“On to Te Tai Tonga and Maria said “Hurricane” (Clinton Dearlove) will storm Labour’s vote. Willie was on the right track when he disagreed and said Dearlove will steal Maori Party votes and hand the seat to Rino as a result. This is a point I made after the Te Tai Tonga debate.”
Hey Morgan, would it not be prudent to acknowledge that “Hurricane” (Clinton Dearlove) will take votes off the Greens, New Zealand First, Maori, and Labour Party. Remember the Greens and New Zealand First are only running a party vote campaign in the Te Tai Tonga.
Hey Morgan how about backing your story-telling with some data, or at least some logical reasoning if possible.
Please try and explain the following?
Te Tai Tokerau 2008 Labour Party vote 45% latest poll 27% a drop of 18%
Tamaki Makaurau 2008 Labour Party vote 49% latest poll 32% a drop of 17%
Waiariki 2008 Labour Party vote 51% latest poll 28% a drop of 23%
The average 2008 Labour party vote in the Maori seats was 49% the latest poll average is 29% a drop of 20%.
In the Te Tai Tonga in 2008 the Labour Party vote was 49% and the 2008 Labour candidate vote was 40% a drop of 9%
In the Te Tai Tonga in 2005 the Labour Party vote was 57% and the 2005 Labour candidate vote was 45% a drop of 12%
The average drop in the labour candidate vote was 10.5%.
Therefore based on the 2008 party vote result of 49% less the latest poll average drop in support for labour of 20%, the likely result would have the 2011 Labour Party vote at 29%. However when factoring in the fact that the Labour candidate receives less candidate votes than party votes.
29% less 10.5% leaves Rino Tirikatane with a likely result in the 2011 election of only attracting 18.5% of the Te Tai Tonga candidate vote.
Prof Margaret Mutu was interviewed on Stratos last night by the Southland interviewer that had previously fawned all over David Caygill after he and cohorts had taken over Environment Canterbury to get dairy irrigation underway..
Anyways, Mutu was very smart and articulate of course. But she fell into a hole when she was explaining something along the lines that NZ is / was not one people but two peoples, or many peoples, and she then said “but Maori are the original people and that is the difference”.
A few minutes later she was discussing immigrants who arrived a few hundred years after the Maori immigrants and complaining that they brought “a notion of superiority with them” that they were superior because of a belief in a different genetic makeup. Of course that “notion of superiority” is today more commonly known in these circumstances as racism.
Mutu however is blind to her situation. Her claim that Maori are “different” than the other peoples, based on a belief that being first in line confers something special, is the exact same sentiment that she sees in the original English when they thought they were “different”, based on a belief that their genetics conferred on them something special. The English had it wrong then. Mutu has it wrong now. It is a shame that someone of such academia and outright knowledge (though clearly falling short on the wisdom front) cannot see the glaring hole in her outlook.
I have had this argument many times but I have never seen any decent argument in support of Mutu’s “we’re different” idea. I am flummoxed as to why these supposedly smart people cannot see the stituation. But then I see why with Mutu – she believes her opinion as to “being different” is fact. Just as the English had believed their opinion re genetics was fact. It is a common human failing. And it is only the distance of history that can shed light on current situations for some people.
Mutu was otherwise very good and openly expressed the unstoppable brilliance that Maori and Pakeha working together alongside each other to their maximum potential could bring these islands. But sheesh, this continuing idea that Maori are different and special is as bad as the old idea that the English were different and special. Spectacular fail. And until it is recognised as incorrect by Maori the country will continue to stumble in its race relatonships.
There is something infinitely sad in being “special” or “chosen” because of some accident of birth, or equally sad about being disadvantaged because of the same accident of birth. I cringe at my English fathers attitude that represents his generations views on races / cultures other than his own. And I cringe at being asked to be responsible for historic wrongs, or at being deemed “inferior” because of my fore fathers.
We in NZ have a bigger issue than just Maori Euro relationships, we are now becoming a Pasifika Asian mix as well. Fortunately our children will lead the way as Ranganui Walker says “between the bed sheets”. In a few generations most NZ children might have a whakapapa including Chinese, Tongan and European ancestories.
“I have had this argument many times but I have never seen any decent argument in support of Mutu’s “we’re different” idea.”
The simple answer is that whether a person is a street sweeper, university professor or sportsperson, from time to time they engage in politics. Examine the context. In this country that means drawing lines between people: dark/ light, rich/poor, locals/immigrants, law abiding/criminal. That’s what Mutu was doing. Engaging in politics NZ style. What she said doesn’t have to make sense, she doesn’t even have to believe it, it just has to appeal to her target audience. When asked one way or the other, she’ll open a can of spaghetti reasoning for you to untangle. Welcome to politics 101.
Interesting that the police has issued a warning to TV3 not to publish the cuppatea recordings. I cannot recall the Police ever doing this before and there more than a slight stench of police interference in the political system.
If people are interested the section the police are referring to is section 216C of the Crimes Act 1961. The Act does require the interception to be unlawful, which requires the interception to be intentional.
The PM doesn’t like the content of his public conversations revealed. Wonder why?
Can New Zealand now watch this in a different light and still believe what he is saying about the cup-of-tea moment?
Some might say they wouldn’t trust him with the steam off their own …
And what was really printed on that piece of paper when he tried to defend his position on the S and P issue.
We all remember Gordon Brown’s tragic accident with a microphone – that was aired. Surely there are grounds to have the tapes released in the name of public interest?
There is a huge body of knowledge including from the academic community on indigenous thinking, ideology and ways of being. Indigeneity is different in the sense that its arguments, philosophies, dogma derive from the relationships it has to the natural world from which it emerges.
That specialness that comes from being indigenous is not simply a Māori thing, 144 countries world-wide signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (only recently did New Zealand sign albeit with the proviso that it will have no material effect on NZ legislation or policy) which articulates the rights inherent in being indigenous.
What is plainly an un-real expectation on behalf of people like yourself and the majority of Pākehā benefiting from colonial expansion is that we should be ‘all the same.’ In other words Māori, Pasifikan, Asian, should give away any notion of being Māori, Pasifikan or Asian and to, at the very least, parody a life of whiteness – to assimilate the values and aspirations of the western tradition.
Aotearoa New Zealand is the largest Polynesian island in the world – a mini-England, Ireland or Scotland it should not be. If there is to be oneness than at the very least let it have a brown skin and a Polynesian tongue. The relentless pursuit of the assimilation of diverse peoples into a homogenous soup of blotchy whiteness is the crime – not what Margaret Mutu articulates. .
Kotahitanga is unity of purpose – which recognises diverse interests pursuing a common purpose – a far better ideology in my opinion.
Adele, you make a couple of points sure, but kinda missed the sinlge base point I was making re the notions of difference, superiority, specialness.
In addition, this point you make here …. “What is plainly an un-real expectation on behalf of people like yourself and the majority of Pākehā benefiting from colonial expansion is that we should be ‘all the same.’ ” is way off the mark and I cannot see how you can pull that assumption from my post. I say vive la difference, but not when it comes to the standing (legal, moral, etc) of separate peoples in one location (and in this regard I guess I am at odds with both the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigineous People and Te Tiriti. Both are/were no doubt appropriate for the existing circumstance, but both are limited by that same circumstance. They have an end-by date due to their failure to acknowledge the issue raised in my post).
Your waffle vto mirrors the denial too many people are in regarding the colonial and post colonial history of this country.
Until all citizens have roughly equal health and wealth stats (improved ones that is) more people had better start learning about Te Tiriti and acting, it holds us all back as a nation in the meantime.
Which particular waffle and denial is that Mr Mountain? My point was specific – about Mutu’s missing link in her otherwise robust outlook. (point in post at 6.37 above)
“The relentless pursuit of the assimilation of diverse peoples into a homogenous soup of blotchy whiteness is the crime – not what Margaret Mutu articulates. . ”
You’re damn right is it, even if you’re white! I’d like it very much if as a nation of varied people, we all agreed that everyone should have – as unalienable right – enough to eat, a safe place to be, access to health free care and meaningful work.
I don’t care which language we speak or what colour we turn, but if it’s brown skin we need, can someone turn up the temperature? It’s November for godsakes and it’s not even warm!
See from this mornings Dom the Nats ( a branch of the Flat Earth Society ) are promoting roading again. At the same time Brent Crude flies high in prices and lwo in supply. Still infrastructural development follows the same mantra…roads roads roads….private transport.
When will these goons get that happy motoring is going to be a thing of the past sooner rather than later and in a post growth shrinking economy this represents a massive misallocation of precious resources and money?
There was once a PM who decided that oil was going to be (1) too expensive and (2) run out in the long run, who then built a synthetic fuel plant, electrified part of the rail network, built a dam on the Clyde, and a methanol plant. He is now roundly abhorred by the Left and castigated for these things. And oh, that’d be the Labour government that sold a good few of these projects off. Nice work.
yup, he’s admitted. He hasn’t bothered to flesh out what the mistakes were, and how he would have done anything differently, and which of his x-colleagues he is hanging out to dry. I suppose north of $9billion gives him the right to say he’s made a mistake though.
