee an income of $325 a ...
A guest repost by Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) staff attorney Augusta Wilson. Fundraising is not the objective of this article but readers may wish to know that CSLDF is currently conducting a summer fundraiser to support defense of research scientists and research integrity from anti-science interference by politicians and industrial interests. The COVID-19 pandemic ...
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...
The US state of Mississippi has finally voted to remove the Confederate emblem from its state flag. Good. Its appalling that it was put there in the first place, but even more appalling that it took so long to remove it. Its basicly as if a German Länder still had ...
No one could have predicted when David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was passed by Parliament last November that the referendum required to bring the legislation into force would be held against the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic. Since then, the mounting tally of casualties around the world ...
Paul GoldsmithYou can often tell just how effective a progressive policy proposal will be by how much the right wing criticise it. The more socially beneficial, the more vitriolic and unhinged they seem to become.That was the case when the Green Party announced their Poverty Action Plan yesterday. The response ...
Back at the beginning of April, when we had much else on our minds, I wrote this post urging some caution in interpreting the results of the latest Horizon poll, conducted in February, on voting intentions in this year's cannabis referendum, which was paid for by Helius Therapeutics.I wrote that ...
Over the weekend the Greens made their first election policy announcement, and promised transformational change: a more progressive tax system, with new rates applying to incomes of $100,000 and $150,000; a new wealth tax on net wealth over $1 million; and a guaranteed minimum income to eliminate poverty. Its bold, ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First leader Winston Peters today scoffed at suggestions that a team of six political operatives have been dispatched to New Zealand to assist his campaign. ‘As President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘there they go again.’ ‘The clickbait journos can’t ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce Jenny Marcroft as the party’s election 2020 candidate for the Auckland Central electorate. Jenny spent years working in Auckland Central, having spent a vast proportion of her broadcasting career there. She says she, "knows the place and knows the people." Ms Marcroft says ...
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau is pleased to be confirmed today as the party’s candidate for the Rotorua electorate. Speaking at the Rotorua AGM for New Zealand First, Mr Tabuteau said this is an election that is incredibly important for the people of Rotorua. “The founding principles of New ...
The Human Rights Commission’s PRISM report on the issues impacting people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) provides an excellent programme of work for future governments to follow, say the Greens. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the trans-Tasman bubble had not been jeopardised after aborder botch-upresulted in New Zealand having two active cases of COVID-19. On Friday, Mr Peters told RNZ's Morning Report he had heard from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that borders for trans-Tasman travel would open by ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline. ...
The Government’s three prevention frameworks to reduce family violence in Aotearoa were launched this week by Associate Minister for Social Development Poto Williams. The frameworks were developed in partnership with communities around New Zealand, and build on the work the Government has already begun with its new family violence prevention ...
The Government is pleased to confirm funding for improvements to radiology and surgical services at Hawke's Bay DHB, Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. "The Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson and former Health Minister Dr David Clark approved funding for Hawke's Bay DHB’s redevelopment of their radiology facilities ...
• New funding for four beds at Napier’s Springhill Residential Addiction Centre • A new managed withdrawal home and community service, and peer support before and after residential care at Tairāwhiti DHB • A co-ordinated network of withdrawal management services throughout the South Island • Peer support in Rotorua and ...
Introduction, seafarers and POAL Good morning everyone, I am delighted to be online with you all today. Before I begin, I have to acknowledge that COVID-19 has disrupted the maritime sector on an unprecedented scale. The work of seafarers and the maritime industry is keeping many economies around the world ...
A $13 million investment from Government will create jobs and improve the resilience of the rail connection between Christchurch and the West Coast, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones and Regional Economic Development Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau say. The funding comes from the tagged contingency set aside in Budget 2020 for infrastructure projects ...
The Government is investing $761 million to assist local government upgrade under-pressure water services across the country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The announcement was made at the site of the water bore that was found to be the source of the fatal ...
Recognised Seasonal Employers and migrant seasonal workers stranded in New Zealand will be able to continue working and supporting themselves with more flexible hours and roles, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. The time-limited visa changes are: Stranded RSE workers will be able to work part-time (a minimum of 15 hours ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
Tena koutou katoa Nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe o Pōneke, tena koutou Nau mai, haere mai ki te hui a tau mo te roopu reipa Ko tatou! Ko to tatou mana! Ko to tatou kaupapa kei te kokiri whakamua Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa Welcome. I ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $1.5 million to ensure QE Health in Rotorua can proceed with its world class health service and save 75 existing jobs, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development, Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. The PGF funding announced today is in addition to the $8 million ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
The law to boost the economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 by speeding up resource consenting on selected projects has passed its second and third readings in the House today. “Accelerating nationwide projects and activities by government, iwi and the private sector will help deliver faster economic recovery and ...
Five port-related projects in Whanganui will receive a $26.75 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to support local economic recovery and create new opportunities for growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This is a significant investment that will support the redevelopment of the Whanganui Port, a project governed ...
Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery will receive an investment of up to $12 million administered by the Provincial Growth Fund to support its redevelopment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The project is included in a $3 billion infrastructure pipeline announced by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Shane Jones yesterday. ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $2.5 million into three Te Ara Mahi programmes to support Manawatū-Whanganui jobseekers and employees to quickly train and upskill, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Up to 154 local people will be supported into employment within the first year by these ...
This morning I have formally tendered my resignation as Minister of Health, which was accepted by the Prime Minister. Serving as Minister of Health has been an absolute privilege – particularly through these extraordinary last few months. It’s no secret that Health is a challenging portfolio. I have given ...
Scholarships for 57 early-career agricultural emissions scientists from 20 developing countries is another example of New Zealand’s international leadership in primary sector sustainability, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor, announcing the scholarships today, says hundreds of applications were received for this fourth round of the CLIFF-GRADS programme (Climate, Food ...
A project to help rejuvenate the Horowhenua town of Foxton will receive a Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.86 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This funding for the Foxton Regeneration project will be used to make the well-known holiday town even more attractive for visitors and ...
Moa bones and other sub-fossil remains of extinct species are set to have improved protection with proposals to prevent the trade in extinct species announced the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “We have lost too many of our native species, but these lost species, such as moa, remain an ...
