"President Biden pledged during the election campaign: "I guarantee you we’re going to end fossil fuels."
The same President Biden today has – much to the angst of conservationists – authorized a giant ConocoPhillips oil project in northwest Alaska.
The authorization represents one of the most significant climate decisions yet for Biden
Christy Goldfuss, a former Obama White House official who now is a policy chief at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said she was “deeply disappointed'' at Biden's decision to approve Willow, which NRDC estimates would generate planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 1 million homes.
Willow is projected to output 180,000 barrels of oil per day, or around 1.5 percent of total American oil production.
Over its 30-year lifespan, Willow is expected to produce over 600 million barrels of oil while contributing up to $17 billion in revenues for state and federal governments as well as local communities."
Here is a great video that explains very simply how the banking fractional reserve system works and how a run on a bank is almost certain to sink it. In relation to the bank that went down in the US the other day.
This guy manages finance portfolios and also is ex army so comments on the Ukraine situation. But what he says here about banking is really good.
Probably explains in part why banks need large profits. Because, they are doing that through really high leverage which is incredibly risky if it goes wrong.
BTW, you can make depositors whole while still prosecuting any fraud and replacing the management involved. Unless its the bank (as in the business entity) rather than the bank management causing the problems this seems appropriate.
In the 1930s FDR sought solutions, to the bank run problem, from the economics profession. Chicago University offered the 'chicago plan' which would have entailed imposing a 100% reserve ratio on banks. The problem with this would have been that all monetary expansion would have to have come from government. This would have been difficult to manage unless all banks became government owned 'public utilities'. I suppose this would have been unacceptable in a 'free enterprise' economy like America's, albeit that it seems to work very well in China, where their banking system is owned by government.
Deposit insurance and full reserve protocols are the same. Either the state guarantees that you will be able to withdraw the insured sum, or that that sum is $ for $ held by the bank at all times. Its the same in either case.
The actual important parts of the Chicago plan for preventing bank collapses were implemented, including the Glass Stegall act which at the time separated retail and commercial lending and meant deposits were not put at risk by backing highly leveraged lending. That worked for a long time, but US banking practice has since moved on in ways where these became combined again.
The problem is that the bank is not solvent any more and will not repay all its liabilities (including deposits) without a bailout. Likely that's because there was a bunch of fraudulent lending occurred by the bank. Putting that all down to a run on deposits, a very natural reaction when people discover their deposits were loaned out fraudulently, is a bit simplistic.
Your absolutely right there, they are the same up to the insured limit.
Since they are the same, they encourage reckless lending to the same degree. But the actual thing which discourages reckless lending is the effective regulation.
SVB shareholders were wiped out BTW, while depositors are being largely made whole. What happens to the bank executives will depend on any prosecutions which occur of anything they did wrong.
Yes, it says $250K which is low if its a business account, but watch what actually happens. There are apparently payroll firms within the accounts and they won't be left short to pay people.
If you think about it, the banking system is legalised fraud. In fact, it started out as fraud in the days of gold merchants who stored gold for clients. They would write a certificate for the clients stating that they were holding x amount of gold for them which the clients could then use as collateral.
The gold merchants worked out that they could lend out the gold, and effectively write out fraudulent certificates. So long as all of the clients didn't ask for their money back at once they were ok.
Since at least Roman lending practices its always been the case that deposits are repaid in kind. You get back the same amount but not the same deposits made and this has always been a part of a legal definition for how deposits work.
The government had scrambled to try and sell Silicon Valley Bank to a private company and finding a purchaser is still a possibility. But a Treasury official said Sunday that regulators ultimately decided to move forward with the plan to make depositors whole, in part because it was proving to be challenging for a potential buyer to vet the bank’s books by Monday.
The Treasury official emphasized that the actions should not be considered to be a “bailout,” because the company’s shareholders and those who own its debt would be wiped out.
A trust owned by Silicon Valley Bank Chief Executive Officer Greg Becker sold $3.6 million worth of shares in his bank last week, days before the bank disclosed a $1.8 billion loss that triggered a fatal run on the bank, according to company filings.
On Feb. 27, the trust sold $3.6 million worth of shares while acquiring options worth $1.3 million. The trades were scheduled on Jan. 26 through an SEC rule that allows insiders to schedule sales ahead of time to allay suspicions of trading on insider information.
Right wing venture capitalist Peter Theil involved in SVB collapse…
“What finally doomed SVB was that the resulting losses prompted a panic among depositors. This was in no small part thanks to far-right billionaire Peter Thiel’s VC firm Founders Fund, which, after finding out its investors were having trouble transferring money to its SVB accounts, ordered them to send them to other banks and had withdrawn all of its cash by the time the bank started melting down late last week. ”
In the case of SVB, regulators allowed it to make risky bets with its deposits (while the bank’s executives insisted that the bets weren’t risky). More generally, SVB and other banks are often not required to maintain enough of a financial cushion to withstand a crisis. Financial cushions — effectively, cash or other forms of insurance — tend to reduce banks’ profits, which is why bankers resist them. But without a healthy cushion, a bank can collapse during a crisis, and taxpayers must sometimes bail it out. When that happens, the bankers and their investors often emerged unscathed.
Once SVB began to falter, financial industry executives and investors again began clamoring for government help. In the short term, the government may indeed need to step in to avoid a spreading crisis. But the less immediate questions may be uncomfortable for the bankers: How can the people who caused this crisis bear financial responsibility for it? And how can the U.S. economy end this cycle of booms that benefit banks and busts that hurt everyone else?
Silicon Valley Bank on Friday paid out annual bonuses to eligible U.S. employees, just hours before the bank was seized by the U.S. government, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
A cost of living increase in superannuitants' income is seen by those voters as 'business as usual' for a government. They certainly won't be expecting a regime change to result in sinking-lid pensions. So don't count that as pork-barrelling. However, they may be in for a nasty surprise. Means-testing, anyone?
