How cynically undemocratic is this NAct government? …. determined to push ahead with it’s programme assisting corproates, at home and abroad, to fleece Kiwis of their hard earned assets and rights:
The Government will not delay the passage of the bill allowing share floats of state-owned enterprises until after the Waitangi Tribunal has held its urgent hearings on the matter.
Ministers are insisting such sales would not affect the rights and interests of iwi and will not set aside any shares for future settlement.
But SOE Minister Tony Ryall says the Government could be prepared at a later stage to “stand in the market” and buy shares for some iwi as part of Treaty of Waitangi settlements.
When will the media hold the government to account, and challenge their way of treating democracy like a business enterprise where rights and social justice are just products and services to be bought and sold in the marketplace?
John Armstrong is beginning to give it a go, and not for the first time. He’s been having a few digs recently. It seems like he’s getting a cynical about this self-serving government (unlike his colleague Fran O’Sullivan).
The talk about contraception was designed to get John Key’s controversy-plagued Government back on the front foot and regain control of the political agenda for the first time in weeks.
It wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last, welfare reform is wheeled out to perform that function.
Rosy, don’t talk to me about the blind Fran O’Sullivan who has all the discernment of a weed! Yes, I think we can call her “dear John” a weed, anyway! Fran’s problem is not being able to find a way to “fall out of love” with that handsome stag (sorry – I changed the analogy from weed)!!.
But whatever his problems, TV News continues to consult JK on anything and everything. He looks sublimely happy with that.
RT is playing the very forthright documentary The War in Iraq over the next few days, May 11,12,13. It is a compelling and well researched investigation into the ideas and ideals behind the illegal invasion and ongoing destruction of Iraq. In short it is a terrifying exposé of the manipulation and deceipt that is contemporary Geo-Politics.
Muzza What against poverty.This is the same attitude they had in southern states of the US last century Eugenics.Divide and conquer the human right commission should get into Paula Bennett.
Every body should be treated as equal.
Thats right Mike E – The playbook is simply a rehash, the agenda nothing new…I was trying to point out the ease at which the medias complicity to relaying the messages can be called out!
Everyone equal….LOL, yes they will all be forced vaccinations if this gets off the ground…Not for the decision makers of course….just the cattle!
Another option is that the government thinks it’s taking a hit on the poverty-related kiddie-illness issue. It can blame kids eating slops on bad parenting, but disease is not so easily dismissed.
So rather than spending money on making doctors more accessible, or reducing overcrowding, or making sure homes are warm enough, I think they figure that forcing beneficiaries to immunize is an easy and free (if not cost-positive) way to drop vaccine-preventable diseases by 5-10%. And making it easier for them to fuck the economy for another three years.
As for me, I think that addressing inequality and housing, alongside beefing up the education system, would do a lot mre to prevent communicable diseases than compulsory vaccination to catch the tail-end of nutbars.
Although there might be something to be said for restricting school and ECE attendance to vaccinated kids only, but that might just be a first-stage response to an emerging epidemic.
Under these arrangements, an American corporation, for example, would be given far more extensive rights against our government than any New Zealand company would ever have. It would mean that a future government, perhaps elected to change policy in an area like environmental protection or health and safety (smoking comes to mind), could be threatened with a crippling lawsuit unless it backed off.
I heard Tony Ryall on the radio yesterday reassuring us Lanth. He said that there was no way that we would lose our sovereignty and that what Government would sell our rights away in a Treaty? So that’s alright then.
Sheesh, anyone watching the Nation this morning? The introduction piece about Shearer gagging DC and preventing him from coming on to debate asset sales – fear of stepping on Parkers toes. Parker cant compete with National MP’s on this issue- he simply is not powerful, intelligent and articulate enough. Labour are like a really shit AB’s line up right now, the players are in the wrong places – I cringe when they hit the public field.
Fancy Shearer appointing Parker Finance Spokesperson. If promotions are merit based then Cunliffe should be the finance spokesperson. He should at least be allowed to debate things publicly occasionally.
And it looks like the leaks are continuing. Someone high up has told Garner that Cunliffe was gagged. If Labour really wants to look like a Government these leaks need to stop.
Shearer gagging Cunliffe wouldn’t surprise me especially after the speech that Cunliffe gave a few weeks ago which seemed to be almost totally against what Shearer has been saying.
Utterly odd that with Shearer AGAIN muzzling Cunliffe, there was no-one to go on The Nation this morning to hold the Government to account.
So instead Tony Ryle as Minister of SOE’s got what amounted to an Opposition-free hall pass to talk about the great asset selloff.
