Tianjin is a port city, about three hours from beijing by car. It’s a megacity, with at least ten million people, although city population stats in china tend to be pretty wild guesses. wikipedia calls it at 15 mil. It’s one of four cities directly controlled from the central government.
Two seriously good pieces on Chinese disaster news management:
the latter one gives you an excellent ancient-historical backgrounder to the modern phenomenon of censorship.
quotable quote from the first link:
…the one thing unique that emerged from this disaster [2015 yangtse ship disaster] is the confirmation that disaster communication in this country has thoroughly morphed into a kind of grand “mood management” exercise which involves state control as well as the negotiation within the society itself. The fundamental questions that are being asked by those watching the unfolding of the tragedy are not “what happened” and “why did it happen”, but “how should people feel about it” and “when is the right time to feel about what.”
mind you some of this will bounce back on eqc and the government due to the way in which claims were handled by eqc (very poorly and miserly)
there has been loads of shoddy workmanship by the building sector in Christchurch. On top of that there is a tremendous market in as-is where-is buildings which are damaged, not repaired and now uninsureable. Being bought, slap of paint and out into the rental market…..
avoid pre-earthquake homes in Christchurch in the future
the cowboy builders were used by EQC and Fletchers to reduce the standard and their liability…it is deliberate and systemic and has been known about for years and the minister brushed it off….these repairs were carried out under consent exemption which means they were performed under producer statements issued by Fletchers EQR and the responsibility to meet code was theirs….the Minister is either complicit or negligent.
I see the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has just announced a $9 BIllion profit.
Austerity is certainly working for them.
As the banks are making these obscene profits, one thing The Double Dipping Dickhead from Dipton can do, is do away with the OBR (Open Bank Resolution). Obviously as the banks are making obscene profits, there is not the need to keep the legislation to bail them out by depositors, or the tax payer, just to fund their massive bonuses.
I think a simpler solution would be to forbid trading banks from borrowing money. The banks have gained undue power by leveraging their membership of the central bank system to gain access to funding they have no real right to.
As things stand the banks simply borrow more when they run out of cash reserves & want to make more loans. But they can only borrow because their membership of the RBNZ gives them a solid credit rating. No serious lender would lend so cheaply to them otherwise, a bank would just be another finance company without the RBNZ guarantees.
Admittance to RBNZ funding could be made conditional on members lending out only depositors funds. If banks want to be a finance company they can, they just can’t be an accredited trading bank at the same time. That would really cramp their style
Jeremy Corbyn proposes re-opening coal mines in South Wales. He wants to turn the clock back 40 years with this and a number of other policies. Sounds like a winning formula.
haha I was just thinking to myself, surely he isn’t going to re-open the shipyards or starting digging up Wales… it’s nostalgia writ large. Good luck to him.
“But if there’s to be substantial coal fire generation it’s got to be clean burn technology, it’s got to have carbon filters on it, it’s got to be carbon neutral.
[there’s a bit here in the video about CCS (carbon capture and storage), which they’ve left out of the article, so they’ve mangled what he said and actually misrepresented it]
“I’ve looked at it, I’ve discussed it, I’ve heard about it. It’s complicated. At one level it looks very expensive. But the advantages also look quite attractive.
“But the principles have to be that we’re protective of our environment, guaranteeing affordable energy supplies for everybody, and we’re not ripped off by big companies.”
To me this looks like he just doesn’t know what he is talking about (re CCS and carbon neutrality). Or, he’s hedging his bets between the workers and the greenies and the economists. His comment was saying that there are few coal mines left in the UK, and that the remaining high quality coal might be worth more in the future.
He said that if coal prices rose in the future and if carbon capture tech meant there was zero net additional emissions (it won’t) then there might be a case for opening the deep mines in S. Wales – mines that just happen to contain the worlds’ highest quality coal.
I was thinking a while back that we should run a lottery here on how long she’d last, but didn’t bother bringing it up because who’d bet on a sure thing.
I admire her courage but question her wisdom, being so outspoken was just asking for trouble and now we’ve lost her.
We might also spare a little though for journalists in general. Who’d be a journalist in this country. Their choices of employer are limited and if they buck the system they get fired or shunted out to bumfucksville writing trivia for the village idiots.
Thats right we live in a country when people who are paid to be a commentator are expected to give the same opinion as all the other commentators. It is ‘unwise’ not to do so.
Opinions censored in MSM to all lead to the same pro government conclusions or so tepid, the content is irrelevant .
