It gets worse. I hope the Minister is having a lay down.
I was wondering how the Minister commenting on ‘operational matters’ regarding an ‘individual case’ suddenly couldn’t comment on an operational matter’ on this morning’s RNZ’s interview with him.
And now, bugger me daze, he’s probably going to have to comment on how a police car got stolen in Gore where a couple of police issue pistols have gone west.
Might be time to raid JA’s whiskey cabinet. It must be bloody hard having to maintain complete and utter ‘faith’ in ‘officials’. Does it require some sort of religious conversion?
Not sure Gabby. I thought they were supposed to be securely locked in the boot unless special circumstances mean that they're carrying them on their person at all times. Not sure about the car either – maybe it was eventually disabled when it got too far away from the officer in charge of it (unless of course the key was in the ignition).
The Minister will no doubt let us know in the fullness of time going forward after being briefed by his officials and when the appropriate spin meister has vetted a media release.
That's not the only police news this morning. Now there is talk of using facial recognition. Another step towards total control of people and further invasion of our lives if it happens.
"AT has had no recent contact with us," Mr Edwards said in a statement.
When cameras with facial recognition capability and the like were installed "we would expect the privacy impact assessment and response to also be updated".
"We would also expect Auckland Transport to develop clear policies on the retention and use of images collected, who can access them, and in what circumstances.
(It doesn't sound as if we are being protected against the use of facial spying rather just having some rules about it. Pretty weak privacy warrior.)
yep @ Duke. I realise all that. The thing I was pointing out was the selective commenting-or NOT, by elected reps. 'Operational Matters' seem to be very ill-defined and used as a matter of convenience whenever and if ever mere peons or what masquerades as the 4th Estate attempt to hold anybody to account. Local gummint has descended into something worse though.
And now the Commish's deputy dawg has made a media statement over the Gore situation – still leaving questions answered. They'll have to be answered sometime in the fullness of time. You could probably excuse Davis getting well and truly pissed on more than a peg or two
Good one James – don't let the idiot bridges get free hits in – he is destructive and is only interested in his own promotion. Simon is totally unsuited to high office.
Mr Shaw said Mr Bridges' position was "desperate" and "completely irresponsible".
"Stats NZ – their success ratings for the information that they put out on a weekly basis is between 99 percent and 100 percent … and when they do have errors, they correct them, they publish the methodology, they get them third-party reviewed.
"The idea that you can say, 'Oh, they made a mistake over here, therefore, I don't trust anything that they've produced', I think is, frankly, absurd."
The Opposition had a strategy to undermine public confidence in statistics in a bid to retake power "at any cost", Mr Shaw said.
"The lessons of Trump, the lessons of Brexit, and the lessons of the Australian election seem to have gone to Simon Bridges' head and this 'burn-the-house-down' in order to win approach … is a very, very bad turn for New Zealand politics.
"He doesn't really care what the collateral damage is along the way … and I don't know how he expects to govern if he totally destroys public confidence in the basis of evidence-based decision making."
That's the spirit, James, my son. Put the boot in good and proper. Bridges would do it to you in a heartbeat and National don't seem to care about much of anything other than getting their sweaty paws on the levers of power once more. Give that floppy-haired muppet both barrels.
It occurred to me the other day that if our system is designed to have 3.5% unemployment then our system must adequately compensate those required by the system to be unemployed…
mustn't it? This is the first question.
Once answered, the second question might then be, by how much should these people, who are required to be unemployed, be compensated? My 2c says one hell of a lot more than the dole. They should be up there with other employed people.
shouldn't they?
After all – both Labour and National require 3.5% of our working people to not have a job.
Too too radical by far @vto!!! It'd be a slippery slope. We might have to start thinking about the UNDER-employed. Then all those folks OVER-employed in two or three jobs that still don't earn enough to pay the bills. The next thing you know we'd have to seriously worry about all those being exploited. Can't be done! The resources required would be immense unless we could find an app for it all
Too right vto. As an alternative to running an unemployed buffer stock (the reserve army of the unemployed -Marx) the government could run an employed buffer stock by implementing a Job Guarantee policy. This would perform better than the present policy as employed people find it easier to find alternate work, so the Job Guarantee workers would be better at getting non Job Guarantee work. It would also be more fair by setting a floor on the labour market of full time minimum wage work (anybody worse off will always have this as a minimum alternative). This would restrain inflation equally as well as the present policy does.
"Whilst full employment is often an aim for an economy, most economists see it as more beneficial to have some level of unemployment, especially of the frictional sort. In theory, this keeps the labor market flexible, allowing room for new innovations and investment. As in the NAIRU theory, the existence of some unemployment is required to avoid accelerating inflation.
Unlike you, who knows an awful lot about economics but not much about how the real world functions. If everyone was in gainful employment, demand for labour would be high meaning wages would have to be sufficiently generous to tempt workers… and employers have night-terrors about those sorts of scenarios. "Raise wages?! Noooooo! Quickly! Someone prise Kirk Hope out of his sarcophagus so he can bleat about plummeting business confidence again!" Bill English openly stated a low-wage economy was a fabulous thing… obviously not a man in receipt of low wages. As a general rule, the people at the top are largely indifferent to the people at the bottom — sacrifices must be made and all that, and they're fine with it just so long as they're not the ones having to make the sacrifices.
I don't know where you get the impression that our system is designed to have 3.5% unemployed. At any given time there are many people who are unemployed for a variety of reasons – for example some may have left a job because of a fall out with their employer (and yes that can happen even in our fabulous private companies), or a desire to change the type of work they do, or because their family has moved, or becuause an employer has gone out of business and they can't afford to move to where there are more jobs, or or they are looking for their first job and don't have enough experience for most job vacancies, they are a 'return to workforce' person (after having a family, being on a temporary contract in NZ or overseas, had an extended holiday, been studying for jobs in a developing industry . . .). The physically and mentally disabled are I understand not counted as unemployed unless they are looking for work, but there will be people on the margin of that category who will find it difficult to get jobs. I leave it to you to decide which of those are designed in the system, and which are perhaps over-counted in the characterisation of unemployed by some politicians, and whether there are other categories.
Then you may be in a better position to tell us your view on which categories you believe should be paid by government one hell of a lot more than the dole, and whether by "up there with other employed people" you mean something like the average wage (Mean? Median?) or whether you envisage it being a bit like unemployment insurance – linked to previous earnings, or earnings for similar age / education / training / skills as persons employed.
A Labour-led government does of course tend to pay a higher unemployment benefit than a National or National-led government – were you looking for immediate change? – and if so what other spending would you reduce?
Basic Keynesian economics, to which Marx in part agreed. I think it’s to do with being able to fill new jobs with increased growth from a ready made labour pool.
“According to Karl Marx, unemployment is inherent within the unstable capitalist system and periodic crises of mass unemployment are to be expected. He theorized that unemployment was inevitable and even a necessary part of the capitalist system, with recovery and regrowth also part of the process.”
Conversely Ed, we could look at how 'employment' is defined nowadays. It was Keys mob that changed definitions, perhaps this lot could re-redefine employment.
That is certainly a possibility; I don't know the details of changes that may have been made. I do think there is a level of unemployment that relates to flexibility of employment patterns, and the ability of some to pick and choose periods of unemployment. But of course there is unemployment that has been "encouraged" by various governments. Certainly the need for both partners in a marriage to be employed is greater now than over say 20 years ago – and that has had a social cost in children having both parents working. But I suspect even in a system along the ideals of Marx there would be some unemployment, if only to cope with some jobs becoming redundant – in my lifetime typesetters have disappeared for example. However measured, it does appear that a government including Labour is likely to result in higher employment – probably in the region of 1% to 2% – with a largely corresponding lower unemployment figure.
You have an incomplete understanding of unemployment. This frequently arises due to a study of economic theory. There are two major categorisations of unemployment. They are voluntary and invountary unemployment. Voluntary is a super set of most of the categories you described, where people could take a job at the market rate but are looking for something better. Involuntary is when there are not enough jobs going for all those who want them at the going rate. In any market such a situation where the market doesn't clear is called a market failure. In most mainstream economic analysis you assume markets reach equilibrium and therefore clear and this is why involuntary unemployment is assumed not to occur (or be a relevant concern for policy). This is the case for the NAIRU rate of which is a parameter of an economic model which has been projected to its equilibrium point. So this is why a lot of analysis ignores the possibility that there could be insufficient jobs due to a lack of total spending (on wages) and why you don't concieve of it in your comment.
To vto at 3: I think the 'our system' refers to capitalistic theory. Somewhere in my dim and distant past I was taught that capitalistic theory required desirably 8% unemployment in order to keep the serfs to their grindstones and think those figures were around again in the 'Think Big' talk in Muldoon era.
aaaand there you have a couple of replies in the usual vein of what the privileged say when the evil of NAIRU is unveiled (usually the figure given in the 1990s was 6-8% unemployment). "nobody is forced to be unemployed",
The other thing being that "unemployment" is now an obsolete term from the days when most people worked full time or almost zero time. "Underemployment" is those 10-30 hour per week jobs that aren't enough for a decent life but don't count you as "unemployed".
There's always going to be some unemployed under the 20C model – e.g. the last job transition I made had me at home for a week. But slowing down the economy for fear of hurting profits means that some people are deliberately made unemployed. we don't know who, but they exist.
All moot anyway, as automation comes into its own. 70-80% unemployment will be the norm, so we'll have to destigmatise it sooner or later. When the owners of capital become the suppliers of their own labour, nobody will be able to afford their goods. Which leads to an ever decreasing number of employers and exponentially increasing inequality and the associated ills. Much better to tax the producers and redistribute that wealth to the population so they can create their full potential.
aaaand there you have a couple of replies in the usual vein of what the privileged say when the evil of NAIRU is unveiled (usually the figure given in the 1990s was 6-8% unemployment). "nobody is forced to be unemployed",
I don't believe (though it's true I may be wrong for once) that anyone was saying that. I certainly wasn't.
My interpretation from the above is people were giving a view how that our system, against claims otherwise, does currently rely on a level of unemployment, whether is wanted or warranted.
Up to them to set the record straight for themselves, but I don't see an attack on the jobless or bene bashing.
As soon as people started getting jobs, the RB would up the OCR to cool off business investment and new hires.
In the 0ughts the Alliance ISTR had a distinction between endemic unemployment and fluid unemployment (can't remember the exact terms) – the fluid level being 0-3% from simply people taking more than a week to find a new job, but with not real harm to their wellbeing. The endemic level is the unemployment that is artificially created to keep wage pressures down – essentially the NAIRU target.