And here we are less than 2 weeks away from the Government’s budget, so where the hell is the supposed Opposition Finance Spokesperson David Parker? Utterly absent, from the guy who five months ago who wanted to lead the entire Labour Party.
And not to put too fine a point on it, Cunliffe has done the only effective set-piece speech from Labour since the election.
Great Labour can go “me too” to absolutely every political scandal going in the let month, but when it comes to leading the attack, they are simply willful eunuchs. Shame on Shearer – grow a pair man.
@patrickgowernz
Cunliffe no-show on @theNationtv3 clearly shows he’s been gagged by Labour hierachy fearing he appears up for leadership challenge
This could be a good sign though, that finally Shearer is starting use some authority. If he can keep building on that – and if the party visibly unites behind him – he can let the spokespeople do their thing – next year is plenty of time to develop that.
You have to be joking. A senior member of the Labour Party being prevented from going on TV to take the fight to the Government? What are Labour going to do? Not say or do anything just in case the leader feels threatened?
A real leader would support his spokespersons getting media traction and arguing Labour policy. Helen certainly did.
No, I doubt very much that Shearer is the type of guy who would try to dumb down his front bench spokerspersons. Goff seems to have done that to get his personality popularity figures up: they all know that didn’t work.
Shearer is a tall man and hopefully a MAN. He would have learned from the mistakes of the Goff strategy. He would definitely be encouraging all of his team to front-up and make strong speeches that push the Labour brand. I hope his replacement of advisors and office staff works out for the better.
“Waiting for Copernicus: On the Slow-Death of Neoliberalism”
“It’s happening in Buenos Aires. It’s happening in Paris and in Athens. It’s even happening at the World Bank headquarters.
The global economy is finally shifting away from the model that prevailed for the last three decades. Europeans are rejecting austerity. Latin Americans are nationalizing enterprises.”
“Argentina is by no means the only country in the region to roll back the privatization mania. The Brazilian government increased its control over the oil company Petrobras a couple years ago. In Bolivia, the government of Evo Morales recently renationalized the electricity grid, which had also been in Spanish hands. This move comes after the nationalization of hydroelectric facilities and telecommunications. Venezuela, under Hugo Chavez, has made enlarging the state sector a populist rallying cry. And Ecuador has followed suit with laws to allow the government to seize oil and gas companies that don’t comply with national regulations.”
The rest of the World except the U$$$$ (Also known as the Banana republic of the US$$$) and the UK$$$$ have woken up to the disaster that is NeoLiberalism. Alas though Shonkey and his mates haven’t and they’re making the ordinary kiwi pay for their willful blindness and stupidity continuing with the Privatisation impoverishment rort which only benefits their class mates.
Privatisation and Austerity are major ideological planks for National. Can yo see them backing off? When you pull a few scaffolding planks away the structure would fall.
The sort of outrageous abuse of consumers one gets with Privatisation example in the UK$$$:
“£130 a year on your gas and electricity bill: British Gas owner threatens rises… as it approves a £9m pay package for its bosses
Household bills could reach record highs
Shareholders don’t back pay deal for chief exec”
Profit has always been on the backs of the consumers. That’s why the politicians and corporates push higher and higher consumption even though it’s not sustainable and why, interestingly enough, they both treat the average person as drain rather than as a person.
I heard Winston Peters on Radionz Wed-Fri I think on Morning Report dissing Whanau Ora and Tariana Turia giving a spirited defence of it.
Government and people need to get beyond having a hissy fit every time something goes wrong with Maori initiatives. She made the point that when working for and with people who have been on the bottom strata of society there would be times when there were unsatisfactory outcomes.
And I think this is inevitable so let’s face up to it and set up good monitoring and scrutiny and not use the bad to stop good from being encouraged. And the bad can’t be prevented completely – we can only work out regular checks so they get caught early and then the good that is happening can reach out to all levels of Maori society faster.
After all the whites aren’t so good either, if Maori are supposed to look at the white wealthy as towers of aspiration, we had better step up to our lofty myths and act to stop pakeha business and charitable scams. And the unregulated permissive business and government practices with casinos, jobs for our friends without tender, etc etc (fill in this gap with your own examples) smooths the way to dishonesty and contempt of probity.
So the one sure way to prevent adequate spending programs on Maori social, employment and SME development, of a legal sort, is to explode with disgust any time that associated wrongdoing comes to light and throw out the baby with the bathwater. Result is a big -0.
Good on old Winnie, the crafty old bugger, he’s always putting a cat among the pigeons.
“Why would the Government pay for a TV programme [ The GC ] that shows Kiwis earning high Aussie wages while living a degenerate party lifestyle?
