Mr Key said that if offshore buyers were found to be a major factor in rising house prices, his preferred deterrent would be a land tax, not a ban.
Under the TPP, New Zealand would retain the ability to impose new taxes on foreigners.
This kind of mechanism seems to have been quite effective in slowing down overseas buying in the Auckland market?
So it’s not the case that we will have no ability to address this issue if we decide we need to?
Yes. Just like the tax he introduced that seems to have cooled off buying in the AKL market Tricledown.
Just like a Labour Govt. will be free to introduce also….
Key govts outside health board consultants waste $300 million of DHB,s costing taxpayers $78 million on top of that for a few friends of the National Party to live it up while those that need the healthcare are denied.
Paula Rebstock on $ 1500 a day for a partime job.
While Cyfs carries on with the same failed formula of behaviour not unlike a very sick circus soap opera in which Children are worse off in their care.
The govt need to ACT fast to fix these seriously damaging issues.
This govt said it was a better manager.
What utter BS.
Doubling consultants pay seems to have had the opposite effect Key Joyce and Brownlie claimed .
Nepotism is the reason.
CERA Jenny Shiply on $450,000 per annum for a partime job. $385 million to fix dodgy repairs.
Highly overpaid Con-sultants are costing the country taxpayers over $1billion a year.
Where is the ACT party on this bloated bearaucracy .
No where to be found.
National and ACT are wolowing in piles of taxpayers money.
This is the biggest Con since SCF.
A Junket to end all junkets to fund friends of National and ACT.
Where is the ACT party at all?
Well this morning it was announced that David Seymour is doing a clean up job for boss Steven Joyce looking at all the old dusty legal Bills and Regs the government has been accumulating. (Getting ready to get our legislation conforming with requirements of TPPA bosses?)
There were quotes of the amusing old legislation that doesn’t seem needed.
But what ones are being prepared for abandonment that weren’t mentioned?
Then there is the confusion that comes about with some being lost in the crowd that no-one had heard about, being ‘Disappeared’. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/286823/goodbye,-y2k-information-disclosure-act
Then there is the possibility of important basic legislation being lost, because it was passed while attached to some other Bill, as an extra. Often those end up being for the benefit of the incumbent Party or their friends. But they may have had unintended useful consequences and we need to watch out for stray sheep in that flock. There may be a Shrek in there.
Then there is the possibility of regulations and enabling legislation that we actually need to do some things that are important to the people.
I wouldn’t trust this lot to p.ss straight when they are sober. And I think that is a fair and considered summation of them.
So watch out peeps, you have till some time in December to see what they are up to and try and rein in the brutes.
There doesn’t appear to be much in those acts to cause issues if repealed or their remaining active provisions moved into other acts. But I will have a closer perusal later.
Think I’m in spam again. Put a large comment through 10.18 where is it at 10.22? This is happening all the time. I haven’t changed anything that I know of. But I also haven’t updated to the latest Firefox No. Could that be it? And I don’t think my Comments list is updating regularly.
Yes that list is enough to overthrow this govt but summers coming so Key will be off to WAIKIKI, suntan drinking man finding himself a friend cause he aint got any here I know
Be good to know how will be turning up to his parties over the summer break just to get an idea on the crap we will have to handle next year
lol
so “technically” an enlightened government could ban all non-NZ-resident foreign ownership, they just might be taken through ISDS to provide compensation.
For his next trick Key will say that there’s “technically” nothing stopping people dealing meth, although they might be taken through the criminal justice system.
New Zealand rugby writers are ramping up the distortions and outright lies;
Don’t believe a word by the likes of Liam Napier, Andrew Saville or Phil Gifford.
According to this absurd and insulting piece by one Liam Napier, the All Blacks are seeking “closure” and to “exterminate the ghosts of 2007”. To give him his due, Napier does acknowledge something that is strenuously avoided by most of his colleagues, i.e., that the superior Tricolors were beaten in the farcical 2011 final not by the All Blacks, but by the fact there was a non-referee in “charge”….
Lessons of 1999, 2007 and the 2011 World Cup final at Eden Park, where the French still claim they were duded by referee Craig Joubert in the tense closing stages, will ensure the All Blacks don’t take them lightly.”
Otherwise, it’s the same old same old from Napier, as it is from all the rest of his grim, marginally literate and joyless brotherhood. You can expect far more of this dismal, dishonest crap over the next week….
Liam Napier is either too lazy or too dishonest to acknowledge it by anything other than his dismissive sneer in the piece I quoted, but some commentators were prepared to tell the unpalatable truth…..
nitpicky. not huge infringements, the ref will always miss a few things.
The comments by Matt Williams and Neil Francis are thoughtful and fair; they are not “nitpicky”. They are only talking about the most flagrant violations, all of which were committed right in front of Craig Joubert, who was supposed to be the referee.
remember Wayne Barnes’ performance in 2007?
The link you provided is a lot more balanced and fair than almost anything else that appeared in the Herald about that match. However, it neglects to mention something vital: In all of the sound and fury following that match—nearly all of it coming from the rabid sports media, not from fans—the forward pass by Michalak leading to the Jauzion try was hammered ad nauseam, but the All Blacks’ forward pass that led to McAlister’s try was resolutely ignored.
Barnes made two mistakes, which balanced out. Joubert, on the other hand, failed or refused to do his job. There is no credible comparison to be made between the two.
The TPP could lead to seized and destroyed devices, outlaw security research done without permission, and pave the way to perpetual insecurity for the IoT ecosystem.
‘Open Letter’ to Matthew Hooton from Penny Bright 2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
12 October 2015
Matthew Hooton,
Managing Director
Exceltium
Dear Matthew,
According to the ‘bio’ on the following website, you are, purportedly,
“…New Zealand’s leading public affairs strategist and political commentator.
He has over 20 years’ experience in political and corporate communications, working for the New Zealand Government and some of the country’s most influential companies.”
Matthew Hooton is New Zealand’s leading public affairs strategist and political commentator. He has over 20 years’ experience in political and corporate communications, working for the New Zealand Government and some of the country’s most influential companies.
He maintains excellent connections with senior levels of all of New Zealand’s main political parties, and with the senior staff of the National, Labour, Green, Maori and ACT parties.
Matthew has a close relationship with many New Zealand Ministers and Members of Parliament, and is well known in political circles and by the public as a political commentator on both Radio New Zealand and RadioLive, and as a columnist for the National Business Review.
He has led a wide range of government relations programmes, from those where government/industry partnerships were sought such as with ZESPRI International, through to seeking controversial legislative change, such as work with the Kyoto Forestry Association.
A former press secretary to the New Zealand trade and agriculture minister, he played a lead role at the age of 28 in the government relations and communications programmes that led to the creation of Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest company. He has also worked internationally on projects in China, Europe, Mongolia and throughout Australia.
__________________________________________
You may recall that on 9 October 2015, the following article:
You may recall that I made the following two posts regarding this above-mentioned article:
publicwatchdog (4,654 comments) says:
October 9th, 2015 at 5:10 pm
Mathew – would you care to provide evidence which confirms where Professor Jane Kelsey has ever said anything which is factually inaccurate about the TPPA?
Thanks!
Penny Bright
_____________________________________________
publicwatchdog (4,654 comments) says:
October 9th, 2015 at 5:15 pm
Mathew – what’s your view on Trade Minister Tim Groser holding a secret meeting with Mayor Len Brown on the TPPA on 7 April 2015?
Does that comply with the principles of ‘open, transparent and democratically accountable’ local government – in your view?
2. I don’t give a fuck who Tim Groser or Len Brown meet with. But it would make sense for the trade minister to brief the mayor of Auckland on his work from time to time.
3. Pay your rates.
4. Check yourself into a mental hospital.
Best as always
Matthew
______________________________________________
This was my follow-up (albeit belated) response:
publicwatchdog (4,654 comments) says:
October 11th, 2015 at 10:55 am
A belated reply to Matthew Hooton’s post October 9th, 2015 at 5:49 pm
Gee Matthew!
For a purportedly experienced ‘spin doctor’ / Media Commentator – that is a rather, (in my view), apoplectic and intemperate response, to my arguably straightforward questions?
Sheesh!
You were more pleasant when you were drinking!
(If you’re stressed, for whatever reason, try Spirulina, those ‘B’ vitamins can really help).
___________________________________________________
2. I don’t give a fuck who Tim Groser or Len Brown meet with. But it would make sense for the trade minister to brief the mayor of Auckland on his work from time to time.
3. Pay your rates.
4. Check yourself into a mental hospital.
Best as always
Matthew
______________________________________________
With all due respect, Matthew, quite frankly, I for one, expect a much higher standard of response and behaviour, from someone in your position.
Having checked with the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ), I find that the company for which you are Managing Director, Exeltium, is not listed as a member, so, as I understand it, their ‘Code of Conduct’, does not apply to you or your company.
I understand that you and the company for which you are Managing Director, Exceltium, does political ‘lobbying’ work.
Unfortunately, although New Zealand is ‘perceived’ to be the ‘second least corrupt country in the world’ (according to the 2014 Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index'( http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results ) New Zealand has neither a ‘Register’ nor ‘Code of Conduct’ for lobbyists.
Where is the ‘accountability’ Matthew Hooton, or do you simply think that you can say what you like?
What do I want?
I want the public, elected representatives and media, to see for themselves what you have stated in the public domain, and ask the question as to whether you are ‘fit for duty’ to be a ‘ public affairs strategist and political commentator’ or a when you engage in what I consider to be such arguably, seriously unprofessional behaviour.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
……….
‘Anti-Corruption / Anti-Privatisation campaigner / Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate (polled 4th with 11,723 votes)
“Because a Labour Party which keeps the TPPA is “left wing.””
Of course not.
MMP, CV. It’s not about individual party positions alone, it’s about potential governments. Do you think that a Labour/NZF coalition will be more left or less left than a Labour/GP one? Or do you think that there is a such a thing as NZF/GP coalition?
Peters will knobble any deal between Labour and the GP it can. They’re also quite capable of forming government with National. You can call them left wing if you like, but they public position themselves as centrist.
Under what circumstances would NZF help shift NZ back to the left again?
Do you think that either NZF or the GP has the ability to get Labour to withdraw from the TPP if either of them were in a coalition with Labour?
On the Green position I don’t think it is as clear cut as some here believe. When interviewed by Jessica Williams a week or so ago James Shaw said that it may be better to “fix” the TPP than exit it (interview doesn’t seemed to be archived).
A few people commented on twitter in response that “fixing” a treaty may not be that feasible.
The TPPA shit is baked in and if Shaw thinks he can be Mr Fix It, he can go ahead and delude himself and some of the Greens/Progressive. But I will make my darndest in my own community to ensure that none shall be so daft as to swallow that.
“As for evidence, keep in mind the context of discussion, hence look at the post I was replying too.”
I prefer to base my opinions on evidence not hearsay (all due respect to Karen, who just expressed an opinion that also needs backing up to be taken more seriously).
After being a Nats voter, switching to IMP solely for me support of Medical Mary Jane (well that was a wasted vote), and now having met Kevin Hague my personal views are best matched by the greens.
The move to MMP was not the end of political reform – it was the start.
New Zealand First aims to make Parliament itself a more responsive and accountable institution, and to give greater power to the community.
New Zealand First wants to form a practical partnership with the New Zealand people by the judicious use of direct public referenda where there is neutrality and impartiality in the question; there is fair dissemination of all of the facts on both sides of the argument; there is certainty in the poll (i.e. the question can be clearly understood); there is appropriate time for debate to be conducted; and the referendum’s objective is capable of being met within the country’s fiscal constraints.
Right, so NZF will allow some form of direct democracy once it’s the government. In the meantime, Peters has consistently undermined democracy in NZ by refusing to say before elections who he will form coalition with. I also count his macho politics as counter to democracy as well as his setting the bad tone for MMP with his early bullshit in coalition deals. He’s all about the power and he’s not about transparent democracy despite his rhetoric.
To that end, I’ll note two things about your quote. One is the use of the word ‘judicious’ (and the subsequent conditions), which gives Peters plenty of wriggle room. The other is the lack of clarity about whether NZF means to include Citizens Initiated Referenda, and whether they would be binding.
(and as per OAB’s points, there are better ways to encourage democracy than majority rule, although I can understand why Peters wants that, being the centrist he is).
I don’t know much about NZF’s internal structures, but afaik the GP, Mana and the IP are all ahead of NZF in terms of membership input into and control over policy.
Have a read of the GP policy on involvement of the people,
I’ll pull out a few bits,
The electoral system should encourage close links and accountability between individual MPs and their constituents or constituencies.
Freedom of information and openness of government and its procedures are essential elements of a democracy.
Active democratic processes require more than periodic elections and stronger mechanisms are needed for the ongoing engagement of informed citizens in the development and enactment of key national and local policies.
The principle of subsidiary will guide the devolution of decision-making so that it takes place as close as possible to the communities more affected by the decisions.
Political power gives one the ability to get their policies through, thus Peters seeks it.
Peters prefers to let voters decide before he will consider coalition partners. Voters are generally aware of this. Going either way gives him, thus the party and its supporters more possibility of getting their policy through. Whether that is undermining the process or merely utilizing it is subjective I guess.
I agree conditions could be improved, but giving voters more direct say is a step in the right direction
Binding referenda will be triggered by petitions achieving support of 10% of the electorate.
You seem to be overlooking a major fact, democracy rules is the essence of democracy.
“Peters prefers to let voters decide before he will consider coalition partners.”
Ae, that’s the difference. In the GP, it’s the members that decide, well before the election. And the voters know that the GP’s intentions are.
“Voters are generally aware of this.”
Really? because the number of lefties on ts who believe that Peters won’t go with National and that he is reliable on this is asoutnding.
“Going either way gives him, thus the party and its supporters more possibility of getting their policy through.”
Yes. NZF is not a left wing party, it’s centrist. I don’t have a problem with NZF doing this, I just think we should be more honest about what it means.
Also, NZF may function according to its values once Peters is gone. He is a power monger and it’s pretty hard to further democracy when that is the case.
“You seem to be overlooking a major fact, majority rules is the essence of democracy.”
Only in its most inhibited form. As we can see from the current govt, majority rules democracy can be manipulated to reduce democracy even further. Many of us here see representative democracy as more fair and more efficient. Democracy is about the people ruling the people, not the people half heartedly putting one lot of power mongers in and then another every three years to do what they like.
“Ae, that’s the difference. In the GP, it’s the members that decide, well before the election. And the voters know that the GP’s intentions are. “
Did party members approve of their flag debacle?
Who are the Greens prepared to work with? NZF?
“Really? because the number of lefties on ts who believe that Peters won’t go with National and that he is reliable on this is astounding.”
That’s more a case of wishful thinking.
People should know, it has been Peters position for years, and he’s publicly stated it numerous times.
