Open mike 12/07/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 12th, 2015 - 66 comments
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66 comments on “Open mike 12/07/2015 ”

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  1. Paul 1
    12 July 2015 at 8:45 am

    When you read such ill informed and low level articles such as Kerre McIvor’s opinion piece in the Herald about junk food, you have to ask :
    Is she really that ignorant or
    Is she paid by the Junk food industry to write such rubbish’?

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11479433

    • Charles 1.1
      12 July 2015 at 9:13 am

      Can you provide more information about your viewpoint? Kerre doesn’t examine every angle, and her reasoning is her own style, but how or which part of her opinion makes her ignorant or a shill? Other than working for the Herald. Which should be enough on it’s own. Is it just the title of the article, the “lack of choice” contradicting the later claim that people have too many choices to choose from?

      • weka 1.1.1
        12 July 2015 at 10:20 am

        I’m a bit confused by Paul’s comment about shilling for junk food. The article is saying people need the support to eat well instead of eating junk food. I thought it was well written and struck a good balance between the politics of health and the politics of poverty/lack of education (except for the implication that dietary fat is unhealthy, but hey, how many journos get that right?).

        • Paul 1.1.1.1
          12 July 2015 at 10:54 am

          It’s simple weka.
          Her argument is naive.
          The only way to force the fast food industry to change is regulations.

          • weka 1.1.1.1.1
            12 July 2015 at 11:24 am

            Her article isn’t about the fast food industry though. It’s about some of the barriers to eating well and that junk food taxes don’t work.

            I still don’t get how she could be seen as a shill for Maccas etc.

        • Charles 1.1.1.2
          12 July 2015 at 10:57 am

          I know my ideas, you know yours, but we don’t know Paul’s.

          Maybe it was an implied argument, a-bob-each-way. No extra taxes for either party, but the low quality veges and meat at the fresh burger truck is cheaper in itself and therefore no tax required to induce people to eat it? Or as Marty Mars raises below: depending on the reasons behind their level of “less well off” there may be no one to go to learn anything about anything.

          There’s a place near where I live (and my area is “lower socio-economic”) that is currently trying the healthier option, but price wise it doesn’t look practical – a hard sell. Sitting at a windswept freezing freaking bus station, and the woman comes over, she knows her potential customers and builds good rapport, but would you regularly choose a nice cold fruit smoothie for $7 when you can’t afford to even buy a hop card with what you have left (that lack of ability to accumulate funds that happens, that makes poorer people unavoidably spend more), or would you dive over to the pie shop and get something hot and comforting for $3.50? It was a hard sell, and at least one guy wandered over – it was end of shift for him and he obviously had disposible income – but some of him going was the cultural connection they shared because when she got to me, the story changed. haha. Christ it was funny, but nothing wrong with that. So many challenges to consider during the brainstorming stage of inducing people to eat healthy.

          On the other hand, go to any nightmarket and check out the prices and options – healthy as, some of those things. Two dollar snacks, five dollar meals. But once again, have I seen any of the local homeless there? Nup. Some of those guys are BIG. Just like you don’t often see homeless in supermarkets before 9pm. The lower end of the range appears more frequently, but not the way down end. Some places, some times of day, the “invisible class” remain invisible. If you’re an alcoholic, you might not often feel like eating much “food” anyway. Cheap food or not.

          Depends on the area. Some places round here are “owned” by a certain “street transient class”, others are “owned” by higher “stable” classes. The rules and reasons why things work/interface across classes and entry into each area change over a few hundred metres sometimes. Good intentions don’t translate at all, or easily.

          edit: Well there you go, while I was writing this Paul replies.

    • marty mars 1.2
      12 July 2015 at 9:27 am

      ” I wish we could set up food caravans close to fast food outlets and have cooks showing people how to make real burgers – nutritious, cheap – so they don’t have to spend their money on crap.”

      Is that the ill informed bit Paul or maybe

      “So I turned to my mum and other wise women I was lucky enough to know and learned how to stretch mince with leftover rice and rolled oats and finely chopped vegetables from the fridge that were one day away from the compost.

      I learned how to make delicious soup from a pack of imperfect vegetables sold at cut price and I picked up bargains from the supermarket by browsing the aisles at night, choosing chicken and meat two days off their use-by dates and turning them into casseroles.”

      Seems your privilege may have blinded you to what happens for those less well off.

    • mary_a 1.3
      12 July 2015 at 4:29 pm

      @ Paul (1)

      Also being a mouthpiece on Newstalk ZB, playing the NatzKEY card, I’d say she’s probably a bit of both!

