Open mike 13/08/2024
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6:00 am, August 13th, 2024 - 56 comments
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- Property Rights and the Treaty Principles Bill
Property rights – which enable decisions over tangible and intangible assets – are critical to an economy as Why Nations Fail pointed out. Not just private property rights for, as we shall see, they are more complicated than that. Neoliberals argue that private property rights lead to the maximum economic ...4 hours ago - The Hoon around the week to November 22
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Following the 2022 Brazilian general election, election loser Jair Bolsonaro tried to do a Trump, attempting a coup to overturn the election. It failed. But unlike his American friend, he hasn't been allowed to get away with it: The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and some of his closest ...6 hours ago - Treasury warns deeper recession worsening Budget deficit
The gift that keeps giving: David Seymour has now opened a split in the coalition over the future of National’s promise to build a new medical school. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / TheKakaKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...12 hours ago
- Weekly Roundup 22-November-2024
It’s another Friday and we’re inching closer to the end of the year. Here’s some of the stories that have caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and ...13 hours ago - Beyond Question?
Record Numbers: The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, which began at the tip of the North, and the tail of the South, on 11 November, culminated outside Parliament on Tuesday, 19 November 2024, in one of the largest demonstrations in New Zealand’s political history.ACCORDING TO TE ARA, the Ministry of Culture ...14 hours ago - The Rush To Blame “The Activists”
Activists are such easy scapegoats. The right and center have been conditioned for decades to roll their eyes at all protests. The left are easily aggravated over students leading movements they see as belonging to grownups, who have more important concerns like the economy and whether the trains come on ...14 hours ago - Cutting Through An Inundation of Dipshit Racists
Hi,Watching New Zealand from afar offers a strange perspective. It can be a good thing — distance from Aotearoa helped keep me sane while I reported on abuse at New Zealand’s biggest megachurch over the course of a year. It helps fuel my silly podcast. But it can also be ...15 hours ago - This is bad news
The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...16 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...1 day ago - Chicken Kiev
Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...1 day ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
This is written in response to the highly significant open letter from a group of economists that was today addressed to Christopher Luxon. The year is 2024, and it’s 1984. The country is reeling from a record Olympic medal gold haul, while the globe grapples with the choice of the ...1 day ago - The IPCA has failed
Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...1 day ago
- Thursday 21 November 2024
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’
I spoke to former Productivity Chair Nana this morning about the letter he and a group of other economists sent to PM Christopher Luxon to urge the Government to urgently suspend cuts to spending and investment for the sake of the economy, struggling businesses and the wellbeing of vulnerable ...1 day ago
- ACT’s Astroturfing & A Co-ordinated Attack on Te Pati Māori
Unity on the Streets / Unity at the TableAfter the Hīkoi, all three right wing Coalition leaders came together to push the idea that the 42,000 - 50,000 + strong Hikoi was somehow less potent and brave, and more illegitimate than the energy and crowd displayed.Prime Minister Christopher Luxon 20-November: ...1 day ago - Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilizing temperatures
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink The world is emitting over 40 gigatons of CO2 per year, contributing to an accelerating warming of the planet. The world needs to cut emissions rapidly to be remotely on track to meet our Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to well-below 2C, and we ...2 days ago
- I Love My Leather Jacket
I wear my leather jacket like a great big hugRadiating charm - a living cloak of luckIt's the only concrete link with an absent friendIt's a symbol I can wear 'till we meet againOr it's a weight around my neck while the owner's freeBoth protector and reminder of mortalityIt's a ...2 days ago - Throwback Thursday: Will “Auckland Transport” Survive?
