Big Corporations Now Deploying Woke Ideology the Way Intelligence Agencies Do: As a Disguise
by GLENN GREENWALD, 14 April 2021
The British spy agency GCHQ is so aggressive, extreme and unconstrained by law or ethics that the NSA — not exactly world renowned for its restraint — often farms out spying activities too scandalous or illegal for the NSA to their eager British counterparts. There is, as the Snowden reporting demonstrated, virtually nothing too deceitful or invasive for the GCHQ. They spy on entire populations, deliberately disseminate fake news, exploit psychological research to control behavior and manipulate public perception, and destroy the reputations, including through the use of sex traps, of anyone deemed adversarial to the British government.
But they want you to know that they absolutely adore gay people. In fact, they love the cause of LGBT equality so very much that, beginning on May 17, 2015 — International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia — they started draping their creepy, UFO-style headquarters in the colors of the rainbow flag. The prior year, in 2014, they had merely raised the rainbow flag in front of their headquarters, but in 2015, they announced, “we wanted to make a bold statement to show the nation we serve how strongly we believe in this.” ….
Thanks Morrissey. Interesting and frightening post. Police in UK do same for LBGTs rights. The Autistism foundation has spoken up that they don’t get the same acknowledgment from the police, although they apparently fear badly when they come into contact with police.
on a different but related note, for those who are concerned about freedom of speech, I draw attention to Harry Miller, an ex cop in the UK who was engaging in a debate on-line about the proposed gender self I’d bill in 2019. He written some negative tweets about the issue including what I thought was a tasteless poem. Next thing the police turn up at his work and he goes on a register of hate events, that can be accessed by people such as prospective employers. He is told he has committed no crime, so his tweets although tasteless imho, not a crime. But he is sent a document from the police headed crime repot. He takes the police to the High Court and wins. The judge describes the polices actions as Orwellian. It’s a long clip, but I will try and post it.
A disturbingly similar case to the police harassment of Harry Miller for thought crime is this one from the U.S., pertaining to the Queen of Woke herself….
That statement was not set to be fully rolled out until 2024, but Housing Minister Megan Woods said a “short-term solution” was needed ahead of it being fully implemented.
And a succinct denunciation of that recent Nat announcement:
Woods also critiqued National’s new policy of offering councils $50,000 for every house built over their historical five-year average.
She said because the money would not be front-loaded councils would still have to borrow to build infrastructure, and many councils were at their debt-limit.
Her Government’s $3.8 billion to support housing infrastructure would be front-loaded, she said, and more details would be available on it soon.
Councils are at their debt limit as a matter of policy, indeed they cant work without it. Its because of the way they use ' depreciation of assets' to fund their every day activities. Pipes dont depreciate as fast as edifices in the accounting process so are last on the list.
Wellington is prime example of this , every grand design for the city is approved quickly and even rebuilds are as grand as possible and loaded with upgrades
So the latest covid case security guard at MIQ (case B) hasn't been tested since last November even though we were told there was two week testing for all MIQ workers. Turns out that is BS.
"We don't have a systematic way until next week of being able to write a query into the system to give us information," said Tremain.
There is the problem IMO. Currently the system is open to human error and employees lying. They should have had this in place already.
wow, the weakest link broke, and its all the fault of the weakest link.
Was this a casual employee or full time?
Was this someone who ran a regular shift at the plague hotel or was called in any few weeks every other month for a casual shift?
was the employee provided time on the clock to get tested or was that a voluntary thing?
was the employee provided with a location to get tested and was that done by the employer?
How was the goverment contract formulated in regards to testing of staff that mans the plague hotels?
What are the fines for an employer who does not make sure its staff gets tested?
nah, its all the fault of someone at bottom of the bucket below the ladder. Sounds a bit like with the student KFC worker who was blamed for a whole heep of mishaps that came way of communications from schools, health department and ministry.
But i guess its much easier to bash down then to admit that maybe the ball was dropped at ministerial level.
No sure why you continue to give the employers a free pass. They are no doubt collecting top taxpayer dollar for this work and were to meet certain obligations for the good of the nation. They didn't do it.
Last bloody August it was clear that the 'private security contractors model ' was not working and it was announced that these vital MIQ personnel would be employed directly by M(O)BIE.
The numpties running this pantomime are only just getting their collective arses into gear and advertising for these positions.
