Dr Jackson said in fact, hazardous binge-drinking had been getting worse, and the government needed to raise the price of alcohol.
“Since 2011 we haven’t seen any positive change in 18 to 24 year old drinking so you know this is great, they’re protecting their brains while they’re very very vulnerable but we’ve got to make sure that when they hit that age they’re not just stepping into that culture,” she said.
People in more equal societies are far less likely to experience mental illness.
Blaming inanimate substances for the damage that right wing economists do just makes finding solutions more difficult. It’s a waste of resources and a sop to moralising curtain-twitchers.
Not according to the MoH – alcohol rates have been steadily dropping rather rising under neo-liberalism (not a defense of neo-liberalism, just the facts don’t align with your opinion)
Edit – report only covers 1980 – 2000 but nonetheless clearly shows neo-liberalism and alcohol use doesn’t. It seem to be correlated
To be fair, most social ills are at the very least exacerbated by it.
I’m having a bit of difficulty thinking of a social ill that doesn’t have a large proportion of its present prevalence attributable to neoliberalism, i.e. it would be much less of an issue if we’d kept our social democratic / democratic socialist ideals of Savage and Kirk and even Muldoon.
edit: I suppose the starting point would be some sort of congenital condition that’s not due to antenatal factors or genetic damage to a parent from environmental factors. But even then you have the affordability of ongoing life-course care for the baby.
Executive director of Alcohol Healthwatch Nicki Jackson is just trying to justify the grants her organization receives, it can never improve otherwise she puts herself out of a job.
An interesting article, Ed, but it would be helpful if you had included in your summary that this Australian study (considered by the NZ Alcohol Healthwatch to be in line with what is happening to NZ) also found that more teenagers are choosing to turn away from alcohol.
The remarks you quoted from Dr Jackson, Executive Director of Alcohol Healthwatch were in fact preceded by this statement in respect of New Zealand:
“”Yes, there’s been declines in young people choosing to take up drinking but we’ve seen no declines whatsoever in the style in which young people drink, they’re still drinking very heavily so that culture hasn’t changed.”
I agree with you ED alcohol is A DRUG that cause more damage to OUR worlds society as the law says its safe to consume this poison yes ITS a poison
1I know of at least 5 people whom have died from drinking to much alcohol one of them was a famous Rock Star .
2 Our youth think its safe until next minute they are locked up for something they did while pissed and can not remember what happened and if that person was not pissed they would be a good person and never commit a crime.
3 Other people whom are experienced drinkers can wait untill one is tiddly and then encourage them to drink up hotties usually and they have got you pissed and can get the you to do what they want
4 drinks can be spiked with other drugs never leave your drinks unattended make sure you go drinking with people you trust as If one is pissed I say you are mental as most don’t remember what they did when one is rolling blind drunk this is why they call it blind drunk and there are reports of people losing one sight temporary when one has consumed to much alcohol .
5 I think its a sin to let OUR Mokos think alcohol is a safe drug and then let them find out all the negative effects alcohol has on them while they are in a unsafe environment all the bad side effects of alcohol should be advertize so OUR mokos know to sip the stuff or it will fuck them up.
6 What about all the violence that happens when people are pissed check the hospital records
7 Car crashes other people being killed by drunks drivers what a waste of lives
8 All the disabled people who got there injuries while pissed
9 Every year we have two big events and everyone is encouraging everyone to get pissed I could not work that out logically I drink a little I learnt through trial and error If one is in a good mood when drinking alcohol its not to bad but if one is in a bad mood while drinking that’s when the violence starts I have never hit any of my loved ones while being drunk most of the time I would not bother to go and drink it was others that got me to go out with them I was happy watching videos at home.
10 The neoliberal used alcohol to break MAORI MANA my te puna Sir Apirana Ngata new this was happening and in 1920 got a ban on alcohol on the east coast for 10 years He was the one person who saved a lot of Maoris Mana need
I say more Ka kite ano
Quite a list of damage to our people in this country.
It makes me both angry and sad to see the devastation this repulsive drug does.
It would be so simple to apply a more sensible drug policy for alcohol.
Your comment is an example of the logical fallacy “non-sequitur.”
Your argument is:
Premise: some yoofs still drink a lot of alcohol.
Conclusion: therefore, alcohol is a blight on our society.
But the conclusion you’ve drawn doesn’t logically follow from the premise you’ve provided. I guess there’s an implied premise in there that alcohol is a Bad Thing, but that would merely change the logical fallacy to “begging the question.”
I can’t really blame you though, as non-sequitur is also Dr Jackson’s mode of operation – it’s fairly hard to endorse her views without falling into logical fallacies yourself.
The people who can’t handle their piss and cause problems are a blight on society.
The best option is to ban the people who abuse alcohol and leave the vast majority of people who like a beer, wine or whatever your drink of choice is, alone.
Here is some evidence of the damage alcohol does to society …..
In 2012, driver alcohol was a contributing factor in 73 fatal crashes, 331 serious injury crashes and 933 minor injury crashes. These crashes resulted in 93 deaths, 454 serious injuries and 1,331 minor injuries.
A third of violent offences, including family violence, and 44 per cent of homicides involve someone who has been drinking. As do 62,000 physical assaults and 10,000 sexual assaults, per year.
According to alcohol.org.nz, between 18 per cent and 35 per cent of injury-based emergency department presentations in New Zealand are estimated to be alcohol-related. This rises to between 60 per cent and 70 per cent during the weekend.
Approximately 45 per cent of fire fatalities are alcohol-related, as are approximately 11 per cent of drowning deaths
around 10 per cent of New Zealand’s population of 4.4 million was alcoholic.
New Zealanders spend about $85 million a week on alcohol, but it costs the country about $5 billion a year in damage.
Yeah, but it’s spent locally and probably mostly on NZ products (beer and wine), so there’d be a hefty multiplier on the strict sale value for the economic activity. Not to mention exports.
So the profit/loss ledger could well swing either way.
The NZ wine industry is not as local as you might realise.
Author Peter Howland writes in his book Social, Cultural and Economic Impacts of Wine in New Zealand that more than 80 per cent of New Zealand wine production is foreign-owned.
The maker of Tui beer, which is marketed as an iconic New Zealand brand, is owned by Asia Pacific Breweries, which is being shaken up by a multi-billion-dollar deal.
The Dutch beer maker Heineken is spending $S5.1 billion ($NZ5 billion) to buy 40 percent of Asia Pacific Breweries from Singapore-based Fraser and Neave, taking its stake to 82 percent. It will attempt to move to full control.
DB, which competes against Lion Breweries, has declined to comment on the ownership shakeup, which was first signalled in July. Lion Breweries is owned by Japan’s Kirin Holdings, which was seen as a rival for Asia Pacific Breweries.
Yes all those profits are going overseas, leaving behind a litany of social damage.
Did you watch Nigel Latta’s documentaty on alcohol in New Zealand?
I recommend you do so you are more aware of the level of foreign ownership of the liquor industry.
So it’s just the manufacturing and sale costs that get recirculated. Big whoop, it doesn’t alter the fact that economic activity is more than just the point of sale transaction.
Thank you for doing the Maths.
So we as a society subsidise the international liquor corporations to the tune of #11 million a week.
No wonder they lobby so hard to control our politicians.
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 was a pitiful response by the National Party-led government to the monumental review of alcohol in New Zealand by the Law Commission in 2009/2010. All of the most effective recommendations of the Commission’s final report Alcohol in our Lives: Curbing the Harm were ignored. Of particular note, there were no new substantial measures addressing the demand side of alcohol consumption—marketing and pricing.
It’s not that they can’t handle their piss but that they’ve been taught that getting drunk is the thing to do.
To change that we need to change our drinking culture away from weekend binge drinking. Many European nations drink more per capita than we do but don’t have the same problems as they don’t drink it all on Saturday night as we do.
To change that we need to change our drinking culture away from weekend binge drinking.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Also, we don’t “need” to do anything in response to people choosing to do things we personally would rather they didn’t.
Also, we don’t “need” to do anything in response to people choosing to do things we personally would rather they didn’t.
this is another one of those things where people are choosing to do things that harms others and they don’t actually have a right to do that. So, yes, we do actually need to do something about it.
But it is certainly a cultural change that we need to bring about and that will take years and even decades.
We do have rules about harming others, variously classed as offences, crimes etc. Which is, not coincidentally, also a way to teach/propagate acceptable behaviour.
Don’t you think alcohol is a blight on our society?
No. Complaining about people taking recreational drugs is pointless – people like recreational drugs and are going to take them. Also: my experience of alcohol is of skilled craftspeople making excellent drinks that I enjoy drinking, so if anyone wants to declare those fine artists “a blight on society,” I’m going to disagree.
Not just that PM, but therefore, alcohol is a blight on our society, caused by neo liberalism, so without actually addressing the binge drinking culture, let’s just put the price up and make more profits for the liquor companies.
It’s not a blight on people like me who drink responsibly.
There are, of course, those who fail to show common sense, drink to excess, and cause a multitude of costly issues. But a broad broom sweep approach won’t fix a surgical strike issue.
Hoons and a lot of kiwis in cars drive like shit, causing a multitude of accidents and death each year, a very real societal problem.
Environmental arguments to one side, you’ll be up for banning under 25s and most drivers from our roads then?
I commented it was a blight on society.
Not you individually.
I think this thread proves New Zealanders are in denial about the severity of the problem.
On this site, there are people in denial or disinterested about quite a few things…..
Alcohol and its impacts on society.
The welfare of animals in industrial farming.
A meat diet’s impact on climate change.
The media’s bias over news from Syria, Ukraine, Yemen.
Those of us who address these subjects are subject to vile abuse.
Alcohol is a vital part of my life, is a massive part of our economy and a whole bunch less damaging to our land as a productive export than dairy, is a free choice, is regular by local government through democratic hearings about their location, and of course strongly regulated through central government with tax that is fairly up there.
That’s before you get to enforcement.
One of the biggest new enforcements is the random drug testing within the Worksafe framework. It really does regulate your life on Friday and Sunday as well as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Not a bad thing overall.
The only way you are going to make a successful argument for more regulation of alcohol is if you set out the benefits with the costs and do an evaluation, rather than just bleating on about the costs.
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that alcohol is a blight on our society.
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that animals are treated cruelly in the industrial farming model.
And even if you disagree with those opinions, there is no need for abuse.
I wrote “It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that animals are treated cruelly in the industrial farming model.”
However, the number of animals living a ‘Life of Riley’ until they are slaughtered is a minuscule fraction.
Food is undoubtedly a very contentious issue that divides the American public, with no shortage of opinions on what’s right or wrong, healthy or unhealthy and eco-friendly or unsustainable. However, even when it comes to such a polarizing topic, there is common ground to be found by everyone ranging from vegans to die-hard meat eaters. No one can deny the destructive nature of the force that dominates our food system (i.e. industrial animal agriculture or factory farming). When you take into account the fact that factory farms raise 99.9 percent of chickens for meat, 97 percent of laying hens, 99 percent of turkeys, 95 percent of pigs, and 78 percent of cattle currently sold in the United States, it’s shocking how much time we waste debating each other, rather than trying to actually change the system.
“I commented it was a blight on society.
Not you individually.”
And I answered accordingly, to me personally it’s not a blight, but for some, who have no self control or a modicum of common sense, it’s a big problem. There are solutions, I’m sure, but prohibition won’t work, especially when it’s cheap as chips to home brew or distil.
As for the rest of your reply, well, as noted above, it’s not vile abuse but disagreement, and yeah, we get it, you want to be the summer bbq killer. 🙄
PM
To make the argument/discussion clearer when you refer to a commenter can you say their name. Your comment was put up today at 9.21 am and finishes after ecomaori’s at 8.35 pm. I guess it is in relation to veutoviper’s but why not make it easier to connect the dots?
I will try to remember to do that. In my defence, when I posted comment 1.4 at 9:21am in response to comment 1 from Ed at 8:09am, it was fairly obvious who I was referring to – I didn’t anticipate the lengthy subthreads that would push my comment well down the page. Not an excuse though, I should have quoted him.
