The ayatollah discussing tactics with the Hezbollah …>
“The secret “cup of tea” conversation between Prime Minister John Key and Act’s John Banks has been captured on a recording given to the Herald on Sunday.”
I doubt that it is very significant or icriminating, otherwise why would the NZH mention it, or DF say it should be published? And it was recorded by a press cameraman, and given to NZH. So who was the cameraman working for, and why didn’t his usualy media outlet take it?
But the potential disclosure of the contents of that conversation – held only a metre away from the closest reporters – could yet throw a rocket into this election campaign. It is a game-changer.
According to The Herald it very well could be significant. An interesting tone in this article.
Hmmm… well I’m not certain what an NZH journo would regard as a “game changer”. but it’s looking a bit like some fracturing within National ranks between the neoliberal NActoids and the old pre-neolib conservatives who have more affinity with NZ First.
Also I thought it was interesting that TV One bent it’s debate criteria to let Winston into their leaders’ debate.
I think you will find Farrar certainly does not support the release of the recordings unless it was said to reveal massive wrong doing. At the very least, the recording could be ‘game changer ‘ simply due to the fact it may reveal another side of Key to the general public.
The NZ media never cease to disgust me. They have a recording they describe as a ‘game-changer’ and yet they won’t let the public know what it says? It’s yet another example of how they put the interests of the politicians above those of the public.
It beggars belief that the Herald on Sunday, not known for it’s stance on ethical journalism in any other respect, suddenly goes all coy when it comes to embarrassing Key and Banks.
They’ve been told they could legally publish it, but chose not to. At the same time they have an editorial urging voters to abandon Winston Peters and had one some time ago urging people to vote for Act in Epsom.
The Herald is bad enough, but the Herald on Sunday editors are just unadulterated Tory shills who are a disgrace to the name of journalism.
The tea tape is a charade – the mic stands out on the table like dogs balls, and despite a security service that cleared the cafe presumably as a precaution they neglected to remove a mysterious object on the table? Yeah right.
We are expected to believe that Shonkey and the racist actually discussed things that would be embarrassing when there are no less than 6 tv cameras less than 3 feet away?
This is a cheap stunt to whip up/ justify media attention – it appears like this is to be the next installment in the discredit MMP campaign by Act and National.
Throw in the lame ‘release in the public interest’ even if if breaches privacy aspect and we see this stunt for what it is – a cynical ploy by two contrived, unprincipled and devious politicians and their campaign team.
Hollow men and slipping masks.
You could be right, CL. Something about the NZH pushing this story, and the way they’re telling it suggests it shouldn’t be taken at face value… something else going on.
IMO it was ‘curious” to say the least that the little black case was left on the table in full view of everyone including Banks and Key, security and the press throughout the cosy cup of tea – paricularly in terms of security. It all seemed too contrived to me.
Yeah, seems llike a pretty blatant one to me.
Farrar is urging it be released. It will be imo, and before the election, and the contents, beyond a bit of necessary fluff, will be of strategic advantage to National – ‘straight out of the horse’s mouth….’ Apparently…
I just find it weird that the electoral commission would find a sitting MP saying who they liked amongst their successors potentially criminal. After all you are talking about someone who has been sitting in that seat for decades and they will have views on the subject. I would also be interested in the views of Rodney Hide on John Banks as his successor in Epsom and a range of other successions..
Why no posts on it? We as authors here have a tendency not to write opinion posts on matters that the police have under active investigation. At most we’d usually write a news post leaving out the details of the person under investigation. The police often find no reason to charge, and the last thing you want is to have a record of wild accusations floating around permanently on the net. We will often start writing opinion posts when the police conclude their investigation and if they decide to lay charges. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but an author had better be prepared to defend their choices to other authors in the inevitable email discussions that will ensue.
But of course based on some of your comments I would say that you read Whaleoil. He doesn’t believe that ideas of civilized (and often potentially illegal) behavior should constrain him whilst claiming such protections for himself. It is the viewpoint of a sociopath – who has a number of convictions demonstrating the views of society for that type of behavior.
It is rather distressing that many of the blogs on the right have been so pushed by the views of such a person into following the same destructive ways. But the right are usually defined by their inability to think and their mobbing behavior – like all sheep.
“It is rather distressing that many of the blogs on the right have been so pushed by the views of such a person into following the same destructive ways. But the right are usually defined by their inability to think and their mobbing behavior – like all sheep.”
I also read no right turn, kiwiblog, red alert, bowalley road, cactus kate and (obviously) the standard
I find it helps me to get a wider, broader view of NZ politics and too not be so narrow minded and dismissive of other peoples views
So you didn’t want to answer my point that answered your question? I wonder why.
Instead you concentrated on an side-observation. That you probably read the other blogs is obvious if you are reading both here and there. The two blogs are on opposite directions in almost every way. I read most blogs around including those mentioned and quite a few others both here and overseas. How else would I be able to offer the opinion that I did?
But if you are interested in that issue then perhaps you should look more deeply at the divergent behaviors between the blogs. Ignore the opinions and look at what they actually do. You’ll notice that individuals like Cactus Kate, Chris Trotter, Idiot Savant, etc are quite careful about when they write about people, clearly distinguish between what is fact and what is opinion, and are also careful to distinguish between the public and private spheres. Many of these bloggers are legally trained or have had some training in the legalities of public opinion – but more importantly the vast body of argument about why these laws exist (I’ve had basic legal training in two of my degrees, study the history of why the law evolved, and had to put up with living with and reading my ex’s books and notes as she went through law school). They understand the nuances of civilized behavior.
As I read around the minor blogs of the right Whales, No Minister, adamsmith, Inventory2, Maeger and others on the right (and a couple on the left) – you find that delicacy and awareness of the nuances of the issues of public opinion missing. While probably entertaining to the participants in the manner of all self-fulfillment activities it results in low readerships, few comments, unacceptable legal risk levels, introduces a coarseness into the debate and idiotic.
