I don’t understand this, perhaps someone can enlighten.
When a business makes a mistake and that costs it in terms of lost customers and reputation, that business and its owner understands that it must carry that self-imposed burden and deal with it alone with no expectation that the owners neighbour or anyone else should step in and pay to right the mistake. After all, the neighbour has not shared in any previous profits.
But Fonterra, a private company, after ballsing up its botulism scare left right and centre, is getting taxpayer funding to help correct their self-imposed disaster. A government fund of $2,000,000 has been set up, from which dairy businesses can do such things as get the taxpayer to pay their travel costs to those customers, among other things.
How does this fit? How does this work? Can any business apply for such assistance when they balls things up? Or is it only certain ones?
Sounds like more welfare to me. Bludging off the taxpayer. Just like the NZX which after several decades still stutters along wimpering for the taxpayer to support their privately owned business…
Perhaps Wayne, who comments on here from time to time and posters seem to know who is (is it publicly known, his identity?), would like to explain. Come in Wayne…
and then you know what….. I turns the next page of te morning paper and what is the headline? Fonterra expanding into China expecting to farm up to 15,000 cows….
For fucking fucks sake – what a pile cowshit this government is
God you guys a getting ripped off in NZ – I live in the Middle East & I pay the equivalent of NZ$3.20 for 2 litres of fresh milk – all imported. None of my Arab colleagues can understand why New Zealander’s pay international prices for a product they make domestically – we sure as hell don’t pay international prices for petroleum here (we pay about 30 cents a litre – and the locals think that is expensive!)
Earlier on in the week on the radio I heard that an 11 year old won a NZ science prize for proving that the triple layer plastic milk bottle does not keep milk as fresh as the regular plastic milk bottle. I will try and find a link.
Apparently one benefit of the triple layer plastic is that it prevents light from destroying the nutrient content. I would like to know by how much?
I suppose if you can afford the more expensive container, any waste is not an issue.
Part of the problem is that regulation is required as the supermarket mark up is a rip off. Watch the cost of anything else with dairy in it rise.
Setting up dairy, kiwifruit in other countries is seen as an export – exporting our expertise, our intellectual property, experience. Whether its exxing out some of our interests in the short or long term well I don’t know if that has been examined.
With the difficulty of keeping quality control over our own stuff, and the harm that we have caused to the respect for our standards, perhaps it would be a good idea to make money from helping countries get established in the market, and then sell out our interests there, and wait for them to screw up. In the meantime we concentrate on making quality stuff, and have policies of honesty and fast response to any problems and have unceasing controls and inspections enforced by the government, as business cannot be relied upon not to slide if its solely responsible for itself.
And that leads to a news item from this morning. The horrific fuel train explosion in Canada was caused by inadequate measures by the transport company, but the results were ramped up because it was carrying more flammable fuel than the oil it was allowed to transport.
And the likelihood of government controlling complacent, wealthy, cost-cutting, safety and regulation lax businesses – well the oil spill in the Northern Hemisphere, was it the Exonn or similar, came about after safety measures had not been followed, government controls and officials had been softened up after ‘capture’ by the business, and all along the safety evaluation of the oil gathering and transporting led to an expectation of some event in a 25 year time frame. This then was made more likely to occur by the lax safety standards adopted.
(Probably Fukushima was similar.)
Yes, Boadicea – wouldn’t you think the Labour caucus – especially the ABCs – have the message by now that Rogernomics didn’t work and new thinking on economic development is needed?
But No – they’re still tied to that old drum ….. Mr Rogernomics telling them “the two main contenders, Mr Cunliffe and Mr Robertson, have had been advancing policy “that would set New Zealand up to become another Spain or Greece.”
Ironical, eh ?. Following the Rogernomics track has set NZ up to become “another Spain or Greece”.
And it will be more than disappointing if the current Labour caucus cannot see that.
The trouble was a conventional socialist paniced and called for a cup of tea …. we will never know where Sir Roger was taking us … that is a hard pill for you folk to swallow I know.
Even the Herald now gives Cunliffe 12 first preference caucus votes (Audrey Young today). With 60% of both the unions and the members he will be the leader. Too easy!
So wrong in so many ways. What the fuck were they thinking?
There’s enormous scope for industrial espionage as the Israeli military/industrial complex commercialises its opportunities.
Here’s an example:
On the day Raphael Ouzan finished five years of service in an elite intelligence unit, he decided to start his own company. The night after his release from the IDF he met with a good friend, Yaron Samid, and together they resolved to build their own startup.
In the first days they had only five employees—two from the same intelligence unit as Ouzan. Last year their company—BillGuard—raised 3 million dollars in funding and won second place in the startup competition Techcrunch Disrupt.
BillGuard is, essentially, antivirus for your credit card. The software scans credit card transactions and finds technical errors or fraudulent deals. This is accomplished with a unique algorithm which scans forums, social networks and websites, and analyzes transactions for “suspicious” behavior.
What’s the link between credit card protection and the IDF? Raphael Ouzan, now BillGuard’s CTO explains:
“I learned a lot about this type of work from my military service . . .
Reframing the economy – The new economics foundation writes about the differences between the austerity framing and a new story the shows a difference side of the economic policies of austerity and the type of society that we want to progress.
when a frame is strongly held we tend to ignore facts that do not fit with it. The austerity story is a powerful narrative that is embedded in public consciousness. It cannot be challenged with facts. Only with new frames and a different story about the economy can it be dislodged…
To win, they will need to do more than find their frames, they will need to be more coordinated, responsive to public opinion and find more credible messengers.
Amirite NZ has built a boat industry up from $120 million a year to over $2billion a year.
On the back of our sucess in the Americas cup!
Leading edge world beating technology has been developed + the publicity NZ gets from the cup.
Even in the bottom of the south island many boat building companies have hugely benefited .Companies that were employing a couple of employees are now employing well paid engineers welders etc,
Formerly these companies were making cheap aluminiun tinnies runabouts and dingies they are now making large ocean going high end cruisers at $150,000+
Before $1200 dingies.
These are exactly the value added exports we need in this country.
If we don,t keep supporting and investing in this industry we will fall behind and china will take all these high paying jobs.
The cost at less than $8 million per year is a fraction of what farming and other industries receive from govt!
You can only invest in industry from your profits.NZ is always constrained by the value of its currency which is subject to the gamblers perception ie a higher official interest rate.
Wheelers statement had an immediate effect,reducing the profits for exporters in the upcoming export season.
Who gives a stuff about boat builders when we cannot even construct moderate price houses.
When we can house, feed, educate, and provide good health care for all New Zeal;anders then we can start worrying about building rich men’s toys
Ron We need skilled people making physical things for everybody – making things, yachts, boats, railway carriages, steel workers etc. Also needed is regular work for builders, not on-off cycles of boom and depressed demand, and real assistance to the building community from a real hard-working government agency.
It would have model plans that used good and modest priced materials with acceptable building methods. Some might use some steel and wood. They would inform on whether boron treated studs and joists would be better than untreated. It would be in plain language so that interested people could get leaflets and read reports on line. If we had had a working agency like this it would have put a stop to the building of housing that was proving to be unsatisfactory and even dangerous, overseas.
Most of our poor leaky housing would never have happened if BRANZ or whatever it was called was working well for our benefit. When we are decrying the housing deficit, don’t forget the setback the leaky, fungussy homes caused and the heartache and physical sickness as well as the mental stress for people involved in the losses.
I hope we will never get to the stage where we become so angry that violence and retaliation break out against the perpetrators of these predatory shonky financial and political schemes.
There is only so much that people can put up with – too much and the chickens will come home to roost.
(expressed in print as early as 1390, when Geoffrey Chaucer used it in The Parson’s Tale: And ofte tyme swich cursynge wrongfully retorneth agayn to hym that curseth, as a bryd that retorneth agayn to his owene nest.)
Ron This is a good way to take money back off rich people.
Oracle paid NZ boat builders to build their boats because we had the best technology and skill in the world.
we will never be a bulk mass producer like China Indonesia or any large industrialized country ever again we can only succeed in niche markets.
Its not just rich mans toys we make huge numbers of small boats as well.
This is one area in manufacturing where we are leading the world!
We can construct cheap housing its just that existing monopolies have the govt in their back pocket !
Education world leading software is being developed in NZ by Taylor made for television, apps for smart phones and then the on board software for Team New Zealand Aotearoa designed and developed in Good old NZ!
Larry Ellison (oracle yes Oracle) World leading software designer and supplier is getting beaten by some very smart high paid by NZ standards home grown Kiwi software designers that will make software designers sit up and take Notice the world over that has got to be good for NZ!
Reality check needed Ron in fact its been nearly seven years since the Labour Govt put up the $36 million for Team NZ thats less than $4 million a year.
How much did the country put up for the world cup for a negative return, nearly $1 billion dollars which local councils are still in debt up to their eyeballs from and have caused a lot of job losses because councils have had to sack staff to pay for under used stadiums while the Americas cup has turned a $120 million a year boat industry into a $2 billion a year boat industry employing 100,s if not thousands of full time workers!
If I had my way I would have put that rugby money into the boat industry at least we would have some return for our investment .Instead we have a bunch of empty stadiums and the loan shark big Aussie bankers Are smiling!
NZ Defence has been found to be just a tad careless in training its workers, apparently on the basis that because they are going into dangerous theatres of whatever, they need to be toughened and man-up to danger, before they are properly trained and instructed to deal with such dangers in a manful and knowledgable manner. Man what a bunch of clods and impractical managers in Defence. The authoritarian power with absolute power to ignore morality and fair behaviour and respect for the troops and their welfare is on the way to losing his, or her, humanity.
Not just training, but the basic activities of equipment and maintenance. I’m thinking of the poor guy who fucking drowned because his life vest wouldn’t inflate.
For a while back there the NZRAF had more “Wing Commanders” on the payroll than actual physical wings flyable in the fleet. Don’t know if it’s still the case.
Now I don’t have permission to edit with 5 minutes left to go. I was going to express my thinking better but you’ll just have to unscramble the code that attempts to convey the message! /sarc
Perhaps those wing commanders spent their spare time, instead of ensuring proper training and usage standards be met to prevent loss of human capacity and expensive capital equipment, developing the game Icarus. It sounds interesting and maybe challenging for a grounded sky pilot.
