The latest annual net migration gain is the largest in more than three years, according to Stats NZ data.
Not surprising given the border closures.
The net gain of 86,800 people in the year ended June was the biggest since May 2020.It was made up of a record net gain of 121,600 non-New Zealand citizens and a net migration loss of 34,800 New Zealand citizens.
The numbers are large though.
New Zealand's highest annual net migration gain was 91,700 in the year ended March 2020.
Highest. So three years ago was the highest ever. So not being quite as high is well, a lot.
"Months since November 2022 have averaged net migration gains of about 12,000 non-New Zealand citizens a month, which is high by historical standards," Stats NZ population indicators manager, Tehseen Islam said.
Maybe it’s time for members of the National Party to clutch some pearls, rather than beat drums, and expect of government that there be requirement to provide migrant workers with housing. And entry requires a real job …
American politics – rules that suit the corporate profit, not the worker, more in prison, tougher on those on welfare, promotion of white race nation culture and identity flag patriotism – the prosperity religion gospel, those closest to God have their own private jets, or room on their gated community island for a helipad.
With no CGT, wealth tax or estate tax, the Kiwi not iwi pavlova paradise haven for the scions of capital mammon. Hark the herald.
I went to a citizenship ceremony last night, and the depth of new kiwis was humbling. I thanked them and welcomed them home, they are more deserving than almost all of us.
Are we currently witnessing the drawback before the immigration tsunami strikes our tiny domestic economy, the small labour market, and the tight housing & rental markets?
A RBG whose over-reaction to the pandemic inflated the property market.
And now an over-reaction to employers competing for workers (without access to migrants) and consequences of opening it up to allow a quick redress – including an inability to cope with oversight of the numbers/regulate it properly.
A Labour government might think again next year. But NACT would not.
86,000 new people in a country with crumbling infrastructure and an apocalyptic housing crisis that only builds 27,000 homes a year….
Golly…. And that's under a labour government…
Nats/Act will have that up up to about 150,000- 200,000 arrivals a year coupled with austerity because it's the only way they know how to "grow" the economy.
I love immigration but with our current housing apocalypse, it just feels like a neoliberals recipe for low wage growth, high rents further failing infrastructure and more kiwis in motels and in their cars and a rapid rise in resentment, hatred and bigotry.
If you're not building the housing and infrastructure to keep up with the population growth, its not fair on the locals nor the new arrivals and is a recipe for disaster.
IF NACT win, we have Oz under a Labour government – to get FPA working conditions
A third of Israelis are considering emigration. The ones with the ability to chose where they go as skilled migrants. It takes the term brain drain to the next level.
From the shambles that was their presentation of the proposal it sounds more as if the disorganised lot that is our current Government hadn't even thought of the idea until Willis's members bill hit the House. It was her bill reaching the floor that gave them the idea by the look of things. Then they stuffed up the proposal and had to fix the numbers.
She could hardly have seen it coming if, as I am surmising, they hadn't even had the idea until she put it forward.
You also seem to be suggesting that Nicola was only offering a "miserable sop" to the parents with her bill. I take it that you think that the Labour Party are being much more generous with their offer and that she should have suggested the same extra, tax-payer paid parental leave.
The Standing Orders of the House don't allow her to put forward a Private Members Bill that would involve the Crown having to pay for the leave. It would be immediately ruled out, without debate, because it would require substantial expenditure by the Crown and therefore would be refused because it breached Standing Orders. This is Order 334. I suggest you read this and try and explain how she could have been any more generous than just allowing the option to take the leave without incurring any further costs?
You have confused the draft of the release about the GST off food announcement on Sunday with her private members bill about couples sharing parental leave between them. Two different issues.
Nicola Willis has said her party cannot afford to extend the 26 weeks parental leave, because they made no provision for it in their policy for 2023-2026 (once again favouring tax cuts and in particular landlords).
It is a reprise of 2005, because Labour's more targeted WFF tax credits allowed them to fund interest free tertiary loans – whereas National blew it on their big across the board tax cuts. And so families and younger workers with SL/TD … returned the government for a third term.
I don't understand what you are suggesting. I thought it was her private member's bill that you thought was not generous. It doesn't matter what National may, or may not propose to do if they become the Government.
The members bill, if passed, would apply to the actions of the current Government and spending more money would breach the rules.
It was National that chose to make an issue of parental leave before the election, via a private members bill.
They did this knowing they had no plan to extend the provision (26 weeks).
Now the electorate knows that if Labour is elected there will be 28 weeks paid leave 1 April 2024 – and the husband can take 4 weeks leave and have 2 weeks unpaid and 2 weeks paid. This increasing to 5 weeks (3 paid) and 6 weeks (4 paid in April 2025 and April 2016.
The PM has also said that after the election they can also look at tidying up the legislation and make other changes at that time. All National can respond with is they would do what was in the private members bill, lacking any provision for more funding in their plan.
