Karl Du Frense positioning himself as the defender of free speech and balanced Public Broadcasting with this tacky little piece in which he pins his colours to the mast.
He was obviously disturbed by the public eviscerating of that stalwart of Free Speech Don Brash, by Kim Hill on Natrad a couple of weeks ago.
Du Frense say’s
”
Here’s where we get down to the real issue. RNZ is a public institution. It belongs to us.
The public who fund the organisation are entitled to criticise it. But can we now expect that anyone who has the temerity to do so will be subjected to a mauling by RNZ’s in-house attack dog? Or is this treatment reserved for despised white conservative males such as Brash, to make an example of them and deter others from similar foolishness?
Either way, Hill’s dismemberment of Brash was a brazen abuse of the state broadcaster’s power and showed contemptuous disregard for RNZ’s charter obligation to be impartial and balanced.
This is nothing new, of course. The quaint notion that RNZ exists for all New Zealanders was quietly jettisoned years ago. Without any mandate, the state broadcaster has refashioned itself as a platform for the promotion of favoured causes.
You’re more likely to see an aardvark riding a bike down The Terrace than to hear a conservative voice, or even a middle-of-the-road one, on smug groupthink fests such as RNZ’s current series of Smart Talk.”
Whew!
The lad sounds a little peeved.
Calling Kim Hill a ‘dominatrix’ and an ‘attack dog’….absolutely no class at all there Karl.
Another right wing apologist having a tantrum – such fun!
And that horrible little man from 7 Sharp is going going gone – wow! Do you think Australia would like him?
“Calling Kim Hill a ‘dominatrix’ and an ‘attack dog’”
Kind of rich coming from someone who’s rather like a Dr Who 1960s Dalek screaming ‘exterminate, exterminate, assimilate, assimilate’
Yes Rosemary
This mornings episode of Kim Hill Vs Blustering Steven Joyce was very reminesent of when David parker was over-burdened by discussion with Joyce during the lead up to the 2014 election; – when Steven joyce was barrelling over top of the meek David Parker in discussion about ‘finance’ as it was equally as arrogant a performance from Joyce three years ago.
This festive season Steven Joyce is likened to the mean arsed ‘Grinch’
Rosemary, Karl Du Frense is another poor loser, bitter that the left have platforms of power and are using them.
I did not see him asking for fairness every time Joyce or Boag got up to complain about the left.
He is full of it, and Kim Hill does her job, and does not tolerate self aggrandizing idiots like Brash.
Du Frense says “What made him do that?” “Ego” he suggests. Got it in one, Brash doesn’t think he has any problems, and when called out on them blames others.
We are going to get a stream of complaints about Left influence. I might pay attention, had they been more even handed in the past.
Yes, its going to be all on over the next few years.
Paradoxically, Farrar’s Ferals are also not happy with the mainstream media and Natrad in particular.
For sometime they have complained bitterly that presenters on Natrad are biased towards the left…and this includes Espiner, who many here perceive as tending right.
My hope is that if none of us are happy with the MSM…this might just indicate that they are landing somewhere in the middle.
Lmao, some men cannot deal with strong, educated women, so they resort to name calling. Interestingly by calling Kim a dominatrix karl is admitting his submission. Or is he volunteering brashes?
So many chickens are coming home to roost and it’s beautiful to watch.
Only one lesson here – if you are going up against Hill don’t be an ignorant, illogical nitwit. And outside a very narrow set of economic theories, Brash is exactly that.
This is not the first time that Kim Hill has provoked Karl Du Fresne into a state of apoplexy. In 2010 the old curmudgeon went into core meltdown after Hill had dared to ask a few challenging questions of the former Australian prime minister John Howard. On that occasion he damned Hill not for being a dominatrix, but for being “relentlessly adversarial”. He also damned her listeners as “chardonnay socialists”…..
Another who regards equality as a form of oppression… and Hosking gone too… the privileged male feels under attack today as everything isnt as they are used to it… sharing takes some getting used to.
“…Either way, Hill’s dismemberment of Brash was a brazen abuse of the state broadcaster’s power and showed contemptuous disregard for RNZ’s charter obligation to be impartial and balanced…”
Actually the RNZ charter says in section 5:
(i) provide comprehensive, independent, accurate, impartial, and balanced regional, national, and international news and current affairs…
Kim Hill’s Saturday morning show isn’t news or current affairs. It is a magazine show driven by it’s host. Du Fresne is an idiot who appears to have not actually read the RNZ charter.
Kim Hill allowed Don Brash to have his point of view put forth. He wasn’t an expert in the area – on this topic he was as expert as any random person on the street. And a random person on the street doesn’t get so much airtime to put their point of view across.
Kim Hill basically just quoted things he had said in the past. If that made him look foolish then he shouldn’t have said such silly things.
For that interesting wording from the RNZ Charter section 5.
(i) provide comprehensive, independent, accurate, impartial, and balanced regional, national, and international news and current affairs…
We have lost our HB/Gisborne regional voice here since 2013 and are still waiting for our
(i) provide comprehensive, independent, accurate, impartial, and balanced regional, national, and international news and current affairs…
We in HB/Gisborne had apparently had Steven Joyce take away our regional reporter from RNZ two years ago!!!!!
We enquired with the RNZ CEO on 9th September 2017 under OIA why we lost our reporter and we still dont have one yet, and here is what we got back on 13/10/17.
NOTE; To date as of yesterday 14/12/17 we still have no RNZ reporter to cover HB/Gisborne, so the new Broadcasting Minister Claire Curran has now recieved a letter of complaint from us to provide us with a reporter ASAP.
Attached is a letter we received 20/10/17 after sending Radio NZ 9/9/17 in a OIA request as to why we in HB no longer have a Radio NZ reporter since 2016.
The date of our request was sent quite a time before the election 9/9/17 and came to us just days before the election.
Since then we have sent several letters to the new Broadcasting Minister Claire Curran for assistance to get another local reporter and to date no new reporter has been hired.
Yesterday we called Radio NZ to enquire when we are to get a reporter and the person I was sent through to was a lady named “ Paloma” who said still “no reporter has been found yet”!!!!!!! This is now late december 15/12/17.
Quote George Bignell – 13/10/27
“The Hawkes Bay regional reporting position is currently vacant and Radio New Zealand will look to fill that position in the near future.
We trust this of assistance to you.” End.
See the letter below from this person inside the old style RNZ while then under National Government control.
SEE BELOW our Letter sent to Radio NZ PA 8/9/17.
So from the 20th October 2017 till now 14th December 2017, (over eight weeks later) no replacement report as been found yet??????
URGENT
Official Information request
RADIO NZ.
CEO PAUL THOMPSON
9th September 2017.
Official Information request
HB Advocacy centre made this Official Information request to PAUL THOMPSON – RADIO NZ CEO For information 9th September 2017 for quick response please.
9th September 2017.
Dear Paul.
We are a senior NGO working within the Government & local regional authorities on issues that have been presented to our Environmental Centre for 16 yrs to date.
We have had a close communication relationship in the past particularly during the years 2009 to 2013 with your Radio NZ reporters but we now have virtually no response from your regional news, transport, environment, and rural reporters since then and I have been requested to enquire how the regional reporting structure of the Radio NZ broadcasting services now are different to the way the operations serviced the regions formerly.
We would want you to supply any detailed changes that may have affected our loss of regional reporting services how affected our ability to have press coverage of our community issues regarding the above subjects of Transport and transport relationships to community health and wellbeing please, and we ask that under the Official Information Act please from this date 9/9/17 please arrange information to be provided as soon as able please. If you
If you wish to refer this issue of ‘several communication’ also to the Minister handling the ‘Broadcasting portfolio’ who is Hon’ Maggie Barry please feel free to converse with the minister as you prepare our information request. The Minister had increased funding to Radio NZ recently we are told.
We have supplied you with a copy of yesterday’s letter that we sent from our Centre to your office & is attached (below) for your reference.
Regards.
——————————————————————————————————
letter from RNZ
October 13, 2017
Dear —–
I write in response to your request “how the regional reporting structure of the Radio NZ broadcasting services now are different to the way the operations serviced the regions formerly.”
I can advise that RNZ does not hold any specific information in this regard that we can supply to you. To answer your question, apart from the relocation of one reporting position from our Queenstown office to our Dunedin office, there has been no recent changes to our regional reporting structure.
The Hawkes Bay regional reporting position is currently vacant and Radio New Zealand will look to fill that position in the near future.
Yup, Mr Magoo is simply expressing his own fear of (progressive) women in power.
Like many on the right he wants to remove “public” platforms for those who support a more progressive New Zealand, while strangely silent on the role of the “unchallenging to the conservative regime” Hosking at TVNZ.
One almost suspects the idea of Barry and Campbell on Seven Sharp was floated to wind him up.
Thank goodness.
Grant Robertson has had some sense pushed into him regarding the National Super recipients having to apply for the grant for “winter heating”.
It will apparently be paid out automatically and there will be no need for people to go into WINZ and apply for it. Complaints about the stupidity of his demand seem to have finally got through to him.
Some common sense has been shown. Amazing.
We worry about anyone listening to Alwyn thinks they are getting the acurate true facts as he is a ‘cherry picker’, and an apologist for the trucking industry, and hence supports dirty environmental policies.
Having read the items you link to, and looking at his occupation, I can hear the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies.
Anyone who has been the union leader for Rail Workers will of course qualify for her comment about Lord Astor.
“Well he would say that wouldn’t he?”
I still think they only have very limited reason for existing in New Zealand.
Is it really worth spending half a billion dollars on getting the Auckland/Northland line to a minimum standard and putting a spur line into Marsden Point for a maximum of a short train each day?
Improving the roads makes much more sense.
The statistics quoted in the Listener article are also misleading.
A statement such as “Whereas the rail network carries 16% of freight (by tonne-kilometres), it generates only 0.2% of national emissions” is simply a ridiculous comparison. It is intended to pretend that our overall emissions would be greatly reduced if we used trains more.
I could make an equally misleading, and equally silly statement such as.
“Less than 0.01% of passengers from Wellington to Auckland travel by rail and yet the rail network generates 0.2% of our national emissions”.
There, that implies that trains are terribly inefficient doesn’t it
I have no idea what the actual number is but this could be about the correct one. There are tourist trains a couple of times a week for at least part of the year so I suppose they might carry a single Airbus 320 load of passengers each week for the whole distance.
