Labour should present their business proposals to the respective boards, live before a studio audience, with the winning bids given roses and the losers evacuated by trapdoor.
Because Labour will open the door wide open to National dipping into those funds for other reasons – supporting Tiwai point for instance. Building new economic infrastructure in Northland (motorways). Bailing out Queen St dairy farmer mates who acted speculatively.
Because that’s supporting new businesses and helping existing businesses, right?
then why couldn’t you convince the private investors of that fact?….it is a classic demonstration of neolib philosophy…socailised cost/risk for private profit.
Water security, both resident and farmer.
Fully metered and priced, as it should be.
Large foreign corporates like Veolia will require such metering and pricing to be undertaken before they will look at purchasing public water assets from NZ government organisations.
In other words, it will be a precondition to privatising NZ’s water assets.
It appears to have been formed by a massive slip.
It wasn’t man made! And yes Waikaremoana is a beautiful place .
But I’m sure the planners of the Ruataniwha Dam have no such intentions wrt emulating the beauty of Waikaremoana! And it is as much the environmental down stream effects of the dam that are just as disastrous as the flooding of the podocarp forest.
More humans every day say that living in some idilic little utopian backwater is a fantasy, so I think the government should not only allow things like the dam the should set the rules around the immediate lake surrounds and what the water will be used for.
Like restrict dairy and favour fruit and crop s . if we maximise what we can produce off our good land we could put more of the marginal land into trees.
Socailised cost/risk for private profit is the concern with Labour’s proposal, Pat.
The majority of new start-ups fail.
Moreover, is this a traditional investment whereby ACC and the Super Fund will have shareholder rights and receive dividends? Or is it more of a handout with merely hope of creating new employment and tax revenue?
Additionally, will a company’s ethics and things such as paying a living wage be an expectation of recipients? Will production be allowed to later shift offshore?
But Ad the environmental result is likely to be poisonous to the land and perhaps to the people over time from Ruataniwha. It is being built with the idea being stated that it will pay for itself, eventually. But over long term.
If it ever does get paid off, by that time there will be toxicity result and loss of production and health. The repairs needed to keep it strong will not be done and then….
It is too big and expensive for the needs and purses of the locality, and the planners are full of hubris and greed like the ones around Christchurch. Just get it built they thought, and then the water is available for individual benefit. I bet that they were being greatly helped by Alan Hubbard, hence the bailout of money for SFC so they could keep afloat. Now ACC is going to be used as the slush fund. in Hawkes Bay.
Absolutely there is major environmental damage.
It’s the same with every other major dam that’s every been built in New Zealand over the last 120 years.
Dams are a really costly thing to do from every angle.
AD
You are so right a dam is worth doing.
But the size of this one, the plans for its use, indicate a need to step back and set up another committee. Gummint is always using that ploy to slow down things that without doubt need to go ahead, and should do the same here where there are great big doubts about various airy statements and assumptions. Also Maori are I think seriously concerned from their kaitiaki role and their not just talking nonsense if some pakeha wants to use that disdaining argument.
And finally there is the cavalier way that the increased pollution that our waterways now are suffering is being ignored. This pollution brings a whole new aspect to this dam of today compared to those of the past.
If we look at power generation dams, I doubt that there will ever be any more dams on the Mata-Au (the Clutha). The proposed dams at Beaumont and Luggate are not going to happen because people with different values than yours said no. If we look at existing dams, I don’t have too much of a problem with Roxburgh, it was well before my time so I have no personal sense of the damage done, and it’s one of the underpinnings of us being relatively ff-free in terms of electricity. But the Clyde dam was in my time and if it was choice between flooding above Clyde and Muldoon’s Think Big projects I just don’t think that dam would have been built now.
We have other ways of powering our lives, including using less power. The choice between a dam at Beaumont and Luggate (or another dam on the Waitaki) so that people can consume more, and us actually living within our limits is still a real choice. We’re not forced to rely on dams other than by the choices that our government makes.
Likewise with water. There are plenty of good ways of farming that don’t rely on big storage dams. And managing the harvesting of water for humans to drink and use (including using less). That we think big storage dams are for the public good come from ideology and the desire for things to be easy, not from necessity.
“And in most cases they are worth doing.”
In the US some of the dams literally destroy ecosystems. The salmon are an integral part of the life cycles outside of the river bed. So many salmon spawn up river that the bears fish and leave the carcasses on shore and these then fertilise the forests. When you take the salmon out of the picture (by dams) you affect whole cycles and systems, including ones we are not yet aware of. Hard to make that argument in NZ admittedly, because the catchments of the rivers like the Mata-au and the Waitaki are pretty much screwed by farming anyway, but nevertheless there are still good reasons for us to rethink our values and be honest about them. Asserting something is worth doing doesn’t make it do.
If ecological values about existing environments were the only values to consider, I would agree with you. A few of New Zealand’s lost dam proposals should stay lost.
The step one gets to by simply looking at a river system and considering it a resource to be used (I recall Heidegger railing against this in The Question Concerning technology just after the War), is the step that admits there are more than current ecological values to consider.
It’s good to admit that we evaluate fat modernist projects like dams differently now to when most of them were put in. But we are exceedingly lucky that we didn’t back then.
New Zealand owes its 85% renewable electricity generation level to conceiving the earth as resource to be used.
New Zealand also owes its exceptional preparedness for water scarcity and flood mitigation within global warming to conceiving the earth as resource to be used.
New Zealand also owes its large-scale manufacturing base in forestry, steel, aluminium, horticulture, viticulture, extensive agriculture and others, to that modernist era from Seddon to Muldoon requiring huge electricity and irrigation use from dams, that conceived the earth as resource to be used.
The RMA hasn’t entirely put paid to such coarse thinking, but has enabled more than the environment to be factored in to a decision.
Using less electricity or water can delay the need for major water storage, but won’t avoid it: you can see that for example in Watercare’s Asset Management Plan. You can have the argument about the optimum size of water storage if you like. As for Salmon, those McKenzie Country Salmon farms generating sustainable protein out of dam spillways are a great investment in our future.
