My goodness. That has been one LOOOOONG cup of tea, and still the cup’s not empty, nor has it been cleared away.
Herald on Sunday must have been quite p*ssed at the PM’s behaviour over it. HoS has 2 articles on it, both include criticisms of JonKey’s behaviour over the cuppa.
Prime Minister John Key personally phoned Solicitor General David Collins to pass on his gratitude for work on the so-called teapot tape case, two days before the election.
The Solicitor General’s office is meant to be kept strictly independent from all political influence.
An independent review finds nobody at the Herald on Sunday or its sister publications commissioned, suggested or condoned any recording in the teapot tapes saga. For the first time, Jonathan Milne can tell how the storm in the teacup was brewed and then stirred up.
[…]
An independent review finds nobody at the Herald on Sunday or its sister publications commissioned, suggested or condoned any recording in the teapot tapes saga. For the first time, Jonathan Milne can tell how the storm in the teacup was brewed and then stirred up.
[…]
John Key faces a decision, too. It is a simple one, but a challenging one for any public figure.
Well pointed Carol. I guess that Mr Key will ignore the implications but somehow I wish that Ambrose would get a Declaration and thus force some sort of political/legal resolution.
The catch is of course the political forces would no doubt dig some sort of dirt on Ambrose to forestall credibility, or further damage credibility.
But doesn’t that bluddy ad that heads the Herald page annoy? I will never buy one of those cars!
I am also pleased that the HOS is continuing to have an interest in this case, and while one phone call in itself is not a major issue, it is again another instance of Key acting inappropriately.
I am also pleased that today they included a prominate link to the earlier article on 1 April, as I felt at the time this was published, that it was somewhat overshadowed by other events. It gives a very plausible account of what actually happened by someone else who was there at the tea party and involved in the aftermath.
The phone call thanking the Solicitor-General is serious because it reconfirms the corruption. There is no doubt that the Solicitor-General’s office was acting on behalf of John Key, who got special treatment by what is meant to be an independent entity.
Finlayson’s reason for the Solicitor-General representing is basically because John Key got into trouble in a private capacity and this would impinge on his ability to function as the PM… so the crown was obliged to step in. If that’s not corruption I don’t know what is.
Thanks, Jackal. After I hit the submit button, I thought that my wording was wrong particularly in suggesting that the phone call was insignicant which it is not. But I had to go out so left it.
I totally agree that the whole way this situation was handled by Key and his people, from the actual tea party onwards was way out of order and corrupt. Having worked in the justice sector although not a legal beagle and being well experienced in the machinery of government, the use/misuse of Crown Law and the Solicitor General’s office in this case was extremely disturbing. Part of the problem is that we seem to be seeing such actions from Key and his Ministers on an ongoing basis, but yet the general public do not seem to comprehend or be interested in what this means and continue to support this PM and his mob.
+1 Jackal. The Solicitor-General should only ever have abided in this one, or perhaps made some lowkey submissions on how any criminal investigation would be affected. He should never have advocated for the leader of a party like he did (this was an electoral issue). And now he’s a judge, despite a record of fuck ups while in office. Go figure.
The Cunliffe cancellation from The Nation yesterday has been seen by some as a ruckus in the ranks.
I think it may be a potential positive, with Shearer starting to actually lead, and making it clear to others what their position in the party has to be.
Perhaps Shearer’s making steps in the right direction, but his party has to visibly unite behind him. Obviously some commenters here are independent of Labour and will voice disagreement, but it’s up to known Labourites like Anthony, lprent and mickysavage to sound like they are backing and promoting Shearer’s leadership.
Until that show of support happens in a sustained way I don’t like Labour’s chances of successfully rebuilding credibility as a party ready for Government..
It is a sign of weakness and insecurity to stop one of your best performers from appearing on television and taking the fight to the Government because you are afraid of him getting airtime.
If Shearer is a real leader he will support Cunliffe in his role and not muzzle him.
The Labour Party needs to stop playing games with each other and unite against the real enemy, the National Party.
It was not a sign of leadership of any kind to have absolutely no-one front The Nation 10 days out from the Budget.
It was not a sign of leadership of any kind to allow Tony Ryle a free and unopposed interview about asset sales, in the week they had announced that National would actually stand in the market after the sale to buy back shares for some New Zealanders.
Net outcome from the weekend: Labour was not an effective opposition.
I’ve just heard Garner’s spiel on this on The Nation and he mostly discusses Shearer apparently standing up to Cunliffe and “bawling him out” in caucus.
He also made the point that Shearer’s office said they didn’t want to have David Parker’s role as finance spokesman intefered with leading up to the budget. Reasonable point. Why wasn’t Parker lined up for The Nation in the first place?
“I’ve just heard Garner’s spiel on this on The Nation and he mostly discusses Shearer apparently standing up to Cunliffe”
Pete, that just shows how badly Shearer handled it. If he’d done his job then Garner would be discussing what Labour says about the budget, but instead he has to talk about why Labour didn’t send anyone to talk about the budget.
So let me get this straight… Rightwing commentator Duncan Garner has a bleat about Cunliffe’s no show on The Nation, making up some rubbish about Shearer telling him not to appear and suddenly we have the “Divided Labour” claims again coming from more rightwing hacks who’s commentary has proven itself incorrect on many occasions.
I agree that somebody should have represented but that’s not a signal of any division. It’s a media beat-up by a rightwing hack for rightwing hacks… nothing more.
I agree that somebody should have represented but that’s not a signal of any division. It’s a media beat-up by a rightwing hack for rightwing hacks… nothing more.
Seconded! AFAIK all the most anti-Shearer people here are not Labour people.
I am for one, and I back Shearer…
I can assure you that I am a dedicated and loyal member of the party and support the party and its leader. I wish that whoever apparently leaked to TV3 confidential information from what happened in Caucus would do the same.
You keep asking me to again pledge support.
I can recall you being asked repeatedly who you were going to vote for in the 2011 election and you never committed to voting for United Future even though you were on its list and an electorate candidate in Dunedin.
