Defying expectations, China posted its first trade deficit in March since February 2012 on surging imports, completely out of whack with market forecasts.
It suits National just fine. Property owners in Auckland gleefully await their annual property valuation, and year upon year up the price goes. many increases are stratospheric. In return Auckland is as blue as the ocean, so what do you think would happen if the incumbent National led Government took measures like limiting foreign ownership, or introducing a capital gain tax, or even a death duty tax.
What would happen is they would lose the Auckland vote and be booted out of office.
Yes that right. But it shows the lack of thinking that goes on today……
If all house prices dropped then our mortgages would be lower, the amount we had to pay for a home be lower, and we would actually have significantly more money.
Which is a direct reflection of our poor political system. Major issues such as the Auckland Housing problem should be subjected to a cross party consensus to resolve the issue. Party lines is the huge hinder and so yesteryear.
first, the bright shiny allure of seeing a supposedly real pot of gold at the end of a rainbow in the form of a housing valuation. (anyone ever caught up with that rainbow gold?)
second, the political thing. The short term nature of decision-making that our system fosters. Something like this which would reduce prices would take some time to bed in.
………………………………………….
test:
If every house in NZ went up by 50% tomorrow what would be achieved?
@Skinny Sorry but this IS a political/philosophical issue. National are cynically happy with the exorbitant valuations of Akl houses as it benefits their voters. Labour, on the other hand, sees supply of sufficient housing, especially affordable housing, as fundamental plank in a fair society.
It is developers who are dragging their feet with developments (land banking) or who are developing the wrong type of houses (4/5 bedrooms on large lots spreading ever outwards) that are causing the problems in Akl.
It is nothing at all to do with the RMA. So really this is an issue the Super City should be able to sort out itself, with central government weighing in with major state house construction. We need a change of government for his to happen.
Well No it would not. If house value falls then all those with recent mortgages would find that they owned houses with less than the security put up to purchase the house. The banks would then ask you to cough up with more security or payback your mortgage immediately. How would you go if you had a house valued at 800,000 with a 700,000 mortgage. The house value drops to 500,000 and you no longer have sufficient cover so the bank would want more money from you to reduce the mortgage to below 500,000.
This is the main reason that no political party will ever seriously try and solve the escalating house costs.
If all house prices dropped then our mortgages would be lower, the amount we had to pay for a home be lower, and we would actually have significantly more money.
Of course. I didn’t mention the instant-term / short-term pain in adjusting as figured it was self-explanatory. There would be some short term pain for those in such a situation but that short term pain must be put aside in the interests of the mid and long term benefit for all New Zealanders.
The point raised doesn’t make the grade as a reason not to aim for lowering house prices.
Lower house prices are an exceptionally good thing for the country.
Short term pain. Obviously you either dont have a recent mortgage or maybe no mortgage. It would not be a short term pain it would be devastating. People affected would possibly lose their homes and their deposits. Yes their next home might be cheaper if they ever manage to get around to purchasing one again. They would have entered the market in good faith and then suddenly their house is devalued and they can be out on the street. Not going to happen. There are better ways to cope with the housing problem.
But not as painful as the situation we have now (which those with high mortgages refuse to consider).
edit: perhaps a solution is to require banks, who are equally responsible for the situation and have long profited from the situation, to share in the pain. After all, mortgages are just ledger entries and not real money so there is neglible effect on them.
Or maybe encourage people to look further afield I was out Pukekohe recently and there are a number of houses in the 400-500 thousand range three bedroom good section etc but Aucklanders will not commute.
For those of us that used to work in Wellington and had to purchase out in Akatarawa which meant a 30 minute bus trip to Railhead and then an hour on train into city every day but there was little choice.
vto – a lot of people would agree with you: lower house prices are better – and stopping people treating housing like a speculative asset would also be damn good.
The mechanisms HOW are important though. Ron raises some good points: but they are all manageable by the government.
Eg.
1) The government institutes a moratorium on mortgagee sales, repossessions and ‘margin calls’ by the bank: this will apply to all mortgages for which payments are no more than 30 days over due.
2) If a retail bank wants out of the mortgage that is ‘underwater’, fine. Government will facilitate that: the government will pay out the face value of the mortgage and the mortgage asset and administration will be taken over by Kiwibank.
3) The government will limit the loss of value anyone suffers on their primary home to a maximum of 5% of the original purchase value.
My bet is that with these, and other steps, an orderly reduction in house values of a few percentage points per year is very possible. And by also ensuring income inflation of a couple of percent a year, housing affordibility will rocket upwards over a 5 to 10 year period.
Sure the ‘how’ needs to be done as easily as possible, but the schemes suggested there, and dracos below, are so complex as to be unachievable imo. In Chch post-earthquakes we have seen the myriad variances and circumstances that have inadvertently arisen in the wake of the red-zone government offers, and that is a simple scheme.
There is also the issue of affordability. Government could not afford it. Government is struggling to afford Christchurch.
All stakeholders in property would need to share the burden. Banks are certainly stakeholders and share responsibility for the problem. They also unendingly profit from being a property stakeholder. Perhaps, put simply, the LVR on each property is maintained pre and post-value adjustment. Done.
….. but still the distortions would fly
Sure the ‘how’ needs to be done as easily as possible, but the schemes suggested there, and dracos below, are so complex as to be unachievable imo.
WTF is complex about it?
In Chch post-earthquakes we have seen the myriad variances and circumstances that have inadvertently arisen in the wake of the red-zone government offers, and that is a simple scheme.
No, that was an overly complex system designed, as far as I can make out, to save both the government and the insurance industry money. What the government should have done is declared the Red Zones, paid everyone in them the full market value and then turned round to the insurance companies and told them to pay up.
There is also the issue of affordability. Government could not afford it.
This is incorrect. The government can, quite literally, afford everything in NZ.
There’s an answer to that to. When the government passes legislation that drops the process of houses you have it so that they also offer to buy the house at previous market rates. The current owners get a lease at normal social housing rents.
Limit the ability for banks to raise bank debt.
If there are greater controls over bank debt: equity ratios then there would be less money available for the banks to loan out.
A property that was $1m last year in Auckland is now $1.13m ( based on the increase of the medium house price in Auckland ) Wages are static so what has changed ? The availability of plenty of cheap money, and banks openness to lend.
Also why is it that a family who are the owner:occupiers paying the same interest rate as someone who has multi properties ? What other business will the banks accept debt of 50%, 60 or even 80 % and still charge the same mortgage rate as for the sole family home ? Shouldn’t the family’s rate be lower and the commercial enterprise pay more. Isn’t it under the current scenario a family subsidising the commercial multi property owner by both paying the same rate ? https://www.reinz.co.nz/shadomx/apps/fms/fmsdownload.cfm?file_uuid=6E818C4E-73F0-48C6-A4A4-43F2D0D229B3&siteName=reinz
There are many policies that need to be enacted that will drop the price of houses in NZ. That would certainly be one of the policies that needs to be enacted.