Her latest piece on the Canterbury rebuild is, well, scathing:
Like Tim Groser ignoring his best scientists over the issue of carbon emissions, Brownlee appeared to ditch large parts of his advisory board’s advice so he would retain final veto over major projects and council plans in the city. His own draft in response waters down the local role in the rebuild, ensures the Government’s paw prints are all over a new body looking to snap up prime central city land for redevelopment, and generally provokes more annoyance from locals.
He gave a month for feedback – which ended at the end of July – without public forums for debate and discussion.
For those opposed to corporate control – this is going to be quite a weekend!
In Auckland on Saturday 15 August 2015 – is what should be a sizeable TPPA – WALK AWAY! public protest – assembling at Aotea Square at 1pm.
In Auckland on Sunday 16 August 2015 – is the RATE$ RIPOFF RALLY!
WHERE: Assemble 1 PM Aotea Square
So – if you’ve just received your latest Auckland Council Rates Assessment Notice / Rates Invoice, and you are NOT happy about your latest rates increase – you can ‘stand up and be counted’ :
The reality is that in Auckland – we have effectively been under direct corporate control for nearly 5 years – when this ‘Supercity for the 1%’ was forced upon us – without a democratic vote by citizens and ratepayers.
We had 7 democratically elected Councils (warts and all) – replaced with 7 (now 6) undemocratically selected Council (CORPORATE) Controlled Organisations (CCOs) – which have been the mechanism for the Auckland region to be run ‘like a business – by business – FOR business.
There has been a significant transfer of public rates monie$ to the private sector – but WHERE exactly is that money going?
Talking about radionz – did anyone yesterday hear Judith Collins refer to Radionz as Radio Albania? Apparently they are unliked by her because they persist in trying to find out truths and information that she doesn’t want them to bother asking.
And a few weeks ago English saying similar. And yet doesn’t National Radio have the highest listener numbers?
Must look. This is all I can find.
“Weekly live cumulative audience for Radio New Zealand National is 434,000 or 12% of the 15+ population. National’s station share is 9.1%.”
@Double Plus Good
I didn’t even notice that, actually. I was attempting ‘sarcastic’ as I could imagine Judith Collins saying that. I don’t think she could have spelt it, or even know the name and who he was.
Glad you mentioned this ianmac@11.07am, excellent questioning of key by david parker all this week. and in spite of some criticism of andrew little by a commenter yesterday on “sheepgate mixed metaphors”.
In fact Little did really well on Tuesday in that he appeared to lull key into a false sense of security with his fonterra questioning after which i actually saw key lean towards english as if to say ” i think we got away with that one and now joyce is up.” Thus andrew bayly began asking patsy questions of stephen who began rejoicing in the wonderful diversity (first time i had heard the natwits using that term) of their economic strategy. How seductive was joyce with his words, words he repeated almost verbatim after another patsy question on Wednesday!
But back to Tuesday when, if that commenter had hung on, he would have seen Parker attack and attack key on sheepgate with brilliant support from Little and key didn’t look quite so relieved or chipper as he had done earlier.
Parker continued this attack yesterday so effectively (and i’m sure helped by fergusson’s a.m. ‘softening him up’) that at the end i think key was forced to lie but i couldn’t hear him properly as he sank to his seat and looked quite cowed, or is that ‘sheeped’
Well done David Parker and Labour. And it takes a lot for me to say that and especially to type it on this bloomin’ tablet.
(Obviously the sight of arch fabricator key looking queasy was aspirshinul enough to get my finger, gritted teeth and patience working in tandem. Hope this all makes sense.)
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
(Aye there’s the rub. Trump may chirp the words from Hamlet Soliloquy? but would have no concept of bringing the meaning to bear, or I doubt, any real wish to do so as he is just another money-rich intellect-poor actor on the power and glory stage.)
To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d.
To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
“For households doing it tough this winter, particularly in rural areas where the plummeting dairy price is hitting hard, hearing that the Prime Minister is likely to get an $11,000 pay rise won’t do much to lift their spirits or help them pay their bills.”
Ah, so after promising to do something about it National then ensured that they’d still get massive pay rises.
Except amongst the Wellington ‘Beltway’ types David Farrar is very well respected on both sides of the political spectrum. I only presume you are based outside Wellington and/or have never had any interaction with him. If he was a slimy and manipulative as you make out it is unlikely he would be so well regarded by key people across the political spectrum.
lol
Cite, pls.
I suspect that in many cases you are confusing “behaving professionally towards” with being “very well respected “.
Are you based in Wellington McFlock? If so, do you attend any of the many political events that David Farrar attends? I’m not sure you realise how much of a political operator he is.