It is the Ministry's fault and it is the Government's fault this shit is still going on.
Agree, I do remember the announcement after that incident. Interesting it was not a Covid infection or risk of infection incident.
In your second link it says the government was aiming to reduce reliance on private contractors by bringing in defence force staff.
JA did say they were looking to employ security guards directly:
Where we are using security guards, we're looking to directly employ them by MBIE who will train and pay a living wage. This will raise accountability and give more central control over procedures.
I guess this either wasn't possible or the private sector protested, not being able to clip the wage ticket.
Still believe the contracting companies have a lot more to answer for than is being asked of them.
I guess this either wasn't possible or the private sector protested, not being able to clip the wage ticket.
I guess its because M(O)BIE, like the MOH, have become so dependent on private contractors over the decades that they are almost incapable of doing their work any other way.
I know that the Ministry of Health, back in the mid 1990's, handed over all aspects of Disability Support Services to the private sector. They did not want the disabled, they did not understand disability and they happily handed over all but 'policy work' to private contractors. When shit got real and disabled New Zealander's were abused and neglected to death by these private contractors the Misery of Health claimed distance from these atrocities…'our hands are clean we are merely the funders'.
Disabled people and their families have fought, gone to court, written submissions and letters and participated in surveys and discussions and conferences and conventions and begged and pleaded with various Ministers from governments of all hues to step up and fucking take back control from what has been for decades a rogue ministry that runs along the lines of a fiefdom.
From what I hear…M(O)BIE is very similar.
Nothing but a complete purge of all Ministerial staff with 'service' of more than 2 years will fix this. If they survive that long in that work environment they are just as bad as the rest.
While agreeing the whole dysfunctional system needs to scrapped and started again i can see no viable way of doing so WHILE maintaining some semblance of organisation so in effect 'they' have won…the state has been rendered incapable and therefore is unable to challenge the private profiteers.
But in winning they will lose….unfortunately theyre going to take everyone else down with them.
Yes, the reforms of the 80s and 90s are still held up as best practice in efficiency. Of course they are not more efficient (how can they be with more people clipping the ticket?), just less effective.
It's interesting that calls across the board now are toward greater centralisation and less dependence on the private sector who clearly can't and won't do the job properly because of the profit motive.
Even the right wing are demanding greater government involvement in all areas of society and economy.
Perhaps one of the legacies of this pandemic will be a reset of services toward to good of society rather than for the profit of a few.
No one is claiming historical perfection but there was a capacity and capability that no longer exists and that is not going to end well for anyone….and we were warned.
40 years (less than) was all it took……it will take a lot longer to restore, if ever.
Yes, i have a job offer, you take it and contract out for me to do it, however, i am still liable for the fuck ups that you do considering that I am the one who wrote the original contract – and should have included penalties for every single one of your potential fuckups, so that i can cover my ass and pretend to have thought about everything.
And this is not a stupid leaky building issue where everyone can get to go in liquidation so as to avoid liablity, this shit gets out the country goes down to 4 again on the noise of your phone and how good will that do us?
So just please keep that in mind with your Business as usual attitude of lets blame the person on the bottom, rather then the one who contracts a job out cause cheap labour is them, or the one who took the cheap contract and is now running the show with the expected lowest paid people they can find.
Read my comments. The one at the bottom is an idiot, clearly. But his employer is more at fault because they didn't ensure the contract was fulfilled, ie ensuring the testing order was carried out.
You are letting the private operator off the hook here. Please do better.
But the system (if there was one) should have picked up when he told his employer he was tested (or when he lied as stated by Jacinda), that he was not, because it was not showing in the database stating who has and who hasn't been vaccinated.
Currently the system seems to be voluntary testing by the employees.
That sort of system wasn't in place. What was in place was a requirement for employers to ensure the testing order was carried out. It was then left to the employer to work out haw to do that.
They didn't.
Now that it has transpired that some workers and their employers have been lying about testing I guess a new government compliance system will be in place at greater cost to the taxpayer and less cost to business.
Yes. That sort of system wasn't in place but should have been. You cant rely on people to "just do the right thing voluntarily". It would be like saying to people at the airport when they arrive from overseas, "please just stay home and quarantine for 14 days, we trust you to do that".