With Auckland Transport’s future up in the air under Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed CCO reform, we’ve dug way back into the archives, to unearth this post originally published in March 2010. As you’ll see, many of the debates that were being had when AT was first proposed continue to ...2 days ago
- Economists call on PM to suspend budget cuts for the sake of the economy
Nicola Willis’ budget cuts are under fire from economists for having no clear rationale and worsening the recession. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, November 21: The news at ...2 days ago
- The end of policing by consent
National has appointed a new police commissioner. And he explicitly rejects policing by consent: Asked if he subscribed to policing by consent, he said he did not. “I don’t talk about policing by consent. I talk about trust and confidence, and it is fundamentally important that the police have ...2 days ago
- The Treaty Principles Bill: A Who’s Who
David Horatio Waterbed SeymourFringe politician and dweeb transformed successfully by ThinkTank money into a well-oiled soundbite robot.Currently programmed to say: Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Was previously programmed to say:I am a proud libertarian andI am a ...2 days ago - Kinleith mill closure shows need for industrial strategy
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is calling on the Government to deliver an economic and industrial strategy for regional manufacturing, rather than just expressing sympathy for job losses, following the announced closure of Kinleith mill in Tokoroa. “The closure Kinleith mill in Tokoroa is not just devastating for ...2 days ago
- 27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year
One in four Kiwi children live in households where food runs out often or sometimes. Photo: Getty ImagesKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, November 20: The lead: The official annual Health Survey found sharp ...3 days ago - Transport modelling is an illusion
This guest post by Tim Adriaansen, an advocate for accessibility and sustainable transport, originally published on LinkedIn and cross posted here with permission. People prefer cars, right? Probably not. Here’s why. Granted, most people in English-speaking countries use a car to get around. This simple reality underpins our transport ...3 days ago
- Young Maori take over
Neither Wellington nor Parliament has ever seen anything like it before. The Police said there were more than 40,000 but however many there were, yesterday’s Hikoi to Parliament was a monumental event. It was almost three times the Foreshore and Seabed martch of 2004 and many,many times bigger than ...3 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Aftermath
The euphoria from yesterday’s hikoi may be transitory, but is no less valuable for that. It is pretty rare for the left to feel itself to be in the overwhelming majority, and speaking as the voice of the people. Lest that momentum be lost, the organisers will no doubt be ...3 days ago - Sabin 33 #3 – Solar panels generate too much waste and will overwhelm landfills
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- We need to talk about Kevin
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family has a Drunk Uncle Kevin in there somewhere. If your Kevin is anything like the ones I know, he was getting along happily enough without having to think too much about the Treaty Principles Bill apart from bloody good job, onya guys ...3 days ago - The hikoi
Like everyone else (everyone who wasn't there, anyway), I've spent the morning watching the hikoi march on Parliament. The pictures are astounding: parliament grounds and the surrounding streets are full, and there are still people backed up along Lambton Quay. The police are estimating 35,000 people, and that's a floor ...3 days ago
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4 days ago - Discount Code for Webworm Merch!
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There were urgent moves yesterday at Parliament to try and defuse the tension building up over ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill. The Bill’s author, ACT leader David Seymour, told reporters that he understood the Justice Select Committee met yesterday to discuss how long it should take to consider submissions on the ...4 days ago
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4 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Arrival, And Tyler Childers
Politicians like to bang on all about the need to heal society’s racial/economic divisions, but in their actions they’re more keen on stoking those divisions, with the Treaty Principles Bill being the classic example. The Bill seeks to dilute the Crown’s responsibilities to Māori at the same time as it ...4 days ago
- Socially Backwards and Fiscally Forwards: the False Ideological Divide and the “Conservative” Li...
