Oh yes, I forgot it was propaganda monday on our glorious state television. There will be tales from the vacation of our leader taking on a hundred infidels at once, on his own of course.
A good day – despite the refugee crisis, anti-immigrant fear-mongering, uncertain economic times and a State election that was supposedly too close to call – ‘red’ Vienna remains red (infused with a little green).
Socialise housing! Let’s bulldoze all the rich pricks mansions and replace them with standard houses built by the State! Replace all housing with standard state houses! No more rich in mansions while the rest of us are cramped in hovels! This is why we need to revolt now! The rich better watch their back when the revolution comes! I pick they they won’t of course. But the day will come I guarantee!
Alternatively, buy up a bit of land in Remmers and Khandallah and elsewhere (Papanui, etc.) and build a few PUBLICLY owned houses on it (PUBLIC as opposed to ‘state’).
The residents in those ‘burbs can hardly complain can they since we’re told just what an egalitarian soity we are, AND we jiss dunno hear lucky we are.
I won’t hold my breath though – there’d be a cacophony of pig like squeeling before that ever happens.
Stroke me a pony tail will ya Adam!
Everyone enrolled to vote is allowed to vote in regional council elections. So why are regional councils still stacked with pro-industrial farming, pro-pollution types instead of with people who give a shit about the region beyond how much mon is to be made?
“Everyone enrolled to vote is allowed to vote in regional council elections”
Where regional council elections are held, of course 🙂
Where such councils are not “stacked with pro-industrial farming” types elections tend not to be held. A case where democracy is apparently too dangerous for the national interest by far.
Which is an interesting insight into how some people, at least, come to define the ‘national interest’.
Things are always ‘more complex’ so I tend to focus on ‘necessary and sufficient’ conditions.
From that perspective, ECAN councillors would not have been replaced, I suspect, if there wasn’t concern that such councillors were a threat to the exploitation of Canterbury’s water.
The government has said as much in defending its original decision and subsequent extensions of Commissioner-led governance.
That is another way our democracy is under attack through litigation at local body level. Think how much more frightening it will be under TPP.
Public groups spend a lot of money to take a public issue to court, win and then the losers and council collaborate to make the court order meaningless by ignoring it.
The planning officers at councils are out of control. They are stupid and have too much power and not enough oversight.
The farmers are being encouraged by the council to break the district plan against the environment court ruling.
Lets see how ports of Auckland play out. Similar thing – councils and planners are working against the public to give corporate welfare against the rules at the cost to ratepayers.
Sirenia, Thanks for that important reference to the disgusting pollution that has been allowed to occur in that area.
Aucklands Upper Harbour was to be the overflow receiver for the North Shore Rosedale Treatment Plant but a number of concerned residents stood their ground and that danger is no longer a possibilty.
Bilateral Investment Treaties not decided by democratically elected people like our Government, but by International Lawyers. But it is binding on the Government. And “hidden” inside so-called “Trade Deals.”
Like the TPP. Bastards.
Thanks Draco but more sleepless nights!
So when politicians promise to bring in a new tax or a new law once the Treaty is signed, they cannot carry out the promise because they could be sent to Arbitration at huge cost. No choice. No appeal.
Hell’s Bells!
And Arbitration is actioned by just 15 lawyers (55%) who are sometimes for and sometimes against the issue. Obviously our own Courts are rubbish. Really?
So whatever thin shadow of democracy we have to be hog-tied and bound by the threat of binding arbitration carried out by three of a select group of corporate law firm lawyers? Jolly good.
That’s correct. The possibility of arbitration will be in the minds of policy creators (with potential challenges hanging overhead) putting them off selecting certain policies.
Yet there is a parallel collapse in the economic order that is less conspicuous: the hundreds of billions of dollars fleeing emerging economies, from Brazil to China, don’t come with images of women and children on capsizing boats. Nor do banks that have lent trillions that will never be repaid post gruesome videos. However, this collapse threatens our liberal universe as much as certain responses to the refugees. Capital flight and bank fragility are profound dysfunctions in the way the global economy is now organised that will surface as real-world economic dislocation.
To put it succinctly: Our economic system is delusional.
[ I’ll go check if you’ve been banned, will I? This and your previous comment were in moderation. Don’t be feeling special there though, it’s randomly happening to a few folks this morning] – Bill
More like what people do with other consenting adults is no ones business but their own and all personal drug use should be decriminilised, someone with a needle in their arm is not a criminal but needs help instead
Nope, that puts you inline to be a Māori Party supporter. Apparently, even Labour is more RWNJ than you which really explains why they’re losing votes.
