And all the time we know that any and all of the environmental and procedural conditions are very likely to be broken in time by the large companies as they were in the USA Gulf area. Procedures will be done half-heartedly ignoring possible bad consequences, equipment will be shonkily manufactured and rupture etc.
After the disaster the companies make ineffectual dabs at remediation, holding back on major effort till forced by overwhelming evidence of failure to cough up the money needed, and fight in the Courts over payment for services used to contain it and then have apologists (paid? or just naturally twisted and argumentative) who will whitewash the whole thing and present it in a good light.
The thread may be long but it stretches unbroken from the beginning with the surveying for oil reserves to the end when our food resource can be so damaged it is destroyed and the plants and animals who could live without us and have their own cycle of life are killed off.
To me the issue is not about accessing the oil or not. It’s about
– The timing. Our oil is going to be far more valuable in 6-7 years time than now.
– Ensuring we get a substantial cut of the oil revenues as a country. We should own 50% of any oil extraction company, and taxes on the operation should be high.
– Making sure that new Government oil revenue is invested in infrastructure and capital funds for NZ’s future. Not given away as tax cuts to the rich.
If we are still thinking oil is the answer to our tranport and cartage in six years we will be in big trouble. Instead of risking our coast and beaches with what will be an outdated method of transport amd energy we should be working none stop to find an answer now. Both oil and nuclear are now outdated or too dangerous,
Chris73 – Other mineral deposits in NZ? The Pike River disaster is a relatively contained one, not like going through water where the pollution is harder to clean up, probably impossible. Anyway you are made of minerals – should we be looking you over hungrily for your pennyworth of whatever?I say we get it out, just like any other mineral deposits in NZ
Perhaps we will get to the stage of donating our bodies for mineral extraction, when we get more desperate for some. We donate our bodies for medical studies to carve up and study so what would be different.
Like your imaginative abuse, I think it adds tone to this site. Flibbertigibbet! Buttmunch!
Anyone remember The Penguin on Jim Mora’s Afternoon programme, a couple of weeks back, giving us his knowledge of things nuclear and how there was nothing to be really concerned about with Fukushima. Sorry David but suggest you to stick to your knitting…
Wait up! Where did the radiation comes from, what part of the nuclear process, the panic might have been one reason to not tell but what’s the reason for not telling how the nasty radiation came from the spent fools pools when the water boiled off. The story is about waste, waste from nuclear fuel is its down fall. You can’t talk about cutting carbon emissions because its waste and then not talk about the risks from nuclear waste. Waste now entering the food chain globally.
What gets me is that Lanthanide was so full of himself with all his “knowledge” about Fukushima and Chernobyl but now that the disaster has finally been upgraded he is nowhere to be seen.
I’d like to see him explain this away.
I’ll have a crack. It’s not an upgrade in the sense of something happened today which made it worse, but a reappraisal of the entire accident. It was initially thought to be a 5, now it’s recognised as a 7. Similar to the initial estimates of earthquakes and their eventual proven intensity.
There hasn’t been a catastrophic release of radioactive materials, so it’s still not Chernobyl. Certainly, it’s going to be No2 on the list of nuclear accidents, but it’s not Hiroshima or Nagasaki either.
The regeneration of the Labour Party is clearly been happening too slow and too late. The 2011 party list was a chance for the party to come out with something unexpected, and with a lot of fresh new blood and faces near the top, but the party’s chosen to be ultra-cautious. Andrew Little’s placement at number 15 is the best they could do, but clearly that’s “too Little too, too late”.
The blandness of Labour’s list is reflective of the party as a whole at the moment. They party never seems to have anything bold to say – it appears to be highly scared of doing anything different or saying anything that might be radical or outside the mainstream view. In fact, as David Slack said this week, Damien O’Connor’s unfortunate outburst was in some ways actually a bit refreshing: ‘I think it’s a pity for the party that they don’t have people who are speaking with as much emotion as he is. I think that is really part of their problem, they’ve been so careful and dull that you don’t know what the hell they’re talking about’.
But there is no certainty that strong public figures become strong MPs, and that people entering parliament with mediocre credentials won’t grow into the job and become effective MPs.
So we can hope that something similar to the Highlanders can happen and a bunch individuals with modest credentials can form into a reasonably strong team with heart. Goff doesn’t look to be a Jamie Joseph though. And it doesn’t look like they will top the table this year.
Just remind us what they were saying of the National line-up prior to 2008 – there were a lot of 1990’s MP’s in their lot from memory – seem to remember the only difference was that the major media focus was on Key.
But Key was better supported then than Goff is now? He was certainly a contrast to the fading star of Clark.
Anyway, the Labour list is fixed, they have to use what they have and try to stop sleepwalking right through this year’s election. As is emerging from a number of blog comments, like this:
Labour’s problems is not too many gays or too few Maori and Asians. It is a chronic lack of policy innovation and courage and a culture that mitigates against dissent which is the necessary prerequisite to important thinking.
Labour has to somehow beat the blandness. Rather than close ranks they need to open up to a diversity of ideas, or at least be seen to be trying to do that.
Damien O’Connor’s boneheaded criticism used poorly chosen words and the wrong targets, but it was refreshing because it was admitting “Hey, we have a problem that needs addressing rather than shoving under the carpet”.
Labour can choose to raise their game for this year’s election (and not just go through the motions until 2014) – if they can break from their rote, lethargy and defensiveness.
I frequently disagree with much of what you say, Pete, but I think your comment completely nails it. Labour needs to take a firm and decisive step to the left, and back it with some visionary policy rather than indulging in blandness.
National may have been able to get elected by being “Labour Lite”, but there’s not a chance in hell that Labour will get the Treasury benches back by being “National Lite”.
I have an assurance from one of the Herald writers that she will examine the National List with as much interest as she did on Labour’s List. I suggested to her that the National List lacked representation from gays and unions given their important representation in NZ’s makeup. The experience with Mr Gould about how inept businessmen were outside the fields made them inept narrow-minded as MPs and if so how will the Nat List reflect this?
I’m sure there will be much examination of the National list.
I’ll repeat something I’ve said before – diversity should be less important than competence. And Ianmac makes a good point – competence (even if to an expert or highly successful level) in a field outside parliament does nothing to guarantee competence as an MP, and especially competence as a minister or PM. Strong leadership matters a lot. None of the parties excel at that.
I propose that from this day hence anyone who comments on the Labour Party list selection process and obviously shows that they do not know anything about the process or the people selected should be branded as a troll.
PeteG do you always wax contiunuously about stuff that you know nothing about. Try watching question time in Parliament and then feel qualified to comment.
One thing I will respond to is this theme developed by RWNJs that Labour should have gone outside the party and selected exciting new candidates. To be frank when the party has done this in the past the candidates have been disasters. Remember John Tamihere?
By strong public figures do you mean people like Michael Laws or Paul Homes? Give me any day more thoughtful representative dedicated representatives.
If you want excitement and drama can I suggest you watch TV.
MS, your attitude is typical of Labour’s problems. You are either blind to it or you are trying to fudge over it.
How many shouts from how many directions are needed? The Dominion editorial? Labour needs to look like a party for all The ODT editorial? Labour’s list problems.
You could write letters to them and tell them to watch more TV I guess.
You can’t change your List but you can open your bloody eyes. Labour has a public image problem. The spin doctors have failed and what does Labour do? Gives them safe seats.
Why not own the problems and be seen to be dealing with them?
No PeteG you do not know what you are talking about.
Rely on the papers!! The day papers like the Dominion come out and support Labour is the day lefties should get very worried.
Can you tell me anything about candidate number 36 on the list (Jerome Mika)? How about candidate number 44 (Susan Zhu)? How can you comment on their abilities if you know nothing about them?
What do you suggest? Do we approach Justin Bieber to see if he wants to be a politician?
Absolutely. I vaguely knew Susan from previous regional meetings and had never run across Jerome prior to the list meetings. But both rightfully got high placements in the Mangere meet, and I am glad to see that it carried through to the mediation.
We’re interested in electing politicians, not showboating celebs with more ego than political abilities. The latter swan around doing bugger all. They wind up like the ineffectual Pam Corkery or being promoted well past their abilities like John Key.
If PeteG or the frigging writers at the ODT or Dominion don’t like it then they should work within the party to convince others. Of course since they aren’t in the party and like most critics are simple ineffectual whiners who avoid work of actual members – I suspect that I will keep ignoring them.
I have never said that – I don’t make up my mind which way I’ll vote until election day. On current form it’s unlikely I’ll vote for Labour, but that leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. National don’t deserve a single party majority. I’ve never been a fan of WP. The Greens may once again be the beneficiary of no better option, either that or spoiled vote or no vote.
Labour don’t have to take my advice. Nor take any notice of the growing chorus of bewilderment about how introspective, uninspiring and defeatist they appear. If they had half a clue they would see that their current approach is not working for themselves.
If Goff can shake Labour out of it’s lethargy I would consider voting for a recovering opposition but it’s not looking like that’s going to happen.
CV, Labour seem to be managing working against themselves. Notice that there’s just a few faithful trying to attack the messenger. Not much else they can do I guess.
PeteG It is a standard form for the plants to say, “I don’t make up my mind which way I’ll vote until election day.” or they say “I am a Labour Supporter but…..” or ” I think Phil Goff is a great man but he is totally ineffectual and he should step down…..”
Suspect PeteG? Sure do!
There’s no reply button to IanMac or I would have said this to him. Lump me with Pete G although I have disagreed with him strenuously in the past, I don’t care, after all, I am mental – or so I am told. But the point is, that before I started hanging out here, I was a staunch Labour supporter. I know and like David Shearer, he’s my ‘local’.
I know y’all say you don’t represent Labour, and that can only be a good thing. Even so, despite the risk of its being a wasted vote, the Greens will get mine this year.