A cost of living increase in superannuitants' income is seen by those voters as 'business as usual' for a government.
Also raises in benefits. Please don't let this be an election policy or touted as something special that this Govt has done, because it is not. To continue with fair policies developed over many years should not be thrown into the pot. By all means have in house policy reviews to improve these as all effeicient bodies should do.
If we do want to look at benefits etc why not have a look at the WEAG report and move on with innovative ideas that we are not doing now.
The Nats etc will have all sorts of ideas such as raising the age & means testing. Let us look at these and fight them for what they are.
Not every single thing that this Govt has done, including the BAU ones should be lauded. Otherwise we will find ourselves fighting things on efficiency grounds rather than true policy grounds.
So called 'Efficiency' arguments always plays into the Nats hands. A better idea is to ensure that the business of govt is well funded, departments are well staffed and impediments to BAU are stripped away.
From years in the PS I can hand on heart say that the biggest impediment to efficient delivery of both policy and BAU is any sort of wholesale restructuring, realignment, right sizing or any other weasel or waffle words you want to call it.
My thoughts are that the restruscturings of the late 1980s/1990s put a blight on service delivery by Govt that lasted into the 2000s and may still be felt in some Govt Depts. Productivity was slashed as people fought for their jobs, depts had to retool in policy brains etc.
Its been quoted here before, but bears repeating: restructuring as a solution is as old as government, and solves very little!
“We trained hard—but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we were reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralisation.”
Section 16 says min of 66% national average wage (NAW)
As the 66% generally holds the actual increase in Super is the NAW increase. But this year CPI was higher so the % of NAW will be above 66% and so no top up above CPI.
It doesn't seem like any politicians know how it works (worrying) as it's being sold as a extra benefit to pensioners (nope, just what they're entitled to, nothing more) by the Govt and the opposition hasn't pointed it out.
Yes agree with this….continuing with BAU is an expectation not something new. To claim it as 'rah, rah something we have done as a Govt' is spurious and hopefully it is not being done. They should claim for additions/improvements to the lot of everyone or particular people but not for standing still or for meeting legal entitlements. COL increases are not an extra entitlement.
It doesn't seem like any politicians know how it works (worrying) as it's being sold as a extra benefit to pensioners (nope, just what they're entitled to, nothing more) by the Govt and the opposition hasn't pointed it out.
I don't see it as pork barreling, I see it as good ideas, means testing is ridiculously expensive and complicated and the people you're targeting most will dodge it anyway,
Pension means testing works for Oz. And UK. You need to declare income regularly, ie, a pension is not a basic entitlement, but something you continually reapply for. And if your assets are too much, you fund your own retirement.
Some people will find any excuse to do the barest minimum possible.
I suggested if the government removed GST from food to help address the cost of living crisis and replaced it with an FTT and windfall tax, and could win the election in a landslide.
"Government just raised super and the benifits, got rid of mostly stupid policies, they gonna win any way"bwaghorn
If Labour can just scrape in, why should they do more?
Maybe, because it's the right thing to do?
Labour could form a government with the support of the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, according to the latest 1News Kantar Public Poll.
But the two main parties are still neck and neck, with just two points separating National and Labour.
please forget about taking gst off food. its a logistical nightmare for small businesses to piss around and run two different sets of accounts. they do this in aus and its a real pain in the arse. cooked chicken= gst, raw chicken = no gst etc,etc. just forget it. the one good thing about our gst, sales tax ,vat is that it applies at the same rate to all goods and services. before the pedants get here, Im aware that there are exceptions. but it is still the easiest system for a small business to work.
"…its a logistical nightmare for small businesses to piss around and run two different sets of accounts. they do this in aus and its a real pain in the arse. cooked chicken= gst, raw chicken = no gst etc,etc. just forget it."woodart
I didn't say take GST off some food. Taking GST off some food would definitely act to make it complicated. That would be stupid.
There have been many specious excuses made why this shouldn't be done, this is just one of them.
I have been reliably informed by an accountant that making all food GST free is a simple one off change to accounting software. That's it, simple.
The specious complexity argument is demonstrated in an opinion piece by Stephen Hickson of The Conversation who writes 'Some bad ideas never go away'
(I might add, no matter how much some people wish it would)
….It's an idea that voters like. A recent poll suggests 76 percent of New Zealanders support removing GST from food. But regardless of the support, removing GST on food always was, and still is, a bad idea….
…..As inflation increases to levels not seen for 30 years, the main reason given now is to ease the cost of living stress on those struggling to keep up….
…..Removing GST on food, or some types of food – for example, "healthy food" – makes that system more complex and costly.
There are a number of potential complications.
Let's start with the obvious – what would count as "food"? Is milk powder food? Probably yes, so what about milk? Or flavoured milk? Oranges are food, so what about 100 percent natural orange juice? A broad definition of "food" would include lollies, potato chips, McDonalds and KFC, but many would object to removing GST from these on health grounds….
….n Australia, the question of whether an "oven baked Italian flat bread" is a bread (so not subject to GST) or a cracker (subject to GST) went to court, and involved flying a bread certification expert from Italy to testify….
….In Ireland, the court was required to rule on whether Subway was serving "bread" or "confectionery or fancy baked goods" due to the difference in GST treatment.
In the UK, guidance on how GST on food is applied runs to 40 pages with 130 example categories; in Australia, an 87-page document covers some 1500 food types…
….The 2018 Tax Working Group (TWG) didn't support removing GST on food. It emphasised how such exemptions lead to "complex and often arbitrary boundaries", particularly when trying to target specific types of food such as "healthy food".