  2. Scotty 2
    12 July 2015 at 9:10 am

    What is your point?

  3. Save NZ 3
    12 July 2015 at 9:13 am

    Great to see opposition fighting back against the lies and deceptions

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11478882

  4. Penny Bright 4
    12 July 2015 at 9:29 am

    Know about this?

    Professor Jane Kelsey’s new book – which should REALLY ‘pack a wallop’ in the fightback against the FIRE (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) economy?
    ——————————————————————————-

    Press Release: Bridget Williams Books (2 July 2015)

    Time of reckoning for New Zealand imminent, says academic

    The role of the public intellectual is to stimulate debate and raise unsettling questions.

    With The FIRE Economy: New Zealand’s Reckoning, Jane Kelsey proves once again to be a formidable bearer of the mantle.

    This long-awaited sequel to the author’s The New Zealand Experiment is a sharply attentive critique of the legacy of New Zealand’s neoliberal project at a time of international turmoil.

    FIRE is shorthand for today’s economy where the main sources of wealth are Finance, Insurance and Real Estate.

    This book details how ‘financialisation’ has progressively hollowed out the New Zealand economy since 1984 and burdened households and the country with massive unsustainable debt.

    The housing bubble, finance company collapses and the insurance hangover from the Canterbury earthquakes are symptoms of a market fundamentalism that celebrates easy profits and risk, and treats the people and communities who lose as collateral damage.

    Kelsey argues forcefully that New Zealand is in a ‘state of denial’, a term borrowed from International Monetary Fund researchers making similar calls of other affluent states in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis.

    A disturbing complacency – the return, in effect, to ‘business as usual’ – makes a reassessment of the FIRE economy, and the neoliberalism that sustains it, more urgent than ever.

    The fates and responses of countries such as Greece, Ireland, Spain and Iceland stand as cautionary tales that deserve our attention.

    Taking up that challenge, Kelsey explains why we must engage in a national discussion on the social, economic and political costs of continuing as we are.

    In particular, she focuses on the dangers of privatising the state, and of embedding neoliberalism in our laws and institutions.

    She considers what a post-neoliberal era might look like and what obstacles we must overcome to get there.

    In criticising the neoliberal project and its social fallout – deepening levels of poverty and inequality, the abdication of the state’s responsibility to its citizens, the transfer of risk to the most vulnerable – Kelsey is far from a voice in the wilderness.

    Her views are shared by a range of international commentators, whose reputation and authority New Zealand cannot afford to ignore.

    • Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England:
    Just as any revolution eats its children, unchecked market fundamentalism can devour the long term dynamism of capitalism itself.

    • Joseph Stiglitz, chair of the UN Commission on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, reflecting on the causes of the Global Financial Crisis:
    Underlying many of these mistakes were the economic philosophies that have prevailed for the past quarter-century (sometimes referred to as neoliberalism or market fundamentalism).

    • Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF:
    The true role of the financial sector is to serve, not to rule, the economy.
    [We need to be] making income tax systems more progressive without being excessive; making greater use of property taxes; expanding access to education and health; and relying more on active labour market programs and in-work social benefits.

    The FIRE Economy is a remarkable and important achievement, not least because, as Kelsey demonstrates in a revealing appendix, her original research was conducted in the face of increased structural barriers impeding free and transparent access to information about governments’ operations. This too, she argues, is a matter for concern and urgent debate.

    For anyone interested in our recent past and – more critically – our precarious future, The FIRE Economy is a must-read.

  5. Penny Bright 5
    12 July 2015 at 9:55 am

    FYI

    Book launch: Jane Kelsey,

    The FIRE Economy,

    WED 15 July 6pm,

    Old Govt House Auck University.

    Penny Bright

  6. marty mars 6
    12 July 2015 at 10:12 am

    twyford doubling down on the nation – fuck off you racist thick prick – “it doesn’t matter in one sense what their surname is” says dick ” but when you look at the names… it points in one direction”. “is it plausible?” – fuck me twyford has just fucked his party.

    • marty mars 6.1
      12 July 2015 at 10:19 am

      rimmer from act exposes twyford and hits the NZF line – wow labours dirty racebait exposed by rimmer what a shocker of an embarrassment – lol

    • les 6.2
      12 July 2015 at 11:14 am

      over reaction ,it is both plausible and logical and not surprisingly the conclusions mirror activity in other western cities.I have some data from The Week I will try to find that shows a remarkable similarity to Twyfords estimates and London R.E.Of course in London the oligarchs from Africa and Russia with ethnic sounding names are mostly from Africa and Russia!