NZF may be centrist, but in a number of areas its position is left of Labour.
As I said above, political power is necessary to get policy through. Given the power, Peters plans to further democracy by introducing a more direct form.
Representative democracy is far from more fair and more efficient because it fails to take into account the majority on major issues, it’s a vote given every 3 years. That’s not fair.
Therefore, policies are more short-term and can change direction with a change of government, undoing what has been done. Which is far from efficient.
Democracy is about people having a say on the issues that concern them. Representative democracy is about voting in others to have your say. Therefore, a number of people are left selecting the best of the worst to represent them.
It’s like being forced to buy the album when you only like a few songs.
Direct democracy requires safeguards to protect the minority, such as the Treaty, a Constitution, Bill of Rights etc…
“Did party members approve of their flag debacle?”
That’s a daft question and shows that you have no idea how political parties function. Also, I was talking about formation of government which is a completely different thing than day to day policy and actions.
“Who are the Greens prepared to work with? NZF?”
The Greens will work with anyone on share common ground. Including NZF. It’s NZF that has a problem with working with others (or probably it’s Peters that has that problem).
Sorry, I meant to say participatory democracy. Majority rules democracy eventually becomes a form of bullying and coercion. It’s not particularly representative. For instance, I’d like to see government work with a wide range of political view. NZF seems against that (Peters wants to sideline the GP for instance, and MANA too I think). We need more participation and better representation.
I’m in two minds about binding CIFs. If they were done alongside other initiatives, maybe, but I think we need to up our game with civics in general in NZ, starting with teaching it properly in schools and reforming local body elections so that people get involved. We have to learn how to do democracy, not just learn about individual issues to tick a box next to. Policy shouldn’t be a popularity contest (the flag is showing us all the pitfalls of that).
Direct democracy, as beloved by demagogues the world over.
Is there something wrong with the select committee process? Then fix the select committee process – for example by introducing stricter rules of evidence and better understanding of how party lines create conflicts of interest.
Is there something wrong with the select committee process?
Well, the big one would be that the select committee can ignore the submissions made and thus support a law that the majority of people don’t want.
Of course, it’s then up to parliament to legislate that law but they too need to be accountable to the people. They should not have the power to go against the wishes of the people.
Interested parties make submissions – some from duty, others from self interest – all arguments can be heard – and yes, the National Party does it’s best to break it (like they won’t do that with demagoguery 😆 ) .
In any event, your list of qualifiers betrays the truth.
Yes, interested parties make submissions. But the point is, their input can be disregarded and their numbers are small in comparison to the amount of people that vote.
Hence, when it comes to the two there is no comparison nor is it (the select committee process) a substitution.
Labour make a big song and dance opposing a certain issue, but when it comes to the crunch, they turn around and support it.
Little was missed in his break. Clearly people were looking to the leader of the opposition for an alternative solution. However, upon his return he huffed and puffed, but in the end is beginning to show his true colours.
It’s time the left sent Labour a message. If Labour want to support the TPP they can do it without the help of the left.
I urge the left to withdraw from Labour.
If Labour come in at under 10% at the next election, then perhaps they may start to actually listen to their core supporters.
Ok, so you don’t have an opinion about what constitutes a left wing party and you think that there is no such thing as an objective definition it’s just personal preference? Perhaps you should stick to voting Labour 😉
Glad Labour has finally figured out what its message is. This message is about the TPP, but also about where Labour is positioning itself for the next election. Not a lot of hope there for lefties, so my suggestion is to look to the GP in terms of voting and look outside of parliament in terms of change beyond that.
A small sample of people that can be bothered to click on a vote, if National lose the next election (they won’t) then I’ll concede public opinion is against the TPP
True but I suspect that if people had had what was actually happening explained to them accurately then they would have. this may also apply to the TPPA but I doubt it – we’ve had too many years of a lot of us getting worse off because of these trade deals.
A lot of people didn’t agree with the straw man argument put up by the local idiot group Family First which had no relation to the actual law change to remove the defense of discipline for assault on a child.
We all know Herald readers are really Mana voters, heh.
There was another Radiolive poll that had a rumoured 92% of people against the TPPA, but when I search on their website it comes up with a deadlink.. surprise, surprise.
Indeed. To save face on their bottom lines, Labour are considering legislating against the ordinances of the TPP.
However, they seem to have forgotten the dispute process itself also goes against one of their five bottom lines. And going off their comments, it’s clear they don’t plan to legislate against that.
Therefore, despite their concerns and so called bottom lines, it seems Labour no longer value our sovereign right to govern. Shame on them.
Additionally, the cat was let out of the bag when Robertson said the Party would weigh up the consequences, implying if the consequences are to severe, Labour will back down.
So brace yourself for that excuse coming into play later on down the track.
“And this is why Labour keeps losing voters. Just have to have the Greens pick them up.”
Ae, and get the message out there that voting NZF is not a vote for a left wing shift or government.
The Greens can’t hold the left on their own. What’s required now is either a big increase in support for them via membership and/or voting, and an extra-parliamentary movement.
What do you mean? Do you mean that if they were the government? Or do you mean it would be a bottom line, non-negotiable in coalition talks with Labour?
In the case of coalition talks it is up to the party membership, in the case of if they form the government? I guess the same, but the greens live in the real world and assume the need to work with another party
Is the next election is more than 6 months beyond any date of ratification? If so, the neither Labour nor any other party can walk away unless they have gumption. Thinking…essential;ly reformist social democratic party and gumption. Nope. Not seeing it.
But that aside, this is truly fucking woeful.
However, Labour was still committed to the policies (restriction on house sales and favouring NZ business for government procurement) and was prepared to enact them if in Government and face a test in the courts if necessary.
“If one of the other party countries think we’ve flouted [the deal], there’s a process that they have to go through, and I think we’re going to test the boundaries of that..
Has no-one bothered to tell him (or has he been to lazy to find out) that three employees of corporate law firms sit behind closed doors and come to binding decisions on any dispute; that they need pay no heed to precedents, national laws, international laws, parliamentary legislation…Nothing. And has no-one told him they do not have to publish their deliberations?
Meanwhile, he wants to test the boundaries!? – fuck-
Is it 6 months from ratification, or that NZ can walk away with 6 months notice at any time?
“test the boundaries”. It’s a typical bit of messaging from Labour. Either they’re aware of the disputes process and think that it won’t hold up, or as mentioned below, they believe they can ignore it if it finds against NZ, in which case they believe they will do their hardest to find ways around the agreement.
Or they already know that most things will be binding enough to not be worth the fight, in which case this is just the same old prevarication from Labour and when the crunch comes it’ll be ‘we’d like to do the right thing but our hands are tied’.
tbh, I wonder if it’s a combination of the two. That they’re so used to spinning and following the weather vane that they truly believe the intention of the first bit because they can always rely on the second.
The vid that DtB posted the other day should be watched. I’ve tried to do a break-down of it for a post, but…well, last night’s cynicism was the result of that endeavour. I’ll still take isolated points from it at some point. Meanwhile, if you missed it and have the bandwidth and time…
yeah, sorry, probably not going to watch something that long and depressing.
Are you saying that the TPP and TTIP use exactly the same disputes resolution process, or that the process the TTIP will use gives us an indication of how the TPP will go?
All these deals use the same mechanism. I wouldn’t call it a process. Imagine three thugs have you cornered against a wall. Happily, you got to choose one of them, but they’re all from the same gang.
They are about to ‘go through a process’. This arbitration – kangaroos would be proud and Stalin would be blushing.
He, David Malone, fair demolishes all the myths around these ‘agreements’.
eg – There is no investment lost by not being a party to any bi-lateral investment clause according to separate studies by the World Bank, Yale and Tufts. The bi-lateral investment clauses open the door to the Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS).
Astonishingly, all the economic gains (underwhelming as they are) only result from running the data through a particular ‘general equilibrium model’ that’s been thoroughly discredited because of inbuilt and obviously bullshit assumptions. When the numbers are thrown through a more robust and credible UN model, everything comes out as a negative for everyone (except for the USA).
– labour share of gdp down
– government tax take down
– wages down
– rates of employment down
– net exports down
– increased financial instability
I’d love to know what model was used for the TPPA, but I think I already know the answer given that the ‘benefits’ are very, very similar to those envisaged for the TTIP.
And to pick up the convo from last night, I suppose I see it’s easier to get better democracy from having a state and government, than to write off the state and government and try for something else. Particularly in NZ, where we are so far from a revolution (as compared to many other places in the world). I hold that view not because I think this parliament is likely to make steps in the right direction necessarily, but because having some kind of state gives us a kind of reprieve to do the other work.
For instance if the GP got to 20% of the vote and Labour were forced to form a coalition with them, we’d get a term or three of being able to shift the centre left again (in the culture, not necessarily in parliament). On the other hand I can see the argument that such a government migh just breed more complacency and lead to people not doing the urgent work required..
I appreciate the degree of cynicism though, esp if you are doing the hard yards of watching 90s mins of in your face reality (somewhere I’m not prepared to go). Keeping the conversation going about what else we could do seems vital.
Well, I am depressed! Has Labour learnt nothing from the examples of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders? I will never vote Labour again, and I’ll be letting the local branches know very strongly! F***, F***, F***!
I find Littles stance very clear and easy to understand which is there is enough good in it trade wise to keep but he will flout the rules if necessary for the good of the country.
As someone who’s income over my entire working life to date has come from nzs primary product trade anything that opens up markets is good.
Edit I just noticed bearded git has said it better below.
It lines them up nicely with nzf buy leaving room to ban foreign ownership.
If labour gets to 40% ,which is were they need to be to change the government, the other parties will have tow the line .
And I think nz would be safe from prosecution from real estate investors as they are by nature opportunists and won’t waste money in legal battles they’ll just move on.
@puckish above
I think Little can see that there are some gains and Labour will be portrayed as negative if it doesn’t back the deal. Seems a reasonable position.
However, he has made it plain throughout that Labour would ignore the agreement in terms of its policy on foreign purchases of residences and any other matter the party felt was not in the interests of New Zealanders, and that this would be fought through the courts. Key has admitted today, among a lot of blather, that Labour would be able to implement its ban on non-residents buying residences.
The interesting question is would Labour take any notice of the kangaroo ISD court?
There are some gains, but they are modest. Moreover, they don’t outweigh the downside to date.
Additionally, it may be possible to pull out and one on one regain those gains on a better footing.
The full text of the agreement will be released in the coming weeks However, Key said Groser had already released the main points.
Therefore, it’s fair to assume the best parts of the TPP deal have already been made public, hence, what’s yet to be released won’t get any better.
Even Little conceded with the US involvement, the deal is more about control than trade.
Fighting policy decisions in court will be costly and doesn’t ensure a win. Therefore, it still leaves the best interest on NZ at risk of being overridden by the interest of corporates.
it will test the enforcement provisions if the LP can succeszfully pick the good stuff and reject the bad stuff in the tpp. it will also mean our negotiators were very incompetent
Lots of regular contributors are having their comments go to moderation today, not sure why. I will try and keep an eye out, but I am off line for the next 30 min.
Umm. Nope the auto-moderation looks clean.
Nothing looks like it has been switched on.
Clearing the auto-moderation.
Leave the comments in moderation so I can see if that makes a difference.
Me ‘n Tracy and a few others were also getting snagged. If I was signed in I was okay. Anyway. Submitting this from ‘signed out’ to see if it goes through. I’ll let you know in the up-coming edit.
edit. okay. The comment didn’t come up. I went back end and both this and a comment from Tracey were pending. I went to release them, but either they released automatically as I went to do that or someone else released them at that moment.
OK just signed in and commenting on this now to see if it goes straight through. If it works I’ll try and stay signed in to minimise workload on the mods.
Tis odd. I can’t see anything that could be causing it. I figure it has to be one of
1. the mechanism for dealing with first time comments has an issue or
2. the mechanism that lets us get away without a captcha has one or
3. the client side mechanism that fills in the commenter details using javascript.
I’m going to force everyone to reload cached items from the CDN to see if it is the latter.
What I’m wondering is what browser people having problems are on. For that I’ll need database access which is impossible today at work.
IN the time it took me to type that edit, two comments from tracey, one from CV and one from martymars popped up as pending. And refresh rates all over the back end dropped like a stone.
It’s taken me this long – since time of comment above (minus say one minute for typing) to get back here.
That was me changing the media tag for material from the CDN (content distribution network) that provides the images, css, and javascript to clients. A frequent (ie every few months) issue is that a bad copy of javascript gets out for a browser, and causes client generated issues like this auto-moderation. So I clear everyones caches if I can’t see an obvious cause.
I also clearing all cached pages and database queries to ensure that no-one was picking up missing items.
It takes about 30 minutes before the site gets back to normal speed, and it is really slow in the first 5-10 minutes afterwards.
I was thinking about Australia saying some time ago that it was going to be the Sherrif of the Pacific, acting for the USA. (Who voted for that? ) Is Israel the Sheriff of the Middle East then? Will Australia take control, attack and corral us like Israel has to Palestine?
Is this lack of respect and lack of neighbourly good relations between us and Oz a sign of their possible path when we make a nuisance of ourselves wanting to continue sovereignty and fair and legal trading relations, and all things that a principled state expects from another principled state?
Remember they fought us on the apple front, accusing us of illegal cheating behaviour of planting it himself, from our scientist when he found the dreaded contoneaster (which carries the dreaded fireblight) in a park in Oz. What other goodwill (not!) happenings have cropped up between us, when we have had blame or disadvantage at their hands. All interested NZs will know of at least one.
I was thinking about Australia saying some time ago that it was going to be the Sherrif of the Pacific, acting for the USA. (Who voted for that? ) Is Israel the Sheriff of the Middle East then? Will Australia take control, attack and corral us like Israel has to Palestine?
Australia has plenty of local and near-regional problems developing. I doubt they will have the attention span and wherewithal to go policing the Pacific.
Well if the Aussies were to follow in true US style, the more things like the economy, infrastructure and social cohesion fall apart on the homefront, the more they will want to do adventuring on foreign shores.
“I’ll huff and I’ll puff and……., oh fuck it, I am just taking the piss. Of course we will support the TPP cause after all, Labour is all for free trade”
‘Labour leader Andrew Little says it is unlikely the party would withdraw from the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPPA) free trade deal if it gains power, following a meeting with Trade Minister Tim Groser to discuss the agreement.’
Labour and National hold to the same economic and financial frameworks and ideas so its no surprise that they usually agree on everything apart from a few operational details.
What we have for a while now in the country is a grand political coalition in terms of economic and financial policies – with regard to Labour, what did post-Rogernomics Clark and Cullen truly do that brought about real change?
The Labour Leader Andrew Little says his party is not in a position to oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership deal, but a Labour government would flout some of its terms.
Interesting group of MPs.
What was the criteria that was decided for those MPs to meet with Groser?