Half a billion for trains, several billion for roads.
Yeah, much more sense to do the trains.
It is intended to pretend that our overall emissions would be greatly reduced if we used trains more.
That’s not a pretence. If we used trains more our emissions would fall quite drastically. Would use far less resources as well and thus be a hell of a lot cheaper.
I have no idea what the actual number is…
And that’s the only thing you said that actually truthful. Finally admitting that you have no idea what you’re talking about.
You did note that the half billion for trains is ONLY for the line from Auckland to Marsden Point.
God knows how may billion the puff-puff lovers want in total.
National put around $3 billion I think into rail between 2009 and 2017 and committed about a further $1.5 billion into the Auckland link.
“And that’s the only thing you said that actually truthful”.
Don’t be so bloody stupid. You are just unhappy that I can demonstrate that many of the comments made about the wonders of rail are ridiculous and founded only in fantasy.
What exactly have I said that is false. Facts please, not just an eruption of bile.
Steven Joyce has announced plans for a motorway from Puhoi to Wellsford at a cost of $2 billion
And it won’t have anywhere near the economies of rail.
You are just unhappy that I can demonstrate that many of the comments made about the wonders of rail are ridiculous and founded only in fantasy.
You’ve never done that. You’ve done a lot of talking out your arse about it though.
What exactly have I said that is false. Facts please, not just an eruption of bile.
A statement such as “Whereas the rail network carries 16% of freight (by tonne-kilometres), it generates only 0.2% of national emissions” is simply a ridiculous comparison.
You missed the context and thus produced a lie:
At the same time as the funding hurdle was lowered for big highway projects, the Land Transport Management Act – the sector’s guiding legislation – was amended in 2013 to remove the explicit requirement for sustainability to be considered.
Rail advocates say these changes have effectively served as a subsidy for the trucking industry and added to the difficulties KiwiRail faces in competing for freight business even in the context of rising concern about climate change and an increasing awareness of the potential role of rail in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Whereas the rail network carries 16% of freight (by tonne-kilometres), it generates only 0.2% of national emissions. In a 2016 report, the Royal Society of New Zealand noted that a tonne of freight moved by diesel-powered rail produces a third of the emissions the same tonnage going by truck would yield. It identified shifting more freight from road to rail or coastal shipping as a major opportunity for carbon dioxide reduction.
And you even followed it up by saying that you were talking out your arse.
The problem for KiwiRail is that none of the virtues identified and costed by EY generate an extra cent in revenue for its business, either from its customers or through Government support. At the same time, unlike trucking companies, it’s responsible for owning, maintaining and upgrading its own “road” – the core infrastructure of tracks, bridges and tunnels. As a state-owned enterprise, it is expected to make a commercial return on assets, which it has proved year after year that it is unable to do.
my bold
Trucking companies and even cars get massive cross subsidisation that rail doesn’t get and so it looks a lot better on the accounts. When that cross subsidisation is properly accounted for rail looks a hell of a lot better.
“Its a huge social shift for good in New Zealand”
Do you mean that he has apparently had second thoughts about making everyone apply or do you mean the money itself?
If the first I would agree. This must be the first time in decades that a Labour Government has altered something they have announced, and in effect admitted they got it wrong.
On the other hand the amount of money is precisely $10/year more than National were going to provide to couples with the tax cuts that were going to happen on April 1 and which Labour and its hangers-on are cancelling. Would you call that $10/year a “huge social shift”?
Good program this morning breakfast people many thanks to you.
You Lady’s are very good netures but you are so busy looking after everyone else you forget to take care of yourself my wife did this my sister my daughters well I ring them up and insist they go to the doctor when they tell me about there ailments . I tell there health is the most important as they have the care of there family in there hands an no one will care for the children like they do.
The wait time to get into a doctor in South Waikato is ridiculous especially for a wealth country. O that’s right we have Shonky bullshiet dilldow to thank for this slide back wards in all OUR State services the likes of these people will not be allowed back in OUR government how can they lift there heads with all the bad shit they have done to OUR country this is what you get when you have people who worship money over humanity and mother earth. Many thanks to Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook for seeing the big picture that’s is that all the people of OUR WORLD SOCIETY HAVE A Obligation to help all the vanurable people in our world. I hope all the Big Tech companies in our world will pay Taxes in the country’s that they draw there revenue from as this is the humane thing to do Ka pai
Hosking was first to blink in the battle of the relentlessly positive. He found now that JA is the boss he couldn’t keep up his smug schtick any longer. So like all quitters, he quit.
Doesn’t Shaw release the climate and sea level thing today – on a day when it’s almost guaranteed to be eclipsed by this general nodding approval of a budget?
Rosemary, Karl Du Frense is another poor loser, bitter that the left have platforms of power and are using them.
I did not see him asking for fairness every time Joyce or Boag got up to complain about the left.
He is full of it, and Kim Hill does her job, and does not tolerate self aggrandizing idiots like Brash.
Du Frense says “What made him do that?” “Ego” he suggests. Got it in one, Brash doesn’t think he has any problems, and when called out on them blames others.
We are going to get a stream of complaints about Left influence. I might pay attention, had they been more even handed in the past.
Many thanks to the Rock morning rumble team see hear you in the new year. PS found a present from my neo liberal neighbour a dead bird on my truck this is the mind set of these cares of OUR society Ana to kai
When instrumentation designed to “trip out” in the case of a malfunction, “trips out” because the extent of warming it’s measuring is read as a malfunction… 🙁
Well, Given that neither you nor “North” can tell me any connection I can only assume that you have screwed the pooch and got your story messed up.
The only “Alabama Bible” I have ever heard of is the Alabama State Bible in Montgomery Alabama. It was the one used to swear in Jefferson Davis as President.
However the verse I quoted isn’t in that bible.
It has, instead
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”.
Well I guess you didn’t get it right and you are too embarrassed to admit it.
About par for the course for you.
seems an appropriate comment. Seeing your comments is like eating boiled rice for dinner for three months straight, but without the sustenance value. Hence the comment “Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever”.
Visualise a hat. 195 pieces of paper within, each one bearing the name of a country around the globe. We get to close our eyes and reach in, the country we get, that’s where we’re moving to.
I’d turn down the opportunity to play. For me it would be like playing Russian Roulette with an automatic weapon and about 4 bullets missing from it’s 195 bullet magazine. For me, this new policy just put another bullet in the mag.
Regardless of the circumstances, whether flush or on the bones of my arse, I’ve always found that the most influential person when it comes to influencing outcomes in my life has been me. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I fear I would die waiting for any government to take me by the hand and lead me to a life of contentment.
Yes, we’re not going to get things sorted out in 100 days. It will be a generation before we are an international poster child of The Fair Go. Favourable trend-lines and moving up credible world rankings are the things to look for, housing, health, education, incomes. The mechanical bits that get more of us pushing on towards our personal variations of lives well led.
Really a generation? The nats managed to fuck it up quite a bit in only nine years.
But really, tell us more about how you are the master of your own destiny, when apparently you’re lucky enough to live in the best country in the world.
9 years, Left/Right, Holden/Ford, South Island/North Island
In our hearts we’re all chasing the same things, we all have similar core values. We want to be noticed and appreciated. We want to give love and be loved. We all aspire to being crucial cogs in loving families, neighbourhoods, towns, nation.
Ford, Holden, National, Labour, I think they have little to do with addressing our core aspirations.
I think what we should be asking from our government is a fairly marked out playing field. A ‘stickler for the rules’ referee and a comfy place to sit for those that can’t play.
If they were irrelevant, a change in government wouldn’t coincidentally be followed by a change in educational attainment, a change in homelessness, a change in poverty levels, etc etc etc. I guess in the early 1990s hundreds of thousands of people just decided to be poor for a while.
Oh we’re certainly positioned to create a NZ that treats more of us better.
A government that places people and the planet near the top of most agendum are much better placed to create a NZ that suits more of us.
The best we can hope for from them is that they are a brilliant band, for it to be an ace party 4.5 million of us need to dance.
I have a choice, I can say ‘McFlock you’re fulla shite.” Or I could tell the truth “McFlock I think you make a valuable contribution to this blog and it would be a less interesting place if you chose to stop.”
Your comments here today make (a lot of) sense (to me) as long as we realise that no man is an island and that we cannot make the necessary change all by ourselves but that we need to work together and help one and another: “united we stand, divided we fall”.
Which is all well and good, but still doesn’t acknowledge the massive role that sheer luck has played in your (and my) life.
The country we are in, the government of the day, the chaotic results of decisions of billions of people creating or eliminating opportunities… the privileges we have oblige us to try to make life better for those less fortunate, not just look to ourselves and assume that we played the bulk of the role that led us to our position.
Hi incognito, you’re good at making me think ‘Hmmm I hadn’t thought of that.’ I like you. Because your ‘hmmm I hadn’t thought of that’ is as often highlighting a positive as it is a negative.
You and me bro. We’ve got this.
McFlock, this sheer luck thing of yours, I can’t swallow it.
If I shoot the breeze in here for a week, my income slips away. If I apply myself, make a few calls, hustle, my income bumps up. This is the case over and over. Ain’t luck mate, it’s me getting stuck in or cruising.
You never had a happy coincidence in your life, where someone turns out to be willing and able to help you? Never had a seemingly insignificant choice of two roads “much the same” turn out to be life changing? Never met the love of your life by chance? Never had an inspiring teacher who retired shortly after your final year in school? Never had a completely unexpected opportunity fall in your lap? Never look back on your teenage love and breathe a sigh of relief that you never had a baby with them, despite foolish teenage choices? Shame.
On the flipside, most of my life has been good luck. I don’t hustle. I’m just really lucky. Papers I took randomly at university turned out to be the foundation of my second career a decade later. Whenever my life becomes inconvenienced by need for something, someone always seems to have a suitable substitute in the interim (I’m currently commenting on a surplus-to-requirements linux box with DDR2 ram, until I get funds for a gaming machine). I work 30 hours a week, and that provides me enough for a reasonable existence. I’m lucky my colleagues put up with me. I’m lucky I’m an amiable drunk. I’m lucky I recognised early that I’m prone to addiction, so avoided anything too bad in the way of drugs. I’m lucky I took so long to get my drivers license, otherwise winz would have put me into shiftwork I’d be stuck in to this day – too tired to do job interviews and all my daywalker skills evaporated. Seen it happen to others.
