Yep, heard that. It completely contradicts John, Bill and Steve’s repeated line that a significant net amount of new jobs have been created under their watch….. and even then I think they are referring to more part time jobs amongst that alleged increase.
Bill was on the radio this morning, doing his best to confuse the issue by saying the household labour survey is what has always been used to measure unemployment, which is true, however the statistic that is being debated at the moment is the jobs creation figure, which definitely is not included in the household labour survey. Don’t let Bill confuse you.
But doesn’t the government reject using the Household Labour Survey as a measure of unemployment, preferring the registered unemployed figure?
Ah, Bill says the HLF Survey has always been used to measure “employment”.
Bill was confused himself first he said the data was from Treasury,until his office corrected saying it was the HH labour survey.
The RBNZ Statement had a significant point .
The bank said evidence of the Canterbury rebuild were becoming “more apparent” in official figures than three months ago.
“Offsetting this, fiscal consolidation is constraining demand growth, and the high New Zealand dollar continues to undermine export earnings and encourage substitution toward imported goods and services.”
Despite warning about the strength of the Kiwi dollar, the Reserve Bank appears to hold little hope that it will weaken in the near term.
The other problematic problem is the creation of poorly thought policy initiatives with employment rules eg
Reinhart at Jackson hole suggested this was a forcing mechanism for persistent economic contraction (and unempolyment).
Economic contraction and slow recovery might also feed back on the prospects for aggregate supply. A sustained stretch of below-trend investment and depreciation of human capital prompted by elevated and lengthy spells of unemployment could hit the level and growth rate of potential output. The unemployment rate stays high because it has been high, exhibiting hysteresis as described by Blanchard and Summers (1986).
The forcing mechanism for a reduction in aggregate supply might be policy itself. In adverse economic circumstances, political leaders sometimes grasp for quick fixes that impair, not improve, the situation. Included in the list of unfortunate interventions are restrictions on trade (both domestically and internationally), work rules and pay practices, and the flow of credit. The output effects of crises might be persistent because we make them so, in the manner posited for the Great Depression by Cole and Ohanian (2002).
They keep on quoting from the Household Labour force survey like it’s scripture, and not just another document. And even if you believe what joyce was quoting today, about the 54000 net jobs in the last 4 years, that’s only just above 15000 a year. Now in that time they have tipped about 60000 people out of work and how many left school in that time?? and thats before they get to us at the bottom of the pile. And we ALL want to work.
Frankly John, Bill and Steve are lucky it’s only 13,000. Imagine what the figure would be if we hadn’t had record emigration to Australia in the last few years. No wonder Key’s stopped blathering on about a brighter future.
The chill winds blow in Europe, the storm coming from this will affect the world. The insamity of the neo-lib financiers made plain to see by Ilargi at Theautomaticearth. This no doubt will be their recipe for all.
…demands the Troika placed on Greece today. They want to fire 150.000 civil servants, raise the retirement age to 67 years immediately, cut “lay-off compensation” by 50%, and, wait for it, introduce a 6-day working week, and stretch the working day to 13 hours. In theory, that could lead to a 78-hour working week.
Hey I want to live and buy a house in Holland. They can buy a house on interest only mortgage and the interest is tax deductible. Sounds like sound financing to me, not!
Prism, Nice story don’t you think…wish I had a Dutch income stream to do the deduct against.
What I find interesting about the stories on TAE and the other international sites are the implications for small countries like NZ. Whilst we Standardistas are busy bitching away on local issues (quite rightly), we are in danger of getting dry gulched by these offshore events. If we dont consider these implications we may win battles and lose the war. To use one of the contemptible management speak lines “think globally, act locally”.
Bored 3 1 1
Yes I sometimes feel we get too close to the pollies here, fascinated with their next reverse backwards flip and triplespeak. They could be regarded as a sideshow in a way, to the world, sort of like that fairground game of moving heads with open mouths that has been used as a graphic here I think. I’m hopeless at throwing balls and scoring points though I keep trying, and we all need to try looking at another show often.
I’m down at Turangawaewae for the water hui, and I just wanted to clear up a few things before I go in. You see John, there’s quite a bit of confusion about how Maori are being pushed to help you with your asset sales problem, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a push from your side to help Maori with any of our problems – like poverty, low wages, massive unemployment, poor housing, benefit cuts … you know the rest.
And in the middle, there’s this:
And water really is a taonga to us John, a treasure. It’s hard to explain in English but water is something to cherish, to care for, to respect and to protect for future generations. Moana Jackson says “every tribe has a river” and the people of Whanganui have a saying: “I am the river and the river is me”. Water is part of who we are.
And Maori water rights need to be understood in that context, John. Not as a tradeable commodity, but as part and parcel of our very existence.
Even Pakeha people get that; I think that might be why so many of them oppose asset sales too.
It seems as if some successful wealthy people who are into large scale fishing won’t be happy till they profit and take all the fish available to them. After the stock is so depleted that its uneconomical for them they will probably look at chopping down all the trees that are left or something of that nature. Or something else in the food business, force feeding cattle to make them grow faster perhaps.
The Dutch are trying to heavy Australia over the present two year ban which is very irresponsible of them to take this anti-ecological sustainability line. They have been working on this with the Australian government apparently for seven years. It may have been that the Oz govmnt has been reluctant to turn down investment, letting money and jobs and overseas finance cloud their realities. Dutch attack
The banning of the super-trawler Abel Tasman means 50 jobs will be lost, operators Seafish Tasmania say….”It seems that after we have met every rule, regulation and request made of us, after years of working with the relevant authorities, that in the end the government reacted to the size of the Abel Tasman and not the size of the quota and the science that supports it,” Mr Geen said. http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/super-trawler-ban-cost-50-063210851.html
It is confusing for a newbie to look at the way company formed 20/4/12 is made up and looking at the registration Dutch interests loom large. But only one share is listed under shareholding. http://www.scribd.com/doc/105580298/Seafish-Tasmania-Pelagic-Pty-Limited-ASIC-Report-Data
It can be embarrassing for politicians to admit they don’t understand scientific findings and ask naive questions that elicit where the facts are not what they appear. All the company needs to do is talk about extra jobs and eureka they get stuffed into a hole appearing in the employment stats.
Seafish partnered with the Dutch business have named this large trawler Abel Tasman.
I see that name as an insult to the person who was a great mariner of his time, and deserves a better memorial. They are reported as scooping up all the fish they can in volume – said to be sending much of it to Africa at $1 a kilo. Their explanation and justification will no doubt be ‘We are feeding the hungry in the world’. So they plan to profit from that and clean out fish stocks around the world. Apparently this large trawler has been in other areas and moved on as they have ‘vacuumed’ up the stocks.
A case for a Rainbow Warrior-type memento perhaps.
The banning of the super-trawler Abel Tasman means 50 jobs will be lost In my role as an honorary fish I would point out that when all we fish are caught and gone the jobs will be gone too….I say its a red herring.
Radio news on USA this day 13/9/12 No.1
USA ambassador to Libya has been killed plus others in bomb attack on embassy.
This said to be response to an Israeli-Jewish? man’s You-Tube release denigrating Muhammed.
Republican Romney criticises President Obama for sympathising over deaths instead of first being outraged.
This said to be response to an Israeli-Jewish? man
So said Radio NZ, but he is not really an Israeli, says 3 News. Lolwut? (To use Mandy Rice-Davies’ famous phrase, “they would say that, wouldn’t they?”)