What I was getting at there was a response from government that could alleviate peoples fear of losing.
Isn’t it under the current scenario a family subsidising the commercial multi property owner by both paying the same rate ?
There’s a huge amount of such subsidies happening. You especially see it in telecommunications and power where the retail sector is massively subsidising the business sector. In both of those you see the retail sector paying massively more than the business sector which amounts to a massive subsidy.
At one point (when I was with one of the larger telcos) the management had a meeting to show us how well we were doing and in that meeting they showed us that the company was losing money on their VIP customers while still making a profit. The entire profit was coming from the residential sector after paying for the loss of the business sector. There’s no other word for that sort of transference of wealth but subsidy.
I must admit I have found dual use of names confusing. Could you please explain how one registers. I can see a log in option but not an option to register in first place.?
Register and login to the site. Then when you post a comment it will appear in blue as mine is and nobody else will be able to use the name.
Hi Arandar. What comments are you referring to? I’ve searched the comment stream and all comments under my search are coming up with your email and avatar.
Arander I noticed yesterday when I was reading the Standard that your name and email address were already in the boxes below the comments. I did wonder why but as they were gone by the next time I looked I didn’t give it a thought. I have never commented here before – just read it all daily – so have no idea how such a thing would happen. I was on an ipad at the time.
Listening to Kim Hill interviewing the Minister about Zero Hour Contracts.
First time I have heard National say anything about them. Thank goodness Labour, Unions and the very decent John Campbell have been actively exposing these utterly dreadful practices.
I got the impression National may not have gotten around to looking at these issues at all, and without Campbell Live to let the rest of us know, Zero Hour Contracts would have become the norm, as they have in other countries.
Luckily, fear of sales dropping after exposure has empowered the slaves to a small degree.
Meanwhile in the virtual reality world of Fearfax, no such momentous events exist.
Instead consumers of their ‘news’ can read this as the main headlines.
Scrutiny on doctors
Selfie-sticks a public scourge
Trolley bus cost shock
$14,000 bike stolen
Surprising visitors came for CWC.
And the Herald pumps out the following vital information as the leaders.
Trio on the run after ram-raid burglary
Colin Slade’s $700k move to French club
Two Farro stores cop alcohol sale bans
‘I shot him’: deputy kills black suspect
Disabled man in car, carer goes fishing
As George Carlin said.
“But I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. “
Hi, Arandar, I’m sure a mod with the technical abilities will have a look ASAP. But, in the meantime, have a go at logging in, as DtB suggests. The log in box is at the top right of the page.
Hmmm, that might also be related to the misuse of your identity, but I’m sure it can be sorted pretty quickly. Just as an aside, it might be worth checking your fb and email accounts just in case the hack is wider than just here at TS.
* Long enough to be hard to guess
* Not a famous quotation from literature, holy books, et cetera [or lyrics]
* Hard to guess by intuition—even by someone who knows the user well
* Easy to remember and type accurately
* For better security, any easily memorable encoding at the user’s own level can be applied.
* Not reused between sites, applications and other different sources.
A couple of times over the many years, when not logged in to TS, I have found the comment / reply fields populated with someone else’s data, apparently at random. The most recent case was within the last couple of months.
Suspect it is a cache / cookie confusion issue perhaps when two people are connected via the same ISP / subnet – but I’m just waving my hands in the air there.
I’ve searched the back end comment stream (email, avatar and comments all line up)and then yesterday’s individual pages through firefox search option. Can’t find anything unusual. Again. Can somebody point me to the comments in question?
Didn’t happen to use a public computer and leave stuff sitting?
Hi Bill,
No I use only my own laptop and my own iPad and iPhone. I comment very rarely though I read daily and haven’t commented probably for a couple of months now…
The two comments yesterday were on the Get rid of the leftwing Bastard thread and the Miranda Devine thread. Neither were from me.
I got my husband to help me check back through the previous couple of days posts and comments for anything else that might have been posted by someone using my name and picture. When he went onto The Standard website, on his iPad, there was someone else’s name and email in the Leave a Comment area. He’s never gone to The Standard before – usually gets me to read to him all the interesting stuff – lazy beggar!
I thought that was odd and I’d guess that’s what’s happened; my name and email ended up on someone else’s tablet. How that also involves my picture I don’t know but then I don’t know much anyway and SFA about any of this stuff.
Problem, my changing my passwords won’t stop this happening, will it? Since this isn’t passworded in the first place?
Okay. I’m stumped. I’m no tech head. All I can do for the time being is note on those comments that they weren’t made by you. Hopefully Lynn will be able to get to the bottom of it. Seems like an apple thing though.
You won’t see anything at all unusual, just what appears to be a regular comment from that individual. In this case only Arandar can say which comments they didn’t write. Ahh – reading back – it is the (only) two comments made by that username yesterday. Nothing obvious springs to mind looking at the IP address involved.
Was browsing from my iPad yesterday and noticed the Leave a Comment had someone elses name and email address there. Was concerned as it was a sort of “Spooks” name. Anyway, I just deleted it and carried on browsing.
Must check today when I get back to the iPad.
rOb – it happened to me yesterday while I was browsing on my iPad. The “Leave a Comment” section had Name and Mail boxes with strange names in it. I just deleted them and carried on browsing. Will check my iPad again when I can get to it.
Farmers support the free market. They sell to the highest possible buyer in the world. Farmers also support the National Party in droves, with their free market philosophy etc.
Yet here are Federated Farmers complaining about the free market not filling their free market business requirements with low-paid employees. The farmers are not willing to pay what the market requires for people to work in their businesses so they import cheaper labour from o.s.
Then to top that nerve in making such a brazen hypocritical claim, they add another with this …. “Macpherson said this ruled out most migrant workers, and the approach was short-sighted. “Even if they’re just milking the cows,” he said, “they’re still working at the starting point of New Zealand’s wealth.” ”
When will they learn that this is not the starting point of NZ’s wealth. The starting point is the mothers who gave birth, the school teachers who taught them how to read dairy shed instructions, the port workers and truck drivers without whom the goods would get nowhere, the builders who first provide them with a home to live in.
So many farmers have thinking like this which bears no relation to reality.
Thats weird I talk to farmers all the time, never hear this view expressed.
Seems you are stereotyping a little VTO.
This http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/67679361/analysts-predict-dairy-disaster-ahead
This is the main reason farmers are having trouble retaining and employing staff.
Also I wouldn’t worry too much about dairy farmers being National voters, their are only about 12000 of them in the country, only as many votes as a largish Auckland suburb.
I know of a lot of farm employees who will be out of work next season, as dairy farmers come to grips with the probability of several years of low payout.
