And immediately below is a load of misleading trash (courtesy of James) from a Tory leaning lackey which serves to uphold the findings of the fake advertising claims.
The lying bastards who put it about that Corbyn was anti-semitic may have had some influence on the result, but I still think the major reason for Labour's loss was the fact that Corbyn was insufficiently pro brexit. Unfortunately for him, I think, too many of his caucus were pro EU while too many from Labour's natural support base were pro brexit.
And didn’t he do a good job at that. A glorious crushing defeat with even some of his own MP’s calling him an anti-Semite (but hey they know the guy – you read papers and blogs so would know better)
I think the right wing, 3rd way aficionados, within the Labour establishment harbour a lot of antipathy towards him. But even so the party has achieved better results with him leading it than were achieved by either Gordon Brown or Ed Millibrand before him ( 32% in 2019, as opposed to 29% and 30% respectively; and that doesn't take into account the exceptionally good result in 2017). I suspect that he might even have won last Thursday had it not been for his party's poor handling of the brexit issue.
That UK election should be the last time anyone in the English speaking with a real chance at national leadership campaigns on mass nationalization, huge taxes and otherwise full-on socialism (I'm sure it won't stop them trying).
Even the social democratic governments such as ourselves are getting very rare around the world.
We need to treat social democratic governments like national parks: there to protect threatened species of policy surviving from a once-grand world.
Keep appeasing the far Right and in 20 years you'll be congratulating yourself on keeping a public health system, and 20 years after that it will be gone.
If you cut past all the bluff and bluster, I think the fact is, that the Brits wanted a middle class lifestyle, and if war, privatisation and austerity were the prices to pay for it (as well as the most vulnerable to be screwed over, so be it.
Under MMP Corbyn would be PM now…..Corbyn would have been PM in 2017 but for incredibly bad luck when Ruth Davidson campaigned so well for the Scottish Conservatives and won so many seats from the SNP which have now almost all returned to the SNP.
Scotland will vote to leave/secede from the UK and stay in the European Union. Ireland will unify. Boris will preside over the break-up of the UK….some triumph that. But then we all remember him as being the worst Foreign Secretary the UK has ever had.
Thanks BG that is a wonderful article and makes perfect sense with what I have been reading for months – years? It finishes the jig-saw and I can see the pattern outlined clearly through the fog, or are they my tears?
.
mikesh
"I still think the major reason for Labour's loss was the fact that Corbyn was insufficiently pro brexit. "
I didn't understand how you could state that so firmly, as the whole approach seemed to be about not revealing Corbyn's direction and compass points. But definition and understanding of the actual situation comes to me from Luke Goodall's Sky News extract from BG link:
Jeremy Corbyn has quietly committed the Labour Party to everything Remainers wanted and were calling for only a few months ago: a government which would extend Article 50, then go to the country pledging a referendum on Britain’s exit deal, with Remain on the ballot paper.
“Mr Corbyn had no end of political slurry deposited on his head for refusing to make such a commitment hitherto. You might think that those same people who were pouring it would be jubilant. Yet their response was curiously muted.”
And the difficulties for Labour exponents were outlined by the writer on The Consciousness of Sheep (see Facebook):
Put simply, in order to form a government in the UK parliament, Labour must win back its traditional working class support in those constituencies that delivered the biggest margins in favour of leaving the EU. However, the activists that Labour needs to get out on the doorsteps to win these constituencies tend to be fervently pro-EU. To come out in support of either position is to lose the supporters of the other, and thus to cede power to the Tories; who will inevitably deliver the worst Brexit settlement of all. Labour’s only hope is to fudge their Brexit policy until the next election is won.”
Classic “it’s them against us!” socialism just doesn’t speak to as many people as it used to.
Labour people want to talk about malign oligarchs conspiring against them for personal gain, and it sounds increasingly like conspirowhacky stuff from the more tinfoil hat wearing recesses of the internet. Labour people talk about moral duties to fight climate change, fight imperialism, fight islamophobia, and people more worried about layoffs at work are left scratching their head and wondering WHY is this what labour cares about now?
And then they see anyone who questions the new priorities getting rounded on and called the most vile names. It's not the behaviour of a team that people want to be a part of, it's not what people want to see from the government.
There’s also a really distasteful saviour complex in evidence. Labour has become the party of trendy liberal elites with degrees, who expect the simple worker bees to trust in their goodness and greatness and keep on voting for the old Labour brand, even as Labour is focussing more and more on esoteric woke issues with little relevance to those whose main concern is keeping their jobs.
John Key tapped into this, for every left person who “didn’t trust him” there were 1.2 people who reminded him of a good boss or a successful colleague, and he made people want to get on his team. Corbyn’s rhetoric is just loser, victim, misery, grievance, and that’s a hard sell. So far Jacinda Ardern appears to have learned some of Key’s lessons well in that regard.
[You appear to be new here, although you look familiar, and you may have missed the instructional guidelines in the OP. Moving this to OM until I know whom we’re dealing with]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Malign oligarchs like Murdoch certainly exist and their activities go a long way to explain the kind of wretched plonkers who become UK conservatives & NZ Gnat MPs.
"There is no doubt that a wave of automation is about to be unleashed on economies worldwide.
In fact, the impact of automation on the labor market has become more of a political issue now than it ever has, with its impact on the labor force being cited as one of the main causes for the election of leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, according to a new Bloomberg op-ed by Ferdinando Giugliano.
How did we get here? London School of Economics professor Anne Applebaum, writing in this month’s Atlantic, traces the collapse of the Republican Party into Russia’s arms to Pat Buchanan, ironically a former aide to Russia-hater Richard Nixon.
Buchanan's books “Death of a Superpower” and “The Death of the West” described America’s descent into “a sexual revolution of easy divorce, rampant promiscuity, pornography, homosexuality, feminism, abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, assisted suicide — the displacement of Christian values by Hollywood values.” Applebaum writes that “Buchanan has come to admire the Russian president because he is ‘standing up for traditional values against Western cultural elites.’”
Applebaum has also published on 'red famine' and 'gulag'. One can't argue with history, but it could be described less emotively and put in broader context.
One could argue that rampant hyper-individualism coupled with no-bounds hedonism and so-called personal freedom and responsibility has led to a leading principle of Western culture that more or less prescribes that it is ok to fuck oneself and screw over others. In other words, what people do in their own home is their own personal business and nobody else’s, least of all the State’s. If they want to use drugs, own MSSAs, go online to read/consume whatever filth they can find, spew any kind of filth online (freedom of speech) or in public places (AKA places paid for by tax- and/or rate-payers), et cetera, they should be allowed to do so because it is their human right and freedom. The so-called free market principle goes lock-step with this because nobody is forced to accept any transaction and if they do, it is caveat emptor. This extends to externalisation as well as screwing over the environment because this is virtually defenceless. This behaviour even intrudes into the sex lives of some where boundaries of acceptance and consent have become even more blurry. At least, that seems to be the reasoning of some. The apparent moral conservatism of the leadership in Russia, China, and Singapore, to name a few, is a logical reaction to this decay but is it the answer?
… improvise speeches in a second language. But of course I apologise if anyone misunderstood this. I can not enough express the fact that I – as well as the entire school strike movement- are against any possible form of violence. It goes without saying but I say it anyway.
SV SYNONYMS FOR STANDING AGAINST THE WALL
Found 5 synonyms in 1 groups
1Meaning: interrogation
interview the wall against exam exam grill question
Synonyms for posing
Latest news reports coming out from Madrid Spain is that the COP25 talks have stalled.
…..Most countries agreed on the guidelines, and negotiators have been reluctant to name the holdouts. But on Friday, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Costa Rica’s minister for energy and environment, called out the United States, Brazil, and Australia as the parties thwarting closure on the issue.
The UN COP negotiations are reminiscent of the League of Nations negotiations over German and Italian fascist aggression in Europe and North Africa, which also stalled over lack of international agreement and commitment..
What is required to break this international deadlock is unilateral action from at least one country.
It's called leadership.
In my opinion one country, this country, is better placed than many others to take this lead.
All politics is pressure.
Our close geographical, political, cultural and historical links to one of the bigger hold outs, Australia, makes us well place to set an example that couldn't be ignored across the Tasman.
Even inside our parliament there is deadlock from taking decisive binding action.
