I have in the past weeks attempted to contribute Guest Posts for general discussion.
None of my contributions have appeared, which, perhaps, says something about their quality!
But, at the very least, a short email indicating that the said post does not reach the standard required, or any other reason, is a basic courtesy which I, we, if others have had the same result, might expect.
Hi Tony – That email goes to lprent. I’m aware that he is massively busy at work at the moment – you may notice that he hasn’t posted himself here for ages. It’s likely that TS email is slipping through the cracks. I apologise for that, and I’ll draw this to his attention.
I’ve done a couple for regulars, including the recent AK IT one for SaveNZ, which went down pretty well. The only difference if I do them is they go out under my byline. Not sure if that’s an advantage or a disadvantage 😉
I do appreciate all the work that must go on behind the scenes to keep The Standard on line – and hell, it is so so important as a place to vent one’s frustrations at the mess this neoliberal crap is getting us into.
Hello Tony V
Please don’t talk about venting your frustrations here in a guest post. If there is something to post about, please give us a good meaty one with your concerns and observations then as well explanation with links, details, background etc. We get enough venting as comments, they make the writer and every similar thinker feel better for a second, but we actually need to think beyond that as well, and what, and why it is important, and what is the scenario if we don’t get that change?
How can we get something better, and what do you and informed others think would be the best method for the situation? What do they do overseas? Is there a time when people are really receptive to thinking on new ideas? Are we not doing regular thinking and assessment of what is being done, but just waiting for failures and disasters and then getting angry? That’s so reactionary, do we need to plan and think better, and right at the beginning of some new scheme, and who will do this, and how can informed citizens have a say and provide guidance?
“Such a program would just about eliminate Work and Income.”
Not really. How many can live on that amount?
250,000 people depend on Disability Allowance.
85,000 are long term unwell or disabled and are currently on Supported Living. They have different welfare needs than the working population.
I can’t tell you how many are on sickness benefit because National are hiding them in the unemployed, but that will more tens of thousands.
People on the DPB etc.
All those people require further assistance as do people on the dole who have financial hardship.
All of that needs a competent system to deliver entitlements. It’s significant and UBI advocates need to start taking it seriously (sorry, not picking on you ianmac, but I”ve seen this written off too many times now).
Not any more. I don’t think the MoH would be an improvement and they won’t want to administer non-health and disability benefits anyway.
The ideal? Scrap WINZ. Create two new departments. One is the Dept of Social Welfare and it administers all UBI and supplementary payments. Use that as an opportunity to set up a system that supports people to live meaningful lives where that isn’t solely defined by having paid employment. Redefine welfare as being about individual, family, community and society wellbeing.
Have it completely separate from job seeking, which needs to be in a separate department.
Not that anyone is going to do that though 😉
So other than that, I think the most likely way to go is to use WINZ to administer the UBI and supplementaries, and for a left wong govt to strip out the worst of the punitive legislation and policy. They can also do quite a lot to change the culture within WINZ.
You didn’t read the rest of my comment did you. If you think that a UBI will pay a living income, please cite some people who’ve done work on this who have figured out how to pay for it. All the people I’ve seen do calculations are saying it will be less than a living income.
If you think that a UBI will pay a living income, please cite some people who’ve done work on this who have figured out how to pay for it.
You and them are looking at it the wrong way. It’s not that the UBI needs to be paid for but that the UBI would be the entire basis for the rest of the economy.
How it’s done is dependent upon which way you view it. If you view it as the UBI needing to be funded from taxes then you have problems and you can’t get the figures to work.
When you view it as a UBI of $60 billion per year with a multiplier of ~3 funding the economy then it fits nicely within our ~200 billion dollar economy.
Other changes would need to be made of course. The most important one being that the private banks could no longer create money. You’d also need to ban offshore ownership.
Those amounts are inadequate if we want to avoid more people living in hardship.
Working or top ups on top of that would improve things. However, top ups implies more administrative bureaucracy and not all can work. Coupled with growing automation, there won’t be as much available employment going forward.
Why change/replace the current system if we aren’t going to improve it?
A survey (not to long ago) claimed 3% of the over 65 suffer deprivation.
Although, notably, high home ownership levels amongst the over 65 contributes to that low percentage. Along with pensions being tied to the average wage (opposed to other benefits being tied to the CPI) and returns on savings/investments.
Therefore, even basing a UBI on the current pension rate may be insufficient.
The point of a UBI isn’t to give everyone free money that they can live well on (have you read the actual proposals?). Yes, everyone needs a livable income, but that shouldn’t be coming solely from the UBI, it should be coming from the UBI, full employment, living wage rates, affordable housing and social welfare that is fair and supportive not punitive like we have now.
Have you looked at the various models that people have done work on on how to pay for a UBI? I haven’t seen any model yet that suggests giving people a living income.
Most people are going to want to work as well as receive the UBI. If people don’t need to work as hard or as often for financial reasons that frees up jobs for other people (many people on 30 hour weeks instead). I agree that automation will be an issue, but it’s an issue without a UBI so let’s solve that alongside.
Re topups, make them entitlements and easily accessible. Some of the issues that would need to be solved would be Accommodation Supplement, which tends to be inaedquate because it gets sucked up by landlords, and the bureaucracy/hoop jumping that makes up life for current beneficiaries.
“The point of a UBI isn’t to give everyone free money that they can live well on”
I clearly stated above it doesn’t require to be a living wage.
“Have you looked at the various models that people have done work on on how to pay for a UBI? I haven’t seen any model yet that suggests giving people a living income”.
Again, I clearly stated above it doesn’t require to be a living wage.
The point you are overlooking is if we are going to change the system it’s got to be for the better. $200 a week isn’t an improvement, resulting in continuing the hardship a number currently face.
“Most people are going to want to work as well as receive the UBI”.
Good. Nothing wrong with that. They will be even better off.
“I agree that automation will be an issue, but it’s an issue without a UBI so let’s solve that alongside”
It can be resolved with a UBI was the point I’m making.
“Re topups, make them entitlements and easily accessible.”
That still requires more administrative bureaucracy.
As I stated above, the only reason why there is a low percentage of over 65 suffering is largely due to high home ownership levels amongst the over 65. Along with pensions being tied to the average wage (opposed to other benefits being tied to the CPI) and returns on savings/investments. Many others don’t have those benefits (home ownership, savings/investments) to help supplement their income. Thus, for those not working, $200 a week would result in financial hardship. As it currently does.
Food-banks have been reporting an increase in demand. A decent UBI ( but not a living wage) can help improve that. Hence, that is what we should be aiming for, improving peoples lives.
What’s a decent rate of UBI? If it’s not the Super rate (seeing as how too many elderly live in poverty), what is it? Can you please provide a model of how that would be paid for?
If you think that topups aren’t a useful way to go because of bureaucracy, please explain how you would make sure that someone with serious disability would get their needs met?
The point you are overlooking is if we are going to change the system it’s got to be for the better. $200 a week isn’t an improvement, resulting in continuing the hardship a number currently face.
I really get the sense that you don’t understand what a UBI is for. It’s not welfare. People without work aren’t going to be on the dole with a new name. People aren’t going to be living on $200/wk, they will get more income than that. Please go read what the point of a UBI is.
“If you think that topups aren’t a useful way to go because of bureaucracy, please explain how you would make sure that someone with serious disability would get their needs met?”
Those with serious disability would have their rate set higher when transitioning over. Those who later become seriously disable (which would be a relatively small number in comparison) would have to apply to get their ongoing rate set higher.
“I really get the sense that you don’t understand what a UBI”
That’s you making those flawed assumptions again. Bad habit that.
“It’s not welfare. People without work aren’t going to be on the dole with a new name.”
But it can be. UBI can replace welfare. We don’t require duplication, it’s inefficient.
“People aren’t going to be living on $200/wk, they will get more income than that.”
If they are not working or unable to work, can you explain how they will get more income than that?
Those with serious disability would have their rate set higher when transitioning over. Those who later become seriously disable (which would be a relatively small number in comparison) would have to apply to get their ongoing rate set higher.
yeah, that’s called a topup. Disability is often not a static state and each person will need to be assessed and some will need to be reassessed over time. You need a system to do that.
“I really get the sense that you don’t understand what a UBI”
That’s you making those flawed assumptions again. Bad habit that.
And yet you keep talking about the UBI as a welfare substitute, it’s not.
“It’s not welfare. People without work aren’t going to be on the dole with a new name.”
But it can be. UBI can replace welfare. We don’t require duplication, it’s inefficient.
No-one has suggested it duplication.
“People aren’t going to be living on $200/wk, they will get more income than that.”
If they are not working or unable to work, can you explain how they will get more income than that?
They will get the extra amount you named above like someone with a disability.
Many people cannot live on $400/wk. If they’re not able to work and there are no topups how is your system going to work?
I can see that UBI would be helpful as entitlement for maintenance for all. But different people fall into different strata of need.
There would have to be automatic topups for recognised need normal for those levels. They might be very low cost barriers to doctor, dentist, prescriptions, transport that go to not only old age pensioners, but all young families. There will need to be administration that assists people to get what they need within guidelines that are not rigid.
