" Public Affairs Committee is helping to fund a Super PAC launching attack ads against Sen. Bernie Sanders in Nevada on Saturday, according to two sources with knowledge of the arrangement. The ads are being run by a group called Democratic Majority for Israel, founded by longtime AIPAC strategist Mark Mellman "
For over five decades New Zealand has had to put up with Jones’ racist rants being widely disseminated. Even though there’s nothing new or significant about what he’s been saying, Jones has had free reign to pontificate about a country and topics he appears to know very little about. In effect he’s been running around lighting the fires of hatred that has assuredly caused people harm.
It’s not just Jones who is to blame though. Many media outlets facilitated his racism through publication. Editors could have easily put a stop to Jones’ animosity towards Maori, but instead idealised him and allowed their syndications to be used as propaganda tools for a privileged bigot! In my opinion these complicit editors need to be moved on.
Excerpts from a report on the propaganda war against Assange. UN special rapporteur on torture Melzer "admits that he was himself initially taken in by the propaganda campaign."
"Four democratic countries joined forces – the U.S., Ecuador, Sweden and the UK – to leverage their power to portray one man as a monster so that he could later be burned at the stake without any outcry. The case is a huge scandal and represents the failure of Western rule of law. If Julian Assange is convicted, it will be a death sentence for freedom of the press."
"There is only a single explanation for everything – for the refusal to grant diplomatic assurances, for the refusal to question him in London: They wanted to apprehend him so they could extradite him to the U.S. The number of breaches of law that accumulated in Sweden within just a few weeks during the preliminary criminal investigation is simply grotesque."
"We have to stop believing that there was really an interest in leading an investigation into a sexual offense. What Wikileaks did is a threat to the political elite in the U.S., Britain, France and Russia in equal measure."
"I have seen lots of horrors and violence and have seen how quickly peaceful countries like Yugoslavia or Rwanda can transform into infernos. At the roots of such developments are always a lack of transparency and unbridled political or economic power combined with the naivete, indifference and malleability of the population. Suddenly, that which always happened to the other – unpunished torture, rape, expulsion and murder – can just as easily happen to us or our children. And nobody will care. I can promise you that."
Here is an interesting piece on the sorry saga of the 737 Max airliner, where Boeing management put profits first before people including the SME business as well and their own people from the 737 Max management team to the workers on the hanger floor.
Boeing once had a culture of customer and its work force from the hanger floor up to the broad room come first before profit. Now the current broad has trash not only its culture of safety first, putting customers and workers first culture, but the entire culture, legacy and history of Boeing as a aircraft manufacturer all because of putting profits and shareholders first.
Obviously they don’t teach history, ethics and culture anymore at business school or wherever they get their fancy certificates/ training these days.
Other sources I've read confirm the problem and specifically date it back to when Boeing purchased McDonnell Douglas … who then inexplicably managed to get many of it's executives into positions of power and then methodically dismantle the engineer-led culture of Boeing.
By contrast one large US company I’ve been associated with much of my working life has almost always appointed engineers as it’s CEO … and so far it’s worked.
But yes, overall the culture of the ‘generic manager’ who doesn’t have industry specific expertise has been a disaster. Competency counts for way more than the ideologues on all sides like to think.
The saga of the DC10 cargo doors failing has long been used in engineering education around an engineer's professional duties, ethics, reporting problems to the chain of command and whistleblowing when no actions were taken to correct known safety problems.
"speeches and before workshops could begin, Mair said the group did not support refugees coming into its tribal domain until it had sorted out its own backyard."
Yes so true Ken Mair, but true of all New Zealand these days. What a mess our politicians have created over the last 25 years through immigration in one form or another.It is a way past time to stop, consolidate and recreate New Zealand to the pleasant place it used to be for most of us to live in.
Yep, and I suppose we could start by getting rid of all those immigrants from Britain who have really buggered the joint up since their arrival a couple of centuries ago. I'd start with anyone with a stereotypical Anglo Saxon name, like, for example, Janet.
Alternatively, we could keep the immigrants and boot out the bigots. There's a lot less bigots than immigrants so it would be less time consuming and easier to manage and if they didn't want to go back to wherever they came from, there's plenty of room on the Auckland Islands. Diet's a bit limited though, mainly dead penguins and guano paste, but I'm sure they'd adapt.
I know there is a difference between refugees and immigrants generally but until we have our free health service , our education systems, our state led housing programs and our general infrastructure all up and running again properly then tax payers money used to assist yet more people to come into this currently dysfunctional country is wrongly budgeted and spent.
You do realise that migrants pay tax – and prop up the housing 'market' that successive govts have indulged?
Subtract migration and NZ has been in deep trouble for decades. Swapping houses, with banks clipping the ticket, has not produced sustainable wealth – or built the decent services you are missing. Cutting migration now does not fix that, let alone taking even fewer refugees than our share.
The globalists would be proud of you… Fortunately there's a big trend in populist politics that pushes back on immigration policy that undermines a country.
I wouldn't use the term undermine, because we run the economy we want and none of it is ideal at the moment. But immigration does have impacts. People with assets and the exchange rate in their favour can and do bump up land/property prices. There's also the ongoing issue that the left doesn't want to talk about yet, about what the real world (as in nature) carrying capacity of NZ is. This is about population, and obviously immigration policy ties into that.
The left's general position that immigration is always good is stopping us having the harder conversations about *how we should design our immigration policy. I have no doubt that the Key's govt's motivations and how they ran immigration policy caused problems. Labour's clumsy handling hasn't helped either.
