an expression long in popular usage–“kiwi”–needs to be dropped; “kiwi” should apply to a bird or a fruit
“kiwi” as referring to people has been misused for too long, there are so many variations on “kiwi”, even a pecking order, the term is really shorthand for a form of reinforcing NZ nationalism
–a proper kiwi is white, reactionary, conservative, increasingly even if not articulated, neo liberal in world view, a compliant consumer–“NZ is Middle Earth”
–a “good kiwi bloke” was born here
–an honorary kiwi can be of all sorts of ethnicity–e.g. a migrant that has done the right thing such as taking off their garb like a Sikh person did to rescue a “kiwi” child
–brats on overseas trips, New Zealanders working overseas, and especially sports people are all bestowed when tragedy or honour strikes as “kiwis”
BUT what about Eleanor Catton? Nicky Hager? Hone Harawira? no kiwidom for them, kick “kiwi” to the kerb fellow commenters
I couldn’t agree with you more, Tiger Mountain – it drives me crazy, especially as I see behind its constant use a lot of social and political manipulation.
I get really cranky if someone tries to describe me as a ‘kiwi’. If I’m overseas I’m a New Zealander, if I’m home and more definition is required I’m a Pakeha
If you call a kiwifruit a kiwi you’re not a Kiwi 😉 (not sure who started the idea that a kiwitfruit is a kiwi but it strikes me as an Americanism).
“–a proper kiwi is white, reactionary, conservative, increasingly even if not articulated, neo liberal in world view, a compliant consumer–“NZ is Middle Earth””
Except it’s not. I don’t generally think of myself as a Kiwi, but I might say I am if I were online talking to someone overseas. I’m definitely white, but I’m not neoliberal conservative or a compliant Middle Earth consumer.
a lengthy paper could be written on the history of “kiwis” as humans, can’t cover it all in a blog post, but think of it this way–if you are not a kiwi–Whadarrryaaa!!!! then, that is how bad I think the usage has got in backing up the Nats and the unspoken expectations of what being a “kiwi” entails
don’t want the new John and Richie flag? don’t like rugby much? not a real kiwi then are you…sure there are no doubt some lovely people that casually adopt the vernacular but it is time to question it
I think you run the risk of ceding ground there. The right may very well have tried to appropriate the term Kiwi (eg Iwi/Kiwi), but they haven’t succeeded. You appear to be agreeing with their appropriation. I’d say take the word back instead.
When I was a child there were no kiwifruit; there was only the not-very-popular Chinese gooseberry. Then someone started to grow them on farms and popularise them. A better name for marketing was needed, so the synthetic name ‘kiwifruit’ was invented, with much acclaim.
The unintended consequence: because probably 99% of the world’s population have no idea that there is such a thing as a Kiwi bird (and maybe even that there is such a country as New Zealand!) the well-marketed popular kiwifruit had its name shortened to ‘kiwi’ almost everywhere, and the vast majority of the world’s population now think that is what ‘kiwi’ means.
In 1980 I was living in France, and was surprised to see kiwifruit labelled as ‘kiwi’ being sold at an exorbitant price at the fruit market. I soon found that they were also called ‘kiwi’ in Germany, and the rest of Europe. Why add the unnecessary ‘fruit’ on the end?
So like it or not, that is what ‘kiwi’ means to most of the rest of the world. It takes some insularity and naivety to expect that the rest of the world should know that the kiwi is a funny-looking flightless bird, even though NZers assume that it should be universally known. Only most Aussies and some of the British would think of the term ‘Kiwi’ as referring to an NZer. Unlikely that many others would.
yes, but people in NZ still called them Chinese gooseberries for a long time after that. I think it wasn’t until the kiwifruit boom (1980s?) that the name changed in common usage.
Although born in NZ, I went to live in the UK for 4 years in the 1950s as a schoolchild. Kiwi then was boot polish, as I recall, and no-one thought of applying it to a person (thank goodness). Can you remember when this term gained ground in its use for people? I really dislike it
various online accounts, but it was used in the military from Boer War/WWI onwards due to small Kiwi emblems on clothing, and entered popular usage internationally after WWII and before kiwifruit marketing
Thanks Tiger Mountain. Back then was it mainly used for the military or for everyone?
It’s definitely been subject to deliberate capture now to give a certain image – a sort of ‘Aussie-lite’
“Kiwi” is one of the most popular supermarkets in Norway (possibly second only to Rema 1000). Saw plenty of them (main colour – a kiwifruit Green) on our recent trip there. Made us feel right at home …… in fact, I almost had to wipe a tear from my eye as my thoughts turned nostalgically to the old Country.
this piece reminds me of someone…’since Bloomberg first published the forex price-rigging story last June, 29 senior traders – all men, strangely enough – have been named as involved and most have been placed on leave, suspended or fired.
Chalkie has heard it said that the artificial movement of forex rates at the 4pm fix can be thought of as the price to pay for having so much liquidity available at a specific minute in the day.
Perhaps that is so but it does not make colluding with competitors any less wrong.
The remarkable thing about this affair is how easy it would be to prevent.
If indexes used an average price for a whole day rather than a 4pm fix, for example, the problem would disappear.
So why didn’t this happen years ago? Chalkie reckons it comes down to the financial industry’s traditional view that it is fine to screw customers as long as they don’t realise they are being screwed. Silence is golden.
Chalkie is written by Fairfax business bureau deputy editor Tim Hunter.
Cunliffe has Steven Joyce on the back foot on the cuts to 3rd level education budgets.
Joyce has had too easy a ride in his various portfolios. He is a serial disaster who has not been properly exposed. Good to see Cunliffe taking it to him.
“Steven Joyce refutes claims ‘lives are at stake’ due to polytech ‘shortcuts'”
This is after years of dogged work and really expensive District Plan hearings opposed tooth and nail by Federated Farmers, Scion the tree genetics people, and others.
The uniqueness of this victory is it’s not driven by the usual suspects. It’s driven by fruit growers who want to protect and promote the extra value they get for the privilege of being able to declare their crops GE free.
For my sins over the last week I read Margaret Attwood’s Oryx and Crake, a full-fledged gene spliced apocalyptic dystopia. Of course it pushed GE experimentation to its furthest lengths. But the message was the same: GE experimentation is wrong, it will get out of the labs, and its effects will be unstoppable and unpredictable.
A GE free New Zealand is a New Zealand whose values have been protected.
Huge ups in particular to all those who donated, drafted, advocated and sustained the effort against these massive companies to win.
The same sort of action is taking place in the EU which has the sister agreement TTIP to counter.
“Local councils tearing strips off TTIP”
“Politicians in both Brussels and Westminster have taken great pains to try and brush off people’s many concerns about the toxic trade deal being pushed through by the EU and the United States.”
…
“An exciting new front is emerging in the battle against TTIP, harnessing the energy of grassroots groups to push opposition to the corporate power grab up the political food chain via the power of local councils. In Britain and across Europe, TTIP Free Zones are popping up like people-power mushrooms.