Labour leader, deputy, finance speckperson, and ….?
Paula Rebstock (left) will be earning almost double the maximum standard fee. Social Development Minister Anne Tolley (right) said there were ‘very few people in New Zealand with Ms Rebstock’s wealth of experience’
(Me – As useful mercenary for RW governments. Our overseas expert! One of the professional feminism-empowered ‘Yo-Yo Sisters’ travelling around the world being RW change agents!)
The government had to create a special exemption to enable the payment to Paula Rebstock, which is about double the maximum standard fee.
Labour Party state services spokesman Kris Faafoi said he thought most New Zealanders would struggle to comprehend such a daily fee.
The man who only lives for making money
Lives a life that isn’t necessarily sunny;
Likewise the man who works for fame —
There’s no guarantee that time won’t erase his name
The fact is
The only work that really brings enjoyment
Is the kind that is for girl and boy meant.
Fall in love — you won’t regret it.
That’s the best work of all — if you can get it.
Holding hands at midnight
‘Neath a starry sky…
Oh that is nice work if you can get it.
And you can get it — if you try.
from ST Lyrics
Oh, I can easily understand what the scale of that $2000 per day fee means.
I am a retired man, and this $2000 is what I earn for 80 hours work over three months. Ms Rebstock is earning x10 what I earn, and some x15 the minimum wage, which my BA Hons daughter earns as a cleaner.
mac1
The reply from the pollies would be, that can’t be true – education overcomes poverty and poor wages. Chanting slogans like that, which have been proved to be true generally, in third world countries, is all you get from these NZ propagandists.
They haven’t got a handy quote about people working in a declining economy which has as its main aim, to have low inflation. I believe it is 0.8 this quarter, so thank your daughter for helping to provide stability by her restraint in asking for higher wages!
“Even war has rules,” declared Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Doctor’s Without Borders (MSF), who announced Wednesday that the aid organization will take unprecedented action against the U.S. military by formally launching an international fact-finding inquiry into the bombing of its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.”
not that I think it will amount to much, but at least they try.
interestingly that’s from the point of the view of the ‘developed west.’ In most of the rest of the world – South America, Africa, the ME, there are very few illusions left amongst ordinary people as to what the US has been doing to them.
Question :How does Steven Joyce get to or have the qualification to decide the future of Agresearch in NZ when he is a Media entrepreneur ?
Does it not seem strange that he can create a ministry of everything which in concept is useless other than its seems the ultimate veto over most of the govt development and research activities and enterprises
A very powerful position to be in and not subject to parliamentary review or it seems democracy only itself and the nationacorp caucus
Frankly its corrupt
By having a democratic system that allows for fine points of law and Govt. actions to be tested by multiple independent and highly informed bodies such as the Ombudsman and the High Court.
As has occurred in this case as it happens.
And if the Minister and/or the Ombudsman had been guilty of a corrupt and criminal pattern of behavior I am confident the High Court would have said so.
But it didn’t, so I’m just going to read your comments to that effect as politically motivated OTT nonsense.
The High Court was not asked to comment on that aspect, as it did not form part of Kelsey’s case. Are you also unaware of how law works?
Requests are required to be processed in a timely manner. It is clear that the extended delays to this and many other requests deliberately defeats the purpose of the act. Relying on High Court action is no solution at all.
I’m sure you’ll find some way to justify it to yourself anyway.
Despite the Radio NZ headline using that term, the judgement specifically does not make such a finding. To quote…
[3] The applicants have applied for a series of declarations concerning the lawfulness of the Minister’s approach and the meaning of specific provisions of the Act.
[4] Rather than issue specific declarations I have quashed the Minister’s decision in relation to six of the categories of documents requested by Professor Kelsey.
The report makes it clear that.. [91] This proceeding is confined to questions about the correct interpretation and application of the Act, not the substantive merits of the Minister’s decision or the report of the Chief Ombudsman.
The issue in this case is how the law should have been complied with, and in the opinion of the High Court in this case the Minister, His officials, and did not correctly comply with the Act.
The complexity of doing so is demonstrated by the fact that the Chief Ombudsman has also failed to understand how the law should be complied with.
Therefore the High Court has sent the Minister back to ‘reconsider his decision’ and supplied him with some instructions on how he should apply the law in the way I have explained
So. No law broken, and no ruling that the Minister acted unlawfully.
if they have failed to follow the law then ipso facto they have acted unlawfully…which is exactly the same ruling by both the high court and the supreme court re the red zone…the government were sent back to apply the law correctly…i.e lawfully……it is a very simple concept lost sheep
if they have failed to follow the law then ipso facto they have acted unlawfully
That does not in fact follow.
It is accepted that some laws are by nature extremely difficult to formulate in a manner that makes compliance easy to achieve, and so an ongoing process of interpretation is required. The OIA is one such law. (Employment Law is another. ‘Good Faith’? ‘What what a fair and reasonable employer would have done’?)
If you actually read the judgement you would find some fascinating discussion around how the law is to be complied with.
You would also discover why the High Court did not make a ruling that the actions of the Minister were ‘unlawful’.
In the case you link above the Supreme Court did make such a ruling. That is a completely different scenario.
in fact LS the words unlawful wernt in the summary in the quake outcasts ruling either…yet unlawful it was…..i assume you will now be taking defamation action against all these journalists and media organisations that have erroneously reported this “unlawful” act?
I think it is widely accepted on this forum that all journalism is beyond redemption Pat.
That’s why I don’t take anything I read in the media as fact. I try and verify it at the source. Thanks to OAB for providing the link to that.
How did you find the judgement?
Excellent and valuable contribution I thought, and should result in better compliance with the intent of the OIA law going forward.
There is a difference, as I’ve explained.
And as explained to Pat, there is a difference between a Court making a declaration of unlawfulness, and declining to make such a ruling.
There is a state in law of failing to interpret how to correctly comply.
The judgement in this case says that The Minister, his Officials, and the Chief Ombudsman all failed to correctly interpret how they should comply.
That is not necessarily a criminal or unlawful act, and in this case the High Court is not declaring it to be such.
All you’re quibbling about is whether this repeated illegal behaviour by cabinet members and their offices is the product of corrupt intentions or abject and repeated incompetence.
[107] None of the steps required by ss 18A and 18B of the Act were undertaken
[109] […]The genuine administrative challenges associated with complying with the Act in this case did not entitle the Minister or MFAT to circumvent their duties under the Act.
[110] The “blanket” approach taken by the Minister in this case did not comply with the text, scheme and purpose of the Act.
They failed to comply with the law. That’s commonly known as “breaking the law”.
Such a pity you missed that bit in the declaration. Whether it was incompetence or intent, I can’t be bothered speculating – either way you’re spinning while you split hairs.
They failed to comply with the law. That’s commonly known as “breaking the law”.
We are talking about what the High Court actually determined McFlock, not what ‘common’ interpretation you or anyone else would like to put on it.
If a law had been broken, The High Court would have said just that. But they did not.
The judgement uses the specific phrase that the law had ‘not been complied with’, and it very carefully outlines why it did so.
The reason for that is that ‘not comply’ and ‘broken’ are NOT the same thing at all in relation to laws.
Which I’m sure someone of your erudition and subtlety understands perfectly, and as you have no doubt read the judgement itself you will also clearly understand why the High Court ‘did not think it is necessary to issue the declarations (of unlawfulness) sought by the applicants.
I’m not trying to teach you anything Mickey.
I just object people attempting to distort the meaning of the High Courts judgement through the deliberate substitution of terms and concepts that do not actually appear in the judgement.
I believe that is ‘commonly’ referred to as ‘spin’, and ‘spin’ is widely disproved of in this forum?
The term ‘breached the OIA’ does not appear in the judgement. So on what basis do you claim that the judge ruled that to be the case?
The reason for that is that ‘not comply’ and ‘broken’ are NOT the same thing at all in relation to laws.
Actually, they are. The judge was simply refusing to declare whether the illegality perpetrated in coming to the minister’s decision made that decision itself illegal. In the same way that the Court of Appeal might determine that minor breaches of the Evidence Act did not affect the validity of the verdict.
If the Judge didn’t declare it, you are simply projecting your bias into complete speculation McFlock.
Unless you happen to be a High Court Judge yourself, I think I’ll stick with the genuine article. No offense.
But you know I must be correct in this matter.
OAB started this thread.
If there is the slightest chink in any argument I put up, he will let me know immediately how many kinds and varieties of idiocy my comments represent.
He has said nothing.
‘Ipso facto’ to quote Pat.
I must be correct.
1) Did or did not the judge repeatedly state that the government failed to comply with the processes and requirements set out in the Official Information Act when it refused Kelsey’s OIA request?
2) did the judge make a ruling on whether the refusa was legally correct?
I think we are agreed that the answer to 2 is “no”.
But the answer to 1 is “yes”.
Nearly there McFlock.
We’ve worked all the way from ‘corrupt’ and ‘criminal’, through all the other misinterpretations, and arrived at ‘legally correct’.
Now.
Did the Judgement state that anyone had acted ‘unlawfully’ and/or that any law had been ‘broken’ ?
No.
They are just words eh, and you can interchange them and they mean the same? Bollocks.
Different words are used precisely because they convey different meanings, and I take it as a rule of thumb that when someone chooses to substitute one word for another, it is because they are attempting to distort the meaning of the original statement.
What is wrong with the terms the judge used and why are so many here reluctant to use them?
Spin.
To back my point, I point out that the judgement itself contains several discussions of the exact meaning of certain words and phrases and the importance of interpreting them correctly.
The difficulty in doing so, and the reason the Judge chose to declare ‘failed to comply’ as opposed to ‘acted unlawfully’ is well illustrated by this quote…
[127] The terminology used in s 19(a)(i) and (ii) of the Act is contorted…….
……. The drafters of s 19 of the Act appear to have used the terms “reason” and “grounds” in the converse manner to which they are normally used.
… two different words mean different things, so therefore these two expressions must mean different things?
Well, the next time you “fail to comply” with the local speed limit, let me know whether there is any substantive difference when you point this distinction out to the police officer.
The resolution to this argument is quite simple: rather than insisting that the two expressions mean different things, you can link to any reasonable source (such as legal dictionary, encyclopaedia entry, even a post on a fairly sane blog) that provides distinct meanings between “breaking the law” and “failing to comply with the law”.
For example, when I googled the two phrases together and ignored the ones about cops shooting people who failed to comply with their orders, several articles used the expressions interchangably.
For example, this news article. Or this one. Or this one from the UK. Or even this business law newsletter.
Feel free to back up your opinion with something other than a repeated insistence that your fart smells like roses. You argue that the two expressions mean legally precise and different things. Back it up.
There were eight categories so I wonder why the Judge with held the remaining two – probably considered too top secret for the eyes of the great unwashed.
The government books are out tomorrow – after lunch – we’ll get to see if they are in balance or not. For the record, I think they’ll be short for the year, by over a billion dollars. That’s seven years straight, they’ve spent more than they got in.
That’s seven years straight, they’ve spent more than they got in.
The Government needs to be running a bigger deficit.
What do you want National to do? Tax more in from Kiwi households and small and medium businesses than they spend on goods and services for the country?
100 BILLION national debt ,how do any of us in this country have any money at all -crime is an alternative but the govt seems to have a mortgage on that to us all
Although I do agree with what you’re saying there’s a few things that need to happen as well:
1. We stop the banks creating credit money
2. We need to tax the rich far more
3. We need capital taxes
4. We need to stop the dollar being set by buyers/sellers and set it as a function of our terms of trade/imports/exports
I don’t think file sharing sites, for all the reasons they shouldn’t exist, really qualify as “corporate profiteers.” Or were you trying to claim that Ant Timpson is a corporate profiteer? Good luck with that one.
I liked your scary commas, I even put on a scary voice reading out “file sharing”. I need more of a lead in before I will read your article, thanks anyway.
Yeah easier to just turn a blind eye and keep up the “file sharing”. Those evil capitalists deserve it. Too bad it also fucks up the financial return for independent film makers and other creatives trying to make a buck.
There has never been more opportunity for artists to leverage income from talent: direct access to a genuinely global market with significantly reduced distribution costs.
I’m sure they’ll get more job offers from being downloaded so many times (and as such being seen) then if it hadn’t been downloaded and just relied on movie takings alone
Another genius! Please engage with Ant Timpson and the other independent creatives – they’re obviousiy idiots who have neglected to simply “charge a dollar for every download”!
Don’t be stupid. The point is that artists are tied into a system that rips most of them off, and that same system prevents them from making money in other ways (ways that many people want to support).
It’s the corporates and their greed that are preventing artists from making a living. I’d quite happily pay small fees for downloading content (and support people who can’t afford that) but NZ is the classic example of why this doesn’t work under the current system. Content in film and tv is tied up in a whole bunch of location bullshit. The corporates are more interested in making shitloads of money than in supporting artists to create content and make a living and in giving the public access. The corporates could still make a living as well, but that’s not enough for them. Mass response of fuck ’em coinciding with new tech is pretty much why we’ve ended up in the current situation.
One of the criticisms I loved about the case against KDC was that essentially the media corporations were targeting kdc simply because his model of monetising information and its storage was much better suited (dare I say “most fit”) for the evolving technology situation.
A smart organisation would have simply negotiated a reasonable licensing fee for any copies found on the servers – providing an incentive to locate and legitemise copies. And then the fee could have been small enough per download to work within the download service’s model without incurring fees to amateur users.
Your problem, and those like Ant Timpson, is that you haven’t really considered what changes are happening both socially and economically. The artificial monopolies that once existed are going the way of the dodo because they don’t work. This means that they, and we, need new ways. One of those new ways happens to be file sharing.
Capitalism is dying and what we’re seeing is the last grasp of the bludging capitalists on our wealth and power.
I charge a modest $1-7 for my downloads, pity they seem to pop up on filesharing sites and have around 1million+ downloads all without bothering to give me my share. Seems people are happy with fileshare sites as along as they are not the artist concerned. Do I not deserve an income from my efforts, especially as others are happy to steal but no pay for?
(yes, I do provide samples of work online for free but it’s not these that are “shared”)
Don’t start the “it’s a new age so evolve or die” bullshit. That’s ignorant talk. Do you get paid for your 9-5? What If I came to your workplace and took a few items without asking then distributed to friends, is that not theft?
Not pointing at anyone, just venting.
feeling better now!
In my workplace, our information outputs are freely available. We produce them because clients pay for them. If people want the outputs to exist, they pay for them. After that, anyone can have them. They are tailored to the client requirements, but other people find them useful.
Information is not physical. Copying things incurs a negligible cost to us. Do you really think that you’d have more than a million extra sales if filesharing didn’t exist? How about you start leveraging that advertising edge, rather than lamenting a dying business model?