The Government’s free and healthy school lunches programme moves south for the first time creating jobs for around 30 people in Otago and Southland. “Eighteen schools with 3000 students are joining the programme – 11 have already begun serving lunches, and seven are preparing to start during Term 3. This is ...
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi. The package also includes investment in broadcasting ...
The Government has established a new $10 million fund for the domestic events sector to help save jobs and protect incomes as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, Minister of Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. This funding from Budget 2020 follows talks with the event sector designed to ...
The Government has taken another step in its commitment to making sure New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump with the introduction of legislation to improve competition in the retail fuel market, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. “The fuel market study that this Government ordered ...
New Zealand has joined a global initiative that aims to enable all countries to access a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. The COVAX Facility was recently launched by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank ...
From today new legislation takes effect to both restore the right to legal representation at the start of a Care of Children (CoCA) dispute in the Family Court, and allow parties to those proceedings to access legal aid where eligible. During a visit to the Family Court in Auckland today, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will take a proposal to Friday’s national cabinet to slow the influx of Australians returning from overseas. Morrison’s proposal followed this week’s request from Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan that international flights be ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua has created an action station petition to oppose the application for the proposed Dome Valley Landfill. Find the petition here: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/protect-our-kaipara-moana The Petition asks that the Mayor of Auckland, Auckland Council and the Minister for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Kaine, Associate Professor UTS Centre for Business and Social Innovation, University of Technology Sydney In late March, the Victorian government put private security firms in charge of hotel quarantine in Melbourne. This happened without a formal tender process. It was a ...
By RNZ News Health Minister Chris Hipkins says New Zealand’s latest case of covid-19 will be charged for breaching isolation and visiting a central Auckland supermarket last night. Hipkins said the 32-year-old man, who arrived from India on July 3, left his managed isolation last night to go to the ...
Claire from McLeod’s Daughters died in 2003 and Tara Ward is still not over it. The unexpected death of Claire McLeod is the most tragic event you’ll see on television. It was a miserable day when that white Brumby bolted across the road and made Claire drive off a cliff, ...
Luckily for Labour, Jacinda Ardern's leadership in the Covid-19 crisis is a much more powerful political weapon than bread-and-butter issues about the country’s future. ...
IrrigationNZ believes Government investment in the water sector is a step in the right direction – but calls for a broader strategy to encompass all water infrastructure, including storage and policy development. ...
The race relations commissioner, Meng Foon, has just sent the following letter to leaders of New Zealand political parties.Tēnā koe, Talofa, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Kia orana, 你好, Namaste.My role as Race Relations Commissioner is to promote and enhance harmonious communities in our diverse nation. As the leader of a political ...
National MP Hamish Walker's unconscionable privacy breach has already ended his career and that of a party stalwart - but his caucus colleagues may also be cursing his terrible judgment come September 19, Sam Sachdeva writes A young, promising politician gifted one of the safest seats in the country and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato The leak of the confidential personal information of COVID-19 patients by Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker and influential party figure Michelle Boag has been highly embarrassing for the National Party. In less than 24 hours ...
An extract from The Quick and the Dead, the new memoir by Palmerston North pathologist Cynric Temple-Camp.Books editor Catherine Woulfe writes: Strong recommend for this medical memoir, the second by the most excellently-named Cynric Temple-Camp after his 2017 bestseller The Cause of Death.Ostensibly a collection of yarns and case studies, after ...
National Party leader Todd Muller has spoken about the controversy around Hamish Walker at a roading announcement this afternoon, saying the National MP's exit from politics was "the only option". ...
National Party leader Todd Muller has made another roading announcement this afternoon, as the controversy around the National MP who leaked Covid-19 patient details continues to unfold. ...
"Linking funding to commitment from councils to reform the investment, planning and delivery of their water assets is a welcome move," says Infracom (New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga) Chief Executive Ross Copland, in response ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dani Larkin, Associate Lecturer in Law, University of Newcastle Gunnai-Kurnai and Gunditjmara woman Lidia Thorpe was recently elected by Greens party members to replace the former party leader, Richard Di Natale, as senator for Victoria. Thorpe is the first Indigenous woman to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charlene Zietsma, Associate professor, Pennsylvania State University In May this year, we were convening a dream conference: 140 like-minded academics on a Greek island for three-and-a-half days to work on a topic we cared about – organising sustainably. We recognised the contradiction ...
“The Government’s long-awaited funding boost and water reform agenda is New Zealand’s best chance to create a high performing water sector for New Zealanders,” says Infrastructure NZ CEO Paul Blair. “The Government has today announced it will ...
Yesterday evening I received a letter from Leader Todd Muller, asking the National Party Board of Directors to urgently meet and consider some very serious, publicly reported, issues concerning Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker. The Board met at midday ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua is working with Marae, hapū, Post Settlement Governance Entities (Te Uri o Hau, Ngā Maunga Whakahī, and Ōrākei) and Fight the Tip to lead a hikoi in Tāmaki Mākaurau (Auckland) on Friday 17 July 2020. It is the position ...
The country's latest case of Covid-19 will be charged for visiting an Auckland supermarket last night, Health Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed. Hipkins said the 32-year-old man, who arrived from India on July 3, left his managed isolation last night to go to the Countdown supermarket on Victoria Street in central ...
The Government has formally confirmed that it will not use any of the current or future serology tests to assess how widespread the Covid19 disease has been in New Zealand. In answer to an Official Information Request by the Covid Plan B group, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Yue Zhang, Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology Only 40% of students in China who previously intended to study overseas still plan to, while just under 50% of those who had studied overseas plan to return to ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) welcomes the announcement of $761 million for Tranche One funding as part of the Government’s three waters reform programme, saying it provides a measure of financial assistance to councils as they consider ...
Latest from the Beehive The government’s economic engineers were hard at work yesterday. One minister was set on establishing a base for film production in Christchurch while – much more critically for the wellbeing of the nation – a cluster of others led by the PM were unveiling their grand ...
