Not really dead: "What is increasingly looking a hard-fought contest between National and ACT for the centre-right vote took another turn last night with ACT releasing a bold economic plan to stimulate recovery from the Covid-19 lockdown and border closures. National is under intense polling pressure with leaked polls continuing to suggest it is sitting below 30 per cent. ACT, in contrast, has been picking up support with the party likely to return with at least one additional MP after the election." https://www.politik.co.nz/2020/05/12/act-is-back-with-more-members-more-money-and-a-bold-new-plan/ | Politik
"Seymour said what impressed him about the visits to the website was the way people were donating money, small amounts like $15. “That really strikes me because there’s no button to automatically donate that much. It’s not a round number. Maybe that’s all they can give. “But we raised $100,000 in the 100 days leading in to the crisis.”
Center-right voters seem to be making a tactical shift to boost ACT. I wonder if the Nats put the word out?? Shedding voters in desperation is an odd move if they did.
“All up, the ACT document is comprehensive, detailed and contains some radical ideas. It stands in stark contrast to a brief “Five Point Plan” promoted yesterday by National’s Finance spokesperson, Paul Goldsmith.”
Anyone else think the 50 limit on funerals is actually going to be harder to implement than the 10?
Funerals are non-invite occasions, with people turning up when they read a notice with date, time and location. With a limit of 10, most will assume that the closest family would be attending and stay away. 50, and there will be differing judgement levels from different people going on, and a lot of confusion over whether someone makes it into the closest 50 or not.
The best way would be to invite 50 family and friends to the funeral. Apart from the added task given to the already grieving, there may be some conflict and long-standing grievances arising from the resulting attendance list.
If 50 is considered to be acceptable in terms of transmission risk, then perhaps an easier method to implement would be that direct family relatives, children, parents, siblings and invited close friends were all allowed to attend up to a maximum of 50. If transmission does occur, close relationships between attendees will allow faster tracking of the clusters.
Funerals were always going to be the hardest group activity to design and implement. Hopefully it will not result in adverse police monitoring and behaviour when it doesn't go to plan.
In a couple of weeks, we will have more data on how we are managing in terms of suppressing the virus. I hope all of us will have the opportunity to say goodbye to anyone we lose at that time.
It is how we manage this transition, in terms of clarity of message (which has been quite good to date) and the understanding of those messages from everyone in the general public.
The Covid-19 site, sends you to the MoH recommendations for funeral services, which spells it out pretty well. Although, the increase to 50 has been made, there are restrictions that limit that 50 to groups of ten at a time. And contact tracing forms to be filled out in case of transmission.
I guess the logistics of how the numbers of mourners are identified and managed will be implemented by the family/friends and the funeral homes. This will be more difficult with at home wakes or tangihanga.
"The FCO’s Venezuela Reconstruction Unit was set up in Autumn 2019 to coordinate a UK approach to international efforts to respond to the dire economic and humanitarian situation in Venezuela."
"The existence of a secretive Venezuela Reconstruction Unit within the FCO, combined with the FCO’s private discussions with Guaidó’s UK representative, seems to demonstrate the extent to which the UK government is committed to the overthrow of the Venezuelan government. These documents also suggest that ‘regime change’ in Venezuela is following the typical procedure: the countries that contribute most during the destabilisation phase can expect to share the financial spoils in the ‘reconstruction’ phase."
"The Covid-19 pandemic enabled him to present himself as statesmanlike in his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs and made him look good as the saviour of New Zealanders trapped overseas and desperate to come home. It also allowed him to promote himself as a Man of the People by disclosing that health officials had been rebuffed when they advised the Government to close our borders, which would have left those travellers stranded. It was inconceivable, Peters declared, “that we [would] ever turn our backs on our own”. He was thus able to parade as a patriot who stood firm against flint-hearted bureaucrats."
"The virus scare also gave Peters an opportunity to unleash his inner Muldoonist by railing against globalisation and promoting economic protectionism — all of which might have sounded appealing to anyone not old enough to remember what New Zealand was like when everything from shoes to cars was shoddily made and overpriced."