If you’re in entertainment, take an example from some of the funk bands of the 1970s: locked out of the mainstream recording industry, they succeeded through improving their live performances. Or you could look at who’s downloading your material, and leverage that into endorsement deals.
If you’re in software, there are other models you can use.
If you’re adamant that only “legitimate” copies must exist, look into digitally watermarking each sold copy so you can identify the leakers.
I too see my bands on file sharing sites, 1000s of copies of my songs all shared. But I am not stupid enough to think they would all buy my albums, most ppl are just curious hoarders downloading files for the sake of it, its a fast moving world the internet.
I liked KDCs proposed file sharing model where you would have your songs on a streaming site, have a page like bandcamp, have everything for free, (stream or download) but you get paid by ppl viewing your bands page (through border ads). Seemed like a good idea, so if you are Kanye West you would get millions of views (oodles of cash) & someone a bit more low key like myself would get a few 100 views (a little bit of cash). Funnily enough, he was just in the process of setting it when he got raided.
& there was a story recently about the guy who wrote that ‘All About the Bass’ song (which was the most pad-for-streamed song ever, number 1 in a bunch of countries) yet he only got a few thousand dollars, so the model still needs work!
I wonder if we can get an opinion from Brian Edwards, once the beloved of the left, on whether clamping down on file sharing is a good thing?
He was the one who, a few years ago described Public Libraries as being involved in “Grand Theft Copyright”.
He will probably be of the view that the PPA rules people seem to think are in the agreement are a wonderful idea.
Edwards is a cantankerous old fool, who regularly embarrasses himself by trying to ingratiate himself with his “friend” Michelle Boag. [1] He possibly reached his nadir in 2003, when he fronted the short-lived Edwards at Large, one of the most excruciatingly bad TV shows in history. [2]
I am not at all surprised to learn he has made such an ignorant comment about public libraries.
Solution for TPPA when it arrives in hard copy
Rip it apart page by page and build a boat out of it and send it back to America and name the boat “Thanks but no thanks “
So with National and Labour both supporting the TPP and the two most successful PMs of the last few decades supporting it as well do you think that maybe those opposing it are on the wrong side of history?
No, that those two parties and leaders are on the wrong side of history. Society is changing and these people seek to stand in the way of that needed change.
The FTAs aren’t facilitating change as their whole purpose is to prevent it. The capitalists keep demanding stability in laws and such because they don’t things to change and the politicians give it to them in laws and trade agreements.
And, no, trade doesn’t raise people out of poverty. Increased access to the necessities of life does. The present paradigm is about preventing that access so as to make a few people rich.
I find it rather worrying that the Labour Party when meeting with Tim Groser over the TPPA, did not think fit to include their two financial heavyweights, David Cunliffe and David Parker in the discussions – What would David Dead-Fish Shearer know about trade? Stuart Nash is only very recently back in Parliament (don’t think he is a financial or trade expert). Phil Goff has a background in foreign affairs and trade, and Annette King in Health re Pharmac, so those people with Robertson (I suppose) make sense but not including David C and David P is very very strange indeed!
Extremely odd. I have to agree if Labour have decided to agree with Key and keep TPP because it is ‘too hard’ to oppose it – then the centre and left have to go with NZ First, Greens or Internet Mana.
In fact I think Cunliffe and quite a few others should leave Labour if Labour decide to go with TPP by default and actually get in power and create more of a central peoples party.
Labour clearly no longer is working for it’s people if that is their attitude.
Oh too hard to challenge TPP… Key such a nice guy when he is undermining (oh I mean buttering up) Labour.
No wonder so many in Labour did not win their electorate seats. Voice of the people they are NOT!
“According to Matt Drudge it is. He is an American political commentator and the creator and editor of the Drudge Report, an online news aggregator.
His website, according to Alexa has a global website rank of 616 and ranks in the USA at 132 and according to Quantcast is receiving, we think around 3 million hits a day or 90 million a month.
In a startling unscheduled interview with Alex Jones on infowars.com Drudge warns “that the very foundation of the free Internet is under severe threat from copyright laws that could ban independent media outlets, revealing that he was told directly by a Supreme Court Justice, “It’s over for me.”….
….Worse, it doesn’t matter where your servers are. For that’s not what defines publication. It also doesn’t matter who the material is aimed at: nor even what language it is in. Publication happens if someone in the UK downloads whatever it is. That, in itself, is the act of publication. This effectively censors the entire world’s press and media in the United Kingdom.
If the copyright laws in the US do go the way that Drudge says then one can only assume that the UK’s downloading rules will also apply there…
I reckon its about time we change our govt system to a republic officially
It seems that this shyte that holds up this govt is as shaky as as the Isles we live on hence the production of BS by this govt could be the cause of our rising greenhouse emissions
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As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and 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). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
New Zealand’s alignment with the White House is further underscored by its refusal to oppose Trump’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is a serious blow to the soft power of the United States and disastrous for many poor countries ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Hoek, Professor in Public Health, University of Otago Shutterstock/Aliaksandr Barouski New Zealand’s smokefree law was hailed around the world for creating a smokefree generation that would have lifelong protection from smoking’s harms. The smokefree generation would have ended sales of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By George Disney, Research Fellow, Social Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne Edwin Tan/Getty Images When the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was established in 2013, one of its driving aims was to make disability services and support systems fairer. However, our new ...
The resignation of the director general of health is the latest departure in what Labour is calling a ‘purge’ of health leadership. Another day, another health resignation It’s a dangerous time to be a top health executive. On Friday, Dr Diana Sarfati announced her resignation as director general of health ...
Labour and the Greens say the government should focus spending on tourism infrastructure like tracks, toilets and protection of nature instead of more advertising. ...
Hundreds of people called the former prime minister vile and dehumanising things online. Internet safety agencies did nothing - then called in the lawyers. ...
Hundreds of people called the former prime minister vile and dehumanising things online. Internet safety agencies did nothing - then called in the lawyers. ...
After a morning spent calf marking, Flock Hill Station manager Richard Hill headed up Bridge Hill – about 100km from Christchurch on the way to the West Coast – to check on a fire near the station’s boundary.It was December 5 last year, and the Craigieburn area had experienced three ...
It can’t be much of a surprise that a relatively inexperienced Act MP, handed the workplace relations portfolio, doesn’t want to entertain the country’s biggest union in her office.But it still astonishes the head of that union, the CTU’s president, Richard Wagstaff.After all, he’s met regularly with ministers of all ...
Late 21st century Christchurch will be unrecognisable when compared with Christchurch today.Flooding will prompt retreat from all eastern and many northern suburbs. These areas, together with land near the Heathcote and Avon Rivers, are in a fifty-year flood zone. Fifty-year floods can happen more than once every fifty years; there ...
Is humanising a mountain the path to real transformation, or does it signal the need for a cultural paradigm shift in the operating system? Recently, a family member shared their delight at the news of Taranaki Maunga becoming a legal person.Of course, I was pleased for the eight Taranaki ...
Why New Zealanders donate money and who they give it to – and how tools like Givealittle are changing the giving landscape.Is New Zealand really a generous country? It’s difficult to quantify. Giving to registered charities can be counted through tax returns, but giving to overseas causes, giving money ...
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As the four Findlay siblings run out on the hockey turf, dressed in black with the silver fern, they take the drive and determination of their late mum with them.Emma Findlay is a Black Stick defender, on her way to Chile on Monday to play for the New Zealand women ...
COMMENTARY:By Paul G Buchanan Here is a scenario, but first a broad brush-painted historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With the unembarrassed audacity parties show as an election nears, the government has stolen the opposition’s policy to ban foreign investors buying established homes. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil have announced ...
The Jewish Council’s proposals are divisive, contrary to New Zealand’s human rights framework, and ignore the rights of other ethnic minorities in Aotearoa. ...
"This is shocking, and astounding," says Augusta Macassey-Pickard, spokesperson for the group. "We knew that this process was rushed, and flawed, but this is another level of compromised." ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific presenter/Bulletin editor Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark maintains that Cook Islands, a realm of New Zealand, should have consulted Wellington before signing a “partnership” deal with China. “[Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown] seems to have signed behind the backs of his own ...
COMMENTARY:By Saige England Mediawatch on RNZ today strongly criticised Stuff and YouTube among other media for using Israeli propaganda’s “Outbrain” service. Outbrain is a company founded by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) military and its technology can be tracked back to a wealthy entrepreneur, which in this case could ...
Luxon said protesters linked to Destiny Church "went too far" by disrupting Pride events in Auckland, while church leader Brian Tamaki said he told protesters, "I want you to storm the library they're in." ...
Hundreds of engineers are losing their jobs and leaving our shores due to infrastructure project delays, creating "significant" risk to our nation's development, says the head of New Zealand's engineering body. ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says the deal with China “complements, not replaces” the relationship with New Zealand after signing it yesterday. Brown said “The Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) 2025-2030” provides a structured framework for engagement between the Cook Islands ...
Officially we are now sold.
‘No ban for TPP nationals buying NZ houses’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11527924
Key is spinning like a top. The official line is that we won’t get sued unless we elect a Labour government.
Mr Key said that if offshore buyers were found to be a major factor in rising house prices, his preferred deterrent would be a land tax, not a ban.
Under the TPP, New Zealand would retain the ability to impose new taxes on foreigners.
This kind of mechanism seems to have been quite effective in slowing down overseas buying in the Auckland market?
So it’s not the case that we will have no ability to address this issue if we decide we need to?
Lost creep yeah John Key introducing a land tax!
Yes. Just like the tax he introduced that seems to have cooled off buying in the AKL market Tricledown.
Just like a Labour Govt. will be free to introduce also….
Cooled the Auckland house market facts please not fantasy 23% record rise yeah.
But is it overseas buyers causing that TD? Maybe it’s the locals?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/72855966/chinese-buyers-desert-auckland-market-brokers-say
Key govts outside health board consultants waste $300 million of DHB,s costing taxpayers $78 million on top of that for a few friends of the National Party to live it up while those that need the healthcare are denied.
Paula Rebstock on $ 1500 a day for a partime job.
While Cyfs carries on with the same failed formula of behaviour not unlike a very sick circus soap opera in which Children are worse off in their care.
The govt need to ACT fast to fix these seriously damaging issues.
This govt said it was a better manager.
What utter BS.
Doubling consultants pay seems to have had the opposite effect Key Joyce and Brownlie claimed .
Nepotism is the reason.
CERA Jenny Shiply on $450,000 per annum for a partime job. $385 million to fix dodgy repairs.
Highly overpaid Con-sultants are costing the country taxpayers over $1billion a year.
Where is the ACT party on this bloated bearaucracy .
No where to be found.
National and ACT are wolowing in piles of taxpayers money.
This is the biggest Con since SCF.
A Junket to end all junkets to fund friends of National and ACT.
Where is the ACT party at all?
Well this morning it was announced that David Seymour is doing a clean up job for boss Steven Joyce looking at all the old dusty legal Bills and Regs the government has been accumulating. (Getting ready to get our legislation conforming with requirements of TPPA bosses?)
There were quotes of the amusing old legislation that doesn’t seem needed.
But what ones are being prepared for abandonment that weren’t mentioned?
Then there is the confusion that comes about with some being lost in the crowd that no-one had heard about, being ‘Disappeared’.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/286823/goodbye,-y2k-information-disclosure-act
Then there is the possibility of important basic legislation being lost, because it was passed while attached to some other Bill, as an extra. Often those end up being for the benefit of the incumbent Party or their friends. But they may have had unintended useful consequences and we need to watch out for stray sheep in that flock. There may be a Shrek in there.
Then there is the possibility of regulations and enabling legislation that we actually need to do some things that are important to the people.
I wouldn’t trust this lot to p.ss straight when they are sober. And I think that is a fair and considered summation of them.
So watch out peeps, you have till some time in December to see what they are up to and try and rein in the brutes.
Yes….when I heard this on Natrad this am…creepy crawly up the spine….
http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/legislative-documents/Statutes-Repeal-Bill/exposure-draft-Statutes-Repeal-Bill.html
http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/srb-explanatory-material/
submissions close….4th December
There doesn’t appear to be much in those acts to cause issues if repealed or their remaining active provisions moved into other acts. But I will have a closer perusal later.
Thanks for pointing it out though.
Think I’m in spam again. Put a large comment through 10.18 where is it at 10.22? This is happening all the time. I haven’t changed anything that I know of. But I also haven’t updated to the latest Firefox No. Could that be it? And I don’t think my Comments list is updating regularly.
Yes that list is enough to overthrow this govt but summers coming so Key will be off to WAIKIKI, suntan drinking man finding himself a friend cause he aint got any here I know
Be good to know how will be turning up to his parties over the summer break just to get an idea on the crap we will have to handle next year
lol
so “technically” an enlightened government could ban all non-NZ-resident foreign ownership, they just might be taken through ISDS to provide compensation.
For his next trick Key will say that there’s “technically” nothing stopping people dealing meth, although they might be taken through the criminal justice system.
New Zealand rugby writers are ramping up the distortions and outright lies;
Don’t believe a word by the likes of Liam Napier, Andrew Saville or Phil Gifford.
According to this absurd and insulting piece by one Liam Napier, the All Blacks are seeking “closure” and to “exterminate the ghosts of 2007”. To give him his due, Napier does acknowledge something that is strenuously avoided by most of his colleagues, i.e., that the superior Tricolors were beaten in the farcical 2011 final not by the All Blacks, but by the fact there was a non-referee in “charge”….
Otherwise, it’s the same old same old from Napier, as it is from all the rest of his grim, marginally literate and joyless brotherhood. You can expect far more of this dismal, dishonest crap over the next week….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/opinion/72910063/all-blacks-vs-france-rugby-world-cup-quarterfinal-at-cardiff-chance-for-closure
Liam Napier is either too lazy or too dishonest to acknowledge it by anything other than his dismissive sneer in the piece I quoted, but some commentators were prepared to tell the unpalatable truth…..
nitpicky. not huge infringements, the ref will always miss a few things.
remember Wayne Barnes’ performance in 2007?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10469541
nitpicky. not huge infringements, the ref will always miss a few things.
The comments by Matt Williams and Neil Francis are thoughtful and fair; they are not “nitpicky”. They are only talking about the most flagrant violations, all of which were committed right in front of Craig Joubert, who was supposed to be the referee.
remember Wayne Barnes’ performance in 2007?
The link you provided is a lot more balanced and fair than almost anything else that appeared in the Herald about that match. However, it neglects to mention something vital: In all of the sound and fury following that match—nearly all of it coming from the rabid sports media, not from fans—the forward pass by Michalak leading to the Jauzion try was hammered ad nauseam, but the All Blacks’ forward pass that led to McAlister’s try was resolutely ignored.
Barnes made two mistakes, which balanced out. Joubert, on the other hand, failed or refused to do his job. There is no credible comparison to be made between the two.