I took that quoted post as a rebuttal that our system runs with a need for unemployment not "nobody is forced to be unemployed", but I may have interpreted it incorrectly.
I'm not arguing the case for running a keynesian unemployment quota or saying you're incorrect. My point was the capitalist system apparently does, as Marx concurred and stated by others above. I don't see any dolie bashing, in fact, the original post stakes a claim for hefty financial compensation which nobody has argued against.
I didn't have any problem with the original post, no.
But it's a bit like child poverty – to get the issue addressed, we have to overcome the tory denial that there's a systemic problem rather than it just being the fault of the individuals.
Absolutely, pitch fork and burning torch tory denial and right wing agendas 'til we're all angry mobbed out, though in stating the obvious about the system currently enforced upon us, doesn't equate to support of it, well not on my account anyway. As I wrote above, up to them to confirm or deny it.
See my post above. The economy may require a buffer stock approach to employment to resist inflation, that doesn't mean those in that buffer stock must be unemployed for it to work.
With regard to systematic, its still the governments choice to run it this way. They have alternatives. Other than a Job Guarantee they could just improve on the present by deficit spending until all the involuntary unemployment goes away rather than mindlessly trying to run a budget surplus regardless of the economic situation (coupled with holding the delusion that monetary policy can always by itself completely eliminate involuntary unempoyment).
To be fair to the current govt, ISTR the agreement with the Reserve Bank increases the objectives of the bank beyond an inflation target.
I really think we should be moving away from the concept that "employed for money" is the benchmark of expectation. We're soon going to hit the point where automation just produces too much stuff, and jobs from customer service to driving to manufacturing to business decision-making start to genuinely disappear.
Get people creating, occupy their time. The enemy of society isn't unemployment, it's boredom and want.
The changes in the policy targets only bring it in line with other major central banks targets.
I strongly suspect a future with 50% unemployment the norm should be called a distopian future. Fortunately that is not going to happen because of technology. As with other technology developments the nature of work does change but the total quantity needed for maintaining society at a level accepted by society doesn't because expectations increase at the same time.
Not strictly true…its the link (modelled) between inflation and employment . The RBNZ makes assumptions about inflation (or NAIRU) with regard to employment rates however the RBNZs goal is an inflation band not employment per se…post GFC we have seen that model appears invalid in the current environment…hence the willingness to adopt extraordinary policy actions now…..and the fact they cant afford the implications of being out of step with the driving economies.
So in effect it is the projected inflation rate that drives the policy, not employment
If I push you aside because I was running after another goal, or I push you aside because I wanted to push you aside for whatever reason, I'm still choosing to push you aside.
If it's the most efficient path to that objective, the Reserve Bank would.
If you're not in the way, lucky you. If you asre, unfortunate you. But you can't actually know if you're in the way or not – you just get shoved, that's how you find out.
You appear to be missing the point….if the goal is an inflation target and the link between employment and inflation is not operating then there is no need to consider it until such time as the link returns…should it do so.
It is less clearly part of RBNZs methodology now..to the point of lip service I would suggest.
What is causing the questioning of the Philips curve (not just my assertion)?….perhaps the high employment rates and the absence of inflation post GFC.
You mean as in someone like as in what happened at Stats NZ.
It shouldn't be too hard though because rather than the 'someone' being a Master of the Universe, they'd only be a Mistress of the Universe and there'd be no danger of the opposition accusing them of throwing them under the bus – most buses around Wellington are either Not In Service, or they've been cancelled.
no it's reduce hate speech by a white supremacist murderer who has committed the worst mass killing in NZ by targeting Muslim NZers – been on the news I'm surprised you haven't heard about it
It must be a dreary old life seeing everything in black and white with everything either on or off. I don't think anyone is suggesting a prisoner shouldn't be able to communicate with legal reps or family members but at least they should be able to expect a level of competence and discretion from the nations' servants when they come across something that's clearly designed to keep some sick fuk's desire to kill people he doesn't like from spreading
I'm in agreement with all that @ Psycho – i.e. that because someone fucked up, panic sets in so that a blanket no communication edict is applied.
We're really talking about 2 letters. And we're probably talking about complacency and yea/nah attitude or even under-resourcing so that those actually responsible can shift the shit off their plates.
We don't want people writing to their mums! They don't have mums anyway, they're monsters! /sarc
Read them, censor objectionable bits, intercept the ones sent to harrass victims, but allow normal human contact with someone other than the other criminals with whom they're detained.
If the minister has genuinely ruled that no prisoner should be allowed to send letters to friends and family, fuck that guy. If he's making shit up for the media, fuck that guy.
Basically, in this instance, Kelvin Davis is totally wrong.
Well spotted. The blame game is much easier than real journalism, which would have found out whether any laws or administrative laws had been broken before publicising an item on a website few New Zealanders would ever look at were it not publicised . . .
After having to listen to the appalling Peter Williams spend the morning raving on this and at several points crossing the line in his descriptions of people. After being appalled himself he had a listener who had seen the letter email it to him and proceeded to be even more "aghast" and then he had Bridges on the extend the "aghasted-ness" to fever pitch. But something was raised and that was that in the letter the offender had replied his thanks to the recipient, and the one who put the letter on-line, for the stamps "which he would have to hide from guards, officials etc".
Did these stamps become invisible once they went on to an envelope that was then sent? Apparently the first six pages was general rambling but the last ½ page contained threats or similar. Has no one considered that if he had a letter read and then placed it in an envelope that the letter may not have been read in it's entirety and the further possiblity that the did not go through the normal channels and was conveyed out for posting by a "friendly" staff member. The number of untrustworthy people currently means that all options should be looked at as to how this happened.
Peter Williams is the male equivalent of Maggie Barry. Someone who for years lulled you into a false sense of security with their seemingly amiable and easy-going broadcasting temperament, only to then reveal the frothing, swivel-eyed lunacy lurking just beneath the surface.
Say what you like about Hosking and Richardson, at least they don't pretend to be anything other than the revolting specimens they are.
"The daily processing (opening, examining, and reading) of mail at a prison site is the responsibility of dedicated local or site-based staff members appropriately authorised by their respective prison director, most commonly local administration staff whose core responsibilities include the processing of mail."
Suzie Ferguson is such a tiresome presenter. On the radio she is boringly trivial and predictable over demanding to know if the minister of corrections should have been personally censoring the Christchurch terrorist's mail.
FFS. Kelvin Davis should just tell her to not be such an idiot – he has a department for running corrections.
More to the point, the current RNZ tactic of having a couple of stroppy but unintelligent presenters constant hectoring for someone to blame is really, really annoying and utterly incapable of casting any new light on anything.
RNZ have really fallen off the pace recently – trying to be a polite version of Newstalk ZB is a load of old clarts.
Yeah – the questioning is designed to entrap the interviewee and apportion blame at an individual level. It seems she has little idea how big, complex systems operate. It doesn't take too much insight to pick that this is a case where Corrections standard operating procedures and a prisoner's legal rights around communication are not a good fit for this highly unusual inmate. Should someone have realised this earlier and raised concerns to the appropriate level in the hierarchy? Yes of course – but that's not even interesting. What is interesting is how you deal with this without imposing new rules that will end up being used punitively against other, more 'normal' prisoners.
Sanctuary. You forgot to say in your opinion. That’s all your comment is. As is mine. One could say your comment is unintelligent. Swap jobs with Ferguson and see how you would get on. Journalists are like they are because they can’t get a straight answer out of anyone and can’t get anybody to take ownership of anything. It’s not a lot to ask of corrections to make sure a psychopathic mass killer who would want to spread his message, have his mail scrutinised by the top Brass at the prison. There have already been other murders overseas that have been inspired by Christchurch. If the people running our prisons are that dumb they should be replaced and Kelvin Davis needs to make that happen. The likes of Suzy Ferguson and Kathryn Ryan come across as irritatingly persistent because politicians are masters at talking in circles and saying fuck all
And she also repeats questions. Expecting different answers, no doubt. Kelvin was very patient with her. For a while I though Corin Dann transition to radio had made him easier to put up with. After a few weeks, no.
I was just musing with a fellow bus traveller on how the Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same American capitalist coin which only allow change within a capitalist framework, and certainly won’t allow any threat to the capitalist system itself, much like National and Labour in New Zealand (and to be fair pretty much all the political parties presently in Parliament).
I’ve often thought that the indigenous cultures that capitalism encountered while expanding globally were close to wiped out not just because the land they occupied was required for the expansion of the capitalist system, but because they lived successfully using other systems to the capitalist system.
Not that I am claiming one system is innately superior to another, but any system, and in this case the capitalist system, will act to protect its own existence because a section of society that belongs to that system is benefiting from it.
As long as any memory of an alternative system in the form of the previous indigenous system remains, it presents a threat to capitalism.
Because Ihumātao is an indigenous- led movement that threatens the foundation of capitalism which is the rights of private property owners over all other rights, it innately presents a threat to capitalism, and ultimately no compromise is possible.
In this sense, it is part of a long list of small rebellions by Maori and their supporters since the end of the New Zealand Wars.
Without being unkind to those iwi who don’t support the protests (and have every right not to), they are a part of the capitalist system and don’t pose a threat to it. The capitalist system is accommodating to anyone who agrees to play the rules of capitalism. However, the protestors are demanding (whether they know it or not) that the rules are changed.
Which makes their demands revolutionary and unacceptable.
NB I am not saying capitalism is good or evil, just outlining what is being played out at the moment and where it is likely to lead.
Ihumatao is essentially a battle between the up and coming progressive rangitahi against the conservative tribal kaumatua elites who, along with their families, have reaped the lion's share of iwi assets and treaty settlements. The reason why people want this stomped on, is because they don't want rangitahi in Tainui, Ngati Porou, Tuhoe, Ngati Whatua, Ngapuhi, Ngai Rahul making similar claims on tribal wealth.
Another example of 'market forces' trashing something that wasn't broken in the first place. I spent four years working for the old AKTV2 and while we lacked the advanced technology of today, our output – technical and productive – was solid and dependable. News and current affairs programmes were the backbone of the old NZ Broadcasting Corporation and the leading journalists and reporters ran rings around what now passes for journalism these days.
Imo, market forces are responsible for the rapidly falling standards of reporting – especially on our major TV networks. It's no longer about keeping the population informed, but rather manipulating them towards a perspective (commercial or political) that suits the owners of the media company.