As I’ve constantly said though Colonial, go see the late Roger Kerrs stuff, it makes a mockery of labours anti-asset sales arguments.
I have read it several times over the decades. Very short term thinker. He always seemed to think of government as if he was an assets stripper who only ever lived in a bull market.
Of course most of the government procedures and assets are designed for hard times.
Sorry lprent, I was referring to his series on privatisation on his blog. Its very interesting reading and covers the selling of assets, obviously, but also the impact on dividends.
Draco, you have already shown in past posts that you couldnt differentiate a balance sheet from revenue statement, so calling the late Roger Kerr a twerp is a bit rich coming from you. I would respectfully suggest that his intellect would smother yours in a nano second.
IVV – you sound like a child boasting about how strong your dad is. You have a Kerr fetish – we get it – just don’t expect others to join in on the adulation.
All I have done Campbell, is direct readers to a series that analyses privatisations. And I don’t expect Kerr to be the recipient of adulation, and I certainly do not idolise the man. I respect him for his intellect, and I agree with his analysis since it is logical and hard to rebut. Perhaps if you read the series and debated it, your comments might have a wee bit more merit.
“No it does not” What does not KJT? Are you saying that Kerr’s series does not debunk the nonsense rhetoric from Labour surrounding asset sales and loss of dividends?
KJT, I’d be interested where your 14 billion dollars comes from.
You clearly haven’t read the series since you claim “reality has disproved his ideas” and “countries that have followed Kerrs religion are failing”. Therefore you have no idea what his ideas were. If you are suggesting that capitalism is failing, at least it will pick itself up and come again. When socialism fails, there are not comebacks, since socialism is great, until it runs out of other peoples money.
I have read the series. Along with many other economic and social commentators and experts.
Unlike RWNJ’s I read fast enough to have read more than Kerr in the last year.
14 billion dollars is the closest estimate I have seen of the loses to New Zealand’s annual current account, resulting from the last rounds of asset sales.
Greece has run out of other peoples money since it borrowed more than it could sustain. The Socialist governments did exactly what socialist governments always do, make promises that they have to borrow to pay for, to remain in government. They ran out of other peoples money to give the greek population a standard of living that they (1) could not sustain and (2) did not deserve.
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic. After serving as the Cabinet of Greece from 2004 to 2009 , New Democracy is now the main opposition party in the Hellenic Parliament after its smashing defeat in the 2009 Greek elections in which they recorded their historical lowest percentage of votes.
The right was in charge during the collapse – just like Italy….
I actually had that conversation in 1982 with Muldoon at a social event….dont ask but he was not nearly as nasty as I had anticipated as a spotty belligerent twenty something. We agreed on the principle of energy sovereignty and the need to have internationally competitive and secure electricity supply etc. Might have argued details and costs but in principle he was on the right track.
I also had the privilege of chatting to him Bored, and would have been spotty and 20 something as well! He was a damned clever man and I found him entirely personable.
It is one of those strange secrets of politics that I’ve always noticed with talking to rather large numbers of politicians and wannabes. Politicians are usually personable, nice in person, and very good persuaders. It is part of the basic job description that they should be likable in person.
I tend to ignore what they say and concentrate on what they do. It is much more revealing
I also look at the people around them more than I look at the politician themselves. Do they retain staff? How fractional is the debate when they are involved. etc… What is their demeanor towards opponents inside their party. Inside other parties. What do they do with critics?
The Herald is once again showing it’s increasing irrelevance –
Less than two weeks till the election and their front page lead story is about the apology of some kid who plays rugby for getting pissed and making a dick of himself on holiday.
I agree Campbell L. I am so sick of hearing about this every time I put the radio on. And everyone is so caring and worried about the poor young drunk (I think he is just 21), the hypocrites. If those who were truly worried worked for tougher liquor laws they would be acting rightly. If we as a society showed determination to improve the situation and gave people the right to decide on the number of and placement of drinking outlets , that would be a plus in turning round this necrotising culture.
Also change the attitude in society that finds excuses for the people who fall foul of the ferment (beautiful alliteration prism). Slam drunks in jail, fine them, put a set charge on everyone who uses the A & E and refuse to treat the violent and abusive.
We all get stopped and breath tested as part of the pretence of doing something about drunkeness. So we are under surveillance in a semi-police state because the government and local authorities won’t or can’t make the changes to reduce alcohol addiction, because they won’t squeeze out the clubs and liquor outlets, reducing their numbers and making them bring in earlier closing times.
MANA leader Hone Harawira urges voters not to be fooled by phoney landline polls that create a false impression about which candidate is in front and which one is behind.
He says today’s poll released by Te Karere proves polls that rely on landlines are a thing of the past.
“It has long been known that mobile phones outstripped landlines as a method of communication five years ago for Maori. It’s about time polling companies caught up with modern day reality instead of rehashing flawed methodologies that do not reflect accurately what is happening on the ground.
“Polling companies and media networks need to be held to account. Instead of having minor margins of error, they should tell the truth when it comes to the Maori seats where the margin of error is give or take 20%?.
“We know that Annette Sykes has done remarkably well to narrow the margin between herself and Te Ururoa Flavell. People should remember she began at 0% and iPredict, the country’s most reliable forecaster of election results, has seen Annette’s vote grow by 10% each week.
“At present she trails Te Ururoa by the small margin of 10%. That means, based on the current trend, that she will win the election by 10%. That’s what we are hearing on the streets.
“Her remaining vote will come from a collapsing Labour vote. The national trend with the party vote is that Labour is in a downhill spiral from 30% to a possible 20%.
“Voters are awakening to the ability of MANA candidates, including Annette Sykes, to vehemently oppose National and the Maori Party plans to introduce policies that will hurt the poor. Left voters are being faced with two choices; put their faith with an imploding Labour Party or back MANA whose candidates have a long history of opposing right wing agendas?”
“Cyclone Sykes is gaining pace heading into the election. The momentum is with her and I ask Maori from Waiariki to think about who will be best at stopping National in Parliament.
Children are not people too
according to the welfare system.
everyone on welfare is allowed
$80 of income before being taxed at
70 cents in the dollar, except
of course the children (who are
not people). Every child a
mum on a dpb, or other benefit,
should increase the threshold
(before abatement starts) by $80.
Routinely governments ignores
Human rights, and we lack a culture
of human rights thanks t the existence
of the Human rights Commission
shuffling human rights under the
carpet or hiding human rights thinking
in plain sight behind ‘Plain english’.
Why are Children not considered people?
Why can a grandparent open a trust
for their kid that pays their kid
$80 of income a week, that their
parent cannot touch and so would
be considered parential income.
But a grandparent less well off
who cannot afford lawyers cannot
provide extra for their grandchild?
Just imagine the nighmare, your
kid gets a credit card given to them
by your ex-partners parents, and they
can spend like happy little tightwads.
Know nothing of the guy apart from this little stunt. Mahon presents as a self promoting dick and immature provacateur at best. A team blue provocateur at worst. The artists job description involves button and boundary pushing but they should not expect to be liked for it. Two weeks out from the election? you tell us freedom what his timing is all about.
Political assassinations are no joke whatsoever in my view. We have had two politically linked murders in this country-FG Evans Waihi miner and unionist and Ernie Abbot Wellington Trades Hall cleaner.
It’s art for crissake ! Like most decent art, it is about perception. If you only see a crime, well that says a great deal about your socially programmed response when confronted with a reality that simply calls into question the morally and ethically ambiguous la-la land of modern politics. The work of the artist is not an assassination attempt nor suggesting there should be one. It is not condoning a crime nor is it commissioning one. It is not a crime to attempt to provoke thought in this country, yet.
Based on the views expressed against this piece i suspect a large number of brain dead idiots will be lining up for an RFID chip when the reality of the rapidly approaching Police State is finally made public.
The current media push on Tap’n’Go credit cards shows how the incremental plan is progressing nicely.
I do wish some of the vitriolic statements made against free speech were focused on matters such as the Search and Surveillance Bill, or The Customs’ Integrated Targeting and Operations Centre or the untested Backscatter Radiation Scanners now in operation in NZ, but no, let’s just bleat about creative attempts to get NZ people thinking about the future that is beng stolen from their children.
A number of commenters here and on other blogs have commented long and hard about the SSB in particular (and done stuff in the real world too). Kiwis do tend to suck it up, take photo drivers licenses, there were queues at the malls to bloody get one. Mate of mine held out for two years, could not afford the fines any longer.
My main point with Mahon’s Key work is the timing. Self censorship? that is why I asked your opinion on the timing. Art gets no exemption sticker from politics in the middle of an election.
