The retired New Zealand cricketing superstar Martin Crowe recently
staged a fiery protest against New Zealand cricket authorities
following their dumping of the NZ captain Ross Taylor…
Good on him, more boys club members with no clue on how to run a professional code. mcullam is a bad choice to replace Taylor and WTF was wrong with Taylor anyway?
We haven’t come a long way since Turner had beefs with these old boys over playing county and representing NZ we’ve just produced enough decent players to mask the real issues. Bad management and no consistent academy structure for bringing talent through combined with bias at rep level to mates and boys club members over talent.
Its an all too familiar tale in NZ sporting codes.
What is it with the US, and individuals shooting people/children in educational establishments – this time an elementary school? Land of the free? Champion of democracy?
Ha! WYSIWYG link button working again.
And the blockquote button? Nope. Not working at all.
That’s right. The more freedom there is to carry a gun the safer they will be. And we need to remember, of course, that guns don’t kill people, people do. /sarc
One of England’s leading philosophers, one TONY PARSONS, has written thoughtfully and philosophically on the issue….
‘The problem is not the gun laws of American but the limitless cruelty of the human race.’ https://twitter.com/TonyParsonsUK/status/279647164337106944
Thus he has proved, irrefutably and elegantly, that it is not guns that kill children in kindergartens, it is people of limitless cruelty.
Agree about the limitless cruelty thing, just also think there are two issues to deal with 1. how to stop having a society with cruel people 2. how to limit the weapons in a community when limitlessly cruel people are among us. It’s not either/or – and one before the other. They need to be addressed in tandem.
That’s all he wrote, Rosy. In other words, instead of writing something sensitive and thoughtful, which would have required a degree of sensitivity and thoughtfulness, Parsons simply chose to recycle a ridiculous cliché. He had to write SOMETHING of course; as a handsomely remunerated “pundit” he is expected to deliver an opinion, no matter how ill-informed, on a range of topics.
Well, to be fair to Parsons, he was good for two years in the mid seventies, but that was more to do with speed, punk and his genius missus. The Boy Looked at Johnny is still a great read; no heroes any more.
1.) “Well, to be fair to Parsons, he was good for two years in the mid seventies,”
Let me hazard a guess, Te Reo—you love old issues of the NME as much as you love Private Eye. You appear to be a scholar as well as a gentleman.
2.) “but that was more to do with speed, punk and his genius missus.”
She wrote some interesting pop music comments in the 1970s, but her subsequent career has demonstrated that horrible woman is no genius. She’s a nasty piece of work, as well as being cast-iron ignorant.
Spent last weekend clearing out my old stuff from the oldie’s attic; lots of NME’s, PE’s, posters of Bowie etc. The NME really was superb from 77-83, Burchill, Parsons, Nick Kent, Paul Morley, Ian Penman through to Steven Wells and X Moore. Linking pop music to politics and philosophy was a liberation for me.
I still rate Burchill, (listening to her talking to DJ Steve Wright in ’93 as I write). There is little I agree with her about these days, but our mis-named mate The Contrarian really should look her up, as she’s been genuinely contrarian for 35 years:
1: Who manufactures the guns and weapons
2: Who sells the guns and weapons
3: Who ensures that the guns and weapons are in continual use domestically/internationally
4: Who controls the legislations/contracts of those who manufacture the guns and weapons
5: Who cares if innocent people domestically/globally are dying through use of the guns and weapons, as long as *business remains good and retains control*
6: Who pulls the trigger on the gun or weapon, or issues the order for the weapons to be used
etc…
The anwer to any of the above does NOT include the word, gun or weapon
Well Karol, the idea is to instill the most fear, commit the attrocities which cover illicit the maximum emotive reaction . We have recently seen *attacks* on movie goers, then quickly followed by the sikh religious attacks, now followed by another attack on a school.
Fear, shock, horror, fear, emotive responses all geared at ramping towards a pre conceived outcome.
Lets see where the shit trail leads this time and which…
The suspected shooter, 24, was armed with four weapons and wearing a bullet-proof vest, WABC reported.
Yes, here we have the continuation of the repeated lone wolf meme again….
There were unconfirmed reports of a second shooter.
Here we have the standard confusion being created around a *second shooter*, which like the Cinema, Temple shootings will be quickly discarded..
Those who say that the guns are the problem, are simplistically wrong! The people commiting these *attrocities* are the problem, whoever they are, and the reasons behind it, complex, deliberate, and opaque!
I’d like to know who thought it was a good idea to interview a child who was at the school, on the day of the shooting, and broadcast that all over the world. That lack of care and restraint is a big part of the picture too. It’s so much more sensational to broadcast the words of a child who was there, never mind that the child is traumatised or that listening to a traumatised child should not be news.
I’d like to know who thought it was a good idea to interview a child who was at the school, on the day of the shooting, and broadcast that all over the world.
Hi Weka,
Very observant line of questioning again from you.
Further questions to ask are…Was this *girl* actually at the school, and is the *girl* being quoted, someone who has been brought in specifically to be *interviewed* for the *news*.
Was the *interview* even at, or near the location where the *news* was assumed to be reported from!
*sigh* I don’t know Muzza – does the school exist? Did the shooting happen? Is it all a big plan to bring about gun control so the population will have no defence against the government?
But as for questioning of one of the school children. Was parental consent required for that? – it’s an appalling example of ‘rolling’ news coverage.
*sigh* I don’t know Muzza – does the school exist? Did the shooting happen? Is it all a big plan to bring about gun control so the population will have no defence against the government?
The American Administration, or more accurately those behind it, will be just as happy to see the people killing eachother. Don’t forget the rulers do not give a toss about the masses, they have consistantly proven this decade in decade out, and the repeated attempts of remove the 2nd amendment, and attack the gun laws etc, is IMO, just for show. They don’t care for human life these people, and so for mine, there is little I would consider to be *out of the question*, so far as what else is in play!
But as for questioning of one of the school children. Was parental consent required for that? – it’s an appalling example of ‘rolling’ news coverage.
Rolling news coverage – stages, props, actors, manipulation, controlling of narratives, telling stories and *creating history*.
The narrow channels of the supply of *news*, has made it ever more possible to *create news*, even any given event happened or not. Now I am not saying that this is/is not a real event, only that the hollywood, news media with its hstorical links to military and so on, can manufacture anything they want, and report it to the world within minutes.
Total control of *the news*, to take control of the emotional states, and state of helplessness of the masses. The desired nessages are continually reinforced through movies, tv, video games music videos etc!
Yet again the conspiracy meme. While you may get some vicarious thrill at imagining some shadowy conspiracy behind the US Administration ‘controlling the narrative’. The more obvious (and either boring or unbelievable for you) explanation is that the nature of the media coverage is simply the profit motive.
More hits, readers, viewers, hence more advertising revenue and profit – is the ultimate goal. With multiple internet and TV stations all providing non-stop 24-hr coverage, the way to get the ‘customers’ is to dramatise the story, make it more thrilling, horrible, contentious….
You may be right in saying that some of the many competing media outlets may ‘stage manage’ to make their ‘news’ more ‘interesting’ but don’t doubt for one second that these were real people killed by a lone madman.
Despite all the media saturation and dramatisation… the horror and shock is evident in the stark gut wrenching reality that 20 children …. 28 people…. have been killed in an awful way.
Like the tragedy of 9-11, this is a defining event that will have a profound effect on the mood, thoughts and subsequent actions of all Americans.
THIS IS WHY WE HAVE POVERTY – government employees not doing their jobs properly, or even taking the time to ensure people are receiving their full and correct entitlement.
government employees not doing their jobs properly, or even taking the time to ensure people are receiving their full and correct entitlement.
More likely it’s government employees being either under-resourced to do their jobs properly or being prevented from doing them properly by interference and mismanagment direct from the political level.
My younger brother who has a life-long disability (and while he can paint roofs, you would not wish what he has on your worst enemy) says he can always tells when National is in power because WINZ or it’s equivalent of the day, go from being merely depressing to deal with … to utterly miserly, malicous and mind-fucking.
I also have a permanent disability, and notice a big difference in WINZ between left and right governments. That’s why it fucks me off when people say there is no difference between Labour and NACT. There is, a very real difference. Depressing vs utterly miserly, malicious and mind-fucking is a good way to describe it, and anyone who thinks that isn’t a significant difference has too easy a life.
3)Her child support should have dropped to the minimum $12 a week from the time she lost her job.
Writing or phoning the IRD and referring to an income reduction under s.40 should get it cut back.
WINZ should know this and as the IRD arrange to have all sorts of other things notified to them why are they not writing to someone who goes onto a benefit asking them if they need to apply for a payment reduction.
I tried to post on stuff but my password was not accepted so my comment is probably erased.
When it comes to down sizing a bedroom Bernadette will lose her TAS and she will be no better off. I assume she gets most if not all of tempoary additional support (TAS) for the rent.
Unless there is an increase in the accommodation supplement (AS) or affordable housing is made available the daily struggle on an empty stomach is not going to change. As well jobs are required, but I think that housing cost is easier to fix as the government could increase the AS or only review the TAS every 26 weeks and not the current 13 weeks and possibly increase TAS as well.
I have not read up on if people will lose $42 per week when on the invalid benefit (IB) if they are eligible for part time work testing as changes are to be made for those on IB next July.
People on IB are already stressed out enough due to chronic health conditions, (sometimes a few/ several) and reducing the IB for those who may be able to work part time on a good day is planet Key mentality.
I strongly object to restructuring a health benefit on the ground that a person is eligible for a benefit which is REQUIRED because of incapacity when it comes to employment and that the incapacity for employment is unknown on any given day.
I’d like to see confirmation of that IB policy, and the actual rules. Nevertheless Jenny Shipley cut medical benefits by $20/wk in 1990, so we know that NACT don’t give a shit, and are stupid beyond belief as well (what happens to ill people when they don’t have enough to live on? That’s right, they become even more dependent on the state).
Thank you for asking for clarification re IB changes as I saw an error I have made. Yesterday on Open Mike 4.
“Under the Bill, an invalid beneficary who is reclassified as a ‘job – seeker’ will face a cut in income from $256 to $213 a week – effectively a benefit cut of $213 a week.”