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2991534/security/tpp-will-outlaw-security-research-done-without-permission-lead-to-destroyed-devices.html
The TPP could lead to seized and destroyed devices, outlaw security research done without permission, and pave the way to perpetual insecurity for the IoT ecosystem.
+100 SAVENZ….very disturbing!
…will justify the persecution of investigative journalists like Hager
….and open the way for white collar crime and political corruption
…and a police state
Where is the Labour Party on this?!
FYI.
‘Open Letter’ to Matthew Hooton from Penny Bright 2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
12 October 2015
Matthew Hooton,
Managing Director
Exceltium
Dear Matthew,
According to the ‘bio’ on the following website, you are, purportedly,
“…New Zealand’s leading public affairs strategist and political commentator.
He has over 20 years’ experience in political and corporate communications, working for the New Zealand Government and some of the country’s most influential companies.”
BACKGROUND:
http://www.exceltium.com/team/matthew
Matthew Hooton MANAGING DIRECTOR
Matthew Hooton is New Zealand’s leading public affairs strategist and political commentator. He has over 20 years’ experience in political and corporate communications, working for the New Zealand Government and some of the country’s most influential companies.
He maintains excellent connections with senior levels of all of New Zealand’s main political parties, and with the senior staff of the National, Labour, Green, Maori and ACT parties.
Matthew has a close relationship with many New Zealand Ministers and Members of Parliament, and is well known in political circles and by the public as a political commentator on both Radio New Zealand and RadioLive, and as a columnist for the National Business Review.
He has led a wide range of government relations programmes, from those where government/industry partnerships were sought such as with ZESPRI International, through to seeking controversial legislative change, such as work with the Kyoto Forestry Association.
A former press secretary to the New Zealand trade and agriculture minister, he played a lead role at the age of 28 in the government relations and communications programmes that led to the creation of Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest company. He has also worked internationally on projects in China, Europe, Mongolia and throughout Australia.
__________________________________________
You may recall that on 9 October 2015, the following article:
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/10/hooton_on_labour_and_tpp.html
Hooton on Labour and TPP
October 9th, 2015 at 3:00 pm by David Farrar
___________________________________________
You may recall that I made the following two posts regarding this above-mentioned article:
publicwatchdog (4,654 comments) says:
October 9th, 2015 at 5:10 pm
Mathew – would you care to provide evidence which confirms where Professor Jane Kelsey has ever said anything which is factually inaccurate about the TPPA?
Thanks!
Penny Bright
_____________________________________________
publicwatchdog (4,654 comments) says:
October 9th, 2015 at 5:15 pm
Mathew – what’s your view on Trade Minister Tim Groser holding a secret meeting with Mayor Len Brown on the TPPA on 7 April 2015?
Does that comply with the principles of ‘open, transparent and democratically accountable’ local government – in your view?
Kind regards
Penny Bright
___________________________________________________
Here was your response:
Matthew Hooton’s Kiwiblog post October 9th, 2015 at 5:49 pm
Dear Penny
1. Would you like to provide any evidence that any of the statements in these unscholarly press statements is true:http://info.scoop.co.nz/Professor_Jane_Kelsey ?
2. I don’t give a fuck who Tim Groser or Len Brown meet with. But it would make sense for the trade minister to brief the mayor of Auckland on his work from time to time.
3. Pay your rates.
4. Check yourself into a mental hospital.
Best as always
Matthew
______________________________________________
This was my follow-up (albeit belated) response:
publicwatchdog (4,654 comments) says:
October 11th, 2015 at 10:55 am
A belated reply to Matthew Hooton’s post October 9th, 2015 at 5:49 pm
Gee Matthew!
For a purportedly experienced ‘spin doctor’ / Media Commentator – that is a rather, (in my view), apoplectic and intemperate response, to my arguably straightforward questions?
Sheesh!
You were more pleasant when you were drinking!
(If you’re stressed, for whatever reason, try Spirulina, those ‘B’ vitamins can really help).
___________________________________________________
Dear Penny
1. Would you like to provide any evidence that any of the statements in these unscholarly press statements is true:http://info.scoop.co.nz/Professor_Jane_Kelsey ?
2. I don’t give a fuck who Tim Groser or Len Brown meet with. But it would make sense for the trade minister to brief the mayor of Auckland on his work from time to time.
3. Pay your rates.
4. Check yourself into a mental hospital.
Best as always
Matthew
______________________________________________
With all due respect, Matthew, quite frankly, I for one, expect a much higher standard of response and behaviour, from someone in your position.
Having checked with the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ), I find that the company for which you are Managing Director, Exeltium, is not listed as a member, so, as I understand it, their ‘Code of Conduct’, does not apply to you or your company.
I understand that you and the company for which you are Managing Director, Exceltium, does political ‘lobbying’ work.
Unfortunately, although New Zealand is ‘perceived’ to be the ‘second least corrupt country in the world’ (according to the 2014 Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index'( http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results ) New Zealand has neither a ‘Register’ nor ‘Code of Conduct’ for lobbyists.
Where is the ‘accountability’ Matthew Hooton, or do you simply think that you can say what you like?
What do I want?
I want the public, elected representatives and media, to see for themselves what you have stated in the public domain, and ask the question as to whether you are ‘fit for duty’ to be a ‘ public affairs strategist and political commentator’ or a when you engage in what I consider to be such arguably, seriously unprofessional behaviour.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
……….
‘Anti-Corruption / Anti-Privatisation campaigner / Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate (polled 4th with 11,723 votes)
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate
+100…lol Penny…and he is doing a philosophy degree?!
( you can’t make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear)
DNFTT
Andrew Little now says it is unlikely Labour would withdraw from the controversial TPPA if it gained power at the next election.
Any party has the ability on six months’ notice to walk away from the agreement.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/72953458/labour-unlikely-to-withdraw-from-tppa-trade-deal-if-in-govt–andrew-little
Thoughts?
will be voting NZF
I’d say a number of people will be walking away from Labour after hearing this.
“will be voting NZF”
Useful to know you don’t want a left wing government.
Because a Labour Party which keeps the TPPA is “left wing.”
Face it weka, on economic and trade issues Labour is far to the right of NZ First.
“Because a Labour Party which keeps the TPPA is “left wing.””
Of course not.
MMP, CV. It’s not about individual party positions alone, it’s about potential governments. Do you think that a Labour/NZF coalition will be more left or less left than a Labour/GP one? Or do you think that there is a such a thing as NZF/GP coalition?
Peters will knobble any deal between Labour and the GP it can. They’re also quite capable of forming government with National. You can call them left wing if you like, but they public position themselves as centrist.
Under what circumstances would NZF help shift NZ back to the left again?
Do you think that either NZF or the GP has the ability to get Labour to withdraw from the TPP if either of them were in a coalition with Labour?
On the Green position I don’t think it is as clear cut as some here believe. When interviewed by Jessica Williams a week or so ago James Shaw said that it may be better to “fix” the TPP than exit it (interview doesn’t seemed to be archived).
A few people commented on twitter in response that “fixing” a treaty may not be that feasible.
The TPPA shit is baked in and if Shaw thinks he can be Mr Fix It, he can go ahead and delude himself and some of the Greens/Progressive. But I will make my darndest in my own community to ensure that none shall be so daft as to swallow that.
Seems Shaw is playing Little’s game.
Opposing it, but not really prepared to walk away, opting to tweak it if possible.
Can anybody confirm where NZ First stand?
Are you suggesting that the GP should walk away from a coaltion deal with Labour on this one issue?
“Seems Shaw is playing Little’s game.”
I’d like to see some evidence of that.
Yes, it’s a rather large issue that impacts on our right to govern, therefore, of course they should walk away.
Can you imagine how ineffective the Greens will become trying to infringe on the profits of polluters under the TPP?
As for evidence, keep in mind the context of discussion, hence look at the post I was replying too.
Ok, so presumably NZF should walk away too?
“As for evidence, keep in mind the context of discussion, hence look at the post I was replying too.”
I prefer to base my opinions on evidence not hearsay (all due respect to Karen, who just expressed an opinion that also needs backing up to be taken more seriously).
Re: NZF, one would expect them too. If not, one would expect them to put it to the vote.
As for my opinion, you will see I left scope for Karen being mistaken or incorrect. Therefore, your point escapes me.
Speaking of MMP, I think it very likely that LAB + GR in 2017 will come in between 38% and 44%.
That’s not a government. NZF will have to be in the mix, somewhere.
Probably true, depending on how many people vote NZF.
After being a Nats voter, switching to IMP solely for me support of Medical Mary Jane (well that was a wasted vote), and now having met Kevin Hague my personal views are best matched by the greens.
NZ First is the only party offering a form of Direct Democracy. Allowing voters more direct say in the larger political issues.
How so?
From the party manifesto:
The move to MMP was not the end of political reform – it was the start.
New Zealand First aims to make Parliament itself a more responsive and accountable institution, and to give greater power to the community.
New Zealand First wants to form a practical partnership with the New Zealand people by the judicious use of direct public referenda where there is neutrality and impartiality in the question; there is fair dissemination of all of the facts on both sides of the argument; there is certainty in the poll (i.e. the question can be clearly understood); there is appropriate time for debate to be conducted; and the referendum’s objective is capable of being met within the country’s fiscal constraints.
http://nzfirst.org.nz/sites/nzfirst/files/manifesto_2014_final_version.pdf
It would give voters a direct say on large issues like the TPP.
Right, so NZF will allow some form of direct democracy once it’s the government. In the meantime, Peters has consistently undermined democracy in NZ by refusing to say before elections who he will form coalition with. I also count his macho politics as counter to democracy as well as his setting the bad tone for MMP with his early bullshit in coalition deals. He’s all about the power and he’s not about transparent democracy despite his rhetoric.
To that end, I’ll note two things about your quote. One is the use of the word ‘judicious’ (and the subsequent conditions), which gives Peters plenty of wriggle room. The other is the lack of clarity about whether NZF means to include Citizens Initiated Referenda, and whether they would be binding.
(and as per OAB’s points, there are better ways to encourage democracy than majority rule, although I can understand why Peters wants that, being the centrist he is).
I don’t know much about NZF’s internal structures, but afaik the GP, Mana and the IP are all ahead of NZF in terms of membership input into and control over policy.
Have a read of the GP policy on involvement of the people,
I’ll pull out a few bits,
The electoral system should encourage close links and accountability between individual MPs and their constituents or constituencies.
Freedom of information and openness of government and its procedures are essential elements of a democracy.
Active democratic processes require more than periodic elections and stronger mechanisms are needed for the ongoing engagement of informed citizens in the development and enactment of key national and local policies.
The principle of subsidiary will guide the devolution of decision-making so that it takes place as close as possible to the communities more affected by the decisions.
https://home.greens.org.nz/policy/open-government-and-democracy-policy
Political power gives one the ability to get their policies through, thus Peters seeks it.
Peters prefers to let voters decide before he will consider coalition partners. Voters are generally aware of this. Going either way gives him, thus the party and its supporters more possibility of getting their policy through. Whether that is undermining the process or merely utilizing it is subjective I guess.
I agree conditions could be improved, but giving voters more direct say is a step in the right direction
Binding referenda will be triggered by petitions achieving support of 10% of the electorate.
You seem to be overlooking a major fact, democracy rules is the essence of democracy.
“Peters prefers to let voters decide before he will consider coalition partners.”
Ae, that’s the difference. In the GP, it’s the members that decide, well before the election. And the voters know that the GP’s intentions are.
“Voters are generally aware of this.”
Really? because the number of lefties on ts who believe that Peters won’t go with National and that he is reliable on this is asoutnding.
“Going either way gives him, thus the party and its supporters more possibility of getting their policy through.”
Yes. NZF is not a left wing party, it’s centrist. I don’t have a problem with NZF doing this, I just think we should be more honest about what it means.
Also, NZF may function according to its values once Peters is gone. He is a power monger and it’s pretty hard to further democracy when that is the case.
“You seem to be overlooking a major fact, majority rules is the essence of democracy.”
Only in its most inhibited form. As we can see from the current govt, majority rules democracy can be manipulated to reduce democracy even further. Many of us here see representative democracy as more fair and more efficient. Democracy is about the people ruling the people, not the people half heartedly putting one lot of power mongers in and then another every three years to do what they like.
“Ae, that’s the difference. In the GP, it’s the members that decide, well before the election. And the voters know that the GP’s intentions are. “
Did party members approve of their flag debacle?
Who are the Greens prepared to work with? NZF?
“Really? because the number of lefties on ts who believe that Peters won’t go with National and that he is reliable on this is astounding.”
That’s more a case of wishful thinking.
People should know, it has been Peters position for years, and he’s publicly stated it numerous times.
NZF may be centrist, but in a number of areas its position is left of Labour.
As I said above, political power is necessary to get policy through. Given the power, Peters plans to further democracy by introducing a more direct form.
Representative democracy is far from more fair and more efficient because it fails to take into account the majority on major issues, it’s a vote given every 3 years. That’s not fair.
Therefore, policies are more short-term and can change direction with a change of government, undoing what has been done. Which is far from efficient.
Democracy is about people having a say on the issues that concern them. Representative democracy is about voting in others to have your say. Therefore, a number of people are left selecting the best of the worst to represent them.
It’s like being forced to buy the album when you only like a few songs.
Direct democracy requires safeguards to protect the minority, such as the Treaty, a Constitution, Bill of Rights etc…
“Did party members approve of their flag debacle?”
That’s a daft question and shows that you have no idea how political parties function. Also, I was talking about formation of government which is a completely different thing than day to day policy and actions.
“Who are the Greens prepared to work with? NZF?”
The Greens will work with anyone on share common ground. Including NZF. It’s NZF that has a problem with working with others (or probably it’s Peters that has that problem).
Sorry, I meant to say participatory democracy. Majority rules democracy eventually becomes a form of bullying and coercion. It’s not particularly representative. For instance, I’d like to see government work with a wide range of political view. NZF seems against that (Peters wants to sideline the GP for instance, and MANA too I think). We need more participation and better representation.
I’m in two minds about binding CIFs. If they were done alongside other initiatives, maybe, but I think we need to up our game with civics in general in NZ, starting with teaching it properly in schools and reforming local body elections so that people get involved. We have to learn how to do democracy, not just learn about individual issues to tick a box next to. Policy shouldn’t be a popularity contest (the flag is showing us all the pitfalls of that).
Sorry, that should have read: majority rules is the essence of democracy.
Direct democracy, as beloved by demagogues the world over.
Is there something wrong with the select committee process? Then fix the select committee process – for example by introducing stricter rules of evidence and better understanding of how party lines create conflicts of interest.
I prefer democracy, let the people have their say.
You prefer to address the issue in facile soundbites? Sounds like demagoguery to me. Not to mention Graham Capill.
It was sufficient to answer your question.