Now the acolytes of the high church of the hidden hand may postulate that this (with increased global trade) is good for growth.Adam Smith in the inquiry suggested that high profits and not high wages are a constraint on the economy.
Immigration might not always be good – especially too fast for infrastructure development (not just immigrating into somewhere with shitty infrastructure planning). But in the NZ context with our controlled immigration policy, I've yet to see anyone raise a solidly decent objection to our current rate. Especially the ones who use words like "undermine".
Not it isn't, but all too often when the left discusses this, we don't make the proposed boundaries clear at all. All too often it just reads as 'open borders'.
I would have thought that when discussing current immigration to NZ the current boundaries would be implicit, unless someone is specifically discussing "open borders".
We also have international obligations in respect of refugees and stateless persons and at a measly 750 refugees a year for some decade,s we (NZ) have not been doing our fair share compared to other countries – including Australia from memory. I really cannot be bothered checking the latest figures but I did work in govt for many years, including in areas relating to our refugee and other international obligations.
However, before replying I did do a quick check of your comments here on TS and immigration generally seems to be a longstanding bugbear with you in relation to maintaining a status quo nice life etc. as once existed in the 1950s/60s for example but which is long gone and unlikely to ever return as it was in those days.
Alternatively, we could keep the immigrants and boot out the bigots.
I suppose you get to determine the difference?
Yep, and I suppose we could start by getting rid of all those immigrants from Britain who have really buggered the joint up since their arrival a couple of centuries ago.
Because if I got to choose that statement would fall firmly into the bigot camp.
Yep, and I suppose we could start by getting rid of all those immigrants from Britain who have really buggered the joint up since their arrival a couple of centuries ago.
Not a very elegant statement.
Great leaders such as Te Rangi Hiroa thought different.
My mother was a full Maori of the Ngati-Mutunga tribe of North Taranaki in New Zealand. She had the arresting name of Ngarongo-ki-tua (Tidings-that-reach-afar). I hope for the sake of her memory that, by gathering tidings from afar, I may be worthy the honour of being her son …
…My father belonged to a north of Ireland family that lived in Armagh, so I am entitled to his family name. I am binomial, bilingual, and inherit a mixture of two bloods that I would not change for a total of either. I mention this brief family history to show that from my birth I was endowed with a background for the study of Polynesian manners and customs that no university could have given me. My mother's blood enables me to appreciate a culture to which I belong, and my father's speech helps me to interpret it, inadequate though the rendering be at times.
Lets keep forcing Māori to accept more immigrants so white liberals like yourself can throw around the term racist to anyone who wants to have a debate about immigration.
And rather than have a debate with janet you go all cock sure arshole. I'd get a ban for trying to shut down a debate like that – but you…
Janet has been a commenter on TS for some years and I doubt that she is a shrinking violet who will disappear. She contributes some very good ideas etc on sustainability, environment, and similar issues and I admire and respect her for her views and actions in these areas. She also grows my favourite fruit of all time, tamarillos, on a small commercial basis. Sadly, hard to come by and very expensive these days with the dieback of tamarillo trees due to a nasty insect whose name escapes me. So I also admire her for continuing to carry on growing them.
However, I have also followed her views on immigration also expressed on any number of occasions here on TS over the same period and have not been impressed and consider these at odds with the NZ we have become and will continue to become. These include that NZ should only take permanent immigrants from first world countries such as the UK, Canada, USA etc; and not from second and third world countries; our FTAs with countries such as China and India should not provide any provisions for immigration from these countries, all "non-contributing illegal immigrants' should immediately be thrown out of NZ; and NZ shouuld only take in the barest minimun of immigrants to meet special skills needs. I won't provide links but just one example is the interesting discussion held under a Post on 27 April 2017 concerning Immigration and Winston Peters.
Obviously Janet is entitled to her views and to express them; but IMHO she should also then be prepared to face robust challenges to these views.
She was after all the one who started the thread @ 7 re blocks people such as Ken Mair are putting in the way of settling refugees – not immigrants per se – in the Whanganui area.
Fair enough, but unless Janet does decide to reply we can only assume TRP's response was more likely to discourage participation than not.
The really interesting question arises in the context of cultural integrity. The history of colonisation informs us quite clearly what happens when an existing (indigenous) people are out numbered by new arrivals from an entirely different culture. It's well understood to be exceedingly detrimental. This is pretty much where Ken Mair is coming from.
Yet for some reason this does not apply to white cultures.
Janet self-identified back on 17 April 2017 as "I am a fourth generation NZ fulltime farmer." No mention of any indigeous connections
I understand where Ken Mair is coming from to a degree. Despite being white myself, I am really pleased that my wider whanau now includes quite a few younger mixed Pakeha/Maori (Mahuta) cousins.
I also understand the strength of feeling associated with Turangawaewae as sadly I am having to sell up my family home of over 65 years where I spent most of my childhood and returned to after my father's death, and probably move away from the wider area of South Wellington my family/families have been associated with for c 150 years. Our once lower/middleclass neighbouthood is so sought after that it has become too expensive for many of us (mainly white) families/pensioners associated with the area for generations.
But we all have to move with the times and accept these changes and challenges.
I may be wrong but I get a bit of a whiff of protectionism of a commenter because she is female or even mansplaining. Please don't. I am a woman.
I understand where Ken Mair is coming from to a degree.
Doubt it.Mairs argument is that the housing problems in Whanganui need to be resolved first,prior to Refugee settlement (its called localisim)
The government needs to address both the failure under its watch to provide adequate social housing in Whanganui,and to constrain investor greed and avarice (another failure) first.