I’ve tried to make similar points to his, about how public perception of the list is simply not good – and for my pains, I’m told I’m mental.
Fairy nuff…
As the policy says, it is a robust debating environment. Doing moderation, we stomp on certain things that cause operational issues, but essentially the debate tends to stay pretty wide open. The upside of that is the the issues get debated pretty throughly and a lot of disagreements get aired in a pseudonymous environ. The downside is that differences between people tend to get quite well explored as well.
If you think this is bad, you should try some of the actual political debates I’ve been in inside the party. Especially in the 80’s and early 90’s, but also ever since. People who get involved in politics are generally there because they are quite opinionated and not shy about expressing them. From what I understand from friends around the Greens, it tends to be just about as contentious especially on the boundaries between pure green issues vs social issues or incremental vs revolutionary, but in a quieter fashion. But that tends to be the difference IMHO between a wide church and an even wide church.
…abour seem to be managing working against themselves. Notice that there’s just a few faithful trying to attack the messenger.
I think that it has been pointed out before, that the vast majority of the leftist commentators here by number of comments neither normally support or vote Labour all of the time. Even fewer are members of the party. In fact even amongst the authors that was the case at the last election and probably now.
I tend to ascribe it to most Labour members.
Not much else they can do I guess.
From your comments and theirs, a more credible hypothesis would be that many off the left (and a few of them Labour members) commentators are patiently or impatiently trying to give you the knowledge that you so clearly lack. However you seem to be so interested in hearing the sound of your own keyboard, that you fail to listen to them.
Perhaps if you noticed you’d try to be less of a blowhard and more of a listener. Then you may actually learn something?
What you clearly fail to understand is that just winning elections is only part of the political process. If you don’t take care of the quality of the people you’re putting into parliament then you’ll get grossly incompetent governance.
It is a lesson that National has been failing to learn since I was a teen in the 1970’s, and just like the current NAct government is now.
Since it is clear that you don’t think about the political process but just react to political events like one of Pavlov’s slobbering dogs, I guess that point will escape you as well.
Well said Mickey, hugely generous of you to only brand as trolls RWNJs…I suppose allowing them here keeps them off the streets causing distress to fellow citizens. Sort of a social service really.
I like having those of the right here. It forces me to ramp up my argument levels.
But for all of PeteG’s rush towards OOS and his apparent simplicity of political thought, I don’t tend to see him as a troll either. I just see him as a person with an addiction to fingering his keyboard.
Except at times it dumbs down the standard (pun, geddit) of debate which seems to frustrate some; full-mock mode I find the only way not to be the same
Except at times it dumbs down the standard (pun, geddit) of debate
No doubt I’ll be told that it’s irrelevant, but the grammatical errors I’ve read here today are going into my blog and my next ESOL lesson. Hint – ‘meet’ is not a noun, except perhaps in Bugtussle Ark.!
I don’t teach ‘vernacular’, I teach proper English, in which plurals don’t take apostrophes, meet is a verb and ‘geddit’ is something only tradesmen with butt cleavage, and teenage boys say. Meet as a noun is a pathetic piece of business jargon, or an Americanism, most likely both. My students want proper English, and your sneer about pulpits is simply ignorant. I expected better from you!
My apologies Vicky. It is lazy typing, not grammatical errors. The ‘d’ is adjacent to the ‘e’ on the keyboard and when you factor in the space bar, the offending word is a little quicker to type. I will attempt to refrain from this practice in future.
With kind regards,
RobC
P.S. I didn’t realise “y’all” and “fairy nuff” was proper English; I consider myself suitably enlightened.
‘fairy nuff’ is a grotesque of course, but “y’all” is a very handy American contraction that is bloody good shit, and should be used more. It’s polite, and precise, and nice.
And as for this ‘proper’ english shit; pays to remember that a language is just a dialect with an army. Anyone who says different is just failing at it IMO, YMMV FWIW, but TBH, WGAF?
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid! Aoccdrnig to a rseecherar at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? And you awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt?!
Just making y’all comfortable, hey? (Americanisms abound, so it seems appropriate.)
Fairy nuff was an attempt to bring in some levity.
Someone says he’s OCD about trolls, well I am OCD about language, and I mean, I really am… (as I’ve previously said, and got jumped by the lovely Queen of Trolls* for saying, I am not neuro-typical.)
To cover all the objections I’ve read, it was Lyn who used ‘meet’ as a noun, when talking about Labour party selection meetings.
Locus, I’ve seen your contribution as an email forward and a Facebook status, only about 24 times! It was interesting the first time. Because of my recent work, I always think in terms of making communication easier for people who are either learning English, or who have varying disabilities.
Athletes talk about ‘going to meets’ because we have been culturally colonised by the USA. It both amuses and sickens me to read people here banging on about cultural cringe, and how much they hate any residual influence on NZ that Britain has, when these same people kowtow (to use a cliche) before all things American (except for the Tea Party!)
* It can’t actually be Queen of Trolls can it? Maybe I have remembered wrongly.. If so I apologise to him/her…
Great wee debate. I’m pretty careful with my words and take care to get my grammar right, because that’s me. I’m tolerant of people who comment here and don’t follow the grammatical rules, because that’s them. This is a blog, not an exam, so who am I to quibble?
I would be keen to see what you mean by ‘meet’ as a noun. Where was that? I can’t for the life of me think of a sentence where it could be used in that way, but I don’t want to wade through all today’s comments to find it. And yes, lads, I know I risk public fogeydom for not being down wiv da kids, but I’d like to know.
Just as an aside, the single greatest influence on my grammatical style is Private Eye magazine, the English fortnightly founded in the sixties by a bunch of public schoolboys, including comedian Peter Cook. One of Cookie’s early contributions was the word ‘geddit’. So that’s stereotypical builders, spotty teenagers and the well educated sons of the English aristocracy who use the word.
RobC has a detailed look at PeteG’s opening statement of the day. He and others believe it is underwhelming, with no interesting comments. He summarises … well actually he can’t because there’s nothing to summarise.
Although the rugby analogy at the end is pure gold. CT would be proud.
PeteG, at # 3 above, did you read the link you posted? Did any alarm bells ring?
There was a lot of opinion about who is effective, meritous etc in his blog piece but when it came to hard facts Bryce Edwards has problems.
For instance, lazily, I suggest, he quoted David Farrar to support his arguments that straight white males didn’t do well. Farrar said there was only one straight non-union European male in the top 15, and only two in the 30 top effective spots.
These are the males in the top 15. Goff, Cunliffe, Parker (Farrar’s nominee), Horomia, Cosgrove, Mallard, Chauvel, Robertson and Little. Only two straight non-union European males in that list of 9 males?
Add in the next 15 – Sio, Prasad, Huo, Davis, Barker, Nash, Burns, Hipkins. Only two straight non-union European males in that list of 17? Arrant nonsense from Farrar.
A writer who can be caught out on large errors of fact is not worth considering when it comes to accepting their opinions. Similarly, using such shonky evidence irreparably harms Bryce’s case. Linking to such shoddiness does your arguments no good, either.
Mac, I suggest you re-read the paragraph that explains ‘effective party list’, which starts:
Farrar, here, talks about Labour’s ‘effective party list’ – which is an important difference to talking about ‘all’ of Labour’s likely caucus, because about half of Labour’s MPs will come in by winning constituencies. It’s certainly helpful to make this distinction, and political scientists do distinguish between ‘party lists’ and ‘effective party’ lists. This is because in analysing party lists, the only relevant candidates are those that are actually likely to be list MPs – in terms of the Electoral Act 1993, those that win electorates do not come into Parliament via the list.
Your numbers include those who are likely to win seats so won’t get in on the list.
You have to laugh at the fact PeteG now understands the concept of an “effective party list” when on Mon he couldn’t work out why the loser in the selection for Dunedin North was ranked ahead of the one who actually won.
Yes, laughing, you seem to be scraping the bottom of the shit barrel today Rob. 4x
Do you not understand that there may be separate concepts there?
The comments on “effective party list” were in relation to diversity of the effective list.
I was pointing out that Labour chose a candidate (Clark) over another (Alexander) and then ranked Clark lower on the list. There may be internal justification for that, but from the outside it looks nuts and doesn’t show much confidence in or support of the chosen Dunedin North candidate.
peteG, why else would the Leader of the Opposition and of the Labour Party be number one in the list? Ummmm………… Or the leading Maori politician and long serving MP be up there? Aaaaaaahhh………or the ex-President of the NZLP and former Union leader? Hmmmmmmmm……?
Three questions back for you. Their answers will answer your questions. The ummmm,aaaah and hmmm indicate places where you think.
David Clark will most likely win the seat thanks to it almost always being a Labour seat (since 1922 except for losing for a term in 1925 and a term to National in 1975) and thanks to a large majority carried over from Pete Hodgson. He might win a few hundred votes on his own merits.
If he sticks around as long as Hodgson he might eventually rise up the list a bit. If Alexander makes it in on the list and especially if Little makes it in to leadership she may stand a better chance of getting promoted up the list.
Dunedin North is one of Labour’s strongest seats. It has very good resources, great membership and a strong activist base. If Labour loses Dunedin North I may think about joining the Greens things will be that bad.
David Clark is an exceptionally good candidate. Go and google him before you case aspertions on him. He will be a great MP. Giving him the privilege of being the candidate for the seat is something that every list MP would give their eye teeth for.
His ranking is not a reflection on him or on the area, just as David Shearer’s list ranking is no reflection on him or the seat of Mt Albert.
Why don’t you try converting this into a real debate where you receive information that you did not have and change your point of view?
Yes, having held it for 80 of the last 83 years I sort of got that idea.
David Clark is an exceptionally good candidate.
Maybe. The electorate doesn’t know that yet. I don’t know that yet (and I haven’t cast aspersions on him). Time will tell. Do you think he will win because of his strong credentials or because Dunedin North is one of Labour’s strongest seats?
