Turns out the gun for hire who wrote the piece forgot to note that the French wealth tax was recently modified and now resembles that which the Greens propose.
(new) Labour + National two side of the same Liberal coin….
Interesting that the only time the beloved Ardern loses her much touted pragmatism and draws a firm line in the sand is when it comes to NOT having capital gains tax and NOT taxing the super wealthy…but I guess when you come from the Tony Blair side of the Labour ideology this should come as no surprise.
Internal Green Party polling provided to The Spinoff suggests that the massive number of advance votes are running against legalising cannabis, but it’s likely to be close. The poll, conducted between October 9-12, asked people if the election was held tomorrow how they would vote on the Cannabis Legalisation and Control bill.
The poll did not ask any of the respondents how they had voted. However, out of the 1,286 people asked, 278 people said they had already voted. Of that second group, 50% said they did not support the bill, compared to 47% in favour. In the other group of 1,008 people who had not yet voted, 45% supported the bill, 41% were opposed, and 14% were undecided.
I think it's amusing that Collins keeps trying to scare voters off Labour by using the wealth tax – poll tonight will show if paranoia is that contagious. She needs a 5% shift.
Had a bunch of commentators here yesterday riled by my reference to the tax being designed to help losers. Telling the truth seems non-pc to some. I just think they are being weak in yielding to that sociopathic attitude.
Obviously the system was set up to divide the electorate into winners and losers: representative democracy has always been based on binary division and competition. The winner gets to be govt, the loser doesn't. The ruling class always wins, the lower class never wins. That's why Labour doesn't want the wealth tax. Wannabe winners.
Trying to pretend that history never happened just makes those commentators delusional. They ought to spit the dummy & get real.
Had to laugh at Emma Mellow jumping on the bandwagon.
Surely Auckland Central is the last place National want to drive votes from the Greens to Labour.
Then I went in search of what Mellow's place on the list is and found this (15/10/2020, 12pm):
In the 2020 election Mellow defeated Helen White of the Labour Party and Chlöe Swarbrick of the Green Party in a tight three-way race.
Misrepresenting other commenters is not getting you any closer to the truth and is thus an act of delusion.
Name-calling is your MO to lay down the truth as you see it and silence anybody who disagrees with you. Deliberately using language that rubs people the wrong way and demeans others is neither constructive nor inclusive, believing it so is delusional.
Stubbornly sticking to your guns and putting your own truth above that of others is delusional and does not make for positive debate.
This site encourages robust debate and your obtrusive commenting style and egotistic attitude are counter-productive.
The Wealth Tax won't shift people from greens to labour, it has been around long enough that there would be a very small number of green supporters that don't like the wealth tax or what it represents. Talking it up by the Greens may pull more left voters from Labour to the Greens.
Judith is trying to push some labour voters to NZF, but not too many (enough to take them to 4.95%), and thus wasting them. That drops labour to midish 40's, which may be close enough if Greens do dip under 5%
Nothing about talking up the wealth tax by Greens or National drops the green vote
The optics of making the rich pay their fair share is what is important here, and it is the sort of optics that The Greens need to push harder…cos Labour sure as hell are not going to.
Sweet Mary mother of Jesus, the Greens are such a fucking political liability.
Would they kindly just STFU and stop constantly talking about their wealth tax TWO DAYS OUT FROM A POTENTIALLY HISTORIC CENTRE LEFT WIN?
What a bunch of morons.
Their ill-thought out and high handed approach to the anti-smacking legislation cost Labour nine years in opposition and by the look of things they haven't learnt a single thing.
I hope Labour can govern alone and those political idiots in the Greens get to see their party drop below the threshold so they can spend three years thinking about how being a bunch of political dilettantes cost them their place in parliament.
Yes Sanctuary let us all just go along with Labour's steady as she goes asinine policies where the top 5% continue to hold more and more of the wealth while 235,000 kids are living in poverty.
Labour's 39% tax on over $180k raises bugger all-$500m. The Greens' WT raises SIXTEEN times that to alleviate poverty-that is transformative. And 94% are totally unaffected by the WT.
Personally I think the Green WT should be modified to target the top 4% rather than the top 6% but it is the Labour pro-establishment centrists who need to STFU.
I'm not against some sort of wealth tax. Geez… just look what the wine-boxers got away with back in the 90s.
But having made sure everyone knows they plan to push for such a tax – or a derivation of it – just shut up and stop giving Collins more opportunities to spread false information. All its doing is causing unnecessary panic among the voters.
The Greens will be the losers because many voters are vulnerable to misinformation when they are lead to believe a policy is going to negatively affect them.
Not sure if anyone is listening any more to the bollocks, sorry misinformation, that Collins is spouting. I guess we will find out on Saturday. The poll tonight may give us a pointer.
A few journalists have been repeating it, instead of doing their jobs. All over bar the shouting anyway – those who trust JC, or JA, are unlikely to change their minds in time absent a significant event.
A government serious about increasing tax revenue could do worse than to patch up some of the deliberately formed loopholes that let people pretend that they, or their money are really somewhere else.