(Itching to dive-bomb a rival guild’s castle from dragon-back? It will be possible in the upcoming fantasy game Icarus Online.) http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Icarus-Online/
(Icarus, son of Daedalus who dared to fly too near the sun on wings of feathers and wax. Daedalus had been imprisoned by King Minos of Crete within the walls of his …)
Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology
So what is the rate of accidental deaths for members of the NZDF v comparable civilian occupations? Do you know or is this just a rant based on ignorance and perception?
chris73
Do your own work if you are interested in gaining the information. But then if you were you would have some stored in your own mind and would have an idea of what I was referring to. Trouble with you RWNJs is that you are information beneficiaries too lazy to do your own amassing of stats and background.
Firemen, truckies, carpenters, mechanics, storemen, administraters, doctors, nurses, medics, teachers, pilots, cooks, stewards, plumbers, gym instructors, dentists, pet ops, move ops, divers, psychatrists, builders and of course after the winds the guys were out with chainsaws but thats not a core function…
Theres probably more but thats enough to go on for now…
Soldier first and trade second but that wasn’t the question was it, the question was: “what civilian occupations are comparable to NZDF functions?”
Now while I am pretty damn awesome I do have to admit that reading peoples minds isn’t one of my particular talents so if you want me to answer a question make sure you phrase the question properly
The forestry Industry makes the defense force look good who needs enemies when we are more dangerous with self inflicted losses even in Afghanistan Key Turned down amoured vehicles and refused to use light amoured vehicles because they were to expensive to take to that theater of war!
nationals cost cutting at work again down grading our armed services while Poncekey takes all the limelight for being the US,s lapdog is criminal negligence.
National can.t help themselves cutting forrestry inspection from 1,000 down to 220 a year has lead to a massive increase in deaths negligence the minister Joyce should be put on trial for manslaughter!
Two nations were influenced by our thinkers and example:
Finland and Chile. Finland learned its lessons from John Dewey. Its
schools are child-centered. It prizes the arts and physical
education. It has no standardized testing. Its schools are noted
for both excellence and equity. It is a top performer on
international tests. Chile learned its lessons from Milton
Friedman. It has vouchers and testing. Its schools are highly
segregated by social class. The quality of education is highly
dependent on family income. Students in Chile are rioting to demand
free public education. No one considers Chile a model. Which
direction are we going? Why? Whose ideas are dominant
today?
Yep. A side tangential issue to that touches on some comments on this site lately about the loyalty of the armed forces and who they actually belong to and act for.
As is shown by the Chile coup, the Fiji coups, and many other examples, armed forces do not belong to the people and neither are they loyal to the people, nor even the government. They act for and belong to others. They do what they are ordered to – such as bomb and kill civilians and others living in their own country (Egypt), murder politicians (Chile), act for the Crown (British Crown) to protect the Crown (reason for ignoring Lange in first Fiji coup)
Militaries are for these purposes, which are quite contrary to the popular understanding of the wider public who assume that they are on “our” side. Especially in NZ where, you know, nothing like that ever happens, couldn’t, nah, that happens overseas….
Some posters have highlighted these realities recently and it has left a chill in the air ……….
Here is an example of setting yourself up for problems. Relying too heavily on man-made things for your business when you operate in a non-man-made environment.
Rely on power for your dairy shed – what happens when the power goes out?
Rely on external water supply for your grass – what happens when the external water supply dries up?
Rely on mechanical means to feed the animals – what happens when nature tips it upside down?
Too much reliance on non-natural items. Too intensive. Too clever for our own good, methinks
One other too – Canterbury used to have large hedges planted all over to protect from the wind and stop the earth being blown away (this was learned from when the land was stripped and early weather blew the dirt away). When these hedges began being flattened about 15 years ago many old-timers said strongly that they would rue the day. The winds would return and wreak havoc they said. And looky at that – the winds came screaming down through the mountains and instead of screeching across at the height of 10m hedges it screeched across at the height of 1cm blades of grass.
I have too many digs at farmers and this is not intended as another. It is a dig at humanwomankind and its tendency to always forget the lessons of the past. Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them. Voila.
The problem is that they listened to the anti global warming sorces and didn’t buy generators to run even just one machine to relieve the suffering of their animals. Personally I have changed to all electricity but I have not sold my gas .. that is in reserve for when the power fails …. if a townie with just himself to think about can do it why not the farmer with hundreds of stock their responsibility.
Yep – vto – we were sitting there watching the TV news about all the mangled irrigation pipes wondering why the heck they had’nt laid them down, dismantled them or done something else to protect them when they had plenty of warning those high winds were coming. And maybe those irrigation contraptions could be replaced with sprinkler pipes laid in the ground ?
And now you’re talking about the removal of the shelter hedges. Hadn’t realised that had happened. Why did the dairy farmers or whoever think they were there in the first place – as decoration ? Farmers don’t do decoration.
Amazing lack of thought on the part of whoever is in charge of the dairy farms in Canterbury.
One more time in the ghetto, yes, yet another comment on the question: Does raising the minimum wage lead to more unemployment, the answer so far from what i have posted has been a resounding and emphatic NO,
This link is pretty looo-ong and may have your eyeballs sliding out of their socket and off down your cheeks if you try and read it all at once, it does tho present the argument from both sides, a couple of salient points when we consider what is the American experience and how the template is more or less a mirror of our own,
Paul Krugman: ”The current level of the minimum wage is very low by any reasonable standard”.
In a New York Time op-ed piece Noble Prize winning economist Paul Krugman argued that raising the minimum wage was both good politics and sound policy. Moreover, He argued in favor of increasing the Federal baseline to keep up with inflation,
”For about four decades increases in the minimum wage have consistently fallen behind inflation, so that in real terms the minimum wage is substantially lower than it was in the 1960’s, meanwhile, worker productivity has doubled”, (New York Times 2/17/13).
Starts to make the USA sound like a small country located in the South Pacific Ocean doesn’t it, and then there is this:
”If the minimum wage reflected worker productivity it would be nearly $22 per hour”.
Citing a study done by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Huffington Post explained that the current minimum wage lags far behind what it should after accounting for productivity increases,
”The minimum wage should have reached $21.72 an hour in 2012 if it kept up with increases in worker productivity according to a March study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research”,
”While advancements in technology have increased the amount of goods and services that can be produced in a set amount of time wages have remained relatively flat the study point out”, (the Huffington Post 2/13/13).
Not here in little old Noo Zealand tho right, the robber barons wouldn’t whip us into productivity increases while not passing on a fair share of such increases as wage rises, or would they???,
This would tend to suggest that the US experience of the Neoliberal experiment matches our own,
”Out-put growth in the measured sectors averaged 2.6% per annum from 1978 to 2007, the main driver of this out-put growth was labour productivity of +2.0% per annum”.
The studies are nice but also irrelevant to our specific conditions, we can get the economic and social outcomes we want in NZ via innovative fiscal means.
The Greens are questioning some of the NACTs innovative means of pulling money Out of the economy with a little pokie game, a devilish device. Have a go at their fruit loop machine and try for a thinking MP to cross the House. https://www.greens.org.nz/skycity#1
The most interesting and thoughtful article by Krugman was quite recentl;y where he wrote about the wonk factor and related it to the Republicans which I don’t particularly dis-agree with … they are a festering sore on American politics …. HOWEVER when I come to The Standard I see evidence of a similar problem.
Wonk Factor = a habit of only reading sources that you agree with.
I wonder if I suffer from it too since I only read Krugman becuase I agree with him and cannot be bothered with the RW crap.
PS. I never considered Sir Roger RW, that was the journalists and Alliance idiots bellyacheing.
jcuknz
Are you into studying the cosmos. Because you don’t seem to know much about what is going on down and around here on little ole NZ. Sir Roger not RW? That joke won’t fly.
Here’s a jolly little poem by AA Milne just right for Sir Roger…It may seem silly, but not very. Bad Sir Brian Botany
Sir Brian had a battleaxe with great big knobs on;
He went among the villagers and blipped them on the head.
On Wednesday and on Saturday, but mostly on the latter day,
He called at all the cottages, and this what he said:
I am Sir Brian, as bold as a lion –
Take that! – and that! – and that!
Sir Brian woke one morning, and he couldn’t find his battleaxe:
He walked into the village in his second pair of boots.
He had gone a hundred paces, when the street was full of faces,
And the villagers were round him with ironical salutes…
Sir Brian went a journey, and he found a lot of duck-weed:
They pulled him out and dried him, and they blipped him on the head.
They took him by the breeches, and they hurled him into ditches,
And they pushed him under waterfalls, and this is what they said:
You are Sir Brian, as bold as a lion –
Sir Brian, the lion, good-bye!
And now he goes about the village as B.Botany, Esquire.
I am Sir Brian? Oh no!
I am Sir Brian? Who’s he?
I haven’t got any title, I’m Botany –
Plain Mr Botany (B).
I considered him to be seriously unwise and in way too much of a hurry. The over-regulated state with a habit of hiding unemployment in the farming sector, forestry, the post office, railways, etc was never going to survive because it simply wasn’t economic. Nor was the tariff system that resulted in the first corporate I worked with having a larger lobby group in Wellington protecting the tariffs than their head office and sales force combined.
Problem was that it’d gotten to the point of collapse as the NZLP took power and literally found that they couldn’t pay for it any more. Inflation was already out of control so they couldn’t print their way out. That allowed border-line hysterics like Douglas, Prebble, Moore, etc way way too much power to make completely bad through to simply shoddy deals. Problem was that the Labour MPs including the backboners were so used to only have 3 years that they tried to do everything in 3 years – and it made the economic reforms completely desperate and dangerous. It takes time to change economic systems safely.
Nett result of doing sudden change like that was that we wound up with a rump of people with few skills in the wrong parts of the country who went on unemployment for far too long. Go to somewhere like Rotorua or the old tariff factories and you can see the generational damage that fell out of that. National unfortunately usually come around just often enough to kill those regional towns whenever they start getting better off.
It also made it freaking hard to get capital for anything productive in this country for decades after the ’87 crash when the ponzi cowboys tainted the finance markets and killed all of the pre-existing capital outlets.
Of course if Muldoon hadn’t been such a diehard conservative screwing the pooch in the decade before trying to prevent change, then it’d have been a whole lot easier.
That’s really good summary of post-Muldoon lprent.. It is understandable the way you explain it. Muldoon may have been the right man for the job for a while, but after two terms leaders need to be put out to grass, otherwise they get stuck in the dried cow pats and have to be prised up. I also think that the terms should be for four years. You refer to three and it does seem that it is just too hard to plan, implement and monitor results within that time. Hence the shonky legislation we get.