This parliamentary deadlock is reminiscent of the deadlock inside the British Parliament over German aggression. One back bench MP who who had won his seat as an independent as the only MP for his Constitutional Party, this minority of one, refused to keep quiet and decried the fascist threat at every chance.
Its called leadership.
In my opinion one party, the Green Party, is better placed than even Churchill was to take this lead.
More confused than romantic. The GP, operating as a minority of one in parliament, leading by constantly decrying the global warming threat? The average voter: `yeah, we know already, tell us something new'.
"What is required to break this international deadlock is unilateral action from at least one country. It's called leadership. In my opinion one country, this country, is better placed than many others to take this lead… Our close geographical, political, cultural and historical links to one of the bigger hold outs, Australia, makes us well place to set an example that couldn't be ignored across the Tasman."
Aussies normally ignore our examples. Why would they suddenly do a u-turn and get in behind? She wants "decisive binding action" and is suggesting the Greens will produce that by breaking ranks with the coalition govt, taking a dissident public stand. Even if they do that while waving a Greta Thunberg doll threateningly at the other parties, I don't see how other countries would get bound into decisive action on climate change as a logical consequence.
I recall there was a lot of criticism of David Skilling a decade ago when he suggested New Zealand should be "fast followers" in climate change response.
This outcome in Spain is horrifying.
But if New Zealand had tried to be more of a global leader in this diplomatic area, this kind of massive diplomatic failure shows we would have become as exposed to international great power retaliation as we have been for decades since we deregulated into free trade in the late 1980s. Maybe Skilling was right.
"But Mr Meyer commented: "The latest version of the Paris Agreement decision text put forward by the Chilean presidency is totally unacceptable. It has no call for countries to enhance the ambition of their emissions reduction commitments.
"If world leaders fail to increase ambition in the lead up to next year's climate summit in Glasgow, they will make the task of meeting the Paris Agreement's well below 2C temperature limitation goal – much less the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal – almost impossible."
There are 10,000 undocumented leaks in Wellington since the earthquake. I'm on a few boards so I know this. It is not public knowledge as they cannot find them. The same issue as buildings which are still unsafe and slowly being made public as to not scare anyone.
It's amazing what's being hidden from everyday people.
Labour MP Neil Coyle reports after campaigning in his Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency: “There were people who said they knew Boris Johnson was a liar and a cheat but they still preferred him over our leader."
"He and his team talked to 10,000 people during the campaign and kept a record of what each of them said. The two reasons most often given by those who decided against Labour were its policy on Brexit and dislike of the leader. “Dislike of Corbyn came top,” added Coyle, who was one of the Labour survivors on election night. He retained his south London seat with a big – though reduced – majority."
"Journalists who went on the campaign trail were struck constantly by the force of anti-Corbyn feeling on doorsteps." So, if Boris is a populist, Jeremy is an unpopulist. I thought he seemed reasonable & well-intentioned, but that could be due to the distance effect. Exposure up close may be informing the Brits about his defects.
"One Labour MP told me on Friday morning, after details of Labour’s catastrophic defeat were known: “We all knew what was coming, just not quite how bad it would be. We didn’t want to allow the Corbynistas and Momentum to blame us and point the finger at us afterwards, so there had to be an unspoken agreement to deny it.”"
"The Observer’s pollsters Opinium have revealed their own analysis of the reasons people rejected Labour: 43% cited the leadership, 17% its policy on Brexit, and 12% its economic policies. Among Labour defectors – those who voted Labour in 2017 but didn’t this time – 37% mentioned the leadership, 21% Brexit and 6% its economic policies."
This antipathy effect looks very widespread, and Jeremy could be pioneering unpopulism as an influential political trend. Charisma deficit only part of the prescription. I suspect the key syndrome is leftist arrogance: `the people need to think like me, as I keep telling them’.
I'm still of the view that the 'dislike of Corbyn' was a reaction to the enormously successful campaign waged against him by personal and political opponents, media opponents and of course the ultra-conservative British establishment.
I took time out in recent weeks to listen to some of his media interviews and he came across as a reasonable, mild mannered person who talked a lot of sense – the antithesis of how he has been portrayed. In today's political climate, such individuals are regarded as weak, indecisive, verging on communist ideology (which is utter nonsense), and they must be banished from ever gaining control of the treasury benches. It is power by the few over the many – just like our perennial political enemies, Russia, China et al – and the ultimate outcome is much the same.
Michael Joseph Savage would not have lasted five minutes in today's climate, which is an indication of the depths of dishonesty, deceit and thuggish behaviour western societies are now engaging in.
I agree. It's a question of the extent to which voters form impressions in accord with the intent of media manipulation. I had a professional career crafting such propaganda so I have an insider's view of how it works on the psyche.
Despite that I reported the summation due to getting a sense that the role played by perception of him was having a substantial grass-roots effect, and there seemed a likelihood that some kind of shakespearean character flaw was operating, causing mass resonance in the UK electorate.
You are so right. The worst thing is, the chances of anything that is remotely left leaning have just evaporated right before our very eyes. Sanders/Warren's chances in the USA have just been tossed out the window, and AOC is probably going to be a one term wonder. Medicare for All is going to be off the table in the USA for at least a generation. Even Jacinda and her team will be a lot more cautious going into 2020.
Corbyn completely fucked the left. That will be his legacy for the Labour Party.
Next time the Blairites are accused of straying too far from the party's roots, they will throw this right in our faces.
Yet they forced Corbyn into a pro Remain position, did they not know this would cost them seats, or did they not care while Corbyn was there to take the blame?
Labour last the confidence of the working class. Both a mixture of long memory ie globalization and jobs cuts,and the inability to reduce unfettered competition (read immigration)
Over the last few elections Labour’s advantage over the Tories in English working class constituencies resembles a ladder that has been slowly falling over. It is now pretty much flat on the floor. With @p_surridge@GoodwinMJ and Dave Cutts pic.twitter.com/bYTbdN1X9m
Arguing that universal super approach has reduced old age poverty, then advocating the end of that to afford universal support to reduce child poverty is asking a few questions about the logic of the proponents (the reduction in old age poverty was in fact prior home ownership or access to state housing and the availability of an aged based retirement income).
Lower rates of home ownership and the current lack of state housing is changing this dynamic.
There is also unaddressed poverty among
those unable to work 18-65 (because of disability and living on $270 a week without home ownership)
those unable to work on SB (not eligible for ACC),
those over 55 finding jobs hard to find.
sole parents because of low benefits (paying back grant out of benefits when TD is not paid back while income is that low) and high abatement regimes
working poverty caused by high rent costs
That said I do want more resources into health and education (more and better paid staff) and state housing as a focus for government with its finite resources.
But I can agree in better targeted income support by reducing super cost and transferring it to those in need. Means testing is one way to do this, and most of those who work past the age of 65 have no need for super.
Agree with all but means testing. Super, family support, unemployment benefit and disability should be as of right and universal.
Targeting is inefficient expensive and often inconsistent.
Asset testing causes Poverty traps when people have to sell built up assets, to get welfare. I remember the builder who had to sell his site caravan.
It is another attack on workers in favour of tax dodging, capital gains tax earners.
Welfare should be on personal position. As in Germany, unemployment as of right and retraining for another job, is regardless of assets, and previous employment..
We do it here with ACC. Payments do not depend on assets, but on income. Though payments should have an upper ceiling for really high incomes.
By all means claw most of it back on high incomes with a higher progressive, tax rate.
Anyone claiming to be "left" advocating means testing of super is a fool.
The only reason we still have it, is because the rich get it too.
If you want your grandchildren to still have super available, don't give the right wing an incentive to get rid of it. Which is inevitable, if they can offer tax cuts, by removing something the rich no longer have an interest in.
You see the same effect with private school users, happy to defund, and destroy, State schools, because it doesn't affect, them.
Macron the French President spells out EU requirements in English for Boorish's and his rag-tag gypsies, benefit.
“If the British prime minister and the British parliament want an ambitious trade deal, they know where the European standards are … The more they are attracted to reducing standards – on climate, social standards or anything else – the more they walk away from the European market, the more they will be away from us. The more ambitious the trade deal, the more we need regulatory harmonisation."
The National Party wants to fine cyclists who don't use cycle lanes.
How ridiculous. Next they will announce it would be policed by a Strike Force Raptor division comprising of Young Nats riding tricycles with flashing lights on their heads.