What an amazing story. In a New Zealand context this would be like outcasting Peter Snell if he was outspoken on a political issue. I draw that comparison because both Norman and Snell still hold respective national records for their events over 50 years later! Normans is probably more impressive as its a sprint event, its more contestable, and a black dominated sport.
Coming soon in Auckland – this Wednesday to be specific:
Rod Oram
‘Follow the money – the future of business journalism’
Wednesday 14 October
The feeble state of business journalism in New Zealand and around the world is but a subset of journalism’s general decline. To try to survive financially, many media organisations are increasingly blurring the distinction between journalism and advertising, devaluing both in the process. Yet, there has never been a more important time for business journalism.
Profound change is sweeping through business and economics and the societies they help shape. Journalists should be trying to explain what’s happening – the good and the ill – for the benefit of participants and public alike.
Wednesday 14 October, 6pm
Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred Street, The University of Auckland
Doors open at 5.45pm, lecture starts at 6pm. The Maidment Bar will open from 5pm
Koha
There will be a collection for donations, so please bring some cash. This is a key fundraising opportunity for us.
If you can’t make it to the lecture but would like to support our work you can make a donation via the website.
The work of the Bruce Jesson Trust, which holds a lecture each year by a leading thinker and has these available on line for later perusal.
It also runs an annual competition for journalism excellence – and I think this is for encouraging young journalists particularly, not sure, and I think also applies to publications involving research.
More details on their website – google Bruce Jesson.
No I couldn’t, while Helen Clark had/has some very good qualiaties I admire there were things like WFF that felt like far too much like middle-class bribery for me
Of course its now so entrenched and National lacks the cajones to change it that we’re stuck with it…
I also was livid at the ‘bribery’ of WfF – weaseling out of doing something to improve wages by offering a tax credit that was effectively a low-wages subsidy to employers, what a crappy thing for the party of labour to come up with.
I suspect your reason for annoyance with it was different from mine, though…
Lol
So now the “minimum wage increase increase unemployment” mantra is replaced by a sudden concern that it’ll disproportionately help the top 10% of households.
You know what? I don’t care. If the richest households are demonstrably better off, they can pay higher taxes when that becomes evident.
The only objection to minimum wage that was worth a damn was that a rushed increase would be a false improvement, hiding increased unemployment behind slightly higher wages for those lucky enough to keep their jobs. Glad to see that bullshit has expired and been replaced by an irrelevancy.
I suggest you read it again.
I says that low levels of a minimum wage don’t have short term effects on unemployment BUT that the long term effects are unknown as are high levels of the minimum in comparison to the average.
You have to read it right through.
…that the long term effects are unknown as are high levels of the minimum in comparison to the average.
Why would anyone serious be interested in the effects on “average” incomes||wages? That includes people on high incomes who don’t feel effects from minimum wages. That means that increases in minimum wages will show little change in average wages in any society with severe inequalities in incomes (ie like NZ).
Shouldn’t anyone who was serious about looking at the effects be interested in the changes on median incomes||wages?
Furthermore, minimum wages at both low and high levels have been present in various economies for more than 50 years. Surely any credible study would consider that to be a good enough base line to draw some results from across a number of economies. I’d suggest that either the authors were talking out of their illiterate arseholes, or they were trying for making political or ideological point.
Perhaps you should re-read whatever you are talking about, because you aren’t making a good case for getting me to read it.
Gee, I made a slip.
I typed “average” when I meant to type “median”, in line with the article.
That appears to fix the thing you object to, doesn’t it?
After all you say that “Shouldn’t anyone who was serious about looking at the effects be interested in the changes on median incomes||wages”.
Since that appears to be the main thing you are complaining about, perhaps you will now decide to spend some of your time and will look at the link? It isn’t very long. I doubt it will take more than three minutes to read it right through.
The Economist article you cite says that activists in the US have succeeded in getting politicians to support a $15 minimum wage without once mentioning Seattle.
Alwyn repeating Murdoch’s mantra.
OECD figures prove you wrong.
OECD research on the US economy state by state,show that those states with the highest minimum wage have the lowest unemployment!
Also states with the highest taxes have the most economic growth!
States with Ring wing governments ie Republican and tea party govts have the highest unemployment and lowest growth!
To OAB @ 10.58.
Mostly to avoid stretching out the article to infinity I suppose.
The did mention Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco in a previous article that they referenced from the one I linked to.
It was at the point “article” here.
“several big cities, including New York this week, plan to phase in a $15 minimum wage, and Hillary Clinton’s two rivals for the Democratic nomination support the policy (see article). ”
I think you are seeing to many conspiracies.
yeah I saw all that “accelerating into a fog” nonsense.
