It’s been coming in business for a while. the Nats are seen as a dead end street.
Sustainable Business Council’s pre election report had these main recommendations,
“1. Transition to a low-emission economy: we want to collaborate to develop a clear pathway to a low- emission economy. This will be necessary if we are to meet our Paris Agreement commitment to reduce our emissions by 30% emission reduction on 2005 levels by 2030.. We would like greater clarity and certainty on climate change policy so that decisions about investment, innovation and business growth are future- proofed.
2. Leave no one behind: as employers, taxpayers, and corporate citizens we want to ensure nobody is left behind on the journey to a socially, environmentally and economically prosperous New Zealand. We want government to welcome business as an important partner in improving social outcomes for all New Zealanders.
3. Strengthen NZ Inc: our members would like to see government showing more leadership on balanced and transparent reporting. We need to ensure that social and environmental outcomes are better re ected in decision-making by government and business.
4. Back business to be sustainable: we would like
to see government remove barriers and incentivise innovations and technologies that can help commercial enterprises be more sustainable and to scale at speed to help build a more resilient New Zealand.”
That group’s members account for 29% of GDP , so there’s a bit clout there. When I first read I didn’t realise where it came from and thought it was from a left leaning fringe group, not businesses and mainstream as these.
Someone on RNZ pimping for the TPP and saying Labour should adopt a bipartisan approach and support it.
No argument made saying National should adopt a bipartisan approach and abandon it.
That’s fair and balanced RNZ. The 15 minute business section at 6.45 is basically an advertorial for neoliberalism. Funny you don’t get 15 minutes prime allocated to workers’ issues every morning.
RNZ pumping out propaganda for the elite, ably directed by Griffin.
There is a secret government of NZ that will not allow the dismantling of the neoliberal apparatus.
TPP: “It’s an important agreement.” @jacindaardern won’t reveal hand, but wants in on TPP w/ carve-out for foreign buyers policy.
Well, there you have it. Kelsey has already reported that the draft TPPA-11 (leaked to her) includes that regulation of foreign property sales will be allowed. So, Team Ardern is going with what really has already been decided.
If Labour support TPPA mk2 with only this change then that is an extremely disappointing position, one which I suspect will dog them for a long time to come.
Ardern is very good on rental changes Labour will make – great for renters, in the RNZ interview – follows Green Party policy. Says there will likely be GP ministers.
But on TPPA-11, she is very disappointing. What about Pharmac and medicine patent issues, Investor State Dispute Resolution, lengthening of copyright?
I protested against Clark govt on sending troops to Afghanistan; was against Clark govt on Foreshore and Seabed…. and it’s clear why we need a strong GP presence in Ardern’s up-coming govt.
Also, Ardern says no inheritance tax, while claiming her government will not be neoliberal.
What I heard was clumsy avoidance – (paraphrasing) it’s all down to which party or parties we’re in coalition with and that could be NZF regardless of whether the Greens are in parliament or not.
Can’t say I’m surprised. Labour still haven’t woken up to the fact that the present system simply doesn’t work. That we have to remove ourselves from FTAs and the WTO if we actually want to be able to trade freely.
The opposition leader, outlining her economic ideology to RNZ in a lengthy interview, was asked if she agreed with former Prime Minister Jim Bolger’s assessment of neoliberalism in New Zealand: that it had failed.
“Yes,” she replied.
So, that’s good, right? She “gets” it. Except in the next breath …
“Being fiscally responsible is not akin to a neoliberal agenda,” Ardern replied.
She’s actually right in that last sentence but she’s viewing it the wrong way which makes her wrong.
Being fiscally responsible must start with stopping the private banks from creating money and capital controls on the flow of money in and out of the country.
Doubt if either of those things are on her to do list.
No commitment to having Green presence in Cabinet if the Greens are in Parliament.
I’m thinking NZ Labour has had someone down the bottle store selecting a nice single malt. And to reiterate – this election isn’t and never was about NZ Labour or National, but about Green or NZF.
Sorry i disagree. Put it this way – without labour the Greens are fucked. without the Greens labour isn’t fucked apart from those of us you support the green kaupapa and want that in there to drag better outcomes out. But the gnats have to go and only labour can do that. That is reality.
Jacinda Ardern in her interview with Espiner this morning wouldn’t even indicate a desire, never mind a preference, to have Green MPs in Cabinet.
If NZ Labour can go into coalition with NZF, they will. (Ardern held that out as a possibility).
If you merely want National gone, then vote for NZ Labour or the Greens or NZF or the MP.
But if you want Liberalism challenged within the beehive, then the only way to vote is Green or MP. With a NZF/NZ Labour coalition, Winston will be granted traction on his conservative social policies in return for leaving economic settings ‘as is’. (Jacinda’s of the opinion that economic settings are merely a somewhat superfluous detail of Liberalism rather than the core driver)
I hear you and I do think you tend to take the worst JA scenario a bit. TBH it’s all sounding a bit extreme vegan to me sorry, as in perceived purity. A lol hopefully
Sorry i disagree. Put it this way – without labour the Greens are fucked. without the Greens labour isn’t fucked apart from those of us you support the green kaupapa and want that in there to drag better outcomes out. But the gnats have to go and only labour can do that. That is reality.
Unless NZF chooses National (I just put up a post about it 🙂 ). So changing the government is dependent on either Labour getting more than half the seats (extremely unlikely), or the Greens being in parliament in enough numbers to enable Labour for form govt. It’s possible that NZF would choose Labour, but it’s not inevitable.
It’s not about who NZF would choose, but who NZ Labour would choose.
They’ve indicated time and again that they’d happily work with NZF. I actually think they’d prefer to work with NZF over working with The Greens…and Ardern on RNZ openly stated the possibility of a NZ Labour/NZF coalition this morning
But regardless of how accurate my reading of their preference is, it’s down to prospective progressive minded NZ Labour voters to deny NZ Labour that option by voting Green or (where applicable) MP.
“It’s not about who NZF would choose, but who NZ Labour would choose.”
Well, it’s both. I think that in addition to the points you are making (which I agree with), that it’s also important to remind people that Labour are dependent on the Greens to even govern, if they want a surer bet.
This is the difference the margin of error makes to polling, folks. We're somewhere between a Nat+NZF govt and an earth-tones coalition. https://t.co/3QLj5XXoqH
— Matt W – Just Say No To Judith Collins (@MJWhitehead) September 11, 2017
I’m sticking to my ‘prediction’ from the day that the NZ Labour leadership changed though (a last desperate retrenchment of Liberalism achieved through ‘murder’ of the Greens) because, sad to say, it’s been kind of panning out
The Greens and the MP and Mana seem to be fairly tightly aligned.
Policy aside, there’s spontaneous interactions that can be indicative or revealing.
So in one televised debate, Hone was asked about “blue teams” and “red teams” and it was Shaw’s aside about a “green team” that got Hone’s approval. Likewise the “high five” between Flavel and Shaw in another. The unscripted ‘bonhomie’ on display between Metiria Turie and Marama Fox in another…
I disagreed with the MP deciding to get inside the Nat tent to piss out, but I can accept it as a legitimate piece of political positioning. Am I wrong to think that there would have been a Nat led government regardless?
edit. I don’t have an “anti-NZ Labour” alignment. I’m anti-Liberal.
“Why are you promoting the MP when they supported the gnats on so much. You trust them more than Winnie? Why. Perhaps anti labour alignment?”
I trust the Mp more than NZF. One reason is that the Mp will go back and consult with their members about who to support to form govt. NZF hand that decision over to an elite.
“If you go along Marine Parade, you’ll see a hell of a lot of families, and I’m not talking like two or three kids, I’m talking about nine kids with their solo parents or both parents in there… talking about working couples that are actually homeless as well.”
Statements from hnz and City Council contradict the quote above. Not the first time we have seen diametrically opposed representations of what is happening in our housing market (Hamilton the most recent, and now Napier).
The mispronunciation of Māori names is still a prevalent issue in Aotearoa society. In this feature, Māori share personal stories of the damaging effect it has had on their lives. The next feature in the series will look at why pronouncing names correctly matters.
Now when I was younger and a fisherman I use to give all my friend’s and nabours free fish and I did Not expected anything in return.
So giving more tax is the best way to sort out this shit national has created. We need to help our vulnerable and poor so we can be proud of ourselves and our country.
Now the Winston is showing his true colours which is Why most of my fellowship bloggers on this site don’t trust him because his only agenda looks like what’s is best for Winston not our country or our poor and valuable get with it Winston we need change not stay the same the wealth going to the few. Fuck that Winston is pissing in the wind
Good on you for sharing your fish. We share excess vegetables from our garden and honey from our hives in the same way. If we were neighbours we would get fish and you would get honey and vegetables with no talk of payment whatsoever. I believe this is just natural behaviour for human beings. Capitalism is not natural and doesn’t fell good like sharing foes.
You got it there eco maori @ (6) … Winston is in it for what he personally gets out of it and nothing more in my opinion. He’s prepared to prostitute himself to the highest bidder! I’ve had a gutsful of his BS.
Where are those 450 English/Dickson texts he’s supposed to know about? He’s an attention seeking has-been, stale, boring old windbag, never more so than at election time! Always got something up his sleeve to play, but keeps it secret!!!
Apologies to Winston’s supporters who want a change of government, but a vote for him and NZF could well be a vote for National and more of the same of the past nine years. Because despite him bleating about Labour not being transparent re its tax policy, he’s not too forthcoming with NZF’s budget details. It’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black! He plays the power game, by refusing to declare which party NZF will go into coalition with!
I’m in the same age group as Winston, but I just wish he would retire. He’s had his day. Leave NZF up to the younger generation in the party to serve.
Peter Talley was at Winstons meeting at the Motueka RSA a couple of months back, first time I’ve ever seen PT at a public election/campaign event/meeting. JS
“Truth may be losing its value as a moral compass by which we set our daily direction. But the 2017 election result may remind us that truth matters and saying sorry counts.”
Nice line from Judy McGregor (Herald this am)
Surely in a world of false news and alternative facts – indicators of moral chaos, actual truth takes on an almost mystical enticement of absolute necessity.
The rarity of a polly apology was tempered by the fact that police spokesperson, Paula Bennett, apologised to her leader Bill English, rather than to the public or her targets.
EDIT:
Do voters unrealistically hold politicians to a higher level of accountability?
Can’t do. If we held them to the same standard as we held ourselves National would be permanently out of power for their almost continuous lying.
NZ now summed up in news headings one after another on Radionz:
Our plans for America Cup yachts.
and
The situation in Napier – tenants taking in homeless into houses, garages, getting he push. (It does cause extra wear and tear on houses to have them jammed
beyond capacity, but this is example of how government is uninterested in setting in place emergency provisions. It is happening with both Housing NZ and private.)
Let’s spread the love and not channel it to the ‘grinders’. Let it go also to the ‘strugglers’.
