Open Mike 15/08/2017

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 15th, 2017 - 81 comments
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81 comments on “Open Mike 15/08/2017 ”

  1. amirite 1

    We need at least 2000 new state houses built every year to catch up with the rise in homelessness, the Salvation Army says http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/337179/nz-not-catching-up-to-social-housing-need

    Meanwhile the existing social housing stock is in a dismal state, mushrooms are growing on walls, slugs are crawling in through holes https://donotlink.it/G50l

    • savenz 1.1

      Essential reading as a warning about what happens when the state decides to sell off a countries state houses because they are too lazy and incompetent to fix them up…

      https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/apr/25/mod-privatise-military-housing-disaster-guy-hands

      • popexplosion 1.1.1

        Tories are assumed to be competent on the economy, management, but they are not, they believe that the market will deliver and so have no capacity for governance as none needed, the market will solve all problems duh. Historically the only reason they have been re-elected is they lived in a time of lowering energy prices that naturally grows the economy, and then entered a period of financial smoke and mirrors that hides the real economy.

        Take Auckland, in any major city globally there would be a integrated public transport system that also networks with regional centers. Not so Auckland, to get to Hamilton you need to walk up to the casino! or down to the foreshore! oh don’t goto the rail station it runs once a week! This is indicative of Tory management style of leaving growth to markets.

        • Nick 1.1.1.1

          Narratives are the core of perception.

          Insight for people who haven’t the time or inclination to look at actual people, actual events or actual problems.

          Nats are great managers. They are because they are.

          Establishing a positive epithet is essential. New, enthusiastic, young and full of dreams and ideas for a better New Zealand.

          We have to endlessly reinforce the Jacinda story.

    • Nick 1.2

      If only we had 90,000 young people not in work and not in training, we might just be able to do something about the deteriorating social housing stock and so much more..

  2. One Anonymous Bloke 2

    Excellent article on the Just World “Theory”.

    Some readers may recognise themselves:

    “…the sight of an innocent person suffering without possibility of reward or compensation motivated people to devalue the attractiveness of the victim in order to bring about a more appropriate fit between her fate and her character.” [M. Lerner]

    …people who have a strong tendency to believe in a just world also tend to be more religious, more authoritarian, more conservative, more likely to admire political leaders and existing social institutions, and more likely to have negative attitudes toward underprivileged groups…

    …the result may be the abdication of personal responsibility, acquiescence in the face of suffering and misfortune, and indifference towards injustice.

    Although why they call the National Party’s core values a “theory” is beyond me.

    • DH 2.1

      “Some readers may recognise themselves:”

      I bet you have no idea how ironic that statement is….

      • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.1

        …the research suggests that humans have a need to bring their beliefs about what is right into conformity with the objective reality they encounter–and that they will work to achieve consistency either by modifying their beliefs or attempting to modify that reality. By becoming more conscious of our own tendencies, we may be more inclined to take the latter approach.

        I’m more inclined to take the latter approach, thanks.

    • Eco maori 2.2

      I would just like to apologise to any one I have offended by stereotyping all rich people as discriminator there are a lot of nice people whom have worked hard and managed there money well my spelling is limited and the spell check is not that good so I use basic words its the same as Maori not all of us are BAD

      • One Anonymous Bloke 2.2.1

        Don’t mean to rain on your confession, it’s just that working hard isn’t the way people become rich, or we’d see a lot more rich nurses and less golf.

        I don’t really think that anyone is “bad” in that sense: one of the conclusions of the Lerner and Milgram experiments is that everyone has the capacity to do evil things.

        There was certainly protest by the subjects with threats to walk away, and pleas to check on the health of the learner, but the researcher, with his stoic demeanor, wearing the magic lab coat that resembles that of a respected doctor (or a teenager working behind the photos counter at your local CVS or Walgreens), simply said “please continue” or “the experiment requires that you continue.” These words in this situation are apparently all it takes.

        • AB 2.2.1.1

          “working hard isn’t the way people become rich”
          Owning income-producing assets, extracting rents, capital gain, inheritance, ticket-clipping transactions between 3rd-parties, using market power to implement extortionate pricing, externalising business costs onto the public (corporate welfare), belonging to an elite class of managers who are able to extract salaries completely disproportionate to any empirically-discernible value they add.

          These are much more common ways to become rich than working hard. Broadly they are non-labour income that doesn’t come from actual ‘work’ at all (hard or otherwise).
          Though I’d be inclined to say that people have to work reasonably hard to get themselves into a position to take some of these ‘opportunities’. But no harder than a nurse as you say.