Overpriced, yes, but not shoddily made. I never noticed any evidence of any such tendency. "He was on equally safe ground advocating a trans-Tasman bubble, calling for greater state control over Air New Zealand and championing Taiwan’s bid, over China’s objections, for observer status at the World Health Organisation. All three moves played to populist sentiment".
"Not only would Peters have been confident that the public would back his support for plucky little Taiwan, since China is seen as the nasty bully standing in the Naughty Corner, but it also had the advantage of differentiating his position from that of Ardern".
Yeah, kiwis support the underdog and Ardern's foreign policy – while adept – lacks evidence of geopolitical nous as yet. So the Great Tuatara bestrides the Aotearoa political stage like a colossus, according to the du Fresne thesis. Cool imagery but seems a tad overstated – unless the next poll validates it.
My recollection too. Not shoddily made. There are many personal examples from gumboots to a Healing Shogun to a toaster still functioning after 30 years (I kid you not). The way people falsely run down the quality of NZ manufacturing really saddens me !
Thats an additional $2500 spent on holidaying for every man woman and child in NZ in the next 12 months….no matter how much you may wish to support local business are you in a position to supply that sort of outlay?
I wish them luck, but in reality, I expect that normal domestic tourism will be down this year, and the next. Rather than increasing in total. Too many people worried about virus spread, or out of work.
I expect we will be spending more than that. But we've been planning, and putting aside, because other things get in the way, like baby sitting grandkids 😊 a South Island trip for years
only figures I can find quickly suggest the two balance each other out (roughly)
"New Zealanders are forecast to keep up their multi billion-dollar spending spree on overseas travel next year after they have spent about $10 billion on trips during the past year" (2016)
This would appear to support the view previously expressed by some that there is little gained from international tourism except perhaps the opportunity it provides for kiwis to travel…food for thought
Been trying for definitive figures to put on here. It has proven a much involved exercise. What I've found so far confirms my previous back of the envelope calcs. Net spend in tourism is negative as far as our balance of payments are concerned. Inbound tourism spend was roughly equivalent to outbound. But then there are all the imports, campervans, oil etc, to cater for tourism, and the money taken overseas by all those temporary visa holders and backpackers, working in the industry. Plus profits and interest going offshore.
Unfortunately I don't think that cash that kiwis would have spent overseas will automatically be transferred to the domestic economy.
We have been saving for and were planning a trip to the UK this year to see family. The trip won't be happening this year but we still plan to go at some point in the future.
Unfortunately that cash will probably just sit in an account until we can go.
"Unfortunately I don't think that cash that kiwis would have spent overseas will automatically be transferred to the domestic economy."
Nor do I (though some will)….even if we ignore the fact that much of that discretionary cash will disappear or be applied to other uses (including saving)
I have no sympathy for the hyper-tourism operators. It was never going to be a sustainable industry in the long term and the Key government screwed us all by pushing it. Let those companies change their business model or die. We need to redesign our economy with long term sustainability in mind. This also means getting over our dairy obsession, which has us kowtowing to China. Work on our primary produce so that New Zealand is self-sustainable – we should easily be able to feed ourselves without even importing food. Invest in infrastructure, it pays for itself many times over in the long term.
Simon Bridges really needs to listen to himself speak. And sack whoever is advising him.
Last night on the news (news, news) he did that thing politicians like (like, like) where you say the key word three times (times, times). For example, both Ardern and Bridges a few weeks ago said "test, test, test". It's a common rhetorical device.
So Simon yesterday said plan (plan, plan), team (team, team), tax (tax, tax), and so on (on, on), and it sounded like he'd lost the plot (plot, plot).
Free advice, Simon. Do it once and it's a sound bite on the TV news. Do it many times in one speech and it's a comedy routine. But they're not laughing with you.