Sorry Jacinda, now you have told Espiner that you are all for globalism, I am OUT – Voted labour all my life, but not any more. Your total worship of Helen Clark and the UN have really bothered me, but this admission that your party agrees with the TPPA will see my vote going elsewhere, probably never to return.
H Shearlie
In short, vote strategically. We must get a change or go down.
It’s lifeboat time. You are in it, you are bailing out the sea seeping in, and others are leaning over holding onto loved ones and the needy in the water but unable to fit in the boat. That’s where we are.
The leaky boat will help us but you would have to keep bailing and we all must prevail against anything but a very pared down TPPA. And have some alternative proposals to ensure that we don’t lose access to foreign markets. Have we enough bi-lateral agreements? What have we got to replace Australia that is turning as ugly as Germany did to its surrounding countries?
Lifeboat time now, better designs in your mind occurring as you vote. That’s what we need – better designs, ways, active, rational, clever minds. And then write a post and tell us your ideas and get us to exercise our minds and add to it.
You do realise that it’s possible to be “for globalism” (i.e. recognising that we live in a global environment, not just a wee silo in the South Pacific, impervious to all geopolitical forces and trading with none) and anti the TPPA?
Either way, if you can’t abide voting for Labour, vote Green.
Worst case is a nat govt because on the day lefties decided to cut off their nose to spite their face: 4%green, 4%TOP, 4% mana, 40% Labour, and a government of 38% Nat and 10%NZ1.
“For me the neoliberal agenda is what does it mean for people? What did it mean for people’s outcomes around employment, around poverty, around their ability to get a house?
I’m struggling to know if she is deliberately trying to redefine neo-liberalism.
Now on RadioNZ
A national [phenomena – that clinical leaders in hospitals and 50% burn out of doctors – vacancies are rife but many vacancies.
$1.5 billion sucked out of hospital and health system.
According to Ian Powell? speaking for the health profession.
There is a deal going until April 2020 to provide more for salaries.
(But there is still a sinking lid effect on overall hospital to be made up – that $1.5 billion perhaps. Don’t vote back the do-nothing, ideologically-hostile-to-government-itself National Party.
How can we expect to have a well-run, successful and happy country when run by a government that doesn’t want that? National wants to run our services down, say that we as government know we can’t do this well, we will have to sell all this for a song to some private company that we will get a directorship on when we leave government.
If you can’t stand unpleasant information that goes to the core of your beliefs don’t read on. The National Party is hostile to NZ as a country. Are you scared of communists, dislike them? Be scared of fascists which operate by a government controlled by Big Business – which is what is happening right now in New Zealand! Fascism is a political system that we fought against in WW2. But now we have been taken over by stealth, while we were sleeping. Wake up NZ. The alarm bells gongs need to sound loudly hit with a hammer like this.)
English should be careful when carrying about inheritance taxes. It is, after all, a government that he was part of that introduced the biggest inheritance tax of them all — asset testing for rest home care.
Have a look at this NZF candidate for Northcote speaking at a candidates’ meeting in Beachhaven last night – she is going full Don Brash it seems. Didn’t go down well with the audience it seems.
I want more time for the election, to bring up the Green vote. The thought of a the post-election period with Peters as kingmaker doesn’t make me want to bring it on 😉
Weka
Yes! The more time the better from the GP perspective. The Ardern wave has to break sometime, and her support for the TPPA might just be the rock that collapses it.
It won’t matter to ex-National voters who just want to vote for the winning side (strategically electorate voting for the least odious of the two leading candidates, and not wasting your party vote for a sub5% in our current version of MMP are not the same thing as that kind of bandwagoning). But for wavering previous Green voters, this will be a big red flag – even NZF is better on that score (scorecard is at the big yellow link on the right under feeds).
Which brings me back to the Koloni verbal diarrhoea. Number 38 on the list which means NZF would have to get 31% of the party vote for her to become an MP, so at least there’s that. As you say above, only; “half of what she said is actual NZF policy and position”, and even that is a bit more nuanced in how it is presented. There is a difference between dog-whistling and simply blurting out your toxic bigotry – epitomised by Ansell’s slogan; “We want Kiwi, not iwi”, that she parroted.
Part of the $38m fund would go to a project called RNZ Plus, which Ms Ardern said would mirror services offered overseas, including BBC in the UK and ABC in Australia.
She said it would create an ability for RNZ to cover multiple platforms, including television.
New Zealand On Air would also share in the $38m.
Ms Ardern said there were no proposed changes to Television New Zealand.
However, $38 mill doesn’t sound a lot to me for RNZ, which has been starved of funding for 9 long years.
Coolies, maybe in time we could have parenting, dealing with being a teen, growing old, mental health etc etc information style programmes. Breastfeeding and babies info at 3am rather than infomercials, geez that would save many new mums from much misery, it really would.
Educate the nation please and thank you, it would help EVERYONE 😀
Over on the thread about Euthanasia and Suicide, there’s some interesting discussion about the role of religion in NZ Politics.
This reminded me that I read a brilliant article on the Daily Kos website yesterday about the pervasive myth that 81% of American evangelicals voted for Trump. The article makes some withering points about the inherent racist bias of pollsters, who assume that “evangelical” means “white”, and that this then skews the statistics badly.
She observes that the conservatism of white evangelical leaders is costing them a lot of their non white base, and the unholy alliance of white evangelical leaders with Trump will starve them off the renewal they need as secularism undermines white American church going. Those non white Christians will go elsewhere, to politically progressive churches, most of which are quite happy to be called evangelical; they’re just not dominated by white leaders.
Better education needed in NZ to help understand our world, past, present and how to navigate the future. Don’t vote for cutbacks and simple open classrooms like learning sports courts. And no mind to pen personal involvement in learning, no using machines for indoctrinated learning that machines are best, and personal thought must feed into and from. Some of the best ideas have been Written on the back of a Placemat, Designed on a Serviette.
The Bribe-O-Meter – this from the Taxpayers Union. I don’t know about it but it is not the Association of Cutpads and Thieves. Whether it’s a great little runner from the same stable?
But looking to see whether policies are simple bribes or planned, reasoned spending promises addressing real national needs, is relevant as the promises pile up on the floor all fresh and appealing but ready to sweep under the shagpile carpet if National is returned.
‘Promises, what promises, oh the ones that we will institute by 2050, no hurry, no worry’
http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/bribe_o_meter_update_week_8
This seems to be looking closely at the facts for each Party.
For instance Greens are raising taxes and spending more on containing certain farming practices. But they will save – ‘We have estimated that cancelling these irrigation subsidies will save $280 million in the next three years.’
You’re right – I got obsessed by cutpads and looked it up. The word has got muddled in my synapses.
Association of Cutpurses and Tantalisers is my latest description of ACT.
(tantaliser, tantalizer – someone who tantalizes; a tormentor who offers something desirable but keeps it just out of reach. Thanks Free Dictionary)
She got her facts all wrong thats clear isnt it. ?
I gave the link but the spin continued that ‘this thing never happened, not that it was ever a thing anyway and we arent like this , because… months have passed….’
[which facts? Be specific. – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Crucified by TV1, shrouded by Red Radio now a promised resurrection on public owned Red TV, J C wil be rehearsing his resurrection show for Sept 25 if he is not part of a deal making throat slash…
Whats Chilli am
What’s that about. Are you implying we are deepest communist leaning. You must be too high in your skyscraper, or deep in your green cower bower. Come closer ducks we are safe to approach and talk to.
Neither, purely a comment from someone who has been a communist, a socialist, an extreme stirrer of the political pot for sixty years and found refuge in asking people to see all is but a delightful game of ego versus beliefs. Name any time in recorded history/herstory when any group that set out to do good for all didn’t ultimately do harm.
Try to tell me where either of these caused significiant harm.
You do realise appear to be a ridiculous, historically ignorant and probably a lying fuckwit who is just making crap up. Why don’t you go and play with your genitals elsewhere.
I’d suggest that whining like a child about someone replying to you is not going to do you any good. It will just confirm my opinion of you.
Trying to divert from your statements will just bring out the moderator in me – I really can’t stand moronic trolls who are so weak-minded that they can’t argue their own position.
Amazing how diverse humans are. And yet? They say that there only 25 basic jokes. In every discussion there could be about 8 different approaches with the usual spectrum of negative neutral positive to them so differing levels of opinion would flesh out the general feeling.
I think Chat comes somewhere there, and could be labelled. I’m a seeker after truth, so that I can decide if I want to know it or not. I guess that makes me a bit of a dissembler, but sometimes I just can’t handle the truth.
In my old Handy Guide to Public Policy Proposers and Their Proposals (thanks Michael Marien) I come into the Languishing Liberal with View of present and future that they are Troubled Times needing More money and programs; racial integration.
I’m also a Radical Romantic – View a Cancered civilisation with Proposal of Small experimental communities.
Chats you seem to be a Rumbling Revolutionary with View – A repressive, racist, imperialist, capitalist establishment and Proposal of Confront and destroy The System (other details worked out later).
So explain to me how taxing poor workers in order to pay the “solo” parent benefit to someone shacked up with a millionaire (as the greens advocate) is remotely fair?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[no idea wtf you are on about, but a warning to not troll, and up your game in terms of debate if you don’t want further moderator attention. The Greens don’t advocate what you implied, do that shit again and I will ban you – weka]
Can’t you figure it out? Sad really, to be so limited, although it explains why you believe the crap you do.
It’s fair because it matches the terms of the Matrimonial Property Act. See if you can figure out why that makes it fair. I’m picking you’re incapable of understanding the point whether or not you agree with it.
Getting the basic facts wrong was Wekas problem, and this is from someone who is supposed to to be close to the Greens .
Weka is highly respected here and normally has well put opinions. Dont understand why the blundering around on this particular point
[I’ve already asked a moderator question on this. Point to where I got the facts wrong, or withdraw that, or cop a ban. Also, you’ve been here long enough to not make false connections between authors and political parties. You’re getting one chance here before you get turfed out for trolling – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Oh please! Just ban the fukwit – this sort of shit is why people get turned off TS at times.
You know (hopefully by now) that anything the prick says is just disingenuous ideological-driven kaka.
Your a fukushima more tolerant than I – which I ‘spose is a good thing. Why do we subscribe to, and even entertain this fukwittery?
It’s not as though they don’t have another bubble to vent.
They’ve even managed to capture an 83
“Mr Coates has said a Labour-NZ First Government would be “unacceptable” to the Greens.
Fact 2 : Coates said ‘It could’ in regard to forcing a new election
So rather than accepting what had been common knowledge there began a process of disputing the facts
1) who said that – answered with link
2)single Green MP made an inference off his own bat – (yes those things can happen, MPs can ‘misspoke’ as they say) but …he added the further detail
‘Green MPs had discussed refusing to support a Labour-NZ First combination as a caucus’
So the MP revealed they had a caucus discussion about they very thing you said was an ‘inference of his own bat’
Weka said “The MP subsequently also said that it wasn’t about forcing another election’ [No supporting evidence for this but Ill presume you are ‘vague’on this]
The story unfortunately had his reply “it could’ in quotes, so either he lied initially or he was lieing about his denial. Yes Mps do lie to get out of difficult situation.