Recent shocks to our economy have shown that when it comes to knowing how to manage our money, New Zealand still has a long way to go. Having now moved on from my first illustrious job as a graduate tax accountant, a lot of what I learnt about tax in my ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the proposed removal of water services from local councils , but says that the new ‘Rolls Royce’ drinking quality standards risk lumping communities with the enormous costs of engineers' gold plating. Union ...
Auckland Action Against Poverty is launching a campaign to build commitment from Members of Parliament seeking to be part of Government to increase incomes across the board to liveable levels. The campaign launch will be held tomorrow, Thursday ...
As the settler government did in the late 1800s, it’s high time we erected a bunch of new monuments to the great people of this country (and maybe take some of the stink ones down). Ātea editor Leonie Hayden has some suggestions. Hundreds of heroic and revered ancestors proudly adorn walls, ...
New research from Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) reveals New Zealand women are significantly more concerned than their male counterparts about the impact of COVID-19, according to the new 2020 Unisys Security Index™. ...
“The Zero Waste Network Aotearoa is extremely pleased to announce that we will host a free, international online zero waste conference in December this year. The conference is called Our Zero Waste World Digital Summit . It will highlight zero ...
The High-profile former National Party president has resigned from her campaign and electorate roles for Auckland Central MP and National deputy leader Nikki Kaye. ...
Murray Chong has been selected as the New Conservative candidate for New Plymouth for the 2020 General Election. “I’m delighted to be the New Conservative candidate for the 2020 election. Having stood for another party in 2017, only to be let down ...
Michelle Boag has stood down as Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye's campaign chair for the upcoming election and no longer has any role with the party. ...
How did the bizarre story of Hamish Walker trying to leak confidential Covid details to media all play out? Radio NZ’s Jo Moir was one of the journalists contacted by the MP, and wrote this timeline. In an extraordinary move National Party leader Todd Muller has had one of his own ...
By RNZ News The opposition National Party leader says he has written to the party’s board asking them to remove MP Hamish Walker from the party after it was revealed he leaked private health information to New Zealand media. It was revealed yesterday that former National Party president Michelle Boag ...
COMMENT:By Nasya Bahfen in Melbourne Australia’s Victorian state government told returned travellers to quarantine for two weeks. Some broke the rules. It then paid for them to stay in hotels with security guards. Some of the guards couldn’t keep their dicks in their pants. Some of the returned travellers ...
Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas on ministerial resignations in the recent and middle-distant past, a new book from Judith Collins, and the reinvention of Simon Bridges.This episode was recorded on Tuesday morning, before news broke that Hamish Walker and Michelle Boag were behind the Covid-19 data leak.The Gone ...
Fonterra will be greeted by drums, cow costumes, placards and a pile of coal on Thursday morning, 9 July, as Extinction Rebellion Ōtautahi ask the question, ‘Why are Fonterra still using coal in a climate emergency?’ The group will be gathering ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bjorn Sturmberg, Research Leader, Battery Storage & Grid Integration Program, Australian National University Electric vehicles can help keep the air clean in our cities – as we’ve seen recently with the reduction of traffic through COVID-19 lockdowns – but they face two ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.Today’s contentNational Party revealed as source of Covid-19 privacy leak Audrey Young (Herald): National’s failures on patient leak from top to bottom (paywalled) Luke Malpass (Stuff): National leader Todd Muller ...
Troy Mihaka , local Wellington Conservation Volunteer, Arts Manager and LGBTQ+ Advocate announces candidacy in the 2020 General Election. Standing in the Electorate of Rongotai , Mihaka will be representing the Integrity Party of Aotearoa New Zealand . A political ...
As universities around the world slash jobs and courses in response to the pandemic, Victoria University of Wellington is signalling its intention to introduce sweeping austerity measures, a group of concerned tutors write. A response from Victoria University of Wellington is at the end of this column.So far, 2020 has ...
New Conservative is appalled by the lack of consultation provided by DOC to stakeholders in the management of the New Zealand Tahr herd by not following protocol and not allowing all stakeholders to consult on the plan proposed. DOC released its new Tahr ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan University In an age of isolation, video sharing platform TikTok has emerged as a bonding force for many. But recent headlines allege the service, owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, is feeding users’ data ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kingsley Dixon, John Curtin Distinguished Professor, Curtin University This article is a preview from Flora, Fauna, Fire, a multimedia project launching on Monday July 13. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Sign ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Shulmeister, Professor, University of Canterbury CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dallas Rogers, Associate Dean, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney A target of 70% private and 30% public dwellings is an accepted standard for public housing renewal projects in several Australian states. This level of private ownership is said ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Lacey, Senior Lecturer in International Trade, University of Adelaide When the United Kingdom completed its telecom supply chain review last year it gave a green light to Huawei by concluding that nationality-based bans did nothing to improve network security and could ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison M Joubert, Lecturer in Marketing, The University of Queensland Cancel culture — withdrawing support for public figures when they do or say something offensive — has become so widespread it was Macquarie Dictionary’s 2019 word of the year. A practice where ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Fastnedge, Lecturer in Advertising Creativity, Auckland University of Technology When the New Zealand government wanted a campaign to keep kids safe online, naturally it turned to a couple of naked porn actors to get the message across. Actually the government turned ...
A grassroots campaign has launched this week calling on political party leaders to support the implementation of a gender-balanced Cabinet with 50 percent women and 50 percent men in this year’s election. The many vital issues discussed each ...
Air NZ shares fall as quarantine capacity stops it from selling new international tickets for at least three weeks and as Melbourne goes into complete lockdown ...
A flood of Kiwis returning home from Australia has overwhelmed quarantine capacity. Bernard Hickey reports the Government is looking at bringing in cruise ships to expand supply and a quarantine booking system to further restrict demand. Meanwhile, there is now no space for new guest workers, tourists or students for the foreseeable future. ...
The National Party leader says he has written to the party's board asking them to remove MP Hamish Walker from the party after it was revealed he leaked private health information to media. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Scandal for MP after leaking confidential Covid data, new bookings for return to country put on hold, and Islamic Women’s Council release evidence of being ignored.We now know exactly how the leak of private information of all active Covid-19 patients happened. National ...