What is reclassified and how is this determined I am left asking myself?
Current Work Capacity Medical Certificate for Invalid Benefit asks:
Do the conditions listed previously limit the person’s capacity to work for 30 hours or more per week?
Do the conditions listed previously limit the person’s capacity to work regularly in open employment for 15 hours or more a week?
Is the person’s incapacity for work expected to last for at least 2 years?
Is the person’s life expectancy less than 2 years?
Is the person receive active treatment or under the care of specialist for any of the conditions listed previously? (their error receive)
When is the person likely to be capable of:
Work planning
Limited training (less than 15 hours per week)
Part-time work (at least 15 hours per week)
Full-time work (30 hours or more per week)
Are there any more treatments or interventions that could assist the person into work?
Unable to work from
When should the person’s capacity for work next be assessed?
Basically a person has to be unable to work for 15 hours a week for the next 2 years to currently qualify for the IB. I do not know if this is going to be reclassified or how as then you get the situation I described in 3.4 paragraph 5&6. As well sickness benefit is going to be absorbed as job seeker, IB will be supported living and a parenting one.
Full-time work is at least 30 hours a week.
How can a person who is forced to come off the IB then be expected to be available to work 30 hours a week as a job seeker when they can only work 16 hours a week?
Thanks for that. btw, I know SBs who are being refused IB. I think mostly WINZ is using the 30hr category now. Anyone capable of working 15 hrs will be on SB.
The only thing I’ve found so far is this –
Under the new system three benefits will replace all of the main benefit payments by 2013. Benefit rates will remain at current levels and continue to be increased annually for inflation.
Jobseeker Support includes:
Unemployment Benefit
Sickness Benefit
DPB Sole Parents – with youngest child 14 years and older
Widow – with youngest child 14 years and older
DPB Women Alone
Sole Parent Support includes:
DPB Sole Parents with children younger than 14 years
Widows with children younger than 14 years
Taking that at face value, I think what they will be doing is trying to shift some people off IB and onto SB, just using new names. That explains the drop in rate. Still looking for the new criteria.
“Thanks for that. btw, I know SBs who are being refused IB”
I’m one All the letters and medical certificates went in and some faceless tame doctor, who I have never seen said No I was able to work. And that was that, they said I could ask for a review, but as I told them at the time, whats the point, as you have already made up your minds.
I went back to the specialists and they say there’s nothing they can do as the risks of surgery are so bad that they won’t even try. But WiNZ don’t give a toss. I have probably been underpaid by 40 odd buck’s a week, and that’s really hard on the finances, with a toddler and a teen. Oh well the next installment is clothes for the Teen that’ll be fun.
I am waiting for Bennet to put a stop to your GP being able to do IB medical certificate assessment and go back to the gravy train designated doctors who will lick her boots.
By this time next year I dread to think how high unemployment, hospital admissions and crime will be.
Good on the woman for going public, although that probably speaks more to desperation than anything else.
SNGs for anything other than food will create more debt 🙁 If she has a sudden unexpected bill she should pay that, and then get WINZ to pay for her food for that week (thus avoiding more debt). There is a limit on the SNGs per year though.
Reducing the debt repayment to $5/wk is a not brainer and should have been done as a matter of course.
She’s probably not getting her full disability allowance either.
Probably not as WINZ staff have been getting worse over the years. It’s as if Bennet has put out a missive allowing the staff to be as difficult and non informing of entitlement’s as they want to be.
Also why was she made to stand down for 3 weeks or so?? She recieved NO redunduncy payment, so WINZ HAD to make sure she was really suffering before they will do anything.
Kate Middleton prank call: Royal hoax nurse’s anger at hospital in suicide note
14 Dec 2012
In one emotional letter Jacintha Saldanha criticises senior colleagues at the King Edward VII hospital over her treatment after she was duped by two Aussie DJs….
This is a terrible tragedy for Jacintha and her family. The Aussie DJ’s prank was despicable. But they were following the infotainment logic of our MSM.
Why is no one questioning the celebrity-focused role of the MSM at large? Why do they create a feeding frenzy around a royal pregnancy? Our MSM gave it more front page, prime-time coverage than the TPP talks that were happening in Auckland at the same time. The TPP is far more crucial to the future of NZers.
The charade that makes up the *news*, and the actors who play the parts is becoming too transparent these days, forget about the microscope its in front of the face. *News* is to be considered almost completely staged manipulation, with actors playing/presenting or editing/writing the scripts, and the truth is unlikely to ever see the light of day, even if the *news* event, ever happened or not.
Ther hysteria which surrounds the trash media and propagates as *news*, can be considered as simply this.
“The Aussie DJ’s prank was despicable.”
No it was not “despicable”, it was simply a prank, and a light-hearted, good-humoured one. Nobody—absolutely nobody—could have predicted what later happened.
Clearly not light-hearted and good-humoured for the person on the receiving end. The people who broadcast this stuff without permission don’t/didn’t have any understanding of the trauma and humiliation some victims of their ‘pranks’ might feel. Mr/Ms Everyday person might not be as extrovert as they are, nor be able to brush of a perceived humiliation that easily.
Really? No one could predict a prank would go wrong? It’s only the plot of every second sitcom episode of all time.
And it’s “light-hearted” and “good-humoured” to attempt to access a person’s medical records by deception?
Sure, if you don’t understand the latter, and have no empathy for the people being pranked and how they might feel like they’ve betrayed a sacred trust, sure, I suppose it’s just an innocent little joke.
The DJs work on a station which previously hooked a 14-year-old up to a polygraph to ask her about her sex life. When she revealed having been raped – and the immediate follow-up question from the DJ was “okay, but is that the only sexual experience you’ve had?” I suppose that was just a bit of light-hearted fun which no one could’ve predicted would go wrong either.
Prank-calling a hospital where a royal family member has checked in for an almost certainly bogus reason is entirely acceptable. You can go all North Korean if you want, but the rest of the (sane) world sees these publicly funded parasites as fair game.
The other prank you mention WAS despicable, and I share your contempt for the perpetrators. Your deliberate twisting of my argument to suggest I would approve of that is unworthy of you.
Exactly! The frenzied attack upon these two DJ’s is dreadful and right out of proportion (for all that we rightly sympathise with the nurse). Others must also be held to account.
I think the hospital also has some culpability.
It seems odd that they did not have a filtering process in place that all calls about celebrities went through to ensure appropriate confidentiality.
“I think the hospital also has some culpability.”
Wrong. The person responsible for Jacintha Soldana’s suicide was Jacintha Soldana. Any blaming of the radio DJs or the hospital is mere recycling of the hysteria whipped up by the steaming hypocrites in the Murdoch empire.
Morrisey would the suicide have happened IF there was no prank call, if the media had not published it and if the Nurse had a filtering mechanism on the calls.
Jacinta was responsible for her actions BUT there is a chain of culpability.
“Jacinta was responsible for her actions BUT there is a chain of culpability.”
Then all these people must also be prosecuted: the cafetaria worker who did not smile at her, the bus driver who was gruff and taciturn instead of being sunny and positive, the BBC news readers who read out grim economic and political news each day, the hospital patient who grumbled about something the day before….
There is one person culpable for this death, and it’s not either of the light-hearted pranksters.
Gee Morrisey
You don’t understand anything about some people’s desire to maintain high standards in their work and to do an excellent job which they take pride in and are esteemed for, and also needing to receive a good salary for that high standard of work.
You ought to put yourself forward to your electorate to stand in the next election. You sound very suitable because of your narrow focus and lack of understanding of society to fit you to be a politician.
Sorry about that. But I see your brain is working just fine again. I think you’ll find that my meaning will become clear after repeated reading, followed by deep thought, perhaps with a panel discussion to follow.
My apologies to the family for mis-spelling her name.
Now, explain how that equates with a lack of empathy. And after you’ve done explaining that, explain why you’ve taken your lead in this from the tender-hearted, empathetic folk who work for the Murdoch papers and Sky TV.
Yeah i agree with you on that, a hospital such as this with regular ‘important people’ as patients would surely have had protocols on what could and couldn’t be said about patients over the phone,
“The Royals” themselves with all the trials and tribulations that they have been through with the media can hardly cry about their privacy being breached as you would think that there would have been in place a system whereby any enquiries were transferred to a royal media minder,
The facets of a prank phone call having many real consequences is a big learning curve to everyone involved and a lesson on how tragic a prank can be.
I do hope that the bereavement counselling offered to the family of Jacintha is not connected with the hospital as their notes could be accessed by the hospital. The hospital cannot be trusted as they have been caught out not knowing that they were critcised in one of the three letters which Jacintha wrote.
When it comes to culture I also hope that the counsellor can identify with cultural practice pertaining to Jacintha’s reaction as it would differ from my European/Polish identity.
LOOKALIKE
Can YOU spot the difference between these violent men?
Professional musician Jimmy Mason was convicted of assaulting a child after an incident on the Bridge of Remembrance in central Christchurch in 2007. The 49-year-old Christchurch man admitted to flicking his son’s ear to “reprimand” him for “riding dangerously near a busy street”.
The case became a cause célèbre for the Kiddy-Whackers Association fronted by Bob McCoskrie, and the S.S. Trust fronted by Garth “Mac the Knife” McVicar. To these kinds of people, assaulting a child on the street means a man is not a thug, but an exemplar of family values, and the very model of the “good parent”.
If you do NOT belong to one of these psychotic organizations, and retain some measure of moral and ethical normality, you probably thought that, after his disgraceful display of self-pity and defiance following his conviction for assault, Jimmy Mason would slither away into deserved obscurity.
However, the emergence of his doppelganger in England has brought back all the horrifying memories….
This forum is a bear pit containing a large sub-group of haters and wreckers exhibiting psychopathic traits. Their prefered means of attack is to latch on to the victim using the most vile language possible, then, having done as much damage as they can (to the enormous satisfaction of a blood-thirsty crowd observing the sport) they sanctimoneously pretend they are people of peace and reason who selflessly spend their lives protecting the weak and innocent. I have an extremely bad taste in my mouth. I will now leave the arena and attempt a ritual purification to rid myself of the stench. Good luck gentle-folk in your search for a fairer, kinder world….