    • Draco T Bastard 6.3
      12 July 2015 at 11:15 am

      It’s got nothing to do with race and everything to do with the discrepancy shown. It would be better if we had an actual register to work with rather than just the names of buyers but a) no government since the neo-liberal attack in the 1980s set up such a register and b) we have to work with what we’ve got.

    • half crown 6.4
      12 July 2015 at 11:17 am

      “Twyford doubling down on the nation – fuck off you racist thick prick – “it doesn’t matter in one sense what their surname is” says dick ” but when you look at the names… it points in one direction”. “is it plausible?” – fuck me twyford has just fucked his party.”

      Sorry can’t agree with you there pal, when the interviewer tried to nail him on that one, he replied, that they were looking to restrict ALL non resident foreign ownership.

    • adam 6.5
      12 July 2015 at 12:14 pm

      Twity Twyford has played the blame game before – you remember the shop owner murder in Henderson? http://thestandard.org.nz/murders-out-west/ That time, he blamed the poor for the murder. People like him.

      Twyford has a track record of being tacky, and full of middle class liberal angst. He knows perfectly well this is a racist comment, playing into a rump of racist New Zealand – who still believe in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril#New_Zealand

      If you want to call me PC, for calling Twyford a racist twit. Then fine with that. I’d rather be called PC than have to listen to all you say your not being racist, when you are. Because frankly yesterday I felt I was in deep south , with a load of dribble came out of peoples mouth.

      Pifft – a song to remind you all where the line is.

      • Draco T Bastard 6.5.2
        12 July 2015 at 1:05 pm

        If you want to call me PC, for calling Twyford a racist twit.

        Nope. I’ll just you a fucken idiot.

        We have a problem and you’re trying to ignore it by calling anyone who draws attention to it racist.

        • adam 6.5.2.1
          12 July 2015 at 1:26 pm

          Grow up Draco T Bastard. You know what this is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movements

          Get on the right side of History.

          • Draco T Bastard 6.5.2.1.1
            12 July 2015 at 2:09 pm

            I know what that is I also know that it’s got nothing to do with the problem that we have of foreign ‘investors’ buying up all NZ property and land.

            • adam 6.5.2.1.1.1
              12 July 2015 at 2:36 pm

              I think your mixing up my take here. It’s two. One, I agree we are fast becoming serfs in our own country, and quite frankly my Chinese neighbours are in the same boat as me – paying to much rent to a overseas landlord. Theirs is an Australian landlord, just like mine. So again, it’s back to class war. I’m all for class war because this fighting over skin colour, or culture is just another B.S way the elites stay in power.

              And two, which runs on from one – most of the overseas landlords/investors are not Chinese, but Australian, English, Irish or Yanks. – and we’re not beating a drum over them. So to blame the last cab off the rank for the problem, just don’t sit to well with me.

              So I’ll call Twyford a racist, because – when the cap fits…

              • Draco T Bastard …
                12 July 2015 at 2:41 pm

                most of the overseas landlords/investors are not Chinese, but Australian, English, Irish or Yanks. – and we’re not beating a drum over them.

                Actually, we are. We’re saying that all foreign investment in housing is bad.

                So I’ll call Twyford a racist, because – when the cap fits…

                Except for the fact that it doesn’t and you’d know that if you’d listen.

    • John Shears 6.6
      12 July 2015 at 12:51 pm

      Language please mm

    • Skinny 6.7
      12 July 2015 at 1:29 pm

      Your taking what Twyford said out of context Marty. Opposition MP’s are calling for a registrar of who are buying New Zealand property.

      Your hardly one who should be throwing stones. Given your cheerleading of the r/ejected former MP Hone Hawaria, a man known for the odd racist gaff.

    • Paul 6.8
      12 July 2015 at 1:53 pm

      It is not racist to question non-dom ownership of housing in NZ

      • marty mars 6.8.1
        12 July 2015 at 7:25 pm

        It is racist to question non-dom ownership of housing in NZ when a specific ethnic group is singled out based on very limited and unsatisfactory data set using surnames as an indicator of ethnicity.

        • Thom Pietersen 6.8.1.1
          12 July 2015 at 9:50 pm

          No it’s not. It’s an exploration of demographics. Cry racism where it’s due, and it is, otherwise you demean the term.

          • Colonial Viper 6.8.1.1.1
            12 July 2015 at 9:55 pm

            Then by your own standards it’ll be clearly racism if Labour has no follow up plan to conduct that “exploration of demographics” that you refer to. I am betting they do not.

    • Thom Pietersen 6.9
      12 July 2015 at 9:57 pm

      Lets not use any method to measure, even when stating the shortcomings. Racist, racist… rabble, rabble… yawn.

