I see that Greens candidate Ricardo Menéndez March has started coalition negotiations on Twitter with respect to the wealth tax. It might be a good idea if he shut for a bit and let his leadership do what they have to do to get the the party over the line on Saturday. Otherwise there will be no coalition negotiations period.
And another day labour say it's not happening and everyone thinks national look totally desperate, pinning the slimmest of hopes their final minute hail mary pass is caught by dullards who can't think for themselves.
There are traps set, and there are natural hazards. National aren’t capable of getting through either.
Err, that's what political parties do in election campaigns, push and promote their policies – And why should they not? Especially if by doing so it gives labour a free hit at the dopey nats who keep trying to push the same shit up the hill to nowhereville.
I think the advice the right are giving is lie about your intentions, and then once in power bring out the slippery stuff, ie what political parties have been doing forever. The Greens are telling us what they want to do, us as voters can choose to vote for that, or not. I party voted Greens.
Yeah Alan, if you think distorting the amounts involved and putting out a maybe, could be etc is the kind of party you want to vote for.
But I am glad for you that you can find one thing Nats and Act have done right. Mostly the Nats have been,, dare I say it a shambles. In fact a complete shambles.
Act being completely opportunist again trying to get the gun vote…………I guess that has worked for them to an extent. But what a thing to try and win votes on. Right to more sophisticated guns. Fuck
Pressure on this has succeeded in Jacinda ruling it out completely effectively shutting the door on a key GP policy before coalition negotiations start… some would regard that as a success.
It's the baby bird syndrome. All the nestlings know is to watch for the parent bird with the food and their mouths open wide and are lined with yellow so the feeder can't miss the target with the gobstopper. All the fervent workers in the poverty stratum of need of money, goods, homes and livings, know there is great need and can't shut up even when it would be strategic to do so, or adopt another approach.
He's an out-there leftist doing his thing. Can't expect such folk to see the big picture even, let alone be sensible. Young, keen & naive is all that matters…
Are we supposed to trust in the 'Little Father', or mother in this case, who knows and loves us, secretly. The Left are rationalists not superstitionists. Trying to discern the hearts of the blessed Grant and the holy Jacinda is not in my playbook nor should it ever be for demo-crats.
ScottGN – I've been uneasy for some time watching March use AAAP as a blunt weapon against WINZ this last year. AAAP used to provide great advocacy for clients but over recent months it has become a political vehicle for March. He will lose the Greens votes if he continues on this journey.
I may be wrong . This morning on my Facebook is a DENISE LEE add saying she will spend $6.2 billion on Onehunga transport, Google tells me Auckland will spend $1.42 billion something doest sound right. national also gets a mention.
Some good articles on Newsroom today, including an insight into on-the-ground campaigning in Manurewa (should be read by anyone who thinks elections are won in armchairs!).
And the news that Collins has been endorsed by … Todd Barclay. That sums up National's mess.
Jacinda has shown paranoia and a serious lack of judgement in refusing to discuss the Wealth Tax (or any Wealth Tax option) with the Greens in coalition negotiations. So much for transformation, alleviating poverty and a fairer NZ.
I think it's a good policy too (party voted green), but I accept that some in labour and the wider electorate don't, so it's been ruled out as a policy too far.
The crux of the matter comes down to what I view as the issue of the campaign. A couple of days ago there's a media bit from Collins saying about the PM "I don't believe a word she says" and then another from her urging us to believe her when she says "you can trust me". Clearly at 47% in the polls, the people are rejecting Judith.
So again, for the nats to keep putting it front and centre, when people hear Jacinda say no, then it smacks of desperation and must be counter productive.
Or labour could grow a pair and actually address tax reform to end poverty and create a fairer society, but I know that won't happen when the policies needed are unpopular with voters, even though their best interests in the long term, and not many governments wilfully choose to vote themselves out.
No need for a tax referendum, the argument just needs to be won in the wider public, so it's not a bottom line in future negotiations but a minimum standard adopted by both leftish parties.
At the risk of seeming vaguely Marxist, I see it as a class issue. Simple: middle class has wealth to pass on to children, lower class doesn't.
I agree with the wealth tax as a semi-plausible method of reducing wealth inequality. Laudable, but history will pronounce a verdict on saturday. That verdict may turn out to be that it was mere virtue-signalling.
If those for whom the Greens policy wonks designed the policy to benefit refuse to actually vote for it, then nobody will be able to claim that it worked as intended, eh?