“We are all sick of the chardonnay-sipping liberals creating this sort of rubbish – we need to put people on the NZ On Air board who show a bit more intelligence than those who chose to fund this brain-dead show.”
NZ On Air funds programmes with cultural value, and Mr Peters says that’s rubbish as well.
“The much-hyped Maori cultural content is virtually non-existent. Just showing a few scribbles on their faces hardly satisfies the requirement.”
24th of May, Thursday week, is budget day. The National Party had a free run on the Nation this morning. The Labour Party declined an invitation. WTF. Tory Ryall got away with murder on selling our Assets: no Labour person there to challenge him. WTF. Who is responsible and accountable for business management in the Labour Opposition?
Well Balanced – Could the people demand a by-election on electorates of Opposition members who aren’t doing the job we are paying them for? A very adequate income indeed these days. Never heard of it but they are being paid while they are in Parliament and they are expected to be holding the government to account not playing pretty positional and psychological games choosing when to expose themselves and their programs and beliefs to scrutiny.
In sport coach positions are reviewed quick smart when their team doesn’t perform. We people are supposed to be the backbone of the democracy, the real job creators with our tax money and investment of savings and work skills, so we should have more to say and more control over our political agents in the way that investors in paid sports sectors have.
It may be a good idea to hold fire for now, let Government Ministers shoot their bolts and keep the Opposition powder dry until the blowup of the Budget itself. Let the Minister hoist their own petards and dare them to damn the torpedoes in the winter of our discontent after the Dreaded Budget.
Ianmac – Yes I see your point but it seems necessary to make a show up so that people know they have a sparking Opposition. If they have definite policy trends that they believe are important, even if they can’t actually carry every policy that would be beneficial, then they could refer back to that trend. The comment would illustrate how government was not achieving good change with the latest thrash of programs. It would be a broken record approach – ‘But how will that return us to more employment and full-time jobs allowing discretionary spending?’for instance.
We still haven’t seen Joyce being held to account for whatever this big Ministry of Big Business and Screw You All is supposed to deliver.
Duncan Garner should do a show with Joyce versus Cunliffe, and see where we really are toe to toe.
Actually the next set piece speech I want to see, once the smoke is cleared from Greece, is about The Economy and The Environment. Something about biosecurity and agricultural risk, something about our future as a food producer, and something about the necessity of the Greens to New Zealand politics.
Strange we don’t hear the Labour leadership ready and willing to work with the Greens.
Would the Greens leadership want one bar of Labour? Greens have all the intelligent policies, where Labour seems unable to come up even with UNintelligent policies, none at all!
Who knows who’s in charge these days. I won’t vote for em in this state, and Shearer to me? a big mistake making him leader. Cunliffe should have been there to keep the crap to a`minimum, where was he ????
If one decile of 400000 people has more babies than another decile of 400000, then yeah, they have more births. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s a fact.
My guess is that deprivation is largely proportional to age, and probably reproduction itself (DINKs vs 2.4kids). Just controlling for age would probably be interesting. Also if there’s a gender skew in the dep06 indices, that might be an issue. If it were really dissected, we might just find that people most likely to be poor are young women.
Ianmac: the Labour Brand today was very weak. And it will be even more so tomorrow if the Front Bench does not Front-up. Where was Shearer, Robinson or Parker? A week out from the be budget and you suggest we give them a free run!! We need to get all our best front bench people making appearances on these opinion forming forums. Every MP hold have Pre-Budget scene setting speeches or newsletters out in their electorates to set a context in which voters can hear the budget. Every MP should have a Post-Budget speech booked or newsletter planned that will highlight the deficiencies.
Ianmac, if we are not shaping the story, the Nats will. Take your pick. Mine is that we shape the the story. Today we failed abysmally. The responsible Labour Party manager should get a written warning. The accountable person should prepare to replace the poor performers.
Slater is quoted as saying they didn’t come from a burglary but won’t say where they came from.
I refuse to give his site the traffic of following this up but assume others here may have seen what Slater’s been doing and could guess as to why he’s doing this? Personal? Professional? Insane?
Slater is of course not divulging where he acquired the data, but its likely to have come from Blomfield’s stolen computer and therefore Slater could be looking at a bit of jail time…
I keep an eye on Whaleoil but have avoided looking at this in any detail, it’s an alleged business related scandal in Auckland, not somewhere I want to spend any time looking, especially if information is illegally obtained – which if true don’t help Whale’s very mixed reputation.
The number of comments on those threads started high but dropped fairly quickly, I don’t think it’s riveting for most of his audience.
