Leadership is vital, of this there can be little doubt.
Most of the greatest things worth doing by human beings cannot by achieved by individuals working alone, it requires teamwork, sometimes dozens or hundred or even millions of people working together. And teamwork requires leadership. Whether it is building a house or laying a road or crossing an ocean, or fighting a war. In human affairs Leadership is vital. Though for us humans, we are leaders, or led, not in the sense of sheep being led by a shepherd. All forms of human leadership, (no matter how they are organised), require at some level the consent of the led. i.e. That leadership has to be seen as legitimate. This goes no matter whether that leader is a king or a dictator or an elected head. People will even put up with bad leaders if they think they hold power legitimately. However, once legitimacy is lost, no leadership can persist, no matter what methods are used to shore it up. Once legitimacy disappears no amount of bureaucratic maneuvering or even massive violent oppression can preserve it, such tactics only delay the inevitable.
To David Shearer the Labour Party parliamentary caucus, your attendants and supporters, I would advise;
Don’t bother fighting a rearguard action to preserve minority selection for the leadership of the party, that battle is already lost. You may win the battle, but you will lose the war.
Don’t resist this change, instead accept gracefully the greatest possible democratic selection of leader. Your organisation will be the greater for it.
As I started to type this, Morning Report had been reading out a lengthy statement from Te Puni Kokiri that felt like it was going on forever.
The Minister didn’t front up to answer questions invoking the excuse the matter was an operational matter, the Ministry didn’t front up and sent a long blah blah blah statement.
I did not turn on RadioNZ to listen to Simon Mercep reading out long, mind numbing government propoganda. I hope this is a one-off and not to be repeated.
I agree. RNZ continue not to hold to task ministers and organisations that refuse to front for ‘difficult’ interviews. Compare with the way Campbell Live has put Hekia Parata and other government ministers under the blowtorch for failing to agrre to being interviewed.
Jim, maybe the solution is to email RNZ and express the viewpoint?
New Zealand clergy face being interviewed by Australian police as part of a Royal Commission investigating how institutions – including churches – allegedly covered up claims of child sex abuse, a victims right advocate says.
With this in mind Lauda Finem have been scanning our trans Tasman neighbours media for any sign that they would pick up on the story, but no not a peep, sure a couple of stories about the Australian situation but nothing on how New Zealand might have been impacted and or how the New Zealand church hierarchy may have been complicit in allowing pedophile priests to set up in New Zealand. We know for a fact that this was the case in the St John of God scandal, with the convicted brothers having been transferred between the two countries.
So what about the New Zealand National Party controlled Government, where do they stand on all of this, if you were relying on the New Zealand media for an answer you would still be waiting. Australia’s channel Nine, however, was all over the story
Be interesting to see where this all ends up, as the Catholic Church is simply a child abuse ring pretending to be a religious entity, I think that much is clear by now, as the history certainly back that up!
The real powers of the globe are the ones who sit behind these fronts, but make full use of its “services”, and also have the ability to “disappear” these inconvenient situations quite quickly.
Just what might a possible “Royal Commission” unearth I wonder…..More of the same, followed by a cover up, or perhaps straight to the cover up, or perhaps it all just magics itself away!
There are differences between child abuse rings and organisations that protect individual sex offenders. Best not to confuse or conflate the two.
And the difference would be what, as it relates to the historical actions of the CC, as it relates to covering and protecting itself, and thus hiding what it truly represents!
Best for people not to miss the glaringly obvious!
While I understand your sentiment, to address the question literally,
Rioting would destroy the nieghbourhoods where oppressed people live, weaking whatever community links they already share with an unsafe environment. Rioting elevates brutality, the exact opposite required for the support of oppressed people.
No one in the current bunch of centre right/left care if the poor riot. Other than venting suppressed anger, nothing constructive from a rioters point of view, would come of it. The poor, the kind that have tasted hopelesness, don’t vote centre left/right. All it would do is give politicians an excuse to further demonise the poorer fringes. After the riot, politicians on both sides would use it manipulate people with either fear or pride.
Rioting takes energy, lots of negetive energy, the kind that only comes from wholesale nothing-to-lose situations. NZ isn’t quite there yet. It requires built up dense populations with an already high violent tendency meeting a trigger that transgresses a widely accepted subcultural value. Civil forces often seek out and use these triggers to help them control populations through “controlled burns”. Rioting isn’t something anyone can ask people to do, it’s the emotional response of the collective mind.
Strategically speaking, it would be better use of resources for communities to unofficially break away from the mainstream culture – as far as they can – and look after themselves in any constructive way they can, rather than devolve into rioting, self abuse and risk being controlled through violence. Frequent organised or impromptu protests of any size, acts of civil disobedience, basic sabotage, community agreements and support groups – these things vent and pre-empt anger before it becomes destructive, are achieveable, return positive morale results and train communities to out-think their adversaries.
touche’ I was definitely having an emotional response. but, sort of my point, those affect are powerless and marginalised and the big fat middle and getting diabetes, don’t give a crap….okay so no riot, a protest, a march, a Hikoi,. I’m thinking the recent-ish anti mining protests coromandel Great Barrier (don’t muck up holiday spot) but we can’t get off our arse for state sponsored child starvation .
“Twaddle, rubbish, and gossip is what people want, not action.. . . The secret of life is to chatter freely about all one wishes to do and how one is always being prevented—and then do nothing” Soren Kierkegaard
now, Kierkegaard, there’s another odd chappie I related to in my search; ohh, the labelling, the guilt, the shame, nah, just kidding 😉
ol’ Soren was on to it.
The policy of National Ministers to refuse to be interviewed in the media with any opposition spokespeople (except in a short election period) is very arrogant . So much for openness and transparency. It is such a pity that the media goes along with it. Wouldn’t it be great to hear/see a debate between the National minister of Housing and Annette King, for example.
From this today: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10847352
Household incomes have increased by a third in the last four years. Did I miss a pay rise or 2. Not sure if anyone knows the source or reference of this gem from English Increase of a 1/3rd ???
The recovery is HERE folks and real.
“Our problem is one of success.” from English
herodotus
That is a good link. Lots of laughs. It almost sounds like the tongue in cheek one from yesterday about Shearer standing down for Pagani, the female one I think.
English says that house prices have gone up only 1.3% in nominal terms, is this after they are adjusted for inflation? Perhaps the salaries that have gone up by a third in the last four years are the parliamentary salaries. Probably they the only ones he bothers to be informed about. Or perhaps there is a sort of double book-keeping where all figures quoted are taken from the average upwards and the true universal figures are in tiny script at the end of the report so it’s easy to black out when an OIA is made. The losers at the bottom are a drag on society to NACTs. Unfortunately they have shaped society to funnel opportunity towards them, and removed the work opportunities for those now struggling and either under-employed on low wages or unemployed and losing hope.
We had businesses that used to keep the country humming, but the reasonable tariff protection that was enough to keep them trading and profitable was abandoned in return for dairy and meat entry into our trading partners. We traded away the industrial revolution to go back to the agricultural economy and we haven’t been all that good at filling the gap with the hi-tech ones that were to be our saviours. Now we can’t even bother trying for the green and new innovative market.
Got off the original subject of housing but it all flows from the same ineptitude. Pollies offer themselves up as clever, wise, experienced. When they aren’t can we sue. Under the Trade Protection Act. We’ve been done.