4 days ago - Kaamos: Accepted
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- Katherine Trebeck – An Alternative Economic Narrative
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The NZNO have announced a nationwide strike for December over its pay dispute with Health NZ, who have put a 1 per cent cap on pay rises. The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti and Treaty Principles Bill remain front and centre in the media, with the impacts of the Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke-led ...4 days ago
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This post was originally published on Linked In by Nicolas Reid. It is republished here with permission. Auckland is now just a year or so away from having the keystone of its urban rail network complete. As I wrote about here, the City Rail Link will be a literal game changer for ...5 days ago
- National’s support base is wobbling
If ACT leader David Seymour intended the Treaty Principles Bill to drive a wedge into National’s support base, he may well already be succeeding. By midnight on Thursday after the Maori Party haka in Parliament, National MPs were being deluged with emails and messages from their members calling them out ...5 days ago
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- Grifter Eftpos Tamaki at it again
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Self-appointed “Bishop” and proto-fascist, Brian Tamaki was at it again on 16 November, blocking Auckland’s southern motorway, SH1.This time, the target of his ire wasn’t the Civil Unions Act; covid lock-downs; mask mandates; or ...5 days ago - Rip up a bill, lead a haka are words to live by
I cannot stop grabbing people by the lapels, or shoulders, or similar, and raving at them about the tiny miracles in my ears.I can hear again! There could not be a more satisfied customer in all the world.In a noisy cafe I am even catching words that Karren cannot, she ...6 days ago - Unintended Consequences
Take the baitYou pay the priceIt's much too lateFor good adviceYou know and I know that our good things' throughBecause there's consequences for what we doConsequences for me and youWriters: Kevin Robert Hayes, David Nagier, Bonnie Adele Hayes.Fallout from the first readingOne News began last night by saying that tens ...7 days ago - Thank you, driver!
Today, Saturday 16th of November, is Auckland Transport’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Saturday 16 November marks the third annual Auckland Transport (AT) ‘Bus Driver Appreciation Day’, and this year we are encouraging all of New Zealand to thank their driver or let the bus go first if you are in ...7 days ago
- Totally Normal: Holiday Edition
Hi,If I was to accurately sum up my mental state over the week, I’d just say that I got a huge fright from my own shadow.I’d nipped out for an 11pm neighborhood stroll, just to calm down after a day of stress and screens. The Cure and Fazerdaze’s new record ...7 days ago - We Are Not Listening
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
1 week ago - More lawlessness from National
On Tuesday, sick of government stonewalling, the Waitangi Tribunal issued a rare court order, ordering the Minister of Health to release unredacted documents within 48 hours showing its reasoning for disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. The government's response to the lawful order of a court? Yeah, ...1 week ago
- National’s tyrannical “foreign interference” law
Yesterday, under cover the the biggest political fight of the year, National quietly - covertly, even - introduced anti-foreign interference legislation. The bill is the product of a years-long work-program aimed at countering shit like this and this, and there's unquestionably a need to do something to counter foreign states' ...1 week ago
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The Treaty Principles Bill continues to dominate political news, with it passing its first reading in the House. Parliament was briefly suspended and Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke suspended for 24 hours after leading a haka that was joined by opposition MPs and the public in the gallery. Willie ...1 week ago
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- First Tea and Toast, now Milo — why do NZ’s best beverages need so much defending?
Only two months ago, Nicola Willis had to step in to stop Health New Zealand cutting tea and toast for post-birth parents, and now Lester Levy is riding to the rescue with a welcome message for all: our health workers can once again drink Milo, and will no longer need ...1 week ago - Gordon Campbell on the folly of making apologies in a social vacuum.
Day One of the Treaty Principles Bill…and everyone got what they wanted, and did what they liked. Heated words were exchanged. Culturally appropriate acts of outrage were performed. David Seymour got to play the victim card. Willie Jackson got kicked out of class. A comically red-faced Mr Speaker bellowed “Order, ...1 week ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #46 2024
Open access notables Microbial solutions must be deployed against climate catastrophe, Peixoto et al., Nature Communications [comment]: The climate crisis is escalating. A multitude of microbe-based solutions have been proposed, and these technologies hold great promise and could be deployed along with other climate mitigation strategies. However, these solutions have ...1 week ago
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The government's Treaty Principles Bill is up for its first reading today - bought forward in a rush in a desperate effort to avoid the hikoi which is currently marching on Wellington. But the Prime Minister won’t be there for it – he’s literally running away to Peru! But he ...1 week ago
- 97% of submissions did not want no-cause evictions, Trump chooses a Russian spy for US Intelligence ...
Good morning, and I’m sorry I’ve been away for a couple of days.I’ve been focusing on the Hikoi, and also testing out sentiment on the Treaty Principles Bill. It’s complicated, and the Treaty Principles Bill will be debated in the House today. The Government’s own lawyers have told them the ...1 week ago - Government must vote down ACT Members Bill that would undermine workers’ rights
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- Seymour causes thousands of unjustified absences by forcing kids to fight for their rights instead o...