Do you think your failure to commit hurt the party? After all it did very poorly in the election.
Do you think your failure to commit hurt the party?
Simple answer – no.
I think there were much bigger forces at play than I was able to influence. I was standing in Dunedin, where the main media ODT had a policy of virutally no local electorate coverage. I had only been in the party for three months with minimal profile.
The significant forces included:
– Winston Peters successfully capturing a lot of small party share of media coverage
– media promotinjg “Dunne at risk in Ohariu” despite being shown polling suggesting Dunne was safe. Dunne was right, Chauvel and the media were wrong.
– Dunne having to commit so much time and focus on holding Ohariu, for obvious reasons.
– UF having no one with a national profile able to campaign nationally.
I can assure you that I am a dedicated and loyal member of the party and support the party and its leader.
That’s a repeat of a fairly weak assurance. Can you directly name and indicate support for David Shearer?
Jeez Pete, now that’s how you really annoy me. Weak?? MS’s statement was crystal clear.
No-one is bigger than the party, even it’s leader (something Key should learn). If MS had written ‘…support the party and David Shearer’ you would probably given him grief about not being able to move on if Shearer was rolled!
A bit rich coming from someone who refused to even state that he’d vote for his party until seriously pressed to do so.
A bit rich coming from someone who refused to even state that he’d vote for his party until seriously pressed to do so.
You’re confusing playing games on a blog that had no target market to the actual campaigning I did. And I wasn’t “seriously pressed to do so”, I freely chose to add my voting intentions under no pressure, along with everyone else who did so on the thread for it.
I got stuck in a loop trying to figure out why Dunne had to spend “so much time and focus on holding Ohariu” that he couldn’t help Pete retain the votes from the previous election, despite knowing that he was safe in Ohariu all along.
felix – indications were better than media reported, but nothing was guaranteed. Going by the party vote polls Ohariu was essential and he couldn’t take the risk not to give it most of his attention.
Safe with sustained attention. Dunne acknowledges he didn’t pay Ohariu enough attention leading up to 2008 and was determined to do more work in his electorate.
It’s a huge task looking after an electorate, being a sole MP running the parliamentary side of a party, and being a minister in Government. National campaigning took a hit. If UF is to survive it needs more effort from more people, Dunne can’t do it all.
having candidates not openly and directly state who they are voting for must have really helped the party
Exactly – this statement at 2.2.1.1.1 above from PG is delusional BS And I wasn’t “seriously pressed to do so”, I freely chose to add my voting intentions under no pressure, along with everyone else who did so on the thread for it. I for one, clearly recall the plethora of comments to and from PG on this.
I have no doubt that having a candidate that spent most of his time during the election campaign commenting on websites rather than out there actually campaigning and walking the talk did not help the party either.
a candidate that spent most of his time during the election campaign commenting on websites
You’ve got no idea how I campaigned.
Nor how local campaigns work in Dunedin – when Channel 9 went out into the suburbs asking about candidates many didn’t even know who the eventual MP was. And I bet that now if the electorates were surveyed here many wouldn’t know many if any of the four Dunedin based MPs.
One of the only ways to get much profile is to get on national media. As one TV journo told me, the bosses in Auckland are only interested in Benson-Pope type stories down here.
Which not surprisingly was very close to nation wide votes and party vote, indicating most people vote for parties and many electorate contests are barely contested.
If Shearer is a real leader he will support Cunliffe in his role and not muzzle him.
If Cunliffe is a real party man and not an individual with his own leadership agenda he will show support for Shearer. When he has earned respect and trust Shearer should allow Cunliffe to workn freely in his spokesman role.
If that were the case, Shearer would have allowed to go on The Nation, as a simple example.
Instead we are seeking Shearer and his masters centralize everything to the Leader and the Leader’s office. It is precisely this paranoia that was Goff’s undoing. No-one was prepared to tell Goff that he wasn’t as good as Key, and needed the whole team to take Key on.
Exactly the same thing is happening here. Shearer cannot take on Key and never will. But rather than acknowledge this and enable his whole team take Key on, he prefers to suppress them. All except Trevor Mallard.
Which goes to show that as Mallard and Shearer allow their own house to remain divided, Key’s government is allowed to stand.
The focus here should not be on those who try and actively engage with the Government like Cunliffe (which is of course the core Opposition’s job), but on those who are not effectively leading.
Actual Labour Party members should have the floor on this type of issue, sure we can all put our 5 cents worth in, 2 cents in Pete’s case, but the members (as in not United Future members) will have to sort it out in the end.
Nicely put, TM. From my vantage point, while there is some concern that Shearer risks being seen as being too passive at this early point in his leadership, party members I talk to are heartened that both Labour, and the left generally, are holding up in the polls. We have a good platform to build on and Key seems determined to burn off National’s support base, one insult at a time.
So that leaves the obvious question: is Shearer’s strategy to allow National to collapse without Labour being seen as having contributed to the fall? I’m picking that it is a desire to go into the next election with what the lawyers call ‘clean hands’ that is motivating Shearer. He wants to be able put Labour up as honest brokers of change, untainted by the negativity of National.
An indication of this is the asset sales campaign, which is not a purely LP initiative, of course, but one into which they have a significant input. Gone are the ‘No Asset Sales’ signs, in comes the more up beat message of ‘Keep Our Assets’. I think we will see Labour do more and more positive positioning as they seek to be seen as the alternative to the messages of misery from Key and co.
The Greens ran a much more positive election campaign, no surprise they improved and Labour went backwards. At last Labour are starting to get it, even if it’s an anti the other lot campaign at least it’s framed more positively.
Te Reo you are being very generous. If Labour wanted to do it with as you say “clean hands”, you would need to be be mighty sure that National were going to fall by themselves. You are dead right that is a valid medium-term tactic.
But I see National with Key at the helm as masters of distraction and dog-whistle. They are definitely weak for coalition partners, so the “do nothing” option is definitely fair.
But I still think it’s a core job of being in Opposition to demonstrate that you are a credible Government-in-waiting. Both in policy clarity and in the coalition partners you can tell the public will function well together.
