Open mike 13/02/2025
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6:00 am, February 13th, 2025 - 38 comments
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- David now turns to Rodney with a stricken face
So here we are at the wedding of Alexandra Vincent Martelli and David Seymour.Look at all the happy prosperous guests! How proud Nick Mowbray looks of the gift he has made of a mountain of crap plastic toys stuffed into a Cybertruck.How they drink, how they laugh, how they mug ...3 hours ago - On why complaining about incompetent David Seymour’s School Lunches is the only rational respo...
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“Bugger the pollsters!”WHEN EVERYBODY LIVED in villages, and every village had a graveyard, the expression “whistling past the graveyard” made more sense. Even so, it’s hard to describe the Coalition Government’s response to the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia Research poll any better. Regardless of whether they wanted to go there, or ...18 hours ago - Jane Kelsey – Transforming neoliberalism
Prof Jane Kelsey examines what the ACT party and the NZ Initiative are up to as they seek to impose on the country their hardline, right wing, neoliberal ideology. A progressive government elected in 2026 would have a huge job putting Humpty Dumpty together again and rebuilding a state that ...18 hours ago - Ain’t No Use
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By international standards the New Zealand healthcare system appears satisfactory – certainly no worse generally than average. Yet it is undergoing another redisorganisation.While doing some unrelated work, I came across some international data on the healthcare sector which seemed to contradict my – and the conventional wisdom’s – view of ...2 days ago - Europe can still prevent a Russian victory
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Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Over the last year, I’ve been warning about Luxon’s pitch to privatise our public assets. He had told reporters in October that nothing was off the cards:Schools, hospitals, prisons, and ...2 days ago - Australia’s disaster response should build resilience
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- Making it up as they go along
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Back in December, Lands Minister Chris Penk rejected proposals to recognise the proper names of Manawatū and Pito One. Both proposals were strongly supported by their communities and so recommended by Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa / New Zealand Geographic Board. Despite this, Penk rejected them. I was curious about ...2 days ago - The problems with PPPs
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- PPPs are more expensive, slower & riskier than Govt DIY
Previous big infrastructure PPPs such as Transmission Gully were fiendishly complicated to negotiate, generated massive litigation and were eventually rewritten anyway. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest: The Government’s international investment conference ignores the facts that PPPs cost twice as much as vanilla debt-funded public infrastructure, often take ...2 days ago - Friday 14 March
Woolworths has proposed a major restructure of its New Zealand store operating model, leaving workers worried their hours and pay could be cut. Public servants are being asked how productive their office is, how much they use AI, and whether they’re overloaded with meetings as part of a “census”. An ...2 days ago - Weekly Roundup 14-March-2025
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- Thursday 13 March
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- Wednesday 12 March
Māori workers now hold more high-skilled jobs than low-skilled jobs with 46 percent in high-skilled jobs, 14 percent in skilled jobs, and 40 percent in low-skilled jobs. Resource teachers of literacy and Te Reo Māori are “devastated” by a proposal from the Education Minister to stop funding 174 roles from ...4 days ago
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This cobbled-together government was altogether more the beneficiary of Labour getting turfed out than anything it managed to do itself. Even the worthless cheques they were writing didn't buy all that much favour.How’s it all looking now?Shall we take a look at a Horizon poll?The Government’s performance is making only ...6 days ago - Aotearoa should sign the Disappearance Convention
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- Judging their own case
Yesterday National announced plans to amend the Public Works Act to "speed up" land acquisition for public works. Which sounds boring and bureaucratic - except its not. Because what "land acquisition" means is people's homes being compulsorily acquired by the state - which is inherently controversial, and fairly high up ...6 days ago
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Health Minister Simeon Brown’s claim that the Government has put $16.68 billion into the health system over three years is wrong. ...23 hours ago - Government tramples on the rights of disabled migrant children
The Green Party is condemning the Government’s move to tighten access to visas for disabled children. ...2 days ago - Release: Auckland needs second harbour crossing
Labour supports Minister Chris Bishop’s call for input on the second Waitematā Harbour crossing. ...2 days ago
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Workers will now be able to go to the Police and report their employer if they are not being paid wages they’re owed. ...3 days ago
- Missed opportunity to stop the stealing of Māori land
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...3 days ago
- Release: Labour supports sanctions against Israel’s illegal occupation
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...4 days ago
- Release: Govt procurement plan cuts wages and trashes the environment
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...4 days ago
- Procurement proposals pose risk to people and planet
The Green Party is concerned by the impact the Government’s proposed changes to procurement processes could have on people and planet. ...4 days ago
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With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...4 days ago
- Release: Labour’s approach to Māori economy benefits all
Under Labour, the Māori economy went from strength to strength according to the latest report released by MBIE. ...5 days ago
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Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...1 week ago