Weka said.. the co-leader of his party promptly said he was wrong, that the Greens had no intention of doing this.’
The link provided Shaws words walking back Coates comments
“Mr Shaw wouldn’t discuss what the party’s options were should the scenario play out the way Mr Coates has painted it.
“Frankly I think that there’s a lot of scenarios that could play out at this election and we just think everything is hypothetical until you know how many MPs each party has got.”
“”Look there’s a lot of scenarios I don’t want to get into what all of the hypothetical situations are.
“Obviously it would be very difficult for anyone to form a Government without us.”
No sign of Shaw saying – ‘he was wrong’, thats another case of you ‘ saying what Green Mps said ‘ with no links or references. Was it being vague?
Shaw did say: Mr Shaw said the Greens would not hold the country to ransom. “That’s not our style.”
Whatever that means. Not quite ‘ no intention of doing so’ as he first wouldnt say what the Greens options would be at all ! Mps are supposed to be masters of wordplay to give statements to give some wriggle room- no surprises there
This is the basis of my response of ‘not supported by the facts’ whereas my comments were.
You had not a single link for your inferences Weka, in some cases you were appearing to speak for Green Mps without backing it up or were using different words to them.
Perhaps you were pushed for time and didnt read the full link and then tried to remember events from 2 months back.
[From what I can tell from that comment, you believe I was factually wrong on two points.
1. that Coates didn’t subsequently makes statements that it wasn’t about forcing another election.
Mr Coates added: “There are various ways of not necessarily going back to the polls – not providing confidence and supply for example, sitting on the crossbenches – there’s a lot of different scenarios.”
I’m also noting that you have again tried to make out that I have connections to the Green Party that I don’t.
So you have asserted that I was wrong on fact, and you’ve tried to tie me to the Greens when I don’t have those ties, and you’ve wasted a fair chunk of my moderator time. I have no idea what is going on in this, because you’re not stupid and a simple google would have told you that I was factually correct on the Coates things, plus I already warned you on the GP association thing.
Looking at your recent comments, I see it’s a mix of debate that contributes to the site and regular negative pokes at people over the Greens with comments clearly designed to undermine them. You’re allowed to hate the Greens, and you’re allowed to put that in your comments, but there is a limit and you crossed over that today. Today looks like an outright attempt to slur the Greens and mislead people in the middle of a political debate, and you did so under an offsite author’s post. You also repeatedly made misleading statements about a TS author.
Overall it looks to me like you are trying to inflict damage, and given we’re approaching an election I’m going to ban you for four weeks. The reason it’s not longer is that you often contribute to the site and because you made an effort to explain, but expect to get a longer ban if you do this again. The first two paragraphs of the Policy under Rules give some hints about where the line is in terms of what works here in debate, and as always, the bit about wasting moderator time. – weka]
You did so yes Keemoosavvy (spelling to suit your ‘understandings’ as in ‘learnings’)
But then you’ve always come into this bubble with an ego the size of a bus and with your self-appointed title as that of a Duke.
I have ‘imaginings’ of your cock being of lower specification (going forward), and of your ‘learnings’ coming from ideological tutorage (probably from a Steven Choice inspired Ultimate Learning Academy [ULA] ).
I’m truly in awe, and I aspire to your absolute superiority. Have you ever thought of creating a following? Lesser beings than ye have.
Possibly you could take advice from Brian Tamaki – but then if he’s unavailable, there are now a series of cultists you could seek advice from in your locale. There’s a Bennett, a 10 Bridges, an O’Connor and half a dozen of their cast offs (going foward).
And even then, there’s the last resort: Matty Hooter who’s probably about to be available with half a flask of Johnny Walker unless his little ‘wifey’ and RNZ staff continue to work as social workers rather than journalists on a Monday
So as far as Labours tax ideas go , they are ruling out CGT on the family home, an inheritance tax, and a increase on the rate applied to the TOP tax bracket.
I’ve been telling people not to worry about what Labour might do when they have finished their tax working group, my reasoning being I couldn’t imagine Labour addressing childhood poverty (for example) by raising G.S.T or the lower tax thresholds, yet (unless I’ve missed it) these have been specifically not ruled out.
What are peoples thoughts on this, are they perhaps just trying to not ‘scare the horses’ or …?
I think it’s quite reasonable to say they’ll wait for expert recommendations before deciding on specific tax changes.
What kind of tax reform to implement depends entirely on the overall goal of that tax reform. That overall goal will be shaped by the coalition that emerges after the election.
But I would like to see Labour be more explicit about what goals they want to achieve with tax changes. Whether it’s things like more progressivity in the tax system, increase govt revenue to restore cuts made to social services without increasing debt, reduce emissions, slow housing price rises (or even reduce the price of exisitng housing if they’re feeling really brave)…
Good signals from Labour over public broadcasting policy. Whilst being a supporter of CBB, I did not believe they were ambitious enough (and still don’t).
There is NO reason why a population of 4plus million is not able to support
– National Radio
– Concert FM
– IWI broadcasting with network capability
– Youth Radio ( a la The Wireless ACTUALLY on air)
– A TVNZ7 style Television one
– a second Televison 2 (a la a Heartland)
– Childrens TV (a la a KIDZONE 24)
when others do
That is but for the fact that we’re still wedded to some sort of funder-provider model that’s reminiscent of a neo-liberal’s idea on how we should fund Health.
– NZoA and all its bureacracy
-TVNZ and all of the same
– Radio NZ and all of the same
-TMP, and all of the same
– there’s a couple of others I’m trying to remember
However, in any event – if you subscribe to the view that public money should go to public benefit – you’ll understand what I mean.
And if you’re not of the most ardent neo-liberal, you’ll appreciate that there’s no reason why the profits of entities such as Kordia, or the transmission spectrum, or indeed the public space that is ‘the ether’, there is NO fucking reason why thre’s not enough money to provide all of the above and more
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Bob Jones has dropped his defamation case against Renae Maihi. Good. But at the same time, it perfectly exposes what the case was all about: not protecting Jones' reputation, but punishing someone who had dared to criticise him, and deterring others from doing the same. This rich pompous asshat dragged ...
As I've done for the past few years, I'm curating and presenting The Listening Lounge, the talk programme at Splore. On the morning of Saturday the 22nd at the Living Lounge stage, the korero goes like this.Yes, we're talking about drugs again, not just because I'm professionally interested in drug ...
What Were They Thinking? RNZ's CEO Paul Thompson (left) and Jim Mather, Chairman of the RNZ Board of Governors, attempt to justify the debacle arising out of their attempt to downgrade RNZ Concert to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee at Parliament on Thursday, 13 February 2020.WHAT IS ...
Dame Tariana Turia with former PM John KeyWhat is it about Tariana Turia’s grudge against the Labour Party? Not content with attacking the Government over Whānau Ora funding, which was increased by $80 million in 2019, she has now made it personal by saying that Jacinda Ardern is out of her ...
Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new ...
So the guy who advocated for public burning and beheading feels offended because someone called him a racist!Perhaps Bob Jones hasn't heard of the very old saying; Live by the sword, die by the sword?I mean for someone who often writes opinionated nonsense about Maori; this is a ridiculous case ...
The government today announced a major support package aimed at reducing homelessness. A thousand new transitional housing places, more support for people to find homes (or not lose them in the first place), all good stuff. The one problem with it is that they're going to start charging people in ...
Courtroom Drama: There is no off-switch in a courtroom. Neither is it possible to turn the page in disgust. Ill-formed and ill-defended opinions will be exposed ruthlessly and unapologetically. As Shakespeare put it: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” Sometimes the ...
As of today, the novel coronavirus spreading in China is called COVID-19. Why does it matter? Around the office, we’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks about how 2019-nCoV needed its own name. First, it was getting annoying calling it by the above designation, and ‘novel coronavirus’ doesn’t ...
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2) (Brett Hudson)Its basicly more "tough on crime" nonsense (its already illegal for unlicensed people to own guns) designed to wedge NZ First against its arsehole base. ...
In 2015 the world agreed to the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Each country would offer a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) "that it intends to achieve", and "pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving [it]". And every five years, they'd improve on it, ratcheting up ambition until ...
In theory, the emissions trading scheme should reduce emissions. Making polluters pay for permits to pollute lets them save money by reducing pollution, giving them a financial incentive to do the right thing. But right from the start the ETS was broken with a system of free allocation, so polluters ...
Irish voters went to the polls on Saturday in parliamentary elections, and perhaps delivered a political revolution. Since independence, Irish politics has been dominated by two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Basicly patronage networks with indistinguishable policies, their cleavage isn't ideology, but who killed whose father or grandfather in ...
Once again the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is on us, and once again I’m participating. In principle this is not hard because it does not represent a significant switch in behavior for me. I already bike nearly every day. The Bicycle The fascinating thing about cycling is the realisation that this ...
Lately there has been a great deal of misinformation regarding the origins and purpose of Skeptical Science. As John Cook wrote nearly a decade ago, Skeptical Science is primarily a website that debunks climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. Despite the ever-worsening impacts from climate change, with record after record being broken in ...
Under Attack: By sacking not only RNZ Concert’s presenters, but also its producers and librarians, and reducing the station to an automated purveyor of classical music in-between parliamentary broadcasts, RNZ’s CEO, Paul Thompson, wasn’t simply announcing an operational shake-up, he was declaring war on one of the most important guardians of ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Australian smoke plume sets recordsThe recent wildfires in Australia sent one of ...
The Global Protest to #FightInequality was powerful – thankyou and what next? Dear allies, We started the decade with a huge protest to #FightInequality that was heard around the world, including the 1% at Davos. Watch and share the highlights on facebook and twitter. A huge thank you. Together we ...
The Ministry of Health have announced a package that might ensure NZ will never experience another measles epidemic. While at the time of writing the details are still limited it appears that the important limitations in our current programme have been acknowledged and the intent is to address them. Great ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly summarise our assessment of the highly uncertain new coronavirus threat. Given its potential to become a severe and prolonged global pandemic, a precautionary response now means activating all components of our pandemic plan, with a particular focus on ‘keep ...
When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
by Philip Ferguson Exit polls are showing a three-way virtual tie between the main parties in the south of Ireland. Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are all on just over 22%. FG on 22.4, SF on 22.3, FF on 22.2. Exit polls indicate that over 30% of 18-24 ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 2, 2020 through Sat, Feb 8, 2020 Editor's Pick New Report Details How Fossil Fuel Industry's Climate Destruction Also Exacerbates Human Rights Abuses"Even in the face of the ...
In a previous post I described briefly when and how the Starlink satellite chains – recent launches by Space-X in a scheme to bring 5G internet connectivity to the whole globe – could be seen from New Zealand with the naked eye. Here I provide an update and predictions for ...