Sure, I could pretend I navigated the course to this life of comfort, but mostly I just went with the flow.
Whereas most people work or hustle most of their lives. Especially those on lower wages, because they don’t get the option not to. The cleaner at my workplace hustles every night, and probably works longer hours than I do for less. He deserves my luck, but he has bad luck.Never complains, but shit happens.
So you go out and hustle. Ain’t you lucky that your hustle is so much more rewarding than mike the cleaner’s.
See how you go being raped when you are a child, or starved, or your CV discarded cos of your surname… yes you are influential in your life but to have lived without the invisible barriers of systems designed for one section of society makes you privileged indeed.
The opportunity for me to get over being raped as a child and lead a quality life in spite of my harrowing experience would ultimately be down to me. Starved as a child? I think the best thing I could do would be to get myself into a position to help see that other children aren’t starving, that’s down to me. If my CV was not getting past the initial screening. Changing that is down to me. Yesterday I was Davinda, today I am David.
I hear you Tracey but regardless of the privilege some may soak up, the best way to clear the hurdles is not to rely on Susan Devoy’s intervention, it’s down to me.
If I was Davinda and the job application required a photo I’d lie. I’d look at the ‘Our Team’ on their websites. I’d steal an online photo of what I thought the company’s perfect applicant would look like and send that in with my CV.
Then I’d spend some time rehearsing what I would say at the beginning of my interview and ways of handling a variety of outcomes.
Something like: “I’m sorry to start my interview with a fib, plainly, I am not the person in my CV photo. My flatmate has convinced me that beautiful people get more interviews. He thinks they go on to enjoy privileged lives. I’m keen to prove him wrong. I’ve looked at your websites, this company does not hire people based on the colour of their skin, their age or cut of their jawline. Maybe my bogus photo helped get me here infront of you, now I’d like the chance to prove to you why I am the man for this job.”
Even with little onboard, the privilege BS can be spun in one’s favour.
I attended an author lecture for high-school aged students during the Writers Festival, and an Australian white fifty-something author, was speaking about challenging systems, and how they should – as engaged citizens – do the same.
As an example, similar to your story above, he related a personal choice of his to challenge the authority of the police who stopped him while he was speeding. He related how he believed the positioning of the police officer outside his driver’s window would tip the balance of body language in favour of the officer – so, he decided to immediately exit the car, and make a phone call so that when the officer approached the car, he would already be out and engaged in another activity. He then stopped the call, and approached the officer introducing himself.
The sheer disconnect of this author struck me. How unaware he was that his age, his race, his social status all contributed to how this was received by the officer.
Your comments today – to me – have the same cognitive dissonance.
The same actions, performed by different actors will have different consequences, and all the “clever” and can-do attitudes you espouse, will not address that fundamental truth.
You are not only missing a trick, you have missed the whole damn circus.
As much as we like to say ‘No we aren’t.’ We are guided by our emotions.
I see little value in trying to appear taller than the officer accusing me of speeding. I’d go for his heart.
“Yep, guilty as charged, but more important than that, I’ve forgotten my wife’s birthday and I’m on the way to get something. By all means give me a ticket but please accompany it with gift suggestions, what did your get your other half last birthday?”
““Yep, guilty as charged, but more important than that, I’ve forgotten my wife’s birthday and I’m on the way to get something. By all means give me a ticket but please accompany it with gift suggestions, what did your get your other half last birthday?””
Kissed the Blarney stone myself, and still wouldn’t come up with this kind of blather. What’s wrong with just accepting the ticket?
Once again, you miss the point. You are someone who can actually imagine doing this, and giving it a go. This makes you tone-deaf when it comes to listening to others about privilege and how it manifests.
I am glad life worked out for you but there is more than one version of tge world. Next you will tell me all people with a nice house and big income worked really hard to get it.
While vastly superior to the alternative (National led), yesterdays mini budget disappoints with its lack of forward thinking and begs the question have the Greens been sacrificed by having a horizon no further ahead than 2020?
Chris Trotter….
“There will be some who take umbrage at my uncompromising pessimism. To them I say: “It is only because I have been here before.” I remember another inspirational Labour leader who put an end to nine long years of National Party rule by promising to take New Zealand “up where we belong”, and who then allowed his Finance Minister to wreak havoc on the expectations and aspirations of his party’s electoral base.”
He has a very good point however…..by reaffirming the budget responsibility intent what tools will be provided to James Shaw to address ‘this generations nuclear free moment’??…..any transition is going to require massive investment and its not as if it can wait until a second or third term…..though there is a hint of a workable sleight of hand within Bernard Hickeys article..
“Grant Robertson has ‘squared the circle’ of fitting the coalition Government’s big new spending plans into its self-imposed surplus and debt restrictions, but it means he will have to embrace “innovative financing mechanisms” such as Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and off balance sheet bond issuance to fix the infrastructure deficits the Government has found.”
Can you imagine how much MORE criticism and attack Labour and the Greens would have been under, leading up to the election, if they hadn’t signed up to the Budget responsibility pledge? Joyce and all his media flunkies would have had a field day, and the various economists who spoke up against the fictional $11.8 billion hole would have been entirely on their side. There’s no way in the world they would have been elected – they were already under attack on the issue of financial management and it would have buried them.
Once elected, a u-turn on this would be an absolute betrayal and a nail in the coffin of the new government. Governments are accountable to the people who elect them and the people are entitled to know their true intentions.
As for PPPs, I was really glad to know that one of the first announcements of the new Health Minister was that the rebuild of Dunedin Hospital is going ahead without one. I’m glad to see the list of areas that are now out of bounds. Better than we would have had under the Nats!
Couldnt agree more and your point re the attack pre election is noted though I suspect much the same outcome could have been achieved if the need for extending borrowing for infrastructure and transition had been promoted.
As for a u turn…..meh, could the Nats and MSM be much more disruptive than they have been to date?….there has been ample uncovered to justify a move away from the 20% target, and IF off balance sheet bonds are used the same attacks will come in any case
I just hope the plan IS to raise additional capital(off balance sheet if they must)..and not continue an austerity till collapse programme.
Poverty was a Green priority from pre election campaign, through the campaign and beyond. As a Party which garnered 6% of the vote they will be pleased to see the Families Package and rewinding of sanctions on not naming fathers going through so soon.
I do not know why some are so disappointed in the Greens because they do not believe in wagging the dog and some core policy ( albeit not as far as they campaigbed)
Coroner beats head against brick wall trying to save another child from the fate suffered by Nia and Moko.
Calls for, again mind, tracking of children so obvious red flags can be seen and action taken to save a child.
New Children’s Minister, (in a fit of what? sensitivity for her righter winged constituents?) says….
” “I don’t think [compulsory monitoring is] something that most New Zealanders would be comfortable with”.
“My initial conversations with colleagues reflect a similar view. While every child’s death is a tragedy and there are far too many, thankfully they are still rare. Most families are loving families,” she said.”
Now come on…if compulsory monitoring of all children, (and it doesn’t have to be Gestapo like) will save a single child from death by someone in loco parentis and save many more from abuse and petty fucking neglect then I say bring it on.
Sensitivities be damned.
If ALL children are expected to be seen by Plunket, doctors etc and questions asked and support offered if this is not happening, it will become apparent quite early those children who seriously need this level of monitoring.
Must do better Tracey…you’re no longer on the campaign trail, you’re in…make the most of the opportunity to get this finally right.
Rosemary I agree with you that this Government should get this right and I agree with the Children’s Commissioner that this register idea is a step too far.
A children”s register is an authoritarian move and the potential for abuse of such a register is unlimited. Nearly all children are seen now – the problem is the under funding and excessive workload of the appropriate agencies once children are referred.
While recognising that we have a serious child abuse problem in this country a band aid with fascist overtones is not the solution.
Realistically there is no single magic bullet solution but I suspect that the families package announced yesterday will help and hope that other ideas and initiatives will come to the fore over the next wee while.
Hang on a minute…did you read the article I linked to?
Moko didn’t die because there was no funding and there was an excessive workload…he died because those who were being funded to support…and I struggle to use the ‘families’ in this case…households such as this failed to take the appropriate steps to save his life.
Why? God knows…the warning signs were all there and the agencies knew and for some reason…and I suspect some misplaced sensitivities…no one put their foot down demanded to see all the children in the household and check on their welfare.
Or did you read the other article linked to in that article?
Agencies involved with Moko…
Child Youth and Family, the Auckland DHB, the Maori Women’s Welfare Refuge, the Waipahihi Kindergarten, Family Works, as well as the Rural Education Activities Programme.
But not one of them actually did their job and ensured the safety of all the children in that household.
Why? Poor training? Lack of authority? Absence of some mechanism to facilitate direct investigation and immediate intervention is there is a suspicion that a child is at risk.
If a child has come under the Lens of a government agency I would like to think we put resource into the education of the parent/carer while constantly ensuring the child is safe. It sounds like the Minister is appeasing someone/someones? Why?
Yes we are entering a serious stage of being labeled as a dirty country now sadly, after nine years of National mishandling of our environment and national must now be blamed globally for their foolish deception of using “profit first without preservation.”
Harvey Weinstein told him not to hire two young women, so he obeyed:
The spineless “Sir” Peter Jackson slithers back into our consciousness.
You may have thought the nadir of “Sir” Peter Jackson’s career came on Q+A in 2010 when he sat, cringing and obviously uncomfortable, occasionally forcing himself to parrot the brutal anti-union rhetoric of his Warner Brothers paymasters, and then squirming uncomfortably, in a fretful silence, as Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh did all the talking.
Now it transpires he was not just a slave to Warner Brothers’ lawyers, but also to Harvey Weinstein….
Awe, don’t be mean Morrissey – your just jealous. Think of all the good he’s done!
A true philanthropist. A humble man who has pulled himself up by the bootstraps and put NuZull on the global stage.
I mean……Bats Theatre – think of all those poor starving actors and actorines he’s given opportunity to. The increase in property values on the Miramar Penninsular.