      • marty mars 6.9.1
        12 July 2015 at 10:34 pm

        How long is the coastline of this country Thom?

        • Thom Pietersen 6.9.1.1
          12 July 2015 at 11:45 pm

          Point being? Lets just regurgitate ideology, not question, and close down the conversation.

          How would you like to measure it Marty? Against what? If it looks like, and walks like… do you not want to know the truth? Where do you start? Is the earth flat – looks like it to me out of the window.

          • marty mars 6.9.1.1.1
            13 July 2015 at 7:54 am

            exactly, so how can you say let’s use a method where the shortcomings outweigh any information gained imo – any way is not good enough and just muddies the waters making it harder to sort the real issues out.

  7. Heartbleeding Liberal 7
    12 July 2015 at 10:33 am

    Is there a way for me to stack the thread replies so that the newest ones are at the top of the list?

    • Lanthanide 7.1
      12 July 2015 at 10:35 am

      Nope. Interesting idea though – Lynn?

    • lprent 7.2
      12 July 2015 at 9:25 pm

      We actually have that on the backend in the edit for the post. It is also what shows up on the front-end listing of the last 100? comments.

      The big hassle is that to make it useable in a threaded environment you need some way to see the threaded context. That means stacking the thread context in with the comments (ie massively increasing the comments (and duplicating them) that way around) or increasing server and client CPU by doing it with javascript queries with json responses or having people writing replies without looking at the context or forcing replies to reload into a context – eg allowing a post filter on the rhs comment listing to show by comments, and a reply jumps into the usual comments stream – awkward.

      I’ve thought some options on this. Pretty awkward…

  8. half crown 8
    12 July 2015 at 10:59 am

    Just saw snippets of that progamme called The Nation

    Matthew Hooton along with that other female (didn’t get her name had more important things to do than listen to her) before you say it was Labour being racist consider this, They weren’t exactly Scotsman wearing kilts turning up in their droves to these property auctions were they. Also TV3 if you are going to interview holograph’s make sure they are wearing the H on their foreheads. It is not really needed as we don’t need the sign to see that he is not real.

    • marty mars 8.1
      12 July 2015 at 12:38 pm

      notwithstanding all that – twyford ended up being made to look totally ‘out there’ by the gnat spinner and the hologram – that shows how dismal twyford was and is

      • John Shears 8.1.1
        12 July 2015 at 12:52 pm

        in your opinion mm

        • marty mars 8.1.1.1
          12 July 2015 at 4:46 pm

          yep thanks for that John, “In my opinion, notwithstanding…and is.

          • Kiwiri 8.1.1.1.1
            12 July 2015 at 7:19 pm

            it won’t be just yours, marty mars. my opinion too. and i say this as someone who actually wants to see Labour win and Twyford do well, or at least not make (to put it very politely) himself so very clumsy.

  9. John Shears 9
    12 July 2015 at 12:55 pm

    Relative to the comments about Phil Twyford and the property market and Chinese money etc.
    I wonder how many of the rwnatwits have been to a property auction recently?

  10. Skinny 10
    12 July 2015 at 1:53 pm

    Now the publicity generated by Unite & Campbell Live about anti Zero Hours employment contracts has subsided, who is surprised by Michael Woodhouse’s flip flop on legislation to outlaw it altogether, instead watering it down to a bit of fiddling around the edges. Watching Q&A this morning where all 3 panelists agreed this was wrong of the Nats, not often Kelly and Barnett concur in agreement.

    Zero hours – signed, sealed, delivered
    Rather than outlaw exploitative zero-hour contracts the Government has done the exact opposite and entrenched them in law, Labour Leader Andrew Little says.
    “National promised to get rid of zero hour contracts. It hasn’t. It has just made new rules for how to use them. They are confusing, muddled and will make no real difference to vulnerable workers.
    “There are still no expectations on employers to actually provide work and there are no guarantees that so-called ‘compensation’ will be fair.
    “Michael Woodhouse might have been trying to look like he was doing something, but he’s been found out; he’s been doing nothing at all.
    “People instinctively know these contracts are unfair. A worker who ostensibly has a full time role can have their hours changing massively from week to week, or can find themselves with no hours at all for the week.
    “Today’s announcement is yet another broken promise from the Government. It is a disaster.
    “Once again National has shown it is on the side of exploitative employers, not employers who use good practice and certainly not on the side of vulnerable workers,” Andrew Little says.