I would only be happy if the contractor be held liable if, because of non compliance, a super spreader is being let loose into the community causing health and economic damage. Anyone in this forum who has a legal background able to tell us whether this is possible?
Yeah – whatever. Everything humans do is a mess – especially at the margins. I can't get exercised over the minutiae of execution – other than hope that they find the issues fairly early and have a commitment to trying to fix them.
And I know that there would be no meaningful difference in operational competence between one government and any other – they are all working with the same system and the same constraints. To support the Nats because you have been sucked into the myth of their superior competence would be delusional.
Rather than competence, what matters in our political choices is the ideology and intent of a political party. It's clear from the "what about the economy?" noises that National were making early in the pandemic, that they would have taken us down something more like the path of far-right genocidal lunacy we have seen with the Tories in the UK – though probably not quite as awful.
It's clear from the "what about the economy?" noises that National were making early in the pandemic, that they would have taken us down something more like the path of far-right genocidal lunacy we have seen with the Tories in the UK
Two week testing was available for all MIQ workers, so no it is not BS, that is a fail from you. This worker chose to not get tested and lie to his employers and the employers were not checking obviously. Having said that I think the Government needs to get more heavy handed on people flouting the rules. How many people do you know who don't scan when entering premises. I suggest heaps, doesn't mean the system isn't there for their use.
Just how the security guard went five months without a test remains unclear. In Parliament on Wednesday Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the 24-year-old had "lied". His employer First Security said all its guards are "required to sign declarations that they are up-to-date with the COVID-19 testing requirements", but that it also has "current proof of up-to-date COVID-19 testing from all guards working at MIQ facilities".
Main said the employer's testing information didn't match what the Ministry of Health had, which is how they found out the worker hadn't been tested. She wasn't sure if the worker had provided actual proof of testing to his employer, or just lied about it.
"He was providing assurances. Each employer has a different way of keeping track of their employees' status – that's something they're required to do under the testing order, and each employer will do that differently."
From April 27, all border employers will be required to use a centralised register.
This was the system in place. By law employers are required to keep track of their employee's status under the testing order.
This seems reasonably sensible to me. To task employers with their own employees testing requirements rather than government having to deal with all 300 suppliers and their 4000 workers and test them all themselves. Again it looks like some employers and their employees got slack and cut corners.
The responsibility is now being taken away from them because, as usual, the private sector can't get anything important right. This at further cost to the taxpayer and greater profit to the private sector.
So basically the dude didn't just "lie", it's arguable that he committed fraud.
His employer First Security said all its guards are "required to sign declarations that they are up-to-date with the COVID-19 testing requirements", but that it also has "current proof of up-to-date COVID-19 testing from all guards working at MIQ facilities".
First Security have a pile of little chitties saying every one of their employees are up to date with tests. I hope FS have something more than that as their "current proof", because how many of those chits were robo-signed by staff who meant to get a test real soon, but never got around to it for five months?
So now everyone will need to get a receipt when they take the test, as the quickest bypass around privacy concerns and the practicalities of data matching.
Security is a pretty low wage job, mostly. Its ideal output is nothing, but if nothing happens, the clients get complacent and start cutting the budget until something happens.
This "all our people are regularly tested" is a tick-box requirement: cheapest way to tick it is to have a folder of staff declarations. In the service contract there'd be a clause of "all staff will be tested every x days", but no penalty. So as long as it's only one or two and the company can say it tried, the contract can't get turfed.
If it was more than a compliance formality (i.e. if an untested guard is discovered, that costs the security company a significant penalty fee) the company would coordinate the testing for each shift, at the workplace.
Funny story about that from another security company many years ago.
Guard got pinged for filing false checks on his route (lots of them run from site to site checking for break-ins and fires rather than being at one point all shift, company gets paid to check a building say 3 times a night) because apparently he "checked the building and found it fine" while fire service was still putting out a real fire. Turned out his super had also been doing days on the side gig and sleeping when he should have been checking up on whether the nightshift guards were doing their checks.
quis custodiet ipsos custodes ipsos custodes ad infinitum…
Now, if and I say if, a worker from First Security knowingly does not test and becomes a super spreader, can those who are unwittingly being infected sue the company for willful endangerment of health and/or life?
It would be interesting to know as I am sure that if the answer is yes, there will be an airtight system in place in ….hmmm lets say 10 minutes?