People in the party may think his list rank is not a reflection on him or the area, but it has raised some attention here. Don’t you think some people may justifiably think it a bit odd that an exceptionally good candidate in one of Labour’s strongest seats may end up being the Labour MP with the lowest list rank?
Or are you so engrossed in Labour’s inner workings that you do not have a clue how that may appear here?
Hi Pete,
I can assure you my brother is a fantastic candidate 🙂
The way it tends to work is that if you’re a first time candidate in a safe seat it’s viewed as: if you lose it maybe you shouldn’t be in parliament. It’s kind of a “prove you’re a good candidate” test. It’s certainly not a lack of confidence – if Labour weren’t entirely confident in him they wouldn’t have put him in a safe seat; they don’t want to be lumbered with a useless candidate for however long. And Grant Robertson doesn’t seem to have been held back by a low list ranking in 2008, if you’re worried about him being elected with the lowest list rank.
Glenda Alexander, having not won the nomination for Dunedin Nth, should have her list position viewed entirely differently (& separately).
But generally there’s far too much focus on exact placements on the list. It should after all be about which party and policies you trust to deliver a better New Zealand.
Ben, my mother-out-law is well impressed with your bro as a candidate. Says she might vote for a candidate for the first time since mmp came in. And she didn’t have a problem with PeteH particularly. She’s just a tough crowd.
I ‘d introduce her to PeteGeeWilikers, for similar reasons that I like watching nature docos, but she’d probably never speak to me again.
Thanks Ben, it’s good to get a reasonable response and explanation. If you could encourage more from your party to not resort to dissing and arrogance so much they might help attract a bit more interest and even some votes.
I’ll be sussing David out with interest. If I think he’s the best candidate here I’ll vote for him, regardless of what I decide on the party vote.
Somewhere else here today someone called me suspect for being a late decider. They seem to miss the fact that late deciders may actually vote your way, especially if you don’t diss them off.
Yep, and I’m still laughing at the shit I find at the bottom of the barrel.
I understand concepts well, except meaningless ones such as “diversity of the effective list”. As Mac1 implied, any rational assessment of diversity should be made on MPs likely to enter/return to parliament from both electorate seats and party lists.
Even DPF acknowledges this, for while he makes the observation of the absence of non-union heterosexual white males from the party list, he states in his very next sentence:
Now some will argue this is a good thing, as HWMs are over-represented in electorate seats, and the list is about balancing the overall caucus. This is broadly correct – the list is about overall balance …
So to put it in really simple terms for you, there’s a lack of HWM in the effective party list because there’s a lot of them going to win electorate seats.
Yes, it does amuse me when you start to use the term “effective party list” when you can’t understand the effectiveness of placing a person (who according to Ipredict has an 88% chance of winning his electorate) at 49 on the list, instead trying to suggest it is somehow a lack of confidence in him. Hmmm and isn’t David Clark a HWM???
Mind you, it’s not as funny as your arguments about regional representation … even DPF assesses Dunedin will probably have double the MPs they should have based on population.
Yep, I’m still laughing. You do bring a certain humour in a Homer Simpson kinda way to these pages.
I believe so. And isn’t the person he beat for the candicacy, and who has been placed higher than him on the list, a female union person? Hmmm indeed.
If Clark was placed above Alexander on the list it would make no difference to whether Alexander made the list cut or not.
Trying to be too clever with the list may have some repercussions apart from public perceptions. It has surprised some that Claire Curran is only at 28 on the list. Maybe this is using similar “logic” – she is a shoe in to win her seat. If others are bumped up to give the list a “better balance” they might get to like it there, and expect shadow portfolios. And those like Curran, Nash, Twyford and Shearer may not be very happy staying in their lowly places “for the good of the party” for too long.
I believe so. And isn’t the person he beat for the candicacy, and who has been placed higher than him on the list, a female union person? Hmmm indeed.
Let me help you out. Clark = HWM. Alexander not HWM.
“Effective List” needs more non HWM to balance caucus.
If Clark was placed above Alexander on the list it would make no difference to whether Alexander made the list cut or not.
Incorrect. If we use Ipredict as a guide, there’s a 11-12% chance Clark will not win the electorate seat, and having Clark (HWM) above Alexander (non HWM) would potentially imbalance caucus if he had a ranking above Alexander’s 43 and Labour won enough of the party vote.
Ok, that’s possible. But far more likely is Clark wins the seat and Alexander misses the cut on the list. So an imbalance is more likely. If Labour wanted to virtually ensure more WFU in caucus they would have chosen Alexander for the seat.
There are many potential angles to this, hence the dangers of trying to be too clever with the list.
Coincidentally Michael Woodhouse was 49 on National’s list in 2008. What say he was bumped up to say 29, he’s got reasonable credentials and potential? He got a fair number of votes first time up, there’s little doubt he will improve on that this. If voters see that he’s middle of National’s list, an up and comer compared to Clark’s low 49 it could sway votes.
I’m intrigued by your notions. It seems to me that you think that when people are deciding about which constituent candidate to vote for, some will have a squizz at the party list, and if the candidate is high on the list, be more likely to give them their constituency vote.
Now I’m not saying that this doesn’t happen, but I am saying it’s daft. What is the thinking behind doing that?
Is it a sort of:
I don’t know anything about the candidates per se, or how the lists are drwn up; but if this person is higher on their party list than another candidate is on their party list, then the first person’s party must think they are awesome so I’ll vote for them?
Genuine question there, because like I said, this strikes me as la-la-land stuff. Why would someone do that?
Many people like to have people of influence in their electorate. I’d guess that having PM in your electorate would be popular. More chance of getting local things considered in the decision making.
Say you had too pretty good candidates in your electorate from the two main parties. You’d be comfortable with either as MP, and you vote based on what might be best for your electorate, you use your party vote for preferred party for government.
You have a choice between:
– an unproven new candidate way down the bottom of the list of a party unlikely to win
– a proven candidate mid list with the potential to be promoted to cabinet of a winning party
I doubt I’m the only voter who may consider things like that. I understand people who are closely committed to a party may not understand that therev are many things that can contribute to a decision.
And possibly more important than candidate choice is turnout. The more profile and party credibility a candidate has the easier it will be to get people out to vote.
I’d guess that having PM in your electorate would be popular. More chance of getting local things considered in the decision making.
I had the Leader of the opposition / PM in my electorate for 15 years. I think it got less attention because of it. As an example Helen was certainly constrained about doing the fight against the SH20 extension when that came up. The public meetings were somewhat raucous because it was pretty difficult to find many of her voters in favour of it.
Sounds like another of your pretty theoretical myths to me
I still think it’s daft mate. If you want the attention of the up and comer, far better to vote someone else into the seat. That way he has to prove himself.
That’s if you’re down with the whole pork barreling business in the first place of course.
I reckon you’re just doing the old tory, plum-in-the-mouth status bullshit; as if somehow having a flash harry mp reflects on how awesome you are as a constituent. Bit sad really.
Also, counter productive.
As Lynn says, having a top govt person as your electorate mp means that they will be under national pressure to not do you any favours, and that pressure is on top of the fact that their workload means you get less of their time.
I didn’t say I voted on that basis but I’d be surprised if there aren’t quite a few that do. Many people respond to celebrityitis.
You seem to be looking at why people might vote from your own point of view. You have to imagine how others might. Standard marketing, think like the target. Those pulling Labour strings certainly haven’t figured it out very well. Too PR orientated?
all Labour’s Canterbury MPs criticised it.
Labour earthquake recovery spokesman Clayton Cosgrove said he would suggest a series of amendments.
“Mr Brownlee is the earthquake tsar. He holds the pen over the [Cera] chief executive and all he or she does,” he said.
Green Party MP Kennedy Graham said the bill gave too much power to Brownlee.
“The powers granted are excessive, the extent of public involvement is inadequate and our constitutional principles are violated,” he said.
Select committee hearings were set down to continue in Christchurch today.
Yes, voting for the originally CERRA was a bad move by Labour & the Greens. They wouldn’t have stopped the law so the horse would have bolted anyway. However, they should have made a strong stand against the attack on democracy, and made a very public statement about its faults.
I’m hoping the Greens at least have learned from this, and aim to be more bold in taking a principled stand now & in the future. There’s a limited number of Left parties to vote for, I would like the Greens & Labour to be more bold & principled in the future.
Fans at the Rugby World Cup will need either cash or a special new Mastercard ‘tap and go’ cards to buy food and drinks at the tournament, organisers have revealed.
And while ATMs will be available at all venues, Eftpos facilities will only be available at Eden Park in Auckland and Westpac Stadium in Wellington, but only for the Mastercard “PayPass” cards.
So people are going to have to queue in long lines at the ATM (yes there will probably be just one), to get cash out to pay for a $5 plastic cup of urine, a $3 sandwich, and a $4 punnet of undercooked chips.
Better just to stay at home with your mates and watch it all on TV.
At least youll be able to drink whatever beer you want, without having it taken off you and poured down the drains by a flourovested goon.
The whole thing feels like one big overpriced school social
The whole point of using the tap & go cards is to reduce the transaction time dramatically. Paying by eftpos or credit card is generally much slower than paying by cash (if the person has correct $ ready and the checkout person is efficient), but paying by tap & go will be significantly faster than cash.
Used as a bus fare system is one thing, having thousands of these cards in a crowded space full of boozers and bravado is a pickpocket’s dream and that is even before the multiple frauds that could occur. These systems are locality driven transactions. You only have to be within the reader’s field of activity to be victim to a false transaction. This has already occured at numerous events and is one of the most supressed stories in this folly. Speaking of folly the image used on Mastercard’s PayPass page is a fine example of the stupidity they are creating, ever lost your keys? http://www.mastercard.us/paypass.html#/home/
Why would you want to remove the PIN function from the transaction process. To save a few seconds you are willing to risk losing hundreds if not thousands of dollars. It is still your money, you should really try to protect what little is left of it. http://consumerist.com/2006/10/no-swipe-credit-card-no-problem-for-thieves.html
Believe the banks if you wish but there is no way that magic wand payments are more secure than the physical credit authority you exercise every single time you enter a PIN.