Yes PM
That is what I have noticed happening to me and have had to resort occasionally to shifting my comment by deleting the original and copying it to where I knew it would sit better.
Pot, meet kettle. Your ad nauseam moralising isn’t a “debate”. When people point out your logical fallacies (which are numerous) you pack a sad, play the victim card and start smearing them.
Your behaviour is more reminiscent of Peter George than CV and PU.
Urophagia, by the way, is a trait attributed* to such as Ghandi. What’s the matter Ed, don’t you like being compared to the Mahatma?
I eat a plant based diet and Ed is insulting me. His attempt to cast himself as an extra in The Crucible is another insult, given the behaviour and temperament of the Salem persecutors.
So perhaps it’s you who doesn't get it: when Ed either stops abusing people, or stops whinging when he can’t handle the response, I'll stop pointing it out.
I’m considerably, CONSIDERABLY C O N S I D E R A B L Y more pompous, utterly more wise and wearied, and most extensively more full of myself than ya lot of ya.
Why I’m so gorgeous I can’t look in a mirror for fear of having an orgasm.
Yet another sign of fake jobs and fake businesses and dodgy work permits. Sarabjit Singh managed by Payal Kumar and employed on a work visa for a low level cafe job by Ben Singh Holdings, in a area of high unemployment.
The worker was only paid $150 a week in cash. There were no records of the cash payments because the ledger that recorded the payments was “allegedly” stolen during a break-in.
No wonder NZ is going down the toilet in productivity and employment practises when this is the ‘new’ culture that has been fostered under the National government.
Not enough crack down by the new government – they should be urgently reviewing all the work permits given out to check they are not being abused and actually if they are real jobs with real businesses and not this type of carry on.
Not only that but wrecking our tourist industry when there are so many tourist businesses now operating without knowledge of NZ rules and regulations.
Stayed at an upmarket hotel in the holidays, same type of thing that is turning NZ into a poorly regulated tourist market seemingly operated entirely by migrant workers. In this instance stayed at a so called upmarket hotel that turned out to have poor cleaning, and poor maintenance of a formerly beautiful hotel on a lake. It appeared to have been bought by an offshore chain and staffed with beaten down migrants who don’t seem to understand purpose or method of hospitality.
Seems to be the new way to run down NZ image, as part of globalism. A race to the bottom and to exploit local resources and remove local culture and charm to save an offshore $.
Another article referring to the oncoming financial crash.
“Many believe 2018 could be the year that country finally does something about its own huge debt problems.
When just one asset is going up, you explain it by the characteristics of that asset. But if you have an everything bubble, you need to look at the trend behind the trend.
Cast your mind back a few years and you may recall the expression “quantitative easing”. This is where central banks pumped money into the economy to try to help us recover from the global financial crisis. It happened in the US, Japan and Europe.
It worked, more or less. But the effect was similar to what you see in a game of Monopoly. The amount of money in circulation kept going up, but the number of assets to buy remained stubbornly still. As anyone who has forked out $600 in Monopoly money for Old Kent Road knows, asset prices go up as the ratio of money to assets goes up.
Quantitative easing is really just an extreme version of cutting interest rates. In both cases, the idea is to make people borrow more and spend more. So even though Australia didn’t have quantitative easing, low interest rates and the record amounts of household debt Aussies are shouldering represent its part of the everything bubble.
The problem with loose monetary policy is that while it is supposed to make people do productive things like start a new company, it has a side effect of making them buy assets at crazy prices. If the everything bubble pops, it may turn out that the cure for the global financial crisis is what caused the next crisis.”
Ed, that whole article is cast in terms of “if” and what “many (unidentified people) believe”. It’s conjecture for the slow news season.
Also note this, from the final paragraph: “The exciting thing about this question is we don’t know. Immediate panic is not necessary — it is unlikely each asset class will fall together like synchronised divers. More likely, a decline in one will overlap with a decline in another, creating a long period of uncertainty.”
You could be right that 2018 will bring a crash, but you seem determined to only see the negative possibilities and seem to simply discount anything that isn’t a disaster scenario.
Yes, well I’m in Ed’s camp on this. Plenty would not believe that 2008 would happen!! But it did. We are at similar pressure points in the system again.
Of course vested interest bodies call us “chicken little” LOL.
Predicting 200 of the last two crashes is easy. Of course they happen, and of course that means there’ll be another. So far, so ‘peak oil theory’.
Actually predicting them requires a lot more hard work than reading articles in the media. If The Big Short can be believed, Michael Burry hired people to literally pore through all the individual sub-prime mortgage records. Yes, all of them.
and even then it was just a more educated bet than the other bets. If the timing had been off, the shorted packages would have increased in price and needed repayment.
it’s all reducing confidence intervals, but never eliminating them. And most people never get enough information to close them all that much in the first place.
Thank you. Good to hear there are those who agree with this point of view.
There are reputable independent economists who are telling us about an oncoming crash.
Steve Keen
“The bubble will burst in the next one to two years – there’s been a real acceleration in house prices since 2012, they’ve increased by about 60 percent. But what I’m seeing now is the motivating force for rising house prices is rising mortgage credit. The wind in that bubble is starting to run out.”
You claim to want a discussion, Ed. But when I engaged with your comment at 1, you pretended to agree with me, then went right back to reciting your litany as though our exchange hadn’t happened.
You then went on to describe the counter arguments as abuse, itself an insult to those who had indulged your alleged desire for discussion.
While you continue to misrepresent the counter arguments to your narrative, I guarantee you that people will continue to notice and comment on that misrepresentation.
I’m not surprised you’re feeling beleaguered though. Perhaps if you engaged in better faith you might find people a little less persistent.
What do you think of my argument that sloppily-presented narratives provide comfort to “the enemy”?*
*One Two, please try and discover what inverted commas are for before your knee starts jerking at “the enemy”.
“I’m not surprised you’re feeling beleaguered though.”
Astute, AOB. If I’d received these responses on ‘Open Mike’ today, I’d feel the same:
“a sop to moralising curtain-twitchers”
“All because you don’t get the nodding dogs you’re looking for. Sob sob.”
“So why do you smear and abuse people then?”
“Pot, meet kettle. Your ad nauseam moralising isn’t a “debate”. When people point out your logical fallacies (which are numerous) you pack a sad, play the victim card and start smearing them.”
“What’s the matter Ed, don’t you like being compared to the Mahatma?”
The antipathy of AOB (aided by BM) towards Ed’s comments on today’s Open Mike is painfully obvious. Thankfully, they refrain from personal abuse.
Another day in paradise Kia ora Graham Norton I watch your show guite regularly
Now you know I’m backing Joseph Parker camp to win. Well everyone knows this fact we’re Kiwis after all I like my pies to we can’t all have the time to think about our physique if I did one knows that my Maori genetic would easily rip up. I like to watch Jimmy Barns son David Campbell on sky news. I know Iv got a big following in Australia to many thanks to all the people around OUR WORLD For your support. I know that the house that Mama raised me in Gisborne and the one buy the Waiapu river will be oneday a place that a lot of people will visit to honour me. PS to the red headed sandfly you smoke you like stake to go pinch off rich people you dick ECO doesn’t miss anything and do not kid yourself that you can pull a trick with out me noticeing. Ka kite ano
On the topic of suspicious work visas (savenz @2 ), could someone please enlighten me?
I just had 3 days of dealing with a couple of tradies, I’ll spare the details, a major complaint has already be made to the Property Manager and is being dealt with. But I’m somewhat curious about how one of them is allowed to be working here, ie what visa?
Main contractor originally from a South-East Asian country. His younger off-sider, same nationality but literally doesn’t speak a word of English, and isn’t exactly even close to being ‘skilled” in his trade (it’s painting btw)
So…are painters a skill shortage category?
Could he be sponsored here by family if they can say there’s a job for him and that’s a way in for residency?
Family reunification scheme of some sort? (It’s not a country involving refugees)
Genuinely ignorant on the matters, and curious if anyone knows about these things.
I could hazard a guess…and it would be that the younger guy is being paid a pittance and not technically entitled to be working here.
He’s probably also been bullshitted to, and found that on arrival, things are not what was promised.
Now that he’s here though, the choices are either to beg, or to do whatever work is available.
Btw…I hope you’ve not succumbed to the latest exploitative sector involving immigrant slave labour (home renovation). They’re now even trying to sell franchises
@OWT, that’s what I was a bit worried about. I’m not even totally convinced the guy was being given adequate breaks for 10hr day work.
I’m not sure what- if anything I can do about this. I’m just the renter, these guys are contractors used by the property managers so I don’t get to pick and choose. I get the idea the latter has known the former for some time.
it’s a hard decision but it were me, I’d try and get a phone #, then get in touch with somebody such as the Immigrant Workers Association.
Until such time as MoBIE/INZ start caring more about the victims of exploitation rsther than those doing the exploiting, I wouldn’t go near them
Whereupon the contractor may, or may not be prosecuted-depending on resources available, and the victim will likely be deported, whilst the ripoff artist will not lose his recently acquired PR, and will simply move on to the next.
Meanwhile, the consultants, many of whom have vested and financial interest in the racket will continue to get their percentage.
It’s a nice idea @Craig H, but unless something has radically changed since last September, it doesn’t quite work like that or as you intend
Kay, in Aus tradies need a blue card to work, and have to produce it. This can be checked, so you don’t get your situation happening. Huge fines ensue for cheats and employers. NZ needs that to protect the public.
@Kay – welcome to a world where exploitation seems to be rife. Firstly exploitation of work permits, then getting more people in who are either working illegally or have a fake permit or even legitimate one, but speak no English so therefore hard to know what is going on.
Then the property manager is employing them probably through another firm that organises the work who charge a percentage fee, the property agency is probably charging around 10% on top of that for their labour to the owner of the rental. Being two people there there will be two labour charges even if one can’t do the job and is being trained, or the supervisor one leaves the other one in charge and left to their own devices.
So simple work turns into hundreds or thousands of dollars pretty quickly more than it should, and often a very bad job which takes longer than it should and generates complaints from all concerned. People forced to work long hours for a pittance don’t tend to do a very good job or if they do, it catches up on them and they start having accidents and needing ACC.
The terrible shortages of rentals are also related to the burgeoning costs of being able to get legitimate labour who can do a good job without it being some sort of scam rather than doing a decent days work for a decent wage.
I like the German system where tradespeople have to guarantee their work for 10 years and faulty work can actually lead to jail.
The NZ way, seems to be to do as little as possible, for as much money as possible with as many people as possible taking a cut along the way, even for very small amounts of un or semi-skilled work and the end worker is on minimum wages or less and often incompetent.
On the building front even when you insure work through master builders or whatever, you still do not get a real guarantee that the work will be fixed. So you essentially pay before hand, an extra fee, in the knowledge the builder will make mistakes and have to fix them and it can be a lot of work even getting the work fixed even with the insurance that you pay for.
We have a system in NZ that exploits everyday in the construction industry. That is why I don’t think that we can simply build these affordable houses to stem the shortage of houses.
Even the houses being built under the NZ system are faulty or have faulty materials even before you put forward the constant stream of contractors and sub contractors and the amount of cheap labour being utilised at expensive rates.
Standard work visas include working holiday visas, partner visas ( both of NZers and of work visa holders), work visas for students who have passed their courses, or even student visas.
Oh dear!!!! Sir John Key has been caught up in that false missile attack alert in Hawaii!
How ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC.
THANKFULLY Granny has been in contact apparently, and we can all rest assured that he didn’t panic.
Wow! That’s a big load off my mind.
shonky key is a neolibreal in reality he would have shit his pants and been trying to get the first flight out of there with tears running down his face he Hawii can have the bigot we don’t want his type in New Zealand .Some people say NZ is not paradise well caste your eyes around our world and find better and I will prove you wrong.
Ana to kai
“So, we all know in our hearts that rodeo is wrong. But with Michael Laws speaking up for it, we now know it’s got to be even wronger-er than we originally thought.”
shonky key is a neolibreal in reality he would have shit his pants and been trying to get the first flight out of there with tears running down his face he Hawii can have the bigot we don’t want his type in New Zealand .Some people say NZ is not paradise well caste your eyes around our world and find better and I will prove you wrong.