Landlords Link managing director Tracey Onishenko said rents had shot up off the back of investor interest in the city.
"Rents have skyrocketed. I do think some of them are over the top for what you are getting. I mean the average three-bedroom home would be about … $350 to $370 [a week] so that's a lot of money for a lot of people."
Ms Onishenko thought Mr Mair had a point.
"I think he does because at the end of the day we're going to be worried about the refugees coming here and if they are not going to have paid employment they're going to find it hard to live. Where are they going to live?
"There are people here that are employed, they're struggling and they're getting probably okay money and they're struggling to secure a house."
Thanks for the links. Janet provided a quote in the comment at 7 but did not provide a link to where the quote came from.
As I said I do understand what Ken Mair is saying as I already knew many of the grounds that various communities have been making for not having refugees in their communities – and most are genuine constraints such as housing costs and availability.
However, with or without refugee considerations, Whanganui is certainly not alone in facing a major shortage of social housing and/or skyrocketing rentals.
A reasonable three bedroom house in my own Wellington suburb would have cost c $400 – 500 about three years ago. Those same properties with a lick of paint and a heat pump installed are now going for upwards of $700/800, even a $1000 per week. The actual availability of rental property has fallen dramatically with many rental now being let out as short-term B&Bs etc.
So yes, there are a lot of factors involved, and it would be great if the government could flash a wand and conjure up lots more social housing, higher wages etc etc overnight but thse things take time. Just imagine what the situation would have been if National were still the government…
I do think some of them are over the top for what you are getting. I mean the average three-bedroom home would be about … $350 to $370 [a week]
Indeed but here is the kicker … costs are going through the roof as well. $400pw is indeed a lot of money for many people, and while this amounts to a gross rental income of around $20k pa, costs such as rates ($3k), insurance($3k), property management($2k) and maintenance (2% of gross value) doesn't leave much left over. And that's before any borrowings or tax are paid. This is why rents have been increasing; your bastard landlord is not rolling in it.
And yes the new govt regulations are having an impact. I need to consider what to do with a family property that my brother has lived in for almost 30 years but he now needs to move on from. But because it's got a 70's style cathedral ceiling it's ridiculously expensive (and largely pointless) to put modern 'compliant' insulation in. What's there works perfectly well, but the rules don't allow for it now.
Renting has just become too hard and our options are to short term it with AirBnB or sell. Either way a tenant doesn't get a look in.
I have recently ( november) downsized to an 80m^2 townhouse in chch.(under 8yrs old) fully double glazed,and double insulated.
My living costs (rates,insurance,electricity,phone and broadband) are under $ 125.00 per week.Solar power this year with plug in hybrid will also incorporate vehicle costs in that figure.
RL, it highlights how poorly aligned housing costs and income have become since Rogernomics.
That landlords are supposedly on the bones of their arse (despite making huge capital gains for nearly 20 years now), while young families struggle to pay rent is a clear indication of a failed economic system.
Yes incomes and housing costs are out of kilter, I've always agreed with this. In my view the big problem is a deeply structural one; in this country the Wages Share to GDP ratio is remarkably low for a developed nation and have been for a very long time. This flows primarily from govt policies and relatively low labour productivity, more than hordes of greedy landlords trying to screw everyone over.
Australia and Canada have both experienced similar property booms (especially in their gateway cities Sydney, Melbourne and Vancouver) but because wages are significantly higher it has caused somewhat less social pain. Also being larger countries there remain plenty of regional cities where property is still good value. By contrast in NZ, rising property prices in Auckland soon flow through everywhere.
This is a complex topic and nothing written in one blog comment is going to be without omission or flaw, but in my view the big problem is that NZ remains a relatively low wage country and this is why our housing costs are hurting so much.
PS. We chat to many kiwis here in Aus, and the one thing they all agree on is the ‘sticker shock’ when they make the trip back home to NZ to see family. Not only are wages low in NZ, the cost of living is significantly higher. It’s a very unhappy double whammy for anyone living on less than the median income.
Lets look at a tale of 2 cities (ak and chch) both experienced exogenous shocks to housing,one natural and one man made.
Nearly 170,000 properties were damaged in the earthquakes, about three quarters of Canterbury’s housing stock; the proportion was even higher within Christchurch City. The consequent shortage in housing has resulted in a sharp increase in house prices in Christchurch. House prices in the city are more than 40 percent higher than their pre-quake levels (figure 6). While this increase in house prices is smaller than the increase that has occurred in Auckland, where there is also a shortage of housing, it is more than double the increase that has occurred in the rest of New Zealand.
The shortage of housing has contributed to a sharp increase in rents, which had increased by almost 50 percent in Christchurch City by the start of 2015, compared with a nationwide increase of about 15 percent during that time (figure 7). The increase in rents has been concentrated in the relatively unaffected suburbs to the west and south of Christchurch as people have moved away from harder hit areas. Rental increases in the more heavily affected coastal and riverside suburbs are in line with the nationwide increase. More recently, rents have started to decline in Christchurch – by about 9 percent in the first 11 months of 2015.In part, the decline in rents reflects the increase in residential construction under way. The number of residential consents has increased from about 500 consents per month before the quake to a peak of more than 1200 consents per month at the end of 2014, around the time the Bank estimates residential construction activity peaked as a percent of potential GDP.
Chch has now equated to historical norms (excluding social housing) hence there is little capital gains.Ak now has an infrastructure deficit greater the chch EQ .
This flows primarily from govt policies and relatively low labour productivity
Let's not confuse labour productivity with business productivity. The problem is not caused by workers.