I'm not sure one can actually sue for criminal charges in NZ.
Maybe for damages if there was negligence.
But then who would one sue? A low wage employee? MIQ? The security company that assumed it could leave regular testing up to the employee to sort if not getting tested was gross misconduct?
Worse, part-way through her cross-examination, she is accused of making up the abuse.
Her ex-husband’s lawyer tells the judge Mrs P has “falsified evidence” on one of the ACC file notes attached to her affidavit. The altered document is a 20-hour report form, completed by a counsellor for the sensitive claims unit, on Mrs P’s first visit. The lawyer says she has managed to obtain the original version after gaining access to Mrs P’s entire confidential ACC file in preparation for the hearing.
Irrelevant information dragged before the court, and systemic abuse of this poor woman was the result. How does the court make up for that? Most people I know who have dealt with ACC “Sensitive” Claims have had to make statements of correction. That’s not a crime.
And it is not an infrequent occurrence although this story would seem an extreme example:
Psychopathic violent male abuses female and female is punished for… making up stories. Many of us have been down that road although not always a result of a domestic situation. It can be excessive abuse in the work-place or in a normal social setting. It never ceases to amaze me how often the perpetrators are believed over the victims by those who are supposed to be the experts/protectors/purveyors of justice.
A report by an economics consultancy firm [Infometrics] has found up to $24 billion worth of untapped global demand for New Zealand products…
He said the report highlighted the potential demand for main exports, but did not consider whether producers could meet that demand, and what capacity constraints may be in the way.
Interesting – looking at increasing the wine market? That needs water and if looking at Nelson, Tasman, who knows whether they will have enough for themselves without feeding another hungry water sponge of win similar to dairy. There is a dam in Tasman being built which I hope is not going to be siphoned away to dairy and will provide surety of supply for people as far away as Richmond. The horticulture people actually need it muchly to maintain a diversified growing area. Wine should not be trying for much expansion to avoid being over-exposed to one industry. The dam appears to have rotten rock underneath, which I think they were warned about, and is requiring more work, and top-ups and government has said no more. It may be that it has to be scaled back for safety – intelligent geological reasons.
Yet this report says that markets in traditional areas of wine supply are not 'saturated'. It sounds as if the report and thinking is based on growth before all other considerations. And of course it has to be transported there, though wine would be fine by sea as I suppose it travels now?
I suggest that this potential export figure is a bit over-egged, a pie in the sky one, and we need to work hard to keep up what we have, and work on a managed rise coming from new customers, and present products at a steady pace. Sending ice cream must be a no-no long term. Exporting the ingredients and making it in the target country like Indonesia with local labour and NZ hygiene would I think endear us to those customers.
As for logs, to avoid us having to compete against export prices for our own product, government is going to have to pull finger and buy back some land or young plantations at the appropriate market price for young trees. Of course we do need politicians who have some idea of how to manage the country, and avoid the two-tier inflation we already notice on wood for our houses, and on built houses.
The report mentions Australia suffering a setback on exports through its accord with China having been damaged. They will be looking for outlets and competing, possibly undercutting us, to get them. It is wise to not rely on trade with Australia, and not to set up a joint promotion or trading bloc with them to trade with other countries, as they will always renege from agreements when there are problems, and seek to get the best deal for themselves.
Anyone who is interested in our country's enterprises and exports is welcome to criticise. But I have been watching for decades and I think I have a reasonably good overview – short on details and expertise with stats and graphs though!
It seems an ugly lump of concrete passage on what had been a green park. And apparently it had to be in Auckland because most of the Erebus passengers had come from Auckland. They wanted to go as far as the Antarctic, so were prepared to travel that far themselves. Why not have it in Wellington in Parliament grounds, right by the people who were the type to bring the disaster about?
Why not have it in Wellington in Parliament grounds, right by the people who were the type to bring the disaster about?
There was only one entity to blame and that was Air NZ. Poor procedures on the part of the back-up staff caused the tragedy. Nothing to do with the pollies although Muldoon was instrumental in enabling the truth to be covered up in order to save the Airline's reputation. All of it done at the expense of the dead cockpit crew who had been given the wrong co-ordinates.