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So, the Hit and Run inquiry has reported back, and found some appalling shit at NZDF and NZSIS. And while they quibble a few of the details - the name of a dead child - they basicly uphold Hager and Stephenson's version of events. The SAS went to those villages. ...
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...
Michelle Boag - LeakerThe Heron report (PDF) was released yesterday, and it was a bit disappointing to say the least. It correctly found that former National Party president Michelle Boag and National Party MP Hamish Walker were politically motivated in leaking peoples private medical information, but didn’t look further into ...
Adam Smith, Massey UniversityA recent global assessment of shark populations at 371 coral reefs in 58 countries found no sharks at almost 20% of reefs and alarmingly low numbers at many others. The study, which involved over 100 scientists under the Global FinPrint project, gave New Zealand a good ...
On different trajectories and from different ends of the political spectrum, last night’s One News/Colmar Brunton poll has the Green Party and ACT converging around the five percent mark. And, as odd as it may sound, they head into the election campaign with a lot in common.Putting the Greens and ...
Janet Stephenson, University of OtagoA proposed multibillion-dollar project to build a pumped hydro storage plant could make New Zealand’s electricity grid 100% renewable, but expensive new infrastructure may not be the best way to achieve this. New Zealand’s electricity generation is already around 80% renewable, with just over half ...
Truth In Advertising: Labour, it would seem, is the party that knows nothing about running the economy right up until the moment that it does. HOW DID LABOUR acquire its reputation for being a poor economic manager? As with most things political and historical, it’s a long story.In the beginning, the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Government rulemakers looking to decide how much money to spend to avoid adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere need a good estimate of what a warming climate will cost in social damages, for example through more extreme weather events. That point makes ...
Below is the list of gender-critical material which appeared on Redline from October 1, 2019 to October 31, 2019. Rainbow Tick threatens to pull Massey’s tick if lesbians are allowed to speak Freer Lives – a gender-critical Marxist site Freer Lives on Violence, debate and Britain’s Gender Recognition Act British ...
Fact Check: New Zealand’s own relationship with China might, however, be salvageable if our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was willing to equip its minister, Winston Peters, with a few facts. Legislating for the protection of national security – the very action our Foreign Minister is decrying – ...
I hope we can all agree that charging only certain returning expats for isolation costs is the right call. Instead of a blanket fee, which may have resulted in a small number of Kiwis deciding not to return home because of financial reasons, the Government has chosen to implement a ...
Back at the beginning of this government, the Greens made a foolish decision to support the Electoral Integrity Act - demanded by Winston Peters to keep his own backbench in line as part of his coalition deal with Labour - as an act of good faith within the coalition. It ...
SATURDAY AUGUST 1Artefact (Prime, 7.30pm). The series presented by Dame Anne Salmond screened on Māori Television, but is totally worth revisiting if you saw it the first time. Dame Anne tells the stories of taonga that highlight the history of Aotearoa. Further reading: this 2013 interview with Dame Anne by the lovely ...
Have unions and the Government sold workers short with their attempt at fixing the so-called “Hobbit Law”? Unionist Ian Powell argues that the union movement has been outmanoeuvered, and the Government has agreed to a new piece of anti-worker legislation that retains the principles of the previous National Government’s hated ...
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source:Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ...
An article in the EETimes suggests that advances in autonomous vehicles are not moving as quickly as expected because those working on them have confused complicated problems with complex ones. Engineering can only take you so far in complex worlds. Complicated systems tend to have fairly predictable inputs, processes and outputs. Complex systems (like ...
Last week, after Judith Collins announced that National would be cruel and vicious to kiwis caught overseas by the pandemic, and rob them at the border if they returned home, Labour looked like it was falling all over itself to cry "me too". But now, it looks like kindness has ...
We've announced that we will expand the Flexi-wage programme to support up to 40,000 more people into work, or to help them start their own business. It's yet another way we're helping keep our economy moving by getting people into work and training. Read on to find out more ...
Business subsidy of on average $7500, and up to $22,000, to hire unemployed New ZealandersUp to 40,000 jobs to be supported by $311 million investment in keeping New Zealanders off the unemployment benefitRing-fenced fund to help unemployed start their own business ...
This week was the last of the 52nd Parliament: a major milestone for our Government and a great opportunity to look back at all the progress we've made for New Zealanders. This week, we increased support for businesses to take on apprentices, improved access to hospital care in Northland, and ...
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...
On 1 August, we marked the anniversary of Jacinda Ardern becoming the Leader of the Labour Party. On that day in 2017, Leader Andrew Little nominated Jacinda Ardern to succeed him and lead the party to victory.Now, three years on, we look back at some of the key moments ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Government is stepping up action to deal with environmentally harmful products – including plastic packaging, tyres and e-waste – before they become waste. ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Law changes to end tenure review and provide for better management of Crown pastoral lands in the South Island high country were considered by Parliament today with the first reading of the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill says Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party have secured legislative amendments in a bill expected to pass third reading this week, to ensure better rules for school teachers and staff, so they can de-escalate children with diverse needs and cognitive differences, such as autism, rather than using unnecessary and often traumatising force. ...
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says.Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has ridiculed the National Party "circus", with the politician saying it was in "chaos" after the resignation of another MP.Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon announced on Monday he would retire from politics after he allegedly sent inappropriate pornographic images to a young woman. Following a ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today outlined what he saw as the requirements to re-open New Zealand's borders for tourists and travellers. If New Zealand was dealing solely with an Australian state such as Tasmania, we wouldn't need a vaccine, said Mr Peters, but these moves were complicated by the ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants. Mr Peters told reporters on Wednesday said that he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to. He said he ...
Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprise and New Zealand First List MP Shane Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new NZ Post "super depot" in Wellington. The state-owned postal service, which got $280 million from the Coalition Government last month, is expanding its operations to handle surging parcel volumes. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYIntroduction Good afternoon. Welcome to you all here today and party supporters watching from around the country. We appreciate your hard work keeping New Zealand First strong; thank you for keeping the faith. Sixty-three days out from Election Day, ...
The diversity of conservation boards around Aotearoa is increasing with 47 appointments to 14 of the 15 conservation boards across New Zealand announced today by the Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. ...
A pest free Banks Peninsula/Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū is one step closer with a $5.11 million boost to accelerate this project and create jobs, announced Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage in Canterbury today. “This is a game changer for this ambitious project to restore the native wildlife and plants on Ōtautahi/Christchurch’s doorstep ...
A Government grant of $6.4 million will expand the Pettigrew Arena in Taradale with new indoor courts of national standard. “The project is likely to take 18 months with approximately 300 people employed through the process,” Grant Robertson said. “The expansion will increase the indoor court space up to 11 ...
The Far North tourist destination of Mangonui is to receive Government funding to improve waterfront infrastructure, open up access to the harbour and improve water quality, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. A total of $6.5 million from the $3 billion set aside in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund ...
The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to supporting the hosting of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which the ICC has delayed from 2021 to 2022. “This is obviously a disappointing decision for cricket players and fans around the world and for the White Ferns and their supporters here at ...
Cyclists and walkers will now have a safer way to get around Taupō, Tūrangi, and between Hamilton and Cambridge, with funding for shared paths and Te Awa River Ride, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. “The Te Awa River Ride is the latest part of massive growth ...
Six major cycle routes will be completed in Christchurch thanks to funding from the Government’s investment in shovel-ready infrastructure as part of the COVID-19 recovery Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. $125 million will be invested to kick-start construction and fund the completion of the following cycleway ...
Plans are underway for a brand new state-of-the-art hub for Whanganui’s justice and social agencies, following confirmation the ageing Whanganui Central Police Station is to be replaced. Police Minister Stuart Nash has announced $25 million in new infrastructure spending to improve facilities for the wider community, and for staff who ...
An adjustment payment has been made to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu under the relativity mechanisms in their 1995 and 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The latest payments to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu are $2,700,000 and $2,600,000 respectively to ensure the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off the start of the Auckland NZ Upgrade Programme rail projects which will support over 400 jobs and help unlock our biggest city. Both ministers marked the start of enabling works on the third main rail line project ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $3.78 million in Wairoa will create much needed economic stimulus and jobs, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. PGF projects announced today include: $200,000 loan to Nuhaka Kiwifruit Holdings Ltd (operated by Pine Valley Orchard Ltd) to increase the productivity ...