Muldoon right to the finish sang the song ”I did it my way’ and wanted to take It with him when he went. Lange said that before Muldoon officially handed over the keys to the hope-chest we had a capital flight so bad that Labour had to call up all the diplomats overseas and sequester their credit card balances.
What upset me was the flamboyant way Douglas et al closed down businesses which were really operating, even with some assistance, and then they replaced them with slogans which weren’t as useful at the supermarket. First pain, then gain for instance. Unions bad, business sanctified. Tariffs and subsidies gone altogether. Nudity was de rigueur to all trade talks so that it was plain to all that we didn’t carry any concealed weaponry, even dicks. New business was going to spring up, vigorous from all this fertiliser. But in fact, if it did it tended to be shopworn old business recycled, carrying out previous government activities.
And the new floating exchange rate and foreign ownership seem to have creamed off
financial successes with keen assistance from inflated financial speculators, inflated property speculators, inflated importers, and the naivety of us all. We have reacted similarly to the people of Albania when stripped of the restraints of communism and exposed to sharp teeth of capitalism. Where they were fleeced by ponzi schemes and fulsome promises from money sharks. Who was that sneaking round the corner – Mac the Knife! Our theme song.
The problem with increasing the minimum wage is that all wages would rise accordingly and this would promote inflation … which as a superanuient relying on an annual re-adjustment is likelly rather tough on me …. however Krugman also pointed out that inflation makes it easier for a country to retire its debt which is a good thing instead of the RW going on about living within your means like a household. But a country is not a household and if you stiffle the ecconomy with austerity measures it is going to take a hell of a long time to get out of the poo. In this respect I think the National Governmeent over the past five years has steered a good course between the camps … austerity v. stimulous.
So I think many writers here are living with ideological blinkers which say “left good – right bad” when it is not a clear cut black and white situation.
”All wages would rise accordingly”, not necessarily and really only at the behest of employers, and what you say would insinuate that there is plenty of fat on the employers bulk to be able to raise all wages…
jacknuts even treasury disagrees with you they said at the last election that raising the minimum wage would not lower employment or increase inflation in this economic climate!
In the 1930’s countries that increased their minimum wage came out of recession much faster than the countries which didn’t!
It would be an idea to do some research on the history of economics before you start your rant on chicago school propaganda.
Just repeat the mantra of chicago school of colonial extractive economics there is no other way there is no other way thats chicago school of cultonomics!
Mediocrity Watch: JORDAN WILLIAMS The Panel, Radio NZ National, Thursday 12 September 2013
Jim Mora, Jordan Williams, Scott York
Following the absurdly substandard, dishonest performance by Professor Robert Patman on yesterday’s show, longtime sufferers no doubt thought it unlikely that The Panel could sink any lower. After all, who could possibly be more dishonest than Patman, or Garth “Gaga” George, or Nevil “Breivik” Gibson, or Christine (Spankin’) Rankin, or Dr Michael Bassett? Well, step forward Jordan Williams, right-wing agitator, lawyer and junior colleague of that preposterously pretentious Panel pontificator, Stephen Franks. Presumably the producers formulated a cunning plan that Williams would act as a counterweight to the sensible and well informed Scott York. Bad idea. Very, very bad idea. As listeners no doubt picked up, Jordan Williams knows fuck-all about anything, but doesn’t let that stop him from engaging in highly incendiary political rhetoric. It doesn’t however, make the show one whit more interesting….
JIM MORA:[brightly]Syria, gentlemen. What do you think? SCOTT YORK: Obama has got himself in a hole. He’s still using belligerent language, but that won’t achieve his goals. Bombing Syria would stir up a hornet’s nest. JORDAN WILLIAMS:[quietly and deliberately, to indicate thoughtfulness] The line should never have been drawn. The real problem is Iran. JIM MORA: Do you think it’s do-able, extracting the chemical weapons out of Syria?
Scott York says something vaguely sensible and non-controversial. Jordan Williams, on the other hand, sees this as a teaching moment; only problem is he doesn’t know enough about the middle east or about American history to teach anybody anything. Embarrassingly, he attempts to draw a parallel between Obama and earlier U.S. presidents. He blithers about how the Soviets “treated Roosevelt and Kennedy with contempt”, but not Eisenhower—“because they knew he wasn’t going to mess about.” This is a remarkably foolish, vague and uneducated statement, even by the dismal standards, or lack of standards, at Radio NZ National. Williams clearly knows nothing about Eisenhower, or the Cuban “missile crisis”, and has probably read not a single book about either. As usual, however, his blithely ignorant comments go unchallenged by either Mora or the ostensibly liberal York.
SOAPBOX
Scott York makes some interesting observations about the Labour leadership contest.
Jordan Williams has a spray at Grant Robertson—“my good friend”— for suggesting rent controls in Christchurch. “We have a far further left Labour Party than we realized,” he foams. “Capping rents seems like a recipe for disaster.” This goads the abnormally mild and tolerant Scott York into actually saying something that might upset someone: he points out that the market has clearly failed. Mora, uncomfortable, agrees with York, and Williams starts to make a lame and incoherent rejoinder before being saved by the bell. It’s five o’clock, and the imperative of the News means that another right wing chatterbox gets away without having to defend his half-baked views.
Nice summary, Moz. I came in late and only heard the Chch discussion, but ‘saved by the bell’ indeed. 5 more minutes and Scott Yorke would have had the odious and dull witted Williams on the canvas. For the benefit of readers, Williams was saying the rent caps proposed by Grant Robertson would mean landlords would have less incentive to build properties. That might be true, but the answer is obvious; ignore the private sector and build communal housing in partnership with the Council. It is the People’s Republic of Chch after all.
Yes being able to rack-rent people for what are essentially wrecked houses will be sure to have the rack-renters falling all over each other to build 1000’s of rentals so that people will pay far less rent,
The Landlords are all laughing up their sleeves why would they introduce more rental stock when they are ‘creaming it’ renting out the wrecks,
i gave Grant Robertson a + for after having a good look at the situation down there saying Government edict should set the rents where double garages are now considered luxury accommodation…
The Green Party has decided to contest the Christchurch East by-election that will be held in November as a result of sitting MP Lianne Dalziel’s decision to run for Mayor in the Christchurch local body elections.
Nominations for the seat open today and close 5pm Tuesday 17 September. A candidate selection meeting will be held in the electorate on Saturday 28 September (time and venue to be confirmed). The results of the meeting will be publicly announced by the end of that weekend.
Prospective candidates must have their applications processed and accepted in accordance with the Party’s candidate selection rules to be eligible for nomination. Please contact george@greens.org.nz for more information.
Press Release doesn’t appear to be online yet.
Press Release: 12 September 2013
Green Party to contest Christchurch East by-election
The Green Party has confirmed it will contest the Christchurch East by-election and opened nominations today.
The by-election will be held in November following the expected resignation of sitting Labour MP Lianne Dalziel who intends to run for Christchurch Mayor.
“The Green Party is keenly aware of the issues that people in Christchurch East face and we relish an opportunity to put those concerns under the public spotlight,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said today.
“The people of Christchurch East deserve a strong Green candidate to connect with and speak out on education and housing and other key issues they face.”
Green Party Co-convener Georgina Morrison said nominations will close at 5pm next Tuesday. A candidate selection meeting will be held in the electorate on Saturday, September 28, with details to be confirmed. The results of the meeting will be publicly announced by the end of that weekend.
Prospective candidates must have their applications processed and accepted in accordance with the Party’s candidate selection rules to be eligible for nomination.
Why oh why cannot the left wing groups get their act together. Having two left of centre parties contesting the seat could let National take the seat. There is little point in both Labour and Greens both contesting except to make it easier for National to win
Totally – Labour should step aside and let the Greens run the only Left candidate – Mojo Mathers should stand again – she will be an excellent MP for Christchurch East.
Oh wait – perhaps that isn’t what you had in mind?
Perhaps National can put up a candidate of Aaron Gilmore’s quality again.
I would have no problem with a green candidate if that was what the two parties agreed. I just don’t want to see two similar parties dividing the left vote.
The only people that think it is ok to do that appear to be National
I can’t see a reason why the Greens shouldn’t put up a candidate – it is a fully-fledged independent party after all.
I think you have to trust people to vote strategically. They’ve managed it in previous elections and there’s no reason to expect them to split the vote this time.
Gower showing that he still doesn’t understand how preferential voting works:
After three weeks of street-fighting, Mr Jones is still likely to come third in this race. But he’s a likely kingmaker for the other two, and can expect a senior role.
– They felt that the election was a foregone conclusion, thanks to many polls pointing to a National win.
– They did not trust politicians.
– They had other commitments on the day.
Most people who decided not to vote, made that decision on the day.
My thoughts about an extra rise in inflation is that employers would raise prices to cover wage rises but I know from my personal experience over the years that the more dollars you have the greater is the persons discretion in what they spend on. My only reservation is the stubborn antipathy to organising a system of adjusting pensions more frequently than annually. Governments have mini budgets so likewise they could have six month budgets which would help somewhat instead of annual events.
My views come from my experience and I do not see any need to study the egg heads of whatever perswasion
With the execution of global reciprocal tariffs, US President Donald Trump has issued his ‘declaration of economic independence for America’. The immediate direct effect on the Australian economy will likely be small, with more risk ...
The StrategistBy Jacqueline Gibson, Nerida King and Ned Talbot
AUKUS governments began 25 years ago trying to draw in a greater range of possible defence suppliers beyond the traditional big contractors. It is an important objective, and some progress has been made, but governments ...
I approach fresh Trump news reluctantly. It never holds the remotest promise of pleasure. I had the very, very least of expectations for his Rumble in the Jungle, his Thriller in Manila, his Liberation Day.God May 1945 is becoming the bitterest of jokes isn’t it?Whatever. Liberation Day he declared it ...
Beyond trade and tariff turmoil, Donald Trump pushes at the three core elements of Australia’s international policy: the US alliance, the region and multilateralism. What Kevin Rudd called the ‘three fundamental pillars’ are the heart ...
So, having broken its promise to the nation, and dumped 85% of submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill in the trash, National's stooges on the Justice Committee have decided to end their "consideration" of the bill, and report back a full month early: Labour says the Justice Select Committee ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review offers a mature and sophisticated understanding of workforce challenges facing Australia’s National Intelligence Community (NIC). It provides a thoughtful roadmap for modernising that workforce and enhancing cross-agency and cross-sector collaboration. ...
OPINION AND ANALYSIS:Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier’s comments singling out Health NZ for “acting contrary to the law” couldn’t be clearer. If you find my work of value, do consider subscribing and/or supporting me. Thank you.Health NZ has been acting a law unto itself. That includes putting its management under extraordinary ...
