A 2015 Treasury report said that inequality in New Zealand increased in the 1980s and 1990s but has been stable for the last 20 years[9] although another 2015 article said that New Zealand’s rate of rise of inequality had been the highest in the OECD, and that New Zealand’s inequality had previously been low by OECD standards.[10] The 1991 budget had profound social effects, child poverty rose from 15% in 1990 to 29% in 1994 while violent crime peaked between 1990 and 1997.[11][12] Income inequality also accelerated, New Zealand’s GINI index rose from 0.30 in 1990 to 0.33 in 1996 and thereafter 0.34 at the turn of the century.[13] Poorer New Zealanders saw their standard of living fall from their 1984 level.[14] Unemployment also remained high for much of the decade, from 11% in 1991 to 6% in 1996 and then up again to 8% following the Asian Financial Crisis.[15]
Labour reduced this with WFF tax credits and the MW increases (1999-2008). More work with MW increases since 2017. And benefit adjustments recently.
However there is now the rising cost of rents.
Wealth inequality is still increasing – as home ownership declines and more own multiple properties. And property values rise in value greater than most peoples incomes.
Yes, wealth inequality is still rising (including under a 'left' government) but the purpose of the post was to draw attention to the results of the fiscal austerity imposed without regard under Finance Minister Richardson….something that appears to be recurring with such similarity as to beg the question as to who's driving it?
Remembering this is an ideology that has been (at least) modified in the worlds major economies in recent times if not outright rejected.
I can’t think of anyone who today even vaguely resembles what Richardson stood for back then, or anyone who even looks like her, for that matter. In fact, I haven't got the faintest idea why you've even posted this link.
The author of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, former National Finance Minister and Act Party member and a Chicago School zealot who at 73 is very much still alive and kicking.
Perhaps no one needs to resemble her.
[Please fix your username in your next comment, thanks – Incognito]
I attended a meeting in the 1990s where Richardson was the guest speaker. It was after Bolger had dumped her as Finance minister and iirc she had a hissy fit and left parliament. Her basic philosophy was: private enterprise could do everything better than the public service – end of story. It was a clear example of black and white politics with no grey areas in between.
Did we really need to sell the BNZ when she held the finance portfolio? I know they had suffered losses, but would a bail out not have been a better option?
This quote from Joe90 on last night's Daily Review, sums up ACT completely:
"When it came to COVID, we completely blew out what the value of a life was, completely, I’ve never seen such a high value on life.” That’s a quote from ACT health spokesperson Brooke van Velden speaking during a political panel discussion at the recent HealthTech Week.”
Total amorality!
Right whingers know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!
Must be well over twenty years ago now, I was saying around the office (after yet another reorganisation) "they won't be content until every individual has become a cost centre, required to demonstrate their profitability to the corporation".
Looks like that's about to apply to every member of society* the whole country.
*I was forgetting – no such thing under this new regime
Nicola Willis's decision to can the new ferries looks increasingly like it was made off the cuff and with a shaky grasp of the details. Currently on RNZ is she blathering on about ridiculous off load/on load road bridging for rail as "efficient" (well, efficient for her mates in the roading lobby because trucks will win) which is completely gaslighting the Kiwirail experts.
She has also said the deal could be cancelled because the ships were not yet being built, but the Kiwirail boss on RNZ this morning more or less called her out on it, saying that they may have to build the ships and then sell them – most likely at a massive discount, since the design is bespoke for Cook Strait.
They don't build ships like they did in the 1980 Polish shipyard that seems to live rent free in every right wingers head. Ships are largely pre-fabricated and materials are laid in ahead of assembly. The contract was signed back in June 2021, construction was due to commence next March. So Hyundai will have had already assembled materials and pre-ordered components like engines and prefabricated superstructures, booked slipways etc. The penalty fee for cancelation at this late stage would probably amount to most of the cost of just building them.
Honestly, Willis is incoherent on this – she is cancelling the deal because of the land-based costs, saying the ships themselves were fine on a fixed price contract. But without the new facilities the ships can’t dock so… As it is, we are going to end up paying most of the price for ships specifically designed for the Cook strait, sell them to some Saudi outfit for a song to cart pilgrims to Mecca, and spend more money on a couple of inadequate vessels that will make freight cost much higher on State Highway one across the strait.
But landlords will get their tax cut and the trucking industry will see off a competitor.
I was reading about this some where else and it makes me wonder if the ultimate goal here is to privatise the ferry branch of Kiwi rail using the actual ferries as a bait to do that.
So we go ahead and build the ferries, and use those as an incentive for some one to buy out the infrastructure.?
Cancelation is all gravy for National/ACT. They don't care about the infrastructure deficit, they don't believe in the government planning anything. So they simply ignore it on basis that by definition tomorrow never comes and when it does, it'll be another generations problem.
Similarly, it furthers their determined, one sided culture war on all aspects of non-road, ICE powered transport giving a win to their post-truth base for free whilst also rewarding their sponsors in the trucking lobby by making rail uncompetitive.
Bluebridge (Strait Shipping) is owned by Morgan Stanley the American investment bank – did they make financial donations to any party I wonder? In 2021 they carried 56% of vehicle freight, Interislander carried the rest.
The terminal will be built on land owned by KiwiRail, CentrePort and the NZTA . Interislander plans to introduce new hybrid electric ferries that are 30m longer than those currently in operation.The new terminal will be able to accommodate the larger ferries and will replace the two separate terminals currently used by StraitNZ and the Interislander. In addition, CentrePort will be able to make changes to the layout of its other port operations. The plan includes a wharf about 250m long, a ferry terminal building, changes to road, rail and pedestrian access, and marshalling and loading areas.