Ana to kai
We are in a lot of trouble.
Unless significant action is taken by governments and people in the next 10 years, extinction beckons.
Take action today to save the planet and life on it.
I quote from the Guardian.
We are on a Planet that is heating up quickly.
“The years 2017, 2016 and 2015 will make up the three hottest years on record for the planet. But there’s no convincing some people.
When the global temperature readings are in for 2017, it’s going to be a very hard sell for climate-science deniers: 2017 will likely be ranked either side of 2015 as the second or third hottest year on record, with 2016 still in top spot.
The hottest five-year period recorded in the modern era will be the one we’ve just had.
Communities around the world, and the flora and fauna we share it with, feel the effects of that steady rise through extreme weather, droughts, heatwaves, shifting rains, melting ice and rising sea levels.
Levels of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and land clearing keep climbing.”
Trump’s America.
Let’s not hear any more hypocritical lectures or abuse to Iran, Syria, Russia, Haiti or the continent of Africa.
The US is a failed state.
“BALTIMORE — Overnight, Imamu Baraka was walking past a Baltimore hospital when he noticed something he says he’ll never forget.
The hospital’s security guards had just wheeled a patient to a bus stop, and in the freezing temperatures they left her there. The only thing she had on was a hospital gown.
“It’s about 30 degrees out here right now,” Baraka says in a recording of the encounter. “Are you OK, ma’am? Do you need me to call the police?” he asks.
It’s called “patient dumping” and it doesn’t just happen in Baltimore. In 2007, “60 Minutes” investigated the practice of removing homeless patients from Los Angeles hospitals and leaving them downtown.”
Trump is playing a game with all US people of the world that alam warning that scared the shit out of Hawaii was known accident. You know why I say that because that is what neoliberalism does they play games with other people lives like what the sandflys are doing to me and my whano. But when things are Fucked up like the world at the moment I can see a thew thing in play from trump around our world. He is a racist bigot it will turn to shit fast with the way he is running the white house. Mother nature and mother earth does not like whats happening in the world that’s why Americans are getting hammer by them. You can’t restart the game donald it you fuck the world. It amazed me to see that a man like that could get the controls to one of the most powerful countries in the world . You know what it amazed donald and his family that he won look at the night they won they were all gobsmacked mouths open they couldn’t believe that donald won an never could the world. This cannot be allowed to happen again WTF. KIA KAHA
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Costa Rica has become the first country in Central America to recognise same-sex marriage: The first same-sex weddings have taken place in Costa Rica, the first Central American country to equalise its marriage legislation. A lesbian couple became the first to tie the knot in a ceremony that took ...
There's a new twist in the Winston Peters secret donation story. It appears that a significant chunk of NZ First's secret laundered donations goes straight into the pockets of the people administering the scheme: Tens of thousands in donor's funds given to the New Zealand First Foundation were spent paying ...
Is Todd Muller the Ned Flanders of the National Party? This is how he’s been characterised by political commentator Gordon Campbell, who suggests the change in leadership is, in Simpsons terms, akin to swapping the scary and cruel Monty Burns for Homer Simpson’s compassionate but conservative neighbour. There’s almost a ...
We all know that many so-called journalists and political commentators in New Zealand work directly or indirectly for political parties or for certain political factions. This was obviously the case when pundit for hire Matthew Hooton launched a campaign against then National Party leader, Simon Bridges, over their numerous polling ...
Let's Roll! The easy victory over a Bridges-led National Party which the Left had every cause to anticipate just a few days ago is no longer in the offing. Our enemy’s position has changed. His numbers are swelling. A rapid thrust to the left, followed by an audacious outflanking manoeuvre ...
New National Party leader Todd Muller has been interviewed about his policies, and has promised to restart offshore fossil fuel exploration if elected: The Bay of Plenty MP rolled former leader Simon Bridges last week, but says the party has not changed its stance on previous promises. "That is ...
Anyone who keeps an eye on evidence around cannabis and public health will be familiar with the Christchurch Health and Development Study. It's one of two local longitudinal studies frequently cited with respect to cannabis and youth development. But in a new article in the New Zealand Medical Journal, it is ...
In the age of covid we are Jacinda’s team of five million, except for some. There has rarely been a more blatant case of discrimination against beneficiaries than Grant Robertson’s announcement yesterday that people who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus will receive weekly payments of $490 per week for 12 weeks and $250 per week for part time ...
It was 75 years ago this month that Germany surrendered and the Allies celebrated VE (Victory in Europe) Day. Millions of people around the world had been killed and many more injured or captured. It was an end to war not just for Europeans, but their allies too, in countries across Africa. But its impact is ...
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...
Watching Todd Muller make his first speech as the newly minted Leader of the Opposition after Simon Bridges’ defenestration on Friday brought to mind a headmaster addressing a school assembly. He showed no particular desire to ingratiate himself with his audience although the occasional flash of self-deprecating humour indicated a ...
The government has announced another income support scheme for people affected by the economic aftershocks of the pandemic: a $490 a week tax-free payment for the newly unemployed, which you can get even if you have a working partner. Which is great, because its supporting people who need help, but ...
The Greens have released their party list, and it contains a few surprises. The one that's getting all the news is that the membership are clearly fans of Chlöe Swarbrick, and she has worked hard to earn that. But they've also favoured incumbent protection over new blood, and in the ...
age credit:Science and Politics – Skeptically.org It seems impossible to keep politics out of science. It’s a pity because politics can end up forcing science to produce the results desired by ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Matthew Parry, Dr Ayesha Verrall, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Martin Eichner (author details*)This blog details a recent modelling study we conducted. In it we estimated that it would take between 27 and 33 days of no new detected cases of COVID-19 for there to be ...
The 2015 Schol Bio paper included a question about a group of birds known as honeycreepers, specifically, the 56 species endemic to the Hawaiian islands. (Or, were endemic: 18, or perhaps 19, are still living; the others are extinct.) Students who’ve already had a look at this paper as part of ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... What a Week’s Disasters Tell Us About Climate and the PandemicExtreme weather presents an even bigger threat ...
Todd Muller has made a good start to his leadership, though it would obviously be pretty stupid to extrapolate too much from the first couple of days. Nevertheless, as a matter of speculation, it is interesting to think what success on his part might say about the preferences of the ...
A guest post by Hamish Price.“A leader is a dealer in hope.”— Napoléon BonaparteCatholics have a name for potential successors to a dead pope. Papabile. The small coterie of distinguished cardinals who have what it takes to step up. Todd Muller has always been one.I first met Muller at a National ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 17 through Sat, May 23, 2020Editor's ChoiceMore than 80 killed in India and Bangladesh as Cyclone Amphan heaps misery on coronavirus-hit areasA man salvages items from ...
Two poor political polls within the same week had seen National for the first time in over a decade dropping major support in the face of a competent and assured COVID-19 health response from the Coalition government. Step forward the relatively unknown Todd Muller, who by Friday afternoon had secured ...
SUNDAY MAY 24The Luminaries (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). There are an awful lot of indeterminate accents in The Luminaries; even lead Eve Hewson seems undecided about being Irish, and she is Irish. Fair play, accents can go badly wrong, so perhaps not over-egging was a consideration. Marton Csokas, always impeccable, and Himesh Patel ...
Let’s be honest; Simon Bridges was a disaster of a political leader. If he wasn’t attempting to criticise the Government’s perfectly good policy initiatives that the public generally supported, he was fudging his lines after getting caught out in yet another lie. When Jami-Lee Ross said Bridges “is a flawed individual ...
The media treat budgets as bit of a circus: lots of theatre and soon forgotten. For a serious economist they show how a team of economists is thinking about the wider economy. The 2020 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) was the most difficult forecasting exercise in the history of ...
Air NZ shed 1,300 workers, Fletchers about to sack 1000. Economists Strateg.Ease predict over 12,400 jobs gone by March next year in central Auckland alone. Here’s Don Franks during the 2008 election campaign when he stood for the Workers Party. He’s talking about fightback strategies, ideas that he believes are ...
One of these MPs is the new leader of the National party. Can you pick which? (Source: Office of the Clerk/Parliamentary Service) National has chosen its new leader, and as expected, it is an old bald white man. Totally representative of modern New Zealand, then. But its not ...
Five years ago, Know Your Stuff didn't have a name. They were just a group of people from the festival community who began testing party drugs onsite because they'd seen the consequences of people taking substances they couldn't identify or didn't understand. They didn't want to see people in their ...
Last week, an article on Newsroom made it clear how the funder / provider split - a core part of our public service - was used to enable underfunding. The government holds the purse strings, but dumps responsibility for its decisions on providers, so they get the blame for poor ...
Dr Jaijus Pallippadan-Johny1, Dr John McDermott2, Rodney Jones1 and Michael Duddin1 (1 Wigram Capital Advisors, Auckland; 2Motu Economic and Policy Research, Wellington)In this blog, we introduce our modelling approach to estimating the transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. We demonstrate the usefulness of ...
The Illusions Of Power: Does Jacinda Ardern, like Abraham Lincoln, wake in the dark watches of the night still enveloped in the terrors of life-and-death decision-making? Maybe – maybe not. She’s a twenty-first century prime minister, not so susceptible, perhaps, to the deep religious feeling and romanticism that was such ...
Well, that seals it. The supposedly more National sympathetic One News-Colmar Brunton poll has tonight delivered Simon Bridges’ National Party a worst result than the Newshub-Reid Research three days agoi.On tonight’s numbers Labour sits at an “unprecedented” 59 percent, while National has slumped 17 percent to 29 percent. Anything in ...
The National Party are quite simply a party out of time…Literally, insofar as the 2020 Election is concerned, and certainly in terms of their ideological positioning which has grown far more trenchantly extreme in the last few years in particular, under the leadership of both Simon Bridges, and Paula ...
If tonight’s 1News-Colmar Brunton poll result is anywhere near the 31% recorded in Monday’s Newshub-Reid Research poll, Simon Bridges will surely be dog tucker when his caucus colleagues meet tomorrow to vote on the National Party leadership. The momentum is with newcomer Todd Muller, who seems likely to be installed ...
At last year's Splore festival Listening Lounge sessions, one of the most popular discussions was the one on psychedelic therapy. So for this year's festival, I brought back two of the participants from that panel – Dr Will Evans and Amadeus Diamond – and was delighted to be able to ...
The government is reportedly looking at "helicopter money" - giving cash directly to people to spend - as a way of stimulating the economy in the wake of the pandemic. But its not just central government: Palmerston North City Council is looking at the same thing, though on a much ...
Mahmoud Elkhodr, CQUniversity AustraliaNew Zealanders finally have access to the government’s new tracing app to help people monitor their movements as lockdown continues to ease. As businesses can now open, the NZ COVID Tracer app allows people to keep a register of the places they visit. This “digital diary” ...
Eyes Left! On the face of it, the election of Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye is a no-brainer. New Zealanders are clearly in no mood for a “dirty little street-fighter” and, if the polls are any indication, resent strongly Bridges’ implication that they are. To be at all competitive with ...
Tahu Kukutai, University of Waikato; Helen Moewaka Barnes, Massey University; Tim McCreanor, Massey University, and Tracey McintoshAs schools and businesses reopen and attention shifts to the longer-term repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that Māori be involved in decision making more equitably than has so far happened. ...
Dane Giraud from The Free Speech Coalition talks with Redline writer and editor Daphna Whitmore on cancel culture, gender ideology, postmodernism and irrationalism. They look at the free speech implications of issues like the Twitter mob, the Government’s proposed emergency police powers, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Free Speech interview ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAlmost every threat to modern humanity can be traced simply ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee is holding an inquiry into the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 which was rushed through Parliament last week, and has called for submissions. Submissions are due by Sunday, 28 June 2020. You can either submit online through the form above, or by posting dead ...
While the world is currently struggling with the pandemic, we have another crisis to deal with as well: climate change. Fortunately, not everyone has forgotten about it, with Spain announcing ambitious plans to go net-zero by 2050: Under the law, which still needs to be approved by Parliament, the government ...