Politically-correct Greens, operating on auto-pilot as usual with tiny brains disengaged, will flounder around in search of some feeble excuse for failure. Other Greens will get real. The upshot will be that the Greens will have to re-evaluate their raison d'être.
If they still want to bridge middle & lower classes via policy, they will only survive via more sophisticated marketing of that policy!!
The Greens say that they use consensus to make policy decisions and yet, despite being a Green Party member, I've never been asked if I support any policies before they become policy.
Or labour could grow a pair and actually address tax reform to end poverty and create a fairer society
The only way tax would do that is if PAYE went back to a high tax rate of 70% or more. High enough to effectively instituting a maximum income.
but I know that won't happen when the policies needed are unpopular with voters
Actually, I think a maximum income would probably be quite popular with the majority of people. Unfortunately, the way things are, they're not the ones that are going to get a say in it.
No need for a tax referendum, the argument just needs to be won in the wider public
But a referendum does have the benefit of finding out what the majority of people actually want and not just of those who have the resources to make a lot of noise.
I'm not overly worried about wealth vs cgt vs ftt, I just think that the people who have benefitted the most from the system should pay proportionately more for their disproportionate good fortune.
This is my preference, my current thinking is to get rid all the tax credit systems working for families etc etc.
Change the tax codes so that they work on a tax free threshold basis.
Ie Single Parent couple of kids your tax free threshold might be say 50k so you can earn what you can without worrying about abatements etc etc
All benefits ie unemployment would be tax free and earning income on his would be fine up till you reached your tax free threshold. Again making it viable for someone to find some work and not worry about abatements etc.
A single professional might only have a tax free threshold of only $5000.
Change the tax bands adding higher rates.
Reduce gst, enact a very broad but low rate cgt, look at a tax to discourage land banking and tax off shore holdings.
Wrong Mikesh-all she had to say was that during coalition discussions when a WT was raised it would be a Labour party bottom line that there would be no WT.
Having done two large dinner parties in two days among the old and wealthy of Dunedin in 3 days, they can hold their nose and vote Labour, but not if it comes with a Green Party tax. They simply don't believe the Greens understand how to hand wealth down through to your children. This is the haute-bourgeoisie in our most left-leaning cities.
We need to see the next Associate Finance and Minister of Revenue Ministers generate some think pieces for Cabinet on this, pronto. Whoever gets in.
Ardern hsimply must spend some of her ginormous political capital – Key failed to do so and she's smarter than him.
The problem they have isn't that the Greens don't know about inter-generational power, the Greens understand it too well, and how harmful it can be.
Dunedin being a case in point – far too long locked down by a cadre of unimaginative families seeking to preserve their personal wealth and businesses.
As I heard it Key didn't spend his political capital to put things right, Right-wise, because he understood his support was based on specifically not going Douglas/ Richardson.
Jacinda and Grant are cautious to their bones and probably don't believe to begin with, all nurtured in the norts Labour environment.
Still a little resentful at Grant, trying to establish his Left credentials in the Pub political programme, saying all the right shit and turning out just as we expected.
edit
Who or what can anyone trust in NZ? We must retain our present government as only with them can we hope to turn NZ around to be responsive to reality and need, rather than the speculators and those deep in comfy chairs, or bent on furthering the interests available to the wealthy.
…The Laura Fergusson Rehabilitation in Greenlane closed in August, with its board blaming financial problems. Now the Charities Services is investigating complaints about the way it has been run.
For 27 years, Josephine Cliff's son lived at Laura Fergusson. She says over the last five years, she witnessed the decline of services for residents like her son. "The maintenance, I mean just never appeared to be done. There was sort of rotten walls, buildings. My son's door fell off, a sort of french door thing just collapsed. There was no maintenance I could see going on at all," she said…
"I was told when I took my letter in by hand to the CEO, she actually came out and I said to her, I'd written a letter and here it is for the chairman of the board, wherever he hangs out now, and she said we were gagged, we were not allowed to speak to you because the Ministry of Health gagged us," she said.
The Ministry of Health denies it gagged the trust. Cliff said when she eventually got a reply, it said the funding wasn't enough to continue, even though other providers are still operating, she said.
Former board member John Wolk, an amputee, has also used the organisation's services. He says when the closure was announced last year he was told a plan would be released early this year.
I didn't click on the story but Stuff has yet another story about National saying what Labour will do and won't do.
They don't talk so much about their own list of what they will do and not. Not talk much past spraying about the multi-billions they'll spend, no details, or imply the promises they make are already achieved.