When I walk through the UoA campus and watch people spilling out onto the streets, I wonder how it can be that so many who pass through a world class institution can have such a limited positive impact on a nation. It’s really unsettling. Experience can’t always be trusted to see straight, but education can’t be applied by a mind with no experience – a Catch 22. When people can’t afford to eat properly, the argument about what a “positive impact” is, becomes obscene.
I wonder how it can be that so many who pass through a world class institution can have such a limited positive impact on a nation.
Lets go back to the concept that education is primarily there to create a compliance and acceptance of the status quo…..educationalists constantly object to that idea and insist upon their independence. They are on the payroll still, what does that tell you?
It used to be, in arts and social science subjects anyway, that uni education aimed at developing critical thinking. Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded. Some there, in various disciplines, develop critical thinking. Most are there just go through the motions to get a qualification, and many get jobs… and their main aim is to keep the job, improve their status and pay, get the mortgage etc.
The rest are left to struggle to survive, probably with a certain amount of (non-productive) cynicism about the “system”.
There is always the claim of “critical thinking” being done in the meal ticket subjects. From the graduates I have employed I very much doubt that it becomes inculcated and readily available. We employ graduates who could be described as coming with the right certifications etc, and able to perform well rehearsed mechanistic functions. Usually these are well defined, and very rarely get changed because the graduates apply any thought to it. They do however perform the functions, quietly and without fuss probably because they have a huge debt attached to their pieces of paper.
Interestingly the much maligned (probably deservedly) Bob Jones reputedly said that he only hired arts grads as opposed to meal ticketers, the reason being they could think critically, and he could teach them the rest.
My personal take is that “Degrees” should generally be reserved for subjects that do NOT qualify the holder for a specialist technocratic role. We used to provide these certificates and skills at “Tech”, with excellent results.
Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded.
Get really pissed off with this concept of getting an education to get a job. In it is the inherent assumption that you’ll be working for someone else and, IMO, it’s that socialisation that actually helps cause the mass inequality within our society.
Yep, Totally agree with that DTB. When I trained as a teacher and started teaching, my idea of education for all was a broad one, to do with education for participation in a democratic society. I am still angry about what has been done to education in the western world by “neoliberal” ideologues.
I understand your anger, I never cease to ask what the hell is taught when I get into conversations with young people who have “degrees” etc? So few have any broad literary, historic, scientific, geographic, language, philosophic knowledge. I don’t blame the teachers although I fear (and I would like to be wrong) that they too now know little either (as a result of their own education).
My wish list would definitely include Maori language as a compulsory subject,it is so much easier to understand another culture if you know their language, and as peoples trapped on a couple of small islands together I reckon we need to do this.
My wish list would definitely include Maori language as a compulsory subject…
I’d be supportive of that but you’d have to include a fairly significant teaching of the culture as well as it’s often knowing the cultural significance of a word grammatical position that will transfer the actual meaning.
Also, bi and multi-lingual people often show greater tendencies to creativity.
Additionally, learning a second language helps one understand one’s own language better…better linguistic, historical and cultural literacy all round with Maori taught as a compulsory subject.
As someone who’s done some uni teaching, I think there’s a big difference in capabilities of those that earn grades in the A range, and those that scrape through on Cs. I think the spread of performance between the highest and lowest grades has extended with the increase in numbers of people attending unis.
Some students turn in brilliant work, and are very knowledgeable…. others not so much.
Then there are still others who turn in C; nay – even D work (after moderation), then have their grades arbitrarily “upped” or “downed” at the whim of insecure people running the show. Can’t balme ’em though – all they’ve ever known themselves is a tik-a-box neo-lib inspired tertiary education regime.
“It used to be, in arts and social science subjects anyway, that uni education aimed at developing critical thinking. Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded.”
Maybe I’ve been lucky, but my lecturers from within social science have always fully supported my critical stance…often pushing me to be more critical, and then be critical of myself.
They will often take the piss out of our university institutions, and then push the students to be critical of the uni. Did an amazing course on development and postcolonialism…almost the whole course was taught from a postdevelopment perspective. Although they work for an institution, they are hyper critical of it.
Oh, yes, I also think arts and social sciences lecturers still aim for students developing their critical faculties. But these disciplines also get pressure to be more vocationally relevant – many philosophy lecturers in the UK lost their jobs when I was there in the 80s – the subject tended to get recast as “philosophy of….[insert vocationally-oriented topic].
And there is pressure to pass students turning in work at a pretty mediocre and uncritical level.
Look above fatty – couldn’t agree more.
IT all changed when education was commodified. (oops….inadverted captalisation……but speaking of which) IT (now known as ITC) changed too. “Cloud Computing” FFS!
There are a number of other wheels that can be reinvented and repackaged just so long as there’s a buck to be made and silly people to get taken in by used car salesmen masquerading as Prime Minstas
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America – Free download!
Being rolled out to your kids around the globe, ensuring that the gap between the have’s and have nots widens further.
Once the rot is in, the lowered standards, and poorly educated graduates, become “poor” teachers amd so they in turn educate the next generation.
Spiral down its goes, I wonder how dumbed down society will become.
I suspect its past the tipping point, as witnessing what people will tolerate and allow to happen to them, their families, and what they thought were their freedoms, all the while waiting, hoping that those reeking the madness, which they tolerate, are the same people taking their childrens future…
This is bullshit…the earthquake is the never ending excuse. The last thing East Christchurch needs is schools closing.
Stand up Labour…do it now, and make it effective. Do not be afraid to make the earthquake political…it has always been political.
“There is a real concern that the Government will take advantage of the disaster to supersize schools and carry out their undermining of the public education system,” Green Party education spokesperson Catherine Delahunty said today.
“We can see how the closure of these schools will allow the Government to accomplish their unpopular agenda.
The Education Ministry has announced an extraordinary backtracking over its proposal to merge Shirley Boys’ with Christchurch Boys’ High and the merger of Avonside Girls’ with Christchurch Girls’ High.
The ministry has issued a clarification this afternoon explaining that Avonside and Shirley Boys “may be able to stay on their existing sites” if they had favourable geotechnical reports.
1) the Ministry has now retracted the merges after being mauled in the press 😀
2)
The Press understands the plan will merge Shirley Boys’ and Christchurch Boys’ High School.
Even if there was the space for expansion available, the “refined” parents who send their spawn CHBS would revolt in terror at the thought of their snobbish, stupid investment in over-priced, in-zone housing (seriously, for the price of buying an in-zone house you could send a kid or two to Christ’s College, StAC or Bedes) being diminished by allowing the middle and lower class ruffians of SBHS (I should know, I went there).
Sheffield (UK) at Hillsborough 1989 where 96 died, after 23 years, the real story of what happened – and the subsequent cover-up by the police – have finally come to light.
Fresh out of the letterbox “Peter Dunne Reports”. Peter Dunnes’ newsletter to his constituents.
Irrational annoyance coming on at this
“Fair? I don’t think so.(Title of article) blah blah blah………….voted for Labours Mondayising of Waitangi and ANZAC day holidays Bill and the extension to the Paid Parental Leave Bill. In both cases he says his vote was the crucial one………….ok, alright.Then this
“what perplexes me is that Labour seems happy to accept my vote being the one that tips their Bills over the line, while only a few weeks later they were railing very personal and abusive terms against the fact the Mixed Ownership Model Bill was also passed 61-60 on the basis of my vote……………….Now in all three cases my vote was based on long standing UnitedFuture policy positions that I publicly and consistently stood for at the last election”
He then goes on to accuse Labour of being “inconsistent, extremely self serving and not a little hypocritical” What the F does he expect, they are in opposition. They got support from him for their bills, good, fine but like the rest of NZ may have got pissed off with him for supporting the M.O.M Bill.