Similarly, I heard Bridges bemoaning the difference between church and bar goers. He used a mangled reference to the folk in the pub as a congregation.
I know what he was referencing, but it ended sounding disrespectful to church folk.
Maybe Bridges' mangling was some sort of Freudian thing when in his mind there's a thought of how the National faithful are going to receive what he says.
He's imagining them out here in TVland shaking their heads saying, "Jesus, it was enough to drive me to drink."
Today, the budget, then, an opportunity: “In the coming month the Government will launch a comprehensive engagement programme that will pose a simple proposition – look what our team of 5 million achieved together in beating the virus, now what can we do together to get our economy moving again, to look after our people, and rebuild in a way that make things better than they were before".
"And we need to do it fast – as fast as we possibly can – so that Labour can compile the “people’s manifesto” with maximum speed."
An hallucination? Surely Labour will simply default to technocrats & business, as usual. Or will there actually be a genuine attempt to crowd-source wisdom? If Labour really is that radical, people will be amazed.
Framing used as leverage can shift mass perception. Works better if one uses the right frame (to suit the situation). Are they up to that level of performance? We await the next thrilling episode…
? Sceptic, not critic. I'm willing to buy into Jacinda's aspiration on a similar basis to the trotter, but I need to see evidence that she's taking Labour with her into a scheme that will seem too new-age to Labour traditionalists…
I'm not sure he is anymore. I suspect that Dennis is right, and it's the neolibs that are trad Labour now. Some of the old school Labourites fit into that well enough, but not Trotter.
Short answer: neoliberal. Someone who doesn't necessarily adhere to the 19th century ideology out of economic conviction, but who is pragmatic enough to go with what works, and enough of a slow learner to yet figure out that the end is nigh on that stance…
Looks like Lab traditionalist Roberston won this round. Better luck next time Ardern. I'm still open to the absence of NZF eventually being a release valve, but not holding my breath too much.
FPPis the only sensible structure for a Democracy.
The Act nonsense, tying up endless parliamentary time, is a bird without much of a feather. So is Mrs Paula Bennett. As is our painful, slippy Tauranga lawyer.
Followed by the expected mountains of crap from the elderly NZF personnel, lurching around in a self-made spiral. Abusing and Attacking face on face our once esteemed China Ambaassadors and friends.
But also via Duncan blimmin Garner who took the role of weird assassin in the very face of his guest – the Chinese Ambassador.
Gross Garner. Gross. Very Gross.
How stupid is NZF going to get !
Let us return to FPP – and safely clear away the rubbish.
The wretched Journos in the wider Ranks, are in fact a coterie of national / Act pimps, replete with misleading attempts, forever writing to the rubbish bin, and forever attacking the competent Government of difficult YR 2020.
"NZer's voted overwhelmingly for MMP…" – if only that were true Cinny.
“Had the referendum been held a week earlier I believe we would have lost”
– Rod Donald
The vote in favour of MMP was 53.9% – I'd like to think MMP enjoys more support now. The change to a fairer national proportional voting system was progressive, and overdue. Without doing the research, I'd also like to believe that globally the movement is all one way, i.e. from non-proportional to proportional representation systems only, with no back-sliding (e.g. to FPP) now, or in future.
Dunno what powers a State Governor has – but John Bel Edwards the Governor of Louisiana is a Democrat. Also Kamala Harris and the prisoners used to fight California's wild fires…?
Hi just got word from work, was on the night shift last night, that we will be halving staff numbers from next week, I'm keeping my job but 17 are losing theirs, poor buggers, not looking forward to tonights shift.
Crazy times, my work which is considered sunset industry (courier, mail) & in the last 10 years we've shed thousands of jobs (were you sympathetic about that?), is going through a boom, we need more drivers, we're utterly swamped. So it goes.
Today we had zero new cases of the virus. 3rd day running.
It's axiomatic that only the bad makes news ("if it bleeds it leads"). So this won't make big headlines, especially on Budget day. But on the first day of enjoying level 2, this is what we have achieved at levels 3 & 4.