They also stated that such exemptions are a "poorly targeted instrument for achieving distributional aims".
This is important given the current push to help New Zealanders, particularly those on low incomes, with the cost of living.
All this specious argument really boils down to, is that we shouldn't go down the complex, some foods and not other foods, exemption route. GST off food no exceptions! We don't need experts and courts to tell us what food is, we all know what food is.
GST is a regressive flat tax, that neoliberals love because it targets those whose incomes go mostly on paying for their cost of living, whereas wealthy people with excess income above their cost of living, can invest and bank a lot of that income, these investments and returns do not attract GST. GST allows the rich to keep a lot more of their excess wealth. Neoliberal philosophy is based on the idea that if rich people become richer, society becomes richer. It was no coincidence that after GST was introduced by the notoriously neoliberal fourth Labour Government that it was quickly followed by income tax cuts on the highest earners.
Labour's commitment to the 'Purity' of GST is symptomatic of Labour's continuing commitment to neoliberalism.
. none of that screed changes the fact that having two different tax rates makes more work. yr accountant friend doesnt do the donkey work at the coal face of small business. when youve got to be an expert on ALL aspects of business, not just the books, any extra complication is not welcome.Im NOT a fan of gst, having experienced it as a business owner, and customer, but if we have it, lets not complicate it further.
Labour's commitment to the 'Purity' of GST is symptomatic of Labour's continuing commitment to neoliberalism.
Labour's commitment to the 'purity of GST' is a symptom of their commitment to common sense. Adjustment of income tax rates would be a better means of redistribution.
If we wished to monkey around with GST, we would want to distinguish between healthy foods and unhealthy foods, and maintain GST on the latter. This would cause enormous complications.
"If we wished to monkey around with GST, we would want to distinguish between healthy foods and unhealthy foods, and maintain GST on the latter. This would cause enormous complications." mikesh
Which makes me wonder why would countries like Australia, And Britain and Ireland follow such a stupid practice?
My view is that the partial removal of GST from food was probably the result of a last ditch effort by neoliberal lobbyists to try and keep GST on as many food items as possible, no matter how impossibly complex it makes the GST system..
Of course the partial removal of GST off food would create 'enormous complications'. Which is probably what the neoliberals wanted.
Neoliberalism is a faith based science. Challenge the faith, and the neoliberals will fight you all the way to keep as many food items as possible inside the GST regime and things will deliberately be made to be very complicated as a result.
"Labour's commitment to the 'purity of GST' is a symptom of their commitment to common sense." mikesh
There is no alternative.
Tina, There Is No Alternative was coined by Roger Douglas the founder of the far right Backbone Club lobby group inside the 4th Labour government caucus that tried to get that government to enact even more extreme right wing measures, including the privatisation of the public health system, as set out in the infamous Gibbs Report on Health.
David Lange's call for a 'Cup Of Tea' breather to halt this proposed neoliberal dismantling of the Social Welfare health system caused a split inside the Labour caucus between the Backbone Club and the supporters of Lange. This split led to the breakaway formation of the far right Act party.
Of course there was an alternative – tax the rich more. Douglas a millionaire himself wouldn't have a bar of it, but not only out of self interest, but because it went against his belief in his theory of 'Trickle Down'.
Trickle Down being a neoliberal concept that making the rich richer makes society richer.
The following is a slobbering corporate hym in praise of GST.
GST, making New Zealand a low income tax paradise for millionaires. by PwC Partner Eugen Trombitas.
Celebrating 30 years of GST – New Zealand’s best export
Eugen Trombitas
Partner at PwC
August 18 2016
….the most significant tax reform in New Zealand throughout the entire 20th century. It’s also one of our best exports to the world – along with the All Blacks….
….The speed of execution of the GST policy, after the July 1984 snap election, was remarkable. It took everyone by surprise and involved a lot of political courage, as well as fine minds to execute the plan….
…..Our effective GST helps keep our personal income tax rates lower across the board than comparable OECD countries.nnual GST take is more than $17 billion and contributes about 30% to overall tax revenue….
No it isn't. TINA is a Thatcher catchcry erroneously attributed to Roger Douglas because people felt there was a similarity in the pair's respective outlooks.
All this specious argument really boils down to, is that we shouldn't go down the complex, some foods and not other foods, exemption route. GST off food no exceptions!
That sort of argument would be valid for abolishing GST altogether, an option I would support since GST seems to have no useful purpose. I think it was introduced originally as a tax which could not be legally dodged for tax avoidance purposes. However it's questionable whether this is a justification for it given its regressiveness.
However if we are going to have a GST anyway I don't think there is any reason why food should be excluded. The poor can be helped, through the tax system, in other ways.
PS: I thought that GST was not payable on second hand goods. However, when I bought my most recent car, which was second hand, the dealer charged GST. I assume this is normal, but it does seem to be an anomaly. The rationale for exempting second hand goods would be that GST would have been paid on the the item when it was first purchased new. In other words GST can be paid many times on the same vehicle if it changes hands many times through a dealer.
"Labour's commitment to the 'purity of GST' is a symptom of their commitment to common sense." mikesh
Mikesh, you oppose GST being taken off food because it would destroy the 'purity' of GST. But you support it being taken off second hand goods?
Am I right in presuming that the reason second hand goods are exempt from GST is because poorer people who tend to spend proportionately more on buying second hand goods more than rich folk?
Why can't the same 'commitment to common sense' be applied to food?
Afterall poorer people pay proportionately more of their income on food than rich people do.
Following unprecedented solidarity action by fellow presenters and public pressure.