But TTIP Free Zones are equally important as a means of promoting an understanding the impact TTIP would have on the powers of local councils. TTIP could also affect existing powers granted to local authorities such as planning. The decision of Lancashire County Council to deny planning permission for fracking in the local area is the sort of decision that would be harder to make under TTIP – first because such a decision could be challenged under ISDS, and second because of the pressure to ‘harmonize’ energy regulations. ”
Well – that IS good news, Ad, But…. and there’s a huge BUT coming along – the Govt has introduced a National Environment Standard for plantation forests, and at the very last moment put in a small clause which explicity allows government agencies to overturn any attempts by local councils to prevent GMO-modified plants/trees coming into their districts.
There were 16,000 submissions opposing this small clause, but it remains to be seen whether the govt will take any notice of them.
The Tory propagandists attacks on Corbyn begins already. Press columnist Tracey Watkins chooses words carefully..”scruffy socialist…”unelectable…” ..drags the party” ..etc etc., and makes attempts to denigrate Labour’s leadership by tenuous analogies.
Right wingers love tenuous analogies. Mud (dirt) sticks.
We don’t see the same language when writing about the present government.. . funny that !
Sounds like the stuff article on the weekend that mentioned “Marx”, “socialist” and “unelectable” all in the first 2 lines. Something tells me the press are right behind this guy!!..
I noted also that the Radio NZ news at 7am was like a propaganda broadcast: “In our poll of polls, taken from the last four polls, John Key’s National government is 1% more popular than it was on election night, with Labour and the Greens trailing…” I mention it because an average of four polls a long way out from an election is hardly leading news. Moreover, NZ1 didn’t rate a mention. The subtext seemed to say, “OK, Corbyn might be Britain’s Labour leader, but round here Key remains large and in charge.”
Yes, I found it odd that they did not mention NZ First who are also part of the opposition. A balanced story would have talked about the total opposition in relationship to National.
I was astonished at the subset of comments linking the results to an FPP environment instead of an MMP one. Espinor commented to the effect… National’s total was so far ahead of Labour’s (as if it is still between the two biggest parties) and the only way Labour could ever win an election was to join with the Greens. No acknowledgement that MMP works on a ‘left and right’ divide and is not a contest between two parties.
Lazy reporting or a deliberate attempt to spin the outcome to look like it means something else? The latter of course.
No acknowledgement that MMP works on a ‘left and right’ divide and is not a contest between two parties. Our version of MMP has certainly turned out that way, but rather than acknowledging it, most of the press seem to use a blurred distinction between FPP and MMP to play up Key’s popularity.
Yes, I have been following these comments of yours, and just had a look at them again. The figures you have gathered speak for themselves. One difference between Key and Clark at this stage though, is that in her case the press had already begun to sink the boot in. With Key, they seem to be continually signalling, “Don’t worry mate, I’m still batting for your team” – their poll interpretations are but one example of this.
John Key thinks that drone attacks killing innocent people are justified because we are killing bad people too. So I thought I’d show you how propaganda works. The story? God hates Muslims and the Bin Ladens are evil, The Russians hate us but GOD LOVES US!
The Commerce Commission (the competition watchdog) is currently taking submissions on a $785 million deal, which would create a combined entity selling around half of New Zealand’s transport fuels.
However, Z Energy (which is part owned by the NZ Superannuation Fund) is so confident the deal will be approved have already spent $40m before the Commerce Commission announces whether the deal will be approved.
Public submissions from industry groups and fuel companies have raised concerns about the market power the proposed merged company would have in the retail market, particularly in smaller centres.
Z argues that there are only five areas where consumers would see the options reduce from two companies into one within a five kilometre radius.
BP, Z’s largest competitor, argues that “competition issues” would arise in more areas than was being claimed.
The AA say the risk of “disparate fuel pricing” would increase if Z and Caltex had the same owners.
Retail competition is one of a string of areas where rivals and the industry warn a combined Z/Caltex would have a dominant position, with concerns raised about the control of fuel terminals at ports, sales of bitumen and a large number of truck stops.
This watchdog has pretty much always rubber stamped the removal of competition and was gutted by the nact early on.
Paying $40m is a safe bet as the last time they turned anything large down was AirNZ/Qantas code share from memory.
Even if they do reject it a few tweaks and a resubmit would see it get approval as part of the illusion that consumers are being looked after which rarely ever happens.
No, monopolies are what drive prices up and wages down.
Can we take it you support this merger, believing it will drive prices down and wages up?
Increasing labour supply will have downward pressure. Increasing demand for workers drives wages up, thus there is a difference, which I assume your confusion stems from.
Competitive business that don’t compete tend to be cartelling, which is illegal.
Where we might agree is a genuine non profit monopoly can reduce duplication, thus overheads, which can result in lowering prices as there is no profit gouging.
Increasing the amount of businesses partaking increases labour demand as more positions are required to be fulled.
Being a government run monopoly isn’t on the table, nor was it the question. Care to try again?
Actually, it was on the table as I said down here. You seem to have got confused and thought I meant a non-profit private monopoly which I will never support.
Competitive business that don’t compete tend to be cartelling, which is illegal.
And since when did laws ever stop crime? And do you recall the LIBOR and other banking scandals? Businesses operating as a cartel happens all the fucken time.
Where we might agree is a genuine non profit monopoly can reduce duplication, thus overheads, which can result in lowering prices as there is no profit gouging.
All monopolies will reduce duplication and thus overhead from what we get from competitive markets. A private monopoly will gouge prices to boost income.
Increasing the amount of businesses partaking increases labour demand as more positions are required to be fulled.
Only in the bureaucracy. So we get more high paid jobs, no more low paid jobs and the prices go up to cover those unnecessary high paid jobs.
No. Although it is your preferred choice, it’s not a choice the commission have, nor does it relate to the question put to you. Feel free to try again. It was a simple question.
Open your eyes, competition is a reality – not merely a hypothesis. Although it is lacking in this small country of ours.
There are numerous people in jail, thus their criminal activity has been stopped by the law. Unfortunately, some get away with their crimes.
Yes, all monopolies will reduce duplication and thus overheads, but generally, genuine non profits will pass those savings on to lower prices. Therefore, we do agree on that point.
Increasing the amount of businesses partaking increases labour demand as more positions are required to be filled. Not only in the top end bureaucracy, but right down to front line staff and cleaners, etc.
Prof. Tim Bale of Univ. of London—anybody familiar with him?
Monday 14 September 2015
I know he used to work at Victoria University of Wellington, and I suspect he may have been a poster on this excellent site. Earlier this morning I heard him deliver the most sneering and contemptuous putdown of Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters on Radio NZ National. As usual, poor old Guyon Espiner didn’t seem to have a clue.
Transcript to come as soon as I recover from my boiling rage….
Yep, a very nice bloke on a personal level, but, Christ !!!, the guy’s tweets on Corbyn over the last few weeks have been irritating the hell out of me.