    • Charles 10.1
      12 July 2015 at 3:29 pm

      ha. Who’dve seen it coming. When McDonalds goes along without kicking and screaming on a “yeah lets look at it again soon…” approach, you know the game is rigged. Unite will be pissed. Two months to find out they were “lied to in good faith”.

  11. Draco T Bastard 11
    12 July 2015 at 4:40 pm

    University Rolls Out Adblock Plus, Saves 40 Percent Network Bandwidth

    Researchers said that that the reduced network data demand would lead to lower infrastructure costs than a comparable network without Adblock Plus. The reduced network data demand could also lead to lower energy costs overall, said the paper, as a by-product of lower commodity network costs.

    Think about that and think about how much more advertising is costing us both in direct costs from our ISPs and in indirect costs in infrastructure and the cost of power.

  12. Penny Bright 12
    12 July 2015 at 4:49 pm

    I’m hoping to get a reply from Fonterra tomorrow to my simple question:

    Are Fonterra representatives able to see the TPPA text?

    How else can they be sure that Minister of Trade Tim Groser is negotiating a good deal for the NZ dairy industry?

    Penny Bright

  13. Colonial Viper 13
    12 July 2015 at 5:45 pm

    It’s not racism to point out a demonstrable fact.

    Really? How about this “demonstrable fact” – Blacks do worse than whites in intelligence tests. And that is very easily a racist statement in many contexts.

    Conflating China with Chinese might be though. One’s a country with a new bourgeoisie who have money to burn, the other’s an ethnicity.

    This statement expresses utterly no understanding about the Chinese community, Chinese culture or the Chinese identity. Perhaps its time that Labour bothers to get some Asians into its caucus and its senior party ranks so it has some idea.

    And why call this post the “China Crisis”?: if Chinese money flooding into Auckland is a “crisis” then it has been going on for over a decade. And the situation has far more to do with the decisions made by the ruling elite of NZ, and very little to do with the decisions made by the ruling elite of China.

    edit – I’ve posted this in OM because my comments are going into moderation in TRP’s post, and I want my views on this topic heard, NOW.

    [Your comments aren’t going into moderation, CV. China Crisis was a new wave band. TRP]

    • Weepus beard 13.1
      12 July 2015 at 10:10 pm

      CV, if only you’d show as much passion for disenfranchised Kiwis as you do for what you see as your marginalised minority.

      • Colonial Viper 13.1.1
        12 July 2015 at 10:25 pm

        Mate, have you even been reading my comments on The Standard for the last several years?

        Blame Chinese all you want but you’re fucking dreaming if you think this cheap political stunt by the Labour Party is going to do a thing to bring average Auckland house prices back under $750K for “disenfranchised Kiwis”.

      • Thom Pietersen 13.1.2
        13 July 2015 at 12:15 am

        Weepus we could surmise that Mr Vipers house price may suffer. It’s hard when it could hit home that your sitting on a bubble.

        If I’m wrong (which I may well be) – then it’s just plain irrational and ideological nonsense. But I’m all for one party death penalty totalitarian regimes that trample over the workers.

        And ‘blacks’ have done worse than ‘whites’ in intelligence tests, a fact, from a test… 1) those retarded IQ tests are flawed, and 2) societies advantages aren’t evenly distributed. Rightly or wrongly it still started a discussion that moved toward a demonstrable facts – that probably links lower income with lower IQ.

  14. Penny Bright 14
    12 July 2015 at 6:11 pm

    How can New Zealanders have confidence that Trade Minister Tim Groser is acting in the ‘national interest’ – when the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security is currently, of her own volition, conducting an investigation into the NZ GCSB being used to spy on Tim Groser’s rivals in his (unsuccessful) bid for WTO leadership?

    How was THAT in the ‘national interest’ of New Zealand?

    And who was the Minister responsible for the GCSB at that time?

    NZ Prime Minister John Key (a shareholder in the Bank of America).

    How can New Zealanders trust either our Minister of Trade, or Prime Minister to look after the ‘national interest’ of our country, our people or NZ businesses?

    Seriously?

    Penny Bright

  15. les 15
    12 July 2015 at 9:02 pm

    Helen Kelly…gee I love this woman,what she stands for and how she presents herself..P.M material…I hope she overcomes her health issues.NZ needs people like her badly.

  16. lprent 16
    12 July 2015 at 11:49 pm

    For people caught in the periodic outages and slowdowns today, they were caused by a backup process going bad.

    Turned that process off. I’ll rely on the other less intrusive procedure for a few days while I tear the code apart.

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    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

    Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?

    Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

    Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Olywhites and Time Bandits

    About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways

    Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 19

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #29 2024

    Open access notables Improving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    16 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    19 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    24 hours ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

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