Open mike 15/03/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 15th, 2013 - 87 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

87 comments on “Open mike 15/03/2013 ”

  1. Jenny 1

    Fonterra Cooks the Climate

    Fonterra is the third biggest single consumer of coal after Huntly Power Station and Glenbrook Steel Mill. (Dairy industry as a whole, may consume more than Glenbrook making Dairying number 2. Unfortunately figures for the total consumption of coal by the total Dairy Industry are hard to come by).

    Trend setter, Fonterra plans to dig a brand new open cast coal mine, just south of Auckland.

    Though having owned the land for nearly 20 years, Fonterra were unable to mine it for it’s known coal reserves. I surmise that Fonterra were unable, or unwilling to meet the strict Auckland Regional compliance regulations.

    But it seems, there is more than one way to skin a cat. (or a climate).

    In the creation of the Super City the Southern Auckland boundary which contained Mangatangi, (including the Mangatangi reservoir, the biggest in the country, providing the bulk of Auckland’s drinking water), was moved North.

    Who knew?

    Mangatangi, including the Mangatangi Reservoir, the Upper Mangatawhiri Reservoir and the proposed mine, are all now, in the newly created borough of North East Waikato, part of the Waikato Region where consents are easier to obtain, and compliance regulations far looser than under Auckland Regional governance.

    The prevailing winds are from the West, the Mangatangi Reservoir, in particular, is almost directly down wind of the open cast mine. Coal dust is notorious for being contaminated with heavy metal residues.

    Are the local residents of Mangatangi/Mangatawhiri concerned?

    Yes, they are.

    Should you be too?

    Yes you should.

    Anti-climate change pressure group Auckland Coal Action has teamed up with local residents of Mangatangi and Mangatawhiri to oppose Fonterra’s plans for the new open cast coal mine at Mangatangi.

    They are calling for as many people as possible to make submissions to the Waikato Regional Council.

    You can help.

    Details on how to make a submission are here:

    http://aucklandcoalaction.org/2013/02/28/submissions-on-proposed-new-coal-mine-at-mangatangimangatawhiri/

    Numbers Count.

    If you make a submission, ask for the right to speak to it.

    Remember; NUMBERS COUNT!

    Protect Auckland’s drinking water from coal dust contamination!

    Become a climate change hero!

    Be able to look your grandchildren in the eye!

    Fill in a submission form!

    Address the council!

    This is your chance!

    Have your say!

    • “But it seems, there is more than one way to skin a cat. (or a climate).”

      Australian & New Zealand Geo-Engineering Protest will be Co-ordinating a protest throughout Australia & New Zealand – Saturday 20th April

      https://www.facebook.com/AustralianGeoengineeringProtest

      • muzza 1.1.1

        VERY GOOD!

        And here is the climate change mafia scam in action: This is MUST READ!


        For people like Richard Sandor and former Vice-President Al Gore the focus on “green politics” represented the culmination of years of planning and a giant step towards a massive payday.

        With a big helping hand from then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama, Sandor’s brainchild, The Chicago Climate Exchange, opened for business in 2003 billing itself as “North America’s only cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases…

        ” In other words, the facilitator for a scheme not quite hatched. Sandor, a long-time economist turned environmentalist shared his vision during a 1990 interview with the Wall Street Journal, saying,

        “Air and water are no longer the free goods that economics once assumed. They must be redefined as property rights so that they can be efficiently allocated.” The statement didn’t get a lot of attention back then but today seems prophetic. Sandor claims his idea of efficient allocation, also known as carbon trading, will develop into a $10 trillion industry.</B

        Read on!

        • bad12 1.1.1.1

          Who would have thunk it, where there’s a good rort involving billions of dollars to be made in a ‘money for nothing scam’ the name Goldman Saches, (sacks of gold man), is to be found wallowing knee deep in the crimes of the century,

          That article is a good read and encapsulates quite neatly my total and ongoing opposition to such cap’n’trade scams among them the Kyoto Accord and the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scam which if fully implemented on it’s proposed world-wide scale would have knee-capped our economy and society, (leaving only the money printers as the winners),

          There can in my opinion be only one way forward for New Zealand vis a vis the CO2 issue and that is for a dedicated Carbon Tax to be imposed and a withdrawal from such rorts as cap’n’trade scams,

          Such a tax would need be used to plant forests of trees and for research and development of a means by which CO2 can be extracted from the atmosphere and sequestered on an industrial scale,

          Interestingly, Solid Energy, up with the play, until it’s financial demise, had invested with an Australian firm in exploring the very question of the capture and removal from the atmosphere of industrial amounts of CO2,

          i will hunt out a link to the Australian research organization later, but, when you read the names in the article you have provided in your link you have to then wonder if there is not far far more going on within the financial kneecapping of the States miner Solid Energy than simply cynical revenue gathering from this Slippery National Government,

          i had been forming the opinion that Solid energy had been effectively ‘crushed’ because oif it’s moves into both bio-diesel and it’s planned production of diesel from lignite coal, however, the multi-billion dollar scams which are cap’n’trade schemes would in effect become dead ducks IF the means of removing CO2 from the atmosphere on an industrial scale were found and shown to be economic…

    • Janice 1.2

      Thanks, now it is clear why Rodney insisted on taking Auckland’s water dams from the super shitty despite hard lobbying. Obviously someone was lobbying harder.