A centre-left win that delivers nothing (to be fair – will deliver a better outcome than more active wrecking by NAct)? We need to deal with corrosive inequality and child poverty – and we need to stop a handful of rich people controlling our government and society. The Green's wealth tax is a step in the right direction and creates discussion on what really needs to be fixed.
yes, time the greens looked at the big picture, and that picture is, if you want change, you need power, to get power, you have to play the political game, which is, when you have a scab, someone else will pick it.
In assembling her unbeatable electoral coalition, and holding it together, Jacinda has had to give an explicit promise not to enact the sort of urgent fiscal programme the country requires.
This will be the new government’s dilemma. How to do what needs to be done without breaking its word, and without breaking up the cross-class alliance of voters that brought it to power.
To overcome this dilemma, the prospective Labour-Green Government will have to devise some way of persuading its working-class, middle-class and ruling-class supporters to pursue change together.
Creating a common-ground basis for a Labour-Green Government is an intellectual challenge in an era where intellectuals are deemed irrelevant. Muddling has pushed its way to the forefront of the political scrum. Common interests of those three classes? Players will be consternated. Eyes will glaze over. An heroic saga awaits…
They're not keen on Covid – so they're united against a common enemy. But the reigning economic narrative of the last few decades has led them up the garden path.
Avoiding a violent revolution might be a common interest. Better a negotiated one if you face the prospect of your backs against the wall. And less messy and fatal all round for the rest of us.
The numbed sensibilities of the oligarchs that benefited from the great Rogergnomic ripoff cannot be protected forever – however desperately the liars trying to peddle it as success pretend otherwise.
Plenty of common interests, if you look at them from an individuals perspective.
That my children get good education. That my housing is warm, dry, and affordable. That my water is clean. That my air is clean. That my food is healthy. That I have amenities to enjoy. That I have opportunity. That I have a place in my community.
No class divide in that lot. Just that for some, much of the list is simply assumed.
To be part of something greater than ourselves. Actual progress and working toward a better world. Only one class of people don't want that: they're called assholes. You can find assholes in trailer parks, leafy suburbs, and boardrooms.
I could be wrong, but I always thought that was the american version of the english term (but both have currency here).
I like your identification of common ground elements. Resonates as common sense, I suspect. Although people do say common sense ain't all that common these days…
The main class problem is that the Greens get the great majority of their votes from central city Auckland and Wellington – the areas most affected by the Green wealth tax because of expensive housing.
So Ardern signalling that the tax is dead on arrival is doing the Green voters in those areas a huge favour.
And of course also signaling that the really rich will pay more tax. Which is as it should be.
Other than that they want just slightly more than Labour on most things. It's going to be the easiest coalition discussion we've ever had.
It's going to be the easiest coalition discussion we've ever had.
Strikes me the numbers will hinge on the perception problem. No amount of calm dispassionate advocacy of the policy by James & Marama can prevail against the wilful reluctance of many in the target market to do the math.
They presented well with Garner this morning. He's anti, but seemed respectful & quite muted in his sceptical questioning, and seemed to be listening.
A Land Tax might be easier to gain acceptance for and implement than a Wealth Tax….though we could have both.
The problem is the farmers who have a lot of land that, while it is much much less valuable per hectare than Ponsonby, a LT would arguably unfairly impinge on them and their profits. A lower rate for land above (say) 20 hectares in size might be the solution.
Exactly BG. Most agricultural land is valued at a far higher rate than its income generating value. It's value in NZ is often dictated by it's desirability as very wealthy persons bolthole. A Land Tax on a sheep or beef farmer could be many times ( to be worth collecting ) its real income so is counter productive if forcing on-sale to someone who really doesn't give a shit about about a 1 or2 % tax.
A lot, lot more work goes into the implications of taxes than wish fulfilment, just look at Piggy's dopey booze fueled reactionary tax ideas in the early 80s. His 20% tax on "luxury" NZ made goods that he plucked out of his arse proves the point. A lot of businesses went under and it failed to bring in anything because it killed the producers off including my own small boat building one. In fact it cost him money in higher unemployment. What he failed to realise was that the vast amount of customers were ordinary working class grafters saving a little bit a week to own a boat or home built car kit. They just said "Fuck you Piggy "and didn't buy anything
The last thing you want is a Land Tax that leads to even faster corporate ownership of our productive land.
Land taxes lead to better use of land as those who are land banking have to make an income to pay the tax.That would help urban land use but farming is very cyclical with no guaranteed income from year to year a Capital gains tax would be a better way of land tax for rural farming to become more productive and profitable .
But you would need to reduce income taxes by an equivalent amount for these type of taxes to be accepted.
CGT is very complicated to implement and the income raised is unpredictable.
That goes for any new tax.
All the 'easy' taxes are in place already, and those that aren't are because they are very complicated to implement and the income raised is unpredictable.
At least with a CGT you have an objective transaction to buy the asset and another to sell it. Where it gets complicated is deductions for expenses incurred between buying and selling, so privately held assets have to be treated like a business which gets into a huge can of worms.