Also lots of farms are automating to varying degrees as well.
Me too jimmy re talking to farmers. Note also that this view was expressed by Fed Farmers who represent farmers. So no generalisations – just picking up on Fed Farmers commentary. They said it.
Regarding having trouble employing and retaining staff – farmers simply need to meet the market. They need to pay more to meet the supply and demand curve. And they need to treat their workers better.
It is simple free market economics, which the farmers support and vote for. Why don’t they comply with it? Why do they stick their hands out when the going gets a little tough for them? They come across as a little soft
When Nick Smith claims there are excessive rules under the RMA and piles up all the District Plan rulebooks from around the country to show how many rules people have to comply with, is that misleading and deceptive?
Penny Bright / Lisa Prager ‘Open Letter’ to NZ Solicitor-General Michael Heron – “Please do NOT drop the John Banks retrial!”
14 April 2015
Michael Heron
NZ Solicitor-General
Dear Solicitor-General,
As two of the three original complainants to the Police about John Banks for alleged electoral fraud arising from his 2010 Auckland Mayoral campaign, we urge you, in the public interest, NOT to drop his retrial.
In our considered opinion, in order for ‘justice to be done and be seen to be done’, the issues are these:
If John Banks knew the identity of any of his substantive electoral donors, they should not have been declared as ‘anonymous’ in his candidate’s electoral returns.
As John Banks’ campaign Treasurer was not present at all times / meetings where electoral donations were discussed or solicited, in our view, he was not in a position to know whether the list he had compiled of donations which were listed as ‘anonymous’ was accurate or not.
In our view, John Banks should not have relied upon his Treasurer’s work, in compiling this list of ‘anonymous donations’, without first carefully double-checking it himself, before signing it as the 2010 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
To us, there seems to have been a significant amount of legal ‘pin head dancing’ as it were – but if the New Zealand public is to have faith in you, as ‘the highest acting lawyer in the land’; our New Zealand ‘Justice’ and electoral systems, then the retrial of John Banks needs to go ahead.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
………………………………
‘Anti-Corruption / Anti-Privatisation campaigner / Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate (polled 4th with 11,723 votes)
I notice that today’s High Court daily list for Auckland HC includes an’ In Chambers’ telephone conference on the Crown v John Banks case at 9.00am – Justice Fogarty. Presumably this is about the retrial …..
As we are heading back into Iraq, you would think we might have heard about this report being released.
-I wonder if we’ll see any journalists asking the PM for his comments?
+100 freedom and r-y …and here is an admission, but of course Obama did not support the first Iraq war:
“In an interview with VICE founder Shane Smith, Obama said the rise of the Islamic State was a direct result of the disastrous invasion.
“ISIL is a direct outgrowth of al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion,” Obama said. “Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.”
1. when the next rateable valuation on the house is out.
2. who is next on XFactor
3. what Mike Hosking thinks about the Americas cup
4. the name of the next royal baby
5. ….
For proof of this fact see the front pages of all daily newspapers and tv news shows.
when the next rateable valuation on the house is out
so ratepayers are psychologically really happy paying more and more to Council as the paper value of their houses get pumped higher and higher, thanks to greater numbers of working New Zealanders getting themselves more indebted to banks which are mostly overseas
Prime Minister John Key says Campbell Live’s primary role was to entertain rather than hold the Government to account.
Looks like the RWNJS have got their C/T lines out now that National’s apparent attempt to kill off investigative journalism is blowing up in their face.
Thought provoking maybe but in some ways I see Cullen and Clark as the cause of the problems that Labour had at last election. Not too sure we should be paying too much heed to Cullen at all.
Of course for Dr Lance O’Sullivan to have any credibility he will also need to call for financial penalties for those who are not on a benefit. For example, tax penalty if you don’t immunise your children.
+1 Or better yet, no subsidised health care (including A and E) or education. Hitting the more well off where it hurts in a proportionally similar way to beneficiaries will make the point better.
Not really. That some doctors in NZ are protofascist isn’t new. Seymour is quoted in that article, I bet you could even find some of his voters that are doctors.
Where he displays his inability to decern between a safe situation and a dangerous accident; and while the commenters give a rousing applause and hurrah; and no doubt while the “Nappy Media” Herald protects him from more exacting commenters.
Bob’s angry that he was saved from safety, and brutally stopped from expressing the courage of his convictions. Other’s in dangerous situations should be left to drown, he implies with characteristic aloof ignorance, because once apon a time something else unrelated happened. Furthermore, other people expressing personal traits opposite to his should be restricted from the inalienable human freedoms he champions.
Also, if he could use the readership of the Herald instead of creating his own readership, that’d be good too, because no nappies for him, no way.
Don’t you feel better about the world knowing nothing has changed? Everyone is still calling for self-extinction, but still too cowardly to do it themselves.
Unfortunately I read it too.
If he really believed half of what he writes he’d have refused the offers of Nanny help from the boat & would have proudly drowned much to the relief of the rest of the country.
Key’s shocking comments today about Campbell Live.
John Key is dismissing the Campbell Live current affairs programme, claiming it’s a show geared up purely for the purpose of entertainment.
John Key told NewstalkZB the show plays no role in holding the government to account.
“Well, it’s role in life is not to hold the government to account. It’s to entertain its viewers and basically follow news stories, but a great many of those don’t involve the government. Some do.”
“Look I don’t know anything about the show other than what I read in the paper, but if you look at what you read in the paper, it’s rating badly and it’s been rating poorly over the last while.”
Asked whether the programme’s work in Christchurch was worthwhile, Key said “I don’t know, I don’t see enough of it to be honest.”
“Whether it stays or goes is a matter for Mediaworks.”
Media commentator Gavin Ellis believes broadcasters have a moral obligation to hold those in power to account, through current affairs programming.
“If they won’t voluntarily meet civic responsibility then maybe we need to look at some form of regulation to require them to provide good, competent, professional news and current affairs.”
Ellis understands demand for entertainment content is on the rise in this fast-moving internet age.
“There is an equal appetite, I would say, for serious current affairs straight after the news. I really do lament the possibility of us losing that.”
Ellis describes the current set-up of two main commercial networks, with no current affairs obligations, as ‘laissez-faire’ and questions the ability of broadcasters to produce quality current affairs without any form of regulation.
The musician Sharon Van Etten, who was a surprise guest on Campbell Live and appeared to make the host cry with delight, has tweeted in support of saving the show.
According to the television ratings website Throng, Campbell Live has experienced a ratings boost since its fate was mooted by Mediaworks.
For yesterday, April 13, 2015 over 333,000 viewers tuned in for 7pm slot.
