Open mike 13/03/2023
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The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...1 day ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
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- Record number of submissions received on granny flat proposal
Nearly 2,000 submissions have been received on the Government’s proposals aimed at making it easier to build a granny flat of up to 60 square metres without a resource or building consent, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk say. “This is the highest number ...47 minutes ago - District Court Judge appointed
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Rebecca Guthrie as a District Court Judge. Judge Guthrie was admitted to the bar in 1997 following her graduation from the University of Canterbury in 1996 (LLB, BA). She commenced her legal career in Hastings in 1997 before moving to London in ...1 hour ago
- Appointments strengthen Predator Free 2050
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- New facility in Christchurch will improve the lives of young New Zealanders
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- Driver safety screens to be installed on Auckland buses
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- Government action provides Southland farmers more time to meet plan requirements
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- Bill reaffirms Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending
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- Critical milestones for earthquake buildings review
Fairer, more sensible rules about managing earthquake risks are a step closer with the passing of legislation and the appointment of an independent chair to provide expert advice, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The Government is committed to reinvigorating our cities and regions to support economic growth, ...21 hours ago
- State of the art radiology machine for Auckland
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- Foreign Minister to visit Europe
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- First arrests made under gang patch ban
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- Better support for victims of sexual violence
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- Government moving forward with Regional Deals
Cabinet has agreed to invite all regions to submit proposals for Regional Deals between central and local government that drive economic growth and deliver the infrastructure our country needs, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop say. Inviting all regions to propose a Regional Deal that boosts ...1 day ago
- MSA pilot participant update
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Delivered at Auckland Trade and Economic Policy School Good morning and thank you Deputy Vice Chancellor Lithander for your warm welcome and for inviting me to open Auckland Trade and Economic Policy School today. A Special thanks to the University of Auckland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ...1 day ago
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Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...2 days ago
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Tēnā koutou katoa. Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. New Zealand, and all nations represented here today, are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Our households, businesses, and economies are bearing the costs of its effects. The choices we make now will shape the severity of these impacts for generations ...2 days ago
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The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“When I became Minister, I was surprised to learn that that NZTA did ...2 days ago
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- Final push needed to get to Smokefree 2025
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- New diplomatic appointments
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- Next steps for Regulatory Standards Bill
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- Red Tape Tipline goes live
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- Youth Parliament 2025 announced
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- Police stats show promising change
After nearly a year in Government, Kiwis have seen significant change across law and order with promising early results shown across some Police statistics, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. “In August 2023, I told New Zealanders that if they had not started to see a change in public safety within ...4 days ago
- Better coordination of anti-scam efforts
With the launch of Fraud Awareness Week, the Government is committing to new coordination efforts across industry and government to combat online scams, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Online financial scams are a growing problem for New Zealand. New data released today shows that Kiwis lost nearly ...4 days ago
- Minister to consider 7AA select committee report
Minister for Children Karen Chhour will consider the recommendations made by the Social Services and Community Committee in its report back to Parliament on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill. “I want to thank the people who made submissions and those who appeared before the committee in ...4 days ago
- Defence Minister to attend ASEAN meeting
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Vientiane, Laos. “We need to take every opportunity to engage with our international partners, given the increasingly unstable geo-political situation,” Ms Collins says. “New Zealand has a long-standing commitment to this ...4 days ago
- Launching the White Ribbon Ride
The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Karen Chhour, was on hand to wish riders well at the start of the North Island leg of the White Ribbon Ride in Whakatāne this morning. The ride helps mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ...5 days ago
