No chance of him apologising today (or ever probably) Conveniently, he’s on his way to Malaysia.
The talk here on TS over the last few days on the issue of inhumane treatment of Australians who are NZ citizens in Australian detention camps has been as usual, a very high calibre of conversation. I’ve had no time to contribute.
Briefly however I will say, how strong and dignified are our women MP’s who would not be shut down in their objections to Key’s amazingly offensive rapists remarks?
Huge love and respect to you. You are true leaders and shining lights against the darkness of our misogynist PM.
Tania Billingsley.
Amanda Bailey
The victims of a prominent NZer.
Survivors of sexual assault, abuse and rape sitting across from you in the house.
And you have nothing but contempt for them PM. Shame on you.
I often wonder what the women Natz MP’s really think and feel about Key’s behaviour and statements around abuse of women, including what happened in the house on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Are they so un self aware that they don’t understand that they themselves are being disempowered by their own leader, or are they really not ok with him but just go along with him out of blind loyalty, or are reluctant to speak out against him because they believe they may get attacked and/or humiliated?
Yep. All of what you have said in your last paragraph. They could have stood their ground, uniting with ALL victims of violent physical assault and mental abuse and walked out. But they chose not to, preferring to turn their backs on too many Kiwis hurt and maimed at the hands of others, to protect their own positions I’d say, thereby strengthening FJK’s hold on power! Shame on them!
FJK is a thug and a bully and I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to threaten or intimidate any NatzKEY MP, particularly women, if they dared challenge him!
An excellent piece by Brian Rudman on “The shameful lack of political fallout over Aussie Gulags” : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11543178
“The inhumane policy the Australians have adopted of shipping these people to holding pens on remote Christmas Island, 2650 km northwest of Perth, is an outrage.”
And, “To our shame, New Zealand’s submission to the Australia review made no mention of this.”
“This action (of flying detainess to a WA prison) shows they could have just put them on a plane to NZ at anytime.”
“A very valid point, You talk one hell of a lot of common sense Tracey, but there again that is something we have come to expect from you.”
That is assuming they have a passport.
You do realise that these dangerous crims are restrained and there is security for the safety of the crew on the chartered flight.
Its not like they can be put on a flight with other passengers.
“You do realise that these dangerous crims are restrained and there is security for the safety of the crew on the chartered flight.”
dangerous crims eh?
Like Angela Russell, shoplifter, Aussie and happens to be an NZ citizen.
“Angela Russell is also in the detention centre.
She was found guilty of shoplifting $1300-worth of cosmetics. It was her fifth offence.
So far she has spent six months there – twice as long as her sentence.
She moved to Australia when she was three years old. That was 37 years ago.”
Rosie
Your five time crim is not on Christmas island.
There are no women children or shoplifters at Christmas Island detention centre, only dangerous criminal scumbags.
Thankfully some of them will now be doing another stretch for causing more than 1$mill damage.
Correct Naki Man. She’s not. She’s in another detention centre. Does that make it ok? Is it ok by international human rights expectations that a country would detain a criminal AFTER they had completed their sentence? What makes it worse is that Australia has multiple detention centres. Geez these guys haven’t moved on from the eighteenth and nineteeth century penal colonies.
Those “dangerous criminal scumbags” would be better placed to rehab their lives, post imprisonment, in their own communities, surrounded by their own families and networks, in their own country would they not?
They are Australians, they belong there. They just happen to be born here but this country means little to the ones the media have spoken to.
“Those “dangerous criminal scumbags” would be better placed to rehab their lives, post imprisonment, in their own communities, surrounded by their own families and networks, in their own country would they not?”
Probably, For some of them the company they keep might be part of their problem. At the end of the day the Australians will deport these crims and we cant stop them. I have no sympathy for slow learners, just the victims of their crimes.
“That is assuming they have a passport.
You do realise that these dangerous crims are restrained and there is security for the safety of the crew on the chartered flight.
Its not like they can be put on a flight with other passengers.”
Do tell me O Wise one with your superior knowledge. How the fuck did they fly them to Perth?
Naki man, you’re full of shit.
Because when Phillip Smith was deported from South America, the actual rapist and murderer (a real one, not just names key uses for political advantage) who had fled custody was flown back on a commercial flight with regular passengers.
So, once again, you don’t let facts get in the way of your bile.
“We saw him getting off the plane, there was quite a big police escort with him.”
That’s right,” Quite a big police escort” for one prisoner.
There is no way that a bunch of dangerous criminal scumbags will be allowed to fly on a commercial flight.
That is why the rioters where restrained and flown on a chartered plane back to WA. Those are the facts Muppert
And of course the only reason the aussies flew seven prisoners at once was because the aussies chose to intern them all in the same shitty place at the same time. When, as Tracey said, the Aussies could have just put them on a plane at any time. Even individually over a few days. Like NZ did with an actual rapist and murderer, rather than someone who got caught up when aussie politicians played to the fucktard anti-immigrant brigade.
So? Charter a plane and fly em back. Use a Hercules. You realise that by far the majority of the Kiwis are not dangerous criminals? Or are you still swallowing the PM’s lies, put out just for gullible fools like you to swallow and repeat?
Do you really not see the difference between flying between two places in the same country and between one country and another?
Do you not see that the reason they are in detention is because they do not want to come back to New Zealand?
Do you really think they would thank us if we sent a plane over there and, given we have no right to do so, kidnapped them and brought them to New Zealand?
Come on Tracey, you are normally much more sensible than this.
Now, just what do you think that the New Zealand Government can do to change Australia’s actions?
Short of going to war of course.
“… for instance, indecent treatment or dealings with a child under 16,…”
Key is standing up for the victims of sexual violence you say”?
So, he would never support, in any way, say, the Prominent New Zealander awaiting trial? Right?
“A prominent New Zealander charged with indecent assault has been granted interim name suppression till the beginning of his trial.
Heavy suppression orders mean the man cannot be identified, nor can his alleged victims or their ages.
Name suppression lapsed on February 19 but the man had his identity protected for one month to allow him the chance to appeal. The appeal was lodged on March 19 and heard today in the High Court at Auckland before Justice Raynor Asher.
Several media organisations, including NZME. publisher of The New Zealand Herald, lodged a joint request for the appeal to be heard with urgency.
The man denies 12 charges of indecent assault against two people, including two representative charges. He has elected trial by jury.
The charges, which include allegations of touching the complainants on the breast, buttocks, groin and thigh, are punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.”
THAT sounds like someone who can be a Prime Minister. Like Key at the same stage (and now) Little struggles off the cuff, but is improving faster than Key.
Ms Watkins’ opinion piece on Stuff regarding the current uproar in parliament is a disgrace. Firstly, the entire focus for the first several paragraphs is on the opposition’s walkouts, rather than the substance of the issue (the fact that this is precisely what was predicted by several commentators on this site and elsewhere does not make it any less disgraceful for a senior journalist to adopt that framing). Secondly, she posits that Labour should have taken the view that Key adopted with his “backing the rapists” comment, and criticised him for being soft on the presumed criminals when they arrived on these shores.
This, in its turn, is a twice-craven position to adopt. For one thing, it suggests that the only acceptable view (Morally? Politically? The distinction appears to be of no significance for Watkins) is to support the right-wing desire to be indiscriminately tough on suspected criminals over universal respect for human rights. For another, she attaches the condition that Key is correct in insinuating that the majority of those New Zealanders in detention are offenders of the most serious kind. Even if we generously assume that she is not implying that he is correct in doing so, it would seem that she is basing her opinion in a purportedly serious publication on hearsay from the Prime Minister, whereas it should be her job as a journalist to provide informed opinion, and existing work by other news outlets, such as TV3, suggests that it is not difficult to obtain better information on that subject. Either she is incompetent, misleading by omission, or both. There are no other possible interpretations.
Thirdly, in stating that the opposition is on the wrong side of public opinion on the issue, she once again takes it upon herself to pronounce upon public opinion in a forum which exists precisely for the purpose of informing and influencing public opinion. This may be admissible if she were reporting on an historical issue, whose outcome is a done deal and no longer to be influenced; it may also be admissible if she were to introduce some sort of data such as a poll to make her pronouncements tangibly contestable. As it stands, however, it amounts to saying, “This is what you should think because you think this way already.” The very worst kind of begging the question.
And this is the crux. Key has a deal with Turnbull. It is Adams ramming through some legislation quickly (while the Aussies hold the kiwis offshore) so he can say “I am being hard on them”. But he needs time. And Turnbull has given him that time. Hence so-called troublemakers were flown yesterday to Perth and not to Wellington.