The State would like to remind you that they are in control. They manage your employment prospects, and can destroy the job market you and yours rely on by mass-cancelling construction projects, cutting funding, and firing a good chunk of our public servants. They wield the mechanisms that provide scrutiny ...1 week ago - The Weight of the World
As the weight of the world Hangs on your shoulders The weight of the world Starts to take over again And over again All that you once loved, now you hate So slowly relearn how to meditate To have and to hold And never let go Can you feel it ...1 week ago - Thursday 14 November 2024
The Treaty Principles Bill is set to have its First Reading in the House today, as the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti continues. More than 40 KCs have written to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General outlining their “grave concerns” about the substance of the Treaty Principles Bill, while an academic and ...1 week ago
- Release: Government should be transparent on live exports
Targeted consultation on reinstating live cattle exports by sea won’t allow the New Zealand public to have their say. ...13 hours ago - NZ’s global climate rankings plummet as Govt removes agriculture from ETS
The Government has passed legislation to remove agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) while Aotearoa’s reputation on climate action plummets. ...1 day ago - Failed boot camp experiment must end
As legislation to set up boot camps passed its first reading, the Green Party urged the Government to abandon this failed policy experiment for the good of our rangatahi. ...1 day ago
- Gender-affirming care must centre evidence and health needs, not political posturing
The Ministry of Health has today released an evidence brief regarding the use of puberty blockers in gender-affirming healthcare, amid moves by the government to limit access. ...1 day ago
- Release: National doesn’t care about manufacturing
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- Release: Youth mental wellbeing no longer a priority for Child Poverty Minister
Louise Upston has revealed her diminished vision for vulnerable youth against a backdrop of snubbed advice, scrapped priorities, shifted goal posts and thousands more children projected to fall into poverty. ...1 day ago
- Release: National’s lack of climate action taking NZ backwards
National Government’s backward-looking climate policy has seen New Zealand fall seven places on the Climate Change Performance Index to 41 out of 63 countries measured. ...1 day ago
- Release: Simple reason for drop in emergency housing
When the Government says it has reduced the number of people in emergency housing, what it means is it is stopping people from accessing it in the first place. ...1 day ago
- Govt’s child wellbeing strategy ‘shallow and shameful’
The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. ...1 day ago
- Release: A historic win for Samoan communities
Labour warmly welcomes the Restoring Samoan Citizenship Bill as it passes its third reading, before becoming law. ...2 days ago
- Government plan to reinstate live animal exports a “national disgrace”
The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. ...2 days ago
- Pasifika justice as Member’s Bill passes final reading
Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, the Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill, has passed its third reading and will become law. ...2 days ago
- Release: Minister of Education thinks New Zealand ends at the Bombay Hills
The Minister of Education has shown complete disregard for rural communities and their school bus routes in Question Time today. ...2 days ago
- Economists sound alarm on Government’s slash-and-burn approach
A group of prominent economists has released an open letter to the Government, raising grave concerns about the far-reaching consequences of its fiscal policy. ...2 days ago
- Release: Smoking numbers up under Costello’s watch
National’s repeal of Labour’s smokefree legislation has taken New Zealand further away from achieving a Smokefree 2025 and a smokefree generation. ...2 days ago
- Release: Call for Palestine recognition by NZ, Australian and Canadian MPs
Parliamentarians from Australia, Canada and New Zealand have written an open letter to their respective Prime Ministers calling on them to recognise Palestine. ...2 days ago
- Justice Select Committee opens floor for Treaty Principles submissions
Today, the Justice Select Committee has decided to officially open submissions for the controversial Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
- Power of the people on full display as hīkoi approaches Parliament
Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
- Hypocrisy as Te Whatu Ora contractor bill balloons
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- Government’s move to monetise access to nature a slippery slope
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The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. ...1 week ago
- Stand Up for Te Tiriti
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...1 week ago
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- Greens join King’s Counsel in calling for Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned
The Prime Minister must answer the call from a group of senior lawyers of the King’s Counsel to abandon the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
...1 week ago
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
Labour joins with the Government in unreservedly apologising for the abuse, neglect and trauma including torture in state and faith-based care and for ignoring the voices of survivors for too long. ...1 week ago
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Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...1 week ago
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The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt move to exclude journalist risks chilling effect
The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
- Without action, an apology will be empty air
For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Concerns remain over tobacco interference
Concerns about the tobacco industry’s ability to interfere in government policy making remain, despite the inability of the Office of the Auditor-General to investigate the Government’s decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products. ...2 weeks ago
- Urgent wake-up call on climate
The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice indicates Aotearoa needs to be stepping up on climate action. ...2 weeks ago
- Green MP’s Meme-ber’s Bill set to save the world
Break out the punchlines and dust off your meme folder: Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the Ballot yesterday. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies
Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
- Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principles Bill
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ must pursue independent foreign policy
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Only sociopaths can deliberately inflict so much harm on so many people and sleep at night.