And all people be encouraged to do some community work. People with ability and capable but wheelchair bound, could do some reading education support work for instance. There are ways that all can promote wellbeing in society, both for the giver, the receiver, and the community which benefits too with pride at being a buzzing, happy group of people all needed and respected. Actually it can’t be that good because humans are ornery and don’t appreciate what they have and grizzle, but things would be improved.
joe90’s link to yesterday’s comment and link on UBI and Canada plus other nations is important to look at.
And under that is Sabine on teenagers taking governments to court over lack of climate action. Now that is bold and innovative. And what have they got to lose, on the one hand some difficulties and expense, and on the other hand they may achieve a gigantic effect of prevention and action to deal with the present which seems so hard to see for the enfeebled politicians who can’t see past the stacked wall of monopoly money.
We had a similar thing here once upon a time – it was called the family benefit, i think. If i remember rightly, one could capitalise it to get a “State Advances mortgage” to buy a first home. I think my mum did just that . . .
You are right about Family Benefit Murray but Jim Bolger canned it in the 90s. It wasn’t much each week but only the Mum could cash it. And yes the first home assistance was great.
I think Jim Bolger was a Catholic with a good sized family. The religious often seem to be very conservative about how families should be treated. They must have been the originators of the term husbanding, for looking after resources carefully.
I think Bill English also has a good sized family.
During the sixties my old man was a Beazly builder – Murray, Mrs Murray and family would walk through the door and mum would sit them down with a plan book containing around 20 designs all of which could be mirrored, reversed, extended or otherwise tickled to suit the Murray clan.
The Beazly parent company owned several subdivisions around the town so the Murray clan could choose a location to suit themselves and once decisions had been made finance would be arranged.
Usually the capitalised family benefits would provide part if not all of a deposit with a State Advances mortgage to finance the remainder.
Once finalised trucks would arrive on site carrying almost the entire house, framing through to cladding, roofing, kitchen and paint and local subcontractors would complete the Murray clan’s new house in around twelve weeks and they’d be in.
We got 5% mortgage for our first house. We were working at two jobs, doing a bit of night time restaurant work to boost our earnings otherwise we would have been entitled to a 3% mortgage. We had no children then. We went through very much what Joe90 did. I think it was Gerards in Hamilton, built a lovely 3 bedroom I think 1000 sq foot home in summerhill stone. Decided to take the opportunity before children to travel and work overseas so sold it for about $10,000 I think –
in 1968. We didn’t realise that life was at its crest for the world then, and is now sloping downhill. Ya don’t know how lucky ya are mate etc
New Zealand had to find new ways to manage as we lost our automatic export link to Britain. But we couldn’t throw ourselves into enterprising NZ, we gave our opportunities for that away, along with our ability to provide for our own needs out of our own earnings. Don’t people understand that yet? We are living on borrowed money in the style that we have become accustomed to, except for some hundred thousand that spoil the effect.
It’s time to regroup, have a group hug, plan a new strategy and unroll a new New Zealand, older, wiser, cautious about some things, but getting behind what is good and sustainable and pulling everyone in to help, even if just to hold onto the signs to the world to say Honk and call in and buy something from us.
edited
This really needs to be brought back. The best way out of poverty is home ownership. State Advances/Housing Corp assistance helped a lot of people into their own homes. Replacing this with cash transfer payments is/was not the greatest idea.
Peter Dunne saw the light and had a policy that would allow people to do this with WFF payments. but he never really fought for this.
Hey. This is very good and very surprising. An article by Jarrod Gilbert about Bill English’s policy actions. We are used to rubbishing Bill but wait. This is deeper.
“It was 2011 when English first shocked criminal justice circles.
He proclaimed prisons were a “moral and fiscal failure” and heralded the Government’s dramatic policy shift towards prisoner rehabilitation.”
“New Zealand has the fifth-highest rate of child abuse in the OECD. Last year I discovered that the period in which a New Zealander is most likely to be murdered is before the age of 3, a time when they cannot defend themselves, find sanctuary or even beg for help.
“When the Dirty Politics saga broke in 2014, many politicians dismissed the revelations made by Nicky Hager ……. English spoke out and his views were unequivocal: not only was he not involved but he didn’t like what was happening, either.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11604661
Historic victory as Japanese court issues first injunction against an operating nuclear reactor
Tokyo, 9 March 2016 – A local court today sided with the people of Japan by issuing the first injunction in the country’s history against an operating nuclear reactor.
“This is a landmark victory for people living in the shadow of shut-down reactors across Japan and a devastating blow against the nuclear industry and the policies of the Abe government,” said Hisayo Takada, Deputy Program Director at Greenpeace Japan.
“The court is sending a clear message to the nuclear industry nearly a week after the prosecution of TEPCO executives for criminal negligence that led to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. It’s a message that nuclear power has no place in Japan’s energy future.”
Did the Court require an alternative generating capacity?
Nuclear is the first best transition fuel to any other generation, for the scale that Japan needs it.
That’s an issue for the govt not the courts (kind of a weird suggestion there Ad).
Nuclear is never going to be a good transition energy, esp not in a country with earthquakes and tsunamis. It’s neither resilient, nor safe, nor sustainable, nor afaik economic.
If they thought Fukushima was bad try doing that when there’s no cheap oil available or after a GFC.
I don’t mind protest movements celebrating a ‘victory’. I loathe movements who walk away from the hard work of the alternatives that really work.
If someone would like to calculate the visible landscape left after replacing all of Japan’s nuclear generation with wind farms, I’d be interested. That’s where the work is.
I don’t believe it’s possible for the electronic/industrialised nations to keep their current lifestyles in a post-carbon world. We will have to powerdown. So from my perspective your basic premise of what should Japan replace nuclear with is faulty (ha ha).
I don’t know Japan that well, but I could have a crack at how it would work in NZ. The biggest obstacle to that conversation is whether we can make a living here and be less dependent on exports. Once that one is solved a whole bunch of critical things change, including our GHG emissions.
Ad, how do you decommission a 70 year old nuclear reactor which has more than reached the end of its already extended service life, when you have no more access to diesel fuel?
Also, failure of the modern globalised economic system is an inevitability at this point. The question is do you want a planned, graceful failure, or do you want a full speed train smash?
Wallace Chapman is repeatedly failing to do his job;
They might as well hire Jack Tame or Mike “Contra” Hosking.
RNZ National, Sunday 13 March 2016
The alarming vacuity continues on National Lite radio this morning. Wallace Chapman is obviously under management orders to “engage” his audience; this results in him repeatedly exhorting listeners to text in their opinions about whatever pop phenomenon he happens to touch upon during a particular programme. So in recent weeks we’ve been urged to send in our “all time favorite David Bowie song”, our “all time favorite movie”, our “all time favorite summer reading”, our “all-time favorite holiday spot”, our “all-time favorite beach”, et cetera, ad tedium, ad nauseam.
Super-alert listeners will have noted that Chapman doesn’t really seem to be putting much, or indeed any, effort into meeting these audience engagement targets. He seems to be simply going through the motions, like a reluctant teacher being coerced into delivering his lessons in a way he knows is dull and counterproductive.
This morning, for some reason (perhaps the death of Sir George Martin) someone on the program mentioned the Beatles. I’m quite sure I was not the only person to predict almost exactly what Chapman would say next….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: I’ve always been a Beatles fan. ….[long pause]….. Here’s an interesting thought: what is your favorite Beatles song? Text us….
But, when all is said and done, it is unfair to blame Chapman for this. Without a doubt, when he makes these appeals for text feedback, he is (by the sound of it reluctantly) just carrying out orders.
Where Chapman is culpable, however, is when he is covering more serious topics. Interviewing ostensibly “serious” people, he has, time after time, failed to hold them to account, even when they make the most bizarre, provocative and offensive statements. [1]
This morning, a short time after half-heartedly soliciting votes for all-time favorite Beatle songs, Chapman interviewed Canadian-born “social entrepreneur” Marilyn Garson, who has spent some time in Gaza. She made sure to speak disparagingly of “the militants” of Gaza’s Hamas government but, in spite of criticising the illegal blockade of the territory, she did not mention Israel or its chief arms supplier and sponsor the United States even once. As usual, Chapman never so much as demurred at a single thing she said, not even when she repeatedly described Israel’s massacres of the captive population of Gaza as “wars”. [2]
I sent him the following email….
Marilyn Garson’s careless use of the word “war.”
Dear Wallace,
Marilyn Garson talked about being in Gaza “during the last two wars.” A little later she referred to Gaza having “several full-scale wars” happen to it.
In fact, the imprisoned citizens of Gaza are defenceless. There was no “war” in Gaza in 2008-9 (what Israel boastfully called “twenty-two days of madness”) or in 2014; there was mass slaughter by Israel.
I watched the Chris Liddell “interview”, which was, as one would expect seeing that he was talking to the woefully ill-informed and under-repared Jack Tame, nothing more than an uninterrupted free podium.
Liddell talked with a lowered, croaky voice to convey intellectual depth and he continually raised his eyebrows to convey sincerity. Jack Tame, who might be the shallowest person “working” in the New Zealand media, failed to hold him to account for anything he said—even when Liddell called John Kasich a “respected, moderate governor”. Seconds after that howler, Liddell revealed that in 2012 he supported Mitt Romney.
Calling John Kasich “respected” and “moderate” and confessing to being a Romney supporter would have indicated to any viewer with an IQ above room temperature that Liddell was neither a serious nor credible commentator. But Jack Tame, that great gorgeous empty grin notwithstanding, seemed to comprehend not a single word Liddell said.