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The Green Party is launching a petition calling on the Government to extend visa-free travel to visitors from Pacific Island nations. ...1 week ago
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Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...1 week ago
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This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...1 week ago
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Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa It is a great pleasure to be here with you this morning. ...1 week ago
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The next Labour Government will prioritise jobs, health and homes so Kiwis and Kiwi businesses have the opportunity to thrive. ...1 week ago
- Release: Refreshed team to drive Labour’s 2026 priorities
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has unveiled a new economic team as part of a caucus reshuffle. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour calls for end to police referrals to Destiny programmes
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...1 week ago
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Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...2 weeks ago
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The National Government needs to publicly condemn Israel’s cutting off of aid supplies to the war-ravaged people of Gaza. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Mark Mitchell missing in action
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- Release: Fewer houses, consents down under National
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party is calling on the Prime Minister to rule out joining the AUKUS military pact in any capacity following the scenes in the White House over the weekend. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: PSA survey proves Govt’s cuts are hurting patients
The National Government’s decision to cut jobs and freeze recruitment of health care workers is hurting frontline services and harming patients. ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s plan to disestablish Resource Teachers of Māori (RTM) roles, a move that takes another swing at kaupapa Māori education. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour PR: More clarity needed for homebuyers
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: More clarity needed for homebuyers
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens welcome pause of works at Lake Rotokākahi and call for council to work constructively with m...
After months of mana whenua protecting their wāhi tapu, the Green Party welcomes the pause of works at Lake Rotokākahi and calls for the Rotorua Lakes Council to work constructively with Tūhourangi and Ngāti Tumatawera on the pathway forward. ...2 weeks ago
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- Release: Govt abandons retailers with citizen’s arrests
The Government’s expansion of citizen’s arrest powers leaves retailers on their own to deal with crime on their premises. ...3 weeks ago
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Green Party Co-Leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics. ...3 weeks ago
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At this year's State of the Planet address, Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics. ...3 weeks ago
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No feed items found.
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Richard Murphy – Trump will more than likely crash world markets, and a lot of people will be made very uncomfortable with that!
And, as usual, our CoC won't have a f****** clue how to deal with it.
So brace yourselves!
10.35 mins long
The vampire squid playbook; buy, strip, and flip.
/
Feb. 12, 2025
WASHINGTON — House Republicans released a budget plan Wednesday that sets the stage for advancing many of President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities, providing for up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit so that the U.S. can continue financing its bills
https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/politics/2025/02/12/house-republicans-budget-plan-debt-ceiling
America's Year Zero?
Opening sentence: “They are young and seizing the reins of government on their master’s behalf with an imperial swagger. It will end in many tears”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/12/elon-musk-america-government-doge
Thanks for that great (brief) opinion piece, especially the zingers in the last paragraph.
As governments 'slim down', the already very wealthy will be lining their pockets.
Nat Energy Minister Sherlock Simon Watts, stating the obvious…..
Another non event..
Well past time for a shakeup….lets not leave it till winter. Oh, riiight.
Link within the link reveal the upcoming danger.
I had earlier posted about this,
But here's another . Economist nails them…
Labour. How about a New Energy Deal ? Many people at the lower end economically, are going to be majorly impacted by this.
Give us something different to shake this Lab/Nat similarity off. Take back our NZ Electricity.
Maybe have a list of the various idiot things done by the Luxon and Key governments that you are going to reverse. Make sure you describe these things as vandalism by an economically illiterate and self-serving elite who despise ordinary people. You could even take the piss out of the fallacious, self-aggrandizing CEO target-setting bullshit by chopping the list up into the first 27.35 days and the next 41.052 days etc.
That dangerous idiot list is growing longer daily. Surely we (Left opposition) can knock them for six !
Return power generation and supply to full public ownership and control. Some compensation if the gentailers go quietly.
A transitional period could reward those that reduce dividend payments in favour of sustainable generation-wind, solar, marine to tide over the dry hydro times.
Capitalist power operators have relentlessly price gouged and rewarded shareholders instead of developing infrastructure, parasites that need to go. A vote winner for Labour/Green/TPM.
Yep. Good summation of What we need to see. And…
I reckon !
Spot on Tiger.
Set up a state owned renewable power company, where all renewables have battery storage attached, funding this through a wealth tax and a tax on bank excess profits.
This would rapidly become self financing
Humph. Probably only got the job through what's sometimes called "nominative determinism".
Not having struck that particular term before…I do like that the Standard can be a language/Idea expander. Cheers : )
How this fits Simon…could have differing interpretation.