There seems to be a lack of desire from the Police to test the new anti-hacking laws. They’re pretty specific except for the bit about knowledge which is subjective;
“252 Accessing computer system without authorisation
(1) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years who intentionally accesses, directly or indirectly, any computer system without authorisation, knowing that he or she is not authorised to access that computer system, or being reckless as to whether or not he or she is authorised to access that computer system.”
If the emails are from a stolen computer then I would think that Slater would then be an accessory to a crime. In that scenario the emails look to have been accessed in the manner described above. It might be called anti-hacking law but it’s not expressed as such, it clearly applies equally to accessing someone’s computer directly.
Not sure. I think that was one of the reasons they brought in the new legislation, digital content created some ambiguities on the law front that gave the defence lawyer plenty to argue against. The computer was stolen but if data was copied from it was the copied data still stolen goods? Also.. how can you prove that copied data came directly from the stolen computer; could have come from a hacked PC, backup device or other unknown source.
Just saw Jonathan Young, the National MP for New Plymouth, park in a metered parking space and walk into a nearby cafe without even looking at the meter. It appears the rules don’t apply when you’re an MP. Hope he gets a ticket 😉
Weird editorial in the Dompost today.
Making vaguely complimentary noises about mothers who look after children.
Are they trying to send all women back to the kitchen or are the Nact focus groups showing women to be dead sick of all the attacks being launched on them and/or the children?
Student loans & allowances interest free were very popular when introduced not only with the students but parents and grandpaprents. Is this going to unravel Nact support some more?
Making vaguely complimentary noises about mothers who look after children.
Are they trying to send all women back to the kitchen
That seems a bit of a stretch, Red Baron! Mothers look after children and ought to be allowed to! Saying every mother should work outside the home, is a good line for bene bashing, and reminds me that Rosemary McLeod of all people had a column in North & South or Metro in the 80s, in which she speculated that a lot of the hatred of DPB mothers was simply jealousy that they got to stay home and actually look after their children!
I know I am a cynic, but what in heaven or earth would it take to unravel Nact support in a country whose brightest and best are wallowing in Australia? Those of us (unfortunately) remaining do not rate highly in discernment of human beings (if that is what Tories are).
We take the Fran O’Sullivans of the country for our models!!
“”A coeducational Christian college, Y1–13, of over 1500 students. Our emphasis is on applying biblical principles to all aspects of school life. Commitment to the college’s special character and a willingness to take part in related instructional programmes are a condition of all appointments””.
A State integrated school, (Tax funded) ad for a TECHNOLOGY teacher.
Can’t anyone see what is wrong with this?
If you want a job you must participate in brainwashing kids with unproven irrational beliefs.
If you want a job you must participate in brainwashing kids with unproven irrational beliefs.
Sorry, I think you’re wrong – your comment shows a very strong bias the other way, and would you be so angry if the advert was for a Muslim school, a Steiner school or a Jewish one? I can’t see an atheist applying other than to create a huge fuss…
State schools should be secular. Not pushing religious beliefs.
If religious believers want to pay for their own schools to brainwash their kids I can’t stop them.
But schools funded by all of us should not be allowed to discriminate in their employment practices on the grounds of willingness to help with the brainwashing.
At least sanity is prevailing. Less and less people participate in religion every year.
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Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
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Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
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It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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How cynically undemocratic is this NAct government? …. determined to push ahead with it’s programme assisting corproates, at home and abroad, to fleece Kiwis of their hard earned assets and rights:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10805345
When will the media hold the government to account, and challenge their way of treating democracy like a business enterprise where rights and social justice are just products and services to be bought and sold in the marketplace?
“When will the media hold the government to account …?”
Carol, i am going to go with never!
John Armstrong is beginning to give it a go, and not for the first time. He’s been having a few digs recently. It seems like he’s getting a cynical about this self-serving government (unlike his colleague Fran O’Sullivan).
And Joyce’s Student Loan adjustments unsupported by any paperwork or rationale. Off the cuff as a cynical distraction?
Rosy, don’t talk to me about the blind Fran O’Sullivan who has all the discernment of a weed! Yes, I think we can call her “dear John” a weed, anyway! Fran’s problem is not being able to find a way to “fall out of love” with that handsome stag (sorry – I changed the analogy from weed)!!.
But whatever his problems, TV News continues to consult JK on anything and everything. He looks sublimely happy with that.
They have murdoched our media
http://rt.com/programs/schedule/
RT is playing the very forthright documentary The War in Iraq over the next few days, May 11,12,13. It is a compelling and well researched investigation into the ideas and ideals behind the illegal invasion and ongoing destruction of Iraq. In short it is a terrifying exposé of the manipulation and deceipt that is contemporary Geo-Politics.