And to make things worse Willis is claiming New Zealand National cannot afford it because they have other priorities – we are overtaxed bribing voters with tax cuts, rewarding its donors/members (landlords) and for them there is too much debt to afford new spending, except for roads (and fixing pot holes caused by allowing heavy trucks on the roads).
You don't say……‘Dehumanizing’ Russians has backfired – ex-Zelensky aide Aleksey Arestovich claimed….
“The main thing we did was to allow ourselves to dehumanize the Russians. This is our main mistake. At first we held on and then we delved into all that with pleasure. The collective Ukrainians, I mean. We allowed that to pour into the internet,” Arestovich stated. He added that such behavior gave average mobilized Russians –not professional soldiers– “an excellent motivation to fight.”
It appears that this site does not disgust you as much as RNZ, for example, because you keep coming back all the time. That said, I assume you are still listening to RNZ too, for your daily ‘adrenaline kick’.
I come back less and less…most of the people I used to like on here have been hounded off or kicked off…I noticed a slow downturn in my interest a bit after you showed up as a moderator actually..or maybe that is just a coincidence?
RNZ needs to be listened to on and off to pull them up on their constant stream of misinformation on geo-politics….and to think they have the cheek to have that lightweight Susie Ferguson actually do a multi part series on misinformation….still I guess it is a perfect reflection of the impenetrable bubble the Liberal class have encased themselves in.
I’ve suggested to you so many times to lift your game and the tone of your comments but your comments invariably still have a whiff of stale breath.
I wish I could take credit for you coming back here less and less but alas, I cannot, even though I’ve been a Mod here for exactly 4.5 years this month.
Through the "beautiful wet season" that Mohi Beckham calls the past 18-months, most of the paddocks were underwater on the coastal Bay of Plenty farm which he manages.
However, the paddocks that survived were those with diverse pastures, he says. The others were left looking brown and rusty.
All Farms (and Farmers?) are different. But we could sure do with more like Mohi Beckham, who, while admitting he's "still learning" seems to be on a pretty good path. Good on him.
ABC financial journalist Alan Kohler pointing out the inequity baked into the system:
Tax settings need to change to address this imbalance if we want younger people to ever be able to own homes. Party vote Green, Labour have demonstrated they are incapable (for you).
The poll asked respondents whether they believed the country was on the right or wrong track. The majority (55 per cent) thought it was on the wrong track, while 37 per cent believed it was on the right track – the most negative result on the question since about 2001.
Correlates with the winter malaise feeling that's been expressed in our media by various journos – and a two-decade inertial swing highlights the challenge the PM's campaign rhetoric must reverse to shift the public mood back.
TPM at 3% makes it seem that it bubbled up last month then popped, but may be different publics being measured by different pollster orgs. Greens also up in this one – 2% increase. NZF on 4.4% and Nat/Lab margin half that of the poll before this one.
Aha…and Mr Luxon wants to 'get NZ back on track'…..do you think any of the polled have any idea which track he is talking about, and if they were shown a track which direction would they take and how would they know if they were on the right track going in the wrong direction or on the wrong track going in the right direction.
No I don't believe most respondents have any sense of a positive alternative. Think it's just a measure of public sentiment pollsters seem to like as a general indicator, so I read it as most folks lacking confidence that Labour know what they're doing.
If Harman's right and their strategy is actually clever the next poll ought to at least register left/right parity within the margin of error. If it continues to show Labour distinctly below National, I would read that as Harman being wrong about their strategy rather than any belief that National has a better grasp of what's required.
It seems you have lost the plot and are mixing up two different commenting threads.
I cannot wait to find out if Harman is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ (again, about what??) and your personal reading of the entrails actually means anything in the greater scheme of NZ politics.
Despite all your polyads, your commentary is still firmly stuck in boring binaries.
Factoring in the undecided, left/right poll parity could be now or even better for the left….or the public sentiment may be totally askew with respondents confused by the choice of tracks all going in different directions. Possibly quite a few of them may just give up and not get on any track.
Right track wrong track is a nonsense question if it's standing alone, you could have 2 labour voter say wrong track , one could want them to be more like act and one could want them to be more like act.
In that article (link) those polled also rated the state of the economy, 76 per cent saying it was not so good or poor.
Well New Zealand currently has a AA+ credit rating with Standard and Poor's, which may head south a bit but is still very good by international standards. Also Mr Key was on record just the other day saying "NZ is doing pretty darn good"……….
Once again this polling is just more scene setting designed to foster discontent and malaise, but then for the likes of Jessica Mutch McKay, forever hopeful for some political sparring, can report with glee-full eyebrow raising, head nodding excitement on the 6pm news.
Just shows to go how accurate completely nonsensical these types of 'polling' are, wouldn't you agree…..surprisingly there were 12 months in that 2001 year.