Funny thing with the Tony Ryall interview, when he was discussing what the money from the sales is to be spent on there was not any mention of schools or hospitals or anything other than paying off debt. (and we know how well that worked last time!) What a shocker, seems the spin prior to the election worked, hook line and cement block.
also amusing to see Ryall unable to follow the breadcrumbs Garner laid out showing that for the Government to use shares in treaty settlements meant they have to buy some. Either when first floated or as Ryall said, later on from the market. Now if the shares are not bought immediately upon floating, and banked for later use, surely they will only cost more as the value of the shares is expected to increase. I would lay short odds that the purchase of shares at a later date is going to cost a whole lot more than the cheap loans we could be getting today, and we lose the ongoing dividends. The closer they get to the sales the more of a pigs breakfast it is becoming.
At least Ryall admitted National have added 42 billion dollars of debt in a little over three years.
Just what I was about to say Felix. The number of no-shows of the PM and of Ministers is legion. But there is hardly a murmer.
Just hope that there is method in the Labour strategy. Watch this space -optimistically?
Umm… the Greens and NZ First had their turn today. Do you think it is possible that Labour is holding it’s arsenal for next Sunday… only days before Budget day? Voter attention is likely to be more focused by then. No Mum’s day to distract them either.
All Norman and Peters did was say that the Government is doing it all wrong and if they were in Government their policies would be all successful, unlike in just about any other country during the GFC. Pointless pontificating.
There’s no way of knowing if things would be better or worse if Government made none of the changes they did, or if a different Government had made different changes. The much touted CGT would have taken many years to have had much effect.
There’s no way of knowing if things would be better or worse if Government made none of the changes they did, or if a different Government had made different changes.
That must be why UF doesn’t challenge the Nats on anything. After all what’s the point of being in Parliament beyond collecting the paycheck?
Part of Dunne’s job is to discuss issues with various National ministers, getting an input into policy. And it’s well known that Dunne has different positions to National on a number of issues. But don’t let reality stop you from generalised nonsense accusations.
BTW, I get accused hijacking threads off-topic, several have tried that here today, and it hasn’t been me.
i think you have finally cracked it Felix. A perfect PeteG vaccine. We only have to administer that question once a day and Pete G dissapears in a puff of fallibility. 🙂
Monday-ising Waitangi and Anzac days, TVNZ7, and 26 weeks maternity leave are ones he has publicly said he will challenge National’s position on if they come to a vote, that’s just obvious ones from the past couple of months.
National have to consult with Dunne to see what he will agree to in order to pass any none confidence and supply legislation that the Maori Party don’t support. All of Dunne, Banks and the Maori MPs have a degree of influence on what National can do.
Dunne has probably more influence than his 1/61 share of the vote, but is aware of the need to not exceed a reasonable degree of influence. There’s a fairly strong sentiment against tail wags dog – apart from those who expect to get their own way regardless of democratic principals.
“National have to consult with Dunne to see what he will agree to in order to pass any none confidence and supply legislation that the Maori Party don’t support.”
Right, but are you saying that in the last three and a half years there have been things the Nats wanted to pass that never made it to the floor because there was no point without Dunne’s agreement? (Mondayising holidays et al don’t fit here btw because the Nats want to pass those at all – those are private members bills opposed by them)
And therefore everything they have passed has had the Dunne stamp of approval?
Last term his vote wasn’t necessary, National could get votes with either Maori Party or Act.
As far as I understand how things work (limited), what is do-ableamongst coalition partners is worked out before bills are put forward to the House. It makes sense to do that – doesn’t it?
They don’t have voting in a database (it’s being considered) but the first week’s journal I checked had this:
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Crown Pastoral Land (Rent for Pastoral Leases) Amendment Bill
The House resumed the interrupted debate on the question, that the Crown Pastoral Land (Rent for Pastoral Leases) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.
On the question, That the bill be now read a third time, the votes were recorded as follows:
Ayes 63 New Zealand National 59; Māori Party 3; ACT New Zealand 1
Noes 57 New Zealand Labour 34; Green Party 13; New Zealand First 8; Mana 1; United Future 1
But Pete will Dunne challenge National and then go along like a scolded puppy when they say no? Or is he going to actually grow a pair and vote against the Government on these issues?
Or is retention of the limo privileges more important to the member (said in the nicest possible way).
He’s said he will vote for these or would support these if they come to that (Curran’s TVNZ7 members bill is far too late). There’s no reason to doubt that.
Mondayising is on the go now:
Labour MP David Clark says he has the political support he needs for his members bill, which would make Monday a public holiday when either Waitangi Day or Anzac Day fall on a weekend.
Mr Clark says he has the support of all parties except National, giving him the votes he needs to get the bill to a select committee.
There’s no way of knowing if things would be better or worse if Government made none of the changes they did, or if a different Government had made different changes.
There’s this thing called history that we can learn from and, interestingly enough, what this government is doing has been tried before and it didn’t work then whereas what the other parties are suggesting is closer to what did kinda work before. It’s still capitalism and so it won’t ever truly work and will need to be bailed out again sometime in the future.
The story of Peak Oil just can’t get legs; for 50 years the Greens have found that stating a lie over and over doesn’t make it true.
The US Geological Survey has just announced a 200 year supply of Shale OIL under Utah/Colorado. It may be about equal to all the world’s proven oil reserves.
Global supply is interesting, but the question is what price at the pumps here? I don’t presume to be a petroleum expert, but I can imagine that harder-to-extract oil being more expensive, and can also easily imagine future Labour-Green governments raising the excise tax on petrol.
Even if there is a very soft and long peak, price may still be driven up here. We still need to prepare for a significantly higher pump-price. We have already seen pretty high price elasticity at over $2.00. Imagine it under Labour-Greens at cover $3.00 91 Octane.
Anyone seen any MoT or MoT scenario modelling on petrol price elasticity in New Zealand?
Shale oil?