As for Watkins, if the public is on Key’s side it is because journalists like her have not presented the facts, deception and obfuscation by the PM to them. Have not investigated and continue to substitute opinionising for reporting.
Through his many actions in relation to treatment of girls and women in this country Key is making this an increasingly unsafe place for girls to thrive by allowing (it seems) large portions of our male society to believe that how they view and treat women is acceptable.
“So, did you hear about the hair controversy?”
Asked of Gabrielle Douglas
“I just wonder if her dad did say to her when she was 12, 13, 14: ‘Listen, you’re never going to be a looker, you are never going to be somebody like a Sharapova, you’re never going to be 5ft 11, you’re never going to be somebody with long legs, so you have to compensate for that,'”
BBC Commentator about Marion Bartoli”
“You’re getting a lot of fans here,” “A lot of them are male, and they want to know: If you could date anyone in the world of sport, of movies – I’m sorry, they asked me to say this – who would you date?”
Channel 7, to Eugenie Bouchard”
”
“As your profile rises, people find out more about you, your breast reduction surgery was three or four years ago. Does that play any part in your success? What about outside the tennis?”
It is Adams ramming through some legislation quickly (while the Aussies hold the kiwis offshore) so he can say “I am being hard on them”.
I wonder what options are available to “be hard on” people who have been convicted of a crime overseas, then served their sentence overseas, then been deported here.
Edit: or not been convicted of a crime (or even charged) and deported here anyway.
She has indicated they will impose strong parole provisions on them… You can do anything if you have an Act allowing it.
Of course the Act maybe completely contravene our International obligations, which Srylands and others told us yesterday they and this Government hold so important.
You can do anything if you have an Act allowing it.
I suppose; I would have thought there’d be human rights issues with paroling people who’ve been law-abiding for a number of years post-sentence, as according to various sources some of them have.
“Of course the Act maybe completely contravene our International obligations, which Srylands and others told us yesterday they and this Government hold so important.”
Tracy Watkins has consistently been one of Key’s main cheerleaders in the press gallery. Briefly yesterday she sympathised with the women walking out, and wrote something almost neutral for the website, but it didn’t last long. I also suspect she was behind the vitriolic anti-Little editorial in the Dominion Post on Monday.
I find she blows hot and cold, so I think in what counts as journalism today that makes her neutral 😉
BUT this is what happens when journalists are only required to have an opinion on things rather than research and present two sides of something with facts.
I disagree. I was always puzzled to see the extent to which John Armstrong was criticised on here, when he in general at least structured articles as a discourse proceeding from a range of facts, whereas Watkins consistently structures her articles to proceed from a pro-Key (specifically Key personally, more than National) or anti-Labour spin, and to supplement it only such assertions (or, less often, facts) as would support that spin. This has been her modus operandi since before National were elected to the government benches in 2008.
Wrong. Aussie immigration policy is a national scandal, children raped, children self harming. Abbott forced out. The spin doctors wanted for sometime to portray those in detention as criminals, but the last people who turn up after waiting years and limited cash left are those who would turned away immediately with criminal records.
So what cost Abbott his job? Sending criminals who have served their time, not doing the correct thing, allowing a judge at sentencing to deliberate, or allowing convicted criminals time before release to make a case, no the immediacy of the extension of punishment is what so undermines the integrity of the whole sorry saga. And now we hear that one suicide later, a riot, that they are criminals, why did so prick realize that they have human rights, that having served their time it was prejudical, or worse that those individuals use as political pawns might have huge ongoing political blowback for years. Aka why Abbott was ejected seated from on high.
But its worse. Imagine that, you put hardened agitators with long histories of civil disobedience in with families desperate to do the right thing to win favor. It was always going to come to a riot, that’s the worst form of govt, putting rapists in with children.
So let discuss Key, firstly he should resign as is obvious from English smirking at the time it was premeditated. Second, Key is endevavoring to do right by these convicted kiwis. Third, how does it help the oz pm when he was expecting to get the criminal immigration photo op turdblossum, now he has the nightmare of rapists with immigrant families in detention. Fourth, well done opposition for helping make that connection it seems the opposition played this up, dragged their feet, to let the world peak in on how empty hollow Key is. Remembering that putting Key with a class of long hair girls…
But wait. So for real. A kiwi who lived his whole waking life in oz, without family in nz, with no knowledge of culture, of language differences, is hauled out of prison after serving their time, to be told they have no life effectively, and so killed themselves. Wtf.
Parliament shame. Its the debased nature of the debate led by the PM that should sicken.
Ponce-Key-Fanboy-Rawdon-Christie…….TV One Breakfast this morning…….the loyal smarm cheerleading for the unrepentant waitress assailant……identifying the essential issue as this – “Question Time in Parliament is just too unruly !!!” – (suggestion of pearls clutching and “tut tut tut”).
Man is stabbed in a park. His friend goes to the nearby hospital to get help and then returns to his injured friend. Hospital rings police and sends ambulance but can’t find the injured man so they give up. Injured man is carried by his friend and another man to hospital, but dies after arrival.
Here’s the timeline,
Man stabbed sometime during the evening
10.15pm man tells hospital his friend has been stabbed in nearby park
What a cold heartless thing to say. Shame on you Daniel. I hope your Mother, Sister, Aunt or Daughter, or for that matter, their male equivalents don’t become victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse and if they do I hope they receive better empathy from those around them than you portray today.
My distain for these people is because of their using these experiences for political point scoring. Yesterday’s episode was a pre-arranged, coordinated ‘protest’. They played on experiences that haunt many NZ’ers, and belittled every survivor of abuse in so doing.
[RL: This is your only and last warning. I am running zero tolerance for idiocy on this thread. Repeat anything like this and you will take a week off.]
“They played on experiences that haunt many NZ’ers, and belittled every survivor of abuse in so doing.” Referring to the women MP’s who walked out of the house yesterday.
Are you a survivor of sexual abuse? Did you feel belittled?
I AM a survivor and I felt strengthened by their actions. By standing up to the PM they also honoured all of us who are survivors. They did something very powerful and true to themselves. We need to be proud of them. I am.
[RL: No quibble with your comment at all – but Daniel is very much on warning.]
Hi Rosie. Given the threat of a ban, I will be careful. In answer to your questions, yes and yes. As a teenager I was indecently assaulted by an older man, not once but several times. But I also have based my comments on listening to feedback from other survivors. My sympathies to you for your experience. I certainly meant no offence to you.
Likewise Daniel, I’m sorry you had that experience. Thank you for sharing.
So you can see we all respond in different ways to others speaking up. Perhaps our perceptions are coloured by the way we handle our experiences, eg, we transfer our anger on to other victims and whether we did or didn’t have access to support. I’m not sure.
I do know those women would have to pull some deep seated strength from inside to speak out so publicly and under such duress in the house. Some, including Metiria Turei did this for the very time. That is the hardest time ever.
The night before they spoke out they would have talked to their families and partners. Quite a bit of psychological energy would have gone into that.
They didn’t pull a stunt, they stood up for all victims.
In my eyes they have increased their mana considerably.
But thats just my view and I respect that you, as a fellow survivor might view it differently.
I’m not feigning compassion for anyone. I have little or no compassion for the inhabitants of the detention centre. The vast majority are criminal ratbags, who are being detained pending deportation.
Strange, I could have sworn that the National MPs had stayed in parliament rather than walk out in response to their leader’s and the Speakers vitriol.
Disturbing but not surprising that the government is planning to stuff the environment court with its own people after it didn’t get its way with undersea mining off Taranaki and the Chatham Islands. This will turn the court into a rubber stamp for all environmentally harmful projects (otherwise why would they bother changing it). It was also interesting to see on a news item someone involved with one of the projects saying it had cost them a lot of money. That’s the sort of thing that will lead to the government being sued in future, not just for lost spending but any potential profit.
If the courts say NO to this government then the government says WE CHANGE THE LAWS.
The National government have gone too far, they are dictators in the way they behave.
If a government spies on it’s people on mass and then starts replacing the judges and changing the judicial laws to serve their own interests – people need to face it, we are NOT being run as a democracy.
In the early 80s Muldoon didn’t like the High Court ruling against the building of the Clyde Dam so he introduced legislation to get around it. At the time this was shocking, that the government could overrule the courts. But this kind of flouting democracy and its institutions and conventions is routine now and people barely bat an eyelid. That’s the legacy of the Key government. I bet they are proud.
This is why we need a way to limit the power of government. They should not be able to do whatever they like as that always results in arbitrary rule changes as we’re seeing now under this government.
1. “TPP Financial Services Chapter Opens Door To Broader ISDS Claims
Updated: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) chapter on financial services gives private firms in that sector broader grounds to sue member governments than previous U.S. free trade agreements by incorporating obligations for parties to accord a “minimum standard of treatment” to financial services investments and subjecting that commitment to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).