I may be more suspicous than some of you but when a Bank says ‘trust me’ i have to ask why?
i didn’t mean it to sound so smarmy. sorry ’bout that
TapnGo, PayPass and the other manifestations of this transaction technology is just one more step in the preparation of people for RFID implantation and that is all there is to say about that :] long live cash !
Pike River – the latest comment I’ve heard.
Radio nz morning report Wed 13/4 Pike River Mine ‘safe enough for specialists to enter’
A mine safety expert believes the Pike River coal mine is safe to re-enter nearly five months after an explosion that killed 29 men. Pike River Coal Ltd and its receivers say the mine is still unsafe. (duration: 3′29″)
And he thinks that the time to enter would have been shortly after the explosion (two people with proper safety procedures). That has been said earlier. I wonder if this man was the originator of the point. I remember the leading policeman saying he wouldn’t put anyone at risk to go and reconnoitre. He was determined not to consider it, and made that clear.
I wonder if some of the mining families would like to have had the opportunity to take the calculated risk of checking out the mine, bringing their understanding of the low ignition state after the explosion. They might have been able to place low heat lights, cameras, check oxygen lines on the way to their wounded or dead? Is it satisfactory to have a non-miner as decision maker in such a specialised rescue? Professionals taking over and sidelineing those locals who have expertise and could and would give valuable help, guided within bounds of safety, seems the current practice.
Re Blimey Blingish’s new found strategy of wages 30% below Australia:
John Key affirms Blingish and brings good tidings of great joy to Don Brash, his 2025 Taskforce and ACT.
Remember Finding #5 of the second 2025 Taskforce report (p139)?
“Closing the gap requires unwavering focus on growth-promoting public policy. Strong political leadership will be needed to ensure a consistent policy focus on allowing the private sector to drive productivity, sustainable employment creation and growth. Unless this happens, those of us who remain in New Zealand will find ourselves spending an increasing portion of our incomes travelling to Australia or other countries to visit our wealthier brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren.”
* Readers – please continue to spend more of your income travelling overseas to visit your loved ones.
* Readers may now regard John Key as officially ending his bluff to grandparents about closing the Oz-NZ gap and having their children and grandkids here. [Winston: here’s a political pressure point]
* John Key has rejected the finding of the expensive, wasteful, backroom policy pontifications of Brash and his Taskforce, and now moves clever policymaking to the policy frontline being led by Blingish.
* The Taskforce can now pack up, Brash and ACT can leave for overseas, and taxpayers can save more than 30% on the Taskforce’s meeting fees.
Live streaming Question Time.
Is Hekia Parata ambitiously trying to be Sarah Palin Down Under ?
Where did they dig out this one? Aahm, rhetorical question.
Actually I don’t need to know.
The new server for The Standard has been handed over to me. I will be working on it this evening and hopefully have it up and running either tomorrow or friday. Then we can depart from the now traditional March/April crush where usage exceeds CPU capacity…
There was a kid’s chant – Don’t care was made to care. Good that the Courts went against the school in Oz. Learning how to respect others differences is part of education, perhaps more important than learning about past participles, what gneist is and so on. Tolley here should spend time getting schools to support kids so they can be happy and do well at school instead of measuring their passes or failures to jump high enough to get over the bar.
Supplementary from Trevor Mallard for question #10 today in the House: raises questions about the tenders for Kiwirail in Auckland, and implications that there should be oversight of the Minister of Transport & caution (forgot the details – maybe no tender granted to a Chinese enterprise) until the investigation by…. erm the auditor general (?) of Sammy Wong is concluded.
The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill bans file sharing. It would allow copyright owners to ask for a six-month suspension of the internet accounts of those who repeatedly infringe.
Does this mean there will be a ban on ALL file sharing? Not all file sharing infringes copyright.
So legal aid will continue to assist vindictive mothers to make malicious false allegations to the feminist Femily Court system without consequences. Nothing changes in the land of lies!
Is the “middle New Zealand” the poor sods on $12 hr who have to pay the fat cats huge bucks for a loaf of bread and a glass of milk!
Name one good reason why a young person would stay in this corrupt cess pit Nation? I blame the demented pollie scumbags.
Middle New Zealand … has been propagandised into voting against it’s interests. We’ve seen the same for decades in the USA, where the poorest working class consistently votes Republican for instance. It just took us a while for us to catch up.
They are grateful to the big business men who are good enough to give them $12 per hour.
I’ve just reviewed the last dozen or so comments from you RL. You have become a troll. Welcome to the club….HS
[lprent: 🙂 I’ll let that stay in the bold as a one-off (even if you’re wrong IMHO). Looks to me more like a case of sour grapes in a spirit glass? ]
[I invite hs to do a quick search on his name and read the last twenty or so comments he has made. Most of them are sneering put downs that have contributed little to nothing. Everyone gets snarky from time to time, but when it becomes the dominant theme then it’s time for a warning. That was all it was. For hs to then make this sour grape response is scarcely smart on his part… but I guess he’s had his jollies this morning. RL]
dad4justice,
Written any letters to your hero, Key, lately, from one misogynist to another how you want to make women suffer for daring to reject you and he answered by stopping them having pay equity, then got rid of thousands of them from their part time work on to unemployment so that he could say the average wage had gone up?
You’re never happy are you crxxp?
Jum
My 10 year forced legal aid nightmare cost the kiwi taxpayer well over $2 million. All built on false allegations. No doubt you will be pleased. [Deleted… You know that’s flame baiting….RL]
Having seen you in action, d4j, and knowing that in relationships, it is never the fault of just one of the couple, I believe you wasted at least one of the $2million.
While I hate for anyone to suffer from relationship breakups i.e. the kids, Mum, Dad, the extended family… I remember when women had no rights at all; in fact they had no rights to their own children. They got pregnant, had the child and then ceased to have any rights over their schooling, their religion, their welfare – everything – because women had no rights.
Care to comment on historic facts and then put it in the context of now where the law is a lot fairer?
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
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Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
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And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
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A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
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Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
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TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
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Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
New Zealanders have been asked to conserve energy this morning to combat a possible electricity shortfall, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A call to conserve power New Zealand is facing a possible electricity shortfall, with people up ...
Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
Wellington City Council should keep its 34% ownership share in Wellington International Airport, argue Unions Wellington spokespeople Finn Cordwell and Ashok Jacob. Insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wellington City Council (WCC) is yet again proposing to dispose ...
New Zealand’s largest book publisher has undergone drastic changes this week, leaving its future role in local publishing uncertain. Two of the most recognisable local publishers in New Zealand are among those restructured out of Penguin Random House, it was announced this week. Head of publishing Claire Murdoch will leave ...
In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund launched the Te Rito Journalism project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decades-long shortage of Māori and Pacific journalists in the media industry. It was billed as New Zealand’s ...
The Black Ferns Sevens appeared to be a mile behind Australia at the halfway point of the 2023-24 SVNS international circuit. Winless in three tournaments, a cup quarter-final exit in Perth was one of their worst results. To add insult to injury, talismanic skipper Sarah Hirini had been ruled out ...
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Successive governments have tried, and failed, to count Māori. But with the return of social investment, it’s more important than ever to get good data. The post Government looks for a better way to count Māori appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Experts in financing social investment initiatives say New Zealand is in a prime position to tackle social issues via a social investment approach The post What will Willis’ social investment fund look like? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Somwrita Sarkar, Senior Lecturer in Design and Computation, University of Sydney The “latte line” is the infamous, invisible boundary that divides Sydney between the more affluent north-east and the south-west. Historically, people north of the line enjoy better access to jobs and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist in Extreme Weather, The University of Melbourne Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock In media articles about unprecedented flooding, you’ll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. This ...
‘
Let me tell you a story about a man named Key
A rich financier who looked for oil in the sea
Oil that is, black gold, texas tea.
Even though he was a powerful millionaire
Greenpeace said move away from there
Said opposition is where you oughta be
Joined with local iwi,
Greenpeace built a protest movement
And changed his-tor-y
Very good Jenny.
But if theres an econimic amount of oil there it’ll be mined which would be a very good thing indeed
And if there is an oil spill because the drilling is dangerous and there are no proper safety measures, that is a very bad thing indeed.
-especially since the environmental concerns nor conditions set before the permit was issued. Enter Spinner Smith.
And all the time we know that any and all of the environmental and procedural conditions are very likely to be broken in time by the large companies as they were in the USA Gulf area. Procedures will be done half-heartedly ignoring possible bad consequences, equipment will be shonkily manufactured and rupture etc.
After the disaster the companies make ineffectual dabs at remediation, holding back on major effort till forced by overwhelming evidence of failure to cough up the money needed, and fight in the Courts over payment for services used to contain it and then have apologists (paid? or just naturally twisted and argumentative) who will whitewash the whole thing and present it in a good light.
The thread may be long but it stretches unbroken from the beginning with the surveying for oil reserves to the end when our food resource can be so damaged it is destroyed and the plants and animals who could live without us and have their own cycle of life are killed off.
Indeed prism.
The Gulf of Mexico is dead and people have lost their livelihoods and a source of healthy protein.
Drill, Chris73? Don’t be a buttmunch.
Buttmunch? You sir are a flibbertigibbet.
If theres oil there in an amount thats worth getting out I say we get it out, just like any other mineral deposits in NZ
Though I would like to see us start up oil refining instead of just shipping it out
To me the issue is not about accessing the oil or not. It’s about
– The timing. Our oil is going to be far more valuable in 6-7 years time than now.
