I am confident that Winston has NZ future in his heart as he goes forward today.
he cares passonately about our beautiful country as we all do, and he wants to return NZ to a solid future where we can again feel as we all some say into how our future is planned and not just exclusively by large vested corporate interests as we now see happening now.
This is Winston’s most compeling message he sends us all when we attend any public meetings he speaks at.
The best are treatable as Zen Koans. Or something as concise as William Carlos Wiliams.
It sure teaches concision.
Think of The Standard as a good-sized regional road through a city with lots of side streets. Think of Twitter as one stretch of highway where you get on fast into brutal traffic and get off at the next exit.
But trespassing in New Zealand carries a maximum sentence of just three months. Police could not lawfully get a surveillance warrant to investigate such a minor charge.
When repeatedly asked for comment by VICE, Police wouldn’t state what justified the surveillance.
A Police spokesperson told VICE, “for operational reasons Police are not able to respond to requests which seek to confirm or deny if a person or organisation is under investigation.”
One wonders how the police even managed to get a warrant for this spying and if they even followed the law to do so.
DTB
But, but, but it was needed for homeland security! There is so much to be afraid of, particularly people who express ideas.
Ideas that are different from those established by conformists are obviously dangerous, and are a threat that the police, charged with prevention of crime must become aware of. Listening into conversations provides useful information to the point of establishing when the originating thought might be first uttered, or picked up as code by experienced snoopers, or be seen as starting possible behaviours that would lead to some criminal act, violence or subversion. /sarc
(Likely to be found in some possible police manual that might have been written, is in the process of, or is just in the mind of some officious official at present.)
And puts some perspective on Labour’s ‘Chinese sounding names’. In fact, all the evidence from around the world where these types of studies have been done are showing that Chinese buyers are a large part of the problem. It’s naive to think that NZ is any different – especially when we have even less restrictions than those countries and no CGT.
Think about it – Chinese sounding names – what about Lee, is that Chinese sounding? What about if they changed their names to Harris or Smith – would the situation improve? Chinese sounding names is a euphemism for straight racism imo. And it actually hides the real issues around foreign ownership and citizenship. So it fails on many levels and does nothing to improve the situation for non Chinese sounding named people. Sad.
It was probably more correct to say Chinese names. It is perfectly possible to extract ethnicity data from a list of names. Names like Lee in a population have a consistent and predictable percentage of European origin and another of Asian origin.
The “Chinese sounding names” was a successful Gnat communications dirty trick. It diverted attention from foreign buyers and from Gnat complicity. It also turned a lot of activist comment against them. Had Twyford’s intention been racist it would be reasonable to expect some other evidence of this personality flaw. None exists of course.
Twyford did base his initial and subsequent efforts on Chinese sounding names not Chinese names (if there is such a beastie) I thought. The underlining debate is important and valid, the framing not so much imo. Maybe Chinese looking people might have worked…
He couldn’t have done ‘Chinese looking’ because the sales data didn’t come with photos.
There are of course Chinese names – though some of them occur in other countries too – Lee for example is one of the four most common surnames in Korea. It’s quite possible to divide English names between southern and northern origins or frequency in those areas. It is much easier to distinguish names with other language origins. I know something about this, having done a bit of corpus linguistics.
Twyford’s data was good – not perfect, but it cast some light on the void the Gnats created to hide their misdeeds. And all subsequent data has tended to confirm it.
Well we’ll never know if a different push would have yielded better results. I spose all the Canadians and us college pension funds and ukians must be quaking in their boots. First they came for the wongs and we did nothing, then the wilsons but because that wasn’t my name I let it go…
Quite a history of this in this country. Even now better to be a Jones than Parata when trying to get a flat for some reason…
All good of course except they never did come for the Wongs. And NZ land is still being sold offshore by this execrable pack of traitors – not Twyford.
Oh there may be some hurt feelings among 5th generation Chinese kiwis. There are hurt feelings among people struggling for housing too. Of the two I’m more concerned about those with housing stress.
All the parallel data from offshore, and qualitative data from onshore indicates that Chinese investment has been a significant driver of NZ house price inflation. And the government got a free pass on enabling that because they sold Twyford’s critique as ‘racism’.
Funny they are both the same in my book although I spose as 5th generation they could feel even more aggrieved because they can’t buy a house and less generation euros think they are to blame because of the way they may look.
The original analysis took the list of names from the property sales, the list of names from the census ethnicity data, and identified a massive discrepancy between the two. Purchaser names like “Lee” were weighted according to the proportion of census respondents called “Lee” who were e.g. ethnically Chinese vs ethnically Scottish.
Labour never said the methodology was perfect, just that there seemed to be a discrepancy and that this crude attempt was the best data available under the National government, and we should have better data on overseas buyers.
The “Chinese sounding names” soundbite was a tory shill construction to dodge the issue Labour raised, and it worked.
Good clarification – couldn’t really remember. As I said I don’t disagree with the discussion or even the conclusions but it was a crude attempt that just gave the racists and xenophobes ammo. I find it hard to imagine the pointy heads within labour didn’t think that through but then again that was then and this is now. Can’t see Jacinda allowing that approach now.
Lee would cause a few problems – but first names would go some way to sorting out the continent. There’s probably a whole project in that name for an enterprising onomastician – but if it were too complex to sort it could be safely put to one side without compromising the overall data significantly.
Think further about it. The reason for talking about ‘Chinese sounding names’ is because the Government of National Party NZ had no wish to know or reveal to others the extent of foreign buyers ‘investing’ in NZ infrastructure, namely no-risk housing. So they didn’t keep close records, were loose about it, and evasive when questioned.