The lookalike Hollywood sign – truly inspirational and fostering aspiration amongst our up and coming yoof. His contribution to arts’n’kulcha makes him a true hero – the likes of which we have not seen since Sir Edmund, or Sir John, or Dame Kurry Prendisgust and sidekick Rex, and to all those hardworking people he’s given so much sprayshun to. Why the haughty soon2b Sir Krus Seatoun Heights might have to issue you with an admonishment tackling you over your obvious bitterness. (It really isn’t a good look doncha know)
And then think of all those industries he’s helped while building his reputation! The IT sector.
You do know don’t you, that Sir Peter is actually really, really down with the people and peons, and has an undying love of all the minions that have contributed to building his empire. I know people who’d be prepared to lick the pavement clean before he puts a step on it!
What’s wrong with you man!!! I suspect it’s just envy and your inability (and desire) to reach the heights of beloved SPete . How dare you judge that icon who symbolises everything that’s put NuZull on the Whurl stage (going forward).
I’m forever indebted to the humble SPete to be be able to live in the same space (Wellington and its environs).
Sorry, Sir Peter, that irrefutable rundown of your inestimable goodness and humanity means that I shall now—to quote the great Tauranga M.P. Robert “Bob” Clarkson—withdraw and apologize….
You mean Bob Clarkson former MP…….the wacko, dribbling, multi-millionaire exemplar of inhumanity whose reaction in our parliament to the death of Mrs Folole Muliaga was to screechingly and repeatedly interject – “She didn’t pay her bill !” as though that was a sufficient moral explanation. Emailed him to express my disgust…….some staffer emailed back “sorry sorry”. BS. Not sorry at all. Just covering his own vileness.
Yes, North, the very same Bob Clarkson. That’s very interesting, to hear that he actually said something in the House. As far as I was aware, all he ever did was try to hit on young females, Trump style. Or any females, come to think of it.
In fact, I’m working on a little script involving the old goat right now. Keep your eyes peeled in the next few days, my friend….
Thanks Morrissey.
As soon as I can find my crystals, I’ll pop down to Courtenay Place and kneel under that wonderful 4 legged edifice, face the Embassy Theatre, and beg your forgiveness for any offence your selfishness and envy may have caused.
We should always remember our place.
Morrissey
I hope you have managed to buy a house. It will probably be the biggest and most complex financial transaction you ever make. If you built it also, that is complex, but not a spot on swinging a huge financial deal and technical marvel that Sir Peter Jackson did. It is funny to hear so many criticise Sir Peter unmercifully. You are good at criticising from your keyboard and your small projects. You have no idea of the weight of mega bucks and executive decisions required to make these films in New Zealand. He may not have behaved as fairly as he should, but he shouldn’t be demonised either.
Jackson made some really good movies—long ago. But, as we saw when he presented as a shambling embarrassment in that Q+A debacle, he sold his conscience to Hollywood, and he is well aware of it. Save your admiration for someone who deserves it.
Roy Moore continues to deliver gloriously nutso moments. FFS, even the White adult daycare House thinks he should have conceded by now. But no, Moore delivers a delightfully bonkers “battle rages on” statement.
Yep Andre. I watched the Moore video where he will fight on. I expect that a deeply religious man like him will have god on his side and therefore the votes will do a magnificent Russian flip giving Moore a 90% majority. Let us pray.
From the ‘thank god its Friday and we all deserve a laugh’ file…
Who will speak up for them now Mike is gone????
(Hankies optional)
“Mike Hosking fought for the luxury European car owner. He fought for the dispossessed of Orakei and St Heliers. He provided a voice for the wearers of distressed denim and funky blazers. Without him, Mark Richardson stands alone and lonely atop his mountain, a sole sane speaker of truth amid a sea of bloody pinko lefties.
Labour gets in here, and completely coincidentally, Hosking and Leighton are gone. You didn’t need Ken Ring around to predict a painful two years ahead for Mike.
Lots of time to be wasted, fiddling with your pen and providing sad-faced links to stories about Labour policies on doing nice things for the homeless and beneficiaries and children would have been tough when he could have been vacuuming his car or doing at-home spreads for Woman’s Day.”
I watched the programme with Mike and Miss Personality tonight from start to finish for the first time ever. What a cringeworthy load of kaka with the exception of the guys offering a serenade.
AS Mike fought back tears, I half expected John Hawkesby to come on set and tell us how thankful he was to have Mike as his sonny-bro.
What a complete load of self-indulgent crap.
Who is Miss Personality btw?
Never mind…. I just googled her. All over tomorrow’s fish and chip wrappers
Farrar has stooped to an all time low by posting an ‘anonymous letter from a reader’ casting even further aspersions on Golriz Ghahraman’s career.
What?
Were his rating falling and he had to come up with a scheme to incite the pack of racist misogynists who dwell there into a fervour of comment and click?
A truly pathetic effort there Farrar, and you call yourself an “Editor”.
I did laugh. Those who bemoan lack of work ethic in others couldnt wait for lunch. Shoulda taken sammies in with them given they knew they were going to delay the hell out of proceedings.
ISTR a similar story about lunches from a mines dispute decades ago. The argument that went to court was whether the miners’ half hour lunch break should start when they left the face or when they left the pit mouth. There was much discussion about how long the workers deserved, then the judge called a break in proceedings for lunch: two hours.
If you think Freudian slip, what made Laura Walters fingers say this:
National’s protestations were likely more an effort to delay the passing of the Government’s Families Package Bill, than a bout of hanger.
To me I think of those undisciplined school boys in the Gnat Party needing a ‘hanging’ judge.
Maybe they should be hung up on the tiled walls of the men’s room to cool down.
Perhaps hung from a nice pillory or, if budget constraints limit, a set of stocks outside where the public could show their feelings for them.
Yes poor Jami lee Ross the wee petal. It looks like the low wage, union busting, zero hour, employment contracts act National party doesn’t walk the talk on work ethic.
Always nice for the public to see what real hypocrites look like.
I refrained from attacking the ferrari man to much after all he is human and he toned it down a bit but one could read that he wanted to trash our Coalition Government. Did you see what happened on breakfast this morning that was when Jack mentioned someone’s career that was ________ funny I got a sore face.
I had a good day yesterday oil changed the truck got the vacuum cleaner fixed just about fix it myself the things to old to see how to open it up on youtube so I took it to Turnbuckle Electrical on Amohia st Vags they gave me excellent service Ka pai.
I’m battling one of our computers it the main one with all my business files and files on you no who I think they gave it a hand to crash Iv had help from my coder uncle I took the hard drive out put it in a external drive case I’m just scanning it at the moment because we are minimalistic I will fix the old laptop if I can load all the data on another hard drive and load Windows 10 back then reload all the data if not new computer they are cheap now. When my children were young I spent $10.000 on computers for them to play games on most of the educational games did not run my wife typed up a few letters for a friend whom had a bone to pick with a district council. But the investment payed off because we all have at least basic computer skills Thanks to my uncle influence Ka pai
When I took my computer into the computer shop and met PREBLE and Gissymo they want to keep my computer YEA RIGHT eco didn’t drop out the sky yesterday they could have said it was _____ so today it’s going again all good Ana to kai
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More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Karl Du Frense positioning himself as the defender of free speech and balanced Public Broadcasting with this tacky little piece in which he pins his colours to the mast.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/99845282/dinosaur-v-dominatrix-don-brash-didnt-stand-a-chance
He was obviously disturbed by the public eviscerating of that stalwart of Free Speech Don Brash, by Kim Hill on Natrad a couple of weeks ago.
Du Frense say’s
”
Here’s where we get down to the real issue. RNZ is a public institution. It belongs to us.
The public who fund the organisation are entitled to criticise it. But can we now expect that anyone who has the temerity to do so will be subjected to a mauling by RNZ’s in-house attack dog? Or is this treatment reserved for despised white conservative males such as Brash, to make an example of them and deter others from similar foolishness?
Either way, Hill’s dismemberment of Brash was a brazen abuse of the state broadcaster’s power and showed contemptuous disregard for RNZ’s charter obligation to be impartial and balanced.
This is nothing new, of course. The quaint notion that RNZ exists for all New Zealanders was quietly jettisoned years ago. Without any mandate, the state broadcaster has refashioned itself as a platform for the promotion of favoured causes.
You’re more likely to see an aardvark riding a bike down The Terrace than to hear a conservative voice, or even a middle-of-the-road one, on smug groupthink fests such as RNZ’s current series of Smart Talk.”
Whew!
The lad sounds a little peeved.
Calling Kim Hill a ‘dominatrix’ and an ‘attack dog’….absolutely no class at all there Karl.
Another right wing apologist having a tantrum – such fun!
And that horrible little man from 7 Sharp is going going gone – wow! Do you think Australia would like him?
“Calling Kim Hill a ‘dominatrix’ and an ‘attack dog’”
Kind of rich coming from someone who’s rather like a Dr Who 1960s Dalek screaming ‘exterminate, exterminate, assimilate, assimilate’
How can he say that when her co-host is Guyon Espiner?
Yes Rosemary
This mornings episode of Kim Hill Vs Blustering Steven Joyce was very reminesent of when David parker was over-burdened by discussion with Joyce during the lead up to the 2014 election; – when Steven joyce was barrelling over top of the meek David Parker in discussion about ‘finance’ as it was equally as arrogant a performance from Joyce three years ago.
This festive season Steven Joyce is likened to the mean arsed ‘Grinch’
“Leopards dont change their spots’.
Rosemary, Karl Du Frense is another poor loser, bitter that the left have platforms of power and are using them.
I did not see him asking for fairness every time Joyce or Boag got up to complain about the left.
He is full of it, and Kim Hill does her job, and does not tolerate self aggrandizing idiots like Brash.
Du Frense says “What made him do that?” “Ego” he suggests. Got it in one, Brash doesn’t think he has any problems, and when called out on them blames others.
We are going to get a stream of complaints about Left influence. I might pay attention, had they been more even handed in the past.
Hiya pat.
Yes, its going to be all on over the next few years.
Paradoxically, Farrar’s Ferals are also not happy with the mainstream media and Natrad in particular.
For sometime they have complained bitterly that presenters on Natrad are biased towards the left…and this includes Espiner, who many here perceive as tending right.
My hope is that if none of us are happy with the MSM…this might just indicate that they are landing somewhere in the middle.
Lmao, some men cannot deal with strong, educated women, so they resort to name calling. Interestingly by calling Kim a dominatrix karl is admitting his submission. Or is he volunteering brashes?