John Key showed his true colours in the house yesterday:
Thank goodness David Parker’s watching Fox News ‘cos he might learn something, as opposed to that lefty stuff he seems to be embroiled in normally.
Seriously Mr Key, even in your homeland the U.S.A, a country with a far more right-wing political environment than ours, Fox News is waaay out on the far right and an object of derision that even the republican party are beginning to distance themselves from.
“Is saying that Key is from the USA an attempt to stir up NZ’s own “birther” movement.”
No, it refers to the fact that he prefers to reside in Hawaii (to which, privately, he is known to refer as “home”), and prefers to spend his money in the U.S. saying that their economy really needs it.
“And hard right extremist…really?”
According to his endorsement of Fox News as a media outlet from which one “might learn something”, yes.
How else can you possibly reconcile his statement?
Here’s how it works – Key’s “off the cuff” jokes at public appearances are usually prepared. But … when responding to a question, and hearing something for the first time, there are only a few seconds thinking time. So, he’s unprepared. The true character comes out.
Key heard “Fox News” and the brain went “Good”. Then he blurted.
He would never say that in a prepared speech. But he does in the House, under questioning. (On a previous occasion he commended Alan Sanford, the guy who got done for fraud in the West Indies).
Of course, a quick-witted Labour MP heard “Fox News” and immediately leapt up to say “In the light of that answer, does he agree with Karl Rove … etc” and totally nailed Key. Yay!
Nah, just kidding. They did the only thing they know – some more shouting.
And so it was, that the New Zealand PM’s crazy endorsement of a far-right broadcaster effectively “never happened”, never got noticed, because Key got away with it, because the opposition let him. As usual. (Except on the blogs, but nobody reads those, eh?).
(Fast forward to the election campaign … PM says Nelson Mandela’s a wanker, David Shearer looks blankly at him, tries to remember what he was told to say, and then asks his next prepared question).
… when responding to a question, and hearing something for the first time, there are only a few seconds thinking time. So, he’s unprepared. The true character comes out.
Yes, and remember his reaction to the unfortunate fellow who tried to climb over the debating chamber balcony? It gave him a fright so what did he do? Took it out on Phil Goff sitting opposite and made the throat-cutting gesture as if it was Goff’s fault. That was one of the best “true character” incidents of them all.
Serious question, KK. Do you actually understand what the US birther movement is about? Because implying anyone’s trying to set up the equivalent in NZ is kinda, um, seriously funny when you do.
He might kicked into touch soon.Selwyn Manning on Bombers show said that people in the inner circle of the National Party are not happy with the happy chappy.Maybe he should be job hunting.
Starring roll in a remake of Laurel and Hardymaybe.
Despite a ceasefire being brockered by Egypt: Israel strikes
The bombardment of Gaza continues. Strikes appear to be concentrated in the north. Multiple observers on the ground report near-continuous strikes, apparently a combination of air strikes and naval fire.
Haaretz puts the number of rockets fired from Gaza today at 83. The IDF says 25 rockets have been intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.
It seems this will go on for sometime. I wonder how Egypt respond apart from withdrawing it’s ambassador.
The IDF has just claimed that this cyber-bullying justifies the next 5 bombings of Palestinian orphanages: “Al-Qassam Brigades’ teasing is out of control and can no longer be tolerated, we have no option but to bomb their children” …World leaders NATO and the UN say they condemn excessive teasing. Murray McCully rings the Israeli Ambassador and asks if all Jews are as funny as Larry David.
Gavin Ellis on radionz before noon was scathing of the criticisms of Shearer by The Standard bloggers particularly because many are anonymous, mentioned Eddie and Irish Bill.
Some editorials in published media are anonymous aren’t they? Surely the effort to express ideas referring to facts and with a reasonable scenario of future effects if someone remains as leader, shouldn’t mean that member of the public must be named. We do try to keep extreme opinions down to a few occasional curses. Being known can make life difficult when mixing with opposing family and at work etc when one is not a journalist and then it’s part of the job. And in some places they kill investigating journalists don’t they?
Yep! In some places people are routinely killed for speaking out against the establishment. With David Farrar publicly calling for funding to be cut for RIANZ because of what Home Brew Crew said about John Key, is it any wonder that people want to retain anonymity when such a vindictive response is openly published, and agreed upon by lots of right wingers? ‘We don’t like what you say so tell us who you are so we can fuck you up’ doesn’t really cut the mustard as a valid argument if you ask me.
We’re all a bunch of big meanies . . . KKK according to Fran . . . hackers and terrorists according to Clare Curran. Watch out for increasing invective against “cyber bullies” and “Anonymous” and “blogs” followed by cross-party laws forbidding this or that or saying what you want. Step by step. The battle is on to quell the internet and reduce its status from that of the town square to little more than the inside of a shopping mall.
Not the inside of a shopping mall. More like looking in a tea cup to see the future in the tea leaves, which are likely to reveal one’s own preferences.
‘The Standard’ being equated to ‘Pravda’ and the ‘Chinese Peoples Daily’?!
Ideas thoughts and opinions to be given no weight…apparently the individuals behind the thought, opinion or idea is what matters?
Crazy stuff.
And to cap it off, Richard Long’s piece where he opines that DS ‘should be given a chance’ should have received more coverage because…because..erm…oh, that’s right…because it was written by Richard Long!
Meanwhile, the opinions of Brian Edwards, Chris Trotter, Vernon Small et al, ain’t worth jackshit because…erm, well….just because they aint. Apparently..
So all in all, I’d say “Well done!” to ‘Standard’ posters for getting the feel of people out there. Ellis essentially complained that there were 200+ comments on Eddies post because… well I don’t know why…must be something to do with it all all being anti-democratic. Or something.
Unfortunately, interest-rate swaps have done serious harm to many farmers. The sale of swaps in New Zealand mirrors a scandal in Britain where banks have reportedly put aside £630 million (NZ$1223m) to compensate clients wrongly sold interest-rate swaps.
Have they put aside taxpayer bailout funds, or just printed it off.
There, a parliamentary committee on banking standards was formed to consider the issue and the Financial Services Authority stepped in to help customers get redress.
Anything like this in NZ, perhaps Maggie Barry can chair it, she is/was on the finance & expenditure select committe, is obviously immensely knowledgeable, so why not!?
Here, Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills has said farmers who suffered from using swaps have only themselves to blame. “At the end of the day I’m a great believer in buyer beware and personal responsibility,” he told interest.co.nz.
Good to know that Bruce is in the pocket then, innit!
Wonder if Auckalnd Council can get back some of the $167m it lost this year on the same swaps…./sarc
Tasers not only take liberty away (normal police physical detainment with a bit of ruff and tumble and cuffs), but also remove freedom and happiness.
Tasers remove the right to choose to come along peacefully.
Tasers are kidnap, they remove even the freedom to control ones own body.
Police should not be replacing routine physical detainment with tasers, this is a escalation in violence.
Tasers are useful, they are purposed to lower physical harm to police officers, quite rightly, but only use in the most extreme cases, where a gun would have been used, or very great harm is likely to Police themselves.
But worse, Tasers can be used by criminals in crime to effect criminality much easier than before, removing the chance of victims to retaliate.
No doubt they will post on eating arsenic is quite good for you as long as you don’t eat too much. You will probably know it is too much children when you fall down dead. We Conservatives have wisdom you know.