Enormous amount of sneering and ridicule, open speculation on the most effective way to take Corbyn down (I mean he’s supposed to be an objective, independent scholar, for chrissakes !!!, not some scheming factional insider in the Party machine. Tim’s obviously highly excited to be on the fringes of the Westminster elite: One of his Tweets: “Question for Labour moderates: better to roll Corbyn after 2017 locals or let him go all the way to 2020 so lesson is truly learned”). He’s also remarkably selective in the “research” he links to (often turgid stuff emanating from the lavishly-funded Blairite Progress group- Why Corbyn is Unelectable and so on).
He’s the go-to-guy for the BBC these days….was the major post-May-election analyst, for instance.
Just a cosy little establishment clique – seasoned journos from the MSM, independent commentators, and the intelligentsia – most former Oxbridge, all acting like fully paid-up enablers and cheerleaders for the little Blairite elite. Seems to be no shame involved.
Tim was always a Blairite (he described himself as a vague, wishy-washy social democrat if I remember rightly) and it struck me at the time (we’re talking more than 15 years ago) that his visceral contempt for Labour’s Left was far more extreme than any critique he offered of the Tories. As with our own wannabe Blairites – especially Phil Quin – their sheer disdain for anyone to the Left of Harriet Harman (Bale) or Mike Moore (Quin) appears to be deeply emotional.
It’s clear that this isn’t about finding the best electoral strategy for UK Labour to win government, they – like Blair – really are opposed to what most of us consider core social democratic values. They belong squarely in the socially-liberal, pro-EU faction of the British Conservative Party (although, come to think of it, Quin isn’t necessarily all that liberal either).
“Frankly, I think it’s NUTS!”
Hooton continues to run amok every Monday morning. From the Left and From the Right, Radio NZ National, 14/9/15
Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Hooton, Mike Williams
They should just put a corpse in Mike Williams’s chair. The corpse might have a bit more gumption, and would definitely display a lot more life. First topic today was the election of Jeremy Corbyn to leadership of the Labour Party. Of course, Hooton took control of the discussion from the start….
MATTHEW HOOTON: Frankly, I think it’s NUTS! Maybe it IS the will of the British people to get out of NATO after sixty or seventy years. Maybe it IS their will to be led by an aging Marxist who has endorsed every major terrorist group…. [splutter, snort]….
From Mike Williams, silence, closely resembling stupidity, and/or cowardice, and/or bewilderment. Hooton bored on….
MATTHEW HOOTON: In the scheme of things, I would say that this guy is way more to the left of the Labour Party than Thatcher was to the right of her party. It’s an example of a mainstream political party being hijacked by activists!
Kathryn Ryan actually dared to challenged him over that. Mike Williams, by contrast, remained almost completely silent as Hooton ranted….
MATTHEW HOOTON: So fifteen thousand new members signed up for the Labour Party. Well, that’s the equivalent of nine hundred people signing up if John Minto became leader in New Zealand. Ha ha ha!
I actually think Williams is better than he seems to be as he submits to these weekly spankings by someone as loathsome as Hooton. That’s why I and many others are so disappointed with him.
While the Government makes way especially for social topics such as the changing the flag, more pending matters are waiting to be approached that are in my opinion, socially unjust in the fact that it has not been discussed to the extent of the flag change. Euthanasia is always one of the various themes that people either have a lot to say about or people shy away from in fear of not having the information to make an educated response to the issue at hand.
A case study that happened this year that I am sure New Zealand is familiar with is the story of Lecretia Seales. Seales, aged 42 died from an incurable brain tumour in June 2015. The tumour had left her both paralysed and blind. During the process of having this disease she approached New Zealand courts to seek out the use of Euthanasia if her suffering became too intolerable. It was ruled that only parliament could make a law change to allow such a step to legally occur. Seale’s family was given information regarding the case in the interim of the process due to Seale’s rapid deterioration so that she could be made aware to whether a doctor could lawfully help her with her right to choose to die.
It was said that Judge Collins interpretation was that “he could not find aid in dying available to Seales or was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights”. It was also mentioned that it would indeed be an offence under the Crimes Act for her doctor to be able to assist her in dying. Her doctor could have been charged with manslaughter or murder if he had used the fatal drug intending to kill her. Lecretia learnt on her death bed that she had been denied her dying wish.
I really am in two minds about euthanasia which are that I believe that everyone should have the right to choose how they live and in conjunction, how they choose to die. However, growing up in a family with nurses and doctors I have realised the immense pressure and responsibility that would be put on these medical professionals if they were to administer a fatal drug killing their patient, and ultimately a human life almost instantly. Who are we to play God? Who are we to play God in giving a fatal drug to a patient or telling a patient that is in pain and incurable of an incomprehensible disease that she or he cannot choose the way that she wants to leave this world? Should we really be able to force someone to live if they want to die?
One thing that I am certain on is that this specific case has been a long time coming and has brought about discussion that is putting emphasis on a subject that has the need and necessary attributes to be discussed further.
A “Kiwi” is a derptastic middle-aged bloke from the provinces, obsessed with Rugby, where his self-esteem is channelled parallel to the fortunes of the national rugby side (being the nation’s only perceived impact on the world), ignorant of the rest of the globe, profoundly distrustful if not downright antagonistic of anything remotely intellectual.
“LACK” of communication causing so much inconvenience to travellers try to get to the airport due to the SH20A project.
Imagine having to rush to the airport only to find out that the main road to the highway that leads to the airport is being blocked off due to roadwork construction. Not only is it blocked but you would need to turn around and hope that you find another way to get onto the highway by going through the opposite road which now you have just spent the last hour or so trying to find your way to the airport which result in you missing your flight.
What a huge inconvenience for many who have travelled a long way to get to the airport but is delayed due to the new project of SH20A.
Since the right turn movement has been restricted residents have found it very difficult to get to the Airport through the Kirkbride West road. The right turn both on Kirkbride East to SH20A North and Kirkbride West to the SH20A South at the intersection has been restricted from August till March 2016. Although, the extension of SH20A is expected to create an easier access to the Airport, it is creating a bit of a hassle for local residents as they struggle to find another way to reach the Airport. “it very inconvenient, i don’t see why they need to expand SH20A when it’s creating so much hassle” says resident Emma Lang.
I can definitely understand why the project would be beneficial in creating a safer travel. However, it would be much better if there was a sign that perhaps let people know that the Kirkbride road has been blocked off to avoid any inconvenient as well as saving time. The purpose of this post is because I feel that not only is the SH20A project has caused so many issues but as well as many roadwork projects that occur on our roads and I feel it’s due to the lack of communication that is made to help travellers avoid traffic. This has been an issue for many people since the start of the project however, little discussion is made upon the issue.
Therefore, I want to know what your thoughts are on this and who else feels that this is an inconvenient and do you think that there should be a better roadwork communication or perhaps you have your own opinion or story that you want to share, perhaps we can engage in a discussion or argue your viewpoints.