Well, the big one would be that the select committee can ignore the submissions made and thus support a law that the majority of people don’t want.
Of course, it’s then up to parliament to legislate that law but they too need to be accountable to the people. They should not have the power to go against the wishes of the people.
Thank you for helping to illustrate my point about how select committees can be improved.
Did you read the Chairman’s list of qualifiers? Fair dissemination of facts eh Draco? Snort!
“Well, the big one would be that the select committee can ignore the submissions made and thus support a law that the majority of people don’t want.”
Indeed. Moreover, how many, opposed to voters, actually bother to make a submission?
Thus, when it comes to the two, there is no comparison, direct democracy wins hands down.
Bollocks.
Interested parties make submissions – some from duty, others from self interest – all arguments can be heard – and yes, the National Party does it’s best to break it (like they won’t do that with demagoguery 😆 ) .
In any event, your list of qualifiers betrays the truth.
Yes, interested parties make submissions. But the point is, their input can be disregarded and their numbers are small in comparison to the amount of people that vote.
Hence, when it comes to the two there is no comparison nor is it (the select committee process) a substitution.
You have that arse about face: demagoguery isn’t a substitute for democracy: it’s a death knell.
Your list of qualifiers betrays the truth. Did you fail to understand why?
Rubbish.
Submissions can be disregarded.
The number who submit are small in comparison.
Emotions and prejudices can be invoked under any democratic system.
Rubbish: your list of qualifiers betrays the truth and ignoring that won’t make it go away.
So you keep on saying, yet you have failed to show this.
I’m wondering if Andrew Little stay on message or at least find a message to begin with?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/70496910/labour-sets-nonnegotiable-stance-on-tpp-free-trade-talks
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/little-talks-tough-on-tpp/
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/little-labour-cant-support-tpp-currently/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/72953458/labour-unlikely-to-withdraw-from-tppa-trade-deal-if-in-govt–andrew-little
Your links expose Labours tactic.
Labour make a big song and dance opposing a certain issue, but when it comes to the crunch, they turn around and support it.
Little was missed in his break. Clearly people were looking to the leader of the opposition for an alternative solution. However, upon his return he huffed and puffed, but in the end is beginning to show his true colours.
It’s time the left sent Labour a message. If Labour want to support the TPP they can do it without the help of the left.
I urge the left to withdraw from Labour.
If Labour come in at under 10% at the next election, then perhaps they may start to actually listen to their core supporters.
“I urge the left to withdraw from Labour.”
And then do what exactly?
Vote for whoever they deem more left of Labour.
Which would be who?
That’s up to the individual.
Ok, so you don’t have an opinion about what constitutes a left wing party and you think that there is no such thing as an objective definition it’s just personal preference? Perhaps you should stick to voting Labour 😉
No. Apart from my reference to personal preference, I didn’t say that at all.
As Labour are so centrist, there are a number of parties to select from. And that is up to the individual to decide.
Start up a new party that is truly progressive and has the best interest of the many in NZ, not a party of the establishment and careerists.
That’s been tried a few times in recent years 😉
That got off ground in 1915, 1936, 1976 and 1993 😉 😉
you left out one from last year, and one from 2011 🙂
and 1989 😛
“Thoughts?”
Glad Labour has finally figured out what its message is. This message is about the TPP, but also about where Labour is positioning itself for the next election. Not a lot of hope there for lefties, so my suggestion is to look to the GP in terms of voting and look outside of parliament in terms of change beyond that.
+1
That’s correct, there isn’t much hope for left voters supporting Labour.
Which begs the question, when are the unions going to walk away from Labour?
Surely the unions can’t continue to support the party after hearing this?
It’s time the left sent Labour a clear and loud message.
I’ll be calling my local Labour MP and expressing my disappointment. I suggest others do the same.
little agrees and disagrees with tpp. situation normal.
And this is why Labour keeps losing voters. Just have to have the Greens pick them up.
Andrew little and labour are saying they are going to legislate against some of the provisions of TPPA.
So?
The majority of people don’t even want us in the TPPA.
I disagree, the majority of the left don’t but some do and some on the right don’t but the majority do
We’ll see what the public say next time we have an election
Just like last week, the public won’t have a say on the TPP at the next election.
86 – Yes votes
1538 – No votes
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11363630
65% wanted the agreement details not to be secret, 14% were fine with the secrecy.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1212/S00004/poll-shows-most-nzers-want-to-end-secret-tppa-negotiations.htm
Gives you a gauge of public opinion in my opinon.
Yep, public opinion is against the TPPA.
A small sample of people that can be bothered to click on a vote, if National lose the next election (they won’t) then I’ll concede public opinion is against the TPP
if support doesnt skyrocket while nation has control of the spin… then the tpp is not a resounding success in public eyes.
court has founded groser acted wrongly. highest ethical standards anyone?
There’s a lot of scientific polls over the last few months showing that people are against the TPPA.
A lot of people didn’t support the anti-smacking bill either
True but I suspect that if people had had what was actually happening explained to them accurately then they would have. this may also apply to the TPPA but I doubt it – we’ve had too many years of a lot of us getting worse off because of these trade deals.
A lot of people didn’t agree with the straw man argument put up by the local idiot group Family First which had no relation to the actual law change to remove the defense of discipline for assault on a child.
FIFY PR
“Gives you a gauge of public opinion in my opinon.”
A gauge of Herald readers at least. I wonder if the Herald has asked them again this week?
We all know Herald readers are really Mana voters, heh.
There was another Radiolive poll that had a rumoured 92% of people against the TPPA, but when I search on their website it comes up with a deadlink.. surprise, surprise.
lolz, Herald Mana voters.
I think you and Draco are right of course.
Indeed. To save face on their bottom lines, Labour are considering legislating against the ordinances of the TPP.
However, they seem to have forgotten the dispute process itself also goes against one of their five bottom lines. And going off their comments, it’s clear they don’t plan to legislate against that.
Therefore, despite their concerns and so called bottom lines, it seems Labour no longer value our sovereign right to govern. Shame on them.
Additionally, the cat was let out of the bag when Robertson said the Party would weigh up the consequences, implying if the consequences are to severe, Labour will back down.
So brace yourself for that excuse coming into play later on down the track.
“And this is why Labour keeps losing voters. Just have to have the Greens pick them up.”
Ae, and get the message out there that voting NZF is not a vote for a left wing shift or government.
The Greens can’t hold the left on their own. What’s required now is either a big increase in support for them via membership and/or voting, and an extra-parliamentary movement.
Will the Greens walk away from the TPP if given the chance?
What do you mean? Do you mean that if they were the government? Or do you mean it would be a bottom line, non-negotiable in coalition talks with Labour?
Both.
Can you inform us of the Green’s position in this regard?
In the case of coalition talks it is up to the party membership, in the case of if they form the government? I guess the same, but the greens live in the real world and assume the need to work with another party
Well members should ponder this:
Can you imagine how ineffective the Greens will become trying to infringe upon the profits of polluters under the TPP?
Gee, I wonder why they didn’t think of that already?
/sarc.
Then why did you find the need to question the suggestion they should walk away from the TPP?
Is the next election is more than 6 months beyond any date of ratification? If so, the neither Labour nor any other party can walk away unless they have gumption. Thinking…essential;ly reformist social democratic party and gumption. Nope. Not seeing it.
But that aside, this is truly fucking woeful.
Has no-one bothered to tell him (or has he been to lazy to find out) that three employees of corporate law firms sit behind closed doors and come to binding decisions on any dispute; that they need pay no heed to precedents, national laws, international laws, parliamentary legislation…Nothing. And has no-one told him they do not have to publish their deliberations?
Meanwhile, he wants to test the boundaries!? – fuck-
Is it 6 months from ratification, or that NZ can walk away with 6 months notice at any time?
“test the boundaries”. It’s a typical bit of messaging from Labour. Either they’re aware of the disputes process and think that it won’t hold up, or as mentioned below, they believe they can ignore it if it finds against NZ, in which case they believe they will do their hardest to find ways around the agreement.
Or they already know that most things will be binding enough to not be worth the fight, in which case this is just the same old prevarication from Labour and when the crunch comes it’ll be ‘we’d like to do the right thing but our hands are tied’.
tbh, I wonder if it’s a combination of the two. That they’re so used to spinning and following the weather vane that they truly believe the intention of the first bit because they can always rely on the second.
The vid that DtB posted the other day should be watched. I’ve tried to do a break-down of it for a post, but…well, last night’s cynicism was the result of that endeavour. I’ll still take isolated points from it at some point. Meanwhile, if you missed it and have the bandwidth and time…
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-12102015/#comment-1081349
yeah, sorry, probably not going to watch something that long and depressing.
Are you saying that the TPP and TTIP use exactly the same disputes resolution process, or that the process the TTIP will use gives us an indication of how the TPP will go?
All these deals use the same mechanism. I wouldn’t call it a process. Imagine three thugs have you cornered against a wall. Happily, you got to choose one of them, but they’re all from the same gang.
They are about to ‘go through a process’. This arbitration – kangaroos would be proud and Stalin would be blushing.
He, David Malone, fair demolishes all the myths around these ‘agreements’.
eg – There is no investment lost by not being a party to any bi-lateral investment clause according to separate studies by the World Bank, Yale and Tufts. The bi-lateral investment clauses open the door to the Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS).
Astonishingly, all the economic gains (underwhelming as they are) only result from running the data through a particular ‘general equilibrium model’ that’s been thoroughly discredited because of inbuilt and obviously bullshit assumptions. When the numbers are thrown through a more robust and credible UN model, everything comes out as a negative for everyone (except for the USA).
– labour share of gdp down
– government tax take down
– wages down
– rates of employment down
– net exports down
– increased financial instability
I’d love to know what model was used for the TPPA, but I think I already know the answer given that the ‘benefits’ are very, very similar to those envisaged for the TTIP.
According to that video they just take the agreement as written and copy/paste into new agreements, ergo, all ISDS clauses are exactly the same.
thanks.
And to pick up the convo from last night, I suppose I see it’s easier to get better democracy from having a state and government, than to write off the state and government and try for something else. Particularly in NZ, where we are so far from a revolution (as compared to many other places in the world). I hold that view not because I think this parliament is likely to make steps in the right direction necessarily, but because having some kind of state gives us a kind of reprieve to do the other work.
For instance if the GP got to 20% of the vote and Labour were forced to form a coalition with them, we’d get a term or three of being able to shift the centre left again (in the culture, not necessarily in parliament). On the other hand I can see the argument that such a government migh just breed more complacency and lead to people not doing the urgent work required..
I appreciate the degree of cynicism though, esp if you are doing the hard yards of watching 90s mins of in your face reality (somewhere I’m not prepared to go). Keeping the conversation going about what else we could do seems vital.
Well, I am depressed! Has Labour learnt nothing from the examples of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders? I will never vote Labour again, and I’ll be letting the local branches know very strongly! F***, F***, F***!
yes he came out strongly for and against. bottom will get sore from the picket
meanwhike jane kelsey had a win in court.
I find Littles stance very clear and easy to understand which is there is enough good in it trade wise to keep but he will flout the rules if necessary for the good of the country.
As someone who’s income over my entire working life to date has come from nzs primary product trade anything that opens up markets is good.
Edit I just noticed bearded git has said it better below.
so you think the other parties will let labour pick and choose the parts of the tpp it wants? take the good and rejdct the bad?
It lines them up nicely with nzf buy leaving room to ban foreign ownership.
If labour gets to 40% ,which is were they need to be to change the government, the other parties will have tow the line .
And I think nz would be safe from prosecution from real estate investors as they are by nature opportunists and won’t waste money in legal battles they’ll just move on.
Very disappointed with the labour party if this is the case. Will rethink my voting certainly.
Just 18 rugby related stories in the Herald today.
What a joke of a paper!
@puckish above
I think Little can see that there are some gains and Labour will be portrayed as negative if it doesn’t back the deal. Seems a reasonable position.
However, he has made it plain throughout that Labour would ignore the agreement in terms of its policy on foreign purchases of residences and any other matter the party felt was not in the interests of New Zealanders, and that this would be fought through the courts. Key has admitted today, among a lot of blather, that Labour would be able to implement its ban on non-residents buying residences.
The interesting question is would Labour take any notice of the kangaroo ISD court?
That may be but I’m guessing to the voting public it looks like Little is changing his position almost daily
I don’t suppose you have some evidence for that statement?
Evidence for my guessing? Well ok my guess is based on these four statements that run the gamout from non-negotiable to probably support
Next week it’ll probably be Little trumpeting the TPP as a win for NZ set up by Labour
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/70496910/labour-sets-nonnegotiable-stance-on-tpp-free-trade-talks
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/little-talks-tough-on-tpp/
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/little-labour-cant-support-tpp-currently/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/72953458/labour-unlikely-to-withdraw-from-tppa-trade-deal-if-in-govt–andrew-little
Yeah, nah. You’re not guessing, you’re using weasel words to push a certain line (apologies to mustelids).
Na weasels are smelly dangerous and sneaky so its apt you use the term around PR
so you admire key when he does this but ridicule little for it?
but according to you changing positions is a strength in a leader. or isit just when Key does it?
@ Bearded Git
There are some gains, but they are modest. Moreover, they don’t outweigh the downside to date.
Additionally, it may be possible to pull out and one on one regain those gains on a better footing.
The full text of the agreement will be released in the coming weeks However, Key said Groser had already released the main points.
Therefore, it’s fair to assume the best parts of the TPP deal have already been made public, hence, what’s yet to be released won’t get any better.
Even Little conceded with the US involvement, the deal is more about control than trade.
Fighting policy decisions in court will be costly and doesn’t ensure a win. Therefore, it still leaves the best interest on NZ at risk of being overridden by the interest of corporates.
it will test the enforcement provisions if the LP can succeszfully pick the good stuff and reject the bad stuff in the tpp. it will also mean our negotiators were very incompetent
Lots of regular contributors are having their comments go to moderation today, not sure why. I will try and keep an eye out, but I am off line for the next 30 min.
Thanks for doing all of this, r0b.
Has someone added something to the auto-moderation queue. That is the most common reason.
Umm I will have a look at it.
Umm. Nope the auto-moderation looks clean.
Nothing looks like it has been switched on.
Clearing the auto-moderation.
Leave the comments in moderation so I can see if that makes a difference.
There is one from CV in moderation (I released it briefly, sent it back again on seeing your comment here)
I have the comments on auto-refresh now every minute.
Thanks – interesting…
Odd. I copied the automod out and in again. Cured? More likely a glich on the server processes?
mine have been too – I’ll test it now
Interesting. It seems to be you and CV.
I won’t be able to see what is happening until I get to where I can see the logs.