More than the The future of the InterIslander is involved.
The reason why the current ferries arent fit for their purposes, as that there are mostly second hand vessels bought under the Key-English government directions to avoid funding new builds in the period 2012-17. Some were short term leases initially
Aratere – built for NZ service in 1999
Kaiarahi built 1998 , bought in 2015
Kaitaki built 1995 , bought 2017
Valentine built 1999 chartered 2021 then bought 2022 because serious problems with earlier used ferries bought.
So we are back to the recent past where capital spending was avoided and resulted in serious problems with worn out vessels
The change to 50,000 ton vessels drove the infrastructure change, not the rail side. Wider longer , the height to decks considerable. probably load trucks and cars on separate ramps speed it all up. The rail is lower level with trucks
Rail only has wagons, the locos stay on land .Modern semis are 45 tons anyway when HGW
As I tell anyone to slow to escape, if you think Winston is going to let Seymour be deputy PM for 18 months then I have a nice bridge to sell you. My guess is he'll white ant the government until he thinks he has caused maximum damage to ACT and got NZ First's vote as high as he can then pull the plug on a flimsy.
My understanding is that the Kiwirail boss said that 'one option' was to continue the build and on-sell them (not that this was the only option)
Daran Ponter said that – if they remove the rail component to the build – which would be easy to do – there is plenty of market for the ferries – and they should at least recover their money.
Listening to Kathryn Ryan interview Daran Ponter (Chair – Greater Wellington Region) – fleshed this out a bit – making it clear that it was the size of the ferries – which required the huge infrastructure cost. The initial KiwiRail proposal was to take over the Wellington cargo port – and when they were knocked back (3 years ago), they had to look at investment to upscale their current site – which was already looking dubious for the size of the ferries.
According to him, there would be no issue with commissioning rail ferries to be built which are similar in size/scale to the current ones – and which require minimal new dockside infrastructure. If you can commission large ones, you can commission smaller ones. I gather that there are few open water rail ferries operating around the world, so a rail-capable one would require a new build.
Also Labour are saying (albeit very quietly) that they were also concerned over the cost blowouts when they were in government. It seems likely that the project would have been canned under the last government as well.
Yes , it would have been interesting to see what Labour would have done in light of the cost blow out ….especially as it was one of the few policies that got further than governance reform.
Is going to be costly whatever happens ….and the economy slowing faster than predicted already.
Maritime NZ might want to give the government advice on whether the Kiwirail ships are actually safe. Plenty of informal advice coming out of there that no-one in their right mind should be a passenger on those ships now.
Plenty of informal advice coming out of there that no-one in their right mind should be a passenger on those ships now.
In which case, Kiwirail and it's CEO and directors are criminally liable.
There was no scenario under which these proposed replacement ships would have been delivered in the next two years.
If the current ferries are the death-traps you are suggesting – then this is entirely on the watch of the CEO and board. Nothing prevents them from leasing or purchasing more structurally reliable ships (if that is indeed a problem) – ones which fit the current shore infrastructure – and therefore can be operational quickly.
Only if the storm crossing happens after the scheduled arrival of the new vessals (in 2026 IIRC). Otherwise it's totally on the shoulders of the KiwiRail management.
Such niceties will be lost: Kiwirail are accountable to the government and in this case directly overruled by Willis.
Even if Willis tried to offload blame to the Kiwirail board, the Kiwirail board will simply say nothing, point to the IREX website, and let her take all the media focus.
The frustrating thing is that it isn't just passengers and vehicles. It means a lot of freight is going to have to be shipped coastally as well – probably planned as it will impact NZR's competitiveness against the global giants.
No one is proposing shutting down the CS ferries tomorrow – or in the foreseeable future, for that matter. Cars, trucks, and freight (including rail, via the rail capable ferry) will continue to move between the north and south islands. Indeed, Kiwirail have initially leased and then purchased a 'new' (i.e. secondhand) ferry in the last couple of years – in order to support interisland freight.
Kiwirail need to go back to the drawing board, and come up with ferry solutions which fit the existing infrastructure. The ballooning cost of the necessary shore infrastructure has made their first option unaffordable. Any competent planning team, should have second and/or third options ready to dust-off and begin costing.
Looks to me like yet another overblown, over consulted and under costed project that the previous government used for publicity as long as it could, but was always doomed to failure.
Time for a reset.
No idea whether a three party coalition can solve this one, but if a government with absolute majority, unbridled power, couldn't do it, then anything from here is on the way up.
They did solve it the keels are nearly laid, when it comes to core infrastructure you just do it, Onslow is another, jobs jobs jobs, keeps the money circulating
For all the criticism of his handling of the economy, I get the feeling Muldoon would be spinning in his grave at the short-sighted, penny pinching, market driven deciscions of this incarnation of a National party.
Was talking to a friend who works in health on the weekend and they mentioned the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora is going to take a significant number of Maori workers out of health as there are no jobs for them to go back to as they have been filled once they moved to Te Aka Whai Ora from elsewhere in the health system.
Well the National / Act / NZF members on the Justice Select Committee just voted down my motion to inquire into the efficacy of “military academies” in reducing youth offending. I suppose for good reason. They might have to face the facts – boot camps don’t work.
The recall applies to the USA, though it's possible Tesla may make similar changes in other countries. Also, the recall will be fixed by an OTA update in software. Sounds like the change is just a tweak in the self-driving software algorithm to check more often the the drive is paying attention.