More likely ignoring, rather than openly challenging the 4 year term in office of POTUS 47.
Trump is McKinley era, tariffs and American empire and thus was a Buchanan economic and foreign relations isolationist in 2000.
It helped his cause that Bush discredited the rules based order (previous adventurism had been Cold War era global "security" excused – such as Mossadeq to Shah and onto Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Hosseini Khamenei) aided by Blair via 2003 regime change in Iraq (and less well known the move to a Panopticon Society surveillance state, turning democracy into a manged regime suppressing dissent against a God and mammon regime – now manifest in Project 2025).
And that trade got blamed for rising inequality.
Trump's American empire co-exists with others.
Fraser was wary of the impact of the UNSC veto enabling a world cartel. Two power blocs doing bad things. This enabled the Warsaw Pact (and thus NATO) and then the US navy dividing China in 1949 by enabling the Nationalists to occupy Taiwan. Thus the Korean War.
And now its the USA and Russia carving up the rare earth minerals of Ukraine. And Trump posing as some sort of new world under God figure, with his new philistine real estate development in Gaza.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/13/as-trump-abandons-the-old-world-order-nz-must-find-a-place-the-new-one/
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/13/trump-says-he-and-putin-have-agreed-to-negotiations-to-end-ukraine-war/
Train goes t …o …o …t t…o…o…t
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/13/first-test-train-travels-through-aucklands-city-rail-link/
Economic growth starts slowly under C of C policy.
Might even occur in the next electoral cycle.
Oh my god this is hilarious! It needs an honest trailers approach.
From the team who brought you roads, roads and more roads brings you…late by two months,
the CRL, yes we did Key or Simon Wotsit did or something even though we clearly wouldn’t now, we did…
though it was due to be ready a year ago, and is a woke disaster..
but all the brilliant proper city part was all us, though it’s a late woke disaster.
Bernard Osman in the continuing miserable old bugger, struggling to ever be happy in Auckland…with Chris Bishop and WAYNE mcfkn BROWN genuinely bringing the upbeat optimism!!
Ahh New Zealand.
Standing as the Green candidate for Mayor.
https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2024/04/council-taking-over-some-projects-from-lets-get-wellington-moving
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/541699/wellington-s-golden-mile-upgrade-final-design-revealed
The past 3 years.
What to do about (and correct answers)
1.the Library, restore (but should have remained in use longer before work began and a shorter time in temporary spaces).
2.the Town Hall rebuild ongoing in 2025. The St James Theatre reopened in 2023.(real community assets)
3.Regent Theatre (nothing, right in the end, do not subsidise the private sector).
4.the overbridge to be or not to be (keep it and have guardians keep numbers on it down at events while consider future options when there is funding).
5.Begonia to be or not to be (money saved above covers the cost of retaining).
6.airport shares (sell, minority stakes do not allow any public good to be done. Only wealth funds invested outside the region allow a secure provision for insurance risk).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/541746/council-meets-over-future-of-wellington-s-begonia-house
If the library needed restoration (because of risk of catastrophic failure in an earthquake) – then it could not have been occupied while assessment and planning went on. If it's not safe, then it's not safe. If it's safe to occupy, then the rebuild was unnecessary.
However, the ….lack of urgency…. displayed by the council to resolve this situation was notable.
Making a decision (almost any decision) would have been better than the ongoing flip-flopping.
Any of their building/planning staff could have told them that the cost of remediation would absolutely blow out (indeed, just looking at the ongoing rehab projects could have told them that).
It came down to three choices (which should have been made on service/philosophy ctriteria, not cost):
Any of the solutions, implemented in a timely fashion, would have been better than what's happened.
They chose to continue with a central amenity.
And they did a mix of the first 2, not either. The restore did involve changes – reassessed needs.
https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2022/04/take-a-look-at-wellingtons-new-central-library-design
The building was obviously safe to continue with as a library – but the structural damage meant it was no longer up to current standards.
There are a number of buildings in current use that have to meet higher standards to remain in use.
Masterton.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/shock-as-new-trust-buildings-fail-quake-standards/VSOC7GAR3M3XDHB4EO5M7B3XC4/
Palmerston North.
https://www.boinz.org.nz/Site/resources/News-and-Media-Releases/palmerston-north-buildings-possibly-have-design-problems.aspx
My understanding is that it had to be closed (as in no staff access, let alone public access) as it had the same structural issues that caused the StatsNZ building to pancake.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/200m-problem-why-is-wellingtons-central-library-closed/TDMLEBJV3DGMQXISYPC6NTTZKI/
If you accept the argument that it was at 60% of rating – and wasn't an immediate risk. It never should have been closed at all. And, with the amount of work on the Council's books to remediate the critically risky buildings, it shouldn't even have been a project.