          People know all this in their bones. But it’s striking how often they reflexively bow the knee and pay homage to the “hard work” myth.

          • Eco maori 2.2.1.1.1

            Yes I agree O N B and AD .I just did not want to be a bigot as for the definition of rich to me if I owned my own home had a electric car and solar power and a veggie garden I’d be rich I was trying to say in one of my blogs that everyone has a different view on reality

    • Carolyn_nth 3.1

      Actually, it sounds like Trotter thinks the GP is retreating back to the margins, where they can be acceptable to a small group of those living in comfort in the leafy suburbs.

      Trotter is putting the boot into the GP social justice section and announcing the demise of their campaign against poverty, and the shunting of Marama Davidson into oblivion.

      And your comment supports commentary that kicks the GP into the margins of the election campaign, and marginalises the related campaign against poverty and for substantial changes to our social security system.

      • Ad 3.1.1

        May or may not be the right lesson, but they’re learning.

        • Carolyn_nth 3.1.1.1

          Trotter’s version of what they are said to be learning is not getting a very positive response so far in the comments under the same post on The Daily Blog.

          • KJT 3.1.1.1.1

            Trotter. like a lot of the New Zealand political establishment, is comfortable with the Labour/National duopoly and resent upstart challengers like the Greens.

            “How dare they take Labours votes”, is not an uncommon sentiment.

            No perception that votes are earned, not an entitlement.

            • greywarshark 3.1.1.1.1.1

              KJT
              How does that musing of yours relate to Trotter’s surprise and dismay at the apparent downplaying of Metiria’s move against structural poverty?

          • Bill 3.1.1.1.2

            That Trotter piece is definitely and quite unnecessarily putting the boot in.

            But I did get the impression that Shaw was “bottling it” during that re-launch speech.

            We’ll see…

            • tc 3.1.1.1.2.1

              Trotter is a tamed establishment ‘leftie’ like pagani and williamson doing a job.

              Positioned to give the appearance of balance whilst undermining, saw straight through that media poodle years ago.

              • Bill

                I see him more as a drunk man with a hammer – misses often. But when he hits he ‘wellies’ it. 😉

              • Nick

                Not equivalent. Pagani gets on talk shows as a “former Labour candidate” but in reality she has been neo-lib for at least a decade.

                Chris in person can give underwhelming opinions, but his writing is often both elegant and persuasive.

                If not always consistent.

            • WILD KATIPO 3.1.1.1.2.2

              I don’t the Greens are putting aside social justice issues, more like a temporary tactical withdrawal to detooth a toxic media. And I don’t think you could ever sideline Marama Davidson from this , either.

            • dukeofurl 3.1.1.1.2.3

              Trotter has ‘critical view’ in his commentary. he doesnt do these things with rose tinted glasses.
              The poll shocks means they have grab back as many well off left leaning voters as they can who live in leafy urban enclaves.

            • Nick 3.1.1.1.2.4

              It wasn’t the time for a two barrels on benefit poverty.

              Allow the dust to settle or the Greens will be able to talk of nothing else.

      • patricia bremner 3.1.2

        Trotter appears to now support TOP.

    • weka 3.2

      Looks to me like being narked that no-one got behind the rallying cry to avenge Metiria. Of course we didn’t, because avenging Metiria is macho politics and the Greens don’t do that. For very good reasons.

      I also think Trotter is clueless about Shaw’s position on poverty and he simply can’t allow that Shaw is genuine because the strategy is invisible to Trotter. In other words, just clueless still about what green politics is.

      I knew exactly what Shaw was apologising for, and I know why he did it. Why doesn’t Trotter? Or more to the point, why doesn’t Trotter take the time to talk to people who do know instead of grandstanding his own ignorance? That’s not a rhetorical question.

      • Nick 3.2.1

        Chris is a bit trigger-happy. But that comes with passion.

        And as a columnist he can be “publish or die”, sometimes, which can put him on more than one side of an issue.

        However, I defy you to name a commentator as consistantly interesting.

  3. Sanctuary 4

    When are Labour replacing the old signs?

    • mac1 4.1

      You mean the ones with the new Prime Minister and Minister of Labour on them? 😉

      To me the signs are a reminder that political change within a party can be achieved without evisceration; that when your time comes to step down, then you stand alongside the new leader, to help manage the transition; and possibly most importantly, the party is greater than the leader; that ideas, ideals, fundamental beliefs are crucial.

      • patricia bremner 4.1.1

        I agree Mac1. People don’t want to accept that Andrew Little acted in the best interests of his party.

        We have become so accepting of selfish motives in government, we find it hard to believe that.