In a massive victory for free speech Gary Lineka returned to Match of the Day,
Gary Lineker is BACK! Match of the Day host to return following backlash with BBC set to allow him to tweet without restrictions
Chris Burton
|13 Mar 2023
WHAT HAPPENED? The former England international found himself caught up in a social media storm after comparing language used in the British government’s asylum policy to that which could be found in 1930s Germany. He was ordered by the BBC to apologise for his actions, and was stood down from presenting duties after refusing to do so. A show of unity from Lineker’s fellow presenters delivered an unprecedented wave of walkouts and there was no commentary or punditry on offer across the BBC’s weekend football coverage.
Indeed. When it comes to free speech the world has a long way to go.
A Russian sports presenter who tweeted нет войне would be imprisoned. (and sacked)
A sign or tweet with “нет войне” can earn up to 15yrs in prison. And over 14,000 Russians have been arrested for saying exactly that.
Yes they (Labour Govt) are all over the place with what these Govt appointees to boards etc are expected to do, able to do. It is perhaps lucky that the Nats are similarly bewildered.
They have allowed a level of imprecision in language to explain what is usually a very careful and distinct category of people/what they do/how they are described/how they are 'governed'
People like Rob Campbell, Steve Maharey and Ruth Dyson in their roles as Govt appointees on Boards are not Public Servants…….aaaaaaaaaagh tears hair out including eyebrows!
Do we really have to accept this dumbing down in case it frightens the horses or something or is it just slap dash, we can't be bothered educating people…move on to the next lot of Govt business that we can deliver something slap dash on.
I asked before if Hipkins has employed some of the lesser lights such as Luxon did with the 'Hawaii is really Te Puke' snafu.
Very disappointed as it has not put to bed anything, public servants, the real ones are now being lumped into some category of not being impartial in the delivery of Govts policies by News media.
The Westminister tradition is that public servants are voiceless and defended, if need be, by their Ministers or the Govt.
It speaks for itself, oh! does it run counter to the narrative you like to share on here? Zelensky is admitting to Nazis being in charge and American mercenaries in Ukraine in 2014, an inconvenient truth. Is that explanation enough?
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Well I'm sure it's great for Adelaide ship-building teams, but no I'm not particularly impressed by nuclear-armed submarines in the South Pacific, whether they are run by Australia or not.
Our nations have made clear commitments to meet these objectives, including that:
As a non-nuclear-weapon state, Australia does not – and will not – seek to acquire nuclear weapons;
Australia will not enrich uranium or reprocess spent fuel as part of this program;
Australia will not produce its own nuclear fuel for its SSNs;
Though the rotational force may be problematic:
Submarine Rotational Forces. As early as 2027, the United Kingdom and the United States plan to establish a rotational presence of one UK Astute class submarine and up to four U.S. Virginia class submarines at HMAS Stirling near Perth, Western Australia.
Guess we will just have to look for Aussie flags flying from the periscope?
The point is to extend the range of their subs – now basically a coast guard, to take out any foreign military ships trying to land.
Nuclear powered ones can be at sea for longer (thus more at the same time), and thus participate in any engagement further afield.
There purpose is the containment of Chinese military/navy (to the sea off China-Taiwan) kept away from ASEAN and Japan/South Korea (protect other trade routes if there are sanctions on China).
The need for them diminishes (rather than ends) if there is a deal over the future of Taiwan (say formally recognised as part of China from 2049, and only before then if Taipei and Beijing agree to terms over autonomy).
The P8's & the Frigates is always has been Trade Protection which is a wee bit hard to train for in Peacetime as Shipping Companies, Unions & Freight Forwarding services etc don't like getting bossed by the military to do Convoy (Trade Protection) Exercises.
So they practise their respective skill sets within various Allied Surface Battle, Escort & Support Groups.
P8's might get a tad more busy as the various Subs run along in the kermadec trench, which btw is being mapped by the Chinese courtesy of Joint NZ MFAT Funding arrangement!
Going to be some need to review what kind of Navy that NZ wants in future, considering that NZ's economy is an export led & is heavily dependent on have freedom of navigation IRT the various Sea Lanes of Communications to those Export Countries & same same in reverse for all those imports the NZ relies on to keep the economy ticking.
Some very hard questions need to be asked now! At political, defence, economic, trade & foreign affairs level at where NZ goes now?
Or else NZ will get sucked into to this shit sandwich weather it wants too or not & I doubt many here would have the guts or prepared to sacrifice something for Armed Neutrality which "might" avoid NZ from sucked into this vortex of this impending shit sandwich heading this way?
Is it the Australian government and armed forces intention to respect New Zealand laws?
Is it the Australian government and armed forces intention to keep Australian nuclear powered vessels out of New Zealand administered waters?
Will the Australian government and armed forces publicly agree to keep all non-New Zealand devices and installations, as defined in the relevant New Zealand legislation, out of New Zealand.
Will the Australian government publicly agree not to disregard New Zealand's Nuclear Free laws?
In line with a lawful request of the New Zealand authorities, if specifically asked, whether or not the Australian government and armed forces are operating any nuclear vessel in New Zealand waters, will the Australian authorities agree to provide the New Zealand authorities an answer?
In line with the neither confirm nor deny nuclear policy of both your US and UK AUKUS partners – if specifically asked, will you neither confirm nor deny if you operating any nuclear vessels in New Zealand waters?
Continental Shelf Act 1964
…..every act or omission which takes place on or under or above or about any installation or device (whether permanent or temporary) constructed, erected, placed, or used in, on, or above the continental shelf in connection with the exploration of the continental shelf or the exploitation of its natural resources shall be deemed to take place in New Zealand; and
(b)
every such installation or device shall be deemed to be situated in New Zealand….