We'll never know what could have happened. And thank goodness for that.
Meanwhile Joe is showing that he is able to embody progressives in his platform:
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will co-chair a task force for Joe Biden's campaign on climate change, a move that adds progressive credentials to the former vice president's effort to unify the party ahead of the general election.
Ocasio-Cortez will work with former Democratic presidential nominee and Secretary of State John Kerry, the panel's other co-chair, in a group that also includes Varshini Prakash, the executive director of the Sunrise Movement, the youth-led champions of the Green New Deal.
The task forces, which also cover health care, the economy, criminal justice and education, include a lineup of progressive leaders and top Biden campaign aides and allies. Sanders revealed plans to form the advisory panels when he dropped out of the presidential primary last month, a sign of both campaigns' desire to form a united front against President Donald Trump and smooth over worries among Democrats that the party would splinter along ideological lines.
Right ho, just to alert you, my idiot born again Christian relatives ( you've seen what they've done in Oz, let alone America) are going big time about freedom v. Jacinda. Evangelical Christianity is what happens when you put what suits above what is. This is the right time for a war government re climate change. Reality is this. I really am amused by right-wingers talking about our 'longterm' future — investment and all — without reference to climate change. There is nothing but climate change now. To the Left and the Right.
There is just climate change now. Unless you lot disagree. No, I was joking. I entirely don't care for wrong opinions. All our shoulders to the wall. For our children and theirs. There is nothing else.
Brigette Morten arguing on RNZ, yeh, but, like, they should have told business what was going to happen with the international travel industry and given them certainty about that, by solving corona worldwide like Simon would have.
National has a plan apparently.
These people are scary
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You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Di Winkler, Adjunct Associate Professor, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University Shutterstock/Ground PictureMany Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salman Shooshtarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Salman Shooshtarian Asbestos has been found in mulch used for playgrounds, schools, parks and gardens across Sydney and Melbourne. Local communities naturally fear for the health of their ...
Family First says that the latest abortion statistics make grim and upsetting reading, with a 25% increase in abortions since the decriminalisation of abortion in March 2020. According to an Official Information Act request received by Right to Life ...
Not really dead: "What is increasingly looking a hard-fought contest between National and ACT for the centre-right vote took another turn last night with ACT releasing a bold economic plan to stimulate recovery from the Covid-19 lockdown and border closures. National is under intense polling pressure with leaked polls continuing to suggest it is sitting below 30 per cent. ACT, in contrast, has been picking up support with the party likely to return with at least one additional MP after the election."
https://www.politik.co.nz/2020/05/12/act-is-back-with-more-members-more-money-and-a-bold-new-plan/ | Politik
"Seymour said what impressed him about the visits to the website was the way people were donating money, small amounts like $15. “That really strikes me because there’s no button to automatically donate that much. It’s not a round number. Maybe that’s all they can give. “But we raised $100,000 in the 100 days leading in to the crisis.”
Center-right voters seem to be making a tactical shift to boost ACT. I wonder if the Nats put the word out?? Shedding voters in desperation is an odd move if they did.
“All up, the ACT document is comprehensive, detailed and contains some radical ideas. It stands in stark contrast to a brief “Five Point Plan” promoted yesterday by National’s Finance spokesperson, Paul Goldsmith.”
Seems like somebody left off the zero's while explaining how to 'anonymise' a donation.
Anyone else think the 50 limit on funerals is actually going to be harder to implement than the 10?
Funerals are non-invite occasions, with people turning up when they read a notice with date, time and location. With a limit of 10, most will assume that the closest family would be attending and stay away. 50, and there will be differing judgement levels from different people going on, and a lot of confusion over whether someone makes it into the closest 50 or not.
The best way would be to invite 50 family and friends to the funeral. Apart from the added task given to the already grieving, there may be some conflict and long-standing grievances arising from the resulting attendance list.