How much oil can be refined per tonne of shale; and ‘petrol grade’ per tonne (or in whatever measurement it is that is commonly used.) of extracted crude? What’s the environmental impact of attempting to recover the stuff in it’s present form? What sort and quantity of ‘by-product’ are we looking at? What’s the energy input required for recovery and refining? What other resources need to be used in the extraction process and what quantity of them are used in relation to recovered ‘crude’ product? And what do we do with the ‘by products’…disposal wise. And what’s even jut the basic financial cost of extracting it? And so on.
No attempt was made to estimate the amount of oil that is economically recoverable because there has not yet been an economic method developed to recover the oil from Green River Formation oil shale.
I’m guessing that EROEI in this shale oil is under 3:1.
And it appears that this USGS survey was done in 2011, with oil prices >US$100/bb, and its still considered uneconomic. My guess is that The incremental cost of pulling this oil up is over US$100/bb.
So the oil is there, but chances are no one will ever be able to afford to extract and use it.
Hammer, you need to find out more about Peak Oil. It is talking about a peak in extraction rate. This is definitely not the same as “running out” or “used up half of all oil”.
Imagine a long-tail scenario, where it takes 10 years to get to peak production and then a long long tale lasting out for 200 years. The peak has still been reached after 10 years, but that solitary fact doesn’t tell us anything about the length of the tale.
We reached the peak of conventional oil production in 2006. This means it’s highly unlikely conventional oil will ever get back up to those levels again. Meanwhile growth in alternative sources of oil, such as tar sands and deep water have kept total liquids on roughly a plateau since then. Eventually we’ll fall off the plateau. The fact that there’s 200 ‘year worth’ of oil shale available doesn’t help (in the short-medium term) us if it actually takes 300 years to process and extract it all.
Here comes the collateral expended in order to cover up the obvious lies, I mean story about the intercepted hyjack, hi tech nappy bomb!
“The Pentagon recently sent American military trainers to Yemen, and Washington has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to assist the impoverished Arab nation fight al-Qaida and other extremist groups in the country”
—Translation – We sent in our brass to make sure that the “rag heads” had their story straight, and knew who is boss, as well as give the fiat they needed to pay the ” made up AQ” guys, and whoever else they could round up to fire the weapons we provided. See we have to give funding and arming these groups, so that the military machine has never ending control of the planet, and so as the yanks can blow up the same “rag heads” with the drones, no matter where they hide, and claim the mighty victory!
Actually, it’s close to exactly the same. In most places there’s only one network and that’s Telecom. You may connect through a different ISP but the connection is still Telecom and there’s a very good reason for that – multiple networks are very expensive and highly inefficient. What we have is faux competition which actually made it worse because the monopoly that Telecom had with an already viable network meant that they didn’t have to improve that network and the new ISPs had to buy from Telecom anyway.
You may connect through a different ISP but the connection is still Telecom and there’s a very good reason for that – multiple networks are very expensive and highly inefficient. What we have is faux competition which actually made it worse because the monopoly that Telecom had with an already viable network meant that they didn’t have to improve that network and the new ISPs had to buy from Telecom anyway.
Unless you work in the Onekawa industrial suburb of Napier. Unison (the community owned lines company) have used the power poles to supply fibre throughout the suburb, and now almost a year later, Chorus are digging up the streets… laying fibre. Money wasted and a duplication of infrastructure.
Yes, I’m aware of that Draco, but at least in the US you can buy fairly decent mobile internet, plus there are massive amounts of free wifi.
I shouldn’t complain I suppose. The main reason (apart from Telecom being evil) that we have poor internet is because we have small population. I’d rather have crap internet access and less people to be honest.
The main reason (apart from Telecom being evil) that we have poor internet is because we have small population.
Nope, the only reason we have crap internet is because we sold Telecom and deregulated telecommunications. If we hadn’t have done either of those then we would have a much better network and cheaper access as all the surplus would have been reinvested rather than being taken out as profits.
The larger present problem is the Kiwifruit PSA outbreak,the concomitant outbreaks in the world largest export nations of NZ,Italy,and Chile are a remarkable geographical “coincidence” and the trackback suggests the originating strain originated in China.
Good work Poission. It appears as though you don’t even have to read between the lines when the researchers state ” …imported independently to Italy from China and to NZ from China ” . We have been in a “soft’ war with China for a long time and it will only get nastier. Meanwhile as usual, the generals and the politicians are preparing to fight the last one.
Still, the ability to plunder one corner of a complex system is not the same thing as the ability to control the whole system, and the freedom with which so many people pillage the institutions they’re supposed to be managing could as well be understood as a sign that there’s no center of power willing or able to defend the core interests of the US empire against death by financial hemorrhage. The only power the executives of, say, Goldman Sachs need is the power to block any effort to stop them from stripping their bank to the bare walls for their personal enrichment, or to cut them off from the access to tax dollars that’s made that process so lucrative. That much power they certainly have—but it’s a kind and a degree of power shared by many other influential groups in America just now.
He’s going on about power distribution and that instead of it being concentrated it’s become diffuse and thus prone to stasis. Of course, the diffuse that he’s talking about is pure oligarchy/plutocracy.
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TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Asia Pacific Report A score of Palestine solidarity protesters draped themselves in white shrouds with mock blood in a sombre “die-in” demonstration at Te Komitanga Square — the heart of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city — today as speakers urged people to take a stronger boycott against Israeli products. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tackling violence against women will be the sole agenda item for a national cabinet meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has convened for Wednesday. The meeting, held remotely, follows thousands of Australians attending rallies across ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
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My goodness. That has been one LOOOOONG cup of tea, and still the cup’s not empty, nor has it been cleared away.
Herald on Sunday must have been quite p*ssed at the PM’s behaviour over it. HoS has 2 articles on it, both include criticisms of JonKey’s behaviour over the cuppa.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10805498
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10796192
Well pointed Carol. I guess that Mr Key will ignore the implications but somehow I wish that Ambrose would get a Declaration and thus force some sort of political/legal resolution.
The catch is of course the political forces would no doubt dig some sort of dirt on Ambrose to forestall credibility, or further damage credibility.
But doesn’t that bluddy ad that heads the Herald page annoy? I will never buy one of those cars!