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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, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
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 ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
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 ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
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Big Corporations Now Deploying Woke Ideology the Way Intelligence Agencies Do: As a Disguise
by GLENN GREENWALD, 14 April 2021
The British spy agency GCHQ is so aggressive, extreme and unconstrained by law or ethics that the NSA — not exactly world renowned for its restraint — often farms out spying activities too scandalous or illegal for the NSA to their eager British counterparts. There is, as the Snowden reporting demonstrated, virtually nothing too deceitful or invasive for the GCHQ. They spy on entire populations, deliberately disseminate fake news, exploit psychological research to control behavior and manipulate public perception, and destroy the reputations, including through the use of sex traps, of anyone deemed adversarial to the British government.
But they want you to know that they absolutely adore gay people. In fact, they love the cause of LGBT equality so very much that, beginning on May 17, 2015 — International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia — they started draping their creepy, UFO-style headquarters in the colors of the rainbow flag. The prior year, in 2014, they had merely raised the rainbow flag in front of their headquarters, but in 2015, they announced, “we wanted to make a bold statement to show the nation we serve how strongly we believe in this.” ….
Read more…
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/big-corporations-now-deploying-woke
A disturbingly similar case to the police harassment of Harry Miller for thought crime is this one from the U.S., pertaining to the Queen of Woke herself….
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/04/09/anti-war-activist-police-aoc-video/
To compound this horror/comedy, the former director of GCHQ has been longlisted for the ….. (wait for it!)…. Orwell Prize…
https://twitter.com/pmillerinfo/status/1380627629582249987
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0wC7c9Sywk
Harry Miller link as quoted in my above comment
Govt speeding up regulatory change to get more homes consented. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300277195/housing-government-looking-to-fasttrack-moves-to-force-councils-to-allow-more-housing
And a succinct denunciation of that recent Nat announcement:
Councils are at their debt limit as a matter of policy, indeed they cant work without it. Its because of the way they use ' depreciation of assets' to fund their every day activities. Pipes dont depreciate as fast as edifices in the accounting process so are last on the list.
Wellington is prime example of this , every grand design for the city is approved quickly and even rebuilds are as grand as possible and loaded with upgrades
So the latest covid case security guard at MIQ (case B) hasn't been tested since last November even though we were told there was two week testing for all MIQ workers. Turns out that is BS.
"We don't have a systematic way until next week of being able to write a query into the system to give us information," said Tremain.
There is the problem IMO. Currently the system is open to human error and employees lying. They should have had this in place already.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/covid-19-officials-still-investigating-why-security-guard-wasn-t-tested-as-jacinda-ardern-jumps-the-gun.html
wow, the weakest link broke, and its all the fault of the weakest link.
Was this a casual employee or full time?
Was this someone who ran a regular shift at the plague hotel or was called in any few weeks every other month for a casual shift?
was the employee provided time on the clock to get tested or was that a voluntary thing?
was the employee provided with a location to get tested and was that done by the employer?
How was the goverment contract formulated in regards to testing of staff that mans the plague hotels?
What are the fines for an employer who does not make sure its staff gets tested?
nah, its all the fault of someone at bottom of the bucket below the ladder. Sounds a bit like with the student KFC worker who was blamed for a whole heep of mishaps that came way of communications from schools, health department and ministry.
But i guess its much easier to bash down then to admit that maybe the ball was dropped at ministerial level.
We don't know how lucky we are……….
No sure why you continue to give the employers a free pass. They are no doubt collecting top taxpayer dollar for this work and were to meet certain obligations for the good of the nation. They didn't do it.
No sure why you continue to give the employers a free pass. And I assume you mean 'Why are you blaming the Govt and the Ministry?'
Bugger me fucking sideways….
After a privacy breach incident in August, the number of Defence Force staff at the hotels was boosted, and the government said remaining security guards would be employed directly by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in future.
Last bloody August it was clear that the 'private security contractors model ' was not working and it was announced that these vital MIQ personnel would be employed directly by M(O)BIE.
The numpties running this pantomime are only just getting their collective arses into gear and advertising for these positions.
It is the Ministry's fault and it is the Government's fault this shit is still going on.
This is like groundhog day.
Agree, I do remember the announcement after that incident. Interesting it was not a Covid infection or risk of infection incident.
In your second link it says the government was aiming to reduce reliance on private contractors by bringing in defence force staff.