Journos by and large want the Nats, but don't love Luxon, that is a problem for them.
Most are now "hearing" Seymore and get a sense he is too radical.
As for Winnie, there is a sense of deja vu, disbelief and even admiration for his relentless intent to be Parliament.
So here is the issue, Winston will see Seymore as too much like himself, and will see Luxon as a Leader who could be managed. imo So he would want Seymore as number 3. Now, that won't wash…..
"Plus What's Willis going to do???"
Does anyone see a problem?
I can't see Luxon involved in successful Coalition building, with those two, and Willis. He will revert to dictatorial in a flash imo????
In that situation you'd probably have a Nat minority govt with confidence and supply from Act and Nzf outside of cabinet.
Sounds like a nightmare, Can you imagine trying to get NZF and Act to agree on a budget …. Good lord…
Not much would get done because the only thing the three parties agree on is hating "woke" elite and conservative social policy.
NZF ,economically has far more in common with Labour and the Greens and tbh they worked well together, Nats,act and NZF would be a hilarious, chaotic clusterf**k
I also don't see Luxon surviving a full term as prime minister, I feel he'd get rolled a year or two into the job in, hes had so much hand holding as Loto but being pm is brutal, but whether it's by someone on the liberal wing or the tory wing would be the question.
Montana is violating the rights of young people with policies that prohibit the state from considering climate change effects when it reviews coal mining, natural gas extraction and other fossil fuel projects, a state judge said on Monday.
The decision by Judge Kathy Seeley in Helena marked a major victory in the first youth-led climate case to reach trial in the US and could influence similar cases nationwide.
In her ruling, Seeley said Montana's greenhouse gas emissions have been proven to be "a substantial factor" in causing climate impacts to Montana's environment, harming the young plaintiffs.
The 16 plaintiffs sued Montana in 2020, when they were ages two to 18, claiming the state's permitting of projects like coal and natural gas production exacerbated the climate crisis, despite a 1972 amendment to the Montana constitution requiring the state to protect and improve the environment.
Seeley said the plaintiffs have a "fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment."
This is a great decision that hopefully gets various governments to step up. Continued extraction for profit endangers the future for all of us. Climate action now.
Very unimpressed with the journalists giving themselves vapours this week, particularly with an allegedly senior journalist calling something ‘stupid’.
Whether this is the work of a subeditor or not, this seems to be a simple campaigning for one side. Even Hosking, Prebble and Joyce in their opinions don’t use this kind of snide language.
Perhaps we need to see Chippy and his ministers get back on the Facebook live and do more direct communication to avoid these unprofessional hacks.
The National Party said today they could not afford to match Labour's new parental leave policy (2 weeks paid leave 1 April 2024 in addition to the existing two weeks unpaid leave, with a third week paid leave in April 2025 and a fourth in April 2026) because they love
Tax Cuts that dribble to flood as the income levels rise.
Restoration of mortgage payments as a cost against rent income
Reducing the bright-line test to 2 years.
Luxon and Willis said they had been prepared to fake concern about support for new parents, to embarrass Labour in parliament and in neo-liberal friendly media, but would not try and match this – and have determined on calling it unaffordable instead.
They would stick with merely allowing couples to share the 6 month entitlement (maximum 3 months for both which costs nothing).
And watch their media sycophants who were beating Labour with not supporting families etc etc , do a handbrake 180 and start saying how it’s all unaffordable etc etc.
New research shows that 55% of New Zealanders are struggling with their financial situation – up 17% compared to February 2021 and the highest level since surveying began.
Out of those surveyed, 51% say they are ‘starting to sink, or treading water’ and a further 3.5% are ‘sinking badly’.
Since February 2021, Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission has commissioned TRA to survey 4000 people annually, gathering insights on how people are feeling about money and how they are coping.
The latest findings have revealed that women, Māori and Pacific Peoples are being hit the hardest, with 61% of women saying they are in a difficult position financially (compared to 48% of men) and 60% of Māori and 58% of Pasifika are also struggling.
Something needs to be done to redress this increase in inequality. The tools are there but are being kept in the draw. Labour must do more and needs to be forced to do so. Labour, insufficient (for you). Party vote Green.
to miss the mark with the cost of its GST off fruit and veg policy by about $250million dollars is the gnarliest own goal we’ve seen
Grant will presumably respond "Well, a quarter of a billion off is no big deal in financial estimates." Dunno why the Nat deputy leader is making a big thing about it. Does anyone ever really believe big govt costings from either side?? I doubt it.
she explained Labour had failed to cost the first year of the policy and only partially cost the second year.
I can't see Grant admitting to making any such mistake but his explanation may be entertaining.
According to the report it was published this morning. You reckon Grant's credibility isn't worth taking seriously? I reckon plenty of voters would expect him to get policy costings right – therefore their reliability is the issue, not Tova's agenda.