Other than “fatty” and Brett Dale, who are probably one and the same person, is Grant Hay the most bewildered person to post on this forum in the past year? I’d like to know if there has been a more confused contribution from anyone.
Thoughts and wishes to the people of Connecticut, what
can one say about this tragic event. As someone who has
family in CT, including younger relatives, this is an awful day.
Here’s hoping there is not a day like this again in CT or
anywhere.
Of one thing we can be sure: Brett Dale will not say anything intelligent or insightful about this tragedy.
“Here’s hoping there is not a day like this again in CT or anywhere.”
Far worse than this is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan every day. You have been loud in your support of it. And your blood-soaked cheerleading for the carnage in Gaza last month makes your words of solicitude nothing but the most callous hypocrisy.
As someone whos got family in the area, including younger relatives, I think I have just as much as right to comment as anyone else. This is a tragic event.
Again my sympathy goes out to the victims and the families and the children who
survived and who will now be terrified, here’s hoping again, they get the help they need.
I will become sympathetic to the Gazans when they stop firing rockets into Israel. But, when they stop firing rockets, then the Israelis will stop trying to stop the rockets, which means peace will return. and then I won’t need to be sympathetic.
Hey, maybe that means its in the Gazans own hands. That is IF they want peace of course. Or maybe what they want is what they always say they want and that is to push the Israelis into the sea. But that would be mean, wouldn’t it. It can’t be right.
Yep, because in a conflict between an economically-repressed, militarily-occupied people and powerful military occupiers supported by the United States, it’s definitely the people whose land got invaded who need to prove they’re interested in peace. 🙄
Calling All Sports-Loving Prank Callers
It’s time to step up and do your duty
Let’s proceed on the assumption that prank calls DO actually lead to the receiver committing suicide. If that is true, then every sports lover in the country needs to do THIS as often as he/she can, until the inevitable happy result comes about …
Another gun tragedy in the USA. The biggest since the last one according to the media. More will follow, followed by the wails and sadness of all ad infinitum. Without any meaningful legislation likely to limit gun ownership and easy use. The latest is that some people want to take guns to their workplace. Handy for a Post employee pushed to the limit. And a sign of the deterioration of civil life and attitudes in ‘the greatest little country on the planet’ with the best democracy and political system and military and private weapons that money can buy.
In China there have been a number of knife killings at schools.
Can anybody direct me to a study of this type of crime, the drivers and the perpetrators. Why children? In this USA one the guy wanted to kill his mother but took out bunches of unconnected children too. Were they her class?
We are probably lucky that China and Russia have tried to get UN to allow bigger state controls over the internet. That meant that USA would be against it, though they are anxious themselves to box and contain it. And NZ wouldn’t agree either because we are the USA’s dingy dinghy bouncing behind in their wake. So we’re OK for the present but wait for the next attack on the freedom of the internet that go beyond a reasonable minor level.
<b>DEAKER-WATCH No. 4 “Anders” Deaker stands up for Christian civilization
No action by Sky over Deaker’s SBW comment</b> 7:24 AM Monday Mar 12, 2012
Sky TV says it will take no action against broadcaster Murray Deaker after he reportedly said All Black star and boxer Sonny Bill Williams made him “uncomfortable” because “he is a Muslim in a so-called Christian country”.
Deaker reportedly made the slur about Williams, who converted to Islam in 2009, on the Deaker on Sports show on February 29.
Sky Television spokeswoman Kirsty Way said today that the remark was made during a live discussion and its meaning was taken out of context when read in isolation.
No action would be taken by Sky TV against Deaker.
A copy of the tape could be released only with Deaker’s approval because he had editorial control of the show, Ms Way said.
Deaker could not be reached for comment last night. Williams’ manager Khoder Nasser did not wish comment further when contacted yesterday evening. He earlier said he was disgusted by what Deaker said.
“As you get older, they say you get wiser. You are closer to the grave, which gives you a sense of realism, you become humbled and more accepting of other human beings. But the older this man gets, the more bigoted he becomes.”
Hundreds of comments have been posted on Twitter condemning Deaker’s remarks. “If Sky won’t cancel Deaker’s show…”
What are you on Morrissey? I hope that you have something lined up to occupy you for Christmas as it would be discouraging to see your pseudo every second or third comment.
Morrisey
Carrots – so good for one. Healthy, good for your eyes etc. And watch Brett Dale DFT. Save your time for your other good comments. I like your reporting of some of the discourses on the media.
Earlier this morning, I launched into an intemperate tirade against our good friend “fatty”, calling him “ignorant” and “arrogant”. Of course, I turned out to have mis-identified him; his comments are in fact well thought out, and clearly well informed.
Was reading a book last evening and it reflected upon Leadership and Management.
In New Zealand in a political view I considered the countries Leaders.
Like it or not Key and Norman have Leadership qualities, whereas it would appear that Shearer has Management.
The view considered was that Leaders are naturals whereas Managers can be taught, but perhaps are not, nor ever can be, Leaders.
Key is not a Manager ie a details man
Norman is a Leader, maybe with some Management – not sure, as he is an enigma.
But Shearer lacks the vital empathy to be a Leader – but he has Management skills learned overseas
Cunliffe has neither – cannot see a Labour Leader though, Shearer is the best bet as a good Manager.
Not sure what your criteria are for deciding who is which, especially the claim that Cunliffe has neither managerial nor leadership qualities. From what I have seen and heard he is very competent and energetic, and I have seen that has a very good relationship with his electorate.
Fortran
The support and admiration that Cunliffe has earned among the majority of rank and file might suggest sifnificant LEADERSHIP qualities?
The success Cunliffe has had taking a National seat and growing his majority in five elections might suggest significant LEADERSHIP and MANAGEMENT qualities?
Cunliffe’s impeccable run in ministerial positions, Health, Immigration and Telecommunications/ITmight might suggest significant LEADERSHIP and exceptional MANAGEMENT qualities?
Cunliffe’s sticking with his core LABOUR values and turning the other cheek while some people do their “tall poppy” act on him is the mark or a great leader.
Fortran, your comment on Cunliffe is wrong. He will prove that he is streets ahead of Key, when he becomes PM.
I was shocked to hear on the news that a spokesperson for a church saw nothing wrong about having a paedophile in a group at a school as part of some project/ outreach the church was doing. He said that the school did not have any rules about this so he thought it was perfectly okay. WTF.
He sounded like a youngish man, just my impression, and it underlines that young men need to be aware and thoughtful about people’s problems in society. Someone on the radio recently said that some paedophiles automatically fall in to grooming mode when around youngsters. They will present themselves as friends to the child who appears vulnerable, feeling lonely or bored even, and its a big boost to a child to have someone who takes an interest. And the devious background thinking would be unknown.
I think you’re right, my friend. The fraught tempers are probably caused by a combination of hot weather and the presence of a cynical provocateur like Brett Dale.
Tonight I read a report in a leading European paper, on Greece and the absolutely shocking situation there, where a society is split into those still struggling to manage and those falling down through the former social net. It is SHOCKING reading.
Now crime is rampant, social division is the rule, there is even talk of civil war.
The foreign banks get blamed, and some of them carry some blame, but I fear it goes beyond that now. There is racism, nazism, unrest and worse taking place there, and I fear it will spread across many other countries in Southern Europe.
Now does this not ring a bell? Have you heard of crime, tension, poverty and so forth?
Do the ones still living in middle class comfort not get it? Do you want to taste the full blow perhaps? I fear you have another thing coming very soon!
NZ is on the verge of explosion too, once we have the next welfare “reforms” being pushed through. Force poor, sick and disabled, mums not able to get a job, to look for work that does not exist. John Key, you are asking for another Queen Street Riot, I am afraid!
A short opinion piece – Friday 26th June 2020 Whilst our Government has treated many financial victims of the current Covid-19 virus with appropriate generosity, the same cannot be said for those of the two earlier “epidemics” in NZ. The “Covid-84” virus (also called “Rogernomics”) spread systemic greed, with the ...
Everyone deserves a a decent life. We know this is possible with a fairer approach to income support and tax Read the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Poverty Action Plan here ...
After a long break, the government is back inserting secrecy clauses in legislation. This time its the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 3), which in its clause allowing Ministers to exempt purchasers of farm land from the usual rules also allows them to exempt an exemption from the publication requirement: ...
Over the past two years the government has repeatedly delayed a scheme to put cameras on boats to monitor Mew Zealand's pervasively criminal fishing industry. But it turns out that the industry actually wants cameras: Three of the country's biggest seafood companies have broken ranks with the rest of the ...
Louise Delany (public health lawyer)Health and emergency laws have played a critical role in this country’s successful elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog details key aspects of the legislation and comments on issues around testing, payments by incoming travellers for quarantine costs, and mask use. ...
I like Andrew Curry’s succinct and insightful futures blog The Next Wave. His most recent post is about social change. In particular, the decadal-long periods usually required for changes in values. He highlights a 2016 paper by Inglehart and Norris, who examined whether economic insecurity or a “cultural backlash” ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Stop making sense: why it's time to get emotional about climate changeThe science has been settled to the highest degree, so now ...
MONDAY JULY 6Washington (History, Sky 073, 7.30pm). The brilliant Doris Kearns Goodwin is the executive producer of this six-part series about America's first president. It combines interviews with live action and is narrated by Jeff Daniels. It's engaging, said Salon.TUESDAY JULY 7The ABC Murders (Prime, 8.30pm). Sarah Phelps has done incredible things with ...
I think we can all agree that the mainstream media in New Zealand has a very different set of rules for the right wing compared to the left. While Labour and Green Party politicians don’t seem to be able to fart without it becoming a sackable offence, National and Act ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 28 through Sat, July 4, 2020Editor's Choice'2040': A funny, entertaining, upbeat climate documentaryA timely Australian documentary takes a 'solutions' approach, with the filmmaker inspired by visions of ...