“Couldn’t you just go ahead and drill for water yourselves?”
Bryan Crump asked that of a Palestinian farmer tonight. Nights, Radio NZ National, Monday 14/9/15, 7:10 p.m.
The topic for the first item tonight was, ominously, “Palestinian farming”. I feared that Bryan Crump would not be prepared for this interview, and sadly I was right. A couple of his statements were extremely ignorant and provocative. I really wouldn’t like to say that Crump, who seems like a genuinely nice guy, was doing it deliberately, but who other than a paid Israeli government spokesperson would be crass enough or cruel enough to speak of the “disputed” instead of the occupied Palestinian territories, or refer to the illegal, internationally condemned annexation (or apartheid) wall as a “security” wall? Bryan Crump said both of those things tonight. This raises serious questions about his judgement, if not his morality.
I’ll skip most of the crap, and just present some of the highlights, or lowlights…..
BRYAN CRUMP: It can be tricky farming at the best of times, especially when the land you farm is one of the more disputed parts of the planet. Saleem Abu Ghazaleh is the fair trade director of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, Palestine’s largest NGO. He’s in New Zealand at the moment. Welcome, Saleem. SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: Thank you.
Crump had obviously written—or had written for him—a list of questions which he was determined to plough through….
BRYAN CRUMP: What are the main crops for farmers on the West Bank?…Where are the main markets?… You mention you used to export a fair amount to Israel but not now. What are the reasons for that? SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: You should ask the other side that.
Crump seemed nonplussed at that answer, and he lapsed into an awkward silence for a short while. Then he returned to his scripted questions….
BRYAN CRUMP: You mention there’s some farming in Gaza. SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: Yes of course. Strawberries, flowers…. BRYAN CRUMP: What are some of the main obstacles if you want to become a farmer in the Palestinian Territories? SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: It’s difficult with the water cut off, the apartheid wall, the checkpoints. BRYAN CRUMP: So the security wall you mentioned there. And also the water… SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: The water is under Israeli control. BRYAN CRUMP: You say the water is under Israeli control?
……..
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: One hundred and twenty checkpoints make daily life very difficult for Palestinian people, especially the farmers.
……..
BRYAN CRUMP: You said before that in many cases the water is controlled by Israel— SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: In ALL cases. BRYAN CRUMP: Couldn’t you just go ahead and drill for water yourselves? SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: It is forbidden to do that. BRYAN CRUMP: And what happens if farmers break the law? SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: You go to prison. BRYAN CRUMP: Riiiight. …[pause]…. What kind of year has 2015 been for Palestinian farmers? SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: We have had drought. BRYAN CRUMP: Almonds need a lot of water don’t they…..
Appalled and depressed by this, I sent Bryan Crump the following email….
The West Bank is illegally occupied, not “disputed”.
Dear Bryan,
In the introduction to your interview with Saleem Abu Ghazaleh, you described the Occupied Territories as “one of the more disputed parts of the planet.” In fact, there is no dispute: under international law, Israel is illegally occupying the West Bank. Other than the illegal occupying state, this ruling is recognized by every state in the world, including the United States.
A little later, Saleem mentioned the illegal apartheid wall that makes farming so difficult for him. You immediately referred to it as “the security wall”.
Could you please pay attention to these points in future?
That transcript is hilarious. Sadly my daily 5 minutes of NatRad were spent with a Panel of Mora, Clifton and McDonald (you would think one of the less vacuous calibrations of the dastardly thing) talking about noisy students, and guffawing cleverly to themselves about Jeremy Corbyn and the flag
(FINLAY MCDONALD: Jeremy Corbyn is the Red Peak! JANE CLIFTON: *snort* JIM MORA: A-ha-ha-ha! A-ha–!)
Yes, I heard that. Mora, perhaps deliberately, left it too late to do any talking about the Corbyn win. I note that he never stints on those tedious getting-to-reacquaint-ourselves chats at the start of each program. Sometimes they take until well past 4:15.
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Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
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Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
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While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
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I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
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The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
an expression long in popular usage–“kiwi”–needs to be dropped; “kiwi” should apply to a bird or a fruit
“kiwi” as referring to people has been misused for too long, there are so many variations on “kiwi”, even a pecking order, the term is really shorthand for a form of reinforcing NZ nationalism
–a proper kiwi is white, reactionary, conservative, increasingly even if not articulated, neo liberal in world view, a compliant consumer–“NZ is Middle Earth”
–a “good kiwi bloke” was born here
–an honorary kiwi can be of all sorts of ethnicity–e.g. a migrant that has done the right thing such as taking off their garb like a Sikh person did to rescue a “kiwi” child
–brats on overseas trips, New Zealanders working overseas, and especially sports people are all bestowed when tragedy or honour strikes as “kiwis”
BUT what about Eleanor Catton? Nicky Hager? Hone Harawira? no kiwidom for them, kick “kiwi” to the kerb fellow commenters
I couldn’t agree with you more, Tiger Mountain – it drives me crazy, especially as I see behind its constant use a lot of social and political manipulation.
I get really cranky if someone tries to describe me as a ‘kiwi’. If I’m overseas I’m a New Zealander, if I’m home and more definition is required I’m a Pakeha
If you call a kiwifruit a kiwi you’re not a Kiwi 😉 (not sure who started the idea that a kiwitfruit is a kiwi but it strikes me as an Americanism).
“–a proper kiwi is white, reactionary, conservative, increasingly even if not articulated, neo liberal in world view, a compliant consumer–“NZ is Middle Earth””
I think you just insulted a whole lot of NZers.
Accurate, though 🙂
Except it’s not. I don’t generally think of myself as a Kiwi, but I might say I am if I were online talking to someone overseas. I’m definitely white, but I’m not neoliberal conservative or a compliant Middle Earth consumer.
a lengthy paper could be written on the history of “kiwis” as humans, can’t cover it all in a blog post, but think of it this way–if you are not a kiwi–Whadarrryaaa!!!! then, that is how bad I think the usage has got in backing up the Nats and the unspoken expectations of what being a “kiwi” entails
don’t want the new John and Richie flag? don’t like rugby much? not a real kiwi then are you…sure there are no doubt some lovely people that casually adopt the vernacular but it is time to question it
I think you run the risk of ceding ground there. The right may very well have tried to appropriate the term Kiwi (eg Iwi/Kiwi), but they haven’t succeeded. You appear to be agreeing with their appropriation. I’d say take the word back instead.
When I was a child there were no kiwifruit; there was only the not-very-popular Chinese gooseberry. Then someone started to grow them on farms and popularise them. A better name for marketing was needed, so the synthetic name ‘kiwifruit’ was invented, with much acclaim.
The unintended consequence: because probably 99% of the world’s population have no idea that there is such a thing as a Kiwi bird (and maybe even that there is such a country as New Zealand!) the well-marketed popular kiwifruit had its name shortened to ‘kiwi’ almost everywhere, and the vast majority of the world’s population now think that is what ‘kiwi’ means.