I will grant you that Cameron Slater is not well respected nor liked by a number of people. The same can not be stated for David Farrar. In terms of the mainstream politicians across the political spectrum that I have observed interacting with him on a social basis there seems to be genuine fondness (if not friendship) and no anomosity. It is only people such as yourself who seemingly think mainstream politics is a battle to the death that paint him as some master manipulator doing his masters bidding.
Well, if your impression of “mainstream politicians'” behaviour is as accurate as you “granting me” something I did not claim (however true it might or might not be) and as accurate as your attribution of those thoughts to me, I’ll take that with a large block of salt, too.
Although I notice that you’ve lid from a general “Wellington beltway types” to “mainstream politicians”. Do you think Seymour is in that latter group? What about the Greens?
I’m generally meaning the average Politician. I am sure there are a couple of Politicians and their supporters who do have an issue with David Farrar. I’d suggest that is because of their ideological position rather than anything David Farrar has done though. The worst accusation I have seen made here about him for example is that he pretends to be moderate and reasonable but rarks up his supporters with subtle dog-whistling blog posts and that he spins for National for cash. Even if true this hardly makes him a terrible person. He just seems to understand how to play the political game better than many on the left.
The worst accusation I have seen made here about him for example is that he pretends to be moderate and reasonable but rarks up his supporters with subtle dog-whistling blog posts and that he spins for National for cash. Even if true this hardly makes him a terrible person.
Actually yes, yes it does.
As for your comment about playing the political “game”, well that says it all. What you tories never understand is that it’s not a game. If you run down prisons and the health sector, have such concern for worker safety that unions have to take private prosecutions when workers are killed on the job, and turn income support and welfare services into confrontational and alienating abuse of the poor, people die.
Shortly after Israel’s mass slaughter of more than 1,400 people in Gaza in 2008-9, Farrar accepted a free trip to Israel by the Israeli regime, which included a brief visit to illegally occupied East Jerusalem. With a display of resolute blindness and deafness, Farrar reported that “things were generally very relaxed in this area”…. http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2009/11/jerusalem.html
So, yes, on that behaviour alone, Farrar would be a terrible person. His behaviour in New Zealand is just as disgusting.
I will grant you that Cameron Slater is not well respected nor liked by a number of people. The same can not be stated for David Farrar. In terms of the mainstream politicians across the political spectrum that I have observed interacting with him on a social basis there seems to be genuine fondness (if not friendship) and no anomosity. It is only people such as yourself who seemingly think mainstream politics is a battle to the death that paint him as some master manipulator doing his masters bidding.
The business community has spoken and say it’s time for the National party to groom a replacement.
NZME’s fourteenth annual Mood of the Boardroom survey has shown three quarters of business leaders want a new John Key.
The survey had 110 respondents from the Deloitte top 200 list of chief executives, company heads and heads of industry-leading businesses including the private and public sector.
Business Editor Fran O’Sullivan said last year, two thirds of respondents felt the ‘Key’ brand was damaged …
“The West’s hardline towards Russia is driving Russia closer to China, with deepening Sino-Russian relations posing a strong challenge to global Western hegemony, founding partner at Prosperity Capital Management Mattias Westman told RT”
“Bill English has admitted meeting with 10 organisations who want to get their hands on these assets but is refusing to say who they are. These organisations are most likely merchant bankers, private/public partnership investors and property developers – so it’s no wonder National wants to keep them secret.
“This comes as a Bill giving the Government extraordinary powers to sell-off state houses gets its first reading in Parliament. This legislation allows Ministers to take direct personal control of selling these homes, exempts them from normal legal requirements and leaves the sale process wide open for corruption.
very disturbing …good to see Phil Twyford and Labour Party is on to it!….hope Labour jumps up and down…and NZF…and the Greens in Parliament….and Mana/Int…and all social welfare groups…this is the future housing of NZ’s poorest!
…It should not be for property speculators or private control and gain
….state housing is an asset built up over the years by generations of New Zealand taxpayers
where is the Maori Party on this ?…and Peter Dunn?
if any state houses are put up for sale they should be offered to the existing tenants first…and loan money should be made available for existing tenants so that they can buy
Sounds like a good idea but the wealthy in NZ have their real income hidden away in Trusts. One family that I know are very wealthy but because on paper they are poor they were able to claim Student allowances for their daughter. So how likely is it in NZ that say My Key would pay big money for speeding?
Fines should always be proportional to the persons income as this would make the fine equivalent across the income spectrum.
Say two people get fined for speeding. One is rich and the on minimum wage but the fine is the same $150. For the person on minimum wage that could mean not eating for a week, bills not being paid and significant stress. The rich person would be thinking if they should have wine with lunch or not and then buy the wine anyway. The fine is meaningless to them.
This is the first point. The fine actually has to have meaning to the person being fined.