Southeast Asia’s three most populous countries are tightening their security relationships, evidently in response to China’s aggression in the South China Sea. This is most obvious in increased cooperation between the coast guards of the ...
In the late 1970s Australian sport underwent institutional innovation propelling it to new heights. Today, Australia must urgently adapt to a contested and confronting strategic environment. Contributing to this, a new ASPI research project will ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital waiting list crisis just gets worse, including compelling interviews with an over-worked surgeon who is leaving, and a patient who discovered after 19 months of waiting for a referral that her bowel and ovaries were fused together with scar tissue ...
Plainly, the claims being tossed around in the media last year that the new terminal envisaged by Auckland International Airport was a gold-plated “Taj Mahal” extravagance were false. With one notable exception, the Commerce Commission’s comprehensive investigation has ended up endorsing every other aspect of the airport’s building programme (and ...
Movements clustered around the Right, and Far Right as well, are rising globally. Despite the recent defeats we’ve seen in the last day or so with the win of a Democrat-backed challenger, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, over her Republican counterpart, Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, in the battle for ...
In February 2025, John Cook gave two webinars for republicEN explaining the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. 20 February 2025: republicEN webinar part 1 - BUST or TRUST? The scientific consensus on climate change In the first webinar, Cook explained the history of the 20-year scientific consensus on climate change. How do ...
After three decades of record-breaking growth, at about the same time as Xi Jinping rose to power in 2012, China’s economy started the long decline to its current state of stagnation. The Chinese Communist Party ...
The Pike River Coal mine was a ticking time bomb.Ventilation systems designed to prevent methane buildup were incomplete or neglected.Gas detectors that might warn of danger were absent or broken.Rock bolting was skipped, old tunnels left unsealed, communication systems failed during emergencies.Employees and engineers kept warning management about the … ...
Regional hegemons come in different shapes and sizes. Australia needs to think about what kind of hegemon China would be, and become, should it succeed in displacing the United States in Asia. It’s time to ...
RNZ has a story this morning about the expansion of solar farms in Aotearoa, driven by today's ground-breaking ceremony at the Tauhei solar farm in Te Aroha: From starting out as a tiny player in the electricity system, solar power generated more electricity than coal and gas combined for ...
After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and almost a year before the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, US President George H W Bush proclaimed a ‘new world order’. Now, just two months ...
Warning: Some images may be distressing. Thank you for those who support my work. It means a lot.A shopfront in Australia shows Liberal leader Peter Dutton and mining magnate Gina Rinehart depicted with Nazi imageryUS Government Seeks Death Penalty for Luigi MangioneMangione was publicly walked in front of media in ...
Aged care workers rallying against potential roster changes say Bupa, which runs retirement homes across the country, needs to focus on care instead of money. More than half of New Zealand workers wish they had chosen a different career according to a new survey. Consumers are likely to see a ...
The scurrilous attacks on Benjamin Doyle, a list Green MP, over his supposed inappropriate behaviour towards children has dominated headlines and social media this past week, led by frothing Rightwing agitators clutching their pearls and fanning the flames of moral panic over pedophiles and and perverts. Winston Peter decided that ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
The landedAnd the wealthyAnd the piousAnd the healthyAnd the straight onesAnd the pale onesAnd we only mean the male ones!If you're all of the above, then you're ok!As we build a new tomorrow here today!Lyrics Glenn Slater and Allan Menken.Ah, Democracy - can you smell it?It's presently a sulphurous odour, ...
US President Donald Trump’s unconventional methods of conducting international relations will compel the next federal government to reassess whether the United States’ presence in the region and its security assurances provide a reliable basis for ...
Things seem to be at a pretty low ebb in and around the Reserve Bank. There was, in particular, the mysterious, sudden, and as-yet unexplained resignation of the Governor (we’ve had four Governors since the Bank was given its operational autonomy 35 years ago, and only two have completed their ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
The war between Russia and Ukraine continues unabated. Neither side is in a position to achieve its stated objectives through military force. But now there is significant diplomatic activity as well. Ukraine has agreed to ...
One of the first aims of the United States’ new Department of Government Efficiency was shutting down USAID. By 6 February, the agency was functionally dissolved, its seal missing from its Washington headquarters. Amid the ...
If our strategic position was already challenging, it just got worse. Reliability of the US as an ally is in question, amid such actions by the Trump administration as calling for annexation of Canada, threating ...
Small businesses will be exempt from complying with some of the requirements of health and safety legislation under new reforms proposed by the Government. The living wage will be increased to $28.95 per hour from September, a $1.15 increase from the current $27.80. A poll has shown large opposition to ...
Summary A group of senior doctors in Nelson have spoken up, specifically stating that hospitals have never been as bad as in the last year.Patients are waiting up to 50 hours and 1 death is directly attributable to the situation: "I've never seen that number of patients waiting to be ...
Although semiconductor chips are ubiquitous nowadays, their production is concentrated in just a few countries, and this has left the US economy and military highly vulnerable at a time of rising geopolitical tensions. While the ...
Health and Safety changes driven by ACT party ideology, not evidence said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. Changes to health and safety legislation proposed by the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden today comply with ACT party ideology, ignores the evidence, and will compound New ...
In short in our political economy this morning:Fletcher Building is closing its pre-fabricated house-building factory in Auckland due to a lack of demand, particularly from the Government.Health NZ is sending a crisis management team to Nelson Hospital after a 1News investigation exposed doctors’ fears that nearly 500 patients are overdue ...
Exactly 10 years ago, the then minister for defence, Kevin Andrews, released the First Principles Review: Creating One Defence (FPR). With increasing talk about the rising possibility of major power-conflict, calls for Defence funding to ...
In events eerily similar to what happened in the USA last week, Greater Auckland was recently accidentally added to a group chat between government ministers on the topic of transport.We have no idea how it happened, but luckily we managed to transcribe most of what transpired. We share it ...
Hi,When I look back at my history with Dylan Reeve, it’s pretty unusual. We first met in the pool at Kim Dotcom’s mansion, as helicopters buzzed overhead and secret service agents flung themselves off the side of his house, abseiling to the ground with guns drawn.Kim Dotcom was a German ...
Come around for teaDance me round and round the kitchenBy the light of my T.VOn the night of the electionAncient stars will fall into the seaAnd the ocean floor sings her sympathySongwriter: Bic Runga.The Prime Minister stared into the camera, hot and flustered despite the predawn chill. He looked sadly ...
Has Winston Peters got a ferries deal for you! (Buyer caution advised.) Unfortunately, the vision that Peters has been busily peddling for the past 24 hours – of several shipyards bidding down the price of us getting smaller, narrower, rail-enabled ferries – looks more like a science fiction fantasy. One ...
Completed reads for March: The Heart of the Antarctic [1907-1909], by Ernest Shackleton South [1914-1917], by Ernest Shackleton Aurora Australis (collection), edited by Ernest Shackleton The Book of Urizen (poem), by William Blake The Book of Ahania (poem), by William Blake The Book of Los (poem), by William Blake ...
First - A ReminderBenjamin Doyle Doesn’t Deserve ThisI’ve been following posts regarding Green MP Benjamin Doyle over the last few days, but didn’t want to amplify the abject nonsense.This morning, Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister, answered the alt-right’s prayers - guaranteeing amplification of the topic, by going on ...
US President Donald Trump has shown a callous disregard for the checks and balances that have long protected American democracy. As the self-described ‘king’ makes a momentous power grab, much of the world watches anxiously, ...
They can be the very same words. And yet their meaning can vary very much.You can say I'll kill him about your colleague who accidentally deleted your presentation the day before a big meeting.You can say I'll kill him to — or, for that matter, about — Tony Soprano.They’re the ...
Back in 2020, the then-Labour government signed contracted for the construction and purchase of two new rail-enabled Cook Strait ferries, to be operational from 2026. But when National took power in 2023, they cancelled them in a desperate effort to make the books look good for a year. And now ...
The fragmentation of cyber regulation in the Indo-Pacific is not just inconvenient; it is a strategic vulnerability. In recent years, governments across the Indo-Pacific, including Australia, have moved to reform their regulatory frameworks for cyber ...
Welcome to the March 2025 Economic Bulletin. The feature article examines what public private partnerships (PPPs) are. PPPs have been a hot topic recently, with the coalition government signalling it wants to use them to deliver infrastructure. However, experience with PPPs, both here and overseas, indicates we should be wary. ...
Willis announces more plans of plans for supermarketsYesterday’s much touted supermarket competition announcement by Nicola Willis amounted to her telling us she was issuing a 6 week RFI1 that will solicit advice from supermarket players.In short, it was an announcement of a plan - but better than her Kiwirail Interislander ...
This was the post I was planning to write this morning to mark Orr’s final day. That said, if the underlying events – deliberate attempts to mislead Parliament – were Orr’s doing, the post is more about the apparent uselessness of Parliament (specifically the Finance and Expenditure Committee) in holding ...
Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC’s plan to build a plant in the United States looks like a move made at the behest of local officials to solidify US support for Taiwan. However, it may eventually lessen ...
This is a Guest Post by Transport Planner Bevan Woodward from the charitable trust Movement, which has lodged an application for a judicial review of the Governments Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024 Auckland is at grave risk of having its safer speed limits on approx. 1,500 local streets ...
We're just talkin' 'bout the futureForget about the pastIt'll always be with usIt's never gonna die, never gonna dieSongwriters: Brian Johnson / Angus Young / Malcolm YoungMorena, all you lovely people, it’s good to be back, and I have news from the heartland. Now brace yourself for this: depending on ...
Today is the last day in office for the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr. Of course, he hasn’t been in the office since 5 March when, on the eve of his major international conference, his resignation was announced and he stormed off with no (effective) notice and no ...
Treasury and Cabinet have finally agreed to a Crown guarantee for a non-Government lending agency for Community Housing Providers (CHPs), which could unlock billions worth of loans and investments by pension funds and banks to build thousands of more affordable social homes. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest:Chris Bishop ...
Australia has plenty of room to spend more on defence. History shows that 2.9 percent of GDP is no great burden in ordinary times, so pushing spending to 3.0 percent in dangerous times is very ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Winston Peters will announce later today whether two new ferries are rail ‘compatible’, requiring time-consuming container shuffling, or the more efficient and expensive rail ‘enabled,’ where wagons can roll straight on and off.Nicola Willisthreatened yesterday to break up the supermarket duopoly with ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 23, 2025 thru Sat, March 29, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
For prospective writers out there, Inspired Quill, the publisher of my novel(s) is putting together a short story anthology (pieces up to 10,000 words). The open submission window is 29th March to 29th April. https://www.inspired-quill.com/anthology-submissions/ The theme?This anthology will bring together diverse voices exploring themes of hope, resistance, and human ...