Keeping The Faith: This Government’s broad, new, heavily moderated, progressive faith does not require a prime minister with the powers of a medieval pope. Jacinda’s regime has no need of subterranean torture chambers to ensure compliance. A gift for diplomacy and the ability to inspire her fellow human-beings is all ...
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ngā ...
Tougher penalties for gun crime are a step closer with the passage of firearms reform legislation through another stage in Parliament. The Arms Legislation Bill has tonight passed its Second Reading. “The changes have one objective - to prevent firearms falling into the wrong hands,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Introduction Mr Speaker We all know why we are here today. It has been a long journey. The journey did not actually begin on 15 March 2019. It began on 30 June 1997. Almost 23 years ago, Justice Sir Thomas Thorp told us what was wrong with our firearms legislation. ...
The Government’s work to put trades and vocational education back on the agenda took another major step forward today with the passing of the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “This is a watershed day for trades and vocational education. These law changes formalise ...
Speeding up the return of Christchurch regeneration activities to local leadership is behind the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today by Minister Megan Woods. “As we approach nine years since the February 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, and with the transition to local leadership well underway, the time ...
Hundreds of New Zealanders and international visitors will be able to get back out into nature with the Milford Track partially reopening next week, after extensive assessments and repairs, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The popular Great Walk has been closed since 3 February after an extreme ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
The Ministry of Education is proposing a number of changes to NCEA Level One, including the merging of several subjects to be phased in over the next five years. Felix Walton looks into how, and why, these changes are happening.Why are they changing things now?They aren’t changing things now, per ...
Pacific Media Centre Chinese authorities are systematically harassing Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups even after they have left the country, according to new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International. Uyghur New Zealanders were among those interviewed, despite the threat of further intimidation. The case studies, published online today, reveal ...
A victim of the Generate KiwiSaver hack is considering legal action to seek compensation for stress and the risk of identity theft. One of the 26,000 KiwiSavers who had personal information, including their physical address, IRD number, bank statements and identification, stolen by an unknown third party has sought advice ...
Healthcare appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has upped its profit forecasts for the third time this year, with increased sales off the back of the coronavirus. The company now expects a full year net profit of between $260 and $270 million, up 1.9 percent on its previous forecast. Chief ...
Power company Genesis Energy has taken a significant financial hit and lowered its guidance, because of lower hydro generation and gas shortages. Net profit for the six months ended December fell 81.4 percent to $9.2 million, from slightly lower revenue of $1.3 billion. Lower inflows for its hydro power stations ...
Kiwibank's first half profit is down on flat revenue growth and increased operations and compliance costs. The New Zealand-owned bank's net profit fell 18 percent to $51 million in the six months to December, compared with the year earlier's $62m. "As expected the bank faced rising operating costs due to ...
The New Zealand Bar Association has urged Parliament to balance carefully the need to reform legislation in respect of sexual violence with the need to ensure that only the guilty are convicted. The Association told the Justice Select Committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher about the week in politics, including the extension of the coronavirus travel ban, the royal commission into the bushfires, and labor’s stance on a compulsory superannuation guarantee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Steen, Professor of Midwifery, University of South Australia In a new parenting podcast, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, said she used hypnobirthing techniques to help her get through severe morning sickness – a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum. She also used the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne This article is the first in a three-part series on radical ideas to solve the environmental crisis. As the Productivity Commission confirmed this week, Australia’s economy has enjoyed uninterrupted growth for ...
The Nats are accusing Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor of being slow to act on a tuberculosis outbreak in Hawke’s Bay. Is it a fair cop? OSPRI confirmed an outbreak in Hawke’s Bay in April last year, but a disease management response wasn’t put in place until October, National agriculture spokesman ...
Porirua City Council is scratching its head on how it's going to meet the costs of a $2 billion bill to bring its water network up to scratch over the next two to three decades. ...
The sentencing of Grace Millane’s killer to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years marks the end of a judicial process that can only have been extremely harrowing for her family. They had already experienced the loss of their daughter, ...
Twenty years ago, Auckland’s streets were ruled by diesel-hating narcs. Josie Adams looks back at the short-lived 0800 SMOKEY campaign.For five chaotic weeks in 2000, the Auckland Regional Council experimented with extreme, multi-level peer pressure. The goal: to get cleaner-burning fuel into Auckland cars. The method: turning citizens against each ...
The National Party donations scandal that had nothing to do with the National Party was the big news of the week. James Elliott has some thoughts on that. Simon Bridges has climbed into double digits as preferred Prime Minister in the latest political polling which is significant for two reasons. ...
Today the unnamed man found guilty of murdering Grace Millane was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 17. “One person has been locked away but are New Zealand women any safer?” asks White Ribbon Manager Rob McCann. “We certainly ...
Pacific Media Watch An Australian federal court decision upholding the legality of the police raid on the Sydney headquarters of the national public broadcaster ABC last June has dealt a major blow to the protection of journalists’ sources and poses a grave danger for the future of public interest ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)What is going on, Auckland? Is it just ...
A poem by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.The FightThe rising sun paints the feet of night-crawling enemies. And they scatter into the burning hills. I have fought each of them. I know them by name. From before I could speak. I’ve used every weapon. To make them retreat. Yet they ...
A string of toy companies are facing legal action for selling unsafe toys that pose choking hazards for young children. Yesterday, Cinevan International was fined $81,000 and another four companies are before the courts. Businesses have been using a sticker on the packaging saying 'not suitable for children under three' ...
The Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee, Gareth Hughes, is calling for public submissions on the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which was referred to the committee on 20 February 2020. The Residential Tenancies Act ...
ANALYSIS:By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It is the first visit to New Zealand by a sitting PNG prime minister since Marape’s predecessor Peter O’Neill’s trip in 2013. Marape, who rolled O’Neill ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentDonations scandals Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Who are the people at the centre of the SFO political donation row? Collette ...
Policyholders fear the sale of AMP LIfe to a Bermuda-based 'zombie fund guru' could leave them stranded because a legal gap means the FMA is powerless to protect them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide When booking a luxury cruise, you generally expect relaxation and enjoyment, not forced quarantine and distress. Unfortunately, for the thousands of vacationers trapped on cruise ships in Asia the past month, what started as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Courtney Hempton, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board has this week published a report detailing the first six months of the legislation in action in Victoria. The report reveals 52 people legally ended their lives from the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Blanca del Rosal Rabes, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology Brain temperature is implicated in many common conditions including stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and headaches. Changes in brain temperature can indicate there is a disease developing, but researchers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese will commit a Labor government to adopting a target of zero net emissions by 2050, in a speech titled “Leadership in a New Climate” to be delivered on Friday. The opposition leader’s embrace ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy N. W. Jackson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.auWho would ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamen Franklen Gussen, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology In 1971, a Time magazine article, titled “Should New York City Be the 51st State?”, observed: States have not only short-changed and hamstrung their cities but are themselves the least creative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ida Kubiszewski, Associate professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Labor’s treasury spokesman, Jim Chalmers, wants to follow New Zealand’s example and introduce a “wellbeing budget” alongside the traditional budget that stresses economic growth, when Labor is next in office. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Andreallo, Honorary research fellow, University of Sydney A sea of oversized hair bows bobs through primary school gates each morning. It might be dismissed as a harmless children’s fad but big bows are back, driven by current fashions, tween influencers and ...
The Government of New Zealand has recognized that the country is facing a housing crisis, said Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, at the end of her visit to the country . “While the Government has taken important steps ...
Survey results released today by the Helen Clark Foundation and the New Zealand Drug Foundation show that support for cannabis legalisation grows when people know more about the proposed legislation. When respondents were asked how they would vote ...
In today’s edition: Views on cannabis legalisation could hardly be tighter, the Papua New Guinea PM arrives in NZ, and bad light threatens cricket on the radio.A new poll published this morning finds that 46% of those surveyed would vote yes, and 44% no, with 10% undecided. That’s a markedly different ...
Actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand Te Atamira, a long-time champion of the arts, and te reo Māoriis the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year for 2020. Mark Jennings reports on the night that honours the best of us. What does it mean to be a New Zealander? The question was posed by ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias.FICTION 1 In the Clearing by JP Pomare (Hachette, $34.99) All next week at ReadingRoom is devoted to this brilliant thriller inspired by Australian cult The Family, led by ...
‘A life-changing experience’, ‘The greatest of the great! It must be experienced!’, ‘That show with the dancing lady on the billboard.’ Shen Yun ads are impossible to avoid, but what on earth is it?So what is Shen Yun?According to the Shen Yun website: “It is a brilliant artistic revival ...
Dr Amanda Landers discusses the stigma associated with palliative care and why the field deserves recognition Scalpels are a powerful tool in medicine, but words can be just as mighty. Some medical specialties are easy to comprehend - they cut, stitch, unblock, restart or fix. Others are just too hard ...
A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to the attention of authorities, the poorly stored solvents remain a fire and environmental risk. While Government agencies struggled to get a polluter to clean up his mess, up to one million ...
Georgia Hale's tireless and compassionate work, using her sport of rugby league to create opportunities for many different communities, has earned her the title of Young New Zealander of the Year. As soon as she left high school, Georgia Hale began working with children with intellectual disabilities. It changed her ...
A new, "true green" party hoping to break into Parliament at this year's election has been hit by resignations and allegations of questionable conduct, Newsroom's political editor Sam Sachdeva reports Fledgling political party Sustainable New Zealand has been rocked by a flurry of resignations and allegations of questionable behaviour by its ...
"To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up. We need to hear your voices." These are the words of Hildur Guðnadóttir, who recently accepted the Oscar for best original score for the film Joker at the 92nd ...
A rare visit by a prime minister of Papua New Guinea to New Zealand highlights a strong friendship, but one which could be closer, writes Johnny Blades for RNZ.Papua New Guinea’s James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It’s the first visit to New Zealand by ...
Plant-based food producers ‘stigmatise and demonise’ traditional agriculture, according to Jones, but those working in the new industry say it should be seen as an opportunity, not a threat. NZ First minister Shane Jones’ suggestion that plant-based food must be “stopped in its tracks” has been labelled concerning, negligent and anti-competitive ...
The prospect of going to the Red Planet is possibly a step closer with the US President's State of the Nation speech, in which he promises we will land there. The chances of anything coming from Mars - according to the 1978 Jeff Wayne musical War of the Worlds - are ...
Jennifer Ward-Lealand’s dedication to acting, directing and te ao Māori saw her named the 2020 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year at a special dinner in Auckland last night. Alice Webb-Liddall speaks to her about how she hopes to nurture the future of the craft that has given her so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Seen as a political narrative, the Morrison government’s handling of the coronavirus (COVID-19) fits the patterns of its approaches on border security and anti-terrorism. Stressing the central imperative is to “keep Australians safe”, it has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The coronavirus is presenting a major threat to Australia’s education export industry, which is highly dependant upon the China market, and a huge challenge to the universities. Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The corona virus is presenting a major threat to Australia’s education export industry, which is highly dependant upon the China market, and a huge challenge to the universities. Phillip Honeywood, CEO of the International Education ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stacey L Rowe, PhD candidate, Monash University Today’s evacuation of about 180 passengers from the cruise ship Diamond Princess to serve another period of quarantine back in Australia has raised questions about the best way to control spread of the coronavirus. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Hardy, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Melbourne Australian supermarket giant Coles and discount chain Target this week joined an ignominious list of large corporations caught up in “wage theft” scandals. Coles confessed to underpaying salaried employees about A$20 million over ...