Children used in this study were from Lintingkou town (a normal-fluoride/control area) and Dakoutun town (a high-fluoride area) in Baodi district of Tianjin, China. The towns are 25 km apart. Anti-fluoridation activists on ...
When we see how the pandemic is being handled in the rest of the world, we can thank our lucky stars that we live here, in New Zealand, and under our current government, led by Jacinda Ardern. The latest polls suggest that this is exactly how Kiwis feel. But the ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Sophie Febery, Dr Ling Chan, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael BakerThe concepts of an Alert Level system, household “bubbles”, and social event size limits are all valuable pandemic control measures. Nevertheless, better “source control” of COVID-19 at various Alert Levels by requiring masks in ...
This is a repost from the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund blog, by CSLDF Executive Director Lauren Kurtz The COVID-19 pandemic illuminates the crucial role scientists at university, state, and local laboratories in the United States and abroad play in protecting public health and safety—and shows that global research must be done ...
Arguments by religious folk that they are being discriminated against under the Level 2 pandemic restrictions in NZ, which limit church services to ten people or less when schools, restaurants, malls and other service outlets are allowed to host many more people under voluntary self-distancing protocols, got me to think ...
Now that the initial wave has passed, and we are (hopefully) safe in our national bubble, the government is thinking about how to keep the economy ticking over, and how to salvage the bits (like tourism) that are now useless. And for that particular industry, she has mentioned a great ...
There’s been a lot of conjecture concerning the reasons behind the National Party’s fall to 30% in the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll. Some commentators have correctly ascertained that the current leader, Simon Bridges, has been consistently getting his tone wrong! Others believe that the shift in support is all about ...
It probably was too good to last. The blessed peace on the roads that I wrote about here began eroding even before we left Level 4 of the Covid-19 restrictions – and on day one of Level 3, with the tradies rushing to catch upon their work, the double-cab utes ...
Missing From The Electoral Action: The radical Left's last forlorn hope, the "Missing Million", is generally despised by mainstream New Zealand and mistrusted by the respectable members of their own communities. They have moved well beyond the reach of conventional electoral politics.TO SAY the Left’s reaction to Grant Robertson’s “Recovery ...
by Don Franks As we face new unknowns against Covid 19, there’s something reassuring about level 2’s basic rules. “Physical distancing- keep your distance when out and about. Two metres in public and in retail stores, like supermarkets. One metre in most other environments like workplaces, cafes, restaurants, and gyms.” ...
Richard Shaw, Massey UniversityOnce upon a very different time, British cabinet minister Michael Gove sneered that “people have had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms saying that they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong.” But that was then and this is now. One or two ...
From its name, you would think the Environmental protection Authority was there to protect the environment. But we've had another reminder that nothing could be further from the truth, with its decision to allow a toxic, burned-out Korean fishing boat to be dumped at sea: The ship's owner, Dong Won ...
Story of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Graphic of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... The Largest Arctic Science Expedition in History Finds Itself on Increasingly ...
It was just a month ago that the chief executive of Rotorua Lakes Council, Geoff Williams, described suggestions his executive team should consider taking pay cuts as “immoral”. Williams told the NZ Herald: “I am very fortunate to have around me an extremely committed, dedicated and hardworking executive team who ...
“Every day, we see the powers that promulgate laws that oblige one to take certain routes and [those] that do not follow these indications or do not want them to be part of their legislation, are accused and politely persecuted” – Pope Francis What does the Government’s decision to limit ...
In a previous post I noted that futures thinking usually tries to identify what people think will change and what they think needs to change. As lockdown constraints ease, we are seeing a lot of opinions about both. There is no shortage of shovel ready points of view ...
And so it came pass that a great plague swept the face of all the Earth. Some say it came from the East, others say it came from gloomy caverns of the bat or jungles of the civet. From whence it came, who can say? But come it did.In the ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 10 through Sat, May 16, 2020Editor's ChoiceThese 6 books explore climate change science and solutionsRecent books about climate change tackle science and offer visions of the ...
How radical or transformative is Grant Robertson’s 2020 Budget? Opinions are divided over this week’s landmark economic package. Some are viewing the big spend as a return to traditional Labour – or even socialist – politics, while others see it as “business as usual”, albeit on a grander scale. Seeing ...
Recent reports have surfaced that hospital officials in some US localities are inflating the CV-19 death count by classifying anyone who dies in their care who is not the victim of an accident or other obvious non-viral cause as a CV-19 victim. Apparently this is because the US public health ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
Budget 2020 is about rebuilding together, supporting jobs, getting business moving and the books back into the black. It’s an integral part of our COVID-19 economic response, and our plan to grow our economy and get New Zealand moving again.Here’s a quick look at the five top things you ...
The Coalition Government has approved $206 million in essential upgrades at Ōhakea Air Base. Defence Minister Ron Mark said the money would be spent on improving old infrastructure. He said safety issues would be addressed, as well as upgrades to taxiways, accommodation and fresh, storm and waste water systems. "This ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First “I am not persisting with this case just for myself, but for all people who have had their privacy breached. Privacy of information is a cornerstone of our country’s democracy. Without it our society truly faces a bleak future. We now ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has introduced a Bill to Parliament that he says will "force more transparency, integrity and respect" for the domestic wood-processing sector through the registration of log traders and practice standards. The Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill had its first reading in ...
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is joining over 300 lawmakers from around the world in calling on the big banks and the IMF to forgive the debt of developing countries, in the wake of the COVID crisis. ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says concerns that carbon foresters are planting pine trees that will never be harvested are the result of "misinformation". "The billion tree strategy is an excellent idea, unfortunately from time to time it's tainted by misinformation spread by the National Party or their grandees, hiding in scattered ...
The Green Party welcomes funding in the budget to reunite more refugees with their families, ensuring they have the best chance at a new life in Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
This year’s Budget is about rebuilding New Zealand together in the face of COVID-19. Jobs are central to how we’re going to do that.There’s a lot of targeted investment for employment in this year’s Budget, with announcements on creating new jobs, training people for the jobs we have, and supporting ...
Speaking to Stuff's Coronavirus NZ podcast, Foreign Minister Winston Peters revealed China tried to dissuade New Zealand from going into lockdown.“Without speaking out of turn, they wanted a discussion as to why we were doing it, because they thought it was an overreaction,” Mr Peters told Stuff’s Coronavirus NZ podcast.He also ...
The Coalition Government is making changes to the Overseas Investment Act to ensure New Zealand assets don't fall into the hands of foreign ownership in the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Associate Minister of Finance David Parker announced the Act will be amended to bring forward a national interest ...
A quick start to a trans-Tasman bubble could see the tourism industry make a swift recovery, according to Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. "I believe tourism will turn around dramatically faster than people think," Mr Peters told reporters after Thursday's Budget. "Why? Because I think the Tasman bubble is [going ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Please check against deliveryhttps://vimeo.com/418303651 Budget 2020: Jobs, Business and Balance Introduction Acknowledgements to all Cabinet colleagues, and party ministers Tracey Martin, Shane Jones and Ron Mark, Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau and to caucus colleagues. Thank you for your support, your ...
The 2020 Budget includes significant support to stabilise New Zealand’s family violence services, whose work has been shown to be so essential throughout the COVID-19 lockdown. ...
The Green Party says huge new investment in public and transitional housing will get thousands more families into the warm, safe homes they deserve. ...
The Green Party says the $1.1 billion environmental investment in this year’s budget to create thousands of green jobs will help jump start a sustainable recovery from the COVID crisis. ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today the Coalition Government told foreigners at the start of the Covid-19 crisis that if their circumstances had changed dramatically, they should go home. "And 50,000 did," Mr Peters said. Official advice to Cabinet revealed there is potentially 380,000 foreigners and migrant workers in ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the decision today to go to Alert Level 2 from midnight Wednesday, says Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters. Alert Level 2 will mean a return to work for the vast majority of New Zealand’s businesses. A return ...
Nurses now look set to get more protection from violence at work, under a proposed new law.This after NZ First MP Darroch Ball's "Protection for First Responders Bill", which introduces a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders, will now also cover emergency department healthcare workers. The ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Law and Order Spokesperson An amendment to the ‘Protection of First Responders Bill’ is being tabled which will see emergency department healthcare workers included in the legislation. “During this COVID-19 crisis we have seen reports of violence and specifically increased incidents of spitting towards ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is breathing new life into the proposal to move Auckland's port to Whangārei to help in the economic recovery post Covid-19 pandemic.If New ZealandFirst was returned in the September general election, Minister Jones said a priority would be development of an "economic haven" at Northport, ...
The plan to build a memorial to the SS Ventnor, and those who were lost when it sank off the Hokianga coast in 1902, has been granted $100,000 from the Provincial Growth Fund.Originally planned for a site near Rāwene cemetery, the memorial will now be built at the new Manea ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First LeaderLeader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters said: “Today is the 75th anniversary of VE Day – marking the end of World War II in Europe."Millions died in the six years of war, and families were torn apart. 75 years ...
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Government has committed to providing calm, clear, and consistent communication, including regular press conference updates from the Prime Minister. While New Zealand is at Alert Level 3, we're making sure that New Zealanders are kept informed and up-to-date with all the latest ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay. A day earlier, National Party leader Simon Bridges was on the radio show and referred to the Deputy Prime Minister as, "my sweetheart Winston". Mr Peters swiftly dismissed the question of whether Bridges had changed his mind about ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, has today announced the appointment of Tristan Gilbertson as the new Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission. “Mr Gilbertson has considerable experience in the telecommunications industry and a strong reputation amongst his peers,” ...
The Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa have agreed to settle the pay equity claim for teacher aides, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This will see more than 22,000 teacher aides, mostly women, being valued and paid fairly for the work they do. “Teacher aides are frontline ...
Subcontractors will have greater certainty, more cashflow support and job security with new changes to retention payments under the Construction Contracts Act says Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa. A recent review of the retentions money regime showed that most of the building and construction sector is complying with ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have marked the first anniversary of the New Zealand-Singapore Enhanced Partnership with a virtual Leaders’ Meeting today. The Enhanced Partnership, signed on 17 May 2019, provides the framework for cooperation across the four main areas of trade, defence and ...
On 17 May 2019, New Zealand and Singapore established an Enhanced Partnership to elevate our relations. The Enhanced Partnership – based on the four pillars of trade and economics, security and defence, science, technology and innovation, and people-to-people links – has seen the long-standing relationship between our countries strengthen over the ...
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters has welcomed KiwiRail’s announcement that it is seeking a preferred shipyard to build two new rail-enabled ferries for the Cook Strait crossing. “This Government is committed to restoring rail to its rightful place in New Zealand. Bigger, better ships, with new technology are yet another ...
Better protection for seabirds is being put in place with a new National Plan of Action to reduce fishing-related captures, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. The National Plan of Action for Seabirds 2020 outlines our commitment to reduce fishing-related captures and associated seabird ...
Almost $1 billion in interest-free loans for small businesses More than 55,000 businesses have applied; 95% approved Average loan approx. $17,300 90% of applications from firms with ten or fewer staff A wide cross-section of businesses have applied, the most common are the construction industry, accommodation providers, professional firms, and ...
Thousands of children will have healthier lungs after the Government’s ban on smoking in cars with kids becomes law, says Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa. This comes after the third reading of Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Bill earlier today. “This law makes it ...
The special Epidemic Response Committee (ERC) has successfully concluded its role, Leader of the House Chris Hipkins said today. The committee was set up on 25 March by the agreement of Parliament to scrutinise the Government and its actions while keeping people safe during levels 4 and 3 of lockdown. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced four diplomatic appointments: New Zealand’s Ambassador to Belgium, High Commissioners to Nauru and Niue, and Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism. “As the world seeks to manage and then recover from COVID-19, our diplomatic and trade networks are more important than ever,” Mr Peters said. “The ...
New Zealanders will be better protected from online harm through a Bill introduced to Parliament today, says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “The internet brings many benefits to society but can also be used as a weapon to spread harmful and illegal content and that is what this legislation targets,” ...