But a few years ago the tory meme was that it would distort the wage supply and demand curve and increase unemployment, no distinction between short and long term, and adamant about the religious doctrine.
It took years for real world research to demonstrate that not only was the prediction false, in several studies unemployment actually decreased (e.g. NJ hospo and minimum wage). Feel free to use the minimume wage tag to see how the discussion has evolved on this website.
So now we’re supposed to be afraid of long-term unknown unknowns being predicted by the same crowd who previously predicted immediate and serious harm? Excuse me while I just press harder on the accelerator. It’s fun watching you squirm for no reason.
Here’s the other thing: if a living wage genuinely disproportionately favoured the top 10%, it would already be National Party policy. If tories believed their own shit, of course.
I used to think that PRs pseudo was a turnaround of Ruckish Pogue and that the Pogues were Irish so the last comment prompted me to google but no The Pogues were from London. But I put up a link to them anyway. They seem a bit more entertaining than PRs search for truth. Struth!
Just a bit of light relief. I apologise in advance to any offended R.Catholics among us. I spied today on Trade Me a hugely amusing portrait of John Key in the solemn traditional pose of Jesus of the Sacred Heart, but replacing where the sacred heart should be is a dollar sign. The title is “The Transmogrification of John Key” and the number to look up on the Trade Me site is 960113553 if you wish to read how the artist describes it – unfortunately the portrait has already gone under the hammer. I see its going to also be printed off into posters – I wonder how long it will be before it is taken out of circulation under the guise of the cyber bullying bill because of poor John’s injured sensibilities.
All praise to the artist, we need some more of this type of satirical art circulating – I think the painting says it all.
Radio NZ management seems to have discouraged analysis of the secret TPPA talks.
So why does Jim Mora continue to claim he has been discussing it? The Panel, Radio NZ National, Monday 12 October 2015
Jim Mora, Irene Gardiner, Bruce Slane, Zoe George
After indulging in banal, painfully long-winded and unnecessary reintroductions to Bruce Slane and Irene Gardiner, who are regular guests, the host moved on to the first topic for the once-over-lightly treatment….
JIM MORA:[apologetically] Just a little bit at the start: we’re probably all TPP’ed out….
That’s crap, of course. The most “serious” discussion of these top-secret talks consisted of the hapless University of Waikato “international law expert” Al Gillespie intoning pompously: “To a degree we have to trust the government.” [1] Otherwise, on the rare occasions this exercise in governmental contempt for the population has even been mentioned, it has received no more than a derisory half a minute or so of comments pretty much identical to the learned Professor Gillespie’s. Appalled, I sent the less than honest host the following email…
How can you be “all TTP’ed out”?
Dear Jim,
After the 4 o’clock news you claimed, not for the first time, that “we’re probably all TPP’ed out.”
In fact you, or more likely your producers, have hardly dealt at all with that vital topic. You have, by stark contrast, chosen to chat about the flag “debate” almost every day. [2]
If, as it seems, Radio NZ management has discouraged you from treating the issue seriously, please say so, and stop pretending that you have given the TPPA more than a few cursory comments.
As relations between the West and Russia steadily deteriorate, Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots have been given the go-ahead to shoot down Russian military jets when flying missions over Syria and Iraq, if they are endangered by them. The development comes with warnings that the UK and Russia are now “one step closer” to being at war.
RAF Tornado pilots have been instructed to avoid contact with Russian aircraft while engaged in missions for Operation Shader – the codename for the RAF’s anti-Isis work in Iraq and Syria. But their aircraft have been armed with air-to-air missiles and the pilots have been given the green light to defend themselves if they are threatened by Russian pilots.
“The first thing a British pilot will do is to try to avoid a situation where an air-to-air attack is likely to occur — you avoid an area if there is Russian activity,” an unidentified source from the UK’s Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) told the Sunday Times. “But if a pilot is fired on or believes he is about to be fired on, he can defend himself. We now have a situation where a single pilot, irrespective of nationality, can have a strategic impact on future events.”
Anybody would think that they’re trying to start WWIII.
The front page of today’s Star on Sunday speculates that RAF Tornados bombing ISIL targets in Iraq are to be armed with air-to-air missiles to protect them from attack and that RAF pilots have been cleared to fire on hostile Russian jets. The Sunday Times features a similar story and quotes a military source who is alleged to have said “up until now there has been no or little air-to-air threat, but the situation has changed and we need to respond accordingly”.
The MoD statement is a laugh: of course they’re “ready” to attack hostile aircraft. Are they going to do dogfights with Vlad? Um, that’s unlikely, това́рищ.