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/10/12/julian-assange-trial-freedom-speech/ Editor’s note: Fidel Narváez served as Ecuador’s consul in the UK from 2010 until July 2018. He helped get Julian Assange political asylum, and regularly communicated with the WikiLeaks publisher when he was trapped in the London embassy. In a previous article for The Grayzone, Narváez debunked 40 media lies and distortions about Assange. In this piece, he summarizes the key points from the British extradition hearings against Assange in September 2020.
California authorities have launched a criminal investigation into unauthorized ballot boxes that the Republican party has placed in several counties, with authorities warning that these set-ups are illegal.
The boxes have appeared in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties at locations including political party offices, campaign headquarters and churches, according to the California secretary of state. The GOP admitted Monday that it owned the boxes and defended the practice.
As for what happens to ballots deposited in these fake dropboxes, who knows? But it probably involves an incinerator, at least for all those voting Democrat.
I have never pretended to understand the US's electoral system, but isn't it a bit irrelevant when each side does dodgy shit, when the whole thing seems to be decided by Electoral College votes?
No the votes determine how the electoral college votes for a state. And the "dodgy shit" is pretty much republican – no false equivalence and blaming both sides.
No Right Turn:California authorities have launched a criminal investigation into unauthorized ballot boxes that the Republican party has placed in several counties, with authorities warning that these set-ups are illegal.
The boxes have appeared in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties at locations including political party offices, campaign headquarters and churches, according to the California secretary of state. The GOP admitted Monday that it owned the boxes and defended the practice.
All of the recent (this century) instances of deliberate voter fraud and electoral fraud I've ever seen documented have been perpetrated by Repugs. So yeah, all this noise about voter fraud is them projecting again, and the reason they know it happens because they're the ones doing it.
Since we are having a election. There is much not to admire about the system in the USA but I am interested in their "town halls" that elected members run.
I have wondered if doing something similar in electorates here from both list and electorate MP's might be beneficial in that voters can make their views known , meet others of a like mind and give wider feedback rather than professional lobbying capturing the system.
The wealth tax will possibly cost the Greens 1 or 2 percent , it may even stop them from getting back in at all. the Greens don't seem to understand that political maxim of the "optics ". Yes a WT sounds good but the "öptics"of an 80 + year old recent widow being slugged with a huge bill for a modest house that just happens to be in a suburb that has rocketed and that she has lived in all her life is not very good "optics ". Bereft and Stressed Grieving Widow Forced Out Of Family Home stories are political suicide.
Jacinda knows that and that there are better ways to extract tax.
Adrian-the WT is a genuinely transformational policy that will shift wealth from the mega rich to the desperately poor. It will attract as many people to the Greens as it will lose.
I have said a couple times on TS that no policy is set in stone-the Greens could modify the WT to target the top 4% rather than the top 6%. This would make it more palatable to some people and it would still bring in plenty of revenue to alleviate poverty.
If the wealth tax thresholds aren't the hard priorities the Greens have made them out to be, but are negotiable, then it's political malpractice to have set them so low. Because so many people can see themselves hit by it, and considering the price of real estate, it kicks in at a level most people don't really consider "wealthy".
Which is one reason why Elizabeth Warren pitched her wealth tax at levels over $50 million, which would only affect 0.05% of US households. But even that attracted very few voters that weren't already with her.
Thank you Bearded Git, my link was Auckland Medium prices. "Middle Class" (for want of a better term) who live in Auckland (not me, by the way) shouldn't be charged or punished for a mistake of Geography. I can only take your word for the 94% claim. Auckland's large population may or may not skew those figures.
No worries Red Blooded…btw it's what the Green policy says…6% are affected by WT….my 10 years as an accountant did the rest.
The other thing everyone seems to miss (on purpose?) is that as a couple the assets are split, so you can have net $2 million in assets and would pay no WT.
People happy to quietly take the geographic benefit of living in central Auckland through rampant house price inflation for decades, but as soon as a tiny fraction of that unearned wealth might be taxed they are being "punished". FFS. This is why inequality is going to continue to get worse over the next three years regardless of the outcome on Saturday. We are just voting on how much worse it will get.
I understand what you're saying, but someone who's owned their home in Auckland for decades isn't taking any financial benefit, well not until they sell or die. Transformational Tax Changes just aren't that simple.
While the odds are pretty heavily against it … I'm still not entirely ruling out NZF just managing to scrape over the 5% threshold. There are one or two sound reasons that no-one has adequately explored in analyses to date (in fact, hardly anyone's touched on them at even the most basic level).