Even more terrifying is the large number of NZers who happily vote for them.
Kay, I suppose you are involved with support networks ? All I can say is Strength in numbers.
I hope all the Best for you.
Thanks, and no I'm not. One thing I've learnt about life under this mob- third time now- is to keep a very low profile.
Ah, yea I could understand that. And i would def see how making a noise would draw negative attention from the nasties at winz/msd. I was maybe more meaning support from Help and other groups…although of course they are also getting defunded by aforesaid NACT1 nasties.
Anyway..Look after.
That is correct Kay. This is the worst form of their cruelty since Richardson.
They underfund services to funnel funds to their own, while blaming the unemployed for being a victim of their austerity.
The behaviour is cruel and cavalier. To hear that man say 'You have obligations'.
Where is his obligation to improve people's lives? Where is the "Do least harm?" Where is the job creation? The Nation building? The care?
If we list the things he has "Done" they are all pulling the screws and pins out of our social fabric, and putting costs and rules in place with no consultation.
Further, they "Other" anyone who does anything to try to check or change their plans, so working against them when you are vulnerable is a problem.
The control is fear. Fear of job loss, fear of income loss, fear of crime, fear of culture loss.
When people find their world so shifted from its usual axis, they start protecting their own, losing trust in community solutions sadly.
That is the goal. Be a selfish self interested individual, as Thatcher said "There is no such thing as society, only individual men and women"
Well we need to be there for each other, start supporting groups who display the strength of community and values.
At near 83 years old, when some says they are a Christian…., they are not! Those who are are I have found, live and act by the values. This lot, it is all about sending public money towards their own. They are in the crowd Christ would have thrown out of the temple.
Kay we understand how hard this is going to be for you and Rolling on Gravel, and that it is even harder when they underfund support systems. Keep telling your story. Your story and others like it will bring people to a change of heart. Many good people are swayed by misinformation, and now are questioning the crude ill planned moves as carnage happens.
” ….when some says they are a Christian…., they are not!”
Those characters need calling out like this:
(And, predictably, it doesn’t end well for her …. )
Oh dear, b******d it up again, sorry. Search YT on "Magdalene", "man" and "god".
Some hint of what you're talking about would be helpful?
Sorry. benefit sanctions.
What, you have to sign a NDA now to get your benefit? Jeezu ….
Quoting a “Catch 22” has been out of fashion for a while, but “a no-win or absurd situation full of contradictions” certainly seems to apply to the CoC Govt.’s ever extending war on the poor. Reserve Bank and capitalist economists call for higher unemployment to battle inflation and put downward pressure on wages. Then the state welfare apparatus puts the slipper into unemployed rather than lauding them as inflation busters.
MSD/WINZ run a punitive dehumanising operation. Sanctions for missing a meeting? or even a phone call if you have run out of data? Some of these cruel bureaucrats make the Stasi look caring. I was involved in the unemployed workers rights movement in the 90s and family members have been beneficiary advocates. The WINZ weasels soon pull their heads in and start advising full entitlements when an informed person turns up in support with a Jobseeker.