New Zealand’s world-first plan to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis is on track the latest technical data shows, says Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two years ago the Government, DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand and industry partners made a bold decision to go hard and commit ...
Further support for New Zealanders affected by 1-in-100 year global economic shock 12-week payment will support people searching for new work or retraining Work programme on employment insurance to support workers and businesses The Government today announced a new temporary payment to support New Zealanders who lose their jobs due ...
The Provincial Growth Fund will play a vital role in New Zealand’s post-COVID-19 recovery by creating jobs in shorter timeframes through at least $600 million being refocused on projects with more immediate economic benefits, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The funding is comprised of repurposed Provincial Growth ...
Government exempts some home improvements from costly consents Homeowners, builders and DIYers will soon have an easier time making basic home improvements as the Government scraps the need for consents for low-risk building work such as sleep-outs, sheds and carports – allowing the construction sector to fire back up quicker ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says the New Zealand Government has reacted with concern at the introduction of legislation in China’s National People’s Congress relating to national security in Hong Kong. “We have a strong interest in seeing confidence maintained in the ‘one country, two systems’ principle under which Hong ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, says the theme for the 2020 Samoa Language Week is a perfect fit for helping our Pacific communities cope with the unfolding COVID-19 crisis, and to prepare now for the journey ahead as New Zealand focuses on recovery plans and rebuilding New ...
A nearly 40-year programme to protect one of New Zealand’s most critically endangered birds is paying off, with a record number of adult kakī/black stilt recently recorded living in the wild, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. “Thanks to the team effort involved in the Department of Conservation’s ...
The story of the Waikato-Tainui Treaty process and its enduring impact on the community is being told with a five-part web story launched today on the 25th anniversary of settlement, announced Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni. “I am grateful to Waikato-Tainui for allowing us to help capture ...
Taita College in the Hutt Valley will be redeveloped to upgrade its ageing classrooms and leaky roofs, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “The work is long overdue and will make a lasting difference to the school for generations to come,” Chris Hipkins said. “Too many of our schools are ...
The Government is allocating $36.72 million to projects in regions hard hit economically by COVID-19 to keep people working, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Projects in Hawke’s Bay, Northland, Rotorua and Queenstown will be funded from the Government’s $100 million worker ...
A $35m boost to financial capability service providers funded by MSD will help New Zealanders manage their money better both day to day and through periods of financial difficulty, announced Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni. “It’s always been our position to increase support to key groups experiencing or at risk ...
Dunedin barrister Melinda Broek has been appointed as a District Court Judge with Family Court jurisdiction to be based in Rotorua, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Broek has iwi affiliations to Ngai Tai. She commenced her employment in 1996 with Scholefield Cockroft Lloyd in Invercargill specialising in family and ...
The Coalition Government has approved a business case for $206 million in upgrades to critical infrastructure at Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Ohakea, with the first phase starting later this year, Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. The investment will be made in three phases over five years, and ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today released the Ministry of Transport’s review of the organisational culture at the Civil Aviation Authority. Phil Twyford says all employees are entitled to a safe work environment. “I commissioned this independent review due to the concerns I had about the culture within the CAA, and ...
Ensuring that Stats NZ’s direction and strategy best supports government policy decisions will be a key focus for a new Governance Advisory Board announced today by the Minister for Statistics, James Shaw. The new Governance Advisory Board will provide strategic advice to Stats NZ to ensure it is meeting New ...
Environment Judge David Kirkpatrick of Auckland has been appointed as the Principal Environment Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Judge Kirkpatrick was appointed an Environment Judge in February 2014. From December 2013 to July 2016 he was Chair of the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel. Prior to appointment he ...
A programme to connect marae around the country to the internet has received $1.4 million to expand to include urban marae in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister Kris Faafoi and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The funding for the Marae Connectivity Programme ...
The Government will provide $500,000 to the Hawke’s Bay Mayoral Drought Relief Fund to help farmers facing one of the worst droughts in living memory, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Yesterday afternoon I received a letter from Hawke's Bay's five local Government leaders asking me to contribute to the Fund. ...
Budget 2020 provides a major investment in New Zealand’s documentary heritage sector, with a commitment to leasing a new Archives Wellington facility and an increase in funding for Archives and National Library work. “Last year I released plans for a new Archives Wellington building – a purpose-built facility physically connected ...
Government Ministers are asking significant private enterprises to adopt prompt payment practices in line with the state sector, as a way to improve cashflow for small businesses. The Ministers of Finance, Small Business, Commerce and Consumer Affairs have written to more than 40 significant enterprises and banking industry representatives to ...
Maori Arts and Crafts will continue to underpin the heart of the tourism sector says Minister for Maori Development Nanaia Mahuta. “That’s why we are making a core investment of $7.6 million to Te Puia New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, over two years, as part of the Government’s ...
The Government is funding more pathways to jobs through training and education programmes in regional New Zealand to support the provinces’ recovery from the economic impacts of COVID-19, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson have announced. “New Zealand’s economic recovery will be largely driven by ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has announced the launch of a national conversation that aims to find out whether New Zealanders think there should be a formal agreement between service people, the Government, and the people of New Zealand. “This year marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World ...
The Government’s drive to improve the quality of early childhood education (ECE) is taking another step forward with the reintroduction of a higher funding rate for services that employ fully qualified and registered teachers, Education Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “Research shows that high-quality ECE can improve young people’s learning ...
The Sport and Recreation sector will receive a multi-million dollar boost as part of the COVID-19 response funded at Budget 2020. Grant Robertson says the Sport and Recreation Sector contributes about $5 billion a year to New Zealand’s GDP and employs more than 53,000 people. “Sport plays a significant role ...
A major increase in funding and availability of support will improve the incomes and reduce the pressure on 14,000 caregivers looking after more than 22,000 children. Children’s Minister Tracey Martin says that caregivers – all those looking after someone else’s children both in and outside the state care system – ...
Vital conservation and visitor infrastructure destroyed by a severe flood event in Fiordland earlier this year is being rebuilt through a $13.7 million Budget 2020 investment, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. “This investment will mean iconic Great Walks such as the Routeburn track and the full length of ...
When Claire Freeman became a wheelchair user at age 17, the questions she had about how she might enjoy sex were dismissed and she was made to feel like that part of her life was over. Here she flips the script with some advice on how to find pleasure on ...
As companies in New Zealand’s property development and building sectors digest opportunities presented by the Budget, what they need most urgently to move forwards is Resource Management Act and policy reform in order to rebuild together, says the ...
“We are pleased to see that the Government’s freshwater reforms announced today respond to some of the issues raised, and recommendations made, by the irrigation sector,” says Elizabeth Soal, Chief Executive of IrrigationNZ. “But there is ...
The government is imposing tough rules on water quality despite over 17,000 submissions, many of them complaining the move would impose a huge financial burden. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW COVID-19 has had a significant impact on all Australians, but there are very good reasons why the impact might be more keenly felt by people with disability and their carers. Our new research on behalf ...
Freshwater campaigners are frustrated the Government has delayed a crucial decision on nitrogen pollution for a further 12 months until after the election. “We have urged the Government many times to put in place clear and unequivocal limits for ...
The government has just announced a whole lot of new rules and policies for freshwater with the aim of urgently stopping degradation and cleaning up rivers over the long term.What’s all this then? A massive package of work on freshwater quality has just been announced in an attempt to halt further ...
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has welcomed the announcement by Ministers David Parker, Damien O’Connor and James Shaw this morning of the much-awaited freshwater reforms. “This package of changes to the present regulatory settings largely delivers ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has welcomed the Government’s announcement of a set of targeted tools to improve the quality of freshwater. LGNZ is the peak body representing New Zealand’s 78 local councils, providing a unified voice for ...
Many families facing newfound financial hardship due to COVID-19 may not be seeking help – believing they should be able to manage on their own or unaware they qualify for support, according to Good Shepherd NZ. The charitable organisation provides ...
Changes to central government Essential Freshwater regulations reflect farmer feedback, Federated Farmers says. "While we’re still working through the detail, the high level policy decisions indicate the government has heeded some of the rural ...
The Council of Trade Unions is congratulating teacher aides in achieving an historic pay equity offer from the government to settle their long standing concerns. "What this offer from the government does is acknowledge the historic under valuation of ...
Freshwater reforms a significant step forward The Government's policy announced today is a significant step forward in reducing pollution in our rural and our urban waterways caused by intensive farming and through council's neglect. However, there ...
Thursday, 28th May: Greenpeace is today welcoming the Government’s move to place a cap on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, but says more controls are needed to protect freshwater. The fertiliser cap was announced today as part of the Government’s ...
Following today’s announcements on the government’s response to the future of freshwater, it appears that despite the chorus of calls for a change in how the post-COVID future of Aotearoa is shaped - and following many months of engagement, consultation ...
Horticulture New Zealand says the Government’s decisions around freshwater recognise the importance of growing fresh fruit and vegetables in this country. ‘We applaud the Government for the pragmatic approach it is taking to meeting the long-term freshwater ...
NZ’s primary exports held up well in April, again proving the country’s farming industries are sustaining the economy despite many sectors being stricken by the Covid-19 pandemic. Almost coincidentally, a UMR probe of public opinion about farming revealed a sharp swing in perception. Instead of the negativity that had been ...
In a world where players have unfettered access to fans through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it raises the question of whether traditional media still has a role to play. But as Scotty Stevenson explains, a player-driven model powered by social media can only go so far. Among the many weird and ...
Two statements from the Beehive yesterday were enlightening for taxpayers trying to keep tabs on the burgeoning billions being spent on facilitating the economic recovery. One statement told us how much is being handed out to small businesses. Correction. One statement told us how much is being loaned to small ...
Emily Writes celebrates wholesome shows and the rise of cosy television.The world is frightening right now. From Covid-19 to climate change, just watching the news can be overwhelming let alone going outside. This horror is the perfect environment for what I call Soft TV to flourish. Wholesome reality TV isn’t ...
While many areas of the workforce have been shaken by the effects of Covid-19, a Ngāi Tahu futures lab has been working to give rangatahi Māori the opportunity to decide their own futures.Futurists have thought up myriad strategies for how the world should look post-Covid. For all its hurt, the ...
Pacific Media Centre The dramatic daily increase of covid-19 coronavirus cases in West Papua poses a “great threat” to Papua New Guinea, says the country’s deputy emergency chief. State of Emergency Deputy Controller and Acting Secretary for Health Dr Paison Dakulala said the Indonesian-ruled Papua region had seen an increase ...
Recent public opinion polls are revealing some very interesting, if somewhat contradictory, insights into New Zealanders’ current thinking about the Covid19 crisis and the national response. The most recent 1News Colmar Brunton poll reported that 92% of ...
Trucking companies have missed out on the Government’s Covid-19 money lolly scramble and this will mean increased costs across the already damaged economy, Road Transport Forum (RTF) chief executive Nick Leggett says. "Despite working through the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Since last summer’s bushfire crisis, there’s been a quantum shift in public awareness of Aboriginal fire management. It’s now more widely understood that Aboriginal people used landscape burning to sustain biodiversity ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide A return to face to face teaching at universities and technical colleges “where possible” is one of the goals of the Morrison government’s three step framework for a COVIDsafe Australia. A look at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hazel Easthope, Scientia Associate Professor, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW We’re building a lot of apartments in Australia. High-density precincts are being developed across our major cities. But these buildings and neighbourhoods are often not designed and managed in ways that meet ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Kaine, Associate Professor UTS Centre for Business and Social Innovation, University of Technology Sydney Workers everywhere are feeling the impact of COVID-19 and the restrictions necessitated by COVID-19. In Australia, retail and hospitality workers have been particularly hard hit. In other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Forsyth, Professor of Workplace Law, RMIT University Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week proposed a new deal in industrial relations, bringing together the government, employers and unions to agree on reforms to create jobs and lift the economy in the post-CIVD-19 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Markey, Emeritus Professor, Macquarie University In a bid to repair the economy, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced an industrial relations overhaul. Business groups and unions will be brought together to try to change a system that Morrison says is “not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathon Hutchinson, Senior Lecturer Online Communication and Media, University of Sydney The constraints of coronavirus isolation have closed down most recreational activities, but some creative industries are responding in innovative ways. I have been researching “digital first personalities” – content producers who ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Mainfreight's revenues have risen since April 1 despite Covid-19 as it reports higher annual profit and stable dividend, and repays $10.6m wage subsidy. NZX 50 back to March 9 level ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Lamb, Associate Professor in Geophysics, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Back in the 1970s, scientists came up with a revolutionary idea about how Earth’s deep interior works. They proposed it is slowly churning like a lava lamp, with ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Kiwibuild buyers left facing years of delays, calls for relaxation of alert levels and travel, and new details emerge in NZ First Foundation saga.Despite a reset of the policy last year, Kiwibuild is still proving to be problematic. A disastrous new ...