Equally, the Greens are by no means a dead cert … odds are in their favour, but certainly not overwhelmingly so. In fact, as close as 60/40. (perhaps I’m stating the bleedin obvious there ?).
Final Polls should clarify.
(these points only slightly qualified by heavy advance voting … not least because fieldwork for the final polls has been taking place at the same time as bulk of early votes)
I love a bit of condescension and stereotyping on a Tuesday. A wonderfully talented and imaginative 20-year old relative of mine (doesn't drink, never touched dope) voted for the first time last week. And yes it was Green. So I'll take your stereotype and raise it with my anecdata.
If this anything to go on, Nelson could well turn red and dr custard will be no more.
Nick smith and his supporters were busy on the side of a main road, waving around signs, the problem was no one was tooting or waving, no one, how embarrassing.
Meanwhile up the road a bit was Rachel and the Labour team with their signs waving at motorists, people were tooting their horns flat out and waving back. Yeah!!!!
It was always a matter of intense interest to consider how long she could maintain the mask of normality with the girlish "Hi Duncan" and "Oh – morning Suzie" before the whole malevolent contraption exploded.
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TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
New Zealanders have been asked to conserve energy this morning to combat a possible electricity shortfall, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A call to conserve power New Zealand is facing a possible electricity shortfall, with people up ...
Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
Wellington City Council should keep its 34% ownership share in Wellington International Airport, argue Unions Wellington spokespeople Finn Cordwell and Ashok Jacob. Insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wellington City Council (WCC) is yet again proposing to dispose ...
New Zealand’s largest book publisher has undergone drastic changes this week, leaving its future role in local publishing uncertain. Two of the most recognisable local publishers in New Zealand are among those restructured out of Penguin Random House, it was announced this week. Head of publishing Claire Murdoch will leave ...
The Black Ferns Sevens appeared to be a mile behind Australia at the halfway point of the 2023-24 SVNS international circuit. Winless in three tournaments, a cup quarter-final exit in Perth was one of their worst results. To add insult to injury, talismanic skipper Sarah Hirini had been ruled out ...
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Successive governments have tried, and failed, to count Māori. But with the return of social investment, it’s more important than ever to get good data. The post Government looks for a better way to count Māori appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Experts in financing social investment initiatives say New Zealand is in a prime position to tackle social issues via a social investment approach The post What will Willis’ social investment fund look like? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund launched the Te Rito Journalism project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decades-long shortage of Māori and Pacific journalists in the media industry. It was billed as New Zealand’s ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Somwrita Sarkar, Senior Lecturer in Design and Computation, University of Sydney The “latte line” is the infamous, invisible boundary that divides Sydney between the more affluent north-east and the south-west. Historically, people north of the line enjoy better access to jobs and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist in Extreme Weather, The University of Melbourne Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock In media articles about unprecedented flooding, you’ll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. This ...
I see that Greens candidate Ricardo Menéndez March has started coalition negotiations on Twitter with respect to the wealth tax. It might be a good idea if he shut for a bit and let his leadership do what they have to do to get the the party over the line on Saturday. Otherwise there will be no coalition negotiations period.
Difficult to fault National and Act for concentrating on this issue when the Greens keep raising it like this.
And another day labour say it's not happening and everyone thinks national look totally desperate, pinning the slimmest of hopes their final minute hail mary pass is caught by dullards who can't think for themselves.
There are traps set, and there are natural hazards. National aren’t capable of getting through either.
That does not alter the fact that the Greens keep raising it. What would your response be if the boot was on the other foot?
Scott's sentiments/fears and his wish that Richardo etc would shut up are well founded.
Err, that's what political parties do in election campaigns, push and promote their policies – And why should they not? Especially if by doing so it gives labour a free hit at the dopey nats who keep trying to push the same shit up the hill to nowhereville.
I think the advice the right are giving is lie about your intentions, and then once in power bring out the slippery stuff, ie what political parties have been doing forever. The Greens are telling us what they want to do, us as voters can choose to vote for that, or not. I party voted Greens.
Yeah Alan, if you think distorting the amounts involved and putting out a maybe, could be etc is the kind of party you want to vote for.
But I am glad for you that you can find one thing Nats and Act have done right. Mostly the Nats have been,, dare I say it a shambles. In fact a complete shambles.
Act being completely opportunist again trying to get the gun vote…………I guess that has worked for them to an extent. But what a thing to try and win votes on. Right to more sophisticated guns. Fuck
Pressure on this has succeeded in Jacinda ruling it out completely effectively shutting the door on a key GP policy before coalition negotiations start… some would regard that as a success.
