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
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
The ultra-rich have done very, very well out of the pandemic. Globally, the wealth of the ten richest people rose by US$540 billion last year, enough money to pay for the pandemic in its entirity. And in New Zealand, local billionaire Graeme Hart saw his wealth increase by almost NZ$3.5 ...
Postmodernism has long been looked upon as an indecipherable ideology and a source of amusement. In 1996 Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University, had a hoax article published in ‘Social Text’ an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. In ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Anew study in Nature Sustainability incorporates the damages that climate change does to healthy ecosystems into standard climate-economics models. The key finding in the study by Bernardo Bastien-Olvera and Frances Moore from the University of California at Davis: The models have been underestimating the ...
In a recent interview with RNZ (14th of January), NZ Council of Civil Liberties Chair Thomas Beagle, in response to Simon Bridges condemnation of the post-Trump Twitter purge of local far Right and other accounts, said the following: “Cos the thing about freedom of expression is that it’s not just ...
Let’s be clear: if Trump is not politically killed off once and for all, he will become a MAGA Dracula, rising from the dead to haunt US politics for years to come and giving inspiration to his wretched family of grifters and thousands of deplorables well into the next decade. ...
Since its demise as an imperial power, and especially its deindustrialisation under Thatcher, the UK's primary economic engine has been its role as a money laundry, using its network of overseas territories as tax havens to enable rich people around the world to steal from the societies they live in. ...
Last month OMV quit the Great South Basin and surrendered its offshore exploration permits outside of Taranaki. This month, Australian-owned Beach Energy has done the same: Beach Energy Resources New Zealand has decided to abandon all of its oil and gas exploration permits off the South Island coast, including ...
The new Northland case has been linked to the South African strain of Covid-19, one of a number of new, more contagious Covid variants. Here’s how they emerge and why. Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA ...
MARVIN HUBBARD, US citizen by birth, New Zealand citizen by choice, Quaker and left-wing activist, has been broadcasting his show, "Community or Chaos", on Otago Access Radio for the best part of 30 years. On 24 November last year, I spoke with him about the outcome of the 2020 General ...
This is a guest blog post by Daniel Tamberg, Potsdam, co-founder and director of SCIARA GmbH. The non-profit organisation SCIARA is developing and operating a flexible software platform for scientific simulation games that allows thousands of players to explore, design and understand possible climate futures together. Decision-makers in politics, business, ...
Yesterday's Gone: Cold shivers are running up and down the spines of conservatives everywhere. Donald Trump may have gone, but all the signs point to there being something much more momentous in the wind-shift than a simple return to the status quo ante. A change is gonna come. ONE COULD ...
Is it possible to live and let live in the post-Trump era? The online campaign to vilify Christopher Liddell, ex-White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to Trump, makes for an interesting case study. Liddell is a New Zealander whose illustrious career in corporate America once earned him plaudits ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 through Sat, Jan 23, 2021Editor's Choice12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate changeAuthors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action ...
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Keana VirmaniFrom healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects.Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponscame into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest.In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her ...
*This articlefirst appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The tourism industry isn't holding its breath for a trans-Tasman travel bubble being in place after Australia temporarily closed its borders to New Zealand. New Zealanders could be waiting even longer for a full trans-Tasman bubble, with the ...
We continue our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with an essay by Anahera Gildea on cultural appropriation Every night at 7pm sharp, my Irish Catholic father and his eight siblings would have to kneel on the carpet of the living room, facing the freshly polished nudity of ...
A Covid reset will force costly and inflexible cities to take a hard look at their planning systems, or people will vote with their feet. Broken urban planning systems make for misery even in the best of times. If land use and housing regulations prevent metropolitan areas from growing up or out as ...
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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.