Liddell’s intimation the FBI could make decisions about prosecuting Clinton was dead wrong too.
In an ordinary case, that would not be a point worth making. The FBI routinely conducts major investigations in collaboration with Justice Department prosecutors — usually from the U.S. attorney’s office in the district where potential crimes occurred. That is because the FBI needs the assistance of a grand jury. The FBI does not have authority even to issue subpoenas, let alone to charge someone with a crime. Only federal prosecutors may issue subpoenas, on the lawful authority of the grand jury. Only prosecutors are empowered to present evidence or propose charges to the grand jury. And the Constitution vests only the grand jury with authority to indict — the formal accusation of a crime. In our system, the FBI can do none of these things.
No Justice Department, no grand jury. No grand jury, no case — period. As a technical matter, no matter how extensively the FBI pokes around on its own, no one can be a subject of a real investigation — i.e., one that can lead to criminal charges — unless and until there is a grand jury. That does not happen until the Justice Department hops on board.
People organising gigs of a political nature would be wise to always invite the 3 main party’s and then National if the main party’s leaders agree to front up. Either way Natcorp get it in the neck!
It was interesting to see a pretty coherent showing from the 3 opposition leaders. Clearly they have plenty of low hanging fruit to work with but they broadly seemed on the same page with issues around the dairy situation and Immigration/foreign investment which are going to be two massive issues playing out in 2017.
Contrast with Bill English’s “nothing to see here” interview on Q&A this morning. (link not yet online)
There seems a clear line drawn between the opposition being prepared to get involved directly with some sort of support package for the “too big to fail” dairy sector and the govts ideological hands off approach. While I ordinarily would not be in support of direct govt intervention my feeling is that this is going to be such a significant issue that the govt will be forced to take some action or face the consequences of significant 1980s style economic and social dislocation in the provinces. I think the opposition are being quite canny in positioning themselves ahead of the curve and waiting for the govt to pulled kicking and screaming towards their position.
“It was interesting to see a pretty coherent showing from the 3 opposition leaders. Clearly they have plenty of low hanging fruit to work with but they broadly seemed on the same page with issues around the dairy situation and Immigration/foreign investment which are going to be two massive issues playing out in 2017.”
Indeed, it was good to see. It almost looked like a Government in waiting.
Bill was using the line the TPP will help. It will allow more NZ farms to end up in offshore ownership.
Cartels can’t sell cannabis so are now focussing more on P and heroin. If we legalise class A drugs, what will the cartels do then?
I’m not supporting prohibition btw, just saying that I don’t think it’s as straightforward as its presented. Having locally grown cannabis that is cheaper is good though.
It’s a health issue. And the lies over it are become more apparent. The big lie that it will increase drug usage is being killed, by Portugal, and all the US states which have legalised cannabis. Most credible research now believes the spike which occurs after legalisation, is people just being honest about their pot use, not new users. And if anything usage is going down.
The real gateway drugs are prescription drugs, we at least do have a medical profession who don’t cut people off from pain killers.
But with this government moving us towards a more corporate medical model, we may just follow the States fast than we think.
Yes, I agree with all of that, but my question was about what will the Mexican cartels do if they lose their illegal drugs trade? They’re not going to just retire. That video failed to take that into account yet was celebrating a victory that hasn’t actually happened.
In capitalism, they will follow the money. Like they did by moving towards P and heroin. If that gone, prostitution and gambling would be my guess. Just like the other gangs have done.
The market for marijuana is much bigger than for harder drugs like P or heroin. When marijuana users have to buy from criminal suppliers, it puts them in contact with criminals that have an incentive to push other drugs. So legalising marijuana not only immediately eliminates much of the cartels’ business, it also eliminates their way to get new customers for their other lines. No, they won’t disappear in a puff of smoke, but they will shrivel to a small fraction of their current size. If there’s no customers. there’s no business. And many of their current suppliers will need to find something else to do.
Do you have any references for that? Because while I can see that some might disappear, I think that in general gangs just find other ways of making that money. People have to make a living. The actual people aren’t going to wither away.
“The most telling sign of the relationship between serious crime and Prohibition was the dramatic reversal in the rates for robbery, burglary, murder, and assault when Prohibition was repealed in 1933. That dramatic reversal has Marxist and business-cycle crime theorists puzzled to this day. For example, sociologist John Pandiani noted that “a major wave of crime appears to have begun as early as the mid 1920s [and] increased continually until 1933 . . . when it mysteriously reversed itself.”[50] Theodore Ferdinand also found a “mysterious” decline that began in 1933 and lasted throughout the 1930s.[51] How could they miss the significance of the fact that the crime rate dropped in 1933?”
There’s plenty of evidence from the end of Prohibition. If you’re interested, google it yourself. Or substantiate your assertions that the cartels will be able to easily transition into other organised criminal activities.
I assume that’s in the US (and would the Depression be a factor as well?). Not sure if that applies to the situation with Mexico now though. As noted, I support prohibition, and I’d like to see my question answered. What will the people in the cartels do then?
Of course, if there were other forms of crime that criminal organisations were involved in (say kidnapping, extortion, human trafficking, that sort of thing), it might not be so easy to persuade remaining members to “transition” away from crime into a 9-5 job somewhere.
I haven’t thought about Timor L’Este lately. It is chugging along with the help of its oil revenues. The fund built up from that has to be conserved and waste and too many little luxuries for the politicians and leaders says Dr Ramos-Horta on RADIONZ. They are still arguing with Australia over how to divide up the oil field – has been continuing for 30? years. Oz never changes does it.
Wallace commented on the news blackout of the country’s problems, the murders and mass killing unreported, and that he only heard about the country from a cake stall in Dunedin run by principled supporters.
10:32 Jose Ramos-Horta – Timor-Leste Today
From 1975 to 1999 Timor-Leste, (formerly known as East Timor), was invaded and occupied by Indonesia. Over the course of the 24 year occupation, one-third of the Timorese population perished. Dr Jose Ramos-Horta was in exile during that time, but lead a campaign that ultimately saw his country become an independent nation. He became its Prime Minister and then President, and received a Nobel Peace Prize. He is now the United Nations’ special representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau.
I haven’t thought about Timor L’Este lately. It is chugging along with the help of its oil revenues. The fund built up from that has to be conserved and waste and too many little luxuries for the politicians and leaders says Dr Ramos-Horta on RADIONZ. They are still arguing with Australia over how to divide up the oil field – has been continuing for 30? years. Oz never changes does it.
Wallace commented on the news blackout of the country’s problems, the murders and mass killing unreported, and that he only heard about the country from a cake stall in Dunedin run by principled supporters.
10:32 Jose Ramos-Horta – Timor-Leste Today
From 1975 to 1999 Timor-Leste, (formerly known as East Timor), was invaded and occupied by Indonesia. Over the course of the 24 year occupation, one-third of the Timorese population perished. Dr Jose Ramos-Horta was in exile during that time, but lead a campaign that ultimately saw his country become an independent nation. He became its Prime Minister and then President, and received a Nobel Peace Prize. He is now the United Nations’ special representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau. He mentioned with gratitude Helen Jansen in NZ.
Maire Leadbeater was involved as spokesperson for many years.
She was also involved in various other human rights groups including the Auckland East Timor Independence Committee, the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa and the Indonesia Human Rights Committee.[2][5] Her family’s left-wing activities made her the target of surveillance by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, the country’s main domestic intelligence agency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maire_Leadbeater
Note how her family were marked by the spy and security agencies for reminding people of the principles of human behaviour that were being broken in other countries that were being ignored by supposedly high principled countries like us and the USA.
Doubled up here. I will know how not to do this again. Sorry.
edited
I started taking a pretty serious interest in suicide when I found that 10% of the deepsea fishermen I knew had committed suicide. Someone ought to pay for that.
Well it was always an extreme profession – you give up normal social relationships, hobbies, sport, and time off – and then the companies bring in slave labour & throw you on the scrap heap? Very hard to take & you have weakened support networks to fall back on.
Nor is the skill set respected – but it takes several years to learn to mend net and splice wire fast enough to be useful in a modern context. Fishing, perhaps a bit like scrub cutting, used to attract people who found 9-5 conventional jobs soul destroying. Even some gang folk fitted in quite well – they had a culture of physical toughness, and there were an abundance of challenging physical tasks for them to excell at. We liked them.
But a bit like Fonterra, NZ companies were pretty good at getting bottom dollar for everything – and the great ongoing failure – they still have not developed the local market. They have much to learn.
‘ Someone ought to pay for that.
Fisherman Stuart? I see you were quoting a Gary Neave story the other day so you know all about them obviously.sarc.
Can you give me a link that substantiates your implication that 10% of Deep Sea fisherman commit suicide?
And then can you tell me who ‘should pay’, and why?
@TheLostSheep Fuck off troll “I found that 10% of the deepsea fishermen I knew” is what he said, so obviously anecdotal, ie:people he knew. Why would you want to pick a fight there?
Because he is implying there is an exceptionally high rate of suicide linked to Fishing employment, and that ‘someone should pay for that’.
As not a single one of the 100’s of fisherman i have known and consider good friends has committed suicide, I say he is talking utter shit.