Oh dear I could go on and on……
I've been waiting for a Labour government to start "levelling the playing field" but so far nothing of note has happened.
'The $38m a year in additional funding for quality New Zealand programming and journalism will be apportioned by an independent Public Media Funding Commission between RNZ+ and NZ On Air. NZ On Air would be able to consider bids for independent investigative journalism from this fund. This will ensure funding decisions are made at arm’s length from the political interests of the Government of the day."
Did you check the media releases ? Seems you were a journalist or such
Market Forces are responsible for the changes we've seen in our news delivery but I think it has little to do with the whims of rich owners and cuddling our govt broadcasting.
There has been a paradigm shift with that most fundamental ingredient for any service provider – The Customers.
The 6 o'clock news bulletin was a must watch for my Dad, now he clicks a button and gets the latest bulletin whenever it suits him. Every second person on the bus didn't have a phone in their face, it was a newspaper. Remember those headlines 'Two of every 3 NZers watched the final episode of MASH.'
We're currently getting the media we deserve because providers are yet to latch onto an efficient method to tap into our wallets. Google and Facebook have found a way. They place ads for discounted fridges in front of people that searched Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming websites for fridges last night. I think our media generally will walk this path. We become a whole lot more tolerant of fridge ads when we're shopping for one.
I'll be interested to know whether the US DOJ will pursue the extradition of Ghislaine Maxwell with half the enthusiasm they bring to bear on Assange.
Epstein's so far unexplained death in a high security prison , if it had occurred in Russia would by now, have incurred immediate Magnitsky style sanctions
Hey Grey, did you catch the Mark Blyth presentation someone posted a few days back? He covers off a few subjects including Trump, Brexit and CC.
He reckons that Corbyns aim is for Thatcher's conservative party to split in two over Brexit. This, from the guy who predicted Trumps election (and re-election) and the Brexit referendum.
The one I just heard was different but he's very clear on what will happen with Brexit – in this comment he callis an example of the end of democracy because the elites will do what they want despite the public's wish and it is an example of Trumpism.
And from what I have read I can't see that he is wrong.
This is a long address. Just sit in your chair, Mark Blyth will fire words at you and you have to keep trying to hold each point while he lobs his next ones. Quite exhilirating. NZ is mentioned as the place to fuck off to when you have made a successful ‘presentation’ of a large new idea.
I love the bit where he makes fun of the Left for beiang fiscally tight while the Right don’t and all the time the gummint is issuing the money anyway. It is being anally retentive
Note that I have paraphrased him in my comment above – for instance he didn't use the term 'anally retentive' – it just occurred to me as a possible slick phrase for what our Left are.
Listen duration 3′ :48″
Fran O'Sullivan had a good column in yesterday's New Zealand Herald about chief executives in New Zealand, and whether we're starstruck by overseas CEOs.
They should employ the Standard hive-mind. Trouble is nothing would ever get done, I fear or the practical realities would be pushed aside in order to get consensus and feelgood.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Blackwater security contractor was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq that left 14 people dead.
Federal judge Royce Lamberth issued the sentence after a succession of friends and relatives requested leniency for Nicholas Slatten, who was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in December.
[…]
Slatten himself told the judge that he was a victim of an “unjust prosecution” and that government lawyers cared more about producing a conviction than uncovering the truth of what happened in Baghdad 12 years ago.
“This is a miscarriage of justice and it will not stand,” he said.
But Judge Lambert, in issuing the life sentence, dismissed much of the family’s claims that Slatten was a scapegoat for international political considerations.
“The jury got it exactly right,” he said. “This was murder.”
After a 35 year recess I think that it is time for a Labour government to start work on making NZ a land fit for the unskilled, ie fit for anyone to live in whether they are of the favoured ones or not.
For all the rhetoric about caring for little vulnerable ones, those in power prefer to publicise the depravity of the lower income below the strugglers level, and snatch their babies in a fit of heightened irritation and condemnation.
That is more dramatic than working to enable each young person to stand tall, knowing that they have support for their learning to manage themselves, whether or not they have effective family homes. Give them advice and practice at skills when at school level, part of their secondary learning would be to build tiny homes, to be sold on. And do some cooking and cleaning in the model home that stays on site. Get a small job, and if they start children soon, have parenting classes for males and females, some together and some apart with lots of discussion. Help them into a home, and by now they will know how to look after it.
But help them into homes, where they need to demonstrate their abilities.
The recent study led by Dr Tristram Ingram found that almost 20 percent of hospital admissions for acute respiratory infections in children under the age of two years could have been prevented through having healthier housing conditions.
Seems there are 101 reasons to implement the WEAG Report recommendations.
This from Kay Brereton
The conclusion we all came to is the system is broken. After 30 years as a political football, the welfare system is no longer coherent, and it is no longer delivering the wellbeing or the economic outcomes it was designed to.
Instead it is full of tacked-on "fixes" that have created other problems, policy driven by political stunts rather than useful outcomes, and perverse incentives. We found endless examples of policy that make it harder for people to return to work or training, that punish them for honesty, and that further marginalise them from the very society that the system was originally set up to help support.
Regardless of what you think of welfare I would hope we allow changes to facilitate returning to work at a bare minimum. We need this to change right away.
Because Australia is exempt from the climate crisis, aye!
"Leaders on Thursday morning went into a retreat to discuss the the final wording of the Funafuti Declaration, which some nations are demanding should include limiting temperatures to 1.5 degrees and more international investment in the United Nation's Green Climate Fund.
But it's understood some nations have softened their demands to have the references included for the sake of a unified statement, with Australia succeeding in its push to not have the term "climate change crisis" in the communique."
Awh sweetie, the bitterness in your “What’s her name” comment is priceless. Some might even say it is “Poission’ess” you’ll fit right in to Paula Bennetts snarky campaign if her performance of the tele this morning is anything to go by.
Were any of those the trip he chose to go and watch his son play Basketball rather than attend a military funeral? meanwhile Simon when not in a limousine driving around the country to introduce himself to the country is flying off to Aus to get instructions from Scott Morrison. Short term memories from the likes of Poisson etc. We can expect a lot more of it.
Consensus – unified – what a false premise that idea. It should be 80/20 with the objectors or detractors comments and facts noted in detail, and the question asked 'What would have to change for you to agree with the proposal before us? And for what reason does the proposal fall short of its intentions? Do you disagree with its intentions? If not this, then what?
Faffing around waiting for some concrete-head to agree – there is not time to wait around, the bus is leaving. There are less and less buses available.
Awesome that most of the next generation get it about climate change and the way te oil barons money works to suppress the fact on Global warming We have had the warmest month on record
Young people taking big steps for the environment
BRADEN FASTIER/STUFF
Thousands of young people around the world have stood up, demanding that their voices be heard.
To celebrate International Youth Day, which this week fell on Monday, the Nelson Environment Centre took a look at young people in the region who are doing big things for the environment.
We have reached the point where action must be taken on the big environmental issues that scientists have been telling us about for decades. The people who will be most affected by the present inaction are those that are only just learning about these issues – our children and grandchildren.
So it is no surprise that students and youth around the world are starting to advocate for change.
Local students are joining this movement and one of the ways they do this is through the Enviroschools Programme. This home-grown, national programme uses an action learning approach designed to support the community to connect with their place, to investigate the issues relevant to them and design solutions together.
We are proud that the majority of the schools in Nelson and Tasman are participating Enviroschools.
Many Nelsonians will remember the student protest for climate action on March 15, when Josephine Ripley and Emma Edwards of the Nelson College for Girls (NCG) Enviro Action Group helped to organise Nelson student's participation in Schools 4 Climate action, the global youth environmental movement begun by Swedish student climate activist Greta Thunberg
Letter to the editor (published today in The Southland Times and titled by them:
Those boring billboards
Message to all candidates for local body elections; billboards are boring!
Hard-working Southlanders, especially those living in Invercargill, have to drive past our uninspiring faces and irritating slogans for weeks on end and are generally too polite to take a black-marker to them to express their annoyance. Let’s all do something different this time around; entertain and amuse those whose votes we are chasing, with creative billboards, fun billboards, the likes of which have never been seen before! I’m happy start the ball rolling; I’ve still got my original billboards that show a younger me with a dark, clipped and tidy beard. Now that I’m 9 years down the councillor track, my beard is full and as white as a summer cloud. I’m going to up-date my billboards by glueing-on a fluffy, lamb’s-wool beard that would make Father Christmas proud! How about the rest of you? Have you any creative bones in your bodies? Let’s do the voting public a favour and make campaigning fun for a change!
These sandflys got nothing better to do than follow Eco Maori around and interfere in every thing I try a buy what car wreckers don't have Toyota parts YEA RIGHT THE Rotorua wrecker are being bullyed by the sandflys
Someone in the correction system is helping these idiots who can get letters sent from prison They are saying that the fool who's at the centre of the Christchurch desaster YEA RIGHT.
Don't stress to much like I have said once everyone figures out that if they are not doing anything to save our mokopuna future environment they will be excluded from the bonanza of the Green Revolution
Eco Maori agrees that the Russian Pilots are heroes for landing that huge passenger plane in a corn paddock with no loss of life Awsome
Ka pai that a MRI Machine for Turangi A Kiwa its great that our Coalition Government is investing more putea for health care in regions with big tangata whenua population . I say changing back to the old ways of non machine harvesting of mussle spat on the 90 mile Beach is the best way way to preserve tuatua and the mussle spat it will also spread the wealth around to more people
Sonia keeping Maori tridional weaving going strong is great our tipuna were quite industrial in the way they did things it was the whole hapu working as one I would like to see that happen again Ma Te Wa.
Ka pai that rangitahi wahine Rugby is going strong that is another goal of mine Equality for our wahine so they can keep the tane on the straight and narrow line Eco Maori got a new Hueawa phone today great deal to try stuffing with this device sandflys
Whanau one of my favourite fish is close to collapseing Tarakihi Eco Maori is not spraying wai into the wind on our FISHERIES topic. The difference between line fishing and trawling is trawling is like rounding up sheep with a bulldozer it WRECKS our fishes habitats fish need places to hide from the bigger fish they need a whare the way we fish now is destroying their Whare no whare no fish.