The Government is considering requiring beneficiaries to immunise their children
Wow what a shock, pretty sure the playbook was called the other day that this was something the govt would use as a move toward forced vaccination!
EDIT: My comment was about the contraception and forced injections, but it took four days for the article above to appear
Who else wants a copy of the playbook ?
Muzza What against poverty.This is the same attitude they had in southern states of the US last century Eugenics.Divide and conquer the human right commission should get into Paula Bennett.
Every body should be treated as equal.
Thats right Mike E – The playbook is simply a rehash, the agenda nothing new…I was trying to point out the ease at which the medias complicity to relaying the messages can be called out!
Everyone equal….LOL, yes they will all be forced vaccinations if this gets off the ground…Not for the decision makers of course….just the cattle!
Another option is that the government thinks it’s taking a hit on the poverty-related kiddie-illness issue. It can blame kids eating slops on bad parenting, but disease is not so easily dismissed.
So rather than spending money on making doctors more accessible, or reducing overcrowding, or making sure homes are warm enough, I think they figure that forcing beneficiaries to immunize is an easy and free (if not cost-positive) way to drop vaccine-preventable diseases by 5-10%. And making it easier for them to fuck the economy for another three years.
And what about you McFlock?
Musing about the possible facist intentions of the current government, could lead one to thinking that you could find some common ground with them….
In fact having read your posts on the other vaccine thread, it seems you might could well be quite the little tyrant in your own mind!
At least I’m only one person in my own mind.
As for me, I think that addressing inequality and housing, alongside beefing up the education system, would do a lot mre to prevent communicable diseases than compulsory vaccination to catch the tail-end of nutbars.
Although there might be something to be said for restricting school and ECE attendance to vaccinated kids only, but that might just be a first-stage response to an emerging epidemic.
TPP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10804415
I heard Tony Ryall on the radio yesterday reassuring us Lanth. He said that there was no way that we would lose our sovereignty and that what Government would sell our rights away in a Treaty? So that’s alright then.
Tony Ryall’s reassurance counts for nothing. He has zero credibility.
All of National has zero credibility.
Sheesh, anyone watching the Nation this morning? The introduction piece about Shearer gagging DC and preventing him from coming on to debate asset sales – fear of stepping on Parkers toes. Parker cant compete with National MP’s on this issue- he simply is not powerful, intelligent and articulate enough. Labour are like a really shit AB’s line up right now, the players are in the wrong places – I cringe when they hit the public field.
Actually its deliberate sabotage of the party…
Parker is a complete lighweight, non entity, so why is he being left in that position…
Parliamentarians for Global Order , all of them!
This is so crazy.
Fancy Shearer appointing Parker Finance Spokesperson. If promotions are merit based then Cunliffe should be the finance spokesperson. He should at least be allowed to debate things publicly occasionally.
And it looks like the leaks are continuing. Someone high up has told Garner that Cunliffe was gagged. If Labour really wants to look like a Government these leaks need to stop.
Shearer gagging Cunliffe wouldn’t surprise me especially after the speech that Cunliffe gave a few weeks ago which seemed to be almost totally against what Shearer has been saying.
Utterly odd that with Shearer AGAIN muzzling Cunliffe, there was no-one to go on The Nation this morning to hold the Government to account.
So instead Tony Ryle as Minister of SOE’s got what amounted to an Opposition-free hall pass to talk about the great asset selloff.
And here we are less than 2 weeks away from the Government’s budget, so where the hell is the supposed Opposition Finance Spokesperson David Parker? Utterly absent, from the guy who five months ago who wanted to lead the entire Labour Party.
And not to put too fine a point on it, Cunliffe has done the only effective set-piece speech from Labour since the election.
Great Labour can go “me too” to absolutely every political scandal going in the let month, but when it comes to leading the attack, they are simply willful eunuchs. Shame on Shearer – grow a pair man.
If Labour cannot or do not want to front up, then another spokesperson from the opposition should be there, eg Mana, NZ First or Greens.
If Labour want to give the role of major Opposition to one of the other parties, I’m sure the other parties will gladly take the ball and run with it.
We know the PM shoots blanks but is it clear that Labour has balls?
How on earth could Cunliffe NOT seem totally against what Shearer is “saying”!
And Bloody Farrar is now running the story. He also says Shearer’s office gagged Cunliffe.
Labour get your shyte together. Cunliffe is your biggest asset. Use him.
Not just him saying it.
This could be a good sign though, that finally Shearer is starting use some authority. If he can keep building on that – and if the party visibly unites behind him – he can let the spokespeople do their thing – next year is plenty of time to develop that.