In 1980 I was living in France, and was surprised to see kiwifruit labelled as ‘kiwi’ being sold at an exorbitant price at the fruit market. I soon found that they were also called ‘kiwi’ in Germany, and the rest of Europe. Why add the unnecessary ‘fruit’ on the end?
So like it or not, that is what ‘kiwi’ means to most of the rest of the world. It takes some insularity and naivety to expect that the rest of the world should know that the kiwi is a funny-looking flightless bird, even though NZers assume that it should be universally known. Only most Aussies and some of the British would think of the term ‘Kiwi’ as referring to an NZer. Unlikely that many others would.
Sure, but I was referring to NZers using the term kiwi to refer to the fruit. I find that far more annoying that NZers being called kiwis.
I’m of the Chinesegooseberry generation too 🙂
Although I can vaguely recall Chines gooseberries in peoples gardens it seems the name change was introduced in 1959.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/the-chinese-gooseberry-becomes-the-kiwifruit
yes, but people in NZ still called them Chinese gooseberries for a long time after that. I think it wasn’t until the kiwifruit boom (1980s?) that the name changed in common usage.
Although born in NZ, I went to live in the UK for 4 years in the 1950s as a schoolchild. Kiwi then was boot polish, as I recall, and no-one thought of applying it to a person (thank goodness). Can you remember when this term gained ground in its use for people? I really dislike it
various online accounts, but it was used in the military from Boer War/WWI onwards due to small Kiwi emblems on clothing, and entered popular usage internationally after WWII and before kiwifruit marketing
Thanks Tiger Mountain. Back then was it mainly used for the military or for everyone?
It’s definitely been subject to deliberate capture now to give a certain image – a sort of ‘Aussie-lite’
“Kiwi” is one of the most popular supermarkets in Norway (possibly second only to Rema 1000). Saw plenty of them (main colour – a kiwifruit Green) on our recent trip there. Made us feel right at home …… in fact, I almost had to wipe a tear from my eye as my thoughts turned nostalgically to the old Country.
this piece reminds me of someone…’since Bloomberg first published the forex price-rigging story last June, 29 senior traders – all men, strangely enough – have been named as involved and most have been placed on leave, suspended or fired.
Chalkie has heard it said that the artificial movement of forex rates at the 4pm fix can be thought of as the price to pay for having so much liquidity available at a specific minute in the day.
Perhaps that is so but it does not make colluding with competitors any less wrong.
The remarkable thing about this affair is how easy it would be to prevent.
If indexes used an average price for a whole day rather than a 4pm fix, for example, the problem would disappear.
So why didn’t this happen years ago? Chalkie reckons it comes down to the financial industry’s traditional view that it is fine to screw customers as long as they don’t realise they are being screwed. Silence is golden.
Chalkie is written by Fairfax business bureau deputy editor Tim Hunter.
Cunliffe has Steven Joyce on the back foot on the cuts to 3rd level education budgets.
Joyce has had too easy a ride in his various portfolios. He is a serial disaster who has not been properly exposed. Good to see Cunliffe taking it to him.
“Steven Joyce refutes claims ‘lives are at stake’ due to polytech ‘shortcuts'”
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/steven-joyce-refutes-claims-lives-are-at-stake-due-to-polytech-shortcuts-q10507
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1509/S00187/latest-tertiary-scandal-ghost-students-lives-forsaken.htm
We can now declare at least one region of New Zealand GE free: Hawkes Bay.
http://purehawkesbay.org/strong-future-for-hawkes-bay-economy-as-hastings-council-secures-gm-free-status/
This is after years of dogged work and really expensive District Plan hearings opposed tooth and nail by Federated Farmers, Scion the tree genetics people, and others.
The uniqueness of this victory is it’s not driven by the usual suspects. It’s driven by fruit growers who want to protect and promote the extra value they get for the privilege of being able to declare their crops GE free.
For my sins over the last week I read Margaret Attwood’s Oryx and Crake, a full-fledged gene spliced apocalyptic dystopia. Of course it pushed GE experimentation to its furthest lengths. But the message was the same: GE experimentation is wrong, it will get out of the labs, and its effects will be unstoppable and unpredictable.
A GE free New Zealand is a New Zealand whose values have been protected.
Huge ups in particular to all those who donated, drafted, advocated and sustained the effort against these massive companies to win.
[Converting this to a guest post – MS]
Well done the Hawkes Bay.
As much as some detest being called Kiwi others can’t abide “the” Hawke’s Bay. It’s Hawke’s Bay. Period.
thanks, I was wondering about that.
Hallelujah brother! NO ONE from Hawkes Bay says “The Hawkes Bay”. It is an instant identifier of out of towners and general tosspots.
Especially “tosspots”.
you mean everyone else in NZ 😉
The same sort of action is taking place in the EU which has the sister agreement TTIP to counter.
“Local councils tearing strips off TTIP”
“Politicians in both Brussels and Westminster have taken great pains to try and brush off people’s many concerns about the toxic trade deal being pushed through by the EU and the United States.”
…
“An exciting new front is emerging in the battle against TTIP, harnessing the energy of grassroots groups to push opposition to the corporate power grab up the political food chain via the power of local councils. In Britain and across Europe, TTIP Free Zones are popping up like people-power mushrooms.
But TTIP Free Zones are equally important as a means of promoting an understanding the impact TTIP would have on the powers of local councils. TTIP could also affect existing powers granted to local authorities such as planning. The decision of Lancashire County Council to deny planning permission for fracking in the local area is the sort of decision that would be harder to make under TTIP – first because such a decision could be challenged under ISDS, and second because of the pressure to ‘harmonize’ energy regulations. ”
http://newint.org/blog/2015/09/11/ttip-local-council-power/
(Vivienne Westwood drove in a tank to Cameron’s home in a fracking protest
in response to last month’s announcement by the UK government that it would offer licences for fracking in 27 locations in Yorkshire, the north-west and the east Midlands. }
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/sep/11/vivienne-westwood-tank-protest-fracking-david-cameron-chadlington
A bit of NZ background on Council rights concerning GMOs:
2013 Amy Adams threatens to remove right of Councils to regulate GMOs
“Minister cops flak over GMOs”
http://i.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/whangarei-leader/8891181/Minister-cops-flak-over-GMOs
Legal consideration on whether councils have jurisdiction to reulate GMOs
http://www.rmla.org.nz/upload/files/obiter/jurisdiction_of_councils_to_regulate_gmos_under_the_rma_-_dr_k_grundy.pdf
Well – that IS good news, Ad, But…. and there’s a huge BUT coming along – the Govt has introduced a National Environment Standard for plantation forests, and at the very last moment put in a small clause which explicity allows government agencies to overturn any attempts by local councils to prevent GMO-modified plants/trees coming into their districts.
There were 16,000 submissions opposing this small clause, but it remains to be seen whether the govt will take any notice of them.