I am happy for cows to be sectioned and mounted in formaldehyde filled glass cases, for small squares of semi gloss white paint to be slapped on matt white walls, for artists taking a dump to be videoed in close up, for artists to walk down K-road in crotchless chaps with no underwear; but I am not happy for an assassination image of the NZ Prime Minister to be launched in a tight election campaign that if National win will indeed be about “drill it, mine it, sell it”.
Then in 2008 National ignored a Labour Department recommendation that check inspectors be restored in underground mines. This undoubtedly ensured a lack of mine safety at Pike River with disastrous results…
Russell just needs to do the obvious Pete with those involved and he should be forgiven by supporters.
What a wallace that guy was appearing on RNZ though. Some people do lose the plot during election campaigns as even the Prime Minister has demonstrated.
Russell has to be seen to say the right thing, but like many of us know National is lying all over the place. A half page ad in my local paper today, full colour, building a brighter future, claiming they have reduced debt – lies
TV3 has a golden opportunity to question him and instead gives him a golden opportunity to totally deflect the focus – He has had hours to prepare himself for this interview and unfortunately the interviewer is a lightweight. She does however give him several chances to endorse Brash and ACT leadership and he cannot answer that directly either.
Opening question:
Q. “Do you have a clear conscience about what’s on the tape?”
Key: “I have a totally clear conscience about what I’ve done, I think it’s the Herald on Sunday…” followed by 7 minutes of rehearsed diatribe.
There is one interesting moment where he talks about confidentiality being breached – “If we let this go then today me, next … could be you. We cannot allow this principle to be breached.”
Go for it John Boy. We can’t wait for your public castigation of Paula Bennett over her breaching confidentiality in her totally inappropriate use of a beneficiary’s information to protect her own and your political hides.
If we let this go then today me, next … could be you. We cannot allow this principle to be breached.
John Key
Surely all this is deeply ironic?
Key was quite happy to “allow this principle to be breached”, when it was Maori who were being illegally taped. Passing legislation to retrospectively ‘legalise’, illegal and intrusive electronic snooping on Tuhoe.
Inadvertently condemning himself with his own words, “If we let this go then today me,…”
the whole thng was rehearsed from start to finish.
the tories know how to waste time inparliament and how to deliver red herrings to the juvenile infants at present infesting the media.
dumb and dumber.
No idiot, learn to read before you embarrass yourself again, and again and again.
The Leader of the Greens has taken the front foot and outed the person responsible. A person who is in a relationship to someone who works for the Greens. Certainly it is a close link and yes if the party roles were different and it was a NACT worker’s partner i would say the same thing. Who do you think does the regular vandalism to all Party billboards if not those supporters linked to the workers and the volunteers of political parties? Do you honestly think all that damage is from people not interested in Politics?
Based on your regularly discredited comments, it is little wonder you won’t even vote for yourself.
?? Are you trying to claim that calling for a cleanup of how we do politics is discredited?
Yes, Norman has dealt with it very well, but it is still highly embarrassing to him and the Greens.
Greens being involved in widespread planned illegal activity – which was totally unnecessary by the way the polls were looking – it illustrates how pervasive dirty politics is, if not directly in party leadership at least amongst party operatives.
To me that means intellect, ability, passion, a well articulated vision of where my country is headed and the political nous to be able to get there.
I’ve voted in every election since 1975 and the only politician that exhibited everything I wanted in a leader was Clark and the current offering, across all parties, leaves me cold.
Draco, as always you are willing to put your spin on past history – check out the Chief Electoral Officer’s take on it “inappropriate and illegal” were his words. Doesnt matter how you cut it Draco, Labour were caught with their hand in the till as it were.
You do realise that every party did the same thing don’t you? And had been doing it for 14 years? And if the AG went back further than three months Nationals bill would have been quite bit higher?
Not putting spin on past history – just relating how it was.
Oh dear – so it looks like any possible Green / National ‘coalition talks’ are probably now right off the table?
How sad 🙁
Not sure how telling the voting public the TRUTH is ‘defacing’ billboards?
If the mainstream media isn’t going to provide accurate information in order to better enable the voting public to ‘cast an informed’ vote – then this ‘piggy-backing’ technique seems fair to me.
I mean – it’s not like the National billboards have been physically damaged / knocked down?
hmmmm……….. maybe it’s just that the TRUTH hurts?
I predict that National’s apparently total reliance on fomer Wall St Bank$ter, ex-foreign exchange advisor for the (privately-owned) New York Federal Reserve, former Head of Derivatives for Merrill Lynch, current Bank of America shareholder – NZ Prime Minister John Key – is going to be their downfall in this 2011 election.
As one of my banners (yet to be published by mainstream media), but which has been publicly-displayed in the wilds of the Epsom electorate, states rather succintly –
“The KEY thing in life is sincerity.
(Same election hoarding photo of arguably ‘shonky’ John Key)
Once you can fake that – you’ve got it made.”
A week is a VERY long time in politics.
Eleven days to go…………..
🙂
Penny Bright
Independent Candidate for Epsom
Campaigning against ‘white collar’ CRIME, CORRUPTION (and its root cause – PRIVATISATION) and CORPORATE WELFARE.
National aren’t the only party putting arts and culture on the to do list though. An overall lack of any substantial policy creation has been highlighted in a current issue of the Listener.
Claiming that climate change is a plot to steal American freedom is rather tame by Heartland standards. Over the course of this two-day conference, I will learn that Obama’s campaign promise to support locally owned biofuels refineries was really about “green communitarianism,” akin to the “Maoist” scheme to put “a pig iron furnace in everybody’s backyard” (the Cato Institute’s Patrick Michaels). That climate change is “a stalking horse for National Socialism” (former Republican senator and retired astronaut Harrison Schmitt). And that environmentalists are like Aztec priests, sacrificing countless people to appease the gods and change the weather (Marc Morano, editor of the denialists’ go-to website, ClimateDepot.com).
Did I hear – “Sorry Russel, I had a brain storm and encouraged the vandalisation of about 700 National billboards”? Just the sort of activist the Green Party doesn’t need. Someone who outsources their brain work obviously.
The radiation is apparently not from Fukushima and the Czech Republic is adamant that none of their reactors have released radiation that would account for the higher levels of Iodine 131 in the atmosphere. So where the hell did the radiation come from?
Why NZ can never compete in the modern world economy. Rakon a NZ business has had a 14 per cent rise in revenue but its profits cut by a rise in the exchange rate to 81 cents when it was 10 cents lower last year. Then it made a $5 million profit, this year on more revenue, a measly $569,000.
Listen to the Radionz business report and get the details, and then you will understand why we are forever falling behind. Films occasionally show a person being dragged on the ground behind a horse. If we think of our country like this, being dragged along by a mendacious and vicious financial system we can get a true and instant image of our position.
Why should, how can businesses stay in this country that pays lip service to wanting a thriving, innovative country but then allows the profit to be siphoned off through whimsical runs or drops in the exchange rate as a result of playing with our currency by the the financial masses, leaving us an uncertain amount that no planning can define. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5968560/Rakon-returns-to-the-red-shares-slump
I think the statement that we can never compete in a modern world economy is false but educated. If we really looked into this we would see that economies of scale and trade terms have a very distorting impact. Contrary to popular belief “free trade” deals rarely do anything fair for the smaller nations, in fact they merely open them up to anti competitive practices.
One of the biggest problems we have is the differential of “slave” wage levels, for example we could never compete with Chinese wages because they are so low. Consequently we should in an ideal world create equal opportunity by tariffing them. It wont happen….but what will is that energy scarcity will level the playing field to a high degree in the near future. Those with adequate energy resources to leverage versus raw manpower will come out ahead.
Come 2020 my forecast is that we will have a very hungry world, the petro chems needed to fertilise and plow will be in short supply…and then there will be the effects of climate change. Ugly picture but we will still in NZ be doing that one thing we are really good at is growing grass all year round and turning it into protein for export. That’s a distinct competitive advantage.
Bored – I am blinded by tears from seeing our exchange rate swoop about like an out-of-control rocket. It’s seeing the carry trade et al buying and selling our money for short-term gains. We are quite small in the world economy yet I think we are 11th most traded, when there are over 100 countries.
It just makes me despair as we keep watching our balance and footing as we run on this treadmill no-one ever admitting that we will never get ahead. Relying on big splashes in our small pond from oil shocks and climate change is dangerous. We will have given away our ability to grow what we want to Monsanto by then. The cretins in charge of our economy, the idiot savants, won’t recognise a tipping point if they fall over it.
Akshully. National should be prosecuted under the commerce act for false advertising on their bill boards. And thanking those who changed them, for helping them avoid prosecution..
So we have our very own kiwi curtain twitchers club–“Snitchline” over at blubbers blog. Disgusting, the ultimate neighbourhood watch. Not quite Stasi junior but given their political masters Search and Surveillence Bill who knows where such snooping will go. http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2011/11/information-please/#disqus_thread
A humorous little story on stuff – Key’s bus crashes at the first corner .