Racist National MP Hamish WalkerEven before Todd Muller's coup ousted Simon Bridges by a single vote, it was patently obvious that the National Party promotes and stands for white privilege. In fact they’ve always worked to ensure the discriminatory status quo in New Zealand doesn’t change.So it’s no surprise that ...
Dave HeatleyZero community transmission. Just a handful of active cases, all in quarantine. New Zealand is in an attractive situation, at least compared to much of the world. The situation could be robust and enduring – or it might be fragile, just one border incursion away from a “second ...
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...
I wrote earlier in the week about the Scientology front organisations Drug Free World and Drug Free Ambassadors and their quite prominent role in anti-cannabis reform "coalition" assembled by Family First and a newloca branch of the American prohibitionist organisation SAM.It turns out Family First aren't the only ones helping ...
Nik GreenMuch of the public debate about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on the extent to which government regulations have restricted personal and business activity.Oxford University Blavatnik School of Government Here in New Zealand, the question of when to change Alert Levels dominated the ...
Raising The Bar: Would that the Prime Minister and her colleagues would listen as intently to what the people – as opposed to the power elites – are saying as the Greens. Were they so disposed, the popular clamour for a transformational post-Covid reset would be loud in their ears. ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzDo you think the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown will slow or ...
A bit like a letter home. I have now been full-time at the University of Melbourne since 2019. Before that, I was 20 years at the University of Otago, Wellington. Indeed, I set up this very Public Health Expert Blog with Nick Wilson ten years ago. Now I am your ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections House Democrats have released a comprehensive report showing how – if they control the White House and both the Senate and the House of Representatives – they might move forward on climate change. Their “Climate Crisis Action Plan,” released June 30 by the ...
Not Ready: Todd Muller’s lack-lustre and self-contradictory performances offer conclusive proof that a political leader cannot be managed into competence. National’s new boss has Janet Wilson handling his media and Matthew Hooton writing his speeches. Both are highly professional political and public relations specialists, and Muller is lucky to have ...
Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...
It started as a family story, about a step-father who went out one night to break into an embassy in Wadestown, Wellington. John Daniell wanted to understand what his family had been part of when his mother and then step-father work for New Zealand’s Security Intelligence. He wanted to know ...
The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...
My house is currently supplied electricity by Meridian. As soon as I can change I will because Meridian spilled water to hike electricity prices. They got consumers to spend an extra $80 million on power unnecessarily. Clever them. The Electricity Authority has called their behaviour an “undesirable trading situation”, or ...
When Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became the Labour Party leader shortly before the 2017 general election, she promised to lead a government of transformation. After nearly three years occupying the Treasury benches, health professionals working in public hospitals have been keenly waiting for transformational progress, including in the capacity and quality ...
Last night, One News ran a follow-up story to its Colmar Brunton poll results on the cannabis referendum, headed here as Government accuses big American anti-cannabis group of interfering in NZ politics.In truth it wasn't just the government: Justice minister Andrew Little, National's Shane Reti and the Greens' Chloe Swarbrick ...
When the government refused to put cameras on fishing boats to ensure fishers obeyed the law, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash claimed that coalition partner NZ First (which has received large donations from the fishing industry) was not responsible for the decision. He has repeated that claim repeatedly since then. But ...
Heroic Evasions: Labour needs to be unequivocal in its communications with the electorate. Either it has a plan to prevent their fellow New Zealanders from falling off the economic cliff, or it doesn’t. Either it has a fiscal policy equal to the task of funding that plan, or it hasn’t. ...
Prof John Potter*Elimination has been an effective strategy for New Zealand in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic virus (SARS-CoV-2). Most other countries have not pursued this goal and are ignoring the opportunity even now. SARS-CoV-2 is not manageable by the influenza playbook; its longer incubation period makes tracing ...
This is a re-post from Weather Underground by Bob HensonAbove: This rainbow appears unusually low in the sky because it has formed early in the afternoon, rather than toward sunset. For a rainbow to form, water droplets must be present in the air in front of an observer ...
On Monday, Todd Muller gave an important speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, He spoke firmly about his belief in the need for foreign investment, for the public sector to partner with the private sector rather than boss it around and, crucially, demanded the government deliver a clear strategy ...
Todd Muller's first act on become party leader was to appoint an all-white front bench. This understandably raised eyebrows, so he is now apparently reconsidering caucus and list rankings. Which is obviously necessary, but there's still the underlying problem: National doesn't have a lot of Māori MP's. And the reason ...
Meridian energy has been caught manipulating the electricity market for fun and profit: Meridian Energy pushed up power prices by unnecessary spilling water from its south dams in December that could have been used for generation, the Electricity Authority has ruled in a preliminary decision. The authority said the ...
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...
Hearing the Prime Minister castigate the Warehouse for laying off 1,000 workers after receiving $52 million in wage subsidies reminds me of the fabled frog who agreed to carry a scorpion across a river. The scorpion stings the frog halfway across, dooming both to drown. The frog cries “Why on ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael BakerCompared with other OECD countries NZ is a stand-out success story by ending community transmission of COVID-19. While there have been some well-publicised recent deficiencies (eg, quarantine organisation), there has still been no evidence of community transmission for many weeks. Nevertheless, ...
It’s June 30th, marked as Asteroid Day by many people of an astronomical bent around the globe. On this date in 1908, early in the morning in a remote part of central Siberia, the sky fell in. Well, not literally. What happened is a substantially-sized lump of cosmic detritus ...
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...
Don Franks Poverty, inequality – really – aren’t politicians paid to sort that stuff ? Why can’t they just get it together and come up with something fair and sensible? A cold rainy 2020 morning, a headline showed promise. “Green Party’s $8b plan would guarantee an income of $325 a ...
A guest repost by Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) staff attorney Augusta Wilson. Fundraising is not the objective of this article but readers may wish to know that CSLDF is currently conducting a summer fundraiser to support defense of research scientists and research integrity from anti-science interference by politicians and industrial interests. The COVID-19 pandemic ...
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...
The US state of Mississippi has finally voted to remove the Confederate emblem from its state flag. Good. Its appalling that it was put there in the first place, but even more appalling that it took so long to remove it. Its basicly as if a German Länder still had ...
No one could have predicted when David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was passed by Parliament last November that the referendum required to bring the legislation into force would be held against the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic. Since then, the mounting tally of casualties around the world ...
Paul GoldsmithYou can often tell just how effective a progressive policy proposal will be by how much the right wing criticise it. The more socially beneficial, the more vitriolic and unhinged they seem to become.That was the case when the Green Party announced their Poverty Action Plan yesterday. The response ...
Back at the beginning of April, when we had much else on our minds, I wrote this post urging some caution in interpreting the results of the latest Horizon poll, conducted in February, on voting intentions in this year's cannabis referendum, which was paid for by Helius Therapeutics.I wrote that ...
Over the weekend the Greens made their first election policy announcement, and promised transformational change: a more progressive tax system, with new rates applying to incomes of $100,000 and $150,000; a new wealth tax on net wealth over $1 million; and a guaranteed minimum income to eliminate poverty. Its bold, ...
Story of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Global Warming Is Melting Our Sense of Time Satellite image of smoke from active fires burning near the ...
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...
The latest opinion poll forecasts a landslide win by Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party, but when taken alongside other polling, it illustrates New Zealand politics remains volatile and the contest is still very open. According to the Colmar Brunton poll published by TVNZ last night, Labour would easily romp back ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 21 through Sat, June 27, 2020Editor's ChoiceFacebook creates fact-checking exemption for climate deniers Facebook is "aiding and abetting the spread of climate misinformation,” said Robert Brulle, an ...
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...
Minister of Health - David ClarkIf you follow politics at all in New Zealand, David Clark is likely a name you’re a bit familiar with. The current Minister of Health is perhaps the most disliked Member of Parliament at the moment, which amongst very stiff competition is really saying something. ...
SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). Judging by the tweets, which is probably a bad idea, over lockdown, all of New Zealand found itself in front of The Chase every night at 5pm. It is a brilliant fomat: hardly anyone wins any money ...
SATURDAY JUNE 27Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art (Sky Arts, Sky 017, 8.00pm). There was graffiti before Banksy, but perhaps his pungent political messages hit home a bit harder. Anyways, a doco about his influence on street art featuring a bunch of cool people.SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, ...
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone!This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters A massive dust storm formed over the Sahara Desert last week and invaded the Caribbean over the June 20-21 weekend, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution and low visibility to the islands. The dust is accompanied by a large amount ...
Will the Covid Crisis lead to a dramatic redirection for New Zealand and the World? A hinge in history occurs where the past and present are connected but they point in different directions. Big hinges are rare but crucial in the development of humankind. Not in Narrow Seas identifies six. ...
RNZ reports that Refining NZ is considering shutting down Marsden Point and effectively turning itself into a fuel distribution service. The problem they're immediately trying to address is that running a refinery is expensive, and it is cheaper just to import processed fuel. But there's a longer-term problem too: climate ...
We all know that the COVID-19 virus is a terrible infectious disease that has already caused untold misery and numerous deaths around the world. Nearly half a million people have already died, and those are just the cases we know about.But how bad could things actually get exactly?Today, the NZ ...
This essay by Alex Hochuli examines the global phenomena of BLM protests . He is a freelance writer and research consultant based in São Paulo, Brazil. He is the co-host of the global politics podcast, Aufhebunga Bunga, and co-author of the forthcoming Politics at the End of the End of History (Zero ...
Are You Still Here? Just like his colleague, Phil Twyford – of KiwiBuild fame – David Clark juts out his chin and shamelessly apportions blame to everybody but himself. Even worse, he has turned viciously on Ashley Bloomfield, the nearest approximation to a competent, decent, humble and accountable public servant ...
. . 20 June The bad news: Aotearoa New Zealand has two new cases of covid-19. The good news: the two cases were picked up at an Auckland quarantine facility. The terrifying news: had the story of the two women leaving quarantine without testing not broken four days ...
Willing Victims: What would all those Americans in MAGA hats be left with if they abandoned Trump? Just the sick feeling of having been cheated. Just the knowledge that the man in the White House is nothing more than a shape-shifting New York grifter; and that they have always been ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Like an earthquake rumbling down the San Andreas Fault, Jeff Gibbs’ and Michael Moore’s controversial film “Planet of the Humans” tore a rift through the environmental movement, a rift its leaders would not yearn for in an election year. After activists have spent ...