2. “The real reason Wall Street loves the Trans-Pacific Partnership”
US-based banks are going to make money selling financial services in Asia, and some of that money will flow into the pockets of people who work in the financial services sector in the United States. That’s why the US Coalition for TPP includes the American Insurance Association, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. http://www.vox.com/2015/11/11/9706360/tpp-financial-services
Thanks for keeping an eye on this ball TRP… I suspect it is just ONE of many issues the government wants to distract us from (hence the appalling behaviour by our PM)
Has anyone tried to play the Todd Barclay question from yesterday? I have tried every connectable device I have and they all say it’s not there. All the other questions are there just not this one. What are The Speaker? and Tandem Studios up to? And did anyone record the live stream?
Question 1 video is still not coming up on the Parliament TV Archives site.
In case you haven’t checked today’s QT questions, Question 12 is related to yesterday’s Q1, ie
RON MARK to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all of his answers to Oral Question No. 1 on 11 November 2015?
Kelvin Davis also has a question to the PM today (although he will presumably not be in the House) at Q7 – the standard “Does he stand by all his statements”. Christmas Island related, no doubt.
Paul Henry’s thoughtful viewers have worked it out:
It’s KELVIN DAVIS who’s causing all the trouble on Christmas Island! Paul Henry, TV3, Thursday 12 November 2015
Television viewer polls have about as much credibility as an Ohio election count. No one except fools, psychopaths and ACT voters would ever take one seriously. The Paul Henry daily poll question is always inane, and often quite offensive. Yesterday, the question asked was “Do you care about the Christmas Island detainees?” Seventy per cent of respondents said NO.
The same viewers who don’t care about people being illegally detained by a scofflaw regime have obviously been thinking hard about this, and have this morning been sharing their insights with Charlotte in the tech bunker….
PAUL HENRY: People are going to get bored with this Christmas Island detainees story soon.
HILLARY BARRY:[nodding] Mmmm. Yes.
JIM KAYES:[nodding] Hmmmm.
PAUL HENRY: I told Kelvin Davis that when he was on the program. Charlotte in the tech bunker, what are the viewers saying?
CHARLOTTE: Actually, Paul, people are saying he should GET OUT OF THERE. They reckon that Kelvin Davis is the catalyst for the rioting.
PAUL HENRY: “The catalyst for the rioting”? That’s giving him more credit than he deserves. He hasn’t got that much influence. But he’s still cranking it up….
So all Henry has proven is that FACTS are irrelevant if the person pushing the misinformation is sincere enough in their deception of the audience, or sincere in their ignorance?
I think calling the people who vote in those ridiculous polls “ignorant” is indulging them. I think they know perfectly well that the Australian government is breaking the law, that the prisoners are being ill treated, and that Key is nothing more than a crony of the Australian regime. Those viewers are—like Henry—simply determined to back the government, no matter what, and are indifferent to the suffering of other people.
I don’t think Henry is ignorant. He shows signs now and again that he does have a sense of right and wrong. For entirely ideological and partisan reasons, however, he almost always sides with the government.
FYI – amongst the chaos in the House yesterday, the following petition made it’s way into the Parliamentary ‘sausage machine’ ……
Petition of Penelope Mary Bright and 55 others
That the House conduct an urgent inquiry into the cost-effectiveness, transparency, and democratic accountability to Auckland Council and the majority of Auckland citizens and ratepayers, of all Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs).
Petition number: 2014/33
Presented by: Ron Mark
Date presented: 11 November 2015
Referred to: Local Government and Environment Committee
“Agrochemical giant Monsanto knowingly contaminated Oakland’s storm water and the San Francisco Bay with a highly toxic chemical for decades, a new lawsuit filed by the California city claims. Oakland wants the company to pay for the environmental cleanup.
The State Water Resources Control Board determined that the presence of highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) in Oakland’s storm water threatens the San Francisco Bay’s ecosystem and interferes with the bay’s use and enjoyment by Californians, the city said in a statement….
(Doesn’t ACT support and advocate for Monsanto?…free market and all that….and where will the TPPA leave NZ and Monsanto?)
Fistbump. I too got a new PS4 for the game. Just the standard edition of Fallout, though. The game arrived yesterday so I’m only a couple of hours into it.
Part of the problem is that Little’s parents voted National likewise Clark.
They really want to believe in the status quo like TPP. Nobody could possibly be lying to them could they?
Little need to bring a different type of Labour member like Kelly Ellis into their cosy meetings with the Natz, someone who has a better understanding of power corruption than Little, Shearer etc and outside the mould and used to experiencing criminal and morally bankrupt behaviour without the veneer of parliament to soften the impression.
However, instead of walking away, it seems Labour think renegotiating their ability to ban offshore buyers somehow resolves the whole investor settlement dispute and loss of sovereignty concern.
@The Chairman – crazy Labour position – their voters will NOT like them selling out on the other 4 conditions (if that is their position which quite frankly I’m keen to find out in a clear way – the txt is out – so they need to make a clear decision) which clearly have NOT been met. In particular ISDS and Pharma sell outs.
Who does everyone believe, Jane Kelsey – International Law expert or Grosser who is an idiot?
A Waikato law student is suing the government over its climate change policy, claiming its greenhouse gas emissions targets were arrived at illegally, and that the low emissions reduction pledge it will make in the upcoming UN climate conference in Paris in December is “unreasonable and irrational”.
Thanks Karen. That’s a solid history of the Key government’s failings towards survivors of sexual abuse in regard to funding cuts left right and centre since 2008. It also puts a spotlight on Key’s own persistently misogynist behaviour. He’s got a really troubling track record. He’s a freaking creep.
People forget that the only reason Ms Billingsley went public with her identity as the victim of attempted rape is that the PM said if he knew her name he would apologise.
“”I don’t know her name. Obviously it’s a matter of privacy, but I think there’s been plenty of public comments that would echo what I’ve just said,” he said.
Asked whether he would apologise if he did know her name, Mr Key said: “Yes, in so much that I believe that she shouldn’t have had to go through what she went through.”
And then reneged cos it wasn’t a “serious reason” to apologise…
Yeah he really supports victims of sexual crime our PM.
…+100…good!…at last the NZ farmers are sitting up and taking notice…and opposing the TPPA…of course it will lead to foreign farm ownership!
…really the TPPA is only good for jonkey and his bankster / investment mates like Goldman Sachs…NZ is being led like a lamb to the slaughter…they will gut New Zealand
The current ‘free’ trade deals have already led to huge farm sales. Are the farmer’s benefiting from this ‘prosperity’ – I would think at $4.80 kg of milk solids – NOT.
Instead of foreigners buying our milk they are buying our country.
abour’s Member’s Bill to ban foreign buyers from purchasing existing homes will achieve what the Government failed to in its Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says.
“The Government should adopt the Overseas Investment (Protection of New Zealand Homebuyers) Amendment Bill and get New Zealand the carve out Australia secured through its negotiations.
“The sovereignty of the New Zealand Parliament should never have been traded away and this Bill is a case in point.
“Opinion polls show New Zealanders overwhelmingly want non-resident investors stopped from buying homes here.
“Labour isn’t against foreign investors but inviting overseas speculators to trade in Kiwi homes for capital gain is entirely non-productive. It produces no jobs or exports, and pushes up house prices beyond the reach of first homebuyers.
“In the past year in Australia, a similar policy as resulted in $30 billion worth of overseas money building new homes there. My Bill will result in foreign investors channelling their capital into the building of new houses in New Zealand,” Phil Twyford says
Labour isn’t against foreign investors but inviting overseas speculators to trade in Kiwi homes for capital gain is entirely non-productive. It produces no jobs or exports, and pushes up house prices beyond the reach of first homebuyers.
“In the past year in Australia, a similar policy has resulted in $30 billion worth of overseas money building new homes there”
Billions of dollars worth of overseas money being invested in land here (Auckland) will drive up the price of land, thus add to the cost of housing. Defeating the objective.
Re Carters ruling on acceptable language in the chamber; today in Q1 at QT Robertson challenged Carter to let him use Key type language in a question. Watch from 7:30. as Carter tries to justify his ruling. http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/
Why is Radio New Zealand citing a scurrilous Murdoch rag? Checkpoint, RNZ National, Thursday 12 November 2015, 5:15 p.m.
Surely the coverage of the Christmas Island detainees is shoddy enough without supposedly serious outlets like Radio New Zealand parroting the Murdoch press.
