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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I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Last night the police dramatically incresed their numbers at Ihumātao, shoving over protestors and threatening them with arrest. Despite police talk about the need to maintain "public order" and prevent a "breach of the peace", there appeared to be absolutely no justification for this: the protest camp is, was, and ...
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...
Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the ...
The Greens used their party conference over the weekend to push for a rent-to-own scheme, where people would be able to work towards home ownership by renting from the government. Its a sensible policy, and one which could make a real difference to home ownership rates. But its also basicly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Over the past fortnight, thousands of people have come to the Ihumātao land protest in South Auckland. On 23 July police prepared to evict a few dozen people who had maintained the encampment at Ihumātao for the past three years. As hundreds of supporters arrived the ...
The following article is translated from an article in Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of the French revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle). The United States’ blacklisting of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which took shape in Google’s ban on Huawei using its systems on its phones, marks a ...
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
The Hōkai Rangi plan for reducing Māori reoffending announced today fails to fulfil the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations, says justice organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. Minister Kelvin Davis announced the plan this morning, which aims ...
Waatea News at the invitation of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency will exclusively broadcast the next Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki starting today at 1pm. ...
Staff at the Ministry of Social Development say they are enthusiastic about the government’s $54 million investment in housing the homeless, with many describing it as a welcome change. ...
Today posters have gone up outside ANZ branches across New Zealand to expose ANZ’s sponsorship of an exclusive oil industry group, ‘The Petroleum Club’. The satirical posters play on ANZ’s recent ad campaigns, replacing the banks’ tagline ‘healthy ...
Imagine a country where children look forward to walking or cycling to school, parents arrive home safely, and the journeys we take for work or pleasure do more than leave us alive or uninjured, they also improve our lives. This is happening now in countries ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Today’s news from the Electoral Commission has provided the party with the clarity it was seeking around use of the word “Coalition” being used as the brand name of the party. ...
A recently released Otago University study has provided further evidence that low-quality housing is a significant problem in Aotearoa. This has prompted the Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) Paul Evans to question “why ...
With the BNZ-Business NZ PMI signaling manufacturing is contracting , the Government needs to seriously consider tax relief, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called for an overhaul of the Public Services executive ranks as the Corrections debacle shows mis-management and incompetence at the highest level. Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council has said ...
Findings from the 2018 New Zealand Consumer Survey have been released and the results are in; 48 per cent of respondents consider their purchases based on how ethically employees are treated. ...
The responsibility for the fact that Westland Milk Products is now in the hands of an overseas conglomerate 25% owned by the Chinese government can be laid fair and square at our government's doorstep. ...
As Fonterra is projecting multi million dollar losses for the second year in a row, it is clear the writing is on the wall for dairy as more and more Kiwis turn to plant milks. 22nd August is International Plant Milk Day and there is now a different plant ...
The $65,000 granted to Interislander so it can install electric vehicle chargers on its ferries is the most absurd waste of money yet to be delivered by the “Low Emissions” vehicle fund, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear international child rights experts from Ireland, Scotland and Samoa speak at the Making Child Rights Real in Aotearoa New Zealand seminar to be held in the city on Wednesday 21 August. ...
Paul Evans, Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ), is advocating a balanced approach to the development of productive land. ...
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer drove carelessly during a pursuit and that this was the primary cause of a collision with a motorcycle that injured the rider. ...
Responding to the Prime Minister’s commitment of $150 million in funding for climate change response in the Pacific, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “It is no secret that many Pacific nations lack serious oversight when it ...
AUT research not only shows an increase in political affiliation, but that candidates affiliated to a central political party are more likely to win seats in Auckland local government. ...
On the 23rd of August School Strike NZ will join Ollie Langridge in his 100th day of sitting outside of New Zealand Parliament calling for the government to declare a climate emergency. School Strike 4 Climate NZ also demand that Parliament acknowledge ...
You have stood up for what is fair, and I am sure you will speak for over 7 million people who have been muted and rendered voiceless in Indian occupied Kashmir for more than a 10 days now. I am writing to bring to your notice the plight of Kashmiri ...
In the last 10 months alone, 11 petitions have been delivered to Parliament calling for medicines to be funded by Pharmac. Today, another nine petitions have been launched by Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) members asking that life changing, saving and extending ...