So many chickens are coming home to roost and it’s beautiful to watch.
Only one lesson here – if you are going up against Hill don’t be an ignorant, illogical nitwit. And outside a very narrow set of economic theories, Brash is exactly that.
And you have to be an ignorant, illogical, nitwit to have any truck with those narrow set of economic theories of which Brash is an “expert”
This is not the first time that Kim Hill has provoked Karl Du Fresne into a state of apoplexy. In 2010 the old curmudgeon went into core meltdown after Hill had dared to ask a few challenging questions of the former Australian prime minister John Howard. On that occasion he damned Hill not for being a dominatrix, but for being “relentlessly adversarial”. He also damned her listeners as “chardonnay socialists”…..
http://karldufresne.blogspot.co.nz/2010/11/howard-deserved-more-balanced-treatment.html
Another who regards equality as a form of oppression… and Hosking gone too… the privileged male feels under attack today as everything isnt as they are used to it… sharing takes some getting used to.
“…Either way, Hill’s dismemberment of Brash was a brazen abuse of the state broadcaster’s power and showed contemptuous disregard for RNZ’s charter obligation to be impartial and balanced…”
Actually the RNZ charter says in section 5:
(i) provide comprehensive, independent, accurate, impartial, and balanced regional, national, and international news and current affairs…
Kim Hill’s Saturday morning show isn’t news or current affairs. It is a magazine show driven by it’s host. Du Fresne is an idiot who appears to have not actually read the RNZ charter.
Kim Hill allowed Don Brash to have his point of view put forth. He wasn’t an expert in the area – on this topic he was as expert as any random person on the street. And a random person on the street doesn’t get so much airtime to put their point of view across.
Kim Hill basically just quoted things he had said in the past. If that made him look foolish then he shouldn’t have said such silly things.
Well observed. It is one thing to be heard that doesnt mean a platform to bully your world view. Hill ought to be congratulated not vilified.
Thanks awfully Sanctuary;
For that interesting wording from the RNZ Charter section 5.
(i) provide comprehensive, independent, accurate, impartial, and balanced regional, national, and international news and current affairs…
We have lost our HB/Gisborne regional voice here since 2013 and are still waiting for our
(i) provide comprehensive, independent, accurate, impartial, and balanced regional, national, and international news and current affairs…
We in HB/Gisborne had apparently had Steven Joyce take away our regional reporter from RNZ two years ago!!!!!
We enquired with the RNZ CEO on 9th September 2017 under OIA why we lost our reporter and we still dont have one yet, and here is what we got back on 13/10/17.
NOTE; To date as of yesterday 14/12/17 we still have no RNZ reporter to cover HB/Gisborne, so the new Broadcasting Minister Claire Curran has now recieved a letter of complaint from us to provide us with a reporter ASAP.
Attached is a letter we received 20/10/17 after sending Radio NZ 9/9/17 in a OIA request as to why we in HB no longer have a Radio NZ reporter since 2016.
The date of our request was sent quite a time before the election 9/9/17 and came to us just days before the election.
Since then we have sent several letters to the new Broadcasting Minister Claire Curran for assistance to get another local reporter and to date no new reporter has been hired.
Yesterday we called Radio NZ to enquire when we are to get a reporter and the person I was sent through to was a lady named “ Paloma” who said still “no reporter has been found yet”!!!!!!! This is now late december 15/12/17.
Quote George Bignell – 13/10/27
“The Hawkes Bay regional reporting position is currently vacant and Radio New Zealand will look to fill that position in the near future.
We trust this of assistance to you.” End.
See the letter below from this person inside the old style RNZ while then under National Government control.
SEE BELOW our Letter sent to Radio NZ PA 8/9/17.
So from the 20th October 2017 till now 14th December 2017, (over eight weeks later) no replacement report as been found yet??????
URGENT
Official Information request
RADIO NZ.
CEO PAUL THOMPSON
9th September 2017.
Official Information request
HB Advocacy centre made this Official Information request to PAUL THOMPSON – RADIO NZ CEO For information 9th September 2017 for quick response please.
9th September 2017.
Dear Paul.
We are a senior NGO working within the Government & local regional authorities on issues that have been presented to our Environmental Centre for 16 yrs to date.
We have had a close communication relationship in the past particularly during the years 2009 to 2013 with your Radio NZ reporters but we now have virtually no response from your regional news, transport, environment, and rural reporters since then and I have been requested to enquire how the regional reporting structure of the Radio NZ broadcasting services now are different to the way the operations serviced the regions formerly.
We would want you to supply any detailed changes that may have affected our loss of regional reporting services how affected our ability to have press coverage of our community issues regarding the above subjects of Transport and transport relationships to community health and wellbeing please, and we ask that under the Official Information Act please from this date 9/9/17 please arrange information to be provided as soon as able please. If you
If you wish to refer this issue of ‘several communication’ also to the Minister handling the ‘Broadcasting portfolio’ who is Hon’ Maggie Barry please feel free to converse with the minister as you prepare our information request. The Minister had increased funding to Radio NZ recently we are told.
We have supplied you with a copy of yesterday’s letter that we sent from our Centre to your office & is attached (below) for your reference.
Regards.
——————————————————————————————————
letter from RNZ
October 13, 2017
Dear —–
I write in response to your request “how the regional reporting structure of the Radio NZ broadcasting services now are different to the way the operations serviced the regions formerly.”
I can advise that RNZ does not hold any specific information in this regard that we can supply to you. To answer your question, apart from the relocation of one reporting position from our Queenstown office to our Dunedin office, there has been no recent changes to our regional reporting structure.
The Hawkes Bay regional reporting position is currently vacant and Radio New Zealand will look to fill that position in the near future.
We trust this of assistance to you.
Yours sincerely
George Bignell
OIA Inquiries Coordinator
Yup, Mr Magoo is simply expressing his own fear of (progressive) women in power.
Like many on the right he wants to remove “public” platforms for those who support a more progressive New Zealand, while strangely silent on the role of the “unchallenging to the conservative regime” Hosking at TVNZ.
One almost suspects the idea of Barry and Campbell on Seven Sharp was floated to wind him up.
Du Fresne must hate listening to Hosking then. You know with TVNZ being public… I guess it is why the TVNZ Charter had to go… so Hosking could have
” contemptuous disregard for RNZ’s charter obligation to be impartial and balanced “
Thank goodness.
Grant Robertson has had some sense pushed into him regarding the National Super recipients having to apply for the grant for “winter heating”.
It will apparently be paid out automatically and there will be no need for people to go into WINZ and apply for it. Complaints about the stupidity of his demand seem to have finally got through to him.
Some common sense has been shown. Amazing.
Must be listening to you Alwyn!!!
dv well said. 100%
We worry about anyone listening to Alwyn thinks they are getting the acurate true facts as he is a ‘cherry picker’, and an apologist for the trucking industry, and hence supports dirty environmental policies.
http://www.noted.co.nz/money/the-great-rail-revival-why-its-time-to-get-rail-back-on-track/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LISTENER_newsletter_14-12-2017&utm_term=list_nzlistener_newsletter
plus he is confused about his love/hate relationship with trains – not so much a trainspotter, more a trainsnotter.
Having read the items you link to, and looking at his occupation, I can hear the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies.
Anyone who has been the union leader for Rail Workers will of course qualify for her comment about Lord Astor.
“Well he would say that wouldn’t he?”
I still think they only have very limited reason for existing in New Zealand.
Is it really worth spending half a billion dollars on getting the Auckland/Northland line to a minimum standard and putting a spur line into Marsden Point for a maximum of a short train each day?
Improving the roads makes much more sense.
The statistics quoted in the Listener article are also misleading.
A statement such as “Whereas the rail network carries 16% of freight (by tonne-kilometres), it generates only 0.2% of national emissions” is simply a ridiculous comparison. It is intended to pretend that our overall emissions would be greatly reduced if we used trains more.
I could make an equally misleading, and equally silly statement such as.
“Less than 0.01% of passengers from Wellington to Auckland travel by rail and yet the rail network generates 0.2% of our national emissions”.
There, that implies that trains are terribly inefficient doesn’t it
I have no idea what the actual number is but this could be about the correct one. There are tourist trains a couple of times a week for at least part of the year so I suppose they might carry a single Airbus 320 load of passengers each week for the whole distance.
Half a billion for trains, several billion for roads.
Yeah, much more sense to do the trains.
That’s not a pretence. If we used trains more our emissions would fall quite drastically. Would use far less resources as well and thus be a hell of a lot cheaper.
And that’s the only thing you said that actually truthful. Finally admitting that you have no idea what you’re talking about.
You did note that the half billion for trains is ONLY for the line from Auckland to Marsden Point.
God knows how may billion the puff-puff lovers want in total.
National put around $3 billion I think into rail between 2009 and 2017 and committed about a further $1.5 billion into the Auckland link.
“And that’s the only thing you said that actually truthful”.
Don’t be so bloody stupid. You are just unhappy that I can demonstrate that many of the comments made about the wonders of rail are ridiculous and founded only in fantasy.
What exactly have I said that is false. Facts please, not just an eruption of bile.
And the road is billions of dollars for the same stretch. We know this from National’s RoNs:
And it won’t have anywhere near the economies of rail.
You’ve never done that. You’ve done a lot of talking out your arse about it though.
You missed the context and thus produced a lie:
And you even followed it up by saying that you were talking out your arse.
I’ll add this to the context as well:
my bold
Trucking companies and even cars get massive cross subsidisation that rail doesn’t get and so it looks a lot better on the accounts. When that cross subsidisation is properly accounted for rail looks a hell of a lot better.
It’s better than amazing Alwyn.
Its a huge social shift for good in New Zealand.
“Its a huge social shift for good in New Zealand”
Do you mean that he has apparently had second thoughts about making everyone apply or do you mean the money itself?
If the first I would agree. This must be the first time in decades that a Labour Government has altered something they have announced, and in effect admitted they got it wrong.
On the other hand the amount of money is precisely $10/year more than National were going to provide to couples with the tax cuts that were going to happen on April 1 and which Labour and its hangers-on are cancelling. Would you call that $10/year a “huge social shift”?
I would call lifting about 1 million New Zealanders up with straight cash a “huge social shift”.