I wish for all inshore fishing to be caught by line fishing we know that most small fish caught on a hook can be released and they will servive .Even though they have this fancy new codend design it still doesn't stop the trawl gear wrecking the bottom the fishes habitat Whanau in 50 years time OUR mokopuna will have heaps of wealth fisher people paying big bucks to come and fish in our pristine fisheries If we don't charge the way the inshore fishing is to line fishing Tarakihi will become extinct .
When I was younger 35 years ago I got sick of bacon and eggs and beans for breakfast I would get a Tarakihi and cook it with wai and onions reka .
Christchurch fish and chip shop refuses to sell tarakihi until stocks recover
A Christchurch fish and chip shop is urging other businesses to stop selling one of New Zealand's favourite fish over fears for the species' survival.
Fush owner Anton Matthews stopped serving tarakihi this week after hearing stocks of the fish have dropped to worrying levels.
A Fisheries New Zealand assessment estimated the abundance of tarakihi on the East Coast to be 15.9 per cent of what it would be in the absence of all fishing. The fishery was considered to be sustainable at 40 per cent.
Matthews said 16 per cent was something to worry about and he wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem
He called for New Zealanders to demand their fish be caught on lines rather than in nets. Fush sources its fish from West Coast fishing company Westfleet, which catches its fish using lines.
"New Zealanders should be demanding fish is line caught in the same way they demand their eggs are free range
The Government cut the tarakihi quota by 20 per cent last year and was considering reducing the commercial catch by a further 31 per cent
"If you do absolutely nothing does a crisis fix itself? The housing crisis is not going to fix itself, climate change is not going to fix itself. Tarakihi is rebuilding.
Forest and Bird is pushing for a 40 per cent reduction in commercial quota alongside protections for important juvenile nursery grounds
I'd agree, except for flats – the little trawls used for flats don't do much damage, and they stay over sand or mud bottoms because anything else will break them. They're as close to a harmless trawl as you get.
There might be some live capture systems worth looking at too – box nets or pots allow fish to be returned unharmed, and tend to use much less fuel than trawling.
I think it's time we started proper nursery strategies for our key species too, just leaving everything to sort itself out was fine with a smaller population and less stressed fisheries, but that is no longer what we have.
I package food is bad for us and the environment I we need to label the sugar and salt content so we know what we are eating The old saying you are what you eat is TRUE
Flooding in Horowhenua let hope no lives are lost that's part of Global Warming
Dogs going to the movies that's cool a lot of elderly people have dogs that could get them out and about socialising instead of home alone
That is a big mess that car causes in Canada wonder how that happened
Technology is going to make big changes to how we move and communicate and work It will give the wealthy people a unfair advantage to DOMINATE THE 99.9 % of humanity I think laws should be planned NOW to counter that Phenomenon .
Cool all the kapa haka going on in Waikato for the Maori King at Turangawaewae marae.
They had a sports day to in Waikato sports is good for the wairua and te tamariki
Eco Maori agree with Ela Henry mana Wahine
Kereopa Purongo motuhake the whanau had a fire that burned down their whare
Planting native trees is awesome I believe that the tree that have been planted to try and stop erosion are a quick fix poplar and willow grow for 20 years and fall over making a big mess we should plant native trees like manuka that last much longer and prove food for our native wildlife along side the quick growing exotic trees I wish to see heaps more native trees in Aoteoroa.
simon is using the hate card to try and boost his rating YEA RIGHT taking about getting the army to move tangata whenua
Its excellent that you have our Maori youth Mps giving there points of view on subject in Aotearoa I see that there are 3 to 1 wahine.ka pai.
I think the logic solution to Te reo staying strong in Aotearoa is Te reo should be compolsery for tangata whenua students less teachers to train one class a day teaching about the TRUE HISTORY of Aotearoa I have read some books for our students and they are not correct in their FACTS it skewers to make tangata whenua look bad.
I agree racism is ignorince that is one argument for compolsery te reo class for all our tamariki .But I want most tangata whenua to know our historical culture first and for most.
Ignore what the negative people have to say about the feebate system they did nothing but ruin our commitments to be clean and green while in power. This is a must to get the tangata to change to electric cars it will help save our environment for the mokopuna
EV feebate plan winning support says minister, as submissions deadline approaches
JOHN HAWKINS/STUFF
Dutchman Weibe Wakker has completed his three year journey from the Netherlands in his converted electric Volkswagon Golf named the "The Blue Bandit"
A feebate scheme that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from buyers of higher-emission cars into the pockets of people buying EVs and other more fuel-efficient vehicles has been winning favour with submitters, the Government says.
Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter said about 80 per cent of the online responses the Transport Ministry had so far received in response to a discussion paper on the feebate scheme and an associated "clean car standard" had supported the policies
"The scheme is designed to be revenue neutral, I can tell you that," the ministry spokesman said. "So the money paid in will be paid out in terms of rebates
The Cabinet paper made it clear fees and rebates could be out of sync in any one year of the scheme, if people didn't buy the mix of cars forecast, but said a $25m float could be set up "to manage the risk of over or under-fee collection from year to year
The ministry expected feebates would value about $200 million during the scheme's first year, which would be in 2021
Tornado use to be a thing that we seen every 5 years now Aotearoa is getting them more often how many now about 10 this year .
The Coalition government investing $54 million dollars to help get the people under a bridge a whare very good stuff having to live on the streets .
That was great the NZ Air force helping get boats in the area to rescue people on a stricken boat that is the mahi that all Aotearoa armed forces should be doing Ka pai to the Christchurch fish shop owner for highlighting the demise of tarakihi and dropping it off his menu to save the species But its not only tarakihi that is in danger of collapseing many other will be in a similar state the catch has gone and dubbled so comparison to 30 years ago won't add up to factual data unless this is taken into account .
Another person falling to their death taking a selfy photo in dangerous situations .?? ??
There are a lot of happy people in Aotearoa after last night game Ka Kite Ano
That's the way go tau toko the tangata at IhumataoTJ. Mana Wahine Taina
I watched most of the game but the sandflys swarmed me on my way back to Napier and while I was in Rotorua I fell asleep my brother was watching the game while I was snoring our TV is solar powered .
Our Vietnam veterans great to see the service today for the veterans I agree with his daughter tho they did not need to be at the Vietnam War I know some whose health suffered because of Agent orange wreaking the health .
Great win for the Black Ferns Mana Wahine
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
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On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
2024 is now officially my best-ever year for short stories. My 1,850-word dark fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens, has been accepted for the upcoming solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/), thereby making that six published short stories for the calendar year. As always, see the Bibliography page for ...
Brooke van Velden has wasted six years of work from businesses, unions, and government by binning planned Holidays Act reforms, said Acting CTU President Rachel Mackintosh in response to today’s announcement from Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety. “The Minister has cynically kicked the can on Holiday Act reform even ...
Words, playing me deja vuLike a radio tune, I swear I've heard beforeChill, is it something real?Or the magic I'm feeding off your fingersWho do you need?Who do you love?When you come undoneSongwriters: John Taylor / Simon Le Bon / Nick Rhodes / Warren Cuccurullo.When this three-way coalition was being ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
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The politician's rule book might have to be amended – especially when 'interfacing' with the media.
They seem to have been commenting on some 'operational matters' – first around Stats NZ, and now – quelle horreur, on Corrections failures.
And worse still, on an individual case.
It gets worse. I hope the Minister is having a lay down.
I was wondering how the Minister commenting on ‘operational matters’ regarding an ‘individual case’ suddenly couldn’t comment on an operational matter’ on this morning’s RNZ’s interview with him.
And now, bugger me daze, he’s probably going to have to comment on how a police car got stolen in Gore where a couple of police issue pistols have gone west.
Might be time to raid JA’s whiskey cabinet. It must be bloody hard having to maintain complete and utter ‘faith’ in ‘officials’. Does it require some sort of religious conversion?
The police guy doesn't seem to have covered himself in glory. Were the pistols lying on the dashboard or the passenger seat.
Not sure Gabby. I thought they were supposed to be securely locked in the boot unless special circumstances mean that they're carrying them on their person at all times. Not sure about the car either – maybe it was eventually disabled when it got too far away from the officer in charge of it (unless of course the key was in the ignition).
The Minister will no doubt let us know in the fullness of time going forward after being briefed by his officials and when the appropriate spin meister has vetted a media release.
That's not the only police news this morning. Now there is talk of using facial recognition. Another step towards total control of people and further invasion of our lives if it happens.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396716/police-open-to-using-facial-recognition-from-auckland-transport-cctv-cameras
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396509/privacy-commissioner-in-dark-over-advanced-cctv-plan-for-auckland
"AT has had no recent contact with us," Mr Edwards said in a statement.
When cameras with facial recognition capability and the like were installed "we would expect the privacy impact assessment and response to also be updated".
"We would also expect Auckland Transport to develop clear policies on the retention and use of images collected, who can access them, and in what circumstances.
(It doesn't sound as if we are being protected against the use of facial spying rather just having some rules about it. Pretty weak privacy warrior.)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396465/auckland-transport-s-4-point-5m-plan-could-mean-8000-cameras-watching-the-city
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/357293/revealed-supermarkets-in-nz-using-facial-recognition-tech
It's Gore, I'd bet the key is always in the ignition.
is gore still the gay capital of nz..?
Still phill?
they left the keys in the car – in the ignition – feckin' numptys…
"first around Stats NZ, and now – quelle horreur, on Corrections failures."
Yes. Statistics is independent, they had a report on their failures, why cant that be commented on.
Corrections is different, Ministers are allowed to tell them to do specific things.
Generally Ministers will ‘ask’ their departments about publicised failures.
Its no surprise to find Corrections is ‘instructed’ instead.
yep @ Duke. I realise all that. The thing I was pointing out was the selective commenting-or NOT, by elected reps. 'Operational Matters' seem to be very ill-defined and used as a matter of convenience whenever and if ever mere peons or what masquerades as the 4th Estate attempt to hold anybody to account. Local gummint has descended into something worse though.
And now the Commish's deputy dawg has made a media statement over the Gore situation – still leaving questions answered. They'll have to be answered sometime in the fullness of time. You could probably excuse Davis getting well and truly pissed on more than a peg or two
Good one James – don't let the idiot bridges get free hits in – he is destructive and is only interested in his own promotion. Simon is totally unsuited to high office.
Wow, he's not holding back. I like it.
+1.
That's the spirit, James, my son. Put the boot in good and proper. Bridges would do it to you in a heartbeat and National don't seem to care about much of anything other than getting their sweaty paws on the levers of power once more. Give that floppy-haired muppet both barrels.