Really. I might print a t shirt saying “I am surrounded by idiots” and wear it on polling day here in Ohariu. Too antigonistic?
uturn donthold your breath.
the standard of all roundedness is taking a rapid nosedive in this country.
just listen to a radio station like m*refm for example and you will hear the most inane banal drivel you have ever heard and these are the role models for the current crop of no-brainers.
There was a radio ad the other day for an educational something. Oh yeah, the NZIM. It said something like, “Ralph wants to be a manager…” and I shook my head and wondered, a manager of what? Turns out it doesn’t matter. You just have to want to manage something.
Then there was another really good one, some kind of workforce/labouring employment service with a motherly voice waffling on about how little Johnny was at school arguing with his little friends over whose Dad has the better Job. Mother voice says all jobs are good. I thought it was some kind of political broadcast. Turns out that Mother voice just wants all the Dads on her books.
alright already, u get me! Capiche (now there is a show that will remind you of NAct)
whomever writes as U-Turn is Very, Very, Clever (excellent)
any way, gotta go plant some beans and pumkins-soup while i am waiting for a job
(…waiting for the sun,….waiting,…..waiting,….waiting for U to come along)
for into this House we’re born, Maurice.
when u Open Your Eyes signs are everywhere
He certainly does move in Mysterious Ways and it will be October soon
(interesting music on 63 already)
any way, as i once said to the arresting police, who are now my friends, “opinions are like Bums-
everybody has got one”
yet,
Where will the Children Play
remember, “you don’t have to live like a Refugee”
what will be, will be
however, Great developments for Tuhoe (Russian, German, French and Scots connections)
they have had prophets in the past. i believe that this Time.
fnjckg. I hope you don’t mind me acknowledging your unique style. I appreciate the song titles you introduce into your conversation.
Yes, great developments for Tuhoe – a long time coming. They suffered like many Iwi under colonisation however their experience of it was unique and extremely brutal. They still held on and even thrived for some time during Rua Kenana’s leadership at Maungapohatu. They have spirit, perserverance and Mana. I hope the way ahead is now clearer for them and they can thrive again.
Mr D Parker has recently posted a series of posts in relation to the talks he has been having with overseas experts in the financial and economic fields. Mr D Cunliffe has also been researching in Finland recently and has posted an interesting post on this and Mr Parker’s activities.
I consider these activities that the 2 Labour Party members are conducting as extremely heartening and it would be great to see some of this information being posted & discussed on this site.
It appears to me that discussing National’s phony activities has distracted us all from some more positive things going on in our political scene.
[lprent: So write a guest post and sent it in to thestandardnz@gmail.com. If it is interesting, opinionated, and well written then one of the people who reads the email might decide to pop it up. Here are the previous ones to give you an idea – http://thestandard.org.nz/author/guest-post/
Authors pretty much write about whatever they find interesting. It is entirely likely that they haven’t read those posts or haven’t found them interesting.
Writing anything to “The Standard” will get me by default (since The Standard is a dumbarse computer program running a blog site that I maintain). Since I seldom write posts these days (http://thestandard.org.nz/author/admin/) it isn’t an appeal that is likely to get much of a proactive response… ]
Guess I was hoping for one of your articles that syndicates other posts.
I think that these Labour politicians are doing positive work and the focus is so easily placed on the negatives.
I noticed that Red Alert got more interest in a thread criticizing Nat than these series of posts regarding the researching of finances and different economical approaches.
I conclude it is not only the politicians that need to lift their game…we all do.
Problem is they’re too long. Few people have the time to spend reading them. I know this is something that Labour has been told over and over again. Make your points succinctly and you will get a better response.
There are some very bright people of both genders on this site who can do it. So why can’t our top Labour pollies do it?
Sometimes the National Party’s arrogance and contempt for ordinary people just blows me away.
This week the news coming into Parliament has been horrible and unrelenting. We have received report after report after report of lost jobs and lost hope.
And today we also have a joint Cunliffe/Parker post on the Labour website, and as a press release on Scoop.:
I think such press releases are aimed more at the media, which the journos don’t usually reprint in full – just pick out bits and summarise. But I guess a press release should aim to be reported as the author desires/
Yes, I agree Carol, Cunliffe’s posts are very good. Darien Fenton is another whose posts are succinct and to the point. It’s not surprising therefore that they usually attract a reasonable number of comments. I accept also there are occasions when longer articles are appropriate – such as David Parker’s recent posts on his overseas fact-finding tour.
However anyone who has been in Labour for any length of time would be well aware of the tendency of Labour pollies to produce long-winded diatribes simply for the sake of it. It’s almost as if they like the look of their own words as well as the sound of their own voices – the latter part of this sentence being attributed to pollies of all stripes of course.
Interesting result in the Dutch elections, with the centre right VVD edging the Labour party by 2 seats, 41-39. Both are well short of a majority in the 150 seat Parliament and the most likely outcome is for them to form a left/right coalition. Voters have rejected the anti-european parties, though the Socialist party will not lose any seats as a result and will probably come 4th.
The really good news is that the racist Freedom Party, led by the loony Geert Wilders, has taken a hammering, echoing the declining fortunes of England’s BNP.
Voters rejected anti eur0pean parties, which actually means the rac*sts are still holding power.
In case you can;t work it out, that those who are unelected and pulling the strings at the EU, who control the Central Banks, those types are the real rac*sts
All the while silly people focus in unimportant factors such as the BNP type political parties.
Ill spell it out for you: Most people are not rac*sts, but those in charge almost exclusively, and exhaustively will be!
Result for this election – Holland goes down the pan, because they voted for the rac*sts, you just don’t realise it because you only see the little picture, probably the same as the Dutch!
a thought, while raking; a recent aquaintence, and now friend of mine, is The head unionist at a local manufacturer, where they have established their own site-specific incorporated society Union.
-learn something every day
We were discussing backgrounds and concurred on the relationship between experiencing poverty as a child and the development of shopping (therefore consumption) habits/addictions
isn’t it interesting that there is a suggested positive correlation between
Poverty and Consumption
i hear about this phenomena regularly, now that boomers and Gen X are maturing and reflecting on their developmental histories
fnjckg 16
I heard the story that Sophia Loren who was a gorgeous voluptuous Italian film star had been a skinny hungry street kid. After her success and money came in, she stocked her pantry to overflowing with all sorts of pasta. It gave her great comfort to know she wouldn’t go hungry again.
Yet another case of screw you
Water Cares new regime has gone from quarterly charging to monthly, but how is it that in our case 3 months costs was $195 and now monthly it is $95. Because this CCO s giving it to its customers.
The unit rate has increased from $1.3/kL to $1.343/kT
Waste water fixed cost have reduced from $426.36 p.a. to $190, but also a NEW cost volumetric charging of Wastewater @ $2.81/kL with waste water being calculated as 78.5% of water usage. So to maintain the same annual waste water costs i.e. $426.36 less $190 = $236.36 variable costs which equate to 84.11 kL p.a. or the same usage as a single person household at 84kL or 230L/Day. Yet from Watercare’s own data a family of 4 uses 600L/day of 219 kL or an increase of $380 p.a. or in total a 25% increase. This when inflation is at less than 3%, and not factoring in the theoretical cost to a household from going from quarterly to monthly charging. Thanks Auckland council and your CCO.
It would be of interest to see how many others have picked up the cost increase as to those that have not noticed thru the shortening billing period. Just wait until summer hots us and watering the vege patch.