The share of profits trousered by owners and not re-invested in things that make businesses more productive (like training, IT systems, better roles) has increased since the 1980s up-ended the previous social contract.
That's where change is needed but nobody seems to be proposing much of it, are they.
Yes you can. We are supposed to have the very closest relationship of all countries. Their policy acts as if that is not the case at all. It acts as if AUS and NZ were independent of one another.
It's an incredibly disruptive and irresponsible policy by right wing Australian governments who seek to export their misery to their closest partner solely for political reasons.
I can’t think of a worse example of destructive trans Tasman relationships than this. And it is happening right now.
Yep. What happened to reciprocity in this relationship?
Bit by bit the balance of the 'most special relationship in the world' is being destroyed by successive right wing Australian parliamentarians.
NZ is left to suffer while Australia get the benefit of tens or hundreds of thousands of lower paid Kiwi workers without having to provide any kind of social assistance.
They also get to chop off the worst bit and sent them back.
It's free ride for Australia and in fact in my industry they are now flooding the worker market at the expense of Kiwis.
Aussies are naturally Trumpian and racist. We should let them know that and fight for once.
Probably not much will happen overnight Cinny as it is all the usual bullshit and bluster from Esper. For a start, the US is not a democracy, its representation is decided by an electoral college one a one person one vote democracy. It is further polluted as there are no constraints on the electoral vote buying and influence rorts. Secondly, when did the US ever subscribe to and respect international law or a rules based system of international trade and transactional relationships? If China is in the process of developing its military capability, why would they do that? Even North Korea knows the answer to that one. Mr. Esper should have saved his breath as the US is increasingly providing proof of its decline into the status of a rapidly dying empire – as his utterances prove.
I read a bit of this article by Aussie hack Sam Clench.
I read up the the word 'humungous' and realised Sam wasn't worth reading anymore.
I was taken back to when I moved to a new school in 5th Form and wrote an English essay which was well received except for a solid red line through the word 'humungous' and an accompanying note, "too colloquial".
35 Years later I remember it clearly as it was a pivotal moment in my life.
I see Sam Clench using this word in a paid column attacking Bernie Sanders for wanting to be too human and I can't help thinking he is a fraud.
He links Castro and Corbyn, Sanders and the Soviet Union in his MOR diatribe.
I'd rather Bernie failed against Trump than Sam's reasonable, functioning adult in the White House again soft Republican solution.
Whenever I go to yum cha it is 95% Chinese customer. This suggests Chinese New Zealanders themselves are abandoning Chinese restaurants.
This also suggests Chinese New Zealanders are either worried about the movements of other Chinese, or are superstitious, or don't trust the advice of New Zealand authorities.
David says, "National should promise to do the same here, if elected".
And what is he referring to? The Bojo government’s think process.
If universities don’t take action, the government will. If necessary, I’ll look at changing the underpinning legal framework, perhaps to clarify the duties of students’ unions.
So, not only is David Farrar advocating government intervention in university policy (the horror), but specifically the subjugation of student unions to government will.
So, what kind of free speech does Farrar believe in? Right wing free speech, and right wing free speech only.
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Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Oh dear…
https://twitter.com/ColinBrowning14/status/1227906931450425344
lol who would have thought it! Obviously not Colin.
" Public Affairs Committee is helping to fund a Super PAC launching attack ads against Sen. Bernie Sanders in Nevada on Saturday, according to two sources with knowledge of the arrangement. The ads are being run by a group called Democratic Majority for Israel, founded by longtime AIPAC strategist Mark Mellman "
https://theintercept.com/2020/02/14/aipac-anti-bernie-sanders-ads-nevada/
What to do in the wake of the Jones disgrace? http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2020/02/we-need-to-fix-defamation-law.html
From the sidebar, Jackal notes who else needs to be made accountable: http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2020/02/nz-mainstream-media-promotes-racism.html
AH…so that's one way China can track citizens who are likely to have been exposed to nCoV
https://youtu.be/vE4pBkslqS4?t=336
Very clever or diabolical depending on your perspective.
Excerpts from a report on the propaganda war against Assange. UN special rapporteur on torture Melzer "admits that he was himself initially taken in by the propaganda campaign."
Here is an interesting piece on the sorry saga of the 737 Max airliner, where Boeing management put profits first before people including the SME business as well and their own people from the 737 Max management team to the workers on the hanger floor.
Boeing once had a culture of customer and its work force from the hanger floor up to the broad room come first before profit. Now the current broad has trash not only its culture of safety first, putting customers and workers first culture, but the entire culture, legacy and history of Boeing as a aircraft manufacturer all because of putting profits and shareholders first.
Obviously they don’t teach history, ethics and culture anymore at business school or wherever they get their fancy certificates/ training these days.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-15/ex-boeing-manager-says-one-in-25-737-max-had-safety-incident/11957634
Other sources I've read confirm the problem and specifically date it back to when Boeing purchased McDonnell Douglas … who then inexplicably managed to get many of it's executives into positions of power and then methodically dismantle the engineer-led culture of Boeing.
By contrast one large US company I’ve been associated with much of my working life has almost always appointed engineers as it’s CEO … and so far it’s worked.
But yes, overall the culture of the ‘generic manager’ who doesn’t have industry specific expertise has been a disaster. Competency counts for way more than the ideologues on all sides like to think.
The saga of the DC10 cargo doors failing has long been used in engineering education around an engineer's professional duties, ethics, reporting problems to the chain of command and whistleblowing when no actions were taken to correct known safety problems.