The second point is that the fine should be proportional to the crime and having to go without food for a week, not pay bills and being subjugated to a huge amount of stress for a time is disproportional to mere speeding*.
* If it was speeding resulting in death then I would expect murder charges.
Prisoner dead at Mt Eden. Did you notice the clamour of people saying that the government was unfit to run the prison and must immediately let someone else do it?
Scumbag who plead guilty to nearly 80 charges including rape, sexual violation, assault, kidnapping, threatening to kill and grievous bodily harm kills himself in Mt Eden. Excellent news for his victims and their families.
And didn’t Alan Hubbard say John Key would sort this out and speak up for him when he got back………. for of course when the story broke of Mr. Hubbard doing something wrong with his accounting or some such thing, Key was else where. And when key did return from wherever, he wouldn’t even speak to Mr Hubbard. I thought then that something fishy was going on…….and obviously there was………. apparently a rather nasty set up.
I did think at the time that Alan Hubbard must have felt so hurt and bemused and, unfortunately for him, was beginning to see the true measure of john key…. together with his sidekicks bill english and simon power (who had also figured in the maligning of Winston Peters.)
What a horror to behold at his time of life.
Hey Chooky, the radio story on National succession to John Key was taken down by NZME (Newstalk) because it was inaccurate in several places. It was replaced – The initial Herald story was accurate. Fran O’Sullivan
[lprent: It must be a new email. Sorry about the delay releasing from first time moderation. But I suspect that everyone was out getting some healthy exercise around midday. ]
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 July appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Big double explosion in Tianjin. Some background:
Tianjin is a port city, about three hours from beijing by car. It’s a megacity, with at least ten million people, although city population stats in china tend to be pretty wild guesses. wikipedia calls it at 15 mil. It’s one of four cities directly controlled from the central government.
Two seriously good pieces on Chinese disaster news management:
http://chublicopinion.com/2015/06/11/titanic-on-the-yangtze/
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/21/china-media-xi-jinping-crackdown-newspaper/
the latter one gives you an excellent ancient-historical backgrounder to the modern phenomenon of censorship.
quotable quote from the first link:
…the one thing unique that emerged from this disaster [2015 yangtse ship disaster] is the confirmation that disaster communication in this country has thoroughly morphed into a kind of grand “mood management” exercise which involves state control as well as the negotiation within the society itself. The fundamental questions that are being asked by those watching the unfolding of the tragedy are not “what happened” and “why did it happen”, but “how should people feel about it” and “when is the right time to feel about what.”
Ah, sounds like China is starting to catch up with the West in public manipulation.
Next leaky buildings?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/71071043/gerry-brownlee-targets-cowboy-builders-after-eqc-foundation-review
surprise surprise
mind you some of this will bounce back on eqc and the government due to the way in which claims were handled by eqc (very poorly and miserly)
there has been loads of shoddy workmanship by the building sector in Christchurch. On top of that there is a tremendous market in as-is where-is buildings which are damaged, not repaired and now uninsureable. Being bought, slap of paint and out into the rental market…..
avoid pre-earthquake homes in Christchurch in the future
So if some of the builders are cowboys doesn’t that make him the corrupt robber baron mayor living on the plush of this wild west town?
the cowboy builders were used by EQC and Fletchers to reduce the standard and their liability…it is deliberate and systemic and has been known about for years and the minister brushed it off….these repairs were carried out under consent exemption which means they were performed under producer statements issued by Fletchers EQR and the responsibility to meet code was theirs….the Minister is either complicit or negligent.
I really don’t think that’s an either/or statement but most likely needs an ‘and’.
Make no mistake, National ministers really don’t give a shit about anybody and if they can find a way to make a profit they will.
lets give him the benefit of the doubt and stick with the”or”
Once again, everything Brownlee gets his paws on turns to shit. Is he related to Nick Smith?
I see the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has just announced a $9 BIllion profit.
Austerity is certainly working for them.
As the banks are making these obscene profits, one thing The Double Dipping Dickhead from Dipton can do, is do away with the OBR (Open Bank Resolution). Obviously as the banks are making obscene profits, there is not the need to keep the legislation to bail them out by depositors, or the tax payer, just to fund their massive bonuses.
The only ‘money’ in banks comes in the form of deposits
Everything else is an IOU / accounting method
I think a simpler solution would be to forbid trading banks from borrowing money. The banks have gained undue power by leveraging their membership of the central bank system to gain access to funding they have no real right to.
As things stand the banks simply borrow more when they run out of cash reserves & want to make more loans. But they can only borrow because their membership of the RBNZ gives them a solid credit rating. No serious lender would lend so cheaply to them otherwise, a bank would just be another finance company without the RBNZ guarantees.