TBH, I can understand the risk-averse nature of the Council over this one – if there had been a major quake during opening hours, and there had been a structural collapse, there was the potential for hundreds of people to have been killed. cf the CTV building in Christchurch.
But, nothing prevented them from identifying an immediate strategy and following through (if they accepted the argument that it was a critical risk). The backwards and forwards over cost (which option was going to cost more) – resulted in the project being more expensive (whichever option was chosen), and the ratepayers being denied the amenity for much longer, than was necessary.
No one in the Council (either the current administration or the previous one) has come out of this with anything but mud on their faces.
Also, the option they've (finally) chosen is the most expensive of all. Restoration, with a partial re-build. And will take the longest to deliver on.
Not to mention, almost certainly resulting in fewer books immediately available (forgive my bias, here – I'm pro books, rather than space to house Council services in a public library building)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/130677235/fewer-books-new-heritage-area-on-the-cards-for-wellington-central-library
No, the article did not indicate it had to close.
The council was not required to act.
Legally, it could have planned for remedial action and kept the building in use until that was ready to begin.
As for time deciding on a preferred option, this would have coincided engineers deciding on the best alternative for a pre-set concrete base (whether a refit or new build) for a building of that type.
Legally they could have decided not to close it. Practically and morally, I doubt whether they felt they had an option.
And, if they didn't have to close the building, then it didn't need to be at the top of the rebuild queue – i.e. the whole project didn’t need to happen in the short/medium term, at all.
Wellington is in a continued decline for various reasons, including the vandal CoC Govt. the whole downtown looks like it needs a good water blast really.
Why bother with this kind of street rearrangement bollocks till for instance…public transport works better, and exploding showers of shit from ancient pipes are rectified?
Not going to bag Tory, Wellington has a history of dodgy Mayors-Mark Blumsky anyone…and around the country Mayors typically preside over narrowly divided Councils.
They have funding for the Golden Mile project from the previous government. A case of use it, or lose it.
The Kaikoura earthquake had an impact on the state of the already aging pipes.
Note to moderators: where have all the comments from the 'dire' thread gone…?
Come to that, why have the comments for that thread been closed off altogether? Pretty unusual.
Interesting. Been coming to this site for many years. Don't recall it happening before.
Someone issued a threat of legal action cos they don't like what is being said? I wouldn't put anything past the current lot in power.
It might be a ‘human error’; I’ve followed up in the back-end.
..and..?…any luck with finding what has happened…?
butter fingers, fixed now.
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/opinion/the-ai-guardrails-schism-where-should-nz-stand
New Zealand signed up to the 2023 standard.
This complicates AUKUS Pillar 2, as the EU, India, China, Japan, Oz and Canada signed up to the 2025 Paris AI Action plan. As AI is one of the included areas for co-operation.
https://insidegovernment.co.nz/nz-to-join-uk-bletchley-declaration-on-ai-safety/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/11/us-uk-paris-ai-summit-artificial-intelligence-declaration
Droit du seigneur…
/
A consultation on changes to UK copyright law is “fixed” in favour of artificial intelligence companies and will lead to a “wholesale” transfer of wealth from the creative industries to the tech sector, according to a crossbench peer campaigning against the mooted overhauls.
Beeban Kidron said the government was undermining its own growth agenda with proposals to let AI companies train their algorithms on creative works under a new copyright exemption.
Lady Kidron, an award-winning film director whose work includes Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, said the government consultation on amending copyright law appeared to be a foregone conclusion.
“We’ve got an open consultation but that consultation is fixed and inadequate,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/11/uk-copyright-law-consultation-fixed-favour-ai-firms-peer-says?
What tech bros exploiting talent for mercenary gain?
Highway 6 Blenheim to Nelson has a max limit 90kph. Where do. I go to voice my desire to maintain limit at that level? Hunted on line but blank.
Hi ianmac, “Start the survey” could be a starting point – best of luck.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/safety/driving-safely/speed/state-highway-speed-management/speed-reversals-and-consultation-transitional-changes-in-2024-25/top-of-the-south/
Thanks muchly Drowsy. Will act on the link. But why is it so poorly advertised? My own view on travelling that route is that traffic seems so much steadier with seldom being overtaken above the 90kph. The data on significant lowering of the accident rate is so real. (Will check the numbers.)
I will also contact Marl District Council and Marlborough Express to ask for more public access/publicity to "Speed limit reviews in your region" ““Start the survey”
Ianmac, agree with your POV and thanks for the reminder to respond.