Tenants in public and Māori housing may be benefiting from their own affordable renewable energy in future – a fund to trial renewable energy technology for public and Māori housing has today been announced by Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods and Associate Minister for Housing (Māori Housing) Nanaia Mahuta. ...
Hokianga will receive $2.7 million to redevelop four of its wharves and upgrade its water supply, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Far North District Council will receive $1.8 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for the work on the wharves. “The work will include the construction of ...
A $350 million Residential Development Response Fund is being established to support the residential construction sector and to minimise the economic impact from COVID-19, the Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods has announced. “The Residential Development Response Fund will help to progress stalled or at-risk developments that support our broader housing ...
As part of a broader plan to divert waste from landfill, the Government today announced $10.67 million for new infrastructure as part of the Resource Recovery Network across the Auckland region. “This key investment in Auckland’s community recycling network is part of the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group ‘shovel ready’ projects ...
The Government is investing $45 million in the first stage of an ambitious urban development project for Tauranga that will employ up to 250 people and help the region grow, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the funding has been allocated out of the $3 billion ...
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...
A new trades training centre to upskill the local workforce will be built in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa through funding from the Government’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Government will contribute $10.84 million from ...
The Government has agreed to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act subsequent children provisions, Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced today. “There are times when children need to go into care for their safety – the safety and care of children must always be paramount,” Minister Martin said. “But ...
A $1.5 million boost to grow primary mental health and addiction services for Pacific peoples in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury will lead to better outcomes for Pacific communities, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says. Pasifika Futures has received funding to expand services through The Fono, Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest by ...
Twenty-two projects to boost the sustainability and climate resilience of New Zealand’s food and fibres sector have been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The $18m funding will deliver practical knowledge to help farmers and growers use their land more sustainably, meet environmental targets, remain prosperous, and better understand ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson welcomes an initiative that assists employers to get mature workers into New Zealand small businesses. The disadvantages that older people face in the workplace was highlighted in the whole of Government Employment Strategy. In order to address this, a Mature Workers Toolkit has been developed and ...
New Zealand and Australia reaffirmed today the need for the closest possible collaboration as they tackle a global environment shaped by COVID-19, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. “In these challenging times, our close collaboration with Australia is more vital than ever,” said Mr Peters. Mr Peters and his Australian ...
The recovery and forensic examination of the loader driven by survivor Russell Smith means the underground team are now moving into an area of the Pike River Mine that has not been seen since the explosion, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little said. “The fifth and last robot ...
The Government has confirmed a community-wide trial of CovidCard technology as it explores options for COVID-19 contact tracing. “Effective contact tracing is a vital part of the COVID-19 response,” Minister of Health Chris Hipkins said. “While manual processes remain the critical component for contact tracing, we know digital solutions can ...
The government is proposing changes to aquaculture legislation to improve the process for allocating and transferring aquaculture assets to iwi. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash has introduced the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Amendment Bill to Parliament. It proposes a limited new discretionary power for Te Ohu Kaimoana Trustee Limited (ToKM). ...
The Minister of Justice has today introduced the Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill – the next step in the ongoing programme of work to fix the failed 2014 Family Court reforms led by then Justice Minister Judith Collins. The Bill arises from the report of the Independent ...
A new Department of Conservation (DOC) action plan tackles the impacts of climate change on New Zealand’s biodiversity and DOC managed infrastructure including tracks, huts and cultural heritage. Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage says extreme weather events around the country have really brought home our vulnerability to changing weather patterns. ...
A heavily scaled back international Antarctic season will commence this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods have confirmed. “Antarctica is the only continent that is COVID-19 free,” Mr Peters said. “Throughout the global pandemic, essential operations and long-term science have continued at ...
The Government is providing up to $30 million to help fund the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport in Upper Hutt - an investment that will create 244 jobs. “The sports hub is designed to be a world-leading shared service for a range of sports, offering the level of facilities ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today transport projects currently in construction will continue at pace due to extra Government support for transport projects to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. To keep the $16.9 billion 2018-21 National Land Transport Programme going the Government has allocated funding from the COVID Response and ...
$50 million for further rural broadband digital connectivity has been allocated from the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the COVID Response and Recovery Fund has been announced by Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure and Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media. The investment will go to boosting broadband ...
The Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has congratulated the Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB) programme on its major milestone of connecting more than 1 million New Zealand households and businesses to UFB. “This milestone has been 10 years in the making and demonstrates the popularity of the UFB network. “Uptake ...
Landmark legislation passed today puts New Zealand on track to saving thousands of lives and having a smokefree generation sooner rather than later, Associate Health Minister, Jenny Salesa says. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill regulates vaping products and heated tobacco devices. “There has long been concern ...
A discriminatory law that has been a symbol of frustration for many people needing and providing care and support, has been scrapped by the Government. “Part 4A of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) was introduced under urgency in 2013 by a National Government,” Associate ...
Kiwi motorists are set to reap the benefits of a more competitive fuel market following the passing of the Fuel Industry Bill tonight, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says. “This Act is where the rubber meets the road in terms of our response to the recommendations made in the ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to New Zealanders to modernise tenancy laws with the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill 2020 today, says Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing), Kris Faafoi. “The Residential Tenancies Act 1986 was out-dated and the reforms in the RTA modernise our ...
New rules to protect and restore New Zealand’s freshwater passed into law today. Environment Minister David Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor welcomed the gazetting of the new national direction on freshwater management. “These regulations deliver on the Government’s commitment to stop further degradation, show material improvements within five years and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced the appointment of Jeremy Clarke-Watson as New Zealand’s new Consul-General in Los Angeles. “New Zealand and the United States share a close and dynamic partnership, based on a long history of shared values and democratic traditions,” Mr Peters said. “Mr Clarke-Watson is a ...
Victims of family violence can end a tenancy with two days’ notice Landlords can terminate tenancies with 14 days’ notice if tenants assault them Timeframe brought forward for limiting rent increases to once every 12 months Extension of time Tenancy Tribunal can hear cases via phone/video conference Reform of New ...
Two employment schemes – one new and one expanded – going live today will help tens of thousands of people continue training on the job and support thousands more into work, the Government has announced. Apprenticeship Boost, a subsidy of up to $12,000 per annum for first year apprentices and ...
Celebrity agent Ryan Serhant is promoting the sale, a snip at $24 million. It looks so good, why let pesky details like closed borders and foreign buyer bans stop you?Along with panoramic views, adventure sports and fine wines, the New Zealand pitch for wealthy Americans now includes the lure of ...
The Green’s latest housing policy is a lot of wishful thinking, National’s Housing spokesperson Jacqui Dean says. “Blue-sky thinking has never been the Green’s problem, but delivery has. “The Government partners talked a big game on housing ...
Studying a Bachelor of Arts at AUT helped Guled Mire understand his place in the world, so that he can make a difference in his community. Video: AUTBy Simon SmithGuled Mire says his new Fulbright NZ scholarship to study at an Ivy League university in the United States ...
Kia ora everyone. Thank you all for coming here today. Thank you to the community for having us today, I’m proud that this is my neighbourhood! And thank you to the Housing Foundation for having us, as we announce the next exciting pillar of ...
The Green Party has unveiled its housing plan which aims to get the record-high number of people off the social housing waiting list, while improving the size and quality of the rental market. ...
In its third major policy announcement, the Green Party has revealed a suite of plans to subsidise community-provided rental housing and boost the state housing build programme, Marc Daalder reports Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and global economic meltdown, New Zealand's housing crisis has continued unabated. House prices are still surging and the ...
By Patrick Makis in Buka Contact tracing has begun for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville’s first covid-19 case. The 22-year-old male, who had returned from Port Moresby on an Air Niugini flight on July 29, is stable and is being isolated in Arawa town. ABG’s Deputy Controller, Health Secretary Clement ...
The Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon wants New Zealanders to amplify the resilience of Māori whānau and communities on the International Day of Indigenous Peoples on Sunday 9th of August. The theme for the day is ‘COVID-19 and Indigenous Peoples’ ...
A small proportion of Covid-19 patients continue experiencing symptoms long after they test negative. Freya Sawbridge, one such ‘Covid long hauler’, describes what it’s like.Four months have passed and I’m onto my fifth relapse. The room is eerily still yet my mind spins like the stripes of a barber’s pole. ...