Herodotus
That comment should be copies by all concerned so they can read over it and then again and compare their past and present a/cs till they see just what this complicated system achieves. Does the 22% not going into the waste water go into you, or evaporate or where?
The 22.5% was to pacify many who claimed that there was no recognition for gardening and other water usage that does not flow back into the waste water system. What they don’t understand is that if 100% was used then the rate would reduce, so by reducing the % to 77.5% all that happened (Though I would find it hard to imagine anyone connect to confirm this) was that the $ rate was lifted over time. My experience related to Manukau Water activities. The same applies to normal rates whereby should valuations over the area increase/decrease then the $ rate to apply would increase/decrease accordingly, we all end up paying roughly the same amount (Unless something like the fixed charge component radically moves)
herodotus 17 1 1
On rates – I think that some Councils set up a particular area rating charge when they do large works that contribute to that area mainly. Which would stop the spread of cost over all. I think that’s a good idea.
We in Nelson have had meters installed which in theory is good because it helps you to monitor your use and control it. We had to put in a large filtering system because our water quality was I think low at D or E. I think we pay for it or most out of our meterage. When people started being more careful with water to keep their costs down, there was less cash coming in to meet the repayment of the new water system, so then the rates went up. Practical and follows logical principles but not what individuals had hoped.
Incidentally our chargeable rate is $1.62 per cubic metre (not litres as I suppose yours is) and daily line charge at 44.60c and 6 month charge is $174.
Did the media tell the Labour leader to disappear into the provinces? Are the media responsible for the Greens getting more and better coverage than Labour, most days?
If you’d like a basic tutorial on how to get stories into the media, ask the Greens, or Winston, or Hone, or Louisa Wall, or pretty much anybody … except Labour’s front man.
It’s HIS job. It’s tiresome and just false, to keep blaming the media for Shearer’s inability to communicate his message (last Sunday was the exception, but when else?).
I’m unclear of the details of how the game works, however I am capable of observing the general trends in reporting.
Perhaps you are right, that it is all up to the political party to keep their faces on the News, however, considering the massive fodder that is available on National stuff ups and has been all last term too, I question the NZ journalists interests in keeping the general public interested, let alone informed.
I wouldn’t make the previous comment had not the bias on NZ TV toward Key been palpable over the elections. This went so far as to ban one left-wing commentator and take another journalist to court for finding out a little too much against National’s interests.
I consider left wing parties are up against a distinct bias with our media at present, although, as you say, perhaps there are tactics that could be used to overcome this.
There has been highly faourable – fawning, in fact – coverage of John Key during the first term. No doubt about that.
It began to fade with the “teapot tape” story. Police raids on media organisations weren’t a great goodwill gesture by Key. The love-in ended.
So this year, the tone of the coverage has clearly changed, and the opportunities for the opposition have been there for the taking. The Greens (with far fewer resources) have been astute and effective, whereas Labour have been bumbling and stumbling.
We just can’t keep blaming the MSM. Labour need to have something to communicate, and know how to communicate it. Usually they don’t.
I agree the tone has improved, yet I note that still they are very quick to put in the Nat election line-for example the “see how they will find the money to afford it” comment after the piece about the recent education speech.
It would be nice if they were equally scathing about National-there is plenty of room for it.
You do make a good point about the Greens though, they do manage to get their point across regularly and clearly.
There appears to be some lack of savvy from Labour, yet on balance I still consider that the bias is toward the National paradigm (…or maybe JK worship based on money-whore-fawning-mentality…).
dunno.
If nat go up again next time I’ll start being wary. I’d expect a change in tack by labour post-pag, for better or worse (the new strategist could end up going even more vanilla, god forbid) .
Of course you are correct. Especially if it’s the unelected,hired strategists who determine how Left or Right (or “vanilla”) Labour is, not caucus, or god forbid, the Leadership.
My impression of the labour caucus collectively (one or two individuals are willing to call a spade a spade) is that what strategy their is is focus-group driven, and scheduled according to an imaginary “optimum” election cycle timetable rather than as circumstances change.
I could be very wrong, of course. It’s just what it looks like to me from the outside.
Interesting. The Maori hui on water is in progress still, but this report has King Tuheitia asking the powerful Iwi Leaders to stand down from individual negotiations with the government, until a pan-Maori agreement is completed:
A hui on water has called on the Government to halt asset sales till it negotiates a deal recognising Maori rights and interests with a new pan-Maori body.
It has also urged Iwi to “stand down” from individual negotiations with the Government on the effect of the sale of shares on the state owned power companies on their Treaty claims. The resolve to present a united front could throw the governments timetable for selling the SOE shares into turmoil.
….
Among the first speakers was Tuwharetoa chairman Sir Tumu te Heuheu, who said any enduring and sustainable framework for the future management of fresh water in New Zealand had to appropriately recognise and provide for the “rights, interests and responsibilities of iwi and hapu in relation to water.”
He urged attendees to separate the issues of Maori rights and interests in fresh water from the government’s plan to sell power company shares.
“Let us be clear, our rights and interests and responsibilities in relation to water do not just exist on awa and moana that are used by power companies.
Thanks Carol, that whole article makes interesting reading.
In a speech to as many as 1000 of Maoridom’s movers and shakers, King Tuheitia said Maori had always owned the water and their rights over the water had been handed down from generation to generation. “From birth we have been taught that the Waikato river is the life force of my people….simply, it has given life to our people.” But the crystal clear river which he used to swim in as a child was “a degraded body of water”. “From Ngaruawahia out to the sea you cannot swim or take kai from it. This is not the legacy I want to leave for our children.”
How can anyone own water?
I feel that the message that Maori are trying to give is being lost in the whole ownership argument that leaves most of us believing it is about greed
Cool, so I can use your pool? Be round in the morning. Oh yeah I’ll be bringing a few mates and having some beers in the afternoon, maybe a bit of a party friday night. We’ll be selling beers and Woodstocks to cover the cost of the sound system and the bands.
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Saturday we’ll run a sausage sizzle most of the day and if it all goes well we’ll be back to do the same every weekend this summer.
In the 1930’s Labour decided that every child should have a chance at secondary school. So, under the guidance of one Clarence Beeby, secondary education was universalised and made free for all students, and schools given the tools to ensure a quality education for ALL.
In the 2010’s National decided that every child should have a chance at early childhood education. So, under the guidance of one Paula Bennett, they forced the poorest of single parents to purchase ECE services of dubious quality, threatening to cut their benefits if they didn’t.
It goes to show how far to the dogs this country has gone really..
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
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Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
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The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
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The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
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RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
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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, Wednesday 8 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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A naughty Banksie… coveting the neighbours gal too.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7664819/John-Banks-told-lawyer-of-Dotcom-donation
jeez if the PM can let this slide because of the 6 month limit that Richard Worth must have been incredibly, majorly, naughty.
Me, I still want know who was it that stole his Harley…
statistics nz as reported by rnz says there is a net job loss of 13000.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/115734/nz-economy-lost-jobs
Yep, heard that. It completely contradicts John, Bill and Steve’s repeated line that a significant net amount of new jobs have been created under their watch….. and even then I think they are referring to more part time jobs amongst that alleged increase.
Bill was on the radio this morning, doing his best to confuse the issue by saying the household labour survey is what has always been used to measure unemployment, which is true, however the statistic that is being debated at the moment is the jobs creation figure, which definitely is not included in the household labour survey. Don’t let Bill confuse you.