        Jacinda said “Andrew will be on the front bench of any government I lead, we need him.”

        That spoke volumes to me of a “new start”.

        No dirty politics and no skeletons.

    • The Fairy Godmother 4.2

      This Saturday.

  4. Carolyn_nth 5

    Jane Kelsey on The Daily Blog today, saying the TPP is not dead.

    She publishes her notes on the latest responses of several NZ political parties on the TPP (Nats didn’t give a view). David Parker for Labour seems to avoid directly saying whether Labour is for or against a revamped TPP.

    kelsey concludes:

    We know where the Greens and Maori Party stand. But would they make the TPPA a coalition deal breaker?

    New Zealand First has been an uncompromising critic of the TPPA – but would Winston repeat what he did when, as Foreign Minister in coalition with Labour, he became best friends with Condee Rice and called for a US-NZ FTA? What about potential leader in waiting Shane Jones, who is pro-TPPA and PACER-plus?

    And what about Labour? David Parker confirmed Labour’s pragmatism. Its narrow grounds for opposing the TPPA may not survive into government, unless Labour voters force the Party to take a strong public position of rejecting the zombie TPPA.

    • Craig H 5.1

      I don’t want to see what the TPPA became, but if a proper free trade agreement can be made without all the extraneous BS, that’s fine with me.

      • dukeofurl 5.1.1

        They are never about free trade anymore. Even to use the provisions means you are well resourced large company.

      • WILD KATIPO 5.1.2

        You mean …’ Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) or investment court system (ICS) is a system through which individual companies can sue countries for alleged discriminatory practices ‘ ?

        Investor-state dispute settlement – Wikipedia
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor-state_dispute_settlement

        There’s no way I will ever see some company overruling our sovereign elected government.

        The hell with that notion.

      • To get free-trade we actually need to get rid of the FTAs as they’re more about protecting big business than trade.

        Much better for each individual country to set standards that other countries have to meet before will trade with them. Such standards as similar minimum wage, similar minimum working conditions and similar environmental protections. In other words, making sure that all costs are properly accounted for.

        The result of this should be the minimisation of trade as each country develops it’s own economy.

  5. Craig H 6

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/08/14/42483/no-such-thing-as-neutral-policy

    A long but interesting read about unconscious bias in policy-making, particularly around the bias toward Pakeha heterosexual nuclear families where one of the parents (probably the male) is the primary earner.

  6. KJT 7

    “Free trade agreements” haven’t been about free trade for decades now.

    They have been charters for corporate and monopoly rights.

    Extending corporate power to extract “rents” for patents and copyright and to take Governments to kangaroo courts for loss of monopoly profits are the antithesis of “free markets” and “free trade”.

    A large part of the quick rise in US prosperity, after the revolution, was because they told British rentiers, land owners and lenders to “take a hike”. And then they protected and subsidised their own industry.

    Now they are ensuring other countries cannot do the same.

    • Tamati Tautuhi 7.1

      Free Trade Agreements these days appear to be anything but Free Trade Agreements?

    • Craig H 7.2

      It’s entirely possible that no FTAs will be up to snuff for all the reasons you’ve outlined – can’t rule that out.

    • Stuart Munro 7.4

      Chang Ha Joon has an interesting snippet on the US in Bad Samaritans – for over a century the US was the largest copyright breaker, chiefly of British manufactured items. Enforcing other country’s copyrights is a mug’s game.

  7. Muttonbird 8

    CEO of KidsCan, Julie Chapman, is not referring to the National Party and their supporters when she says more people are speaking up of the poor.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11903792

    On 23 September remember the National Party and their supporters only care about themselves. They will continue to turn a blind eye to struggling communities and must go.

  8. Sanctuary 9

    Goodness, National has gone fully bananas of late. A panic-stricken knee jerk bit of law and order they’ve dredged from the past – a boot camp scheme everyone agrees is tried and fail, and hysterical attacks on the water levy which just confirms to the general public that National run the country in the interest of corporate farming.

    Long may their Jacinda-induced panic last!

    PS – their polling must be telling them they are hemorrhaging votes, the panic is palpable.

  9. greywarshark 10

    Just thinking of the steps to having authority and agency from a low position.
    Supplicant>Applicant>Entry>Achievement>Leadership>Philosophy parameters>Executive Opportunity.

    Where are the Greens on this line? You could say that they are only back at entry as they haven’t been a major party in Parliament, but they have had achievement with some useful, helpful, environmental policies rolled out. They have provided leadership and affected other Parties’ thinking and actions. Now they are up to philosophy parameters. Metiria thought it was time to widen their interests beyond the bounds of the middle class greenies wanting to protect birds, trees, rivers , eels and penguins.