Twyford was reduced to trawling through all the names to get some approximate idea of extent and get some stats as a basis for discussion. He wanted the sort of information that shows up in RedLogix at 10.12am. Don’t cuss Phil Twyford, save your spittle for the National Party of the World (formerly NZ).
There has been plenty of negative commentary at Bloomberg about Australia recently. It covers real estate of course, but also brittle government, commodity cycle reliance, and even their massive superannuation funds under management.
I view Chinese property and business purchasing with the same kind of threat as British purchasing and ownership for our first 150 years. It formed us, sucked a lot of profit out of us, and did both good and bad. IMHO Bruce Jesson gets the balance right in his book “To Build a Nation: collected writings 1975-1999”. He traces and graphs many of the British ownership networks.
The most interesting part of a new government is where Winston and the new government land on foreign land ownership .
After what we experienced at the airport today, my family and friends have decided to never ever fly with your airline again. I will be advising others not to use your airline either.
Dear Public, if you wish to fly Nelson to Wellington, don’t fly Jetstar, instead there is the national airline AirNZ or another awesome awesome service that we have never had problems with is Sounds Air. We’ve travelled back and forth to Welly numerous times, but this will be the first and last time we will ever fly Jetstar.
I felt so sorry for the manager who had to follow rules and options on the computer instead of being able to use her own common sense, you did your best lovely lady, you did your best, it wasn’t your fault.
Needed to vent, that is all. It’s a beautiful day in Motueka.
You’re not alone! But then they’re part of Qantas. Famous for misreading baggage labels
What is it about Joyces? Alan….. Barnaby…..Steven. 3 I’ve had the misfortune to cross paths with
LMFAO.. seeing you asked.. way to much drama lolz.
A child was accidently booked on as an adult, said child had no ID on her, go home and get some ID they say (home is up to 2hrs return on the open road lolz), why dosen’t she have a cell phone they ask, you could use that (far out lady not every kid has a phone), but look she has an IPad, oh sorry only a cellphone will do, her passport would have be fine, but her passport photo was when she was a toddler, yes that would be fine they say.
Umm the school sports top she is wearing has her name on it, she is accompanied by her grandmother, grandfather and lil sister, but still they don’t believe miss twelve is who she says she is. Does she have school ID, umm she isn’t at high school yet, would a public library card do, no sorry, wait what… she had to bring in her birth cert to get a public library card in the first place.
Ummm sorry she has too much carry on… bag, sleeping bag and a birthday gift in a box, we will have to check in that luggage, and that will cost you an extra $70, but don’t worry, it will only cost an extra $13.50 for the trip back if you pay for it now.
Sheez I felt bad for my folks, it was so nice of them to take her there as I had to work. And it was so generous of the person who shouted her the flight, I felt bad for them too, they would not have wanted anyone to go through all the drama
If we change her ticket from an adult to a child that will cost you an extra (insert large ammount here), are you serious? It wasn’t a cheap flight to start with, but if she is booked as a child she won’t need ID…. far out unreals.
Apparently the manager was great, but you have to make your decisions in accordance to the options on the screen. In the end they let her on, but what a freakin circus. A nice lady in the queue offered to accompany her on the plane so she wouldn’t be travelling alone, and that was acceptable to the airline.
The werid thing is neither of my kids have been asked for personal ID before when flying alone, the adult dropping them off/picking them up is required to have ID, and just fill in the form. But then again they’ve never been on Jetstar and never will again lolololz
Miss 12 has since arrived safe and sound in fabulous Wellywood, and as long as I scan and email her some ID she should be able to get home again. She’s going to have the best time.
Meanwhile in stark contrast… the day prior we went to book her bus ticket, and the lady at our local info centre, asked her if she would like to go behind the counter and she would talk her through doing the booking herself, miss twelve buzzed out about that, no ID required. Love Motueka.
Once were Tim, sounds like Joyces aren’t so joyful lololz
Ed, that looks like a great clip thank you 😀 Will check it out
Important story on RNZ today, a community law lawyer is pointing out that the WINZ review system entirely lacks independence and the process is a crock from any reasonable legal perspective. The “review” is by WINZ staff and tends to just rubber stamp whatever outcome WINZ is already seeking. Questioning of “witnesses” hectors and badgers and uses leading questions, that would never be allowed in any fair court or tribunal.
More abuse of process, in NZ’s continuing abuse of the vulnerable.
As Chris Trotter says, Winston Peters should support a de- neoliberalisation of all NZ’s institutions, in the same way de Nazification was completed post WW2.
Big ups to Peace Action Wellington – these wonderful people did a fine job yesterday of blockaded the entrance to the Westpac Stadium, and stopping the Hawks from there purchases of death.
Love how the NZ police react with violence to peaceful protest, must make them feel like real men.
They even got to beat up a disabled man, did our bully boys in blue.
Love the spin at the end of the stuff piece, it will make all the soft libs here happy, as they will not have to think hard about their continued support of the death machine.
Andrew Ford, how do you sleep at night?
Is your pay packet enough to salve your conscience for being a spin merchant for crimes against humanity?
Do you dream of Yemenis, Iraqis, Syrians, Afghani being bombed in their beds?
There are words for people like Ford.
‘NZDIA deputy chairman Andrew Ford said labelling the forum a “weapons expo” was “stretching the truth” and the event was mainly about bringing together suppliers of services and products to support the defence and national security sectors, not weapons.
Most people would support New Zealand’s defence forces being properly equipped to defend themselves and fulfil their peacekeeping duties, he said.’