Almost as much shit as you. Anyone thinks ‘fuck off troll’ is an intelligent lead in to an argument is brain dead moron.
Thanks Stuart M. that sounds a knowledgable background to it all. Rings a bell with what I keep hearing. Physical skills are downgraded – not flavour of the month with the IT obssessed (both of my kids are in IT) – very clever, useful, but doesn’t replace actual physical work.
And thinking that CAD? printing is going to do most of our physical stuff is not correct, and having robot worker factories just destroys the cement and inter-relationship of society and reduces customers, with so many dropping out from consumerism.
Though am reading Oliver James on Affluenza which I totally agree with, and he is not for consumerism as what we need in the long run.
So please keep writing here, it is good to read someone with experience that understands and communicates about our reality. We need to have ideas, people who get excited, and people who can balance ideas and assess them.
Most of all we need navigators and pilots of, and in the wide world.
I was thinking about this the other day, of the cost to the economy of each of those lives. A fairly clinical way of looking at things however. But as money talks in pretty much anything we do and anything the Government is interested in, if it was put in pure economic terms that we’re losing so many million $ a year due to these deaths then maybe authorities might look for new solutions or work harder at it.
Rachel Madow on how Trump’s bloodlust has shifted violence from it’s place on the fringe to mainstream republican politics. Deliberately. She’s making a connection between the unrest in Black communities in cities where Black people have been shot by police and the places where Trump has been inciting violence in the lead up to what happened in Chicago yesterday,
Working class, non-white, trans-national feminism in LA.
The film follows the Ovarian Psycos Brigade of Los Angeles, a group of women on bicycles who have been known to ride in and around the streets where women have recently been killed. The women, who call themselves Ovas, ride the streets at night together to let the community know they stand together without fear. Their motto is “ovaries so big we don’t need no balls.”
“We fight back against femicide, rape, the normalization of our disposability, [and] the war being played out upon our spaces,” said Xela de la X, the founder of the Ovarian Psycos.
…
Those that have seen the Ovas ride down a street together describe it as powerful sight—a “sea of women.” In Los Angeles less than 1 in 5 bicyclists is female so it’s even more powerful when you see a group of women of color cycling down the street. Many of the women cover their faces with bandanas that have white fallopian tubes printed on black fabric.
Someone on Twitter says the NZ army are being used for security at the TPPA re-education meetings. Read the convo. Good chart outlining control of dissent too. I’m unrepentant about calling National proto-fascist.
Did you notice that the first little girl who dropped a coin in the bass players had was till standing watching right the end. Grey jeans pink top. Entranced.
Interesting goungs on at Wellington airport. A huge Islamic Republic of Iran airbus is parked up at the international terminal. Shortly after it arrived a US airforce lear jet arrived and was promprly towed into a hanger. Coincidence? Probably 🙂
Would someone in here be able to tell me why … in Georges YourNZ “Recent Comments” section … Ben Rachingers username is highlighted in blue … and not black the same as most other folks … aside from Pete George and a small few other select people’s usernames?
Is this the way WordPress works?
I have asked this question before of Rachinger … and he was evasive … and told me to ask George.
It is likely that comments appear in blue because the user is logged in. You’ll notice that my comment here is blue because I am logged in (yes it’s a WordPress thing).
When you are logged in you don’t need to re-enter your details for every comment. If you look upthread you’ll see a few regular commenters are logged in.
It’s because they’ve got a web address written in the WEBSITE field, under email/name. It’s just a hyperlink to whatever they’ve written in there. Same as the blue names here, it’s nothing sinister at all. See if you click on Robs name you’ll go to the last page on the internet, lprent’s goes to the homepage here.
Says who? As long as you don’t put the site at legal risk, you’re pretty well free to comment on anything. But you know better than most which areas are sensitive at the moment, so stick to other subjects and you’ll get on fine.
Don’t worry too much. Just put yourself into my seat and think if I might decide it is worrisome bearing in mind I intensely dislike time wasted in court. And that I take draconian measures against anyone who tries to put me there. So I err on the side of caution. If I can’t figure out what you are talking about, because of opaque convolution, I assume the worst. It pays to be clear….
Then assess how much you want to continue commenting here.
We are adults. Determine how dangerously you want to get towards the edge. Besides, most of the commenters will try to warn you. But some consider watching banning to be entertaining…. 😈
Oh God … you are asking me to go out into “The Wilderness” in here.
I am a “Centre Right Voter”.
Are you trying to get me savaged to death?
Mind you … I have put up with so much shit and crap over in Georges Blog over the past six months … that I can probably cope with being outnumbered 100 to 1 by a bunch of Lefties. LOL.
That name is probably on auto-moderation because we want to tread carefully in the context of the ongoing legal issues. Reasonable comments will always be released (the delay depends on when moderators are about).
When I belonged to Georges Blog … I was permanently logged in at least 90% of the time.
My username was never highlighted in blue as opposed to black at any stage throughout “My Tenure” there … and I checked often after I discovered the “Black and Blue” anomaly.
What is considered to be “Logged-In” … with regards to Word Press?
Mike C
No two blogs are alike. Every blog owner runs their site as they see fit. If you’re a newbie then do what most newbies do… spend some time reading The Standard and join in with when you feel you’ve got the hang of the way it operates. It’s a left-wing blog site ranging from centre Left (probably where most commenters sit) to the far Left. All of them have contributions to make.
Up the top of the page, on the right, are some green and blue buttons. If you click the one that says “Log in” you will find out how this works on WordPress.
I think its time to get serious about limiting GHGs – and I don’t mean playing with a trashed and useless ETS.
But don’t worry folks – John and Paula will sort it out. Just don’t expect them to listen to any of the submissions we make – they are not listening to any on the TPPA either, and why change the habit of a lifetime?
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
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Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
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Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
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Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
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. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
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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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
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Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
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The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Just a general complaint!
I have in the past weeks attempted to contribute Guest Posts for general discussion.
None of my contributions have appeared, which, perhaps, says something about their quality!
But, at the very least, a short email indicating that the said post does not reach the standard required, or any other reason, is a basic courtesy which I, we, if others have had the same result, might expect.
Cheers.
Hi Tony – That email goes to lprent. I’m aware that he is massively busy at work at the moment – you may notice that he hasn’t posted himself here for ages. It’s likely that TS email is slipping through the cracks. I apologise for that, and I’ll draw this to his attention.
You can always send them to me, too, Tony.
I’ve done a couple for regulars, including the recent AK IT one for SaveNZ, which went down pretty well. The only difference if I do them is they go out under my byline. Not sure if that’s an advantage or a disadvantage 😉
tereoputake@gmail.com
Thanks.
I do appreciate all the work that must go on behind the scenes to keep The Standard on line – and hell, it is so so important as a place to vent one’s frustrations at the mess this neoliberal crap is getting us into.
Hello Tony V
Please don’t talk about venting your frustrations here in a guest post. If there is something to post about, please give us a good meaty one with your concerns and observations then as well explanation with links, details, background etc. We get enough venting as comments, they make the writer and every similar thinker feel better for a second, but we actually need to think beyond that as well, and what, and why it is important, and what is the scenario if we don’t get that change?
How can we get something better, and what do you and informed others think would be the best method for the situation? What do they do overseas? Is there a time when people are really receptive to thinking on new ideas? Are we not doing regular thinking and assessment of what is being done, but just waiting for failures and disasters and then getting angry? That’s so reactionary, do we need to plan and think better, and right at the beginning of some new scheme, and who will do this, and how can informed citizens have a say and provide guidance?
You should be able to select Guest Post.
And currently back in Italy for work. Which paradoxically means that I will be more active than has been usual.
Canada Is About To Start Giving Away Free Money
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/canada-free-money_us_56df181ee4b0000de4063880?
We must watch with great interest. Such a program would just about eliminate Work and Income. Wonder if the $800-1000per month is for every adult.
Indeed, ianmac. It’s definitely one to keep an eye on.
“Such a program would just about eliminate Work and Income.”
Not really. How many can live on that amount?
250,000 people depend on Disability Allowance.
85,000 are long term unwell or disabled and are currently on Supported Living. They have different welfare needs than the working population.
I can’t tell you how many are on sickness benefit because National are hiding them in the unemployed, but that will more tens of thousands.
People on the DPB etc.
All those people require further assistance as do people on the dole who have financial hardship.
All of that needs a competent system to deliver entitlements. It’s significant and UBI advocates need to start taking it seriously (sorry, not picking on you ianmac, but I”ve seen this written off too many times now).
Are there better ways to assessing what higher need citizens require and ensuring that they get that extra assistance – other than WINZ offices?
Not any more. I don’t think the MoH would be an improvement and they won’t want to administer non-health and disability benefits anyway.
The ideal? Scrap WINZ. Create two new departments. One is the Dept of Social Welfare and it administers all UBI and supplementary payments. Use that as an opportunity to set up a system that supports people to live meaningful lives where that isn’t solely defined by having paid employment. Redefine welfare as being about individual, family, community and society wellbeing.
Have it completely separate from job seeking, which needs to be in a separate department.
Not that anyone is going to do that though 😉
So other than that, I think the most likely way to go is to use WINZ to administer the UBI and supplementaries, and for a left wong govt to strip out the worst of the punitive legislation and policy. They can also do quite a lot to change the culture within WINZ.
weka
+100
“Not really. How many can live on that amount?”