Her complaint was that Labour should have made more of an effort to let media know that they had got the wrong info in the first press release before hand. Only some got the correct info with the second press release after the public announcement.
The side dish was NW trying to conflate public (government) budget plans with Labour Party policy on how to use allocations for new spending (if re-elected) – via the earlier info inaccuracy as cause.
The story is two days old, GR and NW have faced off in the House since.
He would have put his Wellingtons on and walked across the little puddle between the two and waved a draft of legislation for 4 weeks of parental leave to the man of the house – claiming it was affordable to him if not to her – because she gave away all the money to people like her boss who have 6 houses.
The story is two days old, GR and NW have faced off in the House since.
Well, did the truth emerge?? I've seen no report of it. Seemed to me that's why she published her analysis this morning; to provoke a reaction. You know, as if govt policy costings are worth taking seriously.
I mean, if it's just National & Labour doing claim & counter-claim with both avoiding reality due to reality being inaccessible, I can go with that…
You've been around long enough to know the difference between government policy plans in office (as to budgets) and their manifesto policy they take to elections (given leaks to opposition parties from some …)
Which is why (all) parties should have their budgets costed.
I was trying to figure out the substance of the story. Thanks for helping – I presume NW got leaked the draft rather than the end result so her apparent win wasn't real, much ado about nothing substantial & Tova doesn't get it…
We need to be saying F- the economists and idealogues who wield economics (Don Brash one of the experts in why cheaper fruit and veges is bad) and their infiltration into treasury.
We’ve already seen that they want unemployment to increase.
Now they want to cut school lunches because one or two years of school lunches hasn’t reversed colonialism and generational deprivation. Even done a report.
We didn’t stand up to the charlatans who took the value we’d invested into our public companies or clipped the ticket on both side of the privatisation deals in the 1980s and 1990s.
The other charlatans such as Luke Malpass and Tova O Brien who despite watching inequality grow because of very poor tax policy in housing, call a small change with positive externalities stupid. We need to stand up to them too.
Journalists have cheered and worshipped economic growth that was simply immigration and then turned to Steven Joyce like he was a savant. He wasn’t. We haven’t paid for the infrastructure for the immigration and now we’re turning in the tap again and National wants to make it much worse with its sprawl nonsense. That’s fucking stupid Luke, not a dollar off apples. But you’re complicit so we understand.
Treasury- the people who said we got no benefit from having a movie and TV industry in NZ, though strangely silent on us subsidising farmers- think:
Treasury documents show there is a lack of support for the continuation of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, which launched about four years ago.
A report for Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the programme had had no impact on attendance, and for Māori learners, had not led to better levels of concentration in class.
Perhaps we should cut Treasury salaries to below the bread line on the same basis as they seem to be claiming eating lunch is not required to be productive. It seems unlikely, based on this careful research, to have any impact on the concentration or quality of the output of Treasury officials.
What do communities or Principals know?
Principal Margs Aiono said since free lunches came in, she had seen an improvement in the children's attention spans.
and
Bankwood School assistant principal Anaru Popham said for some kids, lunch was the difference between coming to school or not.
and
Another parent said every bit of help went a long way in a cost-of-living crisis.
"A lot of families are struggling financially with the cost of food increasing. It does help us, especially with the fruit provided and vegetables in the lunches."
Good job Checkpoint! It’s obvious we’re fighting the same technocrats from TINA at this election as much as we ever have. I hope those benefiting can get all their friends out to vote and out to make phone calls and drop leaflets for the parties that are going to keep this programme.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
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TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
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1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
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TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
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About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
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Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
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I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
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You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
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Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
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Migration levels
Not surprising given the border closures.
The numbers are large though.
Highest. So three years ago was the highest ever. So not being quite as high is well, a lot.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/08/14/number-of-migrants-to-nz-highest-in-three-years/
The historic data, shows its the largest intake on non-residents ever, mitigated by a large outflow of citizens to below the record of 2020.
https://www.miragenews.com/net-migration-gain-driven-by-non-new-zealand-1004746/
Do all the migrant workers actually have jobs? No. We've opened it up and lost control.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/08/major-criminal-investigation-after-dozens-of-migrants-discovered-living-in-squalid-auckland-home.html
Maybe it’s time for members of the National Party to clutch some pearls, rather than beat drums, and expect of government that there be requirement to provide migrant workers with housing. And entry requires a real job …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300863738/janet-wilson-its-time-to-unclutch-the-pearls-and-start-planning-for-immigration
Gotta get the the unemployment rate higher and house prices up don't ya know!!
American politics – rules that suit the corporate profit, not the worker, more in prison, tougher on those on welfare, promotion of white race nation culture and identity flag patriotism – the prosperity religion gospel, those closest to God have their own private jets, or room on their gated community island for a helipad.