Prime minister Kevin Rudd released the 2009 defence white paper in May of that year. It is today remembered mostly for what it said about the strategic implications of China’s rise; its plan to double ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Voters want the Government to retain the living wage for cleaners, a poll shows.The Government’s move to provide a Crown guarantee to banks and the private sector for social housing is described a watershed moment and welcomed by Community Housing Providers.Nicola Willis is ...
The recent attacks in the Congo by Rwandan backed militias has led to worldwide condemnation of the Rwandan regime of Paul Kagame. Following up on the recent Fabian Zoom with Mikela Wrong and Maria Amoudian, Dr Rudaswinga will give a complete picture of Kagame’s regime and discuss the potential ...
New Zealand’s economic development has always been a partnership between the public and private sectors.Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) have become fashionable again, partly because of the government’s ambitions to accelerate infrastructural development. There is, of course, an ideological element too, while some of the opposition to them is also ideological.PPPs come in ...
How Australia funds development and defence was front of mind before Tuesday’s federal budget. US President Donald Trump’s demands for a dramatic lift in allied military spending and brutal cuts to US foreign assistance meant ...
Questions 1. Where and what is this protest?a. Hamilton, angry crowd yelling What kind of food do you call this Seymour?b.Dunedin, angry crowd yelling Still waiting, Simeon, still waitingc. Wellington, angry crowd yelling You’re trashing everything you idiotsd. Istanbul, angry crowd yelling Give us our democracy back, give it ...
Two blueprints that could redefine the Northern Territory’s economic future were launched last week. The first was a government-led economic strategy and the other an industry-driven economic roadmap. Both highlight that supporting the Northern Territory ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
“Make New Zealand First Again” Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, thank you for being here today. We know your lives are busy and you are working harder and longer than you ever have, and there are many calls on your time, so thank you for the chance to speak ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Progressing a holistic strategy to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s geothermal resources, possibly in applications beyond energy generation, is at the centre of discussions with mana whenua at a hui in Rotorua today, Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is in the early stages ...
New annual data has exposed the staggering cost of delays previously hidden in the building consent system, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I directed Building Consent Authorities to begin providing quarterly data last year to improve transparency, following repeated complaints from tradespeople waiting far longer than the statutory ...
Increases in water charges for Auckland consumers this year will be halved under the Watercare Charter which has now been passed into law, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. The charter is part of the financial arrangement for Watercare developed last year by Auckland Council ...
There is wide public support for the Government’s work to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity protections, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The Ministry for Primary Industries recently completed public consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act and the submissions show that people understand the importance of having a strong biosecurity ...
A new independent review function will enable individuals and organisations to seek an expert independent review of specified civil aviation regulatory decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Director of Civil Aviation, Acting Transport Minister James Meager has announced today. “Today we are making it easier and more affordable ...
The Government will invest in an enhanced overnight urgent care service for the Napier community as part of our focus on ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown has today confirmed. “I am delighted that a solution has been found to ensure Napier residents will continue to ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended a sod turning today to officially mark the start of construction on a new mental health facility at Hillmorton Campus. “This represents a significant step in modernising mental health services in Canterbury,” Mr Brown says. “Improving health infrastructure is ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has welcomed confirmation the economy has turned the corner. Stats NZ reported today that gross domestic product grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to December following falls in the June and September quarters. “We know many families and businesses are still suffering the after-effects ...
The sealing of a 12-kilometre stretch of State Highway 43 (SH43) through the Tangarakau Gorge – one of the last remaining sections of unsealed state highway in the country – has been completed this week as part of a wider programme of work aimed at improving the safety and resilience ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says relations between New Zealand and the United States are on a strong footing, as he concludes a week-long visit to New York and Washington DC today. “We came to the United States to ask the new Administration what it wants from ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has welcomed changes to international anti-money laundering standards which closely align with the Government’s reforms. “The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) last month adopted revised standards for tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism to allow for simplified regulatory measures for businesses, organisations and sectors ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he welcomes Medsafe’s decision to approve an electronic controlled drug register for use in New Zealand pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to replace their physical paper-based register. “The register, developed by Kiwi brand Toniq Limited, is the first of its kind to be approved in New ...
The Coalition Government’s drive for regional economic growth through the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund is on track with more than $550 million in funding so far committed to key infrastructure projects, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. “To date, the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) has received more than 250 ...
[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.] * We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon. * We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what ...
The intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road in the Eastern Bay of Plenty will be made safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight with the construction of a new and long-awaited roundabout, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop. “The current intersection of SH2 and Wainui Road is ...
The Ocean Race will return to the City of Sails in 2027 following the Government’s decision to invest up to $4 million from the Major Events Fund into the international event, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealand is a proud sailing nation, and Auckland is well-known internationally as the ...
Improving access to mental health and addiction support took a significant step forward today with Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announcing that the University of Canterbury have been the first to be selected to develop the Government’s new associate psychologist training programme. “I am thrilled that the University of Canterbury ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened the new East Building expansion at Manukau Health Park. “This is a significant milestone and the first stage of the Grow Manukau programme, which will double the footprint of the Manukau Health Park to around 30,000m2 once complete,” Mr Brown says. “Home ...
The Government will boost anti-crime measures across central Auckland with $1.3 million of funding as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Fund, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee say. “In recent years there has been increased antisocial and criminal behaviour in our CBD. The Government ...
The Government is moving to strengthen rules for feeding food waste to pigs to protect New Zealand from exotic animal diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD), says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. ‘Feeding untreated meat waste, often known as "swill", to pigs could introduce serious animal diseases like FMD and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held productive talks in New Delhi today. Fresh off announcing that New Zealand and India would commence negotiations towards a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, the two Prime Ministers released a joint statement detailing plans for further cooperation between the two countries across ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the forestry sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the horticulture sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new Family Court Judges. The new Judges will take up their roles in April and May and fill Family Court vacancies at the Auckland and Manukau courts. Annette Gray Ms Gray completed her law degree at Victoria University before joining Phillips ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened Wellington Regional Hospital’s first High Dependency Unit (HDU). “This unit will boost critical care services in the lower North Island, providing extra capacity and relieving pressure on the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency department. “Wellington Regional Hospital has previously relied ...
Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. What an honour it is to stand on this stage - to inaugurate this august Dialogue - with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi. My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our ...
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[Bunji: We’ve been approving approving your comments, but I notice you’ve actually meant to be banned until 4 October]
I don’t understand this, perhaps someone can enlighten.
When a business makes a mistake and that costs it in terms of lost customers and reputation, that business and its owner understands that it must carry that self-imposed burden and deal with it alone with no expectation that the owners neighbour or anyone else should step in and pay to right the mistake. After all, the neighbour has not shared in any previous profits.
But Fonterra, a private company, after ballsing up its botulism scare left right and centre, is getting taxpayer funding to help correct their self-imposed disaster. A government fund of $2,000,000 has been set up, from which dairy businesses can do such things as get the taxpayer to pay their travel costs to those customers, among other things.
How does this fit? How does this work? Can any business apply for such assistance when they balls things up? Or is it only certain ones?
Sounds like more welfare to me. Bludging off the taxpayer. Just like the NZX which after several decades still stutters along wimpering for the taxpayer to support their privately owned business…
Perhaps Wayne, who comments on here from time to time and posters seem to know who is (is it publicly known, his identity?), would like to explain. Come in Wayne…
and then you know what….. I turns the next page of te morning paper and what is the headline? Fonterra expanding into China expecting to farm up to 15,000 cows….
For fucking fucks sake – what a pile cowshit this government is
And yesterday the cheapest 2 litre bottle of milk went up 30 cents to $3.30 in Glenview New World and 39 cents to $3.39 at Clarence St Pak n Save.
Well (ahem) you must understand there are a lot of (cough) extra costs in administrating all this free money…
God you guys a getting ripped off in NZ – I live in the Middle East & I pay the equivalent of NZ$3.20 for 2 litres of fresh milk – all imported. None of my Arab colleagues can understand why New Zealander’s pay international prices for a product they make domestically – we sure as hell don’t pay international prices for petroleum here (we pay about 30 cents a litre – and the locals think that is expensive!)
Earlier on in the week on the radio I heard that an 11 year old won a NZ science prize for proving that the triple layer plastic milk bottle does not keep milk as fresh as the regular plastic milk bottle. I will try and find a link.
Apparently one benefit of the triple layer plastic is that it prevents light from destroying the nutrient content. I would like to know by how much?
I suppose if you can afford the more expensive container, any waste is not an issue.
Part of the problem is that regulation is required as the supermarket mark up is a rip off. Watch the cost of anything else with dairy in it rise.
That’s only one 11 year old’s opinion. Key can find another 11 year old who will say the opposite.
I cannot find the link. I will keep looking.
Even at intermediate when marking a science project it has to have a proven hypothesis.
I couldn’t find the Herald link but this is the same story.
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/fonterra-bottles-fail-boys-acid-test/
Thankyou for supplying a link, it was appreciated.
Due to the variables e.g. possible contamination during testing, retesting is required. No doubt divided opinion at this stage.
“… during acid testing when the milk was left outside – milk in the triple layer bottle degraded faster.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11122005
Setting up dairy, kiwifruit in other countries is seen as an export – exporting our expertise, our intellectual property, experience. Whether its exxing out some of our interests in the short or long term well I don’t know if that has been examined.
With the difficulty of keeping quality control over our own stuff, and the harm that we have caused to the respect for our standards, perhaps it would be a good idea to make money from helping countries get established in the market, and then sell out our interests there, and wait for them to screw up. In the meantime we concentrate on making quality stuff, and have policies of honesty and fast response to any problems and have unceasing controls and inspections enforced by the government, as business cannot be relied upon not to slide if its solely responsible for itself.
And that leads to a news item from this morning. The horrific fuel train explosion in Canada was caused by inadequate measures by the transport company, but the results were ramped up because it was carrying more flammable fuel than the oil it was allowed to transport.
And the likelihood of government controlling complacent, wealthy, cost-cutting, safety and regulation lax businesses – well the oil spill in the Northern Hemisphere, was it the Exonn or similar, came about after safety measures had not been followed, government controls and officials had been softened up after ‘capture’ by the business, and all along the safety evaluation of the oil gathering and transporting led to an expectation of some event in a 25 year time frame. This then was made more likely to occur by the lax safety standards adopted.