Emirates plans to end most of its flights between Australia and New Zealand as part of a renegotiated joint venture with Qantas Airways Ltd that will also see the Australian carrier quit flying to Dubai, the airlines said on Wednesday.
That, I believe, is cartel behaviour but it also highlights the failure of competition and the added costs it brings.
I have just been reading the latest edition of “Air Force News” – it seems the RNZAF is about to begin “Exercise Southern Katipo and the West Coast is being transformed into the fictional Pacific Island of Becara. The exercise is based on the premise that armed militia groups have sparked the breakdown of public order and a New Zealand-led coalition has been invited to restore law and order.” It then goes on further in the article to say “another task would be to take care of the island’s trouble-makers, which might require an armed response”.
Why on earth are they needing to train our military to supress civilian dissent – is this the future of our military – to squash any uprising because of the many injustices that our citizens in the future may want to fight against – do our governments expect this sort of event in the future – if so shouldn’t they be making our society a fairer place for all of us so this sort of expensive exercise isn’t ever needed.
It smacks of the police tapping into human rights activists phones – what has happened to our usual robberies and murder and conventional wars that our police and military were needed for.
Actually DTB, I remember reading somewhere that Bill Rowling put the NZ Armed Forces on standing by to stop the the TNI from invading ET and restore law and order. But Gough Witham wasn’t up for it and the Poms were pulling out of SE Asia, so the order was finally cancelled. It was like a re-run of what happen during West Papua where the Dutch asked for assistance from Commonwealth at the time the Poms and NZ government were prepared to assist the Dutch but old Meng (Menzies) pull out at the last minute and no doubt the JFK had a hand in it as it was trying to persuade the then Ino government to turn from a leftist government to a pro west government at the time.
Come to think about it may have been in the Official History of Australian involvement in South East Asia. Which was Six or seven, eight part volume which were all first edition before lost them a defence removal.
Had some interesting stuff about Kiwi Keith dragging his heels in regards to New Zealand’s involvement in South Vietnam. Which there was two part volume with regards to the political issues from Oz government POV.
DTB, thanks for the link and it was good read as will.
Sentiment among us INTERTFET vets and those on UN mission after us (note I lost a good mate from NZBATT 2, the first Kiwi to KIA since Vietnam. Pvte Lenny Manning B Coy 2/1st Battalion). Is why did our pollies allow this to happen especially amongst some of the Aussie Army All Arms Corps (My neighbor at my bush block as Ex 2RAR and did a UN tour as well) as the people of Timor help members of the Aussie Army during WW2 and only to kick down the road like a coke can or as a sacrificial sheep after the TNI invasion. As us vets know what the TNI is doing to the people of West Papua as we seen the same thing at what happening to the people ET.
And really piss’s me is that most of the left supported the then leftist Ino government annexation of West Papua from the Dutch and now these assholes are supporting West Papua freedom!
The last scenario the military forces (international) operated under had uncomfortable similarities with the fall of the Muldoon government and the time between that and Labour taking over. It is on google somewhere but it makes my skin creep, like a cold breeze passing by.
The current SK17 scenario appears to be base around what happen in East Timor back in 2006 and some other scenarios are also similar to what we face during INTERFET 99-00. The TNI Forces and the TNI backed militia push the our boundaries in terms of our ROE/ OFOF to the limit weather it was on the sea (even under the Sea), in the Air harassing the Naval Task Group incl the Air Bridge between Oz and ET and on the land around Dili and down towards the main centres around the border provinces of ET incl the onclave. You don’t know just how close it came to a all out war with the TNI. Once our section was outnumbered by 3to1 at abandoned police/ TNI barracks and it was only when shook out into a attacking formation, (I) loaded the M79’s/ prep the M72’s for firing etc and for a few mins we were about to meet our making, then other side backed down rather quickly once they saw that we meant business.
Then there is the handling of dead bodies, documented the voting fraud, the illegal abuse detainees by the TNI/ police and the human rights abuse aka rape, torture, shooting detainees etc. But another story to tell one day.
SK ex’s are a good foundation stone for the NZDF, foreign forces, other agencies both Government and NGO’s to prepare for such events for the future. Because Peacekeeping operations can be very fast and dynamic with a lot of thinking on your feet, be it the humble private/ trooper or PC etc to very to top of the decision making progress at inter government level?
To some on the left Peacekeeping may sound sexy to you, but as follow lefty who has done Peacekeeping I’ve seen the best of human kind and the bloody worst of human kind.
A well prepared, well equipped and trained Defence Force for UN peacekeeping for Chapter 1 to Chapter 7 missions comes with a big price tag than most people here realise.
I had a deal with my CO at the start of the yr after I was sent home from the Middle East late yr when I went down the rabbit hole the choice between SK17 or go back to Middle East if I was back to full health by June. Alas I’m not as I would back in NZ right now, but facing a Med discharge sometime next yr.
‘IMF: higher taxes for rich will cut inequality without hitting growth
Analysis supports tax strategy of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in UK – and undermines that of Donald Trump in US’
New Zealand Labour and New Zealand First please note.
Brilliant article by Rachel Stewart.
Worthy of a thread in its own right.
I share her outlook.
‘What are the signs that the world’s resources are running out?
‘What are the things we need to face? It’s a ruddy great neon sign and if you can’t see it flashing, you’re either obtuse, changing nappies, and/or too busy arguing the toss on.’
‘Climate change is here. The race between human survival and the melting ice sheets is on…… The storms will be more frequent and deadly; the diseases will come thick and fast; the crops will fail and, if humans are still standing at the end of that, the heat will shut our bodies down and we will die.’