Far from keeping their country men and women safe, western media generally has a death wish by spreading lies and provoking other countries on our behalf. That goes for our media too as they just repeat the overseas stuff. I would say in a lot of instances they are more dangerous than the military. John Pilger’s doco – The War on Terror – truth & lies, is a good starting point for anyone who wants to know more.
“Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump during Wednesday’s presidential debate linked vaccinations to what he called an autism “epidemic.”
Trump said autism rates have risen over the past few decades, becoming “an epidemic,” and that he’s had employees whose children became autistic after taking vaccines.
“You take this little beautiful baby, and you pump — I mean, it looks like just it’s meant for a horse and not for a child,” Trump said. “We had so many instances [in which] a child had a vaccine, and came back and a week back had a tremendous fever, got very very sick, and now is autistic.”….
Fair point, however Chooky’s postings and the back and forth on this particular issue just seem to be a rallying call for morons to bring out the same old anti vaccination arguments again and again despite those arguments having been debunked numerous times.
Pity he can’t even bring himself to call the New Zealand flag the New Zealand flag.
This of course is just another mechanism to try to devalue the New Zealand flag. This sort of behaviour and these sort of attacks on the flag of New Zealand will only increase over the Summer.
But…
…oddly enough, Farrar has created this six way poll in direct contradiction to the two stage process he and his masters prefer. In fact, he’s created this poll in the very image the Labour Party has advocated.
Not sure where Farrar is getting his advice on this but he looks even more stupid than usual.
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
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TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
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Can we expect to see Little come under fire from the media this week for his comments (opposing the TPP) on Q&A?
It’s already started, our esteem liar in chief on TVNZ’s brekkie channel having a go. but sounding a little hysterical in my book.
Oh yes, I forgot it was propaganda monday on our glorious state television. There will be tales from the vacation of our leader taking on a hundred infidels at once, on his own of course.
It’s an attempt to paint Labour as radicals, turning off the mainstream as seen with Corbyn in the UK.
Moreover, it’s an attempt to get Labour to tow the neoliberal line.
Although National don’t require it, they would prefer Labour’s support.
10 climate change canaries
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11527479
No mention of frogs? One thing I really miss from childhood is the frog chorus in summer evenings. http://www.alternet.org/environment/frog-species-going-extinct-alarming-rate
“Almost four tonnes of oil has spilled into New Zealand’s harbours and oceans since the Rena disaster.” http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/72344235/death-by-a-thousand-cuts-nzs-oil-spill-record-revealed (Why is the media so quiet about this?)
A good day – despite the refugee crisis, anti-immigrant fear-mongering, uncertain economic times and a State election that was supposedly too close to call – ‘red’ Vienna remains red (infused with a little green).
A common-sense solution to Auckland’s housing!!!
Socialise housing! Let’s bulldoze all the rich pricks mansions and replace them with standard houses built by the State! Replace all housing with standard state houses! No more rich in mansions while the rest of us are cramped in hovels! This is why we need to revolt now! The rich better watch their back when the revolution comes! I pick they they won’t of course. But the day will come I guarantee!
if thats what you regard as common sense …see a doctor.Your unrealistic ‘solutions ‘ will find no favour right or left…or is that your intention!
+1 Les.
Parody commenter I believe Les.
The problem is there’d be more then a few on here that would agree with it
Or at least not have as much of a problem with it as one might have with many current government policies.
I have a problem bulldozing them.
Keep them standing, just move families into them.
Alternatively, buy up a bit of land in Remmers and Khandallah and elsewhere (Papanui, etc.) and build a few PUBLICLY owned houses on it (PUBLIC as opposed to ‘state’).
The residents in those ‘burbs can hardly complain can they since we’re told just what an egalitarian soity we are, AND we jiss dunno hear lucky we are.
I won’t hold my breath though – there’d be a cacophony of pig like squeeling before that ever happens.
Stroke me a pony tail will ya Adam!
Where are the ‘democracy is under attack’ headlines for this news of gross environmental degradation by a regional council?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/72886964/backtracking-regional-council-must-be-taken-to-task–rachel-stewart
very good piece from Stewart.
Everyone enrolled to vote is allowed to vote in regional council elections. So why are regional councils still stacked with pro-industrial farming, pro-pollution types instead of with people who give a shit about the region beyond how much mon is to be made?
“Everyone enrolled to vote is allowed to vote in regional council elections”
Where regional council elections are held, of course 🙂
Where such councils are not “stacked with pro-industrial farming” types elections tend not to be held. A case where democracy is apparently too dangerous for the national interest by far.