There have been a number of articles written about the voting in the final statges of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill, during which National MPs voted alongside the Green Party to force a change that would prevent the removal of sentenced prisoners from the Electoral Roll. You can ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce Jenny Marcroft as the party’s election 2020 candidate for the Auckland Central electorate. Jenny spent years working in Auckland Central, having spent a vast proportion of her broadcasting career there. She says she, "knows the place and knows the people." Ms Marcroft says ...
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau is pleased to be confirmed today as the party’s candidate for the Rotorua electorate. Speaking at the Rotorua AGM for New Zealand First, Mr Tabuteau said this is an election that is incredibly important for the people of Rotorua. “The founding principles of New ...
The Human Rights Commission’s PRISM report on the issues impacting people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) provides an excellent programme of work for future governments to follow, say the Greens. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the trans-Tasman bubble had not been jeopardised after aborder botch-upresulted in New Zealand having two active cases of COVID-19. On Friday, Mr Peters told RNZ's Morning Report he had heard from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that borders for trans-Tasman travel would open by ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First MP and Minister for Defence and Veteran’s Affairs Ron Mark has confirmed his bid for the Wairarapa seat.“The Coalition Government has done a lot of good work throughout the Wairarapa, but many constituents have told ...
New Zealand First is pleased to release the names of its next tranche of candidates for the 2020 election. We’re proud to announce these hardworking New Zealanders that have put their hand up to fight for a commonsense and resilient future.Jamie Arbuckle – Kaikoura Mark Arneil – Christchurch Central Jackie ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
Tena koutou katoa Nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe o Pōneke, tena koutou Nau mai, haere mai ki te hui a tau mo te roopu reipa Ko tatou! Ko to tatou mana! Ko to tatou kaupapa kei te kokiri whakamua Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa Welcome. I ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $1.5 million to ensure QE Health in Rotorua can proceed with its world class health service and save 75 existing jobs, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development, Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. The PGF funding announced today is in addition to the $8 million ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
The law to boost the economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 by speeding up resource consenting on selected projects has passed its second and third readings in the House today. “Accelerating nationwide projects and activities by government, iwi and the private sector will help deliver faster economic recovery and ...
Five port-related projects in Whanganui will receive a $26.75 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to support local economic recovery and create new opportunities for growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This is a significant investment that will support the redevelopment of the Whanganui Port, a project governed ...
Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery will receive an investment of up to $12 million administered by the Provincial Growth Fund to support its redevelopment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The project is included in a $3 billion infrastructure pipeline announced by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Shane Jones yesterday. ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $2.5 million into three Te Ara Mahi programmes to support Manawatū-Whanganui jobseekers and employees to quickly train and upskill, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Up to 154 local people will be supported into employment within the first year by these ...
This morning I have formally tendered my resignation as Minister of Health, which was accepted by the Prime Minister. Serving as Minister of Health has been an absolute privilege – particularly through these extraordinary last few months. It’s no secret that Health is a challenging portfolio. I have given ...
Scholarships for 57 early-career agricultural emissions scientists from 20 developing countries is another example of New Zealand’s international leadership in primary sector sustainability, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor, announcing the scholarships today, says hundreds of applications were received for this fourth round of the CLIFF-GRADS programme (Climate, Food ...
A project to help rejuvenate the Horowhenua town of Foxton will receive a Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.86 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This funding for the Foxton Regeneration project will be used to make the well-known holiday town even more attractive for visitors and ...
Moa bones and other sub-fossil remains of extinct species are set to have improved protection with proposals to prevent the trade in extinct species announced the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “We have lost too many of our native species, but these lost species, such as moa, remain an ...
The Government’s free and healthy school lunches programme moves south for the first time creating jobs for around 30 people in Otago and Southland. “Eighteen schools with 3000 students are joining the programme – 11 have already begun serving lunches, and seven are preparing to start during Term 3. This is ...
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi. The package also includes investment in broadcasting ...
The Government has established a new $10 million fund for the domestic events sector to help save jobs and protect incomes as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, Minister of Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. This funding from Budget 2020 follows talks with the event sector designed to ...
The Government has taken another step in its commitment to making sure New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump with the introduction of legislation to improve competition in the retail fuel market, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. “The fuel market study that this Government ordered ...
New Zealand has joined a global initiative that aims to enable all countries to access a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. The COVAX Facility was recently launched by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank ...
From today new legislation takes effect to both restore the right to legal representation at the start of a Care of Children (CoCA) dispute in the Family Court, and allow parties to those proceedings to access legal aid where eligible. During a visit to the Family Court in Auckland today, ...
Home-based early childhood education (ECE) subsidised by the government will transition to a fully qualified workforce by 2025 to ensure better and more consistent quality, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “Quality early learning helps provide children with a strong foundation for their future,” Chris Hipkins said. From 1 January ...
The new Criminal Cases Review Commission | Te Kāhui Tātari Ture (CCRC) has started work and can now independently investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “Even though we have appeal rights and safeguards against unsafe convictions, from time to time our justice system does get things wrong. The design of the ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā koutou Ki a koutou Te Āti Awa, Taranaki Whānui, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, ngā mana whenua o te rohe nei, tēnā koutou Ko Te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa ki ngā take o te Ao (NZIIA), Ko te Rōpū Tohu Tono ...
The Government’s increase to paid parental leave kicks in today with another 4 weeks taking New Zealand up to a full 6 months (26 weeks, up from 22 weeks) leave for new parents, and the maximum weekly payment will increase by $20pw, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. ...
A new package of infrastructure investments will help kick-start the post-COVID rebuild by creating more than 20,000 jobs and unlocking more than $5 billion of projects up and down New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones today outlined how the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today expressed the New Zealand Government’s deep disappointment at the passage by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee of a national security law for Hong Kong. “New Zealand has consistently emphasised its serious concern about the imposition of this legislation on Hong Kong without inclusive ...
More jobs and more family time with newborns are the centrepiece of a suite of Government initiatives coming into effect today. July 1 is a milestone day for the Government as a host of key policies take effect, demonstrating the critical areas where progress has been made. “The Coalition Government ...
Environment Minister David Parker has today “called in” Auckland’s application to the Waikato Regional Council to take an extra 200 million litres of water a day from the lower reaches of the Waikato River for Auckland drinking water and other municipal uses. The call-in means the application has been referred ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker announced today that New Zealand’s hosting of APEC in 2021 will go ahead using virtual digital platforms. Mr Peters said the global disruption caused by COVID-19, including resultant border restrictions, had been the major factor in the ...
The start of construction on a new link road between Matakana Road and State Highway 1 will create jobs and support the significant population growth expected in the Warkworth area, Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Mayor Phil Goff announced today. Transport Minister Phil Twyford said construction of the Matakana Link ...
The Government is prioritising its latest investment in PPE for frontline health workers, including staff at managed isolation and quarantine facilities, Health Minister David Clark says. “With no community transmission of COVID-19 our response now has a firm focus on keeping our border safe and secure. “We must ensure that ...
The Parihaka Papakāinga Trust in Taranaki will receive up to $14 million for a new visitor centre and other improvements at the historic settlement that will boost the local economy and provide much-needed jobs, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little have ...
Protections for workers who are employees of one employer but working under the direction of another business or organisation have come into force, closing a gap in legislation that made the personal grievance process inaccessible for some workers, says Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. “This Government is working hard to ...
A range of improvements are already underway to address issues identified in the rapid review of the Managed Isolation and Quarantine system released today, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. The review was commissioned just over a week ago to identify and understand current and emerging risks to ensure the end-to-end ...
The important brown kiwi habitat around Whakatāne will receive added protection through an Iwi-led predator free project announced by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. “The Government is investing nearly $5 million into Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa’s environmental projects with $2.5 ...
An extra 4,000 tonnes of offcuts and scraps of untreated wood per year will soon be able to be recycled into useful products such as horticultural and garden mulch, playground safety surfacing and animal bedding as a result of a $660,000 investment from the Waste Minimisation Fund, Associate Environment Minister ...
The Governor-General has referred Scott Watson’s convictions for murder back to the Court of Appeal, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Mr Watson was convicted in 1999 of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope. His appeal to the Court of Appeal in 2000 was unsuccessful, as was his ...
A new five-year funding agreement for the Reserve Bank will mean it can boost its work to protect New Zealanders’ finances, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. “New Zealand has a strong and stable financial system. Financial stability is an area that we are not prepared to cut corners for, particularly ...
Having already faced a devastating earthquake, Christchurch knows the value of community in times of crisis. Now in the wake of Covid-19, a popular creative hub is expanding its mission to bring more people together.Whether it’s a beautifully restored building or a brand new office block, the reminders of the ...
Parole hearings will return to New Zealand prison’s this week after face-face meetings were suspended as a result of the COVID-19 emergency. The New Zealand Parole Board completed all its scheduled hearings during the COVID-19 lockdown period, with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW In an open letter to Attorney-General Christian Porter, about 500 women working in the law from across Australia have sought changes to the way judges are disciplined and appointed. The letter comes after former High ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Genevieve Wilkinson, Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Human Rights, University of Technology Sydney After a decade of legal challenges by the tobacco lobby, Australia’s pioneering push to eliminate all tobacco advertising finally has clear air. Its longest stoush, over plain packaging laws ...
With the world in lockdown, and a new album set for release, The Beths decided to keep playing live – from their living rooms. As the band prepare for their first show in front of a crowd in months, they tell Josie Adams the stories behind Live From ‘House’. When ...
Latest from the Beehive – According to the blare from the Beehive, the Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme will be further extended to 31 December, a new $162 million package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs, and the PM has delivered ...
Vision New Zealand is delighted to be launching George Ngatai as its candidate for Takanini tonight, 6th July, at the Songbird Cafe, 9 Gosper Road, Waiata Shores, Conifer Grove Takanini. Party Leader Hannah Tamaki said “I am confident that George will ...