‘Population. The number of people on the planet will rise from 7.6 billion today to 9.7 billion in 2050, according to UN projections. Is that number the problem, or is it over-consumption? It’s both. One leads to the other, and both are killing us.’
‘Water. The new oil. Without it, humanity is condemned. Climate change is affecting water quality, and the risks are incalculable. Rising temperatures; increased levels of sediments, nutrients, and pollutants triggered by more frequent and heavy rainfall; industrial agriculture. The world faces an imminent water crisis that is affecting every part of the planet. Are we ready for the massive influx of refugees from Australia and Asia?’
‘Poverty and inequality are massive, unstoppable forces. Electing new governments, and new faces, is unlikely to meaningfully alter anything. No politician has the capacity to change what’s coming. The pendulum is in motion; counting down the beats to our demise.’
‘Depressed yet? You should be. And when you’re bored with that, maybe stop blaming others for their point of view, and start blaming the real culprits. Picking off fundamentally decent – and basically planetarily powerless – others is a waste of your time. Anger, sadness and fear is best expressed by doing, rather than talking into a vacuum (which, ironically, I’m likely doing here).’
‘The culprits? Oil companies, industrial agriculture, the 1 per cent, over-fishing, neoliberalism, capitalism, Monsanto, Trump, the “free” market (an oxymoron if ever there was one). You know who they are.’
Get off the cyber treadmill of judgment and virtue signalling, and dismount your fat donkey and make a change in the world. Maybe there’s still time?
Whoa Rachel! You hit a few nails on the head there. Now wait for the response….. Our small interest group in Wellington has been saying this for years! So it’s not news. It’s just becoming news now! Lol
David Farrar of course defends the Alcohol Industry.
There are words for people like him.
‘Lead researcher Tim Chambers says the study provides further evidence of the need to ban alcohol sales in supermarkets. This is feasible given we have prohibited alcohol sales in supermarkets in the past and other countries, such as Australia, currently do. Moreover, supermarkets make up only three per cent of alcohol retailers but sell 30 per cent of all beer and 60 per cent of all wine.
“Children in the study were exposed to alcohol marketing almost every time they entered a supermarket, often the exposure occurred near everyday products, like bread and milk,” says Tim Chambers, research fellow at Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington.
In New Zealand, alcohol contributes to 800 deaths and costs the country over $5 billion per year. Moreover, alcohol is linked to over 200 medical conditions and causes a number of cancers. World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alcohol Strategy recommends restrictions on alcohol marketing as a ‘best buy’ for reducing alcohol-related harm. New Zealand supermarkets have some responsibility for the burden of alcohol-related harm due to their provision of convenient, low-cost alcohol as well as their market share of alcohol sales.
In New Zealand, supermarkets were not permitted to sell alcohol until the liberalisation of the alcohol laws in 1989. The researchers say that improving the supermarket promotional environment, by repealing the section of the 2012 Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act that permits supermarket alcohol sales, would both significantly reduce children’s overall exposure to alcohol marketing, and reduce the prevalence of other supermarket related infractions such as underage sales, loss-leading alcohol sales and cross-promotional activity. Further, it would save councils millions of dollars from the judicial challenges by supermarkets against Local Alcohol Policies.’
Yet Farrar – with no evidence – spins for big liquor.
And the miserable host giggles at his ridiculous defence of these multinational drug peddlers.
Farrar of course will know that Katherine Rich, is another pimp for big liquor.
No doubt his pr activities and involvement in Dirty Politics ( another fact not mentioned by RNZ in its introduction) assisted her defence of the food and liquor industries.
And we are the 3rd most obese in the world.
Thanks David and Katherine for caring about our health.
Awkward moment on the Panel as Catherine Robertson describes the traits of psychopaths,
And David Farrar remains a bit silent as he thinks of his National masters.
The past week marks the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the killings of two of the 20th century’s outstanding socialist figures, Che Guevara (executed without trial in Bolivia on October 9, 1967) and Seamus Costello (assassinated in Dublin on October 5, 1977).
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
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Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
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New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
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Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
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On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
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Here we are then. Awaiting the outcome of the negotiations. May fairness prevail.
I’ve given up reading or watching anything from the political commentariat. It’s all just so much rubbish.
Agreed Patricia,
I am confident that Winston has NZ future in his heart as he goes forward today.
he cares passonately about our beautiful country as we all do, and he wants to return NZ to a solid future where we can again feel as we all some say into how our future is planned and not just exclusively by large vested corporate interests as we now see happening now.
This is Winston’s most compeling message he sends us all when we attend any public meetings he speaks at.
We are in good hands with Winston & NZF.
+1 CleanGreen, I feel the same
Really; you’re in la la land if you think we’re in “good hands with Winston and NZF”.
How to avoid sexually harassing someone.
A quick hack, approved on Twitter by The Rock himself:
https://medium.com/@annevictoriaclark/the-rock-test-a-hack-for-men-who-dont-want-to-be-accused-of-sexual-harassment-73c45e0b49af
.
For the life of me I cannot understand why intelligent people take any notice of Twitter at all. It’s a forum for intellectually crippled discourse.
Worse, the practise of filing “news” stories padded out with Twitter comments, often anonymous, is the ultimate in lazy journalism.
[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.]
Not really. I don’t read every tweet but many Twitter conversations are quite enlightening.
The best are treatable as Zen Koans. Or something as concise as William Carlos Wiliams.
It sure teaches concision.
Think of The Standard as a good-sized regional road through a city with lots of side streets. Think of Twitter as one stretch of highway where you get on fast into brutal traffic and get off at the next exit.
Why Were Police Tapping the Phones of NZ Human Rights Activists?
One wonders how the police even managed to get a warrant for this spying and if they even followed the law to do so.