David Farrar over kiwiblog has been increasingly indulging in it especially in his posts when it comes up to elections. He doesn’t effectively constrain the sewer that is his comments section. The inevitable effect is that his blog is essentially moribund or going backwards in readership whereas ours keeps pushing past his in everything apart from self-promotion (we haven’t bothered).
Fully support you lprent re this site. I also read across a range of sites but the Standard is the one I read the most, and haven’t visited Kiwiblog, Whaleoil for quite some time and don’t intend to as can’t be bothered wasting my time with the low level of posts and comments there.
It’s not just the content that makes The Standard superior to Kiwibog, it’s the interface and search features not to mention admin who don’t ignore their own policy. Good stuff.
So why didn’t he do it? I just don’t understand why Labour MPs (and its mostly Labour) don’t bother to follow the rules, is it arrogance or incompetence?
Likely he didn’t even think it would be an issue, because in reality it isn’t an issue. Oh no, a politician released a political statement, stop the presses!
I don’t think it’s a matter of “incompetence”, more a matter of “being busy doing their jobs that they don’t have time to waste on minutia that doesn’t matter”.
US military expansionism continues with plans to establish a larger presence in Australia..
THE expanded American military presence in Australia – to be formally announced next week by the US President, Barack Obama – will result in vastly more US ships, planes and soldiers visiting and being stationed in the nation’s north, the government says.
As the government all but confirmed yesterday’s Herald report that US Marines and materiel would be shifted to Darwin, the Greens said the move would annoy Australia’s neighbours, including China, and make the nation a bigger military target.
Be honest – if this had happened to Goff and the Greens the left would be crying foul about invasion of privacy. All the comment on the Standard from the left involves situational ethics or is childish abuse, and that’s just the articles!
Compare the hysterical tone of this blog with its right counterpart and look at the reasoned and calm articles of Kiwiblog verses.
Examples? The photo of the Star Wars stormtroopers and the fascism quote – juvenile in the extreme. The childish as hominum attacks on Key. Etc etc.
When are the owners of the site going to restrict articles to people who can provide well reasoned adult articles?
[lprent: They were talking in a cafe? There is nothing illegal or even vaguely immoral about listening to and reporting overheard conversations in public places.
Similarly none of the posts you mentioned do more than poke fun at the those who don’t think – such as yourself. They are there to promote discussion.
They are not there to provide the vapid egotism of an individual (many of our authors even use pseudonyms) or to spread the dog whistles for a party. Which is what many of the “well reasoned” articles you like are doing on kiwiblog. Supporters like yourself combined with the self-promotion of the kiwiblog author are why that site is slowly sliding into irrelevance.
Mostly the ‘owners’ of the site (The Standard Trust) are usually mostly concerned that the behavior of the commentators doesn’t violate our standards and cause the debate to diminish. I’d suggest you read the policy, especially the section on self-maytrdom offenses so you can avoid the moderators attention aimed reducing those concerns. ]
This widening gap between the rich and non-rich has been evident for years. In a 2005 report to investors, for instance, three analysts at Citigroup advised that “the World is dividing into two blocs—the Plutonomy and the rest”:
In a plutonomy there is no such animal as “the U.S. consumer” or “the UK consumer”, or indeed the “Russian consumer”. There are rich consumers, few in number, but disproportionate in the gigantic slice of income and consumption they take. There are the rest, the “non-rich”, the multitudinous many, but only accounting for surprisingly small bites of the national pie.
[lprent: Interesting italics went over the bounds. <i/> fools KSES which should fix it, and the browsers treat it as being an italic start. Something to fix after the election – adding to the fixes page. ]
Ah Iprent – could you look up the words ad hominin in the dictionary?
[lprent: I don’t need to. It is virtually the favorite phrase of every dumb arse troll that comes through here. Like the other stupid morons with an over inflated idea of your own worth that I have talked to on various electronic media over the last 30 years – you do not appear to understand what it actually means or the principles from which the phrase arose.
It is typically just a phrase that trolls mouth to avoid defending their ideas or statements. I generally track it as being typical of the psuedo-intellectualism of the act/libertainz trolls who most commonly misuse it.
Read the policy. You addressed the site, which means you got me to respond personally. I personally explained how stupid I thought you were for raising such a stupid idea, explained why, and gave you the link to instructions about how to avoid my attention again. You have just wasted my moderation time again. I do not have infinite time to waste on fools. ]
Ok, an unprovoked attack by a bunch of cowards causes severe damage to one young man but what caught my attention was this bit:
Two stumps still need to be removed. He also needed four stitches in his bottom lip and about $15,000 of surgery to repair his mangled mouth.
His mother, Teri Thomas, said the family could not [removed double word] afford the bill.
This sort of thing is covered by ACC and we have free public health care as well. There’s no way that she should be concerned with covering the bill so why is it reported as being a concern?
Oral and maxillofacial surgeon Gerard Thyne said ACC did not usually pay for implants until the jaw had stopped growing, meaning the teenager faces partial dentures for years unless an exception is made.
If it takes years then so be it. ACC should still be covering the costs.
Saw it. Dislike it. Totally dislike the way Key operates and his values. But, graphically visualising his murder does not do anything to help promote the left wing values that are important to me.
Farrar’s attack on Sam Mahon is unhinged accusing him of hating Key and bleeding on about upsetting Key’s kids. Quite bizarre. And he obviously has memory loss.
“Is this David Farrar the same person who instigated the Clark/Bainimarama and Peter/Kim Jong il posters. If so, he’s an utter hypocrite.
What’s the difference between Sam Mahon using shock tactics to make a political statement about ‘the dying of hope’ and the posters comparing Clark and Peters to dictators. Oh yeah, it’s all about the nature of the image. Too shocking. Too controversial.