A high trust model was introduced during COVID particularly for employers and middle class people on the higher second tier benefit (on which a partner could continue to work! try that with MSD/WINZ now…). The current regime is a no trust model, where cards are issued to control spending–no chocolate or lotto for you pal or it is boot camp…
Sometimes you need Martyn “bomber” aka bombastic, Bradbury to cut through…
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/08/13/all-louise-upston-needs-after-draconian-welfare-penalty-announcement-is-a-coat-and-101-dalmatians/
Ultimately a Basic Income for all citizens is needed which abates as you start to earn significantly, and MSD/WINZ consigned to the history books.
I feel for anyone that has..or will have, interaction with winz/msd. It will be back to the real bad old days for many. They were bad enough recently, but now they have been given…permission : (
Expect much more of this….
This shit policy comes straight out of the UK government's austerity playbook.
In a 2018 UK government reported on the effects of benefit sanction.
Fewer go off 'universal credit' into PAYE work than just disappear off the radar (ie, they become workers, in the UK's zero hours gig economy, at quantifiably lower weekly income, or become homeless beggars).
I predict next year the repeal of legislation introduced by Labour to regulate ambiguity in the gig economy. Currently employers need to "include the hours of work which have been agreed between you and the employee." LegalVision.
This looks like an agenda to drive down wages at the lowest level of workers.
IMO the NACT1 creeps are waging war on all below the top percentile. NZ incl our Environment is going to be damaged forever after these POS are done. The deluded who voted for them ? They will find out soon enough.
It will get worse.
"It further punishes people for being poor and it will only exacerbate the issues.
Well, yes. That's the idea.
Landlord, Luxury Luxon opines….
What an asshole…
Yes, Baldrick is a prosperity Christian apparently, so Bennie Bashing is as natural as the falling rain for him.
Fark, he basically says when asked what happens to people once they get benefits cut is "dunno, don't care". What an arsehole indeed!
"I don't Kea", is what he says. It's what he said to Heather Duplicity-Allen a couple of months ago when questioned whether the bootcamps would work.
"I don't Kea".
How many is the expected number of job interviews to qualify as enough?
Where the fuck is the money expected to come from to go to all of those job interviews?
How about a carrot such as an additional payment for actually attending .
At what level of sociopathy to psychopathy is the requirement to be a Nact minister?
At what level of sociopathy to psychopathy is the requirement to be a Nact minister?
It's a mandatory requirement.
"Where the fuck is the money expected to come from to go to all of those job interviews?
How about a carrot such as an additional payment for actually attending"
Yep, like something simple such as free Public Transport.
These people do not know what the fuck they are doing.
IMO sadly….they do. Its all part of their Atlas network led MasterPlan. You should read a few of Mountain Tui's posts ( On the Standard . Gives a detailed and awesome cut on them ! )
Luxon doesn't know the jobseeker benefit rates (or won't say it).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018950903/pm-luxon-on-new-sanctions-to-beneficiaries
See them here.
https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/jobseeker-benefit-rates.html#rates
He knows his own 'entitlements' of course.
https://www.thepaepae.com/what-does-entitlement-look-like-chris-luxon/39308/
aj-I listened to that RNZ Morning Report interview this morning. Luxon had no idea what the jobseeker rates were-it was a really bad look.
Well done Ingrid Hipkiss for asking him the question and then giving him a bit of a hard time when he had no idea. She usually doesn't ask the hard questions or follow up.
On a related note, I'm surprised, I'm enjoying Paddy Gower on Nine to Noon.
Today he gave a senior mandarin a squeeze from the Education Ministry.
Sitting on a report about an earthquake prone building @ Wellington Girls.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018950920/wellington-girls-college-closes-another-quake-prone-building
Yes, I'm afraid Paddy Gower gave me a bit of a turn. I thought my ancient but trustworthy old radio had lost its marbles and dumped RNZ. I'm still trying to find it again. 😉
Yep, I heard that interview. The "mandie" was repeating the same formulaic, non-self-incriminating statement over and over, doing everything bar actually saying "what I'm telling you is … ".
Yes he gets flustered easily once it goes off script. Also Hipkiss ended the interview by interrupting and talking over his babble, which capped it off quite nicely.