If 50 is considered to be acceptable in terms of transmission risk, then perhaps an easier method to implement would be that direct family relatives, children, parents, siblings and invited close friends were all allowed to attend up to a maximum of 50. If transmission does occur, close relationships between attendees will allow faster tracking of the clusters.
Funerals were always going to be the hardest group activity to design and implement. Hopefully it will not result in adverse police monitoring and behaviour when it doesn't go to plan.
It will be 100 in a couple of weeks.
The number at a funeral is important. But the number of funerals is what matters most.
In a couple of weeks, we will have more data on how we are managing in terms of suppressing the virus. I hope all of us will have the opportunity to say goodbye to anyone we lose at that time.
It is how we manage this transition, in terms of clarity of message (which has been quite good to date) and the understanding of those messages from everyone in the general public.
The Covid-19 site, sends you to the MoH recommendations for funeral services, which spells it out pretty well. Although, the increase to 50 has been made, there are restrictions that limit that 50 to groups of ten at a time. And contact tracing forms to be filled out in case of transmission.
I guess the logistics of how the numbers of mourners are identified and managed will be implemented by the family/friends and the funeral homes. This will be more difficult with at home wakes or tangihanga.
There's a stealth operation happening, courtesy of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). https://www.thecanary.co/exclusive/2020/05/13/revealed-secretive-british-unit-planning-for-reconstruction-of-venezuela/
"The FCO’s Venezuela Reconstruction Unit was set up in Autumn 2019 to coordinate a UK approach to international efforts to respond to the dire economic and humanitarian situation in Venezuela."
"The existence of a secretive Venezuela Reconstruction Unit within the FCO, combined with the FCO’s private discussions with Guaidó’s UK representative, seems to demonstrate the extent to which the UK government is committed to the overthrow of the Venezuelan government. These documents also suggest that ‘regime change’ in Venezuela is following the typical procedure: the countries that contribute most during the destabilisation phase can expect to share the financial spoils in the ‘reconstruction’ phase."
Also competing for the center-right vote: "He came back from his Northland lockdown firing on all cylinders. If you wanted confirmation that this is an election year, there it was.. the Great Tuatara was quick to re-assert himself on the political stage." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121496064/coronavirus-crisis-gives-winston-peters-the-chance-to-reassert-himself
"The Covid-19 pandemic enabled him to present himself as statesmanlike in his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs and made him look good as the saviour of New Zealanders trapped overseas and desperate to come home. It also allowed him to promote himself as a Man of the People by disclosing that health officials had been rebuffed when they advised the Government to close our borders, which would have left those travellers stranded. It was inconceivable, Peters declared, “that we [would] ever turn our backs on our own”. He was thus able to parade as a patriot who stood firm against flint-hearted bureaucrats."
"The virus scare also gave Peters an opportunity to unleash his inner Muldoonist by railing against globalisation and promoting economic protectionism — all of which might have sounded appealing to anyone not old enough to remember what New Zealand was like when everything from shoes to cars was shoddily made and overpriced."
Overpriced, yes, but not shoddily made. I never noticed any evidence of any such tendency. "He was on equally safe ground advocating a trans-Tasman bubble, calling for greater state control over Air New Zealand and championing Taiwan’s bid, over China’s objections, for observer status at the World Health Organisation. All three moves played to populist sentiment".
"Not only would Peters have been confident that the public would back his support for plucky little Taiwan, since China is seen as the nasty bully standing in the Naughty Corner, but it also had the advantage of differentiating his position from that of Ardern".
Yeah, kiwis support the underdog and Ardern's foreign policy – while adept – lacks evidence of geopolitical nous as yet. So the Great Tuatara bestrides the Aotearoa political stage like a colossus, according to the du Fresne thesis. Cool imagery but seems a tad overstated – unless the next poll validates it.
My recollection too. Not shoddily made. There are many personal examples from gumboots to a Healing Shogun to a toaster still functioning after 30 years (I kid you not). The way people falsely run down the quality of NZ manufacturing really saddens me !