You have to be joking. A senior member of the Labour Party being prevented from going on TV to take the fight to the Government? What are Labour going to do? Not say or do anything just in case the leader feels threatened?
A real leader would support his spokespersons getting media traction and arguing Labour policy. Helen certainly did.
While Natz are trying to cut the economy out of the doldrums and telling tall stories, let’s hope Labour are not trying to cut down tall poppies.
No, I doubt very much that Shearer is the type of guy who would try to dumb down his front bench spokerspersons. Goff seems to have done that to get his personality popularity figures up: they all know that didn’t work.
Shearer is a tall man and hopefully a MAN. He would have learned from the mistakes of the Goff strategy. He would definitely be encouraging all of his team to front-up and make strong speeches that push the Labour brand. I hope his replacement of advisors and office staff works out for the better.
“Waiting for Copernicus: On the Slow-Death of Neoliberalism”
“It’s happening in Buenos Aires. It’s happening in Paris and in Athens. It’s even happening at the World Bank headquarters.
The global economy is finally shifting away from the model that prevailed for the last three decades. Europeans are rejecting austerity. Latin Americans are nationalizing enterprises.”
“Argentina is by no means the only country in the region to roll back the privatization mania. The Brazilian government increased its control over the oil company Petrobras a couple years ago. In Bolivia, the government of Evo Morales recently renationalized the electricity grid, which had also been in Spanish hands. This move comes after the nationalization of hydroelectric facilities and telecommunications. Venezuela, under Hugo Chavez, has made enlarging the state sector a populist rallying cry. And Ecuador has followed suit with laws to allow the government to seize oil and gas companies that don’t comply with national regulations.”
Link:http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/09-1
The rest of the World except the U$$$$ (Also known as the Banana republic of the US$$$) and the UK$$$$ have woken up to the disaster that is NeoLiberalism. Alas though Shonkey and his mates haven’t and they’re making the ordinary kiwi pay for their willful blindness and stupidity continuing with the Privatisation impoverishment rort which only benefits their class mates.
Privatisation and Austerity are major ideological planks for National. Can yo see them backing off? When you pull a few scaffolding planks away the structure would fall.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/09-10
Apologies this is the correct link for the above article “Waiting for Copernicus…”
The sort of outrageous abuse of consumers one gets with Privatisation example in the UK$$$:
“£130 a year on your gas and electricity bill: British Gas owner threatens rises… as it approves a £9m pay package for its bosses
Household bills could reach record highs
Shareholders don’t back pay deal for chief exec”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143260/130-year-gas-electricity-British-Gas-owner-threatens-rises–approves-9m-pay-package-bosses.html#ixzz1ubYzlnsb
“British Gas profits are expected to rise from £522million in 2011 to £592million this year.”
Profits off the backs of consumers and still the price rises keep coming!
Profit has always been on the backs of the consumers. That’s why the politicians and corporates push higher and higher consumption even though it’s not sustainable and why, interestingly enough, they both treat the average person as drain rather than as a person.
I heard Winston Peters on Radionz Wed-Fri I think on Morning Report dissing Whanau Ora and Tariana Turia giving a spirited defence of it.
Government and people need to get beyond having a hissy fit every time something goes wrong with Maori initiatives. She made the point that when working for and with people who have been on the bottom strata of society there would be times when there were unsatisfactory outcomes.
And I think this is inevitable so let’s face up to it and set up good monitoring and scrutiny and not use the bad to stop good from being encouraged. And the bad can’t be prevented completely – we can only work out regular checks so they get caught early and then the good that is happening can reach out to all levels of Maori society faster.
After all the whites aren’t so good either, if Maori are supposed to look at the white wealthy as towers of aspiration, we had better step up to our lofty myths and act to stop pakeha business and charitable scams. And the unregulated permissive business and government practices with casinos, jobs for our friends without tender, etc etc (fill in this gap with your own examples) smooths the way to dishonesty and contempt of probity.
So the one sure way to prevent adequate spending programs on Maori social, employment and SME development, of a legal sort, is to explode with disgust any time that associated wrongdoing comes to light and throw out the baby with the bathwater. Result is a big -0.
Maori rip off $20,000 all hell breaks loose
European rips off millions get to become prime minister
Good on old Winnie, the crafty old bugger, he’s always putting a cat among the pigeons.
“Why would the Government pay for a TV programme [ The GC ] that shows Kiwis earning high Aussie wages while living a degenerate party lifestyle?
“We are all sick of the chardonnay-sipping liberals creating this sort of rubbish – we need to put people on the NZ On Air board who show a bit more intelligence than those who chose to fund this brain-dead show.”