(Probably Fukushima was similar.)
My comment has been waiting in moderation now for 40 mins. I think using the term exxing might have scrambled the screen’s dictionary.
[Bunji: no idea why it was in moderation, but guess no-one was looking at the queue. Approved now]
Thanks Bunji
Audrey Young quotes Roger Douglas’ view on the leadership….as if they are relevant!!
And she believes the Annette King’s return from holidays overseas will bolster Robertson’s chances. Yeah, Annette is the one to pick winning leaders!
Yes, Boadicea – wouldn’t you think the Labour caucus – especially the ABCs – have the message by now that Rogernomics didn’t work and new thinking on economic development is needed?
But No – they’re still tied to that old drum ….. Mr Rogernomics telling them “the two main contenders, Mr Cunliffe and Mr Robertson, have had been advancing policy “that would set New Zealand up to become another Spain or Greece.”
Ironical, eh ?. Following the Rogernomics track has set NZ up to become “another Spain or Greece”.
And it will be more than disappointing if the current Labour caucus cannot see that.
Roger Douglas? – he’s still around! The land of the living dead.
You call that living? Today, I dribbled this much
The trouble was a conventional socialist paniced and called for a cup of tea …. we will never know where Sir Roger was taking us … that is a hard pill for you folk to swallow I know.
Halfway to hell was far enough, thanks.
CV
+2
lol
I think we were heading towards “a secret enclave known as Galts Gulch”….
Even the Herald now gives Cunliffe 12 first preference caucus votes (Audrey Young today). With 60% of both the unions and the members he will be the leader. Too easy!
Mallard, on a junket in San Fran, promises further taxpayers’ funding for EMIRATES Team NZ if they win the America’s Cup.
Nothing’s changed.
Maybe if we are lucky he will see the writing on the wall and stay there.
don’t they need some more ballast for the boat..?
..for once..he could be a bit useful..
..which would make a change..eh..?..
..phillip ure..
I actually HOPE that Cunliffe sacks him ( Mallard)…… and the rest of the ABC group who want to stay to their neo liberal sellout path.
I’m heartily sick of hearing from worn out scabs and turncoats like Douglas and Prebble.
Typical of the proliteriate, nothing but oudated terms … pity Labour has nothing better
The latest Greenwald information shows that NSA is sending raw data to Israel. Read (c) of the memorandum for reference to NZ. Are we collecting any of this information at Waihopai? Do our MPs know?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/11/nsa-israel-intelligence-memorandum-understanding-document
So wrong in so many ways. What the fuck were they thinking?
There’s enormous scope for industrial espionage as the Israeli military/industrial complex commercialises its opportunities.
Here’s an example:
On the day Raphael Ouzan finished five years of service in an elite intelligence unit, he decided to start his own company. The night after his release from the IDF he met with a good friend, Yaron Samid, and together they resolved to build their own startup.
In the first days they had only five employees—two from the same intelligence unit as Ouzan. Last year their company—BillGuard—raised 3 million dollars in funding and won second place in the startup competition Techcrunch Disrupt.
BillGuard is, essentially, antivirus for your credit card. The software scans credit card transactions and finds technical errors or fraudulent deals. This is accomplished with a unique algorithm which scans forums, social networks and websites, and analyzes transactions for “suspicious” behavior.
What’s the link between credit card protection and the IDF? Raphael Ouzan, now BillGuard’s CTO explains:
“I learned a lot about this type of work from my military service . . .
http://www.idfblog.com/2012/04/02/start-up-army-idf-israels-hi-tech-industry/
Reframing the economy – The new economics foundation writes about the differences between the austerity framing and a new story the shows a difference side of the economic policies of austerity and the type of society that we want to progress.
New iPhone 5S with fingerprint sensor is a neat way to add your fingerprint to the NSAs Databases.
Android based phones have been doing it for ages…
Interesting. I have a top of the line HTC and it doesn’t. I wasn’t aware that the Galaxy S III, IV did either.
hmm… neither does mine. Where did you get that news Roflcopter?
For sure this happens esp when you have a Govt who introduced YOUTH rates……
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/9152629/Can-t-get-work-can-t-afford-to-retire
Amirite NZ has built a boat industry up from $120 million a year to over $2billion a year.
On the back of our sucess in the Americas cup!
Leading edge world beating technology has been developed + the publicity NZ gets from the cup.
Even in the bottom of the south island many boat building companies have hugely benefited .Companies that were employing a couple of employees are now employing well paid engineers welders etc,
Formerly these companies were making cheap aluminiun tinnies runabouts and dingies they are now making large ocean going high end cruisers at $150,000+
Before $1200 dingies.
These are exactly the value added exports we need in this country.
If we don,t keep supporting and investing in this industry we will fall behind and china will take all these high paying jobs.
The cost at less than $8 million per year is a fraction of what farming and other industries receive from govt!
You can only invest in industry from your profits.NZ is always constrained by the value of its currency which is subject to the gamblers perception ie a higher official interest rate.
Wheelers statement had an immediate effect,reducing the profits for exporters in the upcoming export season.
http://freeserv.dukascopy.com:8080/ChartServer/chart?stock_id=1034&interval=60&points_number=400&view_type=line&width=400&height=250&show_labels=true&osc_type=-1&rfi=false&osc_height=100&p1=2&p2=3&p3=7&c=4113324
So you agree that (generally) underpaid work forces should produce luxury goods for wealthy foreigners to consume?
How’s about value added ‘everyday’ products that workers (foreign or domestic) can afford?
Who gives a stuff about boat builders when we cannot even construct moderate price houses.
When we can house, feed, educate, and provide good health care for all New Zeal;anders then we can start worrying about building rich men’s toys
Ron We need skilled people making physical things for everybody – making things, yachts, boats, railway carriages, steel workers etc. Also needed is regular work for builders, not on-off cycles of boom and depressed demand, and real assistance to the building community from a real hard-working government agency.
It would have model plans that used good and modest priced materials with acceptable building methods. Some might use some steel and wood. They would inform on whether boron treated studs and joists would be better than untreated. It would be in plain language so that interested people could get leaflets and read reports on line. If we had had a working agency like this it would have put a stop to the building of housing that was proving to be unsatisfactory and even dangerous, overseas.
Most of our poor leaky housing would never have happened if BRANZ or whatever it was called was working well for our benefit. When we are decrying the housing deficit, don’t forget the setback the leaky, fungussy homes caused and the heartache and physical sickness as well as the mental stress for people involved in the losses.
I hope we will never get to the stage where we become so angry that violence and retaliation break out against the perpetrators of these predatory shonky financial and political schemes.
There is only so much that people can put up with – too much and the chickens will come home to roost.
(expressed in print as early as 1390, when Geoffrey Chaucer used it in The Parson’s Tale:
And ofte tyme swich cursynge wrongfully retorneth agayn to hym that curseth, as a bryd that retorneth agayn to his owene nest.)
Ron This is a good way to take money back off rich people.
Oracle paid NZ boat builders to build their boats because we had the best technology and skill in the world.
we will never be a bulk mass producer like China Indonesia or any large industrialized country ever again we can only succeed in niche markets.
Its not just rich mans toys we make huge numbers of small boats as well.
This is one area in manufacturing where we are leading the world!
We can construct cheap housing its just that existing monopolies have the govt in their back pocket !
Education world leading software is being developed in NZ by Taylor made for television, apps for smart phones and then the on board software for Team New Zealand Aotearoa designed and developed in Good old NZ!
Larry Ellison (oracle yes Oracle) World leading software designer and supplier is getting beaten by some very smart high paid by NZ standards home grown Kiwi software designers that will make software designers sit up and take Notice the world over that has got to be good for NZ!
Reality check needed Ron in fact its been nearly seven years since the Labour Govt put up the $36 million for Team NZ thats less than $4 million a year.
How much did the country put up for the world cup for a negative return, nearly $1 billion dollars which local councils are still in debt up to their eyeballs from and have caused a lot of job losses because councils have had to sack staff to pay for under used stadiums while the Americas cup has turned a $120 million a year boat industry into a $2 billion a year boat industry employing 100,s if not thousands of full time workers!
If I had my way I would have put that rugby money into the boat industry at least we would have some return for our investment .Instead we have a bunch of empty stadiums and the loan shark big Aussie bankers Are smiling!
NZ Defence has been found to be just a tad careless in training its workers, apparently on the basis that because they are going into dangerous theatres of whatever, they need to be toughened and man-up to danger, before they are properly trained and instructed to deal with such dangers in a manful and knowledgable manner. Man what a bunch of clods and impractical managers in Defence. The authoritarian power with absolute power to ignore morality and fair behaviour and respect for the troops and their welfare is on the way to losing his, or her, humanity.
Not just training, but the basic activities of equipment and maintenance. I’m thinking of the poor guy who fucking drowned because his life vest wouldn’t inflate.
For a while back there the NZRAF had more “Wing Commanders” on the payroll than actual physical wings flyable in the fleet. Don’t know if it’s still the case.
Now I don’t have permission to edit with 5 minutes left to go. I was going to express my thinking better but you’ll just have to unscramble the code that attempts to convey the message! /sarc
Perhaps those wing commanders spent their spare time, instead of ensuring proper training and usage standards be met to prevent loss of human capacity and expensive capital equipment, developing the game Icarus. It sounds interesting and maybe challenging for a grounded sky pilot.
(Itching to dive-bomb a rival guild’s castle from dragon-back? It will be possible in the upcoming fantasy game Icarus Online.) http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Icarus-Online/
(Icarus, son of Daedalus who dared to fly too near the sun on wings of feathers and wax. Daedalus had been imprisoned by King Minos of Crete within the walls of his …)
Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology
odd. Notes it down.
So what is the rate of accidental deaths for members of the NZDF v comparable civilian occupations? Do you know or is this just a rant based on ignorance and perception?
chris73
Do your own work if you are interested in gaining the information. But then if you were you would have some stored in your own mind and would have an idea of what I was referring to. Trouble with you RWNJs is that you are information beneficiaries too lazy to do your own amassing of stats and background.
In other words you don’t know so you’re making it up
What civilian occupations are comparable to NZDF functions?
Off the top of my head:
Firemen, truckies, carpenters, mechanics, storemen, administraters, doctors, nurses, medics, teachers, pilots, cooks, stewards, plumbers, gym instructors, dentists, pet ops, move ops, divers, psychatrists, builders and of course after the winds the guys were out with chainsaws but thats not a core function…
Theres probably more but thats enough to go on for now…
But there’s one overall function of NZDF that is in none of those trades. The clue is in the name.