Parliament is now seeking public submissions on an international treaty that makes it possible to recover child or spousal support from someone who lives in another country. The Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marissa Parrott, Reproductive Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science, Zoos Victoria, and Honorary Research Associate, BioSciences, University of Melbourne Since July last year, bushfires have burned more than 7.7 million hectares of southeast Australia, putting many threatened species at increased risk of extinction. ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Pranav Chopra, founder and CEO of Nemi Teas.On Business is Boring this week, ...
Barnardos is today welcoming the Minister of Social Development’s announcement of a new ‘social wellbeing approach’. Speaking from the official launch of the new approach in Tamaki Makaurau today, Barnardos’ Chief Executive Mike Munnelly ...
A failed Dunedin financial adviser is facing 12 charges relating to fraud and theft over what the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says is a Ponzi scheme that lost investors $15.7 million. Barry Kloogh appeared in the Dunedin District Court this morning to face charges brought by the SFO over running ...
How to stop procrastinating and actually (finally) get on top of KiwiSaver. Because there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you don’t know a single thing about it. Read the full series here.As we learned in part two, being in the right fund can make all the difference: you ...
New Zealand Cricket and media company NZME have failed to reach a deal on radio broadcast rights for next season's international and domestic matches. The current deal expires at the end of April and does not affect the remainder of this summer's broadcast schedule on Radio Sport. Radio Sport has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jianling Xie, Postdoctoral Scientist, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute Researchers in the United States have unveiled the structure of the “spike protein” of 2019-nCoV – the virus behind the current coronavirus disease outbreak. Despite the fact that researchers have already ...
Australian national airline Qantas is cutting some trans-Tasman flights because of the expected fall in business from the coronavirus. It said it will reduce capacity by 5 percent because of a fall in demand, along with the reduction in services to China, Hong Kong and Japan. Qantas and Jetstar services ...
Open Mike 12/09/2017 
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...23 mins ago
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...9 hours ago
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...12 hours ago
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...15 hours ago
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...16 hours ago
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...2 days ago
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...2 days ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...5 days ago
...2 weeks ago
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...2 weeks ago
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...9 hours ago
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...1 week ago
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...6 hours ago
Peter Griffin looks past the rollercoaster ride that is cryptocurrency to find out its true potential. ...8 hours ago
The Ministry of Education is proposing a number of changes to NCEA Level One, including the merging of several subjects to be phased in over the next five years. Felix Walton looks into how, and why, these changes are happening.Why are they changing things now?They aren’t changing things now, per ...8 hours ago
Pacific Media Centre Chinese authorities are systematically harassing Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups even after they have left the country, according to new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International. Uyghur New Zealanders were among those interviewed, despite the threat of further intimidation. The case studies, published online today, reveal ...8 hours ago
A victim of the Generate KiwiSaver hack is considering legal action to seek compensation for stress and the risk of identity theft. One of the 26,000 KiwiSavers who had personal information, including their physical address, IRD number, bank statements and identification, stolen by an unknown third party has sought advice ...9 hours ago
Apple is the latest tech firm to warn that Kiwis may lose access to streaming content if a new parental guidance law goes ahead. ...9 hours ago
Healthcare appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has upped its profit forecasts for the third time this year, with increased sales off the back of the coronavirus. The company now expects a full year net profit of between $260 and $270 million, up 1.9 percent on its previous forecast. Chief ...9 hours ago
Power company Genesis Energy has taken a significant financial hit and lowered its guidance, because of lower hydro generation and gas shortages. Net profit for the six months ended December fell 81.4 percent to $9.2 million, from slightly lower revenue of $1.3 billion. Lower inflows for its hydro power stations ...9 hours ago
Kiwibank's first half profit is down on flat revenue growth and increased operations and compliance costs. The New Zealand-owned bank's net profit fell 18 percent to $51 million in the six months to December, compared with the year earlier's $62m. "As expected the bank faced rising operating costs due to ...9 hours ago
The New Zealand Bar Association has urged Parliament to balance carefully the need to reform legislation in respect of sexual violence with the need to ensure that only the guilty are convicted. The Association told the Justice Select Committee ...9 hours ago
The Nats are accusing Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor of being slow to act on a tuberculosis outbreak in Hawke’s Bay. Is it a fair cop? OSPRI confirmed an outbreak in Hawke’s Bay in April last year, but a disease management response wasn’t put in place until October, National agriculture spokesman ...10 hours ago
Porirua City Council is scratching its head on how it's going to meet the costs of a $2 billion bill to bring its water network up to scratch over the next two to three decades. ...10 hours ago
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has landed the first blow in the demolition of a leaky St John call centre in Auckland. ...12 hours ago
The National Party donations scandal that had nothing to do with the National Party was the big news of the week. James Elliott has some thoughts on that. Simon Bridges has climbed into double digits as preferred Prime Minister in the latest political polling which is significant for two reasons. ...12 hours ago
A string of toy companies are facing legal action for selling unsafe toys that pose choking hazards for young children. Yesterday, Cinevan International was fined $81,000 and another four companies are before the courts. Businesses have been using a sticker on the packaging saying 'not suitable for children under three' ...14 hours ago
The number of 14 and 15 year olds who have tried cannabis has fallen by more than a quarter. ...16 hours ago
Paid parking on weekends looks set to stay, as Wellington Mayor Andy Foster struggles to find support for his agenda around the council table. ...16 hours ago
Southland cleanup highlights climate change threat - Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage; and new taskforce to look at Wellington water issues. ...16 hours ago
Policyholders fear the sale of AMP LIfe to a Bermuda-based 'zombie fund guru' could leave them stranded because a legal gap means the FMA is powerless to protect them ...16 hours ago
Over the next three weeks Rod Oram will be cycling the length of New Zealand ...17 hours ago
Actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand Te Atamira, a long-time champion of the arts, and te reo Māori is the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year for 2020. Mark Jennings reports on the night that honours the best of us. What does it mean to be a New Zealander? The question was posed by ...18 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. FICTION 1 In the Clearing by JP Pomare (Hachette, $34.99) All next week at ReadingRoom is devoted to this brilliant thriller inspired by Australian cult The Family, led by ...18 hours ago
Dr Amanda Landers discusses the stigma associated with palliative care and why the field deserves recognition Scalpels are a powerful tool in medicine, but words can be just as mighty. Some medical specialties are easy to comprehend - they cut, stitch, unblock, restart or fix. Others are just too hard ...19 hours ago
A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to the attention of authorities, the poorly stored solvents remain a fire and environmental risk. While Government agencies struggled to get a polluter to clean up his mess, up to one million ...19 hours ago
Georgia Hale's tireless and compassionate work, using her sport of rugby league to create opportunities for many different communities, has earned her the title of Young New Zealander of the Year. As soon as she left high school, Georgia Hale began working with children with intellectual disabilities. It changed her ...19 hours ago
A new, "true green" party hoping to break into Parliament at this year's election has been hit by resignations and allegations of questionable conduct, Newsroom's political editor Sam Sachdeva reports Fledgling political party Sustainable New Zealand has been rocked by a flurry of resignations and allegations of questionable behaviour by its ...19 hours ago
"To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up. We need to hear your voices." These are the words of Hildur Guðnadóttir, who recently accepted the Oscar for best original score for the film Joker at the 92nd ...19 hours ago
The prospect of going to the Red Planet is possibly a step closer with the US President's State of the Nation speech, in which he promises we will land there. The chances of anything coming from Mars - according to the 1978 Jeff Wayne musical War of the Worlds - are ...20 hours ago
Leaked emails show a 'summer of sewage' has broken the confidence of councillors in the region's shared water services company ...1 day ago
Exemptions from paying Fringe Benefit Tax for double cab utes could clash with the Government's intentions to cut transport emissions. ...1 day ago
A failed Dunedin financial adviser is facing 12 charges relating to fraud and theft over what the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says is a Ponzi scheme that lost investors $15.7 million. Barry Kloogh appeared in the Dunedin District Court this morning to face charges brought by the SFO over running ...1 day ago
New Zealand Cricket and media company NZME have failed to reach a deal on radio broadcast rights for next season's international and domestic matches. The current deal expires at the end of April and does not affect the remainder of this summer's broadcast schedule on Radio Sport. Radio Sport has ...1 day ago
Australian national airline Qantas is cutting some trans-Tasman flights because of the expected fall in business from the coronavirus. It said it will reduce capacity by 5 percent because of a fall in demand, along with the reduction in services to China, Hong Kong and Japan. Qantas and Jetstar services ...1 day ago
If these guys are in the mood for change…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11920947
No they want consistency so their rent seeking behaviour can carry on, they don’t want to appear against the mood or the incoming govt.
Mainfreights done very well out of national and will look to do same from the next govt, no surprise Skycity is cuddling up also.
I get all that tc. It’s the way they’re all nailing their colours to the mast that’s interesting.
It’s been coming in business for a while. the Nats are seen as a dead end street.
Sustainable Business Council’s pre election report had these main recommendations,
“1. Transition to a low-emission economy: we want to collaborate to develop a clear pathway to a low- emission economy. This will be necessary if we are to meet our Paris Agreement commitment to reduce our emissions by 30% emission reduction on 2005 levels by 2030.. We would like greater clarity and certainty on climate change policy so that decisions about investment, innovation and business growth are future- proofed.
2. Leave no one behind: as employers, taxpayers, and corporate citizens we want to ensure nobody is left behind on the journey to a socially, environmentally and economically prosperous New Zealand. We want government to welcome business as an important partner in improving social outcomes for all New Zealanders.
3. Strengthen NZ Inc: our members would like to see government showing more leadership on balanced and transparent reporting. We need to ensure that social and environmental outcomes are better re ected in decision-making by government and business.
4. Back business to be sustainable: we would like
to see government remove barriers and incentivise innovations and technologies that can help commercial enterprises be more sustainable and to scale at speed to help build a more resilient New Zealand.”
http://www.sbc.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/129479/SBC-2017-Pre-Election-Brief-Manifesto.pdf
That group’s members account for 29% of GDP , so there’s a bit clout there. When I first read I didn’t realise where it came from and thought it was from a left leaning fringe group, not businesses and mainstream as these.
Very encouraging read.
If Labour get in there will still be a rump of hard core business opposition.
Almost all of agribusiness will oppose them. Esp Fonterra and the irrigators.
Major construction will be under massive scrutiny.
Real estate and property will fund straight out opposition campaigns.