NZ On Air funds programmes with cultural value, and Mr Peters says that’s rubbish as well.
“The much-hyped Maori cultural content is virtually non-existent. Just showing a few scribbles on their faces hardly satisfies the requirement.”
24th of May, Thursday week, is budget day. The National Party had a free run on the Nation this morning. The Labour Party declined an invitation. WTF. Tory Ryall got away with murder on selling our Assets: no Labour person there to challenge him. WTF. Who is responsible and accountable for business management in the Labour Opposition?
Well Balanced – Could the people demand a by-election on electorates of Opposition members who aren’t doing the job we are paying them for? A very adequate income indeed these days. Never heard of it but they are being paid while they are in Parliament and they are expected to be holding the government to account not playing pretty positional and psychological games choosing when to expose themselves and their programs and beliefs to scrutiny.
In sport coach positions are reviewed quick smart when their team doesn’t perform. We people are supposed to be the backbone of the democracy, the real job creators with our tax money and investment of savings and work skills, so we should have more to say and more control over our political agents in the way that investors in paid sports sectors have.
It may be a good idea to hold fire for now, let Government Ministers shoot their bolts and keep the Opposition powder dry until the blowup of the Budget itself. Let the Minister hoist their own petards and dare them to damn the torpedoes in the winter of our discontent after the Dreaded Budget.
Ianmac – Yes I see your point but it seems necessary to make a show up so that people know they have a sparking Opposition. If they have definite policy trends that they believe are important, even if they can’t actually carry every policy that would be beneficial, then they could refer back to that trend. The comment would illustrate how government was not achieving good change with the latest thrash of programs. It would be a broken record approach – ‘But how will that return us to more employment and full-time jobs allowing discretionary spending?’for instance.
ianmac. “Keeping your powder dry” applies when you have caches and stockpiles of arms and munitions ready to use at a moments notice.
Where do you think Labour is keeping these.
We still haven’t seen Joyce being held to account for whatever this big Ministry of Big Business and Screw You All is supposed to deliver.
Duncan Garner should do a show with Joyce versus Cunliffe, and see where we really are toe to toe.
Actually the next set piece speech I want to see, once the smoke is cleared from Greece, is about The Economy and The Environment. Something about biosecurity and agricultural risk, something about our future as a food producer, and something about the necessity of the Greens to New Zealand politics.
Strange we don’t hear the Labour leadership ready and willing to work with the Greens.
Would the Greens leadership want one bar of Labour? Greens have all the intelligent policies, where Labour seems unable to come up even with UNintelligent policies, none at all!
Who knows who’s in charge these days. I won’t vote for em in this state, and Shearer to me? a big mistake making him leader. Cunliffe should have been there to keep the crap to a`minimum, where was he ????
Myth-busting rightwing prejudices
I happened to be reading through the Fifth Annual Report of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee (PDF) and came across some data that was obviously wrong! Namely the graph on page 20 that makes it look like people in poor areas are having on average more children…
Shit, good job dude.
Congratulations on wading through those statistics and not emerging brain damaged let alone discovering anything substantive from them.
What is that saying about ‘damn lies and statistics’?
Not sure about that.
If one decile of 400000 people has more babies than another decile of 400000, then yeah, they have more births. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s a fact.
My guess is that deprivation is largely proportional to age, and probably reproduction itself (DINKs vs 2.4kids). Just controlling for age would probably be interesting. Also if there’s a gender skew in the dep06 indices, that might be an issue. If it were really dissected, we might just find that people most likely to be poor are young women.
Ianmac: the Labour Brand today was very weak. And it will be even more so tomorrow if the Front Bench does not Front-up. Where was Shearer, Robinson or Parker? A week out from the be budget and you suggest we give them a free run!! We need to get all our best front bench people making appearances on these opinion forming forums. Every MP hold have Pre-Budget scene setting speeches or newsletters out in their electorates to set a context in which voters can hear the budget. Every MP should have a Post-Budget speech booked or newsletter planned that will highlight the deficiencies.
Ianmac, if we are not shaping the story, the Nats will. Take your pick. Mine is that we shape the the story. Today we failed abysmally. The responsible Labour Party manager should get a written warning. The accountable person should prepare to replace the poor performers.
Cameron Slater apparently has published emails stolen from Hell Pizza.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10805338
Slater is quoted as saying they didn’t come from a burglary but won’t say where they came from.
I refuse to give his site the traffic of following this up but assume others here may have seen what Slater’s been doing and could guess as to why he’s doing this? Personal? Professional? Insane?