Opinion: While the investigation into the security of patient data may still find the Government wanting, a rookie National MP’s spectacular own goal has put the opposition in the firing line, writes Laura Walters Political gameplay 101: If you're trying to highlight that another political party shouldn't be trusted with ...
A new survey supports fundamental changes to the country's criminal justice system, but a parallel study shows many still believe in a punitive system, Laura Walters reports A new survey suggests strong support amongst Kiwis for fundamental changes in the resourcing and funding of the criminal justice system, as well as a ...
The Covid-19 lockdown has only confirmed how vital New Zealand’s early childhood sector is to the future of this country. Now is the time to bed in a systemic policy infrastructure to support resilient children, write three experts. The Early Learning Action Plan (ELAP), released in December 2019, was barely ...
Picked as a star by one of the great women golfers of all time, Wellington teenager Darae Chung is preparing herself mentally and physically to play overseas again. When 16-year-old Darae Chung travels around the country – and eventually around the globe again – playing golf, she will have the ...
He has been in the job less than a week, but new Health Minister Chris Hipkins is already making his presence felt on some critical Covid-19 issues, Sam Sachdeva writes When it was revealed Chris Hipkins would replace David Clark as Health Minister, some observers wondered whether the role may stretch him ...
Matteo Di Maio takes a look at New Zealand’s most expensive rare books. Anah Dunsheath from Rare Books in Auckland knows how you ought to take an old book off the shelf, and how you ought not to. Novices will just pull the book out by the top of its ...
The incoming government needs to wake up and have a critical look at the child protection monster that is Oranga Tamariki, writes Dr Ian Hyslop There is always risk of a chronic disconnect between the policy and operational arms of public service organisations. This risk is particularly acute in excessively ...
The genetic secrets of New Zealand’s predatory 'lion' have been revealed with the mapping of the stoat genome, and there's hope better, kinder ways of getting rid of the introduced killing machines might be found A stoat’s spleen, liquid nitrogen, supercomputers, and 18 months of international effort has led to the mapping ...
Auckland 'move the port' studies have averaged out to at least two per year over the last decade with almost every one of them throwing out a different option or result. ...
The Covid-19 pandemic made us see the value of a life. Now the Team of Five Million needs to take that lesson and open its eyes to the value of the lives of Maori, Pasifika and People of Colour, writes Karamia Muller. This year, 2020, is asking everyone: What is ...
Power Play - Todd Muller is dreaming if he thinks saying no comment will wash after his MP leaked the private details of Covid-19 patients to the media. ...
The leak, we discovered last night, was the work of a first-term MP and a veteran National Party operator. What does it mean for the pair, and for the party, asks Ben Thomas.The latest whodunit in New Zealand politics was solved last night in a flurry of releases, as National’s ...
The Government wants to accelerate improvements to production and sustainability on the land to almost double export earnings in a decade. But big change will be needed, Tim Murphy reports. ...
Open mike 12/05/2011 
One of the challenges of working on illegal wildlife markets, is you don’t really have scope to talk about your research into illegal wildlife markets. There is some stuff though that willbe coming out on Asiatic black bears in China, and before Covid19, I was delving more into rhinos. Which ...2 hours ago
79 Articles Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Six hundred years of South American tree rings reveal an increase in severe hydroclimatic events since mid-20th century (open access) Late summer temperature variability for the Southern Rocky Mountains (USA) since 1735 CE: applying blue light intensity to low-latitude ...2 hours ago
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...5 hours ago
Michelle Boag - Former National Party PresidentWhen Todd Muller decided not to discipline Hamish Walker for his horribly racist press release last week, you had to wonder if his lack of proper leadership had something to do with a shared belief system? After all, the whiteness of the blue “team” ...6 hours ago
On Twitter today, lawyer Felix Geiringer asked a good question: why are MP's exempt from the Privacy Act? The Act imposes its obligations on "agencies", and s8 of the 2020 Act states that this term does not include... a member of Parliament in their official capacity The 1993 Act, ...7 hours ago
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...9 hours ago
Today’s content National Party revealed as source of Covid-19 privacy leak Audrey Young (Herald): National’s failures on patient leak from top to bottom (paywalled) Luke Malpass (Stuff): National leader Todd Muller found wanting in first real test of moral leadership Jo Moir (RNZ): How the Hamish Walker Covid-19 patient detail leak played out Mark ...11 hours ago
If the government has not lined up behind a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum the way some reformers would have liked, one entirely laudable thing it did do was commission some science around the public's choice.That science landed today, in the form of the report from an expert ...1 day ago
...2 days ago
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...5 days ago
5 days ago
Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...6 days ago
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...1 week ago
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...1 week ago
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...1 week ago
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...1 week ago
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...1 day ago
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...3 days ago
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...6 days ago
The Government’s three prevention frameworks to reduce family violence in Aotearoa were launched this week by Associate Minister for Social Development Poto Williams. The frameworks were developed in partnership with communities around New Zealand, and build on the work the Government has already begun with its new family violence prevention ...1 hour ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will take a proposal to Friday’s national cabinet to slow the influx of Australians returning from overseas. Morrison’s proposal followed this week’s request from Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan that international flights be ...25 mins ago
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua has created an action station petition to oppose the application for the proposed Dome Valley Landfill. Find the petition here: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/protect-our-kaipara-moana The Petition asks that the Mayor of Auckland, Auckland Council and the Minister for ...37 mins ago
Claire from McLeod’s Daughters died in 2003 and Tara Ward is still not over it. The unexpected death of Claire McLeod is the most tragic event you’ll see on television. It was a miserable day when that white Brumby bolted across the road and made Claire drive off a cliff, ...2 hours ago
Luckily for Labour, Jacinda Ardern's leadership in the Covid-19 crisis is a much more powerful political weapon than bread-and-butter issues about the country’s future. ...3 hours ago