Well, there is a post about the royal commission of inquiry into sexual abuse, and the covering up of sexual abuse, within the Roman Catholic church in Australia.
the post explains how this just goes to show how Christ like the priesthood, (and the holy mother church), really is.
?Afraid to much information might fry their brains and damage them emotionaly?
For f’sake M8, knowledge is power u idiot(s).
Don’t look directly at the sun ever … it burns your retinas morons.
Look at it sideways and very briefly only once and sit in a dark room afterwards.
If ya missed it ya missed it, get a pinhole thingy next time.
The update is a moment of fucking zen. She didn;t get to kill the buddha tho, buddha done fried her eyes some. More with the making of the tea, godchild.
But hey right. I’d be delighted to be surprised, but doubt that I would be, about what she would advise about teaching children the ‘dangers’ of sex and drugs.
Lies to children, about staring at the fucking sun, are a teaching thing. You update shit, as child grows, or they update it themselves.
Science, ffs.
All science is taught on the ‘lies to children’ approach.
Reminds me of the time when I was a child, my father would warn me in no uncertain terms not to look at the light emitted by someone doing electric welding, I cannot remember what he said in his warning (apart from ‘dont look at the light’ in a raised voice), but I do know that I always avoid looking directly at someone welding to this day.
Just announced that 90 workers have been sacked from NZ rail. .If we are to believe the polls this means they will go up,for the Nat’s . Pigs might fly!
[lprent: added charts. The GCR isn’t good. Labour bounced back most of the last drop – but all of the potential coalition parties went down as well. The overall trend is done for left coalition. ]
Fortunately I suspect that Bill English has unexpectedly given us a boost. He is starting to sound like Muldoon when he blames that statisticians for reality being different from what he envisaged.
David Shearer’s Column
2012 November 14
by Kapiti Independent Reporters
Labour has the tools to deal with unemployment
By David Shearer for the Kāpiti Independent
On a recent visit to the West Coast, I caught up with some of the Spring Creek miners who’ve just lost their jobs.
One miner who should be celebrating the arrival of his new-born son told me that he’s now worried about paying the bills, may lose his house and is considering moving his family away from Greymouth so he can find work.
Another guy I spoke to moved back here from Australia so he could train as a miner. But 10 weeks into his apprenticeship, he had the rug pulled out from under him and he’s now out of a job.
I’m hearing stories like this right across the country and last week, we were hit with the shocking new statistic that unemployment has now reached 7.3%. That’s the worst rate in 13 years, since National was last in Government.
There are now 175,000 people unemployed. The situation is particularly dire for young Kiwis with one in four aged between 15 and 19 out of work. Māori and Pasifika families are being hit hard too with the unemployment rate topping 15%.
The government says it’s a ‘blip’. It is simply throwing its hands in the air and saying ‘there’s nothing we can do’.
Well I think there’s plenty we can do. Labour has some concrete ideas, including paying employers the equivalent of the dole if they’re prepared to take on apprentices. We’d require companies that win major government contracts to take on one apprentice for every $1 million of taxpayers’ money they receive.
We would also give businesses tax breaks for research and development, so they can find new markets for their innovative ideas and create high-value jobs. We’d support the manufacturing and exporting sector by giving the Reserve Bank a wider mandate to tackle the high and volatile dollar.
National’s path takes us towards fewer jobs, lower wages and more of our people heading to Australia.
Labour’s path is about creating a new, clever economy – one where the Government backs businesses and workers.
November 14, 2012
Hi David
I know you understand a lot of what I’m about to write, and the above comment is just you saying what you like to think (or hope) people want to hear.
I am A-political – if thinking you are all useless and just mouth pieces for ‘the system’ is neutral?
But I also understand you are a good and fair representation of ‘the masses’, as George Carlin says ” Garbage in garbage out”, politicians are just a reflection of selfish humans. We vote for whomever offers us the best for our immediate future.
Having energy and climate change @ # 24 on your parties list of priorities is a clear give away that you are not focused on reality.
As you know the world past peak oil back in 2005 – 6 as confirmed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k22q5KZibtI&feature=plcp (Dr Fatih Birol on National Radio) of which NZ is a paid up member, and someone you might have heard of or had personal dealings with, specifically Helen Clark, who said on 18-4-2006 at a parliamentary press conference “We’re probably not to far short of peak production, if not already there … and that concentrates the mind ….” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIp5h0Xtuc . but as we have seen it didn’t concentrate anyone’s mind did it.
Peak oil means peak growth, as we have witnessed globally since 2007-8, that heralds peak employment, from now on each time the global economy starts to pick up, it will hit the available energy ceiling, and that is why we are stuck with escalating unemployment.
As an aside you must also understand that a growth based saving scheme like Kiwi Saver has a very limited future, if it is not already dead in the water?
Talking up the chance of apprenticeships and growing employment is denial of these facts. But like I said, I know you are just giving the prolies want they want to hear.
In the past 100 – 200 years we have dug up and injected back into the atmosphere several periods worth of ‘global warming’ gasses, it has only been the slowly (but speeding up) melting ice that has protected us from total climate devastation (think Sandy) . I guess as we are so far past the point of no return, it will not change what is set in motion anyway, so we might as well mine baby mine, and lets forget Kyoto 2, which National are totally happy with.
I might think you are listening if you take over the portfolios of energy and climate change, to give them the priority they deserve. or at least move Moana up your list.
Maybe you could start telling the truth, that will defiantly set a precedent, but as I found out back in 2005 you don’t get any votes 😉 Maybe you could start talking about the power of communities, how when the chips are down it is your neighbours you will eventually have to rely on.
My website is full of letters from previous ministers of energy, from Pete Hodgson to Gerry Brownlee all of who are saying peak oil (according to the IEA), will not happen until 2035 – 37, if Labour are still in this mind set then heaven help us.
I am happy to send you several documentaries on DVD that back up what I am saying.
Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows a rise in support for Prime Minister John Key’s National Party to 45.5% (up 2% since October 8-21, 2012). Support for Key’s Coalition partners shows the Maori Party 2% (down 1.5%), ACT NZ 0.5% (unchanged) and United Future 0.5% (up 0.5%).
Support for Labour is 32.5% (up 3.5%); Greens are 10.5% (down 2.5%), New Zealand First 5% (down 2.5 %), Mana Party 1% (up 0.5%), Conservative Party of NZ 1.5% (down 0.5) and Others 1% (up 0.5%).
If a National Election were held today this NZ Roy Morgan Poll says it would be too close to call.
So is the rise in Labour support due to the magnificent leadership of David Shearer or the leftward lurch of the Labour party as advocated here many a time to win back support that had drifted to the Watermelon Greens or the xenophobic Winston Firsts
How can the Nova pay system cost the taxpayer 30 million dollars?
There’s no well in hell it costs 30 million to develop a pay roll system, what the fuck is it with government and IT.
Who’s getting a kick back?
So at $5k / school, that’s a little over twice your estimate. Then there’s the fact that a lot of the problems aren’t to do with site-by-site implementation, but rather it’s multi-user/multisite issues. Scaling, in other words.
At a surface level, it looks to me like the contractor thought they could just OTS one of their existing products and make a killing, but didn’t realise the effect of issues around things like complex leave calculations for teachers, or the HR organisation of the education sector is more complex.