I’ll put a proper post up once the deal is all signed and ready for construction.
That makes sense Ad from your world view, but I have to say that there is a problem with the idea that ecological perspecives sit alongside say economic ones and thus are at the risk of not seeing the bigger picture. The paradigm I am coming from is not that they sit side by side, but that everything (literally) is based in the natural world, and if you don’t use that as your starting point you end up with Climate Change (or peak oil, peak soil, peak phosphorus, and even eventually peak metals etc).
I’m generally a pragmatist, so I don’t have too much trouble working with what we’ve got and am not even against another dam being built in NZ but only if it can be done in from the sustainable paradigm.
And I will just repeat, all the things you are saying are important enough to damage the environment for are not without options. So again, let’s be honest. We want to build more dams because we want a certain kind of lifestyle that meets our wants as well as our needs. But that’s not an imperative.
Agree totally CV-Labour should NOT follow Gnats policy of dipping into ACC and Cullen fund. I explained this financial fiddle in a post 5 weeks ago in relation to Nationals selling off of Kiwibank to these funds as follows:
“The way the Kiwibank sale works is like this (using simple numbers):
Now:
Cullen Fund/ACC assets now: $20,000m
Kiwibank Value owned by government now:$1,000m
Government forces Cullen Fund/ACC to buy 45% of Kiwibank
Cullen Fund/ACC sells shares worth $450m in order to buy $450m of Kiwibank
Result:
Cullen Fund/ACC assets $20,000m
Kiwibank owned by government $550m
Money available for tax cuts $450m
The effect is that National is reducing state-owned capital assets in order to finance a short-term tax cut bribe. Of course they are denying that the Cullen Fund/ACC are being forced to buy Kiwibank, but that is yet another big lie for the BLiP list.”
Thank you CV and Greyw. Its all about debits and credits.
The counterpoint is that Labour should adopt Land Tax as a policy. 1% LT with NO exemptions would give then $6.7billion to play with while sticking it to the top 5%.
Such a proposal has to be thought out so that those on fixed incomes and low incomes are not disadvantaged.
A retired couple living in a pensioners flat that they own worth $360K in Auckland, with $1800/month disposable income (mostly from NZ super) would have to use two months worth of income to pay a 1% land tax.
I don’t see any problem if it’s ACC and Super Fund investing in New Zealand business on their merit. They are investment funds and have very good record of picking investments that give a good return and appear to be pretty active in the market.
Investments (really expenditure) with political or “Regional Development” imperatives are totally inappropriate for ACC or Super Fund, for the reason CV identified at 1.2.1.1 That’s a really slippery slope leading to a stinking corrupt and bankrupt hole.
A better idea would be a unit in MBIE to work with businesses and investors to facilitate funding. ACC and SF would be two of their pool of investors. A parallel initiative would be to strengthen rules around ACC and SF to keep political interference right out of it.
Labour needs to be leading the anti corruption angle on this sort of issue and showing where and how it can come unstuck, and seeking solutions to get the good outcomes, ie enhanced NZ investment in NZ, while keeping the nepotistic corruption right out of it.
As ACC and the Super Fund already can and do invest in New Zealand businesses based on their merit, it would suggest Labour’s proposal will go further than that (leaning more towards a handout).
Every time world leaders have one of these international talkfests they look more clownish and ridiculous.
“…global carbon dioxide emissions from energy activities will rise from 36 billion metric tons in 2012, the baseline year used for the 2016 outlook, to 43 billion metric tons in 2040.
That’s a 34 percent increase in energy-related CO2, compared to a 48 percent increase in overall energy consumption from 2010 to 2040”
These talks seem to be more about showing that Something is Being Done™ rather than actually doing doing anything. If the politicians had actually wanted to do something about all this they would have started in 1992 with the signing of the Kyoto Protocol. Instead they’ve kicked the can down the road and allowed and encouraged unsustainable development.
There’s something infinitely nauseating in Judith Collins being a NZ representative on the World Anti Corruption Summit, which is presided by no other than David Cameron himself…The whole damned thing is a farce.
Cunliffe got stuck into her and the irony of her being NZ’s anti-corruption representative on Morning Report this morning mentioning Oravida several times.
“My child’s teacher approached her in the cloak bay and said “sorry I’m going to have to take that off you because your parents haven’t paid the payments”. What right does a teacher have to say that, why not contact me about it first?” he said.
That is absolutely atrocious behaviour by the school.
That said, the guy should have gone to pricespy and had a look. Could have got a decent laptop for half the price.
yes Clinton is certainly working for the wealthy establishment…but she is soiled goods
… and “Sanders supporters argue that the risk of a Clinton scandal blowing up is why their candidate is a better choice, as well as polls that show the Vermont senator beating the billionaire Trump, while new polls show Clinton would either be tied with Trump or trailing come November.”
‘FBI: No deadline or ‘special set of rules’ in Clinton email investigation’
‘FBI: No deadline or ‘special set of rules’ in Clinton email investigation’
The risk is not just that a scandal may blow up and derail her, a potential scandal hanging over her head will strengthen the establishment’s hold on her, so that even if she is happy to step into Bernie’s slipstream rhetorically, she will not be able to afford to act on it in any meaningful way.
“Tonight’s Rumble talks Bernie’s and Trump’s big primary wins, Trumps appointing of Rudy Giuliani as his Muslim Czar, and his selecting of two insiders to tweak his tax plan. Thom discusses how establishment Democrats are already trying to hijack the convention with International Business Times’ David Sirota and in tonight’s Daily Take Thom details how Donald Trump could become the next Ronald Reagan.”
“The question of social justice: As America’s two major parties move toward anointing their presidential nominees, there is a growing sense of disaffection and even insurrection among voters. And this has set the business-as-usual political and financial elites into a panic. It is all their own fault.
CrossTalking with Richard Wolff, Les Leopold, and Inderjeet Parmar.”