  2. AsleepWhileWalking 2

    Welfare changes – UK version, with a post on FB with what is about to happen over there:

    Hi
    I work within the dwp so please don’t use my name as it could cost me my job.
    The dwp are rolling out nationally an initiative to work with 120k families whose lives are blighted by joblessness, single parents, crime and truancy. We have specially trained personnel to work closely with them to break these harmful trends and integrate them into society, improve their lives and make working the preferred options.
    However what has not been released and is being kept hush hush is that these families are to achieve certain targets working with our staff and stakeholders, professional organisations which have been hand picked to get the desired results as expediently as possible. The department is investing a great deal of resources into this project and participants are to be under no illusions that equal investment and commitment are required from them. This will not be an option where families can choose not to be involved in…..if they refuse to participate, their benefits will be stripped under sanctions. If after a period of 26 weeks results are not forthcoming and improvements tangible and sustained all benefits will be withdrawn. The adults will either have to work in any position that can be found and will be paid via fuel food and basic clothing. If the children continue to truant and participate in anti social behaviour those under 13 will be taken into
    care and those over 13 will be expected to work under the same terms as their parents with tutors twice weekly to ensure a basic level of literacy and numeracy. They will not be living with their parents but in dormitory accommodation.
    Tenders have been received and a short list drawn up for the lots as with pip. Fore runners are G4S, Deloittes, Veolia, Capita and Serco
    Myself and many other staff are horrified but are powerless to stop this. The govt are saying they will save more on what they cut on the benefits including DLA for the people in these families getting high rates for anger and behavioural problems, housing benefits and benefits for babies and children. Any of the parents having children throughout or once they’ve failed the initiative will be taken into the care of local authorities. The families will be allowed supervised access at contact centres as deemed acceptable by the people overseeing the project and the handlers for the individual families.
    This is all underway and being arranged as we speak. The govt see these families as an absolute blight on society and one way or another are determined to get rid of them in any way they can. Their view is that support and money haven’t helped, ASBO’s are a joke and seen as a badge of honour and children whether in these families or other families on low incomes are a drain on resources and they believe if they stop paying then the children will stop being born and those already here will have to either conform or to be excluded and earn their keep. To get disability allowance for children is going to be nigh on impossible which is why the reforms haven’t targeted them, new plans are underway as the perception is that ALL children need care and parents know this before having them therefore there are only very rare circumstances where additional support is justifiable.

    • karol 2.1

      What madness is this? As well as being a kind of eugenics, it’ll do nought for the society as a whole. Meanwhile, an increasing proportion of young Brits are slipping into poverty:

      Within two years, almost 7.1m of the nation’s 13m youngsters will be in homes with incomes judged to be less than the minimum necessary for a decent standard of living, according to a new report.

      The figures, which emerged a week ahead of George Osborne’s Budget, suggest that an unwanted legacy of the Coalition’s squeeze on spending will be to leave more children living close to poverty.

    • marsman 2.2

      And meanwhile John Key’s cum Lord Asshcroft, who pays no income tax in England but wants to have a say in it’s draconian rule, is rubbing his grubby hands with glee. Riots? No doubt the ‘good’ lord has donated bullet proof vests to the UK Police force as he has done in NZ where he is obviously trying to have a similar influence as well. Asshcroft and his ilk, e.g Douglas Myers, are a nasty stain on this earth.

      • marsman 2.2.1

        And meanwhile John Key’s cum Lord Asshcroft, who pays no income tax in England but wants to have a say in it’s draconian rule, is rubbing his grubby hands with glee. Riots? No doubt the ‘good’ lord has donated bullet proof vests to the UK Police force as he has done in NZ where he is obviously trying to have a similar influence as well. Asshcroft and his ilk, e.g Douglas Myers, are a nasty stain on this earth.

        • marsman 2.2.1.1

          ooops Something went wrong. Meant to put a belated correction to my above post and it popped up again.
          John Key.s CHUM is what I meant to write. Yes, have just had an eye-test and new glasses are on their way.

    • johnm 2.3

      Hi asleepwhilewalking

      Here’s another dispatch from the U$K’s class war. Artist Taxi Driver.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL-VtIO-ZPk&list=UUGThM-ZZBba1Zl9rU-XeR-A

      The U$K has descended to new depths of privatisation madness. John Yankee wants us to get stuffed the same way, it’s coming! 🙁

      • johnm 2.3.1

        Another epic rant from the Artist taxi driver wherein he covers quite a bit of territory! 🙁 🙂

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5AUB2y55HQ

        As karol notes above now that North Sea Oil is going going gone. The U$K is getting to be a lot poorer, this has been grossely inflamed by the use of Public Money to bail out the feckless casino banks with the same money being extracted from those already at the bottom, austerity (In plain language a 2 trillion pound transfer of wealth from the public sector to the ailing rich to support their scum bag share market as well). John Yankee’s Chum Cameron has bailed out his bankster mates and is now privatising (Including sneak privatisation of the NHS) everything in sight to cover his wretched bum. As in Yank land: Main Street is screwed but Wall Street is rescued with their obscene bonuses.
        This is the NeoLiberal nightmare these bankster chum scumbag privatisation screwups have inflicted on the U$K and John Yankee’s doing it here with the privatisation of our power companies and the Solid Energy screw up, so they can flog it off. 🙁

    • aerobubble 2.4

      Sounds like they are attacking the symptoms not the causes of inter-generational poverty. From badly designed council estates, to onerous taxation on the poorest (VAT), to needing a degree to understand eligibility

      (and even then), and if successful, the numbers of families needing the new intervention will jump as the poor (as businesses sack those getting by marginally and hire the new now state rebranded citizens who have been produced by the program).