So speaking as a Tesla owner this means very little.
I remember National in its sell everything off era (late 1990s I think), including the railways. (Or it could have been Roger Douglas). Of course the several new owners (can’t remember how many, but at least two) ran them down to being a heap of junk rather than spending money maintaining the trains and infrastructure. It was Labour (Annette King as minister) that spent however many millions on the Wairarapa/Wellington upgrades. Those trains are and were absolutely essential to a functioning greater Wellington region. Just as the ferries are.
Guess Nicola Willis will not be choosing a holiday crossing Cook Strait in the years to come. Could she cope with being stranded somewhere if the ferry broke down?
That sell off era started in the late 1980s under Douglas and Prebble and was continued by Richardson and co. in the 1990s. I think the first public entity to disappear was the electronic arm of the Post Office and "Telecom" (now Spark) was born.
The Auckland Mueseum stood to make a sizeable profit by hosting the Fantastic Beasts show, but it ended up being cancelled due to its links with JK Rowling. The chain of events as outlined that led to its cancellation leaves me shaking my head.
This sort of stuff probably explains to some degree why a lot of voters took a much more conservative stance in their voting this time around. I think a lot of people are absolutely sick of this sort of nonsense.
I wouldn't put my faith in the electorate, after a 10 minute coffee I had with some well padded people yesterday, I'd heard how life was going to be better with a new government and how electric cars where hopless and ugly,
Robert
It’d be the reasons its been cancelled that would be foremost in people’s minds .Stop being deliberately disingenuous in the guise of Socratic debate
Maybe the first to be perturbed were those who replied to the Museum's some time back survey.
According to Duncan Grieve "Of the 500 people surveyed, a tiny minority worried about the views of Harry Potter creator JK Rowling – just two, one more than expressed concern about her implied support of witchcraft."
Early 2023 someone called Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull came here, there was a ruckus about trans stuff and the museum show was cancelled. Not to do with the witchcraft angle the trans one.
The easiest thing would be to put all visiting shows in the too hard basket. All the stuff about marketing. Tell you what it would do, save a lot of money if the place was closed down.
Or look on the bright side and all the value to humans, to the country, to the city, to everything by having a top class museum.
Apparently that's away to enlightenment. Maybe we need it given this sort saga. What's been shown is that fear of violence of one sort or another has taken away the opportunity for many thousands to have their eyes opened.
At least we're not one of those US states. If we were, not doubt there'd be posses all over the place burning Rowling's boots or at least getting them out of libraries.
Yes. And people are free to critique that given the central role museums play in society.
Why is anyone perturbed?
My guess is that Gender Identity activists put pressure on the museum. It's not like it's an exhibit of JKR's life's work. It's an exhibition central to contemporary what museums do.
There are two issues:
should political activists have the power to sway museums in this way? Yes, and we need to be cautious about how far that goes. Because it's not just the left that does this now.
is the justification in this case valid? No. The accusation is that JKR is transphobic. What is the evidence for that? The accusation gets thrown around a lot, but not many bother to present what it is based on.
Of course it was the museum's to make. And of course political activists swayed' them. What I said originally about fear of violence of one sort or another.
It's sort of like when a couple of little kids are walking home from school and half a dozen big 13 year olds surround them saying, "Give's your shoes."
Gender activists had their moral angle in the museum thing. Of course there are there political angles to the shoe thing too.
"What value do you think an exhibition of invented creatures from a children's book has, tsmithfield?"
Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature was open from 9–15 December 2020 and from 17 May 2021 to 3 January 2022 at the Natural History Museum. It consisted of creatures, specimens and artefacts from the museum's scientific collection displayed side by side with elements from the Wizarding World as well as digital installations. This exhibit featured 100 objects, including props from the Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter films.
Weka and co have totally red pilled themselves on the trans debate, whilst the whole time imagining they are free thinkers untouched by social media post truth culture wars.
I support weka in so many of their comments, but the hot-spot you allude to seems to bend their usual poise into another shape (sorry, weka), for example:
weka wrote:
"please supply some evidence that JKR is an anti-trans activist."
Why the higher level of requirement with this issue?
If someone has the view that, "JKR is an anti-trans activist", that's their view/opinion, in the same way that, "Nicola Willis is a Ruth Richardson clone" could be someone's view, not needing to be supported by evidence, I'd have thought.
I think there is very much a slippery slope argument that we have slid a long way down already imo.
And, I wonder how these super-sensitive luvvies are going to cope in the real world if they can't handle an event that has an association with an individual that stated views they don't like. They will simply melt if they have to mix with average people in the real world.
I think the description is incredibly accurate. Whether it is demeaning is beside the point. People who get that upset about such a trivial issue probably meet the description I gave. If they can't handle that, how can they possibly handle any adversity in their lives.
They are handling adversity quite well I think. They managed to get a revenue stream for a very wealthy, highly influential, and known anti-trans activist stopped.
the difficulty now is that so much of the GC movement has been taken up by people who are actually transphobic eg Matt Walsh, but also lots of ordinary people who just don't like gender non-conformity.
If liberals call someone like JKR an anti-trans activists, it's a dead end. The refusal to allow any dissent even by progressives means we can't differentiate between the Walshes who are anti-feminist, anti-progressive as well as anti-trans, and the people who want women and trans people to be ok but aren't willing to sacrifice women and kids. It also makes the largest number of people who haven't picked as side but are generally reasonable and supportive of women and trans people, to wtaf and turn away from trans support because the demands are both unreasonable and the ideology crazy making.