Wealth taxes are completely subjective, and dependant on market conditions at the time. How do you value a business that could be overtaken by a new idea tomorrow, especially smaller businesses that are totally dependant on the owner's skills and knowledge. The art market verges on a scam and even property and shares are only a loss of confidence away from their value becoming meaningless.
The records and paperwork needed for a CGT are very similar to what is required for a wealth tax. But for a CGT you only need to sort it out and file it when you sell a liable asset which would be a rare event for most, whereas for the proposed wealth tax you would need to do it all every. single. fucking. year.
Yeah, and you'll be going through that valuation and return process every year from a point well below the threshold to prove you don't owe anything. And with the complexities of valuing businesses and art, probably requiring professional input, so a good addition to your costs for very little, if any tax paid.
I can see that you are warming towards a WT Andre. At least it has boosted the Greens profile to 8% (9.5% in Roy Morgan). Some people obviously like it.
A Land Tax is probably the easiest option to administer, with predictable and high revenue outcomes. Lower LT rates would be needed for genuine farming operations above 20 hectares.
The thing would be to implement CGT in stages – on housing, on small businesses, on farming, on trading and investment.
The complexities of each area not compromising the approach to others, so that small businesses are not taxed on goodwill they have developed, but are on land value appreciation for instance. Dividing the introduction would also divide the opposition to the tax, and let the public consider the issues in more detail.
It's value in NZ is often dictated by it's desirability as very wealthy persons bolthole.
This suggests that a risk-free-rate-of-return tax as suggested by Gareth Morgan could be appropriate – perhaps, but not necessarily, alongside a much lower land tax.
Exactly what I mean than more complicated and intricate than wish fulfilment would have you believe. For every clever or mostly not so clever bugger devising taxes there are 10 more working on getting around it. Simplicity is key.
Say what you like about Roger Douglas but when he was questioned about GST on food he said that he upped the benefits by the amount of GST on essentials but he had been to enough dinner parties in Remuera where the food cost $500 ( read $1500 today ) so fuck'em they can pay.
A very cleavour and articulate person on a very dangerous topic – And I do recommend all watch this
"Without aid from a teleprompter, he explains to whites that their privilege isn’t "saying your life hasn’t been hard – it’s saying your skin color hasn’t contributed to the difficulty."
One needs to be a little careful generalizing from the US to NZ – there is significant employer prejudice against kiwis here – access to cheap exploitable foreign labour has made it abundant.
I may have read you comments wrong if so excuse.me. What I meant was that this topic is so divisive and to hear anyone articulate these so well and thoughtfully with passion – It moved me and brought me to understanding and counter what has been peddled from those "against" this e.g. The counter to "All/White lives also matter" and why an African American can use Negr* and why others shouldn't and not even sing along using it. And I was first made aware of Emmanuel from a ESPN doco on American Football.
Judith Collins just interviewed on RNZ (will be available online in about 30 mins)….I have never heard a candidate forPM with so much ill informed vague policy 'reckons' in my life…think it safe to conclude that Nationals 'plan' is minimal involvement and oversight of the NZ economy and let the chips fall where they may.
What summed Collins up for me (amongst other things she said) was her casual, almost contemptuous dismissal of the doctors' union. 'Oh, union.'
She has no sympathy or understanding with or of the people uniting to achieve a goal. Even a well-heeled 'union' like the doctors. God help the poorer people.
Yes – I pricked up my ears when she said that Labour 'stopped' them from doing it when the previous National Govt. wanted to modify (destroy) the MRA. My memory is blank on this – can anyone explain how Labour 'stopped' them when the National Govt + ACT had a parliamentary majority and could simply outvote Labour whenever they wanted to?
Is this yet another example of Judith being 'less than honest'?
Yes as I understand it Nats and Act had enough MPs to have passed any legislation they wanted between 2008 and 2011 and again between 2014 and 2017. From 2011 to 2014 I think they would have needed votes from either Peter Dunne or the Maori Party.
Pat, Mum had lunch with some friends earlier this week, there were two ladies there who are true blue, they admitted they are so embarrassed of judith collins that they will NOT be voting national for the first time ever.
Blue women are turning off judith in droves, Mum is not the first person who has said such in recent weeks.
Fishing used to be a widespread occupation with considerable operator independence. The QMS, aside from having no merit as resource protection, granted a monopoly to quota holders, chiefly three or four companies, who exercise disproportionate power over the lives of their workers. Ostensibly independent contractors (to allow the companies to sidestep ACC), kiwi employees nevertheless can't even have a can of beer at the end of a shift, because it does not suit the whims of the oligarchs.
As for the slave fishermen – any pretense of progressive values by government is auto-debunked by them.
Okay, so with the fishing industry, vessels have to carry crew with certain qualifications who have done a certain amount of sea time in order to sail, especially on deep sea trawlers. Sure factory staff don't have to be qualified, but all the officers do.
Nelson has the only fishing school in NZ, it takes years to get qualifications for certain sea going roles.