Clem’ at 20.1.1…….those comments by The-Once-Was-God-Key underline the pathology in the man. Which is to say (if the illiterate, gauche dork could manage the third word without Crosby Textor coaching)……”It is temeritous (KeySpeak – ‘temareteris’) to fancy holding ‘us’ to account……”. The hidebound arrogance is truly stunning ! It is however his undoing. Such spectacular third-termitis. Excellent ! The robber baron traitor is on his way out !
So, why does farm size matter? As the total number of farms goes down, the number of big* farms is going up — and this shift hurts rural America. According to an analysis by Food and Water Watch: “Communities with more medium- and smaller-sized farms have more shared prosperity, including higher incomes, lower unemployment, and lower income inequality, than communities with larger farms tied to often-distant agribusinesses.”
Isn’t the same thing happening in NZ as well? The Crafar’s had certainly tried to engorge their farm.
The thing with the land being accumulated buy fewer people out in sheep/beef country is that they are struggling to get staff due to less schools for kids and opportunities for spouses to have a life beyond horses and drinking.
People on here have quoted television viewer ratings down to the nearest 100 it appears.
How are these figures arrived at?
If it’s by phone polling, then we have never been asked in the 30 years of owning a landline, and as we no longer use one of those I guess we will never be asked.
So on the off chance that the pollsters are interested …
Do we watch Campbell in this household? Well yes if we bother to have the television on at 7 pm – and have a heads-up that his guest is going to have their position on something investigated.
Do we watch Hoskings – never, cannot stand him having seen him on programmes previously.
Used to watch TV1 post Holmes for a while but couldn’t put up with Sainsbury’s lack of understanding that he had a lapel mike and that we could hear him perfectly well without the shouting, rasping voice.
… and one more thing. We used to watch the news between both channels. That was when it was 45 – 50 minutes of news and 5 minutes of weather forecasts.
Now that it is progressing towards weather interrupted by an item or two of news, we are looking for and finding other sources of news on-line.
One thing I have to give Hosking is his capacity to wander, lyrically, superficially attractively, through the words……a constant purring, know-it-all patter into which one can be easily drawn……until the gratuitous sneer and the “I’m so cool…..so cool…..so cool……” gets its head. At which point……”Fuck up, Egg !”
I wonder…….the writing on the wall for TheGodKey, can Hosking get to show a little love for Little ? Wouldn’t be surprised. The narcissistic punk is all into ‘celebrity’. The staff of his life. The $3 mill’ heist father-in-law like son-in-law. “Haw haw haw haw haw……a wonderful vintage !”
And talking of beards I well remember the Old Days in Wellington with the very same on your own jutting jaw so as to affect the ‘style’ of some Italian rake…….exiting your Jensen Interceptor to enter some piss-up in solidarity with Robert Muldoon. An ostentatiously large cigar clamped in your teeth, fingers back-to-front in the air, mock-Churchillian, to give insult.
At the rate these pricks are going with the minimum wage and zero hours contracts, there’ll be noone left in the “elder care” industry by the time they’re in nappies. And in Bob’s case that day can’t be too far off.
So when you see old Bob sitting in his nappyful of untended waste, be sure to offer him a two fingered salute. 😉
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The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – 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 is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
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. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
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China’s March exports shrink 15 percent year-on-year in shock fall
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/13/us-china-economy-trade-idUSKBN0N405D20150413
The world economy is on the brink of a worse crash than 2008.
I’d take that with a bucket of salt if I were you.
March 2013.
Make that two buckets.
Auckland’s property prices.
Who do you believe ?
The Dear Leader who says there is no crisis.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20174463/prime-minister-responds-to-calls-for-action-on-house-prices
Or a reputable economist, who says that ‘Auckland’s housing market has officially disembarked from the rest of the country.’
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/74904/bernard-hickey-argues-aucklands-housing-market-has-officially-disembarked-rest-country.
Dear Leader’s rich mates in the banking sector are making a killing in the housing debt market and so he sees no crisis there.
It suits National just fine. Property owners in Auckland gleefully await their annual property valuation, and year upon year up the price goes. many increases are stratospheric. In return Auckland is as blue as the ocean, so what do you think would happen if the incumbent National led Government took measures like limiting foreign ownership, or introducing a capital gain tax, or even a death duty tax.
What would happen is they would lose the Auckland vote and be booted out of office.
Yes that right. But it shows the lack of thinking that goes on today……
If all house prices dropped then our mortgages would be lower, the amount we had to pay for a home be lower, and we would actually have significantly more money.
Yet so many people do not see this.
Anyone know why?
Which is a direct reflection of our poor political system. Major issues such as the Auckland Housing problem should be subjected to a cross party consensus to resolve the issue. Party lines is the huge hinder and so yesteryear.
I think its a two-fold thing….
first, the bright shiny allure of seeing a supposedly real pot of gold at the end of a rainbow in the form of a housing valuation. (anyone ever caught up with that rainbow gold?)
second, the political thing. The short term nature of decision-making that our system fosters. Something like this which would reduce prices would take some time to bed in.
………………………………………….
test:
If every house in NZ went up by 50% tomorrow what would be achieved?
@Skinny Sorry but this IS a political/philosophical issue. National are cynically happy with the exorbitant valuations of Akl houses as it benefits their voters. Labour, on the other hand, sees supply of sufficient housing, especially affordable housing, as fundamental plank in a fair society.
It is developers who are dragging their feet with developments (land banking) or who are developing the wrong type of houses (4/5 bedrooms on large lots spreading ever outwards) that are causing the problems in Akl.
It is nothing at all to do with the RMA. So really this is an issue the Super City should be able to sort out itself, with central government weighing in with major state house construction. We need a change of government for his to happen.
Well No it would not. If house value falls then all those with recent mortgages would find that they owned houses with less than the security put up to purchase the house. The banks would then ask you to cough up with more security or payback your mortgage immediately. How would you go if you had a house valued at 800,000 with a 700,000 mortgage. The house value drops to 500,000 and you no longer have sufficient cover so the bank would want more money from you to reduce the mortgage to below 500,000.
This is the main reason that no political party will ever seriously try and solve the escalating house costs.
Of course. I didn’t mention the instant-term / short-term pain in adjusting as figured it was self-explanatory. There would be some short term pain for those in such a situation but that short term pain must be put aside in the interests of the mid and long term benefit for all New Zealanders.
The point raised doesn’t make the grade as a reason not to aim for lowering house prices.
Lower house prices are an exceptionally good thing for the country.
Short term pain. Obviously you either dont have a recent mortgage or maybe no mortgage. It would not be a short term pain it would be devastating. People affected would possibly lose their homes and their deposits. Yes their next home might be cheaper if they ever manage to get around to purchasing one again. They would have entered the market in good faith and then suddenly their house is devalued and they can be out on the street. Not going to happen. There are better ways to cope with the housing problem.
Yes it is painful.