DTB
But, but, but it was needed for homeland security! There is so much to be afraid of, particularly people who express ideas.
Ideas that are different from those established by conformists are obviously dangerous, and are a threat that the police, charged with prevention of crime must become aware of. Listening into conversations provides useful information to the point of establishing when the originating thought might be first uttered, or picked up as code by experienced snoopers, or be seen as starting possible behaviours that would lead to some criminal act, violence or subversion. /sarc
(Likely to be found in some possible police manual that might have been written, is in the process of, or is just in the mind of some officious official at present.)
+1 this is an abuse of power. Prison rights activists ffs. The police have learned nothing since their terror raids 10 years ago.
Interesting information from Australia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-11/foreign-buyers-not-deterred-by-rising-stamp-duty/9038014
Which is probably why our local front for the CCCP (aka National) doesn’t want to collect any data.
And puts some perspective on Labour’s ‘Chinese sounding names’. In fact, all the evidence from around the world where these types of studies have been done are showing that Chinese buyers are a large part of the problem. It’s naive to think that NZ is any different – especially when we have even less restrictions than those countries and no CGT.
Think about it – Chinese sounding names – what about Lee, is that Chinese sounding? What about if they changed their names to Harris or Smith – would the situation improve? Chinese sounding names is a euphemism for straight racism imo. And it actually hides the real issues around foreign ownership and citizenship. So it fails on many levels and does nothing to improve the situation for non Chinese sounding named people. Sad.
It was probably more correct to say Chinese names. It is perfectly possible to extract ethnicity data from a list of names. Names like Lee in a population have a consistent and predictable percentage of European origin and another of Asian origin.
The “Chinese sounding names” was a successful Gnat communications dirty trick. It diverted attention from foreign buyers and from Gnat complicity. It also turned a lot of activist comment against them. Had Twyford’s intention been racist it would be reasonable to expect some other evidence of this personality flaw. None exists of course.
Twyford did base his initial and subsequent efforts on Chinese sounding names not Chinese names (if there is such a beastie) I thought. The underlining debate is important and valid, the framing not so much imo. Maybe Chinese looking people might have worked…
He couldn’t have done ‘Chinese looking’ because the sales data didn’t come with photos.
There are of course Chinese names – though some of them occur in other countries too – Lee for example is one of the four most common surnames in Korea. It’s quite possible to divide English names between southern and northern origins or frequency in those areas. It is much easier to distinguish names with other language origins. I know something about this, having done a bit of corpus linguistics.
Twyford’s data was good – not perfect, but it cast some light on the void the Gnats created to hide their misdeeds. And all subsequent data has tended to confirm it.
Well we’ll never know if a different push would have yielded better results. I spose all the Canadians and us college pension funds and ukians must be quaking in their boots. First they came for the wongs and we did nothing, then the wilsons but because that wasn’t my name I let it go…
Quite a history of this in this country. Even now better to be a Jones than Parata when trying to get a flat for some reason…
Which is why an Irish immigrant family I knew when I was a kid changed their name from Kehoe to Keogh.
Lot of germans did too after the war – seems to have happened a lot.
This was in the mid-sixties and it was the first time I realised that discrimination and racial bias was a thing,
So sad the Irish persecuted there and here. Not acceptable imo
Marty, because of the way they spelt their name it was assumed they were Māori, and they were denied rental accommodation.
Wow i finally get it. Thanks Joe.
All good of course except they never did come for the Wongs. And NZ land is still being sold offshore by this execrable pack of traitors – not Twyford.
So the twyford approach didn’t work? Has it made it better or worse for kiwis? What about for the 5th generation kiwi Wongs?
Oh there may be some hurt feelings among 5th generation Chinese kiwis. There are hurt feelings among people struggling for housing too. Of the two I’m more concerned about those with housing stress.
All the parallel data from offshore, and qualitative data from onshore indicates that Chinese investment has been a significant driver of NZ house price inflation. And the government got a free pass on enabling that because they sold Twyford’s critique as ‘racism’.
Funny they are both the same in my book although I spose as 5th generation they could feel even more aggrieved because they can’t buy a house and less generation euros think they are to blame because of the way they may look.
Actually, no, he didn’t.
The original analysis took the list of names from the property sales, the list of names from the census ethnicity data, and identified a massive discrepancy between the two. Purchaser names like “Lee” were weighted according to the proportion of census respondents called “Lee” who were e.g. ethnically Chinese vs ethnically Scottish.
Labour never said the methodology was perfect, just that there seemed to be a discrepancy and that this crude attempt was the best data available under the National government, and we should have better data on overseas buyers.
The “Chinese sounding names” soundbite was a tory shill construction to dodge the issue Labour raised, and it worked.
Good clarification – couldn’t really remember. As I said I don’t disagree with the discussion or even the conclusions but it was a crude attempt that just gave the racists and xenophobes ammo. I find it hard to imagine the pointy heads within labour didn’t think that through but then again that was then and this is now. Can’t see Jacinda allowing that approach now.
@ Stuart (5.1.1.1) … “Names like Lee in a population have a consistent and predictable percentage of European origin and another of Asian origin.”
That’s true.
And for some reason or other, the name Lee appears frequently throughout the British Romany population also.
Proves name alone cannot be used to confirm ethnicity.
Lee would cause a few problems – but first names would go some way to sorting out the continent. There’s probably a whole project in that name for an enterprising onomastician – but if it were too complex to sort it could be safely put to one side without compromising the overall data significantly.
Think further about it. The reason for talking about ‘Chinese sounding names’ is because the Government of National Party NZ had no wish to know or reveal to others the extent of foreign buyers ‘investing’ in NZ infrastructure, namely no-risk housing. So they didn’t keep close records, were loose about it, and evasive when questioned.