On Checkpoint this afternoon, Ruth Hill claimed that public opinion in Australia was “hardening against the Christmas Island detainees.” As evidence of this “hardening of public opinion”, she cited an item in the notorious Murdoch rag the Brisbane Courier Mail, which included the phrase “Thug Kiwis” in the headline.
We need decent, honest, rigorous reporting of what the Australian government is doing, and what its junior partner John Key is approving. So far, Radio New Zealand is failing badly.
“When Wightman was released from jail in September, Western Australia’s prisoners review board noted he had completed all rehabilitation programs and had demonstrated “a motivation to change his offending behaviour”.
“A limited criminal history indicates an ability to lead a pro-social life,” it said.
But Wightman was apprehended immediately on leaving prison and detained at Yongah Hill detention centre, 90km east of Perth, for eight weeks before he was suddenly flown to Christmas Island in the middle of the night.
Some of the other guys’ stories, they are just tragic. These people shouldn’t be there. This is just wrong
Gary Wightman
Wightman’s brother Gary told Guardian Australia it was “morally wrong” that his brother was being held in immigration detention indefinitely.
“It’s just wrong on any moral level that people are in there in those conditions. Ian was convicted of a crime, he was sentenced and punished. He served his time and he was rehabilitated. He was released a free man but then they arrested him at the gates.”
He said Ian was finding immigration detention much harsher than prison. He has told family he was “keeping his head down” and did not participate in the riots that razed significant sections of the detention centre this week.
“But it’s just wrong. With prison, you’ve got your start date, you’ve got your end date,” Gary Wightman said, “you know how much time you have to serve. But this, it’s just the uncertainty, they’ve got no idea when he might be released. It’s unbelievable. This detention is far, far worse than prison.”
Gary Wightman said his brother had told him there were dozens of other detainees – known as 501s after the section of the Migration Act that applies to their cases – with similar lifelong links to Australia in detention, facing deportation to countries they hardly knew.
“Some of the other guys’ stories, they are just tragic. These people shouldn’t be there. This is just wrong,” he said.”
snip….
and oh lookit the rape thingy does come from OZ….(our PM is really just a Handpuppet)
““These people [on Christmas Island] are serious criminals and people who have been involved in attempted murder, in manslaughter, convictions for rape, convictions for grievous bodily harm and serious assaults otherwise.”
He said some detainees on Christmas Island had been assessed as an “extreme threat”.
Dutton said visa cancellation for non-citizens convicted of a crime was unremarkable internationally and had been part of Australian migration law since the second world war.
“If somebody is here on a visa … if they’ve committed a crime they have their visa cancelled. And they face the criminal penalty and administratively their visa is cancelled. In this case they’re taken into custody and they await deportation.”
The number of people detained under section 501 rose more than 600% in a year, from 76 in 2013-14 to 580 in 2014-15.”
Just caught on TV1 News that the government is looking at stopping people betting offshore as the TAB is losing money.
It appears that the politicians really didn’t know what they were doing when they signed all those FTAs and joined the WTO that allowed for and encouraged free money movement across borders.
“Some people might be surprised to find there are 25 registered banks in New Zealand.
Of those, the big four Aussie lenders dominate, with about 90 per cent market share.
ANZ, ASB, BNZ, and Westpac have just hauled in a collective $4.59 billion of annual net profits, hoovered out of the pockets of New Zealanders to feather nests across the Tasman.
Some politicians believe the super-profits are “strip-mining” the economy…
‘Brian Gaynor: Profits for banks, loss for New Zealand’
….”Finally, the banks have a huge influence over the allocation of the country’s economic resources because we have a shortage of equity and a strong reliance on borrowings to fund commercial activity.
The banks, particularly the four major Australian-owned banks, have a strong bias towards the housing market as residential mortgages now represent 50.5 per cent of total bank lending compared with 47.7 per cent at the end of 2004. By comparison, residential mortgages have fallen from 36.3 per cent to 35.2 per cent of total Australian bank lending over the same period
…The combination of offshore borrowing and residential property lending is a prudent strategy as far as the overseas banks are concerned, from both an earnings and capital requirement point of view.
But it is not a win-win situation as far as the New Zealand economy is concerned, particularly considering the impact on the country’s current account deficit.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
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Key doesn’t turn up to parliament on a Thursday, does he?
To use his own words “Get some guts.”
A song for the PM
No chance of him apologising today (or ever probably) Conveniently, he’s on his way to Malaysia.
The talk here on TS over the last few days on the issue of inhumane treatment of Australians who are NZ citizens in Australian detention camps has been as usual, a very high calibre of conversation. I’ve had no time to contribute.
Briefly however I will say, how strong and dignified are our women MP’s who would not be shut down in their objections to Key’s amazingly offensive rapists remarks?
Huge love and respect to you. You are true leaders and shining lights against the darkness of our misogynist PM.
Tania Billingsley.
Amanda Bailey
The victims of a prominent NZer.
Survivors of sexual assault, abuse and rape sitting across from you in the house.
And you have nothing but contempt for them PM. Shame on you.
+100 Rosie
Malaysia Huh?
Speaking of Tania Billingsley, I wonder if the PM will conveniently avoid the start of the Rizalman trial?
Betcha he’s hoping for a guilty plea so it will be all over by the time he gets back.
Good on you Miravox. I was wondering when that was going to take place.
I’m sure our PM will do what it takes to avoid, deflect and divert any fallout heading his way………………
@ Rosie (1.1) –
Agree with you. And also where were the NatzKEY MPs supporting their Opposition colleagues and other NZ victims of brutal assault and abuse?
Surely they don’t ALL go along with FJK!
Do they?
I often wonder what the women Natz MP’s really think and feel about Key’s behaviour and statements around abuse of women, including what happened in the house on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Are they so un self aware that they don’t understand that they themselves are being disempowered by their own leader, or are they really not ok with him but just go along with him out of blind loyalty, or are reluctant to speak out against him because they believe they may get attacked and/or humiliated?
@ Rosie (1.1.3.1) –
Yep. All of what you have said in your last paragraph. They could have stood their ground, uniting with ALL victims of violent physical assault and mental abuse and walked out. But they chose not to, preferring to turn their backs on too many Kiwis hurt and maimed at the hands of others, to protect their own positions I’d say, thereby strengthening FJK’s hold on power! Shame on them!
FJK is a thug and a bully and I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to threaten or intimidate any NatzKEY MP, particularly women, if they dared challenge him!
He’s a filthy cesspit dweller!
Paula Bennett is leading the charge pretending that Key and she are for protecting the victims of detainees…
That they are Australians, in Australia rather makes a lie of Key’s pronouncement that “we are for helping New Zealanders”
An excellent piece by Brian Rudman on “The shameful lack of political fallout over Aussie Gulags” :
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11543178
“The inhumane policy the Australians have adopted of shipping these people to holding pens on remote Christmas Island, 2650 km northwest of Perth, is an outrage.”
And, “To our shame, New Zealand’s submission to the Australia review made no mention of this.”
If your best mate is a bully, shouldn’t you do something about it?
“Seven New Zealanders have been flown off Christmas Island, as images emerge of the damage caused by rioting at the detention centre.
The ABC reported it had witnessed detainees being transported to the Christmas Island airport.
Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton subsequently confirmed their removal to a correctional facility in Western Australia.”
This action (of flying detainess to a WA prison) shows they could have just put them on a plane to NZ at anytime.
I believe a deal has been done between Turnbull and Key but the deal is the Aussies hold them until Ms Adams has time to get her legislation through.
Then Key can say he has protected New Zealanders from the marauding hoardes of barbarians descending upon our shores.
There HAS been a deal between mates Paul, just not the deal most imagined.
“This action (of flying detainess to a WA prison) shows they could have just put them on a plane to NZ at anytime.”
A very valid point, You talk one hell of a lot of common sense Tracey, but there again that is something we have come to expect from you.
You make me blush
“This action (of flying detainess to a WA prison) shows they could have just put them on a plane to NZ at anytime.”
“A very valid point, You talk one hell of a lot of common sense Tracey, but there again that is something we have come to expect from you.”
That is assuming they have a passport.
You do realise that these dangerous crims are restrained and there is security for the safety of the crew on the chartered flight.
Its not like they can be put on a flight with other passengers.
“You do realise that these dangerous crims are restrained and there is security for the safety of the crew on the chartered flight.”
dangerous crims eh?
Like Angela Russell, shoplifter, Aussie and happens to be an NZ citizen.
“Angela Russell is also in the detention centre.
She was found guilty of shoplifting $1300-worth of cosmetics. It was her fifth offence.
So far she has spent six months there – twice as long as her sentence.
She moved to Australia when she was three years old. That was 37 years ago.”