Farrar says, ‘Sam Mahon … hates John Key.’ What drivel. Sam Mahon is a far bigger man than that and I doubt he hates anyone. He disagrees stridently with Key the NeoCon politician but how this translates to hatred is far more a reflection on Farrar’s warped perception of emotion.
Sam Mahon is a highly respected artist and advocate for environmental issues. He counts among his patrons and friends some of the illuminati of NZ arts, politics and commerce, who I’m sure will have a far more liberal interpretation of his latest ‘dead Key’ painting than bleating of philistine David Farrar.”
Murder? Perhaps the artist is implying that the politician metaphorically killed himself… as is usually the case with political careers. I can see why it’s offensive though… but what is most amusing is that some people are jumping up and down like it’s all Labours fault. LOL
Just returned from handing out flyers in West city for Labour – had a guy standing about 20 feet away just watching us and mouthing off at me but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I went over and asked what was wrong and he called me a RACIST BASTARD claiming that I called a woman an “Asian Bitch”. I was in fact asking her if she was enrolled to vote.
Being that my family are mixed Maori/Pakeha, my partner is a Cook Islander, I believe we should accept anyone who truly wishes to be a Kiwi. I told him he was an idiot and because he was causing a scene so not to draw undue attention I offered to go outside and sort out any problems he might have.
He went beserk shouting “You can’t talk to me like that!” and stormed off threatening to call the herald.
Hang tough dude. I’ve also had a couple of incidents like this over the last few days, while out campaigning for Labour. There really are a few thoroughly hateful right wingers out there. A solid 2% to 3% of the population at a guess.
The ones who fancy themselves rich and worthier than thou are particularly galling.
It’s interesting what an evil world these otherwise normal looking people exist in. I personally would not like to live inside their grubby judgemental heads.
And I don’t hesitate to put them back in their place, I should add. Fuck’m.
Phil Goff has run a good campaign. On current polling it looks unlikely that his willingness to tackle sacred cows like the age of entitlement to National Super and CGT will succeed and tragic for the country that they are likely to be no go zones for a few more elections as a result. I don’t think sites like this have helped. Goff nearly turned me in to a swinging voter but, if the price for having him lead the country is policies influenced by the regular contributors to this site it is just too high. The persistent ad hominem assaults and pack attacks on anyone who dares to differ are uncomfortably reminiscent of Animal Farm.
I assume one of the main purposes of this site is to encourage support for Labour. It may well work for those who are committed already but I suspect that it has the opposite effect on most swinging voters.
David Farrar is generally thoughtful and temperate but his contributors often conform to the standards of this blog. Your response presumes something you can neither know nor prove and is typically combative.
Don’t you ever wonder whether your style swamps the substance in your arguments?
Sometimes I don’t feel like web based arguments, or theorising about hypotheticals. When that happens I go out and deliver another hundred or so Labour flyers. So STFU.
Another concern troll trying the old I’m a swing voter, really but… lack of argument.
You’re a hard right-winger. How do I know? Because you said so right:-
Goff nearly turned me in to a swinging voter but…
there. You’re still going to vote for your leader because of personality (and it’s a fake personality BTW) rather than on policies – exactly as can be expected from Right Wing Authoritarians.
Have to agree with CV; all I see on here is, what is commonly known as, common sense. If you cannot see the problem with selling state assets, with using the money from these to fund farmers, failing to create job opportunity, creating an underclass, etc, then you deserve a National government.
The fact is that people on here actually give a damn about people, not just the rich!
Oh poor sensitive poppet. whereas farrars minions are all so gentle and rational …
i guess it can be a shock when your mistakes are mercilessly exposed and ridiculed.
Does anyone really think these two nuthings said anything of substance?
Banks has never said anything sensible in his political life and Key! Well he’s just a PR company’s facade. Sure he gambled with other people’ s money and got lucky to the tune of $50 million.
Lots of gamblers have done that.Not me but it could have been depending on how the dice rolled.
No.. Ignore the secret tape and what might have been said.
With these two nothing personalities it wouldn’t be worth spending any grey matter on. wondering what they might have said…
They key issue for Epsom voters( pls forgive the’ k’ word) , good people generally except for the Remuerians who couldn’t think outside the elite born to rule square to save themselves ( I’ve dealt with them a lot) is: How does your strategic vote count in Epsom? Will your vote even count at all? Am I the sucker that Key and Banks really think I am? (O and of course..whatisname? O Yeah .somebody called Brash… used to be ..somebody before Nicky Hagar.
What Key and Banks (omitting Dr Brash) did at the ‘Tea Party party’ ( Shades of Sarah Palin) was irrelevant silliness more suited to the stupidity of US republicans.
Hi Rodel, I hope your knowledge of the other things you comment on is better than your knowledge of how Key made his money – as Manager of Merrill Lynch’s Forex London division it was his people, political and intellectual strengths that gave him the salary to invest and make his $50 million (and he is worth way more than that). No one makes their money on the Forex market on the basis they “gambled with other people’s money and got lucky to the tune of $50 million”. Very little of his money was made in the Forex market.
The reality is that Key’s intellect would exceed anyones on this blog, including mine. The left are always going to struggle while they demean the rights intellect and motives. Key could make far more money doing something else, unlike most politicans on the left, but he is a politician because he believes that he can make a difference for all New Zealanders. When it comes to economics it atkes a great deal of misguided arrogance to suggest that his opinion is not going to be more correct than most.
Key’s ability to think like an accountant has nothing to do with intellect. His ability to think on his feet is more indicative – and he’s good at that. But to my mind he’s not a deep thinker and knows the cost of everything in the short-term and knows the value of nothing. And after years of conditioning in the financial world the idea of long-term process (financial or social) is lacking.