Services to help those with drug and alcohol addictions are set to get an extra $32 million in funding over the next four years. ...4 hours ago
National MP Hamish Walker's unconscionable privacy breach has already ended his career and that of a party stalwart - but his caucus colleagues may also be cursing his terrible judgment come September 19, Sam Sachdeva writes A young, promising politician gifted one of the safest seats in the country and the ...4 hours ago
The country's latest case of Covid-19 will be charged for visiting an Auckland supermarket last night, Health Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed. Hipkins said the 32-year-old man, who arrived from India on July 3, left his managed isolation last night to go to the Countdown supermarket on Victoria Street in central ...5 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive The government’s economic engineers were hard at work yesterday. One minister was set on establishing a base for film production in Christchurch while – much more critically for the wellbeing of the nation – a cluster of others led by the PM were unveiling their grand ...6 hours ago
Air NZ shares fall as quarantine capacity stops it from selling new international tickets for at least three weeks and as Melbourne goes into complete lockdown ...11 hours ago
A flood of Kiwis returning home from Australia has overwhelmed quarantine capacity. Bernard Hickey reports the Government is looking at bringing in cruise ships to expand supply and a quarantine booking system to further restrict demand. Meanwhile, there is now no space for new guest workers, tourists or students for the foreseeable future. ...12 hours ago
Opinion: While the investigation into the security of patient data may still find the Government wanting, a rookie National MP’s spectacular own goal has put the opposition in the firing line, writes Laura Walters Political gameplay 101: If you're trying to highlight that another political party shouldn't be trusted with ...13 hours ago
A new survey supports fundamental changes to the country's criminal justice system, but a parallel study shows many still believe in a punitive system, Laura Walters reports A new survey suggests strong support amongst Kiwis for fundamental changes in the resourcing and funding of the criminal justice system, as well as a ...13 hours ago
The Covid-19 lockdown has only confirmed how vital New Zealand’s early childhood sector is to the future of this country. Now is the time to bed in a systemic policy infrastructure to support resilient children, write three experts. The Early Learning Action Plan (ELAP), released in December 2019, was barely ...14 hours ago
Picked as a star by one of the great women golfers of all time, Wellington teenager Darae Chung is preparing herself mentally and physically to play overseas again. When 16-year-old Darae Chung travels around the country – and eventually around the globe again – playing golf, she will have the ...14 hours ago
He has been in the job less than a week, but new Health Minister Chris Hipkins is already making his presence felt on some critical Covid-19 issues, Sam Sachdeva writes When it was revealed Chris Hipkins would replace David Clark as Health Minister, some observers wondered whether the role may stretch him ...14 hours ago
Matteo Di Maio takes a look at New Zealand’s most expensive rare books. Anah Dunsheath from Rare Books in Auckland knows how you ought to take an old book off the shelf, and how you ought not to. Novices will just pull the book out by the top of its ...14 hours ago
The incoming government needs to wake up and have a critical look at the child protection monster that is Oranga Tamariki, writes Dr Ian Hyslop There is always risk of a chronic disconnect between the policy and operational arms of public service organisations. This risk is particularly acute in excessively ...14 hours ago
The genetic secrets of New Zealand’s predatory 'lion' have been revealed with the mapping of the stoat genome, and there's hope better, kinder ways of getting rid of the introduced killing machines might be found A stoat’s spleen, liquid nitrogen, supercomputers, and 18 months of international effort has led to the mapping ...14 hours ago
Auckland 'move the port' studies have averaged out to at least two per year over the last decade with almost every one of them throwing out a different option or result. ...14 hours ago
The Covid-19 pandemic made us see the value of a life. Now the Team of Five Million needs to take that lesson and open its eyes to the value of the lives of Maori, Pasifika and People of Colour, writes Karamia Muller. This year, 2020, is asking everyone: What is ...14 hours ago
The Government wants to accelerate improvements to production and sustainability on the land to almost double export earnings in a decade. But big change will be needed, Tim Murphy reports. ...14 hours ago
If our finances are so dire and Joky Hen has identified where we can make serious adjustments that will put us back on the right track, how come he won’t implement those changes with immediate effect? Seems to me that if you are haemorrhaging then you apply the tourniquet now This is a sticking plaster approach to managing the economy, where the bleeding is of the government’s making in the first place.
Labour: KiwiSaver
National: KiwiSlaver
So what do you say to Phil Goff who, although bleating about the changes to kiwisaver, is also reported to have said that Labour would not reverse them.
Another “Axe the tax” campaign coming up?
Phil Goff is still the best leader of the opposition the government can have.
Bullshirt Sam, Bullshirt.
The Herald reports that Goff said “Labour would spread the burden more evenly, although such cuts were difficult to reverse all at once when there was a big deficit.”
He has not said he will not reverse them, only that the timing will need to be managed because of budgetary constraints.
Remind me never to believe anything you say ever again.
lovely .JM. we should use that in a core-flute at election time.Bye the way how many people picked up Brash’s comment on morning report ‘That the poor spend to much money on groceries. Perhaps he wants us to only eat tinned peas?
Great Jim! 🙂
Was checking on whether I had typed something or changed my mind at the last minute and found the follow-up comments … you guys might like one previously posted:
Helen Kelly: Working Bros
National: Warner Bros
🙂
‘
The Big Issues
Social Spending Cuts vs. Tax Cuts for the Rich.
The above, is the likely main issue around which the General Election will be about.
– and which all the contending political parties will be judged on.
One of the groups that has sought to make tax an election issue is the Tax Justice Campaign.
One of the main calls of the Tax Justice Campaign is the introduction of a Robin Hood tax, relabelled in this country the Hone Heke Tax, after the popular folk hero of New Zealand history.
Tax Justice are asking Kiwis to send a message to John Key following the release of the budget, next week.
Join the campaign, read all about it here.
“Employers and employees are going to have to shoulder more of the burden.”
and Phil O’Reilly agrees.
Kerr and his mates in the Round Table, however, have said that it is not
the responsibility of business to be involved in socially responsible issues.
It is their business to be as efficient and as profitable as possible.
Seems they would assert that the employee should be providing for himself, work harder, get more money and find his/her own retirement scheme.
Conservative bloggers use the repatriation of a head to accuse Maori of barbarism and praise European colonisation, but what about the European role in the nineteenth century head trade?