Admittance to RBNZ funding could be made conditional on members lending out only depositors funds. If banks want to be a finance company they can, they just can’t be an accredited trading bank at the same time. That would really cramp their style
Jeremy Corbyn proposes re-opening coal mines in South Wales. He wants to turn the clock back 40 years with this and a number of other policies. Sounds like a winning formula.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jeremy-corbyn-could-bring-back-6213691
haha I was just thinking to myself, surely he isn’t going to re-open the shipyards or starting digging up Wales… it’s nostalgia writ large. Good luck to him.
It’s nostalgic in exactly the same way that being able to afford a house on one income is nostalgic.
Let’s look at the whole of what he said,
To me this looks like he just doesn’t know what he is talking about (re CCS and carbon neutrality). Or, he’s hedging his bets between the workers and the greenies and the economists. His comment was saying that there are few coal mines left in the UK, and that the remaining high quality coal might be worth more in the future.
He is the opposite of progressive. “Preservationist”?
I didn’t read it like that. Isn’t he talking about reopening mines for economic reasons?
Not sure there is anything wrong with preservationist. We’d be better off if we’d preserved quite a few things a long time ago 😉
“He is the opposite of progressive”
Utter poppycock. Corbyn is one of the most progressive UK Labour MPs there are.
How do you get away with making such statements? Look at Osborne, look at Cameron.
They are the “opposite” of progressive.
I suppose it is better to back 40 years than 150 years the Neo’ want to do.
Arn’t sales of coal dropping world-wide? Whos going to buy the coal in that case?
Why would sales of coal be dropping during this marvellous global economic recovery in consumption and demand?
He didn’t propose any such thing.
He said that if coal prices rose in the future and if carbon capture tech meant there was zero net additional emissions (it won’t) then there might be a case for opening the deep mines in S. Wales – mines that just happen to contain the worlds’ highest quality coal.
So he essentially said nothing about anything at all. If he said something it might have been said if he had said anything….. Possibly.
Sad news, Dita de Boni axed from the NZ Herald. Hope The Standard readers can show support.
Another brave writer axed. Clearly too good for the Herald to tolerate.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/08/12/dita-de-boni-axed-from-the-nz-herald-any-more-room-left-at-rnz/
Don’t worry i’m sure she’ll find gainful employment at radio nz
3 weeks notice given. What rotten employers the Herald are.
You would think with their declining readership they might want to encourage a diverse range of opinions so they maintain a central readership base…
Probably want to turn themselves into a niche newspaper
They’ve already found their niche as National Party propagandists which is probably why they’re getting rid of somebody who writes the truth.
i always thought here was far too many left wing commentators so its good to see some balance
Far too many celebrity stories for my taste though
Reality has a radical Left wing bias.
Everyone chooses their own reality i guess:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11492634
Including our prime minister, who pretends he lives on Planet Key.
You do understand that that is the result of RWNJ indoctrination of there being no society right?
I was thinking a while back that we should run a lottery here on how long she’d last, but didn’t bother bringing it up because who’d bet on a sure thing.
I admire her courage but question her wisdom, being so outspoken was just asking for trouble and now we’ve lost her.
We might also spare a little though for journalists in general. Who’d be a journalist in this country. Their choices of employer are limited and if they buck the system they get fired or shunted out to bumfucksville writing trivia for the village idiots.
Thats right we live in a country when people who are paid to be a commentator are expected to give the same opinion as all the other commentators. It is ‘unwise’ not to do so.
Opinions censored in MSM to all lead to the same pro government conclusions or so tepid, the content is irrelevant .
Her latest piece on the Canterbury rebuild is, well, scathing:
For those opposed to corporate control – this is going to be quite a weekend!
In Auckland on Saturday 15 August 2015 – is what should be a sizeable TPPA – WALK AWAY! public protest – assembling at Aotea Square at 1pm.
In Auckland on Sunday 16 August 2015 – is the RATE$ RIPOFF RALLY!
WHERE: Assemble 1 PM Aotea Square
So – if you’ve just received your latest Auckland Council Rates Assessment Notice / Rates Invoice, and you are NOT happy about your latest rates increase – you can ‘stand up and be counted’ :
The reality is that in Auckland – we have effectively been under direct corporate control for nearly 5 years – when this ‘Supercity for the 1%’ was forced upon us – without a democratic vote by citizens and ratepayers.
We had 7 democratically elected Councils (warts and all) – replaced with 7 (now 6) undemocratically selected Council (CORPORATE) Controlled Organisations (CCOs) – which have been the mechanism for the Auckland region to be run ‘like a business – by business – FOR business.