Transport companies will be mixed.
Banks and wealth managers will be very nervous.
Labour need to be ready to engage. And better than in 1999.
They want change but would prefer a National led change.
Which they will not get as national aren’t builders they are dog whistling wreckers.
True but they don’t seem to understand that.
Someone on RNZ pimping for the TPP and saying Labour should adopt a bipartisan approach and support it.
No argument made saying National should adopt a bipartisan approach and abandon it.
That’s fair and balanced RNZ. The 15 minute business section at 6.45 is basically an advertorial for neoliberalism. Funny you don’t get 15 minutes prime allocated to workers’ issues every morning.
RNZ pumping out propaganda for the elite, ably directed by Griffin.
There is a secret government of NZ that will not allow the dismantling of the neoliberal apparatus.
This just tweeted by RNZ referring to current interview with Jacinda Ardern:
Well, there you have it. Kelsey has already reported that the draft TPPA-11 (leaked to her) includes that regulation of foreign property sales will be allowed. So, Team Ardern is going with what really has already been decided.
https://itsourfuture.org.nz/jane-kelsey-labour-tppa-not-bloody-minded-enough/
If Labour support TPPA mk2 with only this change then that is an extremely disappointing position, one which I suspect will dog them for a long time to come.
Ardern is very good on rental changes Labour will make – great for renters, in the RNZ interview – follows Green Party policy. Says there will likely be GP ministers.
But on TPPA-11, she is very disappointing. What about Pharmac and medicine patent issues, Investor State Dispute Resolution, lengthening of copyright?
I protested against Clark govt on sending troops to Afghanistan; was against Clark govt on Foreshore and Seabed…. and it’s clear why we need a strong GP presence in Ardern’s up-coming govt.
Also, Ardern says no inheritance tax, while claiming her government will not be neoliberal.
Says there will likely be GP ministers
Not in the interview I just listened to!
What I heard was clumsy avoidance – (paraphrasing) it’s all down to which party or parties we’re in coalition with and that could be NZF regardless of whether the Greens are in parliament or not.
Can’t say I’m surprised. Labour still haven’t woken up to the fact that the present system simply doesn’t work. That we have to remove ourselves from FTAs and the WTO if we actually want to be able to trade freely.
TPPA has powerful energy backing its progression , which is why NO NZ Govt will outright reject it
Nz has ratified the agreement, it’s a done deal unless Japan pulls out
At a future time when USA decide to be involved again, the full damage to NZ will have been locked in
Jacinda, like all MP’s, understands how the system works…therefore she is not being transparent…
Deliberately!
Assuming this is from the same interview.
The opposition leader, outlining her economic ideology to RNZ in a lengthy interview, was asked if she agreed with former Prime Minister Jim Bolger’s assessment of neoliberalism in New Zealand: that it had failed.
“Yes,” she replied.
So, that’s good, right? She “gets” it. Except in the next breath …
“Being fiscally responsible is not akin to a neoliberal agenda,” Ardern replied.
Fucken, head meet desk.
I didn’t listen to the interview. i was just following RNZ tweets.
She’s actually right in that last sentence but she’s viewing it the wrong way which makes her wrong.
Being fiscally responsible must start with stopping the private banks from creating money and capital controls on the flow of money in and out of the country.
Doubt if either of those things are on her to do list.
No commitment to having Green presence in Cabinet if the Greens are in Parliament.
I’m thinking NZ Labour has had someone down the bottle store selecting a nice single malt. And to reiterate – this election isn’t and never was about NZ Labour or National, but about Green or NZF.
Sorry i disagree. Put it this way – without labour the Greens are fucked. without the Greens labour isn’t fucked apart from those of us you support the green kaupapa and want that in there to drag better outcomes out. But the gnats have to go and only labour can do that. That is reality.
Maybe I should have been more precise.
Jacinda Ardern in her interview with Espiner this morning wouldn’t even indicate a desire, never mind a preference, to have Green MPs in Cabinet.
If NZ Labour can go into coalition with NZF, they will. (Ardern held that out as a possibility).
If you merely want National gone, then vote for NZ Labour or the Greens or NZF or the MP.
But if you want Liberalism challenged within the beehive, then the only way to vote is Green or MP. With a NZF/NZ Labour coalition, Winston will be granted traction on his conservative social policies in return for leaving economic settings ‘as is’. (Jacinda’s of the opinion that economic settings are merely a somewhat superfluous detail of Liberalism rather than the core driver)
I hear you and I do think you tend to take the worst JA scenario a bit. TBH it’s all sounding a bit extreme vegan to me sorry, as in perceived purity. A lol hopefully
Sorry i disagree. Put it this way – without labour the Greens are fucked. without the Greens labour isn’t fucked apart from those of us you support the green kaupapa and want that in there to drag better outcomes out. But the gnats have to go and only labour can do that. That is reality.
Unless NZF chooses National (I just put up a post about it 🙂 ). So changing the government is dependent on either Labour getting more than half the seats (extremely unlikely), or the Greens being in parliament in enough numbers to enable Labour for form govt. It’s possible that NZF would choose Labour, but it’s not inevitable.
It’s not about who NZF would choose, but who NZ Labour would choose.
They’ve indicated time and again that they’d happily work with NZF. I actually think they’d prefer to work with NZF over working with The Greens…and Ardern on RNZ openly stated the possibility of a NZ Labour/NZF coalition this morning
But regardless of how accurate my reading of their preference is, it’s down to prospective progressive minded NZ Labour voters to deny NZ Labour that option by voting Green or (where applicable) MP.
“It’s not about who NZF would choose, but who NZ Labour would choose.”
Well, it’s both. I think that in addition to the points you are making (which I agree with), that it’s also important to remind people that Labour are dependent on the Greens to even govern, if they want a surer bet.
To be taken with very large and repeated pinches of salt (cause it’s a poll)
But the ‘Heralds’ “poll of polls” would have us resigned to NZ Labour winning 56 seats and NZF winning 12 seats.
Worst case scenario with their margins of error is a combined total of 62 seats.
Either way is enough for a NZ Labour/NZF government.
Or we could end up with a Nat/NZF coalition.
https://lemattjuste.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/state-of-play/
will cross post that tonight or tomorrow.
🙂 Yes. NZF could go with National.
I’m sticking to my ‘prediction’ from the day that the NZ Labour leadership changed though (a last desperate retrenchment of Liberalism achieved through ‘murder’ of the Greens) because, sad to say, it’s been kind of panning out
Yep. Let me be clear about this, we will choose option a or option b.
I hope we’re wrong, and I share your ugly premonition.
ah, that makes sense, predictions. I was focussed on potentials.
Mostly at the moment I think anything could happen (well, apart from Labour surprising us 😉 ).
Why are you promoting the MP when they supported the gnats on so much. You trust them more than Winnie? Why. Perhaps anti labour alignment?
The Greens and the MP and Mana seem to be fairly tightly aligned.
Policy aside, there’s spontaneous interactions that can be indicative or revealing.
So in one televised debate, Hone was asked about “blue teams” and “red teams” and it was Shaw’s aside about a “green team” that got Hone’s approval. Likewise the “high five” between Flavel and Shaw in another. The unscripted ‘bonhomie’ on display between Metiria Turie and Marama Fox in another…
I disagreed with the MP deciding to get inside the Nat tent to piss out, but I can accept it as a legitimate piece of political positioning. Am I wrong to think that there would have been a Nat led government regardless?
edit. I don’t have an “anti-NZ Labour” alignment. I’m anti-Liberal.
Deleted
Actually I’ll let it go because it isn’t worth it.
“Why are you promoting the MP when they supported the gnats on so much. You trust them more than Winnie? Why. Perhaps anti labour alignment?”
I trust the Mp more than NZF. One reason is that the Mp will go back and consult with their members about who to support to form govt. NZF hand that decision over to an elite.
Fair point and without labour taking the treasury benches the Greens get very little.
yes, that’s true, I don’t think that’s ever in dispute.
Evicted from State and Private rentals for taking in homeless
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/339207/families-evicted-after-taking-in-homeless
“If you go along Marine Parade, you’ll see a hell of a lot of families, and I’m not talking like two or three kids, I’m talking about nine kids with their solo parents or both parents in there… talking about working couples that are actually homeless as well.”
Statements from hnz and City Council contradict the quote above. Not the first time we have seen diametrically opposed representations of what is happening in our housing market (Hamilton the most recent, and now Napier).
Good article
http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-mispronunciation-issue-what-it-looks-like-in-aotearoa
I also see Stuff website starting to use macrons – excellent.
We can all do better on these things.
Live is Joyce v Robertson debate.
“Mood of the Boardroom – Grant Robertson and Steven Joyce go head to head”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11921238
Now when I was younger and a fisherman I use to give all my friend’s and nabours free fish and I did Not expected anything in return.
So giving more tax is the best way to sort out this shit national has created. We need to help our vulnerable and poor so we can be proud of ourselves and our country.
Now the Winston is showing his true colours which is Why most of my fellowship bloggers on this site don’t trust him because his only agenda looks like what’s is best for Winston not our country or our poor and valuable get with it Winston we need change not stay the same the wealth going to the few. Fuck that Winston is pissing in the wind
Eco maori
+1
Good on you for sharing your fish. We share excess vegetables from our garden and honey from our hives in the same way. If we were neighbours we would get fish and you would get honey and vegetables with no talk of payment whatsoever. I believe this is just natural behaviour for human beings. Capitalism is not natural and doesn’t fell good like sharing foes.
Couldn’t agree more, tfg.
To simply share resonates with our nature.
It feels good to share and it feels good to be shared with.
Not barter, not trade, sharing.
Sharing, nicely said G
You got it there eco maori @ (6) … Winston is in it for what he personally gets out of it and nothing more in my opinion. He’s prepared to prostitute himself to the highest bidder! I’ve had a gutsful of his BS.
Where are those 450 English/Dickson texts he’s supposed to know about? He’s an attention seeking has-been, stale, boring old windbag, never more so than at election time! Always got something up his sleeve to play, but keeps it secret!!!
Apologies to Winston’s supporters who want a change of government, but a vote for him and NZF could well be a vote for National and more of the same of the past nine years. Because despite him bleating about Labour not being transparent re its tax policy, he’s not too forthcoming with NZF’s budget details. It’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black! He plays the power game, by refusing to declare which party NZF will go into coalition with!
I’m in the same age group as Winston, but I just wish he would retire. He’s had his day. Leave NZF up to the younger generation in the party to serve.
+111
Peter Talley was at Winstons meeting at the Motueka RSA a couple of months back, first time I’ve ever seen PT at a public election/campaign event/meeting. JS
“Truth may be losing its value as a moral compass by which we set our daily direction. But the 2017 election result may remind us that truth matters and saying sorry counts.”
Nice line from Judy McGregor (Herald this am)
Surely in a world of false news and alternative facts – indicators of moral chaos, actual truth takes on an almost mystical enticement of absolute necessity.