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/hundreds-of-kiwis-face-deportation-in-australia-2015091317#ixzz3rETuwv4U
Yeah. I wouldn’t want to sit next to her on a flight. She might want to share some of her Lancome contraband around.
Rosie
Your five time crim is not on Christmas island.
There are no women children or shoplifters at Christmas Island detention centre, only dangerous criminal scumbags.
Thankfully some of them will now be doing another stretch for causing more than 1$mill damage.
Correct Naki Man. She’s not. She’s in another detention centre. Does that make it ok? Is it ok by international human rights expectations that a country would detain a criminal AFTER they had completed their sentence? What makes it worse is that Australia has multiple detention centres. Geez these guys haven’t moved on from the eighteenth and nineteeth century penal colonies.
Those “dangerous criminal scumbags” would be better placed to rehab their lives, post imprisonment, in their own communities, surrounded by their own families and networks, in their own country would they not?
They are Australians, they belong there. They just happen to be born here but this country means little to the ones the media have spoken to.
“Those “dangerous criminal scumbags” would be better placed to rehab their lives, post imprisonment, in their own communities, surrounded by their own families and networks, in their own country would they not?”
Probably, For some of them the company they keep might be part of their problem. At the end of the day the Australians will deport these crims and we cant stop them. I have no sympathy for slow learners, just the victims of their crimes.
“That is assuming they have a passport.
You do realise that these dangerous crims are restrained and there is security for the safety of the crew on the chartered flight.
Its not like they can be put on a flight with other passengers.”
Do tell me O Wise one with your superior knowledge. How the fuck did they fly them to Perth?
Did you not read the bit that you copied?
Naki man, you’re full of shit.
Because when Phillip Smith was deported from South America, the actual rapist and murderer (a real one, not just names key uses for political advantage) who had fled custody was flown back on a commercial flight with regular passengers.
So, once again, you don’t let facts get in the way of your bile.
McFlock
Did you not read your link
“We saw him getting off the plane, there was quite a big police escort with him.”
That’s right,” Quite a big police escort” for one prisoner.
There is no way that a bunch of dangerous criminal scumbags will be allowed to fly on a commercial flight.
That is why the rioters where restrained and flown on a chartered plane back to WA. Those are the facts Muppert
“Quite a big police escort”. lol
Three officers were with him on the plane.
And of course the only reason the aussies flew seven prisoners at once was because the aussies chose to intern them all in the same shitty place at the same time. When, as Tracey said, the Aussies could have just put them on a plane at any time. Even individually over a few days. Like NZ did with an actual rapist and murderer, rather than someone who got caught up when aussie politicians played to the fucktard anti-immigrant brigade.
He’s running diversion lines for the PM. Those RW Key supporters who have decided to post have shown themselves up as gullible fools
‘RW Key supporters’
Or as I like to call them, Keydophiles.
😉
So? Charter a plane and fly em back. Use a Hercules. You realise that by far the majority of the Kiwis are not dangerous criminals? Or are you still swallowing the PM’s lies, put out just for gullible fools like you to swallow and repeat?
Do you really not see the difference between flying between two places in the same country and between one country and another?
Do you not see that the reason they are in detention is because they do not want to come back to New Zealand?
Do you really think they would thank us if we sent a plane over there and, given we have no right to do so, kidnapped them and brought them to New Zealand?
Come on Tracey, you are normally much more sensible than this.
Now, just what do you think that the New Zealand Government can do to change Australia’s actions?
Short of going to war of course.
“… for instance, indecent treatment or dealings with a child under 16,…”
Key is standing up for the victims of sexual violence you say”?
So, he would never support, in any way, say, the Prominent New Zealander awaiting trial? Right?
“A prominent New Zealander charged with indecent assault has been granted interim name suppression till the beginning of his trial.
Heavy suppression orders mean the man cannot be identified, nor can his alleged victims or their ages.
Name suppression lapsed on February 19 but the man had his identity protected for one month to allow him the chance to appeal. The appeal was lodged on March 19 and heard today in the High Court at Auckland before Justice Raynor Asher.
Several media organisations, including NZME. publisher of The New Zealand Herald, lodged a joint request for the appeal to be heard with urgency.
The man denies 12 charges of indecent assault against two people, including two representative charges. He has elected trial by jury.
The charges, which include allegations of touching the complainants on the breast, buttocks, groin and thigh, are punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.”
What’s the story on the front page of the Dom Post that he holds up?
See Andrew Little take on Key and Carter! – http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/11/11/parliament-under-attack-second-day-of-mp-walk-outs/#sthash.G13MXyex.dpuf
(Maybe someone can provide a direct link to the vid)
THAT sounds like someone who can be a Prime Minister. Like Key at the same stage (and now) Little struggles off the cuff, but is improving faster than Key.
Ms Watkins’ opinion piece on Stuff regarding the current uproar in parliament is a disgrace. Firstly, the entire focus for the first several paragraphs is on the opposition’s walkouts, rather than the substance of the issue (the fact that this is precisely what was predicted by several commentators on this site and elsewhere does not make it any less disgraceful for a senior journalist to adopt that framing). Secondly, she posits that Labour should have taken the view that Key adopted with his “backing the rapists” comment, and criticised him for being soft on the presumed criminals when they arrived on these shores.
This, in its turn, is a twice-craven position to adopt. For one thing, it suggests that the only acceptable view (Morally? Politically? The distinction appears to be of no significance for Watkins) is to support the right-wing desire to be indiscriminately tough on suspected criminals over universal respect for human rights. For another, she attaches the condition that Key is correct in insinuating that the majority of those New Zealanders in detention are offenders of the most serious kind. Even if we generously assume that she is not implying that he is correct in doing so, it would seem that she is basing her opinion in a purportedly serious publication on hearsay from the Prime Minister, whereas it should be her job as a journalist to provide informed opinion, and existing work by other news outlets, such as TV3, suggests that it is not difficult to obtain better information on that subject. Either she is incompetent, misleading by omission, or both. There are no other possible interpretations.
Thirdly, in stating that the opposition is on the wrong side of public opinion on the issue, she once again takes it upon herself to pronounce upon public opinion in a forum which exists precisely for the purpose of informing and influencing public opinion. This may be admissible if she were reporting on an historical issue, whose outcome is a done deal and no longer to be influenced; it may also be admissible if she were to introduce some sort of data such as a poll to make her pronouncements tangibly contestable. As it stands, however, it amounts to saying, “This is what you should think because you think this way already.” The very worst kind of begging the question.
And this is the crux. Key has a deal with Turnbull. It is Adams ramming through some legislation quickly (while the Aussies hold the kiwis offshore) so he can say “I am being hard on them”. But he needs time. And Turnbull has given him that time. Hence so-called troublemakers were flown yesterday to Perth and not to Wellington.
As for Watkins, if the public is on Key’s side it is because journalists like her have not presented the facts, deception and obfuscation by the PM to them. Have not investigated and continue to substitute opinionising for reporting.
Through his many actions in relation to treatment of girls and women in this country Key is making this an increasingly unsafe place for girls to thrive by allowing (it seems) large portions of our male society to believe that how they view and treat women is acceptable.
example
http://covertheathlete.com/
This one is for our PM
“So, did you hear about the hair controversy?”
Asked of Gabrielle Douglas
“I just wonder if her dad did say to her when she was 12, 13, 14: ‘Listen, you’re never going to be a looker, you are never going to be somebody like a Sharapova, you’re never going to be 5ft 11, you’re never going to be somebody with long legs, so you have to compensate for that,'”
BBC Commentator about Marion Bartoli”
“You’re getting a lot of fans here,” “A lot of them are male, and they want to know: If you could date anyone in the world of sport, of movies – I’m sorry, they asked me to say this – who would you date?”
Channel 7, to Eugenie Bouchard”
”
“As your profile rises, people find out more about you, your breast reduction surgery was three or four years ago. Does that play any part in your success? What about outside the tennis?”
Asked of Simona Halep”
I wonder what options are available to “be hard on” people who have been convicted of a crime overseas, then served their sentence overseas, then been deported here.
Edit: or not been convicted of a crime (or even charged) and deported here anyway.
She has indicated they will impose strong parole provisions on them… You can do anything if you have an Act allowing it.
Of course the Act maybe completely contravene our International obligations, which Srylands and others told us yesterday they and this Government hold so important.
I suppose; I would have thought there’d be human rights issues with paroling people who’ve been law-abiding for a number of years post-sentence, as according to various sources some of them have.