You really are deluded aren’t you! Do Marrill Lynch not have very sophisticated software that guides their ‘dealers’? Do they not receive lots of ‘inside’ information?.
Key has made more than enough money to live out his life. The question you really should be asking is why is he persisting with ‘trickle down’ when it has clearly failed?
Similarly, if you have a successful, dividend returning monopoly (e.g. power companies, a state airline, etc) why would you sell it? Isn’t it usually good practice to keep the valuable parts of a business and be rid of the bits that are less profitable?
And when you sell those assets why would you even consider investing in a low return investment like irrigating dairy farms?
To answer your last question – he has already made a very big difference for three groups of kiwi’s
The first are the 100K who have voted with their feet and headed to Oz
The second are the very rich, who are now even more rich
The third, and least fortunate, are those whose standard of living is declining – and that is far bigger than both the above.
The reality is that Key’s intellect would exceed anyones on this blog, including mine.
ROFLMAO. Dude, if John Key was a brilliant guy on the average wage, you’d never look at him twice.
Its not the intellect you respect, its the net worth. Why don’t you be honest about that at least.
And here’s a word to the wise: John Key’s remuneration from his time as PM is not going to come from his PM’s salary – you are right that is just pocket money to him.
But giving his banker mates a $100M plus commission on selling our state assets? My friend, Key doesn’t do any of this without expectation of big paybacks down the track.
And yeah, Key is in his job for New Zealanders. The top 1% of them.
“he is a politician because he believes that he can make a difference for all New Zealanders.”
I don’t think there’s much evidence for this claim. (Apart from his own claims, of course, but that is hardly ‘evidence’).
He set himself the aim of being PM at a very young age (the same time he set himself the aim of making a lot of money).
There is little to suggest that he has done much else in his life to “make a difference” for others so I fail to see why we should conclude that he suddenly changed tack a few years ago and decided to live his life “for all New Zealanders”.
There’s not a lot of altruism expressed in John Key’s life (or at least that part of it that is on the public record). There is, however, considerable evidence of his self-focus and of an extraordinary resolve in the pursuit of his own goals.
The reality is that Key’s intellect would exceed anyones on this blog, including mine.
Well, I’d agree to the point that his intellect would surpass yours. You do seem to be a bit of a dimwit after all. Everybody else’s? Probably not. From what I’ve seen he’s decidedly average.
Key could make far more money doing something else, unlike most politicans on the left, but he is a politician because he believes that he can make a difference for all New Zealanders.
He’s not doing it for NZers but for the rich, and psychopathic, few of which he happens to be.
Classic, some old hack on TVNZ7 brief asserting that countries usually change voting systems when they are dissatisfied with the present govt (true) but neglecting to mention that NZ is possibly the first to adopt a more representative system -MMP and then ask people if they would like to revert to a less representative system. Tone of article suggests that those dissatisfied with present govt should vote against MMP which of course could not be further from the truth.
Keep MMP. Its better for you and it’s better for me.
By 2025, droughts, food shortages and scarcity of fresh water will plague large swaths of the globe, from northern China to the Horn of Africa.
For poorer countries, climate change “could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” Fingar said, while the United States will face “Dust Bowl” conditions in the parched Southwest“¦.
He said U.S. intelligence agencies accepted the consensual scientific view of global warming, including the conclusion that it is too late to avert significant disruption over the next two decades. The conclusions are in line with an intelligence assessment produced this summer that characterized global warming as a serious security threat for the coming decades.
Floods and droughts will trigger mass migrations and political upheaval in many parts of the developing world.
And yet, despite all these warnings, our politicians keep planning and encouraging Business as Usual.
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
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The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
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In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
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On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment of ...
Asia Pacific Report A group of 65 Auckland University academics have written an open letter to vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater criticising the institution’s stance over students protesting in solidarity with Palestine. They have called on her administration to “support” the students who were denied permission to establish an “overnight encampment” by ...
The Student Volunteer Army is on the march, generating approximately 1.6 million hours of volunteering from roughly 35,000 secondary school students in just five years. For Rebekah Brown, the pathway to volunteering started with her singing coach. With a passion for the arts, the suggestion to volunteer at Acting Antics, ...
Keeping up with online communication can be exhausting, so Fran Barclay enlisted the help of Meta’s new ‘intelligent assistant’ to respond to all her messages. Could her mates tell the difference? For centuries, technology has ruled the ways in which we communicate. From the dawn of written language, to the ...
Jamie Arbuckle, a councillor who has become an member of parliament, says he has settled into having two roles so comfortably he's going to keep both pay cheques. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong Fifty years ago, Australian feminist Anne Summers denounced “the ideology of sexism” governing over so many women’s lives. Unfortunately, sexism is as lethal today as it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor of Taxation Law, UNSW Sydney There’s a good reason your local volunteer-run netball club doesn’t pay tax. In Australia, various nonprofit organisations are exempt from paying income tax, including those that do charitable work, such as churches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Deller, Casual Academic, Creative Writing and English Literature, Flinders University NetflixComedy is opening up spaces for silences to be broken and trauma stories to be told. In 2018, Hannah Gadsby started a revolution with Nanette, asking audiences to rethink ...
The workplace can be a minefield of bad comms and passive aggression. Kinksters can help you navigate it. A friend and colleague recently gave me a compliment I loved. They told me I’d always been good at emotional communication and making people feel comfortable. “But I feel like it’s really ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
If building one of Auckland’s possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sherran concert every weekday for 25 years. That’s Rob Hamlin’s finding – he’s a senior marketing lecturer at the University of Otago. “It’s not going to happen; forget about it,” he ...
Comment: The debate over the future relationship between news and social media is bringing us closer to a long-overdue reckoning. Social media isn’t trying to kill journalism, because social media has never really cared about journalism. Social media is resolutely in the attention business. News propels some attention — perhaps ...