I am also pleased that the HOS is continuing to have an interest in this case, and while one phone call in itself is not a major issue, it is again another instance of Key acting inappropriately.
I am also pleased that today they included a prominate link to the earlier article on 1 April, as I felt at the time this was published, that it was somewhat overshadowed by other events. It gives a very plausible account of what actually happened by someone else who was there at the tea party and involved in the aftermath.
And, yes, Ianmac that ad also bugs me!
The phone call thanking the Solicitor-General is serious because it reconfirms the corruption. There is no doubt that the Solicitor-General’s office was acting on behalf of John Key, who got special treatment by what is meant to be an independent entity.
Solicitor-General compromised
Finlayson’s reason for the Solicitor-General representing is basically because John Key got into trouble in a private capacity and this would impinge on his ability to function as the PM… so the crown was obliged to step in. If that’s not corruption I don’t know what is.
Thanks, Jackal. After I hit the submit button, I thought that my wording was wrong particularly in suggesting that the phone call was insignicant which it is not. But I had to go out so left it.
I totally agree that the whole way this situation was handled by Key and his people, from the actual tea party onwards was way out of order and corrupt. Having worked in the justice sector although not a legal beagle and being well experienced in the machinery of government, the use/misuse of Crown Law and the Solicitor General’s office in this case was extremely disturbing. Part of the problem is that we seem to be seeing such actions from Key and his Ministers on an ongoing basis, but yet the general public do not seem to comprehend or be interested in what this means and continue to support this PM and his mob.
+1 Jackal. The Solicitor-General should only ever have abided in this one, or perhaps made some lowkey submissions on how any criminal investigation would be affected. He should never have advocated for the leader of a party like he did (this was an electoral issue). And now he’s a judge, despite a record of fuck ups while in office. Go figure.
The Cunliffe cancellation from The Nation yesterday has been seen by some as a ruckus in the ranks.
I think it may be a potential positive, with Shearer starting to actually lead, and making it clear to others what their position in the party has to be.
Is it, at last, signs of Shearer’s leadership? But where are genuine signs of party unity and support?
Perhaps Shearer’s making steps in the right direction, but his party has to visibly unite behind him. Obviously some commenters here are independent of Labour and will voice disagreement, but it’s up to known Labourites like Anthony, lprent and mickysavage to sound like they are backing and promoting Shearer’s leadership.
Until that show of support happens in a sustained way I don’t like Labour’s chances of successfully rebuilding credibility as a party ready for Government..
It is nothing of the sort.
It is a sign of weakness and insecurity to stop one of your best performers from appearing on television and taking the fight to the Government because you are afraid of him getting airtime.
If Shearer is a real leader he will support Cunliffe in his role and not muzzle him.
The Labour Party needs to stop playing games with each other and unite against the real enemy, the National Party.
It was not a sign of leadership of any kind to have absolutely no-one front The Nation 10 days out from the Budget.
It was not a sign of leadership of any kind to allow Tony Ryle a free and unopposed interview about asset sales, in the week they had announced that National would actually stand in the market after the sale to buy back shares for some New Zealanders.
Net outcome from the weekend: Labour was not an effective opposition.
David Shearer has no sack.
I’ve just heard Garner’s spiel on this on The Nation and he mostly discusses Shearer apparently standing up to Cunliffe and “bawling him out” in caucus.
He also made the point that Shearer’s office said they didn’t want to have David Parker’s role as finance spokesman intefered with leading up to the budget. Reasonable point. Why wasn’t Parker lined up for The Nation in the first place?
(a) Because Parker is weak
(b) Because Shearer is petulant enough to have no-one front for Labour rather than let the effective Cunliffe have a crack
“I’ve just heard Garner’s spiel on this on The Nation and he mostly discusses Shearer apparently standing up to Cunliffe”
Pete, that just shows how badly Shearer handled it. If he’d done his job then Garner would be discussing what Labour says about the budget, but instead he has to talk about why Labour didn’t send anyone to talk about the budget.
So let me get this straight… Rightwing commentator Duncan Garner has a bleat about Cunliffe’s no show on The Nation, making up some rubbish about Shearer telling him not to appear and suddenly we have the “Divided Labour” claims again coming from more rightwing hacks who’s commentary has proven itself incorrect on many occasions.
I agree that somebody should have represented but that’s not a signal of any division. It’s a media beat-up by a rightwing hack for rightwing hacks… nothing more.
“…that’s not a signal of any division. It’s a media beat-up…”
Yes of course it’s a beat-up, but a totally predictable and easily avoidable one.
Seconded! AFAIK all the most anti-Shearer people here are not Labour people.
I am for one, and I back Shearer…
Morning Pete
I can assure you that I am a dedicated and loyal member of the party and support the party and its leader. I wish that whoever apparently leaked to TV3 confidential information from what happened in Caucus would do the same.
You keep asking me to again pledge support.
I can recall you being asked repeatedly who you were going to vote for in the 2011 election and you never committed to voting for United Future even though you were on its list and an electorate candidate in Dunedin.
Do you think your failure to commit hurt the party? After all it did very poorly in the election.
A simple yes or no answer will do.
Do you think your failure to commit hurt the party?
Simple answer – no.
I think there were much bigger forces at play than I was able to influence. I was standing in Dunedin, where the main media ODT had a policy of virutally no local electorate coverage. I had only been in the party for three months with minimal profile.
The significant forces included:
– Winston Peters successfully capturing a lot of small party share of media coverage
– media promotinjg “Dunne at risk in Ohariu” despite being shown polling suggesting Dunne was safe. Dunne was right, Chauvel and the media were wrong.
– Dunne having to commit so much time and focus on holding Ohariu, for obvious reasons.
– UF having no one with a national profile able to campaign nationally.
That’s a repeat of a fairly weak assurance. Can you directly name and indicate support for David Shearer?
Jeez Pete, now that’s how you really annoy me. Weak?? MS’s statement was crystal clear.
No-one is bigger than the party, even it’s leader (something Key should learn). If MS had written ‘…support the party and David Shearer’ you would probably given him grief about not being able to move on if Shearer was rolled!