JKR is one of the people who wants the best for both women and trans people. Calling her an anti-trans activist is stupid and damages the left.
I agree. The quality of engagement by some leaves a lot to be desired.
Very generous to use 'liberals' to describe the above position when idealogue or fundamentalist may be closer to the mark.
TBF, by radical means, moderate gains are made. Although generally round here the debate is fair and respectful and not deserving of the terf and transphobe slurs that are often bandied about.
Yet another sign one's position is weak or incorrect, attacking the messenger.
The Harry Potter films are on TVNZ and no one is concerned.
The young ones under 30 the ones watching still.
B grade students on social media is not a society sample. Just let the A grade students debate with them to explain why this sort of censorship is wrong.
The exhibit harms no one, but the precedent of suppressing creative work does.
The idea that a group of people is harmed if someone is not blacklisted/boycotted because of their opinions is frankly a McCarthyist reprise.
A pity that the Museum chose to yield to the "bully pulpit" and a homophobic and misogynistic ideology in which the majority of the population do not believe.
Indeed. You might like to read JKR's essay on the matter, and look at the group she helped set up that offers female only support services to women rape survivors (because female only rape crisis services are becoming rare in the UK and even in NZ). You know, if we want to talk about who holds power over who in society.
“We need the new ferries because the other ones have only got three years to run and the existing wharf we’ve got is falling to bits.
In Picton, the iReX project included a new terminal building, a new wharf and passenger walkway, a new rail yard, new vehicle boarding and the Dublin St bridge. It needed up to 300 workers.
“The country still has to deal with the safety of the ferry service between the North and South Island,” he said.
“This fleet is on its last legs, we can’t have ferries breaking down in this day and age, and we nearly had a major disaster with 1000 people on board when the ferry broke down [near] Wellington.
“With our ageing ferry service and ageing facilities, something will have to be done for safety … People overseas are looking at us as a country and going, ‘why are there major ferries breaking down in the Cook Strait?’
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Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
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 ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
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Deja vu all over again?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthanasia
[Caught in Spam filter because too many hyperlinks, that have now been removed. Also added blockquote – Incognito]
Mod note
Thank you. Had guessed it was the multiple links.
This seems to be income inequality.
Labour reduced this with WFF tax credits and the MW increases (1999-2008). More work with MW increases since 2017. And benefit adjustments recently.
However there is now the rising cost of rents.
Wealth inequality is still increasing – as home ownership declines and more own multiple properties. And property values rise in value greater than most peoples incomes.
Yes, wealth inequality is still rising (including under a 'left' government) but the purpose of the post was to draw attention to the results of the fiscal austerity imposed without regard under Finance Minister Richardson….something that appears to be recurring with such similarity as to beg the question as to who's driving it?
Remembering this is an ideology that has been (at least) modified in the worlds major economies in recent times if not outright rejected.
Some recent history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Richardson
I can’t think of anyone who today even vaguely resembles what Richardson stood for back then, or anyone who even looks like her, for that matter. In fact, I haven't got the faintest idea why you've even posted this link.
The author of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, former National Finance Minister and Act Party member and a Chicago School zealot who at 73 is very much still alive and kicking.
Perhaps no one needs to resemble her.
[Please fix your username in your next comment, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
just spotted it, and fixed.
Yes, I remember her well, and yes, nobody needs to resemble her but unfortunately there's someone who doesn't agree.
But hardly still actively involved in NZ politics.
"But hardly still actively involved in NZ politics."
Not as a candidate that is true….as a contributor, who could say?
Perhaps someone should ask the nicotine queen herself?
Perhaps someone will…the answer may not be illuminating.
Because she'll lie, or because it'd be no surprise?
I suspect any answer would be less than exact.
Don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn she's still very much an influencer on the quiet.
The speed, enthusiasm and direction are more than reminiscent.
Slash and burn Richardson. She crashed the economy with her savage cuts
Deja Vue
Against offical advice, to boot…
Zealots (of any cause) are best avoided.
I attended a meeting in the 1990s where Richardson was the guest speaker. It was after Bolger had dumped her as Finance minister and iirc she had a hissy fit and left parliament. Her basic philosophy was: private enterprise could do everything better than the public service – end of story. It was a clear example of black and white politics with no grey areas in between.
Did we really need to sell the BNZ when she held the finance portfolio? I know they had suffered losses, but would a bail out not have been a better option?
They did have to bail it out first , as it was unsellable without it. that cost $620 mill due to bad loans in Australia
Was already part sold in 87 when 15% went in new capital .
In 89 more capital raised and government share was down to 51.1%. Nov 89 was change of government
Short history of Privatisation
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2017-11/mom-shppnz-wilson-dec10.pdf
The Nats got into Government at the end of 1990. We got home from Europe on the day before the election – just in time to vote.
Thanks
It was bailed out …and later sold.
Ideology.
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/the-life/looking-back-bnz-part-7-the-final-twist-nab-grabs-bnz-at-a-discounted-price.
Ideology.
Yes, that's what I have always thought.
It's disturbing to see the empathy deficit made so clear.
If you work in health, why would you give your time, your expertise, your care? Why would you volunteer for anything?
In the ACT mindset, one reason only. Money. They simply cannot comprehend the concept of people being motivated by anything else.
ACT MP mistakes Sir Collin Tukuitonga's volunteer role for 'high-paid' position | RNZ News
Of course the ACT MP offers no apology, no understanding, only a pathetic doubling down. No wonder Sir Collin wants nothing to do with them.