When we were first working to get Miscanthus approved for import into New Zealand, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) waived the fee for their work because they thought that having Miscanthus in New Zealand was so very much in the ...
PHARMAC’s recent decision to fund two additional drugs from December this year has been widely welcomed by patients and the general public alike. The drugs, Kadcyla and Ibrance, are used in the treatment of advanced lung and breast cancers and will ...
Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Government to include experts and advocates from outside the agriculture industry on its newly announced winter crop grazing taskforce. ...
The Government’s plans to prohibit housing on ‘productive’ farmland will serve as yet another regulatory tax on housing, and is a shameful breach of Jacinda Ardern’s promise to fix housing supply, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The latest round of the Ethnic Communities Development Fund opens today, supporting projects that grow the leadership and capability of ethnic groups, improve cultural understanding, and ensure our ethnic communities are a vibrant and celebrated part ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the dangers of hiking excise tax, in response to calls from a former Prime Minister for stronger action on alcohol harm. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It seems inevitable ...
LGNZ will be cautiously assessing the wider implications of the newly proposed National Position Statement on Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL), noting that that it traverses a number of highly complex policy areas including housing affordability and property ...
The new joint from the team behind one of Wellington’s favourite craft beer bars is dedicated to minimal-intervention, organic wine – and more exciting things are coming to the heritage building it’s housed in.Before the Cadbury factory opened in Dunedin in 1930, New Zealanders ate Cadbury chocolate made in England. ...
Alex Casey chats to Bree Tomasel about hosting Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, farting in the ZM studio and going viral on the regular. The most important thing you need to know about Bree Tomasel is not the fact that she peed her pants during Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, but the glee ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsAnalysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – The election race is on. The nominations process for local government positions has now closed, and the political campaign is officially underway. But does the public care? Will many of us even vote for any of the various mayoral or council ...
At Eden Park on Saturday night, the Wallabies were on the receiving end of a ruthless players’ revenge, writes Scotty StevensonThe rain came. It always seems to at Eden Park, just as the Wallabies warm up on the pitch, dreaming of ending a drought. It came from the west, the ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Michael Fallow (Stuff): Your council – what’s its job description? Dileepa Fonseka and ...
Protesters occupying land at Ihumātao will begin a four-hour hikoi to Mt Albert on Thursday to present a petition calling on the Prime Minister to visit the land. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Walvisch, Lecturer, Monash University This morning an Extinction Rebellion protester was arrested after hanging from a rope over the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane, blocking all lanes to peak hour traffic. And earlier this month in Brisbane, more than 70 climate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Jobson, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Monash University Many of us enjoy writing in a diary, reading autobiographies or nostalgically reflecting with others about past times. Why is remembering our past so important? Are there downsides? And what can we do ...
Roll Red Roll is a brutal, painfully illuminating documentary on the Steubenville High School rape case, a shocking crime that made headlines worldwide. Emily Writes reviews. This review discusses rape and sexual violenceAugust 11, 2012: two teenage boys rape an unconscious teenage girl as two of their peers watch and ...
By RNZ Pacific Tuvalu’s Prime Minister has condemned the Australian Prime Minister’s conduct at last week’s Pacific Islands Forum, calling Scott Morrison’s attitude “unfortunate” and “neo-colonial,” and questioning Australia’s future in the 18-member body. In an interview with RNZ on Sunday, Enele Sopoaga also threatened to pull Tuvaluan labour from ...
The second hui of the Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki takes place in Hamilton today. Newsroom, in partnership with Radio Waatea, are broadcasting it live from 1pm. ...
Prolific, award-winning Palmerston North poet Paula Harris somehow manages to be stroppy and properly vulnerable all at once. Here, she writes about her first slam competition – and why she cried all the way home. I am old enough to have given birth to most of the people here.Sure, there’s a ...
High speed rail links between cities could play a massive role in revitalising regional New Zealand, says a visiting transport infrastructure expert. Professor Andrew McNaughton spoke to Alex Braae. Imagine commuting from Hamilton to Auckland, and it only taking an hour to get there. It’s a vision of how the right ...