But doesn’t the government reject using the Household Labour Survey as a measure of unemployment, preferring the registered unemployed figure?
Ah, Bill says the HLF Survey has always been used to measure “employment”.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/115734/nz-economy-lost-jobs
Bill was confused himself first he said the data was from Treasury,until his office corrected saying it was the HH labour survey.
The RBNZ Statement had a significant point .
The bank said evidence of the Canterbury rebuild were becoming “more apparent” in official figures than three months ago.
“Offsetting this, fiscal consolidation is constraining demand growth, and the high New Zealand dollar continues to undermine export earnings and encourage substitution toward imported goods and services.”
Despite warning about the strength of the Kiwi dollar, the Reserve Bank appears to hold little hope that it will weaken in the near term.
The other problematic problem is the creation of poorly thought policy initiatives with employment rules eg
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7666692/Work-trials-adding-to-skills-shortages
Reinhart at Jackson hole suggested this was a forcing mechanism for persistent economic contraction (and unempolyment).
Economic contraction and slow recovery might also feed back on the prospects for aggregate supply. A sustained stretch of below-trend investment and depreciation of human capital prompted by elevated and lengthy spells of unemployment could hit the level and growth rate of potential output. The unemployment rate stays high because it has been high, exhibiting hysteresis as described by Blanchard and Summers (1986).
The forcing mechanism for a reduction in aggregate supply might be policy itself. In adverse economic circumstances, political leaders sometimes grasp for quick fixes that impair, not improve, the situation. Included in the list of unfortunate interventions are restrictions on trade (both domestically and internationally), work rules and pay practices, and the flow of credit. The output effects of crises might be persistent because we make them so, in the manner posited for the Great Depression by Cole and Ohanian (2002).
They keep on quoting from the Household Labour force survey like it’s scripture, and not just another document. And even if you believe what joyce was quoting today, about the 54000 net jobs in the last 4 years, that’s only just above 15000 a year. Now in that time they have tipped about 60000 people out of work and how many left school in that time?? and thats before they get to us at the bottom of the pile. And we ALL want to work.
Frankly John, Bill and Steve are lucky it’s only 13,000. Imagine what the figure would be if we hadn’t had record emigration to Australia in the last few years. No wonder Key’s stopped blathering on about a brighter future.
And what percentage of these losses concern youth?
The chill winds blow in Europe, the storm coming from this will affect the world. The insamity of the neo-lib financiers made plain to see by Ilargi at Theautomaticearth. This no doubt will be their recipe for all.
…demands the Troika placed on Greece today. They want to fire 150.000 civil servants, raise the retirement age to 67 years immediately, cut “lay-off compensation” by 50%, and, wait for it, introduce a 6-day working week, and stretch the working day to 13 hours. In theory, that could lead to a 78-hour working week.
http://theautomaticearth.com/Finance/those-dutch-tulips-aint-looking-all-that-rosy.html
Hey I want to live and buy a house in Holland. They can buy a house on interest only mortgage and the interest is tax deductible. Sounds like sound financing to me, not!
Prism, Nice story don’t you think…wish I had a Dutch income stream to do the deduct against.
What I find interesting about the stories on TAE and the other international sites are the implications for small countries like NZ. Whilst we Standardistas are busy bitching away on local issues (quite rightly), we are in danger of getting dry gulched by these offshore events. If we dont consider these implications we may win battles and lose the war. To use one of the contemptible management speak lines “think globally, act locally”.
Bored 3 1 1
Yes I sometimes feel we get too close to the pollies here, fascinated with their next reverse backwards flip and triplespeak. They could be regarded as a sideshow in a way, to the world, sort of like that fairground game of moving heads with open mouths that has been used as a graphic here I think. I’m hopeless at throwing balls and scoring points though I keep trying, and we all need to try looking at another show often.
prism
Until after Holland’s election today – then watch this space.
fortran
Thanks I will. I’m not up on Dutch politics though I believe they were tilting right, with immigration being a sore point.
Surely this illustrates just how powerful those behind the scenes really are.
An Germany will be bankrupted to front the leveredged funds, following the court ruling yesterday!
Hone calls for “cup of tea” time…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10833597
well someone has to be the eager beaver linker each day…
Thanks. Excellent! It starts:
And in the middle, there’s this:
I wish they’d start throwing Rio Tinto and Norske Skog into the ring.
All too easy to blame the maaari’s when these 2 big companies (y’know that big business NACT love so much) are one of the major reasons to delay.
Wonder what dodgy deal they’ll attempt with those 2 to prop up the demand they place on our generation..
Thanks TM
It seems as if some successful wealthy people who are into large scale fishing won’t be happy till they profit and take all the fish available to them. After the stock is so depleted that its uneconomical for them they will probably look at chopping down all the trees that are left or something of that nature. Or something else in the food business, force feeding cattle to make them grow faster perhaps.
The Dutch are trying to heavy Australia over the present two year ban which is very irresponsible of them to take this anti-ecological sustainability line. They have been working on this with the Australian government apparently for seven years. It may have been that the Oz govmnt has been reluctant to turn down investment, letting money and jobs and overseas finance cloud their realities. Dutch attack
The banning of the super-trawler Abel Tasman means 50 jobs will be lost, operators Seafish Tasmania say….”It seems that after we have met every rule, regulation and request made of us, after years of working with the relevant authorities, that in the end the government reacted to the size of the Abel Tasman and not the size of the quota and the science that supports it,” Mr Geen said. http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/super-trawler-ban-cost-50-063210851.html
It is confusing for a newbie to look at the way company formed 20/4/12 is made up and looking at the registration Dutch interests loom large. But only one share is listed under shareholding. http://www.scribd.com/doc/105580298/Seafish-Tasmania-Pelagic-Pty-Limited-ASIC-Report-Data
It can be embarrassing for politicians to admit they don’t understand scientific findings and ask naive questions that elicit where the facts are not what they appear. All the company needs to do is talk about extra jobs and eureka they get stuffed into a hole appearing in the employment stats.
Seafish partnered with the Dutch business have named this large trawler Abel Tasman.
I see that name as an insult to the person who was a great mariner of his time, and deserves a better memorial. They are reported as scooping up all the fish they can in volume – said to be sending much of it to Africa at $1 a kilo. Their explanation and justification will no doubt be ‘We are feeding the hungry in the world’. So they plan to profit from that and clean out fish stocks around the world. Apparently this large trawler has been in other areas and moved on as they have ‘vacuumed’ up the stocks.
A case for a Rainbow Warrior-type memento perhaps.
The banning of the super-trawler Abel Tasman means 50 jobs will be lost In my role as an honorary fish I would point out that when all we fish are caught and gone the jobs will be gone too….I say its a red herring.
Radio news on USA this day 13/9/12 No.1
USA ambassador to Libya has been killed plus others in bomb attack on embassy.
This said to be response to an Israeli-Jewish? man’s You-Tube release denigrating Muhammed.
Republican Romney criticises President Obama for sympathising over deaths instead of first being outraged.
So said Radio NZ, but he is not really an Israeli, says 3 News. Lolwut? (To use Mandy Rice-Davies’ famous phrase, “they would say that, wouldn’t they?”)
Where does the education go?
When I walk through the UoA campus and watch people spilling out onto the streets, I wonder how it can be that so many who pass through a world class institution can have such a limited positive impact on a nation. It’s really unsettling. Experience can’t always be trusted to see straight, but education can’t be applied by a mind with no experience – a Catch 22. When people can’t afford to eat properly, the argument about what a “positive impact” is, becomes obscene.