You can use your $450 to keep doing jobs around the house.
National just got outflanked and have no answer.
I wonder why the people who dont need it as Seymour says dont just give it back or contact authorities to be excluded?
Good program this morning breakfast people many thanks to you.
You Lady’s are very good netures but you are so busy looking after everyone else you forget to take care of yourself my wife did this my sister my daughters well I ring them up and insist they go to the doctor when they tell me about there ailments . I tell there health is the most important as they have the care of there family in there hands an no one will care for the children like they do.
The wait time to get into a doctor in South Waikato is ridiculous especially for a wealth country. O that’s right we have Shonky bullshiet dilldow to thank for this slide back wards in all OUR State services the likes of these people will not be allowed back in OUR government how can they lift there heads with all the bad shit they have done to OUR country this is what you get when you have people who worship money over humanity and mother earth. Many thanks to Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook for seeing the big picture that’s is that all the people of OUR WORLD SOCIETY HAVE A Obligation to help all the vanurable people in our world. I hope all the Big Tech companies in our world will pay Taxes in the country’s that they draw there revenue from as this is the humane thing to do Ka pai
Good advice. We need to remibd the women in our lives that they can only be for others what they want to be if they stay fit and healthy and happy.
Hosking was first to blink in the battle of the relentlessly positive. He found now that JA is the boss he couldn’t keep up his smug schtick any longer. So like all quitters, he quit.
Doesn’t Shaw release the climate and sea level thing today – on a day when it’s almost guaranteed to be eclipsed by this general nodding approval of a budget?
Rosemary, Karl Du Frense is another poor loser, bitter that the left have platforms of power and are using them.
I did not see him asking for fairness every time Joyce or Boag got up to complain about the left.
He is full of it, and Kim Hill does her job, and does not tolerate self aggrandizing idiots like Brash.
Du Frense says “What made him do that?” “Ego” he suggests. Got it in one, Brash doesn’t think he has any problems, and when called out on them blames others.
We are going to get a stream of complaints about Left influence. I might pay attention, had they been more even handed in the past.
Sorry, accidentally posted twice!
Many thanks to the Rock morning rumble team see hear you in the new year. PS found a present from my neo liberal neighbour a dead bird on my truck this is the mind set of these cares of OUR society Ana to kai
When instrumentation designed to “trip out” in the case of a malfunction, “trips out” because the extent of warming it’s measuring is read as a malfunction… 🙁
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/arctic-global-warming-rapid-computer-rejected-alaska-a8110941.html
That’s really bad programming. It should still have recorded it but marked it as possibly erroneous.
Ding dong Hoskings gone
Yep – circling the wagons, retreating to the fortress of private radio to commiserate with like-minded souls and snipe from a position of safety.
Oh yes make it so; – sack Mike Hoskings.
As he sits already on the ‘can’t do’ grump mantle with Alwyn, James, and the National clingons.
And we hopefully all will gravitate to the “fortress of private radio to commiserate with like-minded souls and snipe from a position of safety.”
What have I ever done to upset you so much?
Apart from pointing out the flaws when you publish silly ideas I really don’t take any notice of you.
Just relax, read what I say and , as the Bible says in John 8:32
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set free you.”
Oh God…….Alwyn lecturing us from his Alabama Bible.
“Alabama Bible”?
What is the connection?
Yep alwyn know everything about nothing thus the worm turns.
Well, Given that neither you nor “North” can tell me any connection I can only assume that you have screwed the pooch and got your story messed up.
The only “Alabama Bible” I have ever heard of is the Alabama State Bible in Montgomery Alabama. It was the one used to swear in Jefferson Davis as President.
However the verse I quoted isn’t in that bible.
It has, instead
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”.
Well I guess you didn’t get it right and you are too embarrassed to admit it.
About par for the course for you.
You are wrong as usual – silly wee twerp.
Hebrews 13:8 King James version
Really?
You’re sure now?
seems an appropriate comment. Seeing your comments is like eating boiled rice for dinner for three months straight, but without the sustenance value. Hence the comment “Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever”.
Yet another neolib Labour govt doing nothing for the poor. Shame on them.
Visualise a hat. 195 pieces of paper within, each one bearing the name of a country around the globe. We get to close our eyes and reach in, the country we get, that’s where we’re moving to.
I’d turn down the opportunity to play. For me it would be like playing Russian Roulette with an automatic weapon and about 4 bullets missing from it’s 195 bullet magazine. For me, this new policy just put another bullet in the mag.
Regardless of the circumstances, whether flush or on the bones of my arse, I’ve always found that the most influential person when it comes to influencing outcomes in my life has been me. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I fear I would die waiting for any government to take me by the hand and lead me to a life of contentment.
” For me, this new policy just put another bullet in the mag.”
I presume that related to the crux of your post but refers to nothing.
My crystal ball is on the fritz. What are you talking about?
I’m talking about the people that are not happy about life in NZ but given an opportunity to change would still walk past 194 countries to live here.
Especially now we have a decent government. NZ was sliding down too many rankings for a while there.
Yes, we’re not going to get things sorted out in 100 days. It will be a generation before we are an international poster child of The Fair Go. Favourable trend-lines and moving up credible world rankings are the things to look for, housing, health, education, incomes. The mechanical bits that get more of us pushing on towards our personal variations of lives well led.
Really a generation? The nats managed to fuck it up quite a bit in only nine years.
But really, tell us more about how you are the master of your own destiny, when apparently you’re lucky enough to live in the best country in the world.
9 years, Left/Right, Holden/Ford, South Island/North Island
In our hearts we’re all chasing the same things, we all have similar core values. We want to be noticed and appreciated. We want to give love and be loved. We all aspire to being crucial cogs in loving families, neighbourhoods, towns, nation.
Ford, Holden, National, Labour, I think they have little to do with addressing our core aspirations.
I think what we should be asking from our government is a fairly marked out playing field. A ‘stickler for the rules’ referee and a comfy place to sit for those that can’t play.
If they were irrelevant, a change in government wouldn’t coincidentally be followed by a change in educational attainment, a change in homelessness, a change in poverty levels, etc etc etc. I guess in the early 1990s hundreds of thousands of people just decided to be poor for a while.
Oh we’re certainly positioned to create a NZ that treats more of us better.
A government that places people and the planet near the top of most agendum are much better placed to create a NZ that suits more of us.
The best we can hope for from them is that they are a brilliant band, for it to be an ace party 4.5 million of us need to dance.
I have a choice, I can say ‘McFlock you’re fulla shite.” Or I could tell the truth “McFlock I think you make a valuable contribution to this blog and it would be a less interesting place if you chose to stop.”
Making NZ a better place is down to you and me.
QFT
Your comments here today make (a lot of) sense (to me) as long as we realise that no man is an island and that we cannot make the necessary change all by ourselves but that we need to work together and help one and another: “united we stand, divided we fall”.
Which is all well and good, but still doesn’t acknowledge the massive role that sheer luck has played in your (and my) life.
The country we are in, the government of the day, the chaotic results of decisions of billions of people creating or eliminating opportunities… the privileges we have oblige us to try to make life better for those less fortunate, not just look to ourselves and assume that we played the bulk of the role that led us to our position.
‘Sheer luck’
You, nor any of us know how that plays out…
That’s what you chosen to attribute life as being based from it seems..
It’s possible that ‘luck’ is the all it is..
But luck is a human label..they all are..
Therefore the human ascribed ‘Luck’ has nothing to do with anything outside of events in this life…if that
“Labels” require denotation for to have meaning.
The origin of the label is not the origin of the thing being denoted.
Therefore your comment is confused and delusional.
But that was already highly likely, because it was prefaced by the label “One Two”.
‘Sheer luck’
‘Require detonation to have meaning’
‘Confused and delusional’
Have you considered other possibilities, or did you stop at, ‘sheer luck’?
We’ve run out of reply clickables
Hi incognito, you’re good at making me think ‘Hmmm I hadn’t thought of that.’ I like you. Because your ‘hmmm I hadn’t thought of that’ is as often highlighting a positive as it is a negative.
You and me bro. We’ve got this.
McFlock, this sheer luck thing of yours, I can’t swallow it.
If I shoot the breeze in here for a week, my income slips away. If I apply myself, make a few calls, hustle, my income bumps up. This is the case over and over. Ain’t luck mate, it’s me getting stuck in or cruising.
Really?
You never had a happy coincidence in your life, where someone turns out to be willing and able to help you? Never had a seemingly insignificant choice of two roads “much the same” turn out to be life changing? Never met the love of your life by chance? Never had an inspiring teacher who retired shortly after your final year in school? Never had a completely unexpected opportunity fall in your lap? Never look back on your teenage love and breathe a sigh of relief that you never had a baby with them, despite foolish teenage choices? Shame.
On the flipside, most of my life has been good luck. I don’t hustle. I’m just really lucky. Papers I took randomly at university turned out to be the foundation of my second career a decade later. Whenever my life becomes inconvenienced by need for something, someone always seems to have a suitable substitute in the interim (I’m currently commenting on a surplus-to-requirements linux box with DDR2 ram, until I get funds for a gaming machine). I work 30 hours a week, and that provides me enough for a reasonable existence. I’m lucky my colleagues put up with me. I’m lucky I’m an amiable drunk. I’m lucky I recognised early that I’m prone to addiction, so avoided anything too bad in the way of drugs. I’m lucky I took so long to get my drivers license, otherwise winz would have put me into shiftwork I’d be stuck in to this day – too tired to do job interviews and all my daywalker skills evaporated. Seen it happen to others.
Sure, I could pretend I navigated the course to this life of comfort, but mostly I just went with the flow.
Whereas most people work or hustle most of their lives. Especially those on lower wages, because they don’t get the option not to. The cleaner at my workplace hustles every night, and probably works longer hours than I do for less. He deserves my luck, but he has bad luck.Never complains, but shit happens.
So you go out and hustle. Ain’t you lucky that your hustle is so much more rewarding than mike the cleaner’s.
See how you go being raped when you are a child, or starved, or your CV discarded cos of your surname… yes you are influential in your life but to have lived without the invisible barriers of systems designed for one section of society makes you privileged indeed.