A new poll shows New Zealand First list MP Shane Jones coming third in the contest for the Northland seat that's being seen as crucial to his party's chances of staying in Parliament. ...
A poll in the electorate seat of Northland shows New Zealand First could be out of Parliament altogether after the election Shane Jones has a big hill to climb if he wants to take Northland and secure NZ First's position in parliament. National Party candidate Matt King is well ahead of ...
Christchurch writer Chris Stuart spent decades toggling between high-stakes overseas aid work and the strange safety of home. Out of that has emerged a crime novel: For Reasons of Their Own. I used to always tell people that when you work in war zones and disasters, you are only ever a ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 9, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election seasonclick here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. 7.15am: Labour tax policy coming ...
New Zealand's unofficial poet laureate Victor Billot pens topical verse every Sunday. This week: the rotten egg laid by the outgoing coalition governmentLet’s keep moving I was sitting in my cheap motel room next to the window, smelling petrol fumes when on the TV came a lady in red ...
She’s Cheryl West, she’s Ellen Crozier, she’s the woman who makes headlines for throwaway jokes online. Sam Brooks talks to Robyn Malcolm, actor and activist.There’s nothing more compelling on a New Zealand screen than Robyn Malcolm wanting something. Whether it’s Cheryl West trying to get a lingerie business off the ...
The Labour leader returned yesterday to the Auckland Town Hall, where she was last seen riding the Jacindamania wave towards government. Toby Manhire went along to see how this campaign launch compared to the 2017 edition.A lot was the same. The big wash of red light bouncing off the Town ...
REVIEW: JACINDAMANIA: THE SEQUELWritten, directed and starring: Jacinda ArdernGenre: Political love story Classification: General ReleaseRunning Time: Six weeksShowing: NationwideRating: * * * * starsReviewer: Tim Murphy We've waited three years but the sequel to the 2017 blockbuster Jacindamania has finally arrived, debuting Saturday at the ...
Judith Collins is still shy of a month into the job but in her media blitz she and her arched eyebrows are everywhere, along with the party slogan "Strong team, More Jobs, Better Economy". ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce the next tranche of candidates that will represent our values and spread our message across the country at this year’s election. We thank these hardworking New Zealanders for putting their hand up to take on the ...
A high-ranking Chinese candidate promoted over more than a dozen incumbent MPs is the biggest surprise in an otherwise orthodox National Party list for the 2020 election, as Sam Sachdeva reports The National Party has released its list rankings for the 2020 election, with the ascent of new candidate Nancy ...
The National Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Nancy Lu to the National Party’s List for the 2020 General Election, President Peter Goodfellow says. “Nancy Lu is a Chartered Accountant with a background in accounting and business working ...
Headline: A crisis of governance. – 36th Parallel Assessments [embedded content] The Port of Beirut warehouse explosion, involving 2.7 kilotons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate negligently stored in an unsecured area, crystalizes in one national tragedy a much wider trend: the crisis and decline of democratic governance world-wide.For a ...
National’s 2020 Party List is a strong mix of experience coming up through our Caucus, and new and exciting talent joining our team from communities across New Zealand, Party President Peter Goodfellow says. “The National Party is incredibly ...
Latest from the Beehive – It looked (at first blush) like Christchurch would gobble up around half the money earmarked by the government for projects to get us on our bikes. Julie Anne Genter, Associate Minister of Transport and a Green with a fondness for two-wheeled, pedal-driven transport, today banged ...
The suggestion of putting border exemptions up for auction so large companies can bring in overseas executives and key workers is naïve and totally unfair,” says Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment ...
Looking for a wonderfully trashy movie to watch? TVNZ OnDemand now have some of Lifetime’s best dramas for your viewing pleasure. In a world of serious and credible television, the arrival of Lifetime to TVNZ OnDemand is joyous news. Lifetime is an American cable channel that churns out emotional drama after emotional drama, ...
The introduction of a $3,100 fee for returning New Zealanders will disadvantage Māori disproportionately, Phoebe Carr (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe)and Max Harris argue.The government has once again failed to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi by rushing through legislation to introduce exorbitant managed isolation fees for returning New Zealanders. This ...
7 August 2020: The Team of Six Million, a campaign group established to oppose the imposition of quarantine fees by the New Zealand Government, has expressed disappointment at the Government's urgent passing of the Public Health Response Amendment Bill to ...
In July support for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party was at 53.5% down 1% since June, but still more than double the support for National on 26.5%, down 0.5%, with just over a month to go before the election in mid-September. If ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 7, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch ...
After initial concerns about low testing rates in South Auckland, Counties Manukau DHB has the second-highest testing rate in the country. Ōtara Health chief executive Sosefina Paletaoga explains her organisation’s role in achieving this. Covid-19 has affected us all in different ways, and for us in Ōtara, it has highlighted existing ...
Oranga Tamariki's Chief Executive appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal a day after a report from the Chief Ombudsman found the agency had used its draconian powers to uplift babies too readily in many cases A Waitangi Tribunal hearing has seen Oranga Tamariki chief executive Gráinne Moss concede her organisation harmed families during ...
"A resident of the boarding house disappeared the same day Mrs Bethany’s body was discovered": provincial gothic, with astrology, by Auckland writer Mandy McMullin. I moved into the tearooms the day I turned sixteen, 23 December 2006. The same day I met Garth. It was Saturday, a lucky day for ...
The resignation of Westland Milk Products chief executive Tony Brendish almost a year to the day the company was sold to Chinese conglomerate Yili makes a mockery of assurances that there was no conflict of interest in top management preparing ...
*Watch the video in the player below*The wheels of progress turn frustratingly slow in Christchurch’s Red Zone. Frank Film asks, is anything going to happen? Hayley Guglietta is honest about her group’s activities on vacant land bordering Christchurch’s Avon River. She admits the groundwork was commenced without official ...
On this week's Extra Time podcast: After significant investigations into cycling, football and hockey in New Zealand, now gymnastics is in the spotlight around their athletes' welfare. Allegations of multiple New Zealand gymnasts suffering from verbal and physical abuse, bullying and unsafe training methods have surfaced over the past week. And ...
She’s a lone wolf, a team player, a rebel, a leader and the nicest lady around. But what combination of those do you need to survive in government?On a cold July morning, I found myself driving around Totara Park in Manurewa in the dark. I had been invited to a ...
All around the country, people are asking ‘what’s going to happen in the 2020 general election campaign?’ That’s because they haven’t read this guide, which reveals exactly what will happen in the 2020 general election campaign.Someone has finally put this term of parliament out of its misery. We’ve had three ...
The UK car industry has run a good race in the post-Brexit lobbying stakes. But Britain’s chemical industry looks to be making a late run, if recent coverage in the Financial Times is accurate.The issue for the industry is the post-Brexit regulatory regime and how this is to be ...
Latest from the Beehive – We had just finished digesting an outpouring of announcements from the Beehive over the previous 24 hours or so when the Point of Order Trough Monitor shrieked an alert. A new trough had been established. While we were inspecting the contents of this new trough, ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Chart 1, Historical: Australian much lower than Spain, Belgium and Sweden. Chart by Keith Rankin. The known incidences of Covid19 in Spain, Belgium and Sweden are similar, although Sweden lagged for a while before overtaking the other two. In deaths, Sweden is slightly lower than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The good news in the Reserve Bank’s latest quarterly set of forecasts is that the recession won’t be as steep as it thought last time. The bad news is it ...
Analysis: National entices voters with big infrastructure projects, Judith Collins rips into Jacinda Ardern and Parliament passes a bill that could affect every tenant in the country. ...
By RNZ Pacific France’s new overseas minister Sebastien Lecornu says New Caledonia’s restrictions over the covid-19 pandemic will not affect the preparations for the October referendum on independence. Lecornu gave the assessment during a visit to New Caledonia House in Paris. Paris is expected to send dozens of officials and ...
Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa descendants are overjoyed they can do up their wharenui, while also attracting their rangatahi back to their marae, with more than $1.5 million from the Provincial Growth Fund. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University National crises, like the pandemics that can provoke them, come in stages. Each stage presents leaders with unique problems that require mental, moral and emotional agility to manage. Change is the only constant, as ...
How is New Zealand faring in during the Covid-19 pandemic? Newsroom is taking a weekly look at the latest numbers related to the virus and the impact on the economy.Excess deaths Overseas the death toll in some countries has risen sharply, with the ...