I wonder how it can be that so many who pass through a world class institution can have such a limited positive impact on a nation.
Lets go back to the concept that education is primarily there to create a compliance and acceptance of the status quo…..educationalists constantly object to that idea and insist upon their independence. They are on the payroll still, what does that tell you?
It used to be, in arts and social science subjects anyway, that uni education aimed at developing critical thinking. Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded. Some there, in various disciplines, develop critical thinking. Most are there just go through the motions to get a qualification, and many get jobs… and their main aim is to keep the job, improve their status and pay, get the mortgage etc.
The rest are left to struggle to survive, probably with a certain amount of (non-productive) cynicism about the “system”.
There is always the claim of “critical thinking” being done in the meal ticket subjects. From the graduates I have employed I very much doubt that it becomes inculcated and readily available. We employ graduates who could be described as coming with the right certifications etc, and able to perform well rehearsed mechanistic functions. Usually these are well defined, and very rarely get changed because the graduates apply any thought to it. They do however perform the functions, quietly and without fuss probably because they have a huge debt attached to their pieces of paper.
Interestingly the much maligned (probably deservedly) Bob Jones reputedly said that he only hired arts grads as opposed to meal ticketers, the reason being they could think critically, and he could teach them the rest.
My personal take is that “Degrees” should generally be reserved for subjects that do NOT qualify the holder for a specialist technocratic role. We used to provide these certificates and skills at “Tech”, with excellent results.
Get really pissed off with this concept of getting an education to get a job. In it is the inherent assumption that you’ll be working for someone else and, IMO, it’s that socialisation that actually helps cause the mass inequality within our society.
Yep, Totally agree with that DTB. When I trained as a teacher and started teaching, my idea of education for all was a broad one, to do with education for participation in a democratic society. I am still angry about what has been done to education in the western world by “neoliberal” ideologues.
I understand your anger, I never cease to ask what the hell is taught when I get into conversations with young people who have “degrees” etc? So few have any broad literary, historic, scientific, geographic, language, philosophic knowledge. I don’t blame the teachers although I fear (and I would like to be wrong) that they too now know little either (as a result of their own education).
My wish list would definitely include Maori language as a compulsory subject,it is so much easier to understand another culture if you know their language, and as peoples trapped on a couple of small islands together I reckon we need to do this.
I’d be supportive of that but you’d have to include a fairly significant teaching of the culture as well as it’s often knowing the cultural significance of a word grammatical position that will transfer the actual meaning.
Also, bi and multi-lingual people often show greater tendencies to creativity.
+1 Bored and Draco T Bastard
Additionally, learning a second language helps one understand one’s own language better…better linguistic, historical and cultural literacy all round with Maori taught as a compulsory subject.
I am multi-lingual, in 5 European languages and one Asian language… Will that do?
That’ll do, pig. That’ll do. 😀
As someone who’s done some uni teaching, I think there’s a big difference in capabilities of those that earn grades in the A range, and those that scrape through on Cs. I think the spread of performance between the highest and lowest grades has extended with the increase in numbers of people attending unis.
Some students turn in brilliant work, and are very knowledgeable…. others not so much.
Then there are still others who turn in C; nay – even D work (after moderation), then have their grades arbitrarily “upped” or “downed” at the whim of insecure people running the show. Can’t balme ’em though – all they’ve ever known themselves is a tik-a-box neo-lib inspired tertiary education regime.
“It used to be, in arts and social science subjects anyway, that uni education aimed at developing critical thinking. Now such subjects have been down-graded under the “neoliberal” scam, and job qualifications are foregrounded.”
Maybe I’ve been lucky, but my lecturers from within social science have always fully supported my critical stance…often pushing me to be more critical, and then be critical of myself.
They will often take the piss out of our university institutions, and then push the students to be critical of the uni. Did an amazing course on development and postcolonialism…almost the whole course was taught from a postdevelopment perspective. Although they work for an institution, they are hyper critical of it.
Oh, yes, I also think arts and social sciences lecturers still aim for students developing their critical faculties. But these disciplines also get pressure to be more vocationally relevant – many philosophy lecturers in the UK lost their jobs when I was there in the 80s – the subject tended to get recast as “philosophy of….[insert vocationally-oriented topic].
And there is pressure to pass students turning in work at a pretty mediocre and uncritical level.
Sort of the same in my science courses, though it was easy to tell which lecturers would rather not be teaching undergrads 😉
Look above fatty – couldn’t agree more.
IT all changed when education was commodified. (oops….inadverted captalisation……but speaking of which) IT (now known as ITC) changed too. “Cloud Computing” FFS!
There are a number of other wheels that can be reinvented and repackaged just so long as there’s a buck to be made and silly people to get taken in by used car salesmen masquerading as Prime Minstas
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America – Free download!
Being rolled out to your kids around the globe, ensuring that the gap between the have’s and have nots widens further.
Once the rot is in, the lowered standards, and poorly educated graduates, become “poor” teachers amd so they in turn educate the next generation.
Spiral down its goes, I wonder how dumbed down society will become.
I suspect its past the tipping point, as witnessing what people will tolerate and allow to happen to them, their families, and what they thought were their freedoms, all the while waiting, hoping that those reeking the madness, which they tolerate, are the same people taking their childrens future…
Not alot of noise, given whats going on is there…
Hi. Um, what?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/7669865/13-Canterbury-schools-to-close-18-to-merge
13 Canterbury schools to close, 18 to merge
The Press understands the plan will merge Shirley Boys’ and Christchurch Boys’ High School.
Avonside Girls will be merged with Christchurch Girls’ High School.
Aranui High school will be clustered with Aranui primary, Avondlate and Chisnalwood, into a learning cluster.
This is bullshit…the earthquake is the never ending excuse. The last thing East Christchurch needs is schools closing.
Stand up Labour…do it now, and make it effective. Do not be afraid to make the earthquake political…it has always been political.
And the Greens have a <a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1209/S00203/government-closing-schools-and-giving-up-on-the-east.htm"Press Release about that out:
Corrected link
OOPS
The Education Ministry has announced an extraordinary backtracking over its proposal to merge Shirley Boys’ with Christchurch Boys’ High and the merger of Avonside Girls’ with Christchurch Girls’ High.
The ministry has issued a clarification this afternoon explaining that Avonside and Shirley Boys “may be able to stay on their existing sites” if they had favourable geotechnical reports.
I smell charter schools for Christchurch.
1) the Ministry has now retracted the merges after being mauled in the press 😀
2)
Even if there was the space for expansion available, the “refined” parents who send their spawn CHBS would revolt in terror at the thought of their snobbish, stupid investment in over-priced, in-zone housing (seriously, for the price of buying an in-zone house you could send a kid or two to Christ’s College, StAC or Bedes) being diminished by allowing the middle and lower class ruffians of SBHS (I should know, I went there).
Sheffield (UK) at Hillsborough 1989 where 96 died, after 23 years, the real story of what happened – and the subsequent cover-up by the police – have finally come to light.
Sucks to live in the Ohariu electorate
Fresh out of the letterbox “Peter Dunne Reports”. Peter Dunnes’ newsletter to his constituents.