Twyford was reduced to trawling through all the names to get some approximate idea of extent and get some stats as a basis for discussion. He wanted the sort of information that shows up in RedLogix at 10.12am. Don’t cuss Phil Twyford, save your spittle for the National Party of the World (formerly NZ).
I will cuss those I deem deserve a cussing. Sorry if you disagree.
There has been plenty of negative commentary at Bloomberg about Australia recently. It covers real estate of course, but also brittle government, commodity cycle reliance, and even their massive superannuation funds under management.
I view Chinese property and business purchasing with the same kind of threat as British purchasing and ownership for our first 150 years. It formed us, sucked a lot of profit out of us, and did both good and bad. IMHO Bruce Jesson gets the balance right in his book “To Build a Nation: collected writings 1975-1999”. He traces and graphs many of the British ownership networks.
The most interesting part of a new government is where Winston and the new government land on foreign land ownership .
Dear Jetstar
After what we experienced at the airport today, my family and friends have decided to never ever fly with your airline again. I will be advising others not to use your airline either.
Dear Public, if you wish to fly Nelson to Wellington, don’t fly Jetstar, instead there is the national airline AirNZ or another awesome awesome service that we have never had problems with is Sounds Air. We’ve travelled back and forth to Welly numerous times, but this will be the first and last time we will ever fly Jetstar.
I felt so sorry for the manager who had to follow rules and options on the computer instead of being able to use her own common sense, you did your best lovely lady, you did your best, it wasn’t your fault.
Needed to vent, that is all. It’s a beautiful day in Motueka.
You’re not alone! But then they’re part of Qantas. Famous for misreading baggage labels
What is it about Joyces? Alan….. Barnaby…..Steven. 3 I’ve had the misfortune to cross paths with
So what happened?
LMFAO.. seeing you asked.. way to much drama lolz.
A child was accidently booked on as an adult, said child had no ID on her, go home and get some ID they say (home is up to 2hrs return on the open road lolz), why dosen’t she have a cell phone they ask, you could use that (far out lady not every kid has a phone), but look she has an IPad, oh sorry only a cellphone will do, her passport would have be fine, but her passport photo was when she was a toddler, yes that would be fine they say.
Umm the school sports top she is wearing has her name on it, she is accompanied by her grandmother, grandfather and lil sister, but still they don’t believe miss twelve is who she says she is. Does she have school ID, umm she isn’t at high school yet, would a public library card do, no sorry, wait what… she had to bring in her birth cert to get a public library card in the first place.
Ummm sorry she has too much carry on… bag, sleeping bag and a birthday gift in a box, we will have to check in that luggage, and that will cost you an extra $70, but don’t worry, it will only cost an extra $13.50 for the trip back if you pay for it now.
Sheez I felt bad for my folks, it was so nice of them to take her there as I had to work. And it was so generous of the person who shouted her the flight, I felt bad for them too, they would not have wanted anyone to go through all the drama
If we change her ticket from an adult to a child that will cost you an extra (insert large ammount here), are you serious? It wasn’t a cheap flight to start with, but if she is booked as a child she won’t need ID…. far out unreals.
Apparently the manager was great, but you have to make your decisions in accordance to the options on the screen. In the end they let her on, but what a freakin circus. A nice lady in the queue offered to accompany her on the plane so she wouldn’t be travelling alone, and that was acceptable to the airline.
The werid thing is neither of my kids have been asked for personal ID before when flying alone, the adult dropping them off/picking them up is required to have ID, and just fill in the form. But then again they’ve never been on Jetstar and never will again lolololz
Miss 12 has since arrived safe and sound in fabulous Wellywood, and as long as I scan and email her some ID she should be able to get home again. She’s going to have the best time.
Meanwhile in stark contrast… the day prior we went to book her bus ticket, and the lady at our local info centre, asked her if she would like to go behind the counter and she would talk her through doing the booking herself, miss twelve buzzed out about that, no ID required. Love Motueka.
Once were Tim, sounds like Joyces aren’t so joyful lololz
Ed, that looks like a great clip thank you 😀 Will check it out
Thank you for sharing.
Jetstar is just another symptom of neoliberalism.
Are they as bad as this bunch of clowns?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neF8dQjr_ow
Important story on RNZ today, a community law lawyer is pointing out that the WINZ review system entirely lacks independence and the process is a crock from any reasonable legal perspective. The “review” is by WINZ staff and tends to just rubber stamp whatever outcome WINZ is already seeking. Questioning of “witnesses” hectors and badgers and uses leading questions, that would never be allowed in any fair court or tribunal.
More abuse of process, in NZ’s continuing abuse of the vulnerable.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/341404/lawyer-urges-independent-benefit-reviews
As Chris Trotter says, Winston Peters should support a de- neoliberalisation of all NZ’s institutions, in the same way de Nazification was completed post WW2.
Big ups to Peace Action Wellington – these wonderful people did a fine job yesterday of blockaded the entrance to the Westpac Stadium, and stopping the Hawks from there purchases of death.
Love how the NZ police react with violence to peaceful protest, must make them feel like real men.
They even got to beat up a disabled man, did our bully boys in blue.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/97713861/peace-action-blockades-westpac-stadium-arms-industry-forum
Love the spin at the end of the stuff piece, it will make all the soft libs here happy, as they will not have to think hard about their continued support of the death machine.
Andrew Ford, how do you sleep at night?
Is your pay packet enough to salve your conscience for being a spin merchant for crimes against humanity?