News item: the Environment Court has granted an order sought by a local council that an East Cape forestry company stops discharging forestry debris and sediment and deals with about a lot of woody debris from a forest block.
So the stable door has slammed but the horse bolted long ago.
I wondered yesterday whether this government considers NZ's performance in Paris too good and is using that success to begin a narrative to cover their real agenda; cutting funding and/or partially privatising high performance sport, asking athletes themselves to raise sponsorship and self-fund.
There have been two unattributed articles in the government adjacent NZ Herald yesterday and today framing NZ as overachievers (what business does NZ have at 11 on the medal table), and potentially high earning profit seekers.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/olympics/olympics-2024-new-zealand-labelled-overachievers-of-paris-2024-olympics/7CTQ2ZMUFNEN5GDRQH7KWM3J6I/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/olympics/olympics-2024-paris-gold-medals-unlock-financial-opportunities-for-new-zealand-athletes/AHR23XFCSNFQBF4FSMDJAU3X3I/
Given the Herald's want to entertain political advertising, can we be sure this isn't an exercise in softening public opinion driven inside or outside the office of Chris Bishop?
Or, given the Herald's want to use AI as a journalist, perhaps no one wrote these articles at all.
I think some ministers need to watch "I, Daniel Blake". He has to go to a job interview in order to receive a benefit but can't accept the job because of doctor's orders. Just a big waste of everyone's time.
Hearing about these proposed
cruel sanctionsTory incentives , I was reminded of the Ashburton WINZ office murders.Peggy Noble and Susan Cleveland were killed by Russell Tully in 2014. Kim Adams and Lindy Curtis were also caught up in the horror.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/work-and-income-shooting-gunman-russell-john-tullys-appeal-under-way-in-christchurch/QLBMRYFTY6F5LLNJKTBZV5ZRMI/
I remember that too well, and my first reactions upon hearing the news. First thoughts were for the victims and their families. Quickly followed by not at all being surprised. The only real surprise was that it hadn't happened sooner.
Followed by how the government will use this as the excuse they need to treat all beneficiaries as potentially violent, which they did ( guards on the doors and checking ID). Even today we're all guilty of something until proven innocent.
I will never forget Paula Bennett on the news that night shedding crocodile tears for the victims. If she was genuinely upset, it was because it happened on her watch.
There's no one I know from that time who condones that action, and jail is appropriate. But we also knew full well how it could've happened.
Sorry, but this guy is definitely a “nut case” his actions are his responsibility. He shot dead two defenceless women pleading for their lives. You can’t defend this guy.
Got to agree with you there David. This guy should be kept locked up. You can't blame National for this.
Not defending him at all, or condoning his actions. He belongs in jail. I'm saying that those of on the receiving end of a highly sadistic winz system can see how that ended up happening. You had to be there.
Exactly.
Where's the defence of 'this guy'?
Tully clearly had some issues and received the third longest sentence handed down.
To suggest this 'just happened' in isolation is turning a blind eye to the vexatious, cruel and dehumanising nature of WINZ under 6 years of Key's government.
Tully was always going to do what he ended up doing. The two women worked for WINZ, they didn’t deserve this.
Although, WINZ is a useless organisation.
Big Hairy News yesterday, from 45 min cover the government's new literacy and maths curricula. Interestingly, no existing Reading Recovery teachers have been approached about retraining, although the current Minister claims they have. Meanwhile, an Aussie private company is looking to bid into becoming providers of RR in NZ.
The clips are from Q+A with Labour’s Education spokesperson.
Listening to Morning Report on RNZ this morning.
Chris Luxon comes on to defend the new punitive measures against beneficiaries who the government deems are not sufficiently motivated to seek work.
He is asked if he knows how much the job seeker benefit is a week.
He doesn't know, not even willing to approximate.
It sums up what we have already found out about our figurehead PM. He is incredibly unprepared and out of touch with what many New Zealanders have to live on per week.
Even Luxon conceded that it was a small proportion of beneficiaries who milk the system, which begs the question why if it is so small, is the government so keen to do it?