Irrational annoyance coming on at this
“Fair? I don’t think so.(Title of article) blah blah blah………….voted for Labours Mondayising of Waitangi and ANZAC day holidays Bill and the extension to the Paid Parental Leave Bill. In both cases he says his vote was the crucial one………….ok, alright.Then this
“what perplexes me is that Labour seems happy to accept my vote being the one that tips their Bills over the line, while only a few weeks later they were railing very personal and abusive terms against the fact the Mixed Ownership Model Bill was also passed 61-60 on the basis of my vote……………….Now in all three cases my vote was based on long standing UnitedFuture policy positions that I publicly and consistently stood for at the last election”
He then goes on to accuse Labour of being “inconsistent, extremely self serving and not a little hypocritical” What the F does he expect, they are in opposition. They got support from him for their bills, good, fine but like the rest of NZ may have got pissed off with him for supporting the M.O.M Bill.
Really. I might print a t shirt saying “I am surrounded by idiots” and wear it on polling day here in Ohariu. Too antigonistic?
uturn donthold your breath.
the standard of all roundedness is taking a rapid nosedive in this country.
just listen to a radio station like m*refm for example and you will hear the most inane banal drivel you have ever heard and these are the role models for the current crop of no-brainers.
There was a radio ad the other day for an educational something. Oh yeah, the NZIM. It said something like, “Ralph wants to be a manager…” and I shook my head and wondered, a manager of what? Turns out it doesn’t matter. You just have to want to manage something.
Then there was another really good one, some kind of workforce/labouring employment service with a motherly voice waffling on about how little Johnny was at school arguing with his little friends over whose Dad has the better Job. Mother voice says all jobs are good. I thought it was some kind of political broadcast. Turns out that Mother voice just wants all the Dads on her books.
alright already, u get me! Capiche (now there is a show that will remind you of NAct)
whomever writes as U-Turn is Very, Very, Clever (excellent)
any way, gotta go plant some beans and pumkins-soup while i am waiting for a job
(…waiting for the sun,….waiting,…..waiting,….waiting for U to come along)
for into this House we’re born, Maurice.
to the community
Thank You (Led Zep)
when u Open Your Eyes signs are everywhere
He certainly does move in Mysterious Ways and it will be October soon
(interesting music on 63 already)
any way, as i once said to the arresting police, who are now my friends, “opinions are like Bums-
everybody has got one”
yet,
Where will the Children Play
remember, “you don’t have to live like a Refugee”
what will be, will be
however, Great developments for Tuhoe (Russian, German, French and Scots connections)
they have had prophets in the past. i believe that this Time.
Are Friends Electric?
me? i disconnect from u
fnjckg. I hope you don’t mind me acknowledging your unique style. I appreciate the song titles you introduce into your conversation.
Yes, great developments for Tuhoe – a long time coming. They suffered like many Iwi under colonisation however their experience of it was unique and extremely brutal. They still held on and even thrived for some time during Rua Kenana’s leadership at Maungapohatu. They have spirit, perserverance and Mana. I hope the way ahead is now clearer for them and they can thrive again.
Dear The Standard,
Mr D Parker has recently posted a series of posts in relation to the talks he has been having with overseas experts in the financial and economic fields. Mr D Cunliffe has also been researching in Finland recently and has posted an interesting post on this and Mr Parker’s activities.
I consider these activities that the 2 Labour Party members are conducting as extremely heartening and it would be great to see some of this information being posted & discussed on this site.
It appears to me that discussing National’s phony activities has distracted us all from some more positive things going on in our political scene.
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2012/09/12/the-cult-of-national-party-economics/
[lprent: So write a guest post and sent it in to thestandardnz@gmail.com. If it is interesting, opinionated, and well written then one of the people who reads the email might decide to pop it up. Here are the previous ones to give you an idea – http://thestandard.org.nz/author/guest-post/
Authors pretty much write about whatever they find interesting. It is entirely likely that they haven’t read those posts or haven’t found them interesting.
Writing anything to “The Standard” will get me by default (since The Standard is a dumbarse computer program running a blog site that I maintain). Since I seldom write posts these days (http://thestandard.org.nz/author/admin/) it isn’t an appeal that is likely to get much of a proactive response… ]
Cheers lprent,
Guess I was hoping for one of your articles that syndicates other posts.
I think that these Labour politicians are doing positive work and the focus is so easily placed on the negatives.
I noticed that Red Alert got more interest in a thread criticizing Nat than these series of posts regarding the researching of finances and different economical approaches.
I conclude it is not only the politicians that need to lift their game…we all do.
Problem is they’re too long. Few people have the time to spend reading them. I know this is something that Labour has been told over and over again. Make your points succinctly and you will get a better response.
There are some very bright people of both genders on this site who can do it. So why can’t our top Labour pollies do it?
I think Parker’s RA posts particularly have that draw back. But Cunliffe’s press releases/posts on the Labour Party site are reasonably succinct.
And I think there is a place for longer pieces for discussion by the more hardcore lefties.
e.g. this rather angry piece by Cunliffe today, slamming Joyce and National re the country’s jobs.
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2012/09/13/they-dont-care-about-your-job/
It begins:
And today we also have a joint Cunliffe/Parker post on the Labour website, and as a press release on Scoop.:
http://www.labour.org.nz/news/national%E2%80%99s-selective-figures-hide-problems-in-the-real-economy
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1209/S00213/nationals-selective-figures-hide-problems.htm
I think such press releases are aimed more at the media, which the journos don’t usually reprint in full – just pick out bits and summarise. But I guess a press release should aim to be reported as the author desires/
Yes, I agree Carol, Cunliffe’s posts are very good. Darien Fenton is another whose posts are succinct and to the point. It’s not surprising therefore that they usually attract a reasonable number of comments. I accept also there are occasions when longer articles are appropriate – such as David Parker’s recent posts on his overseas fact-finding tour.
However anyone who has been in Labour for any length of time would be well aware of the tendency of Labour pollies to produce long-winded diatribes simply for the sake of it. It’s almost as if they like the look of their own words as well as the sound of their own voices – the latter part of this sentence being attributed to pollies of all stripes of course.
‘National day of action against welfare reform oct 5th 2012’
This is on the scoop site,sorry can’t link it.
Welfare changes come in on the 15th oct.
Interesting result in the Dutch elections, with the centre right VVD edging the Labour party by 2 seats, 41-39. Both are well short of a majority in the 150 seat Parliament and the most likely outcome is for them to form a left/right coalition. Voters have rejected the anti-european parties, though the Socialist party will not lose any seats as a result and will probably come 4th.
The really good news is that the racist Freedom Party, led by the loony Geert Wilders, has taken a hammering, echoing the declining fortunes of England’s BNP.
Voters rejected anti eur0pean parties, which actually means the rac*sts are still holding power.
In case you can;t work it out, that those who are unelected and pulling the strings at the EU, who control the Central Banks, those types are the real rac*sts
All the while silly people focus in unimportant factors such as the BNP type political parties.
Ill spell it out for you: Most people are not rac*sts, but those in charge almost exclusively, and exhaustively will be!
Result for this election – Holland goes down the pan, because they voted for the rac*sts, you just don’t realise it because you only see the little picture, probably the same as the Dutch!
I take it you had the Amsterdam space cake for breakfast this morning, Muzza. Get in touch when you come down.
a thought, while raking; a recent aquaintence, and now friend of mine, is The head unionist at a local manufacturer, where they have established their own site-specific incorporated society Union.
-learn something every day
We were discussing backgrounds and concurred on the relationship between experiencing poverty as a child and the development of shopping (therefore consumption) habits/addictions
isn’t it interesting that there is a suggested positive correlation between
Poverty and Consumption
i hear about this phenomena regularly, now that boomers and Gen X are maturing and reflecting on their developmental histories
-Big Cars? -Alain de Botton: Status Anxiety
(vouch)
fnjckg 16
I heard the story that Sophia Loren who was a gorgeous voluptuous Italian film star had been a skinny hungry street kid. After her success and money came in, she stocked her pantry to overflowing with all sorts of pasta. It gave her great comfort to know she wouldn’t go hungry again.