With no CGT, wealth tax or estate tax, the Kiwi not iwi pavlova paradise haven for the scions of capital mammon. Hark the herald.
I went to a citizenship ceremony last night, and the depth of new kiwis was humbling. I thanked them and welcomed them home, they are more deserving than almost all of us.
They do not need sanctification just basic human rights while here.
https://www.greens.org.nz/immigration_policy
https://assets.nationbuilder.com/beachheroes/pages/9597/attachments/original/1591177646/Policy-Greens_Immigration.pdf?1591177646
Need? I said they deserve. Everyone deserves more than 'basic' anything. Would have thought you agreed with that.
You claimed that they were better than (near all of) those born here.
Everyone needs to have their basic human rights protected, migrants (some of whom will permanent residents, some citizens) and those born here.
Really? Bit of a broad judgement there. I dont think you know "almost all of us."
Maybe you should get around a bit more…..
I meant us commenters, but may as well apply to everyone. It's a bit spurious to claim that I don't know all, I probably know more than you'd expect.
Are we currently witnessing the drawback before the immigration tsunami strikes our tiny domestic economy, the small labour market, and the tight housing & rental markets?
A RBG whose over-reaction to the pandemic inflated the property market.
And now an over-reaction to employers competing for workers (without access to migrants) and consequences of opening it up to allow a quick redress – including an inability to cope with oversight of the numbers/regulate it properly.
A Labour government might think again next year. But NACT would not.
86,000 new people in a country with crumbling infrastructure and an apocalyptic housing crisis that only builds 27,000 homes a year….
Golly…. And that's under a labour government…
Nats/Act will have that up up to about 150,000- 200,000 arrivals a year coupled with austerity because it's the only way they know how to "grow" the economy.
I love immigration but with our current housing apocalypse, it just feels like a neoliberals recipe for low wage growth, high rents further failing infrastructure and more kiwis in motels and in their cars and a rapid rise in resentment, hatred and bigotry.
If you're not building the housing and infrastructure to keep up with the population growth, its not fair on the locals nor the new arrivals and is a recipe for disaster.
IF NACT win, we have Oz under a Labour government – to get FPA working conditions
A third of Israelis are considering emigration. The ones with the ability to chose where they go as skilled migrants. It takes the term brain drain to the next level.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66474153
Back in 2005 Bill English released National policy to make TL easier to repay.
Labour followed with interest free loans.
Nicola Willis and some miserable sop to partners of new mothers.
Labour followed with this 4 weeks ….
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/08/labour-promises-to-increase-paid-parental-leave-for-partners.html
Did she not see this coming? Did no one tip her off?
what's TL?
Tertiary Loan?
From the shambles that was their presentation of the proposal it sounds more as if the disorganised lot that is our current Government hadn't even thought of the idea until Willis's members bill hit the House. It was her bill reaching the floor that gave them the idea by the look of things. Then they stuffed up the proposal and had to fix the numbers.
She could hardly have seen it coming if, as I am surmising, they hadn't even had the idea until she put it forward.
You also seem to be suggesting that Nicola was only offering a "miserable sop" to the parents with her bill. I take it that you think that the Labour Party are being much more generous with their offer and that she should have suggested the same extra, tax-payer paid parental leave.
The Standing Orders of the House don't allow her to put forward a Private Members Bill that would involve the Crown having to pay for the leave. It would be immediately ruled out, without debate, because it would require substantial expenditure by the Crown and therefore would be refused because it breached Standing Orders. This is Order 334. I suggest you read this and try and explain how she could have been any more generous than just allowing the option to take the leave without incurring any further costs?
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/parliamentary-rules/standing-orders-2020-by-chapter/chapter-6-financial-procedures/#_Toc51754717
You have confused the draft of the release about the GST off food announcement on Sunday with her private members bill about couples sharing parental leave between them. Two different issues.
Nicola Willis has said her party cannot afford to extend the 26 weeks parental leave, because they made no provision for it in their policy for 2023-2026 (once again favouring tax cuts and in particular landlords).
It is a reprise of 2005, because Labour's more targeted WFF tax credits allowed them to fund interest free tertiary loans – whereas National blew it on their big across the board tax cuts. And so families and younger workers with SL/TD … returned the government for a third term.
I don't understand what you are suggesting. I thought it was her private member's bill that you thought was not generous. It doesn't matter what National may, or may not propose to do if they become the Government.
The members bill, if passed, would apply to the actions of the current Government and spending more money would breach the rules.
It was National that chose to make an issue of parental leave before the election, via a private members bill.
They did this knowing they had no plan to extend the provision (26 weeks).
Now the electorate knows that if Labour is elected there will be 28 weeks paid leave 1 April 2024 – and the husband can take 4 weeks leave and have 2 weeks unpaid and 2 weeks paid. This increasing to 5 weeks (3 paid) and 6 weeks (4 paid in April 2025 and April 2016.