Are those three options necessarily mutually exclusive?
Well, I’m pretty sure that professional will never apply to Slater 😈
Not sure about Slater’s motivation to publish Blomfield’s private emails there Tigger. Probably just to be controversial to get attention.
Slater receiving stolen property
Slater is of course not divulging where he acquired the data, but its likely to have come from Blomfield’s stolen computer and therefore Slater could be looking at a bit of jail time…
Excellent.
I keep an eye on Whaleoil but have avoided looking at this in any detail, it’s an alleged business related scandal in Auckland, not somewhere I want to spend any time looking, especially if information is illegally obtained – which if true don’t help Whale’s very mixed reputation.
The number of comments on those threads started high but dropped fairly quickly, I don’t think it’s riveting for most of his audience.
There seems to be a lack of desire from the Police to test the new anti-hacking laws. They’re pretty specific except for the bit about knowledge which is subjective;
“252 Accessing computer system without authorisation
(1) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years who intentionally accesses, directly or indirectly, any computer system without authorisation, knowing that he or she is not authorised to access that computer system, or being reckless as to whether or not he or she is authorised to access that computer system.”
If the emails are from a stolen computer then I would think that Slater would then be an accessory to a crime. In that scenario the emails look to have been accessed in the manner described above. It might be called anti-hacking law but it’s not expressed as such, it clearly applies equally to accessing someone’s computer directly.
Well if they are stolen, and he’s got them. Is that not receiving stolen property?
Not sure. I think that was one of the reasons they brought in the new legislation, digital content created some ambiguities on the law front that gave the defence lawyer plenty to argue against. The computer was stolen but if data was copied from it was the copied data still stolen goods? Also.. how can you prove that copied data came directly from the stolen computer; could have come from a hacked PC, backup device or other unknown source.
Either way he seems to be risking a bit there.
The Renegade Economist
A great series of videos that gives economists who have been sidelined by the corporations a real voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La4JEwyr094&feature=g-user-s
Whew! Just had a cheeky shaker here in Christchurch. Heard it first, then shake shake shake…
Damn, it has been quiet lately, but…
Just saw Jonathan Young, the National MP for New Plymouth, park in a metered parking space and walk into a nearby cafe without even looking at the meter. It appears the rules don’t apply when you’re an MP. Hope he gets a ticket 😉
Hmm, wonder who pays for the ticket. Can I have three guesses?
Hope you took a picture.
No camera unfortunately but he has his name and National Party logos all over the car.
He could go on the wall of shame were the Standard to have a monthly wall of shame.
Weird editorial in the Dompost today.
Making vaguely complimentary noises about mothers who look after children.
Are they trying to send all women back to the kitchen or are the Nact focus groups showing women to be dead sick of all the attacks being launched on them and/or the children?
Student loans & allowances interest free were very popular when introduced not only with the students but parents and grandpaprents. Is this going to unravel Nact support some more?
That seems a bit of a stretch, Red Baron! Mothers look after children and ought to be allowed to! Saying every mother should work outside the home, is a good line for bene bashing, and reminds me that Rosemary McLeod of all people had a column in North & South or Metro in the 80s, in which she speculated that a lot of the hatred of DPB mothers was simply jealousy that they got to stay home and actually look after their children!
I know I am a cynic, but what in heaven or earth would it take to unravel Nact support in a country whose brightest and best are wallowing in Australia? Those of us (unfortunately) remaining do not rate highly in discernment of human beings (if that is what Tories are).
We take the Fran O’Sullivans of the country for our models!!
Sorry, I meant to add Paul Holmes name to that of O’Sullivan! (That is the male version).
In the education Gazette Today.
“”A coeducational Christian college, Y1–13, of over 1500 students. Our emphasis is on applying biblical principles to all aspects of school life. Commitment to the college’s special character and a willingness to take part in related instructional programmes are a condition of all appointments””.
A State integrated school, (Tax funded) ad for a TECHNOLOGY teacher.
Can’t anyone see what is wrong with this?
If you want a job you must participate in brainwashing kids with unproven irrational beliefs.
Sorry, I think you’re wrong – your comment shows a very strong bias the other way, and would you be so angry if the advert was for a Muslim school, a Steiner school or a Jewish one? I can’t see an atheist applying other than to create a huge fuss…
This is a State funded school.
State schools should be secular. Not pushing religious beliefs.
If religious believers want to pay for their own schools to brainwash their kids I can’t stop them.
But schools funded by all of us should not be allowed to discriminate in their employment practices on the grounds of willingness to help with the brainwashing.
At least sanity is prevailing. Less and less people participate in religion every year.