Do you dream of Yemenis, Iraqis, Syrians, Afghani being bombed in their beds?
There are words for people like Ford.
‘NZDIA deputy chairman Andrew Ford said labelling the forum a “weapons expo” was “stretching the truth” and the event was mainly about bringing together suppliers of services and products to support the defence and national security sectors, not weapons.
Most people would support New Zealand’s defence forces being properly equipped to defend themselves and fulfil their peacekeeping duties, he said.’
Talking about Qantas:
That, I believe, is cartel behaviour but it also highlights the failure of competition and the added costs it brings.
Bugger ! Personally I always preferred Emirates to the ‘budget in everything but price’ services Air NZ and Qantas run.
I have just been reading the latest edition of “Air Force News” – it seems the RNZAF is about to begin “Exercise Southern Katipo and the West Coast is being transformed into the fictional Pacific Island of Becara. The exercise is based on the premise that armed militia groups have sparked the breakdown of public order and a New Zealand-led coalition has been invited to restore law and order.” It then goes on further in the article to say “another task would be to take care of the island’s trouble-makers, which might require an armed response”.
Why on earth are they needing to train our military to supress civilian dissent – is this the future of our military – to squash any uprising because of the many injustices that our citizens in the future may want to fight against – do our governments expect this sort of event in the future – if so shouldn’t they be making our society a fairer place for all of us so this sort of expensive exercise isn’t ever needed.
It smacks of the police tapping into human rights activists phones – what has happened to our usual robberies and murder and conventional wars that our police and military were needed for.
Neoliberalism is not at its core a democratic idea or cult.
It needs to be enforced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3B5qt6gsxY
QFT
– East Timor
– Fiji
– Tonga riots
– Bouganville
– Solomon Islands
Sometimes we get asked to help, the rest of the time it’s good to be ready.
East Timor is an interesting one because before we went in to help them become independent we helped the dictator oppress them.
Actually DTB, I remember reading somewhere that Bill Rowling put the NZ Armed Forces on standing by to stop the the TNI from invading ET and restore law and order. But Gough Witham wasn’t up for it and the Poms were pulling out of SE Asia, so the order was finally cancelled. It was like a re-run of what happen during West Papua where the Dutch asked for assistance from Commonwealth at the time the Poms and NZ government were prepared to assist the Dutch but old Meng (Menzies) pull out at the last minute and no doubt the JFK had a hand in it as it was trying to persuade the then Ino government to turn from a leftist government to a pro west government at the time.
Come to think about it may have been in the Official History of Australian involvement in South East Asia. Which was Six or seven, eight part volume which were all first edition before lost them a defence removal.
Had some interesting stuff about Kiwi Keith dragging his heels in regards to New Zealand’s involvement in South Vietnam. Which there was two part volume with regards to the political issues from Oz government POV.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0209/S00107/new-zealand-ought-to-say-sorry-to-east-timorese.htm
DTB, thanks for the link and it was good read as will.
Sentiment among us INTERTFET vets and those on UN mission after us (note I lost a good mate from NZBATT 2, the first Kiwi to KIA since Vietnam. Pvte Lenny Manning B Coy 2/1st Battalion). Is why did our pollies allow this to happen especially amongst some of the Aussie Army All Arms Corps (My neighbor at my bush block as Ex 2RAR and did a UN tour as well) as the people of Timor help members of the Aussie Army during WW2 and only to kick down the road like a coke can or as a sacrificial sheep after the TNI invasion. As us vets know what the TNI is doing to the people of West Papua as we seen the same thing at what happening to the people ET.
And really piss’s me is that most of the left supported the then leftist Ino government annexation of West Papua from the Dutch and now these assholes are supporting West Papua freedom!
The last scenario the military forces (international) operated under had uncomfortable similarities with the fall of the Muldoon government and the time between that and Labour taking over. It is on google somewhere but it makes my skin creep, like a cold breeze passing by.
The current SK17 scenario appears to be base around what happen in East Timor back in 2006 and some other scenarios are also similar to what we face during INTERFET 99-00. The TNI Forces and the TNI backed militia push the our boundaries in terms of our ROE/ OFOF to the limit weather it was on the sea (even under the Sea), in the Air harassing the Naval Task Group incl the Air Bridge between Oz and ET and on the land around Dili and down towards the main centres around the border provinces of ET incl the onclave. You don’t know just how close it came to a all out war with the TNI. Once our section was outnumbered by 3to1 at abandoned police/ TNI barracks and it was only when shook out into a attacking formation, (I) loaded the M79’s/ prep the M72’s for firing etc and for a few mins we were about to meet our making, then other side backed down rather quickly once they saw that we meant business.
Then there is the handling of dead bodies, documented the voting fraud, the illegal abuse detainees by the TNI/ police and the human rights abuse aka rape, torture, shooting detainees etc. But another story to tell one day.
SK ex’s are a good foundation stone for the NZDF, foreign forces, other agencies both Government and NGO’s to prepare for such events for the future. Because Peacekeeping operations can be very fast and dynamic with a lot of thinking on your feet, be it the humble private/ trooper or PC etc to very to top of the decision making progress at inter government level?
To some on the left Peacekeeping may sound sexy to you, but as follow lefty who has done Peacekeeping I’ve seen the best of human kind and the bloody worst of human kind.
A well prepared, well equipped and trained Defence Force for UN peacekeeping for Chapter 1 to Chapter 7 missions comes with a big price tag than most people here realise.
Thank you ExKF, for your analysis and setting the context.
No worries Philj,
I had a deal with my CO at the start of the yr after I was sent home from the Middle East late yr when I went down the rabbit hole the choice between SK17 or go back to Middle East if I was back to full health by June. Alas I’m not as I would back in NZ right now, but facing a Med discharge sometime next yr.