The PM has also said that after the election they can also look at tidying up the legislation and make other changes at that time. All National can respond with is they would do what was in the private members bill, lacking any provision for more funding in their plan.
And to make things worse Willis is claiming
New ZealandNational cannot afford it because they have other priorities –we are overtaxedbribing voters with tax cuts, rewarding its donors/members (landlords) and for them there is too much debt to afford new spending, except for roads (and fixing pot holes caused by allowing heavy trucks on the roads).You don't say……‘Dehumanizing’ Russians has backfired – ex-Zelensky aide Aleksey Arestovich claimed….
“The main thing we did was to allow ourselves to dehumanize the Russians. This is our main mistake. At first we held on and then we delved into all that with pleasure. The collective Ukrainians, I mean. We allowed that to pour into the internet,” Arestovich stated. He added that such behavior gave average mobilized Russians –not professional soldiers– “an excellent motivation to fight.”
https://robotism.ai/dehumanizing-russians-has-backfired-ex-zelensky-aide-rt-russia-former-soviet-union/
Quite a bit of that disgusting behavior was/is displayed on occasion on this very site too I would like to add.
It appears that this site does not disgust you as much as RNZ, for example, because you keep coming back all the time. That said, I assume you are still listening to RNZ too, for your daily ‘adrenaline kick’.
I come back less and less…most of the people I used to like on here have been hounded off or kicked off…I noticed a slow downturn in my interest a bit after you showed up as a moderator actually..or maybe that is just a coincidence?
RNZ needs to be listened to on and off to pull them up on their constant stream of misinformation on geo-politics….and to think they have the cheek to have that lightweight Susie Ferguson actually do a multi part series on misinformation….still I guess it is a perfect reflection of the impenetrable bubble the Liberal class have encased themselves in.
I’ve suggested to you so many times to lift your game and the tone of your comments but your comments invariably still have a whiff of stale breath.
I wish I could take credit for you coming back here less and less but alas, I cannot, even though I’ve been a Mod here for exactly 4.5 years this month.
See you around, Adrian.
Dah.
"I wish I could take credit for you coming back here less and less"…..enough said.
In your typical fashion of selective reading & reacting, you missed the first sentence of my comment to you that was meant to provide the context.
For your convenience, here it is again:
Enough said.
Thanks for saying this Adrian.
To question the neo-con orthodoxy over Ukrainian is to invite vitriolic attacks.
I barely comment either now.
All Farms (and Farmers?) are different. But we could sure do with more like Mohi Beckham, who, while admitting he's "still learning" seems to be on a pretty good path. Good on him.
ABC financial journalist Alan Kohler pointing out the inequity baked into the system:
Tax settings need to change to address this imbalance if we want younger people to ever be able to own homes. Party vote Green, Labour have demonstrated they are incapable (for you).
This indicator is worth mentioning:
Correlates with the winter malaise feeling that's been expressed in our media by various journos – and a two-decade inertial swing highlights the challenge the PM's campaign rhetoric must reverse to shift the public mood back.
TPM at 3% makes it seem that it bubbled up last month then popped, but may be different publics being measured by different pollster orgs. Greens also up in this one – 2% increase. NZF on 4.4% and Nat/Lab margin half that of the poll before this one.
Aha…and Mr Luxon wants to 'get NZ back on track'…..do you think any of the polled have any idea which track he is talking about, and if they were shown a track which direction would they take and how would they know if they were on the right track going in the wrong direction or on the wrong track going in the right direction.
No I don't believe most respondents have any sense of a positive alternative. Think it's just a measure of public sentiment pollsters seem to like as a general indicator, so I read it as most folks lacking confidence that Labour know what they're doing.
If Harman's right and their strategy is actually clever the next poll ought to at least register left/right parity within the margin of error. If it continues to show Labour distinctly below National, I would read that as Harman being wrong about their strategy rather than any belief that National has a better grasp of what's required.
It seems you have lost the plot and are mixing up two different commenting threads.
I cannot wait to find out if Harman is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ (again, about what??) and your personal reading of the entrails actually means anything in the greater scheme of NZ politics.
Despite all your polyads, your commentary is still firmly stuck in boring binaries.
Factoring in the undecided, left/right poll parity could be now or even better for the left….or the public sentiment may be totally askew with respondents confused by the choice of tracks all going in different directions. Possibly quite a few of them may just give up and not get on any track.
Right track wrong track is a nonsense question if it's standing alone, you could have 2 labour voter say wrong track , one could want them to be more like act and one could want them to be more like act.
did you mean like ACT and like the GP?
Yip bugger
In that article (link) those polled also rated the state of the economy, 76 per cent saying it was not so good or poor.