Cunliffe getting closer to claiming a Nat scalp. Louise Upson might well become too much of an embarrassment to the Nats at the rate Cunkiffe is skewing her.
Cunliffe has made her look incompetent is her handling of the Onetai Farm purchase by the dodgy Argentian polluters.
I’d love to know which law/trust advisors the Argentians used to move their case across Louise upson’d desk. Was it one if the firms that net with Minister McClay in Shortland Street?
Yep, being a Minister of the Government carries responsibility and foresight, not just throwing weight and money around.Glad Cunliffe is holding them to account.Hopefully we won’t get the usual ” drama triangle” scenario when they cry victim and try to get everyone to feel sorry for them.
“New Zealand has slipped down the ranks of the least corrupt countries, and earlier this year watchdog Transparency International accused the Government of “astonishing” complacency.”
New Zealand is considering setting up a public register of company ownership that would create an accessible and central database of companies with bribery and corruption convictions.
Considering doing something that should be mandatory.
“New Zealand also supports the development of common principles governing the payment of compensation to countries affected by corruption, to ensure that such payments are made safely, fairly and in a transparent manner.”
That sounds like another way for public monies to be given to private businesses.
Collins told RNZ that she wanted honest money invested in New Zealand, and the public central register would contain company beneficial ownership information.
Good old Winston, right now, he’s in the UK telling the people to be wary of big foreign bank money being used in the “Remain in the EU” campaign, and telling the Brits they can come on over and trade with us – think he’s more interested in actual “trade” than our Govt with their TPPA strait-jacket!
I doubt foreign banks are quite the threat to working Britons as one of their own is.
The billionaire donor bankrolling the Brexit campaign Peter Hargreaves has said the EU is too dominated by France and Germany , and believes Singapore is the best business model for Britain outside the European Union.
The businessman also said a steep fall in sterling could be good for the country, and that some workers’ rights – such as part-time employment, flexitime and extended maternity leave – have gone too far.
Jewish-American Professor of History, Lawrence Davidson, on the misuse of “anti-Semitism” in the absurd smear campaign / McCarthyite witch-hunt currently taking place in the UK. While I don’t entirely agree with his treatment of the Ken Livingstone smear (he misinterprets what Livingstone actually said), it’s still a good overall outline.
Incidentally, if you can find a copy, have a read of the multi-authored The Politics of Anti-Semitism. It’s a little dated (2003) but still enlightening.
Corbyn seems like he’s getting lost in inconsequential and unwinnable battles like reshuffles, regional elections, and the one you describe above.
He needs a long range comms theme. Hate to say it, but that’s how Blair got his first nationwide electoral win. (Not defending Blair’s Middle East policies BTW).
Corbyn’s comms strategy has certainly, at times, appeared amateurish and more than a little inept.
But then, Corbyn, McDonnell and Labour’s Campaign Group Left faction really didn’t expect a Corbyn victory at the start of the Leadership campaign. There hadn’t been a great deal of planning. Whereas, in stark contrast, the other 3 highly ambitious contenders had been planning and organising for years, surrounding themselves with all the right people, nurturing media contacts and so on.
And we also, of course, need to factor in the unrelenting hostility from the MSM (and wider Establishment) – which began the moment the first YouGov Poll of the Labour Selectorate came out, suggesting Corbyn’s was the front-runner. Although, to be fair, there have been arguments that Corbyn has played a part in exacerbating the toxic relationship by rejecting useful advice on media management.
Not much he could do about this latest “anti-Semitism” smear campaign, though (uncritically regurgitated, as it has been, by MSM journos in the UK).
A new Pew Research Center Poll finds liberal Democrats turning away from Israel.
While Republicans of all persuasions – together with conservative and moderate Democrats – continue to favour Israel by large margins … for the first time, liberal Democrats sympathise more with the Palestinians (40%) than with the Israelis (33%).
Back in 2001, the liberal Democrat split was 48%/18% in favour of Israel and last year 39%/21%. That’s a huge turn-around. Support for Israel down 6 points but, more importantly, sympathy for the Palestinians up 19 points over the last year (suggesting a significant swing from previous Undecideds).
Apologists for Israel’s Occupation should be a little concerned because Democrats are becoming more and more liberal over time (27% of Dems considered themselves liberal in 2000 / 41% in 2015).
African Americans, Latinos and younger Democrats in general – all demographics making up a larger and larger proportion of the Democratic constituency as time goes on – are more sympathetic than Americans as a whole to the Palestinian cause.
Now this I like, a lot. Young Children in Alabama took a poll (in the picture – it says pill – teehee) to see what their hopes and fears for the future were. Be surprised!
Me too. But I’m not really surprised. Young people have a terribly bad rap, a narrative that Those Who Rule Us like to reinforce.
Had a lovely chat in the supermarket yesterday with a shelf packer, who was well past retirement age.
After explaining to me the nefarious goings on in product pricing, he commented that he was appalled at how young workers were being exploited. How employers expected young workers to begin the job fully trained, and then gave them shit when they messed up. He said how when he began work, things were different. He makes an effort to take young workers ‘under his wing.’
Now there’s a quaint old saying..maybe we should revive it?
…Herald newspaper showed the CEOs from New Zealand’s largest listed companies had an average pay increase of 12 percent in 2015 compared with 3.2 percent for employees.
The average CEO increase was $180,000 while the biggest total salary was Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings. He earned $4.49 million.
The average pay increase for employees was $988, with the average salary $57,000.
As Israel finds itself more and more diplomatically isolated, its legion of apologists is becoming even more extreme and intolerant. The following horror story is currently being played out in Britain, but something similar to this happened in 2002, when the New Zealand equivalents of Jonathan Sacerdoti, Jonathan Arkush and Baroness Deech bullied Gavin Ellis, the then editor of the Herald into firing his cartoonist Malcolm Evans after Evans had the temerity to criticise the Holy State….