It's the baby bird syndrome. All the nestlings know is to watch for the parent bird with the food and their mouths open wide and are lined with yellow so the feeder can't miss the target with the gobstopper. All the fervent workers in the poverty stratum of need of money, goods, homes and livings, know there is great need and can't shut up even when it would be strategic to do so, or adopt another approach.
He's an out-there leftist doing his thing. Can't expect such folk to see the big picture even, let alone be sensible. Young, keen & naive is all that matters…
Are we supposed to trust in the 'Little Father', or mother in this case, who knows and loves us, secretly. The Left are rationalists not superstitionists. Trying to discern the hearts of the blessed Grant and the holy Jacinda is not in my playbook nor should it ever be for demo-crats.
A political party pushing their policies, before an election.
How strange!
ScottGN – I've been uneasy for some time watching March use AAAP as a blunt weapon against WINZ this last year. AAAP used to provide great advocacy for clients but over recent months it has become a political vehicle for March. He will lose the Greens votes if he continues on this journey.
I may be wrong . This morning on my Facebook is a DENISE LEE add saying she will spend $6.2 billion on Onehunga transport, Google tells me Auckland will spend $1.42 billion something doest sound right. national also gets a mention.
She must be another one of them leftists Dennis gnosis all about.
The next nexus of gnosis and praxis will be instantiated through the problematising of left-right discontinuities.
That was glorious. I expect to see it appropriated as a corporate mission statement in the near future.
Some good articles on Newsroom today, including an insight into on-the-ground campaigning in Manurewa (should be read by anyone who thinks elections are won in armchairs!).
And the news that Collins has been endorsed by … Todd Barclay. That sums up National's mess.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/election-2020/good-day-bad-day-monday
In his capacity as …?
China is saying no to Ozzie coal. This will shake things up.
8 billion(NZ) a month in lost FX is going to hurt
ScoMo will be frothing at the mouth.
wonder if the mob he had to run from were Queensland miners
China using its position as a main buyer to force things to their liking – again.
Trade with China is not free – it comes with many hidden hooks and bindings.
Jacinda has shown paranoia and a serious lack of judgement in refusing to discuss the Wealth Tax (or any Wealth Tax option) with the Greens in coalition negotiations. So much for transformation, alleviating poverty and a fairer NZ.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/428115/ruling-out-conversation-on-wealth-tax-not-credible-shaw
Hey Alien, see what I mean?
The membership of the Green Party seem to think that the wealth tax is a brilliant idea and the membership makes the decisions right??
I think it's a good policy too (party voted green), but I accept that some in labour and the wider electorate don't, so it's been ruled out as a policy too far.
The crux of the matter comes down to what I view as the issue of the campaign. A couple of days ago there's a media bit from Collins saying about the PM "I don't believe a word she says" and then another from her urging us to believe her when she says "you can trust me". Clearly at 47% in the polls, the people are rejecting Judith.
So again, for the nats to keep putting it front and centre, when people hear Jacinda say no, then it smacks of desperation and must be counter productive.
Maybe the greens could go for referendum on tax next election as a coalition bottom line .
3 options
Keep tinkering .
A comprehensive cgt.
A wealth tax.
Or labour could grow a pair and actually address tax reform to end poverty and create a fairer society, but I know that won't happen when the policies needed are unpopular with voters, even though their best interests in the long term, and not many governments wilfully choose to vote themselves out.
No need for a tax referendum, the argument just needs to be won in the wider public, so it's not a bottom line in future negotiations but a minimum standard adopted by both leftish parties.
At the risk of seeming vaguely Marxist, I see it as a class issue. Simple: middle class has wealth to pass on to children, lower class doesn't.
I agree with the wealth tax as a semi-plausible method of reducing wealth inequality. Laudable, but history will pronounce a verdict on saturday. That verdict may turn out to be that it was mere virtue-signalling.
If those for whom the Greens policy wonks designed the policy to benefit refuse to actually vote for it, then nobody will be able to claim that it worked as intended, eh?
Politically-correct Greens, operating on auto-pilot as usual with tiny brains disengaged, will flounder around in search of some feeble excuse for failure. Other Greens will get real. The upshot will be that the Greens will have to re-evaluate their raison d'être.
If they still want to bridge middle & lower classes via policy, they will only survive via more sophisticated marketing of that policy!!
Do you think it is possible that the Greens develop policy that is right to do rather than to buy votes?
The Greens say that they use consensus to make policy decisions and yet, despite being a Green Party member, I've never been asked if I support any policies before they become policy.