      That’s the problem, its the former minister for the environment who couldn’t understand that mines need mine inspectors, and reserves do have benefits outside of the boundaries to fish levels, because it makes the government look mean and hard headed.

      Look I agree that the state has a duty of care to citizens to not create inter-generational poverty, but the idea that sanctions on the citizens when its the states fault the jobs aren’t there, the schools are shit, the housing estates degrade and depress, remove choice… …its just more of the same IMHO, more taking away choice, control, enforcing poor government decisions, and ignoring the reality that government can’t sweep under the carpet the problem. Bad government does not justify more bad government.

    • xtasy 2.5

      Shocking and revealing – just one more step closer to “concentration camps” for the “anti-social”, considered to be a “burden” on society.

      And as we know, Bennett and her MSD brigades just love the ideology about the so-called “bio psycho social model”, which has been perverted by the ones like Prof. Mansel Aylward, former Chief Medical Officer at DWP, and others he mentored or shares his madness about “work ability” with.

      Dr David Bratt, Principal Health Advisor for MSD and WINZ is working right now, to bring in policies from the UK, and once the sick and disabled are assessed and considered “fit” for whatever (using ATOS type outsourced assessors), they will be put into work. Once that has been implemented, NZ will endeavour to follow this kind of stuff just mentioned here.

      S*** Heil Paula, Bill and John!

  3. Hecate 3

    Re. Bergoglio, aka Francis I.

    “In another episode, Bergoglio has been accused of ignoring the pleas for help from a family that lost five of its members to the junta, including a young woman who was five months pregnant before she was kidnapped and killed in 1977. Bergoglio allegedly assigned a junior colleague to the case, who was subsequently given a note from a colonel explaining that the young woman had given birth while in detention and that the baby had been given to an “important” family. Despite his involvement in this case, Bergoglio testified in 2010 that he did not know about stolen babies until after the fall of the dictatorship.”

    http://www.countercurrents.org/oconnor140313.htm

  4. muzza 4

    Only Wall Street Wins in Detroit Crisis Reaping $474 Million Fee

    The only winners in the financial crisis that brought Detroit to the brink of state takeover are Wall Street bankers who reaped more than $474 million from a city too poor to keep street lights working.

    The city started borrowing to plug budget holes in 2005 under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted this week on corruption charges. That year, it issued $1.4 billion in securities to fund pension payments. Last year, it added $129.5 million in debt, 9.3 percent of its general-fund budget, in part to repay loans taken to service other bonds.

    The debt sales cost Detroit $474 million, including underwriting expenses, bond-insurance premiums and fees for wrong-way bets on swaps, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That almost equals the city’s 2013 budget for police and fire protection.

    The largest part is $350 million owed for derivatives meant to lower borrowing costs on variable-rate debt.

    Couldn’t happen here of course, could it /sarc!

    • vto 4.1

      It’s almost time for simple outright refusal to deal with banks and finance types. Just don’t deal with them. From personal (use cash – still a requirement to be paid in cash if an employee wishes) to the big stuff. For example, the govt does not need to pay $120,000,000 to investment bankers to sell Mighty River Power, it could do it itself.

      • muzza 4.1.1

        As those given the elected responsibility, fail to protect the vulnerable people of NZ we continue to live in a farce of so called democracy.

        As the failure to address the causes of the *GFC* continues, and there is no indication that it will be halted, the scams, rip offs, poverty, inequality and financially/socially genocidal decisions/results will amplify dramatically, as we are seeing around the world, and in NZ.

        We are now into the 6th year of the *GFC*, and structurally, there has not been any changes to how the world’s financial/banking systems function, nor has there been any prosecutions of note at the highest levels of banking, which is the true indicator of the power the owners of the world’s financial systems wield!

        Have a read of my link above at 1.1.1, to get a feel for the power/influence, which the directors of our world seek to crush the rest of us under.

        We are being crushed, and yet hardly a whimper – It must be working nicely for a heap of people, to remain this quiet in NZ!

        Tick Tock

  5. Like beneficiaries are meat and drink to tories, they are the Achilles heel of the left.

    I’m quite certain that it’s not only the right wing of the nat’s voter base that think all unemployed people are work shy scum bags, but large chunks of middle NZ buy into the stereotype.
    The solution is in the hands of Labour and the Green’s to offer the alternative to the status quo, if they’re brave, competent and strategically savvy enough to do so.

    We all know that some people on benefits rort the system, fact. These people tarnish the name of those making use of the safety net. Rule one, don’t hand ammo to the enemy unless they’re blanks.
    Target these people, not with poverty penalties, but using the weapons long championed by the socially conscious – Education, training and support to equality. When the stick clearly doesn’t work, wave the ‘effing carrot.
    There’s a job for everyone, even those that don’t want one. We’re in this sinking ship together, bailing together is better than sinking alone.

    People on invalidity benefits, those people who suffer enough already, should never have to worry about money. A clear policy statement should read ‘you want anything, let us know. Otherwise just sit back and take it easy, we got your backs.’

    People on sickness benefits, another target of this government, should also be sent a clear message from the opposition. They should be told that if your doctor says you can’t work at the moment, no worries, you won’t lose your house or not be able to eat every day because of illness. We’re the caring left, get better and we’ll help you back into work when the doctors say you’re ready. The state should also provide free access to counselling and other services if needed.