Me ‘n Tracy and a few others were also getting snagged. If I was signed in I was okay. Anyway. Submitting this from ‘signed out’ to see if it goes through. I’ll let you know in the up-coming edit.
edit. okay. The comment didn’t come up. I went back end and both this and a comment from Tracey were pending. I went to release them, but either they released automatically as I went to do that or someone else released them at that moment.
OK just signed in and commenting on this now to see if it goes straight through. If it works I’ll try and stay signed in to minimise workload on the mods.
Tis odd. I can’t see anything that could be causing it. I figure it has to be one of
1. the mechanism for dealing with first time comments has an issue or
2. the mechanism that lets us get away without a captcha has one or
3. the client side mechanism that fills in the commenter details using javascript.
I’m going to force everyone to reload cached items from the CDN to see if it is the latter.
What I’m wondering is what browser people having problems are on. For that I’ll need database access which is impossible today at work.
IN the time it took me to type that edit, two comments from tracey, one from CV and one from martymars popped up as pending. And refresh rates all over the back end dropped like a stone.
It’s taken me this long – since time of comment above (minus say one minute for typing) to get back here.
That was me changing the media tag for material from the CDN (content distribution network) that provides the images, css, and javascript to clients. A frequent (ie every few months) issue is that a bad copy of javascript gets out for a browser, and causes client generated issues like this auto-moderation. So I clear everyones caches if I can’t see an obvious cause.
I also clearing all cached pages and database queries to ensure that no-one was picking up missing items.
It takes about 30 minutes before the site gets back to normal speed, and it is really slow in the first 5-10 minutes afterwards.
I haven’t been going into moderation, but ts pages (including comments and edits) have been very slow to load for the past hour or two.
I was thinking about Australia saying some time ago that it was going to be the Sherrif of the Pacific, acting for the USA. (Who voted for that? ) Is Israel the Sheriff of the Middle East then? Will Australia take control, attack and corral us like Israel has to Palestine?
Is this lack of respect and lack of neighbourly good relations between us and Oz a sign of their possible path when we make a nuisance of ourselves wanting to continue sovereignty and fair and legal trading relations, and all things that a principled state expects from another principled state?
Remember they fought us on the apple front, accusing us of illegal cheating behaviour of planting it himself, from our scientist when he found the dreaded contoneaster (which carries the dreaded fireblight) in a park in Oz. What other goodwill (not!) happenings have cropped up between us, when we have had blame or disadvantage at their hands. All interested NZs will know of at least one.
Australia has plenty of local and near-regional problems developing. I doubt they will have the attention span and wherewithal to go policing the Pacific.
Ah CV. but do they know that?
Well if the Aussies were to follow in true US style, the more things like the economy, infrastructure and social cohesion fall apart on the homefront, the more they will want to do adventuring on foreign shores.
In the ODT this morning there was a letter pointing out the fact that Australians living here for one year could vote to decide NZs flag. Seems odd.
Australian citizens who have lived in NZ for 4 years can vote in NZ General Elections.
Thanks r0b for your work and overview.
“I’ll huff and I’ll puff and……., oh fuck it, I am just taking the piss. Of course we will support the TPP cause after all, Labour is all for free trade”
‘Labour leader Andrew Little says it is unlikely the party would withdraw from the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPPA) free trade deal if it gains power, following a meeting with Trade Minister Tim Groser to discuss the agreement.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/72953458/labour-unlikely-to-withdraw-from-tppa-trade-deal-if-in-govt–andrew-little
Do you feel betrayed that once again Labour is seen to be weak or as usual, you support a party of no ideas, ideals or policy?
And cue the apologists for the left………
Labour and National hold to the same economic and financial frameworks and ideas so its no surprise that they usually agree on everything apart from a few operational details.
What we have for a while now in the country is a grand political coalition in terms of economic and financial policies – with regard to Labour, what did post-Rogernomics Clark and Cullen truly do that brought about real change?
+1
And it’s the economics that really do count.
I don’t support right-wing parties and thus I don’t support Labour.
The Avaaz petition is gaining ground.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/tpp_2015_loc_nz/?tIkRubb
Over half a million signatures to date.
EDIT: Quote from Avaaz website: “…but New Zealand’s parliament can stop it.”
Really?
Goff, King, Nash, Shearer, Robertson, Little meet Groser–Labour capitulates
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201774362/little-details-labour's-stance-on-tpp
NZ Labour is officially stuffed
this is one long running issue that could have united NZ First, Green and Labour for 2017
+100
Or, heaven forbid, Labour realise this is in NZs best interest
Interesting group of MPs.
What was the criteria that was decided for those MPs to meet with Groser?
Labour leader, deputy, finance speckperson, and ….?
Don’t we love money. The more we have of it, the more we need to have more of it.
The head of the panel that is carrying out a review of Child, Youth and Family (CYF) is being paid $2000 a day by the government.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/286820/cyf-reviewer-paid-$2000-a-day
Paula Rebstock (left) will be earning almost double the maximum standard fee. Social Development Minister Anne Tolley (right) said there were ‘very few people in New Zealand with Ms Rebstock’s wealth of experience’
(Me – As useful mercenary for RW governments. Our overseas expert! One of the professional feminism-empowered ‘Yo-Yo Sisters’ travelling around the world being RW change agents!)
The government had to create a special exemption to enable the payment to Paula Rebstock, which is about double the maximum standard fee.
Labour Party state services spokesman Kris Faafoi said he thought most New Zealanders would struggle to comprehend such a daily fee.
Nice Work if you can get it.
Ella Fitgerald sings some good thoughts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu0JjhbaVbE
The man who only lives for making money
Lives a life that isn’t necessarily sunny;
Likewise the man who works for fame —
There’s no guarantee that time won’t erase his name
The fact is
The only work that really brings enjoyment
Is the kind that is for girl and boy meant.
Fall in love — you won’t regret it.
That’s the best work of all — if you can get it.
Holding hands at midnight
‘Neath a starry sky…
Oh that is nice work if you can get it.
And you can get it — if you try.
from ST Lyrics
Paua Rebstock “wealth of experience” more like her wealth out of our pockets A bit like Paua poaching
Oh, I can easily understand what the scale of that $2000 per day fee means.
I am a retired man, and this $2000 is what I earn for 80 hours work over three months. Ms Rebstock is earning x10 what I earn, and some x15 the minimum wage, which my BA Hons daughter earns as a cleaner.
mac1
The reply from the pollies would be, that can’t be true – education overcomes poverty and poor wages. Chanting slogans like that, which have been proved to be true generally, in third world countries, is all you get from these NZ propagandists.
They haven’t got a handy quote about people working in a declining economy which has as its main aim, to have low inflation. I believe it is 0.8 this quarter, so thank your daughter for helping to provide stability by her restraint in asking for higher wages!
interesting move by Medicines sans frontiers
http://www.mintpressnews.com/doctors-without-borders-takes-unprecedented-action-against-us-military/210168/
“Even war has rules,” declared Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Doctor’s Without Borders (MSF), who announced Wednesday that the aid organization will take unprecedented action against the U.S. military by formally launching an international fact-finding inquiry into the bombing of its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.”
not that I think it will amount to much, but at least they try.
The erosion of the moral standing of the USA in international affairs accelerates.
I think the ‘erosion’ is more of a free-fall at the moment isn’t it?
interestingly that’s from the point of the view of the ‘developed west.’ In most of the rest of the world – South America, Africa, the ME, there are very few illusions left amongst ordinary people as to what the US has been doing to them.
Question :How does Steven Joyce get to or have the qualification to decide the future of Agresearch in NZ when he is a Media entrepreneur ?
Does it not seem strange that he can create a ministry of everything which in concept is useless other than its seems the ultimate veto over most of the govt development and research activities and enterprises
A very powerful position to be in and not subject to parliamentary review or it seems democracy only itself and the nationacorp caucus
Frankly its corrupt
No different to Robertson taking Finance.
Decision released in Kelsey vs. Minister of Trade
Time for corrupt Ministers who break the law to face criminal charges.
+ 1
The report doesn’t mention anyone being corrupt and breaking the law ?
The Chief Ombudsman got it wrong also apparently. Does that make her corrupt and criminal in your opinion OAB?
Are you unaware of the well-documented pattern of behaviour of government ministers towards their OIA obligations?
This is no isolated example.
How do you propose to tackle it? Wet bus tickets? A round of golf? Cabinet Club?
How do you propose to tackle it?
By having a democratic system that allows for fine points of law and Govt. actions to be tested by multiple independent and highly informed bodies such as the Ombudsman and the High Court.
As has occurred in this case as it happens.
And if the Minister and/or the Ombudsman had been guilty of a corrupt and criminal pattern of behavior I am confident the High Court would have said so.
But it didn’t, so I’m just going to read your comments to that effect as politically motivated OTT nonsense.
The High Court was not asked to comment on that aspect, as it did not form part of Kelsey’s case. Are you also unaware of how law works?
Requests are required to be processed in a timely manner. It is clear that the extended delays to this and many other requests deliberately defeats the purpose of the act. Relying on High Court action is no solution at all.
I’m sure you’ll find some way to justify it to yourself anyway.
the government has been shown to have acted unlawfully….as they did with the CERA Act where they have lost every action taken against them
Maybe you should read the report before making such comments Pat?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/286864/tpp-requests-groser-acted-unlawfully
which part of my comment would you like to refute lost sheep?
The bit about acting unlawfully Pat.
Despite the Radio NZ headline using that term, the judgement specifically does not make such a finding. To quote…
[3] The applicants have applied for a series of declarations concerning the lawfulness of the Minister’s approach and the meaning of specific provisions of the Act.
[4] Rather than issue specific declarations I have quashed the Minister’s decision in relation to six of the categories of documents requested by Professor Kelsey.
The report makes it clear that..
[91] This proceeding is confined to questions about the correct interpretation and application of the Act, not the substantive merits of the Minister’s decision or the report of the Chief Ombudsman.
The issue in this case is how the law should have been complied with, and in the opinion of the High Court in this case the Minister, His officials, and did not correctly comply with the Act.
The complexity of doing so is demonstrated by the fact that the Chief Ombudsman has also failed to understand how the law should be complied with.
Therefore the High Court has sent the Minister back to ‘reconsider his decision’ and supplied him with some instructions on how he should apply the law in the way I have explained
So. No law broken, and no ruling that the Minister acted unlawfully.
if they have failed to follow the law then ipso facto they have acted unlawfully…which is exactly the same ruling by both the high court and the supreme court re the red zone…the government were sent back to apply the law correctly…i.e lawfully……it is a very simple concept lost sheep
http://www.minterellison.co.nz/Government_told_to_reconsider_offers_to_uninsured_property_owners_in_the_red_zone_03-26-2015/
if they have failed to follow the law then ipso facto they have acted unlawfully
That does not in fact follow.
It is accepted that some laws are by nature extremely difficult to formulate in a manner that makes compliance easy to achieve, and so an ongoing process of interpretation is required. The OIA is one such law. (Employment Law is another. ‘Good Faith’? ‘What what a fair and reasonable employer would have done’?)
If you actually read the judgement you would find some fascinating discussion around how the law is to be complied with.
You would also discover why the High Court did not make a ruling that the actions of the Minister were ‘unlawful’.
In the case you link above the Supreme Court did make such a ruling. That is a completely different scenario.
in fact LS the words unlawful wernt in the summary in the quake outcasts ruling either…yet unlawful it was…..i assume you will now be taking defamation action against all these journalists and media organisations that have erroneously reported this “unlawful” act?
I think it is widely accepted on this forum that all journalism is beyond redemption Pat.
That’s why I don’t take anything I read in the media as fact. I try and verify it at the source. Thanks to OAB for providing the link to that.
How did you find the judgement?
Excellent and valuable contribution I thought, and should result in better compliance with the intent of the OIA law going forward.
Que?
If the law had not been broken Kelsey would have lost. Try harder TLS.
Have you read the report Micky?
Can you point out where it states anyone acted ‘unlawfully/broke the law’ as opposed to ‘did not comply’?
How do you think the Chief Ombudsman failed to understand how to comply?
Check out McFlock’s comments below. There is no difference between breaking the law and not complying with the law.
If you are right Groser would have won and Kelsey would have lost.
There is a difference, as I’ve explained.
And as explained to Pat, there is a difference between a Court making a declaration of unlawfulness, and declining to make such a ruling.
There is a state in law of failing to interpret how to correctly comply.
The judgement in this case says that The Minister, his Officials, and the Chief Ombudsman all failed to correctly interpret how they should comply.
That is not necessarily a criminal or unlawful act, and in this case the High Court is not declaring it to be such.
The declaration says they broke the law.
All you’re quibbling about is whether this repeated illegal behaviour by cabinet members and their offices is the product of corrupt intentions or abject and repeated incompetence.
oh look, a flag…
See above McFlock.
The High Court made no ruling that any law was broken.
cf:
They failed to comply with the law. That’s commonly known as “breaking the law”.
Such a pity you missed that bit in the declaration. Whether it was incompetence or intent, I can’t be bothered speculating – either way you’re spinning while you split hairs.
They failed to comply with the law. That’s commonly known as “breaking the law”.
We are talking about what the High Court actually determined McFlock, not what ‘common’ interpretation you or anyone else would like to put on it.
If a law had been broken, The High Court would have said just that. But they did not.
The judgement uses the specific phrase that the law had ‘not been complied with’, and it very carefully outlines why it did so.
The reason for that is that ‘not comply’ and ‘broken’ are NOT the same thing at all in relation to laws.
Which I’m sure someone of your erudition and subtlety understands perfectly, and as you have no doubt read the judgement itself you will also clearly understand why the High Court ‘did not think it is necessary to issue the declarations (of unlawfulness) sought by the applicants.
Are you being serious? Did you read the judgment? And understand it?
Yes.
It does not make a judgement of unlawfulness as the applicants requested.
No the Judge declined to grant the declaration sought but still ruled Groser breached the OIA. Can you stop trying to teach me to suck eggs?
I’m not trying to teach you anything Mickey.
I just object people attempting to distort the meaning of the High Courts judgement through the deliberate substitution of terms and concepts that do not actually appear in the judgement.
I believe that is ‘commonly’ referred to as ‘spin’, and ‘spin’ is widely disproved of in this forum?
The term ‘breached the OIA’ does not appear in the judgement. So on what basis do you claim that the judge ruled that to be the case?
Actually, they are. The judge was simply refusing to declare whether the illegality perpetrated in coming to the minister’s decision made that decision itself illegal. In the same way that the Court of Appeal might determine that minor breaches of the Evidence Act did not affect the validity of the verdict.
If the Judge didn’t declare it, you are simply projecting your bias into complete speculation McFlock.
Unless you happen to be a High Court Judge yourself, I think I’ll stick with the genuine article. No offense.
But you know I must be correct in this matter.
OAB started this thread.
If there is the slightest chink in any argument I put up, he will let me know immediately how many kinds and varieties of idiocy my comments represent.