Not many if any, hence a UBI would require to be more.
But there would also be savings made putting an end to the bureaucracy at WINZ.
What’s their CEO on now days?
You didn’t read the rest of my comment did you. If you think that a UBI will pay a living income, please cite some people who’ve done work on this who have figured out how to pay for it. All the people I’ve seen do calculations are saying it will be less than a living income.
You and them are looking at it the wrong way. It’s not that the UBI needs to be paid for but that the UBI would be the entire basis for the rest of the economy.
I was just meaning he would need to put up some figures that shows how a high rate would be done.
How it’s done is dependent upon which way you view it. If you view it as the UBI needing to be funded from taxes then you have problems and you can’t get the figures to work.
When you view it as a UBI of $60 billion per year with a multiplier of ~3 funding the economy then it fits nicely within our ~200 billion dollar economy.
Other changes would need to be made of course. The most important one being that the private banks could no longer create money. You’d also need to ban offshore ownership.
Do you think Red’s figures don’t work?
Recalculate Red’s figures so the UBI results in being around $400 a week.
I can’t do that.
WTF is Red?
Red Logix, one of the standard authors who like yourself has written on the UBI. There’s a link on this page somewhere.
“The most important one being that the private banks could no longer create money.”
Ha, they aren’t going to give that up without a fight.
If we are going to replace welfare with a UBI, it would have to be as good as the pension. Not the living wage.
One way to pay for it would be increasing royalties, or at least start charging them – i.e. water (see Q&A).
Here’s Red’s figures, $200/wk ($300 for over 65s). It’s based on people also working (or getting topups).
http://thestandard.org.nz/universal-income-revisited/
Gareth Morgans is roughly the same rate.
http://thestandard.org.nz/gareth-morgans-big-kahuna/
Those amounts are inadequate if we want to avoid more people living in hardship.
Working or top ups on top of that would improve things. However, top ups implies more administrative bureaucracy and not all can work. Coupled with growing automation, there won’t be as much available employment going forward.
Why change/replace the current system if we aren’t going to improve it?
A survey (not to long ago) claimed 3% of the over 65 suffer deprivation.
Although, notably, high home ownership levels amongst the over 65 contributes to that low percentage. Along with pensions being tied to the average wage (opposed to other benefits being tied to the CPI) and returns on savings/investments.
Therefore, even basing a UBI on the current pension rate may be insufficient.
The point of a UBI isn’t to give everyone free money that they can live well on (have you read the actual proposals?). Yes, everyone needs a livable income, but that shouldn’t be coming solely from the UBI, it should be coming from the UBI, full employment, living wage rates, affordable housing and social welfare that is fair and supportive not punitive like we have now.
Have you looked at the various models that people have done work on on how to pay for a UBI? I haven’t seen any model yet that suggests giving people a living income.
Most people are going to want to work as well as receive the UBI. If people don’t need to work as hard or as often for financial reasons that frees up jobs for other people (many people on 30 hour weeks instead). I agree that automation will be an issue, but it’s an issue without a UBI so let’s solve that alongside.
Re topups, make them entitlements and easily accessible. Some of the issues that would need to be solved would be Accommodation Supplement, which tends to be inaedquate because it gets sucked up by landlords, and the bureaucracy/hoop jumping that makes up life for current beneficiaries.
None of those things are unsolvable.
“The point of a UBI isn’t to give everyone free money that they can live well on”
I clearly stated above it doesn’t require to be a living wage.
“Have you looked at the various models that people have done work on on how to pay for a UBI? I haven’t seen any model yet that suggests giving people a living income”.
Again, I clearly stated above it doesn’t require to be a living wage.
The point you are overlooking is if we are going to change the system it’s got to be for the better. $200 a week isn’t an improvement, resulting in continuing the hardship a number currently face.
“Most people are going to want to work as well as receive the UBI”.
Good. Nothing wrong with that. They will be even better off.
“I agree that automation will be an issue, but it’s an issue without a UBI so let’s solve that alongside”
It can be resolved with a UBI was the point I’m making.
“Re topups, make them entitlements and easily accessible.”
That still requires more administrative bureaucracy.
As I stated above, the only reason why there is a low percentage of over 65 suffering is largely due to high home ownership levels amongst the over 65. Along with pensions being tied to the average wage (opposed to other benefits being tied to the CPI) and returns on savings/investments. Many others don’t have those benefits (home ownership, savings/investments) to help supplement their income. Thus, for those not working, $200 a week would result in financial hardship. As it currently does.
Food-banks have been reporting an increase in demand. A decent UBI ( but not a living wage) can help improve that. Hence, that is what we should be aiming for, improving peoples lives.
What’s a decent rate of UBI? If it’s not the Super rate (seeing as how too many elderly live in poverty), what is it? Can you please provide a model of how that would be paid for?
If you think that topups aren’t a useful way to go because of bureaucracy, please explain how you would make sure that someone with serious disability would get their needs met?
The point you are overlooking is if we are going to change the system it’s got to be for the better. $200 a week isn’t an improvement, resulting in continuing the hardship a number currently face.
I really get the sense that you don’t understand what a UBI is for. It’s not welfare. People without work aren’t going to be on the dole with a new name. People aren’t going to be living on $200/wk, they will get more income than that. Please go read what the point of a UBI is.
“What’s a decent rate of UBI?”
See above comment (10:28 am)
“If you think that topups aren’t a useful way to go because of bureaucracy, please explain how you would make sure that someone with serious disability would get their needs met?”
Those with serious disability would have their rate set higher when transitioning over. Those who later become seriously disable (which would be a relatively small number in comparison) would have to apply to get their ongoing rate set higher.
“I really get the sense that you don’t understand what a UBI”
That’s you making those flawed assumptions again. Bad habit that.
“It’s not welfare. People without work aren’t going to be on the dole with a new name.”
But it can be. UBI can replace welfare. We don’t require duplication, it’s inefficient.
“People aren’t going to be living on $200/wk, they will get more income than that.”
If they are not working or unable to work, can you explain how they will get more income than that?
Those with serious disability would have their rate set higher when transitioning over. Those who later become seriously disable (which would be a relatively small number in comparison) would have to apply to get their ongoing rate set higher.
yeah, that’s called a topup. Disability is often not a static state and each person will need to be assessed and some will need to be reassessed over time. You need a system to do that.
“I really get the sense that you don’t understand what a UBI”
That’s you making those flawed assumptions again. Bad habit that.
And yet you keep talking about the UBI as a welfare substitute, it’s not.
“It’s not welfare. People without work aren’t going to be on the dole with a new name.”
But it can be. UBI can replace welfare. We don’t require duplication, it’s inefficient.
No-one has suggested it duplication.
“People aren’t going to be living on $200/wk, they will get more income than that.”
If they are not working or unable to work, can you explain how they will get more income than that?
They will get the extra amount you named above like someone with a disability.
Many people cannot live on $400/wk. If they’re not able to work and there are no topups how is your system going to work?
“Disability is often not a static state and each person will need to be assessed”
Those currently disabled have already been assessed, Moreover, in a number of cases people’s conditions won’t alter. For example down’s syndrome.
When transitioning their rate would be set higher from the start, that’s not a top up. That’s merely starting on a higher rate.
Doctors can reassess people that require it. Those that have improved won’t require a higher rate, thus a top up.
New applicants would see their rates topped up, so yeah a top up in that regards, but in the most minimalistic way.
“And yet you keep talking about the UBI as a welfare substitute, it’s not”
Seems it’s you that needs to do some research. Labour are considering just that.
“No-one has suggested it duplication”.
You were imply benefits would remain, thus I stated that is inefficient duplication.
“They will get the extra amount you named above like someone with a disability.”
And what about those that aren’t employed? How will they get more until they secure work, which could take some time?
“Many people cannot live on $400/wk”
Yet many on benefits currently are expected too.
I can see that UBI would be helpful as entitlement for maintenance for all. But different people fall into different strata of need.
There would have to be automatic topups for recognised need normal for those levels. They might be very low cost barriers to doctor, dentist, prescriptions, transport that go to not only old age pensioners, but all young families. There will need to be administration that assists people to get what they need within guidelines that are not rigid.
And all people be encouraged to do some community work. People with ability and capable but wheelchair bound, could do some reading education support work for instance. There are ways that all can promote wellbeing in society, both for the giver, the receiver, and the community which benefits too with pride at being a buzzing, happy group of people all needed and respected. Actually it can’t be that good because humans are ornery and don’t appreciate what they have and grizzle, but things would be improved.
Supported Living payment is about $250 a week. People are expected to live on that. Many get nothing extra.
I would have thought the opposite Sirenia. What are you basing that one?
Snap!
joe90’s link to yesterday’s comment and link on UBI and Canada plus other nations is important to look at.
And under that is Sabine on teenagers taking governments to court over lack of climate action. Now that is bold and innovative. And what have they got to lose, on the one hand some difficulties and expense, and on the other hand they may achieve a gigantic effect of prevention and action to deal with the present which seems so hard to see for the enfeebled politicians who can’t see past the stacked wall of monopoly money.
We had a similar thing here once upon a time – it was called the family benefit, i think. If i remember rightly, one could capitalise it to get a “State Advances mortgage” to buy a first home. I think my mum did just that . . .
