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
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…
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.
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..
“…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.
…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.
If harsh language is the worst thing that happens to snowflakes who advocate “just world” “solutions” to real world problems, I’m inclined to think they got off lightly.
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
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.
“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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ‘ ?
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.
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.
It cites academic research that shows how this bias tends to operate, and then argues that the treatment of Metiria Turei in recent weeks fits this pattern.
Media treatment of Turei syncs perfectly with the themes that emerged from Stavenhagen’s report over a decade ago. Patrick Gower wrote an article for Newshub titled “Metiria Turei’s Political Fraud is Ripping Off the New Zealand Public”. The language used is indicative of prejudice towards Māori, incentivising his audience to postulate themselves as New Zealanders, while Turei and those who identify with her, are otherised and excluded: it insinuates that beneficiaries are neither taxpayers nor New Zealanders. Gower relies on the depiction of Māori as fiscally irresponsible to support his argument that Turei cannot be trusted, but includes no Māori sources, which are informed by the processes of colonisation. He accused her, rather than of empowering the voiceless with lived experience, of orchestrating a publicity stunt for selfish, political gain.
Mainstream media is an echo chamber cloaked in the dominant, Pākehā worldview.
I think the best suggestion to counter some biases, mentioned on the Jess Berentson-Shaw newsroom article, is for more diversity of representation in politics, business and the media. Actually we do have quite a bit of diversity in the media and in politics, but most of that tends to be more on the margins of politics and the media. They aren’t the dominant voices.
When the dominant voice reflects one side of society, say white it is hard for diversity to influence the flow of pre-judicious. Commonsense, conformity with past practice and everyone knows forms the backdrop to so many behaviours.
I remember a recent interview with a black USA policeman taken on as part of a deliberate hiring policy to bring diversity to that police force. He said that in the process of training, under the influence of official systems set up by the leadership which was majorly white, it was very hard to behave differently – ie you are programmed, almost led, to behave in a certain way.
I haven’t read what was behind last month’s? gun murder in USA by a black policeman of Somalian descent but it would be interesting to hear his frank views if they could be obtained by an investigative journalist.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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/
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.
@ 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!
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.
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.
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.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
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 KotahiThe fact that a ...
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 ...
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 CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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; ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 → ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track 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 publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
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 publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
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
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
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.
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.
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..
Excellent article on the Just World “Theory”.
Some readers may recognise themselves:
Although why they call the National Party’s core values a “theory” is beyond me.
“Some readers may recognise themselves:”
I bet you have no idea how ironic that statement is….
I’m more inclined to take the latter approach, thanks.
By abusing others? But they deserve it, right?
If harsh language is the worst thing that happens to snowflakes who advocate “just world” “solutions” to real world problems, I’m inclined to think they got off lightly.
And I refer you back to the article you linked to.
Hint… look in the mirror buddy.
Here is your mirror.
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
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.
“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.
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
A bigot like Bill English
Chris Trotter thinks the Greens are learning:
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2017/08/the-greens-campaign-reset-normal.html
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.
May or may not be the right lesson, but they’re learning.
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.
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.
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?
Trotter has been somewhat inconsistent lately.
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…
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.
I see him more as a drunk man with a hammer – misses often. But when he hits he ‘wellies’ it. 😉
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.
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.
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.
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.
Trotter appears to now support TOP.
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.
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.
Matthew Hooton? 😉 Consistently interesting is good but not sufficient.
When are Labour replacing the old signs?
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.
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.
This Saturday.
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:
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.
They are never about free trade anymore. Even to use the provisions means you are well resourced large company.
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.
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.
On a similar theme, this article published on Vice yesterday, makes the case for the way our MSM is negatively biased against Māori.
It cites academic research that shows how this bias tends to operate, and then argues that the treatment of Metiria Turei in recent weeks fits this pattern.
I think the best suggestion to counter some biases, mentioned on the Jess Berentson-Shaw newsroom article, is for more diversity of representation in politics, business and the media. Actually we do have quite a bit of diversity in the media and in politics, but most of that tends to be more on the margins of politics and the media. They aren’t the dominant voices.
When the dominant voice reflects one side of society, say white it is hard for diversity to influence the flow of pre-judicious. Commonsense, conformity with past practice and everyone knows forms the backdrop to so many behaviours.
I remember a recent interview with a black USA policeman taken on as part of a deliberate hiring policy to bring diversity to that police force. He said that in the process of training, under the influence of official systems set up by the leadership which was majorly white, it was very hard to behave differently – ie you are programmed, almost led, to behave in a certain way.
I haven’t read what was behind last month’s? gun murder in USA by a black policeman of Somalian descent but it would be interesting to hear his frank views if they could be obtained by an investigative journalist.
Simplified: the system is racist, whether the officers are or not.
Like, who conducts genital mutilation?
Like this from the bottom of that article: Your job as a scientist is to figure out how you’re fooling yourself.
“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.
Free Trade Agreements these days appear to be anything but Free Trade Agreements?
Fake trade agreements to go with the fake news.
It’s entirely possible that no FTAs will be up to snuff for all the reasons you’ve outlined – can’t rule that out.
+111
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.
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.
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.
Labours water policy is like Chinese water drip torture on Nationals head…
drip, drip , drip ,….
It seems to have made them quite deranged – fake news (lies) about $18 cabbages.
Always hated cabbage.
How much smashed avocado? (I’ve given up on housing).
They are calling it the “Jacinda Effect”.
+ 1 yep, it is awesome.
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.
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.
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
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!
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
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
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.
Excellent and lets hope the hosk responds. Id like to see this one run a bit.
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.
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.
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
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/
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
@ 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!
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. !!!!!
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.
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.
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.