Labour antisemitism witch-hunt turns on leading anti-racism campaigner
by Jamie Stern-Weiner, Monday, May 9th, 2016
Last week, prominent Momentum activist Jackie Walker was suspended from the Labour Party for alleged antisemitism. (Momentum is a grassroots movement affiliated with the Labour Party, which currently supports the elected leadership of the socialist and veteran Palestine solidarity campaigner Jeremy Corbyn.)
There are five points to make about this.
1.) The antisemitism allegations against Walker are devoid of factual basis. The evidence against Walker consists of two Facebook comments. In the first, Walker dismissed claims that Labour has ‘a major problem with anti-semitism’….
Nugent is surely a repulsive misogynist & gun fetishist.
But I do have a soft spot for Phil Judd; despite his health problems & stalking conviction. He’s always come across as a visual artist who is a talented songwriter but just can’t stand the live performance part of it. Calling him “an old rocker” is way too simplistic. The Play it Strange album from 2014 is pretty great, and this track (which actually has a video) has a wonderful self awareness:
I see that WhaleOil stopped being measured in February, but couldn’t find any comment why. Presumably it has either had technical problems or is now regarded as a commercial PR site . . .
The Standard appears to be steadily rising in the rankings, and No Right Turn has a surprisingly low ranking – could that result from not having comments?
10. There is still a chance to construct a new world order that will avoid a world war. This new world order must of necessity include the United States—but can only do so on the same terms as everyone else: subject to international law and international agreements; refraining from all unilateral action; in full respect of the sovereignty of other nations.
To sum it all up: play-time is over. Children, put away your toys. Now is the time for the adults to make decisions. Russia is ready for this; is the world?
I would wonder how the Western ‘elites’ took that but I already know. They shut it down so that no one would hear about it and still believes that the war that they’re pushing for will leave them better off.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
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What are your thoughts on Labour’s proposal to dip into ACC and the Super Fund to help fund new start ups and expand current businesses?
Labour should present their business proposals to the respective boards, live before a studio audience, with the winning bids given roses and the losers evacuated by trapdoor.
Idiotic.
why idiotic?
Because Labour will open the door wide open to National dipping into those funds for other reasons – supporting Tiwai point for instance. Building new economic infrastructure in Northland (motorways). Bailing out Queen St dairy farmer mates who acted speculatively.
Because that’s supporting new businesses and helping existing businesses, right?
Labour is fucking stupid.
“Because Labour will open the door wide open to National dipping into those funds for other reasons”
too late ….Ruataniwha
Exactly. And Labour want to do it too. Our political landscape is bereft of new ideas.
was wondering if the irony was evident
Massive water storage will be necessary for the whole of NZ’s east coast.
then why couldn’t you convince the private investors of that fact?….it is a classic demonstration of neolib philosophy…socailised cost/risk for private profit.
That’s what the public sector is for.
Major infrastructure we all rely on is a public good.
You’ll thank them later.
what public good is there in Ruataniwha pray tell?
Trickledown.
/extremesarcasm
Water security, both resident and farmer.
Fully metered and priced, as it should be.
“Fully metered and priced, as it should be.”
Ahh Ad showing your true colours at last.
You should really be in the national party mate – it’s your natural home.
those private farms, some of which may be foreign owned for all we know….rrrrrright, thats definitely a public good
Large foreign corporates like Veolia will require such metering and pricing to be undertaken before they will look at purchasing public water assets from NZ government organisations.
In other words, it will be a precondition to privatising NZ’s water assets.
That’s what all the trucking companies say when rail gets torn up and motorways built.
So is the environment a public good
the dam will be an environmental disaster
http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/saving-our-environment/freshwater/wild-rivers/ruataniwha-dam-opposed-forest-bird
I see waikeremoana gets a mention, while it was man made waikerimoana is onle about 2000 years old and it certainly didn’t destroy that environment.
That’s meant to be “wasn’t man made”
Huh???
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-LamPion-t1-body-d9.html
It appears to have been formed by a massive slip.
It wasn’t man made! And yes Waikaremoana is a beautiful place .
But I’m sure the planners of the Ruataniwha Dam have no such intentions wrt emulating the beauty of Waikaremoana! And it is as much the environmental down stream effects of the dam that are just as disastrous as the flooding of the podocarp forest.
More humans every day say that living in some idilic little utopian backwater is a fantasy, so I think the government should not only allow things like the dam the should set the rules around the immediate lake surrounds and what the water will be used for.
Like restrict dairy and favour fruit and crop s . if we maximise what we can produce off our good land we could put more of the marginal land into trees.
Socailised cost/risk for private profit is the concern with Labour’s proposal, Pat.
The majority of new start-ups fail.
Moreover, is this a traditional investment whereby ACC and the Super Fund will have shareholder rights and receive dividends? Or is it more of a handout with merely hope of creating new employment and tax revenue?
Additionally, will a company’s ethics and things such as paying a living wage be an expectation of recipients? Will production be allowed to later shift offshore?
But Ad the environmental result is likely to be poisonous to the land and perhaps to the people over time from Ruataniwha. It is being built with the idea being stated that it will pay for itself, eventually. But over long term.
If it ever does get paid off, by that time there will be toxicity result and loss of production and health. The repairs needed to keep it strong will not be done and then….
It is too big and expensive for the needs and purses of the locality, and the planners are full of hubris and greed like the ones around Christchurch. Just get it built they thought, and then the water is available for individual benefit. I bet that they were being greatly helped by Alan Hubbard, hence the bailout of money for SFC so they could keep afloat. Now ACC is going to be used as the slush fund. in Hawkes Bay.
Absolutely there is major environmental damage.
It’s the same with every other major dam that’s every been built in New Zealand over the last 120 years.
Dams are a really costly thing to do from every angle.
And in most cases they are worth doing.
AD
You are so right a dam is worth doing.
But the size of this one, the plans for its use, indicate a need to step back and set up another committee. Gummint is always using that ploy to slow down things that without doubt need to go ahead, and should do the same here where there are great big doubts about various airy statements and assumptions. Also Maori are I think seriously concerned from their kaitiaki role and their not just talking nonsense if some pakeha wants to use that disdaining argument.