(c)
every court in New Zealand which would have jurisdiction (whether civil or criminal) in respect of that act or omission if it had taken place in New Zealand shall have jurisdiction accordingly; and
(d)
every power of arrest or of entry or search or seizure or other power that could be exercised under any enactment (whether passed before or after the passing of this Act) or under any rule of law in respect of any such act or omission or suspected act or omission if it had taken place or was suspected to have taken place in New Zealand may be exercised on or in respect of any such installation or device as if the installation or device were in New Zealand; and
(e)
without limiting the provisions of the Customs Acts (as defined in the Customs Act 1966), every installation or device, and any materials or parts used in the construction of an installation or device, which are brought into the waters above the continental shelf from parts beyond the seas shall be deemed to have been imported into New Zealand…..
A real chewy and entertaining discussion between Katherin Ryan and Patrick Smellie, starting at 12 min. It's on the gap between recent aspirational government planning documents and the reality of implementation. Katherine mentions wider comments as a mix of critique, with a kind of regret for the old Public Service.
Morning Report often brings analytical depth that is missing conspicuously elsewhere. It's due 90% to Ryan's energetic curiosity, without the barbs of Kim Hill, but certainly with a bigger breadth of topic. Her poor brain at night, when does it rest? Whereas one can imagine Kim easily switching off with a stiff G&T.
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
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Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
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This is why zerohedge is so useful a source.
and the development will do far more damage than a few burping cows down under ….
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-gives-go-ahead-giant-alaska-oil-project-greens-furious
"President Biden pledged during the election campaign: "I guarantee you we’re going to end fossil fuels."
The same President Biden today has – much to the angst of conservationists – authorized a giant ConocoPhillips oil project in northwest Alaska.
The authorization represents one of the most significant climate decisions yet for Biden
Christy Goldfuss, a former Obama White House official who now is a policy chief at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said she was “deeply disappointed'' at Biden's decision to approve Willow, which NRDC estimates would generate planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 1 million homes.
Willow is projected to output 180,000 barrels of oil per day, or around 1.5 percent of total American oil production.
Over its 30-year lifespan, Willow is expected to produce over 600 million barrels of oil while contributing up to $17 billion in revenues for state and federal governments as well as local communities."
Well spotted Maurice. Biden is old school "drill baby drill".
Even Starmer in the UK has said he will not allow any more oil/gas drilling licences in the UK if he becomes PM.
Here is a great video that explains very simply how the banking fractional reserve system works and how a run on a bank is almost certain to sink it. In relation to the bank that went down in the US the other day.
This guy manages finance portfolios and also is ex army so comments on the Ukraine situation. But what he says here about banking is really good.
Probably explains in part why banks need large profits. Because, they are doing that through really high leverage which is incredibly risky if it goes wrong.
Why are there not mechanisms to prevent a run on banks. It seems to be a fatal flaw in the capitalist system.
John Key's mate, Jamie Beaton of Crimson Education was involved in the run on SVB and therefore contributed to its downfall.
There are, deposit insurance.
Privatising profit, socialising cost.
Or don't and wipe out depositors.
BTW, you can make depositors whole while still prosecuting any fraud and replacing the management involved. Unless its the bank (as in the business entity) rather than the bank management causing the problems this seems appropriate.
In the 1930s FDR sought solutions, to the bank run problem, from the economics profession. Chicago University offered the 'chicago plan' which would have entailed imposing a 100% reserve ratio on banks. The problem with this would have been that all monetary expansion would have to have come from government. This would have been difficult to manage unless all banks became government owned 'public utilities'. I suppose this would have been unacceptable in a 'free enterprise' economy like America's, albeit that it seems to work very well in China, where their banking system is owned by government.
Deposit insurance and full reserve protocols are the same. Either the state guarantees that you will be able to withdraw the insured sum, or that that sum is $ for $ held by the bank at all times. Its the same in either case.
The actual important parts of the Chicago plan for preventing bank collapses were implemented, including the Glass Stegall act which at the time separated retail and commercial lending and meant deposits were not put at risk by backing highly leveraged lending. That worked for a long time, but US banking practice has since moved on in ways where these became combined again.
The problem is that the bank is not solvent any more and will not repay all its liabilities (including deposits) without a bailout. Likely that's because there was a bunch of fraudulent lending occurred by the bank. Putting that all down to a run on deposits, a very natural reaction when people discover their deposits were loaned out fraudulently, is a bit simplistic.
Deposit insurance and full reserve protocols are the same.
The two are not the same. There is an upper limit to how much deposit insurance will pay out. Deposit insurance also encourages reckless lending.
Your absolutely right there, they are the same up to the insured limit.
Since they are the same, they encourage reckless lending to the same degree. But the actual thing which discourages reckless lending is the effective regulation.
SVB shareholders were wiped out BTW, while depositors are being largely made whole. What happens to the bank executives will depend on any prosecutions which occur of anything they did wrong.
To a max of $250k only in US, acording to Guardian. Not much good if your company has millions in there.
Yes, it says $250K which is low if its a business account, but watch what actually happens. There are apparently payroll firms within the accounts and they won't be left short to pay people.
If you think about it, the banking system is legalised fraud. In fact, it started out as fraud in the days of gold merchants who stored gold for clients. They would write a certificate for the clients stating that they were holding x amount of gold for them which the clients could then use as collateral.
The gold merchants worked out that they could lend out the gold, and effectively write out fraudulent certificates. So long as all of the clients didn't ask for their money back at once they were ok.
Since at least Roman lending practices its always been the case that deposits are repaid in kind. You get back the same amount but not the same deposits made and this has always been a part of a legal definition for how deposits work.