Ant
+1
Judy McGregor: Truth does matter and saying sorry counts
EDIT:
Can’t do. If we held them to the same standard as we held ourselves National would be permanently out of power for their almost continuous lying.
NZ now summed up in news headings one after another on Radionz:
Our plans for America Cup yachts.
and
The situation in Napier – tenants taking in homeless into houses, garages, getting he push. (It does cause extra wear and tear on houses to have them jammed
beyond capacity, but this is example of how government is uninterested in setting in place emergency provisions. It is happening with both Housing NZ and private.)
Let’s spread the love and not channel it to the ‘grinders’. Let it go also to the ‘strugglers’.
Sorry Jacinda, now you have told Espiner that you are all for globalism, I am OUT – Voted labour all my life, but not any more. Your total worship of Helen Clark and the UN have really bothered me, but this admission that your party agrees with the TPPA will see my vote going elsewhere, probably never to return.
“Let me be clear”, she says, as she obscures the issues she doesn’t want to address.
H Shearlie
In short, vote strategically. We must get a change or go down.
It’s lifeboat time. You are in it, you are bailing out the sea seeping in, and others are leaning over holding onto loved ones and the needy in the water but unable to fit in the boat. That’s where we are.
The leaky boat will help us but you would have to keep bailing and we all must prevail against anything but a very pared down TPPA. And have some alternative proposals to ensure that we don’t lose access to foreign markets. Have we enough bi-lateral agreements? What have we got to replace Australia that is turning as ugly as Germany did to its surrounding countries?
Lifeboat time now, better designs in your mind occurring as you vote. That’s what we need – better designs, ways, active, rational, clever minds. And then write a post and tell us your ideas and get us to exercise our minds and add to it.
You do realise that it’s possible to be “for globalism” (i.e. recognising that we live in a global environment, not just a wee silo in the South Pacific, impervious to all geopolitical forces and trading with none) and anti the TPPA?
Either way, if you can’t abide voting for Labour, vote Green.
Worst case is a nat govt because on the day lefties decided to cut off their nose to spite their face: 4%green, 4%TOP, 4% mana, 40% Labour, and a government of 38% Nat and 10%NZ1.
Vote Green. It’s really the only choice you have left for a party that will change the course of our economic system.
Or NZ First http://www.nzfirst.org.nz to read their policies which I doubt anyone on this site has ?
Wrong. I’ve read them, on the assumption that they’ll disappear as soon as the votes are cast.
No, not NZ1st as there’s a possibility that they’ll prop up the present government rather than act to change it.
I have been on this site as a reader and contributor.
Hami Shearlie is not an easily overlooked name. Are you real?
Your deliberate extension of what was said on RNZ also leaves me wondering.
NZ has always been a trading nation. How and what we trade is the issue.
To hold Jacinda liable for Globalisation (which is hard to turn around), and Helen Clarke’s position seems a tad extreme.
Perhaps you never intended to support.
To expect her to provide all your wish list is revealing.
She is a caring human, not a bloody magician.
Vote Green to give her grist to her elbow.
If too many throw sulks and withdraw, guess what!! “Hello Bill.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96739673/jacinda-ardern-says-neoliberalism-has-failed
“For me the neoliberal agenda is what does it mean for people? What did it mean for people’s outcomes around employment, around poverty, around their ability to get a house?
I’m struggling to know if she is deliberately trying to redefine neo-liberalism.
Now on RadioNZ
A national [phenomena – that clinical leaders in hospitals and 50% burn out of doctors – vacancies are rife but many vacancies.
$1.5 billion sucked out of hospital and health system.
According to Ian Powell? speaking for the health profession.
There is a deal going until April 2020 to provide more for salaries.
(But there is still a sinking lid effect on overall hospital to be made up – that $1.5 billion perhaps. Don’t vote back the do-nothing, ideologically-hostile-to-government-itself National Party.
How can we expect to have a well-run, successful and happy country when run by a government that doesn’t want that? National wants to run our services down, say that we as government know we can’t do this well, we will have to sell all this for a song to some private company that we will get a directorship on when we leave government.
If you can’t stand unpleasant information that goes to the core of your beliefs don’t read on. The National Party is hostile to NZ as a country. Are you scared of communists, dislike them? Be scared of fascists which operate by a government controlled by Big Business – which is what is happening right now in New Zealand! Fascism is a political system that we fought against in WW2. But now we have been taken over by stealth, while we were sleeping. Wake up NZ. The alarm bells gongs need to sound loudly hit with a hammer like this.)
English should be careful when carrying about inheritance taxes. It is, after all, a government that he was part of that introduced the biggest inheritance tax of them all — asset testing for rest home care.
Have a look at this NZF candidate for Northcote speaking at a candidates’ meeting in Beachhaven last night – she is going full Don Brash it seems. Didn’t go down well with the audience it seems.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/09/nz-first-candidate-promises-to-remove-treaty-from-law.html
This is another reason to party vote Green so that Labour doesn’t have to rely on NZF.
wow, that is really bad.
Yucky racist boo – lots of these low thinkrs out there
Will be interesting to see how Peters handles this seeing as how half of what she said is actual NZF policy and position.
Maybe now he could release the English texts lol, i can’t wait for this election to be over.
lol.
I want more time for the election, to bring up the Green vote. The thought of a the post-election period with Peters as kingmaker doesn’t make me want to bring it on 😉
Weka
Yes! The more time the better from the GP perspective. The Ardern wave has to break sometime, and her support for the TPPA might just be the rock that collapses it.
It won’t matter to ex-National voters who just want to vote for the winning side (strategically electorate voting for the least odious of the two leading candidates, and not wasting your party vote for a sub5% in our current version of MMP are not the same thing as that kind of bandwagoning). But for wavering previous Green voters, this will be a big red flag – even NZF is better on that score (scorecard is at the big yellow link on the right under feeds).
Which brings me back to the Koloni verbal diarrhoea. Number 38 on the list which means NZF would have to get 31% of the party vote for her to become an MP, so at least there’s that. As you say above, only; “half of what she said is actual NZF policy and position”, and even that is a bit more nuanced in how it is presented. There is a difference between dog-whistling and simply blurting out your toxic bigotry – epitomised by Ansell’s slogan; “We want Kiwi, not iwi”, that she parroted.
Now this from Ardern, is music to my ears: TVNZ article plus video of Ardern announcement:
However, $38 mill doesn’t sound a lot to me for RNZ, which has been starved of funding for 9 long years.
Finlay McDonald tweeted that:
In the context of FMcD’s response to Russell Brown, maybe this just means that Campbell on Checkpoint could be morphed into Campbell live Mark 2….?
Details of Labour policy here:
http://www.labour.org.nz/broadcasting
one of their first acts in broadcasting should be to remove the nactiods from NZ on Air.
Coolies, maybe in time we could have parenting, dealing with being a teen, growing old, mental health etc etc information style programmes. Breastfeeding and babies info at 3am rather than infomercials, geez that would save many new mums from much misery, it really would.
Educate the nation please and thank you, it would help EVERYONE 😀
Over on the thread about Euthanasia and Suicide, there’s some interesting discussion about the role of religion in NZ Politics.
This reminded me that I read a brilliant article on the Daily Kos website yesterday about the pervasive myth that 81% of American evangelicals voted for Trump. The article makes some withering points about the inherent racist bias of pollsters, who assume that “evangelical” means “white”, and that this then skews the statistics badly.
She observes that the conservatism of white evangelical leaders is costing them a lot of their non white base, and the unholy alliance of white evangelical leaders with Trump will starve them off the renewal they need as secularism undermines white American church going. Those non white Christians will go elsewhere, to politically progressive churches, most of which are quite happy to be called evangelical; they’re just not dominated by white leaders.
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/1695694
Better education needed in NZ to help understand our world, past, present and how to navigate the future. Don’t vote for cutbacks and simple open classrooms like learning sports courts. And no mind to pen personal involvement in learning, no using machines for indoctrinated learning that machines are best, and personal thought must feed into and from. Some of the best ideas have been Written on the back of a Placemat, Designed on a Serviette.
Tertiary education, university or trade training – essential for NZ’s survival as a modern nation. It means everything to us, one and all.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/publiclocallearning/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1715619475411537
Tertiary education – together we can keep it public.
The petition re tertiary education is still open. Signing it could give you a feelgood moment!
http://www.together.org.nz/keep_it_public
The Bribe-O-Meter – this from the Taxpayers Union. I don’t know about it but it is not the Association of Cutpads and Thieves. Whether it’s a great little runner from the same stable?
But looking to see whether policies are simple bribes or planned, reasoned spending promises addressing real national needs, is relevant as the promises pile up on the floor all fresh and appealing but ready to sweep under the shagpile carpet if National is returned.
‘Promises, what promises, oh the ones that we will institute by 2050, no hurry, no worry’
http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/bribe_o_meter_update_week_8
This seems to be looking closely at the facts for each Party.
For instance Greens are raising taxes and spending more on containing certain farming practices. But they will save – ‘We have estimated that cancelling these irrigation subsidies will save $280 million in the next three years.’
Footpads. Cutpurses.
You’re right – I got obsessed by cutpads and looked it up. The word has got muddled in my synapses.
Association of Cutpurses and Tantalisers is my latest description of ACT.
(tantaliser, tantalizer – someone who tantalizes; a tormentor who offers something desirable but keeps it just out of reach. Thanks Free Dictionary)
She got her facts all wrong thats clear isnt it. ?
I gave the link but the spin continued that ‘this thing never happened, not that it was ever a thing anyway and we arent like this , because… months have passed….’
[which facts? Be specific. – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Fact: the word “discussion” and the word “policy” are not synonymous. So your assertion just fell over.
Crucified by TV1, shrouded by Red Radio now a promised resurrection on public owned Red TV, J C wil be rehearsing his resurrection show for Sept 25 if he is not part of a deal making throat slash…
Whats Chilli am
What’s that about. Are you implying we are deepest communist leaning. You must be too high in your skyscraper, or deep in your green cower bower. Come closer ducks we are safe to approach and talk to.
Neither, purely a comment from someone who has been a communist, a socialist, an extreme stirrer of the political pot for sixty years and found refuge in asking people to see all is but a delightful game of ego versus beliefs. Name any time in recorded history/herstory when any group that set out to do good for all didn’t ultimately do harm.
Just off the top of my head….
NZ Labour Party 1935.
UK Labour Party 1945.
Try to tell me where either of these caused significiant harm.
You do realise appear to be a ridiculous, historically ignorant and probably a lying fuckwit who is just making crap up. Why don’t you go and play with your genitals elsewhere.
I’d suggest that whining like a child about someone replying to you is not going to do you any good. It will just confirm my opinion of you.
Trying to divert from your statements will just bring out the moderator in me – I really can’t stand moronic trolls who are so weak-minded that they can’t argue their own position.
a delightful game of ego versus beliefs
Revealing.
set out to do good for all
False premise.
didn’t ultimately do harm
Moot point. Locking up murderers harms murderers.