A bit rich coming from someone who refused to even state that he’d vote for his party until seriously pressed to do so.
A bit rich coming from someone who refused to even state that he’d vote for his party until seriously pressed to do so.
You’re confusing playing games on a blog that had no target market to the actual campaigning I did. And I wasn’t “seriously pressed to do so”, I freely chose to add my voting intentions under no pressure, along with everyone else who did so on the thread for it.
You got that far through Pete’s comment?
I got stuck in a loop trying to figure out why Dunne had to spend “so much time and focus on holding Ohariu” that he couldn’t help Pete retain the votes from the previous election, despite knowing that he was safe in Ohariu all along.
No, I always read the last line of his comments first to see if it’s worth the effort of going back through through the groups of words before it.
felix – indications were better than media reported, but nothing was guaranteed. Going by the party vote polls Ohariu was essential and he couldn’t take the risk not to give it most of his attention.
Oh of course. But it was “safe”?
Safe with sustained attention. Dunne acknowledges he didn’t pay Ohariu enough attention leading up to 2008 and was determined to do more work in his electorate.
It’s a huge task looking after an electorate, being a sole MP running the parliamentary side of a party, and being a minister in Government. National campaigning took a hit. If UF is to survive it needs more effort from more people, Dunne can’t do it all.
“If UF is to survive it needs more effort from more people, Dunne can’t do it all.”
– having candidates not openly and directly state who they are voting for must have really helped the party
having candidates not openly and directly state who they are voting for must have really helped the party
Exactly – this statement at 2.2.1.1.1 above from PG is delusional BS And I wasn’t “seriously pressed to do so”, I freely chose to add my voting intentions under no pressure, along with everyone else who did so on the thread for it. I for one, clearly recall the plethora of comments to and from PG on this.
I have no doubt that having a candidate that spent most of his time during the election campaign commenting on websites rather than out there actually campaigning and walking the talk did not help the party either.
a candidate that spent most of his time during the election campaign commenting on websites
You’ve got no idea how I campaigned.
Nor how local campaigns work in Dunedin – when Channel 9 went out into the suburbs asking about candidates many didn’t even know who the eventual MP was. And I bet that now if the electorates were surveyed here many wouldn’t know many if any of the four Dunedin based MPs.
One of the only ways to get much profile is to get on national media. As one TV journo told me, the bosses in Auckland are only interested in Benson-Pope type stories down here.
No we don’t. But we do know how many votes you got.
Which not surprisingly was very close to nation wide votes and party vote, indicating most people vote for parties and many electorate contests are barely contested.
“You’ve got no idea how I campaigned.”
Of course we have no idea how you campaigned Pete. Because no-one here exists offline.
And there definitely aren’t any Dunedinites here with an interest in politics.
I did happen to see a few clips of you in your offline campaign, and it struck me that you were always talking about what you do online.
If Shearer is a real leader he will support Cunliffe in his role and not muzzle him.
If Cunliffe is a real party man and not an individual with his own leadership agenda he will show support for Shearer. When he has earned respect and trust Shearer should allow Cunliffe to workn freely in his spokesman role.
If that were the case, Shearer would have allowed to go on The Nation, as a simple example.
Instead we are seeking Shearer and his masters centralize everything to the Leader and the Leader’s office. It is precisely this paranoia that was Goff’s undoing. No-one was prepared to tell Goff that he wasn’t as good as Key, and needed the whole team to take Key on.
Exactly the same thing is happening here. Shearer cannot take on Key and never will. But rather than acknowledge this and enable his whole team take Key on, he prefers to suppress them. All except Trevor Mallard.
Which goes to show that as Mallard and Shearer allow their own house to remain divided, Key’s government is allowed to stand.
The focus here should not be on those who try and actively engage with the Government like Cunliffe (which is of course the core Opposition’s job), but on those who are not effectively leading.
Actual Labour Party members should have the floor on this type of issue, sure we can all put our 5 cents worth in, 2 cents in Pete’s case, but the members (as in not United Future members) will have to sort it out in the end.
Nicely put, TM. From my vantage point, while there is some concern that Shearer risks being seen as being too passive at this early point in his leadership, party members I talk to are heartened that both Labour, and the left generally, are holding up in the polls. We have a good platform to build on and Key seems determined to burn off National’s support base, one insult at a time.
So that leaves the obvious question: is Shearer’s strategy to allow National to collapse without Labour being seen as having contributed to the fall? I’m picking that it is a desire to go into the next election with what the lawyers call ‘clean hands’ that is motivating Shearer. He wants to be able put Labour up as honest brokers of change, untainted by the negativity of National.
An indication of this is the asset sales campaign, which is not a purely LP initiative, of course, but one into which they have a significant input. Gone are the ‘No Asset Sales’ signs, in comes the more up beat message of ‘Keep Our Assets’. I think we will see Labour do more and more positive positioning as they seek to be seen as the alternative to the messages of misery from Key and co.
“in comes the more up beat message of ‘Keep Our Assets’.”
Ah, the Greens’ message. lol
I’d be keener on ‘build our assets’, but I’m not sure the electorate is ready for a nationalisation program just yet!
😀
I think that a lot of people are. They’ve seen how bad privatisation has been and are willing to go back some to get better services.
Ah, the Greens’ message.
The Greens ran a much more positive election campaign, no surprise they improved and Labour went backwards. At last Labour are starting to get it, even if it’s an anti the other lot campaign at least it’s framed more positively.
Te Reo you are being very generous. If Labour wanted to do it with as you say “clean hands”, you would need to be be mighty sure that National were going to fall by themselves. You are dead right that is a valid medium-term tactic.
But I see National with Key at the helm as masters of distraction and dog-whistle. They are definitely weak for coalition partners, so the “do nothing” option is definitely fair.
But I still think it’s a core job of being in Opposition to demonstrate that you are a credible Government-in-waiting. Both in policy clarity and in the coalition partners you can tell the public will function well together.