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2011/05/white-headhunters.html
Children and teachers at a fifth of the 1,600 schools in Fukushima are receiving at least 20 millisieverts of radiation per year, said Nakate, according to readings from the government. That’s the limit for a nuclear power plant worker, according to Japan’s nuclear safety commission.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-11/fukushima-students-wear-masks-as-radiation-looms.html
Prior to this thing happening children were legally ‘permitted’ 2 millisieverts per year, the Japanese government has OKed the higher dose.
Fukushima is the latest growing disaster the MSM are ignoring, did anyone hear that reactor buildings 3 & 4 were burning for a few days over the weekend, and might still be? And radio active steam and water are still gushing from the plants? With contaminated ground water moving IN land. ‘We’ got more accurate and up to date information from the Russians re Chernobyl …. which was under control 6 weeks after it shit itself, where as Fukushima is at best 9 months away from being ‘under control’ if ever.
There is song that describes what is going to happen globally regarding cancer – Turning Japanese, oh yes I think so ….
For more info that is way beyond our idiot editors, and the even bigger sacks of shit, you know the ones in the Beehive.
But we will be ok as we have Kiwi Saver 😉
Nuclear collapse looms? Fukushima No. 4 reactor ‘leaning’
Look at 4:27 ish on this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxbm7iJTT8U
What you can see is the side of the spent fuel pond gone.
Not that anyone gives a rats arse
Oh I think most people give a rat’s arse, but there is nothing – repeat – nothing – they can do about it.
Yeah not even to demand the truth out of the ruling cartel, because that would mean learning something themselves …. then dragging themselves off the couch and acting.
There are a few positive moves around the World in terms of closing old Nuclear reactors down and undertaking more inspections. This has been a direct result of people making their voices heard. It’s also a result of some politicians waking up and realising that if they don’t do something, similar “accidents” will occur. However not enough is being done to ensure our safety and the human species survival for that matter.
Ground level photos of the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP.
“The company had “no association” with the contract for the ministerial cars which he said would have been negotiated directly with BMW New Zealand.”
Question: Who has the maintainance contract on these cars. My guess is that it will probably be a Wellington dealership?
There are still questions that need answering…will the great Radio NZ political editor Brent Edwards go looking…or is he happy to regurgitate the National spin.
Storm in a tea cup.
Now that Hodgson is retiring Labour gets a new attack dog – Hipkins??
Speaking of smears and big issues and not fronting them, perhaps the PM might want to put his big boy pants on and do a sit down interview with this guy:
http://www.tv3.co.nz/John-Stephenson-re-Take-No-Prisoners-Apr-27/tabid/1833/articleID/70759/Default.aspx
Yeah, nah.
He would need to take his clown pants off first.
The amazing thing about Emperors Clothes is that they never need changing 😈
How to tell when someone’s lying.
Although deceptive people do not say much, they tend to spontaneously give a justification for what little they are saying, without being prompted.
They are more likely to press their lips when asked a sensitive question and are more likely to play with their hair or engage in other “grooming” behaviors. Gesturing toward one’s self with the hands tends to be a sign of deception; gesturing outwardly is not.
Ya reckon?.
Asshole of the Week Award – Kyle Chapman
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/05/asshole-of-week-award-kyle-chapman.html
Well this week’s award recipient was pretty easy to choose. Kyle Chapman jumped up and yelled; “I’m an asshole, look at me.” So naturally he was our top candidate. Kyle’s latest ridiculous crusade after taking a break from his National Front duties (to become a Mormon and rut his new wife Claire Clifford), was to start the fundamentalist group Right Wing Resistance (RWRNZ). Incidentally, Claire left the fascist in 2009 when he again became involved in hate campaigns. Wise move.
Aye and a progressive counter march is planned at the same time. Details are here.
todd, why did you change Nazi in the actual blog, to fundamentalist when quoting it here? Odd…
I started this as an open Letter to old smile and wave, but then I figured he would just ignore and delete so I will put it up here All comments are welcome. BTW I do not write for a living.
John Key You really think you are smart don’t you? you don’t give a flying fuck that you are leading New Zealand to Financial ruin. And you, who worships, and loves nothing more than money, and a job well done, why do you continue to sabotage Ordinary Kiwi’s?? you could have been a good prime minister. however you are a joke now. They Call you Shonky, Jonky, Smile and Wave and other less flattering things. What a legacy. The rich fool who hated his own country so much, that he lived in America. Until he came home to take his revenge against the very system that made him, gave him a safe environment, an education, (school and University) he went on to make millions, and what did he do ? He extracted his revenge on the very system that made him what he is. State Housing (ruined) ACC (ruined ready to be sold) Power Companies (readying them for sale 100% ( Don’t bullshit me)) WINZ ruined (where staff have been gutted, and now are overworked, demoralised, and underpaid). Early learning centres , Kindys and such funding slashed . The Family court that’s screwed now for sure. How will anyone ever get Free legal assistance ever again, or a competent lawyer, the Legal Aid service Slashed and cut. The Womans Refuge for gods sake the last bastion of safety for a battered woman, Funding Gutted. And I am sure others could add many more. And the numerous, faceless public servants that he has ruined, their lives in tatters, Bills to pay, bills that were incurred on a high income, and NO money or help, except to default. Because Winz won’t help if you can get an appointment in under 2 weeks, then you have to be like a performing dog, jumping through what ever hoops they feel like putting you through (You have NO choice in this. No do. NO MONEY). And then along come the vultures your mates they buy up NZ companies that you have ruined for a song. There are no jobs or if there are they don’t hire you. The minimum wage plummets, benefits are slashed, and crime increases and there you have it John Keys Utopia for all to see. A prison country..
Who would have thought Key would have watched Star trek Voyager episode 1 season 1 where a guy called Paris was serving on a prison colony in New Zealand.
Maybe that’s his goal a prison country.
Elections tend to be won or lost in Auckland – so, in my considered opinion, opposition to the proposed Auckland ($upercity) Council 4.9% increase, is not to be underestimated.