You are right about Family Benefit Murray but Jim Bolger canned it in the 90s. It wasn’t much each week but only the Mum could cash it. And yes the first home assistance was great.
I think Jim Bolger was a Catholic with a good sized family. The religious often seem to be very conservative about how families should be treated. They must have been the originators of the term husbanding, for looking after resources carefully.
I think Bill English also has a good sized family.
During the sixties my old man was a Beazly builder – Murray, Mrs Murray and family would walk through the door and mum would sit them down with a plan book containing around 20 designs all of which could be mirrored, reversed, extended or otherwise tickled to suit the Murray clan.
The Beazly parent company owned several subdivisions around the town so the Murray clan could choose a location to suit themselves and once decisions had been made finance would be arranged.
Usually the capitalised family benefits would provide part if not all of a deposit with a State Advances mortgage to finance the remainder.
Once finalised trucks would arrive on site carrying almost the entire house, framing through to cladding, roofing, kitchen and paint and local subcontractors would complete the Murray clan’s new house in around twelve weeks and they’d be in.
Yup. My parents moved from a state house to private ownership. We had a Peerless home on pretty much the principle you describe (not that I remember).
My dad painted the house red.
We got 5% mortgage for our first house. We were working at two jobs, doing a bit of night time restaurant work to boost our earnings otherwise we would have been entitled to a 3% mortgage. We had no children then. We went through very much what Joe90 did. I think it was Gerards in Hamilton, built a lovely 3 bedroom I think 1000 sq foot home in summerhill stone. Decided to take the opportunity before children to travel and work overseas so sold it for about $10,000 I think –
in 1968. We didn’t realise that life was at its crest for the world then, and is now sloping downhill. Ya don’t know how lucky ya are mate etc
New Zealand had to find new ways to manage as we lost our automatic export link to Britain. But we couldn’t throw ourselves into enterprising NZ, we gave our opportunities for that away, along with our ability to provide for our own needs out of our own earnings. Don’t people understand that yet? We are living on borrowed money in the style that we have become accustomed to, except for some hundred thousand that spoil the effect.
It’s time to regroup, have a group hug, plan a new strategy and unroll a new New Zealand, older, wiser, cautious about some things, but getting behind what is good and sustainable and pulling everyone in to help, even if just to hold onto the signs to the world to say Honk and call in and buy something from us.
edited
And we still have pensions which are universal.
This really needs to be brought back. The best way out of poverty is home ownership. State Advances/Housing Corp assistance helped a lot of people into their own homes. Replacing this with cash transfer payments is/was not the greatest idea.
Peter Dunne saw the light and had a policy that would allow people to do this with WFF payments. but he never really fought for this.
Hey. This is very good and very surprising. An article by Jarrod Gilbert about Bill English’s policy actions. We are used to rubbishing Bill but wait. This is deeper.
“It was 2011 when English first shocked criminal justice circles.
He proclaimed prisons were a “moral and fiscal failure” and heralded the Government’s dramatic policy shift towards prisoner rehabilitation.”
“New Zealand has the fifth-highest rate of child abuse in the OECD. Last year I discovered that the period in which a New Zealander is most likely to be murdered is before the age of 3, a time when they cannot defend themselves, find sanctuary or even beg for help.
“When the Dirty Politics saga broke in 2014, many politicians dismissed the revelations made by Nicky Hager ……. English spoke out and his views were unequivocal: not only was he not involved but he didn’t like what was happening, either.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11604661
Mostly aimed at cost saving though.
Did the Court require an alternative generating capacity?
Nuclear is the first best transition fuel to any other generation, for the scale that Japan needs it.
That’s an issue for the govt not the courts (kind of a weird suggestion there Ad).
Nuclear is never going to be a good transition energy, esp not in a country with earthquakes and tsunamis. It’s neither resilient, nor safe, nor sustainable, nor afaik economic.
If they thought Fukushima was bad try doing that when there’s no cheap oil available or after a GFC.
I don’t mind protest movements celebrating a ‘victory’. I loathe movements who walk away from the hard work of the alternatives that really work.
If someone would like to calculate the visible landscape left after replacing all of Japan’s nuclear generation with wind farms, I’d be interested. That’s where the work is.
I don’t believe it’s possible for the electronic/industrialised nations to keep their current lifestyles in a post-carbon world. We will have to powerdown. So from my perspective your basic premise of what should Japan replace nuclear with is faulty (ha ha).
I don’t know Japan that well, but I could have a crack at how it would work in NZ. The biggest obstacle to that conversation is whether we can make a living here and be less dependent on exports. Once that one is solved a whole bunch of critical things change, including our GHG emissions.
Always loving the Greens who expect whole percentages of the world to fail in order to succeed
Are you talking about the Green Party? They don’t believe that.
Besides, you don’t understand what the issue is if that’s how you characterise it.
Would you mind addressing the actual points instead of making inane assumptions that aren’t based on anything?
Ad, how do you decommission a 70 year old nuclear reactor which has more than reached the end of its already extended service life, when you have no more access to diesel fuel?
Also, failure of the modern globalised economic system is an inevitability at this point. The question is do you want a planned, graceful failure, or do you want a full speed train smash?
You really don’t get it do you? The present system has already failed.
Ad, you do understand the unresolveble problems which plague nuclear reactor design, right?
“Alternatives that really work”
…. but can end life on earth at any time…..
the problem is that there is no more time and no more money to implement nuclear power as a large scale energy alternative for the world.
Easy access to fossil fuels ends in the next 25 years or so.
And we have no way of properly decommissioning the dozens of existing nuclear reactors and used fuel storage facilities.
The Japanese landscape will be fine as they’re building these.
This guy has a view on nuclear power that is probably worth adding into the mix of opinions
and these two
I see TVNZ are as slow as ever getting Q&A up on TV on-demand.
Wallace Chapman is repeatedly failing to do his job;
They might as well hire Jack Tame or Mike “Contra” Hosking.
RNZ National, Sunday 13 March 2016
The alarming vacuity continues on National Lite radio this morning. Wallace Chapman is obviously under management orders to “engage” his audience; this results in him repeatedly exhorting listeners to text in their opinions about whatever pop phenomenon he happens to touch upon during a particular programme. So in recent weeks we’ve been urged to send in our “all time favorite David Bowie song”, our “all time favorite movie”, our “all time favorite summer reading”, our “all-time favorite holiday spot”, our “all-time favorite beach”, et cetera, ad tedium, ad nauseam.
Super-alert listeners will have noted that Chapman doesn’t really seem to be putting much, or indeed any, effort into meeting these audience engagement targets. He seems to be simply going through the motions, like a reluctant teacher being coerced into delivering his lessons in a way he knows is dull and counterproductive.
This morning, for some reason (perhaps the death of Sir George Martin) someone on the program mentioned the Beatles. I’m quite sure I was not the only person to predict almost exactly what Chapman would say next….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: I’ve always been a Beatles fan. ….[long pause]….. Here’s an interesting thought: what is your favorite Beatles song? Text us….
But, when all is said and done, it is unfair to blame Chapman for this. Without a doubt, when he makes these appeals for text feedback, he is (by the sound of it reluctantly) just carrying out orders.
Where Chapman is culpable, however, is when he is covering more serious topics. Interviewing ostensibly “serious” people, he has, time after time, failed to hold them to account, even when they make the most bizarre, provocative and offensive statements. [1]
This morning, a short time after half-heartedly soliciting votes for all-time favorite Beatle songs, Chapman interviewed Canadian-born “social entrepreneur” Marilyn Garson, who has spent some time in Gaza. She made sure to speak disparagingly of “the militants” of Gaza’s Hamas government but, in spite of criticising the illegal blockade of the territory, she did not mention Israel or its chief arms supplier and sponsor the United States even once. As usual, Chapman never so much as demurred at a single thing she said, not even when she repeatedly described Israel’s massacres of the captive population of Gaza as “wars”. [2]
I sent him the following email….
Marilyn Garson’s careless use of the word “war.”
Dear Wallace,
Marilyn Garson talked about being in Gaza “during the last two wars.” A little later she referred to Gaza having “several full-scale wars” happen to it.
In fact, the imprisoned citizens of Gaza are defenceless. There was no “war” in Gaza in 2008-9 (what Israel boastfully called “twenty-two days of madness”) or in 2014; there was mass slaughter by Israel.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-28022016/#comment-1139695
[2] Anyone interested in what an informed and rigorous scholar, in contrast to the likes of Marilyn Garson, has to say about this matter should read the following…..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-mutch/finkelstein-amnesty-gaza-israel_b_7786388.html
As usual, National refused to debate on TV3’s The Nation.
Good to see the opposition front up.
http://www.tv3.co.nz/tabid/3692/MCat/2910/Default.aspx
I watched the Chris Liddell “interview”, which was, as one would expect seeing that he was talking to the woefully ill-informed and under-repared Jack Tame, nothing more than an uninterrupted free podium.
Liddell talked with a lowered, croaky voice to convey intellectual depth and he continually raised his eyebrows to convey sincerity. Jack Tame, who might be the shallowest person “working” in the New Zealand media, failed to hold him to account for anything he said—even when Liddell called John Kasich a “respected, moderate governor”. Seconds after that howler, Liddell revealed that in 2012 he supported Mitt Romney.