Are you on the mailing lists.
Draft policies are open to all members for comment and input.
Yes, and I have put in such input. But, at no point, have I been asked to vote for the final policy.
The only way tax would do that is if PAYE went back to a high tax rate of 70% or more. High enough to effectively instituting a maximum income.
Actually, I think a maximum income would probably be quite popular with the majority of people. Unfortunately, the way things are, they're not the ones that are going to get a say in it.
But a referendum does have the benefit of finding out what the majority of people actually want and not just of those who have the resources to make a lot of noise.
PAYE does not redistribute capital. That is the beauty of a Wealth Tax.
I tend to be in favour of a wealth tax. Done properly nobody would be able to afford to own excessive amounts.
Of course, that would get the bludgers truly whinging.
I'm not overly worried about wealth vs cgt vs ftt, I just think that the people who have benefitted the most from the system should pay proportionately more for their disproportionate good fortune.
…or Land Tax?
Yeah. They're all different ways of skinning the same fat cat.
4th option: Design a completely new tax system from the ground up.
5th option tax interest received at 99%
This is my preference, my current thinking is to get rid all the tax credit systems working for families etc etc.
Change the tax codes so that they work on a tax free threshold basis.
Ie Single Parent couple of kids your tax free threshold might be say 50k so you can earn what you can without worrying about abatements etc etc
All benefits ie unemployment would be tax free and earning income on his would be fine up till you reached your tax free threshold. Again making it viable for someone to find some work and not worry about abatements etc.
A single professional might only have a tax free threshold of only $5000.
Change the tax bands adding higher rates.
Reduce gst, enact a very broad but low rate cgt, look at a tax to discourage land banking and tax off shore holdings.
Inheritance tax should he on the table as well.
I too think it is a referendum matter.
Or perhaps Jacinda is just doing what anyone with a bare minimum of political nous would do.
Jacinda is only doing what she has to to counter Judith's lying dogwhistle.
Wrong Mikesh-all she had to say was that during coalition discussions when a WT was raised it would be a Labour party bottom line that there would be no WT.
Having done two large dinner parties in two days among the old and wealthy of Dunedin in 3 days, they can hold their nose and vote Labour, but not if it comes with a Green Party tax. They simply don't believe the Greens understand how to hand wealth down through to your children. This is the haute-bourgeoisie in our most left-leaning cities.
We need to see the next Associate Finance and Minister of Revenue Ministers generate some think pieces for Cabinet on this, pronto. Whoever gets in.
Ardern hsimply must spend some of her ginormous political capital – Key failed to do so and she's smarter than him.
Ad-agreed re the political capital…..in the long-term people will see this as a principled approach
The problem they have isn't that the Greens don't know about inter-generational power, the Greens understand it too well, and how harmful it can be.
Dunedin being a case in point – far too long locked down by a cadre of unimaginative families seeking to preserve their personal wealth and businesses.
As I heard it Key didn't spend his political capital to put things right, Right-wise, because he understood his support was based on specifically not going Douglas/ Richardson.
Jacinda and Grant are cautious to their bones and probably don't believe to begin with, all nurtured in the norts Labour environment.
Still a little resentful at Grant, trying to establish his Left credentials in the Pub political programme, saying all the right shit and turning out just as we expected.
If 'paranoia' is now to be applied to that situation I presume there is a pandemic of paranoia about that just hasn't been called that.
It's good rhetoric the Greens have a point of difference so it's up to the Greens to gain enough seats to put their policies into action.
yes, time for the greens to stop phucking around and nail down an electorate seat, get a fulltime seat at the top table.
edit
Who or what can anyone trust in NZ? We must retain our present government as only with them can we hope to turn NZ around to be responsive to reality and need, rather than the speculators and those deep in comfy chairs, or bent on furthering the interests available to the wealthy.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428209/parents-say-trust-for-the-disabled-was-deliberately-run-down
…The Laura Fergusson Rehabilitation in Greenlane closed in August, with its board blaming financial problems.
Now the Charities Services is investigating complaints about the way it has been run.
For 27 years, Josephine Cliff's son lived at Laura Fergusson.
She says over the last five years, she witnessed the decline of services for residents like her son.
"The maintenance, I mean just never appeared to be done. There was sort of rotten walls, buildings. My son's door fell off, a sort of french door thing just collapsed. There was no maintenance I could see going on at all," she said…
"I was told when I took my letter in by hand to the CEO, she actually came out and I said to her, I'd written a letter and here it is for the chairman of the board, wherever he hangs out now, and she said we were gagged, we were not allowed to speak to you because the Ministry of Health gagged us," she said.