‘IMF: higher taxes for rich will cut inequality without hitting growth
Analysis supports tax strategy of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in UK – and undermines that of Donald Trump in US’
New Zealand Labour and New Zealand First please note.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/11/imf-higher-taxes-rich-inequality-jeremy-corbyn-labour-donald-trump
Brilliant article by Rachel Stewart.
Worthy of a thread in its own right.
I share her outlook.
‘What are the signs that the world’s resources are running out?
‘What are the things we need to face? It’s a ruddy great neon sign and if you can’t see it flashing, you’re either obtuse, changing nappies, and/or too busy arguing the toss on.’
‘Climate change is here. The race between human survival and the melting ice sheets is on…… The storms will be more frequent and deadly; the diseases will come thick and fast; the crops will fail and, if humans are still standing at the end of that, the heat will shut our bodies down and we will die.’
‘Population. The number of people on the planet will rise from 7.6 billion today to 9.7 billion in 2050, according to UN projections. Is that number the problem, or is it over-consumption? It’s both. One leads to the other, and both are killing us.’
‘Water. The new oil. Without it, humanity is condemned. Climate change is affecting water quality, and the risks are incalculable. Rising temperatures; increased levels of sediments, nutrients, and pollutants triggered by more frequent and heavy rainfall; industrial agriculture. The world faces an imminent water crisis that is affecting every part of the planet. Are we ready for the massive influx of refugees from Australia and Asia?’
‘Poverty and inequality are massive, unstoppable forces. Electing new governments, and new faces, is unlikely to meaningfully alter anything. No politician has the capacity to change what’s coming. The pendulum is in motion; counting down the beats to our demise.’
‘Depressed yet? You should be. And when you’re bored with that, maybe stop blaming others for their point of view, and start blaming the real culprits. Picking off fundamentally decent – and basically planetarily powerless – others is a waste of your time. Anger, sadness and fear is best expressed by doing, rather than talking into a vacuum (which, ironically, I’m likely doing here).’
‘The culprits? Oil companies, industrial agriculture, the 1 per cent, over-fishing, neoliberalism, capitalism, Monsanto, Trump, the “free” market (an oxymoron if ever there was one). You know who they are.’
Get off the cyber treadmill of judgment and virtue signalling, and dismount your fat donkey and make a change in the world. Maybe there’s still time?
I doubt it, but at least you’ll go down trying.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931445
Whoa Rachel! You hit a few nails on the head there. Now wait for the response….. Our small interest group in Wellington has been saying this for years! So it’s not news. It’s just becoming news now! Lol
Some people know powerful people who can pull strings for them.
David Farrar (National propagandist – not that this is ever acknowledged by RNZ) gets airtime the day the coalition talks end.
Mr Griffin, I presume, acting on behalf of the people who actually control New Zealand.
Amazing – no ACT spokesperson on the panel today!
‘NZ kids can’t escape alcohol marketing next to bread and milk’
http://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago665655.html
David Farrar of course defends the Alcohol Industry.
There are words for people like him.
‘Lead researcher Tim Chambers says the study provides further evidence of the need to ban alcohol sales in supermarkets. This is feasible given we have prohibited alcohol sales in supermarkets in the past and other countries, such as Australia, currently do. Moreover, supermarkets make up only three per cent of alcohol retailers but sell 30 per cent of all beer and 60 per cent of all wine.
“Children in the study were exposed to alcohol marketing almost every time they entered a supermarket, often the exposure occurred near everyday products, like bread and milk,” says Tim Chambers, research fellow at Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington.
In New Zealand, alcohol contributes to 800 deaths and costs the country over $5 billion per year. Moreover, alcohol is linked to over 200 medical conditions and causes a number of cancers. World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alcohol Strategy recommends restrictions on alcohol marketing as a ‘best buy’ for reducing alcohol-related harm. New Zealand supermarkets have some responsibility for the burden of alcohol-related harm due to their provision of convenient, low-cost alcohol as well as their market share of alcohol sales.
In New Zealand, supermarkets were not permitted to sell alcohol until the liberalisation of the alcohol laws in 1989. The researchers say that improving the supermarket promotional environment, by repealing the section of the 2012 Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act that permits supermarket alcohol sales, would both significantly reduce children’s overall exposure to alcohol marketing, and reduce the prevalence of other supermarket related infractions such as underage sales, loss-leading alcohol sales and cross-promotional activity. Further, it would save councils millions of dollars from the judicial challenges by supermarkets against Local Alcohol Policies.’
Yet Farrar – with no evidence – spins for big liquor.
And the miserable host giggles at his ridiculous defence of these multinational drug peddlers.
Farrar of course will know that Katherine Rich, is another pimp for big liquor.
No doubt his pr activities and involvement in Dirty Politics ( another fact not mentioned by RNZ in its introduction) assisted her defence of the food and liquor industries.
And we are the 3rd most obese in the world.
Thanks David and Katherine for caring about our health.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/66427410/ties-to-liquor-industry-hamstring-health-promotion-agency-say-critics
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11448711
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10853482
Awkward moment on the Panel as Catherine Robertson describes the traits of psychopaths,
And David Farrar remains a bit silent as he thinks of his National masters.
The past week marks the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the killings of two of the 20th century’s outstanding socialist figures, Che Guevara (executed without trial in Bolivia on October 9, 1967) and Seamus Costello (assassinated in Dublin on October 5, 1977).
There is a number of articles about them – and links to some stuff by them – here: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/che-guevara-and-seamus-costello/