This quote from Joe90 on last night's Daily Review, sums up ACT completely:
Right whingers know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!
https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/opinion/more-life-worth
Unbelievable. Wondering if she has any regrets saying it.
How much does she value her own life, the life of a family member or a friend, how much of a neighbour, her own doctor…
I can't see any of those people being impressed by such talk.
Going forward this is a horrible sign for our public health sector.
She'll only regret things she says that expose what she really believes, so she's going to regret a lot, but for all the wrong reasons.
An Irma Grese in the making.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/euthanasia-debate/117370430/formidable-brooke-van-velden-the-end-of-life-choice-bill-lobbyist-youve-probably-never-heard-of
The woman is minister for work place safety, too.
Must be well over twenty years ago now, I was saying around the office (after yet another reorganisation) "they won't be content until every individual has become a cost centre, required to demonstrate their profitability to the corporation".
Looks like that's about to apply to every member of
society* the whole country.*I was forgetting – no such thing under this new regime
Act ethnic cleansing the public service
Nicola Willis's decision to can the new ferries looks increasingly like it was made off the cuff and with a shaky grasp of the details. Currently on RNZ is she blathering on about ridiculous off load/on load road bridging for rail as "efficient" (well, efficient for her mates in the roading lobby because trucks will win) which is completely gaslighting the Kiwirail experts.
She has also said the deal could be cancelled because the ships were not yet being built, but the Kiwirail boss on RNZ this morning more or less called her out on it, saying that they may have to build the ships and then sell them – most likely at a massive discount, since the design is bespoke for Cook Strait.
They don't build ships like they did in the 1980 Polish shipyard that seems to live rent free in every right wingers head. Ships are largely pre-fabricated and materials are laid in ahead of assembly. The contract was signed back in June 2021, construction was due to commence next March. So Hyundai will have had already assembled materials and pre-ordered components like engines and prefabricated superstructures, booked slipways etc. The penalty fee for cancelation at this late stage would probably amount to most of the cost of just building them.
Honestly, Willis is incoherent on this – she is cancelling the deal because of the land-based costs, saying the ships themselves were fine on a fixed price contract. But without the new facilities the ships can’t dock so… As it is, we are going to end up paying most of the price for ships specifically designed for the Cook strait, sell them to some Saudi outfit for a song to cart pilgrims to Mecca, and spend more money on a couple of inadequate vessels that will make freight cost much higher on State Highway one across the strait.
But landlords will get their tax cut and the trucking industry will see off a competitor.
Classic National party.
I was reading about this some where else and it makes me wonder if the ultimate goal here is to privatise the ferry branch of Kiwi rail using the actual ferries as a bait to do that.
So we go ahead and build the ferries, and use those as an incentive for some one to buy out the infrastructure.?
Cancelation is all gravy for National/ACT. They don't care about the infrastructure deficit, they don't believe in the government planning anything. So they simply ignore it on basis that by definition tomorrow never comes and when it does, it'll be another generations problem.
Similarly, it furthers their determined, one sided culture war on all aspects of non-road, ICE powered transport giving a win to their post-truth base for free whilst also rewarding their sponsors in the trucking lobby by making rail uncompetitive.
Bluebridge (Strait Shipping) is owned by Morgan Stanley the American investment bank – did they make financial donations to any party I wonder? In 2021 they carried 56% of vehicle freight, Interislander carried the rest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StraitNZ
More than the The future of the InterIslander is involved.
100% Matiri
The reason why the current ferries arent fit for their purposes, as that there are mostly second hand vessels bought under the Key-English government directions to avoid funding new builds in the period 2012-17. Some were short term leases initially
Aratere – built for NZ service in 1999
Kaiarahi built 1998 , bought in 2015
Kaitaki built 1995 , bought 2017
Valentine built 1999 chartered 2021 then bought 2022 because serious problems with earlier used ferries bought.
So we are back to the recent past where capital spending was avoided and resulted in serious problems with worn out vessels
Hmmm built between 1995-99 so at replacement the fleet would be at least 27, 28, 31 and 27 years old respectively.
Effectively, lack of a replacement path means we are looking at block obsolescence.
This is basically a commercial war.
Also war within the Government since the blowout is related to NZ First insistence on rail capable ferries.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/12/jenna-lynch-analysis-what-are-the-options-for-new-cook-strait-crossing-now-interislander-project-has-been-sunk.html
This could get interesting, fast
Yes – it's National's internal coalition counter-strike against NZF.
NZF were super-tight with Kiwirial and specified the heavy rail fleet that required all the portside infrastructure change.
The change to 50,000 ton vessels drove the infrastructure change, not the rail side. Wider longer , the height to decks considerable. probably load trucks and cars on separate ramps speed it all up. The rail is lower level with trucks
Rail only has wagons, the locos stay on land .Modern semis are 45 tons anyway when HGW
The current vessels are in the low 20Kt range
https://www.interislander.co.nz/interislander-2026/te-whanganui-a-tara-wellington-ferry-terminal-redevelopment
Sorry for the shorthand, but we are in agreement.
I'm not able to comment on this much as I'd want to.
As I tell anyone to slow to escape, if you think Winston is going to let Seymour be deputy PM for 18 months then I have a nice bridge to sell you. My guess is he'll white ant the government until he thinks he has caused maximum damage to ACT and got NZ First's vote as high as he can then pull the plug on a flimsy.
It'll be McAnulty vs. Willis in April 2025.
If enough NZ First MPs conclude (as some of them did in 1998) that their future in a snap election is 0, they may end up staying put anyway.