Honour the Maunga and Iramoko Marae have announced a unique partnership that gives life to Treaty principles in their joint efforts to save 345 trees from being felled on Ōwairaka / Mt Albert. Honour the Maunga has maintained an ongoing tree-saving ...
Festival for the Future Live will kick off its 10th annual event on Monday 13 July, in what is touted to be the most international digital summit ever hosted from New Zealand. With speakers from The United Nations Development Programme and The Obama ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk The Lokataru Legal and Human Rights Foundation says there are two problems with the Indonesian police which have developed during the era of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration. These two problems are “politicisation” and “police professionalism”. “Perhaps it’s still the same as the problem before, particularly ...
By RNZ Pacific A sit-in has been held outside the French High Commission in French Polynesia to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the first nuclear weapons test at Moruroa. The demonstration was organised by the anti-nuclear group Association 193 which again decried the recent law change tightening compensation criteria for ...
David Goldsmith, a 52-year-old dad from Christchurch, is starting his month-long hunger strike outside Parliament on Monday as a drastic call for climate change action AR: Hunger strikes are mostly known from prisons – that’s drastic. DG: Yes, it’s ...
The biggest news site in New Zealand, and the country’s fifth biggest site overall, Stuff has embarked on an experiment in dropping the use of Facebook and Instagram. It has been launched ‘in the context of the international Boycott Facebook movement’, according to a memo leaked to The Spinoff. A leaked ...
After the Labour's annual conference, pundits were quick to criticise Jacinda Ardern for taking a 'self-congratulatory tone' in her remarks, but the PM says that was not her intent at all. ...
A global study is under way to compare how information about Covid-19 is delivered by authorities and the media, and how it is understood and used by people in different countries. University of Canterbury (UC) population health expert Professor Philip ...
It’s time to get ready to vote in the 2020 General Election and referendums. “It’s less than three months now until the election on 19 September when you choose the people and parties that represent you in Parliament. There will also be two referendums ...
If you’re like most New Zealanders, you probably don’t know the name of the country’s most powerful judge. And that’s nothing to be ashamed of, writes University of Otago law lecturer Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere. Here’s a test for you: name New Zealand’s chief justice. Click on the link to find ...
If enough New Zealanders continued to work from home on a regular basis, the country could easily save the same amount of carbon emissions as taking 35,000 cars off the road, according to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. The analysis ...
There are many groups within NZ including the Green Party that are calling for the legalisation of marijuana for personal/medicinal use and my question for them is: - How can they reconcile that stand with the negative environmental effects from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Moore, Director of The Australian National University Institute for Space and the Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre, Australian National University With all of the immense challenges we face on Earth this year, space can feel like an afterthought. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Notley, Senior Lecturer in Digital Media, Western Sydney University Today we release the findings from our new research into how young Australians consume and think about news media. Following a summer of bushfires and during the COVID-19 pandemic, young people have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Thwaites, Chair, Monash Sustainable Development Institute & ClimateWorks Australia, Monash University The global Sustainable Development Report 2020, released this week in New York, ranks Australia third among OECD countries for the effectiveness of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, beaten by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Yue Zhang, Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology Only 40% of students in China who previously intended to study overseas still plan to, while just under 50% of those who had studied overseas plan to return to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neil Warren, Emeritus Professor of Taxation, UNSW A major report commissioned by the NSW government has proposed lifting and expanding the goods and services tax and replacing stamp duty with a broad-based land tax. Launched at the National Press Club on July ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Baker, Lecturer in Business Strategy, Auckland University of Technology Like the coronavirus itself, joblessness can act as a pestilence on a society. People who would have otherwise gone to their local restaurant, hairdresser, café or bar, taken a holiday in Queenstown ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Mailhammer, Associate Dean, Research, Western Sydney University Remember when Australians paid in shillings and pence? New research suggests the words for these coins and other culturally important items and concepts are the result of close contact between the early Germanic people ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Ian Cummings - Independent Candidate Ian Cummings is pleased to announce he will be campaigning as an independent candidate in the upcoming general election to provide voters with a credible alternative and more effective voice on issues that matter ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Stories raise themes of political accountability, investigation launched after active case details leaked, and frustrating infrastructure failures hurt Auckland water system.There have been several stories involving the theme of political accountability for mistakes in recent days. So for a lead today, ...
David Clark has become the oldest of ritual objects: a scapegoat, writes Dr Deane Galbraith and Dr Ben Schonthal The casting out of David Clark has been a spectacle of biblical proportions. We mean that quite literally. The Health Minister’s mistakes were serious and the media is right to hold our ...
Labour's scaled-down party conference was still an opportunity for Jacinda Ardern to show how loved she is by her fans - and make the case for why her Government should keep on moving to a second term Looking around the packed room at Te Papa in Wellington, it was hard ...
Stacy Gregg and Nicky Pellegrino conclude their podcast series, and interview Tayi Tibble. Wellington poet Tayi Tibble was 23 years old when she won the Ockham for best first book of poetry for Poukahangatus. Of Te Whanau ā Apanui and Ngāti Porou descent, Tayi’s poems speak to beauty, activism, power ...
As New Zealand’s top artistic gymnast, Maia Fishwick, heads back to the US to join her college team, the Aggies, she tells Suzanne McFadden her rise has been an against-the-odds story. Maia Fishwick was told she was too old to be a good gymnast. She was seven. This was a kid who obviously had a ...
Oranga Tamariki's refusal to acknowledge systemic issues within the organisation is intolerable, writes social worker and social work researcher John Darroch Recently Newsroom published an article based on interviews with practising social workers who described systemic issues within Oranga Tamariki. As a social worker, and post-graduate student conducting research into statutory ...
As Serena Jones faces incurable cancer, she wants to add something personal to the end-of-life choice debate Seven years ago I was told I had a 25 percent chance of living five years without the cancer returning; two years ago I was given 12 months to live. Plainly the up-coming ...
Advocacy group Sea Shepherd steps up its moves to push for US ban on New Zealand seafood over Māui dolphin protection A US ban on New Zealand seafood could be three to four weeks away after Sea Shepherd filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. Earlier this year, the marine advocacy group ...
A new petition calling for an end to religious instruction in primary schools is part of a renewed campaign to make state schooling truly secular, reports Emily Writes.Few people know about Section 54 of the Education and Training Bill, but Tanya Jacob does. That’s why she has authored a petition ...
Combatting climate change as a healthcare organisation involves more than simply reducing its carbon footprint, writes David Galler. It means seeing climate change and wellbeing as intertwined – and that what’s good for the environment is always good for health.This pandemic, as overwhelming as it is, will eventually pass. But ...
A list of infrastructure projects handpicked for border exemptions is either a hasty cut and paste job or a sign we can't build anything without foreign labour. ...
A New Zealand-made ad featuring porn stars that encourages parents to talk to their children about what they're seeing online has gone viral - and sparked a world-wide conversation. The campaign that features two naked actors has reached more than 22 million viewers around the world and is being retold in ...
Parliament's independent MP has been accused of pandering to anti-vaccine activists after he started a petition and introduced a bill against what he calls "forced vaccination". ...
Changes to Covid-19 testing criteria may see fewer New Zealanders being tested - but there is some confusion about how the rules are being applied Health Minister Chris Hipkins has promised to put officials on notice about providing Covid-19 tests for those who want them, following confusion after changes to ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Days after President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Philippines Anti-Terrorism Law, Vice-President Leni Robredo has pushed for safeguards so that the controversial measure would not be abused, reports Rappler. In her weekly radio show with co-host Ely Saludar, Robredo noted that she does not oppose the law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Developments in Melbourne on Saturday are more important, and certainly of more interest to the public, than what has happened in Eden-Monaro. Anthony Albanese is set to struggle over the line in the Labor seat, ...
The House - Parliament had to speed through a bill adjusting a law which enables some prisoners to vote. Daniela Maoate-Cox explains how and why they did it. ...
The campaign to stop the Department of Conservation exterminating tahr in national parks is gathering increasing public support, with nearly 40,000 people signing the petition calling for a halt to DOC’s plans. The Change.org petition was started ...
DATE: Sunday, 5th July 2020 TIME: 15:00 LOCATION: Taylor Preston's, Centennial Highway, Wellington On Sunday, Wellington Animal Save will be bearing witness to animals on their way to slaughter, outside Taylor Preston's slaughterhouse. ...
Local Government’s Regional Sector are welcoming an announcement today of over $162 million in central government funding for 22 regional and unitary council Jobs for Nature projects, saying the strong support is an endorsement of the return on ...
Political editor Justin Giovannatti reports from Te Papa, where the prime minister today addressed Labour’s 2020 Congress.Jacinda Ardern looked to slap a Labour sticker on the team of five million with the launch today of the party’s Covid-19 recovery plan, at an event which serves as the unofficial kickoff to ...
Kelvin Davis stole the show at Labour’s 2019 conference with a hilarious speech about the formation of the coalition government. The party’s oft-underestimated deputy leader was again in the spotlight this year, but with a more solemn yet at times impassioned address outlining the country’s Covid-19 sacrifices. Here is the text: Anne Guenole. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Russo, Associate Professor, Director Cabrini Monash University Department of Nursing Research, Monash University The Victorian government’s decision to “close and contain” nine public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne represents a significant escalation in the fight against COVID-19. Under the ...
By Grace Auka-Salmang in Port Moresby Key findings from the 2016 to 2018 Papua New Guinea Demographic and Health Survey reveals that 56 percent of women aged 15 to 49 in PNG have experienced physical violence around the age of 15. And 28 percent have experienced sexual violence. Also 18 ...
The New Zealand Herald recently published a column which criticises its own record on race. Teuila Fuatai explains why she felt she had to call out the paper that commissioned her. In the column, freelance journalist Teuila Fuatai detailed her concerns about the Herald’s record on race and her efforts to ...
Dunedin writer Victor Billot farewells retiring National MP Paula Bennett.Working Class Hero I came up the hard way in Taupo, you see, surviving off Weetbix (just occasionally.) I waited tables then knocked off a degree, perhaps with the help of a state subsidy. Then a man with a ...