There has been a significant transfer of public rates monie$ to the private sector – but WHERE exactly is that money going?
Penny Bright
“There has been a significant transfer of public rates monie$ to the private sector”
I would have thought you have to actually pay rates before you can get uppity about how they are being spent Penny. It is 1%’ers like you who avoid paying your fair share in the community that are ruining society:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/69504984/Rates-dodger-Penny-Bright-fails-to-see-hypocrisy-in-not-contributing-to-society-while-complaining-about-the-so-called-one-percent
This Morning Report had the Arab sheep Saga on, with a soundbite from the QT yesterday where Key answers that Parker should check his answers to Suzie. Suzie replayed his comments from yesterday. Ooops John.
David Parker explicitly explained why McCulley was breaking the law.
10 o’clock news on Radio National summarised the issue. Well done.
Not on 11 o’clock news.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201766290/labour-claims-subterfuge-over-saudi-sheep-deal-may-be-illegal
Talking about radionz – did anyone yesterday hear Judith Collins refer to Radionz as Radio Albania? Apparently they are unliked by her because they persist in trying to find out truths and information that she doesn’t want them to bother asking.
And a few weeks ago English saying similar. And yet doesn’t National Radio have the highest listener numbers?
Must look. This is all I can find.
“Weekly live cumulative audience for Radio New Zealand National is 434,000 or 12% of the 15+ population. National’s station share is 9.1%.”
Someone should probably tell her that Enver Hohxa died 30 years ago.
Who??
Sorry, spelling mistake, it’s Hoxha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Hoxha
@Double Plus Good
I didn’t even notice that, actually. I was attempting ‘sarcastic’ as I could imagine Judith Collins saying that. I don’t think she could have spelt it, or even know the name and who he was.
Glad you mentioned this ianmac@11.07am, excellent questioning of key by david parker all this week. and in spite of some criticism of andrew little by a commenter yesterday on “sheepgate mixed metaphors”.
In fact Little did really well on Tuesday in that he appeared to lull key into a false sense of security with his fonterra questioning after which i actually saw key lean towards english as if to say ” i think we got away with that one and now joyce is up.” Thus andrew bayly began asking patsy questions of stephen who began rejoicing in the wonderful diversity (first time i had heard the natwits using that term) of their economic strategy. How seductive was joyce with his words, words he repeated almost verbatim after another patsy question on Wednesday!
But back to Tuesday when, if that commenter had hung on, he would have seen Parker attack and attack key on sheepgate with brilliant support from Little and key didn’t look quite so relieved or chipper as he had done earlier.
Parker continued this attack yesterday so effectively (and i’m sure helped by fergusson’s a.m. ‘softening him up’) that at the end i think key was forced to lie but i couldn’t hear him properly as he sank to his seat and looked quite cowed, or is that ‘sheeped’
Well done David Parker and Labour. And it takes a lot for me to say that and especially to type it on this bloomin’ tablet.
(Obviously the sight of arch fabricator key looking queasy was aspirshinul enough to get my finger, gritted teeth and patience working in tandem. Hope this all makes sense.)
tweet…’if Trump becomes president…there will be hell….toupee’!;)
Toupee or not toupee. That is the question.
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
(Aye there’s the rub. Trump may chirp the words from Hamlet Soliloquy? but would have no concept of bringing the meaning to bear, or I doubt, any real wish to do so as he is just another money-rich intellect-poor actor on the power and glory stage.)
To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d.
To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
(What’s the bet that he will die and never have realised the good and transcendent things he could do for his own people and the world. He is just another Roman emperor with a heart of gold.)
http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/hamlet-to-be-or-not-to-be/
Solid Energy put into voluntary adminstration…
[[breaking news on stuff.co.nz]]
Here the link.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/71077310/solid-energy-expected-to-announce-voluntary-administration
Let me add, this is another sale of a state asset by stealth. Bill English should be congratulated for his sneakiness.
When it gets sold, watch national bend over backwards to hand out more coal mining rights alongside the sale.
More coal is going to burnt because of this.
And just another disaster for the coast – this is a government who hates the working man, the working women, and their children!
Thanks and +1, I think the public are starting to see through that this wasn’t just a massive failure because of low coal prices too.
Another Bill English Success Story folks.
To true, same old lies from national, producing the same out comes. M.P.’s getting fat on the public purse.
Was I the only one to miss this?
https://www.greens.org.nz/news/press-releases/groundhog-day-mp-pay
Ah, so after promising to do something about it National then ensured that they’d still get massive pay rises.
And, no, you’re not the only one who missed it.
from the seymour puppet thread:
gos:
lol
Cite, pls.