- Construction to begin on next stage of Papakura to Drury
Construction on the next stage of the SH1 Papakura to Drury project will begin early next month, with the contract for works awarded to Fulton Hogan, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. "SH1 Papakura to Drury is a key project that will drive economic growth and productivity, reduce congestion, and enable people ...6 days ago
- Gang patch ban: The first 24 hours
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Eddie Redmayne’s globe-trotting assassin thriller on TVNZ is worth putting your phone down for. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. This is a vulnerable thing to say as someone who often writes about television for a job, but boy am I really ...2 hours ago - RNA editing is the next frontier in gene therapy – here’s what you need to know
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matej Lipar, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University Author provided/Google Earth Earlier this year, a caver was poring over satellite images of the Nullarbor Plain when he came across something unexpected: an enormous, mysterious scar etched ...4 hours ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney Once located 250 metres to the east of the Art Gallery of South Australia, the grand beaux-arts style Jubilee Exhibition Building was constructed to house the ...4 hours ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Greenhow, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Bond University Linda George/Shutterstock The ten-year anniversary of the death of much-loved Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes falls on November 27. The 25-year-old’s life was tragically cut short in 2014 when a bouncer ...4 hours ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Gomes-Ng, Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Former New Zealand prime minister John Key has three white rabbits painted on his helicopter, a nod to his “massively superstitious” habit of repeating “white rabbits” three times at ...6 hours ago
- Government slammed for pushing ahead with boot camps while trial still under way
The coalition has "absolutely no intention of listening to the evidence that comes out of their experiment", Labour MP says. ...7 hours ago
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Labour claims Government is ‘cherry-picking’ smoking trends data to hide decade-first increase in daily smokers The post Smoke and mirrors in heated tobacco debate appeared first on Newsroom. ...7 hours ago - Smoke and mirrors in tobacco debate
Labour claims Government is ‘cherry-picking’ smoking trends data to hide decade-first increase in daily smokers The post Smoke and mirrors in tobacco debate appeared first on Newsroom. ...7 hours ago
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A man abused by a former political figure is "immensely relieved" at a government proposal to end secrecy around sex offenders' identities. ...7 hours ago
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"I am making a very important statement'….say what you want about this man, but the trolling king, Wagner CEO Yevgeny Prigozhin turns out to have some pretty good comic timing…`even under heavy incoming fire.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineRussiaReport/comments/11ov5y5/ru_pov_prigozhins_presidential_announcement/
Yup, perfect timing.
/
A sledgehammer smeared with fake blood, packed in a violin case – that was Russian tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin’s macabre message to the European Parliament after EU legislators demanded that his notorious mercenary group be placed on the EU’s terrorist list.
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/17084-putin-s-chef-sends-bloody-sledgehammer-to-eu-parliament
Recent fearmongering headlines in Australia have been warning of the threat of war with China 'within 3 yrs' and TV3 'The Nation' last weekend brought out Australian military "strategist" Mick Ryan about whether or not Australia was being alarmist, Ryan said: "There is nothing alarmist about that timeframe. Defence over the last couple of years has said we no longer have the 10-year warning time we used to plan on."
Ryan is an army general who has spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and is far from a person with and independent and judicious mind. Simon Shephard just nodded in agreement to every word.
Working Dog just nails this for Australia.
https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1633321006420090881?cxt=HHwWgoDT_aaz3KotAAAA
https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-faces-threat-of-war-with-china-within-three-years-experts-warn/9c757e9c-d0e7-4b33-9a0f-70546858c736
Sums up our lazy media as a scan of oz media would've found some useful talking points.
From journos doing their job to former PM's berrating the oz media for taking such a provocative tone.
tv3 is owned by american media, is that serving the nz public ?
Paul Keating doesn't hold back, never has, he's a gem
"Royal biff: Prince Andrew in 'despair' after being shafted by Queen in will13 Mar He expected something in his mother's will. Now the extent of the snub has been revealed."
This..in the New Zealand Herald..who seem unable to just say it like it is..the Royals Inheritance tax avoidance scheme they signed up for back in 1993. Ofcourse Stuff aren't even going there. I don't know..maybe its their desire to seem "fair" and "reasonable" or whatever it is they have signed up for…
Though I notice the Guardian are also being good little boys and girls and not drawing too much attention to the issue. They did talk about it in polite wispers 5 months or so ago..though they were at pains to point out…
"King Charles will not pay tax on the fortune he has inherited from the late Queen, although he has volunteered to follow his mother’s lead in paying income tax."
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/13/king-charles-will-not-pay-tax-on-inheritance-from-the-queen
I like that..a system of taxation that relies on one "Volunteering" to pay tax.