Hence I wrote
“Of course the Act maybe completely contravene our International obligations, which Srylands and others told us yesterday they and this Government hold so important.”
underneath that comment
Sorry, I was agreeing with you, but also with regards to our own human rights laws… assuming we have any.
ah, I get ya…
eroded under this governemnt….
respect and compassion for the vulnerable
privacy
environment (no pun intended)
democratic representation
respect for females
Our BORA is not supreme law and so parliament can pass legislation that contravenes it.
Yep.
AND pass laws that prevent the discriminated against ever making a complaint to the Human Rights Commission or Tribunal ever again.
Tracy Watkins has consistently been one of Key’s main cheerleaders in the press gallery. Briefly yesterday she sympathised with the women walking out, and wrote something almost neutral for the website, but it didn’t last long. I also suspect she was behind the vitriolic anti-Little editorial in the Dominion Post on Monday.
I find she blows hot and cold, so I think in what counts as journalism today that makes her neutral 😉
BUT this is what happens when journalists are only required to have an opinion on things rather than research and present two sides of something with facts.
Opinions are like arseholes. Everyone has one.
I disagree. I was always puzzled to see the extent to which John Armstrong was criticised on here, when he in general at least structured articles as a discourse proceeding from a range of facts, whereas Watkins consistently structures her articles to proceed from a pro-Key (specifically Key personally, more than National) or anti-Labour spin, and to supplement it only such assertions (or, less often, facts) as would support that spin. This has been her modus operandi since before National were elected to the government benches in 2008.
Very strong criticism of Key in today’s Dominion editorial and also from Vernon Small.
hardly makes up for the bol****s they wrote in Monday’s editorial
Wrong. Aussie immigration policy is a national scandal, children raped, children self harming. Abbott forced out. The spin doctors wanted for sometime to portray those in detention as criminals, but the last people who turn up after waiting years and limited cash left are those who would turned away immediately with criminal records.
So what cost Abbott his job? Sending criminals who have served their time, not doing the correct thing, allowing a judge at sentencing to deliberate, or allowing convicted criminals time before release to make a case, no the immediacy of the extension of punishment is what so undermines the integrity of the whole sorry saga. And now we hear that one suicide later, a riot, that they are criminals, why did so prick realize that they have human rights, that having served their time it was prejudical, or worse that those individuals use as political pawns might have huge ongoing political blowback for years. Aka why Abbott was ejected seated from on high.
But its worse. Imagine that, you put hardened agitators with long histories of civil disobedience in with families desperate to do the right thing to win favor. It was always going to come to a riot, that’s the worst form of govt, putting rapists in with children.
So let discuss Key, firstly he should resign as is obvious from English smirking at the time it was premeditated. Second, Key is endevavoring to do right by these convicted kiwis. Third, how does it help the oz pm when he was expecting to get the criminal immigration photo op turdblossum, now he has the nightmare of rapists with immigrant families in detention. Fourth, well done opposition for helping make that connection it seems the opposition played this up, dragged their feet, to let the world peak in on how empty hollow Key is. Remembering that putting Key with a class of long hair girls…
But wait. So for real. A kiwi who lived his whole waking life in oz, without family in nz, with no knowledge of culture, of language differences, is hauled out of prison after serving their time, to be told they have no life effectively, and so killed themselves. Wtf.
Parliament shame. Its the debased nature of the debate led by the PM that should sicken.
Ponce-Key-Fanboy-Rawdon-Christie…….TV One Breakfast this morning…….the loyal smarm cheerleading for the unrepentant waitress assailant……identifying the essential issue as this – “Question Time in Parliament is just too unruly !!!” – (suggestion of pearls clutching and “tut tut tut”).
“Unruly” because Carter is incompetent?
Incompetent…….at concealing that he’s a mere cypher. It’s really The Ponce-Key sitting in that chair.
Man is stabbed in a park. His friend goes to the nearby hospital to get help and then returns to his injured friend. Hospital rings police and sends ambulance but can’t find the injured man so they give up. Injured man is carried by his friend and another man to hospital, but dies after arrival.
Here’s the timeline,
Man stabbed sometime during the evening
10.15pm man tells hospital his friend has been stabbed in nearby park
10.16pm hospital notify police
10.52pm amulance called
~ 11pm man carried friend into hospital
11.12pm ambulance cancelled (by police)
11.19pm stabbed man dies
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11543929
Looks like several systemic failures, but the bit I left out is that both men are described as homeless.
…and we should be far more concerned about that than a bunch of no-hopers walking out of parliament.
What a cold heartless thing to say. Shame on you Daniel. I hope your Mother, Sister, Aunt or Daughter, or for that matter, their male equivalents don’t become victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse and if they do I hope they receive better empathy from those around them than you portray today.
My distain for these people is because of their using these experiences for political point scoring. Yesterday’s episode was a pre-arranged, coordinated ‘protest’. They played on experiences that haunt many NZ’ers, and belittled every survivor of abuse in so doing.
[RL: This is your only and last warning. I am running zero tolerance for idiocy on this thread. Repeat anything like this and you will take a week off.]
lolz, a bullshit politicallly manipulative comment if I ever saw one. Do tell us about all the work you’ve done on rape and violence prevention in NZ.
Daniel Cale
You say:
“They played on experiences that haunt many NZ’ers, and belittled every survivor of abuse in so doing.” Referring to the women MP’s who walked out of the house yesterday.
Are you a survivor of sexual abuse? Did you feel belittled?
I AM a survivor and I felt strengthened by their actions. By standing up to the PM they also honoured all of us who are survivors. They did something very powerful and true to themselves. We need to be proud of them. I am.
[RL: No quibble with your comment at all – but Daniel is very much on warning.]
Yes, saw that thanks RL. Good.
Hi Rosie. Given the threat of a ban, I will be careful. In answer to your questions, yes and yes. As a teenager I was indecently assaulted by an older man, not once but several times. But I also have based my comments on listening to feedback from other survivors. My sympathies to you for your experience. I certainly meant no offence to you.
Likewise Daniel, I’m sorry you had that experience. Thank you for sharing.
So you can see we all respond in different ways to others speaking up. Perhaps our perceptions are coloured by the way we handle our experiences, eg, we transfer our anger on to other victims and whether we did or didn’t have access to support. I’m not sure.
I do know those women would have to pull some deep seated strength from inside to speak out so publicly and under such duress in the house. Some, including Metiria Turei did this for the very time. That is the hardest time ever.
The night before they spoke out they would have talked to their families and partners. Quite a bit of psychological energy would have gone into that.
They didn’t pull a stunt, they stood up for all victims.
In my eyes they have increased their mana considerably.
But thats just my view and I respect that you, as a fellow survivor might view it differently.
and yet you are not, cos Weka posted it, and her concern, not you.
you think that women who have been sexually assaulted and have worked to support those who have been sexually assaulted are ‘no-hopers’?
Good to know that your compassion only applies to the people that you approve of and that that excludes women and rape victims.
When you are feigning compassion, as Daniel is, it is hard to get it right
bullseye
I’m not feigning compassion for anyone. I have little or no compassion for the inhabitants of the detention centre. The vast majority are criminal ratbags, who are being detained pending deportation.
“you think that women who have been sexually assaulted and have worked to support those who have been sexually assaulted are ‘no-hopers’?”
When did I say that?
Strange, I could have sworn that the National MPs had stayed in parliament rather than walk out in response to their leader’s and the Speakers vitriol.
Yes well concern for anyone would be a start Dannie. You work on that ok?
I am concerned for the future victims of these criminals who Labour and the Greens call ‘NZ’ers’ but who don’t even want to come here.
And National and the Australian government call New Zealanders.
Disturbing but not surprising that the government is planning to stuff the environment court with its own people after it didn’t get its way with undersea mining off Taranaki and the Chatham Islands. This will turn the court into a rubber stamp for all environmentally harmful projects (otherwise why would they bother changing it). It was also interesting to see on a news item someone involved with one of the projects saying it had cost them a lot of money. That’s the sort of thing that will lead to the government being sued in future, not just for lost spending but any potential profit.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/government-considers-changes-to-epa-after-mining-applications-rejected
It’s just the environment, we dont need it to survive. Unlike money.
If the courts say NO to this government then the government says WE CHANGE THE LAWS.
The National government have gone too far, they are dictators in the way they behave.
If a government spies on it’s people on mass and then starts replacing the judges and changing the judicial laws to serve their own interests – people need to face it, we are NOT being run as a democracy.
National have always been dictators but they’re getting more blatant in their dictatorial actions.
In the early 80s Muldoon didn’t like the High Court ruling against the building of the Clyde Dam so he introduced legislation to get around it. At the time this was shocking, that the government could overrule the courts. But this kind of flouting democracy and its institutions and conventions is routine now and people barely bat an eyelid. That’s the legacy of the Key government. I bet they are proud.