It occurred to me the other day that if our system is designed to have 3.5% unemployment then our system must adequately compensate those required by the system to be unemployed…
mustn't it? This is the first question.
Once answered, the second question might then be, by how much should these people, who are required to be unemployed, be compensated? My 2c says one hell of a lot more than the dole. They should be up there with other employed people.
shouldn't they?
After all – both Labour and National require 3.5% of our working people to not have a job.
Shameful really, especially for a Labour party.
Too too radical by far @vto!!! It'd be a slippery slope. We might have to start thinking about the UNDER-employed. Then all those folks OVER-employed in two or three jobs that still don't earn enough to pay the bills. The next thing you know we'd have to seriously worry about all those being exploited. Can't be done! The resources required would be immense unless we could find an app for it all
Too right vto. As an alternative to running an unemployed buffer stock (the reserve army of the unemployed -Marx) the government could run an employed buffer stock by implementing a Job Guarantee policy. This would perform better than the present policy as employed people find it easier to find alternate work, so the Job Guarantee workers would be better at getting non Job Guarantee work. It would also be more fair by setting a floor on the labour market of full time minimum wage work (anybody worse off will always have this as a minimum alternative). This would restrain inflation equally as well as the present policy does.
Best comment I have read on here all year.
Definite food for thought.
“Required to be unemployed”
Nice one. Clearly absolutely no understanding of economics or the workings of an economy at all.
Priceless and best laugh I’ve had this week.
"Whilst full employment is often an aim for an economy, most economists see it as more beneficial to have some level of unemployment, especially of the frictional sort. In theory, this keeps the labor market flexible, allowing room for new innovations and investment. As in the NAIRU theory, the existence of some unemployment is required to avoid accelerating inflation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_employment#%22Ideal%22_unemployment
Unlike you, who knows an awful lot about economics but not much about how the real world functions. If everyone was in gainful employment, demand for labour would be high meaning wages would have to be sufficiently generous to tempt workers… and employers have night-terrors about those sorts of scenarios. "Raise wages?! Noooooo! Quickly! Someone prise Kirk Hope out of his sarcophagus so he can bleat about plummeting business confidence again!" Bill English openly stated a low-wage economy was a fabulous thing… obviously not a man in receipt of low wages. As a general rule, the people at the top are largely indifferent to the people at the bottom — sacrifices must be made and all that, and they're fine with it just so long as they're not the ones having to make the sacrifices.
Please explain where the humour lies David.
Unless you are a homeless tory, looking for shelter now that Slaters place is no more….
I don't know where you get the impression that our system is designed to have 3.5% unemployed. At any given time there are many people who are unemployed for a variety of reasons – for example some may have left a job because of a fall out with their employer (and yes that can happen even in our fabulous private companies), or a desire to change the type of work they do, or because their family has moved, or becuause an employer has gone out of business and they can't afford to move to where there are more jobs, or or they are looking for their first job and don't have enough experience for most job vacancies, they are a 'return to workforce' person (after having a family, being on a temporary contract in NZ or overseas, had an extended holiday, been studying for jobs in a developing industry . . .). The physically and mentally disabled are I understand not counted as unemployed unless they are looking for work, but there will be people on the margin of that category who will find it difficult to get jobs. I leave it to you to decide which of those are designed in the system, and which are perhaps over-counted in the characterisation of unemployed by some politicians, and whether there are other categories.
Then you may be in a better position to tell us your view on which categories you believe should be paid by government one hell of a lot more than the dole, and whether by "up there with other employed people" you mean something like the average wage (Mean? Median?) or whether you envisage it being a bit like unemployment insurance – linked to previous earnings, or earnings for similar age / education / training / skills as persons employed.
A Labour-led government does of course tend to pay a higher unemployment benefit than a National or National-led government – were you looking for immediate change? – and if so what other spending would you reduce?
Basic Keynesian economics, to which Marx in part agreed. I think it’s to do with being able to fill new jobs with increased growth from a ready made labour pool.
“According to Karl Marx, unemployment is inherent within the unstable capitalist system and periodic crises of mass unemployment are to be expected. He theorized that unemployment was inevitable and even a necessary part of the capitalist system, with recovery and regrowth also part of the process.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment
Conversely Ed, we could look at how 'employment' is defined nowadays. It was Keys mob that changed definitions, perhaps this lot could re-redefine employment.
That is certainly a possibility; I don't know the details of changes that may have been made. I do think there is a level of unemployment that relates to flexibility of employment patterns, and the ability of some to pick and choose periods of unemployment. But of course there is unemployment that has been "encouraged" by various governments. Certainly the need for both partners in a marriage to be employed is greater now than over say 20 years ago – and that has had a social cost in children having both parents working. But I suspect even in a system along the ideals of Marx there would be some unemployment, if only to cope with some jobs becoming redundant – in my lifetime typesetters have disappeared for example. However measured, it does appear that a government including Labour is likely to result in higher employment – probably in the region of 1% to 2% – with a largely corresponding lower unemployment figure.
You have an incomplete understanding of unemployment. This frequently arises due to a study of economic theory. There are two major categorisations of unemployment. They are voluntary and invountary unemployment. Voluntary is a super set of most of the categories you described, where people could take a job at the market rate but are looking for something better. Involuntary is when there are not enough jobs going for all those who want them at the going rate. In any market such a situation where the market doesn't clear is called a market failure. In most mainstream economic analysis you assume markets reach equilibrium and therefore clear and this is why involuntary unemployment is assumed not to occur (or be a relevant concern for policy). This is the case for the NAIRU rate of which is a parameter of an economic model which has been projected to its equilibrium point. So this is why a lot of analysis ignores the possibility that there could be insufficient jobs due to a lack of total spending (on wages) and why you don't concieve of it in your comment.
To vto at 3: I think the 'our system' refers to capitalistic theory. Somewhere in my dim and distant past I was taught that capitalistic theory required desirably 8% unemployment in order to keep the serfs to their grindstones and think those figures were around again in the 'Think Big' talk in Muldoon era.
aaaand there you have a couple of replies in the usual vein of what the privileged say when the evil of NAIRU is unveiled (usually the figure given in the 1990s was 6-8% unemployment). "nobody is forced to be unemployed",
The other thing being that "unemployment" is now an obsolete term from the days when most people worked full time or almost zero time. "Underemployment" is those 10-30 hour per week jobs that aren't enough for a decent life but don't count you as "unemployed".
There's always going to be some unemployed under the 20C model – e.g. the last job transition I made had me at home for a week. But slowing down the economy for fear of hurting profits means that some people are deliberately made unemployed. we don't know who, but they exist.
All moot anyway, as automation comes into its own. 70-80% unemployment will be the norm, so we'll have to destigmatise it sooner or later. When the owners of capital become the suppliers of their own labour, nobody will be able to afford their goods. Which leads to an ever decreasing number of employers and exponentially increasing inequality and the associated ills. Much better to tax the producers and redistribute that wealth to the population so they can create their full potential.
I don't believe (though it's true I may be wrong for once) that anyone was saying that. I certainly wasn't.
My interpretation from the above is people were giving a view how that our system, against claims otherwise, does currently rely on a level of unemployment, whether is wanted or warranted.
Up to them to set the record straight for themselves, but I don't see an attack on the jobless or bene bashing.
"I don't know where you get the impression that our system is designed to have 3.5% unemployed. "
As soon as people started getting jobs, the RB would up the OCR to cool off business investment and new hires.
In the 0ughts the Alliance ISTR had a distinction between endemic unemployment and fluid unemployment (can't remember the exact terms) – the fluid level being 0-3% from simply people taking more than a week to find a new job, but with not real harm to their wellbeing. The endemic level is the unemployment that is artificially created to keep wage pressures down – essentially the NAIRU target.
I took that quoted post as a rebuttal that our system runs with a need for unemployment not "nobody is forced to be unemployed", but I may have interpreted it incorrectly.
It certainly runs with a decision-maker-perceived required level of unemployment.
But if there's no desired level of unemployment, then unemployment is less likely to be a systemic issue than a personal issue.
I'm not arguing the case for running a keynesian unemployment quota or saying you're incorrect. My point was the capitalist system apparently does, as Marx concurred and stated by others above. I don't see any dolie bashing, in fact, the original post stakes a claim for hefty financial compensation which nobody has argued against.
I didn't have any problem with the original post, no.
But it's a bit like child poverty – to get the issue addressed, we have to overcome the tory denial that there's a systemic problem rather than it just being the fault of the individuals.
Absolutely, pitch fork and burning torch tory denial and right wing agendas 'til we're all angry mobbed out, though in stating the obvious about the system currently enforced upon us, doesn't equate to support of it, well not on my account anyway. As I wrote above, up to them to confirm or deny it.
See my post above. The economy may require a buffer stock approach to employment to resist inflation, that doesn't mean those in that buffer stock must be unemployed for it to work.
With regard to systematic, its still the governments choice to run it this way. They have alternatives. Other than a Job Guarantee they could just improve on the present by deficit spending until all the involuntary unemployment goes away rather than mindlessly trying to run a budget surplus regardless of the economic situation (coupled with holding the delusion that monetary policy can always by itself completely eliminate involuntary unempoyment).
To be fair to the current govt, ISTR the agreement with the Reserve Bank increases the objectives of the bank beyond an inflation target.
I really think we should be moving away from the concept that "employed for money" is the benchmark of expectation. We're soon going to hit the point where automation just produces too much stuff, and jobs from customer service to driving to manufacturing to business decision-making start to genuinely disappear.
Get people creating, occupy their time. The enemy of society isn't unemployment, it's boredom and want.
The changes in the policy targets only bring it in line with other major central banks targets.
I strongly suspect a future with 50% unemployment the norm should be called a distopian future. Fortunately that is not going to happen because of technology. As with other technology developments the nature of work does change but the total quantity needed for maintaining society at a level accepted by society doesn't because expectations increase at the same time.
Not strictly true…its the link (modelled) between inflation and employment . The RBNZ makes assumptions about inflation (or NAIRU) with regard to employment rates however the RBNZs goal is an inflation band not employment per se…post GFC we have seen that model appears invalid in the current environment…hence the willingness to adopt extraordinary policy actions now…..and the fact they cant afford the implications of being out of step with the driving economies.
So in effect it is the projected inflation rate that drives the policy, not employment
If I push you aside because I was running after another goal, or I push you aside because I wanted to push you aside for whatever reason, I'm still choosing to push you aside.
but if you are running after a goal and pushing me aside is unnecessary to achieve that goal would you bother to take the time out to do so?