Sealord have used and exploited foreign crew for years. Iwi are responsible for those decisions and for not using local workers. Sealord is half owned by Iwi and half owned by offshore interests. 20 yrs ago the exhusband worked as an officer on Sealord vessels, even he was surprised at the time of the amount of foreign workers onboard.
There was an attempt last century to open up places for Maori by having a quota of trainees to be Maori which was being encouraged by government. When Nelson Polytechnic tried to do this they were threatened with a legal challenge by Sanford. So the big companies were not encouraging the participation of Maori in fishing as was hoped for. The challenge was against reverse discrimination I think it was called. I felt that Sanfords felt that Maori were being advantaged and wanted to put a stop to it.
you missed the end of the sentence – at the dreadful wages and conditions offered.
Time to stop discrimination against New Zealand employees and Labour should have extracted a decent plan out of the companies to replace the labour force with kiwis . Starting this summer.
Some one is a little upset there. The right wing are feeling threatened?
What it is telling us is that the RW fear that Jacinda now she has the space will go for bolder policies and show that the neo lib settings are basically stuffed. At which point countries like Australia and the Uk may be wanting more of what we have.
I am inherently lazy and enjoy successes that I could easily surpass if I tried harder. And yet, I feel that merely not having Judith Collins as PM, feels like setting the bar at a subterranean level.
Thanks for that Observer. As far as I can tell no government has moved up from the early 60% Confidence – until this year with this Government in the 70% range. Thanks for pointing that out as well.
Auckland University certainly doing right by their Vice Chancellor, 5 mill for a superior Parnell house, 1 thou a week in rent. They'll be pretty keen to get those foreign students back in I guess.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
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. ...
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Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
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 ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
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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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Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
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https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300132298/tax-the-wealthy-i-dont-think-so
Turns out the French tried a wealth tax and guess what it didnt work .
The wealthy dodged it .
Let this dog of policy go .
yeah, lets only tax the poor
ffs
the plot has been lost
Turns out the gun for hire who wrote the piece forgot to note that the French wealth tax was recently modified and now resembles that which the Greens propose.
https://www.moore-global.com/insights/articles/french-wealth-tax-for-non-residents
The vested interests arnt going to roll over and pay without a fight….they dont even care who runs things as long as they get the settings they want.
Exactly.
They're quite happy that governments around the world keep rewarding them for being bludgers.
(new) Labour + National two side of the same Liberal coin….
Interesting that the only time the beloved Ardern loses her much touted pragmatism and draws a firm line in the sand is when it comes to NOT having capital gains tax and NOT taxing the super wealthy…but I guess when you come from the Tony Blair side of the Labour ideology this should come as no surprise.
Liberalism and Fascism: Partners in Crime
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/14/liberalism-and-fascism-partners-in-crime/
The correct response isn't to drop the policy but make sure that people can't dodge it.
Polls are oscillating but the race is tight:
Good wishes Barfly.
Thanks
I think it's amusing that Collins keeps trying to scare voters off Labour by using the wealth tax – poll tonight will show if paranoia is that contagious. She needs a 5% shift.
Had a bunch of commentators here yesterday riled by my reference to the tax being designed to help losers. Telling the truth seems non-pc to some. I just think they are being weak in yielding to that sociopathic attitude.
Obviously the system was set up to divide the electorate into winners and losers: representative democracy has always been based on binary division and competition. The winner gets to be govt, the loser doesn't. The ruling class always wins, the lower class never wins. That's why Labour doesn't want the wealth tax. Wannabe winners.
Trying to pretend that history never happened just makes those commentators delusional. They ought to spit the dummy & get real.
Stop complaining and find a more popular policy.
Collins is trying to scare votes from Greens to Labour.
And everyone else is wrong about you.
Had to laugh at Emma Mellow jumping on the bandwagon.
Surely Auckland Central is the last place National want to drive votes from the Greens to Labour.
Then I went in search of what Mellow's place on the list is and found this (15/10/2020, 12pm):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_New_Zealand/politics/New_MPs/Emma_Mellow
So all is good ahaha
Heh. Wonder how many other righties are declaring success while they can?
the phrase 'winners and losers' disappeared (publicly) with Key….it was starting to have the opposite to its desired effect
Misrepresenting other commenters is not getting you any closer to the truth and is thus an act of delusion.
Name-calling is your MO to lay down the truth as you see it and silence anybody who disagrees with you. Deliberately using language that rubs people the wrong way and demeans others is neither constructive nor inclusive, believing it so is delusional.
Stubbornly sticking to your guns and putting your own truth above that of others is delusional and does not make for positive debate.
This site encourages robust debate and your obtrusive commenting style and egotistic attitude are counter-productive.
if we dont have a wealth tax
does that mean
we are left only with poor taxes?
think about it
reduce the poor taxes I say
talk about the poor tax
poor tax
poor tax
poor tax
Oh horseshit.
Our most regressive tax is GST. They could bring that back to 5%.
The Greens insisting on this "discussion" is just pushing votes from them to Labour.
Yep, not strategic enough to see what Collins wants. Zipping it now would be the smart move.