Amazing how diverse humans are. And yet? They say that there only 25 basic jokes. In every discussion there could be about 8 different approaches with the usual spectrum of negative neutral positive to them so differing levels of opinion would flesh out the general feeling.
I think Chat comes somewhere there, and could be labelled. I’m a seeker after truth, so that I can decide if I want to know it or not. I guess that makes me a bit of a dissembler, but sometimes I just can’t handle the truth.
In my old Handy Guide to Public Policy Proposers and Their Proposals (thanks Michael Marien) I come into the Languishing Liberal with View of present and future that they are Troubled Times needing More money and programs; racial integration.
I’m also a Radical Romantic – View a Cancered civilisation with Proposal of Small experimental communities.
Chats you seem to be a Rumbling Revolutionary with View – A repressive, racist, imperialist, capitalist establishment and Proposal of Confront and destroy The System (other details worked out later).
Yes Please. John back would be great.!!
Must have really ruffled national feathers the tack tick are going down hard.I’m going to fight on for our goals of change the government YES
So explain to me how taxing poor workers in order to pay the “solo” parent benefit to someone shacked up with a millionaire (as the greens advocate) is remotely fair?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[no idea wtf you are on about, but a warning to not troll, and up your game in terms of debate if you don’t want further moderator attention. The Greens don’t advocate what you implied, do that shit again and I will ban you – weka]
Can’t you figure it out? Sad really, to be so limited, although it explains why you believe the crap you do.
It’s fair because it matches the terms of the Matrimonial Property Act. See if you can figure out why that makes it fair. I’m picking you’re incapable of understanding the point whether or not you agree with it.
What on earths name are you talking about ?
You’ve got a few weeks to ponder this. Luckily, you have a couple of clues.
1: Steve “blow harder” Wrathall posed a revealing question about fairness.
2. I answered it with a reference to the Matrimonial Property Act. By a curious coincidence, other advocates have also made similar allusions.
3. If you need further help, please ask.
Getting the basic facts wrong was Wekas problem, and this is from someone who is supposed to to be close to the Greens .
Weka is highly respected here and normally has well put opinions. Dont understand why the blundering around on this particular point
[I’ve already asked a moderator question on this. Point to where I got the facts wrong, or withdraw that, or cop a ban. Also, you’ve been here long enough to not make false connections between authors and political parties. You’re getting one chance here before you get turfed out for trolling – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Whereas you’ve taken the basic facts and interpreted them in a sophisticated way.
Oh please! Just ban the fukwit – this sort of shit is why people get turned off TS at times.
You know (hopefully by now) that anything the prick says is just disingenuous ideological-driven kaka.
Your a fukushima more tolerant than I – which I ‘spose is a good thing. Why do we subscribe to, and even entertain this fukwittery?
It’s not as though they don’t have another bubble to vent.
They’ve even managed to capture an 83
My brief comment was:
‘hubris is gone of a while back of talk about forcing a new election if labour shuts the greens out of ‘government’
Which is what occurred as referenced by my link to comments by a Green MP
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/07/green-mp-threatens-new-election-if-labour-goes-with-nz-first.html
That was fact 1- Yes there was TALK
Forcing a new election ?
“Mr Coates has said a Labour-NZ First Government would be “unacceptable” to the Greens.
Fact 2 : Coates said ‘It could’ in regard to forcing a new election
So rather than accepting what had been common knowledge there began a process of disputing the facts
1) who said that – answered with link
2)single Green MP made an inference off his own bat – (yes those things can happen, MPs can ‘misspoke’ as they say) but …he added the further detail
‘Green MPs had discussed refusing to support a Labour-NZ First combination as a caucus’
So the MP revealed they had a caucus discussion about they very thing you said was an ‘inference of his own bat’
Weka said “The MP subsequently also said that it wasn’t about forcing another election’ [No supporting evidence for this but Ill presume you are ‘vague’on this]
The story unfortunately had his reply “it could’ in quotes, so either he lied initially or he was lieing about his denial. Yes Mps do lie to get out of difficult situation.
Weka said.. the co-leader of his party promptly said he was wrong, that the Greens had no intention of doing this.’
The link provided Shaws words walking back Coates comments
“Mr Shaw wouldn’t discuss what the party’s options were should the scenario play out the way Mr Coates has painted it.
“Frankly I think that there’s a lot of scenarios that could play out at this election and we just think everything is hypothetical until you know how many MPs each party has got.”
“”Look there’s a lot of scenarios I don’t want to get into what all of the hypothetical situations are.
“Obviously it would be very difficult for anyone to form a Government without us.”
No sign of Shaw saying – ‘he was wrong’, thats another case of you ‘ saying what Green Mps said ‘ with no links or references. Was it being vague?
Shaw did say: Mr Shaw said the Greens would not hold the country to ransom.
“That’s not our style.”
Whatever that means. Not quite ‘ no intention of doing so’ as he first wouldnt say what the Greens options would be at all ! Mps are supposed to be masters of wordplay to give statements to give some wriggle room- no surprises there
This is the basis of my response of ‘not supported by the facts’ whereas my comments were.
You had not a single link for your inferences Weka, in some cases you were appearing to speak for Green Mps without backing it up or were using different words to them.
Perhaps you were pushed for time and didnt read the full link and then tried to remember events from 2 months back.
[From what I can tell from that comment, you believe I was factually wrong on two points.
1. that Coates didn’t subsequently makes statements that it wasn’t about forcing another election.
Mr Coates added: “There are various ways of not necessarily going back to the polls – not providing confidence and supply for example, sitting on the crossbenches – there’s a lot of different scenarios.”
From your own link http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/07/green-mp-threatens-new-election-if-labour-goes-with-nz-first.html
2. that Shaw didn’t promptly say that Coates was wrong and that the Greens had no intention of forcing a second election.
Green co-leader James Shaw is “imagining some scenarios” of how to punish his newest MP, over suggestions the Greens might force a second election.
…
Mr Shaw, himself a first-term MP, said that would not happen.
“We have no intention of forcing an early election,” he told The AM Show on Thursday morning.
“We are committed to changing the Government, but we only want to change it once in the next three years.”
He said it was up to the party’s leadership to make calls on coalition arrangements, not “new MPs”.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/07/no-intention-of-forcing-an-second-election-james-shaw.html
I’m also noting that you have again tried to make out that I have connections to the Green Party that I don’t.
So you have asserted that I was wrong on fact, and you’ve tried to tie me to the Greens when I don’t have those ties, and you’ve wasted a fair chunk of my moderator time. I have no idea what is going on in this, because you’re not stupid and a simple google would have told you that I was factually correct on the Coates things, plus I already warned you on the GP association thing.
Looking at your recent comments, I see it’s a mix of debate that contributes to the site and regular negative pokes at people over the Greens with comments clearly designed to undermine them. You’re allowed to hate the Greens, and you’re allowed to put that in your comments, but there is a limit and you crossed over that today. Today looks like an outright attempt to slur the Greens and mislead people in the middle of a political debate, and you did so under an offsite author’s post. You also repeatedly made misleading statements about a TS author.
Overall it looks to me like you are trying to inflict damage, and given we’re approaching an election I’m going to ban you for four weeks. The reason it’s not longer is that you often contribute to the site and because you made an effort to explain, but expect to get a longer ban if you do this again. The first two paragraphs of the Policy under Rules give some hints about where the line is in terms of what works here in debate, and as always, the bit about wasting moderator time. – weka]
You did so yes Keemoosavvy (spelling to suit your ‘understandings’ as in ‘learnings’)
But then you’ve always come into this bubble with an ego the size of a bus and with your self-appointed title as that of a Duke.
I have ‘imaginings’ of your cock being of lower specification (going forward), and of your ‘learnings’ coming from ideological tutorage (probably from a Steven Choice inspired Ultimate Learning Academy [ULA] ).
I’m truly in awe, and I aspire to your absolute superiority. Have you ever thought of creating a following? Lesser beings than ye have.
Possibly you could take advice from Brian Tamaki – but then if he’s unavailable, there are now a series of cultists you could seek advice from in your locale. There’s a Bennett, a 10 Bridges, an O’Connor and half a dozen of their cast offs (going foward).
And even then, there’s the last resort: Matty Hooter who’s probably about to be available with half a flask of Johnny Walker unless his little ‘wifey’ and RNZ staff continue to work as social workers rather than journalists on a Monday
Probably easier said that you’re full of shit really. Cheaper, leaner, more efficient and effective (going forward).
So as far as Labours tax ideas go , they are ruling out CGT on the family home, an inheritance tax, and a increase on the rate applied to the TOP tax bracket.
I’ve been telling people not to worry about what Labour might do when they have finished their tax working group, my reasoning being I couldn’t imagine Labour addressing childhood poverty (for example) by raising G.S.T or the lower tax thresholds, yet (unless I’ve missed it) these have been specifically not ruled out.
What are peoples thoughts on this, are they perhaps just trying to not ‘scare the horses’ or …?
I think it’s quite reasonable to say they’ll wait for expert recommendations before deciding on specific tax changes.
What kind of tax reform to implement depends entirely on the overall goal of that tax reform. That overall goal will be shaped by the coalition that emerges after the election.
But I would like to see Labour be more explicit about what goals they want to achieve with tax changes. Whether it’s things like more progressivity in the tax system, increase govt revenue to restore cuts made to social services without increasing debt, reduce emissions, slow housing price rises (or even reduce the price of exisitng housing if they’re feeling really brave)…
Good signals from Labour over public broadcasting policy. Whilst being a supporter of CBB, I did not believe they were ambitious enough (and still don’t).
There is NO reason why a population of 4plus million is not able to support
– National Radio
– Concert FM
– IWI broadcasting with network capability
– Youth Radio ( a la The Wireless ACTUALLY on air)
– A TVNZ7 style Television one
– a second Televison 2 (a la a Heartland)
– Childrens TV (a la a KIDZONE 24)
when others do
That is but for the fact that we’re still wedded to some sort of funder-provider model that’s reminiscent of a neo-liberal’s idea on how we should fund Health.
– NZoA and all its bureacracy
-TVNZ and all of the same
– Radio NZ and all of the same
-TMP, and all of the same
– there’s a couple of others I’m trying to remember
However, in any event – if you subscribe to the view that public money should go to public benefit – you’ll understand what I mean.
And if you’re not of the most ardent neo-liberal, you’ll appreciate that there’s no reason why the profits of entities such as Kordia, or the transmission spectrum, or indeed the public space that is ‘the ether’, there is NO fucking reason why thre’s not enough money to provide all of the above and more
TVNZ can generate a fair bit of what’s needed and there’s plenty of savings in cleaning out it’s overpaid management and opinionators like Hoskins.
A solid public broadcaster is a major cure for the BS and spin that’s dominating the NZ media landscape.
That’s why Turdbull/Murdoch are continually undermining/nobbling and attacking the ABC across the ditch.