The Ministry of Health denies it gagged the trust.
Cliff said when she eventually got a reply, it said the funding wasn't enough to continue, even though other providers are still operating, she said.
Former board member John Wolk, an amputee, has also used the organisation's services. He says when the closure was announced last year he was told a plan would be released early this year.
It does have the look of a hijack about it. I'm sure there's a perfectly innocent and reasonable explanation yadayadyada.
I didn't click on the story but Stuff has yet another story about National saying what Labour will do and won't do.
They don't talk so much about their own list of what they will do and not. Not talk much past spraying about the multi-billions they'll spend, no details, or imply the promises they make are already achieved.
Witness Lawrence Yule and Matt King.
It’s a scare campaign, plain and simple.
Very mean-while Julian Assange trial hamster wheel turns round.
https://diem25.org/solidarity-actions-for-julian-assange-belgium/
We must defend whistleblowers because they reveal what governments are doing ‘in the public interest’.
That seems a reasoned and correct statement.
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/10/12/julian-assange-trial-freedom-speech/
Editor’s note: Fidel Narváez served as Ecuador’s consul in the UK from 2010 until July 2018. He helped get Julian Assange political asylum, and regularly communicated with the WikiLeaks publisher when he was trapped in the London embassy. In a previous article for The Grayzone, Narváez debunked 40 media lies and distortions about Assange. In this piece, he summarizes the key points from the British extradition hearings against Assange in September 2020.
From No Right Turn a story from the USA worthy of a film like Bewster's Millions.* (A you couldn't make this shit up sort of theme.) https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-new-low-in-american-democracy.html
As for what happens to ballots deposited in these fake dropboxes, who knows? But it probably involves an incinerator, at least for all those voting Democrat.
* Brewster's Millions trailer
In series. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDDF75AF7D08771AF
I have never pretended to understand the US's electoral system, but isn't it a bit irrelevant when each side does dodgy shit, when the whole thing seems to be decided by Electoral College votes?
No the votes determine how the electoral college votes for a state. And the "dodgy shit" is pretty much republican – no false equivalence and blaming both sides.
Maybe it will be used to "prove" that ballot boxes are untrustworthy? Like a burglar complaining about burglary?
winwin for repugs.
If the votes in the illegal boxes are for them, then they get to argue "coup d'etat" when the votes are rejected en masse.
If the votes are for dems, then they're improperly returns and not counted.
They're not trying to win the election, they're trying to give their stacked scotus and their rambo-cosplay fringe an excuse to dispute the loss.
Bingo.
All of the recent (this century) instances of deliberate voter fraud and electoral fraud I've ever seen documented have been perpetrated by Repugs. So yeah, all this noise about voter fraud is them projecting again, and the reason they know it happens because they're the ones doing it.
Since we are having a election. There is much not to admire about the system in the USA but I am interested in their "town halls" that elected members run.
I have wondered if doing something similar in electorates here from both list and electorate MP's might be beneficial in that voters can make their views known , meet others of a like mind and give wider feedback rather than professional lobbying capturing the system.
The wealth tax will possibly cost the Greens 1 or 2 percent , it may even stop them from getting back in at all. the Greens don't seem to understand that political maxim of the "optics ". Yes a WT sounds good but the "öptics"of an 80 + year old recent widow being slugged with a huge bill for a modest house that just happens to be in a suburb that has rocketed and that she has lived in all her life is not very good "optics ". Bereft and Stressed Grieving Widow Forced Out Of Family Home stories are political suicide.
Jacinda knows that and that there are better ways to extract tax.
Adrian-the WT is a genuinely transformational policy that will shift wealth from the mega rich to the desperately poor. It will attract as many people to the Greens as it will lose.
I have said a couple times on TS that no policy is set in stone-the Greens could modify the WT to target the top 4% rather than the top 6%. This would make it more palatable to some people and it would still bring in plenty of revenue to alleviate poverty.
If the wealth tax thresholds aren't the hard priorities the Greens have made them out to be, but are negotiable, then it's political malpractice to have set them so low. Because so many people can see themselves hit by it, and considering the price of real estate, it kicks in at a level most people don't really consider "wealthy".
Which is one reason why Elizabeth Warren pitched her wealth tax at levels over $50 million, which would only affect 0.05% of US households. But even that attracted very few voters that weren't already with her.
most people don't really consider "wealthy"
Isn't it about time you came back down from Planet Key?