The Wealth Tax won't shift people from greens to labour, it has been around long enough that there would be a very small number of green supporters that don't like the wealth tax or what it represents. Talking it up by the Greens may pull more left voters from Labour to the Greens.
Judith is trying to push some labour voters to NZF, but not too many (enough to take them to 4.95%), and thus wasting them. That drops labour to midish 40's, which may be close enough if Greens do dip under 5%
Nothing about talking up the wealth tax by Greens or National drops the green vote
Right on ! @you_fool
The optics of making the rich pay their fair share is what is important here, and it is the sort of optics that The Greens need to push harder…cos Labour sure as hell are not going to.
The game Monopoly has pay a poor tax but not pay a rich tax.
The winner always ends up with all the properties as well.
In the Sixties we played socialist Monopoly. At the end of the game, all profits were divided equally amongst all the players.
We also played cards, gambling for money, and the winners were the ones who got the fast food in.
Sounds like fun nights at yours….our games of Monopoly usually ended in some sort of ugly fracas!
Yup, always one ended up having the pip, usually not the ‘winner’.
Sweet Mary mother of Jesus, the Greens are such a fucking political liability.
Would they kindly just STFU and stop constantly talking about their wealth tax TWO DAYS OUT FROM A POTENTIALLY HISTORIC CENTRE LEFT WIN?
What a bunch of morons.
Their ill-thought out and high handed approach to the anti-smacking legislation cost Labour nine years in opposition and by the look of things they haven't learnt a single thing.
I hope Labour can govern alone and those political idiots in the Greens get to see their party drop below the threshold so they can spend three years thinking about how being a bunch of political dilettantes cost them their place in parliament.
Yes Sanctuary let us all just go along with Labour's steady as she goes asinine policies where the top 5% continue to hold more and more of the wealth while 235,000 kids are living in poverty.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/10/11/new-zealand-elections-4/?fbclid=IwAR1B_srPjVuVDMsvLhDbS1q7QdlCxit16urBhl5yOo3DNlJRL-bRw6jNefo
Labour's 39% tax on over $180k raises bugger all-$500m. The Greens' WT raises SIXTEEN times that to alleviate poverty-that is transformative. And 94% are totally unaffected by the WT.
Personally I think the Green WT should be modified to target the top 4% rather than the top 6% but it is the Labour pro-establishment centrists who need to STFU.
Timing.
So a political party should keep quiet about its key policies during an election campaign Sacha. Brilliant; just brilliant.
Easily goaded?
No Bearded Git.
I'm not against some sort of wealth tax. Geez… just look what the wine-boxers got away with back in the 90s.
But having made sure everyone knows they plan to push for such a tax – or a derivation of it – just shut up and stop giving Collins more opportunities to spread false information. All its doing is causing unnecessary panic among the voters.
The Greens will be the losers because many voters are vulnerable to misinformation when they are lead to believe a policy is going to negatively affect them.
Look at Trump Land.
Not sure if anyone is listening any more to the
bollocks, sorrymisinformation, that Collins is spouting. I guess we will find out on Saturday. The poll tonight may give us a pointer.Hope you're right but there's some pretty thick creatures out there who will believe anything.
A few journalists have been repeating it, instead of doing their jobs. All over bar the shouting anyway – those who trust JC, or JA, are unlikely to change their minds in time absent a significant event.
A government serious about increasing tax revenue could do worse than to patch up some of the deliberately formed loopholes that let people pretend that they, or their money are really somewhere else.
I put up a post about it.
https://thestandard.org.nz/about-the-greens/
Why should they shut up? They're a political organization with their own policies that they believe will be to the betterment of NZ.
Surely they aren't just there to be Labour lapdogs.
Timing.
OK, let's look at that.
If JuCo goes berserk about communism and Labour tanks to, say, 46%, Labour would probably need the Greens, so more leverage for Green policies.
Worst case, Labour get a boost from nats who are scared of Greens.
If polling is at all relevant, a NACT government is an extremely slim possibility.
If anything, with half of votes already cast, the Greens should have gone "People's Flag" a couple of weeks back and kept the momentum up, lol.
Hey welcome back Sanctuary.
Make sure you come along to the westie Labour party with me on Saturday night.
We are going out to a posh hotel and spa/dinner package on Saturday but we could pop in 🙂
A centre-left win that delivers nothing (to be fair – will deliver a better outcome than more active wrecking by NAct)? We need to deal with corrosive inequality and child poverty – and we need to stop a handful of rich people controlling our government and society. The Green's wealth tax is a step in the right direction and creates discussion on what really needs to be fixed.
yes, time the greens looked at the big picture, and that picture is, if you want change, you need power, to get power, you have to play the political game, which is, when you have a scab, someone else will pick it.
Trotter nails the conundrum looming: http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/10/lets-make-jacinda-break-her-promises.html
Creating a common-ground basis for a Labour-Green Government is an intellectual challenge in an era where intellectuals are deemed irrelevant. Muddling has pushed its way to the forefront of the political scrum. Common interests of those three classes? Players will be consternated. Eyes will glaze over. An heroic saga awaits…
Creating the common ground goes hand in hand with political engagement…and we know the propensity to vote correlates with having something to lose.