Well New Zealand currently has a AA+ credit rating with Standard and Poor's, which may head south a bit but is still very good by international standards. Also Mr Key was on record just the other day saying "NZ is doing pretty darn good"……….
Once again this polling is just more scene setting designed to foster discontent and malaise, but then for the likes of Jessica Mutch McKay, forever hopeful for some political sparring, can report with glee-full eyebrow raising, head nodding excitement on the 6pm news.
Interesting though that the next highest number for wrong direction is a year before Helen Clark got Labours second highest mmp result.
What happened in 2001?
Just shows to go how
accuratecompletely nonsensical these types of 'polling' are, wouldn't you agree…..surprisingly there were 12 months in that 2001 year.https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-06-2018/does-jacinda-ardern-face-a-helen-clark-style-winter-of-discontent
I don't know for sure, but maybe it was a hangover from the so-called Winter of Discontent?
Journos by and large want the Nats, but don't love Luxon, that is a problem for them.
Most are now "hearing" Seymore and get a sense he is too radical.
As for Winnie, there is a sense of deja vu, disbelief and even admiration for his relentless intent to be Parliament.
So here is the issue, Winston will see Seymore as too much like himself, and will see Luxon as a Leader who could be managed. imo So he would want Seymore as number 3. Now, that won't wash…..
"Plus What's Willis going to do???"
Does anyone see a problem?
I can't see Luxon involved in successful Coalition building, with those two, and Willis. He will revert to dictatorial in a flash imo????
Q-'why did the Mercedes cross the road?'
A-'to get…Luxon to the other..side'!
Yes Blazer, not even Winnie had that kind of hubis.![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
But.. Luxon =Lux, Seymore =gun lobby, Winston= vax freedom? Unholy trinity.![surprise surprise](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/omg_smile.png?x42494)
hubris
Yes got a phone call and did not check sorry![blush blush](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/embarrassed_smile.png?x42494)
ok, that's quite funny.
Journalists want DRAMA, its their job, they are children.
In that situation you'd probably have a Nat minority govt with confidence and supply from Act and Nzf outside of cabinet.
Sounds like a nightmare, Can you imagine trying to get NZF and Act to agree on a budget …. Good lord…
Not much would get done because the only thing the three parties agree on is hating "woke" elite and conservative social policy.
NZF ,economically has far more in common with Labour and the Greens and tbh they worked well together, Nats,act and NZF would be a hilarious, chaotic clusterf**k
I also don't see Luxon surviving a full term as prime minister, I feel he'd get rolled a year or two into the job in, hes had so much hand holding as Loto but being pm is brutal, but whether it's by someone on the liberal wing or the tory wing would be the question.
Yes, Corey,perhaps "chaos" is closer to home than the 'right' realise
. Nicola would roll him.imo.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/495830/us-judge-hands-historic-win-to-young-plaintiffs-in-climate-change-case
This is a great decision that hopefully gets various governments to step up. Continued extraction for profit endangers the future for all of us. Climate action now.
Very unimpressed with the journalists giving themselves vapours this week, particularly with an allegedly senior journalist calling something ‘stupid’.
Whether this is the work of a subeditor or not, this seems to be a simple campaigning for one side. Even Hosking, Prebble and Joyce in their opinions don’t use this kind of snide language.
Perhaps we need to see Chippy and his ministers get back on the Facebook live and do more direct communication to avoid these unprofessional hacks.
The National Party said today they could not afford to match Labour's new parental leave policy (2 weeks paid leave 1 April 2024 in addition to the existing two weeks unpaid leave, with a third week paid leave in April 2025 and a fourth in April 2026) because they love
Luxon and Willis said they had been prepared to fake concern about support for new parents, to embarrass Labour in parliament and in neo-liberal friendly media, but would not try and match this – and have determined on calling it unaffordable instead.
They would stick with merely allowing couples to share the 6 month entitlement (maximum 3 months for both which costs nothing).
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/08/election-2023-national-questions-affordability-of-paid-parental-leave-changes-after-labour-proposal.html
And watch their media sycophants who were beating Labour with not supporting families etc etc , do a handbrake 180 and start saying how it’s all unaffordable etc etc.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2308/S00141/new-research-reveals-more-than-half-of-kiwis-struggling-with-money.htm
Something needs to be done to redress this increase in inequality. The tools are there but are being kept in the draw. Labour must do more and needs to be forced to do so. Labour, insufficient (for you). Party vote Green.
Apparently Labour didn't get a policy costing right: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300949957/tova-obrien-labours-gst-own-goal-the-gnarliest-weve-seen-all-fifa-womens-world-cup
Grant will presumably respond "Well, a quarter of a billion off is no big deal in financial estimates." Dunno why the Nat deputy leader is making a big thing about it. Does anyone ever really believe big govt costings from either side?? I doubt it.
I can't see Grant admitting to making any such mistake but his explanation may be entertaining.