On the good days, riding a bike is the best. But in Auckland there aren’t nearly enough of those days, and unless decision makers take urgent action, that’s not going to change.This piece originally appeared on Bike AucklandMy first bike crash in central Auckland happened on Symonds Street. I was ...
It's not since 1989 that a mayoralty campaign in the southern city has been so unpredictable - a record 14 candidates have put their names forward. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Mills, Hon Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney On the morning of the last Monday in April, 2019, federal election officials opened the doors of more than 500 pre-poll voting centres around Australia, and waited for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Veronica Alfano, Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University Memorising poetry was once common in classrooms. But it has, for the most part, gone out of style. There are good reasons for this. Memorisation can clash with creativity and analytical thought. Rote learning can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darren Paul Fisher, Head of Directing, Department of Film, Screen and Creative Media, Bond University What do J.J. Abrams, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shonda Rhimes, David Lynch, Aaron Sorkin, Donald Glover, Jenji Kohan, Jordan Peele, Tina Fey, and Joss Whedon have in common? They ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mayors launch bids to return in Auckland and Wellington, Hamilton’s skyline could change significantly, and support for cannabis legalisation plummets in poll.Two incumbent mayors have launched their re-election campaigns over the weekend, with a bigger fight on their hands than ...
MediaWorks has been lobbying the Government to turn TVNZ 1 into a non-commercial channel to help stem its own financial bleeding. Frustrated, and getting nowhere, it’s decided to change tack. ...
Customs has cracked down on a GST rort, leaving Trade Me to pay back thousands of dollars to customers who had new cameras and smartphones seized at the border. ...
The 37-8 result meant the Black Ferns finished with a handy 5-1 record for the year, suggesting they are tracking well enough towards a successful defence of the 2021 World Cup. ...
New Zealand has long been the world’s imagined lifeboat – and increasingly for something more than just escape, writes Elle Hunt.One Friday morning in January 1847, Charles Dickens wrote to his friend John Forster that he was “disposed to go to New Zealand and start a magazine”. The quote was ...
New Zealand is one of only two developed countries, along with the US, that permits direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines, and it needs to stop, writes Dr David Menkes. It’s been a long time coming: a new Consumer report makes it clear that most New Zealanders want to see a ban ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison has a sharp lecture for bureaucrats about their KPIs, in a comprehensive speech laying down how he expects the Australian Public Service to operate under his government. Morrison stresses the service must be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has issued a timetable for the government’s dealing with the recommendations from the royal commission into banking, superannuation and financial services, which aims to have all measures needing legislation introduced by the ...
By Ghinan Salman in Surabaya As many as 43 Papuan students were taken to the district police headquarters after Indonesian police fired teargas and forced their way into a student dormitory in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya at the weekend. The Papuan students were forcibly removed from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Senior Associate, Grattan Institute Each new generation of Australians since Federation has enjoyed a better standard of living than the one that came before it. Until now. Today’s young Australians are in danger of falling behind. A new Grattan Institute ...
Jamie Wall reviews Jonah, the two-part Three telefeature that follows the life of our most famous All Black, and finds it an effective but mixed retelling of the legend.Honestly, it’s a wee bit disappointing that the only notable on-screen dramatisation of the All Blacks in recent years was centred on replacement ...
We love it battered and served with chips, but tarakihi stocks aren’t doing well and another big cut to commercial catch limits is in the works. Ah yes, terrakee, that’s a fish, right?Well, first things first, let’s say it correctly. Pronounce every syllable, remember the Māori vowel sounds (A-E-I-O-U), roll the ...
Good on their own, even better with cheese – these crisp, moreish crackers are destined to become your new go-to savoury snack.These crackers have been on high rotation in our household – they’ve filled lunchboxes, accompanied fine cheeses on evening platters and been eaten by the fistful straight from the jar. ...
Open mike 15/11/2012 
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...3 hours ago
Last week, Australia sabotaged the Pacific Forum by opposing action on climate change. Their Deputy Prime Minister followed that up by saying that Pacific Peoples could always pick Australian fruit - just as they had done in the era of blackbirding. And now, that arrogant, tone-deaf approach has drawn a ...3 hours ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...1 day ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...1 day ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...3 days ago
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Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...3 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...5 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...5 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...5 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...5 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...5 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...5 days ago
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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.