Funny thing with the Tony Ryall interview, when he was discussing what the money from the sales is to be spent on there was not any mention of schools or hospitals or anything other than paying off debt. (and we know how well that worked last time!) What a shocker, seems the spin prior to the election worked, hook line and cement block.
also amusing to see Ryall unable to follow the breadcrumbs Garner laid out showing that for the Government to use shares in treaty settlements meant they have to buy some. Either when first floated or as Ryall said, later on from the market. Now if the shares are not bought immediately upon floating, and banked for later use, surely they will only cost more as the value of the shares is expected to increase. I would lay short odds that the purchase of shares at a later date is going to cost a whole lot more than the cheap loans we could be getting today, and we lose the ongoing dividends. The closer they get to the sales the more of a pigs breakfast it is becoming.
At least Ryall admitted National have added 42 billion dollars of debt in a little over three years.
Q&A: how did Labour manage to be absent from today’s show? Two days in a row when the Nats are on the back foot, and they are AWOL from the TV.
Was there no one in the Shearer’s office answering phone calls from TV current affairs producers during the week?
Maybe they’re boycotting political shows. You know, like John Key does.
Just what I was about to say Felix. The number of no-shows of the PM and of Ministers is legion. But there is hardly a murmer.
Just hope that there is method in the Labour strategy. Watch this space -optimistically?
Umm… the Greens and NZ First had their turn today. Do you think it is possible that Labour is holding it’s arsenal for next Sunday… only days before Budget day? Voter attention is likely to be more focused by then. No Mum’s day to distract them either.
It’s a bit pointless before the budget.
All Norman and Peters did was say that the Government is doing it all wrong and if they were in Government their policies would be all successful, unlike in just about any other country during the GFC. Pointless pontificating.
There’s no way of knowing if things would be better or worse if Government made none of the changes they did, or if a different Government had made different changes. The much touted CGT would have taken many years to have had much effect.
That must be why UF doesn’t challenge the Nats on anything. After all what’s the point of being in Parliament beyond collecting the paycheck?
That must be why UF doesn’t challenge the Nats on anything
That’s a claim you can’t substantiate.
Policies were negotiated in the C&S, and UF driven policies are progressing, like:
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/child-support-bill-big-step-fairer-scheme
(Admittedly National didn’t challenge UF on this, Neither did Labour).
Part of Dunne’s job is to discuss issues with various National ministers, getting an input into policy. And it’s well known that Dunne has different positions to National on a number of issues. But don’t let reality stop you from generalised nonsense accusations.
BTW, I get accused hijacking threads off-topic, several have tried that here today, and it hasn’t been me.
It’s open mike, Pete. 😉
“That’s a claim you can’t substantiate.”
Ok, what has Dunne challenged the Nats on exactly?
i think you have finally cracked it Felix. A perfect PeteG vaccine. We only have to administer that question once a day and Pete G dissapears in a puff of fallibility. 🙂
Monday-ising Waitangi and Anzac days, TVNZ7, and 26 weeks maternity leave are ones he has publicly said he will challenge National’s position on if they come to a vote, that’s just obvious ones from the past couple of months.
National have to consult with Dunne to see what he will agree to in order to pass any none confidence and supply legislation that the Maori Party don’t support. All of Dunne, Banks and the Maori MPs have a degree of influence on what National can do.
Dunne has probably more influence than his 1/61 share of the vote, but is aware of the need to not exceed a reasonable degree of influence. There’s a fairly strong sentiment against tail wags dog – apart from those who expect to get their own way regardless of democratic principals.
“National have to consult with Dunne to see what he will agree to in order to pass any none confidence and supply legislation that the Maori Party don’t support.”
Right, but are you saying that in the last three and a half years there have been things the Nats wanted to pass that never made it to the floor because there was no point without Dunne’s agreement? (Mondayising holidays et al don’t fit here btw because the Nats want to pass those at all – those are private members bills opposed by them)
And therefore everything they have passed has had the Dunne stamp of approval?
Last term his vote wasn’t necessary, National could get votes with either Maori Party or Act.
As far as I understand how things work (limited), what is do-ableamongst coalition partners is worked out before bills are put forward to the House. It makes sense to do that – doesn’t it?
“Last term his vote wasn’t necessary”
So? The question still applies: what govt bills has he actually opposed.
They don’t have voting in a database (it’s being considered) but the first week’s journal I checked had this:
But Pete will Dunne challenge National and then go along like a scolded puppy when they say no? Or is he going to actually grow a pair and vote against the Government on these issues?
Or is retention of the limo privileges more important to the member (said in the nicest possible way).
He’s said he will vote for these or would support these if they come to that (Curran’s TVNZ7 members bill is far too late). There’s no reason to doubt that.
Mondayising is on the go now:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/105742/bill-to-%27monday-ise%27-holidays-has-support-labour
As soon as the bill was drawn I contacted Dunne and he confirmed then he would support it. I’ve been on record here on all that.
So is that it?
We provide this bugger with limos in the hope he will Mondayise a couple of holidays?
I would rather support Hone. At least he stands up and says shyte that challenges Key and his cronies.
He does a lot more than that. He is Minister of Revenue and Associate Minister of Health. I’ll try and get a summary of what he does.
There’s this thing called history that we can learn from and, interestingly enough, what this government is doing has been tried before and it didn’t work then whereas what the other parties are suggesting is closer to what did kinda work before. It’s still capitalism and so it won’t ever truly work and will need to be bailed out again sometime in the future.
what the other parties are suggesting is closer to what did kinda work before.
Kinda worked where and when? In what global economic conditions?
Try the Great Depression and after.
Peak Oil hits another snag
The story of Peak Oil just can’t get legs; for 50 years the Greens have found that stating a lie over and over doesn’t make it true.
The US Geological Survey has just announced a 200 year supply of Shale OIL under Utah/Colorado. It may be about equal to all the world’s proven oil reserves.
http://thegwpf.org/energy-news/5706-200-year-supply-of-oil-in-one-single-shale-formation.html
Not a good day for the sheiks or the Greens.