But yes, overall the culture of the ‘generic manager’ who doesn’t have industry specific expertise has been a disaster.
Look at the disaster with public institutions here.
Re refugee settlement in Whanganui
"speeches and before workshops could begin, Mair said the group did not support refugees coming into its tribal domain until it had sorted out its own backyard."
Yes so true Ken Mair, but true of all New Zealand these days. What a mess our politicians have created over the last 25 years through immigration in one form or another.It is a way past time to stop, consolidate and recreate New Zealand to the pleasant place it used to be for most of us to live in.
Yep, and I suppose we could start by getting rid of all those immigrants from Britain who have really buggered the joint up since their arrival a couple of centuries ago. I'd start with anyone with a stereotypical Anglo Saxon name, like, for example, Janet.
Alternatively, we could keep the immigrants and boot out the bigots. There's a lot less bigots than immigrants so it would be less time consuming and easier to manage and if they didn't want to go back to wherever they came from, there's plenty of room on the Auckland Islands. Diet's a bit limited though, mainly dead penguins and guano paste, but I'm sure they'd adapt.
LOL – wellsaid! And there is a big difference between 'refugees' and 'migrants/immigrants' but none so blind etc etc
Good to see you back here, hope you do so more often.
I know there is a difference between refugees and immigrants generally but until we have our free health service , our education systems, our state led housing programs and our general infrastructure all up and running again properly then tax payers money used to assist yet more people to come into this currently dysfunctional country is wrongly budgeted and spent.
You do realise that migrants pay tax – and prop up the housing 'market' that successive govts have indulged?
Subtract migration and NZ has been in deep trouble for decades. Swapping houses, with banks clipping the ticket, has not produced sustainable wealth – or built the decent services you are missing. Cutting migration now does not fix that, let alone taking even fewer refugees than our share.
"Subtract migration and NZ has been in deep trouble for decades"
How do you mean?
Can't recall who did it but some local economist showed GDP minus migration impacts since the 90s and it was not pretty. Oram?
Shamubeel
If Shamubeel says something, the opposite is probably true…………
Don't buy a house in Auckland he said, it's better to rent. Nek Minute……guess who decides to buy. One of the worst economists IMO.
How was it not pretty though?
Going backwards.
I don't know what that means in this context. We're already going backwards.
Managing migration now and managing the infrastructure required for that managed migration plan does fix it in the long term though.
We should be starting this now (and at the very least this government has started) because it's been amateur hour for the last decade.
The globalists would be proud of you… Fortunately there's a big trend in populist politics that pushes back on immigration policy that undermines a country.
How does immigration "undermine" a country? Especially non-refugee immigration (because refugees are a shameful fuck-all of our immigration stats).
I wouldn't use the term undermine, because we run the economy we want and none of it is ideal at the moment. But immigration does have impacts. People with assets and the exchange rate in their favour can and do bump up land/property prices. There's also the ongoing issue that the left doesn't want to talk about yet, about what the real world (as in nature) carrying capacity of NZ is. This is about population, and obviously immigration policy ties into that.
The left's general position that immigration is always good is stopping us having the harder conversations about *how we should design our immigration policy. I have no doubt that the Key's govt's motivations and how they ran immigration policy caused problems. Labour's clumsy handling hasn't helped either.
The lefts position (eg Sanders) is unbounded immigration depresses wages and increases profits for corporates.
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaBugle/status/1228310760582873088
Now the acolytes of the high church of the hidden hand may postulate that this (with increased global trade) is good for growth.Adam Smith in the inquiry suggested that high profits and not high wages are a constraint on the economy.
Is NZ immigration "unbounded"?
Immigration has impacts.
We also have a non-replacement reproductive rate, which also has impacts.
Immigration might not always be good – especially too fast for infrastructure development (not just immigrating into somewhere with shitty infrastructure planning). But in the NZ context with our controlled immigration policy, I've yet to see anyone raise a solidly decent objection to our current rate. Especially the ones who use words like "undermine".
Is NZ immigration "unbounded"?
Not it isn't, but all too often when the left discusses this, we don't make the proposed boundaries clear at all. All too often it just reads as 'open borders'.
I would have thought that when discussing current immigration to NZ the current boundaries would be implicit, unless someone is specifically discussing "open borders".
We also have international obligations in respect of refugees and stateless persons and at a measly 750 refugees a year for some decade,s we (NZ) have not been doing our fair share compared to other countries – including Australia from memory. I really cannot be bothered checking the latest figures but I did work in govt for many years, including in areas relating to our refugee and other international obligations.
However, before replying I did do a quick check of your comments here on TS and immigration generally seems to be a longstanding bugbear with you in relation to maintaining a status quo nice life etc. as once existed in the 1950s/60s for example but which is long gone and unlikely to ever return as it was in those days.
Alternatively, we could keep the immigrants and boot out the bigots.
I suppose you get to determine the difference?
Yep, and I suppose we could start by getting rid of all those immigrants from Britain who have really buggered the joint up since their arrival a couple of centuries ago.
Because if I got to choose that statement would fall firmly into the bigot camp.
Yep, and I suppose we could start by getting rid of all those immigrants from Britain who have really buggered the joint up since their arrival a couple of centuries ago.
Not a very elegant statement.
Great leaders such as Te Rangi Hiroa thought different.