If it's the most efficient path to that objective, the Reserve Bank would.
If you're not in the way, lucky you. If you asre, unfortunate you. But you can't actually know if you're in the way or not – you just get shoved, that's how you find out.
if its unnecessary it by definition cannot be the most efficient path
Then you get lucky, keep your job, and maybe even become a small business operator and start moaning about bludgers lol.
You appear to be missing the point….if the goal is an inflation target and the link between employment and inflation is not operating then there is no need to consider it until such time as the link returns…should it do so.
What makes you think the assumed link isn't operational? It's clearly still part of RBNZ's methodology.
It is less clearly part of RBNZs methodology now..to the point of lip service I would suggest.
What is causing the questioning of the Philips curve (not just my assertion)?….perhaps the high employment rates and the absence of inflation post GFC.
The explanation lies elsewhere
Seriously?
Someone's got to go. This is tone-deaf bureaucratic incompetence. If JA is going to show her tough side, this is the time to do it.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/08/alleged-christchurch-shooter-sent-seven-letters-from-prison.html
"Seriously?"
Yes unfortunately. "Someone's got to go"
You mean as in someone like as in what happened at Stats NZ.
It shouldn't be too hard though because rather than the 'someone' being a Master of the Universe, they'd only be a Mistress of the Universe and there'd be no danger of the opposition accusing them of throwing them under the bus – most buses around Wellington are either Not In Service, or they've been cancelled.
Yep agreed. Bloody shocking really imo
Someone's got to go, because they've allowed a remand prisoner to receive and send letters? Is this who's-toughest-on-crime week or something?
no it's reduce hate speech by a white supremacist murderer who has committed the worst mass killing in NZ by targeting Muslim NZers – been on the news I'm surprised you haven't heard about it
Tone deaf.
It must be a dreary old life seeing everything in black and white with everything either on or off. I don't think anyone is suggesting a prisoner shouldn't be able to communicate with legal reps or family members but at least they should be able to expect a level of competence and discretion from the nations' servants when they come across something that's clearly designed to keep some sick fuk's desire to kill people he doesn't like from spreading
You think no-one's suggesting remand prisoners shouldn't be allowed to send and receive mail? Newshub's shock/horror intro for the linked article is
The man accused of the Christchurch mosque attack has been able to send seven letters from prison.
The horror! Kelvin Davis is appalled:
He successfully sent two to his mother and five to unknown recipients.
Davis told The AM Show he's disappointed with the mistake and has received an apology from those responsible.
Clearly something must be done about accused murderers being allowed to write letters:
Davis says he's questioning whether New Zealand's laws are fit for purpose and is seeking advice from Corrections on a potential law change.
But he's already onto it:
Inmates in New Zealand prisons are entitled to send and receive mail, a practice the Minister has put on hold while the situation is assessed.
No more letters for you, crims! Looks pretty black and white to me.
I'm in agreement with all that @ Psycho – i.e. that because someone fucked up, panic sets in so that a blanket no communication edict is applied.
We're really talking about 2 letters. And we're probably talking about complacency and yea/nah attitude or even under-resourcing so that those actually responsible can shift the shit off their plates.
We don't want people writing to their mums! They don't have mums anyway, they're monsters! /sarc
Read them, censor objectionable bits, intercept the ones sent to harrass victims, but allow normal human contact with someone other than the other criminals with whom they're detained.
If the minister has genuinely ruled that no prisoner should be allowed to send letters to friends and family, fuck that guy. If he's making shit up for the media, fuck that guy.
Basically, in this instance, Kelvin Davis is totally wrong.
Looks like Standard Operational Bullshit:
1. Some poor sod fails to notice line in prisoner's letter that he should have censored.
2. Journos uncover the mistake and turn it into a "Corrections soft on crims!" story.
3. Minister gets wheeled out to pronounce it a shocking systemic failure that won't be tolerated and processes will be reviewed.
4. Prisoners find their access to mail is revoked for the duration, if not permanently.
"they've allowed a remand prisoner to receive and send letters?"
Are making a point that prisoners cant have mail – thats a breach of human rights.
https://www.hrc.co.nz/enquiries-and-complaints/faqs/prisoners-rights/
In these circumstances other than family members , because he is in breach, no more letters to or from' supporters'
Well spotted. The blame game is much easier than real journalism, which would have found out whether any laws or administrative laws had been broken before publicising an item on a website few New Zealanders would ever look at were it not publicised . . .
After having to listen to the appalling Peter Williams spend the morning raving on this and at several points crossing the line in his descriptions of people. After being appalled himself he had a listener who had seen the letter email it to him and proceeded to be even more "aghast" and then he had Bridges on the extend the "aghasted-ness" to fever pitch. But something was raised and that was that in the letter the offender had replied his thanks to the recipient, and the one who put the letter on-line, for the stamps "which he would have to hide from guards, officials etc".
Did these stamps become invisible once they went on to an envelope that was then sent? Apparently the first six pages was general rambling but the last ½ page contained threats or similar. Has no one considered that if he had a letter read and then placed it in an envelope that the letter may not have been read in it's entirety and the further possiblity that the did not go through the normal channels and was conveyed out for posting by a "friendly" staff member. The number of untrustworthy people currently means that all options should be looked at as to how this happened.
Peter Williams is the male equivalent of Maggie Barry. Someone who for years lulled you into a false sense of security with their seemingly amiable and easy-going broadcasting temperament, only to then reveal the frothing, swivel-eyed lunacy lurking just beneath the surface.
Say what you like about Hosking and Richardson, at least they don't pretend to be anything other than the revolting specimens they are.
Yes . Swivel eyed Loons
Can we just agree on calling them Ann Widdecombes?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Widdecombe
Do prison staff routinely read every letter that is sent to or from a prisoner? Really?
And do they ensure that visitors do not have any device that could record a conversation, and do they monitor telephone calls?
I'm still unaware of what procedure or rule has been ignored by prison staff that would have prevented this prisoner sending the offending letter.
Sometimes facts are useful . . .
.. . . and within the edit time, I discovered this:
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/08/nazis-prisons-and-mail.html
Let us see how long it takes for the “media” to get their facts straight . . .
Ask and you will find
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/policy_and_legislation/Prison-Operations-Manual/Communication/C-01-Prisoner-mail.html
"The daily processing (opening, examining, and reading) of mail at a prison site is the responsibility of dedicated local or site-based staff members appropriately authorised by their respective prison director, most commonly local administration staff whose core responsibilities include the processing of mail."
Thank you – the power of The Standard!
Why did you 'have' to listen? Someone tie you to the radio?
Such limited range of possibilities and such limited contribution to the discussion thread …
The point is why listen "to the appalling Peter Williams spend the morning…" if it is so painful?
That would indeed be the point if you stopped reading the comment after the twelfth word.
Everything that follows after the 12th word is only there because Rapunsel listened to someone she appears to lathe for an entire morning.
Many thanks for pointing that out. Your contributions to TS, all in good faith, of course, are invaluable in unimaginable ways.
Suzie Ferguson is such a tiresome presenter. On the radio she is boringly trivial and predictable over demanding to know if the minister of corrections should have been personally censoring the Christchurch terrorist's mail.
FFS. Kelvin Davis should just tell her to not be such an idiot – he has a department for running corrections.
More to the point, the current RNZ tactic of having a couple of stroppy but unintelligent presenters constant hectoring for someone to blame is really, really annoying and utterly incapable of casting any new light on anything.
RNZ have really fallen off the pace recently – trying to be a polite version of Newstalk ZB is a load of old clarts.
Yeah – the questioning is designed to entrap the interviewee and apportion blame at an individual level. It seems she has little idea how big, complex systems operate. It doesn't take too much insight to pick that this is a case where Corrections standard operating procedures and a prisoner's legal rights around communication are not a good fit for this highly unusual inmate. Should someone have realised this earlier and raised concerns to the appropriate level in the hierarchy? Yes of course – but that's not even interesting. What is interesting is how you deal with this without imposing new rules that will end up being used punitively against other, more 'normal' prisoners.
Sometimes i think it's not persistence so much as just a touch of thickness. She genuinely seems to miss the point at times.
Sanctuary. You forgot to say in your opinion. That’s all your comment is. As is mine. One could say your comment is unintelligent. Swap jobs with Ferguson and see how you would get on. Journalists are like they are because they can’t get a straight answer out of anyone and can’t get anybody to take ownership of anything. It’s not a lot to ask of corrections to make sure a psychopathic mass killer who would want to spread his message, have his mail scrutinised by the top Brass at the prison. There have already been other murders overseas that have been inspired by Christchurch. If the people running our prisons are that dumb they should be replaced and Kelvin Davis needs to make that happen. The likes of Suzy Ferguson and Kathryn Ryan come across as irritatingly persistent because politicians are masters at talking in circles and saying fuck all
And she also repeats questions. Expecting different answers, no doubt. Kelvin was very patient with her. For a while I though Corin Dann transition to radio had made him easier to put up with. After a few weeks, no.
Why Ihumātao and Capitalism will never agree
I was just musing with a fellow bus traveller on how the Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same American capitalist coin which only allow change within a capitalist framework, and certainly won’t allow any threat to the capitalist system itself, much like National and Labour in New Zealand (and to be fair pretty much all the political parties presently in Parliament).
I’ve often thought that the indigenous cultures that capitalism encountered while expanding globally were close to wiped out not just because the land they occupied was required for the expansion of the capitalist system, but because they lived successfully using other systems to the capitalist system.
Not that I am claiming one system is innately superior to another, but any system, and in this case the capitalist system, will act to protect its own existence because a section of society that belongs to that system is benefiting from it.
As long as any memory of an alternative system in the form of the previous indigenous system remains, it presents a threat to capitalism.
Because Ihumātao is an indigenous- led movement that threatens the foundation of capitalism which is the rights of private property owners over all other rights, it innately presents a threat to capitalism, and ultimately no compromise is possible.
In this sense, it is part of a long list of small rebellions by Maori and their supporters since the end of the New Zealand Wars.
Without being unkind to those iwi who don’t support the protests (and have every right not to), they are a part of the capitalist system and don’t pose a threat to it. The capitalist system is accommodating to anyone who agrees to play the rules of capitalism. However, the protestors are demanding (whether they know it or not) that the rules are changed.
Which makes their demands revolutionary and unacceptable.