And the state of the public service at the moment means that for issues to be identified and solved an IT-savvy liaison needs to have enough time to follow the development process properly, be around long enough to fully understand what was agreed, and have a vested interest in exposing the problem rather than just leaving it under the rug until they get moved on.
In our business we use ACE Payroll which is so simple to use (Everything in big font and simple English), costs around $200 per year for ongoing support, and even if each school purchased it and paid their own teachers it would be a whole lot cheaper.
Sometimes I think IT folk just like adding zeros on when invoicing for IT work.
Well you have to ask, it’s a pay roll system, why the need to build one from scratch and what was so wrong with the previous system that it needed to be scrapped and a new one created?
Why couldn’t an existing system be adapted this has a bit of an INCIS stink to it.
comparison to Pravda; now that is interesting. 🙂
maybe people may start to focus less on their hair etc and more on global socio-political events before the mandatory haircut.
Anyone want a stack smashing lesson? 👿
It’s quite easy …. overwrite the stack pointer (a register) with a value …. preferably a lower one.
This happens when regexp gets alot more data than it was expecting …. say 10K worth , that’s how you smash pearl people.
Can someone please explain why I hear the claim that neoliberalism was discredited with the global financial crisis, and that John Key & Co are the only ones still with the neoliberal ideology.
Have other countries really moved away from neoliberalism? I know that there has been austerity…maybe a bit more regulation, but isn’t this just the same old shite?
Or is the argument that the GFC discredited neoliberism rather than changed it? I can only really see a stronger version of neoliberalism today, compared to 2007.
There is a slow ground shift in academic and policy discourse, but the economists and politicians who have power are still buying into the orthodoxy. Unfortunately, true change is not likely to happen until this particular generation passes on. In the final analysis, the wealthy are simply looking for ideological, theoretical and political vehicles with which to protect their elite privilege.
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In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins has changed everything, and Labour is back ...
Over the last few years, it’s seemed like city after city around the world has become subject to extreme flooding events that have been made worse by impacts from climate change. We’ve highlighted many of them in our Weekly Roundup series. Sadly, over the last few days it’s been Auckland’s ...
And so the first month of the year draws to a close. It rained in Auckland on 21 out of the 31 days in January. Feels like summer never really happened this year. It’s actually hard to believe there were 10 days that it didn’t rain. Was it any better where ...
A ‘small target’ strategy is not going to cut it anymore if National want to win the upcoming election. The game has changed and the game plan needs to change as well. Jacinda Ardern’s abrupt departure from the 9th floor has the potential to derail what looked to be an ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
Sure, Scotty Morrison’s Māori At Work is a wonderful resource for Aotearoa’s collective te reo Māori journey. But is it judgemental enough for the modern office environment?First published September 12 2019 The growing strength of te reo is palpable across Aotearoa, with record numbers of people participating in Mahuru ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Mills, Professor and Dean La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University Shutterstock It can be tough to access front-line health care outside the cities and suburbs. For the seven million Australians living in rural communities there are significant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University Chad Fish/AP Was the balloon that suddenly appeared over the US last week undertaking surveillance? Or was it engaging in research, as China has claimed? While the answers to these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described this morning's Waitangi dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. ...
Screenwriter Dana Leaming’s debut comedy series Not Even is out now on Prime and Neon. This is the out the gate story of how it got there.Kia ora, Hi, What up? Up to? U up? …I’m Dana. I wrote and co-directed (with Ainsley Gardiner) the TV show Not Even ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP A federal Newspoll, conducted February 1-4 from a sample of 1,512, gave Labor a 55-45 lead, unchanged on ...
The Human Rights Commission, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, last week released two reports on racism and the impact of colonialism in Aotearoa. Among their many insights was the necessity of a wider understanding of how racism manifests itself. I was honoured to accept an invitation by Te Kāhui Tika Tangata ...
Vincent O’Malley reviews a history of the battle of Gate Pā.First published February 5, 2019 Head up Cameron Road, one of Tauranga’s main arterial routes, a few kilometres out of the city centre and you drive over one of New Zealand’s most important historical sites. The road, named after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Murray Goot, Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University Support for embedding an Indigenous Voice to parliament in the Constitution has fallen. The polls provide good evidence once you work out how to find it. However, the voters who have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Libby Rumpff, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne David Crosling/AAP The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 were cataclysmic: a landmark in Australia’s environmental history. They burnt more than 10 million hectares, mostly forests in southeast Australia. Many of our most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Fulbright Scholar and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Monash University Anete Lusina/Pexels School attendance levels in Australia are a massive issue according to Education Minister Jason Clare. As he told reporters last week, he hopes to talk to state colleagues ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marion Terrill, Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute Revising the generous fuel tax credits given to businesses should be a priority for the Albanese government, because keeping them would conflict with two other pressing priorities: reducing carbon emissions and repairing the ...
For nine years he steered the ship he built, but last week Duncan Greive announced his surprise resignation as CEO of The Spinoff. He joins guest host, Jane Yee, to discuss how doing things differently took The Spinoff from an irreverent TV blog to a respected online magazine, and why ...
Three decades ago one of the giants of New Zealand thinking and writing, Ranginui Walker, published Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou, Struggle Without End. The book, originally released in 1990 and revised in 2004, is a history of Aotearoa from a Māori perspective. It had a profound influence and today remains ...
A review for Waitangi weekend The bestselling novel Kāwai: For Such a Time as This by Monty Soutar feels like the story Matua Monty has been working toward telling his entire life. It aims for the loftiest mountain peak in a valiant attempt at the fabled Great New Zealand ...
Unfortunately the great flood of January 27 was not a one-off but a precursor to more emergencies likely to strike the city because of environmental effects of climate change. While the Auckland floods are proving devastating, costly and far-reaching, they have also had the strange effect of revealing Tamaki Makaurau's original landscape. ...
Health inequities between Pākehā and Māori are often framed as complex and difficult to change. But making access to GPs and dentists free will not only save money for whānau using these services, it will also save money for the health system and ensure Māori rights to good governance and equity ...
One of New Zealand's most promising fast bowlers, Molly Penfold, was surprised to get the call-up for the T20 World Cup, but she has a great support team around her, Merryn Anderson reports. She's only played one T20 for the White Ferns, and she's yet to take a wicket, but Molly ...
Labour and National’s leaders came to Waitangi agreed on which areas need more investment in election year. But as political editor Jo Moir writes, the country is going to see a big debate on how Māori should benefit from it Prime Minister Chris Hipkins used his speech at Sunday’s pōwhiri ...
Securing the right to housing will require us to challenge the very systems and ideologies that are doing such harm to our planet.Opinion: The images of rivers running down our streets, cars floating down the motorway, houses flooded and half-submerged buses ferrying people across the causeway, will stick with ...
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It is hard to separate the politics from Waitangi, but the day party leaders were welcomed on to Te Whare Rūnanga was largely free of inflammatory rhetoric and political point scoring. ...
Rheive Grey pays tribute to one political party’s unapologetic commitment to markers of Māori identity, from hei tiki to waiata to tikitiki. I’m proud to be Māori. If you’re like me, it’s hard to read that sentence without singing it in your head. That’s either the power of good campaigning, ...
When I was a man my dick was only average size, but learning how to tuck it out of sight is a steep learning curve for a girl on a budget. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Illustrations: Sloane Hong The dick ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND Australia’s Reserve Bank is set to push up rates once again at its first meeting for the year on Tuesday, according to all but ...