The only existing rail capable ferry is the purpose built for Interislander , Aratere. So its not unusual
More an ideological one I suspect.
My understanding is that the Kiwirail boss said that 'one option' was to continue the build and on-sell them (not that this was the only option)
Daran Ponter said that – if they remove the rail component to the build – which would be easy to do – there is plenty of market for the ferries – and they should at least recover their money.
Listening to Kathryn Ryan interview Daran Ponter (Chair – Greater Wellington Region) – fleshed this out a bit – making it clear that it was the size of the ferries – which required the huge infrastructure cost. The initial KiwiRail proposal was to take over the Wellington cargo port – and when they were knocked back (3 years ago), they had to look at investment to upscale their current site – which was already looking dubious for the size of the ferries.
According to him, there would be no issue with commissioning rail ferries to be built which are similar in size/scale to the current ones – and which require minimal new dockside infrastructure. If you can commission large ones, you can commission smaller ones. I gather that there are few open water rail ferries operating around the world, so a rail-capable one would require a new build.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018919518/future-cook-strait-travel-in-turmoil
Also Labour are saying (albeit very quietly) that they were also concerned over the cost blowouts when they were in government. It seems likely that the project would have been canned under the last government as well.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/504702/building-new-ferries-then-selling-them-among-options-for-kiwirail-ceo
Yes , it would have been interesting to see what Labour would have done in light of the cost blow out ….especially as it was one of the few policies that got further than governance reform.
Is going to be costly whatever happens ….and the economy slowing faster than predicted already.
Kiwirail are now making options up on the fly.
There are thousands of multi-year jobs at risk in this decision on both the Picton and Wellington side.
Check out the scale of what has been stopped dead:
https://www.irex.co.nz/
Maritime NZ might want to give the government advice on whether the Kiwirail ships are actually safe. Plenty of informal advice coming out of there that no-one in their right mind should be a passenger on those ships now.
In which case, Kiwirail and it's CEO and directors are criminally liable.
There was no scenario under which these proposed replacement ships would have been delivered in the next two years.
If the current ferries are the death-traps you are suggesting – then this is entirely on the watch of the CEO and board. Nothing prevents them from leasing or purchasing more structurally reliable ships (if that is indeed a problem) – ones which fit the current shore infrastructure – and therefore can be operational quickly.
It will take one crossing in a storm to sheet this decision right back to Willis.
At which point it will be all on pete tong.
Only if the storm crossing happens after the scheduled arrival of the new vessals (in 2026 IIRC). Otherwise it's totally on the shoulders of the KiwiRail management.
Such niceties will be lost: Kiwirail are accountable to the government and in this case directly overruled by Willis.
Even if Willis tried to offload blame to the Kiwirail board, the Kiwirail board will simply say nothing, point to the IREX website, and let her take all the media focus.
The frustrating thing is that it isn't just passengers and vehicles. It means a lot of freight is going to have to be shipped coastally as well – probably planned as it will impact NZR's competitiveness against the global giants.
No one is proposing shutting down the CS ferries tomorrow – or in the foreseeable future, for that matter. Cars, trucks, and freight (including rail, via the rail capable ferry) will continue to move between the north and south islands. Indeed, Kiwirail have initially leased and then purchased a 'new' (i.e. secondhand) ferry in the last couple of years – in order to support interisland freight.
https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/media/new-media-article-18/
Kiwirail need to go back to the drawing board, and come up with ferry solutions which fit the existing infrastructure. The ballooning cost of the necessary shore infrastructure has made their first option unaffordable. Any competent planning team, should have second and/or third options ready to dust-off and begin costing.
Looks to me like yet another overblown, over consulted and under costed project that the previous government used for publicity as long as it could, but was always doomed to failure.
Time for a reset.
No idea whether a three party coalition can solve this one, but if a government with absolute majority, unbridled power, couldn't do it, then anything from here is on the way up.
They did solve it the keels are nearly laid, when it comes to core infrastructure you just do it, Onslow is another, jobs jobs jobs, keeps the money circulating
Singapore was taken from a swamp to a place that people flock to, in 50 years.
Warsaw was rebuilt brick by brick using old photographs as the plans.
Hadrian's Wall took 6 years.
And you claim a couple keels, nearly being laid, in 3 years, is an achievement?
Have some ambition for Pete's sake.
Had the previous government the courage of their convictions, they could have set aside the funding before they went out of office.
I suspect that they, too, bridled at the cost, and happily left the hot potato to the incoming government.
Good comment.
"Classic National party."
For all the criticism of his handling of the economy, I get the feeling Muldoon would be spinning in his grave at the short-sighted, penny pinching, market driven deciscions of this incarnation of a National party.
Was talking to a friend who works in health on the weekend and they mentioned the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora is going to take a significant number of Maori workers out of health as there are no jobs for them to go back to as they have been filled once they moved to Te Aka Whai Ora from elsewhere in the health system.
More transperancy.
/
@JulieAnneGenter
So, the new National Govt is sitting on analysis already prepared about the repeal of the Clean Car Discount – and refusing to release. Wonder why???
https://t.co/0fc3x4NI1f
https://twitter.com/JulieAnneGenter/status/1734769463994757220
This refusal to allow timely publication is even worse than John Key's stance on opinions.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/201807260/is-a-'post-truth'-era-upon-us
This was in 2016. Now the National government has gone back to its disregard for fact and evidence.
But worse, it now is refusing to allow public access fact and evidence to be made public before the fact.
Way to govern…..
Cruelty is the point.