Calling John Kasich “respected” and “moderate” and confessing to being a Romney supporter would have indicated to any viewer with an IQ above room temperature that Liddell was neither a serious nor credible commentator. But Jack Tame, that great gorgeous empty grin notwithstanding, seemed to comprehend not a single word Liddell said.
Liddell’s intimation the FBI could make decisions about prosecuting Clinton was dead wrong too.
In an ordinary case, that would not be a point worth making. The FBI routinely conducts major investigations in collaboration with Justice Department prosecutors — usually from the U.S. attorney’s office in the district where potential crimes occurred. That is because the FBI needs the assistance of a grand jury. The FBI does not have authority even to issue subpoenas, let alone to charge someone with a crime. Only federal prosecutors may issue subpoenas, on the lawful authority of the grand jury. Only prosecutors are empowered to present evidence or propose charges to the grand jury. And the Constitution vests only the grand jury with authority to indict — the formal accusation of a crime. In our system, the FBI can do none of these things.
No Justice Department, no grand jury. No grand jury, no case — period. As a technical matter, no matter how extensively the FBI pokes around on its own, no one can be a subject of a real investigation — i.e., one that can lead to criminal charges — unless and until there is a grand jury. That does not happen until the Justice Department hops on board.
google cache because NRO.
As usual, a good breakdown, Morrissey.
Too busy playing golf.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/golf/77826942/new-zealand-call-in-prime-minister-john-key-for-celebrity-challenge-at-nz-open
Allowing the opposition to control the narrative while showing voters where their priorities lie.
+1
People organising gigs of a political nature would be wise to always invite the 3 main party’s and then National if the main party’s leaders agree to front up. Either way Natcorp get it in the neck!
It was interesting to see a pretty coherent showing from the 3 opposition leaders. Clearly they have plenty of low hanging fruit to work with but they broadly seemed on the same page with issues around the dairy situation and Immigration/foreign investment which are going to be two massive issues playing out in 2017.
Contrast with Bill English’s “nothing to see here” interview on Q&A this morning. (link not yet online)
There seems a clear line drawn between the opposition being prepared to get involved directly with some sort of support package for the “too big to fail” dairy sector and the govts ideological hands off approach. While I ordinarily would not be in support of direct govt intervention my feeling is that this is going to be such a significant issue that the govt will be forced to take some action or face the consequences of significant 1980s style economic and social dislocation in the provinces. I think the opposition are being quite canny in positioning themselves ahead of the curve and waiting for the govt to pulled kicking and screaming towards their position.
“It was interesting to see a pretty coherent showing from the 3 opposition leaders. Clearly they have plenty of low hanging fruit to work with but they broadly seemed on the same page with issues around the dairy situation and Immigration/foreign investment which are going to be two massive issues playing out in 2017.”
Indeed, it was good to see. It almost looked like a Government in waiting.
Bill was using the line the TPP will help. It will allow more NZ farms to end up in offshore ownership.
According to Treasury (see link below) that’s a good thing. Yeah right.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11602794
WooHoo – It’s working
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_FAO4-Zi84
Cartels can’t sell cannabis so are now focussing more on P and heroin. If we legalise class A drugs, what will the cartels do then?
I’m not supporting prohibition btw, just saying that I don’t think it’s as straightforward as its presented. Having locally grown cannabis that is cheaper is good though.
I think we need to end prohibition.
It’s a health issue. And the lies over it are become more apparent. The big lie that it will increase drug usage is being killed, by Portugal, and all the US states which have legalised cannabis. Most credible research now believes the spike which occurs after legalisation, is people just being honest about their pot use, not new users. And if anything usage is going down.
The real gateway drugs are prescription drugs, we at least do have a medical profession who don’t cut people off from pain killers.
But with this government moving us towards a more corporate medical model, we may just follow the States fast than we think.
Yes, I agree with all of that, but my question was about what will the Mexican cartels do if they lose their illegal drugs trade? They’re not going to just retire. That video failed to take that into account yet was celebrating a victory that hasn’t actually happened.
True that.
In capitalism, they will follow the money. Like they did by moving towards P and heroin. If that gone, prostitution and gambling would be my guess. Just like the other gangs have done.
Human trafficiking too I’d guess.
What brought the Mexican cartels into existence?
The market for marijuana is much bigger than for harder drugs like P or heroin. When marijuana users have to buy from criminal suppliers, it puts them in contact with criminals that have an incentive to push other drugs. So legalising marijuana not only immediately eliminates much of the cartels’ business, it also eliminates their way to get new customers for their other lines. No, they won’t disappear in a puff of smoke, but they will shrivel to a small fraction of their current size. If there’s no customers. there’s no business. And many of their current suppliers will need to find something else to do.
Do you have any references for that? Because while I can see that some might disappear, I think that in general gangs just find other ways of making that money. People have to make a living. The actual people aren’t going to wither away.
“The most telling sign of the relationship between serious crime and Prohibition was the dramatic reversal in the rates for robbery, burglary, murder, and assault when Prohibition was repealed in 1933. That dramatic reversal has Marxist and business-cycle crime theorists puzzled to this day. For example, sociologist John Pandiani noted that “a major wave of crime appears to have begun as early as the mid 1920s [and] increased continually until 1933 . . . when it mysteriously reversed itself.”[50] Theodore Ferdinand also found a “mysterious” decline that began in 1933 and lasted throughout the 1930s.[51] How could they miss the significance of the fact that the crime rate dropped in 1933?”
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.html
(yeah, yeah, Cato Institute, I know. But they’re not always wrong)
There’s plenty of evidence from the end of Prohibition. If you’re interested, google it yourself. Or substantiate your assertions that the cartels will be able to easily transition into other organised criminal activities.
I assume that’s in the US (and would the Depression be a factor as well?). Not sure if that applies to the situation with Mexico now though. As noted, I support prohibition, and I’d like to see my question answered. What will the people in the cartels do then?
I didn’t use the word easily.
You decapitate the senior leadership of the cartels.
Then give the remaining cartel members ways to economically and legally transition out of what they have been doing (including amnesties etc.).
The hard core remainder who insist on continuing on you get rid of out of society.
You do all of this while rooting out every corrupt official out of the government, military and police force.
Oh, easy then.
Glad you sorted that out for us.
Of course, if there were other forms of crime that criminal organisations were involved in (say kidnapping, extortion, human trafficking, that sort of thing), it might not be so easy to persuade remaining members to “transition” away from crime into a 9-5 job somewhere.
Plus Mexico’s unemployment rate is 4.75%
I haven’t thought about Timor L’Este lately. It is chugging along with the help of its oil revenues. The fund built up from that has to be conserved and waste and too many little luxuries for the politicians and leaders says Dr Ramos-Horta on RADIONZ. They are still arguing with Australia over how to divide up the oil field – has been continuing for 30? years. Oz never changes does it.
Wallace commented on the news blackout of the country’s problems, the murders and mass killing unreported, and that he only heard about the country from a cake stall in Dunedin run by principled supporters.
10:32 Jose Ramos-Horta – Timor-Leste Today
From 1975 to 1999 Timor-Leste, (formerly known as East Timor), was invaded and occupied by Indonesia. Over the course of the 24 year occupation, one-third of the Timorese population perished. Dr Jose Ramos-Horta was in exile during that time, but lead a campaign that ultimately saw his country become an independent nation. He became its Prime Minister and then President, and received a Nobel Peace Prize. He is now the United Nations’ special representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau.
I haven’t thought about Timor L’Este lately. It is chugging along with the help of its oil revenues. The fund built up from that has to be conserved and waste and too many little luxuries for the politicians and leaders says Dr Ramos-Horta on RADIONZ. They are still arguing with Australia over how to divide up the oil field – has been continuing for 30? years. Oz never changes does it.
Wallace commented on the news blackout of the country’s problems, the murders and mass killing unreported, and that he only heard about the country from a cake stall in Dunedin run by principled supporters.
10:32 Jose Ramos-Horta – Timor-Leste Today
From 1975 to 1999 Timor-Leste, (formerly known as East Timor), was invaded and occupied by Indonesia. Over the course of the 24 year occupation, one-third of the Timorese population perished. Dr Jose Ramos-Horta was in exile during that time, but lead a campaign that ultimately saw his country become an independent nation. He became its Prime Minister and then President, and received a Nobel Peace Prize. He is now the United Nations’ special representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau. He mentioned with gratitude Helen Jansen in NZ.
Maire Leadbeater was involved as spokesperson for many years.
She was also involved in various other human rights groups including the Auckland East Timor Independence Committee, the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa and the Indonesia Human Rights Committee.[2][5] Her family’s left-wing activities made her the target of surveillance by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, the country’s main domestic intelligence agency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maire_Leadbeater
Note how her family were marked by the spy and security agencies for reminding people of the principles of human behaviour that were being broken in other countries that were being ignored by supposedly high principled countries like us and the USA.
Doubled up here. I will know how not to do this again. Sorry.
edited
Because…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHAMJZsehys
Farmers are resilient says National.
Is this (link below) the kind of growth National’s brighter future will result in?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/286358/farmer-suicides-up
Can’t see too many farmers voting for that.
“The figures show almost 200 farmers have committed suicide in the past eight years.”
That’s a shocking statistic. But then so is this,
“New figures show 564 people died by suicide in the last year – the highest number since records began eight years ago.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/286226/number-of-suicides-highest-since-records-began
Neither are suprising though.