Which is an interesting insight into how some people, at least, come to define the ‘national interest’.
Ah yes, of course. Although I think that the situation was more complex than the election of the pro-environment councillors, wasn’t it?
Things are always ‘more complex’ so I tend to focus on ‘necessary and sufficient’ conditions.
From that perspective, ECAN councillors would not have been replaced, I suspect, if there wasn’t concern that such councillors were a threat to the exploitation of Canterbury’s water.
The government has said as much in defending its original decision and subsequent extensions of Commissioner-led governance.
+ 1 Sirenia – excellent link.
That is another way our democracy is under attack through litigation at local body level. Think how much more frightening it will be under TPP.
Public groups spend a lot of money to take a public issue to court, win and then the losers and council collaborate to make the court order meaningless by ignoring it.
The planning officers at councils are out of control. They are stupid and have too much power and not enough oversight.
The farmers are being encouraged by the council to break the district plan against the environment court ruling.
Lets see how ports of Auckland play out. Similar thing – councils and planners are working against the public to give corporate welfare against the rules at the cost to ratepayers.
Sirenia, Thanks for that important reference to the disgusting pollution that has been allowed to occur in that area.
Aucklands Upper Harbour was to be the overflow receiver for the North Shore Rosedale Treatment Plant but a number of concerned residents stood their ground and that danger is no longer a possibilty.
A good message to be writ large on a placard where Turnbull can see it.
Hello, hello
AUSTRALIA
our
GOOD FRIEND.
And the R in friend would have a backward slash – so it reads fiend.
Bilateral Investment Treaties not decided by democratically elected people like our Government, but by International Lawyers. But it is binding on the Government. And “hidden” inside so-called “Trade Deals.”
Like the TPP. Bastards.
Thanks Draco but more sleepless nights!
So when politicians promise to bring in a new tax or a new law once the Treaty is signed, they cannot carry out the promise because they could be sent to Arbitration at huge cost. No choice. No appeal.
Hell’s Bells!
And Arbitration is actioned by just 15 lawyers (55%) who are sometimes for and sometimes against the issue. Obviously our own Courts are rubbish. Really?
Alternatively, ianmac, Governments may avoid legislating in a certain manner (or promising too) to avert the possibility of arbitration.
So whatever thin shadow of democracy we have to be hog-tied and bound by the threat of binding arbitration carried out by three of a select group of corporate law firm lawyers? Jolly good.
That’s correct. The possibility of arbitration will be in the minds of policy creators (with potential challenges hanging overhead) putting them off selecting certain policies.
That was very long, but very, very good.
Clear, concise…no jargon. Hugely accessible. Thanks.
The world economic order is collapsing and this time there seems no way out
To put it succinctly: Our economic system is delusional.
Have I been banned again or in moderation?
[ I’ll go check if you’ve been banned, will I? This and your previous comment were in moderation. Don’t be feeling special there though, it’s randomly happening to a few folks this morning] – Bill
Cheers
You and me both PR, so it’s not a conspiracy to shut up the Right leaning, just a conspiracy to get some of us to shut up! 😉
I’m right leaning?
I spose you’re centre leaning, just like our leader..
Damn straight!
Take the test Puck and give us an honest report on where you land on the chart: https://www.politicalcompass.org/test/
Your Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: -0.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.56
Which fits for current National supporter
But then I’ve always been socially liberal and fiscally conservative…mostly
“socially liberal”
Like like em up and throw away the key?
More like what people do with other consenting adults is no ones business but their own and all personal drug use should be decriminilised, someone with a needle in their arm is not a criminal but needs help instead
Then you keep voting for the wrong party PR.
Nope, that puts you inline to be a Māori Party supporter. Apparently, even Labour is more RWNJ than you which really explains why they’re losing votes.
Well some of the options weren’t that great plus i am at work though so couldn’t give it my full attention
Ref this compass which places the parties as of election ’14:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/nz2014
Either you’re piss poor at assessing which party best represents your viewpoint or you made a total hash of filling out the questionnaire.
-0.38, -2.56 is about where the Greens are. And nowhere near where National are. So it makes no real sense for you to support National.
I suspect you hang to the right, yes…
You’ve given it some thought then 🙂
😉
so glad I’m not the only one – I suspected I might have been guilty of some whiskey-induced indelicacy one evening that had escaped my memory 🙂
me too – about being the only one that is 🙂
I see Avaaz.org has targeted New Zealand as the country to stop the TPPA.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/tpp_2015_loc_nz/?tIkRubb
This is a global petition and at the time of writing had attracted almost 300,000 signatures.