Three of the country's biggest seafood companies have broken ranks with the rest of the sector and declared their support for cameras on fishing boats. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne This article was updated July 5. With 77% of enrolled voters counted at Saturday’s Eden-Monaro byelection, Labor’s Kristy McBain currently leads the Liberals’ Fiona Kotvojs by a 50.8-49.2 projected ...
The family of pioneering New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard kept an important secret – one that possibly explains a lot about her life, her beliefs and her motivation.Kate Sheppard’s secret involved her father, Andrew Wilson Malcolm, and what happened to him after she was born. An extensive and painstaking quest ...
Covid-19 or not, renewable energy is the future. That’s why one grassroots business is taking a leap of faith and trusting that the current downturn will eventually yield to an ecotourism boom.To launch an ecotourism business in rural Otago right now, you’d need to be either a visionary or just ...
Sam Brooks reviews Auckland writer Lil O’Brien’s memoir Not That I’d Kiss A Girl, and finds it a valuable yet unclear story of the author’s struggle with her own acceptance.As queer people, we can be unnecessarily harsh on media that is about us, and by us. I think of the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
In the wake of lockdown, Volunteering New Zealand is calling on people to reshape the way they think about volunteering. To unite with whānau, friends and workmates to make a group commitment to a community or cause that matters to them. Covid-19 ...
Mahesh Bindra has been a loyal member of NZ First for almost 15 years. But as an Indian-New Zealander, what does he make of members of his party attacking his community? Multicultural Times editor Gaurav Sharma reports.Winston Peters, deputy prime minister and leader of New Zealand First, likes to say ...
As Auckland suffers its worst drought in 27 years, many of the city’s self-service car washes are doing a roaring trade. Michael Andrew finds out how these businesses are getting around the strict water restrictions.Car washing may seem like a wasteful luxury in the middle of a drought, but take ...
Call it last, call it the foundation: Georgie Dansey is 84th on the Labour Party list for the 2020 election. Here she explains how she got there.What does it take to come last on the Labour list? It’s a bit of a story, so if you’re feeling tl;dr then just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At Saturday’s Eden-Monaro byelection, Labor’s Kristy McBain currently leads the Liberals’ Fiona Kotvojs by a 50.7-49.3 projected margin in The Poll Bludger’s Eden-Monaro election page. This page has all the ...
The controversial MP says his former party put a target on the minister’s back, but Melissa Lee insists there was no concerted campaign.The MP who exited the National Party in a tailspin attack on former leader Simon Bridges has publicly apologised to Clare Curran for his role in the treatment ...
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News The State Services Minister says the government will do everything it can to track down who is responsible for a massive privacy breach relating to New Zealand’s active covid cases, and is not ruling out pursuing criminal charges. An investigation has been ...
Open mike 15/12/2012 
A short opinion piece – Friday 26th June 2020 Whilst our Government has treated many financial victims of the current Covid-19 virus with appropriate generosity, the same cannot be said for those of the two earlier “epidemics” in NZ. The “Covid-84” virus (also called “Rogernomics”) spread systemic greed, with the ...59 mins ago
After a long break, the government is back inserting secrecy clauses in legislation. This time its the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 3), which in its clause allowing Ministers to exempt purchasers of farm land from the usual rules also allows them to exempt an exemption from the publication requirement: ...1 hour ago
Louise Delany (public health lawyer) Health and emergency laws have played a critical role in this country’s successful elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog details key aspects of the legislation and comments on issues around testing, payments by incoming travellers for quarantine costs, and mask use. ...5 hours ago
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Stop making sense: why it's time to get emotional about climate change The science has been settled to the highest degree, so now ...7 hours ago
MONDAY JULY 6Washington (History, Sky 073, 7.30pm). The brilliant Doris Kearns Goodwin is the executive producer of this six-part series about America's first president. It combines interviews with live action and is narrated by Jeff Daniels. It's engaging, said Salon.TUESDAY JULY 7The ABC Murders (Prime, 8.30pm). Sarah Phelps has done incredible things with ...22 hours ago
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Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...3 days ago
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Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...4 days ago
The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...5 days ago
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...6 days ago
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...6 days ago
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...7 days ago
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...7 days ago
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...1 week ago
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...1 week ago
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...1 week ago
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone! This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...1 week ago
New Zealand First is pleased to announce Jenny Marcroft as the party’s election 2020 candidate for the Auckland Central electorate. Jenny spent years working in Auckland Central, having spent a vast proportion of her broadcasting career there. She says she, "knows the place and knows the people." Ms Marcroft says ...1 hour ago
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...1 day ago
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...4 days ago
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...23 hours ago
Having already faced a devastating earthquake, Christchurch knows the value of community in times of crisis. Now in the wake of Covid-19, a popular creative hub is expanding its mission to bring more people together.Whether it’s a beautifully restored building or a brand new office block, the reminders of the ...15 mins ago
Parole hearings will return to New Zealand prison’s this week after face-face meetings were suspended as a result of the COVID-19 emergency. The New Zealand Parole Board completed all its scheduled hearings during the COVID-19 lockdown period, with ...48 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW In an open letter to Attorney-General Christian Porter, about 500 women working in the law from across Australia have sought changes to the way judges are disciplined and appointed. The letter comes after former High ...1 hour ago
Latest from the Beehive – According to the blare from the Beehive, the Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme will be further extended to 31 December, a new $162 million package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs, and the PM has delivered ...2 hours ago
After the Labour's annual conference, pundits were quick to criticise Jacinda Ardern for taking a 'self-congratulatory tone' in her remarks, but the PM says that was not her intent at all. ...5 hours ago
Pacific Edge shares double after US Medicare and Medicaid approval for bladder test opens up market for US elderly and poor with bladder cancer ...7 hours ago
David Clark has become the oldest of ritual objects: a scapegoat, writes Dr Deane Galbraith and Dr Ben Schonthal The casting out of David Clark has been a spectacle of biblical proportions. We mean that quite literally. The Health Minister’s mistakes were serious and the media is right to hold our ...9 hours ago
Labour's scaled-down party conference was still an opportunity for Jacinda Ardern to show how loved she is by her fans - and make the case for why her Government should keep on moving to a second term Looking around the packed room at Te Papa in Wellington, it was hard ...9 hours ago
Stacy Gregg and Nicky Pellegrino conclude their podcast series, and interview Tayi Tibble. Wellington poet Tayi Tibble was 23 years old when she won the Ockham for best first book of poetry for Poukahangatus. Of Te Whanau ā Apanui and Ngāti Porou descent, Tayi’s poems speak to beauty, activism, power ...9 hours ago
As New Zealand’s top artistic gymnast, Maia Fishwick, heads back to the US to join her college team, the Aggies, she tells Suzanne McFadden her rise has been an against-the-odds story. Maia Fishwick was told she was too old to be a good gymnast. She was seven. This was a kid who obviously had a ...9 hours ago
Oranga Tamariki's refusal to acknowledge systemic issues within the organisation is intolerable, writes social worker and social work researcher John Darroch Recently Newsroom published an article based on interviews with practising social workers who described systemic issues within Oranga Tamariki. As a social worker, and post-graduate student conducting research into statutory ...9 hours ago
As Serena Jones faces incurable cancer, she wants to add something personal to the end-of-life choice debate Seven years ago I was told I had a 25 percent chance of living five years without the cancer returning; two years ago I was given 12 months to live. Plainly the up-coming ...9 hours ago
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SPORTS NEWS
Martin Crowe’s fiery protest
The retired New Zealand cricketing superstar Martin Crowe recently
staged a fiery protest against New Zealand cricket authorities
following their dumping of the NZ captain Ross Taylor…
http://www.thewitness.org/archive/mayjune2003/img/BurningMonk.jpg
Good on him, more boys club members with no clue on how to run a professional code. mcullam is a bad choice to replace Taylor and WTF was wrong with Taylor anyway?
We haven’t come a long way since Turner had beefs with these old boys over playing county and representing NZ we’ve just produced enough decent players to mask the real issues. Bad management and no consistent academy structure for bringing talent through combined with bias at rep level to mates and boys club members over talent.
Its an all too familiar tale in NZ sporting codes.
Splendid letter from Crowe in this morning’s Herald. Good for him!!
What is it with the US, and individuals shooting people/children in educational establishments – this time an elementary school? Land of the free? Champion of democracy?
Ha! WYSIWYG link button working again.
And the blockquote button? Nope. Not working at all.
The important thing to remember is its not the NRA’s fault, it’s the parents. If the toddlers had been armed they could have defended themselves.
That’s right. The more freedom there is to carry a gun the safer they will be. And we need to remember, of course, that guns don’t kill people, people do. /sarc
One of England’s leading philosophers, one TONY PARSONS, has written thoughtfully and philosophically on the issue….
‘The problem is not the gun laws of American but the limitless cruelty of the human race.’ https://twitter.com/TonyParsonsUK/status/279647164337106944
Thus he has proved, irrefutably and elegantly, that it is not guns that kill children in kindergartens, it is people of limitless cruelty.
Agree about the limitless cruelty thing, just also think there are two issues to deal with 1. how to stop having a society with cruel people 2. how to limit the weapons in a community when limitlessly cruel people are among us. It’s not either/or – and one before the other. They need to be addressed in tandem.
Rosy, I was pointing out the stupidity of Tony Parsons. He’s one of the shallowest and glibbest people in England.
Ah – sorry – the page you linked to doesn’t work, so I didn’t note the tone – can you summarise what he said?
That’s all he wrote, Rosy. In other words, instead of writing something sensitive and thoughtful, which would have required a degree of sensitivity and thoughtfulness, Parsons simply chose to recycle a ridiculous cliché. He had to write SOMETHING of course; as a handsomely remunerated “pundit” he is expected to deliver an opinion, no matter how ill-informed, on a range of topics.
Well, to be fair to Parsons, he was good for two years in the mid seventies, but that was more to do with speed, punk and his genius missus. The Boy Looked at Johnny is still a great read; no heroes any more.
1.) “Well, to be fair to Parsons, he was good for two years in the mid seventies,”
Let me hazard a guess, Te Reo—you love old issues of the NME as much as you love Private Eye. You appear to be a scholar as well as a gentleman.