    They are hoping they will get the executive opportunity if they just stick to their environmental knitting. But by including vulnerable people in their purview the Greens should be able to build their support, get more votes, and bring others on board who in their thousands could be working to protect the environment if Task Force Green systems could be set up, with training.

    Many Maori would enjoy going back to their marae as a temporary base while they worked on some local project. Not all would want to go back permanently, but once Maori unemployed had jobs and a bit of spare cash, they would visit more often and the whole fabric of whanau interaction would be strengthened.

    What a lot of good in just this one aspect of NZ life could happen if the Greens could stand mixing with the poorer classes. They are in fear of reverting to the dowager duchess type of charity where you distribute your spare potato peelings to the needy – organically grown of course.

    • Nick 10.1

      The number one thing is to believe we can make a difference as a community.

      If we believe that, we will start to look for solutions and opportunities.

      If you take a neo-lib approach and imagine that all you can do is deregulate greed, that is all you will get, to the massive disadvantage of the people as a whole.

  10. Ad 11

    Taylor Swift vindicated.

    I think Taylor Swift’s win in the groping case is going to be something of a benchmark for harassment outside the workplace. She only sought $1 in damages, and a jury awarded her the win:

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11904515

  11. greywarshark 12

    Spoiler alert.
    For those with Game of Thrones magnetism, here is the latest cover of the upcoming series.

    https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/aug/14/game-of-thrones-has-finally-ditched-the-sex-for-good
    I’m afraid that, predictably, seeing the title had ‘sex’ in it I automatically was magnetised to it. I do like chocolate too!

  12. savenz 13

    Last year was the most perilous ever for people defending their community’s land, natural resources or wildlife, with new research showing that environmental defenders are being killed at the rate of almost four a week across the world.

    Two hundred environmental activists, wildlife rangers and indigenous leaders trying to protect their land were killed in 2016, according to the watchdog group Global Witness – more than double the number killed five years ago.

    And the frequency of killings is only increasing as 2017 ticks by, according to data provided exclusively to the Guardian, with 98 killings identified in the first five months of this year.

    The defenders: recording the deaths of environmental defenders around the world
    Read more
    John Knox, UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, said: “Human rights are being jettisoned as a culture of impunity is developing.

    “There is now an overwhelming incentive to wreck the environment for economic reasons. The people most at risk are people who are already marginalised and excluded from politics and judicial redress, and are dependent on the environment. The countries do not respect the rule of law. Everywhere in the world, defenders are facing threats.

    “There is an epidemic now, a culture of impunity, a sense that anyone can kill environmental defenders without repercussions, eliminate anyone who stands in the way. It [comes from] mining, agribusiness, illegal logging and dam building.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/13/environmental-defenders-being-killed-in-record-numbers-globally-new-research-reveals

    • greywarshark 13.1

      The magnetism of excess money brings power and luxuries and the luxury of choosing when, what, how to do things or not. And in such few hands in the world, the intoxication of their power permeates their whole lives and that’s where the trickle down theory actually works. The power moves down through the chain, each one fed from the same source which will seem very distant, so they never know the connections. At the bottom it is not money and necessities that the trickle down brings, it is the laser beam of power with strong effect.

      Those neolib stitchers-up and their acolytes have opened a Pandora’s box and we can never close it again. And trying to find ways to alleviate its effects can cost you everything, and continue to consume your village, your family, your memory.
      Perhaps we can make a difference though, and try to do something principled to assist these heroes and sacrifices and achieve some goals to be proud of. It gives us something meaningful to do while we live out our lives anyway.

      Here are the two plotters who managed to divorce the ideas of the mind and the reality of life and treat the reality as something to objectify and the theory as something to deify.

      Hayek and Friedman and Monetary Policy
      (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXqc-yyoVKg
      Hayek on Politics, Gold and Milton Friedman
      (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19_mfDtcLvw

      Milton Friedman on Greed
      (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
      Milton Friedman on Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom
      (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDRgnlm7C-E

  13. mosa 14

    Good to see Gareth Morgan calling Horrible Hosking out , it’s about time !!

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1708/S00278/gareth-morgan-open-letter-to-nzme.htm

    • 😈

      That was good.

    • tc 14.2

      Excellent and lets hope the hosk responds. Id like to see this one run a bit.

    • mary_a 14.3

      mosa (14) … Excellent response from Gareth Morgan, which demonstrates how ignorant Hosking really is. Every time he opens his drivelling Natz gob, his lack of intellect comes through loud and clear.