    Any work organised by winz should be paid at the national minimum wage.

    Mend the net and cast it wide.

  6. Draco T Bastard 6

    Kiwis take more than a fair share

    We’re known for being clean and green, but Kiwis are still eating up at least twice their fair share of the planet when it comes to sustainability.

    Two papers released today by the Royal Society of New Zealand explore how many people the country could support sustainably – and how comfortably.

    They found that if the entire world was to live like a New Zealander, we would require more than two planets to sustain us.

    What a surprise, we’re not living sustainably.

    Some estimates had put the number as high as five.

    And those estimates are probably correct as those estimates are usually based around everyone living as the USians do. Although the US are slightly less than 5% of the population they use about 25% of the resources.

    • TheContrarian 6.1

      “They found that if the entire world was to live like a New Zealander, we would require more than two planets to sustain us.”

      I think that would apply to any western country (I’d wager to live like the yanks we’d need three planets)

      • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1

        Yep, pretty much. Why do you think I’ve come to the conclusion that we can’t afford the middle class? We can probably afford the median class but I doubt that a lot of people want to hear that.

  7. prism 7

    Looking at the Listener in the supermarket the features sounded like standard Readers Digest fare. Mostly light, magazine, time-filling reading – okay for the fish and chip shop and the determinedly ignorant.
    nz Listener recent main features
    The Lake of Shame about pollution (worthy topic)
    but then, for the anxious self-involved middle class (woman?) –
    Beating your inner critic
    Change of fortune (money etc)
    Secrets of colour
    Can Women Succeed & Still Be Liked? March23-29
    and from December last –
    Can science cure baldness?
    Diagnosis danger
    (Many people are receiving medical treatments that are doing them more harm than good – and are completely unaware of it.)

    • Rogue Trooper 7.1

      compared to the ‘net, most modern magazines are just wastage, outta date, and outta context, and advertising people outta their own minds, oh well…

    • @ Dave Kennedy (bsprout)
      Hey great post! I think you might be really onto something here.
      and LOL “The RMA roadshow”
      …the whole “governing” shebang in NZ is seeming like more like a circus, increasingly so each day,… and each day one thinks it couldn’t resemble a circus more….and then the next day dawns…and one is proven wrong….

      sigh

    • Rogue Trooper 8.2

      fantasy indeed

  8. xtasy 9

    Disappointing results of an Official Information Act request made to MSD in late Oct. 2012:

    Question(s) and Answers (summarised):

    Q 1). Information in detail about the total number of referrals made by WINZ case managers and/or regional health and disability advisory staff – of sickness benefit (SB) and invalid’s benefit (IB) recipients/applicants – to be examined under sections 44 (1) and 54B (3) of the Social Security Act 1964 by a “designated doctor” – per year from 2006 up until now, for all administrative regions in NZ.

    Answer: “The Ministry does not centrally record the number of benefit applications that have been referred to a designated doctor that have not subsequently been endorsed by a designated doctor. Rather this information is held on individual client files. Therefore this part of your question is refused under section 18 (f) of the O.I.A..”

    Q 2). Information in detail about the total number of appeals made according to section 53A (1) (b) and (ba) of the Social Security Act 1964 – against decisions made by case managers and/or other staff members, following (and relying on) recommendations by regional health and disability advisory staff, upon them receiving reports and recommendations from medical practitioners or psychologists, who conducted medical examinations according to sections 44 (1) and 54B (3) of the Social Security Act 1964. This is for appeal made by IB and SB recipients or applicants per year from 2006 up until now, for all administered regions in NZ.
    Q 3). Information in detail about the total costs for preparing, conducting and finalising appeals brought under section 53A of the Social Security Act 1964 – per year from 2006 up until now, for all administrative regions within NZ.
    Q 4). Information in detail – about the numbers of decisions by MSD and Work and Income staff upheld and/or overturned by Medical Appeal Board panels hearing appeals – per year from 2006 up until now, for all administrative regions within NZ.

    Answer(s) (2 to 4 here have been answered in summary, but indeed more questions were asked in detail and have thus been summarised):
    “The Ministry is reviewing the way in which M.A.B. data is centrally reported and monitored, this is because the Ministry has only recently developed a system that records the total number of M.A.B. appeals. Information prior to April 2011, detailed information is not able to be obtained as the information is captured on individual client files where it is most needed. As such this information is again unable to be provided under to section 18 (f) of the Act.”

    “A number of W+I staff who are involved in preparing information for the M.A.B. also perform a wide variety of other tasks within the Ministry. For this reason I am not able to answer your questions regarding the costs for preparing for a M.A.B. hearing. Section 18 (g) allows me to refuse this part of your request…”

    A table is provided to list costs for M.A.B. hearings expenses directly (not including preparation and organisation costs for WINZ):
    2005/2006 $ 129,569
    2006/2007 $ 135,872
    2007/2008 $ 91,665
    2008/2009 $ 196,412
    2009/2010 $ 610,092
    2010/2011 $ 690,646
    2011/2012 $ 449,582

    Q 5). Information about the total expenses paid to –
    a) “designated doctors”;
    b) “host” or “usual” doctors –
    for conducting examinations, completing designated doctor reports and making recommendations to MSD and/or WINZ staff – or for preparing and providing “host” or “usual doctor reports”, per year from 2006 until now, for all administrative regions in New Zealand.