Not so humorous is the fact that two apparently legally parked vehicles “were broken in to police and shifted to allow the bus to pass” (in Stuff’s unparalleled sub-editing paucity). Isn’t that unlawfully interfering with a motor vehicle? Shouldn’t they just have driven the bus out the same way they brought it in? Arrogant fucktards.
Serious Fraud Office Chief Executive Adam Feeley says it’s concerning that fraud against banks and other lending institutions continues to represent a significant portion of SFO cases. – Link
Just been to Meet the Candidates meeting for the Waitakere Electorate in Glen Eden this evening. I just wish someone had planted a recording device in the vicinity of Paula Bennett and Winston Peters – they were having a few intimate discussions with a few giggles along the way!
After a large number of National’s election hoardings were vandalized, John Key decided he would have to commission some more appropriate artwork for his re-election campaign to be successful. His brief was to design a new set of hoardings that captures exactly what the National party really stands for…
This short blog post and the linked PDF document is the result of a collaborative effort by Anne-Marie Blackburn, Dana Nuccitelli, Bärbel Winkler, Ken Rice and John Cook. When the climate change (mis)information briefs pushed by David Legates and others started to make the rounds in January 2021 we wondered whether ...
A part of this morning's transport announcement which hasn't got a lot of attention yet: biofuels are back: “Our Government has agreed in principle to mandate a lower emitting biofuel blend across the transport sector. Over time this will prevent hundreds of thousands of tonnes of emissions from cars, ...
After almost twenty years of ignoring the Māori vote, National may run in the Māori seats again: A former National MP is excited the party could stand a candidate in the Māori electorate seats for the first time since 2002. One News reported last night that National's leader Judith ...
If one stubbornly clings to the Elimination strategy (I don’t support it, but that will have to wait for another occasion) then try to get it right. You need secure borders. We have attempted this with a very large measure of success. It has not been perfect as the Covid-19 Response ...
Diaspora: perception departs from reality In this collection of articles are two papers currently captivating the attention of people following the science and emergence of climate change, especially the rapid variety we've accidentally unleashed and which is now unfolding around us. The synthesis and review article Earth's Ice Imbalance by Slater ...
The ultra-rich have done very, very well out of the pandemic. Globally, the wealth of the ten richest people rose by US$540 billion last year, enough money to pay for the pandemic in its entirity. And in New Zealand, local billionaire Graeme Hart saw his wealth increase by almost NZ$3.5 ...
Postmodernism has long been looked upon as an indecipherable ideology and a source of amusement. In 1996 Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University, had a hoax article published in ‘Social Text’ an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. In ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Anew study in Nature Sustainability incorporates the damages that climate change does to healthy ecosystems into standard climate-economics models. The key finding in the study by Bernardo Bastien-Olvera and Frances Moore from the University of California at Davis: The models have been underestimating the ...
In a recent interview with RNZ (14th of January), NZ Council of Civil Liberties Chair Thomas Beagle, in response to Simon Bridges condemnation of the post-Trump Twitter purge of local far Right and other accounts, said the following: “Cos the thing about freedom of expression is that it’s not just ...
Let’s be clear: if Trump is not politically killed off once and for all, he will become a MAGA Dracula, rising from the dead to haunt US politics for years to come and giving inspiration to his wretched family of grifters and thousands of deplorables well into the next decade. ...
Since its demise as an imperial power, and especially its deindustrialisation under Thatcher, the UK's primary economic engine has been its role as a money laundry, using its network of overseas territories as tax havens to enable rich people around the world to steal from the societies they live in. ...
Last month OMV quit the Great South Basin and surrendered its offshore exploration permits outside of Taranaki. This month, Australian-owned Beach Energy has done the same: Beach Energy Resources New Zealand has decided to abandon all of its oil and gas exploration permits off the South Island coast, including ...
The new Northland case has been linked to the South African strain of Covid-19, one of a number of new, more contagious Covid variants. Here’s how they emerge and why. Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA ...
MARVIN HUBBARD, US citizen by birth, New Zealand citizen by choice, Quaker and left-wing activist, has been broadcasting his show, "Community or Chaos", on Otago Access Radio for the best part of 30 years. On 24 November last year, I spoke with him about the outcome of the 2020 General ...
This is a guest blog post by Daniel Tamberg, Potsdam, co-founder and director of SCIARA GmbH. The non-profit organisation SCIARA is developing and operating a flexible software platform for scientific simulation games that allows thousands of players to explore, design and understand possible climate futures together. Decision-makers in politics, business, ...
Yesterday's Gone: Cold shivers are running up and down the spines of conservatives everywhere. Donald Trump may have gone, but all the signs point to there being something much more momentous in the wind-shift than a simple return to the status quo ante. A change is gonna come. ONE COULD ...
Is it possible to live and let live in the post-Trump era? The online campaign to vilify Christopher Liddell, ex-White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to Trump, makes for an interesting case study. Liddell is a New Zealander whose illustrious career in corporate America once earned him plaudits ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 through Sat, Jan 23, 2021Editor's Choice12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate changeAuthors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action ...
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Keana VirmaniFrom healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects.Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponscame into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Michael Cowling, CQUniversity AustraliaWe’ve probably all been there. We buy some new smart gadget and when we plug it in for the first time it requires an update to work. So we end up spending hours downloading and updating before we can even play with our new toy. But ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Zero emission buses, cleaner cars and environmentally-friendly biofuels will soon be hitting New Zealand’s roads, as the Government delivers on its election promise to make our transport network more sustainable. ...
The Green Party is already delivering on its commitment for cleaner, climate-friendly transport through our Cooperation Agreement with the Government. ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
Prudence Steven QC, barrister of Christchurch has been appointed as an Environment Judge and District Court Judge to serve in Christchurch, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Steven has been a barrister sole since 2008, practising in resource management and local government / public law. She was appointed a Queen’s ...
The Government is delivering on its first tranche of election promises to take action on climate change with a raft of measures that will help meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. “This will be an ongoing area of action but we are moving ...
The Government is investing up to $10 million to support 30 of the country’s top early-career researchers to develop their research skills. “The pandemic has had widespread impacts across the science system, including the research workforce. After completing their PhD, researchers often travel overseas to gain experience but in the ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
By Adi Briantika in Jakarta A group of Papuan students in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Jakarta, who were planning to hold a protest action opposing the extension of Papuan Special Autonomy (Otsus), have been arrested and taken to the Metro Jaya regional police headquarters. “Around ...
By RNZ News The two new cases of covid-19 confirmed yesterday in New Zealand are the South African variant and initial results show they are connected to the Northland case at the Pullman Hotel. This morning the Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, confirmed to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Overhype can be a dead giveaway of under-confidence. When Anthony Albanese on Thursday compared his situation to that of Joe Biden, it sounded rather desperate. Some journalists, he said, had predicted a certain Trump win. ...
The New Zealand public sector and judiciary has again been ranked the least corrupt in the world. The 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today by global anti-corruption organization Transparency International ranks New Zealand first equal ...
New Zealand is again ranked first equal with Denmark in the Transparency International annual index of perceived levels of public sector corruption. Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has welcomed New Zealand’s position in the 2020 index. He says New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Kaufman, Research Fellow, Vaccine Uptake Group, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute The federal government’s A$23.9 million COVID-19 vaccination information campaign, launchedyesterday, aims to reassure the public about vaccine safety and effectiveness. It will also provide information about the vaccine rollout. We’ve ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Hongi Luo, brand director at TikTok.In terms of cultural reach and impact, the ...
After Covid devastated its 2020, Basement Theatre comes roaring into 2021 with its Summer Season. Here’s the rundown of shows in-store, with some comments from programmer Nisha Madhan.Pre-FringeLust IslandWhen’s it on: February 2-6, 8pmWho’s involved: The women of improv troupe Hearthrobs (McKenzie’s Daughters, Salem Bitch Trials), including Brynley Stent, Alice ...
The whānau of Te Ahikaiata Turei supported by Māori and non-Māori staff at Unitec will take back a portrait of the Tūhoe leader who led the establishment of Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae and the values that brought the institute back from the brink of ...
A poll across the Early Childhood Education community found 93% in favour of pausing the ‘lunchbox rules’, or the Ministry of Education’s new Food Safety/choking changes to the Licensing Criteria, which came into effect on 25 January. “The message ...
Cycling advocates are calling for the transformation of urban transport, as New Zealand races to cut carbon. The Climate Change Commission will release its initial advice on Sunday 31 January. “Bikes and e-bikes are perfect for many local trips, ...
Three Ministers, led by the PM, joined in chorus today to warble about a bunch of measures aimed at helping to meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. Mind you, the measures mentioned seem to be more matters of decisions yet to be made ...