– Ensuring we get a substantial cut of the oil revenues as a country. We should own 50% of any oil extraction company, and taxes on the operation should be high.
– Making sure that new Government oil revenue is invested in infrastructure and capital funds for NZ’s future. Not given away as tax cuts to the rich.
So you agree we should allow the prospecting so we can find out the amount of oil we could be dealing with?
If we are still thinking oil is the answer to our tranport and cartage in six years we will be in big trouble. Instead of risking our coast and beaches with what will be an outdated method of transport amd energy we should be working none stop to find an answer now. Both oil and nuclear are now outdated or too dangerous,
Chris73 – Other mineral deposits in NZ? The Pike River disaster is a relatively contained one, not like going through water where the pollution is harder to clean up, probably impossible. Anyway you are made of minerals – should we be looking you over hungrily for your pennyworth of whatever?I say we get it out, just like any other mineral deposits in NZ
Perhaps we will get to the stage of donating our bodies for mineral extraction, when we get more desperate for some. We donate our bodies for medical studies to carve up and study so what would be different.
Like your imaginative abuse, I think it adds tone to this site. Flibbertigibbet! Buttmunch!
“Has BP really cleaned up the Gulf?”
From today’s Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/13/deepwater-horizon-gulf-mexico-oil-spill
we should also remember that the Gulf of Mexico incident killed 11 workers – plus the destroyed livelihoods.
Fukushima has been upgraded to a level 7 disaster. Here are some of the things you wont find in the NZ mainstream media.
Russia detects radioactive contamination on car imports from Japan.
Hawaii milk contaminated with high counts of several radioactive isotopes.
Strontium introduced into the environment.
Level not raised earlier for fear of panic among the Japanese population.
Anyone remember The Penguin on Jim Mora’s Afternoon programme, a couple of weeks back, giving us his knowledge of things nuclear and how there was nothing to be really concerned about with Fukushima. Sorry David but suggest you to stick to your knitting…
Wait up! Where did the radiation comes from, what part of the nuclear process, the panic might have been one reason to not tell but what’s the reason for not telling how the nasty radiation came from the spent fools pools when the water boiled off. The story is about waste, waste from nuclear fuel is its down fall. You can’t talk about cutting carbon emissions because its waste and then not talk about the risks from nuclear waste. Waste now entering the food chain globally.
What gets me is that Lanthanide was so full of himself with all his “knowledge” about Fukushima and Chernobyl but now that the disaster has finally been upgraded he is nowhere to be seen.
I’d like to see him explain this away.
I’ll have a crack. It’s not an upgrade in the sense of something happened today which made it worse, but a reappraisal of the entire accident. It was initially thought to be a 5, now it’s recognised as a 7. Similar to the initial estimates of earthquakes and their eventual proven intensity.
There hasn’t been a catastrophic release of radioactive materials, so it’s still not Chernobyl. Certainly, it’s going to be No2 on the list of nuclear accidents, but it’s not Hiroshima or Nagasaki either.
Bryce Edwards has a detailed look at the Labour list. He and others believe it is underwhelming, many interesting comments. He summarises:
But there is no certainty that strong public figures become strong MPs, and that people entering parliament with mediocre credentials won’t grow into the job and become effective MPs.
So we can hope that something similar to the Highlanders can happen and a bunch individuals with modest credentials can form into a reasonably strong team with heart. Goff doesn’t look to be a Jamie Joseph though. And it doesn’t look like they will top the table this year.
Just remind us what they were saying of the National line-up prior to 2008 – there were a lot of 1990’s MP’s in their lot from memory – seem to remember the only difference was that the major media focus was on Key.
captcha: engineering
But Key was better supported then than Goff is now? He was certainly a contrast to the fading star of Clark.
Anyway, the Labour list is fixed, they have to use what they have and try to stop sleepwalking right through this year’s election. As is emerging from a number of blog comments, like this:
Labour has to somehow beat the blandness. Rather than close ranks they need to open up to a diversity of ideas, or at least be seen to be trying to do that.
Damien O’Connor’s boneheaded criticism used poorly chosen words and the wrong targets, but it was refreshing because it was admitting “Hey, we have a problem that needs addressing rather than shoving under the carpet”.
Labour can choose to raise their game for this year’s election (and not just go through the motions until 2014) – if they can break from their rote, lethargy and defensiveness.
Two words… Roger Douglas.
I frequently disagree with much of what you say, Pete, but I think your comment completely nails it. Labour needs to take a firm and decisive step to the left, and back it with some visionary policy rather than indulging in blandness.
National may have been able to get elected by being “Labour Lite”, but there’s not a chance in hell that Labour will get the Treasury benches back by being “National Lite”.
I have an assurance from one of the Herald writers that she will examine the National List with as much interest as she did on Labour’s List. I suggested to her that the National List lacked representation from gays and unions given their important representation in NZ’s makeup. The experience with Mr Gould about how inept businessmen were outside the fields made them inept narrow-minded as MPs and if so how will the Nat List reflect this?
I’m sure there will be much examination of the National list.
I’ll repeat something I’ve said before – diversity should be less important than competence. And Ianmac makes a good point – competence (even if to an expert or highly successful level) in a field outside parliament does nothing to guarantee competence as an MP, and especially competence as a minister or PM. Strong leadership matters a lot. None of the parties excel at that.
Well, from what we’ve seen, National ministers are incompetent.
I propose that from this day hence anyone who comments on the Labour Party list selection process and obviously shows that they do not know anything about the process or the people selected should be branded as a troll.
PeteG do you always wax contiunuously about stuff that you know nothing about. Try watching question time in Parliament and then feel qualified to comment.
One thing I will respond to is this theme developed by RWNJs that Labour should have gone outside the party and selected exciting new candidates. To be frank when the party has done this in the past the candidates have been disasters. Remember John Tamihere?
By strong public figures do you mean people like Michael Laws or Paul Homes? Give me any day more thoughtful representative dedicated representatives.
If you want excitement and drama can I suggest you watch TV.
MS, your attitude is typical of Labour’s problems. You are either blind to it or you are trying to fudge over it.
How many shouts from how many directions are needed?
The Dominion editorial? Labour needs to look like a party for all
The ODT editorial? Labour’s list problems.
You could write letters to them and tell them to watch more TV I guess.
You can’t change your List but you can open your bloody eyes. Labour has a public image problem. The spin doctors have failed and what does Labour do? Gives them safe seats.
Why not own the problems and be seen to be dealing with them?
No PeteG you do not know what you are talking about.
Rely on the papers!! The day papers like the Dominion come out and support Labour is the day lefties should get very worried.
Can you tell me anything about candidate number 36 on the list (Jerome Mika)? How about candidate number 44 (Susan Zhu)? How can you comment on their abilities if you know nothing about them?
What do you suggest? Do we approach Justin Bieber to see if he wants to be a politician?
Absolutely. I vaguely knew Susan from previous regional meetings and had never run across Jerome prior to the list meetings. But both rightfully got high placements in the Mangere meet, and I am glad to see that it carried through to the mediation.
We’re interested in electing politicians, not showboating celebs with more ego than political abilities. The latter swan around doing bugger all. They wind up like the ineffectual Pam Corkery or being promoted well past their abilities like John Key.
If PeteG or the frigging writers at the ODT or Dominion don’t like it then they should work within the party to convince others. Of course since they aren’t in the party and like most critics are simple ineffectual whiners who avoid work of actual members – I suspect that I will keep ignoring them.
Captcha: lose
That summarises Labour’s problem. Self absorbed, ignoring voters, ignoring reality.
But PeteG you were never going to vote Labour. So why should Labour take your advice?
Quite the opposite to voting for Labour, PeteG’s vocation is to work against Labour.
Any “friendly sage advice” out of his keyboard cannot be trusted.
Why are we continuing to feed that PeteG troll?
idle entertainment. like a cat playing wih a mouse.
Hear, hear Tigger.
For god’s sake just scroll over the top of PeteG. Stop giving the troll so much air!
Okay its true I’m a bit OCD with trolls 🙂
Yes but we all know that I am the cat and you are the ever so predictable rat!
Count your blessings I think rats are gorgeous!
I have never said that – I don’t make up my mind which way I’ll vote until election day. On current form it’s unlikely I’ll vote for Labour, but that leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. National don’t deserve a single party majority. I’ve never been a fan of WP. The Greens may once again be the beneficiary of no better option, either that or spoiled vote or no vote.
Labour don’t have to take my advice. Nor take any notice of the growing chorus of bewilderment about how introspective, uninspiring and defeatist they appear. If they had half a clue they would see that their current approach is not working for themselves.
If Goff can shake Labour out of it’s lethargy I would consider voting for a recovering opposition but it’s not looking like that’s going to happen.
CV, Labour seem to be managing working against themselves. Notice that there’s just a few faithful trying to attack the messenger. Not much else they can do I guess.
To be clear, I wrote this was about you, Mr Wise and Moderate Self Appointed Advisor to Labour.
And as anyone here knows, I criticise Labour aplenty, thanks. Critical feedback is how organisations improve, after all.
PeteG It is a standard form for the plants to say, “I don’t make up my mind which way I’ll vote until election day.” or they say “I am a Labour Supporter but…..” or ” I think Phil Goff is a great man but he is totally ineffectual and he should step down…..”
Suspect PeteG? Sure do!
There’s no reply button to IanMac or I would have said this to him. Lump me with Pete G although I have disagreed with him strenuously in the past, I don’t care, after all, I am mental – or so I am told. But the point is, that before I started hanging out here, I was a staunch Labour supporter. I know and like David Shearer, he’s my ‘local’.
I know y’all say you don’t represent Labour, and that can only be a good thing. Even so, despite the risk of its being a wasted vote, the Greens will get mine this year.
I’ve tried to make similar points to his, about how public perception of the list is simply not good – and for my pains, I’m told I’m mental.