    Answer (summarised): Only a table of total costs per year for designated and host doctor expenses was provided. There was a change under the last Labour government (“Working NZ”), where IB recipients/applicants no longer needed to be examined or re-examined – unless there were contradicting or unclear reports on conditions, ability to work, etc. from the client and her/his doctor:

    Fin. Year Design. Doctors Host Doctor
    2005/2006 $ 2,845,371 $ 416,168
    2006/2007 $ 2,957,330 $ 429,948
    2007/2008 $ 1,161,185 $ 156,478
    2008/2009 $ 449,176 $ 58,878
    2009/2010 $ 580,381 $ 92,274
    2010/2011 $ 451,785 $ 71,477
    2011/2012 $ 413,854 $ 70,644

    Q 6). A complete list including all names, professional or other titles, positions and medical or health related qualifications, of those persons, who were – besides of Principal Health Advisor for the Ministry of Social Development, Dr David Bratt conducting “designated doctor training” from 2008.

    Answer (summarised): Besides of Dr Bratt apparently only Dr David Rankin (Sen. Advisor in the Ministry, MBChB, Uni Otago) was involved in “training” designated doctors in 2008.

    Q 7). The complete lists of all “training sessions” held all over NZ, for the purpose of training medical practitioners or other health professionals used as “designated doctors” by WINZ for medical examinations, for the years from 2008 up to the most recent time. And also requested was a complete list of the essential, detailed training materials and presentations commonly used during training of “designated doctors” (by Dr David Bratt or other staff of MSD) since such training was commenced during the course of 2008.

    Answer: NO list for training sessions was provided, and only a mention was made that „training“ was done all over NZ between August and October 2008. Training material (incl. 7 “scenarios”) have been listed, but don’t include PDF or PowerPoint presentations, which were according to other sources being used. So there is some contradiction about the whole list of training material that was being used. No material was provided as examples! It appears from the answer that direct Designated Doctor training during joint training sessions was only done in 2008, but that other training is continuing on a one to one and ad hoc basis.

    Q 8). A summary list with the actual sundry costs, expenses, fees paid for “designated doctor training”:

    Answer: “The amount paid by W+I for Designated Doctors training sessions was $ 26,710 in 2008/09 and $ 533 during the 2009/10 financial year. These expenses related to appointment fees in order to meet with Designated Doctors.” ”I am unable to provide a further break down of actual sundry costs, expenses and fees paid for the Designated Doctors training as this information is not held in further detail by the Ministry. Section 18 (g) of the O.I.A. allows me to withhold this part of your request…”

    Q 9). Copies of ALL reports (i.e. ministerial, at policy and executive planning level, at the overseeing departmental management level, and at the levels of Principal Health and Disability Advisor positions – and below) that were prepared, authorised, released, confirmed and acted upon – for the preparation, implementation, anticipated outcomes of “designated doctor training” sessions, managed by Dr David Bratt as Principal Health Advisor, or any other person in charge of such training, from 2006 to the present day. Also included should be any reports relating to suggested and/ or implemented changes and termination of such training.

    Answer: “The training package and subsequent material is available on the Ministry’s website. I am withholding the copies of all reports that were prepared as part of the Designated Doctor training under section 18 (f) of the Act as it was part of the wider Working NZ training package that the Ministry developed between 2006 to 2008.”

    To collate the information would require staff to search through a large amount of documents to collate and assess the specific documents in scope of the request. I do not consider this an appropriate use of staff time and resources.”

    (Note: All I’ve ever been able to find on the Ministry’s website is the “Guide for Designated Doctors”!)

    Q 10). A detailed list displaying the individual annual before tax salaries for the following senior and key-role staff of the Ministry of Social Development paid through the “public purse”:
    a) Dr David Bratt, Principal Health Advisor for the MSD;
    b) Anne Hawker, Principal Disability Advisor for the MSD;
    c) the salaries paid to the 13 (or so) Regional Health Advisors in each Regional Office of MSD;
    d) the salaries paid to the 13 (or so) Regional Disability Advisors in each Regional Office of MSD;
    e) the salaries paid to the Health and Disability Coordinators in Regional Offices of MSD;
    f) the individual salaries of Social Welfare Board members: Paula Rebstock, Ian McPherson, Kathryn McPherson, Andrew Body, Reg Barrett and Debbie Packer.

    Answer:
    “I can advise that the remuneration range for regional health and disability advisors is $ 57,300 and 78,807 per annum, and for the health and disability coordinators the range is between $ 42,491 and $ 58,425, per annum as at December 2012.” “Salaries of the Principal Health and Disability Advisors have been withheld under section (9) (2) (a) “to protect their privacy”.

    The six ‘Work and Income Board’ members receive $ 26,500 each per annum, but the chairperson receives $ 58,500 per annum (which is of course besides of other incomes the persons receive for other positions they hold outside the MSD).

    So much information is being withheld for various reasons, but re question 9 above, there is information I and others have obtained that give sufficient insight into how designated doctor training was planned, and who was behind it all, under the last Labour led government!

    (Questions numbered above are summarised from a larger number of questions in the original request!) **SORRY I KNOW THIS IS LONG, BUT I FEEL TOO UNSURE ABOUT HOW TO PROVIDE A PROPER SEPARATE POST.**

  9. Pete 10

    The Royal Society of New Zealand has released two interesting papers on sustainable development in New Zealand. One looks at the carrying capcity – what we can sustainably produce to continue living in a way we have become accustomed. The second looks at the constraints on NZ’s sustainable well-being. Worth a look.

    • Rosie 10.1

      Thanks for posting those papers Pete. Looking forward to reading them when there is a chance.