Look at the definition of the word mutuum.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mutuum
Can't trust these bankers:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/business/janet-yellen-silicon-valley-bank.html
Except:
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-03-10-2023/card/silicon-valley-bank-ceo-sold-3-6-million-in-shares-days-before-fatal-loss-disclosed-6re8L8VDWjk956bOLaDD
Right wing venture capitalist Peter Theil involved in SVB collapse…
“What finally doomed SVB was that the resulting losses prompted a panic among depositors. This was in no small part thanks to far-right billionaire Peter Thiel’s VC firm Founders Fund, which, after finding out its investors were having trouble transferring money to its SVB accounts, ordered them to send them to other banks and had withdrawn all of its cash by the time the bank started melting down late last week. ”
https://jacobin.com/2023/03/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-financial-regulations-2008-bailout?mc_cid=33c409f89e&mc_eid=5a2883fd7c
Some more explanatory detail, my bold:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/briefing/silicon-valley-bank.html
and a cherry on the top:
https://www.axios.com/2023/03/11/silicon-valley-bank-paid-bonuses-fdic
The biggest annual rise in the cost of living in over 30 years.
The cost of living becomes leading election issue..
Government removes GST off food and wins in a landslide.
Government brings in a FTT and windfall tax that more than covers the GST off food, allowing the government to deliver on all their other policies.
Vs.
Government does nothing.
Opposition wins treasury benches
Scraps climate mitigation.
New government begins massive austerity program.
Inequality, social and biosphere decay all increase.
Crime goes up, leading to dystopian repressive policing and enforcement and punishment,
Government just raised super and the benifits, got rid of mostly stupid policies, they gonna win any way
A cost of living increase in superannuitants' income is seen by those voters as 'business as usual' for a government. They certainly won't be expecting a regime change to result in sinking-lid pensions. So don't count that as pork-barrelling. However, they may be in for a nasty surprise. Means-testing, anyone?
Also raises in benefits. Please don't let this be an election policy or touted as something special that this Govt has done, because it is not. To continue with fair policies developed over many years should not be thrown into the pot. By all means have in house policy reviews to improve these as all effeicient bodies should do.
If we do want to look at benefits etc why not have a look at the WEAG report and move on with innovative ideas that we are not doing now.
https://www.weag.govt.nz/weag-report/
The Nats etc will have all sorts of ideas such as raising the age & means testing. Let us look at these and fight them for what they are.
Not every single thing that this Govt has done, including the BAU ones should be lauded. Otherwise we will find ourselves fighting things on efficiency grounds rather than true policy grounds.
So called 'Efficiency' arguments always plays into the Nats hands. A better idea is to ensure that the business of govt is well funded, departments are well staffed and impediments to BAU are stripped away.
From years in the PS I can hand on heart say that the biggest impediment to efficient delivery of both policy and BAU is any sort of wholesale restructuring, realignment, right sizing or any other weasel or waffle words you want to call it.
My thoughts are that the restruscturings of the late 1980s/1990s put a blight on service delivery by Govt that lasted into the 2000s and may still be felt in some Govt Depts. Productivity was slashed as people fought for their jobs, depts had to retool in policy brains etc.
Its been quoted here before, but bears repeating: restructuring as a solution is as old as government, and solves very little!
“We trained hard—but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we were reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralisation.”
― Petronius Arbiter
100%
Cost of living increase for NZ Super is business as usual. All the Government does is confirm the increase by Order in Council.
See https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2001/0084/latest/whole.html#DLM113924
Section 15 says increase auto by CPI
Section 16 says min of 66% national average wage (NAW)
As the 66% generally holds the actual increase in Super is the NAW increase. But this year CPI was higher so the % of NAW will be above 66% and so no top up above CPI.
It doesn't seem like any politicians know how it works (worrying) as it's being sold as a extra benefit to pensioners (nope, just what they're entitled to, nothing more) by the Govt and the opposition hasn't pointed it out.
Yes agree with this….continuing with BAU is an expectation not something new. To claim it as 'rah, rah something we have done as a Govt' is spurious and hopefully it is not being done. They should claim for additions/improvements to the lot of everyone or particular people but not for standing still or for meeting legal entitlements. COL increases are not an extra entitlement.
I don't see it as pork barreling, I see it as good ideas, means testing is ridiculously expensive and complicated and the people you're targeting most will dodge it anyway,
Pension means testing works for Oz. And UK. You need to declare income regularly, ie, a pension is not a basic entitlement, but something you continually reapply for. And if your assets are too much, you fund your own retirement.
Some people will find any excuse to do the barest minimum possible.
I suggested if the government removed GST from food to help address the cost of living crisis and replaced it with an FTT and windfall tax, and could win the election in a landslide.
"Government just raised super and the benifits, got rid of mostly stupid policies, they gonna win any way" bwaghorn
If Labour can just scrape in, why should they do more?
Maybe, because it's the right thing to do?
please forget about taking gst off food. its a logistical nightmare for small businesses to piss around and run two different sets of accounts. they do this in aus and its a real pain in the arse. cooked chicken= gst, raw chicken = no gst etc,etc. just forget it. the one good thing about our gst, sales tax ,vat is that it applies at the same rate to all goods and services. before the pedants get here, Im aware that there are exceptions. but it is still the easiest system for a small business to work.
"…its a logistical nightmare for small businesses to piss around and run two different sets of accounts. they do this in aus and its a real pain in the arse. cooked chicken= gst, raw chicken = no gst etc,etc. just forget it." woodart
I didn't say take GST off some food. Taking GST off some food would definitely act to make it complicated. That would be stupid.
There have been many specious excuses made why this shouldn't be done, this is just one of them.
I have been reliably informed by an accountant that making all food GST free is a simple one off change to accounting software. That's it, simple.