Global supply is interesting, but the question is what price at the pumps here? I don’t presume to be a petroleum expert, but I can imagine that harder-to-extract oil being more expensive, and can also easily imagine future Labour-Green governments raising the excise tax on petrol.
Even if there is a very soft and long peak, price may still be driven up here. We still need to prepare for a significantly higher pump-price. We have already seen pretty high price elasticity at over $2.00. Imagine it under Labour-Greens at cover $3.00 91 Octane.
Anyone seen any MoT or MoT scenario modelling on petrol price elasticity in New Zealand?
Well the Greens wont be happy but the Sheiks will be.
Shale oil?
How much oil can be refined per tonne of shale; and ‘petrol grade’ per tonne (or in whatever measurement it is that is commonly used.) of extracted crude? What’s the environmental impact of attempting to recover the stuff in it’s present form? What sort and quantity of ‘by-product’ are we looking at? What’s the energy input required for recovery and refining? What other resources need to be used in the extraction process and what quantity of them are used in relation to recovered ‘crude’ product? And what do we do with the ‘by products’…disposal wise. And what’s even jut the basic financial cost of extracting it? And so on.
Plus. Why do it?
Exactly:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3063/pdf/FS11-3063.pdf
I’m guessing that EROEI in this shale oil is under 3:1.
And it appears that this USGS survey was done in 2011, with oil prices >US$100/bb, and its still considered uneconomic. My guess is that The incremental cost of pulling this oil up is over US$100/bb.
So the oil is there, but chances are no one will ever be able to afford to extract and use it.
Hammer, you need to find out more about Peak Oil. It is talking about a peak in extraction rate. This is definitely not the same as “running out” or “used up half of all oil”.
Imagine a long-tail scenario, where it takes 10 years to get to peak production and then a long long tale lasting out for 200 years. The peak has still been reached after 10 years, but that solitary fact doesn’t tell us anything about the length of the tale.
We reached the peak of conventional oil production in 2006. This means it’s highly unlikely conventional oil will ever get back up to those levels again. Meanwhile growth in alternative sources of oil, such as tar sands and deep water have kept total liquids on roughly a plateau since then. Eventually we’ll fall off the plateau. The fact that there’s 200 ‘year worth’ of oil shale available doesn’t help (in the short-medium term) us if it actually takes 300 years to process and extract it all.
Yemen next on the chopping block eh. Must have been all the great work from that super hero double agent eh!
Here comes the collateral expended in order to cover up the obvious lies, I mean story about the intercepted hyjack, hi tech nappy bomb!
“The Pentagon recently sent American military trainers to Yemen, and Washington has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to assist the impoverished Arab nation fight al-Qaida and other extremist groups in the country”
—Translation – We sent in our brass to make sure that the “rag heads” had their story straight, and knew who is boss, as well as give the fiat they needed to pay the ” made up AQ” guys, and whoever else they could round up to fire the weapons we provided. See we have to give funding and arming these groups, so that the military machine has never ending control of the planet, and so as the yanks can blow up the same “rag heads” with the drones, no matter where they hide, and claim the mighty victory!
America – Fcuk Yeah!
Ha, this is funny.
Lots of competition, no service.
Yeah that is funny. Not quite as funny as the broadband situation in NZ though 😉
Actually, it’s close to exactly the same. In most places there’s only one network and that’s Telecom. You may connect through a different ISP but the connection is still Telecom and there’s a very good reason for that – multiple networks are very expensive and highly inefficient. What we have is faux competition which actually made it worse because the monopoly that Telecom had with an already viable network meant that they didn’t have to improve that network and the new ISPs had to buy from Telecom anyway.
You may connect through a different ISP but the connection is still Telecom and there’s a very good reason for that – multiple networks are very expensive and highly inefficient. What we have is faux competition which actually made it worse because the monopoly that Telecom had with an already viable network meant that they didn’t have to improve that network and the new ISPs had to buy from Telecom anyway.
Unless you work in the Onekawa industrial suburb of Napier. Unison (the community owned lines company) have used the power poles to supply fibre throughout the suburb, and now almost a year later, Chorus are digging up the streets… laying fibre. Money wasted and a duplication of infrastructure.
Yes, I’m aware of that Draco, but at least in the US you can buy fairly decent mobile internet, plus there are massive amounts of free wifi.
I shouldn’t complain I suppose. The main reason (apart from Telecom being evil) that we have poor internet is because we have small population. I’d rather have crap internet access and less people to be honest.
Nope, the only reason we have crap internet is because we sold Telecom and deregulated telecommunications. If we hadn’t have done either of those then we would have a much better network and cheaper access as all the surplus would have been reinvested rather than being taken out as profits.
So they send teams to the local growers market, but put signs up at the super markets
You put a specimen in a trap , then use the opportunity as a dry run for the Food Safety Bill enforcement techniques?
“There is no guarantee there will be more than one fly,” said Quirke
— Translation, another will NOT found, as we put the original in the trap so this drill could be run!
Lets see if we get some Food Safety Bill articles this week!
The larger present problem is the Kiwifruit PSA outbreak,the concomitant outbreaks in the world largest export nations of NZ,Italy,and Chile are a remarkable geographical “coincidence” and the trackback suggests the originating strain originated in China.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0036518&annotationId=49635;jsessionid=A957222400BC66D0A515AF8A9741DCC6
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509180040.htm
Why can’t we have a New Zealand “Hard Talk” with a capable and truly informed interviewer?
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/paul-holmes-needs-to-go.html
Greg Boyed?
I’m sure he would be fine, I think there are many real journalists who could do the job better than Mr Holmes.
Good work Poission. It appears as though you don’t even have to read between the lines when the researchers state ” …imported independently to Italy from China and to NZ from China ” . We have been in a “soft’ war with China for a long time and it will only get nastier. Meanwhile as usual, the generals and the politicians are preparing to fight the last one.
Now this is an interesting thought:
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/descent-into-stasis.html
He’s going on about power distribution and that instead of it being concentrated it’s become diffuse and thus prone to stasis. Of course, the diffuse that he’s talking about is pure oligarchy/plutocracy.