The Tory propagandists attacks on Corbyn begins already. Press columnist Tracey Watkins chooses words carefully..”scruffy socialist…”unelectable…” ..drags the party” ..etc etc., and makes attempts to denigrate Labour’s leadership by tenuous analogies.
Right wingers love tenuous analogies. Mud (dirt) sticks.
We don’t see the same language when writing about the present government.. . funny that !
Sounds like the stuff article on the weekend that mentioned “Marx”, “socialist” and “unelectable” all in the first 2 lines. Something tells me the press are right behind this guy!!..
I noted also that the Radio NZ news at 7am was like a propaganda broadcast: “In our poll of polls, taken from the last four polls, John Key’s National government is 1% more popular than it was on election night, with Labour and the Greens trailing…” I mention it because an average of four polls a long way out from an election is hardly leading news. Moreover, NZ1 didn’t rate a mention. The subtext seemed to say, “OK, Corbyn might be Britain’s Labour leader, but round here Key remains large and in charge.”
Yes, I found it odd that they did not mention NZ First who are also part of the opposition. A balanced story would have talked about the total opposition in relationship to National.
I was astonished at the subset of comments linking the results to an FPP environment instead of an MMP one. Espinor commented to the effect… National’s total was so far ahead of Labour’s (as if it is still between the two biggest parties) and the only way Labour could ever win an election was to join with the Greens. No acknowledgement that MMP works on a ‘left and right’ divide and is not a contest between two parties.
Lazy reporting or a deliberate attempt to spin the outcome to look like it means something else? The latter of course.
No acknowledgement that MMP works on a ‘left and right’ divide and is not a contest between two parties. Our version of MMP has certainly turned out that way, but rather than acknowledging it, most of the press seem to use a blurred distinction between FPP and MMP to play up Key’s popularity.
If you have time, see my comments
here … http://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-09092015/#comment-1068718
here … http://thestandard.org.nz/uk-cameron-loses-his-shit-new-members-flood-to-labour/#comment-1070505
here … http://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-09092015/#comment-1068722
Yes, I have been following these comments of yours, and just had a look at them again. The figures you have gathered speak for themselves. One difference between Key and Clark at this stage though, is that in her case the press had already begun to sink the boot in. With Key, they seem to be continually signalling, “Don’t worry mate, I’m still batting for your team” – their poll interpretations are but one example of this.
Just joined the PSA. That word union is a great word and concept.
John Key thinks that drone attacks killing innocent people are justified because we are killing bad people too. So I thought I’d show you how propaganda works. The story? God hates Muslims and the Bin Ladens are evil, The Russians hate us but GOD LOVES US!
The Commerce Commission (the competition watchdog) is currently taking submissions on a $785 million deal, which would create a combined entity selling around half of New Zealand’s transport fuels.
However, Z Energy (which is part owned by the NZ Superannuation Fund) is so confident the deal will be approved have already spent $40m before the Commerce Commission announces whether the deal will be approved.
Public submissions from industry groups and fuel companies have raised concerns about the market power the proposed merged company would have in the retail market, particularly in smaller centres.
Z argues that there are only five areas where consumers would see the options reduce from two companies into one within a five kilometre radius.
BP, Z’s largest competitor, argues that “competition issues” would arise in more areas than was being claimed.
The AA say the risk of “disparate fuel pricing” would increase if Z and Caltex had the same owners.
Retail competition is one of a string of areas where rivals and the industry warn a combined Z/Caltex would have a dominant position, with concerns raised about the control of fuel terminals at ports, sales of bitumen and a large number of truck stops.
Z played down the risk of market dominance.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/71837859/Petrol-merger-could-hurt-small-towns-and-loyalty-schemes
Thoughts?
This watchdog has pretty much always rubber stamped the removal of competition and was gutted by the nact early on.
Paying $40m is a safe bet as the last time they turned anything large down was AirNZ/Qantas code share from memory.
Even if they do reject it a few tweaks and a resubmit would see it get approval as part of the illusion that consumers are being looked after which rarely ever happens.
“This watchdog has pretty much always rubber stamped the removal of competition”
I largely share the sentiment.
Competition is vital in keeping prices down and wages up. Therefore, the country merely shoots itself in the foot failing to uphold a robust process.
LOL, no!!!
Competition increases the bureaucracy thus pushing prices up, not down. Competition in the labour market pushes wages down and profits up.
All up, competition cost us a huge amount for no extra gain and probably causes actual loss. It definitely causes social loss.
No, monopolies are what drive prices up and wages down.
Can we take it you support this merger, believing it will drive prices down and wages up?
Increasing labour supply will have downward pressure. Increasing demand for workers drives wages up, thus there is a difference, which I assume your confusion stems from.
No, you got that wrong as Steve Keen shows. Competitive business all run the same way that monopolies run and charge the same amount.
EDIT:
http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2010/05/31/does-the-rspt-deserve-respect/
http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2010/06/02/does-the-rspt-deserve-respect-part-ii/
Those just for starters.
It’s just a belief of the free-market that competition lowers prices. What it actually does is lower profits while increasing costs.
Nope. I support it being a government run monopoly service that’s run at cost.
There’s no increase in demand for workers as there’s no increase in demand for the product.
Being a government run monopoly isn’t on the table, nor was it the question. Care to try again?
Competitive businesses compete, thus prices, services, wages, etc largely differ.
Competitive business that don’t compete tend to be cartelling, which is illegal.
Where we might agree is a genuine non profit monopoly can reduce duplication, thus overheads, which can result in lowering prices as there is no profit gouging.
Increasing the amount of businesses partaking increases labour demand as more positions are required to be fulled.
Actually, it was on the table as I said down here. You seem to have got confused and thought I meant a non-profit private monopoly which I will never support.
That’s the hypothesis.
And since when did laws ever stop crime? And do you recall the LIBOR and other banking scandals? Businesses operating as a cartel happens all the fucken time.
All monopolies will reduce duplication and thus overhead from what we get from competitive markets. A private monopoly will gouge prices to boost income.
Only in the bureaucracy. So we get more high paid jobs, no more low paid jobs and the prices go up to cover those unnecessary high paid jobs.
No. Although it is your preferred choice, it’s not a choice the commission have, nor does it relate to the question put to you. Feel free to try again. It was a simple question.
Open your eyes, competition is a reality – not merely a hypothesis. Although it is lacking in this small country of ours.
There are numerous people in jail, thus their criminal activity has been stopped by the law. Unfortunately, some get away with their crimes.
Yes, all monopolies will reduce duplication and thus overheads, but generally, genuine non profits will pass those savings on to lower prices. Therefore, we do agree on that point.
Increasing the amount of businesses partaking increases labour demand as more positions are required to be filled. Not only in the top end bureaucracy, but right down to front line staff and cleaners, etc.
Fuel is another one of those things that comes under infrastructure and thus should be government owned and run at cost.
Genuine non profit monopolies are a different kettle of fish, thus largely have my support.