Dr Emily Henderson Last night, the Labour Party named Whangarei Family Court lawyer, Dr Emily Henderson, as its candidate to contest the Whangarei seat in the September general election. Emily has lived in Whangarei since she was seven years old, attending ...
Lockdown shut down an overseas couple's bid to walk the length of the country. When freed again, they returned from Auckland to the deep south to complete the task. Dressed in handmade ninja turtle costumes, hikers Becca Rolon and Diarmuid McInerney finally reached Bluff - finishing a 3000km walk the length ...
Quarantine-free travel between NZ and Pacific Islands should be our priority, ahead of plans to extend our bubble to include Australia, writes the University of Auckland's Dr Collin Tukuitonga Much has been made of the desirability of a ‘trans-Tasman’ bubble with quarantine-free air travel as a priority. There are compelling reasons ...
We can't decouple growth from its adverse effects and it's becoming clear that the same economic thinking that got us here won't get us out. A cultural shift to ‘enoughness’ and non-consumptive means of happiness could be the way forward after Covid-19, argues Lucie Greenwood. Talk of economic transition in a post-Covid-19 world ...
The return of intra-coalition dissent, on the speed of New Zealand’s move out of lockdown and freshwater policy measures, is a useful reminder that National is not the only party with political headaches, Sam Sachdeva writes For a politician who often trumpets the importance of due process when he wants ...
With the Black Ferns Sevens back in camp after lockdown, long-time star Kelly Brazier returns as a new mum, with a new rugby plan. Kelly Brazier is used to having crowds cheer her on in stadiums around the world. But with countries shutting down, sport being cancelled and ...
An essay by Martin Edmond in response to the monumental second volume by Peter Simpson on artist Colin McCahon.I. Bro Aspect I first met Peter Simpson at Sally and Alan’s place in Coromandel Street, Newtown, Wellington, 1988. Alan Brunton and Sally Rodwell, the founders of Red Mole. They ...
As we emerge from the last of lockdown and begin to look beyond our borders again, let’s not forget the vital role language skills play in strengthening our economic, political and cultural connections to the rest of the world, writes Sally Hill. This week is Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa ...
Diversifying the export economy is a worthy goal – but let’s be realistic about what throwing away a critical relationship with China would mean for New Zealand, writes Stephen Jacobi of the NZ International Business Forum.In a 2018 study of 183 economies’ dependence on China, undertaken by the Australian Department ...
New Zealanders might like to think of our country as relatively equitable in many ways. But in the boardroom, we have a long way to go. As James Brown sings, it’s a man’s world, designed by, and often unconsciously for, men. One recent example – a month ago when ...
By Philip Cass of Kaniva News Recognised seasonal employee workers in New Zealand rarely have a voice in the New Zealand media, new research at Massey University has found. Researcher Dr Angelynne Enoka said coverage of the RSE scheme by regional media tended to focus on official sources and employers’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Hepburn, Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Law, Deakin Law School, Deakin University In the expansion of its iron ore mine in Western Pilbara, Rio Tinto blasted the Juukan Gorge 1 and 2 – Aboriginal rock shelters dating ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Climie, Exercise Physiologist and Research Fellow, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute In Australia, more than 1.1 million people currently have type 2 diabetes. A host of potential complications associated with the disease mean a 45-year-old diagnosed with type 2 diabetes will ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Adams, Postdoctoral Biomedical Engineering Researcher, Deakin University During the frenzy of the past few months to secure resources for the fight against COVID-19, the demand for technologies that promise to detect symptomatic individuals has been sky-high. However, not all proposed solutions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brooke Collins-Gearing, Senior Lecturer, University of Newcastle Review: The Beach, created and directed by Warwick Thornton Watching Warwick Thornton’s The Beach is a journey into place and self. It made me want to breathe deeper and smell the salty air. It made ...
“The Government is undermining democracy by progressing 15 bills in the space of just 17 hours,” according to ACT Leader David Seymour. “The Government has put Parliament into urgency this evening and asked it to consider 15 pieces of legislation ...
By RNZ News New opposition National leader Todd Muller is backing his front bench, saying he chose the shadow cabinet line-up on merit and talent. While three out of National’s top four ranked MPs are women, there are no Māori MPs on the front bench, or of any other ethnicity. ...
Civil society and tech industry stakeholders are split over a provision in new legislation that would grant the Government the ability to filter the internet. ...
National Party leader, Todd Muller. Is Todd Muller the Ned Flanders of the National Party? This is how he’s been characterised by political commentator Gordon Campbell, who suggests the change in leadership is, in Simpsons terms, akin to swapping the scary and cruel Monty Burns for Homer Simpson’s compassionate ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Sweden reverting to type. Chart by Keith Rankin. Australia happy to spend foreigners’ savings (someone has to do it!). Chart by Keith Rankin. 1980s: Sweden like New Zealand and Australia Sweden in the 1980s, financially speaking, looked something like New Zealand and Australia. It ...
Tensions flared over race relations again today at Parliament, with National MP Judith Collins saying questions about treaty partnership and government procurement were "stupid". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Quinn, Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University A new trial has begun in Victoria this week to evaluate a potential vaccine against COVID-19. The vaccine is called NVX-CoV2373 and is from a US biotech company, Novavax. ...
Pacific Media Watch Six South Pacific journalists have been awarded grants by the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) to strengthen environmental reporting in the region, reports Internews. The awardees include three Fiji journalists – Mai TV journalist and chief executive Stanley Simpson, who hosts the investigative current affairs programme Simpson@Eight, ...
Immigration regulations newly-introduced by Government that applications from migrants trapped offshore with valid work visas need clearance through a Lead Agency (Government Dept responsible for a specific industry) are nothing but a political whitewash,” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of Newcastle The Jerusalem District Court has ruled that Malka Leifer is fit to stand trial on charges of child sexual abuse. This is a significant ruling in a very long ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elspeth Tilley, Associate Professor of English (Expressive Arts), Massey University You’re walking on a public footpath when a jogger overtakes you from behind, well inside the recommended two-metre physical distance. What to do? By the time you’ve reacted it’s too late. Just ...
Last night New Zealand witnessed one of the most exhilarating, confronting political stories to air on national television. Hayden Donnell has watched it several hundred times. Newshub at 6 opened last night with a back-and-forth between presenters Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts. After an intro from Hayes, McRoberts set the scene ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorana Bartels, Professor and Program Leader of Criminology, Australian National University Yesterday was National Sorry Day in Australia. It marks the anniversary of the tabling of the Bringing Them Home report, which chronicles decades of removals of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...
It makes sense to focus on our unique selling points as a country during the post-Covid rebuild. But we also have to live the values we market to the world, writes Jessica Desmond.Earlier this week ‘future of food’ expert Rosie Bosworth wrote that to turbo-boost our Covid recovery, New Zealand ...
A willingness to think differently, finding new ways to upskill Deaf people, and supporting businesses is a key priority for the employment team at Deaf Aotearoa. For many businesses, hiring a Deaf employee often presents their very first interaction ...
The National Plan of Action for Seabirds, released by the Government today, puts the fate of threatened species firmly in the hands of the fishing industry, says Greenpeace. Jessica Desmond, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, says the action plan ...
Open Mike 14/01/2018 
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Alcohol
A blight on our society
#3
Young drinkers consuming more alcohol than ever.
However, what is it that causes people to abuse booze and other drugs?
Economics.
Blaming inanimate substances for the damage that right wing economists do just makes finding solutions more difficult. It’s a waste of resources and a sop to moralising curtain-twitchers.
Straight out of the NRA handbook!
Do you have any substantive objection to the observation that alcohol abuse is connected to the GINI?
Where alcohol is priced out of people’s reach – or prohibited altogether – they make it themselves, at home.
No.
I think that sounds right.
I agree.
The extent of alcohol abuse in New Zealand is caused by neo-liberalism.
What was the cause of the extensive alcoholism in the USSR?
The Edbots CPU has just exploded.
I would imagine poverty and deprivation.
Not according to the MoH – alcohol rates have been steadily dropping rather rising under neo-liberalism (not a defense of neo-liberalism, just the facts don’t align with your opinion)
Edit – report only covers 1980 – 2000 but nonetheless clearly shows neo-liberalism and alcohol use doesn’t. It seem to be correlated
Is there any societal Ill you believe is not caused by neo liberalism?
To be fair, most social ills are at the very least exacerbated by it.
I’m having a bit of difficulty thinking of a social ill that doesn’t have a large proportion of its present prevalence attributable to neoliberalism, i.e. it would be much less of an issue if we’d kept our social democratic / democratic socialist ideals of Savage and Kirk and even Muldoon.
edit: I suppose the starting point would be some sort of congenital condition that’s not due to antenatal factors or genetic damage to a parent from environmental factors. But even then you have the affordability of ongoing life-course care for the baby.
This interview with ‘The Spirit Level’ author Richard Wilkinson explains how inequality creates societal ills.
What a load of bullshit that article was.
Executive director of Alcohol Healthwatch Nicki Jackson is just trying to justify the grants her organization receives, it can never improve otherwise she puts herself out of a job.
An interesting article, Ed, but it would be helpful if you had included in your summary that this Australian study (considered by the NZ Alcohol Healthwatch to be in line with what is happening to NZ) also found that more teenagers are choosing to turn away from alcohol.
The remarks you quoted from Dr Jackson, Executive Director of Alcohol Healthwatch were in fact preceded by this statement in respect of New Zealand:
“”Yes, there’s been declines in young people choosing to take up drinking but we’ve seen no declines whatsoever in the style in which young people drink, they’re still drinking very heavily so that culture hasn’t changed.”
Good point.
I agree with you ED alcohol is A DRUG that cause more damage to OUR worlds society as the law says its safe to consume this poison yes ITS a poison
1I know of at least 5 people whom have died from drinking to much alcohol one of them was a famous Rock Star .
2 Our youth think its safe until next minute they are locked up for something they did while pissed and can not remember what happened and if that person was not pissed they would be a good person and never commit a crime.
3 Other people whom are experienced drinkers can wait untill one is tiddly and then encourage them to drink up hotties usually and they have got you pissed and can get the you to do what they want
4 drinks can be spiked with other drugs never leave your drinks unattended make sure you go drinking with people you trust as If one is pissed I say you are mental as most don’t remember what they did when one is rolling blind drunk this is why they call it blind drunk and there are reports of people losing one sight temporary when one has consumed to much alcohol .
5 I think its a sin to let OUR Mokos think alcohol is a safe drug and then let them find out all the negative effects alcohol has on them while they are in a unsafe environment all the bad side effects of alcohol should be advertize so OUR mokos know to sip the stuff or it will fuck them up.
6 What about all the violence that happens when people are pissed check the hospital records
7 Car crashes other people being killed by drunks drivers what a waste of lives
8 All the disabled people who got there injuries while pissed
9 Every year we have two big events and everyone is encouraging everyone to get pissed I could not work that out logically I drink a little I learnt through trial and error If one is in a good mood when drinking alcohol its not to bad but if one is in a bad mood while drinking that’s when the violence starts I have never hit any of my loved ones while being drunk most of the time I would not bother to go and drink it was others that got me to go out with them I was happy watching videos at home.