My mother was a full Maori of the Ngati-Mutunga tribe of North Taranaki in New Zealand. She had the arresting name of Ngarongo-ki-tua (Tidings-that-reach-afar). I hope for the sake of her memory that, by gathering tidings from afar, I may be worthy the honour of being her son …
… My father belonged to a north of Ireland family that lived in Armagh, so I am entitled to his family name. I am binomial, bilingual, and inherit a mixture of two bloods that I would not change for a total of either. I mention this brief family history to show that from my birth I was endowed with a background for the study of Polynesian manners and customs that no university could have given me. My mother's blood enables me to appreciate a culture to which I belong, and my father's speech helps me to interpret it, inadequate though the rendering be at times.
Yeah lets the immigrants run over Māori culture.
Lets keep forcing Māori to accept more immigrants so white liberals like yourself can throw around the term racist to anyone who wants to have a debate about immigration.
And rather than have a debate with janet you go all cock sure arshole. I'd get a ban for trying to shut down a debate like that – but you…
"shutting down debate", Adam says, only 11 debaters and 14 comments later.
you white liberal, you
Ha! The lesser spotted white liberal, number 94 on Unesco's Most Endangered Species list 😉
I think the point is that Janet whom you directed that 'inelegant' little diatribe to has indeed gone silent.
Janet has been a commenter on TS for some years and I doubt that she is a shrinking violet who will disappear. She contributes some very good ideas etc on sustainability, environment, and similar issues and I admire and respect her for her views and actions in these areas. She also grows my favourite fruit of all time, tamarillos, on a small commercial basis. Sadly, hard to come by and very expensive these days with the dieback of tamarillo trees due to a nasty insect whose name escapes me. So I also admire her for continuing to carry on growing them.
However, I have also followed her views on immigration also expressed on any number of occasions here on TS over the same period and have not been impressed and consider these at odds with the NZ we have become and will continue to become. These include that NZ should only take permanent immigrants from first world countries such as the UK, Canada, USA etc; and not from second and third world countries; our FTAs with countries such as China and India should not provide any provisions for immigration from these countries, all "non-contributing illegal immigrants' should immediately be thrown out of NZ; and NZ shouuld only take in the barest minimun of immigrants to meet special skills needs. I won't provide links but just one example is the interesting discussion held under a Post on 27 April 2017 concerning Immigration and Winston Peters.
Obviously Janet is entitled to her views and to express them; but IMHO she should also then be prepared to face robust challenges to these views.
She was after all the one who started the thread @ 7 re blocks people such as Ken Mair are putting in the way of settling refugees – not immigrants per se – in the Whanganui area.
Fair enough, but unless Janet does decide to reply we can only assume TRP's response was more likely to discourage participation than not.
The really interesting question arises in the context of cultural integrity. The history of colonisation informs us quite clearly what happens when an existing (indigenous) people are out numbered by new arrivals from an entirely different culture. It's well understood to be exceedingly detrimental. This is pretty much where Ken Mair is coming from.
Yet for some reason this does not apply to white cultures.
Janet self-identified back on 17 April 2017 as "I am a fourth generation NZ fulltime farmer." No mention of any indigeous connections
I understand where Ken Mair is coming from to a degree. Despite being white myself, I am really pleased that my wider whanau now includes quite a few younger mixed Pakeha/Maori (Mahuta) cousins.
I also understand the strength of feeling associated with Turangawaewae as sadly I am having to sell up my family home of over 65 years where I spent most of my childhood and returned to after my father's death, and probably move away from the wider area of South Wellington my family/families have been associated with for c 150 years. Our once lower/middleclass neighbouthood is so sought after that it has become too expensive for many of us (mainly white) families/pensioners associated with the area for generations.
But we all have to move with the times and accept these changes and challenges.
I may be wrong but I get a bit of a whiff of protectionism of a commenter because she is female or even mansplaining. Please don't. I am a woman.
I may be wrong but I get a bit of a whiff of protectionism of a commenter because she is female
lol … fuck off.
"Fair enough, but unless Janet does decide to reply we can only assume TRP's response was more likely to discourage participation than not."
"lol … fuck off."
I understand where Ken Mair is coming from to a degree.
Doubt it.Mairs argument is that the housing problems in Whanganui need to be resolved first,prior to Refugee settlement (its called localisim)
The government needs to address both the failure under its watch to provide adequate social housing in Whanganui,and to constrain investor greed and avarice (another failure) first.
Landlords Link managing director Tracey Onishenko said rents had shot up off the back of investor interest in the city.
"Rents have skyrocketed. I do think some of them are over the top for what you are getting. I mean the average three-bedroom home would be about … $350 to $370 [a week] so that's a lot of money for a lot of people."
Ms Onishenko thought Mr Mair had a point.
"I think he does because at the end of the day we're going to be worried about the refugees coming here and if they are not going to have paid employment they're going to find it hard to live. Where are they going to live?
"There are people here that are employed, they're struggling and they're getting probably okay money and they're struggling to secure a house."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/395707/focus-on-housing-squeeze-not-refugees-whanganui-mayor
https://www.whanganui.govt.nz/files/assets/public/guides-and-information/housing-snapshot-report-5-december-2018.pdf
Thanks for the links. Janet provided a quote in the comment at 7 but did not provide a link to where the quote came from.
As I said I do understand what Ken Mair is saying as I already knew many of the grounds that various communities have been making for not having refugees in their communities – and most are genuine constraints such as housing costs and availability.
However, with or without refugee considerations, Whanganui is certainly not alone in facing a major shortage of social housing and/or skyrocketing rentals.
A reasonable three bedroom house in my own Wellington suburb would have cost c $400 – 500 about three years ago. Those same properties with a lick of paint and a heat pump installed are now going for upwards of $700/800, even a $1000 per week. The actual availability of rental property has fallen dramatically with many rental now being let out as short-term B&Bs etc.