Admirable piece of work by Avaaz but given our PM ignores the result of official referenda by his own citizens, I can’t see this having any impact.
Best of the web.
http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/the-white-man-in-that-photo/
thanks joe.
What an amazing story. In a New Zealand context this would be like outcasting Peter Snell if he was outspoken on a political issue. I draw that comparison because both Norman and Snell still hold respective national records for their events over 50 years later! Normans is probably more impressive as its a sprint event, its more contestable, and a black dominated sport.
Coming soon in Auckland – this Wednesday to be specific:
Rod Oram
‘Follow the money – the future of business journalism’
Wednesday 14 October
The feeble state of business journalism in New Zealand and around the world is but a subset of journalism’s general decline. To try to survive financially, many media organisations are increasingly blurring the distinction between journalism and advertising, devaluing both in the process. Yet, there has never been a more important time for business journalism.
Profound change is sweeping through business and economics and the societies they help shape. Journalists should be trying to explain what’s happening – the good and the ill – for the benefit of participants and public alike.
Wednesday 14 October, 6pm
Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred Street, The University of Auckland
Doors open at 5.45pm, lecture starts at 6pm. The Maidment Bar will open from 5pm
Koha
There will be a collection for donations, so please bring some cash. This is a key fundraising opportunity for us.
If you can’t make it to the lecture but would like to support our work you can make a donation via the website.
There is street parking – which after 6pm is free. If none available – car park buildings as follows:
Parking at Owen Glen building 16 Grafton Road, and a walk up the hill to theatre I think.
There are mobility car parks around see map.
http://www.maidment.auckland.ac.nz/en/maidment/contact/location-map.html
Info. on transport, street parking etc
http://www.maidment.auckland.ac.nz/en/maidment/plan-your-visit/parking-and-transport.html
Donation to whose work?
The work of the Bruce Jesson Trust, which holds a lecture each year by a leading thinker and has these available on line for later perusal.
It also runs an annual competition for journalism excellence – and I think this is for encouraging young journalists particularly, not sure, and I think also applies to publications involving research.
More details on their website – google Bruce Jesson.
Sorry, I didn’t see the link to Bruce Jesson Lecture. Hence I asked
I should have put Bruce Jesson Foundation’s link –
civicrm@brucejesson.com
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/11924431/Revealed-Jeremy-Corbyn-and-John-McDonnells-close-IRA-links.html
If its true then bye bye to his election chances, of course if its not true then Corbyn can always sue the telegraph
This might help you understand PR.
You see PR, you are not really a centrist but maybe a populist. Did you ever vote for the last Clark led Labour Government?
No I couldn’t, while Helen Clark had/has some very good qualiaties I admire there were things like WFF that felt like far too much like middle-class bribery for me
Of course its now so entrenched and National lacks the cajones to change it that we’re stuck with it…
I wasn’t ok with the bribery of WFF so couldn’t vote for Labour…and now its so entrenched that it’d be electoral suicide to take it away
well my friend you are no centrist then… 😉
I also was livid at the ‘bribery’ of WfF – weaseling out of doing something to improve wages by offering a tax credit that was effectively a low-wages subsidy to employers, what a crappy thing for the party of labour to come up with.
I suspect your reason for annoyance with it was different from mine, though…
+1
It was a way to say they were helping the poor and vulnerable while actually assisting a numbe rof the so-called middle NZ
Your point is valid, I just thought it was a straight up bribe to the middle class
According to the studies reported by the Economist the benefits are split so that about 75% goes to the employee, and only about 25% to the employer.
It is also much more efficient than is an increase in the minimum wage which appears to go, surprisingly, disproportionally to the better off.
It is also unlikely to cause the loss of jobs that a high minimum wage can cause.
See
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21659741-global-movement-toward-much-higher-minimum-wages-dangerous-reckless-wager?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e
Lol
So now the “minimum wage increase increase unemployment” mantra is replaced by a sudden concern that it’ll disproportionately help the top 10% of households.
You know what? I don’t care. If the richest households are demonstrably better off, they can pay higher taxes when that becomes evident.
The only objection to minimum wage that was worth a damn was that a rushed increase would be a false improvement, hiding increased unemployment behind slightly higher wages for those lucky enough to keep their jobs. Glad to see that bullshit has expired and been replaced by an irrelevancy.
I suggest you read it again.
I says that low levels of a minimum wage don’t have short term effects on unemployment BUT that the long term effects are unknown as are high levels of the minimum in comparison to the average.
You have to read it right through.
Why would anyone serious be interested in the effects on “average” incomes||wages? That includes people on high incomes who don’t feel effects from minimum wages. That means that increases in minimum wages will show little change in average wages in any society with severe inequalities in incomes (ie like NZ).