Tourism industry hoping to maintain activity by replacing the 12 billion annual spend by international tourists with an increase in domestic tourism.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018746394/coronavirus-canterbury-campaign-aims-to-encourage-spending
Thats an additional $2500 spent on holidaying for every man woman and child in NZ in the next 12 months….no matter how much you may wish to support local business are you in a position to supply that sort of outlay?
Our econometricians are going to have to start measuring the velocity of tourists.
Slow and rich is a better yield, with more time to sell them higher prices services and experiences.
I wish them luck, but in reality, I expect that normal domestic tourism will be down this year, and the next. Rather than increasing in total. Too many people worried about virus spread, or out of work.
I expect we will be spending more than that. But we've been planning, and putting aside, because other things get in the way, like baby sitting grandkids 😊 a South Island trip for years
It would be interesting to see the figures on what NZers spend on overseas travel.
only figures I can find quickly suggest the two balance each other out (roughly)
"New Zealanders are forecast to keep up their multi billion-dollar spending spree on overseas travel next year after they have spent about $10 billion on trips during the past year" (2016)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11773204
This would appear to support the view previously expressed by some that there is little gained from international tourism except perhaps the opportunity it provides for kiwis to travel…food for thought
Been trying for definitive figures to put on here. It has proven a much involved exercise. What I've found so far confirms my previous back of the envelope calcs. Net spend in tourism is negative as far as our balance of payments are concerned. Inbound tourism spend was roughly equivalent to outbound. But then there are all the imports, campervans, oil etc, to cater for tourism, and the money taken overseas by all those temporary visa holders and backpackers, working in the industry. Plus profits and interest going offshore.
Unfortunately I don't think that cash that kiwis would have spent overseas will automatically be transferred to the domestic economy.
We have been saving for and were planning a trip to the UK this year to see family. The trip won't be happening this year but we still plan to go at some point in the future.
Unfortunately that cash will probably just sit in an account until we can go.
"Unfortunately I don't think that cash that kiwis would have spent overseas will automatically be transferred to the domestic economy."
Nor do I (though some will)….even if we ignore the fact that much of that discretionary cash will disappear or be applied to other uses (including saving)
I have no sympathy for the hyper-tourism operators. It was never going to be a sustainable industry in the long term and the Key government screwed us all by pushing it. Let those companies change their business model or die. We need to redesign our economy with long term sustainability in mind. This also means getting over our dairy obsession, which has us kowtowing to China. Work on our primary produce so that New Zealand is self-sustainable – we should easily be able to feed ourselves without even importing food. Invest in infrastructure, it pays for itself many times over in the long term.
Hopefully this budget won't be the last Labour budget till 2030…
What exactly is in it, is going to be completely unexpected, no matter what it is.
Simon Bridges really needs to listen to himself speak. And sack whoever is advising him.
Last night on the news (news, news) he did that thing politicians like (like, like) where you say the key word three times (times, times). For example, both Ardern and Bridges a few weeks ago said "test, test, test". It's a common rhetorical device.
So Simon yesterday said plan (plan, plan), team (team, team), tax (tax, tax), and so on (on, on), and it sounded like he'd lost the plot (plot, plot).
Free advice, Simon. Do it once and it's a sound bite on the TV news. Do it many times in one speech and it's a comedy routine. But they're not laughing with you.
Best to not criticize and let him carry on
Similarly, I heard Bridges bemoaning the difference between church and bar goers. He used a mangled reference to the folk in the pub as a congregation.
I know what he was referencing, but it ended sounding disrespectful to church folk.
Gsays His base supporters ie the Brethren and Destinies Brian Tamaki will be who bridges is Dog whistling
And Tamaki vows that his church service will go ahead on Sunday regardless of any mortal law.
Maybe Bridges' mangling was some sort of Freudian thing when in his mind there's a thought of how the National faithful are going to receive what he says.
He's imagining them out here in TVland shaking their heads saying, "Jesus, it was enough to drive me to drink."