So yes, there are a lot of factors involved, and it would be great if the government could flash a wand and conjure up lots more social housing, higher wages etc etc overnight but thse things take time. Just imagine what the situation would have been if National were still the government…
I do think some of them are over the top for what you are getting. I mean the average three-bedroom home would be about … $350 to $370 [a week]
Indeed but here is the kicker … costs are going through the roof as well. $400pw is indeed a lot of money for many people, and while this amounts to a gross rental income of around $20k pa, costs such as rates ($3k), insurance($3k), property management($2k) and maintenance (2% of gross value) doesn't leave much left over. And that's before any borrowings or tax are paid. This is why rents have been increasing; your bastard landlord is not rolling in it.
And yes the new govt regulations are having an impact. I need to consider what to do with a family property that my brother has lived in for almost 30 years but he now needs to move on from. But because it's got a 70's style cathedral ceiling it's ridiculously expensive (and largely pointless) to put modern 'compliant' insulation in. What's there works perfectly well, but the rules don't allow for it now.
Renting has just become too hard and our options are to short term it with AirBnB or sell. Either way a tenant doesn't get a look in.
I have recently ( november) downsized to an 80m^2 townhouse in chch.(under 8yrs old) fully double glazed,and double insulated.
My living costs (rates,insurance,electricity,phone and broadband) are under $ 125.00 per week.Solar power this year with plug in hybrid will also incorporate vehicle costs in that figure.
Its a home not an investment.
RL, it highlights how poorly aligned housing costs and income have become since Rogernomics.
That landlords are supposedly on the bones of their arse (despite making huge capital gains for nearly 20 years now), while young families struggle to pay rent is a clear indication of a failed economic system.
@MB
Yes incomes and housing costs are out of kilter, I've always agreed with this. In my view the big problem is a deeply structural one; in this country the Wages Share to GDP ratio is remarkably low for a developed nation and have been for a very long time. This flows primarily from govt policies and relatively low labour productivity, more than hordes of greedy landlords trying to screw everyone over.
Australia and Canada have both experienced similar property booms (especially in their gateway cities Sydney, Melbourne and Vancouver) but because wages are significantly higher it has caused somewhat less social pain. Also being larger countries there remain plenty of regional cities where property is still good value. By contrast in NZ, rising property prices in Auckland soon flow through everywhere.
This is a complex topic and nothing written in one blog comment is going to be without omission or flaw, but in my view the big problem is that NZ remains a relatively low wage country and this is why our housing costs are hurting so much.
PS. We chat to many kiwis here in Aus, and the one thing they all agree on is the ‘sticker shock’ when they make the trip back home to NZ to see family. Not only are wages low in NZ, the cost of living is significantly higher. It’s a very unhappy double whammy for anyone living on less than the median income.
Rl
Lets look at a tale of 2 cities (ak and chch) both experienced exogenous shocks to housing,one natural and one man made.
Nearly 170,000 properties were damaged in the earthquakes, about three quarters of Canterbury’s housing stock; the proportion was even higher within Christchurch City. The consequent shortage in housing has resulted in a sharp increase in house prices in Christchurch. House prices in the city are more than 40 percent higher than their pre-quake levels (figure 6). While this increase in house prices is smaller than the increase that has occurred in Auckland, where there is also a shortage of housing, it is more than double the increase that has occurred in the rest of New Zealand.
The shortage of housing has contributed to a sharp increase in rents, which had increased by almost 50 percent in Christchurch City by the start of 2015, compared with a nationwide increase of about 15 percent during that time (figure 7). The increase in rents has been concentrated in the relatively unaffected suburbs to the west and south of Christchurch as people have moved away from harder hit areas. Rental increases in the more heavily affected coastal and riverside suburbs are in line with the nationwide increase. More recently, rents have started to decline in Christchurch – by about 9 percent in the first 11 months of 2015.In part, the decline in rents reflects the increase in residential construction under way. The number of residential consents has increased from about 500 consents per month before the quake to a peak of more than 1200 consents per month at the end of 2014, around the time the Bank estimates residential construction activity peaked as a percent of potential GDP.
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/-/media/ReserveBank/Files/Publications/Bulletins/2016/2016feb79-3.pdf?revision=98c011a5-c4aa-4d71-b6dd-a3e436620734
Chch has now equated to historical norms (excluding social housing) hence there is little capital gains.Ak now has an infrastructure deficit greater the chch EQ .
RL:
Let's not confuse labour productivity with business productivity. The problem is not caused by workers.
The share of profits trousered by owners and not re-invested in things that make businesses more productive (like training, IT systems, better roles) has increased since the 1980s up-ended the previous social contract.
That's where change is needed but nobody seems to be proposing much of it, are they.
Happily, the Gov't is finally going to crack down on the gangs. Couldn't happen too soon.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10509500
I wonder how they are going to crack down on them … send them to the Auckland Islands too ?
I had forgotten what a stable genius that guy's govt were – look how embedded gangs and P are now.
And he accepted Dutton's eviction policy with barely a whimper. Despite it having a profoundly negative effect on NZ communities.
John Key didn't care though, because it didn't affect him.
And the dolts around him like McCully probably couldn't see a lucrative enough angle to be arsed with either.
You can't blame Australia for putting out the trash.
Yes you can. We are supposed to have the very closest relationship of all countries. Their policy acts as if that is not the case at all. It acts as if AUS and NZ were independent of one another.
They are independent of one another.