The specious complexity argument is demonstrated in an opinion piece by Stephen Hickson of The Conversation who writes 'Some bad ideas never go away'
(I might add, no matter how much some people wish it would)
All this specious argument really boils down to, is that we shouldn't go down the complex, some foods and not other foods, exemption route. GST off food no exceptions! We don't need experts and courts to tell us what food is, we all know what food is.
GST is a regressive flat tax, that neoliberals love because it targets those whose incomes go mostly on paying for their cost of living, whereas wealthy people with excess income above their cost of living, can invest and bank a lot of that income, these investments and returns do not attract GST. GST allows the rich to keep a lot more of their excess wealth. Neoliberal philosophy is based on the idea that if rich people become richer, society becomes richer. It was no coincidence that after GST was introduced by the notoriously neoliberal fourth Labour Government that it was quickly followed by income tax cuts on the highest earners.
Labour's commitment to the 'Purity' of GST is symptomatic of Labour's continuing commitment to neoliberalism.
. none of that screed changes the fact that having two different tax rates makes more work. yr accountant friend doesnt do the donkey work at the coal face of small business. when youve got to be an expert on ALL aspects of business, not just the books, any extra complication is not welcome.Im NOT a fan of gst, having experienced it as a business owner, and customer, but if we have it, lets not complicate it further.
Labour's commitment to the 'Purity' of GST is symptomatic of Labour's continuing commitment to neoliberalism.
Labour's commitment to the 'purity of GST' is a symptom of their commitment to common sense. Adjustment of income tax rates would be a better means of redistribution.
If we wished to monkey around with GST, we would want to distinguish between healthy foods and unhealthy foods, and maintain GST on the latter. This would cause enormous complications.
Yeah we get it.
Australians can manage it, but NZ tax officials are shambling morons that could not find their bottoms with both hands and a searchlight.
Australia exempts:
It's just so advanced NZ public servants could never handle it.
"If we wished to monkey around with GST, we would want to distinguish between healthy foods and unhealthy foods, and maintain GST on the latter. This would cause enormous complications." mikesh
Which makes me wonder why would countries like Australia, And Britain and Ireland follow such a stupid practice?
My view is that the partial removal of GST from food was probably the result of a last ditch effort by neoliberal lobbyists to try and keep GST on as many food items as possible, no matter how impossibly complex it makes the GST system..
Of course the partial removal of GST off food would create 'enormous complications'. Which is probably what the neoliberals wanted.
Neoliberalism is a faith based science. Challenge the faith, and the neoliberals will fight you all the way to keep as many food items as possible inside the GST regime and things will deliberately be made to be very complicated as a result.
Which makes me wonder why would countries like Australia, And Britain and Ireland follow such a stupid practice?
Political pressure, probably.
"Labour's commitment to the 'purity of GST' is a symptom of their commitment to common sense." mikesh
There is no alternative.
Tina, There Is No Alternative was coined by Roger Douglas the founder of the far right Backbone Club lobby group inside the 4th Labour government caucus that tried to get that government to enact even more extreme right wing measures, including the privatisation of the public health system, as set out in the infamous Gibbs Report on Health.
http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/1997/07/the_health_reforms_and_the_blitzkreig/
David Lange's call for a 'Cup Of Tea' breather to halt this proposed neoliberal dismantling of the Social Welfare health system caused a split inside the Labour caucus between the Backbone Club and the supporters of Lange. This split led to the breakaway formation of the far right Act party.
Of course there was an alternative – tax the rich more. Douglas a millionaire himself wouldn't have a bar of it, but not only out of self interest, but because it went against his belief in his theory of 'Trickle Down'.
Trickle Down being a neoliberal concept that making the rich richer makes society richer.
The following is a slobbering corporate hym in praise of GST.
GST, making New Zealand a low income tax paradise for millionaires. by PwC Partner Eugen Trombitas.
Tina, There Is No Alternative was coined by Roger Douglas
TINA, there is no alternative was first coined by Margaret Thatcher.
It's attributed to Herbert Spencer's mid 19th C book Social Statics.
True. But these days it is associated mainly with Margaret Thatcher.
Except in New Zealand where it is associated mainly with Roger Douglas.
No it isn't. TINA is a Thatcher catchcry erroneously attributed to Roger Douglas because people felt there was a similarity in the pair's respective outlooks.
All this specious argument really boils down to, is that we shouldn't go down the complex, some foods and not other foods, exemption route. GST off food no exceptions!
That sort of argument would be valid for abolishing GST altogether, an option I would support since GST seems to have no useful purpose. I think it was introduced originally as a tax which could not be legally dodged for tax avoidance purposes. However it's questionable whether this is a justification for it given its regressiveness.
However if we are going to have a GST anyway I don't think there is any reason why food should be excluded. The poor can be helped, through the tax system, in other ways.
PS: I thought that GST was not payable on second hand goods. However, when I bought my most recent car, which was second hand, the dealer charged GST. I assume this is normal, but it does seem to be an anomaly. The rationale for exempting second hand goods would be that GST would have been paid on the the item when it was first purchased new. In other words GST can be paid many times on the same vehicle if it changes hands many times through a dealer.
"Labour's commitment to the 'purity of GST' is a symptom of their commitment to common sense." mikesh
Mikesh, you oppose GST being taken off food because it would destroy the 'purity' of GST. But you support it being taken off second hand goods?
Am I right in presuming that the reason second hand goods are exempt from GST is because poorer people who tend to spend proportionately more on buying second hand goods more than rich folk?
Why can't the same 'commitment to common sense' be applied to food?
Afterall poorer people pay proportionately more of their income on food than rich people do.
And now some good news.
Following unprecedented solidarity action by fellow presenters and public pressure.
In a massive victory for free speech Gary Lineka returned to Match of the Day,
Excellent – now let's see the govt. walk back the equally ill-considered sacking of Rob Campbell.