Justice campaign organisation JustSpeak has outlined a vision for a society without prisons in its 2020 election campaign ‘ Our Justice Our Future ’. The campaign was launched last night in Wellington, to a sold out audience of supporters and volunteers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vasso Apostolopoulos, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research Partnerships, Victoria University During the COVID-19 pandemic we’re constantly being reminded to practise good hygiene by frequently washing our hands and regularly cleaning the spaces where we live and work. These practices aim to remove or kill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and University of Canberra Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher discuss the week in politics. This week Michelle and Caroline discuss the closure of ‘non-essential’ businesses in Melbourne under stage ...
Labour's campaign slogan "Let's Keep Moving" is hardly the most inspirational but reflects the conservative game plan - trade on the Covid response and stay on track. ...
By granting a permit to OceanaGold to mine under DOC land in the Coromandel, the government is not only threatening an endangered species, says Catherine Delahunty – it’s threatening future generations.I woke up angry. The government has given a 40-year permit to OceanaGold to mine under DOC land behind Whangamatā. ...
How come, after numerous condemnatory reports, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss holds on to her job? Aaron Smale wonders if those harmed by her tenure aren't a big enough voting bloc So, what happens when a government department breaks the law and breaches its own policies? Nothing, apparently. The latest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: The Meddler, screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival For movie scholars and enthusiasts, one of the worst things about the COVID-19 pandemic has been the shutting down of ...
The combination of solar panels, electricity storage batteries, smart household gadgets, and a boring looking black box is set to change forever how our electricity system works. But do we need subsidies? ...
The New Zealand Bar Assocation says misinformed criticism of a South Island judge’s sentencing of a sex offender has the potential for disturbing consequences for the justice system and society generally. The Bar Association’s President Kate Davenport ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Royal Commission into Aged-Care Quality and Safety delivered it’s interim report in October 2019. Titled ‘Neglect’, it provided a scathing insight into the aged care industry – finding it centred around transactions not care. ...
By Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group More than one year after the March 15, 2019 terrorist attack, an official inquiry into the mass shooting that killed 51 people and injured 49 in two Christchurch mosques has still not released any information ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Damien Manuel, Director, Centre for Cyber Security Research & Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University Australia’s long-awaited cybersecurity strategy, released yesterday, pledges to spend A$1.67 billion over the next ten years to improve online protection for businesses, individuals and the country as a whole. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roxana Diamond, PhD Candidate, Flinders University This article has links that contain graphic content Many industries and employees have been hurt by COVID-19. But sex workers, who face stigma and discrimination at the best of times, have been hit particularly hard by ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Port Moresby may need to expand its covid-19 isolation facilities quickly and effectively in case a big spike in cases occurs, a doctor says. Rita Flynn isolation facility manager Dr Gary Nou said it would be a disaster if the spread of covid-19 in ...
Paige Tapara is a fast-rising young singer-songwriter whose debut EP explores themes of sexuality, coming of age, mental health and relationships. We asked her how it came together, and why she thinks it’s so important for NZ music to include voices like hers.Paige swoops into the room, a cream doughnut in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Foley, Chief Scientist, CSIRO Universities and other research organisations in Australia have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, a group led by Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel forecasted severe impacts for our research workforce. These included the loss ...
Open mike 15/12/2019 
Dr Sommer Kapitan, Auckland University of Technology, and Dr Patrick van Esch, Auckland University of Technology The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill will limit vape sales at dairies and service stations to only three flavours, and make vaping illegal in smokefree areas. Vaping laws will be more ...5 hours ago
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Why Boris won…..
https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/10/investigation-finds-88-tory-ads-misleading-compared-0-labour-11651802/
And immediately below is a load of misleading trash (courtesy of James) from a Tory leaning lackey which serves to uphold the findings of the fake advertising claims.
Why Boris actually won ……
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/the-polling-that-proves-the-incompetence-and-indecency-of-jeremy-corbyn/amp/
The lying bastards who put it about that Corbyn was anti-semitic may have had some influence on the result, but I still think the major reason for Labour's loss was the fact that Corbyn was insufficiently pro brexit. Unfortunately for him, I think, too many of his caucus were pro EU while too many from Labour's natural support base were pro brexit.
indeed it was clear from all his comments and actions that he was a huge supporter of the Jewish community /sarc
He certainly treated their allegations infinitely more fairly than they deserved.
And didn’t he do a good job at that. A glorious crushing defeat with even some of his own MP’s calling him an anti-Semite (but hey they know the guy – you read papers and blogs so would know better)
Mikesh – are the lying bastards you mentioning current and former labour staffers?
70 of them have given sworn statements that the “Labour Party is not a safe space for Jewish people”.
And to think Stuart thinks allegations like this were treated more than fairly.
guess the election and crushing loss indicate he should have tried a little harder huh?
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/05/seventy-labour-staffers-give-statements-to-antisemitism-inquiry
I think the right wing, 3rd way aficionados, within the Labour establishment harbour a lot of antipathy towards him. But even so the party has achieved better results with him leading it than were achieved by either Gordon Brown or Ed Millibrand before him ( 32% in 2019, as opposed to 29% and 30% respectively; and that doesn't take into account the exceptionally good result in 2017). I suspect that he might even have won last Thursday had it not been for his party's poor handling of the brexit issue.
That UK election should be the last time anyone in the English speaking with a real chance at national leadership campaigns on mass nationalization, huge taxes and otherwise full-on socialism (I'm sure it won't stop them trying).
Even the social democratic governments such as ourselves are getting very rare around the world.
We need to treat social democratic governments like national parks: there to protect threatened species of policy surviving from a once-grand world.
NZ a 'social democratic government'. Whose leg are you trying to pull?
Go ahead and define 'social democratic' against 'socialist'.
Keep appeasing the far Right and in 20 years you'll be congratulating yourself on keeping a public health system, and 20 years after that it will be gone.
If you cut past all the bluff and bluster, I think the fact is, that the Brits wanted a middle class lifestyle, and if war, privatisation and austerity were the prices to pay for it (as well as the most vulnerable to be screwed over, so be it.
He did do a good job – but he misunderstood the venality of his enemies.
There was never any substance to the anti-Semitism allegations – they were only the stock in trade of malicious persons like yourself.
Under MMP Corbyn would be PM now…..Corbyn would have been PM in 2017 but for incredibly bad luck when Ruth Davidson campaigned so well for the Scottish Conservatives and won so many seats from the SNP which have now almost all returned to the SNP.
Scotland will vote to leave/secede from the UK and stay in the European Union. Ireland will unify. Boris will preside over the break-up of the UK….some triumph that. But then we all remember him as being the worst Foreign Secretary the UK has ever had.
I so agree with all of that mikesh. Here is a superb article:
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2019/12/13/the-cold-light-of-day/?fbclid=IwAR11kqLLEXWroFZjc6de3Nb9ETz4RKB4a4fCSH338l9zytdV8rr9tX9H9Vo
Thanks BG that is a wonderful article and makes perfect sense with what I have been reading for months – years? It finishes the jig-saw and I can see the pattern outlined clearly through the fog, or are they my tears?
.
mikesh
"I still think the major reason for Labour's loss was the fact that Corbyn was insufficiently pro brexit. "
I didn't understand how you could state that so firmly, as the whole approach seemed to be about not revealing Corbyn's direction and compass points. But definition and understanding of the actual situation comes to me from Luke Goodall's Sky News extract from BG link:
Jeremy Corbyn has quietly committed the Labour Party to everything Remainers wanted and were calling for only a few months ago: a government which would extend Article 50, then go to the country pledging a referendum on Britain’s exit deal, with Remain on the ballot paper.
“Mr Corbyn had no end of political slurry deposited on his head for refusing to make such a commitment hitherto. You might think that those same people who were pouring it would be jubilant. Yet their response was curiously muted.”
And the difficulties for Labour exponents were outlined by the writer on The Consciousness of Sheep (see Facebook):
Put simply, in order to form a government in the UK parliament, Labour must win back its traditional working class support in those constituencies that delivered the biggest margins in favour of leaving the EU. However, the activists that Labour needs to get out on the doorsteps to win these constituencies tend to be fervently pro-EU. To come out in support of either position is to lose the supporters of the other, and thus to cede power to the Tories; who will inevitably deliver the worst Brexit settlement of all. Labour’s only hope is to fudge their Brexit policy until the next election is won.”