10 The neoliberal used alcohol to break MAORI MANA my te puna Sir Apirana Ngata new this was happening and in 1920 got a ban on alcohol on the east coast for 10 years He was the one person who saved a lot of Maoris Mana need
I say more Ka kite ano
Quite a list of damage to our people in this country.
It makes me both angry and sad to see the devastation this repulsive drug does.
It would be so simple to apply a more sensible drug policy for alcohol.
Your comment is an example of the logical fallacy “non-sequitur.”
Your argument is:
Premise: some yoofs still drink a lot of alcohol.
Conclusion: therefore, alcohol is a blight on our society.
But the conclusion you’ve drawn doesn’t logically follow from the premise you’ve provided. I guess there’s an implied premise in there that alcohol is a Bad Thing, but that would merely change the logical fallacy to “begging the question.”
I can’t really blame you though, as non-sequitur is also Dr Jackson’s mode of operation – it’s fairly hard to endorse her views without falling into logical fallacies yourself.
Don’t you think alcohol is a blight on our society?
No.
The people who can’t handle their piss and cause problems are a blight on society.
The best option is to ban the people who abuse alcohol and leave the vast majority of people who like a beer, wine or whatever your drink of choice is, alone.
Here is some evidence of the damage alcohol does to society …..
New Zealand is no paradise, we’re all drunk
Latta goes easy on alcohol. Yeah, right
I really do hate people who change the measurement when talking about something. It’s poor language skills that can produce misunderstanding.
That five billion per year equates to about 96 million per week. Which means that we’re seriously subsiding the alcohol industry.
Yeah, but it’s spent locally and probably mostly on NZ products (beer and wine), so there’d be a hefty multiplier on the strict sale value for the economic activity. Not to mention exports.
So the profit/loss ledger could well swing either way.
The NZ wine industry is not as local as you might realise.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/65932216/how-the-land-lies-in-foreign-hands
Nor is our ‘local’ beer.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/business/db-set-to-come-under-full-heineken-control-2012080414
Yes all those profits are going overseas, leaving behind a litany of social damage.
Did you watch Nigel Latta’s documentaty on alcohol in New Zealand?
I recommend you do so you are more aware of the level of foreign ownership of the liquor industry.
Nigel Latta: The Trouble With Booze
So it’s just the manufacturing and sale costs that get recirculated. Big whoop, it doesn’t alter the fact that economic activity is more than just the point of sale transaction.
No Knighthood for this man.
Karl du frense in super stupid mode ….. called for Sgt Lawn to shut up or get out of our police force.
How dare Sgt Lawn speak about the single biggest generator of police ‘work’ …..
Cheap piss was a sign sir john key loved us ……
Thank you for doing the Maths.
So we as a society subsidise the international liquor corporations to the tune of #11 million a week.
No wonder they lobby so hard to control our politicians.
I don’t think you can call calculations involving a made-up number “doing the maths.” It’s more like “making shit up.”
As for solutions, the Law Commission disagreed with you.
Alcohol in our lives: Curbing the harm
Sadly, the National Party did not care.
https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2014/vol-127-no-1401/6270
It’s not that they can’t handle their piss but that they’ve been taught that getting drunk is the thing to do.
To change that we need to change our drinking culture away from weekend binge drinking. Many European nations drink more per capita than we do but don’t have the same problems as they don’t drink it all on Saturday night as we do.
To change that we need to change our drinking culture away from weekend binge drinking.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Also, we don’t “need” to do anything in response to people choosing to do things we personally would rather they didn’t.
this is another one of those things where people are choosing to do things that harms others and they don’t actually have a right to do that. So, yes, we do actually need to do something about it.
But it is certainly a cultural change that we need to bring about and that will take years and even decades.
People doing things that harm others can be taken up directly with the perpetrators.
How if we don’t have rules about it?
How if the culture that we have says it’s all right?
How are we going to take it up with the perpetrators if we don’t have a way to teach/propagate acceptable behaviour?
The perpetrators of NZ’s mental health crisis will never be held to account. All we can do is repair their vandalism.
We do have rules about harming others, variously classed as offences, crimes etc. Which is, not coincidentally, also a way to teach/propagate acceptable behaviour.
So, why are you so against refining them?
The various proposals for “doing something” aren’t aimed at people who harm others, or about refining the existing rules against harming others.
See ecomaori’s list of damage.
Not a blight.
What a joke.
Don’t you think alcohol is a blight on our society?
No. Complaining about people taking recreational drugs is pointless – people like recreational drugs and are going to take them. Also: my experience of alcohol is of skilled craftspeople making excellent drinks that I enjoy drinking, so if anyone wants to declare those fine artists “a blight on society,” I’m going to disagree.
Not just that PM, but therefore, alcohol is a blight on our society, caused by neo liberalism, so without actually addressing the binge drinking culture, let’s just put the price up and make more profits for the liquor companies.
The Law Commission made several recommendations.
Pricing was but one of the solutions proposed.
Don’t you think alcohol is a blight on our society?
It’s not a blight on people like me who drink responsibly.
There are, of course, those who fail to show common sense, drink to excess, and cause a multitude of costly issues. But a broad broom sweep approach won’t fix a surgical strike issue.
Hoons and a lot of kiwis in cars drive like shit, causing a multitude of accidents and death each year, a very real societal problem.
Environmental arguments to one side, you’ll be up for banning under 25s and most drivers from our roads then?
I commented it was a blight on society.
Not you individually.
I think this thread proves New Zealanders are in denial about the severity of the problem.
On this site, there are people in denial or disinterested about quite a few things…..
Alcohol and its impacts on society.
The welfare of animals in industrial farming.
A meat diet’s impact on climate change.
The media’s bias over news from Syria, Ukraine, Yemen.
Those of us who address these subjects are subject to vile abuse.
Back to throwing insulting smears around again I see.
All because you don’t get the nodding dogs you’re looking for. Sob sob.
Alcohol is a vital part of my life, is a massive part of our economy and a whole bunch less damaging to our land as a productive export than dairy, is a free choice, is regular by local government through democratic hearings about their location, and of course strongly regulated through central government with tax that is fairly up there.
That’s before you get to enforcement.
One of the biggest new enforcements is the random drug testing within the Worksafe framework. It really does regulate your life on Friday and Sunday as well as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Not a bad thing overall.
The only way you are going to make a successful argument for more regulation of alcohol is if you set out the benefits with the costs and do an evaluation, rather than just bleating on about the costs.
You put forward controversial opinions and are subject to disagreement, not vile abuse.
Oh how unfair, Ed played the victim card and you just ruined it for him 😈
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that alcohol is a blight on our society.
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that animals are treated cruelly in the industrial farming model.
And even if you disagree with those opinions, there is no need for abuse.
Isn’t this called Open Mike?
Some animals aren’t treated cruelly. For example, James’ free range beasts weren’t. Life of Riley until the butchers knife.
I wrote “It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that animals are treated cruelly in the industrial farming model.”
However, the number of animals living a ‘Life of Riley’ until they are slaughtered is a minuscule fraction.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nil-zacharias/its-time-to-end-factory-f_b_1018840.html
But you’re a reformed smoker type of vegenaut. You’re too emotional to be be relevant.
Your road to Damascus experience taints your objectivity.
I quoted facts.
Whatever gets you through the night, man
So why do you smear and abuse people then?
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that alcohol is a blight on our society.
Surely the responses you’ve had to that claim on this thread have revealed to you that actually yes it is a controversial opinion.
“I commented it was a blight on society.
Not you individually.”
And I answered accordingly, to me personally it’s not a blight, but for some, who have no self control or a modicum of common sense, it’s a big problem. There are solutions, I’m sure, but prohibition won’t work, especially when it’s cheap as chips to home brew or distil.
As for the rest of your reply, well, as noted above, it’s not vile abuse but disagreement, and yeah, we get it, you want to be the summer bbq killer. 🙄
PM
To make the argument/discussion clearer when you refer to a commenter can you say their name. Your comment was put up today at 9.21 am and finishes after ecomaori’s at 8.35 pm. I guess it is in relation to veutoviper’s but why not make it easier to connect the dots?
I will try to remember to do that. In my defence, when I posted comment 1.4 at 9:21am in response to comment 1 from Ed at 8:09am, it was fairly obvious who I was referring to – I didn’t anticipate the lengthy subthreads that would push my comment well down the page. Not an excuse though, I should have quoted him.
Yes PM
That is what I have noticed happening to me and have had to resort occasionally to shifting my comment by deleting the original and copying it to where I knew it would sit better.
Do you drink at all ?? Ever ?
Ed drinks the urine donated by Phillip Ure 😈
Further unpleasant insults made against peolple on plant based diets.
Debate the issue.
There seems to be a group of people on this site who would happily participate in the witchhunt at Salem.
I recall the unpleasant treatment of Phil and cv on this site.
Pot, meet kettle. Your ad nauseam moralising isn’t a “debate”. When people point out your logical fallacies (which are numerous) you pack a sad, play the victim card and start smearing them.
Your behaviour is more reminiscent of Peter George than CV and PU.
Urophagia, by the way, is a trait attributed* to such as Ghandi. What’s the matter Ed, don’t you like being compared to the Mahatma?
*probably inaccurately.
Testify, bro dude.
I think the responses have proved your point but they don’t get it.
I eat a plant based diet and Ed is insulting me. His attempt to cast himself as an extra in The Crucible is another insult, given the behaviour and temperament of the Salem persecutors.
So perhaps it’s you who doesn't get it: when Ed either stops abusing people, or stops whinging when he can’t handle the response, I'll stop pointing it out.
I’m considerably, CONSIDERABLY C O N S I D E R A B L Y more pompous, utterly more wise and wearied, and most extensively more full of myself than ya lot of ya.
Why I’m so gorgeous I can’t look in a mirror for fear of having an orgasm.
Lordy, that’s funny, Tim!
Yet another sign of fake jobs and fake businesses and dodgy work permits. Sarabjit Singh managed by Payal Kumar and employed on a work visa for a low level cafe job by Ben Singh Holdings, in a area of high unemployment.
The worker was only paid $150 a week in cash. There were no records of the cash payments because the ledger that recorded the payments was “allegedly” stolen during a break-in.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/100532075/dargaville-cafe-worker-awarded-20k-after-exboss-paid-him-just-150-a-week
No wonder NZ is going down the toilet in productivity and employment practises when this is the ‘new’ culture that has been fostered under the National government.
Not enough crack down by the new government – they should be urgently reviewing all the work permits given out to check they are not being abused and actually if they are real jobs with real businesses and not this type of carry on.
Not only that but wrecking our tourist industry when there are so many tourist businesses now operating without knowledge of NZ rules and regulations.
Stayed at an upmarket hotel in the holidays, same type of thing that is turning NZ into a poorly regulated tourist market seemingly operated entirely by migrant workers. In this instance stayed at a so called upmarket hotel that turned out to have poor cleaning, and poor maintenance of a formerly beautiful hotel on a lake. It appeared to have been bought by an offshore chain and staffed with beaten down migrants who don’t seem to understand purpose or method of hospitality.
Seems to be the new way to run down NZ image, as part of globalism. A race to the bottom and to exploit local resources and remove local culture and charm to save an offshore $.
Our aging population 🙂
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/100509084/celebrating-our-southlanders-robert-guyton
Valuable oldies!!
We are, Patricia! At least, our grandchildren believe so, for now…
That beard should make chimney sweeping a breeze Robert 😀
Ha!
Hours of rinsing afterwards though!
Another article referring to the oncoming financial crash.
“Many believe 2018 could be the year that country finally does something about its own huge debt problems.
When just one asset is going up, you explain it by the characteristics of that asset. But if you have an everything bubble, you need to look at the trend behind the trend.
Cast your mind back a few years and you may recall the expression “quantitative easing”. This is where central banks pumped money into the economy to try to help us recover from the global financial crisis. It happened in the US, Japan and Europe.
It worked, more or less. But the effect was similar to what you see in a game of Monopoly. The amount of money in circulation kept going up, but the number of assets to buy remained stubbornly still. As anyone who has forked out $600 in Monopoly money for Old Kent Road knows, asset prices go up as the ratio of money to assets goes up.