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“The secret “cup of tea” conversation between Prime Minister John Key and Act’s John Banks has been captured on a recording given to the Herald on Sunday.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10765711
It is in the Public interest that this should be made public… Come on herald, shit or get off the pottie.
I doubt that it is very significant or icriminating, otherwise why would the NZH mention it, or DF say it should be published? And it was recorded by a press cameraman, and given to NZH. So who was the cameraman working for, and why didn’t his usualy media outlet take it?
According to The Herald it very well could be significant. An interesting tone in this article.
Hmmm… well I’m not certain what an NZH journo would regard as a “game changer”. but it’s looking a bit like some fracturing within National ranks between the neoliberal NActoids and the old pre-neolib conservatives who have more affinity with NZ First.
Also I thought it was interesting that TV One bent it’s debate criteria to let Winston into their leaders’ debate.
I think you will find Farrar certainly does not support the release of the recordings unless it was said to reveal massive wrong doing. At the very least, the recording could be ‘game changer ‘ simply due to the fact it may reveal another side of Key to the general public.
The NZ media never cease to disgust me. They have a recording they describe as a ‘game-changer’ and yet they won’t let the public know what it says? It’s yet another example of how they put the interests of the politicians above those of the public.
It beggars belief that the Herald on Sunday, not known for it’s stance on ethical journalism in any other respect, suddenly goes all coy when it comes to embarrassing Key and Banks.
They’ve been told they could legally publish it, but chose not to. At the same time they have an editorial urging voters to abandon Winston Peters and had one some time ago urging people to vote for Act in Epsom.
The Herald is bad enough, but the Herald on Sunday editors are just unadulterated Tory shills who are a disgrace to the name of journalism.
Is the shenanigans in Epsom, John Key’s covert attempt to get rid of MMP?
This probably won’t be the most popular post here day – the Kiwiblog candidate.
The Standard has also contributed substantially, but I doubt name inclusion would be appreciated.
The tea tape is a charade – the mic stands out on the table like dogs balls, and despite a security service that cleared the cafe presumably as a precaution they neglected to remove a mysterious object on the table? Yeah right.
We are expected to believe that Shonkey and the racist actually discussed things that would be embarrassing when there are no less than 6 tv cameras less than 3 feet away?
This is a cheap stunt to whip up/ justify media attention – it appears like this is to be the next installment in the discredit MMP campaign by Act and National.
Throw in the lame ‘release in the public interest’ even if if breaches privacy aspect and we see this stunt for what it is – a cynical ploy by two contrived, unprincipled and devious politicians and their campaign team.
Hollow men and slipping masks.
You could be right, CL. Something about the NZH pushing this story, and the way they’re telling it suggests it shouldn’t be taken at face value… something else going on.
Anytime DF gets on a bandwagon you can pretty much bank it having a NACT logo….move on people, don’t give the odious pair anymore airtime.
They don’t want asset sales etc discussed so this’s diversionary, disregard and focus folks….another media con.
NZH not publishing this story for ‘ethical reasons’ ROFLMAO!
Yeah its got the feel of a setup job.
IMO it was ‘curious” to say the least that the little black case was left on the table in full view of everyone including Banks and Key, security and the press throughout the cosy cup of tea – paricularly in terms of security. It all seemed too contrived to me.
Yeah, seems llike a pretty blatant one to me.
Farrar is urging it be released. It will be imo, and before the election, and the contents, beyond a bit of necessary fluff, will be of strategic advantage to National – ‘straight out of the horse’s mouth….’ Apparently…
I suspect the conversation involved John Banks offering to kiss John Key’s ring…In a totally Tony Saprano, kind of way of course.
John Key meeting John Banks: Bad
Anderton endorsing Woods illegaly: No comment
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10764687
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Jim-Anderton-and-Labour-Candidate.jpg
I just find it weird that the electoral commission would find a sitting MP saying who they liked amongst their successors potentially criminal. After all you are talking about someone who has been sitting in that seat for decades and they will have views on the subject. I would also be interested in the views of Rodney Hide on John Banks as his successor in Epsom and a range of other successions..
Why no posts on it? We as authors here have a tendency not to write opinion posts on matters that the police have under active investigation. At most we’d usually write a news post leaving out the details of the person under investigation. The police often find no reason to charge, and the last thing you want is to have a record of wild accusations floating around permanently on the net. We will often start writing opinion posts when the police conclude their investigation and if they decide to lay charges. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but an author had better be prepared to defend their choices to other authors in the inevitable email discussions that will ensue.
But of course based on some of your comments I would say that you read Whaleoil. He doesn’t believe that ideas of civilized (and often potentially illegal) behavior should constrain him whilst claiming such protections for himself. It is the viewpoint of a sociopath – who has a number of convictions demonstrating the views of society for that type of behavior.
It is rather distressing that many of the blogs on the right have been so pushed by the views of such a person into following the same destructive ways. But the right are usually defined by their inability to think and their mobbing behavior – like all sheep.
That isn’t our standard
“It is rather distressing that many of the blogs on the right have been so pushed by the views of such a person into following the same destructive ways. But the right are usually defined by their inability to think and their mobbing behavior – like all sheep.”
I also read no right turn, kiwiblog, red alert, bowalley road, cactus kate and (obviously) the standard
I find it helps me to get a wider, broader view of NZ politics and too not be so narrow minded and dismissive of other peoples views
So you didn’t want to answer my point that answered your question? I wonder why.
Instead you concentrated on an side-observation. That you probably read the other blogs is obvious if you are reading both here and there. The two blogs are on opposite directions in almost every way. I read most blogs around including those mentioned and quite a few others both here and overseas. How else would I be able to offer the opinion that I did?