When the good folk in Epsom, living in their medium/ high value properties, realise that the Citizens and Ratepayer Councillors on 13 December 2010 supported a 3.9% rate increase – when they were led to believe that the Auckland ‘$upercity’ was going to achieve ‘economies of scale’ – I believe that some form of electoral backlash is to be expected….
__________________________________________________________________________
FYI:
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/act-begins-search-epsom-candidate-replace-hide-ne-92821#comment-121262
Colin Williscroft | Wednesday May 11, 2011 | 13 comments
Act begins search for Epsom candidate to replace Hide
Nominations are open for an Act candidate to replace Rodney Hide and contest the Epsom electorate in the November 26 election.
“Act has always had a strong presence in Epsom – from 1996, when the party won 22% of the party vote, to the present day,” Auckland South board member Barbara Steinijans said.
“In Rodney Hide the people of Epsom have had strong local representation for the past six years. Once again, Act will be running a strong electorate vote based campaign.”
The incumbent MP, Mr Hide, does not have the support of new party leader Don Brash, although Mr Hide is yet to formally rule himself out from standing in the seat.
Mr Hide won 56% of the vote in the 2008 election, although National won 63% of the party vote.
Nominations close at 5pm on May 24.
__________________________________________________________________
MY COMMENT:
John Banks was a loud and proud ‘$upercity’ supporter from Day One.
But – the first thing the $upercity -$uper RIP OFF Auckland Council wants to do is to put up residential and commercial rates 4.9%.
So much for the ‘economies of scale’ that were to be achieved by forcibly amalgamating our 8 former Councils, in another ‘Rogernomic$ blitzkrieg’ (without a binding poll of citizens and ratepayers).
For those who just want to jump on the band wagon and blame Mayor Len Brown and the ‘left-leaning’ majority on the Auckland Council – here are the FACTS:
C&R Councillors on 13 December 2010 voted in support of a 3.9% rates increase.
(You will note that young National Party ‘Wonder boy’ (?) Jami-Lee Ross supported a 3.9% rate increase? )
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/AboutCouncil/meetings_agendas/committees/Pages/strategyandfinancecommittee.aspx
Auckland Council Finance and Strategy Committee meeting 13 December 2010 (Pgs 7-8)
12. Annual Plan 2011/2012 – High Level Budget Review
(c) That the Strategy and Finance Committee agrees a rates target of 4.9% for 2011 -2012 to inform the Mayor’s development of the draft annual plan.
MOVED by Councillor Wood seconded Councillor Fletcher
That a rates increase of not more than 3.9% be struck and officers work to identify further savings.
A division was called for, voting on which was as follows:
For
Councillors
Cameron Brewer
Hon Chris Fletcher
Des Morrison
Callum Penrose
Noelene Raffills
Jami-Lee Ross
Sharon Stewart
George Wood
Against
Councillors
Anae Arthur Anae
Len Brown
Dr Cathy Casey
Sandra Coney
Alf Filipaina
Ann Hartley
Penny Hulse
Richard Northey
Sir John Walker
Wayne Walker
Penny Webster
Councillors Michael Goudie and Mike Lee were absent.
The division was declared lost 8 votes to 11
________________________________________________________________________________
The Auckland Council ‘books’ are NOT open.
If a giant scalpel were to be applied to all that consultant and private contractor BLUBBER, and core council services returned to ‘in-house’ provision (cutting out all these private ‘piggies-in-the-middle’), in my considered opinion, rates could be slashed by hundreds of millions of dollars.
That’s why I’m standing in the Howick by-election.
To help achieve that.
‘OPEN THE BOOKS! – CUT OUT THE CONTRACTORS!’
PS: If you think replacing the ‘bureaucracy’ with the ‘contractocracy’ is so ‘efficient’ – ask yourself this one simple question.
Over the last 20 years – have YOUR rates gone up or down?
Penny Bright
http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
http://www.stopthesupercity.org.nz
http://www.stopprivatisation.org.nz
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Penney I fully sympathasise because we are experiencing the same phenomenon with the Selwyn District Council who have just put up our rates nearly 15% on top of a 20% increase last year for Lake Coleridge Village.
The situation is a wee bit different as these increases are mostly on targeted rates like water and sewage on a small village of 40 households, but having said that we have to pay for a new swimming pool at Rolleston that is about 2 hours drive from here.
This pool cost about 14 million was approved regardless of earthquake damage in the area and on top of $14 million that was spent on building the new council chambers two years ago.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote to Mr Hide (a bit late) but I also wrote to Sue Kedgley we are trying to get the audit office in to have a look at the books.
Yes I agree the more it is outscoursed the less accountability there is, well I guess the most obvious example is contractors putting in their tenders, that has to be treated as commercially sensitive information. Still an auditor can still go through the books without compromising anyones privacy.
Yet they seem powerless and furthermore there doesn’t seem to be any political will to back them up.
So much for Rodney Hide’s promise to put a cap on Rates that exceed the rate of inflation, that promise can’t even be held in a supercity such as Auckland where the economies of scale is vastly different to the Selwyn District in Canterbury.
World’s Satirists Jump Under Buses
“Just can’t compete with this shit”
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/arctic-countries-seek-cooperation-ice-melts-150250967.html
wait for it, wait for iiiiit…
…
I’ve always been puzzled by the apparent certainty that the Arctic holds huge amounts of ‘undiscovered’ resources. Isn’t it also possible that it actually holds very little? Or that some other part on the planet that hasn’t been thoroughly explored (and there are lots) could actually turn out to have the motherlode?
Obviously, the concern about the 1.6m rise in sea levels is about how much more it’s going to cost to build the offshore oil rigs.
Anthropocene: Have humans created a new geological age?.
Dr Jan Zalasiewicz of the University of Leicester is one of the leading proponents of the Anthropocene theory. He told BBC News: “Simply put, our planet no longer functions in the way that it once did. Atmosphere, climate, oceans, ecosystems… they’re all now operating outside Holocene norms. This strongly suggests we’ve crossed an epoch boundary.”
Read this..
Funny photo of John Key too.. lol
http://www.webcitation.org/5VxD4yxyR
On the face of it looks like a good choice for once.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/4995021/Roger-Sutton-chief
Yeah. Hopefully he’ll be able to sort EQC out and get some proper co-ordination going there.