Which actually, now that I think about it..is precisely what we have for the rich and powerful…
The guardian is an establishment outlet these days. Ran with the corbyn smears and has pretty much ignored assange for years now.
The Guardian is worse than the establishment..and for many many years now….they drain away the energy for change, they distract and manipulate the voters needed for any real change. Also…Don't forget their "Bernie Bros" narrative.
The liberal class who still think of the Guardian as being their voice…yeah, those people…don't trust them.
Here comes the world of pain in Auckland as the big cuts come in to save money to respond to the flood damage. In particular the much-maligned west Auckland manages to get fewer and fewer upgrades to anything, and more and more storm damage each season.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-floods-auckland-council-joins-the-government-with-tightening-its-belt-to-pay-for-storm-damage/K5OMI37SQRHMJGPJ5GWSD3PURQ/
This is the precursor to the world of pain Government is going through cutting projects in time for Budget 2023.
Also the world of reallocation pain NZTA is going through with its own board to reallocate project funding away from new projects towards fixing up the roads and rail that is so damaged. Lots of regions are going to suffer out of that.
And underneath that is all the pain the communities and society in general goes through as all the big fresh upgrades die.
Very interesting to see that NZSuper increase of $100 per fortnight, benefit rates tracked up by inflation, and an upward shove to the incomes of 1.4 million kiwis.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/pm-chris-hipkins-policy-bonfire-turns-to-transport-speed-limit-changes-expected-to-be-ditched/B3KZEZZEGFAMRNMJREI4TIHPQM/
NZTA's board is in for more serious work to afford the rebuild.
Meanwhile, AT is digging up a perfectly functional roundabout (just up the road) – to replace it with a more highly-engineered one.
Those of us who've been through this process with AT in the past, know that the new one is highly likely to be *less* functional than the old one. We've had this happen with the last 3 AT road 'design' projects (one of which had to be replaced 3 times, and another one can't get buses around it, without driving on the verge).
This will apparently (according to the info provided by the local board) take 6 months – doubling the usual traffic chaos – amidst the usual blizzard of traffic cones – since there will only be one lane of traffic through in each direction (there is usually both a right turning lane, and a straight ahead one).
Many, many locals have fervently requested AT to abandon this project, and take the funding to where it is actually needed in repairing the roading infrastructure damaged by Gabrielle et al. No dice. It's going ahead come hell or high water.
How far we have sunk
https://twitter.com/psycho_milt/status/1635061323481612289
The ACLU has been on the "Trans Train" for years. They condemn the use of chemical castration pharmaceuticals for treating sex offenders, but are more than happy to support the same sort of medications use on children as so called "puberty blockers".
New Scientist published in the UK has a report referencing, among other recent extreme weather events, the back to back weather disasters in Auckland and Hastings.
I thought that once the modelling stop predicting reliably the weather patterns we’re past the tipping point.
This just made my day.
I got a notification from the Taxpayer's Union that I have earned a badge for being one of their top fans!
Seriously!
I get their posts nearly every day. I usually pour scorn on their claims of political neutrality and tell them that they are a front for the National Party and an organisation of tax evaders.
For that they award me a fan badge???
They REALLY should pay more attention to detail, shouldn't they!
Ha ha ha ha………
It is an award for turning up. A bit like the "best whiskers"
prize in the children's section of the Cat Show!
I have had some of those from sites where I only turn up to poke the Borax.
And boom! Just like that Weka completely negated any good weka may have contributed to the green movement by throwing down the green voter equivalent of not believing in vaccines as the “side effects” haven’t been “disproven”
Cheers pal. Nice uppercut
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
feel free to try again under that post, without having a go a me, and by explaining your thinking more clearly.
Please do. I can't work out what the heck you're on about, if anything. Hard to believe Weka would be undermining the green cause, but like she says, go on and explain.
Exactly … someone has to take the barbs for stating the bleeding obvious.
If we do not look outside our little echo chamber what hope is there of being progressive?
Thanks for seeing it Jenny
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Was rushing out to clear the secret effluent drain to the river … //