    • Rogue Trooper 10.2

      on “Constraints”-summary “however, often the rate of improvement in both resource use and resource conservation is inadequate”

  10. Pascal's bookie 11

    Did Ken Ring predict this drought? (no)

    • vto 11.1

      Perhaps because it is not actually a drought? It is only drought relative to the state of the land, courtesy of us, namely thin grassland instead of thick deep bush.

      • Pascal's bookie 11.1.1

        Ring predicts rain, often when it doesn’t.

        • vto 11.1.1.1

          Yep, his weather predictions aren’t that great but some people swear by them.

          • Daveosaurus 11.1.1.1.1

            If there was anything to Ring’s woo-woo bullshit he wouldn’t be trying to make money by selling his predictions; he’d be keeping very quiet and raking it in by gambling on Lotto or on the stock market.

            • felixviper 11.1.1.1.1.1

              That’s by no means necessarily so. It depends on what it is that motivates him, among a number of other factors.

  11. Sanctuary 12

    I am currently watching the sun set over the high Andes. However, life is not all hot Sourh American girls and pisco sours at dusk. Seeing the impact of mining in the Atacama is really thought provoking. On the one hand, you’ve got real bone ride boom towns like Calama, with obvious prosperity and new wealth speinging up everywhere. On the other hand, the impact of mining for lithium is awesome, on a scale that matches the gigantic geography up here. Maybe, in this vast and desolate landscape mining is OK. But it is just so ugly. I can’t anything but toy mining being appropriate in NZ.

  12. Draco T Bastard 13

    Entire North Island drought declared

    Tararua farmer Garth Coleman said this week a drought declaration would give rural communities a boost.

    “It’s good for our morale that the rest of the country recognises we are in a difficult situation.

    What are the chances this same person would be down the pub blaming beneficiaries for being unemployed?

    • vto 13.1

      Yes, you highlight a pertinent point.

      The farming sector has been thumbing its nose at certain other sectors of the community for some time. For example, the Canterbury farming community and its theft of water resources. When that community then expects something from the community that it has shat on it is human nature is to tell the shitter to get f….d.

      Another example sits with Federated Farmers itself. It last leader Don Nicholson was one of the most obnoxious (not to mention plain ignorant) people to have held an office of that type. Don Nicholson penned an article called “Real New Zealanders” in which he called farmers and export dollar earners the real New Zealanders and everyone else less worthy.

      Quite frankly both of those examples (plus the one you mention DtB) illustrate the view that the rural sector has of those other sectors, and that is not a pleasant view. In fact it is appalling on several fronts.

      In light of that, for me, they are on their own.

      • RedBaronCV 13.1.1

        yep Don Nicholson was awful. To their credit the farmers heaved him out and put in an organic? beef farmer.
        I’d hate to judge all farmers by Nicholson. Many are just quietly getting on with trying to farm well but all the media interview, are the vocal right wing majority I suspect. Bit like any other issue. Personally , I’d like to see them take more interest in their Nact representatives. Frankly, I think they are voting for a brand that is rapidly parting company with their interests.

    • Rosie 13.2

      “What are the chances this same person would be down the pub blaming beneficiaries for being unemployed?”

      Thats exactly what I thought when I read that article. I empathise with their challenges and agree that they should receive the equivalent of an unemployment benefit. However when they do receive their funds I doubt that they will feel equivalent to anyone else who is in the same position of being without income due to no fault of their own. Something about the deserving Vs. the non deserving perhaps? I’m more concerned for the welfare of the animals, who already live a miserable existance as an industrial animal. This drought only compounds their suffering.

      In the meantime here in Wgtn we go to a full outdoor water ban tomorrow. Haven’t experienced anything like it since that drought in Akld back in the early nineties.

      • bad12 13.2.1

        Yes while not wishing to kick the farmers while they are down the current little dry spell they call a drought should be a lesson to them on a number of levels,

        The first as already discussed above is that the farming communities should consider the options that they now have in the face of this ‘drought’ which are very few and then consider the options of the jobless in the face of this current ‘jobs drought’ and the continual ‘droughts in employment’ our economy cycles in and out of,

        Secondly, SURPRISE surprise it looks like climate change might have given the dairy farmers a slight reminder, rudely interrupting the milk and money flow and hopefully pointing out to the Farmers that boom bust is on the cards for a dairy industry that has engaged in unplanned overt expansion for the past 20 years and that the writing on the climate wall says that in the coming 20 years such unplanned for expansion will cost us all dearly,

        Here’s one point of stupidity,theres enough water falls in the city of Auckland to irrigate every farm in the Waikato through the most severe droughts even if those droughts occurred annually,

        There was one hell of a haste to run a pipeline from the Waikato River to take water to Auckland but no thought given to building catchment dams in the Waikato to allow another pipeline to take excess rainfall for irrigation to the Waikato…

    • vto 14.1

      Just as well they’ve got big money printing machines eh.

      • RedBaronCV 14.1.1

        yep Don Nicholson was awful. To their credit the farmers heaved him out and put in an organic? beef farmer.
        I’d hate to judge all farmers by Nicholson. Many are just quietly getting on with trying to farm well but all the media interview, are the vocal right wing majority I suspect. Bit like any other issue. Personally , I’d like to see them take more interest in their Nact representatives. Frankly, I think they are voting for a brand that is rapidly parting company with their interests.

  13. Draco T Bastard 15

    Hey, Labour and all other idiots that want to raise the age of retirement, read this?