+1
This is why we need a way to limit the power of government. They should not be able to do whatever they like as that always results in arbitrary rule changes as we’re seeing now under this government.
Two interesting TPP snippets.
1. “TPP Financial Services Chapter Opens Door To Broader ISDS Claims
Updated: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) chapter on financial services gives private firms in that sector broader grounds to sue member governments than previous U.S. free trade agreements by incorporating obligations for parties to accord a “minimum standard of treatment” to financial services investments and subjecting that commitment to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).
http://insidetrade.com/
2. “The real reason Wall Street loves the Trans-Pacific Partnership”
US-based banks are going to make money selling financial services in Asia, and some of that money will flow into the pockets of people who work in the financial services sector in the United States. That’s why the US Coalition for TPP includes the American Insurance Association, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.
http://www.vox.com/2015/11/11/9706360/tpp-financial-services
+1 TMM
Thanks for keeping an eye on this ball TRP… I suspect it is just ONE of many issues the government wants to distract us from (hence the appalling behaviour by our PM)
Has anyone tried to play the Todd Barclay question from yesterday? I have tried every connectable device I have and they all say it’s not there. All the other questions are there just not this one. What are The Speaker? and Tandem Studios up to? And did anyone record the live stream?
this one? I only found the transcript
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/business/qoa/51HansQ_20151111_00000001/1-economy%E2%80%94employment
What an error. Hansard has made a mistake – that was Patsy Barclay not Todd.
Question 1 video is still not coming up on the Parliament TV Archives site.
In case you haven’t checked today’s QT questions, Question 12 is related to yesterday’s Q1, ie
RON MARK to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all of his answers to Oral Question No. 1 on 11 November 2015?
Kelvin Davis also has a question to the PM today (although he will presumably not be in the House) at Q7 – the standard “Does he stand by all his statements”. Christmas Island related, no doubt.
Full questions – http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/?document=00HOH_OralQuestions
Paul Henry’s thoughtful viewers have worked it out:
It’s KELVIN DAVIS who’s causing all the trouble on Christmas Island!
Paul Henry, TV3, Thursday 12 November 2015
Television viewer polls have about as much credibility as an Ohio election count. No one except fools, psychopaths and ACT voters would ever take one seriously. The Paul Henry daily poll question is always inane, and often quite offensive. Yesterday, the question asked was “Do you care about the Christmas Island detainees?” Seventy per cent of respondents said NO.
The same viewers who don’t care about people being illegally detained by a scofflaw regime have obviously been thinking hard about this, and have this morning been sharing their insights with Charlotte in the tech bunker….
PAUL HENRY: People are going to get bored with this Christmas Island detainees story soon.
HILLARY BARRY: [nodding] Mmmm. Yes.
JIM KAYES: [nodding] Hmmmm.
PAUL HENRY: I told Kelvin Davis that when he was on the program. Charlotte in the tech bunker, what are the viewers saying?
CHARLOTTE: Actually, Paul, people are saying he should GET OUT OF THERE. They reckon that Kelvin Davis is the catalyst for the rioting.
PAUL HENRY: “The catalyst for the rioting”? That’s giving him more credit than he deserves. He hasn’t got that much influence. But he’s still cranking it up….
….ad nauseam….
So all Henry has proven is that FACTS are irrelevant if the person pushing the misinformation is sincere enough in their deception of the audience, or sincere in their ignorance?
I think calling the people who vote in those ridiculous polls “ignorant” is indulging them. I think they know perfectly well that the Australian government is breaking the law, that the prisoners are being ill treated, and that Key is nothing more than a crony of the Australian regime. Those viewers are—like Henry—simply determined to back the government, no matter what, and are indifferent to the suffering of other people.
I was calling Henry ignorant
I don’t think Henry is ignorant. He shows signs now and again that he does have a sense of right and wrong. For entirely ideological and partisan reasons, however, he almost always sides with the government.
Not a great surprise that Dipshit Henry’s audience is a select group of likeminded individuals.
FYI – amongst the chaos in the House yesterday, the following petition made it’s way into the Parliamentary ‘sausage machine’ ……
Petition of Penelope Mary Bright and 55 others
That the House conduct an urgent inquiry into the cost-effectiveness, transparency, and democratic accountability to Auckland Council and the majority of Auckland citizens and ratepayers, of all Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs).
Petition number: 2014/33
Presented by: Ron Mark
Date presented: 11 November 2015
Referred to: Local Government and Environment Committee
Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright
+100 Penny…good solid work !…and by Ron Mark who presented…Auckland Council must be held to account
A whole 56 people! They will be shaking in their boots.
from small drops of water and tiny streams…mighty rivers flow…
‘Oakland sues Monsanto for ‘long-standing contamination’ of San Francisco Bay’
https://www.rt.com/usa/321630-oakland-monsanto-contamination-lawsuit/
“Agrochemical giant Monsanto knowingly contaminated Oakland’s storm water and the San Francisco Bay with a highly toxic chemical for decades, a new lawsuit filed by the California city claims. Oakland wants the company to pay for the environmental cleanup.
The State Water Resources Control Board determined that the presence of highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) in Oakland’s storm water threatens the San Francisco Bay’s ecosystem and interferes with the bay’s use and enjoyment by Californians, the city said in a statement….
(Doesn’t ACT support and advocate for Monsanto?…free market and all that….and where will the TPPA leave NZ and Monsanto?)
+1 Chooky
We sure do
So thats what happens when you start drinking early in the morning…please disregard
You must be very drunk PR to start your day agreeing with something on TS 😉
Between the drinking and the Fallout 4 its been a hectic few days thats for sure
Good Lord man… I want YOUR job 😉
Naah I just took some time off
hell, that’s true dedication to the cause
I had to buy the new gen playstation specifically for the game and even got the collectors edition with the lunch box and bobblehead
Sometimes i wish i was living in the capital wasteland…
Fistbump. I too got a new PS4 for the game. Just the standard edition of Fallout, though. The game arrived yesterday so I’m only a couple of hours into it.
TPPA’s effects on councils to be analysed
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/hutt-news/73819158/regional-council-to-analyse-tppas-effects-on-wellington
Bill Rosenberg calls for an independent impact assessment of the TPPA, questioning the bias of committed parties like the Government, MFAT and NZIER.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11536850
This is a drum all opposition parties should be harmoniously banging.
Has Govt, MFAT and NZIER release their cost/benefit analyses?
I read Catherine Beard the other day and thought she was hardly impartial. I also marvelled at the speed by which she got through the 6000 pages.
Not as far as I’m aware, Tracey.
Meets 4 out of 5 of Labour’s “bottom lines.”
And yes, its amazing how fast they can read 6,000 pages in that caucus.
the scarey thing is I suspect that Labour believes the 4 out of 5 thing on the basis of the meeting with Groser.
Part of the problem is that Little’s parents voted National likewise Clark.
They really want to believe in the status quo like TPP. Nobody could possibly be lying to them could they?
Little need to bring a different type of Labour member like Kelly Ellis into their cosy meetings with the Natz, someone who has a better understanding of power corruption than Little, Shearer etc and outside the mould and used to experiencing criminal and morally bankrupt behaviour without the veneer of parliament to soften the impression.
With her experience with gang members she could see straight past Grosser and Key – gang members in suits of a different kind.
@ CV
So they now say.
Yet, they still concede to one not being met.
However, instead of walking away, it seems Labour think renegotiating their ability to ban offshore buyers somehow resolves the whole investor settlement dispute and loss of sovereignty concern.
@The Chairman – crazy Labour position – their voters will NOT like them selling out on the other 4 conditions (if that is their position which quite frankly I’m keen to find out in a clear way – the txt is out – so they need to make a clear decision) which clearly have NOT been met. In particular ISDS and Pharma sell outs.
Who does everyone believe, Jane Kelsey – International Law expert or Grosser who is an idiot?
Indeed.
http://www.nzgeographic.co.nz/atlarge/sarah-vs-the-state
A Waikato law student is suing the government over its climate change policy, claiming its greenhouse gas emissions targets were arrived at illegally, and that the low emissions reduction pledge it will make in the upcoming UN climate conference in Paris in December is “unreasonable and irrational”.
+100 …Go Waikato law student!
Fantastic article about John Key and his attitude to rape and abuse:
http://hadassahgrace.tumblr.com/post/132993554371/john-key-doesnt-care-about-rape-victims-he
Thanks Karen. That’s a solid history of the Key government’s failings towards survivors of sexual abuse in regard to funding cuts left right and centre since 2008. It also puts a spotlight on Key’s own persistently misogynist behaviour. He’s got a really troubling track record. He’s a freaking creep.
Italy had Silvio Berlusconi. We have John Key.