By David Robie When Papuan journalist Victor Mambor visited New Zealand almost nine years ago, he impressed student journalists from the Pacific Media Centre and community activists with his refreshing candour and courage. As the founder of the Jubi news media group, he remained defiant that he would tell the ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori officially announced Mariameno Kapa-Kingi as their candidate for the Te Tai Tokerau electorate in this year’s General Election. The announcement was part of the pōwhiri for MPs at Te Whare Rūnanga o Waitangi. “Making the announcement ...
Paul Diamond’s book about the 1920s scandal that shocked Whanganui is on the longlist for the Ockhams (in the hotly contested General Non-Fiction category). Victor Rodger reviews. A closeted mayor with huge ambitions. A handsome, young, returned soldier with ambiguous motivations.A scandalous shooting that leads to a spectacular ...
An easy, low sugar jam that tastes even better than the sickly-sweet stuff. Often jam recipes call for much more sugar that I think is necessary, resulting in a cloyingly sweet jam whose flavour sadly becomes lost. Where some recipes will call for equal measures of fruit and sugar, this ...
Professor John Morgan offers a 'lesson plan' for Auckland children returning to school to help them understand what's going on in their city after the floods When Auckland schools go back, there’s a case to be made that geography teachers take over lessons for a day or two. Auckland’s ‘state of emergency’ ...
An acoustic 'harassment' device won’t be used to keep dolphins from high-speed boats, reports David Williams. Organisers of a super-fast boat race have scrapped plans to use an underwater noise device to scare dolphins in a marine mammal sanctuary. SailGP’s consultants, Enviser, lodged an application with the Department of Conservation (DoC) ...
Two reports on racism in New Zealand released by the Human Rights Commission land at a time when political rhetoric around racism is escalating again. Aaron Smale reports. The Human Rights Commission has released two reports that make a number of significant recommendations for confronting white supremacy and institutional racism. But ...
Flooding and land slides at her home in Titirangi have Zoe Hawkins sleeping in her running gear in case she has to flee. She shares her concern for others even more affected - and questions what the future brings. A week ago we lived on the edge of paradise. Our forever home ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Enshrining a constitutional Voice to parliament will bring better practical outcomes and give the best chance for Closing the Gap, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will say in a major address on the referendum on Sunday. ...
By Jamie Tahana, RNZ News Te Ao Māori journalist at Waitangi, and Russell Palmer, digital political journalist Iwi leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand have accused opposition parties National and ACT of “fanning the flames of racism”, urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on Three ...
By Phoebe Gwangilo in Port Moresby Higher Education Minister Don Polye has condemned a decision by the administration of the University of Papua New Guinea to treat a PNG-born and bred grade 12 school leaver as an “international” student. Roselyn Alog, 19, whose parents are Filipinos, was born and raised ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s former Elections Supervisor Mohammed Saneem is under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency for alleged abuse of office and has been stopped from fleeing the country. The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) said Saneem was alleged to have “on numerous occasions . . . unlawfully authorised payments of ...
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Leadership is vital, of this there can be little doubt.
Most of the greatest things worth doing by human beings cannot by achieved by individuals working alone, it requires teamwork, sometimes dozens or hundred or even millions of people working together. And teamwork requires leadership. Whether it is building a house or laying a road or crossing an ocean, or fighting a war. In human affairs Leadership is vital. Though for us humans, we are leaders, or led, not in the sense of sheep being led by a shepherd. All forms of human leadership, (no matter how they are organised), require at some level the consent of the led. i.e. That leadership has to be seen as legitimate. This goes no matter whether that leader is a king or a dictator or an elected head. People will even put up with bad leaders if they think they hold power legitimately. However, once legitimacy is lost, no leadership can persist, no matter what methods are used to shore it up. Once legitimacy disappears no amount of bureaucratic maneuvering or even massive violent oppression can preserve it, such tactics only delay the inevitable.
To David Shearer the Labour Party parliamentary caucus, your attendants and supporters, I would advise;
Don’t bother fighting a rearguard action to preserve minority selection for the leadership of the party, that battle is already lost. You may win the battle, but you will lose the war.
Don’t resist this change, instead accept gracefully the greatest possible democratic selection of leader. Your organisation will be the greater for it.
As I started to type this, Morning Report had been reading out a lengthy statement from Te Puni Kokiri that felt like it was going on forever.
The Minister didn’t front up to answer questions invoking the excuse the matter was an operational matter, the Ministry didn’t front up and sent a long blah blah blah statement.
I did not turn on RadioNZ to listen to Simon Mercep reading out long, mind numbing government propoganda. I hope this is a one-off and not to be repeated.
I agree. RNZ continue not to hold to task ministers and organisations that refuse to front for ‘difficult’ interviews. Compare with the way Campbell Live has put Hekia Parata and other government ministers under the blowtorch for failing to agrre to being interviewed.
Jim, maybe the solution is to email RNZ and express the viewpoint?
Australian police may interview NZ clergy
And in Lauda Finem’s take on it…
Paula Bennett: NZ govt sees no need for sex abuse inquiry
Be interesting to see where this all ends up, as the Catholic Church is simply a child abuse ring pretending to be a religious entity, I think that much is clear by now, as the history certainly back that up!
The real powers of the globe are the ones who sit behind these fronts, but make full use of its “services”, and also have the ability to “disappear” these inconvenient situations quite quickly.
Just what might a possible “Royal Commission” unearth I wonder…..More of the same, followed by a cover up, or perhaps straight to the cover up, or perhaps it all just magics itself away!
“as the Catholic Church is simply a child abuse ring pretending to be a religious entity”
There are differences between child abuse rings and organisations that protect individual sex offenders. Best not to confuse or conflate the two.
And the difference would be what, as it relates to the historical actions of the CC, as it relates to covering and protecting itself, and thus hiding what it truly represents!
Best for people not to miss the glaringly obvious!
Given recent events, you could also say that about the NZ Education system…….
Very true!
FUCKEN PAULA BENNETT AND NATIONAL STARVING CHILDREN TO PUNISH BENEFICIARIES; WHY AREN’T WE RIOTING IN THE STREET?
While I understand your sentiment, to address the question literally,
Rioting would destroy the nieghbourhoods where oppressed people live, weaking whatever community links they already share with an unsafe environment. Rioting elevates brutality, the exact opposite required for the support of oppressed people.
No one in the current bunch of centre right/left care if the poor riot. Other than venting suppressed anger, nothing constructive from a rioters point of view, would come of it. The poor, the kind that have tasted hopelesness, don’t vote centre left/right. All it would do is give politicians an excuse to further demonise the poorer fringes. After the riot, politicians on both sides would use it manipulate people with either fear or pride.
Rioting takes energy, lots of negetive energy, the kind that only comes from wholesale nothing-to-lose situations. NZ isn’t quite there yet. It requires built up dense populations with an already high violent tendency meeting a trigger that transgresses a widely accepted subcultural value. Civil forces often seek out and use these triggers to help them control populations through “controlled burns”. Rioting isn’t something anyone can ask people to do, it’s the emotional response of the collective mind.