Unless stewards routinely have light machine guns to carry around, of course.
They have accountants in the NZDF, therefore the NZDF are just like KPMG!!! And look, 4 letters as well, that’s not just coincidence!!!
Soldier first and trade second but that wasn’t the question was it, the question was: “what civilian occupations are comparable to NZDF functions?”
Now while I am pretty damn awesome I do have to admit that reading peoples minds isn’t one of my particular talents so if you want me to answer a question make sure you phrase the question properly
The forestry Industry makes the defense force look good who needs enemies when we are more dangerous with self inflicted losses even in Afghanistan Key Turned down amoured vehicles and refused to use light amoured vehicles because they were to expensive to take to that theater of war!
nationals cost cutting at work again down grading our armed services while Poncekey takes all the limelight for being the US,s lapdog is criminal negligence.
National can.t help themselves cutting forrestry inspection from 1,000 down to 220 a year has lead to a massive increase in deaths negligence the minister Joyce should be put on trial for manslaughter!
I’m guessing you’ve had a few drinks?
It seems as if the GCSB is the only government department that will listen to you.
over and out.
Key is the only person in NZ who will know if the GCSB has listened in on him.
6 months from now he’ll be so desperate to have anyone listen to him that he’ll be sending them a special request
Lol
The other 9/11.
http://www.democracynow.org/topics/1973_chilean_coup
edit: snap xtasy.
WRT things Chilean:
Two nations were influenced by our thinkers and example:
Finland and Chile. Finland learned its lessons from John Dewey. Its
schools are child-centered. It prizes the arts and physical
education. It has no standardized testing. Its schools are noted
for both excellence and equity. It is a top performer on
international tests. Chile learned its lessons from Milton
Friedman. It has vouchers and testing. Its schools are highly
segregated by social class. The quality of education is highly
dependent on family income. Students in Chile are rioting to demand
free public education. No one considers Chile a model. Which
direction are we going? Why? Whose ideas are dominant
today?
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/09/08/the-two-nations-that-learned-from-us/
Yep. A side tangential issue to that touches on some comments on this site lately about the loyalty of the armed forces and who they actually belong to and act for.
As is shown by the Chile coup, the Fiji coups, and many other examples, armed forces do not belong to the people and neither are they loyal to the people, nor even the government. They act for and belong to others. They do what they are ordered to – such as bomb and kill civilians and others living in their own country (Egypt), murder politicians (Chile), act for the Crown (British Crown) to protect the Crown (reason for ignoring Lange in first Fiji coup)
Militaries are for these purposes, which are quite contrary to the popular understanding of the wider public who assume that they are on “our” side. Especially in NZ where, you know, nothing like that ever happens, couldn’t, nah, that happens overseas….
Some posters have highlighted these realities recently and it has left a chill in the air ……….
be very afraid of all militaries
Thank You for posting these links joe90. Will make some time to watch, read and absorb.
Red-Green, my first upload for a while.
I’m guessing it’s the DC effect and lots of coffee.
https://soundcloud.com/theal1en/red-green or via my widget affected site http://www.al1en.org
Here is an example of setting yourself up for problems. Relying too heavily on man-made things for your business when you operate in a non-man-made environment.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9156195/Storm-damages-over-800-Canterbury-irrigators
Rely on power for your dairy shed – what happens when the power goes out?
Rely on external water supply for your grass – what happens when the external water supply dries up?
Rely on mechanical means to feed the animals – what happens when nature tips it upside down?
Too much reliance on non-natural items. Too intensive. Too clever for our own good, methinks
One other too – Canterbury used to have large hedges planted all over to protect from the wind and stop the earth being blown away (this was learned from when the land was stripped and early weather blew the dirt away). When these hedges began being flattened about 15 years ago many old-timers said strongly that they would rue the day. The winds would return and wreak havoc they said. And looky at that – the winds came screaming down through the mountains and instead of screeching across at the height of 10m hedges it screeched across at the height of 1cm blades of grass.
I have too many digs at farmers and this is not intended as another. It is a dig at humanwomankind and its tendency to always forget the lessons of the past. Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them. Voila.
vto
Good points.
Correct. You point to an economy predicated on fragility.
The problem is that they listened to the anti global warming sorces and didn’t buy generators to run even just one machine to relieve the suffering of their animals. Personally I have changed to all electricity but I have not sold my gas .. that is in reserve for when the power fails …. if a townie with just himself to think about can do it why not the farmer with hundreds of stock their responsibility.
Yep – vto – we were sitting there watching the TV news about all the mangled irrigation pipes wondering why the heck they had’nt laid them down, dismantled them or done something else to protect them when they had plenty of warning those high winds were coming. And maybe those irrigation contraptions could be replaced with sprinkler pipes laid in the ground ?
And now you’re talking about the removal of the shelter hedges. Hadn’t realised that had happened. Why did the dairy farmers or whoever think they were there in the first place – as decoration ? Farmers don’t do decoration.
Amazing lack of thought on the part of whoever is in charge of the dairy farms in Canterbury.
That’s what K-line is for.
One more time in the ghetto, yes, yet another comment on the question: Does raising the minimum wage lead to more unemployment, the answer so far from what i have posted has been a resounding and emphatic NO,
This link is pretty looo-ong and may have your eyeballs sliding out of their socket and off down your cheeks if you try and read it all at once, it does tho present the argument from both sides, a couple of salient points when we consider what is the American experience and how the template is more or less a mirror of our own,
Paul Krugman: ”The current level of the minimum wage is very low by any reasonable standard”.
In a New York Time op-ed piece Noble Prize winning economist Paul Krugman argued that raising the minimum wage was both good politics and sound policy. Moreover, He argued in favor of increasing the Federal baseline to keep up with inflation,
”For about four decades increases in the minimum wage have consistently fallen behind inflation, so that in real terms the minimum wage is substantially lower than it was in the 1960’s, meanwhile, worker productivity has doubled”, (New York Times 2/17/13).
Starts to make the USA sound like a small country located in the South Pacific Ocean doesn’t it, and then there is this:
”If the minimum wage reflected worker productivity it would be nearly $22 per hour”.
Citing a study done by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Huffington Post explained that the current minimum wage lags far behind what it should after accounting for productivity increases,
”The minimum wage should have reached $21.72 an hour in 2012 if it kept up with increases in worker productivity according to a March study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research”,
”While advancements in technology have increased the amount of goods and services that can be produced in a set amount of time wages have remained relatively flat the study point out”, (the Huffington Post 2/13/13).
Not here in little old Noo Zealand tho right, the robber barons wouldn’t whip us into productivity increases while not passing on a fair share of such increases as wage rises, or would they???,
http://www.mediamatters.org/research/2013/07/24/right-wing…mini/195026
This would tend to suggest that the US experience of the Neoliberal experiment matches our own,
”Out-put growth in the measured sectors averaged 2.6% per annum from 1978 to 2007, the main driver of this out-put growth was labour productivity of +2.0% per annum”.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/tprp/08-02/05.htm
The studies are nice but also irrelevant to our specific conditions, we can get the economic and social outcomes we want in NZ via innovative fiscal means.
Yes i am sure the Treasury info is irrelevant to you, please expand upon these innovative fiscal means…
get more cash into the economy and keep it there and circulating. Nothing magic.
The Greens are questioning some of the NACTs innovative means of pulling money Out of the economy with a little pokie game, a devilish device. Have a go at their fruit loop machine and try for a thinking MP to cross the House.
https://www.greens.org.nz/skycity#1
The most interesting and thoughtful article by Krugman was quite recentl;y where he wrote about the wonk factor and related it to the Republicans which I don’t particularly dis-agree with … they are a festering sore on American politics …. HOWEVER when I come to The Standard I see evidence of a similar problem.
Wonk Factor = a habit of only reading sources that you agree with.
I wonder if I suffer from it too since I only read Krugman becuase I agree with him and cannot be bothered with the RW crap.
PS. I never considered Sir Roger RW, that was the journalists and Alliance idiots bellyacheing.
The Standard is a left wing site in case you havn’t noticed, given that, i am hardly going to give oxygen to the rights politico/economic agenda,
They have the mainstream media happily doing that for them…
jcuknz
Are you into studying the cosmos. Because you don’t seem to know much about what is going on down and around here on little ole NZ. Sir Roger not RW? That joke won’t fly.
Here’s a jolly little poem by AA Milne just right for Sir Roger…It may seem silly, but not very.
Bad Sir Brian Botany
Sir Brian had a battleaxe with great big knobs on;
He went among the villagers and blipped them on the head.
On Wednesday and on Saturday, but mostly on the latter day,
He called at all the cottages, and this what he said:
I am Sir Brian, as bold as a lion –
Take that! – and that! – and that!
Sir Brian woke one morning, and he couldn’t find his battleaxe:
He walked into the village in his second pair of boots.
He had gone a hundred paces, when the street was full of faces,
And the villagers were round him with ironical salutes…
Sir Brian went a journey, and he found a lot of duck-weed:
They pulled him out and dried him, and they blipped him on the head.
They took him by the breeches, and they hurled him into ditches,
And they pushed him under waterfalls, and this is what they said:
You are Sir Brian, as bold as a lion –
Sir Brian, the lion, good-bye!
And now he goes about the village as B.Botany, Esquire.
I am Sir Brian? Oh no!
I am Sir Brian? Who’s he?
I haven’t got any title, I’m Botany –
Plain Mr Botany (B).
I considered him to be seriously unwise and in way too much of a hurry. The over-regulated state with a habit of hiding unemployment in the farming sector, forestry, the post office, railways, etc was never going to survive because it simply wasn’t economic. Nor was the tariff system that resulted in the first corporate I worked with having a larger lobby group in Wellington protecting the tariffs than their head office and sales force combined.
Problem was that it’d gotten to the point of collapse as the NZLP took power and literally found that they couldn’t pay for it any more. Inflation was already out of control so they couldn’t print their way out. That allowed border-line hysterics like Douglas, Prebble, Moore, etc way way too much power to make completely bad through to simply shoddy deals. Problem was that the Labour MPs including the backboners were so used to only have 3 years that they tried to do everything in 3 years – and it made the economic reforms completely desperate and dangerous. It takes time to change economic systems safely.
Nett result of doing sudden change like that was that we wound up with a rump of people with few skills in the wrong parts of the country who went on unemployment for far too long. Go to somewhere like Rotorua or the old tariff factories and you can see the generational damage that fell out of that. National unfortunately usually come around just often enough to kill those regional towns whenever they start getting better off.