And finally there is the cavalier way that the increased pollution that our waterways now are suffering is being ignored. This pollution brings a whole new aspect to this dam of today compared to those of the past.
I think we need a whole post on the Ruataniwha dam.
Once it’s underway I’ll put one up.
“And in most cases they are worth doing.”
That depends on your values.
If we look at power generation dams, I doubt that there will ever be any more dams on the Mata-Au (the Clutha). The proposed dams at Beaumont and Luggate are not going to happen because people with different values than yours said no. If we look at existing dams, I don’t have too much of a problem with Roxburgh, it was well before my time so I have no personal sense of the damage done, and it’s one of the underpinnings of us being relatively ff-free in terms of electricity. But the Clyde dam was in my time and if it was choice between flooding above Clyde and Muldoon’s Think Big projects I just don’t think that dam would have been built now.
We have other ways of powering our lives, including using less power. The choice between a dam at Beaumont and Luggate (or another dam on the Waitaki) so that people can consume more, and us actually living within our limits is still a real choice. We’re not forced to rely on dams other than by the choices that our government makes.
Likewise with water. There are plenty of good ways of farming that don’t rely on big storage dams. And managing the harvesting of water for humans to drink and use (including using less). That we think big storage dams are for the public good come from ideology and the desire for things to be easy, not from necessity.
“And in most cases they are worth doing.”
In the US some of the dams literally destroy ecosystems. The salmon are an integral part of the life cycles outside of the river bed. So many salmon spawn up river that the bears fish and leave the carcasses on shore and these then fertilise the forests. When you take the salmon out of the picture (by dams) you affect whole cycles and systems, including ones we are not yet aware of. Hard to make that argument in NZ admittedly, because the catchments of the rivers like the Mata-au and the Waitaki are pretty much screwed by farming anyway, but nevertheless there are still good reasons for us to rethink our values and be honest about them. Asserting something is worth doing doesn’t make it do.
If ecological values about existing environments were the only values to consider, I would agree with you. A few of New Zealand’s lost dam proposals should stay lost.
The step one gets to by simply looking at a river system and considering it a resource to be used (I recall Heidegger railing against this in The Question Concerning technology just after the War), is the step that admits there are more than current ecological values to consider.
It’s good to admit that we evaluate fat modernist projects like dams differently now to when most of them were put in. But we are exceedingly lucky that we didn’t back then.
New Zealand owes its 85% renewable electricity generation level to conceiving the earth as resource to be used.
New Zealand also owes its exceptional preparedness for water scarcity and flood mitigation within global warming to conceiving the earth as resource to be used.
New Zealand also owes its large-scale manufacturing base in forestry, steel, aluminium, horticulture, viticulture, extensive agriculture and others, to that modernist era from Seddon to Muldoon requiring huge electricity and irrigation use from dams, that conceived the earth as resource to be used.
The RMA hasn’t entirely put paid to such coarse thinking, but has enabled more than the environment to be factored in to a decision.
Using less electricity or water can delay the need for major water storage, but won’t avoid it: you can see that for example in Watercare’s Asset Management Plan. You can have the argument about the optimum size of water storage if you like. As for Salmon, those McKenzie Country Salmon farms generating sustainable protein out of dam spillways are a great investment in our future.
I’ll put a proper post up once the deal is all signed and ready for construction.
That makes sense Ad from your world view, but I have to say that there is a problem with the idea that ecological perspecives sit alongside say economic ones and thus are at the risk of not seeing the bigger picture. The paradigm I am coming from is not that they sit side by side, but that everything (literally) is based in the natural world, and if you don’t use that as your starting point you end up with Climate Change (or peak oil, peak soil, peak phosphorus, and even eventually peak metals etc).
I’m generally a pragmatist, so I don’t have too much trouble working with what we’ve got and am not even against another dam being built in NZ but only if it can be done in from the sustainable paradigm.
And I will just repeat, all the things you are saying are important enough to damage the environment for are not without options. So again, let’s be honest. We want to build more dams because we want a certain kind of lifestyle that meets our wants as well as our needs. But that’s not an imperative.
Agree totally CV-Labour should NOT follow Gnats policy of dipping into ACC and Cullen fund. I explained this financial fiddle in a post 5 weeks ago in relation to Nationals selling off of Kiwibank to these funds as follows:
“The way the Kiwibank sale works is like this (using simple numbers):
Now:
Cullen Fund/ACC assets now: $20,000m
Kiwibank Value owned by government now:$1,000m
Government forces Cullen Fund/ACC to buy 45% of Kiwibank
Cullen Fund/ACC sells shares worth $450m in order to buy $450m of Kiwibank
Result:
Cullen Fund/ACC assets $20,000m
Kiwibank owned by government $550m
Money available for tax cuts $450m
The effect is that National is reducing state-owned capital assets in order to finance a short-term tax cut bribe. Of course they are denying that the Cullen Fund/ACC are being forced to buy Kiwibank, but that is yet another big lie for the BLiP list.”
Can you please link to where Labour have said this?
Thanks Bearded Git
It’s a help to know what the politico/financial magicians tricks are and how it is actually carried out.
Yes you are right Bearded Git this is an accounting fiddle aimed at screwing over future generations of NZers and it must not be supported.
Anything that returns interest is aimed at screwing over future generations.
Less so these days as most of it is just mathematical equations interacting with mathematical equations.
The result of which is then used to shift public assets into private ownership and the people into serfs of the rich.
Thank you CV and Greyw. Its all about debits and credits.
The counterpoint is that Labour should adopt Land Tax as a policy. 1% LT with NO exemptions would give then $6.7billion to play with while sticking it to the top 5%.
Such a proposal has to be thought out so that those on fixed incomes and low incomes are not disadvantaged.
A retired couple living in a pensioners flat that they own worth $360K in Auckland, with $1800/month disposable income (mostly from NZ super) would have to use two months worth of income to pay a 1% land tax.