That is not true. Australians and New Zealanders are able to move, live and work freely between the two countries.
In terms of labour, residency, earning and contribution the two peoples are indistinguishable.
Only when character is involved has the Australian determined the relationship ends.
You seem happy with the exploding gang violence though. Weird.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/119467711/change-in-gang-landscape-adds-to-rising-tensions
It's an incredibly disruptive and irresponsible policy by right wing Australian governments who seek to export their misery to their closest partner solely for political reasons.
I can’t think of a worse example of destructive trans Tasman relationships than this. And it is happening right now.
We are mugs to put up with it.
Denying NZ residents in Australia access to welfare, education, etc is at least as despicable – and with way less justification.
Yep. What happened to reciprocity in this relationship?
Bit by bit the balance of the 'most special relationship in the world' is being destroyed by successive right wing Australian parliamentarians.
NZ is left to suffer while Australia get the benefit of tens or hundreds of thousands of lower paid Kiwi workers without having to provide any kind of social assistance.
They also get to chop off the worst bit and sent them back.
It's free ride for Australia and in fact in my industry they are now flooding the worker market at the expense of Kiwis.
Aussies are naturally Trumpian and racist. We should let them know that and fight for once.
The invaders he referred to back then were the motorcycle biker gangs, like the Mongols, which came amid the wave of deportees from Australia.
Its the mob and bp who have been brawling in HB and they are still at it today.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/119559957/mongrel-mob-and-black-power-clash-again-in-hawkes-bay
The response by the MM to enhanced competition in CHCH suggests their business model needs external review.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/119513308/christchurch-barbershop-damaged-by-fire-in-overnight-breakin
Prince Andrew linked to yet another child rapist.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/02/prince-andrew-linked-to-fashion-mogul-peter-nygard-facing-rape-sex-trafficking-claims.html
Tune in live now, USA calling out China big time, it's going to be all on…..
Esper is speaking at the Munich Security Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WisZM9CMlTo
Fork….. Russia is no longer our biggest threat, it's now China…. says Esper…suggesting democracy
He said that xi jinping had basically been ruining China at the begining of the speech.
Anyways, nighty nite… wonder what will come of this by the morrow….stunning speech.
Probably not much will happen overnight Cinny as it is all the usual bullshit and bluster from Esper. For a start, the US is not a democracy, its representation is decided by an electoral college one a one person one vote democracy. It is further polluted as there are no constraints on the electoral vote buying and influence rorts. Secondly, when did the US ever subscribe to and respect international law or a rules based system of international trade and transactional relationships? If China is in the process of developing its military capability, why would they do that? Even North Korea knows the answer to that one. Mr. Esper should have saved his breath as the US is increasingly providing proof of its decline into the status of a rapidly dying empire – as his utterances prove.
I read a bit of this article by Aussie hack Sam Clench.
I read up the the word 'humungous' and realised Sam wasn't worth reading anymore.
I was taken back to when I moved to a new school in 5th Form and wrote an English essay which was well received except for a solid red line through the word 'humungous' and an accompanying note, "too colloquial".
35 Years later I remember it clearly as it was a pivotal moment in my life.
I see Sam Clench using this word in a paid column attacking Bernie Sanders for wanting to be too human and I can't help thinking he is a fraud.
He links Castro and Corbyn, Sanders and the Soviet Union in his MOR diatribe.
I'd rather Bernie failed against Trump than Sam's reasonable, functioning adult in the White House again soft Republican solution.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12308861
Whenever I go to yum cha it is 95% Chinese customer. This suggests Chinese New Zealanders themselves are abandoning Chinese restaurants.
This also suggests Chinese New Zealanders are either worried about the movements of other Chinese, or are superstitious, or don't trust the advice of New Zealand authorities.
Probably a combination of all three.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12308733
Farrar watch:
David says, "National should promise to do the same here, if elected".
And what is he referring to? The Bojo government’s think process.
So, not only is David Farrar advocating government intervention in university policy (the horror), but specifically the subjugation of student unions to government will.
So, what kind of free speech does Farrar believe in? Right wing free speech, and right wing free speech only.
Tell you what I wouldn't mind, you for once explaining why you call me names on threads
Bro. This is why I address you by those names on threads.
You from another forum today:
And you from this forum today:
Feign ignorance if you wish, Dark.
Kia Ora Newshub.
Grandparents are good teachers for their mokopuna as they have more experience and time.
Formula E is about promoting a sestanable future Electric everything.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Good advertising is the best way to bring in the putea.
Lolly scramble.
He's never stopped campaigning .
The floodings were pridicted hope no one is lost in the United Kingdom floods I see they had flooding in Los Angeles.
Funny.????.
Holiday what's that I've got EdTV 24/7.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
That's is cool telling the story of Ngāti Porou signing of the Waitangi treaty and the story up to the settlement.
Its good to see other Iwi gaining traction on their Treaty Settlement process.
The system is corupt how do you TRUST that
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
I've owned a few Holdens they are classic now.
Racist are haters some people use hate to float their toilets.
We must plan for being 70s.
Gliding on was a good classic TV series.
Newshub 430 news had a power outage.?????.
Rents are just shorting going up I seen a good program on Maori TV last night about shonky and his m8s.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
The Prefab House construction process needs to be ramped up.
War is for idiots the woman and children are the ones that pay the price in suffering.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
,, I,, I do get a itchy ear when I hear Te reo pronounced terrible wrong.
Ka pai
That's the way The Indigenous Rugby League All Stars making a stand. Times are changing Kia Kaha.
Ka kite Ano