As the bard put it: What a piece of work is Man.
Classic “it’s them against us!” socialism just doesn’t speak to as many people as it used to.
Labour people want to talk about malign oligarchs conspiring against them for personal gain, and it sounds increasingly like conspirowhacky stuff from the more tinfoil hat wearing recesses of the internet. Labour people talk about moral duties to fight climate change, fight imperialism, fight islamophobia, and people more worried about layoffs at work are left scratching their head and wondering WHY is this what labour cares about now?
And then they see anyone who questions the new priorities getting rounded on and called the most vile names. It's not the behaviour of a team that people want to be a part of, it's not what people want to see from the government.
There’s also a really distasteful saviour complex in evidence. Labour has become the party of trendy liberal elites with degrees, who expect the simple worker bees to trust in their goodness and greatness and keep on voting for the old Labour brand, even as Labour is focussing more and more on esoteric woke issues with little relevance to those whose main concern is keeping their jobs.
John Key tapped into this, for every left person who “didn’t trust him” there were 1.2 people who reminded him of a good boss or a successful colleague, and he made people want to get on his team. Corbyn’s rhetoric is just loser, victim, misery, grievance, and that’s a hard sell. So far Jacinda Ardern appears to have learned some of Key’s lessons well in that regard.
[You appear to be new here, although you look familiar, and you may have missed the instructional guidelines in the OP. Moving this to OM until I know whom we’re dealing with]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Malign oligarchs like Murdoch certainly exist and their activities go a long way to explain the kind of wretched plonkers who become UK conservatives & NZ Gnat MPs.
Robots Are Killing The Millennial Worker
"There is no doubt that a wave of automation is about to be unleashed on economies worldwide.
In fact, the impact of automation on the labor market has become more of a political issue now than it ever has, with its impact on the labor force being cited as one of the main causes for the election of leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, according to a new Bloomberg op-ed by Ferdinando Giugliano.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/pay-attention-robots-are-killing-millennial-worker
The humans are dead.
Except, nah.
i don't see self check outs as a political issue and they are killing jobs and we can all help do so by using them.
So maybe its us that are killing jobs?
How the US righties ended up in Putin's embrace:
https://www.salon.com/2019/12/14/russia-and-the-republicans-how-vladimir-putin-got-an-american-subsidiary/
Applebaum has also published on 'red famine' and 'gulag'. One can't argue with history, but it could be described less emotively and put in broader context.
One could argue that rampant hyper-individualism coupled with no-bounds hedonism and so-called personal freedom and responsibility has led to a leading principle of Western culture that more or less prescribes that it is ok to fuck oneself and screw over others. In other words, what people do in their own home is their own personal business and nobody else’s, least of all the State’s. If they want to use drugs, own MSSAs, go online to read/consume whatever filth they can find, spew any kind of filth online (freedom of speech) or in public places (AKA places paid for by tax- and/or rate-payers), et cetera, they should be allowed to do so because it is their human right and freedom. The so-called free market principle goes lock-step with this because nobody is forced to accept any transaction and if they do, it is caveat emptor. This extends to externalisation as well as screwing over the environment because this is virtually defenceless. This behaviour even intrudes into the sex lives of some where boundaries of acceptance and consent have become even more blurry. At least, that seems to be the reasoning of some. The apparent moral conservatism of the leadership in Russia, China, and Singapore, to name a few, is a logical reaction to this decay but is it the answer?
And the bullies are making hay.
edit:
SV SYNONYMS FOR STANDING AGAINST THE WALL
Found 5 synonyms in 1 groups
1Meaning: interrogation
interview the wall against exam exam grill question
Synonyms for posing
https://synonymer.woxikon.se/sv/st%C3%A4lla%20mot%20v%C3%A4ggen
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/swedish-english/st%C3%A4lla-n%C3%A5gon-mot-v%C3%A4ggen
‘
The Last Cop?
Latest news reports coming out from Madrid Spain is that the COP25 talks have stalled.
The UN COP negotiations are reminiscent of the League of Nations negotiations over German and Italian fascist aggression in Europe and North Africa, which also stalled over lack of international agreement and commitment..
What is required to break this international deadlock is unilateral action from at least one country.
It's called leadership.
In my opinion one country, this country, is better placed than many others to take this lead.
All politics is pressure.
Our close geographical, political, cultural and historical links to one of the bigger hold outs, Australia, makes us well place to set an example that couldn't be ignored across the Tasman.
Even inside our parliament there is deadlock from taking decisive binding action.
This parliamentary deadlock is reminiscent of the deadlock inside the British Parliament over German aggression. One back bench MP who who had won his seat as an independent as the only MP for his Constitutional Party, this minority of one, refused to keep quiet and decried the fascist threat at every chance.
Its called leadership.
In my opinion one party, the Green Party, is better placed than even Churchill was to take this lead.
That seems a very romantic notion of leadership.
More confused than romantic. The GP, operating as a minority of one in parliament, leading by constantly decrying the global warming threat? The average voter: `yeah, we know already, tell us something new'.
"What is required to break this international deadlock is unilateral action from at least one country. It's called leadership. In my opinion one country, this country, is better placed than many others to take this lead… Our close geographical, political, cultural and historical links to one of the bigger hold outs, Australia, makes us well place to set an example that couldn't be ignored across the Tasman."
Aussies normally ignore our examples. Why would they suddenly do a u-turn and get in behind? She wants "decisive binding action" and is suggesting the Greens will produce that by breaking ranks with the coalition govt, taking a dissident public stand. Even if they do that while waving a Greta Thunberg doll threateningly at the other parties, I don't see how other countries would get bound into decisive action on climate change as a logical consequence.
I recall there was a lot of criticism of David Skilling a decade ago when he suggested New Zealand should be "fast followers" in climate change response.
This outcome in Spain is horrifying.
But if New Zealand had tried to be more of a global leader in this diplomatic area, this kind of massive diplomatic failure shows we would have become as exposed to international great power retaliation as we have been for decades since we deregulated into free trade in the late 1980s. Maybe Skilling was right.
What did the Greens get in the last UK election?
Did their share grow as Labour's collapsed?
"But Mr Meyer commented: "The latest version of the Paris Agreement decision text put forward by the Chilean presidency is totally unacceptable. It has no call for countries to enhance the ambition of their emissions reduction commitments.
"If world leaders fail to increase ambition in the lead up to next year's climate summit in Glasgow, they will make the task of meeting the Paris Agreement's well below 2C temperature limitation goal – much less the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal – almost impossible."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/405516/low-ambition-coalition-puts-un-climate-talks-in-question
"New Zealand's Climate Change Minister James Shaw said he was disappointed nothing was likely to come from Summit"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/118179976/wellingtons-high-water-use-is-bad-news-for-the-environment-and-climate-change
There are 10,000 undocumented leaks in Wellington since the earthquake. I'm on a few boards so I know this. It is not public knowledge as they cannot find them. The same issue as buildings which are still unsafe and slowly being made public as to not scare anyone.
It's amazing what's being hidden from everyday people.
I'd believe that. However, how is it known there are that number of leaks if they can't be found?
The Observer’s political editor accompanied "the impressive Labour candidate Karen Davis" on her campaign in Labour's target seat, Norwich North. "I approached a man in his garden on the same Norwich estate who said: “I have voted Labour all my life but I can’t stand Corbyn and won’t vote for him.” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/14/i-saw-just-how-many-voters-were-hostile-to-jeremy-corbyn
Labour MP Neil Coyle reports after campaigning in his Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency: “There were people who said they knew Boris Johnson was a liar and a cheat but they still preferred him over our leader."
"He and his team talked to 10,000 people during the campaign and kept a record of what each of them said. The two reasons most often given by those who decided against Labour were its policy on Brexit and dislike of the leader. “Dislike of Corbyn came top,” added Coyle, who was one of the Labour survivors on election night. He retained his south London seat with a big – though reduced – majority."
"Journalists who went on the campaign trail were struck constantly by the force of anti-Corbyn feeling on doorsteps." So, if Boris is a populist, Jeremy is an unpopulist. I thought he seemed reasonable & well-intentioned, but that could be due to the distance effect. Exposure up close may be informing the Brits about his defects.