JA did say they were looking to employ security guards directly:
I guess this either wasn't possible or the private sector protested, not being able to clip the wage ticket.
Still believe the contracting companies have a lot more to answer for than is being asked of them.
I guess this either wasn't possible or the private sector protested, not being able to clip the wage ticket.
I guess its because M(O)BIE, like the MOH, have become so dependent on private contractors over the decades that they are almost incapable of doing their work any other way.
I know that the Ministry of Health, back in the mid 1990's, handed over all aspects of Disability Support Services to the private sector. They did not want the disabled, they did not understand disability and they happily handed over all but 'policy work' to private contractors. When shit got real and disabled New Zealander's were abused and neglected to death by these private contractors the Misery of Health claimed distance from these atrocities…'our hands are clean we are merely the funders'.
Disabled people and their families have fought, gone to court, written submissions and letters and participated in surveys and discussions and conferences and conventions and begged and pleaded with various Ministers from governments of all hues to step up and fucking take back control from what has been for decades a rogue ministry that runs along the lines of a fiefdom.
From what I hear…M(O)BIE is very similar.
Nothing but a complete purge of all Ministerial staff with 'service' of more than 2 years will fix this. If they survive that long in that work environment they are just as bad as the rest.
While agreeing the whole dysfunctional system needs to scrapped and started again i can see no viable way of doing so WHILE maintaining some semblance of organisation so in effect 'they' have won…the state has been rendered incapable and therefore is unable to challenge the private profiteers.
But in winning they will lose….unfortunately theyre going to take everyone else down with them.
Yes, the reforms of the 80s and 90s are still held up as best practice in efficiency. Of course they are not more efficient (how can they be with more people clipping the ticket?), just less effective.
It's interesting that calls across the board now are toward greater centralisation and less dependence on the private sector who clearly can't and won't do the job properly because of the profit motive.
Even the right wing are demanding greater government involvement in all areas of society and economy.
Perhaps one of the legacies of this pandemic will be a reset of services toward to good of society rather than for the profit of a few.
Its a bit of myopic view about 'the good old days' when every , literally was run in house.
Never heard of Lake Alice or the myriad of dysfunctional people over the years working for the 'ministry or the board'?
No one is claiming historical perfection but there was a capacity and capability that no longer exists and that is not going to end well for anyone….and we were warned.
40 years (less than) was all it took……it will take a lot longer to restore, if ever.
That shouldn't stop us from making a start.
All orderlies, security, laundry and nurse aid employed by the DHB.
Any Government department that spends over a certain % on a particular contracted employee must bring them 'in-house'.
As I have said before, there are folk out there with letters after their name who are better equipped than me to do this
You do realise that the Government is the ultimative employer of the contractors that run the security guards?
you do realise that? Do you?
Thanks.
And again, we don't know how lucky we are.
What part of contracting do you not understand?
Yes, i have a job offer, you take it and contract out for me to do it, however, i am still liable for the fuck ups that you do considering that I am the one who wrote the original contract – and should have included penalties for every single one of your potential fuckups, so that i can cover my ass and pretend to have thought about everything.
And this is not a stupid leaky building issue where everyone can get to go in liquidation so as to avoid liablity, this shit gets out the country goes down to 4 again on the noise of your phone and how good will that do us?
So just please keep that in mind with your Business as usual attitude of lets blame the person on the bottom, rather then the one who contracts a job out cause cheap labour is them, or the one who took the cheap contract and is now running the show with the expected lowest paid people they can find.
Read my comments. The one at the bottom is an idiot, clearly. But his employer is more at fault because they didn't ensure the contract was fulfilled, ie ensuring the testing order was carried out.
You are letting the private operator off the hook here. Please do better.
But the system (if there was one) should have picked up when he told his employer he was tested (or when he lied as stated by Jacinda), that he was not, because it was not showing in the database stating who has and who hasn't been vaccinated.
Currently the system seems to be voluntary testing by the employees.
One would expect the contractor to be liable, regardless of the reason (or excuse) for non-performance.
A case for the quarantine costs of the affected workers would be letting them off lightly.
That sort of system wasn't in place. What was in place was a requirement for employers to ensure the testing order was carried out. It was then left to the employer to work out haw to do that.
They didn't.
Now that it has transpired that some workers and their employers have been lying about testing I guess a new government compliance system will be in place at greater cost to the taxpayer and less cost to business.