    “People who are shorter-lived tend to make less, which means that if you raise the retirement age, low-income populations would be subsidising the lives of higher-income people,” said Maya Rockeymoore, president and chief executive of Global Policy Solutions, a public policy consultancy. “Whenever I hear a policymaker say people are living longer as a justification for raising the retirement age, I immediately think they don’t understand the research or, worse, they are willfully ignoring what the data say.”

    Yeah, raising the retirement age is regressive – effectively taxing the poor to pay the rich.

    • Colonial Viper 15.1

      Go Labour! Go Labour ! Go Labour!

    • bad12 15.2

      That’s why the NZ Treasury, a well known nest of right wing nutters is so in favor of the policy of raising the retirement age,

      What NZ Labour is doing in that mix is anyone’s guess…

      • Draco T Bastard 15.2.1

        What NZ Labour is doing in that mix is anyone’s guess…

        They believe the same delusional economics as Treasury.

        • bad12 15.2.1.1

          Yeah i know, but i just woke up from an afternoon sleep and couldn’t get my fingers to make the accusation…

  14. Rogue Trooper 16

    Solid Energy collapse “has hit West Coast community very hard” -Tony Kokshoorn

    Drought is going to hit the meat (slaughtering) industry next
    Drought is ” affecting whole communities” (businesses servicing farming) “suffering”
    Drought (read that it may take 1% of this years growth forecasts)
    Drought “neighbours in Wellywood 😉 ignoring bans, while other neighbours are dobbing them in”
    (what a great cohesive community we have; wait until things do get tough…)

    From Syria, 100,000 refugees crossed into Jordan in ONE night; the Jordanian infrastructure is “crumbling”

    Let My Love Open The Door… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JtYgQxetek

    although Francis is a Jesuit, did you know that the Vatican clamped down on Jon Sobrino, an advocate of Marxist-inspired theology?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Sobrino

    Oh Tilda, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH7dMBcg-gE , The Stars (are out tonight)

    Let’s Dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbxQ9bvdZgU

    ‘cos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrTyD7rjBpw (Black-Eyed Peas)

  15. NickS 17

    http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/

    – We’ve got plenty of empirical examples of why the american system of education is failure, and yet we see our government biting at the bit to role out “competition”, “choice” and charter schools…

    Then again, there are none so blind as politicians wanting to stay in power.

    • Draco T Bastard 17.1

      It’s not so much that the politicians are wanting to stay in power but that they’re wanting to enrich themselves and their rich mates at our expense without us realising it.

    • Draco T Bastard 17.2

      That’s a great article. I especially liked:

      In his book Sahlberg quotes a line from Finnish writer named Samuli Paronen: “Real winners do not compete.”

      In fact, since academic excellence wasn’t a particular priority on the Finnish to-do list, when Finland’s students scored so high on the first PISA survey in 2001, many Finns thought the results must be a mistake. But subsequent PISA tests confirmed that Finland — unlike, say, very similar countries such as Norway — was producing academic excellence through its particular policy focus on equity.

      Both of those should really frighten those that think that they’re special.

    • Puddleglum 17.3

      GREAT article NickS.

      In thinking about New Zealand’s supposed ‘long tail of failure’ (Tolley and Parata’s ‘1 in 5’ students) the following quotation is relevant:

      Samuel Abrams, a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Teachers College, has addressed the effects of size and homogeneity on a nation’s education performance by comparing Finland with another Nordic country: Norway. Like Finland, Norway is small and not especially diverse overall, but unlike Finland it has taken an approach to education that is more American than Finnish. The result? Mediocre performance in the PISA survey. Educational policy, Abrams suggests, is probably more important to the success of a country’s school system than the nation’s size or ethnic makeup.

  16. Rogue Trooper 18

    a commercial break /
    “Philosophy, which once seemed obsolete, lives on, because the moment to realize it was missed”

    I Dor know nussink. 😉

  17. Rogue Trooper 19

    BodyCounts in The House (goes outside to enjoy sun and some caffeine)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ7Rjlo0aJo
    (not partial to Iced Tea)

  18. Rogue Trooper 20

    We interrupt this broadcast to cast you another broadside…
    “His thought was permanently marked by the rise of fascism, and by the failure of Marxism, both in the West and in the Soviet Union
    He and Horkheimer diagnosed the ills of modernity in “Dialectic of the Enlightenment”
    Another factor shaping his thought was existentialism which was in part a movement of rebellion against the dehumanization of people in industrial society (Tillich; check out The Courage to Be), and a response to the failure of Marx’s and Hegel’s solutions to it.
    Despite his criticisms of the existentialists, Adorno shared many of their concerns: Kierkegaard’s reinstatement of subjectivity against Hegel’s supposedly panlogistic and historicist system, Heidegger’s antipathy to technology, 😉 and so on.
    Even to ignore socio-political relations is to justify them, by suggesting, for example, that the individual is more autonomous than they are.
    The insistence on the mediated-ness of everything immediate is the model of dialectical thinking as such, and also of Materialistic thinking, insofar as it ascertains the social preformation of contingent, individual experience.
    (Do you think, that in view of our potential, and growing, control over organic processes, we cannot dismiss a fortiori the thought of the elimination of death? This may be unlikely; yet we can entertain the thought…which according to existential ontology, should be unthinkable.)
    Like Socrates and the early Plato, he wields a negative dialectic and does not, like Hegel and the later Plato, derive a positive result.
    His aim is to dissolve conceptual forms before they harden into lenses which distort our vision of, and impair our practical engagements with, reality. Reality is not transparent to us; there is a “totally other”, a non-identical, that eludes our concepts.
    When concepts fail us, art comes to our aid. Aesthetic illusion sustains the hope for an ideology-free utopia that neither theory or political activity can secure: In illusion there is the promise of freedom from illusion. Art, especially music, is relatively autonomous of repressive social structures and thus represents a demand for freedom and a critique of society.