Prof. Tim Bale of Univ. of London—anybody familiar with him?
Monday 14 September 2015
I know he used to work at Victoria University of Wellington, and I suspect he may have been a poster on this excellent site. Earlier this morning I heard him deliver the most sneering and contemptuous putdown of Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters on Radio NZ National. As usual, poor old Guyon Espiner didn’t seem to have a clue.
Transcript to come as soon as I recover from my boiling rage….
Someone yesterday mentioned that they had been a student of Bale’s at Vic…
Was it our friend Swordfish? He mentioned it in a thread about Tim Bale two years ago. ….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14042013/#comment-618441
Yep, a very nice bloke on a personal level, but, Christ !!!, the guy’s tweets on Corbyn over the last few weeks have been irritating the hell out of me.
Enormous amount of sneering and ridicule, open speculation on the most effective way to take Corbyn down (I mean he’s supposed to be an objective, independent scholar, for chrissakes !!!, not some scheming factional insider in the Party machine. Tim’s obviously highly excited to be on the fringes of the Westminster elite: One of his Tweets: “Question for Labour moderates: better to roll Corbyn after 2017 locals or let him go all the way to 2020 so lesson is truly learned”). He’s also remarkably selective in the “research” he links to (often turgid stuff emanating from the lavishly-funded Blairite Progress group- Why Corbyn is Unelectable and so on).
He’s the go-to-guy for the BBC these days….was the major post-May-election analyst, for instance.
Just a cosy little establishment clique – seasoned journos from the MSM, independent commentators, and the intelligentsia – most former Oxbridge, all acting like fully paid-up enablers and cheerleaders for the little Blairite elite. Seems to be no shame involved.
Tim was always a Blairite (he described himself as a vague, wishy-washy social democrat if I remember rightly) and it struck me at the time (we’re talking more than 15 years ago) that his visceral contempt for Labour’s Left was far more extreme than any critique he offered of the Tories. As with our own wannabe Blairites – especially Phil Quin – their sheer disdain for anyone to the Left of Harriet Harman (Bale) or Mike Moore (Quin) appears to be deeply emotional.
It’s clear that this isn’t about finding the best electoral strategy for UK Labour to win government, they – like Blair – really are opposed to what most of us consider core social democratic values. They belong squarely in the socially-liberal, pro-EU faction of the British Conservative Party (although, come to think of it, Quin isn’t necessarily all that liberal either).
“Frankly, I think it’s NUTS!”
Hooton continues to run amok every Monday morning.
From the Left and From the Right, Radio NZ National, 14/9/15
Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Hooton, Mike Williams
They should just put a corpse in Mike Williams’s chair. The corpse might have a bit more gumption, and would definitely display a lot more life. First topic today was the election of Jeremy Corbyn to leadership of the Labour Party. Of course, Hooton took control of the discussion from the start….
MATTHEW HOOTON: Frankly, I think it’s NUTS! Maybe it IS the will of the British people to get out of NATO after sixty or seventy years. Maybe it IS their will to be led by an aging Marxist who has endorsed every major terrorist group…. [splutter, snort]….
From Mike Williams, silence, closely resembling stupidity, and/or cowardice, and/or bewilderment. Hooton bored on….
MATTHEW HOOTON: In the scheme of things, I would say that this guy is way more to the left of the Labour Party than Thatcher was to the right of her party. It’s an example of a mainstream political party being hijacked by activists!
Kathryn Ryan actually dared to challenged him over that. Mike Williams, by contrast, remained almost completely silent as Hooton ranted….
MATTHEW HOOTON: So fifteen thousand new members signed up for the Labour Party. Well, that’s the equivalent of nine hundred people signing up if John Minto became leader in New Zealand. Ha ha ha!
MIKE WILLIAMS: [chortle, snort] I agree….
What do you mean resembling stupidity, and/or cowardice, and/or bewilderment?
I actually think Williams is better than he seems to be as he submits to these weekly spankings by someone as loathsome as Hooton. That’s why I and many others are so disappointed with him.
While the Government makes way especially for social topics such as the changing the flag, more pending matters are waiting to be approached that are in my opinion, socially unjust in the fact that it has not been discussed to the extent of the flag change. Euthanasia is always one of the various themes that people either have a lot to say about or people shy away from in fear of not having the information to make an educated response to the issue at hand.
A case study that happened this year that I am sure New Zealand is familiar with is the story of Lecretia Seales. Seales, aged 42 died from an incurable brain tumour in June 2015. The tumour had left her both paralysed and blind. During the process of having this disease she approached New Zealand courts to seek out the use of Euthanasia if her suffering became too intolerable. It was ruled that only parliament could make a law change to allow such a step to legally occur. Seale’s family was given information regarding the case in the interim of the process due to Seale’s rapid deterioration so that she could be made aware to whether a doctor could lawfully help her with her right to choose to die.
It was said that Judge Collins interpretation was that “he could not find aid in dying available to Seales or was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights”. It was also mentioned that it would indeed be an offence under the Crimes Act for her doctor to be able to assist her in dying. Her doctor could have been charged with manslaughter or murder if he had used the fatal drug intending to kill her. Lecretia learnt on her death bed that she had been denied her dying wish.
I really am in two minds about euthanasia which are that I believe that everyone should have the right to choose how they live and in conjunction, how they choose to die. However, growing up in a family with nurses and doctors I have realised the immense pressure and responsibility that would be put on these medical professionals if they were to administer a fatal drug killing their patient, and ultimately a human life almost instantly. Who are we to play God? Who are we to play God in giving a fatal drug to a patient or telling a patient that is in pain and incurable of an incomprehensible disease that she or he cannot choose the way that she wants to leave this world? Should we really be able to force someone to live if they want to die?
One thing that I am certain on is that this specific case has been a long time coming and has brought about discussion that is putting emphasis on a subject that has the need and necessary attributes to be discussed further.
A “Kiwi” is a derptastic middle-aged bloke from the provinces, obsessed with Rugby, where his self-esteem is channelled parallel to the fortunes of the national rugby side (being the nation’s only perceived impact on the world), ignorant of the rest of the globe, profoundly distrustful if not downright antagonistic of anything remotely intellectual.
But fortunately still a more evolved species than South Seas relative “the Ocker”…
The next major topic for discussion by Jim Mora and his Panel
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/72012095/Forget-thigh-gaps-thighbrows-are-the-next-new-body-trend
Nine days of Harry cost Kiwis more than $400k
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11512215
feckless rich bugger cant even pay for his own holidays ?
I hope he told the jobcentre he was taking a holiday abroad , other wise i WILL be expecting benefit sanctions !
At least he didn’t kill anyone when he was here. The peasants in Afghanistan weren’t so lucky….
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/4712507/Air-return-for-Big-H-the-killer.html
reminds me of lord flashart !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC3sURgYxng
Just for giggles.