Happy now?
Yes. That sort of system wasn't in place but should have been. You cant rely on people to "just do the right thing voluntarily". It would be like saying to people at the airport when they arrive from overseas, "please just stay home and quarantine for 14 days, we trust you to do that".
I would only be happy if the contractor be held liable if, because of non compliance, a super spreader is being let loose into the community causing health and economic damage. Anyone in this forum who has a legal background able to tell us whether this is possible?
"Currently the system is open to human error…"
Yeah – whatever. Everything humans do is a mess – especially at the margins. I can't get exercised over the minutiae of execution – other than hope that they find the issues fairly early and have a commitment to trying to fix them.
And I know that there would be no meaningful difference in operational competence between one government and any other – they are all working with the same system and the same constraints. To support the Nats because you have been sucked into the myth of their superior competence would be delusional.
Rather than competence, what matters in our political choices is the ideology and intent of a political party. It's clear from the "what about the economy?" noises that National were making early in the pandemic, that they would have taken us down something more like the path of far-right genocidal lunacy we have seen with the Tories in the UK – though probably not quite as awful.
Two week testing was available for all MIQ workers, so no it is not BS, that is a fail from you. This worker chose to not get tested and lie to his employers and the employers were not checking obviously. Having said that I think the Government needs to get more heavy handed on people flouting the rules. How many people do you know who don't scan when entering premises. I suggest heaps, doesn't mean the system isn't there for their use.
This was the system in place. By law employers are required to keep track of their employee's status under the testing order.
This seems reasonably sensible to me. To task employers with their own employees testing requirements rather than government having to deal with all 300 suppliers and their 4000 workers and test them all themselves. Again it looks like some employers and their employees got slack and cut corners.
The responsibility is now being taken away from them because, as usual, the private sector can't get anything important right. This at further cost to the taxpayer and greater profit to the private sector.
As it ever was.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/coronavirus-miq-boss-reveals-exact-number-of-border-workers-who-might-never-have-been-tested-for-covid-19.html
So basically the dude didn't just "lie", it's arguable that he committed fraud.
First Security have a pile of little chitties saying every one of their employees are up to date with tests. I hope FS have something more than that as their "current proof", because how many of those chits were robo-signed by staff who meant to get a test real soon, but never got around to it for five months?
So now everyone will need to get a receipt when they take the test, as the quickest bypass around privacy concerns and the practicalities of data matching.
Ironic, isn't it? The more I look at that, the more it makes me laugh…
Security is a pretty low wage job, mostly. Its ideal output is nothing, but if nothing happens, the clients get complacent and start cutting the budget until something happens.
This "all our people are regularly tested" is a tick-box requirement: cheapest way to tick it is to have a folder of staff declarations. In the service contract there'd be a clause of "all staff will be tested every x days", but no penalty. So as long as it's only one or two and the company can say it tried, the contract can't get turfed.
If it was more than a compliance formality (i.e. if an untested guard is discovered, that costs the security company a significant penalty fee) the company would coordinate the testing for each shift, at the workplace.
I wonder if First Security pay the hours the worker says they worked without any check?
Funny story about that from another security company many years ago.
Guard got pinged for filing false checks on his route (lots of them run from site to site checking for break-ins and fires rather than being at one point all shift, company gets paid to check a building say 3 times a night) because apparently he "checked the building and found it fine" while fire service was still putting out a real fire. Turned out his super had also been doing days on the side gig and sleeping when he should have been checking up on whether the nightshift guards were doing their checks.
quis custodiet ipsos custodes ipsos custodes ad infinitum…
Now, if and I say if, a worker from First Security knowingly does not test and becomes a super spreader, can those who are unwittingly being infected sue the company for willful endangerment of health and/or life?
It would be interesting to know as I am sure that if the answer is yes, there will be an airtight system in place in ….hmmm lets say 10 minutes?
I'm not sure one can actually sue for criminal charges in NZ.
Maybe for damages if there was negligence.
But then who would one sue? A low wage employee? MIQ? The security company that assumed it could leave regular testing up to the employee to sort if not getting tested was gross misconduct?
Yet another example of where Australia's managed to evolve to:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/300277901/twerking-dancers-at-australian-military-event-labelled-an-absolute-shocker
lols
Boaty McBoatface commissioned by Butty McButtcheeks in front of Poey McPoeface.