Indeed. When it comes to free speech the world has a long way to go.
A Russian sports presenter who tweeted нет войне would be imprisoned. (and sacked)
A sign or tweet with “нет войне” can earn up to 15yrs in prison. And over 14,000 Russians have been arrested for saying exactly that.
https://twitter.com/Adbusters/status/1503798461619060736
Yes they (Labour Govt) are all over the place with what these Govt appointees to boards etc are expected to do, able to do. It is perhaps lucky that the Nats are similarly bewildered.
They have allowed a level of imprecision in language to explain what is usually a very careful and distinct category of people/what they do/how they are described/how they are 'governed'
People like Rob Campbell, Steve Maharey and Ruth Dyson in their roles as Govt appointees on Boards are not Public Servants…….aaaaaaaaaagh tears hair out including eyebrows!
Do we really have to accept this dumbing down in case it frightens the horses or something or is it just slap dash, we can't be bothered educating people…move on to the next lot of Govt business that we can deliver something slap dash on.
I asked before if Hipkins has employed some of the lesser lights such as Luxon did with the 'Hawaii is really Te Puke' snafu.
Very disappointed as it has not put to bed anything, public servants, the real ones are now being lumped into some category of not being impartial in the delivery of Govts policies by News media.
The Westminister tradition is that public servants are voiceless and defended, if need be, by their Ministers or the Govt.
[deleted]
[What is your intention with dumping YT clips here without any commentary or clear (political) point? Lift your game – Incognito]
Mod note
It speaks for itself, oh! does it run counter to the narrative you like to share on here? Zelensky is admitting to Nazis being in charge and American mercenaries in Ukraine in 2014, an inconvenient truth. Is that explanation enough?
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Well I'm sure it's great for Adelaide ship-building teams, but no I'm not particularly impressed by nuclear-armed submarines in the South Pacific, whether they are run by Australia or not.
Biden To Announce Deal For Australia Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarines | HuffPost Latest News
It obviously asks what role our new Poseidons will have in this.
I sure don't feel the need to be a Peacenik but WTF to the proliferation of nuclear arms into Australasia.
Biden himself has reiterated that the Aussie subs will be nuclear powered but NOT nuclear armed.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/13/fact-sheet-trilateral-australia-uk-us-partnership-on-nuclear-powered-submarines/
Our nations have made clear commitments to meet these objectives, including that:
Though the rotational force may be problematic:
Guess we will just have to look for Aussie flags flying from the periscope?
The point is to extend the range of their subs – now basically a coast guard, to take out any foreign military ships trying to land.
Nuclear powered ones can be at sea for longer (thus more at the same time), and thus participate in any engagement further afield.
There purpose is the containment of Chinese military/navy (to the sea off China-Taiwan) kept away from ASEAN and Japan/South Korea (protect other trade routes if there are sanctions on China).
The need for them diminishes (rather than ends) if there is a deal over the future of Taiwan (say formally recognised as part of China from 2049, and only before then if Taipei and Beijing agree to terms over autonomy).
The P8's & the Frigates is always has been Trade Protection which is a wee bit hard to train for in Peacetime as Shipping Companies, Unions & Freight Forwarding services etc don't like getting bossed by the military to do Convoy (Trade Protection) Exercises.
So they practise their respective skill sets within various Allied Surface Battle, Escort & Support Groups.
P8's might get a tad more busy as the various Subs run along in the kermadec trench, which btw is being mapped by the Chinese courtesy of Joint NZ MFAT Funding arrangement!
Going to be some need to review what kind of Navy that NZ wants in future, considering that NZ's economy is an export led & is heavily dependent on have freedom of navigation IRT the various Sea Lanes of Communications to those Export Countries & same same in reverse for all those imports the NZ relies on to keep the economy ticking.
Some very hard questions need to be asked now! At political, defence, economic, trade & foreign affairs level at where NZ goes now?
Or else NZ will get sucked into to this shit sandwich weather it wants too or not & I doubt many here would have the guts or prepared to sacrifice something for Armed Neutrality which "might" avoid NZ from sucked into this vortex of this impending shit sandwich heading this way?
Well said as ever Scud.
Questions for the Australian government;
Is it the Australian government and armed forces intention to respect New Zealand laws?
Is it the Australian government and armed forces intention to keep Australian nuclear powered vessels out of New Zealand administered waters?
Will the Australian government and armed forces publicly agree to keep all non-New Zealand devices and installations, as defined in the relevant New Zealand legislation, out of New Zealand.
Will the Australian government publicly agree not to disregard New Zealand's Nuclear Free laws?
In line with a lawful request of the New Zealand authorities, if specifically asked, whether or not the Australian government and armed forces are operating any nuclear vessel in New Zealand waters, will the Australian authorities agree to provide the New Zealand authorities an answer?
In line with the neither confirm nor deny nuclear policy of both your US and UK AUKUS partners – if specifically asked, will you neither confirm nor deny if you operating any nuclear vessels in New Zealand waters?
A real chewy and entertaining discussion between Katherin Ryan and Patrick Smellie, starting at 12 min. It's on the gap between recent aspirational government planning documents and the reality of implementation. Katherine mentions wider comments as a mix of critique, with a kind of regret for the old Public Service.
RNZ Katherine Ryan interview discussing government transformation policies
Morning Report often brings analytical depth that is missing conspicuously elsewhere. It's due 90% to Ryan's energetic curiosity, without the barbs of Kim Hill, but certainly with a bigger breadth of topic. Her poor brain at night, when does it rest? Whereas one can imagine Kim easily switching off with a stiff G&T.
Sorry, Nine to Noon
Published in the Guardian about the UK. It equally applies here.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/13/britain-cost-of-living-crisis-bosses-profits-shareholders-workers?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other