Common interests of those three classes?
They're not keen on Covid – so they're united against a common enemy. But the reigning economic narrative of the last few decades has led them up the garden path.
Avoiding a violent revolution might be a common interest. Better a negotiated one if you face the prospect of your backs against the wall. And less messy and fatal all round for the rest of us.
Poverty, for some, is violence already.
The numbed sensibilities of the oligarchs that benefited from the great Rogergnomic ripoff cannot be protected forever – however desperately the liars trying to peddle it as success pretend otherwise.
Arguably, the ruling-class has benefitted from Covid. Home ownership doesn’t seem to have suffered much either.
I imagine construction of new housing paused significantly with the lockdowns. Those with less than robust circumstances won't have saved much either.
Plenty of common interests, if you look at them from an individuals perspective.
That my children get good education. That my housing is warm, dry, and affordable. That my water is clean. That my air is clean. That my food is healthy. That I have amenities to enjoy. That I have opportunity. That I have a place in my community.
No class divide in that lot. Just that for some, much of the list is simply assumed.
To be part of something greater than ourselves. Actual progress and working toward a better world. Only one class of people don't want that: they're called assholes. You can find assholes in trailer parks, leafy suburbs, and boardrooms.
only one thing to disagree with there….the spelling of 'assholes'
I've always liked that version of the word as it has connotations of donkeys.
According to Webster's it's correct.
I could be wrong, but I always thought that was the american version of the english term (but both have currency here).
I like your identification of common ground elements. Resonates as common sense, I suspect. Although people do say common sense ain't all that common these days…![frown frown](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/confused_smile.png)
according to Websters it would be…but then Webster was a cowboy
The main class problem is that the Greens get the great majority of their votes from central city Auckland and Wellington – the areas most affected by the Green wealth tax because of expensive housing.
So Ardern signalling that the tax is dead on arrival is doing the Green voters in those areas a huge favour.
And of course also signaling that the really rich will pay more tax. Which is as it should be.
Other than that they want just slightly more than Labour on most things. It's going to be the easiest coalition discussion we've ever had.
It's going to be the easiest coalition discussion we've ever had.
They presented well with Garner this morning. He's anti, but seemed respectful & quite muted in his sceptical questioning, and seemed to be listening.
If a Wealth Tax is a third rail option, what about a Land Tax?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118373157/should-new-zealand-just-tax-land
A Land Tax might be easier to gain acceptance for and implement than a Wealth Tax….though we could have both.
The problem is the farmers who have a lot of land that, while it is much much less valuable per hectare than Ponsonby, a LT would arguably unfairly impinge on them and their profits. A lower rate for land above (say) 20 hectares in size might be the solution.
Exactly BG. Most agricultural land is valued at a far higher rate than its income generating value. It's value in NZ is often dictated by it's desirability as very wealthy persons bolthole. A Land Tax on a sheep or beef farmer could be many times ( to be worth collecting ) its real income so is counter productive if forcing on-sale to someone who really doesn't give a shit about about a 1 or2 % tax.
A lot, lot more work goes into the implications of taxes than wish fulfilment, just look at Piggy's dopey booze fueled reactionary tax ideas in the early 80s. His 20% tax on "luxury" NZ made goods that he plucked out of his arse proves the point. A lot of businesses went under and it failed to bring in anything because it killed the producers off including my own small boat building one. In fact it cost him money in higher unemployment. What he failed to realise was that the vast amount of customers were ordinary working class grafters saving a little bit a week to own a boat or home built car kit. They just said "Fuck you Piggy "and didn't buy anything
The last thing you want is a Land Tax that leads to even faster corporate ownership of our productive land.
Agreed Adrian…farming is a major contributor to the economy (unlike rising house prices) and needs to be fostered, sustainably of course.
Land taxes lead to better use of land as those who are land banking have to make an income to pay the tax.That would help urban land use but farming is very cyclical with no guaranteed income from year to year a Capital gains tax would be a better way of land tax for rural farming to become more productive and profitable .
But you would need to reduce income taxes by an equivalent amount for these type of taxes to be accepted.
CGT is very complicated to implement and the income raised is unpredictable.
That goes for any new tax.
All the 'easy' taxes are in place already, and those that aren't are because they are very complicated to implement and the income raised is unpredictable.
At least with a CGT you have an objective transaction to buy the asset and another to sell it. Where it gets complicated is deductions for expenses incurred between buying and selling, so privately held assets have to be treated like a business which gets into a huge can of worms.
Wealth taxes are completely subjective, and dependant on market conditions at the time. How do you value a business that could be overtaken by a new idea tomorrow, especially smaller businesses that are totally dependant on the owner's skills and knowledge. The art market verges on a scam and even property and shares are only a loss of confidence away from their value becoming meaningless.
The records and paperwork needed for a CGT are very similar to what is required for a wealth tax. But for a CGT you only need to sort it out and file it when you sell a liable asset which would be a rare event for most, whereas for the proposed wealth tax you would need to do it all every. single. fucking. year.