Strategically speaking, it would be better use of resources for communities to unofficially break away from the mainstream culture – as far as they can – and look after themselves in any constructive way they can, rather than devolve into rioting, self abuse and risk being controlled through violence. Frequent organised or impromptu protests of any size, acts of civil disobedience, basic sabotage, community agreements and support groups – these things vent and pre-empt anger before it becomes destructive, are achieveable, return positive morale results and train communities to out-think their adversaries.
touche’ I was definitely having an emotional response. but, sort of my point, those affect are powerless and marginalised and the big fat middle and getting diabetes, don’t give a crap….okay so no riot, a protest, a march, a Hikoi,. I’m thinking the recent-ish anti mining protests coromandel Great Barrier (don’t muck up holiday spot) but we can’t get off our arse for state sponsored child starvation .
“Twaddle, rubbish, and gossip is what people want, not action.. . . The secret of life is to chatter freely about all one wishes to do and how one is always being prevented—and then do nothing” Soren Kierkegaard
now, Kierkegaard, there’s another odd chappie I related to in my search; ohh, the labelling, the guilt, the shame, nah, just kidding 😉
ol’ Soren was on to it.
Good stuff Uturn +1
The policy of National Ministers to refuse to be interviewed in the media with any opposition spokespeople (except in a short election period) is very arrogant . So much for openness and transparency. It is such a pity that the media goes along with it. Wouldn’t it be great to hear/see a debate between the National minister of Housing and Annette King, for example.
From this today:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10847352
Household incomes have increased by a third in the last four years. Did I miss a pay rise or 2. Not sure if anyone knows the source or reference of this gem from English Increase of a 1/3rd ???
The recovery is HERE folks and real.
“Our problem is one of success.” from English
herodotus
That is a good link. Lots of laughs. It almost sounds like the tongue in cheek one from yesterday about Shearer standing down for Pagani, the female one I think.
English says that house prices have gone up only 1.3% in nominal terms, is this after they are adjusted for inflation? Perhaps the salaries that have gone up by a third in the last four years are the parliamentary salaries. Probably they the only ones he bothers to be informed about. Or perhaps there is a sort of double book-keeping where all figures quoted are taken from the average upwards and the true universal figures are in tiny script at the end of the report so it’s easy to black out when an OIA is made. The losers at the bottom are a drag on society to NACTs. Unfortunately they have shaped society to funnel opportunity towards them, and removed the work opportunities for those now struggling and either under-employed on low wages or unemployed and losing hope.
We had businesses that used to keep the country humming, but the reasonable tariff protection that was enough to keep them trading and profitable was abandoned in return for dairy and meat entry into our trading partners. We traded away the industrial revolution to go back to the agricultural economy and we haven’t been all that good at filling the gap with the hi-tech ones that were to be our saviours. Now we can’t even bother trying for the green and new innovative market.
Got off the original subject of housing but it all flows from the same ineptitude. Pollies offer themselves up as clever, wise, experienced. When they aren’t can we sue. Under the Trade Protection Act. We’ve been done.
Feed the meme: public servants are lazy
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7953034/Public-servants-take-more-sick-days
Thats not fair. They are cheats as well.
John Key showed his true colours in the house yesterday:
Seriously Mr Key, even in your homeland the U.S.A, a country with a far more right-wing political environment than ours, Fox News is waaay out on the far right and an object of derision that even the republican party are beginning to distance themselves from.
John Key, out of touch, hard-right extremist.
Is saying that Key is from the USA an attempt to stir up NZ’s own “birther” movement.
And hard right extremist…really?
Key wasn’t born in the USA, but his Bankster mindset and his Bankster loyalty to other Banksters is.
“Is saying that Key is from the USA an attempt to stir up NZ’s own “birther” movement.”
No, it refers to the fact that he prefers to reside in Hawaii (to which, privately, he is known to refer as “home”), and prefers to spend his money in the U.S. saying that their economy really needs it.
“And hard right extremist…really?”
According to his endorsement of Fox News as a media outlet from which one “might learn something”, yes.
How else can you possibly reconcile his statement?
Yes, Felix, that happens a lot.
Here’s how it works – Key’s “off the cuff” jokes at public appearances are usually prepared. But … when responding to a question, and hearing something for the first time, there are only a few seconds thinking time. So, he’s unprepared. The true character comes out.
Key heard “Fox News” and the brain went “Good”. Then he blurted.
He would never say that in a prepared speech. But he does in the House, under questioning. (On a previous occasion he commended Alan Sanford, the guy who got done for fraud in the West Indies).
Of course, a quick-witted Labour MP heard “Fox News” and immediately leapt up to say “In the light of that answer, does he agree with Karl Rove … etc” and totally nailed Key. Yay!
Nah, just kidding. They did the only thing they know – some more shouting.
And so it was, that the New Zealand PM’s crazy endorsement of a far-right broadcaster effectively “never happened”, never got noticed, because Key got away with it, because the opposition let him. As usual. (Except on the blogs, but nobody reads those, eh?).
(Fast forward to the election campaign … PM says Nelson Mandela’s a wanker, David Shearer looks blankly at him, tries to remember what he was told to say, and then asks his next prepared question).
Yes, and remember his reaction to the unfortunate fellow who tried to climb over the debating chamber balcony? It gave him a fright so what did he do? Took it out on Phil Goff sitting opposite and made the throat-cutting gesture as if it was Goff’s fault. That was one of the best “true character” incidents of them all.
I got the name wrong – Allen Stanford. Question 4:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0903/S00149.htm
The PM thinks he’s a great guy. He’s in jail.
NZ’s own “birther” movement.
Serious question, KK. Do you actually understand what the US birther movement is about? Because implying anyone’s trying to set up the equivalent in NZ is kinda, um, seriously funny when you do.
He might kicked into touch soon.Selwyn Manning on Bombers show said that people in the inner circle of the National Party are not happy with the happy chappy.Maybe he should be job hunting.
Starring roll in a remake of Laurel and Hardymaybe.
Despite a ceasefire being brockered by Egypt:
Israel strikes
It seems this will go on for sometime. I wonder how Egypt respond apart from withdrawing it’s ambassador.
I’ve been listening to the news about it on the BBC WS all day. Scary stuff!
The IDF has just claimed that this cyber-bullying justifies the next 5 bombings of Palestinian orphanages: “Al-Qassam Brigades’ teasing is out of control and can no longer be tolerated, we have no option but to bomb their children” …World leaders NATO and the UN say they condemn excessive teasing. Murray McCully rings the Israeli Ambassador and asks if all Jews are as funny as Larry David.
National to fund electric cars?
Of course this is just more National party propaganda with the government actually doing nothing in the way of protection our environment…
Gavin Ellis on radionz before noon was scathing of the criticisms of Shearer by The Standard bloggers particularly because many are anonymous, mentioned Eddie and Irish Bill.
Some editorials in published media are anonymous aren’t they? Surely the effort to express ideas referring to facts and with a reasonable scenario of future effects if someone remains as leader, shouldn’t mean that member of the public must be named. We do try to keep extreme opinions down to a few occasional curses. Being known can make life difficult when mixing with opposing family and at work etc when one is not a journalist and then it’s part of the job. And in some places they kill investigating journalists don’t they?
Yep! In some places people are routinely killed for speaking out against the establishment. With David Farrar publicly calling for funding to be cut for RIANZ because of what Home Brew Crew said about John Key, is it any wonder that people want to retain anonymity when such a vindictive response is openly published, and agreed upon by lots of right wingers? ‘We don’t like what you say so tell us who you are so we can fuck you up’ doesn’t really cut the mustard as a valid argument if you ask me.