Fairy nuff…
As the policy says, it is a robust debating environment. Doing moderation, we stomp on certain things that cause operational issues, but essentially the debate tends to stay pretty wide open. The upside of that is the the issues get debated pretty throughly and a lot of disagreements get aired in a pseudonymous environ. The downside is that differences between people tend to get quite well explored as well.
If you think this is bad, you should try some of the actual political debates I’ve been in inside the party. Especially in the 80’s and early 90’s, but also ever since. People who get involved in politics are generally there because they are quite opinionated and not shy about expressing them. From what I understand from friends around the Greens, it tends to be just about as contentious especially on the boundaries between pure green issues vs social issues or incremental vs revolutionary, but in a quieter fashion. But that tends to be the difference IMHO between a wide church and an even wide church.
…abour seem to be managing working against themselves. Notice that there’s just a few faithful trying to attack the messenger.
I think that it has been pointed out before, that the vast majority of the leftist commentators here by number of comments neither normally support or vote Labour all of the time. Even fewer are members of the party. In fact even amongst the authors that was the case at the last election and probably now.
I tend to ascribe it to most Labour members.
Not much else they can do I guess.
From your comments and theirs, a more credible hypothesis would be that many off the left (and a few of them Labour members) commentators are patiently or impatiently trying to give you the knowledge that you so clearly lack. However you seem to be so interested in hearing the sound of your own keyboard, that you fail to listen to them.
Perhaps if you noticed you’d try to be less of a blowhard and more of a listener. Then you may actually learn something?
What you clearly fail to understand is that just winning elections is only part of the political process. If you don’t take care of the quality of the people you’re putting into parliament then you’ll get grossly incompetent governance.
It is a lesson that National has been failing to learn since I was a teen in the 1970’s, and just like the current NAct government is now.
Since it is clear that you don’t think about the political process but just react to political events like one of Pavlov’s slobbering dogs, I guess that point will escape you as well.
PeteG do you always wax contiunuously about stuff that you know nothing about
You need to ask????????
Although to be fair, he is talking about blandness.
Well said Mickey, hugely generous of you to only brand as trolls RWNJs…I suppose allowing them here keeps them off the streets causing distress to fellow citizens. Sort of a social service really.
I like having those of the right here. It forces me to ramp up my argument levels.
But for all of PeteG’s rush towards OOS and his apparent simplicity of political thought, I don’t tend to see him as a troll either. I just see him as a person with an addiction to fingering his keyboard.
Except at times it dumbs down the standard (pun, geddit) of debate which seems to frustrate some; full-mock mode I find the only way not to be the same
No doubt I’ll be told that it’s irrelevant, but the grammatical errors I’ve read here today are going into my blog and my next ESOL lesson. Hint – ‘meet’ is not a noun, except perhaps in Bugtussle Ark.!
Vicky, “geddit” and “meet as a noun” have entered the vernacular, ‘less you are speaking from a pulpit.
I don’t teach ‘vernacular’, I teach proper English, in which plurals don’t take apostrophes, meet is a verb and ‘geddit’ is something only tradesmen with butt cleavage, and teenage boys say. Meet as a noun is a pathetic piece of business jargon, or an Americanism, most likely both. My students want proper English, and your sneer about pulpits is simply ignorant. I expected better from you!
My apologies Vicky. It is lazy typing, not grammatical errors. The ‘d’ is adjacent to the ‘e’ on the keyboard and when you factor in the space bar, the offending word is a little quicker to type. I will attempt to refrain from this practice in future.
With kind regards,
RobC
P.S. I didn’t realise “y’all” and “fairy nuff” was proper English; I consider myself suitably enlightened.
‘fairy nuff’ is a grotesque of course, but “y’all” is a very handy American contraction that is bloody good shit, and should be used more. It’s polite, and precise, and nice.
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/drgw006.html
also, “ain’t”
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/drgw003.html
And as for this ‘proper’ english shit; pays to remember that a language is just a dialect with an army. Anyone who says different is just failing at it IMO, YMMV FWIW, but TBH, WGAF?
amirite?
And if word people really want see someone going spare in an amusing fashion; read this:
http://www.word-detective.com/gry.htmlpeople
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid! Aoccdrnig to a rseecherar at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? And you awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt?!
🙂
Just making y’all comfortable, hey? (Americanisms abound, so it seems appropriate.)
Fairy nuff was an attempt to bring in some levity.
Someone says he’s OCD about trolls, well I am OCD about language, and I mean, I really am… (as I’ve previously said, and got jumped by the lovely Queen of Trolls* for saying, I am not neuro-typical.)
To cover all the objections I’ve read, it was Lyn who used ‘meet’ as a noun, when talking about Labour party selection meetings.
Locus, I’ve seen your contribution as an email forward and a Facebook status, only about 24 times! It was interesting the first time. Because of my recent work, I always think in terms of making communication easier for people who are either learning English, or who have varying disabilities.
Athletes talk about ‘going to meets’ because we have been culturally colonised by the USA. It both amuses and sickens me to read people here banging on about cultural cringe, and how much they hate any residual influence on NZ that Britain has, when these same people kowtow (to use a cliche) before all things American (except for the Tea Party!)
* It can’t actually be Queen of Trolls can it? Maybe I have remembered wrongly.. If so I apologise to him/her…
Great wee debate. I’m pretty careful with my words and take care to get my grammar right, because that’s me. I’m tolerant of people who comment here and don’t follow the grammatical rules, because that’s them. This is a blog, not an exam, so who am I to quibble?
I would be keen to see what you mean by ‘meet’ as a noun. Where was that? I can’t for the life of me think of a sentence where it could be used in that way, but I don’t want to wade through all today’s comments to find it. And yes, lads, I know I risk public fogeydom for not being down wiv da kids, but I’d like to know.
Just as an aside, the single greatest influence on my grammatical style is Private Eye magazine, the English fortnightly founded in the sixties by a bunch of public schoolboys, including comedian Peter Cook. One of Cookie’s early contributions was the word ‘geddit’. So that’s stereotypical builders, spotty teenagers and the well educated sons of the English aristocracy who use the word.
I don’t know where ‘meet’ was used a noun here, but athletes talk about going to meets, so it’s not unheard of.
RobC has a detailed look at PeteG’s opening statement of the day. He and others believe it is underwhelming, with no interesting comments. He summarises … well actually he can’t because there’s nothing to summarise.
Although the rugby analogy at the end is pure gold. CT would be proud.
PeteG, at # 3 above, did you read the link you posted? Did any alarm bells ring?
There was a lot of opinion about who is effective, meritous etc in his blog piece but when it came to hard facts Bryce Edwards has problems.
For instance, lazily, I suggest, he quoted David Farrar to support his arguments that straight white males didn’t do well. Farrar said there was only one straight non-union European male in the top 15, and only two in the 30 top effective spots.
These are the males in the top 15. Goff, Cunliffe, Parker (Farrar’s nominee), Horomia, Cosgrove, Mallard, Chauvel, Robertson and Little. Only two straight non-union European males in that list of 9 males?
Add in the next 15 – Sio, Prasad, Huo, Davis, Barker, Nash, Burns, Hipkins. Only two straight non-union European males in that list of 17? Arrant nonsense from Farrar.
A writer who can be caught out on large errors of fact is not worth considering when it comes to accepting their opinions. Similarly, using such shonky evidence irreparably harms Bryce’s case. Linking to such shoddiness does your arguments no good, either.
Mac, I suggest you re-read the paragraph that explains ‘effective party list’, which starts:
Your numbers include those who are likely to win seats so won’t get in on the list.
PeteG, thanks for the correction, and the ensuing linkage to the quality of your argument no longer stands.
You have to laugh at the fact PeteG now understands the concept of an “effective party list” when on Mon he couldn’t work out why the loser in the selection for Dunedin North was ranked ahead of the one who actually won.
Yes, laughing, you seem to be scraping the bottom of the shit barrel today Rob. 4x
Do you not understand that there may be separate concepts there?
The comments on “effective party list” were in relation to diversity of the effective list.
I was pointing out that Labour chose a candidate (Clark) over another (Alexander) and then ranked Clark lower on the list. There may be internal justification for that, but from the outside it looks nuts and doesn’t show much confidence in or support of the chosen Dunedin North candidate.
It shows confidence that he is going to win his seat, ya big mugg.
Is Goff not confident about his seat? Horomia about his? Little about his chances?
peteG, why else would the Leader of the Opposition and of the Labour Party be number one in the list? Ummmm………… Or the leading Maori politician and long serving MP be up there? Aaaaaaahhh………or the ex-President of the NZLP and former Union leader? Hmmmmmmmm……?
Three questions back for you. Their answers will answer your questions. The ummmm,aaaah and hmmm indicate places where you think.
Silly me – I thought the Ummmm, Ahhhhh and Hmmmmm were his actual answers
RobC, “idle entertainment. like a cat playing wih a mouse.”
But what entertainment, as in your 2.07 p.m. above. Felix himself would have liked that one.
Love your Right Wing imagination.
David Clark will win the seat on his own merits, and as a first time candidate that is what he will want to do.
David Clark will most likely win the seat thanks to it almost always being a Labour seat (since 1922 except for losing for a term in 1925 and a term to National in 1975) and thanks to a large majority carried over from Pete Hodgson. He might win a few hundred votes on his own merits.
If he sticks around as long as Hodgson he might eventually rise up the list a bit. If Alexander makes it in on the list and especially if Little makes it in to leadership she may stand a better chance of getting promoted up the list.
Aaarrrggghhh
PeteG you do not have a clue.
Dunedin North is one of Labour’s strongest seats. It has very good resources, great membership and a strong activist base. If Labour loses Dunedin North I may think about joining the Greens things will be that bad.
David Clark is an exceptionally good candidate. Go and google him before you case aspertions on him. He will be a great MP. Giving him the privilege of being the candidate for the seat is something that every list MP would give their eye teeth for.