I suspect that in many cases you are confusing “behaving professionally towards” with being “very well respected “.
Are you based in Wellington McFlock? If so, do you attend any of the many political events that David Farrar attends? I’m not sure you realise how much of a political operator he is.
nope. But through the weirdness that is small NZ, I do know people who are well acquainted with him.
Although that’s beside the point, really – you’re confusing being a “political operator” with “being respected and well regarded”.
I’ve read more than enough of kiwiblog (and seen the actual outcomes it asserted) to take it with a large block of salt.
I will grant you that Cameron Slater is not well respected nor liked by a number of people. The same can not be stated for David Farrar. In terms of the mainstream politicians across the political spectrum that I have observed interacting with him on a social basis there seems to be genuine fondness (if not friendship) and no anomosity. It is only people such as yourself who seemingly think mainstream politics is a battle to the death that paint him as some master manipulator doing his masters bidding.
Well, if your impression of “mainstream politicians'” behaviour is as accurate as you “granting me” something I did not claim (however true it might or might not be) and as accurate as your attribution of those thoughts to me, I’ll take that with a large block of salt, too.
Although I notice that you’ve lid from a general “Wellington beltway types” to “mainstream politicians”. Do you think Seymour is in that latter group? What about the Greens?
I’m generally meaning the average Politician. I am sure there are a couple of Politicians and their supporters who do have an issue with David Farrar. I’d suggest that is because of their ideological position rather than anything David Farrar has done though. The worst accusation I have seen made here about him for example is that he pretends to be moderate and reasonable but rarks up his supporters with subtle dog-whistling blog posts and that he spins for National for cash. Even if true this hardly makes him a terrible person. He just seems to understand how to play the political game better than many on the left.
Actually yes, yes it does.
As for your comment about playing the political “game”, well that says it all. What you tories never understand is that it’s not a game. If you run down prisons and the health sector, have such concern for worker safety that unions have to take private prosecutions when workers are killed on the job, and turn income support and welfare services into confrontational and alienating abuse of the poor, people die.
+100 McFlock…and if people dont die they have a miserable existence thanks to these amoral, immoral creeps
Shortly after Israel’s mass slaughter of more than 1,400 people in Gaza in 2008-9, Farrar accepted a free trip to Israel by the Israeli regime, which included a brief visit to illegally occupied East Jerusalem. With a display of resolute blindness and deafness, Farrar reported that “things were generally very relaxed in this area”….
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2009/11/jerusalem.html
So, yes, on that behaviour alone, Farrar would be a terrible person. His behaviour in New Zealand is just as disgusting.
I will grant you that Cameron Slater is not well respected nor liked by a number of people. The same can not be stated for David Farrar. In terms of the mainstream politicians across the political spectrum that I have observed interacting with him on a social basis there seems to be genuine fondness (if not friendship) and no anomosity. It is only people such as yourself who seemingly think mainstream politics is a battle to the death that paint him as some master manipulator doing his masters bidding.
ouch
wonder why it was removed 😛
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3A0aOBNNhVb7sJ%3Awww.newstalkzb.co.nz%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fbusiness-leaders-say-time-for-key-to-go%2F+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz
Yes, so hard to imagine 😈
+100 says it all really..
“The ‘Key’ brand is over.
The business community has spoken and say it’s time for the National party to groom a replacement.
NZME’s fourteenth annual Mood of the Boardroom survey has shown three quarters of business leaders want a new John Key.
The survey had 110 respondents from the Deloitte top 200 list of chief executives, company heads and heads of industry-leading businesses including the private and public sector.
Business Editor Fran O’Sullivan said last year, two thirds of respondents felt the ‘Key’ brand was damaged …
risildowgtn…that link is no longer working…I wonder why?
can you get it up again?
Re : dairy price crisis, European and British farmer protests, USA inspired sanctions against Russia :
‘West’s aggressive stance pushes Russia to China, threatens Western dominance’
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/312132-russia-china-western-dominance/
“The West’s hardline towards Russia is driving Russia closer to China, with deepening Sino-Russian relations posing a strong challenge to global Western hegemony, founding partner at Prosperity Capital Management Mattias Westman told RT”
http://www.rt.com/news/312115-eu-russia-sanctions-westman/.
Anyone seen this?
http://campaign.labour.org.nz/secret_meetings_to_sell_off_state_houses
” The Government is having secret meetings with groups interested in buying state houses and refuses to release the names of these organisations, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says.
“Bill English has admitted meeting with 10 organisations who want to get their hands on these assets but is refusing to say who they are. These organisations are most likely merchant bankers, private/public partnership investors and property developers – so it’s no wonder National wants to keep them secret.