I really think they need to move to a model where people have case managers to deal with their claims so there’s some continuity of information and handling, instead of getting the ridiculous run-around of ringing up the call center, being put on hold for 20 minutes only to be told “no, we have no information for you”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4992150/PM-announces-Tai-Tokerau-by-election-date
25th June. Hone has till 31 May get his 500 members or he’ll have to run as an independant.
Would love Michael Cullen back:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10336666
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10336779
Interesting the thought of lowering taxes for business to a really low rate.
Had a mate just come back from living in Vegas for many years and he talked to me about how well that’s not gone over there.
As a result of lowering business taxes to low levels, and in some case state taxes to zero, new business has not been attracted to states like Nevada because as they now have no money services and infrastructure and education has been cut and no business wants to move there – you can’t for instance get skilled staff because the education system doesn’t produce any.
Sure Nevada for instance has other problems such as billions of dollars of clean up needed from now absent mining companies but lowering taxes has made things worse not better.
90% of Climate Denial Papers linked to ExxonMobil
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/05/90-of-climate-denial-papers-linked-to.html
A recent article by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), concerning a number of peer reviewed scientific papers, has received widespread global condemnation from environmentalists, scientists and some of the authors of the papers themselves. The article references more than 900 papers which, according to the GWPF, refute “concern relating to a negative environmental or socio-economic effect of AGW.
Roger Sutton will start in the role in mid-June, as the permanent chief executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. CERRA
Crikey. That was suggested by many including Jim Anderton at least 2months ago. A great leader for the job, as long as he can manage Brownlie.
# David Farrar (1,467) Says:
May 12th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
I might donate to Kelvin also.
Kelvin has no chance … labour party policy don’t give him the room to capture enough votes, and why vote your Kelvin he is already in next term at 23 on the list.
Hey David I think the last thing Kelvin would want is an endorsement from yourself, that would surely lower his mana in the north.
In the last Election Hone had a 32% mayority over Kelvin. If Kelvin wants a mandate he should also stand down from the Parliament, and remove himself from the list for the general election to test his mandate at this by election. I doubt he would.
Ok serious issues now, what the frack was Maurice Williamson on today?
Check out what he’s saying at 1:57, 2:00, and 2:17 in this vid: http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/8742
What’s he playing at meow?
http://labour.org.nz/news/national-shows-further-contempt-for-workers%E2%80%99-rights
This is what I’ve been saying for years now about the building industry in Auckland especially but around the country in general. It’s possible to be offered a position as a builder (4 years on the job training) for $15/hr +GST and for that one low price you have to supply all your own tools and vehicle (and old junker won’t cut it either as it will be unreliable). The tools aren’t cheap and need to be maintained and certified every three months.
Basically, once you take into account all your expenses for that hourly rate you’re quite literally paying to go to work. Paula Bennett’s “any job’s a good job” just shows how out of touch she is.
If you’re on the UE benefit WINZ will cut you off if you turn down said job because you must accept any reasonable offer of a job and the idiots at WINZ just look at the $15/hr and think it’s reasonable.
Yes, I saw that live today:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/9/5/2/49HansQ_20110512_00000009-9-Find-a-Job-Website-Vacancies-Employment.htm
My thought at the time was that she was assuming only young people would be looking for such jobs. But what of the people who have already proved themselves, have a lot of experience and have been made redundant, especially older people? I heard a section on Nine-to-Noon this week about discrimination against older workers by recruitment practices, making it hard for older people to get jobs.
The great right wing myth that the min wage is just something kids get paid until they “move up”.
Or move to Australia.
That website is utter shite! Having been told that we have to make x applications per month through it, I look every so often. Many of the vacancies listed are old (and actually the positions are closed) and one can’t apply directly, but have to go through a case manager…
Getting the ‘case manager’ to pull finger and put in an application within the time specified is a job in itself (I have missed out on being considered for many jobs because of lazy or incompetent case managers and job brokers one of whom could not find my CV on time, although I followed her instructions and sent it to her time and time again, and it was already on their system!
All of the jobs seem to be unskilled, and some of them are frankly scams (telemarketing, pyramid selling etc.) One job broker referred me for a job I had already applied for and been turned down for, and then referred me for a job way above my competence. I was very embarassed when the employer (DOS of a language school) phoned to tell me gently that I wasn’t qualified, sorry, and I told her “I know. I didn’t want to be referred for the job, but WINZ wouldn ‘t listen”
WINZ don’t know their rectums from their ante-cubital fossae..
I heard that Goldman Sachs has been hired to help AMI Insurance.
Learn a bit more about Goldman Sachs on the excellent Keiser Report. NB some offensive language 🙂
Summing up Goldman Sachs business practice: Finangle a sale of paper to the client that we get paid a commission for, when the paper fucks over the client it we will benefit again because we took bets out that the paper we sold the client will collapse.
Yeah, I don’t think that getting G/S to help AMI will help AMI – probably do G/S real good though.
Today on my way to Parnell, I had the misfortune to sit right behind a chatty bus driver who insisted on pointing out John Key’s house, and telling me how much better he is under NACT, and how NACT will force his ‘malingerer’ brother on a sickness benefit to get a job, and force his prisoner ‘good for nothing’ brother in law to go straight…
Then he showed some more of his true charm by letting me off outside off at the primary school where I was going to interview for a special needs teacher aide job – and as I got off the bus saying to me “There they are, the little bastards. Rich kids!” * as he drove away.
As my son said later when I told him about it, the guy is the second type of RWNJ, a poor or middle class guy who thinks that a leader like Shonkey will make him (Mr Bus Driver) into a plutocrat, who can crap on the poor, as in his perception the ‘dictator’ Helen Clark used to do. By him Phil Goff is a weak ninny who wouldn’t stand up to Helen, and John Key is a brave knight who has rescued our economy. (Above all, my making beneficiaries ‘shape up’! )
*As the school principal interviewing me said, the school is decile 10, but it takes children from all over the show, including the children of doctoral candidates from University of Auckland, and its make up is changing. Not all “rich kids” by any means.