It also made it freaking hard to get capital for anything productive in this country for decades after the ’87 crash when the ponzi cowboys tainted the finance markets and killed all of the pre-existing capital outlets.
Of course if Muldoon hadn’t been such a diehard conservative screwing the pooch in the decade before trying to prevent change, then it’d have been a whole lot easier.
That’s really good summary of post-Muldoon lprent.. It is understandable the way you explain it. Muldoon may have been the right man for the job for a while, but after two terms leaders need to be put out to grass, otherwise they get stuck in the dried cow pats and have to be prised up. I also think that the terms should be for four years. You refer to three and it does seem that it is just too hard to plan, implement and monitor results within that time. Hence the shonky legislation we get.
Muldoon right to the finish sang the song ”I did it my way’ and wanted to take It with him when he went. Lange said that before Muldoon officially handed over the keys to the hope-chest we had a capital flight so bad that Labour had to call up all the diplomats overseas and sequester their credit card balances.
What upset me was the flamboyant way Douglas et al closed down businesses which were really operating, even with some assistance, and then they replaced them with slogans which weren’t as useful at the supermarket. First pain, then gain for instance. Unions bad, business sanctified. Tariffs and subsidies gone altogether. Nudity was de rigueur to all trade talks so that it was plain to all that we didn’t carry any concealed weaponry, even dicks. New business was going to spring up, vigorous from all this fertiliser. But in fact, if it did it tended to be shopworn old business recycled, carrying out previous government activities.
And the new floating exchange rate and foreign ownership seem to have creamed off
financial successes with keen assistance from inflated financial speculators, inflated property speculators, inflated importers, and the naivety of us all. We have reacted similarly to the people of Albania when stripped of the restraints of communism and exposed to sharp teeth of capitalism. Where they were fleeced by ponzi schemes and fulsome promises from money sharks. Who was that sneaking round the corner – Mac the Knife! Our theme song.
Time for We Got Talent and let’s get a new song!
The problem with increasing the minimum wage is that all wages would rise accordingly and this would promote inflation … which as a superanuient relying on an annual re-adjustment is likelly rather tough on me …. however Krugman also pointed out that inflation makes it easier for a country to retire its debt which is a good thing instead of the RW going on about living within your means like a household. But a country is not a household and if you stiffle the ecconomy with austerity measures it is going to take a hell of a long time to get out of the poo. In this respect I think the National Governmeent over the past five years has steered a good course between the camps … austerity v. stimulous.
So I think many writers here are living with ideological blinkers which say “left good – right bad” when it is not a clear cut black and white situation.
Income for the top 10% have been skyrocketing just fine without inflation.
The inflation thing is just a myth. Under Helen Clark the minimum wage went from about $8 to about $12 and inflation was fucking low.
More of the economy in wages and less in profit is a good thing.
Reducing private taxation (profit) and giving people more return for their labour should be supported.
I can’t see how people can argue for reduced public taxation without also arguing for reduced private taxation.
Profit is a tax on the cost of production.
+1
Why should all wages rise accordingly?
The gap between the top and bottom earners has been growing rapidly wider over the years, it can just gradually narrow over the years.
”All wages would rise accordingly”, not necessarily and really only at the behest of employers, and what you say would insinuate that there is plenty of fat on the employers bulk to be able to raise all wages…
jacknuts even treasury disagrees with you they said at the last election that raising the minimum wage would not lower employment or increase inflation in this economic climate!
In the 1930’s countries that increased their minimum wage came out of recession much faster than the countries which didn’t!
It would be an idea to do some research on the history of economics before you start your rant on chicago school propaganda.
Just repeat the mantra of chicago school of colonial extractive economics there is no other way there is no other way thats chicago school of cultonomics!
Mediocrity Watch: JORDAN WILLIAMS
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Thursday 12 September 2013
Jim Mora, Jordan Williams, Scott York
Following the absurdly substandard, dishonest performance by Professor Robert Patman on yesterday’s show, longtime sufferers no doubt thought it unlikely that The Panel could sink any lower. After all, who could possibly be more dishonest than Patman, or Garth “Gaga” George, or Nevil “Breivik” Gibson, or Christine (Spankin’) Rankin, or Dr Michael Bassett? Well, step forward Jordan Williams, right-wing agitator, lawyer and junior colleague of that preposterously pretentious Panel pontificator, Stephen Franks. Presumably the producers formulated a cunning plan that Williams would act as a counterweight to the sensible and well informed Scott York. Bad idea. Very, very bad idea. As listeners no doubt picked up, Jordan Williams knows fuck-all about anything, but doesn’t let that stop him from engaging in highly incendiary political rhetoric. It doesn’t however, make the show one whit more interesting….
JIM MORA: [brightly]Syria, gentlemen. What do you think?
SCOTT YORK: Obama has got himself in a hole. He’s still using belligerent language, but that won’t achieve his goals. Bombing Syria would stir up a hornet’s nest.
JORDAN WILLIAMS: [quietly and deliberately, to indicate thoughtfulness] The line should never have been drawn. The real problem is Iran.
JIM MORA: Do you think it’s do-able, extracting the chemical weapons out of Syria?
Scott York says something vaguely sensible and non-controversial. Jordan Williams, on the other hand, sees this as a teaching moment; only problem is he doesn’t know enough about the middle east or about American history to teach anybody anything. Embarrassingly, he attempts to draw a parallel between Obama and earlier U.S. presidents. He blithers about how the Soviets “treated Roosevelt and Kennedy with contempt”, but not Eisenhower—“because they knew he wasn’t going to mess about.” This is a remarkably foolish, vague and uneducated statement, even by the dismal standards, or lack of standards, at Radio NZ National. Williams clearly knows nothing about Eisenhower, or the Cuban “missile crisis”, and has probably read not a single book about either. As usual, however, his blithely ignorant comments go unchallenged by either Mora or the ostensibly liberal York.
SOAPBOX
Scott York makes some interesting observations about the Labour leadership contest.
Jordan Williams has a spray at Grant Robertson—“my good friend”— for suggesting rent controls in Christchurch. “We have a far further left Labour Party than we realized,” he foams. “Capping rents seems like a recipe for disaster.” This goads the abnormally mild and tolerant Scott York into actually saying something that might upset someone: he points out that the market has clearly failed. Mora, uncomfortable, agrees with York, and Williams starts to make a lame and incoherent rejoinder before being saved by the bell. It’s five o’clock, and the imperative of the News means that another right wing chatterbox gets away without having to defend his half-baked views.
Nice summary, Moz. I came in late and only heard the Chch discussion, but ‘saved by the bell’ indeed. 5 more minutes and Scott Yorke would have had the odious and dull witted Williams on the canvas. For the benefit of readers, Williams was saying the rent caps proposed by Grant Robertson would mean landlords would have less incentive to build properties. That might be true, but the answer is obvious; ignore the private sector and build communal housing in partnership with the Council. It is the People’s Republic of Chch after all.
Yes being able to rack-rent people for what are essentially wrecked houses will be sure to have the rack-renters falling all over each other to build 1000’s of rentals so that people will pay far less rent,
The Landlords are all laughing up their sleeves why would they introduce more rental stock when they are ‘creaming it’ renting out the wrecks,
i gave Grant Robertson a + for after having a good look at the situation down there saying Government edict should set the rents where double garages are now considered luxury accommodation…
Scott YORKE. Of course! A while ago, you got me for carelessly mis-spelling Mai Chen’s name. This is yet another point for you, my friend.
Just the other day that terrifying force of nature Queen of Thorns got me for writing Grant Robinson instead of Robertson.
One more slip and Mr Prent will no doubt slap another month-long ban on me….
[lprent: I don’t do it for typos. I’d have to ban myself. ]
You deserve a medal for listening to Mora’s programme.
I do it for you, Paul, and everybody else out there too busy and too intelligent to listen to such crap.
@ Morrissey….I really appreciate your analysis and commentary….on Mora’s programme and Crump’s evening radio.
I appreciate the kind words, Chooky.
Heh.
Press Release doesn’t appear to be online yet.
Why oh why cannot the left wing groups get their act together. Having two left of centre parties contesting the seat could let National take the seat. There is little point in both Labour and Greens both contesting except to make it easier for National to win
Totally – Labour should step aside and let the Greens run the only Left candidate – Mojo Mathers should stand again – she will be an excellent MP for Christchurch East.
Oh wait – perhaps that isn’t what you had in mind?
Perhaps National can put up a candidate of Aaron Gilmore’s quality again.
I would have no problem with a green candidate if that was what the two parties agreed. I just don’t want to see two similar parties dividing the left vote.
The only people that think it is ok to do that appear to be National
Why should either party step aside? They are different political parties, not two parties in coalition.
To prevent a vote split which lets National through the middle to take the seat.
I can’t see a reason why the Greens shouldn’t put up a candidate – it is a fully-fledged independent party after all.
I think you have to trust people to vote strategically. They’ve managed it in previous elections and there’s no reason to expect them to split the vote this time.
Waitakere and Paula Bennett recommends your concept.
Hmm yeah, forgot about that one. Damn!
Labour will need to be a bit more appealing this time then.
basically, unless the Left get seriously hungry enough to win, and to do what it takes to win, they’re not going to make it.
GregJ
All of National’s candidates are of Aaron Gilmore quality; it’s just that some are better at concealing it.
Are you familiar with the concept of MMP? It might help.
by-election is a FPP race.
true dat.
Gower showing that he still doesn’t understand how preferential voting works:
After three weeks of street-fighting, Mr Jones is still likely to come third in this race. But he’s a likely kingmaker for the other two, and can expect a senior role.
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Voters-dont-think-Jones-has-changed/tabid/1607/articleID/312976/Default.aspx#ixzz2egDoC4Km
“street-fighting” ?
Lol. What is Gower smoking?
Why NZers did not vote
– They felt that the election was a foregone conclusion, thanks to many polls pointing to a National win.
– They did not trust politicians.
– They had other commitments on the day.
Most people who decided not to vote, made that decision on the day.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/election-2011/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503012&objectid=10801848
My thoughts about an extra rise in inflation is that employers would raise prices to cover wage rises but I know from my personal experience over the years that the more dollars you have the greater is the persons discretion in what they spend on. My only reservation is the stubborn antipathy to organising a system of adjusting pensions more frequently than annually. Governments have mini budgets so likewise they could have six month budgets which would help somewhat instead of annual events.
My views come from my experience and I do not see any need to study the egg heads of whatever perswasion