"One Labour MP told me on Friday morning, after details of Labour’s catastrophic defeat were known: “We all knew what was coming, just not quite how bad it would be. We didn’t want to allow the Corbynistas and Momentum to blame us and point the finger at us afterwards, so there had to be an unspoken agreement to deny it.”"
"The Observer’s pollsters Opinium have revealed their own analysis of the reasons people rejected Labour: 43% cited the leadership, 17% its policy on Brexit, and 12% its economic policies. Among Labour defectors – those who voted Labour in 2017 but didn’t this time – 37% mentioned the leadership, 21% Brexit and 6% its economic policies."
This antipathy effect looks very widespread, and Jeremy could be pioneering unpopulism as an influential political trend. Charisma deficit only part of the prescription. I suspect the key syndrome is leftist arrogance: `the people need to think like me, as I keep telling them’.
Very interesting. Thank-you Dennis Frank.
I'm still of the view that the 'dislike of Corbyn' was a reaction to the enormously successful campaign waged against him by personal and political opponents, media opponents and of course the ultra-conservative British establishment.
I took time out in recent weeks to listen to some of his media interviews and he came across as a reasonable, mild mannered person who talked a lot of sense – the antithesis of how he has been portrayed. In today's political climate, such individuals are regarded as weak, indecisive, verging on communist ideology (which is utter nonsense), and they must be banished from ever gaining control of the treasury benches. It is power by the few over the many – just like our perennial political enemies, Russia, China et al – and the ultimate outcome is much the same.
Michael Joseph Savage would not have lasted five minutes in today's climate, which is an indication of the depths of dishonesty, deceit and thuggish behaviour western societies are now engaging in.
I agree. It's a question of the extent to which voters form impressions in accord with the intent of media manipulation. I had a professional career crafting such propaganda so I have an insider's view of how it works on the psyche.
Despite that I reported the summation due to getting a sense that the role played by perception of him was having a substantial grass-roots effect, and there seemed a likelihood that some kind of shakespearean character flaw was operating, causing mass resonance in the UK electorate.
The left need to accept what the great voters said: they really, really didn't like Jeremy Corbyn. You can call that a media conspiracy if you like.
In 2019 Jeremy Corbyn has been a total catastrophe for UK Labour.
Yeah Labour MP's who did not support Corbyn as leader and said so, say they got feedback from their electorate agreeing with them.
A Labour caucus that pressured Corbyn to back their pro Remain position say he was the reason they lost seats in pro Brexit Midlands and North.
One thing was clear, the economic policies were not the problem.
You are so right. The worst thing is, the chances of anything that is remotely left leaning have just evaporated right before our very eyes. Sanders/Warren's chances in the USA have just been tossed out the window, and AOC is probably going to be a one term wonder. Medicare for All is going to be off the table in the USA for at least a generation. Even Jacinda and her team will be a lot more cautious going into 2020.
Corbyn completely fucked the left. That will be his legacy for the Labour Party.
Next time the Blairites are accused of straying too far from the party's roots, they will throw this right in our faces.
And yet it was their their Brexit position that cost Labour a lot of seats
Very few people cited any problem with the more left wing Labour manifesto.
The right and the Blairites want left wing leadership and policy discredited, yet they did not go after Corbyn on policy.
So why would anyone think that the left has been harmed by this defeat? Or that Blairites will win back total control of the party?
Already the media is lying that the result was a rejection of Labour's left wing policies. And a rejection of left wing policy internationally.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50785442
What a load of BS, by your logic then Boris is incredibly popular and that's why he won.
a) The voters are not great. They're ordinary folk. Some good, some bad.
b) They didn't like Corbyn because they had nothing but negative media stories to go on.
c) So easy to claim "catastrophe" after the event.
d) It wasn't a catastrophe anyway. Disappointing yes but the cards were always stacked against them.
e) Under an MMP type system they would probably now have a Labour led govt.
Yet they forced Corbyn into a pro Remain position, did they not know this would cost them seats, or did they not care while Corbyn was there to take the blame?
I'd say the latter.
Labour last the confidence of the working class. Both a mixture of long memory ie globalization and jobs cuts,and the inability to reduce unfettered competition (read immigration)
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/13/working-class-voters-desert-labour-stoke-on-trent-england-red-wall
Simon's raw nerve.
Fuck me. Hours later and Bridges is still on twitter trying to justify his lies to Nigel Latta.
It shows how childish and insecure Simon Bridges really is. He's an embarrassment.
Has he watched all episodes of The Wiggles yet?
Simon’s calculator has blown a fuse and please can somebody teach him how to do spreadsheets properly because it is an absolute shambles.
https://www.national.org.nz/the_fiscal_hole_national_predicted_all_along
Thanks for the heads up, I'll make sure I've swallowed my coffee before he tries to explain that on Morning Report tomorrow morning.
Released 40 years ago.
Slavoj Zizek is stirring up the exhausted discourse on Trump and Brexit.
A seemingly confused approach is being advocated here.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118174774/pension-for-kids-could-level-income-inequality-between-young-and-old
Arguing that universal super approach has reduced old age poverty, then advocating the end of that to afford universal support to reduce child poverty is asking a few questions about the logic of the proponents (the reduction in old age poverty was in fact prior home ownership or access to state housing and the availability of an aged based retirement income).
Lower rates of home ownership and the current lack of state housing is changing this dynamic.
There is also unaddressed poverty among
those unable to work 18-65 (because of disability and living on $270 a week without home ownership)
those unable to work on SB (not eligible for ACC),
those over 55 finding jobs hard to find.
sole parents because of low benefits (paying back grant out of benefits when TD is not paid back while income is that low) and high abatement regimes
working poverty caused by high rent costs
That said I do want more resources into health and education (more and better paid staff) and state housing as a focus for government with its finite resources.
But I can agree in better targeted income support by reducing super cost and transferring it to those in need. Means testing is one way to do this, and most of those who work past the age of 65 have no need for super.
Agree with all but means testing. Super, family support, unemployment benefit and disability should be as of right and universal.
Targeting is inefficient expensive and often inconsistent.
Asset testing causes Poverty traps when people have to sell built up assets, to get welfare. I remember the builder who had to sell his site caravan.
It is another attack on workers in favour of tax dodging, capital gains tax earners.
Welfare should be on personal position. As in Germany, unemployment as of right and retraining for another job, is regardless of assets, and previous employment..
We do it here with ACC. Payments do not depend on assets, but on income. Though payments should have an upper ceiling for really high incomes.
By all means claw most of it back on high incomes with a higher progressive, tax rate.
Agree with every you said SPC.
We must have super means tested asap and those with health needs prioritised in our system.
Anyone claiming to be "left" advocating means testing of super is a fool.
The only reason we still have it, is because the rich get it too.
If you want your grandchildren to still have super available, don't give the right wing an incentive to get rid of it. Which is inevitable, if they can offer tax cuts, by removing something the rich no longer have an interest in.
You see the same effect with private school users, happy to defund, and destroy, State schools, because it doesn't affect, them.
Macron the French President spells out EU requirements in English for Boorish's and his rag-tag gypsies, benefit.
“If the British prime minister and the British parliament want an ambitious trade deal, they know where the European standards are … The more they are attracted to reducing standards – on climate, social standards or anything else – the more they walk away from the European market, the more they will be away from us. The more ambitious the trade deal, the more we need regulatory harmonisation."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/13/brexit-eu-leaders-call-for-swift-ratification-after-tory-victory
The National Party wants to fine cyclists who don't use cycle lanes.
How ridiculous. Next they will announce it would be policed by a Strike Force Raptor division comprising of Young Nats riding tricycles with flashing lights on their heads.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/national-party-wants-impose-fines-cyclists-refuse-use-cycleways
The "party of individual freedom" surely not?
Another of those policy things they throw out (up?) and look for a reaction.
Good to see. Pity ACC will drag this on for a decade or more. Putting them on the prayer lists.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118004926/family-of-migrant-worker-who-died-on-the-job-seeks-compensation
And his employer should pay ACC, to make up for all the levies they dodged, leaving this poor mans family with nothing.
Because elderly women are a threat to the motherland.
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http://archive.li/8sdt7
Oh shit.
#Lindol #LindolPH #Linog #Earthquake #EarthquakePH
We are sitting on a few known fault lines ourselves.