Shouldn’t anyone who was serious about looking at the effects be interested in the changes on median incomes||wages?
Furthermore, minimum wages at both low and high levels have been present in various economies for more than 50 years. Surely any credible study would consider that to be a good enough base line to draw some results from across a number of economies. I’d suggest that either the authors were talking out of their illiterate arseholes, or they were trying for making political or ideological point.
Perhaps you should re-read whatever you are talking about, because you aren’t making a good case for getting me to read it.
Gee, I made a slip.
I typed “average” when I meant to type “median”, in line with the article.
That appears to fix the thing you object to, doesn’t it?
After all you say that “Shouldn’t anyone who was serious about looking at the effects be interested in the changes on median incomes||wages”.
Since that appears to be the main thing you are complaining about, perhaps you will now decide to spend some of your time and will look at the link? It isn’t very long. I doubt it will take more than three minutes to read it right through.
The Economist article you cite says that activists in the US have succeeded in getting politicians to support a $15 minimum wage without once mentioning Seattle.
I wonder why.
I am always concerned at the numbers of people who appear to not understand the difference between median and average in skewed distributions.
I might find time later to scan it. But right now I’m late heading to work.
Alwyn repeating Murdoch’s mantra.
OECD figures prove you wrong.
OECD research on the US economy state by state,show that those states with the highest minimum wage have the lowest unemployment!
Also states with the highest taxes have the most economic growth!
States with Ring wing governments ie Republican and tea party govts have the highest unemployment and lowest growth!
To OAB @ 10.58.
Mostly to avoid stretching out the article to infinity I suppose.
The did mention Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco in a previous article that they referenced from the one I linked to.
It was at the point “article” here.
“several big cities, including New York this week, plan to phase in a $15 minimum wage, and Hillary Clinton’s two rivals for the Democratic nomination support the policy (see article). ”
I think you are seeing to many conspiracies.
yeah I saw all that “accelerating into a fog” nonsense.
But a few years ago the tory meme was that it would distort the wage supply and demand curve and increase unemployment, no distinction between short and long term, and adamant about the religious doctrine.
It took years for real world research to demonstrate that not only was the prediction false, in several studies unemployment actually decreased (e.g. NJ hospo and minimum wage). Feel free to use the minimume wage tag to see how the discussion has evolved on this website.
So now we’re supposed to be afraid of long-term unknown unknowns being predicted by the same crowd who previously predicted immediate and serious harm? Excuse me while I just press harder on the accelerator. It’s fun watching you squirm for no reason.
Here’s the other thing: if a living wage genuinely disproportionately favoured the top 10%, it would already be National Party policy. If tories believed their own shit, of course.
Yeah, there’s good reasons why I don’t read the Economist – generally speaking, they’re usually wrong.
I used to think that PRs pseudo was a turnaround of Ruckish Pogue and that the Pogues were Irish so the last comment prompted me to google but no The Pogues were from London. But I put up a link to them anyway. They seem a bit more entertaining than PRs search for truth. Struth!
I have no problems with someone saying the Pogues seem a bit more entertaining then me
😉
“He often performs while intoxicated and has been impaired in interviews.”
MacGowan
I’ve never been drunk at work if thats what you’re suggesting 🙂
I was thinking of the impaired while typing…
“…often performs while intoxicated and has been impaired in interviews.”
Hmmmm. Sounds familiar….
Just a bit of light relief. I apologise in advance to any offended R.Catholics among us. I spied today on Trade Me a hugely amusing portrait of John Key in the solemn traditional pose of Jesus of the Sacred Heart, but replacing where the sacred heart should be is a dollar sign. The title is “The Transmogrification of John Key” and the number to look up on the Trade Me site is 960113553 if you wish to read how the artist describes it – unfortunately the portrait has already gone under the hammer. I see its going to also be printed off into posters – I wonder how long it will be before it is taken out of circulation under the guise of the cyber bullying bill because of poor John’s injured sensibilities.
All praise to the artist, we need some more of this type of satirical art circulating – I think the painting says it all.
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/tq/416384467.jpg
He looks tired. Must be all that weight on his soul.
Radio NZ management seems to have discouraged analysis of the secret TPPA talks.
So why does Jim Mora continue to claim he has been discussing it?
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Monday 12 October 2015
Jim Mora, Irene Gardiner, Bruce Slane, Zoe George
After indulging in banal, painfully long-winded and unnecessary reintroductions to Bruce Slane and Irene Gardiner, who are regular guests, the host moved on to the first topic for the once-over-lightly treatment….