Michelle Kidd defines her role at Auckland’s specialist family violence court as te kaiwhakatere – the navigator. It’s a one-of-a-kind job, helping guide defendants through the court system. And there’s no one better suited to it than Whaea Michelle.First published November 24, 2020.Whaea Michelle is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sallie Yea, Associate professor & Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe University Each year, thousands of men and boys labour under extremely exploitative conditions on commercial fishing vessels owned by Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean companies. The Taiwanese fleet, which operates in all ...
Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis believes the Crown should maintain responsibility for the care and protection of at-risk and vulnerable children, regardless of their race. Moreover, he is confident his all-Maori team of advisers will not be taking race into account as they help to improve Oranga Tamariki’s care and protection of ...
It’s easy to sacrifice John Banks. It’s a lot harder for brands, sports organisations and government to truly stop funding racism. Are they willing to try?Yesterday John Banks, the former Auckland mayor and MP, became subject to one of the fastest firings in media history when audio covering his approving ...
A community is outraged after Auckland Council granted consent for a row of trees planted by local kids to be removed along a revitalised waterway in South Auckland, reports Justin Latif. An Auckland Council decision to give contractors the all-clear to chop down 12 mānuka and kānuka trees shading Māngere’s Tararata ...
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu hopes that the recent changes to Oranga Tamariki leadership present an opportunity for a long overdue paradigm shift that will place whānau at the heart of the child welfare sector. Pouārahi Helen Leahy says that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...
Having a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickin’s Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission – making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of what’s to come through 2021, and we are confident ...
The Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...
John Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission.Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff sayit would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...
Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s ...
KiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said “couldn’t be more crucial” to people actually getting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what it’s like when life throws curveballs. We’ve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, it’s the ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one that’s cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...
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Morgan Godfery on his blog Maui Street states
“On to Te Tai Tonga and Maria said “Hurricane” (Clinton Dearlove) will storm Labour’s vote. Willie was on the right track when he disagreed and said Dearlove will steal Maori Party votes and hand the seat to Rino as a result. This is a point I made after the Te Tai Tonga debate.”
Hey Morgan, would it not be prudent to acknowledge that “Hurricane” (Clinton Dearlove) will take votes off the Greens, New Zealand First, Maori, and Labour Party. Remember the Greens and New Zealand First are only running a party vote campaign in the Te Tai Tonga.
Hey Morgan how about backing your story-telling with some data, or at least some logical reasoning if possible.
Please try and explain the following?
Te Tai Tokerau 2008 Labour Party vote 45% latest poll 27% a drop of 18%
Tamaki Makaurau 2008 Labour Party vote 49% latest poll 32% a drop of 17%
Waiariki 2008 Labour Party vote 51% latest poll 28% a drop of 23%
The average 2008 Labour party vote in the Maori seats was 49% the latest poll average is 29% a drop of 20%.
In the Te Tai Tonga in 2008 the Labour Party vote was 49% and the 2008 Labour candidate vote was 40% a drop of 9%
In the Te Tai Tonga in 2005 the Labour Party vote was 57% and the 2005 Labour candidate vote was 45% a drop of 12%
The average drop in the labour candidate vote was 10.5%.
Therefore based on the 2008 party vote result of 49% less the latest poll average drop in support for labour of 20%, the likely result would have the 2011 Labour Party vote at 29%. However when factoring in the fact that the Labour candidate receives less candidate votes than party votes.
29% less 10.5% leaves Rino Tirikatane with a likely result in the 2011 election of only attracting 18.5% of the Te Tai Tonga candidate vote.
Prof Margaret Mutu was interviewed on Stratos last night by the Southland interviewer that had previously fawned all over David Caygill after he and cohorts had taken over Environment Canterbury to get dairy irrigation underway..
Anyways, Mutu was very smart and articulate of course. But she fell into a hole when she was explaining something along the lines that NZ is / was not one people but two peoples, or many peoples, and she then said “but Maori are the original people and that is the difference”.
A few minutes later she was discussing immigrants who arrived a few hundred years after the Maori immigrants and complaining that they brought “a notion of superiority with them” that they were superior because of a belief in a different genetic makeup. Of course that “notion of superiority” is today more commonly known in these circumstances as racism.
Mutu however is blind to her situation. Her claim that Maori are “different” than the other peoples, based on a belief that being first in line confers something special, is the exact same sentiment that she sees in the original English when they thought they were “different”, based on a belief that their genetics conferred on them something special. The English had it wrong then. Mutu has it wrong now. It is a shame that someone of such academia and outright knowledge (though clearly falling short on the wisdom front) cannot see the glaring hole in her outlook.
I have had this argument many times but I have never seen any decent argument in support of Mutu’s “we’re different” idea. I am flummoxed as to why these supposedly smart people cannot see the stituation. But then I see why with Mutu – she believes her opinion as to “being different” is fact. Just as the English had believed their opinion re genetics was fact. It is a common human failing. And it is only the distance of history that can shed light on current situations for some people.
Mutu was otherwise very good and openly expressed the unstoppable brilliance that Maori and Pakeha working together alongside each other to their maximum potential could bring these islands. But sheesh, this continuing idea that Maori are different and special is as bad as the old idea that the English were different and special. Spectacular fail. And until it is recognised as incorrect by Maori the country will continue to stumble in its race relatonships.
There is something infinitely sad in being “special” or “chosen” because of some accident of birth, or equally sad about being disadvantaged because of the same accident of birth. I cringe at my English fathers attitude that represents his generations views on races / cultures other than his own. And I cringe at being asked to be responsible for historic wrongs, or at being deemed “inferior” because of my fore fathers.
We in NZ have a bigger issue than just Maori Euro relationships, we are now becoming a Pasifika Asian mix as well. Fortunately our children will lead the way as Ranganui Walker says “between the bed sheets”. In a few generations most NZ children might have a whakapapa including Chinese, Tongan and European ancestories.
“I have had this argument many times but I have never seen any decent argument in support of Mutu’s “we’re different” idea.”
The simple answer is that whether a person is a street sweeper, university professor or sportsperson, from time to time they engage in politics. Examine the context. In this country that means drawing lines between people: dark/ light, rich/poor, locals/immigrants, law abiding/criminal. That’s what Mutu was doing. Engaging in politics NZ style. What she said doesn’t have to make sense, she doesn’t even have to believe it, it just has to appeal to her target audience. When asked one way or the other, she’ll open a can of spaghetti reasoning for you to untangle. Welcome to politics 101.
Interesting that the police has issued a warning to TV3 not to publish the cuppatea recordings. I cannot recall the Police ever doing this before and there more than a slight stench of police interference in the political system.
If people are interested the section the police are referring to is section 216C of the Crimes Act 1961. The Act does require the interception to be unlawful, which requires the interception to be intentional.
Let’s see if the media have the guts to have the police opinion tested in court.
Not holding my breath for that to happen, bock bock bock……
The PM doesn’t like the content of his public conversations revealed. Wonder why?
Can New Zealand now watch this in a different light and still believe what he is saying about the cup-of-tea moment?
Some might say they wouldn’t trust him with the steam off their own …
And what was really printed on that piece of paper when he tried to defend his position on the S and P issue.
And of course there is this little beauty
We all remember Gordon Brown’s tragic accident with a microphone – that was aired. Surely there are grounds to have the tapes released in the name of public interest?
True, certainly a worthwhile comparison. And key is very good at foot in mouth behaviour
What about Bill English and the Kiwibank gone by lunchtime secret tape.
vto,
There is a huge body of knowledge including from the academic community on indigenous thinking, ideology and ways of being. Indigeneity is different in the sense that its arguments, philosophies, dogma derive from the relationships it has to the natural world from which it emerges.
That specialness that comes from being indigenous is not simply a Māori thing, 144 countries world-wide signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (only recently did New Zealand sign albeit with the proviso that it will have no material effect on NZ legislation or policy) which articulates the rights inherent in being indigenous.
What is plainly an un-real expectation on behalf of people like yourself and the majority of Pākehā benefiting from colonial expansion is that we should be ‘all the same.’ In other words Māori, Pasifikan, Asian, should give away any notion of being Māori, Pasifikan or Asian and to, at the very least, parody a life of whiteness – to assimilate the values and aspirations of the western tradition.
Aotearoa New Zealand is the largest Polynesian island in the world – a mini-England, Ireland or Scotland it should not be. If there is to be oneness than at the very least let it have a brown skin and a Polynesian tongue. The relentless pursuit of the assimilation of diverse peoples into a homogenous soup of blotchy whiteness is the crime – not what Margaret Mutu articulates. .
Kotahitanga is unity of purpose – which recognises diverse interests pursuing a common purpose – a far better ideology in my opinion.
Adele, you make a couple of points sure, but kinda missed the sinlge base point I was making re the notions of difference, superiority, specialness.