NB I am not saying capitalism is good or evil, just outlining what is being played out at the moment and where it is likely to lead.
Iwi already had a deal done on open market with Fletchers. No conflict with capitalism there.
SHAs are not 'open market'.
Ihumatao is essentially a battle between the up and coming progressive rangitahi against the conservative tribal kaumatua elites who, along with their families, have reaped the lion's share of iwi assets and treaty settlements. The reason why people want this stomped on, is because they don't want rangitahi in Tainui, Ngati Porou, Tuhoe, Ngati Whatua, Ngapuhi, Ngai Rahul making similar claims on tribal wealth.
Excellent / depressing read:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/08/opinion-the-problem-with-news-in-new-zealand.html
Thanks for the heads up r0b.
Another example of 'market forces' trashing something that wasn't broken in the first place. I spent four years working for the old AKTV2 and while we lacked the advanced technology of today, our output – technical and productive – was solid and dependable. News and current affairs programmes were the backbone of the old NZ Broadcasting Corporation and the leading journalists and reporters ran rings around what now passes for journalism these days.
Imo, market forces are responsible for the rapidly falling standards of reporting – especially on our major TV networks. It's no longer about keeping the population informed, but rather manipulating them towards a perspective (commercial or political) that suits the owners of the media company.
Oh dear I could go on and on……
I've been waiting for a Labour government to start "levelling the playing field" but so far nothing of note has happened.
Election policy from Labour
'The $38m a year in additional funding for quality New Zealand programming and journalism will be apportioned by an independent Public Media Funding Commission between RNZ+ and NZ On Air. NZ On Air would be able to consider bids for independent investigative journalism from this fund. This will ensure funding decisions are made at arm’s length from the political interests of the Government of the day."
Did you check the media releases ? Seems you were a journalist or such
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/public-media-funding-allocation
Would you be able to look up the 2019 numbers ?
Market Forces are responsible for the changes we've seen in our news delivery but I think it has little to do with the whims of rich owners and cuddling our govt broadcasting.
There has been a paradigm shift with that most fundamental ingredient for any service provider – The Customers.
The 6 o'clock news bulletin was a must watch for my Dad, now he clicks a button and gets the latest bulletin whenever it suits him. Every second person on the bus didn't have a phone in their face, it was a newspaper. Remember those headlines 'Two of every 3 NZers watched the final episode of MASH.'
We're currently getting the media we deserve because providers are yet to latch onto an efficient method to tap into our wallets. Google and Facebook have found a way. They place ads for discounted fridges in front of people that searched Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming websites for fridges last night. I think our media generally will walk this path. We become a whole lot more tolerant of fridge ads when we're shopping for one.
I'll be interested to know whether the US DOJ will pursue the extradition of Ghislaine Maxwell with half the enthusiasm they bring to bear on Assange.
Epstein's so far unexplained death in a high security prison , if it had occurred in Russia would by now, have incurred immediate Magnitsky style sanctions
Probably depends on what she knows and about whom. Maybe they're 'worried' she might be 'suicidal'.
Brexit background:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49101464
Who are Boris Johnson's key advisers?
https://www.politico.eu/article/boris-johnson-new-cabinet-whos-in/
Hey Grey, did you catch the Mark Blyth presentation someone posted a few days back? He covers off a few subjects including Trump, Brexit and CC.
He reckons that Corbyns aim is for Thatcher's conservative party to split in two over Brexit. This, from the guy who predicted Trumps election (and re-election) and the Brexit referendum.
gsays
The one I just heard was different but he's very clear on what will happen with Brexit – in this comment he callis an example of the end of democracy because the elites will do what they want despite the public's wish and it is an example of Trumpism.
And from what I have read I can't see that he is wrong.
This is a long address. Just sit in your chair, Mark Blyth will fire words at you and you have to keep trying to hold each point while he lobs his next ones. Quite exhilirating. NZ is mentioned as the place to fuck off to when you have made a successful ‘presentation’ of a large new idea.
I love the bit where he makes fun of the Left for beiang fiscally tight while the Right don’t and all the time the gummint is issuing the money anyway. It is being anally retentive
Note that I have paraphrased him in my comment above – for instance he didn't use the term 'anally retentive' – it just occurred to me as a possible slick phrase for what our Left are.
Interesting that caught my eye:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48844278
The Penny Post revolutionary who transformed how we send letters
(Rowland Hill)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/18/2019-world-beard-moustache-championships-pictures/
business
14 Aug 2019
Are we blinded by the bright lights of overseas CEOs?
From The Panel, 4:51 pm on 14 August 2019
Listen duration 3′ :48″
Fran O'Sullivan had a good column in yesterday's New Zealand Herald about chief executives in New Zealand, and whether we're starstruck by overseas CEOs.
We know the locals are incompetent, we hope the furriners might not be (we're mostly wrong).
They should employ the Standard hive-mind. Trouble is nothing would ever get done, I fear or the practical realities would be pushed aside in order to get consensus and feelgood.
So Swinson, "Centrists" and neo-lib metro remainers what do you want more, to stop Jeremy Corbyn or to stop Brexit? The choice is yours.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/14/jeremy-corbyn-urges-opposition-leaders-and-tory-rebels-to-help-oust-pm
Three trials later.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Blackwater security contractor was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq that left 14 people dead.
Federal judge Royce Lamberth issued the sentence after a succession of friends and relatives requested leniency for Nicholas Slatten, who was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in December.
[…]
Slatten himself told the judge that he was a victim of an “unjust prosecution” and that government lawyers cared more about producing a conviction than uncovering the truth of what happened in Baghdad 12 years ago.
“This is a miscarriage of justice and it will not stand,” he said.
But Judge Lambert, in issuing the life sentence, dismissed much of the family’s claims that Slatten was a scapegoat for international political considerations.
“The jury got it exactly right,” he said. “This was murder.”
https://www.courthousenews.com/ex-blackwater-contractor-sentenced-to-life-in-iraq-shootings/
After a 35 year recess I think that it is time for a Labour government to start work on making NZ a land fit for the unskilled, ie fit for anyone to live in whether they are of the favoured ones or not.
For all the rhetoric about caring for little vulnerable ones, those in power prefer to publicise the depravity of the lower income below the strugglers level, and snatch their babies in a fit of heightened irritation and condemnation.
That is more dramatic than working to enable each young person to stand tall, knowing that they have support for their learning to manage themselves, whether or not they have effective family homes. Give them advice and practice at skills when at school level, part of their secondary learning would be to build tiny homes, to be sold on. And do some cooking and cleaning in the model home that stays on site. Get a small job, and if they start children soon, have parenting classes for males and females, some together and some apart with lots of discussion. Help them into a home, and by now they will know how to look after it.
But help them into homes, where they need to demonstrate their abilities.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/08/15/new-research-supports-cpags-call-for-a-housing-wof-and-boosted-incomes/
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and boosting family incomes.
The recent study led by Dr Tristram Ingram found that almost 20 percent of hospital admissions for acute respiratory infections in children under the age of two years could have been prevented through having healthier housing conditions.
Seems there are 101 reasons to implement the WEAG Report recommendations.
This from Kay Brereton
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/115018412/benefit-rates-need-to-rise-and-now-for-people-and-the-economy
Regardless of what you think of welfare I would hope we allow changes to facilitate returning to work at a bare minimum. We need this to change right away.
34
15 August 2019 at 3:20 pm
Because Australia is exempt from the climate crisis, aye!
"Leaders on Thursday morning went into a retreat to discuss the the final wording of the Funafuti Declaration, which some nations are demanding should include limiting temperatures to 1.5 degrees and more international investment in the United Nation's Green Climate Fund.
But it's understood some nations have softened their demands to have the references included for the sake of a unified statement, with Australia succeeding in its push to not have the term "climate change crisis" in the communique."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/115029193/winston-peters-takes-heat-off-australia-after-pms-climate-challenge
Well Winston is PM when whats her name is clocking up her air miles.
NZ Herald looked into Key at same time after 2008 — guess what his 'air miles' were much the same. Oh and this
'Govt's 100 days of action' includes 28-day holiday
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10551422
Bill English used to have sign things while Key was away, things that Key didnt want his name on if it all blew up. he was careful like that
Awh sweetie, the bitterness in your “What’s her name” comment is priceless. Some might even say it is “Poission’ess” you’ll fit right in to Paula Bennetts snarky campaign if her performance of the tele this morning is anything to go by.
The details about Travel man
JOHN KEY
2008
• Peru, UK (Apec, Bilateral)
2009
• Port Moresby (special PIF)
• Tonga, Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands (Pacific Mission)
• Cairns (PIF)
• Thailand, Malaysia, Seoul, Japan (bilateral visits)
• Singapore (Apec)
• Trinidad and Tobago (Chogm)
• Copenhagen (COP15)
2010
• Washington DC, Ottawa (Nuclear Security Summit, bilateral)
• Turkey, Kuwaiti, UAE (partially completed)
• Dubai (resumed)
• Korea, China, Vietnam (bilateral visits)
• Port Vila (PIF)
And our ex tourism ministers frequent trips to Hawaii?
Was he a part-time PM or something? Lazy bastard!
Were any of those the trip he chose to go and watch his son play Basketball rather than attend a military funeral? meanwhile Simon when not in a limousine driving around the country to introduce himself to the country is flying off to Aus to get instructions from Scott Morrison. Short term memories from the likes of Poisson etc. We can expect a lot more of it.
He didn't think CC was a crisis,JA does.
Who dat, Possy?
That whole peeing in the shower thing… very kiwi.
Consensus – unified – what a false premise that idea. It should be 80/20 with the objectors or detractors comments and facts noted in detail, and the question asked 'What would have to change for you to agree with the proposal before us? And for what reason does the proposal fall short of its intentions? Do you disagree with its intentions? If not this, then what?
Faffing around waiting for some concrete-head to agree – there is not time to wait around, the bus is leaving. There are less and less buses available.
Gotta say the quality of the rwnj round these parts has gone down since the plug was pulled elsewhere.
Awesome that most of the next generation get it about climate change and the way te oil barons money works to suppress the fact on Global warming We have had the warmest month on record
Young people taking big steps for the environment
BRADEN FASTIER/STUFF
Thousands of young people around the world have stood up, demanding that their voices be heard.
To celebrate International Youth Day, which this week fell on Monday, the Nelson Environment Centre took a look at young people in the region who are doing big things for the environment.