That's old news , a printing error or some such , and falling for tovas self promoting headlines !! Really??
According to the report it was published this morning. You reckon Grant's credibility isn't worth taking seriously? I reckon plenty of voters would expect him to get policy costings right – therefore their reliability is the issue, not Tova's agenda.
Her complaint was that Labour should have made more of an effort to let media know that they had got the wrong info in the first press release before hand. Only some got the correct info with the second press release after the public announcement.
The side dish was NW trying to conflate public (government) budget plans with Labour Party policy on how to use allocations for new spending (if re-elected) – via the earlier info inaccuracy as cause.
The story is two days old, GR and NW have faced off in the House since.
He would have put his Wellingtons on and walked across the little puddle between the two and waved a draft of legislation for 4 weeks of parental leave to the man of the house – claiming it was affordable to him if not to her – because she gave away all the money to people like her boss who have 6 houses.
The story is two days old, GR and NW have faced off in the House since.
Well, did the truth emerge?? I've seen no report of it. Seemed to me that's why she published her analysis this morning; to provoke a reaction. You know, as if govt policy costings are worth taking seriously.
I mean, if it's just National & Labour doing claim & counter-claim with both avoiding reality due to reality being inaccessible, I can go with that…
You've been around long enough to know the difference between government policy plans in office (as to budgets) and their manifesto policy they take to elections (given leaks to opposition parties from some …)
Which is why (all) parties should have their budgets costed.
I was trying to figure out the substance of the story. Thanks for helping – I presume NW got leaked the draft rather than the end result so her apparent win wasn't real, much ado about nothing substantial & Tova doesn't get it…
It's an in house matter – a party has 100 x to campaign with.
They have 4 major campaign policies. Any first cost/estimate changes/updates impact on that available for the others.
If the cost of the parental leave was greater or lesser, the more or less foods that could be covered with GST free etc.
NW was stretching to infer some official in government budget matter to it all (because of the earlier and later figures).
TO is just covering the all drama, no consummate campaign politician like Obama, angle – the boredom of explaining the inane.
Nope, you are not getting it.
Tova is just doing her ‘job’; without a ‘story’ and a bit of drama she’s got nothing and she’ll become a proverbial tree in the middle of a forest …
We need to be saying F- the economists and idealogues who wield economics (Don Brash one of the experts in why cheaper fruit and veges is bad) and their infiltration into treasury.
We’ve already seen that they want unemployment to increase.
Now they want to cut school lunches because one or two years of school lunches hasn’t reversed colonialism and generational deprivation. Even done a report.
We didn’t stand up to the charlatans who took the value we’d invested into our public companies or clipped the ticket on both side of the privatisation deals in the 1980s and 1990s.
The other charlatans such as Luke Malpass and Tova O Brien who despite watching inequality grow because of very poor tax policy in housing, call a small change with positive externalities stupid. We need to stand up to them too.
Journalists have cheered and worshipped economic growth that was simply immigration and then turned to Steven Joyce like he was a savant. He wasn’t. We haven’t paid for the infrastructure for the immigration and now we’re turning in the tap again and National wants to make it much worse with its sprawl nonsense. That’s fucking stupid Luke, not a dollar off apples. But you’re complicit so we understand.
Treasury- the people who said we got no benefit from having a movie and TV industry in NZ, though strangely silent on us subsidising farmers- think:
Treasury documents show there is a lack of support for the continuation of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, which launched about four years ago.
A report for Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the programme had had no impact on attendance, and for Māori learners, had not led to better levels of concentration in class.
Perhaps we should cut Treasury salaries to below the bread line on the same basis as they seem to be claiming eating lunch is not required to be productive. It seems unlikely, based on this careful research, to have any impact on the concentration or quality of the output of Treasury officials.
What do communities or Principals know?
Principal Margs Aiono said since free lunches came in, she had seen an improvement in the children's attention spans.
and
Bankwood School assistant principal Anaru Popham said for some kids, lunch was the difference between coming to school or not.
and
Another parent said every bit of help went a long way in a cost-of-living crisis.
"A lot of families are struggling financially with the cost of food increasing. It does help us, especially with the fruit provided and vegetables in the lunches."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018902763/free-lunches-seen-as-essential-despite-uncertain-future
Good job Checkpoint! It’s obvious we’re fighting the same technocrats from TINA at this election as much as we ever have. I hope those benefiting can get all their friends out to vote and out to make phone calls and drop leaflets for the parties that are going to keep this programme.
The picture is more nuanced. A month ago there was a whole Post dedicated to this topic (https://thestandard.org.nz/why-a-change-of-government-would-be-a-bad-thing-school-lunches/); you may want to re-read the discussion thread starting @ 10 (https://thestandard.org.nz/why-a-change-of-government-would-be-a-bad-thing-school-lunches/#comment-1959843) in particular.