But not as painful as the situation we have now (which those with high mortgages refuse to consider).
edit: perhaps a solution is to require banks, who are equally responsible for the situation and have long profited from the situation, to share in the pain. After all, mortgages are just ledger entries and not real money so there is neglible effect on them.
Or maybe encourage people to look further afield I was out Pukekohe recently and there are a number of houses in the 400-500 thousand range three bedroom good section etc but Aucklanders will not commute.
For those of us that used to work in Wellington and had to purchase out in Akatarawa which meant a 30 minute bus trip to Railhead and then an hour on train into city every day but there was little choice.
Have you got any idea as to how much commuting costs?
Not as much as driving that’s for sure, Buy a monhly pass and it’s not too bad
The word commuting isn’t specifically about using public transport and thus also involves cars and driving.
You’re missing the point ron.
Lower house prices right across the board are good for every single part of the population, not just those at the bottom.
vto – a lot of people would agree with you: lower house prices are better – and stopping people treating housing like a speculative asset would also be damn good.
The mechanisms HOW are important though. Ron raises some good points: but they are all manageable by the government.
Eg.
1) The government institutes a moratorium on mortgagee sales, repossessions and ‘margin calls’ by the bank: this will apply to all mortgages for which payments are no more than 30 days over due.
2) If a retail bank wants out of the mortgage that is ‘underwater’, fine. Government will facilitate that: the government will pay out the face value of the mortgage and the mortgage asset and administration will be taken over by Kiwibank.
3) The government will limit the loss of value anyone suffers on their primary home to a maximum of 5% of the original purchase value.
My bet is that with these, and other steps, an orderly reduction in house values of a few percentage points per year is very possible. And by also ensuring income inflation of a couple of percent a year, housing affordibility will rocket upwards over a 5 to 10 year period.
Sure the ‘how’ needs to be done as easily as possible, but the schemes suggested there, and dracos below, are so complex as to be unachievable imo. In Chch post-earthquakes we have seen the myriad variances and circumstances that have inadvertently arisen in the wake of the red-zone government offers, and that is a simple scheme.
There is also the issue of affordability. Government could not afford it. Government is struggling to afford Christchurch.
All stakeholders in property would need to share the burden. Banks are certainly stakeholders and share responsibility for the problem. They also unendingly profit from being a property stakeholder. Perhaps, put simply, the LVR on each property is maintained pre and post-value adjustment. Done.
….. but still the distortions would fly
WTF is complex about it?
No, that was an overly complex system designed, as far as I can make out, to save both the government and the insurance industry money. What the government should have done is declared the Red Zones, paid everyone in them the full market value and then turned round to the insurance companies and told them to pay up.
This is incorrect. The government can, quite literally, afford everything in NZ.
There’s an answer to that to. When the government passes legislation that drops the process of houses you have it so that they also offer to buy the house at previous market rates. The current owners get a lease at normal social housing rents.
Limit the ability for banks to raise bank debt.
If there are greater controls over bank debt: equity ratios then there would be less money available for the banks to loan out.
A property that was $1m last year in Auckland is now $1.13m ( based on the increase of the medium house price in Auckland ) Wages are static so what has changed ? The availability of plenty of cheap money, and banks openness to lend.
Also why is it that a family who are the owner:occupiers paying the same interest rate as someone who has multi properties ? What other business will the banks accept debt of 50%, 60 or even 80 % and still charge the same mortgage rate as for the sole family home ? Shouldn’t the family’s rate be lower and the commercial enterprise pay more. Isn’t it under the current scenario a family subsidising the commercial multi property owner by both paying the same rate ?
https://www.reinz.co.nz/shadomx/apps/fms/fmsdownload.cfm?file_uuid=6E818C4E-73F0-48C6-A4A4-43F2D0D229B3&siteName=reinz
There are many policies that need to be enacted that will drop the price of houses in NZ. That would certainly be one of the policies that needs to be enacted.
What I was getting at there was a response from government that could alleviate peoples fear of losing.
There’s a huge amount of such subsidies happening. You especially see it in telecommunications and power where the retail sector is massively subsidising the business sector. In both of those you see the retail sector paying massively more than the business sector which amounts to a massive subsidy.
At one point (when I was with one of the larger telcos) the management had a meeting to show us how well we were doing and in that meeting they showed us that the company was losing money on their VIP customers while still making a profit. The entire profit was coming from the residential sector after paying for the loss of the business sector. There’s no other word for that sort of transference of wealth but subsidy.
Worrying about how someone posted twice yesterday in my name.
It was not me.
How does that happen?
And what do I do about it?
Without a login anyone can use the name. The moderators discourage it but they can’t actually stop it.
Register and login to the site. Then when you post a comment it will appear in blue as mine is and nobody else will be able to use the name.
I must admit I have found dual use of names confusing. Could you please explain how one registers. I can see a log in option but not an option to register in first place.?
I think you need a wordpress account to register. Or a gravatar account. Or both?
Was it just your name, Arandar?
Or did your picture appear as well?
Hi Arandar. What comments are you referring to? I’ve searched the comment stream and all comments under my search are coming up with your email and avatar.
Arander I noticed yesterday when I was reading the Standard that your name and email address were already in the boxes below the comments. I did wonder why but as they were gone by the next time I looked I didn’t give it a thought. I have never commented here before – just read it all daily – so have no idea how such a thing would happen. I was on an ipad at the time.
Thanks Prickles, I have seen exactly this anomaly too.
that makes sense, there’s been some odd things happening lately. Lynn’s still working on the mobile version right?
Yup, I believe so.
Listening to Kim Hill interviewing the Minister about Zero Hour Contracts.
First time I have heard National say anything about them. Thank goodness Labour, Unions and the very decent John Campbell have been actively exposing these utterly dreadful practices.
I got the impression National may not have gotten around to looking at these issues at all, and without Campbell Live to let the rest of us know, Zero Hour Contracts would have become the norm, as they have in other countries.
Luckily, fear of sales dropping after exposure has empowered the slaves to a small degree.
maybe we could start a campaign to get Kim back on Morning Report. Suzi could get a job in a ministers office surely?
Meanwhile in the virtual reality world of Fearfax, no such momentous events exist.
Instead consumers of their ‘news’ can read this as the main headlines.
Scrutiny on doctors
Selfie-sticks a public scourge
Trolley bus cost shock
$14,000 bike stolen
Surprising visitors came for CWC.
And the Herald pumps out the following vital information as the leaders.
Trio on the run after ram-raid burglary
Colin Slade’s $700k move to French club
Two Farro stores cop alcohol sale bans
‘I shot him’: deputy kills black suspect
Disabled man in car, carer goes fishing
As George Carlin said.
“But I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. “
Draco. Thank you. I’ve tried to follow your advice and cannot work out how to register and log in. I’m a techno fool I know.
Felix. Yes, picture as well.