“What are your thoughts on Labour’s proposal to dip into ACC and the Super Fund to help fund new start ups and expand current businesses?”
Does anyone have a link? I can’t find anything on this on google.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/kapiti-news/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503789&objectid=11637963
I don’t see any problem if it’s ACC and Super Fund investing in New Zealand business on their merit. They are investment funds and have very good record of picking investments that give a good return and appear to be pretty active in the market.
Investments (really expenditure) with political or “Regional Development” imperatives are totally inappropriate for ACC or Super Fund, for the reason CV identified at 1.2.1.1 That’s a really slippery slope leading to a stinking corrupt and bankrupt hole.
A better idea would be a unit in MBIE to work with businesses and investors to facilitate funding. ACC and SF would be two of their pool of investors. A parallel initiative would be to strengthen rules around ACC and SF to keep political interference right out of it.
Labour needs to be leading the anti corruption angle on this sort of issue and showing where and how it can come unstuck, and seeking solutions to get the good outcomes, ie enhanced NZ investment in NZ, while keeping the nepotistic corruption right out of it.
They should let the Boards make independent decisions, as they are statutorily set up to do.
I don’t want my reliance on the ACC fund or the NZSuper Fund depending on political fancy.
@ Graeme
As ACC and the Super Fund already can and do invest in New Zealand businesses based on their merit, it would suggest Labour’s proposal will go further than that (leaning more towards a handout).
Real Monetary Reform
We really do have to lose the idea that investment should return more money to the investor. It’s that type of delusion that’s destroying our world.
So much for the much lauded Paris accords.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement
Every time world leaders have one of these international talkfests they look more clownish and ridiculous.
It would be funny, if it wasn’t so tragic.
+100
These talks seem to be more about showing that Something is Being Done™ rather than actually doing doing anything. If the politicians had actually wanted to do something about all this they would have started in 1992 with the signing of the Kyoto Protocol. Instead they’ve kicked the can down the road and allowed and encouraged unsustainable development.
The Herald highlights wage inequality.
Pity it spends most of its time pimping for this extreme neo-liberal government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11638385
It’s like they are rubbing it in our faces, laughing at us – not even pretending to care any more.
Clean Green New Zealand.
Yeah, right.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/303751/ecan-criticised-for-lack-of-action-over-waterways
Yep – such a farce meanwhile the rivers suffer awfully.
There’s something infinitely nauseating in Judith Collins being a NZ representative on the World Anti Corruption Summit, which is presided by no other than David Cameron himself…The whole damned thing is a farce.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/303752/nz's-corruption-fight-'the-world-has-changed‘
Keiser on RT announced the ‘ anti corruption summit’ organised by Cameron but couldn’t stop laughing at the irony.
Yes i agree its a cruel joke
Cunliffe got stuck into her and the irony of her being NZ’s anti-corruption representative on Morning Report this morning mentioning Oravida several times.
Hardly ironic, this is a deliberate subversion of the stated aims.
We’re going to need a whole new prison just for Gnats, once we get a clean government.
It’s a slap in the face to the public, world wide.
“Free Trade, with xtra tax dodging by Kleptocrats and their cronies”.
I’m always suspicious of anonymous writings, but here’s a link anyway
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/dem-congressman-its-far-easier-than-you-think-to-manipulate-a-nation-of-naive-self-absorbed-sheep_052016
Taupo Girl has laptop deemed essential for school taken due to father’s inability to pay.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/79900291/school-laptop-dispute-shocks
That is absolutely atrocious behaviour by the school.
That said, the guy should have gone to pricespy and had a look. Could have got a decent laptop for half the price.
As our working conditions get worse and we race to the bottom like the US, this is something for Kiwis to look forward too…
US poultry workers wear diapers on job over lack of bathroom breaks – report
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/12/poultry-workers-wear-diapers-work-bathroom-breaks
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/12/london-sinkhole-partially-swallows-car
Read the comments comedy gold
You’re right, most hilarious thing I’ve read in ages.
Interestingly if Wall street can’t get the republicans in, they are pushing Hilary Clinton.
Top 2 hedge fund managers bankroll Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emanuel, after making $1.7 billion each in 2015
http://www.salon.com/2016/05/12/top_2_hedge_fund_managers_bankroll_hillary_clinton_and_rahm_emanuel_after_making_1_7_billion_each_in_2015/
yes Clinton is certainly working for the wealthy establishment…but she is soiled goods
… and “Sanders supporters argue that the risk of a Clinton scandal blowing up is why their candidate is a better choice, as well as polls that show the Vermont senator beating the billionaire Trump, while new polls show Clinton would either be tied with Trump or trailing come November.”
‘FBI: No deadline or ‘special set of rules’ in Clinton email investigation’
https://www.rt.com/usa/342848-fbi-no-deadline-clinton/
‘FBI: No deadline or ‘special set of rules’ in Clinton email investigation’
The risk is not just that a scandal may blow up and derail her, a potential scandal hanging over her head will strengthen the establishment’s hold on her, so that even if she is happy to step into Bernie’s slipstream rhetorically, she will not be able to afford to act on it in any meaningful way.
That is one very perceptive thought Olwyn.
Thanks Red 🙂
Very rare to find a comment by Olwyn that isn’t highly perceptive.
In the same class as Puddleglum.
(and one or two others – you know who you are)
Swordfish!! I am utterly flattered – especially to be compared to Puddleglum – thank you 😀
Why on earth would you think you can get elected in the US without them?
Super pacs have permanently tilted the field.
And what about the people who have won with out them?
Are you defending anti-democratic practices now Ad?
Nope. The Supreme Court decision after Obama got elected the first time enabling Super Pacs is exceedingly undemocratic. But it’s the law.
“But it’s the law.”
So was owning slaves.
Still deeply anti-democratic.
Indeed it’s corrosive – and also really hard to revisit and reverse under this SC.