I started taking a pretty serious interest in suicide when I found that 10% of the deepsea fishermen I knew had committed suicide. Someone ought to pay for that.
Stuart M
That is bad. Do you have thoughts on the general reason. There must be more than individual personal problems that have gone deep.
Well it was always an extreme profession – you give up normal social relationships, hobbies, sport, and time off – and then the companies bring in slave labour & throw you on the scrap heap? Very hard to take & you have weakened support networks to fall back on.
Nor is the skill set respected – but it takes several years to learn to mend net and splice wire fast enough to be useful in a modern context. Fishing, perhaps a bit like scrub cutting, used to attract people who found 9-5 conventional jobs soul destroying. Even some gang folk fitted in quite well – they had a culture of physical toughness, and there were an abundance of challenging physical tasks for them to excell at. We liked them.
But a bit like Fonterra, NZ companies were pretty good at getting bottom dollar for everything – and the great ongoing failure – they still have not developed the local market. They have much to learn.
‘ Someone ought to pay for that.
Fisherman Stuart? I see you were quoting a Gary Neave story the other day so you know all about them obviously.sarc.
Can you give me a link that substantiates your implication that 10% of Deep Sea fisherman commit suicide?
And then can you tell me who ‘should pay’, and why?
@TheLostSheep Fuck off troll “I found that 10% of the deepsea fishermen I knew” is what he said, so obviously anecdotal, ie:people he knew. Why would you want to pick a fight there?
Because he is implying there is an exceptionally high rate of suicide linked to Fishing employment, and that ‘someone should pay for that’.
As not a single one of the 100’s of fisherman i have known and consider good friends has committed suicide, I say he is talking utter shit.
Almost as much shit as you. Anyone thinks ‘fuck off troll’ is an intelligent lead in to an argument is brain dead moron.
you’ve had hundreds of good friends? Let alone all of whom happened to conveniently be in the one industry mentioned by Stuart M?
I doubt the former. The latter is just an outright lol.
Thanks Stuart M. that sounds a knowledgable background to it all. Rings a bell with what I keep hearing. Physical skills are downgraded – not flavour of the month with the IT obssessed (both of my kids are in IT) – very clever, useful, but doesn’t replace actual physical work.
And thinking that CAD? printing is going to do most of our physical stuff is not correct, and having robot worker factories just destroys the cement and inter-relationship of society and reduces customers, with so many dropping out from consumerism.
Though am reading Oliver James on Affluenza which I totally agree with, and he is not for consumerism as what we need in the long run.
So please keep writing here, it is good to read someone with experience that understands and communicates about our reality. We need to have ideas, people who get excited, and people who can balance ideas and assess them.
Most of all we need navigators and pilots of, and in the wide world.
“New figures show 564 people died by suicide in the last year”
That’s shocking.
As of March 1, 64 have died on our roads.
During a 10 year period there were 312 family violence deaths in New Zealand.
Which of the above statistics get the most attention and focus?
I was thinking about this the other day, of the cost to the economy of each of those lives. A fairly clinical way of looking at things however. But as money talks in pretty much anything we do and anything the Government is interested in, if it was put in pure economic terms that we’re losing so many million $ a year due to these deaths then maybe authorities might look for new solutions or work harder at it.
Money talks, but with this Government, it’s more about how can the private sector capitalize from Government intervention.
Rachel Madow on how Trump’s bloodlust has shifted violence from it’s place on the fringe to mainstream republican politics. Deliberately. She’s making a connection between the unrest in Black communities in cities where Black people have been shot by police and the places where Trump has been inciting violence in the lead up to what happened in Chicago yesterday,
http://egbertowillies.com/2016/03/12/rachel-maddow-exposes-donald-trump/
Working class, non-white, trans-national feminism in LA.
The film follows the Ovarian Psycos Brigade of Los Angeles, a group of women on bicycles who have been known to ride in and around the streets where women have recently been killed. The women, who call themselves Ovas, ride the streets at night together to let the community know they stand together without fear. Their motto is “ovaries so big we don’t need no balls.”
“We fight back against femicide, rape, the normalization of our disposability, [and] the war being played out upon our spaces,” said Xela de la X, the founder of the Ovarian Psycos.
…
Those that have seen the Ovas ride down a street together describe it as powerful sight—a “sea of women.” In Los Angeles less than 1 in 5 bicyclists is female so it’s even more powerful when you see a group of women of color cycling down the street. Many of the women cover their faces with bandanas that have white fallopian tubes printed on black fabric.
http://fusion.net/story/279260/ovarian-psycos-documentary-premiere/
Someone on Twitter says the NZ army are being used for security at the TPPA re-education meetings. Read the convo. Good chart outlining control of dissent too. I’m unrepentant about calling National proto-fascist.
https://mobile.twitter.com/nzreuben/status/708807227163877376
Terrific Flashmob Beethoven. Ode to Joy. A delight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJcQYVtZMo
thanks.Much appreciated.
pure joy, I even teared up both times, reminds me why we have to stop corporatisation, and support the arts
Did you notice that the first little girl who dropped a coin in the bass players had was till standing watching right the end. Grey jeans pink top. Entranced.
One of those inspiring moments, she will always remember, priceless (I mean that in the way we used to mean it before Visa corrupted it!)
Amazing acoustics.
Interesting goungs on at Wellington airport. A huge Islamic Republic of Iran airbus is parked up at the international terminal. Shortly after it arrived a US airforce lear jet arrived and was promprly towed into a hanger. Coincidence? Probably 🙂
Sanctions are off and surprise surprise, our former fifth largest trading partner shows up,
Would someone in here be able to tell me why … in Georges YourNZ “Recent Comments” section … Ben Rachingers username is highlighted in blue … and not black the same as most other folks … aside from Pete George and a small few other select people’s usernames?
Is this the way WordPress works?
I have asked this question before of Rachinger … and he was evasive … and told me to ask George.
Something ain’t right in the State of Texas.
It is likely that comments appear in blue because the user is logged in. You’ll notice that my comment here is blue because I am logged in (yes it’s a WordPress thing).
When you are logged in you don’t need to re-enter your details for every comment. If you look upthread you’ll see a few regular commenters are logged in.
Depends on what the theme does. But in this case we left the WordPress defaults intact.
It’s because they’ve got a web address written in the WEBSITE field, under email/name. It’s just a hyperlink to whatever they’ve written in there. Same as the blue names here, it’s nothing sinister at all. See if you click on Robs name you’ll go to the last page on the internet, lprent’s goes to the homepage here.
Great … so I can’t even mention the name “R_r” in here.
Says who? As long as you don’t put the site at legal risk, you’re pretty well free to comment on anything. But you know better than most which areas are sensitive at the moment, so stick to other subjects and you’ll get on fine.
@TeReoPutake
You do realise that I do not know exactly for sure what can and can’t be written in your blog that could put it at legal risk right ???
I know enough to figure out and fathom what makes sense from a logical point of view.
But I don’t have Extra Sensory Perception. LOL.
There’s Policy section where it gives you some advice. But generally speaking if it’s defamatory, lies or copyrighted then don’t post it.
Don’t worry too much. Just put yourself into my seat and think if I might decide it is worrisome bearing in mind I intensely dislike time wasted in court. And that I take draconian measures against anyone who tries to put me there. So I err on the side of caution. If I can’t figure out what you are talking about, because of opaque convolution, I assume the worst. It pays to be clear….
Then assess how much you want to continue commenting here.
We are adults. Determine how dangerously you want to get towards the edge. Besides, most of the commenters will try to warn you. But some consider watching banning to be entertaining…. 😈
If you are on a desktop. Use the advanced, and search “[lprent” and you will get an idea of what I and the moderators look for.
@TeReoPutake
Oh God … you are asking me to go out into “The Wilderness” in here.
I am a “Centre Right Voter”.
Are you trying to get me savaged to death?
Mind you … I have put up with so much shit and crap over in Georges Blog over the past six months … that I can probably cope with being outnumbered 100 to 1 by a bunch of Lefties. LOL.
So, you vote Labour then?
If you stop jibber jabbering and say something worth reading you’ll find the standard an interesting place.
That name is probably on auto-moderation because we want to tread carefully in the context of the ongoing legal issues. Reasonable comments will always be released (the delay depends on when moderators are about).
@r0b
When I belonged to Georges Blog … I was permanently logged in at least 90% of the time.
My username was never highlighted in blue as opposed to black at any stage throughout “My Tenure” there … and I checked often after I discovered the “Black and Blue” anomaly.
What is considered to be “Logged-In” … with regards to Word Press?
Mike C
No two blogs are alike. Every blog owner runs their site as they see fit. If you’re a newbie then do what most newbies do… spend some time reading The Standard and join in with when you feel you’ve got the hang of the way it operates. It’s a left-wing blog site ranging from centre Left (probably where most commenters sit) to the far Left. All of them have contributions to make.
Up the top of the page, on the right, are some green and blue buttons. If you click the one that says “Log in” you will find out how this works on WordPress.
no warming for 18 years /sarc
Feb was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth by 0.2 Degress C!
I think its time to get serious about limiting GHGs – and I don’t mean playing with a trashed and useless ETS.
But don’t worry folks – John and Paula will sort it out. Just don’t expect them to listen to any of the submissions we make – they are not listening to any on the TPPA either, and why change the habit of a lifetime?