Quantitative easing is really just an extreme version of cutting interest rates. In both cases, the idea is to make people borrow more and spend more. So even though Australia didn’t have quantitative easing, low interest rates and the record amounts of household debt Aussies are shouldering represent its part of the everything bubble.
The problem with loose monetary policy is that while it is supposed to make people do productive things like start a new company, it has a side effect of making them buy assets at crazy prices. If the everything bubble pops, it may turn out that the cure for the global financial crisis is what caused the next crisis.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11974827
Ed, that whole article is cast in terms of “if” and what “many (unidentified people) believe”. It’s conjecture for the slow news season.
Also note this, from the final paragraph: “The exciting thing about this question is we don’t know. Immediate panic is not necessary — it is unlikely each asset class will fall together like synchronised divers. More likely, a decline in one will overlap with a decline in another, creating a long period of uncertainty.”
You could be right that 2018 will bring a crash, but you seem determined to only see the negative possibilities and seem to simply discount anything that isn’t a disaster scenario.
Yes, well I’m in Ed’s camp on this. Plenty would not believe that 2008 would happen!! But it did. We are at similar pressure points in the system again.
Of course vested interest bodies call us “chicken little” LOL.
Predicting 200 of the last two crashes is easy. Of course they happen, and of course that means there’ll be another. So far, so ‘peak oil theory’.
Actually predicting them requires a lot more hard work than reading articles in the media. If The Big Short can be believed, Michael Burry hired people to literally pore through all the individual sub-prime mortgage records. Yes, all of them.
and even then it was just a more educated bet than the other bets. If the timing had been off, the shorted packages would have increased in price and needed repayment.
I turn my back for an instant and I’m endorsing notions of meritocracy! Shame on me.
lol
it’s all reducing confidence intervals, but never eliminating them. And most people never get enough information to close them all that much in the first place.
Then there’s survivorship bias …
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it.
Thank you. Good to hear there are those who agree with this point of view.
There are reputable independent economists who are telling us about an oncoming crash.
Steve Keen
Listen here
Steve Keen: The coming crash
or read this article
Steve Keen: The coming crash
Feeling a bit beleaguered by the way oab and others are now stalking my every post, be it the economy, climate change, animal cruelty….
You claim to want a discussion, Ed. But when I engaged with your comment at 1, you pretended to agree with me, then went right back to reciting your litany as though our exchange hadn’t happened.
You then went on to describe the counter arguments as abuse, itself an insult to those who had indulged your alleged desire for discussion.
While you continue to misrepresent the counter arguments to your narrative, I guarantee you that people will continue to notice and comment on that misrepresentation.
I’m not surprised you’re feeling beleaguered though. Perhaps if you engaged in better faith you might find people a little less persistent.
What do you think of my argument that sloppily-presented narratives provide comfort to “the enemy”?*
*One Two, please try and discover what inverted commas are for before your knee starts jerking at “the enemy”.
“I’m not surprised you’re feeling beleaguered though.”
Astute, AOB. If I’d received these responses on ‘Open Mike’ today, I’d feel the same:
The antipathy of AOB (aided by BM) towards Ed’s comments on today’s Open Mike is painfully obvious. Thankfully, they refrain from personal abuse.
Another day in paradise Kia ora Graham Norton I watch your show guite regularly
Now you know I’m backing Joseph Parker camp to win. Well everyone knows this fact we’re Kiwis after all I like my pies to we can’t all have the time to think about our physique if I did one knows that my Maori genetic would easily rip up. I like to watch Jimmy Barns son David Campbell on sky news. I know Iv got a big following in Australia to many thanks to all the people around OUR WORLD For your support. I know that the house that Mama raised me in Gisborne and the one buy the Waiapu river will be oneday a place that a lot of people will visit to honour me. PS to the red headed sandfly you smoke you like stake to go pinch off rich people you dick ECO doesn’t miss anything and do not kid yourself that you can pull a trick with out me noticeing. Ka kite ano
On the topic of suspicious work visas (savenz @2 ), could someone please enlighten me?
I just had 3 days of dealing with a couple of tradies, I’ll spare the details, a major complaint has already be made to the Property Manager and is being dealt with. But I’m somewhat curious about how one of them is allowed to be working here, ie what visa?
Main contractor originally from a South-East Asian country. His younger off-sider, same nationality but literally doesn’t speak a word of English, and isn’t exactly even close to being ‘skilled” in his trade (it’s painting btw)
So…are painters a skill shortage category?
Could he be sponsored here by family if they can say there’s a job for him and that’s a way in for residency?
Family reunification scheme of some sort? (It’s not a country involving refugees)
Genuinely ignorant on the matters, and curious if anyone knows about these things.
Could be here on a tourist visa and is working illegally?
I could hazard a guess…and it would be that the younger guy is being paid a pittance and not technically entitled to be working here.
He’s probably also been bullshitted to, and found that on arrival, things are not what was promised.
Now that he’s here though, the choices are either to beg, or to do whatever work is available.
Btw…I hope you’ve not succumbed to the latest exploitative sector involving immigrant slave labour (home renovation). They’re now even trying to sell franchises
@OWT, that’s what I was a bit worried about. I’m not even totally convinced the guy was being given adequate breaks for 10hr day work.
I’m not sure what- if anything I can do about this. I’m just the renter, these guys are contractors used by the property managers so I don’t get to pick and choose. I get the idea the latter has known the former for some time.
it’s a hard decision but it were me, I’d try and get a phone #, then get in touch with somebody such as the Immigrant Workers Association.
Until such time as MoBIE/INZ start caring more about the victims of exploitation rsther than those doing the exploiting, I wouldn’t go near them
Get the name of the contractor business and report them to MBIE or to Crime Stoppers.
Whereupon the contractor may, or may not be prosecuted-depending on resources available, and the victim will likely be deported, whilst the ripoff artist will not lose his recently acquired PR, and will simply move on to the next.
Meanwhile, the consultants, many of whom have vested and financial interest in the racket will continue to get their percentage.
It’s a nice idea @Craig H, but unless something has radically changed since last September, it doesn’t quite work like that or as you intend
Still better than doing nothing at all.
Kay, in Aus tradies need a blue card to work, and have to produce it. This can be checked, so you don’t get your situation happening. Huge fines ensue for cheats and employers. NZ needs that to protect the public.
Sounds like a good idea patricia bremner – of course photo id should be used so people aren’t using the same ID number.
Yes sorry I didn’t mention it has photo ID.
@Kay – welcome to a world where exploitation seems to be rife. Firstly exploitation of work permits, then getting more people in who are either working illegally or have a fake permit or even legitimate one, but speak no English so therefore hard to know what is going on.
Then the property manager is employing them probably through another firm that organises the work who charge a percentage fee, the property agency is probably charging around 10% on top of that for their labour to the owner of the rental. Being two people there there will be two labour charges even if one can’t do the job and is being trained, or the supervisor one leaves the other one in charge and left to their own devices.
So simple work turns into hundreds or thousands of dollars pretty quickly more than it should, and often a very bad job which takes longer than it should and generates complaints from all concerned. People forced to work long hours for a pittance don’t tend to do a very good job or if they do, it catches up on them and they start having accidents and needing ACC.
The terrible shortages of rentals are also related to the burgeoning costs of being able to get legitimate labour who can do a good job without it being some sort of scam rather than doing a decent days work for a decent wage.
I like the German system where tradespeople have to guarantee their work for 10 years and faulty work can actually lead to jail.
The NZ way, seems to be to do as little as possible, for as much money as possible with as many people as possible taking a cut along the way, even for very small amounts of un or semi-skilled work and the end worker is on minimum wages or less and often incompetent.
On the building front even when you insure work through master builders or whatever, you still do not get a real guarantee that the work will be fixed. So you essentially pay before hand, an extra fee, in the knowledge the builder will make mistakes and have to fix them and it can be a lot of work even getting the work fixed even with the insurance that you pay for.
We have a system in NZ that exploits everyday in the construction industry. That is why I don’t think that we can simply build these affordable houses to stem the shortage of houses.
Even the houses being built under the NZ system are faulty or have faulty materials even before you put forward the constant stream of contractors and sub contractors and the amount of cheap labour being utilised at expensive rates.
Standard work visas include working holiday visas, partner visas ( both of NZers and of work visa holders), work visas for students who have passed their courses, or even student visas.
I get that you are well in tune with the theory.
Oh dear!!!! Sir John Key has been caught up in that false missile attack alert in Hawaii!
How ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC.
THANKFULLY Granny has been in contact apparently, and we can all rest assured that he didn’t panic.
Wow! That’s a big load off my mind.
Then we’re told ‘A man shoots dead parents…..’ after a video game, only to find out they were actually alive and he killed them
Ah yes, video games me do it. But never seen anyone dressed up like mario twatting mushrooms and turtles with a hammer.
shonky key is a neolibreal in reality he would have shit his pants and been trying to get the first flight out of there with tears running down his face he Hawii can have the bigot we don’t want his type in New Zealand .Some people say NZ is not paradise well caste your eyes around our world and find better and I will prove you wrong.
Ana to kai
Rachel Stewart on twitter.
“So, we all know in our hearts that rodeo is wrong. But with Michael Laws speaking up for it, we now know it’s got to be even wronger-er than we originally thought.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/RFStew
thread
As the Herald would say ‘weird weather.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/348068/invercargill-has-hottest-day-on-record-at-32-point-3-degreesc
Not sure if anyone shared this before.
shonky key is a neolibreal in reality he would have shit his pants and been trying to get the first flight out of there with tears running down his face he Hawii can have the bigot we don’t want his type in New Zealand .Some people say NZ is not paradise well caste your eyes around our world and find better and I will prove you wrong.
Ana to kai
We are in a lot of trouble.
Unless significant action is taken by governments and people in the next 10 years, extinction beckons.
Take action today to save the planet and life on it.
I quote from the Guardian.
We are on a Planet that is heating up quickly.
“The years 2017, 2016 and 2015 will make up the three hottest years on record for the planet. But there’s no convincing some people.
When the global temperature readings are in for 2017, it’s going to be a very hard sell for climate-science deniers: 2017 will likely be ranked either side of 2015 as the second or third hottest year on record, with 2016 still in top spot.
The hottest five-year period recorded in the modern era will be the one we’ve just had.
Communities around the world, and the flora and fauna we share it with, feel the effects of that steady rise through extreme weather, droughts, heatwaves, shifting rains, melting ice and rising sea levels.
Levels of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and land clearing keep climbing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2017/dec/19/checkmate-how-do-climate-science-deniers-predictions-stack-up
Trump’s America.
Let’s not hear any more hypocritical lectures or abuse to Iran, Syria, Russia, Haiti or the continent of Africa.
The US is a failed state.
“BALTIMORE — Overnight, Imamu Baraka was walking past a Baltimore hospital when he noticed something he says he’ll never forget.
The hospital’s security guards had just wheeled a patient to a bus stop, and in the freezing temperatures they left her there. The only thing she had on was a hospital gown.
“It’s about 30 degrees out here right now,” Baraka says in a recording of the encounter. “Are you OK, ma’am? Do you need me to call the police?” he asks.
It’s called “patient dumping” and it doesn’t just happen in Baltimore. In 2007, “60 Minutes” investigated the practice of removing homeless patients from Los Angeles hospitals and leaving them downtown.”
http://cbsn.ws/2qWzdvt
Trump is playing a game with all US people of the world that alam warning that scared the shit out of Hawaii was known accident. You know why I say that because that is what neoliberalism does they play games with other people lives like what the sandflys are doing to me and my whano. But when things are Fucked up like the world at the moment I can see a thew thing in play from trump around our world. He is a racist bigot it will turn to shit fast with the way he is running the white house. Mother nature and mother earth does not like whats happening in the world that’s why Americans are getting hammer by them. You can’t restart the game donald it you fuck the world. It amazed me to see that a man like that could get the controls to one of the most powerful countries in the world . You know what it amazed donald and his family that he won look at the night they won they were all gobsmacked mouths open they couldn’t believe that donald won an never could the world. This cannot be allowed to happen again WTF. KIA KAHA