Yet another case of screw you
Water Cares new regime has gone from quarterly charging to monthly, but how is it that in our case 3 months costs was $195 and now monthly it is $95. Because this CCO s giving it to its customers.
The unit rate has increased from $1.3/kL to $1.343/kT
Waste water fixed cost have reduced from $426.36 p.a. to $190, but also a NEW cost volumetric charging of Wastewater @ $2.81/kL with waste water being calculated as 78.5% of water usage. So to maintain the same annual waste water costs i.e. $426.36 less $190 = $236.36 variable costs which equate to 84.11 kL p.a. or the same usage as a single person household at 84kL or 230L/Day. Yet from Watercare’s own data a family of 4 uses 600L/day of 219 kL or an increase of $380 p.a. or in total a 25% increase. This when inflation is at less than 3%, and not factoring in the theoretical cost to a household from going from quarterly to monthly charging. Thanks Auckland council and your CCO.
It would be of interest to see how many others have picked up the cost increase as to those that have not noticed thru the shortening billing period. Just wait until summer hots us and watering the vege patch.
Herodotus
That comment should be copies by all concerned so they can read over it and then again and compare their past and present a/cs till they see just what this complicated system achieves. Does the 22% not going into the waste water go into you, or evaporate or where?
The 22.5% was to pacify many who claimed that there was no recognition for gardening and other water usage that does not flow back into the waste water system. What they don’t understand is that if 100% was used then the rate would reduce, so by reducing the % to 77.5% all that happened (Though I would find it hard to imagine anyone connect to confirm this) was that the $ rate was lifted over time. My experience related to Manukau Water activities. The same applies to normal rates whereby should valuations over the area increase/decrease then the $ rate to apply would increase/decrease accordingly, we all end up paying roughly the same amount (Unless something like the fixed charge component radically moves)
herodotus 17 1 1
On rates – I think that some Councils set up a particular area rating charge when they do large works that contribute to that area mainly. Which would stop the spread of cost over all. I think that’s a good idea.
We in Nelson have had meters installed which in theory is good because it helps you to monitor your use and control it. We had to put in a large filtering system because our water quality was I think low at D or E. I think we pay for it or most out of our meterage. When people started being more careful with water to keep their costs down, there was less cash coming in to meet the repayment of the new water system, so then the rates went up. Practical and follows logical principles but not what individuals had hoped.
Incidentally our chargeable rate is $1.62 per cubic metre (not litres as I suppose yours is) and daily line charge at 44.60c and 6 month charge is $174.
Latest poll, minor changes (margin of error), but no traction for Labour –
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2012/4821/
That’s in line with the Herald Digi-poll this week.
No change = need to change. Time is being wasted under Labour’s caretaker leader.
Maybe National just needs to stuff up a bit more?
…or maybe our media need to start reporting on just how much they are stuffing up
(…I mean how much MORE stuff ups does it take….)
🙁
Did the media tell the Labour leader to disappear into the provinces? Are the media responsible for the Greens getting more and better coverage than Labour, most days?
If you’d like a basic tutorial on how to get stories into the media, ask the Greens, or Winston, or Hone, or Louisa Wall, or pretty much anybody … except Labour’s front man.
It’s HIS job. It’s tiresome and just false, to keep blaming the media for Shearer’s inability to communicate his message (last Sunday was the exception, but when else?).
I’m unclear of the details of how the game works, however I am capable of observing the general trends in reporting.
Perhaps you are right, that it is all up to the political party to keep their faces on the News, however, considering the massive fodder that is available on National stuff ups and has been all last term too, I question the NZ journalists interests in keeping the general public interested, let alone informed.
I wouldn’t make the previous comment had not the bias on NZ TV toward Key been palpable over the elections. This went so far as to ban one left-wing commentator and take another journalist to court for finding out a little too much against National’s interests.
I consider left wing parties are up against a distinct bias with our media at present, although, as you say, perhaps there are tactics that could be used to overcome this.
There has been highly faourable – fawning, in fact – coverage of John Key during the first term. No doubt about that.
It began to fade with the “teapot tape” story. Police raids on media organisations weren’t a great goodwill gesture by Key. The love-in ended.
So this year, the tone of the coverage has clearly changed, and the opportunities for the opposition have been there for the taking. The Greens (with far fewer resources) have been astute and effective, whereas Labour have been bumbling and stumbling.
We just can’t keep blaming the MSM. Labour need to have something to communicate, and know how to communicate it. Usually they don’t.
I agree the tone has improved, yet I note that still they are very quick to put in the Nat election line-for example the “see how they will find the money to afford it” comment after the piece about the recent education speech.
It would be nice if they were equally scathing about National-there is plenty of room for it.
You do make a good point about the Greens though, they do manage to get their point across regularly and clearly.
There appears to be some lack of savvy from Labour, yet on balance I still consider that the bias is toward the National paradigm (…or maybe JK worship based on money-whore-fawning-mentality…).
dunno.
If nat go up again next time I’ll start being wary. I’d expect a change in tack by labour post-pag, for better or worse (the new strategist could end up going even more vanilla, god forbid) .
Of course you are correct. Especially if it’s the unelected,hired strategists who determine how Left or Right (or “vanilla”) Labour is, not caucus, or god forbid, the Leadership.
too true.
My impression of the labour caucus collectively (one or two individuals are willing to call a spade a spade) is that what strategy their is is focus-group driven, and scheduled according to an imaginary “optimum” election cycle timetable rather than as circumstances change.
I could be very wrong, of course. It’s just what it looks like to me from the outside.
4 teh Lulz
https://twitter.com/PeteDGeorge/status/246147580579430400
Oh Petey. Oh dear.
Interesting. The Maori hui on water is in progress still, but this report has King Tuheitia asking the powerful Iwi Leaders to stand down from individual negotiations with the government, until a pan-Maori agreement is completed:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7665035/Hui-calls-for-new-deal-on-Maori-rights
Thanks Carol, that whole article makes interesting reading.
In a speech to as many as 1000 of Maoridom’s movers and shakers, King Tuheitia said Maori had always owned the water and their rights over the water had been handed down from generation to generation.
“From birth we have been taught that the Waikato river is the life force of my people….simply, it has given life to our people.”
But the crystal clear river which he used to swim in as a child was “a degraded body of water”.
“From Ngaruawahia out to the sea you cannot swim or take kai from it. This is not the legacy I want to leave for our children.”
How can anyone own water?
I feel that the message that Maori are trying to give is being lost in the whole ownership argument that leaves most of us believing it is about greed
Cool, so I can use your pool? Be round in the morning. Oh yeah I’ll be bringing a few mates and having some beers in the afternoon, maybe a bit of a party friday night. We’ll be selling beers and Woodstocks to cover the cost of the sound system and the bands.
\
Saturday we’ll run a sausage sizzle most of the day and if it all goes well we’ll be back to do the same every weekend this summer.
In the 1930’s Labour decided that every child should have a chance at secondary school. So, under the guidance of one Clarence Beeby, secondary education was universalised and made free for all students, and schools given the tools to ensure a quality education for ALL.
In the 2010’s National decided that every child should have a chance at early childhood education. So, under the guidance of one Paula Bennett, they forced the poorest of single parents to purchase ECE services of dubious quality, threatening to cut their benefits if they didn’t.
It goes to show how far to the dogs this country has gone really..