@Duncan_Webb_
Well the National / Act / NZF members on the Justice Select Committee just voted down my motion to inquire into the efficacy of “military academies” in reducing youth offending. I suppose for good reason. They might have to face the facts – boot camps don’t work.
https://twitter.com/Duncan_Webb_/status/1735028912424673597
This lot in power are like the f*&^^%$s I argue with on discord – Their feelings trump facts clowns.
Sorry to all you Tesla drivers, but there's a pretty-much total recall on them.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/13/tech/tesla-recall-autopilot/index.html
Details are not important in headlines!
The recall applies to the USA, though it's possible Tesla may make similar changes in other countries. Also, the recall will be fixed by an OTA update in software. Sounds like the change is just a tweak in the self-driving software algorithm to check more often the the drive is paying attention.
So speaking as a Tesla owner this means very little.
"Autopilot comes standard on every new Tesla."
NZTA will certainly repeat the recall here . As its also happening in Canada and china and others already
I remember National in its sell everything off era (late 1990s I think), including the railways. (Or it could have been Roger Douglas). Of course the several new owners (can’t remember how many, but at least two) ran them down to being a heap of junk rather than spending money maintaining the trains and infrastructure. It was Labour (Annette King as minister) that spent however many millions on the Wairarapa/Wellington upgrades. Those trains are and were absolutely essential to a functioning greater Wellington region. Just as the ferries are.
Guess Nicola Willis will not be choosing a holiday crossing Cook Strait in the years to come. Could she cope with being stranded somewhere if the ferry broke down?
Who needs the Strait when the Luxon gen has Te Puke?
That sell off era started in the late 1980s under Douglas and Prebble and was continued by Richardson and co. in the 1990s. I think the first public entity to disappear was the electronic arm of the Post Office and "Telecom" (now Spark) was born.
"Could she cope with being stranded somewhere if the ferry broke down?"
Easy – whistle up a Defence Force helicopter.
Willis will fly and forget the carbon, but if one of these "ships" they lease breaks down and we have another Wahine disaster…..
Another example of a crazy decision based on woke hand-wringing.
The Auckland Mueseum stood to make a sizeable profit by hosting the Fantastic Beasts show, but it ended up being cancelled due to its links with JK Rowling. The chain of events as outlined that led to its cancellation leaves me shaking my head.
This sort of stuff probably explains to some degree why a lot of voters took a much more conservative stance in their voting this time around. I think a lot of people are absolutely sick of this sort of nonsense.
Certainly most I interact with are…almost unanimously.
Perhaps you should stop spouting it then 🙂
Pardon?
Meant as a joke. Are the people you interact with concerned about the Fantastic Beasts exhibition not going ahead?
Not specifically this event…the propensity for anything and everything (or everyone) to be 'cancelled' if some group has an objection.
The phrase "its gone too far' is a frequent refrain…..and usually unsolicited.
Like the inter-island ferries?
The smoking cessation legislation?
Oil and gas exploration?
Those cancellers?
Yes Robert, like those cancellers…who will also face the electorate in the future.
I wouldn't put my faith in the electorate, after a 10 minute coffee I had with some well padded people yesterday, I'd heard how life was going to be better with a new government and how electric cars where hopless and ugly,
Its not a case of expecting the electorate to deliver the perfect result…..its a case of the majority agreeing with the way society is run.
And the hope that if they dont that things may be able to be changed.
Do you have a better alternative?
No unfortunately
Nor do I
Robert
It’d be the reasons its been cancelled that would be foremost in people’s minds .Stop being deliberately disingenuous in the guise of Socratic debate
Whos even aware there was even a possible "beasts" exhibition at all
heres another cancellation to grind your gears over
2023 BLUFF OYSTER & FOOD FESTIVAL CANCELLED
Good observation, Francesca.
What value do you think an exhibition of invented creatures from a children's book has, tsmithfield?
Hang on a minute Robert
Is irrelevance the measure Auckland Museum is using to cancel the show?
Surely the point is that it is the association with JKRowling that has driven the decision
God , how many exhibits would have to be removed if compliance with post modernist thought was applied?
I haven’t claimed irrelevance, Francesca.
Surely it's a decision for the museum to make.
Why is anyone perturbed?
Maybe the first to be perturbed were those who replied to the Museum's some time back survey.
According to Duncan Grieve "Of the 500 people surveyed, a tiny minority worried about the views of Harry Potter creator JK Rowling – just two, one more than expressed concern about her implied support of witchcraft."
Early 2023 someone called Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull came here, there was a ruckus about trans stuff and the museum show was cancelled. Not to do with the witchcraft angle the trans one.
The easiest thing would be to put all visiting shows in the too hard basket. All the stuff about marketing. Tell you what it would do, save a lot of money if the place was closed down.
Or look on the bright side and all the value to humans, to the country, to the city, to everything by having a top class museum.
Apparently that's away to enlightenment. Maybe we need it given this sort saga. What's been shown is that fear of violence of one sort or another has taken away the opportunity for many thousands to have their eyes opened.
At least we're not one of those US states. If we were, not doubt there'd be posses all over the place burning Rowling's boots or at least getting them out of libraries.
Ok Robert
Would you be so sanguine if the museum canceled a show depicting the Paleatinian struggle over time because Israel objected?
Would you just say
" oh well, it's the museums decision"
Personally I would be pretty pissed off and "perurbed"
Perturbed even
Yes. And people are free to critique that given the central role museums play in society.
My guess is that Gender Identity activists put pressure on the museum. It's not like it's an exhibit of JKR's life's work. It's an exhibition central to contemporary what museums do.