The picture is tied to your email address, so it’s a bit concerning if someone else can use that.
Perhaps if we yell HITLER NAZI TROLL HELENGRAD we can attract a mod to have a look.
😆
Felix. That’s what I thought. I sent a couple of emails to thestandardnz last night when I found the two comments.
Ps. Am on an iPad and don’t have the reply facility. Sorry about that too – spreading my woe all over this thread.
Hi, Arandar, I’m sure a mod with the technical abilities will have a look ASAP. But, in the meantime, have a go at logging in, as DtB suggests. The log in box is at the top right of the page.
TRP, thanks for that.
I’ve moved to laptop so can reply now.
I’ve tried logging in several times but it says I’m locked out.
Hmmm, that might also be related to the misuse of your identity, but I’m sure it can be sorted pretty quickly. Just as an aside, it might be worth checking your fb and email accounts just in case the hack is wider than just here at TS.
and change all passwords.
and shift one’s thinking from password to passphrase …… advice from Snowden himself:
http://rt.com/usa/248401-snowden-oliver-password-protection-advice/
and more tips such as:
* Long enough to be hard to guess
* Not a famous quotation from literature, holy books, et cetera [or lyrics]
* Hard to guess by intuition—even by someone who knows the user well
* Easy to remember and type accurately
* For better security, any easily memorable encoding at the user’s own level can be applied.
* Not reused between sites, applications and other different sources.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passphrase
I notice they don’t give any useful examples 😉 (that list is pretty hard to achieve).
Snowden’s suggestion was “MargaretThatcheris110%sexy” – perhaps something similarly unlikely could be worked up for our current PM.
eeeww (but good example from Snowden thanks).
How about “JohnKeyi$110%truthful”?
One up on Snowden’s suggestion, with an additional symbol.
Yes Arander I picked up on those two comments and didn’t think they sounded as having come from you.
Lynn disabled log-ins for the average user literally years ago. Only the few people who had signed up before then can still log-in. And authors.
I wasn’t aware of that, Lanth, thanks. I only got a log in organised when I became an author, never really thought about it prior to that.
Hadn’t realised that.
A couple of times over the many years, when not logged in to TS, I have found the comment / reply fields populated with someone else’s data, apparently at random. The most recent case was within the last couple of months.
Suspect it is a cache / cookie confusion issue perhaps when two people are connected via the same ISP / subnet – but I’m just waving my hands in the air there.
I’ve searched the back end comment stream (email, avatar and comments all line up)and then yesterday’s individual pages through firefox search option. Can’t find anything unusual. Again. Can somebody point me to the comments in question?
Didn’t happen to use a public computer and leave stuff sitting?
Hi Bill,
No I use only my own laptop and my own iPad and iPhone. I comment very rarely though I read daily and haven’t commented probably for a couple of months now…
The two comments yesterday were on the Get rid of the leftwing Bastard thread and the Miranda Devine thread. Neither were from me.
I got my husband to help me check back through the previous couple of days posts and comments for anything else that might have been posted by someone using my name and picture. When he went onto The Standard website, on his iPad, there was someone else’s name and email in the Leave a Comment area. He’s never gone to The Standard before – usually gets me to read to him all the interesting stuff – lazy beggar!
I thought that was odd and I’d guess that’s what’s happened; my name and email ended up on someone else’s tablet. How that also involves my picture I don’t know but then I don’t know much anyway and SFA about any of this stuff.
Problem, my changing my passwords won’t stop this happening, will it? Since this isn’t passworded in the first place?
Okay. I’m stumped. I’m no tech head. All I can do for the time being is note on those comments that they weren’t made by you. Hopefully Lynn will be able to get to the bottom of it. Seems like an apple thing though.
You won’t see anything at all unusual, just what appears to be a regular comment from that individual. In this case only Arandar can say which comments they didn’t write. Ahh – reading back – it is the (only) two comments made by that username yesterday. Nothing obvious springs to mind looking at the IP address involved.
Was browsing from my iPad yesterday and noticed the Leave a Comment had someone elses name and email address there. Was concerned as it was a sort of “Spooks” name. Anyway, I just deleted it and carried on browsing.
Must check today when I get back to the iPad.
rOb – it happened to me yesterday while I was browsing on my iPad. The “Leave a Comment” section had Name and Mail boxes with strange names in it. I just deleted them and carried on browsing. Will check my iPad again when I can get to it.
Have never seen that. I know that one other person from my work has posted a comment on TS, although only once and several years ago now.
Farmers support the free market. They sell to the highest possible buyer in the world. Farmers also support the National Party in droves, with their free market philosophy etc.
Yet here are Federated Farmers complaining about the free market not filling their free market business requirements with low-paid employees. The farmers are not willing to pay what the market requires for people to work in their businesses so they import cheaper labour from o.s.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/67648025/criteria-too-tough-on-migrant-workers–federated-farmers
Complete hypocrisy and lack of credibility.
Then to top that nerve in making such a brazen hypocritical claim, they add another with this …. “Macpherson said this ruled out most migrant workers, and the approach was short-sighted. “Even if they’re just milking the cows,” he said, “they’re still working at the starting point of New Zealand’s wealth.” ”
When will they learn that this is not the starting point of NZ’s wealth. The starting point is the mothers who gave birth, the school teachers who taught them how to read dairy shed instructions, the port workers and truck drivers without whom the goods would get nowhere, the builders who first provide them with a home to live in.
So many farmers have thinking like this which bears no relation to reality.
Thats weird I talk to farmers all the time, never hear this view expressed.
Seems you are stereotyping a little VTO.
This http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/67679361/analysts-predict-dairy-disaster-ahead
This is the main reason farmers are having trouble retaining and employing staff.
Also I wouldn’t worry too much about dairy farmers being National voters, their are only about 12000 of them in the country, only as many votes as a largish Auckland suburb.
I know of a lot of farm employees who will be out of work next season, as dairy farmers come to grips with the probability of several years of low payout.
Also lots of farms are automating to varying degrees as well.
Me too jimmy re talking to farmers. Note also that this view was expressed by Fed Farmers who represent farmers. So no generalisations – just picking up on Fed Farmers commentary. They said it.
Regarding having trouble employing and retaining staff – farmers simply need to meet the market. They need to pay more to meet the supply and demand curve. And they need to treat their workers better.
It is simple free market economics, which the farmers support and vote for. Why don’t they comply with it? Why do they stick their hands out when the going gets a little tough for them? They come across as a little soft
I see Tony Abbott has today announced tax penalties for those citizens who don’t vaccinate their children.
………
tories, National Party supporters and conservatives ……..
they
just
don’t
think
Any reason why TS is not showing the most recent posts in my Feedly? Hasn’t for a few days now.
When Nick Smith claims there are excessive rules under the RMA and piles up all the District Plan rulebooks from around the country to show how many rules people have to comply with, is that misleading and deceptive?