In addition, this point you make here …. “What is plainly an un-real expectation on behalf of people like yourself and the majority of Pākehā benefiting from colonial expansion is that we should be ‘all the same.’ ” is way off the mark and I cannot see how you can pull that assumption from my post. I say vive la difference, but not when it comes to the standing (legal, moral, etc) of separate peoples in one location (and in this regard I guess I am at odds with both the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigineous People and Te Tiriti. Both are/were no doubt appropriate for the existing circumstance, but both are limited by that same circumstance. They have an end-by date due to their failure to acknowledge the issue raised in my post).
Your waffle vto mirrors the denial too many people are in regarding the colonial and post colonial history of this country.
Until all citizens have roughly equal health and wealth stats (improved ones that is) more people had better start learning about Te Tiriti and acting, it holds us all back as a nation in the meantime.
Which particular waffle and denial is that Mr Mountain? My point was specific – about Mutu’s missing link in her otherwise robust outlook. (point in post at 6.37 above)
A couple more generations, as R Walker said, when we are all chocolate coloured, will sort this out without any intervention.
Going to the beach later to work on it!
It’s all cool, though – by the time we’re all chocolate-hued we’ll have discovered other reasons to argue.
“The relentless pursuit of the assimilation of diverse peoples into a homogenous soup of blotchy whiteness is the crime – not what Margaret Mutu articulates. . ”
You’re damn right is it, even if you’re white! I’d like it very much if as a nation of varied people, we all agreed that everyone should have – as unalienable right – enough to eat, a safe place to be, access to health free care and meaningful work.
I don’t care which language we speak or what colour we turn, but if it’s brown skin we need, can someone turn up the temperature? It’s November for godsakes and it’s not even warm!
See from this mornings Dom the Nats ( a branch of the Flat Earth Society ) are promoting roading again. At the same time Brent Crude flies high in prices and lwo in supply. Still infrastructural development follows the same mantra…roads roads roads….private transport.
When will these goons get that happy motoring is going to be a thing of the past sooner rather than later and in a post growth shrinking economy this represents a massive misallocation of precious resources and money?
There was once a PM who decided that oil was going to be (1) too expensive and (2) run out in the long run, who then built a synthetic fuel plant, electrified part of the rail network, built a dam on the Clyde, and a methanol plant. He is now roundly abhorred by the Left and castigated for these things. And oh, that’d be the Labour government that sold a good few of these projects off. Nice work.
Actually I’m Left and I think that some of the infrastructure Muldoon built was damn good, and has supported the NZ economy for decades.
Further, Goff admits that Labour made mistakes with asset sales and learnt from them.
National hasn’t.
yup, he’s admitted. He hasn’t bothered to flesh out what the mistakes were, and how he would have done anything differently, and which of his x-colleagues he is hanging out to dry. I suppose north of $9billion gives him the right to say he’s made a mistake though.
As I’ve constantly said though Colonial, go see the late Roger Kerrs stuff, it makes a mockery of labours anti-asset sales arguments.
I have read it several times over the decades. Very short term thinker. He always seemed to think of government as if he was an assets stripper who only ever lived in a bull market.
Of course most of the government procedures and assets are designed for hard times.
Sorry lprent, I was referring to his series on privatisation on his blog. Its very interesting reading and covers the selling of assets, obviously, but also the impact on dividends.
It’s a load of bollocks is what it is. But that’s true of everything the twerp said.
Kerr or IVV?
Draco, you have already shown in past posts that you couldnt differentiate a balance sheet from revenue statement, so calling the late Roger Kerr a twerp is a bit rich coming from you. I would respectfully suggest that his intellect would smother yours in a nano second.
IVV – you sound like a child boasting about how strong your dad is. You have a Kerr fetish – we get it – just don’t expect others to join in on the adulation.
All I have done Campbell, is direct readers to a series that analyses privatisations. And I don’t expect Kerr to be the recipient of adulation, and I certainly do not idolise the man. I respect him for his intellect, and I agree with his analysis since it is logical and hard to rebut. Perhaps if you read the series and debated it, your comments might have a wee bit more merit.
No it does not.
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/09/ten-myths-about-asset-sales/
Any businessman knows that selling income earning assets to pay the grocery bill is idiocy.
Not to mention the need to have control of energy assets, for strategic reasons, in a world where energy supplies are going to be extremely valuable.
Kerr, Like Douglas and Brash is ether blinded by his religion or a venal thief.
Kerr died recently.
“No it does not” What does not KJT? Are you saying that Kerr’s series does not debunk the nonsense rhetoric from Labour surrounding asset sales and loss of dividends?
Kerr’s ideas are nonsense. As reality has thoroughly disproved his ideas.
All the countries who have followed Kerr’s religion are failing. Havn’t you noticed.
14 Billion dollars annually off New Zealand’s balance sheet since the last round of asset sales.
If you think Kerr was an intelligent man, it is just relative to yours.
KJT, I’d be interested where your 14 billion dollars comes from.
You clearly haven’t read the series since you claim “reality has disproved his ideas” and “countries that have followed Kerrs religion are failing”. Therefore you have no idea what his ideas were. If you are suggesting that capitalism is failing, at least it will pick itself up and come again. When socialism fails, there are not comebacks, since socialism is great, until it runs out of other peoples money.
What’s this other peoples money. It is ours, we earnt it.
We should be able to democratically decide where it goes.
Neo-Liberal unregulated capitalism is running out of our money at present.
In Greece and Italy they are coming back with their hands out for more money to waste.
http://kjt-kt.blogspot.com/2011/03/voodoo-economics.html
I have read the series. Along with many other economic and social commentators and experts.
Unlike RWNJ’s I read fast enough to have read more than Kerr in the last year.
14 billion dollars is the closest estimate I have seen of the loses to New Zealand’s annual current account, resulting from the last rounds of asset sales.
Greece has run out of other peoples money since it borrowed more than it could sustain. The Socialist governments did exactly what socialist governments always do, make promises that they have to borrow to pay for, to remain in government. They ran out of other peoples money to give the greek population a standard of living that they (1) could not sustain and (2) did not deserve.
Ahem IVV…
The right was in charge during the collapse – just like Italy….
14 billion a year says asset sales are a fail.
I actually had that conversation in 1982 with Muldoon at a social event….dont ask but he was not nearly as nasty as I had anticipated as a spotty belligerent twenty something. We agreed on the principle of energy sovereignty and the need to have internationally competitive and secure electricity supply etc. Might have argued details and costs but in principle he was on the right track.
I also had the privilege of chatting to him Bored, and would have been spotty and 20 something as well! He was a damned clever man and I found him entirely personable.
It is one of those strange secrets of politics that I’ve always noticed with talking to rather large numbers of politicians and wannabes. Politicians are usually personable, nice in person, and very good persuaders. It is part of the basic job description that they should be likable in person.
I tend to ignore what they say and concentrate on what they do. It is much more revealing
I also look at the people around them more than I look at the politician themselves. Do they retain staff? How fractional is the debate when they are involved. etc… What is their demeanor towards opponents inside their party. Inside other parties. What do they do with critics?
Quite so. And as a spotty 20 something, I doubt whether my questions would have been particularly taxing!
Said it before.
If oil prices had continued to rise at the same rate, which everyone thought at the time, Muldoon would have been a hero.
The problem with his Government was not the borrowing for infrastructure and assets.
Many of them are still making good returns, for their private owners, after the first ACT Government gave them away, now!
If Borrowing to make us less dependent on imported energy is necessary it is still a good idea.
The problem was that Muldoon, like National now, borrowed excessively for bribes to National party voters. Farmers welfare, Super, Tax cuts etc.
Sound familiar.
The Herald is once again showing it’s increasing irrelevance –
Less than two weeks till the election and their front page lead story is about the apology of some kid who plays rugby for getting pissed and making a dick of himself on holiday.
I agree Campbell L. I am so sick of hearing about this every time I put the radio on. And everyone is so caring and worried about the poor young drunk (I think he is just 21), the hypocrites. If those who were truly worried worked for tougher liquor laws they would be acting rightly. If we as a society showed determination to improve the situation and gave people the right to decide on the number of and placement of drinking outlets , that would be a plus in turning round this necrotising culture.
Also change the attitude in society that finds excuses for the people who fall foul of the ferment (beautiful alliteration prism). Slam drunks in jail, fine them, put a set charge on everyone who uses the A & E and refuse to treat the violent and abusive.
We all get stopped and breath tested as part of the pretence of doing something about drunkeness. So we are under surveillance in a semi-police state because the government and local authorities won’t or can’t make the changes to reduce alcohol addiction, because they won’t squeeze out the clubs and liquor outlets, reducing their numbers and making them bring in earlier closing times.
MANA MEDIA RELEASE
14 November 2011
MANA SAYS LANDLINE POLLS MUST GO
MANA leader Hone Harawira urges voters not to be fooled by phoney landline polls that create a false impression about which candidate is in front and which one is behind.
He says today’s poll released by Te Karere proves polls that rely on landlines are a thing of the past.