There are two issues:
Of course it was the museum's to make. And of course political activists swayed' them. What I said originally about fear of violence of one sort or another.
It's sort of like when a couple of little kids are walking home from school and half a dozen big 13 year olds surround them saying, "Give's your shoes."
Gender activists had their moral angle in the museum thing. Of course there are there political angles to the shoe thing too.
are you on a phone using the Mobile version of the site? My comment was a reply to Robert, not you.
If you switch to the Desktop version (bottom of the page), you will find a replies list that shows (mostly) who has replied to you.
Political activists?
Wasn't it staff of the museum who raised objections?
you think museum staff can't be activists?
"What value do you think an exhibition of invented creatures from a children's book has, tsmithfield?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizarding_World#Fantastic_Beasts%3A_The_Wonder_of_Nature_Exhibition
Sounds interesting in terms of science, museums, and for HP fans.
Kind of you to respond on tsmithfield's behalf, weka.
you're welcome 🙂
Weka and co have totally red pilled themselves on the trans debate, whilst the whole time imagining they are free thinkers untouched by social media post truth culture wars.
I support weka in so many of their comments, but the hot-spot you allude to seems to bend their usual poise into another shape (sorry, weka), for example:
weka wrote:
"please supply some evidence that JKR is an anti-trans activist."
Why the higher level of requirement with this issue?
If someone has the view that, "JKR is an anti-trans activist", that's their view/opinion, in the same way that, "Nicola Willis is a Ruth Richardson clone" could be someone's view, not needing to be supported by evidence, I'd have thought.
Possibly the idea that science can be fun. That creativity can springboard off nature to inspire a fascinating imaginary world.
Weta Workshop sure seem to get it.
Science, "fun"?
Let's ask science if it can be fun, shall we.
The question will have to be subjected to science, peer reviewed etc.
Fun?
Ask the lab-rats if it's "fun".
Your dour protestantism is showing through.
Ha! I'll wear that as a badge of honour, Belladonna.
I get pigeon-holed regularly; tree-hugger, anti-farmer etc. but dour protestant is a first!
Thanks for the insightful replies to my comment.
I think there is very much a slippery slope argument that we have slid a long way down already imo.
And, I wonder how these super-sensitive luvvies are going to cope in the real world if they can't handle an event that has an association with an individual that stated views they don't like. They will simply melt if they have to mix with average people in the real world.
"super-sensitive luvvies"
Could you be more demeaning, tsmithfield, of young museum employees?
I think the description is incredibly accurate. Whether it is demeaning is beside the point. People who get that upset about such a trivial issue probably meet the description I gave. If they can't handle that, how can they possibly handle any adversity in their lives.
They are handling adversity quite well I think. They managed to get a revenue stream for a very wealthy, highly influential, and known anti-trans activist stopped.
They should be applauded for that.
please supply some evidence that JKR is an anti-trans activist.
Good luck with that.
I've asked the same question after the same smear was made about Graham Lineham. Still waiting for an answer.
the difficulty now is that so much of the GC movement has been taken up by people who are actually transphobic eg Matt Walsh, but also lots of ordinary people who just don't like gender non-conformity.
If liberals call someone like JKR an anti-trans activists, it's a dead end. The refusal to allow any dissent even by progressives means we can't differentiate between the Walshes who are anti-feminist, anti-progressive as well as anti-trans, and the people who want women and trans people to be ok but aren't willing to sacrifice women and kids. It also makes the largest number of people who haven't picked as side but are generally reasonable and supportive of women and trans people, to wtaf and turn away from trans support because the demands are both unreasonable and the ideology crazy making.
JKR is one of the people who wants the best for both women and trans people. Calling her an anti-trans activist is stupid and damages the left.
I agree. The quality of engagement by some leaves a lot to be desired.
Very generous to use 'liberals' to describe the above position when idealogue or fundamentalist may be closer to the mark.
TBF, by radical means, moderate gains are made. Although generally round here the debate is fair and respectful and not deserving of the terf and transphobe slurs that are often bandied about.
Yet another sign one's position is weak or incorrect, attacking the messenger.
Like calling them, "super-sensitive luvvies"?
Reckons
The Harry Potter films are on TVNZ and no one is concerned.
The young ones under 30 the ones watching still.
B grade students on social media is not a society sample. Just let the A grade students debate with them to explain why this sort of censorship is wrong.
The exhibit harms no one, but the precedent of suppressing creative work does.
The idea that a group of people is harmed if someone is not blacklisted/boycotted because of their opinions is frankly a McCarthyist reprise.
A pity that the Museum chose to yield to the "bully pulpit" and a homophobic and misogynistic ideology in which the majority of the population do not believe.
"bully pulpit" – those objecting were young museum employees, yes? No?
Bullies? On a pulpit"
This seems sloppy. As always, it's useful to consider who holds power/authority over who.
Indeed. You might like to read JKR's essay on the matter, and look at the group she helped set up that offers female only support services to women rape survivors (because female only rape crisis services are becoming rare in the UK and even in NZ). You know, if we want to talk about who holds power over who in society.
https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beira%27s_Place
Picton shocked by withdrawal of ferry funding!!
Meanwhile voting place results show Picton voted for the current coalition of clowns by a robust margin.
Vote for clowns, expect a circus.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/marlborough-top-stories/133451358/i-was-going-to-bring-the-missus-down-but-that-aint-going-to-happen
Essential workers!
In the morning and at the going down of the sun we will remember them…as they do unpaid overtime.
Yes I was considering the delivery lady who works so hard for probably a low wage. newsense