    Although critical of Kierkegaard’s existentialism and “phenomenology”, Adorno still integrated their concerns with authority and subjectivity.

    The subject is constituted politically, yet there is hope, that THE AUTHENTIC META-PHYSICAL SUBJECT WILL SHED THIS CONDITIONING.

    as Bob sang, “Emancipate yourselves”

  19. Morrissey 25

    Josie McNaught out of her depth on “The Panel”
    Radio New Zealand National, Friday 15 March 2013
    Jim Mora, Josie McNaught, Mike Williams

    One of Jim Mora’s blander occasional guests on The Panel is the Auckland-based “arts correspondent” Josie McNaught. Regular listeners to The Panel will be well aware by now that there are just two things she seems to show any interest in. One is the lack of respect and resources for the Arts in this country. And the other is the lack of respect and resources for Arts correspondents in this country, namely, the lack of respect and resources for Josie McNaught.

    So her appearances on the Panel are usually a bit melancholic, and usually consist of nothing more than her bitterly bemoaning the sad state of affairs for redundant arts correspondents in this country. Unkind people have occasionally even slung off at her as “Joyless Josie”.

    Today, during her Soapbox contribution, Joyless Josie suddenly came unglued. Her piece, which was supposed to have been prepared carefully, started off as a low-key, rather ho-hum encomium for the sport of tennis—then suddenly segued into a mad, confused, dyspeptic, wandery anti-rugby rant. In her bilious pomp, Joyless Josie subjected listeners to a disastrous, confused mess of pottage at a level rarely plumbed on “The Panel” other than by the mediocre John “Barney” Barnett, the crazed Christine Spankin’ Rankin and the senile Garth “Gaga” George.

    Next up, the big topic of the day: did the Prime Minister willfully mislead the country when he claimed that it was the board of Solid Energy, not Key and his cronies, that insisted on plunging the company into massive debt?

    Now, as well as Josie McNaught, there were a couple of people present who did know something, in fact a great deal, about the situation. Former Labour Party president and ex-Genesis Energy Deputy Chairman Mike Williams and Herald political correspondent John Armstrong were both waiting to say something about this very important matter.

    Guess who spoke up first? Yep, you got it in one, buster: it was Not-So-Jolly Josie who had to contribute her two cents worth. “The key word here is ‘asked’, I think,” she chirped. “You can’t blame them for trying surely?”

    Mike Williams, obviously appalled and straining to be charitable, decided someone needed to start talking sense. “Just a minute! Let’s just untangle what you said,” he intoned, ominously.

    For the next few minutes Williams and John Armstrong carefully, logically, pitilessly dismantled the government’s flimsy case, while McNaught, humiliated, sat silently.

    This was yet another Guest selection fail for the Panel’s producers, unfortunately.

    • Te Reo Putake 25.1

      “Unkind people have occasionally even slung off at her as “Joyless Josie”.”

      My bullshit detector just started twitching, Moz.

  20. gobsmacked 26

    If anyone’s hanging out tonight for the next Morgan poll (sad, eh?) it will be published on Monday. According to the Twitter thing.

  21. prism 27

    Tomorrow Radionz – Kim and Hordur.
    8:15 Hordur Torfason: Iceland and democracy

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 27

    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    48 mins ago
  • Ticket To Anywhere

    You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 hours ago
  • Stories of varying weight

    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on anything you may have missed. Share Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 hours ago
  • Balancing External Security and the Economy

    New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    19 hours ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: The unravelling of the offsets

    The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    23 hours ago
  • What makes us tick

    This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 day ago
  • Foreshore and seabed 2.0

    In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission report into abuse in care

    Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Weekly Roundup 26-July-2024

    Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago
  • God what a relief

    1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Trust In Me

    Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 26

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care report released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced $802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Radical law changes needed to build road

    The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30 2024

    Open access notables Could an extremely cold central European winter such as 1963 happen again despite climate change?, Sippel et al., Weather and Climate Dynamics: Here, we first show based on multiple attribution methods that a winter of similar circulation conditions to 1963 would still lead to an extreme seasonal ...
    2 days ago
  • First they came for the Māori

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

    Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?

    Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

    Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Olywhites and Time Bandits

    About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...
    2 days ago
  • Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways

    Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    18 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

    For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors

    The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Half a million people use tax calculator

    With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis.  “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading

    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Rebuilding the economy through better regulation

    Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way

    New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Accelerating Northland Expressway

    The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy

    Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.    “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024.  “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ to advance relationships with ASEAN partners

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane.    “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says.   “This will be our third visit to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Backing mental health services on the West Coast

    Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries

    New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Commissioner replaces Health NZ Board

    In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today.  “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister to speak at Australian Space Forum

    Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum.  While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation.  “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan.  “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons

    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot

    The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway

    The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Update on global IT outage

    Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New Zealand, Japan renew Pacific partnership

    New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says.    “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New infrastructure energises BOP forestry towns

    New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • 'Pacific Futures'

    President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests.    Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone.    Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-07-27T01:15:21+00:00