Given Key clearly thinks that apologies are for the weak, you have to ask yourself WHAT Slater has on him to get an apology from him.
” “I regret any harm that may have been caused to you or your family…”
23 Nov 2014
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/63454874/john-key-says-sorry-to-whale-oil.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11297168
People forget that the only reason Ms Billingsley went public with her identity as the victim of attempted rape is that the PM said if he knew her name he would apologise.
“”I don’t know her name. Obviously it’s a matter of privacy, but I think there’s been plenty of public comments that would echo what I’ve just said,” he said.
Asked whether he would apologise if he did know her name, Mr Key said: “Yes, in so much that I believe that she shouldn’t have had to go through what she went through.”
And then reneged cos it wasn’t a “serious reason” to apologise…
Yeah he really supports victims of sexual crime our PM.
Farmers think TPPA will lead to foreign farm ownership
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/73602915/farmers-think-tppa-will-lead-to-foreign-farm-ownership
…+100…good!…at last the NZ farmers are sitting up and taking notice…and opposing the TPPA…of course it will lead to foreign farm ownership!
…really the TPPA is only good for jonkey and his bankster / investment mates like Goldman Sachs…NZ is being led like a lamb to the slaughter…they will gut New Zealand
The current ‘free’ trade deals have already led to huge farm sales. Are the farmer’s benefiting from this ‘prosperity’ – I would think at $4.80 kg of milk solids – NOT.
Instead of foreigners buying our milk they are buying our country.
They will still vote for NACT in droves
They will turn to Winston Peters – he’s against foreign land sales.
They did in Northland.
Phil Twyfords Bill to prevent NON_Resident Foreign Speculators to buy property in NZ has been drawn and will be debated.
This is a good thing.
http://campaign.labour.org.nz/foreign_buyers_ban_will_achieve_what_govt_failed_to
abour’s Member’s Bill to ban foreign buyers from purchasing existing homes will achieve what the Government failed to in its Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says.
“The Government should adopt the Overseas Investment (Protection of New Zealand Homebuyers) Amendment Bill and get New Zealand the carve out Australia secured through its negotiations.
“The sovereignty of the New Zealand Parliament should never have been traded away and this Bill is a case in point.
“Opinion polls show New Zealanders overwhelmingly want non-resident investors stopped from buying homes here.
“Labour isn’t against foreign investors but inviting overseas speculators to trade in Kiwi homes for capital gain is entirely non-productive. It produces no jobs or exports, and pushes up house prices beyond the reach of first homebuyers.
“In the past year in Australia, a similar policy as resulted in $30 billion worth of overseas money building new homes there. My Bill will result in foreign investors channelling their capital into the building of new houses in New Zealand,” Phil Twyford says
So is Labour ok under TPP for other countries to sue us via IDS or set up Charter schools, reduce our biosecurity, and have lengthened patents then?
I don’t know. We could ask. In fact I will ask my Labour MP.
But for what its worth, this bill has been drawn and will be debated. And for today that is my good story.
baby steps. baby steps.
Foreign investment doesn’t do any of that either.
“In the past year in Australia, a similar policy has resulted in $30 billion worth of overseas money building new homes there”
Billions of dollars worth of overseas money being invested in land here (Auckland) will drive up the price of land, thus add to the cost of housing. Defeating the objective.
Re Carters ruling on acceptable language in the chamber; today in Q1 at QT Robertson challenged Carter to let him use Key type language in a question. Watch from 7:30. as Carter tries to justify his ruling.
http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/
Why is Radio New Zealand citing a scurrilous Murdoch rag?
Checkpoint, RNZ National, Thursday 12 November 2015, 5:15 p.m.
Surely the coverage of the Christmas Island detainees is shoddy enough without supposedly serious outlets like Radio New Zealand parroting the Murdoch press.
On Checkpoint this afternoon, Ruth Hill claimed that public opinion in Australia was “hardening against the Christmas Island detainees.” As evidence of this “hardening of public opinion”, she cited an item in the notorious Murdoch rag the Brisbane Courier Mail, which included the phrase “Thug Kiwis” in the headline.
We need decent, honest, rigorous reporting of what the Australian government is doing, and what its junior partner John Key is approving. So far, Radio New Zealand is failing badly.
i guess they did not want to use this article of Thug Brits.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/12/british-citizen-in-australia-for-50-of-51-years-faces-deportation-for-scrub-fire
“When Wightman was released from jail in September, Western Australia’s prisoners review board noted he had completed all rehabilitation programs and had demonstrated “a motivation to change his offending behaviour”.
“A limited criminal history indicates an ability to lead a pro-social life,” it said.
But Wightman was apprehended immediately on leaving prison and detained at Yongah Hill detention centre, 90km east of Perth, for eight weeks before he was suddenly flown to Christmas Island in the middle of the night.
Some of the other guys’ stories, they are just tragic. These people shouldn’t be there. This is just wrong
Gary Wightman
Wightman’s brother Gary told Guardian Australia it was “morally wrong” that his brother was being held in immigration detention indefinitely.
“It’s just wrong on any moral level that people are in there in those conditions. Ian was convicted of a crime, he was sentenced and punished. He served his time and he was rehabilitated. He was released a free man but then they arrested him at the gates.”
He said Ian was finding immigration detention much harsher than prison. He has told family he was “keeping his head down” and did not participate in the riots that razed significant sections of the detention centre this week.
“But it’s just wrong. With prison, you’ve got your start date, you’ve got your end date,” Gary Wightman said, “you know how much time you have to serve. But this, it’s just the uncertainty, they’ve got no idea when he might be released. It’s unbelievable. This detention is far, far worse than prison.”
Gary Wightman said his brother had told him there were dozens of other detainees – known as 501s after the section of the Migration Act that applies to their cases – with similar lifelong links to Australia in detention, facing deportation to countries they hardly knew.
“Some of the other guys’ stories, they are just tragic. These people shouldn’t be there. This is just wrong,” he said.”
snip….
and oh lookit the rape thingy does come from OZ….(our PM is really just a Handpuppet)
““These people [on Christmas Island] are serious criminals and people who have been involved in attempted murder, in manslaughter, convictions for rape, convictions for grievous bodily harm and serious assaults otherwise.”
He said some detainees on Christmas Island had been assessed as an “extreme threat”.
Dutton said visa cancellation for non-citizens convicted of a crime was unremarkable internationally and had been part of Australian migration law since the second world war.
“If somebody is here on a visa … if they’ve committed a crime they have their visa cancelled. And they face the criminal penalty and administratively their visa is cancelled. In this case they’re taken into custody and they await deportation.”
The number of people detained under section 501 rose more than 600% in a year, from 76 in 2013-14 to 580 in 2014-15.”
so much for “The GC” being the good life eh?
Just caught on TV1 News that the government is looking at stopping people betting offshore as the TAB is losing money.
It appears that the politicians really didn’t know what they were doing when they signed all those FTAs and joined the WTO that allowed for and encouraged free money movement across borders.
they should stop people putting money in Australian Banks and other foreign offshore banks first
( one rule for the banksters and another for the small punters)
‘Q&A: Are Australian banks really rorting New Zealanders?’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/73626116/qa-are-australian-banks-really-rorting-new-zealanders
“Some people might be surprised to find there are 25 registered banks in New Zealand.
Of those, the big four Aussie lenders dominate, with about 90 per cent market share.
ANZ, ASB, BNZ, and Westpac have just hauled in a collective $4.59 billion of annual net profits, hoovered out of the pockets of New Zealanders to feather nests across the Tasman.
Some politicians believe the super-profits are “strip-mining” the economy…
‘Brian Gaynor: Profits for banks, loss for New Zealand’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10390302
….”Finally, the banks have a huge influence over the allocation of the country’s economic resources because we have a shortage of equity and a strong reliance on borrowings to fund commercial activity.
The banks, particularly the four major Australian-owned banks, have a strong bias towards the housing market as residential mortgages now represent 50.5 per cent of total bank lending compared with 47.7 per cent at the end of 2004. By comparison, residential mortgages have fallen from 36.3 per cent to 35.2 per cent of total Australian bank lending over the same period
…The combination of offshore borrowing and residential property lending is a prudent strategy as far as the overseas banks are concerned, from both an earnings and capital requirement point of view.
But it is not a win-win situation as far as the New Zealand economy is concerned, particularly considering the impact on the country’s current account deficit.
a picture diary about syrians, boats, drowned babies and life
http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?post/war-in-peace
Most problems in this world are based on tribalism and religion, we should ban and prohibit both, or there will be NO progress for humanity:
Chechen radicals ha e something to answer, I struggle to see any reason to feel solidarity
for some;