It was a response to Jacinda's speech earlier in the day where she said jobs jobs jobs.
Lame but thats why
When he does a speech he speaks so slowly, with big long pauses, like how one would speak to a pre-schooler. It drives me up the wall.
His triple words yesterday was a wtf moment for sure.
Today, the budget, then, an opportunity: “In the coming month the Government will launch a comprehensive engagement programme that will pose a simple proposition – look what our team of 5 million achieved together in beating the virus, now what can we do together to get our economy moving again, to look after our people, and rebuild in a way that make things better than they were before".
Quoted by Chris Trotter, who frames the PM's call as a co-design opportunity. http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/05/go-hard-jacinda-more-importantly-go.html
"And we need to do it fast – as fast as we possibly can – so that Labour can compile the “people’s manifesto” with maximum speed."
An hallucination? Surely Labour will simply default to technocrats & business, as usual. Or will there actually be a genuine attempt to crowd-source wisdom? If Labour really is that radical, people will be amazed.
The Overton Window works both ways, it is not a mirror.
"All social reform movements have to shift the Overton window to make progress." https://conceptually.org/concepts/overton-window
Framing used as leverage can shift mass perception. Works better if one uses the right frame (to suit the situation). Are they up to that level of performance? We await the next thrilling episode…
you're getting a real Pete George vibe going on there. All critic, no direction.
? Sceptic, not critic. I'm willing to buy into Jacinda's aspiration on a similar basis to the trotter, but I need to see evidence that she's taking Labour with her into a scheme that will seem too new-age to Labour traditionalists…
what is a Labour traditionalist these days?
Mr Trotter?
I'm not sure he is anymore. I suspect that Dennis is right, and it's the neolibs that are trad Labour now. Some of the old school Labourites fit into that well enough, but not Trotter.
Shows you know absolutely zero about Labour.
Short answer: neoliberal. Someone who doesn't necessarily adhere to the 19th century ideology out of economic conviction, but who is pragmatic enough to go with what works, and enough of a slow learner to yet figure out that the end is nigh on that stance…
Looks like Lab traditionalist Roberston won this round. Better luck next time Ardern. I'm still open to the absence of NZF eventually being a release valve, but not holding my breath too much.
Someone who knows about John A Lee and Bulldozer Bob.
http://www.caterpillarexperience.co.nz/the-nz-caterpillar-experience/fun-facts-bout-cats_idl=51_idt=2714_id=15670_.html
An halfwit?
Meanie. I'd rate him three-quarters on average. 🕘
Stop complaining about a commentator and start thinking for yourself.
You're just being lazy.
FPP is the only sensible structure for a Democracy.
The Act nonsense, tying up endless parliamentary time, is a bird without much of a feather. So is Mrs Paula Bennett. As is our painful, slippy Tauranga lawyer.
Followed by the expected mountains of crap from the elderly NZF personnel, lurching around in a self-made spiral. Abusing and Attacking face on face our once esteemed China Ambaassadors and friends.
But also via Duncan blimmin Garner who took the role of weird assassin in the very face of his guest – the Chinese Ambassador.
Gross Garner. Gross. Very Gross.
How stupid is NZF going to get !
Let us return to FPP – and safely clear away the rubbish.
The wretched Journos in the wider Ranks, are in fact a coterie of national / Act pimps, replete with misleading attempts, forever writing to the rubbish bin, and forever attacking the competent Government of difficult YR 2020.
FPP
You will be chucking The Greens out with the bathwater going to FPP.
NZer's voted overwhelmingly for MMP, and that's a good thing. Imagine living in a two party country like the USA… yeah nah.
"NZer's voted overwhelmingly for MMP…" – if only that were true Cinny.