“It has long been known that mobile phones outstripped landlines as a method of communication five years ago for Maori. It’s about time polling companies caught up with modern day reality instead of rehashing flawed methodologies that do not reflect accurately what is happening on the ground.
“Polling companies and media networks need to be held to account. Instead of having minor margins of error, they should tell the truth when it comes to the Maori seats where the margin of error is give or take 20%?.
“We know that Annette Sykes has done remarkably well to narrow the margin between herself and Te Ururoa Flavell. People should remember she began at 0% and iPredict, the country’s most reliable forecaster of election results, has seen Annette’s vote grow by 10% each week.
“At present she trails Te Ururoa by the small margin of 10%. That means, based on the current trend, that she will win the election by 10%. That’s what we are hearing on the streets.
“Her remaining vote will come from a collapsing Labour vote. The national trend with the party vote is that Labour is in a downhill spiral from 30% to a possible 20%.
“Voters are awakening to the ability of MANA candidates, including Annette Sykes, to vehemently oppose National and the Maori Party plans to introduce policies that will hurt the poor. Left voters are being faced with two choices; put their faith with an imploding Labour Party or back MANA whose candidates have a long history of opposing right wing agendas?”
“Cyclone Sykes is gaining pace heading into the election. The momentum is with her and I ask Maori from Waiariki to think about who will be best at stopping National in Parliament.
HONE HARAWIRA
Media Liaison Peter Verschaffelt
media@mana.net.nz http://mana.net.nz
The Waiariki electorate will be very interesting, especially as Tuhoe will be well behind Annette, as Te Ururoa was complicit in Hone’s removal.
Children are not people too
according to the welfare system.
everyone on welfare is allowed
$80 of income before being taxed at
70 cents in the dollar, except
of course the children (who are
not people). Every child a
mum on a dpb, or other benefit,
should increase the threshold
(before abatement starts) by $80.
Routinely governments ignores
Human rights, and we lack a culture
of human rights thanks t the existence
of the Human rights Commission
shuffling human rights under the
carpet or hiding human rights thinking
in plain sight behind ‘Plain english’.
Why are Children not considered people?
Why can a grandparent open a trust
for their kid that pays their kid
$80 of income a week, that their
parent cannot touch and so would
be considered parential income.
But a grandparent less well off
who cannot afford lawyers cannot
provide extra for their grandchild?
Just imagine the nighmare, your
kid gets a credit card given to them
by your ex-partners parents, and they
can spend like happy little tightwads.
I hope the sleuths here are having fun figuring this one out
http://www.whokilledjohnkey.com/
Know nothing of the guy apart from this little stunt. Mahon presents as a self promoting dick and immature provacateur at best. A team blue provocateur at worst. The artists job description involves button and boundary pushing but they should not expect to be liked for it. Two weeks out from the election? you tell us freedom what his timing is all about.
Political assassinations are no joke whatsoever in my view. We have had two politically linked murders in this country-FG Evans Waihi miner and unionist and Ernie Abbot Wellington Trades Hall cleaner.
It’s art for crissake ! Like most decent art, it is about perception. If you only see a crime, well that says a great deal about your socially programmed response when confronted with a reality that simply calls into question the morally and ethically ambiguous la-la land of modern politics. The work of the artist is not an assassination attempt nor suggesting there should be one. It is not condoning a crime nor is it commissioning one. It is not a crime to attempt to provoke thought in this country, yet.
Based on the views expressed against this piece i suspect a large number of brain dead idiots will be lining up for an RFID chip when the reality of the rapidly approaching Police State is finally made public.
The current media push on Tap’n’Go credit cards shows how the incremental plan is progressing nicely.
I do wish some of the vitriolic statements made against free speech were focused on matters such as the Search and Surveillance Bill, or The Customs’ Integrated Targeting and Operations Centre or the untested Backscatter Radiation Scanners now in operation in NZ, but no, let’s just bleat about creative attempts to get NZ people thinking about the future that is beng stolen from their children.
A number of commenters here and on other blogs have commented long and hard about the SSB in particular (and done stuff in the real world too). Kiwis do tend to suck it up, take photo drivers licenses, there were queues at the malls to bloody get one. Mate of mine held out for two years, could not afford the fines any longer.
My main point with Mahon’s Key work is the timing. Self censorship? that is why I asked your opinion on the timing. Art gets no exemption sticker from politics in the middle of an election.
I am happy for cows to be sectioned and mounted in formaldehyde filled glass cases, for small squares of semi gloss white paint to be slapped on matt white walls, for artists taking a dump to be videoed in close up, for artists to walk down K-road in crotchless chaps with no underwear; but I am not happy for an assassination image of the NZ Prime Minister to be launched in a tight election campaign that if National win will indeed be about “drill it, mine it, sell it”.
so you don’t mind being asked to think, you just don’t want that pressure during an election. got it! 😉
Who’s liable for Pike River?
Then in 2008 National ignored a Labour Department recommendation that check inspectors be restored in underground mines. This undoubtedly ensured a lack of mine safety at Pike River with disastrous results…
Green party link to billboard attacks.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/campaign-trail/5967550/Green-party-link-to-billboard-attacks
Dr Norman’s EA’s partner in fact.
O dear, how sad, all of the nice caring image gone up in smoke.
O dear, how true what the stickers said!
Some removable sign enhancement is small change compared to the vandalism the National Party has performed on this country.
Russell Norman isn’t so flippant about it, it’s a major kick in the guts for him, from his own people.
Russell just needs to do the obvious Pete with those involved and he should be forgiven by supporters.
What a wallace that guy was appearing on RNZ though. Some people do lose the plot during election campaigns as even the Prime Minister has demonstrated.
Nah Pete it was sticky on words that were then removed.
Russell has to be seen to say the right thing, but like many of us know National is lying all over the place. A half page ad in my local paper today, full colour, building a brighter future, claiming they have reduced debt – lies
Column from Phil Heatley in the local rag. Taking credit for things he said they have done while in Government.
All, but one, were started/approved while Labour was in.
TV3 has a golden opportunity to question him and instead gives him a golden opportunity to totally deflect the focus – He has had hours to prepare himself for this interview and unfortunately the interviewer is a lightweight. She does however give him several chances to endorse Brash and ACT leadership and he cannot answer that directly either.
Opening question:
Q. “Do you have a clear conscience about what’s on the tape?”
Key: “I have a totally clear conscience about what I’ve done, I think it’s the Herald on Sunday…” followed by 7 minutes of rehearsed diatribe.
http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-John-Key-discusses-the-teapot-tapes/tabid/370/articleID/232760/Default.aspx
There is one interesting moment where he talks about confidentiality being breached – “If we let this go then today me, next … could be you. We cannot allow this principle to be breached.”
Go for it John Boy. We can’t wait for your public castigation of Paula Bennett over her breaching confidentiality in her totally inappropriate use of a beneficiary’s information to protect her own and your political hides.
Surely all this is deeply ironic?
Key was quite happy to “allow this principle to be breached”, when it was Maori who were being illegally taped. Passing legislation to retrospectively ‘legalise’, illegal and intrusive electronic snooping on Tuhoe.
Inadvertently condemning himself with his own words, “If we let this go then today me,…”
Cry me a river Key you hypocrite.
the whole thng was rehearsed from start to finish.
the tories know how to waste time inparliament and how to deliver red herrings to the juvenile infants at present infesting the media.
dumb and dumber.
The Greens have admitted going dirty in their campaigning, things are getting bad when they stoop into the mire.
Most voters are turned off politics and politicians because of dirt, smear and negativeness.
Time to clean up the campaign.
No idiot, learn to read before you embarrass yourself again, and again and again.
The Leader of the Greens has taken the front foot and outed the person responsible. A person who is in a relationship to someone who works for the Greens. Certainly it is a close link and yes if the party roles were different and it was a NACT worker’s partner i would say the same thing. Who do you think does the regular vandalism to all Party billboards if not those supporters linked to the workers and the volunteers of political parties? Do you honestly think all that damage is from people not interested in Politics?
Based on your regularly discredited comments, it is little wonder you won’t even vote for yourself.
?? Are you trying to claim that calling for a cleanup of how we do politics is discredited?
Yes, Norman has dealt with it very well, but it is still highly embarrassing to him and the Greens.
Greens being involved in widespread planned illegal activity – which was totally unnecessary by the way the polls were looking – it illustrates how pervasive dirty politics is, if not directly in party leadership at least amongst party operatives.
Back biting, defacing hoardings, sneering and doing your best to smear the opposition is a tradition Pete.
Some proper dirty politics for ya.
It’s a tradition that in this day and age surely we could leave in the past.
It’s usually counter-productive and counter to good leadership. We should demand better.
Good leadership?
To me that means intellect, ability, passion, a well articulated vision of where my country is headed and the political nous to be able to get there.
I’ve voted in every election since 1975 and the only politician that exhibited everything I wanted in a leader was Clark and the current offering, across all parties, leaves me cold.