If people thought that we would not have any democracy or freedoms. Too hard, is the language of people who lack vision, and/or have lost hope.
Here some people who have not .
http://www.democracyspring.org/
http://www.wolf-pac.com/
Wolf pac is my pick to over turn this ridiculous anti-democratic court decision.
…and letter from America:
‘Bernie wins West Virginia, his 19th state’
https://www.rt.com/shows/big-picture/342721-big-primary-wins-us/
“Tonight’s Rumble talks Bernie’s and Trump’s big primary wins, Trumps appointing of Rudy Giuliani as his Muslim Czar, and his selecting of two insiders to tweak his tax plan. Thom discusses how establishment Democrats are already trying to hijack the convention with International Business Times’ David Sirota and in tonight’s Daily Take Thom details how Donald Trump could become the next Ronald Reagan.”
‘Social justice?’
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/342583-us-elections-insurrection-voters/
“The question of social justice: As America’s two major parties move toward anointing their presidential nominees, there is a growing sense of disaffection and even insurrection among voters. And this has set the business-as-usual political and financial elites into a panic. It is all their own fault.
CrossTalking with Richard Wolff, Les Leopold, and Inderjeet Parmar.”
Cunliffe getting closer to claiming a Nat scalp. Louise Upson might well become too much of an embarrassment to the Nats at the rate Cunkiffe is skewing her.
Cunliffe has made her look incompetent is her handling of the Onetai Farm purchase by the dodgy Argentian polluters.
I’d love to know which law/trust advisors the Argentians used to move their case across Louise upson’d desk. Was it one if the firms that net with Minister McClay in Shortland Street?
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/79915397/David-Cunliffe-alleges-second-toxic-incident-as-Terence-Stapleton-QC-begins-OIO-review
Yep, being a Minister of the Government carries responsibility and foresight, not just throwing weight and money around.Glad Cunliffe is holding them to account.Hopefully we won’t get the usual ” drama triangle” scenario when they cry victim and try to get everyone to feel sorry for them.
Cunliffe has been very impressive on RNZ …he is Labour’s trump card imo
(no comparisons with the Donald intended)
“New Zealand has slipped down the ranks of the least corrupt countries, and earlier this year watchdog Transparency International accused the Government of “astonishing” complacency.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/79941804/nz-to-consider-setting-up-company-ownership-register–judith-collins
Considering doing something that should be mandatory.
That sounds like another way for public monies to be given to private businesses.
So she’s about to ban the use of bank credit?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
Good old Winston, right now, he’s in the UK telling the people to be wary of big foreign bank money being used in the “Remain in the EU” campaign, and telling the Brits they can come on over and trade with us – think he’s more interested in actual “trade” than our Govt with their TPPA strait-jacket!
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/05/12/remain-campaign-contaminating-brexit-referendum-foreign-money-says-former-new-zealand-deputy-prime-minister/
I doubt foreign banks are quite the threat to working Britons as one of their own is.
The billionaire donor bankrolling the Brexit campaign Peter Hargreaves has said the EU is too dominated by France and Germany , and believes Singapore is the best business model for Britain outside the European Union.
The businessman also said a steep fall in sterling could be good for the country, and that some workers’ rights – such as part-time employment, flexitime and extended maternity leave – have gone too far.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/12/billionaire-brexit-supporter-says-uk-should-emulate-singapore
The irony of it > Judith Collins re anti-corruption – RNZ News today .
“She said she wanted money that was productive and honest invested in New Zealand.”
Was she advertising that 2nd hand car deal ship like a few months ago? Great look for NZ! sarc.
Jewish-American Professor of History, Lawrence Davidson, on the misuse of “anti-Semitism” in the absurd smear campaign / McCarthyite witch-hunt currently taking place in the UK. While I don’t entirely agree with his treatment of the Ken Livingstone smear (he misinterprets what Livingstone actually said), it’s still a good overall outline.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/12/82580/
But … For a more detailed, careful, methodical, and absolutely bang-on rebuttal of the central claims on which this witchhunt is based (the kind of investigation leading UK MSM journos should have done – if they weren’t so hopelessly compliant and compromised)- see Jamie Stern-Weiner here … https://jamiesternweiner.wordpress.com/2016/04/29/ken-livingstone-gobshite-yes-antisemite-no/
and here … https://jamiesternweiner.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/labour-antisemitism-witch-hunt-turns-on-leading-anti-racist-campaigners/
and here … https://jamiesternweiner.wordpress.com/2016/04/28/fact-checking-newsnight-on-labours-antisemitism-problem/
And for a bit of background on the early phase of the campaign (from Stern-Weiner) – here … https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie-stern-weiner/new-accusations-of-anti-semitism-thrown-at-left-are-flimsy
and here … https://opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie-stern-weiner/jeremy-corbyn-hasn-t-got-antisemitism-problem-his-opponents-do
Analysis of the affair from Norman Finkelstein here … https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie-stern-weiner-norman-finkelstein/american-jewish-scholar-behind-labour-s-antisemitism-scandal
and here … https://jamiesternweiner.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/norman-finkelstein-on-david-camerons-dodgy-friends/
Incidentally, if you can find a copy, have a read of the multi-authored The Politics of Anti-Semitism. It’s a little dated (2003) but still enlightening.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Anti-Semitism
Corbyn seems like he’s getting lost in inconsequential and unwinnable battles like reshuffles, regional elections, and the one you describe above.
He needs a long range comms theme. Hate to say it, but that’s how Blair got his first nationwide electoral win. (Not defending Blair’s Middle East policies BTW).
Corbyn’s comms strategy has certainly, at times, appeared amateurish and more than a little inept.
But then, Corbyn, McDonnell and Labour’s Campaign Group Left faction really didn’t expect a Corbyn victory at the start of the Leadership campaign. There hadn’t been a great deal of planning. Whereas, in stark contrast, the other 3 highly ambitious contenders had been planning and organising for years, surrounding themselves with all the right people, nurturing media contacts and so on.