The vote in favour of MMP was 53.9% – I'd like to think MMP enjoys more support now. The change to a fairer national proportional voting system was progressive, and overdue. Without doing the research, I'd also like to believe that globally the movement is all one way, i.e. from non-proportional to proportional representation systems only, with no back-sliding (e.g. to FPP) now, or in future.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_reform_in_New_Zealand#1993_electoral_referendum
https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/36962/pro-mmp-poster
This whole Stuff/NZME shemozzle is getting more wacky by the day.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121506766/govt-wont-bail-out-media-but-stuff-has-other-dance-partners
Scott GN where is ACT on all this govt welfare for private enterprise.
Let them fail the market's invisible hand will solve everything.
I thought she hated Facebook post Christchurch? Now you can't seem to get her off it.
Reminds me of some other leader who uses social media to govern? What's his name???
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
DNFTT
How scummy can the right get – OH they can get really truly scummy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OHflW4UABg&feature=em-uploademail&ab_channel=SecularTalk
How scummy can the right get
Dunno what powers a State Governor has – but John Bel Edwards the Governor of Louisiana is a Democrat. Also Kamala Harris and the prisoners used to fight California's wild fires…?
Oh come on , the democrats have a long long history of being right wing turds – just look at the Jim Crow laws.
Oh speaking of Kamala Harris – big talk of her being joes girls.
Ocasio-Cortez is now on Biden's team.
Eventually anyone who wants to achieve things sees sense.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/12/politics/ocasio-cortez-biden-campaign-task-force-climate-change/index.html
Especially the young idealists.
Hi just got word from work, was on the night shift last night, that we will be halving staff numbers from next week, I'm keeping my job but 17 are losing theirs, poor buggers, not looking forward to tonights shift.
Crazy times, my work which is considered sunset industry (courier, mail) & in the last 10 years we've shed thousands of jobs (were you sympathetic about that?), is going through a boom, we need more drivers, we're utterly swamped. So it goes.
I hope by everything I hold holy that you get to keep your job.
It's just brutal in business right now trying to survive this winter.
600,000 jobs lost in April in Australia.
At least 33 seniors dead after aged care workers abandon a resthome in Montreal.
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/records-reveal-chaos-in-the-days-before-staff-abandoned-the-herron/
jesus.
We saw something similar in Spain a month or so back.
Today we had zero new cases of the virus. 3rd day running.
It's axiomatic that only the bad makes news ("if it bleeds it leads"). So this won't make big headlines, especially on Budget day. But on the first day of enjoying level 2, this is what we have achieved at levels 3 & 4.
We'll never know what could have happened. And thank goodness for that.
Meanwhile Joe is showing that he is able to embody progressives in his platform:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/12/politics/ocasio-cortez-biden-campaign-task-force-climate-change/index.html?
She can see it coming.
Thread.
https://twitter.com/laurelchor/status/1260784481159442434
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1260784481159442434.html
Another day, another crazy tweet by a National MP:
Katie Hopkins? Can it get any worse?
Their problems are much bigger than just Simon Bridges.
Right ho, just to alert you, my idiot born again Christian relatives ( you've seen what they've done in Oz, let alone America) are going big time about freedom v. Jacinda. Evangelical Christianity is what happens when you put what suits above what is. This is the right time for a war government re climate change. Reality is this. I really am amused by right-wingers talking about our 'longterm' future — investment and all — without reference to climate change. There is nothing but climate change now. To the Left and the Right.
There is just climate change now. Unless you lot disagree. No, I was joking. I entirely don't care for wrong opinions. All our shoulders to the wall. For our children and theirs. There is nothing else.
Brigette Morten arguing on RNZ, yeh, but, like, they should have told business what was going to happen with the international travel industry and given them certainty about that, by solving corona worldwide like Simon would have.
National has a plan apparently.
These people are scary
Kia Ora The Am Show.
The is going to be 8000 more whare built for beneficiaries.????.
Some people can't help being rude.
Its hard to keep everyone happy.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
That's a good idea a people's vaccine.
Yes all the fishing tangata will be on the Moana this weekend watch for the keiore to.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Condolences to Wiremu whanau for their loss.
Its great to see smiles at Maori TV with the extra funding for Māori TV.
Ka kite Ano.