He has said nothing.
‘Ipso facto’ to quote Pat.
I must be correct.
1) Did or did not the judge repeatedly state that the government failed to comply with the processes and requirements set out in the Official Information Act when it refused Kelsey’s OIA request?
2) did the judge make a ruling on whether the refusa was legally correct?
I think we are agreed that the answer to 2 is “no”.
But the answer to 1 is “yes”.
Nearly there McFlock.
We’ve worked all the way from ‘corrupt’ and ‘criminal’, through all the other misinterpretations, and arrived at ‘legally correct’.
Now.
Did the Judgement state that anyone had acted ‘unlawfully’ and/or that any law had been ‘broken’ ?
No.
They are just words eh, and you can interchange them and they mean the same? Bollocks.
Different words are used precisely because they convey different meanings, and I take it as a rule of thumb that when someone chooses to substitute one word for another, it is because they are attempting to distort the meaning of the original statement.
What is wrong with the terms the judge used and why are so many here reluctant to use them?
Spin.
To back my point, I point out that the judgement itself contains several discussions of the exact meaning of certain words and phrases and the importance of interpreting them correctly.
The difficulty in doing so, and the reason the Judge chose to declare ‘failed to comply’ as opposed to ‘acted unlawfully’ is well illustrated by this quote…
[127] The terminology used in s 19(a)(i) and (ii) of the Act is contorted…….
……. The drafters of s 19 of the Act appear to have used the terms “reason” and “grounds” in the converse manner to which they are normally used.
… two different words mean different things, so therefore these two expressions must mean different things?
Well, the next time you “fail to comply” with the local speed limit, let me know whether there is any substantive difference when you point this distinction out to the police officer.
The resolution to this argument is quite simple: rather than insisting that the two expressions mean different things, you can link to any reasonable source (such as legal dictionary, encyclopaedia entry, even a post on a fairly sane blog) that provides distinct meanings between “breaking the law” and “failing to comply with the law”.
For example, when I googled the two phrases together and ignored the ones about cops shooting people who failed to comply with their orders, several articles used the expressions interchangably.
For example, this news article. Or this one. Or this one from the UK. Or even this business law newsletter.
Feel free to back up your opinion with something other than a repeated insistence that your fart smells like roses. You argue that the two expressions mean legally precise and different things. Back it up.
There is the
slightest chinkyawningest gulf in theargumentsemotional response you outlined.It’s been elucidated repeatedly by MS and McF, and perhaps you missed my comment at 17.2.1.1.1
I propose that deliberate and repeated breach of statutory requirements by a minister be criminalised. National has too much form in this area.
Note that this is a proposal, not an interpretation of the Groser verdict.
There were eight categories so I wonder why the Judge with held the remaining two – probably considered too top secret for the eyes of the great unwashed.
The government books are out tomorrow – after lunch – we’ll get to see if they are in balance or not. For the record, I think they’ll be short for the year, by over a billion dollars. That’s seven years straight, they’ve spent more than they got in.
I suspect you will be right. Probably several billion once you remove the “specials” and optimistic forecasts.
The Government needs to be running a bigger deficit.
What do you want National to do? Tax more in from Kiwi households and small and medium businesses than they spend on goods and services for the country?
A really simple word for that: austerity.
Nah.
“Austerity” focuses on cutting expenditure to pay government debt to corporates.
This government focuses on transferring money to corporates via debt and diverting end-user expenditure to corporate contractors.
Damned if I know of a single word that can describe how fucked up that is…
100 BILLION national debt ,how do any of us in this country have any money at all -crime is an alternative but the govt seems to have a mortgage on that to us all
Although I do agree with what you’re saying there’s a few things that need to happen as well:
1. We stop the banks creating credit money
2. We need to tax the rich far more
3. We need capital taxes
4. We need to stop the dollar being set by buyers/sellers and set it as a function of our terms of trade/imports/exports
agree on all of those.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11528269
For all those sympathisers and supporters of “file sharing” (read: collective theft of artistic work)
Hey JanMeyer
More like corporate profiteering and abusing of consumers and customers.
I don’t think file sharing sites, for all the reasons they shouldn’t exist, really qualify as “corporate profiteers.” Or were you trying to claim that Ant Timpson is a corporate profiteer? Good luck with that one.
I liked your scary commas, I even put on a scary voice reading out “file sharing”. I need more of a lead in before I will read your article, thanks anyway.
Yeah easier to just turn a blind eye and keep up the “file sharing”. Those evil capitalists deserve it. Too bad it also fucks up the financial return for independent film makers and other creatives trying to make a buck.
Like Lorde, for example. No, wait…
There has never been more opportunity for artists to leverage income from talent: direct access to a genuinely global market with significantly reduced distribution costs.
Clouds, silver linings, etc.
I’m sure Ant Timpson will be thrilled with your most perceptive observations! If only he was as smart as you 😀
Yeah, nah, he’s way ahead of me.
I’m sure they’ll get more job offers from being downloaded so many times (and as such being seen) then if it hadn’t been downloaded and just relied on movie takings alone
After four years spent working on Turbo Kid and producers deferring all fees, Timpson says they needed a payoff to help pay for its creation.
If they got a dollar from every download: “we would be rich”.
I suspect there is an answer to the problem right there. Who doesn’t want to share?
Yep, all they really have to do is make it so that they can get a dollar from every download.
Of course then they’d actually be over paid.
Another genius! Please engage with Ant Timpson and the other independent creatives – they’re obviousiy idiots who have neglected to simply “charge a dollar for every download”!
Don’t be stupid. The point is that artists are tied into a system that rips most of them off, and that same system prevents them from making money in other ways (ways that many people want to support).
It’s the corporates and their greed that are preventing artists from making a living. I’d quite happily pay small fees for downloading content (and support people who can’t afford that) but NZ is the classic example of why this doesn’t work under the current system. Content in film and tv is tied up in a whole bunch of location bullshit. The corporates are more interested in making shitloads of money than in supporting artists to create content and make a living and in giving the public access. The corporates could still make a living as well, but that’s not enough for them. Mass response of fuck ’em coinciding with new tech is pretty much why we’ve ended up in the current situation.
I think it’s the new tech rather than the attitude: just as Edison put candle-makers out of business, history is littered with such examples.
That said, so long as people want to watch movies there’ll be a profit to be made from making them.
One of the criticisms I loved about the case against KDC was that essentially the media corporations were targeting kdc simply because his model of monetising information and its storage was much better suited (dare I say “most fit”) for the evolving technology situation.
A smart organisation would have simply negotiated a reasonable licensing fee for any copies found on the servers – providing an incentive to locate and legitemise copies. And then the fee could have been small enough per download to work within the download service’s model without incurring fees to amateur users.
Your problem, and those like Ant Timpson, is that you haven’t really considered what changes are happening both socially and economically. The artificial monopolies that once existed are going the way of the dodo because they don’t work. This means that they, and we, need new ways. One of those new ways happens to be file sharing.
Capitalism is dying and what we’re seeing is the last grasp of the bludging capitalists on our wealth and power.
I charge a modest $1-7 for my downloads, pity they seem to pop up on filesharing sites and have around 1million+ downloads all without bothering to give me my share. Seems people are happy with fileshare sites as along as they are not the artist concerned. Do I not deserve an income from my efforts, especially as others are happy to steal but no pay for?
(yes, I do provide samples of work online for free but it’s not these that are “shared”)
Don’t start the “it’s a new age so evolve or die” bullshit. That’s ignorant talk. Do you get paid for your 9-5? What If I came to your workplace and took a few items without asking then distributed to friends, is that not theft?
Not pointing at anyone, just venting.
feeling better now!
In my workplace, our information outputs are freely available. We produce them because clients pay for them. If people want the outputs to exist, they pay for them. After that, anyone can have them. They are tailored to the client requirements, but other people find them useful.
Information is not physical. Copying things incurs a negligible cost to us. Do you really think that you’d have more than a million extra sales if filesharing didn’t exist? How about you start leveraging that advertising edge, rather than lamenting a dying business model?
If you’re in entertainment, take an example from some of the funk bands of the 1970s: locked out of the mainstream recording industry, they succeeded through improving their live performances. Or you could look at who’s downloading your material, and leverage that into endorsement deals.
If you’re in software, there are other models you can use.
If you’re adamant that only “legitimate” copies must exist, look into digitally watermarking each sold copy so you can identify the leakers.
I too see my bands on file sharing sites, 1000s of copies of my songs all shared. But I am not stupid enough to think they would all buy my albums, most ppl are just curious hoarders downloading files for the sake of it, its a fast moving world the internet.
I liked KDCs proposed file sharing model where you would have your songs on a streaming site, have a page like bandcamp, have everything for free, (stream or download) but you get paid by ppl viewing your bands page (through border ads). Seemed like a good idea, so if you are Kanye West you would get millions of views (oodles of cash) & someone a bit more low key like myself would get a few 100 views (a little bit of cash). Funnily enough, he was just in the process of setting it when he got raided.
& there was a story recently about the guy who wrote that ‘All About the Bass’ song (which was the most pad-for-streamed song ever, number 1 in a bunch of countries) yet he only got a few thousand dollars, so the model still needs work!
Yes nothing worse than doin work and not even get a mention or payed by the beneficiaries of it
A bit like this govt basic value for the masses
I wonder if we can get an opinion from Brian Edwards, once the beloved of the left, on whether clamping down on file sharing is a good thing?
He was the one who, a few years ago described Public Libraries as being involved in “Grand Theft Copyright”.
He will probably be of the view that the PPA rules people seem to think are in the agreement are a wonderful idea.
he has a blog, why don’t you ask him?
I’d ask him, but he’s banned me permanently.
http://brianedwardsmedia.co.nz/2012/12/paul-holmes-starry-starry-knight/#comment-24330
can’t see anything there about a permanent ban.
Well spotted, weka. But I am banned, unfortunately. He banned me the following month.
Edwards is a cantankerous old fool, who regularly embarrasses himself by trying to ingratiate himself with his “friend” Michelle Boag. [1] He possibly reached his nadir in 2003, when he fronted the short-lived Edwards at Large, one of the most excruciatingly bad TV shows in history. [2]
I am not at all surprised to learn he has made such an ignorant comment about public libraries.
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08052013/#comment-629931
[2]
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/nz.general/edwards$20$2B$20dreadful/nz.general/05KK8Ktnj_0/wmyKWpgtCW8J
If you think I am going to stop downloading torrents, then you can get fucked.
Really.
Kind over the copyright morals brigade who want me to pay through the nose for music that I cannot freely play on any device I want and see fit.
Last time I looked the music industry was pretty healthy, even though people have been downloading music for the past 15-16 years.
We are not all hipsters who listen to Mumford on Sons on their spotify playlist on their iPhones.
Sometime people want to listen to their Mp3’s of Les Paul and Mary Ford on their Galaxy on the way to work.
Solution for TPPA when it arrives in hard copy
Rip it apart page by page and build a boat out of it and send it back to America and name the boat “Thanks but no thanks “
Jane Kelsey has just had a win in the High Court against Tim Groser – with costs! GO JANE!! (on TV1 news at 12 midday)
So with National and Labour both supporting the TPP and the two most successful PMs of the last few decades supporting it as well do you think that maybe those opposing it are on the wrong side of history?
No, that those two parties and leaders are on the wrong side of history. Society is changing and these people seek to stand in the way of that needed change.
The interesting thing is we both do agree that society is changing
Well then, why do you support the TPPA and other similar agreements that seek to prevent that change?
You misunderstand, I think society is changing for the better and trade agreements such as this will help facilitate that change
Trade not aid is what raises people out of poverty so the more trade the better
You really do talk nonsense.
The FTAs aren’t facilitating change as their whole purpose is to prevent it. The capitalists keep demanding stability in laws and such because they don’t things to change and the politicians give it to them in laws and trade agreements.
And, no, trade doesn’t raise people out of poverty. Increased access to the necessities of life does. The present paradigm is about preventing that access so as to make a few people rich.
Time for a tune, perhaps the new National Anthem?
Heres a better option:
…says someone who rejects the notion that wealth is delivered by chance…you’re quite right – you have no idea.
Lets face it if you’re born in NZ (no matter the circumstances) you’re already in the 1%
I find it rather worrying that the Labour Party when meeting with Tim Groser over the TPPA, did not think fit to include their two financial heavyweights, David Cunliffe and David Parker in the discussions – What would David Dead-Fish Shearer know about trade? Stuart Nash is only very recently back in Parliament (don’t think he is a financial or trade expert). Phil Goff has a background in foreign affairs and trade, and Annette King in Health re Pharmac, so those people with Robertson (I suppose) make sense but not including David C and David P is very very strange indeed!
Totally agree.
Shearer, Nash and Goff are all to extreme right of the Labour Party and our just as much neo-liberal ideologues as Key’s cadre.
Extremely odd. I have to agree if Labour have decided to agree with Key and keep TPP because it is ‘too hard’ to oppose it – then the centre and left have to go with NZ First, Greens or Internet Mana.
In fact I think Cunliffe and quite a few others should leave Labour if Labour decide to go with TPP by default and actually get in power and create more of a central peoples party.
Labour clearly no longer is working for it’s people if that is their attitude.
Oh too hard to challenge TPP… Key such a nice guy when he is undermining (oh I mean buttering up) Labour.
No wonder so many in Labour did not win their electorate seats. Voice of the people they are NOT!
+100 savenz
‘ Is the End of Independent News and Websites of Bloggers in Sight? “Operating an Independent Website could become Completely Outlawed”.’
http://www.globalresearch.ca/is-the-end-of-independent-news-and-websites-of-bloggers-in-sight-operating-an-independent-website-could-become-completely-outlawed/5481689
“According to Matt Drudge it is. He is an American political commentator and the creator and editor of the Drudge Report, an online news aggregator.
His website, according to Alexa has a global website rank of 616 and ranks in the USA at 132 and according to Quantcast is receiving, we think around 3 million hits a day or 90 million a month.
In a startling unscheduled interview with Alex Jones on infowars.com Drudge warns “that the very foundation of the free Internet is under severe threat from copyright laws that could ban independent media outlets, revealing that he was told directly by a Supreme Court Justice, “It’s over for me.”….
….Worse, it doesn’t matter where your servers are. For that’s not what defines publication. It also doesn’t matter who the material is aimed at: nor even what language it is in. Publication happens if someone in the UK downloads whatever it is. That, in itself, is the act of publication. This effectively censors the entire world’s press and media in the United Kingdom.
If the copyright laws in the US do go the way that Drudge says then one can only assume that the UK’s downloading rules will also apply there…
I reckon its about time we change our govt system to a republic officially
I reckon its about time we change our govt system to a republic officially
It seems that this shyte that holds up this govt is as shaky as as the Isles we live on hence the production of BS by this govt could be the cause of our rising greenhouse emissions