The opportunity for me to get over being raped as a child and lead a quality life in spite of my harrowing experience would ultimately be down to me. Starved as a child? I think the best thing I could do would be to get myself into a position to help see that other children aren’t starving, that’s down to me. If my CV was not getting past the initial screening. Changing that is down to me. Yesterday I was Davinda, today I am David.
I hear you Tracey but regardless of the privilege some may soak up, the best way to clear the hurdles is not to rely on Susan Devoy’s intervention, it’s down to me.
If I was Davinda and the job application required a photo I’d lie. I’d look at the ‘Our Team’ on their websites. I’d steal an online photo of what I thought the company’s perfect applicant would look like and send that in with my CV.
Then I’d spend some time rehearsing what I would say at the beginning of my interview and ways of handling a variety of outcomes.
Something like: “I’m sorry to start my interview with a fib, plainly, I am not the person in my CV photo. My flatmate has convinced me that beautiful people get more interviews. He thinks they go on to enjoy privileged lives. I’m keen to prove him wrong. I’ve looked at your websites, this company does not hire people based on the colour of their skin, their age or cut of their jawline. Maybe my bogus photo helped get me here infront of you, now I’d like the chance to prove to you why I am the man for this job.”
Even with little onboard, the privilege BS can be spun in one’s favour.
We regret to inform you ….
we’re racist?
I attended an author lecture for high-school aged students during the Writers Festival, and an Australian white fifty-something author, was speaking about challenging systems, and how they should – as engaged citizens – do the same.
As an example, similar to your story above, he related a personal choice of his to challenge the authority of the police who stopped him while he was speeding. He related how he believed the positioning of the police officer outside his driver’s window would tip the balance of body language in favour of the officer – so, he decided to immediately exit the car, and make a phone call so that when the officer approached the car, he would already be out and engaged in another activity. He then stopped the call, and approached the officer introducing himself.
The sheer disconnect of this author struck me. How unaware he was that his age, his race, his social status all contributed to how this was received by the officer.
Your comments today – to me – have the same cognitive dissonance.
The same actions, performed by different actors will have different consequences, and all the “clever” and can-do attitudes you espouse, will not address that fundamental truth.
You are not only missing a trick, you have missed the whole damn circus.
Nah Molly, we agree, that dude is a wanker.
As much as we like to say ‘No we aren’t.’ We are guided by our emotions.
I see little value in trying to appear taller than the officer accusing me of speeding. I’d go for his heart.
“Yep, guilty as charged, but more important than that, I’ve forgotten my wife’s birthday and I’m on the way to get something. By all means give me a ticket but please accompany it with gift suggestions, what did your get your other half last birthday?”
““Yep, guilty as charged, but more important than that, I’ve forgotten my wife’s birthday and I’m on the way to get something. By all means give me a ticket but please accompany it with gift suggestions, what did your get your other half last birthday?””
Kissed the Blarney stone myself, and still wouldn’t come up with this kind of blather. What’s wrong with just accepting the ticket?
Once again, you miss the point. You are someone who can actually imagine doing this, and giving it a go. This makes you tone-deaf when it comes to listening to others about privilege and how it manifests.
I am glad life worked out for you but there is more than one version of tge world. Next you will tell me all people with a nice house and big income worked really hard to get it.
I’m sorry you see me as someone so shallow. The life I lead flies in the face of your assumption.
While vastly superior to the alternative (National led), yesterdays mini budget disappoints with its lack of forward thinking and begs the question have the Greens been sacrificed by having a horizon no further ahead than 2020?
Chris Trotter….
“There will be some who take umbrage at my uncompromising pessimism. To them I say: “It is only because I have been here before.” I remember another inspirational Labour leader who put an end to nine long years of National Party rule by promising to take New Zealand “up where we belong”, and who then allowed his Finance Minister to wreak havoc on the expectations and aspirations of his party’s electoral base.”
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2017/12/grant-robertsons-mini-budget-presents.html
Chris Trotter unimpressed – shock, horror! Since when has this guy been anything but a grinch when commenting on anything related to Labour?
He has a very good point however…..by reaffirming the budget responsibility intent what tools will be provided to James Shaw to address ‘this generations nuclear free moment’??…..any transition is going to require massive investment and its not as if it can wait until a second or third term…..though there is a hint of a workable sleight of hand within Bernard Hickeys article..
“Grant Robertson has ‘squared the circle’ of fitting the coalition Government’s big new spending plans into its self-imposed surplus and debt restrictions, but it means he will have to embrace “innovative financing mechanisms” such as Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and off balance sheet bond issuance to fix the infrastructure deficits the Government has found.”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/12/14/68554/analysis-debt-anchor-dragging-labour-into-ppps
However sleight of hand gives the opposition ammunition and isnt likely to instil the sense of common purpose required…disappointing.
Can you imagine how much MORE criticism and attack Labour and the Greens would have been under, leading up to the election, if they hadn’t signed up to the Budget responsibility pledge? Joyce and all his media flunkies would have had a field day, and the various economists who spoke up against the fictional $11.8 billion hole would have been entirely on their side. There’s no way in the world they would have been elected – they were already under attack on the issue of financial management and it would have buried them.
Once elected, a u-turn on this would be an absolute betrayal and a nail in the coffin of the new government. Governments are accountable to the people who elect them and the people are entitled to know their true intentions.
As for PPPs, I was really glad to know that one of the first announcements of the new Health Minister was that the rebuild of Dunedin Hospital is going ahead without one. I’m glad to see the list of areas that are now out of bounds. Better than we would have had under the Nats!
“Better than we would have had under the Nats!”
Couldnt agree more and your point re the attack pre election is noted though I suspect much the same outcome could have been achieved if the need for extending borrowing for infrastructure and transition had been promoted.
As for a u turn…..meh, could the Nats and MSM be much more disruptive than they have been to date?….there has been ample uncovered to justify a move away from the 20% target, and IF off balance sheet bonds are used the same attacks will come in any case
I just hope the plan IS to raise additional capital(off balance sheet if they must)..and not continue an austerity till collapse programme.
Very good comment there Red.
Labour said it was Arderns generations nuclear free moment so Robertson has hamstrung his own Party’s intention to address that?
Poverty was a Green priority from pre election campaign, through the campaign and beyond. As a Party which garnered 6% of the vote they will be pleased to see the Families Package and rewinding of sanctions on not naming fathers going through so soon.
I do not know why some are so disappointed in the Greens because they do not believe in wagging the dog and some core policy ( albeit not as far as they campaigbed)
Well, quite frankly, fuckit.
Coroner beats head against brick wall trying to save another child from the fate suffered by Nia and Moko.
Calls for, again mind, tracking of children so obvious red flags can be seen and action taken to save a child.
New Children’s Minister, (in a fit of what? sensitivity for her righter winged constituents?) says….
” “I don’t think [compulsory monitoring is] something that most New Zealanders would be comfortable with”.
“My initial conversations with colleagues reflect a similar view. While every child’s death is a tragedy and there are far too many, thankfully they are still rare. Most families are loving families,” she said.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11959003
Now come on…if compulsory monitoring of all children, (and it doesn’t have to be Gestapo like) will save a single child from death by someone in loco parentis and save many more from abuse and petty fucking neglect then I say bring it on.
Sensitivities be damned.
If ALL children are expected to be seen by Plunket, doctors etc and questions asked and support offered if this is not happening, it will become apparent quite early those children who seriously need this level of monitoring.
Must do better Tracey…you’re no longer on the campaign trail, you’re in…make the most of the opportunity to get this finally right.
Rosemary I agree with you that this Government should get this right and I agree with the Children’s Commissioner that this register idea is a step too far.
A children”s register is an authoritarian move and the potential for abuse of such a register is unlimited. Nearly all children are seen now – the problem is the under funding and excessive workload of the appropriate agencies once children are referred.
While recognising that we have a serious child abuse problem in this country a band aid with fascist overtones is not the solution.
Realistically there is no single magic bullet solution but I suspect that the families package announced yesterday will help and hope that other ideas and initiatives will come to the fore over the next wee while.
“the problem is the under funding and excessive workload of the appropriate agencies once children are referred. ”
Agree 100%. Address this and so much will fall into place.
Hang on a minute…did you read the article I linked to?
Moko didn’t die because there was no funding and there was an excessive workload…he died because those who were being funded to support…and I struggle to use the ‘families’ in this case…households such as this failed to take the appropriate steps to save his life.
Why? God knows…the warning signs were all there and the agencies knew and for some reason…and I suspect some misplaced sensitivities…no one put their foot down demanded to see all the children in the household and check on their welfare.
Or did you read the other article linked to in that article?
Agencies involved with Moko…
Child Youth and Family, the Auckland DHB, the Maori Women’s Welfare Refuge, the Waipahihi Kindergarten, Family Works, as well as the Rural Education Activities Programme.
But not one of them actually did their job and ensured the safety of all the children in that household.
Why? Poor training? Lack of authority? Absence of some mechanism to facilitate direct investigation and immediate intervention is there is a suspicion that a child is at risk.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11915525
“Fascist overtones”…wtf?
Such a pity that some would rather have a dead child than an authority figure step in…
Yes I read it. I also know a large number of social workers. All have great hearts, huge workloads, poor resources…
Did you miss comment 14.2?
If a child has come under the Lens of a government agency I would like to think we put resource into the education of the parent/carer while constantly ensuring the child is safe. It sounds like the Minister is appeasing someone/someones? Why?
“If ALL children are expected to be seen by Plunket, doctors etc”…
No
Good old counter propaganda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlpCwgXivBk&ab_channel=TeleSUREnglish
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/12/where-not-to-swim-this-summer-beaches-and-swimming-spots-too-dirty-to-swim-in.html
The article lists above 32 spots plus many more at a cautionary level.
Most I don’t know but the list includes places where I have swum as man and boy- Coes Ford on the Selwyn River, Lake Hayes and Lake Tekapo.
What a headline for a clean, green New Zealand.
No wonder a British paper described NZ as likened to a beautiful woman with cancer.
Yes we are entering a serious stage of being labeled as a dirty country now sadly, after nine years of National mishandling of our environment and national must now be blamed globally for their foolish deception of using “profit first without preservation.”
I’m glad you spotted the lack of reference as to who is to blame. You are right, of course. Nine long years……. etc.
After less than two months in office, such issues lie with other than the present government.
I am angry that such a legacy, having been handed on from the days of my youth and young manhood, is now so besmirched.