.
We’re all a bunch of big meanies . . . KKK according to Fran . . . hackers and terrorists according to Clare Curran. Watch out for increasing invective against “cyber bullies” and “Anonymous” and “blogs” followed by cross-party laws forbidding this or that or saying what you want. Step by step. The battle is on to quell the internet and reduce its status from that of the town square to little more than the inside of a shopping mall.
Not the inside of a shopping mall. More like looking in a tea cup to see the future in the tea leaves, which are likely to reveal one’s own preferences.
“Gavin Ellis”. Sounds fake to me.
Just listened to the 9 – noon segment.
‘The Standard’ being equated to ‘Pravda’ and the ‘Chinese Peoples Daily’?!
Ideas thoughts and opinions to be given no weight…apparently the individuals behind the thought, opinion or idea is what matters?
Crazy stuff.
And to cap it off, Richard Long’s piece where he opines that DS ‘should be given a chance’ should have received more coverage because…because..erm…oh, that’s right…because it was written by Richard Long!
Meanwhile, the opinions of Brian Edwards, Chris Trotter, Vernon Small et al, ain’t worth jackshit because…erm, well….just because they aint. Apparently..
So all in all, I’d say “Well done!” to ‘Standard’ posters for getting the feel of people out there. Ellis essentially complained that there were 200+ comments on Eddies post because… well I don’t know why…must be something to do with it all all being anti-democratic. Or something.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/7945141/Trust-a-bank-like-a-fox-in-a-henhouse
Have they put aside taxpayer bailout funds, or just printed it off.
Anything like this in NZ, perhaps Maggie Barry can chair it, she is/was on the finance & expenditure select committe, is obviously immensely knowledgeable, so why not!?
Good to know that Bruce is in the pocket then, innit!
Wonder if Auckalnd Council can get back some of the $167m it lost this year on the same swaps…./sarc
Tasers not only take liberty away (normal police physical detainment with a bit of ruff and tumble and cuffs), but also remove freedom and happiness.
Tasers remove the right to choose to come along peacefully.
Tasers are kidnap, they remove even the freedom to control ones own body.
Police should not be replacing routine physical detainment with tasers, this is a escalation in violence.
Tasers are useful, they are purposed to lower physical harm to police officers, quite rightly, but only use in the most extreme cases, where a gun would have been used, or very great harm is likely to Police themselves.
But worse, Tasers can be used by criminals in crime to effect criminality much easier than before, removing the chance of victims to retaliate.
Best NZ Conservative post eva:
http://nzconservative.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/solar-eclipse.html
Jesus, sounds like it could have been written by Ralph Wiggun
“These berries taste…burning”
The Simpsons is a liberal plot.
No doubt they will post on eating arsenic is quite good for you as long as you don’t eat too much. You will probably know it is too much children when you fall down dead. We Conservatives have wisdom you know.
Well, there is a post about the royal commission of inquiry into sexual abuse, and the covering up of sexual abuse, within the Roman Catholic church in Australia.
the post explains how this just goes to show how Christ like the priesthood, (and the holy mother church), really is.
not kidding.
would that be Ralph “Wiggum” 🙂
?Afraid to much information might fry their brains and damage them emotionaly?
For f’sake M8, knowledge is power u idiot(s).
Don’t look directly at the sun ever … it burns your retinas morons.
Look at it sideways and very briefly only once and sit in a dark room afterwards.
If ya missed it ya missed it, get a pinhole thingy next time.
IKR.
The update is a moment of fucking zen. She didn;t get to kill the buddha tho, buddha done fried her eyes some. More with the making of the tea, godchild.
But hey right. I’d be delighted to be surprised, but doubt that I would be, about what she would advise about teaching children the ‘dangers’ of sex and drugs.
Lies to children, about staring at the fucking sun, are a teaching thing. You update shit, as child grows, or they update it themselves.
Science, ffs.
All science is taught on the ‘lies to children’ approach.
Reminds me of the time when I was a child, my father would warn me in no uncertain terms not to look at the light emitted by someone doing electric welding, I cannot remember what he said in his warning (apart from ‘dont look at the light’ in a raised voice), but I do know that I always avoid looking directly at someone welding to this day.
Your dad was correct – if you look at someone welding with unprotected eyes you will suffer what is known as ‘arc eye’.
I’ve heard it described as a similar feeling to someone getting a hand full of sand and rubbing it into your eyes.
Mild doses will heal but still not good for you.
I see the Tories have managed to permanently fuck the train workshop down in Dunedin, by selling a bit of it off and closing the rest down.
Very difficult for NZ to make its own rolling stock any more, even if a Labour Govt wanted to, because the capability has been destroyed.
Smart old Tory strategy.
Yeah.
Tossers.
Just announced that 90 workers have been sacked from NZ rail. .If we are to believe the polls this means they will go up,for the Nat’s . Pigs might fly!
That would be normal Tory fuckwittedness – don’t make anything of value because it’s cheaper to import it.
Not to mention the fact that this is nothing less than an erosion of KR’s in-house heavy enginerring capcity.
30 years ago we had Otahuhu, Hutt, Addington, Hillside and Eastown.
How we just have Hutt — and even then they are going to probably take that apart…
The Nats know better than to sell rail all at once — its going to be bit by bit.
Oh wow, Labour back up to 32.5% in Roy Morgan.
I guess the posts saying that 29% wasn’t a blip, it was the beginning of the end, and so on, were all a bit Chicken Little.
Not to say Labour doesn’t have issues it needs to sort out, but still…
Of more interest is that Nat have gained 2% two polls running, which might be a bit worrying if it continues for the next one.
Of more interest is that Nat have gained 2% two polls running, which might be a bit worrying if it continues for the next one.
Yeah, National/MP/ACT/UF/Con up 0.5% and Lab/Green/NZF/Mana down 1%.
The trend continues…fortunately there’s an opportunity this weekend
Morgan poll.
[lprent: added charts. The GCR isn’t good. Labour bounced back most of the last drop – but all of the potential coalition parties went down as well. The overall trend is done for left coalition. ]
Look at the GCR. That is the problem.
Fortunately I suspect that Bill English has unexpectedly given us a boost. He is starting to sound like Muldoon when he blames that statisticians for reality being different from what he envisaged.
Can I do this?
[lprent: I’ll let it through. ]
David Shearer’s Column
2012 November 14
by Kapiti Independent Reporters
Labour has the tools to deal with unemployment
By David Shearer for the Kāpiti Independent
On a recent visit to the West Coast, I caught up with some of the Spring Creek miners who’ve just lost their jobs.
One miner who should be celebrating the arrival of his new-born son told me that he’s now worried about paying the bills, may lose his house and is considering moving his family away from Greymouth so he can find work.
Another guy I spoke to moved back here from Australia so he could train as a miner. But 10 weeks into his apprenticeship, he had the rug pulled out from under him and he’s now out of a job.
I’m hearing stories like this right across the country and last week, we were hit with the shocking new statistic that unemployment has now reached 7.3%. That’s the worst rate in 13 years, since National was last in Government.
There are now 175,000 people unemployed. The situation is particularly dire for young Kiwis with one in four aged between 15 and 19 out of work. Māori and Pasifika families are being hit hard too with the unemployment rate topping 15%.