Hating Australians
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF_1hVYGaJw
Maher is a fool, an ignoramus and a bigot. Here he is getting schooled by someone much smarter….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB-itn_LJuM
“LACK” of communication causing so much inconvenience to travellers try to get to the airport due to the SH20A project.
Imagine having to rush to the airport only to find out that the main road to the highway that leads to the airport is being blocked off due to roadwork construction. Not only is it blocked but you would need to turn around and hope that you find another way to get onto the highway by going through the opposite road which now you have just spent the last hour or so trying to find your way to the airport which result in you missing your flight.
What a huge inconvenience for many who have travelled a long way to get to the airport but is delayed due to the new project of SH20A.
Since the right turn movement has been restricted residents have found it very difficult to get to the Airport through the Kirkbride West road. The right turn both on Kirkbride East to SH20A North and Kirkbride West to the SH20A South at the intersection has been restricted from August till March 2016. Although, the extension of SH20A is expected to create an easier access to the Airport, it is creating a bit of a hassle for local residents as they struggle to find another way to reach the Airport. “it very inconvenient, i don’t see why they need to expand SH20A when it’s creating so much hassle” says resident Emma Lang.
I can definitely understand why the project would be beneficial in creating a safer travel. However, it would be much better if there was a sign that perhaps let people know that the Kirkbride road has been blocked off to avoid any inconvenient as well as saving time. The purpose of this post is because I feel that not only is the SH20A project has caused so many issues but as well as many roadwork projects that occur on our roads and I feel it’s due to the lack of communication that is made to help travellers avoid traffic. This has been an issue for many people since the start of the project however, little discussion is made upon the issue.
Therefore, I want to know what your thoughts are on this and who else feels that this is an inconvenient and do you think that there should be a better roadwork communication or perhaps you have your own opinion or story that you want to share, perhaps we can engage in a discussion or argue your viewpoints.
Let me know!
TONIGHT!
Exposing corruption at local government level in NZ!
Monday 14 September 2015
TIME: 9pm
Face TV
Sky Channel 83
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfRgHcE_wbY&feature=youtu.be
+100 thanks Penny
Max Keiser supports Kim Dotcom
‘‘Meganet’: Kim Dotcom plans crowdfunded replacement to internet (Ft. Max Keiser) @start_coin’
http://www.maxkeiser.com/2015/06/meganet-kim-dotcom-plans-crowdfunded-replacement-to-internet-ft-max-keiser-start_coin/
(..personally I think the Internet Party was a plus for Mana and would have been a plus for New Zealand)
“Couldn’t you just go ahead and drill for water yourselves?”
Bryan Crump asked that of a Palestinian farmer tonight.
Nights, Radio NZ National, Monday 14/9/15, 7:10 p.m.
The topic for the first item tonight was, ominously, “Palestinian farming”. I feared that Bryan Crump would not be prepared for this interview, and sadly I was right. A couple of his statements were extremely ignorant and provocative. I really wouldn’t like to say that Crump, who seems like a genuinely nice guy, was doing it deliberately, but who other than a paid Israeli government spokesperson would be crass enough or cruel enough to speak of the “disputed” instead of the occupied Palestinian territories, or refer to the illegal, internationally condemned annexation (or apartheid) wall as a “security” wall? Bryan Crump said both of those things tonight. This raises serious questions about his judgement, if not his morality.
I’ll skip most of the crap, and just present some of the highlights, or lowlights…..
BRYAN CRUMP: It can be tricky farming at the best of times, especially when the land you farm is one of the more disputed parts of the planet. Saleem Abu Ghazaleh is the fair trade director of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, Palestine’s largest NGO. He’s in New Zealand at the moment. Welcome, Saleem.
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: Thank you.
Crump had obviously written—or had written for him—a list of questions which he was determined to plough through….
BRYAN CRUMP: What are the main crops for farmers on the West Bank?…Where are the main markets?… You mention you used to export a fair amount to Israel but not now. What are the reasons for that?
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: You should ask the other side that.
Crump seemed nonplussed at that answer, and he lapsed into an awkward silence for a short while. Then he returned to his scripted questions….
BRYAN CRUMP: You mention there’s some farming in Gaza.
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: Yes of course. Strawberries, flowers….
BRYAN CRUMP: What are some of the main obstacles if you want to become a farmer in the Palestinian Territories?
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: It’s difficult with the water cut off, the apartheid wall, the checkpoints.
BRYAN CRUMP: So the security wall you mentioned there. And also the water…
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: The water is under Israeli control.
BRYAN CRUMP: You say the water is under Israeli control?
……..
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: One hundred and twenty checkpoints make daily life very difficult for Palestinian people, especially the farmers.
……..
BRYAN CRUMP: You said before that in many cases the water is controlled by Israel—
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: In ALL cases.
BRYAN CRUMP: Couldn’t you just go ahead and drill for water yourselves?
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: It is forbidden to do that.
BRYAN CRUMP: And what happens if farmers break the law?
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: You go to prison.
BRYAN CRUMP: Riiiight. …[pause]…. What kind of year has 2015 been for Palestinian farmers?
SALEEM ABU GHAZALEH: We have had drought.
BRYAN CRUMP: Almonds need a lot of water don’t they…..
Appalled and depressed by this, I sent Bryan Crump the following email….
The West Bank is illegally occupied, not “disputed”.
Dear Bryan,
In the introduction to your interview with Saleem Abu Ghazaleh, you described the Occupied Territories as “one of the more disputed parts of the planet.” In fact, there is no dispute: under international law, Israel is illegally occupying the West Bank. Other than the illegal occupying state, this ruling is recognized by every state in the world, including the United States.
A little later, Saleem mentioned the illegal apartheid wall that makes farming so difficult for him. You immediately referred to it as “the security wall”.
Could you please pay attention to these points in future?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
+100…really the ignorance is damning
Both of us are being charitable and assuming he was merely ignorant. But those two most grievous “errors” that he makes both seem quite deliberate.
1.) Only a ruthless ideologue would call the Occupied Territories “disputed”—but that’s exactly what Crump says in his introductory remarks.
2.) When his guest mentions the apartheid wall, Crump immediately reformulates this: “So the security wall you mentioned there….”
I find Crump’s words here to be profoundly troubling.
That transcript is hilarious. Sadly my daily 5 minutes of NatRad were spent with a Panel of Mora, Clifton and McDonald (you would think one of the less vacuous calibrations of the dastardly thing) talking about noisy students, and guffawing cleverly to themselves about Jeremy Corbyn and the flag
(FINLAY MCDONALD: Jeremy Corbyn is the Red Peak!
JANE CLIFTON: *snort*
JIM MORA: A-ha-ha-ha! A-ha–!)
Yes, I heard that. Mora, perhaps deliberately, left it too late to do any talking about the Corbyn win. I note that he never stints on those tedious getting-to-reacquaint-ourselves chats at the start of each program. Sometimes they take until well past 4:15.
Mora can only talk fluff.
Mora can only talk fluff.
Indeed. He is just not up to the job on Checkpoint.