I do place great faith and hope in this Green-Labour- NZF government. So much important work to be done.
Harvey Weinstein told him not to hire two young women, so he obeyed:
The spineless “Sir” Peter Jackson slithers back into our consciousness.
You may have thought the nadir of “Sir” Peter Jackson’s career came on Q+A in 2010 when he sat, cringing and obviously uncomfortable, occasionally forcing himself to parrot the brutal anti-union rhetoric of his Warner Brothers paymasters, and then squirming uncomfortably, in a fretful silence, as Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh did all the talking.
Now it transpires he was not just a slave to Warner Brothers’ lawyers, but also to Harvey Weinstein….
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/99885932/sir-peter-jackson-breaks-silence-on-harvey-weinstein
Possibly a case of outing yourself before somebody else does.
Awe, don’t be mean Morrissey – your just jealous. Think of all the good he’s done!
A true philanthropist. A humble man who has pulled himself up by the bootstraps and put NuZull on the global stage.
I mean……Bats Theatre – think of all those poor starving actors and actorines he’s given opportunity to. The increase in property values on the Miramar Penninsular.
The lookalike Hollywood sign – truly inspirational and fostering aspiration amongst our up and coming yoof. His contribution to arts’n’kulcha makes him a true hero – the likes of which we have not seen since Sir Edmund, or Sir John, or Dame Kurry Prendisgust and sidekick Rex, and to all those hardworking people he’s given so much sprayshun to. Why the haughty soon2b Sir Krus Seatoun Heights might have to issue you with an admonishment tackling you over your obvious bitterness. (It really isn’t a good look doncha know)
And then think of all those industries he’s helped while building his reputation! The IT sector.
You do know don’t you, that Sir Peter is actually really, really down with the people and peons, and has an undying love of all the minions that have contributed to building his empire. I know people who’d be prepared to lick the pavement clean before he puts a step on it!
What’s wrong with you man!!! I suspect it’s just envy and your inability (and desire) to reach the heights of beloved SPete . How dare you judge that icon who symbolises everything that’s put NuZull on the Whurl stage (going forward).
I’m forever indebted to the humble SPete to be be able to live in the same space (Wellington and its environs).
(/sarc)
Sorry, Sir Peter, that irrefutable rundown of your inestimable goodness and humanity means that I shall now—to quote the great Tauranga M.P. Robert “Bob” Clarkson—withdraw and apologize….
http://cdn-webimages.wimages.net/0519f1e4f65e2f717231c0244a3f45de7c3e6c.jpg?v=3
You mean Bob Clarkson former MP…….the wacko, dribbling, multi-millionaire exemplar of inhumanity whose reaction in our parliament to the death of Mrs Folole Muliaga was to screechingly and repeatedly interject – “She didn’t pay her bill !” as though that was a sufficient moral explanation. Emailed him to express my disgust…….some staffer emailed back “sorry sorry”. BS. Not sorry at all. Just covering his own vileness.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/640942/Cutting-power-a-factor-in-Muliaga-death
Yes, North, the very same Bob Clarkson. That’s very interesting, to hear that he actually said something in the House. As far as I was aware, all he ever did was try to hit on young females, Trump style. Or any females, come to think of it.
In fact, I’m working on a little script involving the old goat right now. Keep your eyes peeled in the next few days, my friend….
http://walltoshare.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1422028753417_wm.jpg
Thanks Morrissey.
As soon as I can find my crystals, I’ll pop down to Courtenay Place and kneel under that wonderful 4 legged edifice, face the Embassy Theatre, and beg your forgiveness for any offence your selfishness and envy may have caused.
We should always remember our place.
“sprayshun”
‘Larious
Morrissey
I hope you have managed to buy a house. It will probably be the biggest and most complex financial transaction you ever make. If you built it also, that is complex, but not a spot on swinging a huge financial deal and technical marvel that Sir Peter Jackson did. It is funny to hear so many criticise Sir Peter unmercifully. You are good at criticising from your keyboard and your small projects. You have no idea of the weight of mega bucks and executive decisions required to make these films in New Zealand. He may not have behaved as fairly as he should, but he shouldn’t be demonised either.
aGREED. But I’ve yet to see him atone.
A bit of a pathetic effort today in relation to Harvey W. But then we’re all so bloody perfect eh?
And that weight of megabucks must be something truly horrible to have to endure.
Jackson made some really good movies—long ago. But, as we saw when he presented as a shambling embarrassment in that Q+A debacle, he sold his conscience to Hollywood, and he is well aware of it. Save your admiration for someone who deserves it.
Morrissey has no problems acquiring property.
Harvey Weinstein told him not to hire two young women, so he obeyed:
Gosh, what a surprise – the story you refer to bears no relation to your description of it.
That’s what happened, though, is it not? He caved to Harvey Weinstein like he caved to Warner Brothers and Stephen Joyce.
Roy Moore continues to deliver gloriously nutso moments. FFS, even the White adult daycare House thinks he should have conceded by now. But no, Moore delivers a delightfully bonkers “battle rages on” statement.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/14/16777786/white-house-roy-moore-alabama-concede
Of course, Alex Jones has to take it to a whole ‘nother level.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alex-jones-roy-moore-conspiracy-theory_us_5a32a17ee4b00dbbcb5b97ec?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Then if you take one of the conspiracy theories and work out the logistics of actually making it happen …
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alabama-election-conspiracy-theory_us_5a321692e4b01bdd7659f2ce
Yep Andre. I watched the Moore video where he will fight on. I expect that a deeply religious man like him will have god on his side and therefore the votes will do a magnificent Russian flip giving Moore a 90% majority. Let us pray.
From the ‘thank god its Friday and we all deserve a laugh’ file…
Who will speak up for them now Mike is gone????
(Hankies optional)
“Mike Hosking fought for the luxury European car owner. He fought for the dispossessed of Orakei and St Heliers. He provided a voice for the wearers of distressed denim and funky blazers. Without him, Mark Richardson stands alone and lonely atop his mountain, a sole sane speaker of truth amid a sea of bloody pinko lefties.
Labour gets in here, and completely coincidentally, Hosking and Leighton are gone. You didn’t need Ken Ring around to predict a painful two years ahead for Mike.
Lots of time to be wasted, fiddling with your pen and providing sad-faced links to stories about Labour policies on doing nice things for the homeless and beneficiaries and children would have been tough when he could have been vacuuming his car or doing at-home spreads for Woman’s Day.”
More here….
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/99891844/mike-hosking-gone-time-for-european-car-drivers-to-unite
Once he takes all his Dysons home with him, what will happen to the state of the housekeeping at TVNZ?
He’ll still be on the radio, right? I mean, if he’s not around at all we’d lose Like Mike too and that really would be a loss.
I watched the programme with Mike and Miss Personality tonight from start to finish for the first time ever. What a cringeworthy load of kaka with the exception of the guys offering a serenade.
AS Mike fought back tears, I half expected John Hawkesby to come on set and tell us how thankful he was to have Mike as his sonny-bro.
What a complete load of self-indulgent crap.
Who is Miss Personality btw?
Never mind…. I just googled her. All over tomorrow’s fish and chip wrappers
Farrar has stooped to an all time low by posting an ‘anonymous letter from a reader’ casting even further aspersions on Golriz Ghahraman’s career.
What?
Were his rating falling and he had to come up with a scheme to incite the pack of racist misogynists who dwell there into a fervour of comment and click?
A truly pathetic effort there Farrar, and you call yourself an “Editor”.
Wow. Just wow.
Tories get cranky when they miss their lunch. Long may an opposition of this calibre last lol.
I did laugh. Those who bemoan lack of work ethic in others couldnt wait for lunch. Shoulda taken sammies in with them given they knew they were going to delay the hell out of proceedings.
ISTR a similar story about lunches from a mines dispute decades ago. The argument that went to court was whether the miners’ half hour lunch break should start when they left the face or when they left the pit mouth. There was much discussion about how long the workers deserved, then the judge called a break in proceedings for lunch: two hours.
It would be funny if it werent true
Tories’ attitudes to other people’s lunchtimes got even worse than that: Blackball miners sacked for refusing to accept 15-minute lunch break in 10-hour work day. Easy to picture Jami-Lee Ross or Rimmer doing the sackings then settling down to a nice long lunch break with food delivered by servants.
If you think Freudian slip, what made Laura Walters fingers say this:
National’s protestations were likely more an effort to delay the passing of the Government’s Families Package Bill, than a bout of hanger.
To me I think of those undisciplined school boys in the Gnat Party needing a ‘hanging’ judge.
Maybe they should be hung up on the tiled walls of the men’s room to cool down.
Perhaps hung from a nice pillory or, if budget constraints limit, a set of stocks outside where the public could show their feelings for them.
Yes poor Jami lee Ross the wee petal. It looks like the low wage, union busting, zero hour, employment contracts act National party doesn’t walk the talk on work ethic.
Always nice for the public to see what real hypocrites look like.
I refrained from attacking the ferrari man to much after all he is human and he toned it down a bit but one could read that he wanted to trash our Coalition Government. Did you see what happened on breakfast this morning that was when Jack mentioned someone’s career that was ________ funny I got a sore face.
I had a good day yesterday oil changed the truck got the vacuum cleaner fixed just about fix it myself the things to old to see how to open it up on youtube so I took it to Turnbuckle Electrical on Amohia st Vags they gave me excellent service Ka pai.
I’m battling one of our computers it the main one with all my business files and files on you no who I think they gave it a hand to crash Iv had help from my coder uncle I took the hard drive out put it in a external drive case I’m just scanning it at the moment because we are minimalistic I will fix the old laptop if I can load all the data on another hard drive and load Windows 10 back then reload all the data if not new computer they are cheap now. When my children were young I spent $10.000 on computers for them to play games on most of the educational games did not run my wife typed up a few letters for a friend whom had a bone to pick with a district council. But the investment payed off because we all have at least basic computer skills Thanks to my uncle influence Ka pai
When I took my computer into the computer shop and met PREBLE and Gissymo they want to keep my computer YEA RIGHT eco didn’t drop out the sky yesterday they could have said it was _____ so today it’s going again all good Ana to kai
The mokos have arrived so much for getting the paper work dune my little blue eyes is here to they keep a smile on my face Kia kaha
Have a good weekend with the whānau em 🙂