Another one to watch from Australia.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-post-ceo-christine-holgate-bullied-out-of-job-scott-morrison/c1c5e4d8-bb32-42b3-90b5-ef141039d7b7
It reminds me of the Julia Gillard story when she was PM. I think Australian politics might be toxic for females; too many poisonous snakes I think.
The way this woman has been treated is shocking, but more importantly, and not for the first time, it shows the family court system needs changing.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300277390/the-court-said-she-was-lying-about-being-abused-she-did-a-year-on-home-detention-she-wasnt-lying
Irrelevant information dragged before the court, and systemic abuse of this poor woman was the result. How does the court make up for that? Most people I know who have dealt with ACC “Sensitive” Claims have had to make statements of correction. That’s not a crime.
I'm with you on this one KSaysHi.
And it is not an infrequent occurrence although this story would seem an extreme example:
Psychopathic violent male abuses female and female is punished for… making up stories. Many of us have been down that road although not always a result of a domestic situation. It can be excessive abuse in the work-place or in a normal social setting. It never ceases to amaze me how often the perpetrators are believed over the victims by those who are supposed to be the experts/protectors/purveyors of justice.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/440501/exporters-missing-out-on-up-to-24-billion-of-untapped-global-demand-report
A report by an economics consultancy firm [Infometrics] has found up to $24 billion worth of untapped global demand for New Zealand products…
He said the report highlighted the potential demand for main exports, but did not consider whether producers could meet that demand, and what capacity constraints may be in the way.
Interesting – looking at increasing the wine market? That needs water and if looking at Nelson, Tasman, who knows whether they will have enough for themselves without feeding another hungry water sponge of win similar to dairy. There is a dam in Tasman being built which I hope is not going to be siphoned away to dairy and will provide surety of supply for people as far away as Richmond. The horticulture people actually need it muchly to maintain a diversified growing area. Wine should not be trying for much expansion to avoid being over-exposed to one industry. The dam appears to have rotten rock underneath, which I think they were warned about, and is requiring more work, and top-ups and government has said no more. It may be that it has to be scaled back for safety – intelligent geological reasons.
Yet this report says that markets in traditional areas of wine supply are not 'saturated'. It sounds as if the report and thinking is based on growth before all other considerations. And of course it has to be transported there, though wine would be fine by sea as I suppose it travels now?
I suggest that this potential export figure is a bit over-egged, a pie in the sky one, and we need to work hard to keep up what we have, and work on a managed rise coming from new customers, and present products at a steady pace. Sending ice cream must be a no-no long term. Exporting the ingredients and making it in the target country like Indonesia with local labour and NZ hygiene would I think endear us to those customers.
As for logs, to avoid us having to compete against export prices for our own product, government is going to have to pull finger and buy back some land or young plantations at the appropriate market price for young trees. Of course we do need politicians who have some idea of how to manage the country, and avoid the two-tier inflation we already notice on wood for our houses, and on built houses.
The report mentions Australia suffering a setback on exports through its accord with China having been damaged. They will be looking for outlets and competing, possibly undercutting us, to get them. It is wise to not rely on trade with Australia, and not to set up a joint promotion or trading bloc with them to trade with other countries, as they will always renege from agreements when there are problems, and seek to get the best deal for themselves.
Anyone who is interested in our country's enterprises and exports is welcome to criticise. But I have been watching for decades and I think I have a reasonably good overview – short on details and expertise with stats and graphs though!
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2104/S00055/on-the-erebus-memorial-in-parnell.htm
It seems an ugly lump of concrete passage on what had been a green park. And apparently it had to be in Auckland because most of the Erebus passengers had come from Auckland. They wanted to go as far as the Antarctic, so were prepared to travel that far themselves. Why not have it in Wellington in Parliament grounds, right by the people who were the type to bring the disaster about?
There was only one entity to blame and that was Air NZ. Poor procedures on the part of the back-up staff caused the tragedy. Nothing to do with the pollies although Muldoon was instrumental in enabling the truth to be covered up in order to save the Airline's reputation. All of it done at the expense of the dead cockpit crew who had been given the wrong co-ordinates.
Literal to a point Anne. I said the type that would have been the cause – if not pollies then up on The Terrace, just behind the beehive.