But if you are interested in that issue then perhaps you should look more deeply at the divergent behaviors between the blogs. Ignore the opinions and look at what they actually do. You’ll notice that individuals like Cactus Kate, Chris Trotter, Idiot Savant, etc are quite careful about when they write about people, clearly distinguish between what is fact and what is opinion, and are also careful to distinguish between the public and private spheres. Many of these bloggers are legally trained or have had some training in the legalities of public opinion – but more importantly the vast body of argument about why these laws exist (I’ve had basic legal training in two of my degrees, study the history of why the law evolved, and had to put up with living with and reading my ex’s books and notes as she went through law school). They understand the nuances of civilized behavior.
As I read around the minor blogs of the right Whales, No Minister, adamsmith, Inventory2, Maeger and others on the right (and a couple on the left) – you find that delicacy and awareness of the nuances of the issues of public opinion missing. While probably entertaining to the participants in the manner of all self-fulfillment activities it results in low readerships, few comments, unacceptable legal risk levels, introduces a coarseness into the debate and idiotic.
David Farrar over kiwiblog has been increasingly indulging in it especially in his posts when it comes up to elections. He doesn’t effectively constrain the sewer that is his comments section. The inevitable effect is that his blog is essentially moribund or going backwards in readership whereas ours keeps pushing past his in everything apart from self-promotion (we haven’t bothered).
That you consider this site superior to kiwiblog says it all
Evidentially so do many others… That is why our page views and visitors keep rising over average, and kiwiblog is on average declining.
I guess you don’t believe people voting with their fingers. Or market responses
Fully support you lprent re this site. I also read across a range of sites but the Standard is the one I read the most, and haven’t visited Kiwiblog, Whaleoil for quite some time and don’t intend to as can’t be bothered wasting my time with the low level of posts and comments there.
Oooh the invisible hand of the free market choosing the superior option and working for the Left. Haha, that must sting.
It’s not just the content that makes The Standard superior to Kiwibog, it’s the interface and search features not to mention admin who don’t ignore their own policy. Good stuff.
A rancid fart whilst inside a lift travelling very slowly is far more pleasant than Kiwiblog
It’s only technically illegal. If he had got his party secretary to authorize it and the contents were exactly the same, it would be ok, right?
Whaleoil is simply wasting police time with trivial complaints that they aren’t going to uphold or progress.
So why didn’t he do it? I just don’t understand why Labour MPs (and its mostly Labour) don’t bother to follow the rules, is it arrogance or incompetence?
Likely he didn’t even think it would be an issue, because in reality it isn’t an issue. Oh no, a politician released a political statement, stop the presses!
I don’t think it’s a matter of “incompetence”, more a matter of “being busy doing their jobs that they don’t have time to waste on minutia that doesn’t matter”.
Anderton is no more a Labour MP than that crooked old racist Peters is a National MP.
US military expansionism continues with plans to establish a larger presence in Australia..
THE expanded American military presence in Australia – to be formally announced next week by the US President, Barack Obama – will result in vastly more US ships, planes and soldiers visiting and being stationed in the nation’s north, the government says.
As the government all but confirmed yesterday’s Herald report that US Marines and materiel would be shifted to Darwin, the Greens said the move would annoy Australia’s neighbours, including China, and make the nation a bigger military target.
Darwin: also nice and handy if a future NACT government ever wanted to contract out some military liason/enforcement tasks.
Be honest – if this had happened to Goff and the Greens the left would be crying foul about invasion of privacy. All the comment on the Standard from the left involves situational ethics or is childish abuse, and that’s just the articles!
Compare the hysterical tone of this blog with its right counterpart and look at the reasoned and calm articles of Kiwiblog verses.
Examples? The photo of the Star Wars stormtroopers and the fascism quote – juvenile in the extreme. The childish as hominum attacks on Key. Etc etc.
When are the owners of the site going to restrict articles to people who can provide well reasoned adult articles?
[lprent: They were talking in a cafe? There is nothing illegal or even vaguely immoral about listening to and reporting overheard conversations in public places.
Similarly none of the posts you mentioned do more than poke fun at the those who don’t think – such as yourself. They are there to promote discussion.
They are not there to provide the vapid egotism of an individual (many of our authors even use pseudonyms) or to spread the dog whistles for a party. Which is what many of the “well reasoned” articles you like are doing on kiwiblog. Supporters like yourself combined with the self-promotion of the kiwiblog author are why that site is slowly sliding into irrelevance.
Mostly the ‘owners’ of the site (The Standard Trust) are usually mostly concerned that the behavior of the commentators doesn’t violate our standards and cause the debate to diminish. I’d suggest you read the policy, especially the section on self-maytrdom offenses so you can avoid the moderators attention aimed reducing those concerns. ]
Let’s not go any further down this dead end road!
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/11/asset-sales-and-deregulation-fail.html
The Atlantic: The Rise of the New Global Elite.
[lprent: Interesting italics went over the bounds. <i/> fools KSES which should fix it, and the browsers treat it as being an italic start. Something to fix after the election – adding to the fixes page. ]
From this comment on down everything is in italics.
fixed now?
yep.
Ah Iprent – could you look up the words ad hominin in the dictionary?
[lprent: I don’t need to. It is virtually the favorite phrase of every dumb arse troll that comes through here. Like the other stupid morons with an over inflated idea of your own worth that I have talked to on various electronic media over the last 30 years – you do not appear to understand what it actually means or the principles from which the phrase arose.
It is typically just a phrase that trolls mouth to avoid defending their ideas or statements. I generally track it as being typical of the psuedo-intellectualism of the act/libertainz trolls who most commonly misuse it.
Read the policy. You addressed the site, which means you got me to respond personally. I personally explained how stupid I thought you were for raising such a stupid idea, explained why, and gave you the link to instructions about how to avoid my attention again. You have just wasted my moderation time again. I do not have infinite time to waste on fools. ]
You deserved it.
Needs to learn how to use the reply function too!
Nothing about Sam Mahon, huh.