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/overhauling-resource-management-act
Because of course, those 80,000 pages are to cover all of the country’s councils. It is not 80,000 pages for every Council. Yet Smith claims it is.
Nick Smith lies and deceives.
yep. Any joking references calling him on it from the msm political commentariat? lol no need to answer that one 🙂
Penny Bright / Lisa Prager ‘Open Letter’ to NZ Solicitor-General Michael Heron – “Please do NOT drop the John Banks retrial!”
14 April 2015
Michael Heron
NZ Solicitor-General
Dear Solicitor-General,
As two of the three original complainants to the Police about John Banks for alleged electoral fraud arising from his 2010 Auckland Mayoral campaign, we urge you, in the public interest, NOT to drop his retrial.
In our considered opinion, in order for ‘justice to be done and be seen to be done’, the issues are these:
If John Banks knew the identity of any of his substantive electoral donors, they should not have been declared as ‘anonymous’ in his candidate’s electoral returns.
As John Banks’ campaign Treasurer was not present at all times / meetings where electoral donations were discussed or solicited, in our view, he was not in a position to know whether the list he had compiled of donations which were listed as ‘anonymous’ was accurate or not.
In our view, John Banks should not have relied upon his Treasurer’s work, in compiling this list of ‘anonymous donations’, without first carefully double-checking it himself, before signing it as the 2010 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
To us, there seems to have been a significant amount of legal ‘pin head dancing’ as it were – but if the New Zealand public is to have faith in you, as ‘the highest acting lawyer in the land’; our New Zealand ‘Justice’ and electoral systems, then the retrial of John Banks needs to go ahead.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
………………………………
‘Anti-Corruption / Anti-Privatisation campaigner / Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate (polled 4th with 11,723 votes)
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate
Lisa Prager
…………………….
Community activist / advocate Public Watchdog
Good on you, Penny.
I notice that today’s High Court daily list for Auckland HC includes an’ In Chambers’ telephone conference on the Crown v John Banks case at 9.00am – Justice Fogarty. Presumably this is about the retrial …..
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/business/calendar/daily-lists/2-National%20Court%20List%20-%20Tuesday%20-%2014.04.2015.pdf
As we are heading back into Iraq, you would think we might have heard about this report being released.
-I wonder if we’ll see any journalists asking the PM for his comments?
http://yournewswire.com/declassified-cia-document-reveals-iraq-war-had-zero-justification/
kudos due to one Helen Clark on our behalf … great link, thx freedom.
Those three in the picture should be up on war crimes charges with the greedy and vile Blair who still wishes to rule the whole world.
+100 freedom and r-y …and here is an admission, but of course Obama did not support the first Iraq war:
“In an interview with VICE founder Shane Smith, Obama said the rise of the Islamic State was a direct result of the disastrous invasion.
“ISIL is a direct outgrowth of al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion,” Obama said. “Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.”
– See more at: http://yournewswire.com/declassified-cia-document-reveals-iraq-war-had-zero-justification/#sthash.iT4qCCAv.dpuf
A thought provoking speech about the Labour party by Michael Cullen.
http://polity.co.nz/content/sir-michael-cullen-labour
Also;
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/04/12/live-event-table-talk-making-sense-of-the-campbell-live-affair/
Might be worth tuning into…
cool, that’s tonight.
Discussion of the lack of a true media in NZ?
Why do we need one of those?
All we need to know is;
1. when the next rateable valuation on the house is out.
2. who is next on XFactor
3. what Mike Hosking thinks about the Americas cup
4. the name of the next royal baby
5. ….
For proof of this fact see the front pages of all daily newspapers and tv news shows.
when the next rateable valuation on the house is out
so ratepayers are psychologically really happy paying more and more to Council as the paper value of their houses get pumped higher and higher, thanks to greater numbers of working New Zealanders getting themselves more indebted to banks which are mostly overseas
John Key dismisses Campbell Live as entertainment
Looks like the RWNJS have got their C/T lines out now that National’s apparent attempt to kill off investigative journalism is blowing up in their face.
+100…John Key is getting very worried about the public backlash to the axing of Campbell Live…. and his part in it…as well as that of his friends
Here is the sort of investigative journalism from Campbell that John Key is really worried about…and why he wants to axe Campbell’s programme
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/campbelllive/keys-meeting-with-gcsb-boss-revealed-2014052019
Thought provoking maybe but in some ways I see Cullen and Clark as the cause of the problems that Labour had at last election. Not too sure we should be paying too much heed to Cullen at all.
Occasional trip- ups on hurried keyboards are no problem but a minor spelling point from a self confessed pedant.
Don’t confuse ‘their’, and ‘there’. …
‘Their’ is a possessive pronoun: I like their new car.
‘There’ is an adverb meaning ‘at that place’: park the car over there.
There, that feels better.
How to comfort a grammar nazi?
They’re, there, their.
No its not Deutsch grammar- just English spelling..and by the way …
a |ā, ə|( an before a vowel sound) [ called the indefinite article ]
ref. Open mike 01/04/2015
“Used to be an (sic) girl group many years ago. ……! ”
Bye!
And from another pedant: I do wish people would learn to distinguish between bought and brought.
Bought is the past tense for buy.
Brought is the past tense for bring.
I bought a loaf of bread from the dairy.
I brought the washing in off the line.
“I bought a loaf of bread from the dairy.
I brought the washing in off the line”
I brought a loaf of bread from the dairy.
I bought the washing machine on line.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/doctor-mp-back-no-jab-no-pay-scheme-2015041408#axzz3XEsnbz35
– Well that makes things more interesting
Of course for Dr Lance O’Sullivan to have any credibility he will also need to call for financial penalties for those who are not on a benefit. For example, tax penalty if you don’t immunise your children.
Easy. Done.
+1 Or better yet, no subsidised health care (including A and E) or education. Hitting the more well off where it hurts in a proportionally similar way to beneficiaries will make the point better.
“– Well that makes things more interesting”
Not really. That some doctors in NZ are protofascist isn’t new. Seymour is quoted in that article, I bet you could even find some of his voters that are doctors.
Looks like Venezuela is headed for an unholy mess later on this year.
https://www.stratfor.com/image/low-oil-prices-are-crashing-venezuelas-economy
No doubt a right wing facist dictator will eventually take over and normality will return.
Or the people will get sick of the lies and failures of the Bolivarian Revolution and vote in an economically literate government.
Is Bob Jones going nuts in his old age, or was he never really present? Just finished reading his latest offering here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11432112
Where he displays his inability to decern between a safe situation and a dangerous accident; and while the commenters give a rousing applause and hurrah; and no doubt while the “Nappy Media” Herald protects him from more exacting commenters.