The answer has nothing to do with being fair to "ordinary hard working tax paying New Zealanders" a phrase which National uses unceasingly. It is all about playing up to their redneck supporters who think that only people who WANT to be unemployed end up that way and if they can't find a job it is THEIR fault.
Ignores how unemployment has soared in the last year under this government. The hypocrisy of running a government where unemployment is growing, and at the same time telling people they are bucking the system when they can't find a job. An astute listener to Morning Report texted that to the programme.
Luxon is a slave to ACT and NZ First. His government is a thieves guild comprised of rich urban neo-liberals, conservative rural environment plunderers, conspiracy theorists and "squeezed middle class" Ford Ranger enthusiasts. He sits impotently on the top, not seeming to realize what is happening beneath.
'If I don't know about it, I'm not responsible. Lalalala [fingers in ears]'. Except the buck stops with you when you're the leader of the country.
Can’t think of a less effective PM in my lifetime.
The Disinformation Project seems to have gone quiet.
I would have thought the recent Olympic boxing bruhaha was in their purview.
Perhaps they are the victims of recent funding cuts.
Perhaps – the DP's most recent media statement was on 26 March. Maybe there are now better ways (AI?) to address disinformation and associated harms. Our CoC govt appears committed to disinformation resilience and the like, although I do wonder.
According to AP News, Khelif can look after herself: she's filing a complaint in the French legal system regarding the misinformation and hate targeted at her. Kirsty Burrows, an IOC official who had death threats and harassment after speaking on Khelif's behalf at a press conference earlier filed a similar complaint.
This is the way to go, like the Green MP who chased and exposed 2 Young Nats as generators of bulk hate mail a couple of years ago. Can't hide your hate behind a social media mask anymore. Or your state propaganda behind a bot army.
"The Paris prosecutor’s office said it received Burrows’ complaint on Aug. 4 and agents from the National Unit for the Fight against Online Hate are investigating the alleged offenses, including death threats, public provocations aimed at attacking a person and cyberbullying. Under French law, the crimes, if proven, carry prison sentences that range from two to five years and fines ranging from 30,000 to 45,000 euros."
In France's Justice system, it's up to prosecutors to identify miscreants, and whether there's a case against an individual or organisation.
Placed this where I meant it to go.
And of course, the aim of all this blitzing is to shift public opinion in NZ against the trans community, and the positive legal and social advances they have made here in recent years. Demagogues aren't interested in facts, they're interested in feelings: ‘Nasty man hurts poor, whimpering woman. Man in dress is pedophile. Change this now!’
The DP was contracted by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under the last Labour government, but that ended well before the 2023 election. As did the contract the DP had with the University of Auckland. If they've gone quiet, it's more likely because their at times ridiculous claims have dented their credibility.
Bryce Edwards: The need to take disinformation seriously – Democracy Project
Fully aware of that, I was wondering if funding from the Prime Minister's had stopped.
Not content with wrecking housing and health and education, the NACT1 government is also destroying tourism.
https://archive.md/kKZA2
I think that increasing levies on tourism is a good thing. And people who can afford international airfares, aren't going to be deterred by a fee of $341.
Working holiday visas contribute virtually nothing to the economy (apart from supporting the low-wage economy in tourism industries (think ski instructors in Queenstown, or vineyard temp employees in Marlborough). Again, if they can afford to fly here, they can afford the cost of the visa.
And of course, the aim of all this blitzing is to shift public opinion in NZ against the trans community, and the positive legal and social advances they have made here in recent years. Demagogues aren't interested in facts, they're interested in feelings: ‘Nasty man hurts poor, whimpering woman. Man in dress is pedophile. Change this now!’
To sell more fizz in the Middle East and South Asia, Coca Cola tried to pass off a Coca Cola factory built in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied territory of East Jerusalem, as being in Palestine.
Technically this may be correct, but didn't stop the outrage from Coke's intended customers, offended that Coke considered them too ignorant to know the difference between a factory situated in an illegal Israeli only Settlement on Palestinian land, and Palestine.
“Even Palestine has a Coke factory,” Coca Cola advertising claim
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350376909/how-coca-cola-tried-and-failed-suppress-boycott-over-gaza