But good luck with that wee pipe dream Pete.
The only way to achieve something is to try. I’m starting small and working my way up.
We’d all be better off if your leader was edged out of Wellington.
“exhibited everything I wanted in a leader was Clark”
And that would include the lazy $800K of tax payers funds inappropriately and illegally taken?
keep playing with those venn diagrams, ivv. You’ll figure them out.
You mean the funds that were decided, after 14 years of them being appropriately and legally taken, to be inappropriate and illegal?
Draco, as always you are willing to put your spin on past history – check out the Chief Electoral Officer’s take on it “inappropriate and illegal” were his words. Doesnt matter how you cut it Draco, Labour were caught with their hand in the till as it were.
The same till that ate national’s GST invoice?
You do realise that every party did the same thing don’t you? And had been doing it for 14 years? And if the AG went back further than three months Nationals bill would have been quite bit higher?
Not putting spin on past history – just relating how it was.
http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2011/11/russel-norman-apologises.html
Oh dear – so it looks like any possible Green / National ‘coalition talks’ are probably now right off the table?
How sad 🙁
Not sure how telling the voting public the TRUTH is ‘defacing’ billboards?
If the mainstream media isn’t going to provide accurate information in order to better enable the voting public to ‘cast an informed’ vote – then this ‘piggy-backing’ technique seems fair to me.
I mean – it’s not like the National billboards have been physically damaged / knocked down?
hmmmm……….. maybe it’s just that the TRUTH hurts?
I predict that National’s apparently total reliance on fomer Wall St Bank$ter, ex-foreign exchange advisor for the (privately-owned) New York Federal Reserve, former Head of Derivatives for Merrill Lynch, current Bank of America shareholder – NZ Prime Minister John Key – is going to be their downfall in this 2011 election.
As one of my banners (yet to be published by mainstream media), but which has been publicly-displayed in the wilds of the Epsom electorate, states rather succintly –
“The KEY thing in life is sincerity.
(Same election hoarding photo of arguably ‘shonky’ John Key)
Once you can fake that – you’ve got it made.”
A week is a VERY long time in politics.
Eleven days to go…………..
🙂
Penny Bright
Independent Candidate for Epsom
Campaigning against ‘white collar’ CRIME, CORRUPTION (and its root cause – PRIVATISATION) and CORPORATE WELFARE.
If there was any justice National would be in court for their bill boards.
They should be required to tell the truth.
Vote National. We will steal your wealth and assets and leave you to pay our debts..
Ignoring arts and culture
National aren’t the only party putting arts and culture on the to do list though. An overall lack of any substantial policy creation has been highlighted in a current issue of the Listener.
Naomi Klein: Capitalism vs. the Climate.
Claiming that climate change is a plot to steal American freedom is rather tame by Heartland standards. Over the course of this two-day conference, I will learn that Obama’s campaign promise to support locally owned biofuels refineries was really about “green communitarianism,” akin to the “Maoist” scheme to put “a pig iron furnace in everybody’s backyard” (the Cato Institute’s Patrick Michaels). That climate change is “a stalking horse for National Socialism” (former Republican senator and retired astronaut Harrison Schmitt). And that environmentalists are like Aztec priests, sacrificing countless people to appease the gods and change the weather (Marc Morano, editor of the denialists’ go-to website, ClimateDepot.com).
Single page
Did I hear – “Sorry Russel, I had a brain storm and encouraged the vandalisation of about 700 National billboards”? Just the sort of activist the Green Party doesn’t need. Someone who outsources their brain work obviously.
Radiation release unaccounted for
The radiation is apparently not from Fukushima and the Czech Republic is adamant that none of their reactors have released radiation that would account for the higher levels of Iodine 131 in the atmosphere. So where the hell did the radiation come from?
Why NZ can never compete in the modern world economy. Rakon a NZ business has had a 14 per cent rise in revenue but its profits cut by a rise in the exchange rate to 81 cents when it was 10 cents lower last year. Then it made a $5 million profit, this year on more revenue, a measly $569,000.
Listen to the Radionz business report and get the details, and then you will understand why we are forever falling behind. Films occasionally show a person being dragged on the ground behind a horse. If we think of our country like this, being dragged along by a mendacious and vicious financial system we can get a true and instant image of our position.
Why should, how can businesses stay in this country that pays lip service to wanting a thriving, innovative country but then allows the profit to be siphoned off through whimsical runs or drops in the exchange rate as a result of playing with our currency by the the financial masses, leaving us an uncertain amount that no planning can define.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5968560/Rakon-returns-to-the-red-shares-slump
I think the statement that we can never compete in a modern world economy is false but educated. If we really looked into this we would see that economies of scale and trade terms have a very distorting impact. Contrary to popular belief “free trade” deals rarely do anything fair for the smaller nations, in fact they merely open them up to anti competitive practices.
One of the biggest problems we have is the differential of “slave” wage levels, for example we could never compete with Chinese wages because they are so low. Consequently we should in an ideal world create equal opportunity by tariffing them. It wont happen….but what will is that energy scarcity will level the playing field to a high degree in the near future. Those with adequate energy resources to leverage versus raw manpower will come out ahead.
Come 2020 my forecast is that we will have a very hungry world, the petro chems needed to fertilise and plow will be in short supply…and then there will be the effects of climate change. Ugly picture but we will still in NZ be doing that one thing we are really good at is growing grass all year round and turning it into protein for export. That’s a distinct competitive advantage.
Bored – I am blinded by tears from seeing our exchange rate swoop about like an out-of-control rocket. It’s seeing the carry trade et al buying and selling our money for short-term gains. We are quite small in the world economy yet I think we are 11th most traded, when there are over 100 countries.
It just makes me despair as we keep watching our balance and footing as we run on this treadmill no-one ever admitting that we will never get ahead. Relying on big splashes in our small pond from oil shocks and climate change is dangerous. We will have given away our ability to grow what we want to Monsanto by then. The cretins in charge of our economy, the idiot savants, won’t recognise a tipping point if they fall over it.
I hope the greens are going to compensate national.
Akshully. National should be prosecuted under the commerce act for false advertising on their bill boards. And thanking those who changed them, for helping them avoid prosecution..
😈
Is a coalition agreement what you had in mind for ‘compensation’?
I hear Key is relaxed about it.
So we have our very own kiwi curtain twitchers club–“Snitchline” over at blubbers blog. Disgusting, the ultimate neighbourhood watch. Not quite Stasi junior but given their political masters Search and Surveillence Bill who knows where such snooping will go.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2011/11/information-please/#disqus_thread
Would expect anything less from the sickness beneficiary.
comment deleted
[sprout]
I missed what he said sprout – was it mildly insulting?
Not from that fine fellow, surely!
A humorous little story on stuff – Key’s bus crashes at the first corner .
Not so humorous is the fact that two apparently legally parked vehicles “were broken in to police and shifted to allow the bus to pass” (in Stuff’s unparalleled sub-editing paucity). Isn’t that unlawfully interfering with a motor vehicle? Shouldn’t they just have driven the bus out the same way they brought it in? Arrogant fucktards.
” The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen” George Monbiot, The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/07/one-per-cent-wealth-destroyers
The Green party is tested over National’s billboard revelations and it is interesting to contrast the way Russel Norman dealt with the situation compared to Key’s handling of the Standard and Poors debacle:
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/11/green-leadership-tested-over-billboards.html
History repeats itself on Wall street
.http://i.imgur.com/5zlio.jpg
National’s Election Hoarding’s 13
On September 2nd John Key opened the Customs’ Integrated Targeting and Operations Centre, saying: “Anyone who is innocent has nothing to fear.”
Quick, someone get me some tissues. (*sniff*)
I think it’s time we passed the hat around.
The National Government will organise that.
Closeup tonight is bringing in a lip reader.
“I’m not sure what he’s saying but he’s definitely drunk”
heh. Is it possible to lip read much by watching a face from side on?
Yeah! Key talks out the side of his mouth so should be easy.
And he sits on his brain (what little there is)
Its all a joke to the born-to-rule.
This does provide an explanation with why Key was reportedly injudicious with his comments, however.
What was Key’s prior engagement to turning up at the cafe? Why was he drinking at it?
http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
Incredible live stream from the police raid on Zuccotti Park and the Occupy Wall Street people
Just been to Meet the Candidates meeting for the Waitakere Electorate in Glen Eden this evening. I just wish someone had planted a recording device in the vicinity of Paula Bennett and Winston Peters – they were having a few intimate discussions with a few giggles along the way!
Paula and Winston being intimate
*shudder*
Please no more detail, have mercy.
Campbell, that was my original reaction too!
John Key announces brand new hoarding’s
After a large number of National’s election hoardings were vandalized, John Key decided he would have to commission some more appropriate artwork for his re-election campaign to be successful. His brief was to design a new set of hoardings that captures exactly what the National party really stands for…