JIM MORA: [apologetically] Just a little bit at the start: we’re probably all TPP’ed out….
That’s crap, of course. The most “serious” discussion of these top-secret talks consisted of the hapless University of Waikato “international law expert” Al Gillespie intoning pompously: “To a degree we have to trust the government.” [1] Otherwise, on the rare occasions this exercise in governmental contempt for the population has even been mentioned, it has received no more than a derisory half a minute or so of comments pretty much identical to the learned Professor Gillespie’s. Appalled, I sent the less than honest host the following email…
How can you be “all TTP’ed out”?
Dear Jim,
After the 4 o’clock news you claimed, not for the first time, that “we’re probably all TPP’ed out.”
In fact you, or more likely your producers, have hardly dealt at all with that vital topic. You have, by stark contrast, chosen to chat about the flag “debate” almost every day. [2]
If, as it seems, Radio NZ management has discouraged you from treating the issue seriously, please say so, and stop pretending that you have given the TPPA more than a few cursory comments.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04092015/#comment-1066917
[2] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01102015/#comment-1077187
I know RNZ have barely mentioned it.
Getting like the US media
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/02/06/tpp-opposition-soars-corporate-media-blackout-deafening
I suggest Labour walk away from it….It can only benefit National.
[lprent: And that has nothing to do with the post and appears to be made purely as a diversion flame starter.
Moved to OpenMike and you are banned for two weeks. Read the policy. ]
And the present UK government has just authorised their pilots to fire upon Russian aircraft:
Anybody would think that they’re trying to start WWIII.
RAF Tornados
Possibly giving air to air defences to British aircraft?
Anyone would think russian radars had been locking onto NATO aircraft or something… /sarc
The MoD statement is a laugh: of course they’re “ready” to attack hostile aircraft. Are they going to do dogfights with Vlad? Um, that’s unlikely, това́рищ.
We hope.
quite a bit of dick-measuting going on at the moment.
Far from keeping their country men and women safe, western media generally has a death wish by spreading lies and provoking other countries on our behalf. That goes for our media too as they just repeat the overseas stuff. I would say in a lot of instances they are more dangerous than the military. John Pilger’s doco – The War on Terror – truth & lies, is a good starting point for anyone who wants to know more.
completely and utterly unreatlated to anything
beautiful music via a friend from france
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaZT3I3Zd1Q&index=4&list=RDxa3uPdlFwSI
Fatoumata Diawara fome Mali, currently living and working in France.
Enjoy!
amazing voice
That was lovely. Thankyou sabine.
‘Donald Trump links vaccines to autism ‘epidemic’ ‘
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/donald-trump-vaccines-autism-2015-9
“Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump during Wednesday’s presidential debate linked vaccinations to what he called an autism “epidemic.”
Trump said autism rates have risen over the past few decades, becoming “an epidemic,” and that he’s had employees whose children became autistic after taking vaccines.
“You take this little beautiful baby, and you pump — I mean, it looks like just it’s meant for a horse and not for a child,” Trump said. “We had so many instances [in which] a child had a vaccine, and came back and a week back had a tremendous fever, got very very sick, and now is autistic.”….
DNFTT
That doesn’t work, Doc. It just cedes ground.
I dunno – in this case it’s a trump quote, it speaks for itself 🙂
“It just cedes ground.”
Only if the person was actually trolling. As opposed to say making a comment that you disagree with/think is stupid/don’t like.
I mean, I thought the comment was pretty daft myself, but it doesn’t fit normal definitions of trolling.
Fair enough perhaps DNFTTw.
Fair point, however Chooky’s postings and the back and forth on this particular issue just seem to be a rallying call for morons to bring out the same old anti vaccination arguments again and again despite those arguments having been debunked numerous times.
National Party shill, David Farrar, is polling the six possible outcomes of the two flag referenda.
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/10/rank_the_six_possible_new_zealand_flags.html
Pity he can’t even bring himself to call the New Zealand flag the New Zealand flag.
This of course is just another mechanism to try to devalue the New Zealand flag. This sort of behaviour and these sort of attacks on the flag of New Zealand will only increase over the Summer.
But…
…oddly enough, Farrar has created this six way poll in direct contradiction to the two stage process he and his masters prefer. In fact, he’s created this poll in the very image the Labour Party has advocated.
Not sure where Farrar is getting his advice on this but he looks even more stupid than usual.
I am sure DPF is acting independently and taking instructions from nobody as usual. Posts on Kiwiblog are not subject to directions from his clients.
I wonder how you came by that piece of information; didn’t he do what your boss asked?