“This comes as a Bill giving the Government extraordinary powers to sell-off state houses gets its first reading in Parliament. This legislation allows Ministers to take direct personal control of selling these homes, exempts them from normal legal requirements and leaves the sale process wide open for corruption.
very disturbing …good to see Phil Twyford and Labour Party is on to it!….hope Labour jumps up and down…and NZF…and the Greens in Parliament….and Mana/Int…and all social welfare groups…this is the future housing of NZ’s poorest!
…It should not be for property speculators or private control and gain
….state housing is an asset built up over the years by generations of New Zealand taxpayers
where is the Maori Party on this ?…and Peter Dunn?
if any state houses are put up for sale they should be offered to the existing tenants first…and loan money should be made available for existing tenants so that they can buy
Well, that would explain why this government is passing this legislation.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/71074397/fulton-hogan-investigated-over-safety-concerns
Silly silly Fulton Hogan, blocking the EMPU is never a good PR decision, and sure as hell suggests things are not okay on the work site.
and preumably the other safety inspections are scheduled ones.
Interesting article about Income based fines…
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/finland-home-of-the-103000-speeding-ticket/387484/
“Income-based fines could introduce fairness to a legal system that many have shown to be biased against the poor”
Sounds like a good idea but the wealthy in NZ have their real income hidden away in Trusts. One family that I know are very wealthy but because on paper they are poor they were able to claim Student allowances for their daughter. So how likely is it in NZ that say My Key would pay big money for speeding?
Yes, well, that’s something else that we really need to address – the fact that the rich can hide their true wealth and not pay their way.
Fines should always be proportional to the persons income as this would make the fine equivalent across the income spectrum.
Say two people get fined for speeding. One is rich and the on minimum wage but the fine is the same $150. For the person on minimum wage that could mean not eating for a week, bills not being paid and significant stress. The rich person would be thinking if they should have wine with lunch or not and then buy the wine anyway. The fine is meaningless to them.
This is the first point. The fine actually has to have meaning to the person being fined.
The second point is that the fine should be proportional to the crime and having to go without food for a week, not pay bills and being subjugated to a huge amount of stress for a time is disproportional to mere speeding*.
* If it was speeding resulting in death then I would expect murder charges.
DTB
I have heard that they do this in some country, Iceland, Finland? The fine is proportional to income.
Prisoner dead at Mt Eden. Did you notice the clamour of people saying that the government was unfit to run the prison and must immediately let someone else do it?
Me too.
Prisoner died overnight. Serco still manage Mt Eden at night, but get corrections help during the day. Hapless Minister refusing to comment.
Got a source for that? It’s not how Natrad or the Herald are reporting it.
Oh look The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell, got the facts wrong again. What a sorry excuse for a Tory you are.
Scumbag who plead guilty to nearly 80 charges including rape, sexual violation, assault, kidnapping, threatening to kill and grievous bodily harm kills himself in Mt Eden. Excellent news for his victims and their families.
They might have an excuse for a somewhat warped perspective, but what’s yours?
Besides, I wasn’t aware they’d released the deceased’s name yet.
Breaking News: Bomber has an appointment with a detective at the police station but he may not go :
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/08/13/breaking-the-nz-police-would-like-to-have-a-word-with-me/
…and just seen this over on the Daily Blog which is quite shocking:
“A series of unfortunate events leading up to Alan Hubbard’s untimely death. ”
‘John Key Set Up Allan Hubbard To Fail & Sold Assets To His Mates, Paul Carruthers’
https://youtu.be/E9CE1a4pSeQ
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/08/10/take-your-car-keys-shopping-with-you/#sthash.TBULYfjj.dpuf
( I always thought there was something strange about that car crash just before Hubbard was about to put his case for justice before the courts)
And didn’t Alan Hubbard say John Key would sort this out and speak up for him when he got back………. for of course when the story broke of Mr. Hubbard doing something wrong with his accounting or some such thing, Key was else where. And when key did return from wherever, he wouldn’t even speak to Mr Hubbard. I thought then that something fishy was going on…….and obviously there was………. apparently a rather nasty set up.
I did think at the time that Alan Hubbard must have felt so hurt and bemused and, unfortunately for him, was beginning to see the true measure of john key…. together with his sidekicks bill english and simon power (who had also figured in the maligning of Winston Peters.)
What a horror to behold at his time of life.
Hey Chooky, the radio story on National succession to John Key was taken down by NZME (Newstalk) because it was inaccurate in several places. It was replaced – The initial Herald story was accurate. Fran O’Sullivan
[lprent: It must be a new email. Sorry about the delay releasing from first time moderation. But I suspect that everyone was out getting some healthy exercise around midday. ]