Yeah, and you'll be going through that valuation and return process every year from a point well below the threshold to prove you don't owe anything. And with the complexities of valuing businesses and art, probably requiring professional input, so a good addition to your costs for very little, if any tax paid.
I can see that you are warming towards a WT Andre. At least it has boosted the Greens profile to 8% (9.5% in Roy Morgan). Some people obviously like it.
A Land Tax is probably the easiest option to administer, with predictable and high revenue outcomes. Lower LT rates would be needed for genuine farming operations above 20 hectares.
Does this work for you Andre?
The thing would be to implement CGT in stages – on housing, on small businesses, on farming, on trading and investment.
The complexities of each area not compromising the approach to others, so that small businesses are not taxed on goodwill they have developed, but are on land value appreciation for instance. Dividing the introduction would also divide the opposition to the tax, and let the public consider the issues in more detail.
It's value in NZ is often dictated by it's desirability as very wealthy persons bolthole.
This suggests that a risk-free-rate-of-return tax as suggested by Gareth Morgan could be appropriate – perhaps, but not necessarily, alongside a much lower land tax.
Personally I'd like to tax the bolt hole premium at say 100% per annum but might be difficult to implement.
I’m all ears for a wine cellar tax.
Exempt agricultural land then. Limit it to res and comm zoned.
I think you would find that plenty of one hectare lifestyle lots would suddenly be growing a few onions and peaches and claiming agricultural status.
Exactly what I mean than more complicated and intricate than wish fulfilment would have you believe. For every clever or mostly not so clever bugger devising taxes there are 10 more working on getting around it. Simplicity is key.
Say what you like about Roger Douglas but when he was questioned about GST on food he said that he upped the benefits by the amount of GST on essentials but he had been to enough dinner parties in Remuera where the food cost $500 ( read $1500 today ) so fuck'em they can pay.
Can I change my zoning by growing vege?
A very cleavour and articulate person on a very dangerous topic – And I do recommend all watch this
"Without aid from a teleprompter, he explains to whites that their privilege isn’t "saying your life hasn’t been hard – it’s saying your skin color hasn’t contributed to the difficulty."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2020/06/05/emmanuel-acho-viral-video-george-floyd-eagles-texas-sam-white-black/3152632001/
One needs to be a little careful generalizing from the US to NZ – there is significant employer prejudice against kiwis here – access to cheap exploitable foreign labour has made it abundant.
just an aside, and curious this keeps popping up, https://newsone.com/3785854/stereotype-black-people-articulate-obama-cleveland-councilman-kevin-conwell/amp/
I'm sure it's an unconscious thing and I can't be bothered arguing with RL again but it needs repeating as it gets noticed. Rock on!
I may have read you comments wrong if so excuse.me. What I meant was that this topic is so divisive and to hear anyone articulate these so well and thoughtfully with passion – It moved me and brought me to understanding and counter what has been peddled from those "against" this e.g. The counter to "All/White lives also matter" and why an African American can use Negr* and why others shouldn't and not even sing along using it. And I was first made aware of Emmanuel from a ESPN doco on American Football.
Cheers Herodotus, that is the best 9 minutes I have had in a long time.
Why not using the n word, white privilege, BLM… lotsa learnings.
Judith Collins just interviewed on RNZ (will be available online in about 30 mins)….I have never heard a candidate forPM with so much ill informed vague policy 'reckons' in my life…think it safe to conclude that Nationals 'plan' is minimal involvement and oversight of the NZ economy and let the chips fall where they may.
I'm alright Jack personified
Any chance she'll be PM after the weekend? Well, since I ask:
FAT CHANCE![smiley smiley](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png)
is an 'obese chance' less likely than a 'fat chance'?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018768450/election-2020-national-leader-judith-collins
For my sins, I listened to the full interview!
What summed Collins up for me (amongst other things she said) was her casual, almost contemptuous dismissal of the doctors' union. 'Oh, union.'
She has no sympathy or understanding with or of the people uniting to achieve a goal. Even a well-heeled 'union' like the doctors. God help the poorer people.
Yes – I pricked up my ears when she said that Labour 'stopped' them from doing it when the previous National Govt. wanted to modify (destroy) the MRA. My memory is blank on this – can anyone explain how Labour 'stopped' them when the National Govt + ACT had a parliamentary majority and could simply outvote Labour whenever they wanted to?
Is this yet another example of Judith being 'less than honest'?
Yes as I understand it Nats and Act had enough MPs to have passed any legislation they wanted between 2008 and 2011 and again between 2014 and 2017. From 2011 to 2014 I think they would have needed votes from either Peter Dunne or the Maori Party.
I think Peter Dunne refused to support it.
Not often I hear good of Peter Dunne, but Bravo if this is true.
Pat, Mum had lunch with some friends earlier this week, there were two ladies there who are true blue, they admitted they are so embarrassed of judith collins that they will NOT be voting national for the first time ever.