The government says it’s a ‘blip’. It is simply throwing its hands in the air and saying ‘there’s nothing we can do’.
Well I think there’s plenty we can do. Labour has some concrete ideas, including paying employers the equivalent of the dole if they’re prepared to take on apprentices. We’d require companies that win major government contracts to take on one apprentice for every $1 million of taxpayers’ money they receive.
We would also give businesses tax breaks for research and development, so they can find new markets for their innovative ideas and create high-value jobs. We’d support the manufacturing and exporting sector by giving the Reserve Bank a wider mandate to tackle the high and volatile dollar.
National’s path takes us towards fewer jobs, lower wages and more of our people heading to Australia.
Labour’s path is about creating a new, clever economy – one where the Government backs businesses and workers.
November 14, 2012
Hi David
I know you understand a lot of what I’m about to write, and the above comment is just you saying what you like to think (or hope) people want to hear.
I am A-political – if thinking you are all useless and just mouth pieces for ‘the system’ is neutral?
But I also understand you are a good and fair representation of ‘the masses’, as George Carlin says ” Garbage in garbage out”, politicians are just a reflection of selfish humans. We vote for whomever offers us the best for our immediate future.
Having energy and climate change @ # 24 on your parties list of priorities is a clear give away that you are not focused on reality.
As you know the world past peak oil back in 2005 – 6 as confirmed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k22q5KZibtI&feature=plcp (Dr Fatih Birol on National Radio) of which NZ is a paid up member, and someone you might have heard of or had personal dealings with, specifically Helen Clark, who said on 18-4-2006 at a parliamentary press conference “We’re probably not to far short of peak production, if not already there … and that concentrates the mind ….” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIp5h0Xtuc . but as we have seen it didn’t concentrate anyone’s mind did it.
Peak oil means peak growth, as we have witnessed globally since 2007-8, that heralds peak employment, from now on each time the global economy starts to pick up, it will hit the available energy ceiling, and that is why we are stuck with escalating unemployment.
As an aside you must also understand that a growth based saving scheme like Kiwi Saver has a very limited future, if it is not already dead in the water?
Talking up the chance of apprenticeships and growing employment is denial of these facts. But like I said, I know you are just giving the prolies want they want to hear.
In the past 100 – 200 years we have dug up and injected back into the atmosphere several periods worth of ‘global warming’ gasses, it has only been the slowly (but speeding up) melting ice that has protected us from total climate devastation (think Sandy) . I guess as we are so far past the point of no return, it will not change what is set in motion anyway, so we might as well mine baby mine, and lets forget Kyoto 2, which National are totally happy with.
I might think you are listening if you take over the portfolios of energy and climate change, to give them the priority they deserve. or at least move Moana up your list.
Maybe you could start telling the truth, that will defiantly set a precedent, but as I found out back in 2005 you don’t get any votes 😉 Maybe you could start talking about the power of communities, how when the chips are down it is your neighbours you will eventually have to rely on.
My website is full of letters from previous ministers of energy, from Pete Hodgson to Gerry Brownlee all of who are saying peak oil (according to the IEA), will not happen until 2035 – 37, if Labour are still in this mind set then heaven help us.
I am happy to send you several documentaries on DVD that back up what I am saying.
Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows a rise in support for Prime Minister John Key’s National Party to 45.5% (up 2% since October 8-21, 2012). Support for Key’s Coalition partners shows the Maori Party 2% (down 1.5%), ACT NZ 0.5% (unchanged) and United Future 0.5% (up 0.5%).
Support for Labour is 32.5% (up 3.5%); Greens are 10.5% (down 2.5%), New Zealand First 5% (down 2.5 %), Mana Party 1% (up 0.5%), Conservative Party of NZ 1.5% (down 0.5) and Others 1% (up 0.5%).
If a National Election were held today this NZ Roy Morgan Poll says it would be too close to call.
So is the rise in Labour support due to the magnificent leadership of David Shearer or the leftward lurch of the Labour party as advocated here many a time to win back support that had drifted to the Watermelon Greens or the xenophobic Winston Firsts
How can the Nova pay system cost the taxpayer 30 million dollars?
There’s no well in hell it costs 30 million to develop a pay roll system, what the fuck is it with government and IT.
Who’s getting a kick back?
It’s to cover all the implementation penalties M8!
It doesn’t seem inconsistent pricing for a large scale system. We’re not talking about setting up an MSAccess db for a one-site shop.
How much do you think it should have cost?
An off the self system could have been implemented incrementally for $5000 per school.
And that would be expensive from memory.
How many schools where there 10,000 + – ?
Probably wrote NovaPay in Pearl …. Freakin Morons M8’s!
I wonder if they need a regexp expert …. $150/hour M8! 😀
Supporting Open Source my ass M8!.
The Gnats’ thought they could do it on the cheap M8!
Heh 🙂
2.5K schools.
So at $5k / school, that’s a little over twice your estimate. Then there’s the fact that a lot of the problems aren’t to do with site-by-site implementation, but rather it’s multi-user/multisite issues. Scaling, in other words.
At a surface level, it looks to me like the contractor thought they could just OTS one of their existing products and make a killing, but didn’t realise the effect of issues around things like complex leave calculations for teachers, or the HR organisation of the education sector is more complex.
And the state of the public service at the moment means that for issues to be identified and solved an IT-savvy liaison needs to have enough time to follow the development process properly, be around long enough to fully understand what was agreed, and have a vested interest in exposing the problem rather than just leaving it under the rug until they get moved on.
Indeed, well said M8!
I dunno why it would cost $5K a school?
In our business we use ACE Payroll which is so simple to use (Everything in big font and simple English), costs around $200 per year for ongoing support, and even if each school purchased it and paid their own teachers it would be a whole lot cheaper.
Sometimes I think IT folk just like adding zeros on when invoicing for IT work.
(No offence lp)
Well you have to ask, it’s a pay roll system, why the need to build one from scratch and what was so wrong with the previous system that it needed to be scrapped and a new one created?
Why couldn’t an existing system be adapted this has a bit of an INCIS stink to it.
So the Gnats’ can follow through on their threats against the Teachers Union of course M8!
comparison to Pravda; now that is interesting. 🙂
maybe people may start to focus less on their hair etc and more on global socio-political events before the mandatory haircut.
I prefer a warm head thanks 🙂
Anyone want a stack smashing lesson? 👿
It’s quite easy …. overwrite the stack pointer (a register) with a value …. preferably a lower one.
This happens when regexp gets alot more data than it was expecting …. say 10K worth , that’s how you smash pearl people.
What ….. no takers …… so much for the Standard hosting a bunch of hackers M8!
Can someone please explain why I hear the claim that neoliberalism was discredited with the global financial crisis, and that John Key & Co are the only ones still with the neoliberal ideology.
Have other countries really moved away from neoliberalism? I know that there has been austerity…maybe a bit more regulation, but isn’t this just the same old shite?
Or is the argument that the GFC discredited neoliberism rather than changed it? I can only really see a stronger version of neoliberalism today, compared to 2007.
There is a slow ground shift in academic and policy discourse, but the economists and politicians who have power are still buying into the orthodoxy. Unfortunately, true change is not likely to happen until this particular generation passes on. In the final analysis, the wealthy are simply looking for ideological, theoretical and political vehicles with which to protect their elite privilege.