His ranking is not a reflection on him or on the area, just as David Shearer’s list ranking is no reflection on him or the seat of Mt Albert.
Why don’t you try converting this into a real debate where you receive information that you did not have and change your point of view?
Yes, having held it for 80 of the last 83 years I sort of got that idea.
Maybe. The electorate doesn’t know that yet. I don’t know that yet (and I haven’t cast aspersions on him). Time will tell. Do you think he will win because of his strong credentials or because Dunedin North is one of Labour’s strongest seats?
People in the party may think his list rank is not a reflection on him or the area, but it has raised some attention here. Don’t you think some people may justifiably think it a bit odd that an exceptionally good candidate in one of Labour’s strongest seats may end up being the Labour MP with the lowest list rank?
Or are you so engrossed in Labour’s inner workings that you do not have a clue how that may appear here?
Hi Pete,
I can assure you my brother is a fantastic candidate 🙂
The way it tends to work is that if you’re a first time candidate in a safe seat it’s viewed as: if you lose it maybe you shouldn’t be in parliament. It’s kind of a “prove you’re a good candidate” test. It’s certainly not a lack of confidence – if Labour weren’t entirely confident in him they wouldn’t have put him in a safe seat; they don’t want to be lumbered with a useless candidate for however long. And Grant Robertson doesn’t seem to have been held back by a low list ranking in 2008, if you’re worried about him being elected with the lowest list rank.
Glenda Alexander, having not won the nomination for Dunedin Nth, should have her list position viewed entirely differently (& separately).
But generally there’s far too much focus on exact placements on the list. It should after all be about which party and policies you trust to deliver a better New Zealand.
Ben, my mother-out-law is well impressed with your bro as a candidate. Says she might vote for a candidate for the first time since mmp came in. And she didn’t have a problem with PeteH particularly. She’s just a tough crowd.
I ‘d introduce her to PeteGeeWilikers, for similar reasons that I like watching nature docos, but she’d probably never speak to me again.
PeteG desperately spinning how things “appear”.
Yeah mate just look into a mirror, you’ll see some interesting things.
PS why don’t you get another job you suck at astroturfing.
Thanks Ben, it’s good to get a reasonable response and explanation. If you could encourage more from your party to not resort to dissing and arrogance so much they might help attract a bit more interest and even some votes.
I’ll be sussing David out with interest. If I think he’s the best candidate here I’ll vote for him, regardless of what I decide on the party vote.
Somewhere else here today someone called me suspect for being a late decider. They seem to miss the fact that late deciders may actually vote your way, especially if you don’t diss them off.
PeteG now positioning himself as a “late decider”
lolz the choice between ACT and National is simply not that difficult.
Yep, and I’m still laughing at the shit I find at the bottom of the barrel.
I understand concepts well, except meaningless ones such as “diversity of the effective list”. As Mac1 implied, any rational assessment of diversity should be made on MPs likely to enter/return to parliament from both electorate seats and party lists.
Even DPF acknowledges this, for while he makes the observation of the absence of non-union heterosexual white males from the party list, he states in his very next sentence:
Now some will argue this is a good thing, as HWMs are over-represented in electorate seats, and the list is about balancing the overall caucus. This is broadly correct – the list is about overall balance …
So to put it in really simple terms for you, there’s a lack of HWM in the effective party list because there’s a lot of them going to win electorate seats.
Yes, it does amuse me when you start to use the term “effective party list” when you can’t understand the effectiveness of placing a person (who according to Ipredict has an 88% chance of winning his electorate) at 49 on the list, instead trying to suggest it is somehow a lack of confidence in him. Hmmm and isn’t David Clark a HWM???
Mind you, it’s not as funny as your arguments about regional representation … even DPF assesses Dunedin will probably have double the MPs they should have based on population.
Yep, I’m still laughing. You do bring a certain humour in a Homer Simpson kinda way to these pages.
Edit 3rd para: Even DPF … from the effective party list …
I believe so. And isn’t the person he beat for the candicacy, and who has been placed higher than him on the list, a female union person? Hmmm indeed.
If Clark was placed above Alexander on the list it would make no difference to whether Alexander made the list cut or not.
Trying to be too clever with the list may have some repercussions apart from public perceptions. It has surprised some that Claire Curran is only at 28 on the list. Maybe this is using similar “logic” – she is a shoe in to win her seat. If others are bumped up to give the list a “better balance” they might get to like it there, and expect shadow portfolios. And those like Curran, Nash, Twyford and Shearer may not be very happy staying in their lowly places “for the good of the party” for too long.
I believe so. And isn’t the person he beat for the candicacy, and who has been placed higher than him on the list, a female union person? Hmmm indeed.
Let me help you out. Clark = HWM. Alexander not HWM.
“Effective List” needs more non HWM to balance caucus.
If Clark was placed above Alexander on the list it would make no difference to whether Alexander made the list cut or not.
Incorrect. If we use Ipredict as a guide, there’s a 11-12% chance Clark will not win the electorate seat, and having Clark (HWM) above Alexander (non HWM) would potentially imbalance caucus if he had a ranking above Alexander’s 43 and Labour won enough of the party vote.
Improbable, yes. Impossible, no.
Ok, that’s possible. But far more likely is Clark wins the seat and Alexander misses the cut on the list. So an imbalance is more likely. If Labour wanted to virtually ensure more WFU in caucus they would have chosen Alexander for the seat.
There are many potential angles to this, hence the dangers of trying to be too clever with the list.
Coincidentally Michael Woodhouse was 49 on National’s list in 2008. What say he was bumped up to say 29, he’s got reasonable credentials and potential? He got a fair number of votes first time up, there’s little doubt he will improve on that this. If voters see that he’s middle of National’s list, an up and comer compared to Clark’s low 49 it could sway votes.
Only time I’ve noticed the up and comer was here:
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-16062010/#comment-225619
I’m intrigued by your notions. It seems to me that you think that when people are deciding about which constituent candidate to vote for, some will have a squizz at the party list, and if the candidate is high on the list, be more likely to give them their constituency vote.
Now I’m not saying that this doesn’t happen, but I am saying it’s daft. What is the thinking behind doing that?
Is it a sort of:
I don’t know anything about the candidates per se, or how the lists are drwn up; but if this person is higher on their party list than another candidate is on their party list, then the first person’s party must think they are awesome so I’ll vote for them?
Genuine question there, because like I said, this strikes me as la-la-land stuff. Why would someone do that?
Many people like to have people of influence in their electorate. I’d guess that having PM in your electorate would be popular. More chance of getting local things considered in the decision making.
Say you had too pretty good candidates in your electorate from the two main parties. You’d be comfortable with either as MP, and you vote based on what might be best for your electorate, you use your party vote for preferred party for government.
You have a choice between:
– an unproven new candidate way down the bottom of the list of a party unlikely to win
– a proven candidate mid list with the potential to be promoted to cabinet of a winning party
I doubt I’m the only voter who may consider things like that. I understand people who are closely committed to a party may not understand that therev are many things that can contribute to a decision.
And possibly more important than candidate choice is turnout. The more profile and party credibility a candidate has the easier it will be to get people out to vote.
I’d guess that having PM in your electorate would be popular. More chance of getting local things considered in the decision making.
I had the Leader of the opposition / PM in my electorate for 15 years. I think it got less attention because of it. As an example Helen was certainly constrained about doing the fight against the SH20 extension when that came up. The public meetings were somewhat raucous because it was pretty difficult to find many of her voters in favour of it.
Sounds like another of your pretty theoretical myths to me
If Labour wanted to virtually ensure more WFU in caucus they would have chosen Alexander for the seat.
Except Pete, the candidate for Dunedin North is chosen by (I assume) Labour Party members (or a subset thereof) of Dunedin North
Balance/diversity of the whole caucus would not rate as much of a factor in the selection, I think it is safe to assume.
Is PeteG still giving his poisonous “advice” to the Labour Party?
*guffaw*
I still think it’s daft mate. If you want the attention of the up and comer, far better to vote someone else into the seat. That way he has to prove himself.
That’s if you’re down with the whole pork barreling business in the first place of course.
I reckon you’re just doing the old tory, plum-in-the-mouth status bullshit; as if somehow having a flash harry mp reflects on how awesome you are as a constituent. Bit sad really.
Also, counter productive.
As Lynn says, having a top govt person as your electorate mp means that they will be under national pressure to not do you any favours, and that pressure is on top of the fact that their workload means you get less of their time.
It’s simple physics mate.
I didn’t say I voted on that basis but I’d be surprised if there aren’t quite a few that do. Many people respond to celebrityitis.
You seem to be looking at why people might vote from your own point of view. You have to imagine how others might. Standard marketing, think like the target. Those pulling Labour strings certainly haven’t figured it out very well. Too PR orientated?
NFTT 🙂
Good on the Green Party, Hone Harawira & Chris Carter for opposing the first draft of the Christchurch Recovery Bill last night. Labour was more timid, but also
sorry but i see no reason to congratulate them for doing what they should have done months ago with the original dictator bill
the horse has not only bolted
it has been caught, shot and delivered to the glue factory
All that will now happen is some theatre on the continued erosion of democracy
Yes, voting for the originally CERRA was a bad move by Labour & the Greens. They wouldn’t have stopped the law so the horse would have bolted anyway. However, they should have made a strong stand against the attack on democracy, and made a very public statement about its faults.
I’m hoping the Greens at least have learned from this, and aim to be more bold in taking a principled stand now & in the future. There’s a limited number of Left parties to vote for, I would like the Greens & Labour to be more bold & principled in the future.
Christchurch folk are a bit pissed off as they only got one day warning of the Christchurch select com meeting today.