Yeah because Sam Mahon is an evil person because god forbid makes a game that shows John Key in a non flattering light.
I seem to recall you saying horrible things about Helen Clark through the years.
non-flatterng…dead, all the same really
everyone dies so what. Its just a picture. What do you want to do next? Start banning artworks and literature?
So dead PM: good, cross hairs on (leftie) politicians bad?
I guess it’s that oh-so-subtle distinction between a satirical artwork and implicit encouragement.
Sarah Palin found out the hard way, with her “crosshairs” map of America, when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords got shot.
Vicious assault in central Wellington
Ok, an unprovoked attack by a bunch of cowards causes severe damage to one young man but what caught my attention was this bit:
This sort of thing is covered by ACC and we have free public health care as well. There’s no way that she should be concerned with covering the bill so why is it reported as being a concern?
If it takes years then so be it. ACC should still be covering the costs.
Don’t worry Hager will publish the conversation next week.
All the comments above seem to be in italics and the WYSIWYG commenting isn’t present (at least for me for the past day or so). Is there a problem?
[lprent: fixed the italics. The wsiwyg will be from a new site cache I put in to help with eday loads. I will turn it off until I track the problem. ]
Thanks lprent. It’s all looking good now.
Has anyone linked to this
Good composition and detail. I particularly like the Mickey Mouse sticker.
Saw it. Dislike it. Totally dislike the way Key operates and his values. But, graphically visualising his murder does not do anything to help promote the left wing values that are important to me.
Farrar’s attack on Sam Mahon is unhinged accusing him of hating Key and bleeding on about upsetting Key’s kids. Quite bizarre. And he obviously has memory loss.
“Is this David Farrar the same person who instigated the Clark/Bainimarama and Peter/Kim Jong il posters. If so, he’s an utter hypocrite.
What’s the difference between Sam Mahon using shock tactics to make a political statement about ‘the dying of hope’ and the posters comparing Clark and Peters to dictators. Oh yeah, it’s all about the nature of the image. Too shocking. Too controversial.
Farrar says, ‘Sam Mahon … hates John Key.’ What drivel. Sam Mahon is a far bigger man than that and I doubt he hates anyone. He disagrees stridently with Key the NeoCon politician but how this translates to hatred is far more a reflection on Farrar’s warped perception of emotion.
Sam Mahon is a highly respected artist and advocate for environmental issues. He counts among his patrons and friends some of the illuminati of NZ arts, politics and commerce, who I’m sure will have a far more liberal interpretation of his latest ‘dead Key’ painting than bleating of philistine David Farrar.”
Murder? Perhaps the artist is implying that the politician metaphorically killed himself… as is usually the case with political careers. I can see why it’s offensive though… but what is most amusing is that some people are jumping up and down like it’s all Labours fault. LOL
Just returned from handing out flyers in West city for Labour – had a guy standing about 20 feet away just watching us and mouthing off at me but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I went over and asked what was wrong and he called me a RACIST BASTARD claiming that I called a woman an “Asian Bitch”. I was in fact asking her if she was enrolled to vote.
Being that my family are mixed Maori/Pakeha, my partner is a Cook Islander, I believe we should accept anyone who truly wishes to be a Kiwi. I told him he was an idiot and because he was causing a scene so not to draw undue attention I offered to go outside and sort out any problems he might have.
He went beserk shouting “You can’t talk to me like that!” and stormed off threatening to call the herald.
Idiot RWNJ
Typical bullying mentality of the right KC Keep chin up and do us proud.
Hang tough dude. I’ve also had a couple of incidents like this over the last few days, while out campaigning for Labour. There really are a few thoroughly hateful right wingers out there. A solid 2% to 3% of the population at a guess.
The ones who fancy themselves rich and worthier than thou are particularly galling.
It’s interesting what an evil world these otherwise normal looking people exist in. I personally would not like to live inside their grubby judgemental heads.
And I don’t hesitate to put them back in their place, I should add. Fuck’m.
Putting up Green Party billboards in Hamilton yesterday, most
impressed with the number of toots and thumbs up from motorists
Phil Goff has run a good campaign. On current polling it looks unlikely that his willingness to tackle sacred cows like the age of entitlement to National Super and CGT will succeed and tragic for the country that they are likely to be no go zones for a few more elections as a result. I don’t think sites like this have helped. Goff nearly turned me in to a swinging voter but, if the price for having him lead the country is policies influenced by the regular contributors to this site it is just too high. The persistent ad hominem assaults and pack attacks on anyone who dares to differ are uncomfortably reminiscent of Animal Farm.
I assume one of the main purposes of this site is to encourage support for Labour. It may well work for those who are committed already but I suspect that it has the opposite effect on most swinging voters.
I suspect you know shit, especially if you rate KiwiBlog ahead of The Standard.
To be fair kiwiwblog is a more respected blog
David Farrar is generally thoughtful and temperate but his contributors often conform to the standards of this blog. Your response presumes something you can neither know nor prove and is typically combative.
Don’t you ever wonder whether your style swamps the substance in your arguments?
🙂
Sometimes I don’t feel like web based arguments, or theorising about hypotheticals. When that happens I go out and deliver another hundred or so Labour flyers. So STFU.
no wonder Labour are in trouble- you will never change anyone’s mind- Phil Goff might but with friends and allies like you and DTB???
I’ll rate my effectiveness on the evening of Nov 26. You’re just tripe.
I’ll be right with you CV
Another concern troll trying the old I’m a swing voter, really but… lack of argument.
You’re a hard right-winger. How do I know? Because you said so right:-
there. You’re still going to vote for your leader because of personality (and it’s a fake personality BTW) rather than on policies – exactly as can be expected from Right Wing Authoritarians.
Have to agree with CV; all I see on here is, what is commonly known as, common sense. If you cannot see the problem with selling state assets, with using the money from these to fund farmers, failing to create job opportunity, creating an underclass, etc, then you deserve a National government.