And we also, of course, need to factor in the unrelenting hostility from the MSM (and wider Establishment) – which began the moment the first YouGov Poll of the Labour Selectorate came out, suggesting Corbyn’s was the front-runner. Although, to be fair, there have been arguments that Corbyn has played a part in exacerbating the toxic relationship by rejecting useful advice on media management.
Not much he could do about this latest “anti-Semitism” smear campaign, though (uncritically regurgitated, as it has been, by MSM journos in the UK).
A new Pew Research Center Poll finds liberal Democrats turning away from Israel.
While Republicans of all persuasions – together with conservative and moderate Democrats – continue to favour Israel by large margins … for the first time, liberal Democrats sympathise more with the Palestinians (40%) than with the Israelis (33%).
Back in 2001, the liberal Democrat split was 48%/18% in favour of Israel and last year 39%/21%. That’s a huge turn-around. Support for Israel down 6 points but, more importantly, sympathy for the Palestinians up 19 points over the last year (suggesting a significant swing from previous Undecideds).
Apologists for Israel’s Occupation should be a little concerned because Democrats are becoming more and more liberal over time (27% of Dems considered themselves liberal in 2000 / 41% in 2015).
African Americans, Latinos and younger Democrats in general – all demographics making up a larger and larger proportion of the Democratic constituency as time goes on – are more sympathetic than Americans as a whole to the Palestinian cause.
http://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11607990/liberal-democrats-israel-pew
Now this I like, a lot. Young Children in Alabama took a poll (in the picture – it says pill – teehee) to see what their hopes and fears for the future were. Be surprised!
http://imgur.com/Cfm3xLO
“Now this I like, a lot.”
Me too. But I’m not really surprised. Young people have a terribly bad rap, a narrative that Those Who Rule Us like to reinforce.
Had a lovely chat in the supermarket yesterday with a shelf packer, who was well past retirement age.
After explaining to me the nefarious goings on in product pricing, he commented that he was appalled at how young workers were being exploited. How employers expected young workers to begin the job fully trained, and then gave them shit when they messed up. He said how when he began work, things were different. He makes an effort to take young workers ‘under his wing.’
Now there’s a quaint old saying..maybe we should revive it?
Matt Nippert had a piece in the NZ Herald online about NZ trusts apparently facilitating corruption in Ecuador & it seems to have been pulled, curious to know why. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11637813
Hmm, curious…here’s the google cache
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:t7a6M4bVPJcJ:m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm%3Fc_id%3D3%26objectid%3D11637813+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz
alternative link too
http://archive.li/rz7T7
Thanks Joe90, I can get to read it now.
why indeed….and who?
Winston’s speech to the house of lords,brings some innovative thinking to the brexit argument.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1605/S00251/speech-by-winston-peters-at-the-house-of-lords.htm
Wow, he’s really reaching back into the past. The Commonwealth is dead and has been for decades. It would be simply Bad Form to resurrect it now.
And, no, I don’t think that the European Union going anywhere except down.
CEOs’ pay highlights NZ wealth imbalance – CTU
…Herald newspaper showed the CEOs from New Zealand’s largest listed companies had an average pay increase of 12 percent in 2015 compared with 3.2 percent for employees.
The average CEO increase was $180,000 while the biggest total salary was Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings. He earned $4.49 million.
The average pay increase for employees was $988, with the average salary $57,000.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/303777/ceos-earn-'40-times-average-person‘
As Israel finds itself more and more diplomatically isolated, its legion of apologists is becoming even more extreme and intolerant. The following horror story is currently being played out in Britain, but something similar to this happened in 2002, when the New Zealand equivalents of Jonathan Sacerdoti, Jonathan Arkush and Baroness Deech bullied Gavin Ellis, the then editor of the Herald into firing his cartoonist Malcolm Evans after Evans had the temerity to criticise the Holy State….
Labour antisemitism witch-hunt turns on leading anti-racism campaigner
by Jamie Stern-Weiner, Monday, May 9th, 2016
Last week, prominent Momentum activist Jackie Walker was suspended from the Labour Party for alleged antisemitism. (Momentum is a grassroots movement affiliated with the Labour Party, which currently supports the elected leadership of the socialist and veteran Palestine solidarity campaigner Jeremy Corbyn.)
There are five points to make about this.
1.) The antisemitism allegations against Walker are devoid of factual basis. The evidence against Walker consists of two Facebook comments. In the first, Walker dismissed claims that Labour has ‘a major problem with anti-semitism’….
Read more….
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2016/05/09/labour-antisemitism-witch-hunt-turns-on-leading-anti-racism-campaigner/
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04062013/#comment-643332
Israel needs to stop enforcing Gaza as an open air version of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Is either Ozzy Osbourne or Phil Judd the most pathetic old rocker in the world?
Not even close….
http://www.salon.com/2016/05/11/the_nras_unhinged_spokesman_ted_nugents_at_it_again_posting_a_video_of_bernie_sanders_shooting_hillary_clinton/
Nugent is surely a repulsive misogynist & gun fetishist.
But I do have a soft spot for Phil Judd; despite his health problems & stalking conviction. He’s always come across as a visual artist who is a talented songwriter but just can’t stand the live performance part of it. Calling him “an old rocker” is way too simplistic. The Play it Strange album from 2014 is pretty great, and this track (which actually has a video) has a wonderful self awareness:
Is a long time since I looked at the Blog Rankings :
https://openparachute.wordpress.com/2016/04/01/march-16-nz-blogs-sitemeter-ranking/
I see that WhaleOil stopped being measured in February, but couldn’t find any comment why. Presumably it has either had technical problems or is now regarded as a commercial PR site . . .
The Standard appears to be steadily rising in the rankings, and No Right Turn has a surprisingly low ranking – could that result from not having comments?
The Lurking…
Putin to Western Elites: Playtime is Over
I would wonder how the Western ‘elites’ took that but I already know. They shut it down so that no one would hear about it and still believes that the war that they’re pushing for will leave them better off.