Bob’s angry that he was saved from safety, and brutally stopped from expressing the courage of his convictions. Other’s in dangerous situations should be left to drown, he implies with characteristic aloof ignorance, because once apon a time something else unrelated happened. Furthermore, other people expressing personal traits opposite to his should be restricted from the inalienable human freedoms he champions.
Also, if he could use the readership of the Herald instead of creating his own readership, that’d be good too, because no nappies for him, no way.
Don’t you feel better about the world knowing nothing has changed? Everyone is still calling for self-extinction, but still too cowardly to do it themselves.
Unfortunately I read it too.
If he really believed half of what he writes he’d have refused the offers of Nanny help from the boat & would have proudly drowned much to the relief of the rest of the country.
Here we go again
What’s the bet that this government will give away a few more tens of millions of our money to a massively profitable foreign company?
Key’s shocking comments today about Campbell Live.
John Key is dismissing the Campbell Live current affairs programme, claiming it’s a show geared up purely for the purpose of entertainment.
John Key told NewstalkZB the show plays no role in holding the government to account.
“Well, it’s role in life is not to hold the government to account. It’s to entertain its viewers and basically follow news stories, but a great many of those don’t involve the government. Some do.”
“Look I don’t know anything about the show other than what I read in the paper, but if you look at what you read in the paper, it’s rating badly and it’s been rating poorly over the last while.”
Asked whether the programme’s work in Christchurch was worthwhile, Key said “I don’t know, I don’t see enough of it to be honest.”
“Whether it stays or goes is a matter for Mediaworks.”
Media commentator Gavin Ellis believes broadcasters have a moral obligation to hold those in power to account, through current affairs programming.
“If they won’t voluntarily meet civic responsibility then maybe we need to look at some form of regulation to require them to provide good, competent, professional news and current affairs.”
Ellis understands demand for entertainment content is on the rise in this fast-moving internet age.
“There is an equal appetite, I would say, for serious current affairs straight after the news. I really do lament the possibility of us losing that.”
Ellis describes the current set-up of two main commercial networks, with no current affairs obligations, as ‘laissez-faire’ and questions the ability of broadcasters to produce quality current affairs without any form of regulation.
The musician Sharon Van Etten, who was a surprise guest on Campbell Live and appeared to make the host cry with delight, has tweeted in support of saving the show.
According to the television ratings website Throng, Campbell Live has experienced a ratings boost since its fate was mooted by Mediaworks.
For yesterday, April 13, 2015 over 333,000 viewers tuned in for 7pm slot.
Here is the link for full information:
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/entertainment/john-key-dismisses-campbell-live/?fb_action_ids=10152825825013297&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.VSxFC5vSCnZ.like
Well look at who Newstalk ZB employ to impart their version of the news.
Mike Hosking!
Here is another report followed by good comments below:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/67740334/prime-minister-john-key-labels-campbell-live-entertainment
Key is a disgrace!
Clem’ at 20.1.1…….those comments by The-Once-Was-God-Key underline the pathology in the man. Which is to say (if the illiterate, gauche dork could manage the third word without Crosby Textor coaching)……”It is temeritous (KeySpeak – ‘temareteris’) to fancy holding ‘us’ to account……”. The hidebound arrogance is truly stunning ! It is however his undoing. Such spectacular third-termitis. Excellent ! The robber baron traitor is on his way out !
snap!!!
+100…why it is a political decision to axe Campbell live by John Key and his henchmen and women
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/04/14/why-the-axing-of-campbell-live-is-being-driven-by-dirty-politics/
The rock star economy……..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11432381
America has fewer and larger farms. Here’s why that matters
Isn’t the same thing happening in NZ as well? The Crafar’s had certainly tried to engorge their farm.
Isn’t this phenomenon just what you describe often dtb? Namely, this is where capitalism always ends up, with all the wealth in the hands of a few?
Yep and it always fails.
The thing with the land being accumulated buy fewer people out in sheep/beef country is that they are struggling to get staff due to less schools for kids and opportunities for spouses to have a life beyond horses and drinking.
People on here have quoted television viewer ratings down to the nearest 100 it appears.
How are these figures arrived at?
If it’s by phone polling, then we have never been asked in the 30 years of owning a landline, and as we no longer use one of those I guess we will never be asked.
So on the off chance that the pollsters are interested …
Do we watch Campbell in this household? Well yes if we bother to have the television on at 7 pm – and have a heads-up that his guest is going to have their position on something investigated.
Do we watch Hoskings – never, cannot stand him having seen him on programmes previously.
Used to watch TV1 post Holmes for a while but couldn’t put up with Sainsbury’s lack of understanding that he had a lapel mike and that we could hear him perfectly well without the shouting, rasping voice.
… and one more thing. We used to watch the news between both channels. That was when it was 45 – 50 minutes of news and 5 minutes of weather forecasts.
Now that it is progressing towards weather interrupted by an item or two of news, we are looking for and finding other sources of news on-line.
One thing I have to give Hosking is his capacity to wander, lyrically, superficially attractively, through the words……a constant purring, know-it-all patter into which one can be easily drawn……until the gratuitous sneer and the “I’m so cool…..so cool…..so cool……” gets its head. At which point……”Fuck up, Egg !”
I wonder…….the writing on the wall for TheGodKey, can Hosking get to show a little love for Little ? Wouldn’t be surprised. The narcissistic punk is all into ‘celebrity’. The staff of his life. The $3 mill’ heist father-in-law like son-in-law. “Haw haw haw haw haw……a wonderful vintage !”
For now……Marie Antoinette without the bouff’.
You’ll find the answers about ratings here: http://www.agbnielsen.co.nz/
‘I have been controversial’: Guenter Grass, Germany’s Nobel-winning author, dies at 87′
http://rt.com/news/249317-gunter-grass-dies-87/
Watch Campbell Live today to prevent that programme from getting the axe.
7pm.
Let us show the stupid RW head honchos of Media Works how bloody minded and wring they are.
Also read below Campbell thanking us all.
https://twitter.com/CampbellLiveNZ/status/587770033289334784/photo/1
Ummh…….I suspect your primary garment IS a nappy…….Sir Bob. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11432112
And talking of beards I well remember the Old Days in Wellington with the very same on your own jutting jaw so as to affect the ‘style’ of some Italian rake…….exiting your Jensen Interceptor to enter some piss-up in solidarity with Robert Muldoon. An ostentatiously large cigar clamped in your teeth, fingers back-to-front in the air, mock-Churchillian, to give insult.
The nappy is new…….the ‘prick’ is not !
At the rate these pricks are going with the minimum wage and zero hours contracts, there’ll be noone left in the “elder care” industry by the time they’re in nappies. And in Bob’s case that day can’t be too far off.
So when you see old Bob sitting in his nappyful of untended waste, be sure to offer him a two fingered salute. 😉