The fact is that people on here actually give a damn about people, not just the rich!
Thanks Phantom
“The persistent ad hominem assaults and pack attacks on anyone who dares to differ are uncomfortably reminiscent of Animal Farm.”
Where the Bankers are the Pigs and John Key is a Former Pig.
Oh poor sensitive poppet. whereas farrars minions are all so gentle and rational …
i guess it can be a shock when your mistakes are mercilessly exposed and ridiculed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem#Common_misconceptions
Does anyone really think these two nuthings said anything of substance?
Banks has never said anything sensible in his political life and Key! Well he’s just a PR company’s facade. Sure he gambled with other people’ s money and got lucky to the tune of $50 million.
Lots of gamblers have done that.Not me but it could have been depending on how the dice rolled.
No.. Ignore the secret tape and what might have been said.
With these two nothing personalities it wouldn’t be worth spending any grey matter on. wondering what they might have said…
They key issue for Epsom voters( pls forgive the’ k’ word) , good people generally except for the Remuerians who couldn’t think outside the elite born to rule square to save themselves ( I’ve dealt with them a lot) is: How does your strategic vote count in Epsom? Will your vote even count at all? Am I the sucker that Key and Banks really think I am? (O and of course..whatisname? O Yeah .somebody called Brash… used to be ..somebody before Nicky Hagar.
What Key and Banks (omitting Dr Brash) did at the ‘Tea Party party’ ( Shades of Sarah Palin) was irrelevant silliness more suited to the stupidity of US republicans.
Hi Rodel, I hope your knowledge of the other things you comment on is better than your knowledge of how Key made his money – as Manager of Merrill Lynch’s Forex London division it was his people, political and intellectual strengths that gave him the salary to invest and make his $50 million (and he is worth way more than that). No one makes their money on the Forex market on the basis they “gambled with other people’s money and got lucky to the tune of $50 million”. Very little of his money was made in the Forex market.
The reality is that Key’s intellect would exceed anyones on this blog, including mine. The left are always going to struggle while they demean the rights intellect and motives. Key could make far more money doing something else, unlike most politicans on the left, but he is a politician because he believes that he can make a difference for all New Zealanders. When it comes to economics it atkes a great deal of misguided arrogance to suggest that his opinion is not going to be more correct than most.
Key’s ability to think like an accountant has nothing to do with intellect. His ability to think on his feet is more indicative – and he’s good at that. But to my mind he’s not a deep thinker and knows the cost of everything in the short-term and knows the value of nothing. And after years of conditioning in the financial world the idea of long-term process (financial or social) is lacking.
You really are deluded aren’t you! Do Marrill Lynch not have very sophisticated software that guides their ‘dealers’? Do they not receive lots of ‘inside’ information?.
Key has made more than enough money to live out his life. The question you really should be asking is why is he persisting with ‘trickle down’ when it has clearly failed?
Similarly, if you have a successful, dividend returning monopoly (e.g. power companies, a state airline, etc) why would you sell it? Isn’t it usually good practice to keep the valuable parts of a business and be rid of the bits that are less profitable?
And when you sell those assets why would you even consider investing in a low return investment like irrigating dairy farms?
To answer your last question – he has already made a very big difference for three groups of kiwi’s
The first are the 100K who have voted with their feet and headed to Oz
The second are the very rich, who are now even more rich
The third, and least fortunate, are those whose standard of living is declining – and that is far bigger than both the above.
ROFLMAO. Dude, if John Key was a brilliant guy on the average wage, you’d never look at him twice.
Its not the intellect you respect, its the net worth. Why don’t you be honest about that at least.
And here’s a word to the wise: John Key’s remuneration from his time as PM is not going to come from his PM’s salary – you are right that is just pocket money to him.
But giving his banker mates a $100M plus commission on selling our state assets? My friend, Key doesn’t do any of this without expectation of big paybacks down the track.
And yeah, Key is in his job for New Zealanders. The top 1% of them.
“he is a politician because he believes that he can make a difference for all New Zealanders.”
I don’t think there’s much evidence for this claim. (Apart from his own claims, of course, but that is hardly ‘evidence’).
He set himself the aim of being PM at a very young age (the same time he set himself the aim of making a lot of money).
There is little to suggest that he has done much else in his life to “make a difference” for others so I fail to see why we should conclude that he suddenly changed tack a few years ago and decided to live his life “for all New Zealanders”.
There’s not a lot of altruism expressed in John Key’s life (or at least that part of it that is on the public record). There is, however, considerable evidence of his self-focus and of an extraordinary resolve in the pursuit of his own goals.
“The reality is that Key’s intellect would exceed anyones on this blog, including mine.”
lol
And comrade stalin worked all through the night and invented the soviet bomb all by himself. But your blind faith is touching.
A letter to the author of the “unauthorised” hagiography of Key (biography would be inaccurate)
Well, I’d agree to the point that his intellect would surpass yours. You do seem to be a bit of a dimwit after all. Everybody else’s? Probably not. From what I’ve seen he’s decidedly average.
He’s not doing it for NZers but for the rich, and psychopathic, few of which he happens to be.
Key is a politician because he wants to be called ‘Sir’ end of story.
Classic, some old hack on TVNZ7 brief asserting that countries usually change voting systems when they are dissatisfied with the present govt (true) but neglecting to mention that NZ is possibly the first to adopt a more representative system -MMP and then ask people if they would like to revert to a less representative system. Tone of article suggests that those dissatisfied with present govt should vote against MMP which of course could not be further from the truth.
Keep MMP. Its better for you and it’s better for me.
Veterans Day, 2030
And yet, despite all these warnings, our politicians keep planning and encouraging Business as Usual.
And this is a really scary map. -4 is extreme drought and covers the top half of the South Island.