Blue women are turning off judith in droves, Mum is not the first person who has said such in recent weeks.
I've heard similar comments myself
"Is this yet another example of Judith being 'less than honest'?"
Is she ever anything else?
How did that advert start? "Let me be straight with you" Lol Lol haha really Judith?
Too little too late!!
Well looks like we can say goodbye to Labour focusing on training locals and demanding that companies have concrete plans to hire and train locals.
Border exemptions for several hundred machinery drivers and 500 hundred fishing boat crew. The fishing industry has made a promise to:
In return, the industry has promised to remove barriers to employing New Zealanders.
Where is the plan not just an empty promise – or didn't Labour insist on one.
These are visas for close to a 1000 adult jobs.
https://www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/rural-news/rural-general-news/the-calvary-arrives-finally
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123082031/russians-jet-in-to-save-new-zealands-beleaguered-deepsea-fishing-industry
[Fixed errors in e-mail address]
The barriers are the industry themselves.
Fishing used to be a widespread occupation with considerable operator independence. The QMS, aside from having no merit as resource protection, granted a monopoly to quota holders, chiefly three or four companies, who exercise disproportionate power over the lives of their workers. Ostensibly independent contractors (to allow the companies to sidestep ACC), kiwi employees nevertheless can't even have a can of beer at the end of a shift, because it does not suit the whims of the oligarchs.
As for the slave fishermen – any pretense of progressive values by government is auto-debunked by them.
Okay, so with the fishing industry, vessels have to carry crew with certain qualifications who have done a certain amount of sea time in order to sail, especially on deep sea trawlers. Sure factory staff don't have to be qualified, but all the officers do.
Nelson has the only fishing school in NZ, it takes years to get qualifications for certain sea going roles.
Sealord have used and exploited foreign crew for years. Iwi are responsible for those decisions and for not using local workers. Sealord is half owned by Iwi and half owned by offshore interests. 20 yrs ago the exhusband worked as an officer on Sealord vessels, even he was surprised at the time of the amount of foreign workers onboard.
There was an attempt last century to open up places for Maori by having a quota of trainees to be Maori which was being encouraged by government. When Nelson Polytechnic tried to do this they were threatened with a legal challenge by Sanford. So the big companies were not encouraging the participation of Maori in fishing as was hoped for. The challenge was against reverse discrimination I think it was called. I felt that Sanfords felt that Maori were being advantaged and wanted to put a stop to it.
Used to be that you only got a job on a fishing boat if the cops were after you. Another job that Kiwis don't really want to do.
you missed the end of the sentence – at the dreadful wages and conditions offered.
Time to stop discrimination against New Zealand employees and Labour should have extracted a decent plan out of the companies to replace the labour force with kiwis . Starting this summer.
You must be joking – plenty of folk never wanted to do anything else.
Wow, Aussie 'journalist' Greg Sheridan certainly has a bee in his bonnet – is he simply bitter and twisted, harbouring a bad hangover, or perhaps he's part of ScoMo's comms team. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2020-australian-columnist-greg-sheridan-criticises-jacinda-ardern-as-shabby-fraudulent/LCQMA6LQGXRPR5CFAEJCOVNQBQ/
He's a Murdoch man through and through. Almost even too right wing for many Aussies.
Thanks for that Prickles – it had occurred to me after posting that he could well be a Murdoch man. Sensitive wee sausage.
Some one is a little upset there. The right wing are feeling threatened?
What it is telling us is that the RW fear that Jacinda now she has the space will go for bolder policies and show that the neo lib settings are basically stuffed. At which point countries like Australia and the Uk may be wanting more of what we have.
Shedders invented a halo just so he could take potshots at it. Why can't she be a petball like our ScMofo?
I am inherently lazy and enjoy successes that I could easily surpass if I tried harder. And yet, I feel that merely not having Judith Collins as PM, feels like setting the bar at a subterranean level.
another 150k voted yesterday…now total 1,565,421
And 2,630,173 to catch 2017 total. 2,630,173 – 1,565,421 = 1,064,752 to go in 3 days + Specials. Wow!
The new Morgan poll will have a very short shelf life … overtaken by 6 pm today
But anyway – usual caveats, minor parties over-rated, scroll down for the real story: confidence rating. No mood for change.
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8543-nz-national-voting-intention-september-2020-202010142349
Thanks for that Observer. As far as I can tell no government has moved up from the early 60% Confidence – until this year with this Government in the 70% range. Thanks for pointing that out as well.
Auckland University certainly doing right by their Vice Chancellor, 5 mill for a superior Parnell house, 1 thou a week in rent. They'll be pretty keen to get those foreign students back in I guess.
Saw this book on trademe bwaghorn and wondered if you had read it.
Its called – Dining with the cats: An autobiography of a farm worker.
He's spent a lot of time in the high country.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/books/nonfiction/new-zealand/listing-2817458925.htm?rsqid=rmlwn-59d65d243f5b4b408c197b976c28ac63-001
An uncareful strong argument for reality can cruise for many a long mile through the bullsh fictive the strong rely on to manufacture consent to them.