With 1 Mill being a median price I agree with Andre, You don't have to be living on Planet Key to be pushed into this Wealth Tax.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/122815218/median-auckland-house-price-tipped-to-hit-1-million-by-end-of-year
Good on Ms Ardern for ruling it out, and shame on Ms Collins for lying about it.
Criticism of the wealth tax certainly brings out the politics of inclusion and consideration of other views from Greens supporters here.
Red Blooded-The median house price in NZ was $675,000 in August 2020. This is why 94% of people are entirely unaffected by a WT.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2009/S00231/record-median-house-prices-for-half-of-nz-according-to-reinz-august-data.htm
Oops median is $685,000 they just said on RNZ-same difference
Thank you Bearded Git, my link was Auckland Medium prices. "Middle Class" (for want of a better term) who live in Auckland (not me, by the way) shouldn't be charged or punished for a mistake of Geography. I can only take your word for the 94% claim. Auckland's large population may or may not skew those figures.
No worries Red Blooded…btw it's what the Green policy says…6% are affected by WT….my 10 years as an accountant did the rest.
The other thing everyone seems to miss (on purpose?) is that as a couple the assets are split, so you can have net $2 million in assets and would pay no WT.
https://www.facebook.com/JamesShawMP/videos/689943011932880/
People happy to quietly take the geographic benefit of living in central Auckland through rampant house price inflation for decades, but as soon as a tiny fraction of that unearned wealth might be taxed they are being "punished". FFS. This is why inequality is going to continue to get worse over the next three years regardless of the outcome on Saturday. We are just voting on how much worse it will get.
"We are just voting on how much worse it will get."
Essentially, however even the RBNZ cannot keep a ponzi scheme solvent forever….it will end.
I understand what you're saying, but someone who's owned their home in Auckland for decades isn't taking any financial benefit, well not until they sell or die. Transformational Tax Changes just aren't that simple.
Yes, and you are allowed to pay the tax at that point.
they are…if the political will is there…its not
Final round of polling should be interesting.
While the odds are pretty heavily against it … I'm still not entirely ruling out NZF just managing to scrape over the 5% threshold. There are one or two sound reasons that no-one has adequately explored in analyses to date (in fact, hardly anyone's touched on them at even the most basic level).
Equally, the Greens are by no means a dead cert … odds are in their favour, but certainly not overwhelmingly so. In fact, as close as 60/40. (perhaps I’m stating the bleedin obvious there ?).
Final Polls should clarify.
(these points only slightly qualified by heavy advance voting … not least because fieldwork for the final polls has been taking place at the same time as bulk of early votes)
Latest UMR
https://twitter.com/henrycooke/status/1315857609161752576
That dope vote will bring the kids to the polls and get the Green Party over 5%.
Nah. They'll be too blazed or tending to their case of the munchies to go and vote.
For the whole pre-voting period ? Yeah…nah
Being stoned does not preclude you from voting, particularly when there is a reeferendum.
I love a bit of condescension and stereotyping on a Tuesday. A wonderfully talented and imaginative 20-year old relative of mine (doesn't drink, never touched dope) voted for the first time last week. And yes it was Green. So I'll take your stereotype and raise it with my anecdata.
So Act are not 11% ??? Probably not 7% either. LOL 29% +7?% = 36%
Millsy Relax!! Let's keep moving.. forward mate.
Hi Swordfish, how does that translate to seats?
If this anything to go on, Nelson could well turn red and dr custard will be no more.
Nick smith and his supporters were busy on the side of a main road, waving around signs, the problem was no one was tooting or waving, no one, how embarrassing.
Meanwhile up the road a bit was Rachel and the Labour team with their signs waving at motorists, people were tooting their horns flat out and waving back. Yeah!!!!
I hope so Cinny!! Got my bottle of NZ Lindauer bubbles ready and my millenium flute ready!! Boy I am going to enjoy this!!
It's going to be magic 🙂 I'll be thinking of you with the bubbles when it happens and raise a glass with you sista 🙂
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2020-judith-collins-calls-jacinda-ardern-a-liar-over-covid-19/BFHQZB5DT5F7UINVVGKKCVT7BY/
She is really sounding unhinged now. The internal polls clearly aren't moving (at least not in the right direction).
EDIT: Swordfish’s post about the new UMR corporate poll would seem to bear that out.
"She is really sounding unhinged now"
It was always a matter of intense interest to consider how long she could maintain the mask of normality with the girlish "Hi Duncan" and "Oh – morning Suzie" before the whole malevolent contraption exploded.