We have reached the point where action must be taken on the big environmental issues that scientists have been telling us about for decades. The people who will be most affected by the present inaction are those that are only just learning about these issues – our children and grandchildren.
So it is no surprise that students and youth around the world are starting to advocate for change.
Local students are joining this movement and one of the ways they do this is through the Enviroschools Programme. This home-grown, national programme uses an action learning approach designed to support the community to connect with their place, to investigate the issues relevant to them and design solutions together.
We are proud that the majority of the schools in Nelson and Tasman are participating Enviroschools.
Many Nelsonians will remember the student protest for climate action on March 15, when Josephine Ripley and Emma Edwards of the Nelson College for Girls (NCG) Enviro Action Group helped to organise Nelson student's participation in Schools 4 Climate action, the global youth environmental movement begun by Swedish student climate activist Greta Thunberg
Ka kite Ano
Letter to the editor (published today in The Southland Times and titled by them:
Those boring billboards
Message to all candidates for local body elections; billboards are boring!
Hard-working Southlanders, especially those living in Invercargill, have to drive past our uninspiring faces and irritating slogans for weeks on end and are generally too polite to take a black-marker to them to express their annoyance. Let’s all do something different this time around; entertain and amuse those whose votes we are chasing, with creative billboards, fun billboards, the likes of which have never been seen before! I’m happy start the ball rolling; I’ve still got my original billboards that show a younger me with a dark, clipped and tidy beard. Now that I’m 9 years down the councillor track, my beard is full and as white as a summer cloud. I’m going to up-date my billboards by glueing-on a fluffy, lamb’s-wool beard that would make Father Christmas proud! How about the rest of you? Have you any creative bones in your bodies? Let’s do the voting public a favour and make campaigning fun for a change!
Robert Guyton
(any feedback from TS readers welcome
These sandflys got nothing better to do than follow Eco Maori around and interfere in every thing I try a buy what car wreckers don't have Toyota parts YEA RIGHT THE Rotorua wrecker are being bullyed by the sandflys
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Someone in the correction system is helping these idiots who can get letters sent from prison They are saying that the fool who's at the centre of the Christchurch desaster YEA RIGHT.
Don't stress to much like I have said once everyone figures out that if they are not doing anything to save our mokopuna future environment they will be excluded from the bonanza of the Green Revolution
Eco Maori agrees that the Russian Pilots are heroes for landing that huge passenger plane in a corn paddock with no loss of life Awsome
Ingrid its cooler were I am at the minute
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News
Ka pai that a MRI Machine for Turangi A Kiwa its great that our Coalition Government is investing more putea for health care in regions with big tangata whenua population . I say changing back to the old ways of non machine harvesting of mussle spat on the 90 mile Beach is the best way way to preserve tuatua and the mussle spat it will also spread the wealth around to more people
Sonia keeping Maori tridional weaving going strong is great our tipuna were quite industrial in the way they did things it was the whole hapu working as one I would like to see that happen again Ma Te Wa.
Ka pai that rangitahi wahine Rugby is going strong that is another goal of mine Equality for our wahine so they can keep the tane on the straight and narrow line Eco Maori got a new Hueawa phone today great deal to try stuffing with this device sandflys
Ka kite Ano
Whanau one of my favourite fish is close to collapseing Tarakihi Eco Maori is not spraying wai into the wind on our FISHERIES topic. The difference between line fishing and trawling is trawling is like rounding up sheep with a bulldozer it WRECKS our fishes habitats fish need places to hide from the bigger fish they need a whare the way we fish now is destroying their Whare no whare no fish.
I wish for all inshore fishing to be caught by line fishing we know that most small fish caught on a hook can be released and they will servive .Even though they have this fancy new codend design it still doesn't stop the trawl gear wrecking the bottom the fishes habitat Whanau in 50 years time OUR mokopuna will have heaps of wealth fisher people paying big bucks to come and fish in our pristine fisheries If we don't charge the way the inshore fishing is to line fishing Tarakihi will become extinct .
When I was younger 35 years ago I got sick of bacon and eggs and beans for breakfast I would get a Tarakihi and cook it with wai and onions reka .
Christchurch fish and chip shop refuses to sell tarakihi until stocks recover
A Christchurch fish and chip shop is urging other businesses to stop selling one of New Zealand's favourite fish over fears for the species' survival.
Fush owner Anton Matthews stopped serving tarakihi this week after hearing stocks of the fish have dropped to worrying levels.
A Fisheries New Zealand assessment estimated the abundance of tarakihi on the East Coast to be 15.9 per cent of what it would be in the absence of all fishing. The fishery was considered to be sustainable at 40 per cent.
Matthews said 16 per cent was something to worry about and he wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem
He called for New Zealanders to demand their fish be caught on lines rather than in nets. Fush sources its fish from West Coast fishing company Westfleet, which catches its fish using lines.
"New Zealanders should be demanding fish is line caught in the same way they demand their eggs are free range
The Government cut the tarakihi quota by 20 per cent last year and was considering reducing the commercial catch by a further 31 per cent
"If you do absolutely nothing does a crisis fix itself? The housing crisis is not going to fix itself, climate change is not going to fix itself. Tarakihi is rebuilding.
Forest and Bird is pushing for a 40 per cent reduction in commercial quota alongside protections for important juvenile nursery grounds
Ka kite Ano link below
https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/114998557/christchurch-fish-and-chip-shop-refuses-to-sell-tarakihi-until-stocks-recover
I'd agree, except for flats – the little trawls used for flats don't do much damage, and they stay over sand or mud bottoms because anything else will break them. They're as close to a harmless trawl as you get.
There might be some live capture systems worth looking at too – box nets or pots allow fish to be returned unharmed, and tend to use much less fuel than trawling.
I think it's time we started proper nursery strategies for our key species too, just leaving everything to sort itself out was fine with a smaller population and less stressed fisheries, but that is no longer what we have.
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute
https://youtu.be/GKSRyLdjsPA
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute .
https://youtu.be/5Yj4j_lZMBo
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute
https://youtu.be/fKopy74weus
Kia Ora Newshub.
I package food is bad for us and the environment I we need to label the sugar and salt content so we know what we are eating The old saying you are what you eat is TRUE
Flooding in Horowhenua let hope no lives are lost that's part of Global Warming
Dogs going to the movies that's cool a lot of elderly people have dogs that could get them out and about socialising instead of home alone
That is a big mess that car causes in Canada wonder how that happened
Technology is going to make big changes to how we move and communicate and work It will give the wealthy people a unfair advantage to DOMINATE THE 99.9 % of humanity I think laws should be planned NOW to counter that Phenomenon .
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News
Cool all the kapa haka going on in Waikato for the Maori King at Turangawaewae marae.
They had a sports day to in Waikato sports is good for the wairua and te tamariki
Eco Maori agree with Ela Henry mana Wahine
Kereopa Purongo motuhake the whanau had a fire that burned down their whare
Planting native trees is awesome I believe that the tree that have been planted to try and stop erosion are a quick fix poplar and willow grow for 20 years and fall over making a big mess we should plant native trees like manuka that last much longer and prove food for our native wildlife along side the quick growing exotic trees I wish to see heaps more native trees in Aoteoroa.
Ka kite Ano
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
Kia Ora The Hui.
simon is using the hate card to try and boost his rating YEA RIGHT taking about getting the army to move tangata whenua
Its excellent that you have our Maori youth Mps giving there points of view on subject in Aotearoa I see that there are 3 to 1 wahine.ka pai.
I think the logic solution to Te reo staying strong in Aotearoa is Te reo should be compolsery for tangata whenua students less teachers to train one class a day teaching about the TRUE HISTORY of Aotearoa I have read some books for our students and they are not correct in their FACTS it skewers to make tangata whenua look bad.
I agree racism is ignorince that is one argument for compolsery te reo class for all our tamariki .But I want most tangata whenua to know our historical culture first and for most.
Ka kite Ano
Ignore what the negative people have to say about the feebate system they did nothing but ruin our commitments to be clean and green while in power. This is a must to get the tangata to change to electric cars it will help save our environment for the mokopuna
EV feebate plan winning support says minister, as submissions deadline approaches
JOHN HAWKINS/STUFF
Dutchman Weibe Wakker has completed his three year journey from the Netherlands in his converted electric Volkswagon Golf named the "The Blue Bandit"
A feebate scheme that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from buyers of higher-emission cars into the pockets of people buying EVs and other more fuel-efficient vehicles has been winning favour with submitters, the Government says.
Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter said about 80 per cent of the online responses the Transport Ministry had so far received in response to a discussion paper on the feebate scheme and an associated "clean car standard" had supported the policies
"The scheme is designed to be revenue neutral, I can tell you that," the ministry spokesman said. "So the money paid in will be paid out in terms of rebates
The Cabinet paper made it clear fees and rebates could be out of sync in any one year of the scheme, if people didn't buy the mix of cars forecast, but said a $25m float could be set up "to manage the risk of over or under-fee collection from year to year
The ministry expected feebates would value about $200 million during the scheme's first year, which would be in 2021
Ka kite Ano link below .
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/115023391/ev-feebate-plan-winning-support-says-minister-as-submissions-deadline-approaches
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute
https://youtu.be/hmu4wR1bTYE
Kia Ora Newshub .
Tornado use to be a thing that we seen every 5 years now Aotearoa is getting them more often how many now about 10 this year .
The Coalition government investing $54 million dollars to help get the people under a bridge a whare very good stuff having to live on the streets .
That was great the NZ Air force helping get boats in the area to rescue people on a stricken boat that is the mahi that all Aotearoa armed forces should be doing Ka pai to the Christchurch fish shop owner for highlighting the demise of tarakihi and dropping it off his menu to save the species But its not only tarakihi that is in danger of collapseing many other will be in a similar state the catch has gone and dubbled so comparison to 30 years ago won't add up to factual data unless this is taken into account .
Another person falling to their death taking a selfy photo in dangerous situations .?? ??
There are a lot of happy people in Aotearoa after last night game Ka Kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News .
That's the way go tau toko the tangata at IhumataoTJ. Mana Wahine Taina
I watched most of the game but the sandflys swarmed me on my way back to Napier and while I was in Rotorua I fell asleep my brother was watching the game while I was snoring our TV is solar powered .
Our Vietnam veterans great to see the service today for the veterans I agree with his daughter tho they did not need to be at the Vietnam War I know some whose health suffered because of Agent orange wreaking the health .
Great win for the Black Ferns Mana Wahine
Ka kite Ano