It does appear that Mayor Parker is a wee bit miffed that his Shonkey mate didn’t tell him what was happening and they seemed so chummy on TV
Select Committee is just a ritual and a quick, cynical public relations exercise with John Key’s National Government.
No Right Turn has more on this:
The people of Christchurch deserve better than this
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/
The RWC sets out to screw patrons from the very start. Who the hell is running this chickenshit scheme.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10718914
So people are going to have to queue in long lines at the ATM (yes there will probably be just one), to get cash out to pay for a $5 plastic cup of urine, a $3 sandwich, and a $4 punnet of undercooked chips.
Better just to stay at home with your mates and watch it all on TV.
At least youll be able to drink whatever beer you want, without having it taken off you and poured down the drains by a flourovested goon.
The whole thing feels like one big overpriced school social
The whole point of using the tap & go cards is to reduce the transaction time dramatically. Paying by eftpos or credit card is generally much slower than paying by cash (if the person has correct $ ready and the checkout person is efficient), but paying by tap & go will be significantly faster than cash.
so you are quite comfortable with Tap’nGo?
Used as a bus fare system is one thing, having thousands of these cards in a crowded space full of boozers and bravado is a pickpocket’s dream and that is even before the multiple frauds that could occur. These systems are locality driven transactions. You only have to be within the reader’s field of activity to be victim to a false transaction. This has already occured at numerous events and is one of the most supressed stories in this folly. Speaking of folly the image used on Mastercard’s PayPass page is a fine example of the stupidity they are creating, ever lost your keys?
http://www.mastercard.us/paypass.html#/home/
Why would you want to remove the PIN function from the transaction process. To save a few seconds you are willing to risk losing hundreds if not thousands of dollars. It is still your money, you should really try to protect what little is left of it.
http://consumerist.com/2006/10/no-swipe-credit-card-no-problem-for-thieves.html
Believe the banks if you wish but there is no way that magic wand payments are more secure than the physical credit authority you exercise every single time you enter a PIN.
I may be more suspicous than some of you but when a Bank says ‘trust me’ i have to ask why?
I never said I supported Tap’n’Go. I simply said the point of it is to dramatically reduce the queues that millsy was complaining about.
ho ho, upon peering into my misty crystal ball I see hordes of partly munted hordes storming the bars in utter frustration…
i didn’t mean it to sound so smarmy. sorry ’bout that
TapnGo, PayPass and the other manifestations of this transaction technology is just one more step in the preparation of people for RFID implantation and that is all there is to say about that :] long live cash !
Pike River – the latest comment I’ve heard.
Radio nz morning report Wed 13/4 Pike River Mine ‘safe enough for specialists to enter’
A mine safety expert believes the Pike River coal mine is safe to re-enter nearly five months after an explosion that killed 29 men. Pike River Coal Ltd and its receivers say the mine is still unsafe. (duration: 3′29″)
And he thinks that the time to enter would have been shortly after the explosion (two people with proper safety procedures). That has been said earlier. I wonder if this man was the originator of the point. I remember the leading policeman saying he wouldn’t put anyone at risk to go and reconnoitre. He was determined not to consider it, and made that clear.
I wonder if some of the mining families would like to have had the opportunity to take the calculated risk of checking out the mine, bringing their understanding of the low ignition state after the explosion. They might have been able to place low heat lights, cameras, check oxygen lines on the way to their wounded or dead? Is it satisfactory to have a non-miner as decision maker in such a specialised rescue? Professionals taking over and sidelineing those locals who have expertise and could and would give valuable help, guided within bounds of safety, seems the current practice.
A fortnight ago, the Finance Minister tried to entertain the country with his newly found vocabulary and phrase with “nice to have”.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister ambitiously tried to clown better in the House by muttering “it depends”.
Partly right. The entertainment was provided by the PSA.
Question 8 today, more on Grants “depends” story.
Re Blimey Blingish’s new found strategy of wages 30% below Australia:
John Key affirms Blingish and brings good tidings of great joy to Don Brash, his 2025 Taskforce and ACT.
Remember Finding #5 of the second 2025 Taskforce report (p139)?
“Closing the gap requires unwavering focus on growth-promoting public policy. Strong political leadership will be needed to ensure a consistent policy focus on allowing the private sector to drive productivity, sustainable employment creation and growth. Unless this happens, those of us who remain in New Zealand will find ourselves spending an increasing portion of our incomes travelling to Australia or other countries to visit our wealthier brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren.”
* Readers – please continue to spend more of your income travelling overseas to visit your loved ones.
* Readers may now regard John Key as officially ending his bluff to grandparents about closing the Oz-NZ gap and having their children and grandkids here. [Winston: here’s a political pressure point]
* John Key has rejected the finding of the expensive, wasteful, backroom policy pontifications of Brash and his Taskforce, and now moves clever policymaking to the policy frontline being led by Blingish.
* The Taskforce can now pack up, Brash and ACT can leave for overseas, and taxpayers can save more than 30% on the Taskforce’s meeting fees.
Live streaming Question Time.
Is Hekia Parata ambitiously trying to be Sarah Palin Down Under ?
Where did they dig out this one? Aahm, rhetorical question.
Actually I don’t need to know.
Thought I heard a pin drop in the House. Trevor (thanks, Pete) had some documents he wanted to table but was denied leave.
Sounds like Pansy Wong has left a lasting legacy as Minister of Sammy’s Affairs for the National Government.
Thought I glimpsed Shipley’s shade in the House.
Keep it up, Shonkey. (Shipley+Wong+Key)
The new server for The Standard has been handed over to me. I will be working on it this evening and hopefully have it up and running either tomorrow or friday. Then we can depart from the now traditional March/April crush where usage exceeds CPU capacity…
Yes!!!!!! At last!!!!
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/dog-and-slut-bully-victim-wins-case-against-sydney-college-20110413-1ddbd.html
Antispam: respect 🙂
There was a kid’s chant – Don’t care was made to care. Good that the Courts went against the school in Oz. Learning how to respect others differences is part of education, perhaps more important than learning about past participles, what gneist is and so on. Tolley here should spend time getting schools to support kids so they can be happy and do well at school instead of measuring their passes or failures to jump high enough to get over the bar.
Supplementary from Trevor Mallard for question #10 today in the House: raises questions about the tenders for Kiwirail in Auckland, and implications that there should be oversight of the Minister of Transport & caution (forgot the details – maybe no tender granted to a Chinese enterprise) until the investigation by…. erm the auditor general (?) of Sammy Wong is concluded.
There’s a law being rushed through the House today to combat Internet piracy. According to Stuff:
Does this mean there will be a ban on ALL file sharing? Not all file sharing infringes copyright.
this totally fucking sucks. Bad law – and sneaking it in under the glare of CERA.
What can one do? Peerblock? Any cybergeeks with possible answers? (‘don’t file share’ is not answer!)
Vote NACT+MP out and pressure the new government to put in proper, rational laws.
Brilliant idea, get rid of all legal aid, buy shares in private prisons.
…also, take the vote off prisoners.
…and bring in three strikes to up the prison population…
Remember when one of Key’s little minions went on the record to call Pete Hodgson a ‘fuckwit’?
Reckon apologies are in order and that one should be asked for in the house. Minion said that he could be quoted, minion works for the PM.
Yeah that minion was Captain Panic Pants, was it not?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10719004
Looks like he’s going to be saving his pennies so he can buy lots of nice NZ power company shares.
This new law they are talking about then:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4879519/will-family-fist-like-this?
Does it mean that spouses will be obliged to report s59 type cases?
So legal aid will continue to assist vindictive mothers to make malicious false allegations to the feminist Femily Court system without consequences. Nothing changes in the land of lies!
Indeed… d4j. Middle New Zealand has become frightened and mean. This is why the fascist streak is showing.
Is the “middle New Zealand” the poor sods on $12 hr who have to pay the fat cats huge bucks for a loaf of bread and a glass of milk!
Name one good reason why a young person would stay in this corrupt cess pit Nation? I blame the demented pollie scumbags.
Middle New Zealand … has been propagandised into voting against it’s interests. We’ve seen the same for decades in the USA, where the poorest working class consistently votes Republican for instance. It just took us a while for us to catch up.
They are grateful to the big business men who are good enough to give them $12 per hour.
I’ve just reviewed the last dozen or so comments from you RL. You have become a troll. Welcome to the club….HS
[lprent: 🙂 I’ll let that stay in the bold as a one-off (even if you’re wrong IMHO). Looks to me more like a case of sour grapes in a spirit glass? ]
[I invite hs to do a quick search on his name and read the last twenty or so comments he has made. Most of them are sneering put downs that have contributed little to nothing. Everyone gets snarky from time to time, but when it becomes the dominant theme then it’s time for a warning. That was all it was. For hs to then make this sour grape response is scarcely smart on his part… but I guess he’s had his jollies this morning. RL]
dad4justice,
Written any letters to your hero, Key, lately, from one misogynist to another how you want to make women suffer for daring to reject you and he answered by stopping them having pay equity, then got rid of thousands of them from their part time work on to unemployment so that he could say the average wage had gone up?
You’re never happy are you crxxp?
Jum
My 10 year forced legal aid nightmare cost the kiwi taxpayer well over $2 million. All built on false allegations. No doubt you will be pleased. [Deleted… You know that’s flame baiting….RL]
Having seen you in action, d4j, and knowing that in relationships, it is never the fault of just one of the couple, I believe you wasted at least one of the $2million.
While I hate for anyone to suffer from relationship breakups i.e. the kids, Mum, Dad, the extended family… I remember when women had no rights at all; in fact they had no rights to their own children. They got pregnant, had the child and then ceased to have any rights over their schooling, their religion, their welfare – everything – because women had no rights.
Care to comment on historic facts and then put it in the context of now where the law is a lot fairer?
Great! The Breakers have reached the Finals!
Hell yeah. Although given they’re more productive and 30% cheaper I’d expect nothing less 😀