      I look forward to see how Morgan goes with Hosking moderating the combined minor parties’ debates.

  14. Cinny 15

    Coleman has failed once again, alcohol lobbyists reign supreme in the national party. It appears the profits of the booze companies are more important than the health of our nation.
    National are the ones who placed booze in the supermarkets and lowered the drinking age, they are told the damage re alcohol/depression/suicide/domestic violence/child abuse etc etc and advised to do something about it, but they do nothing, nada.

    “Cheap booze is a cause of depression and aid to suicide and there is a pressing need to rethink its availability and price, the Government has been told by the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser.

    While much of the focus of the new initiatives is on improving resilience and decision-making, none of the 17 new initiatives specifically address the role of alcohol in suicide and depression.

    That is despite Gluckman’s advice that a re-evaluation of alcohol in society is urgently needed.”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11904096

    Personally I’m not anti booze, but I am anti the devastation that it does to many lives.

  15. Whispering Kate 16

    I have just read a marvellous piece by Julie Chapman CEO of KidsCan in today’s Herald, about the measure of child poverty in NZ and how society is starting to understand that having a job and a home doesn’t mean that you are not in poverty. That we have this new poor of employed people with two kids who still are not earning enough to pay rent, clothe their kids and feed them adequately.

    It really is a must to read.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=180261

  16. greywarshark 17

    The Conservative Party coming out with the same authoritarian, preachy crud about parents and families. Where would our society be if parents smartened up their act, who would be handy to put the boot into?

    They are talking about Boot Farms, which might have a place, though not a panacea.

    We need dependable parents, not dependent parents, and the government can’t raise our kids. It can, however, and should, support local community groups who have a track record of effectively assisting parents who are struggling, and struggling parents should be given every encouragement to avail themselves of that assistance.

    Research is clear that strong loving families with a mum and a dad provide the best outcomes for kids and the best outcomes for society. Conservative Party’s Policies are focused on strengthening this natural family unit for the good of the nation.
    See on Scoop http://community.scoop.co.nz/2017/08/boot-camps-wont-work-our-boot-farms-will/

  17. Anne 18

    Listen to and look at this first class bitch from across the Tasman! Makes Paula Bennett seem like a pussy cat. Jacinda Ardern has called her out for making a false claim. She has called the Australian Ambassador into her office for an urgent meeting. A major diplomatic incident in the making?

    Jacinda has got to do more. She must stand up to Julie Bishop and demand an apology. Nothing less will suffice.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=180294

    • mary_a 18.1

      @ ANNE (17) … and watch our rabid attack msm make a meal of this one! Larry Williams got the ball rolling, when I accidentally tuned into his afternoon programme. His opening shots were at Labour and Jacinda Ardern, making a bit thing out of nothing, to appease his Natz master Herr Joyce!

    • mosa 18.2

      Anne i have watched Bishop in action before she is a vicious woman and is trying with her comments to affect our domestic election campaign by making ridiculous statements.

      As for interfering in another countries politics ……………what about their right wing campaigning in Aussie for ex pat kiwis to vote for John Key at the time of our General election campaigns.

      F.F.S. !!!!!

  18. Whispering Kate 19

    Julie Bishop is getting bitten on the bum, they treat kiwis over there like shit and deny them everything that their taxes pay for so if it means this guy has to step down and bring down their Government – well its poetic justice. Their immigration laws concerning us, their neighbours is appalling. I hope Adhern tells her to piss off. Why do we have to put up with this crap coming from them. They are well past being our friends and neighbours, we need them like a hole in the head. Their treatment of boat people is as bad as the very worst of despotic countries. The ANZAC pact is a farce.

  19. Nick 20

    So sorry to Bishop you can’t work with the incoming NZ Government.

    It would have been so much better to do the “Jump how high” Nat thing and allow you to go on lying to your people and kicking ours in the guts at every opportunity.

    Australia has always hated New Zealand on the world stage. We are the little cousin who reminds the great powers that we are (and they are, by extension) inconsequential in world terms, just as they thought they’d cracked into the highest levels.

    Looks like another reality check on the way.

    In the meanwhile, a bit more from the ALP would seem in order. And the only way it will happen is by a top level call.

    There is too much stupid prejudice against Kiwis in Aussie already to wait for a change of heart at grass roots level, even if we bring down an unpopular government.

  20. Sumsuch 21

    I disagree with your disaffection with Chrs Trotter. Unless you can suggest another voice? For us? No, no replacements.

    Despite his pragmatism in the moment.

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  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    13 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    14 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    15 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    18 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
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