2.) “but that was more to do with speed, punk and his genius missus.”
She wrote some interesting pop music comments in the 1970s, but her subsequent career has demonstrated that horrible woman is no genius. She’s a nasty piece of work, as well as being cast-iron ignorant.
Spent last weekend clearing out my old stuff from the oldie’s attic; lots of NME’s, PE’s, posters of Bowie etc. The NME really was superb from 77-83, Burchill, Parsons, Nick Kent, Paul Morley, Ian Penman through to Steven Wells and X Moore. Linking pop music to politics and philosophy was a liberation for me.
I still rate Burchill, (listening to her talking to DJ Steve Wright in ’93 as I write). There is little I agree with her about these days, but our mis-named mate The Contrarian really should look her up, as she’s been genuinely contrarian for 35 years:
“Bob Dylan broke his neck; close, but no cigar.”
Did you read that magazine (short-lived but very readable) she put out with Toby Young in the 1990s?
Modern Review? I think the ex liberated the few copies I had!
Yes, that’s it. I have a couple of copies in my basement, somewhere.
Guns in America ARE causes for much limitless cruelty of the human race! (Including high death rate among police persons).
Hi Dr T..
1: Who manufactures the guns and weapons
2: Who sells the guns and weapons
3: Who ensures that the guns and weapons are in continual use domestically/internationally
4: Who controls the legislations/contracts of those who manufacture the guns and weapons
5: Who cares if innocent people domestically/globally are dying through use of the guns and weapons, as long as *business remains good and retains control*
6: Who pulls the trigger on the gun or weapon, or issues the order for the weapons to be used
etc…
The anwer to any of the above does NOT include the word, gun or weapon
Well Karol, the idea is to instill the most fear, commit the attrocities which cover illicit the maximum emotive reaction . We have recently seen *attacks* on movie goers, then quickly followed by the sikh religious attacks, now followed by another attack on a school.
Fear, shock, horror, fear, emotive responses all geared at ramping towards a pre conceived outcome.
Lets see where the shit trail leads this time and which…
Yes, here we have the continuation of the repeated lone wolf meme again….
Here we have the standard confusion being created around a *second shooter*, which like the Cinema, Temple shootings will be quickly discarded..
Those who say that the guns are the problem, are simplistically wrong! The people commiting these *attrocities* are the problem, whoever they are, and the reasons behind it, complex, deliberate, and opaque!
Edit: Nice post above Morrissey
I’d like to know who thought it was a good idea to interview a child who was at the school, on the day of the shooting, and broadcast that all over the world. That lack of care and restraint is a big part of the picture too. It’s so much more sensational to broadcast the words of a child who was there, never mind that the child is traumatised or that listening to a traumatised child should not be news.
Hi Weka,
Very observant line of questioning again from you.
Further questions to ask are…Was this *girl* actually at the school, and is the *girl* being quoted, someone who has been brought in specifically to be *interviewed* for the *news*.
Was the *interview* even at, or near the location where the *news* was assumed to be reported from!
*sigh* I don’t know Muzza – does the school exist? Did the shooting happen? Is it all a big plan to bring about gun control so the population will have no defence against the government?
But as for questioning of one of the school children. Was parental consent required for that? – it’s an appalling example of ‘rolling’ news coverage.
The American Administration, or more accurately those behind it, will be just as happy to see the people killing eachother. Don’t forget the rulers do not give a toss about the masses, they have consistantly proven this decade in decade out, and the repeated attempts of remove the 2nd amendment, and attack the gun laws etc, is IMO, just for show. They don’t care for human life these people, and so for mine, there is little I would consider to be *out of the question*, so far as what else is in play!
Rolling news coverage – stages, props, actors, manipulation, controlling of narratives, telling stories and *creating history*.
The narrow channels of the supply of *news*, has made it ever more possible to *create news*, even any given event happened or not. Now I am not saying that this is/is not a real event, only that the hollywood, news media with its hstorical links to military and so on, can manufacture anything they want, and report it to the world within minutes.
Total control of *the news*, to take control of the emotional states, and state of helplessness of the masses. The desired nessages are continually reinforced through movies, tv, video games music videos etc!
Yet again the conspiracy meme. While you may get some vicarious thrill at imagining some shadowy conspiracy behind the US Administration ‘controlling the narrative’. The more obvious (and either boring or unbelievable for you) explanation is that the nature of the media coverage is simply the profit motive.
More hits, readers, viewers, hence more advertising revenue and profit – is the ultimate goal. With multiple internet and TV stations all providing non-stop 24-hr coverage, the way to get the ‘customers’ is to dramatise the story, make it more thrilling, horrible, contentious….
You may be right in saying that some of the many competing media outlets may ‘stage manage’ to make their ‘news’ more ‘interesting’ but don’t doubt for one second that these were real people killed by a lone madman.
Despite all the media saturation and dramatisation… the horror and shock is evident in the stark gut wrenching reality that 20 children …. 28 people…. have been killed in an awful way.
Like the tragedy of 9-11, this is a defining event that will have a profound effect on the mood, thoughts and subsequent actions of all Americans.
THIS IS WHY WE HAVE POVERTY – government employees not doing their jobs properly, or even taking the time to ensure people are receiving their full and correct entitlement.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8083554/Christmas-on-the-breadline
1) I suspect the TAS amount is wrong
2) the amount deducted for repayments can be reduced at the case managers discretion. Why is she paying $15 then? Clearly she can’t afford it.
3) the amount of child support needs to be reviewed. Clearly this is an unaffordable level for her.
4) has she been advised that she can apply for special needs grants such as food, clothing, etc etc??
government employees not doing their jobs properly, or even taking the time to ensure people are receiving their full and correct entitlement.
More likely it’s government employees being either under-resourced to do their jobs properly or being prevented from doing them properly by interference and mismanagment direct from the political level.
My younger brother who has a life-long disability (and while he can paint roofs, you would not wish what he has on your worst enemy) says he can always tells when National is in power because WINZ or it’s equivalent of the day, go from being merely depressing to deal with … to utterly miserly, malicous and mind-fucking.
I also have a permanent disability, and notice a big difference in WINZ between left and right governments. That’s why it fucks me off when people say there is no difference between Labour and NACT. There is, a very real difference. Depressing vs utterly miserly, malicious and mind-fucking is a good way to describe it, and anyone who thinks that isn’t a significant difference has too easy a life.
No, that is not why we have poverty. We have poverty because capitalism demands it.
3)Her child support should have dropped to the minimum $12 a week from the time she lost her job.
Writing or phoning the IRD and referring to an income reduction under s.40 should get it cut back.
WINZ should know this and as the IRD arrange to have all sorts of other things notified to them why are they not writing to someone who goes onto a benefit asking them if they need to apply for a payment reduction.
I tried to post on stuff but my password was not accepted so my comment is probably erased.
When it comes to down sizing a bedroom Bernadette will lose her TAS and she will be no better off. I assume she gets most if not all of tempoary additional support (TAS) for the rent.
Unless there is an increase in the accommodation supplement (AS) or affordable housing is made available the daily struggle on an empty stomach is not going to change. As well jobs are required, but I think that housing cost is easier to fix as the government could increase the AS or only review the TAS every 26 weeks and not the current 13 weeks and possibly increase TAS as well.
I have not read up on if people will lose $42 per week when on the invalid benefit (IB) if they are eligible for part time work testing as changes are to be made for those on IB next July.
People on IB are already stressed out enough due to chronic health conditions, (sometimes a few/ several) and reducing the IB for those who may be able to work part time on a good day is planet Key mentality.
I strongly object to restructuring a health benefit on the ground that a person is eligible for a benefit which is REQUIRED because of incapacity when it comes to employment and that the incapacity for employment is unknown on any given day.
I’d like to see confirmation of that IB policy, and the actual rules. Nevertheless Jenny Shipley cut medical benefits by $20/wk in 1990, so we know that NACT don’t give a shit, and are stupid beyond belief as well (what happens to ill people when they don’t have enough to live on? That’s right, they become even more dependent on the state).
Thank you for asking for clarification re IB changes as I saw an error I have made. Yesterday on Open Mike 4.
“Under the Bill, an invalid beneficary who is reclassified as a ‘job – seeker’ will face a cut in income from $256 to $213 a week – effectively a benefit cut of $213 a week.”
What is reclassified and how is this determined I am left asking myself?
Current Work Capacity Medical Certificate for Invalid Benefit asks:
Do the conditions listed previously limit the person’s capacity to work for 30 hours or more per week?
Do the conditions listed previously limit the person’s capacity to work regularly in open employment for 15 hours or more a week?
Is the person’s incapacity for work expected to last for at least 2 years?
Is the person’s life expectancy less than 2 years?
Is the person receive active treatment or under the care of specialist for any of the conditions listed previously? (their error receive)
When is the person likely to be capable of:
Work planning
Limited training (less than 15 hours per week)
Part-time work (at least 15 hours per week)
Full-time work (30 hours or more per week)
Are there any more treatments or interventions that could assist the person into work?
Unable to work from
When should the person’s capacity for work next be assessed?
Basically a person has to be unable to work for 15 hours a week for the next 2 years to currently qualify for the IB. I do not know if this is going to be reclassified or how as then you get the situation I described in 3.4 paragraph 5&6. As well sickness benefit is going to be absorbed as job seeker, IB will be supported living and a parenting one.
Full-time work is at least 30 hours a week.
How can a person who is forced to come off the IB then be expected to be available to work 30 hours a week as a job seeker when they can only work 16 hours a week?
Correction paragraph 2 – effectively a benefit cut of $42 (even though it is $43).
Thanks for that. btw, I know SBs who are being refused IB. I think mostly WINZ is using the 30hr category now. Anyone capable of working 15 hrs will be on SB.
The only thing I’ve found so far is this –
http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/newsroom/media-releases/2011/welfare-reform.html
Taking that at face value, I think what they will be doing is trying to shift some people off IB and onto SB, just using new names. That explains the drop in rate. Still looking for the new criteria.
Just like the ACC swindle (pushed from ACC to invalids).
“Thanks for that. btw, I know SBs who are being refused IB”
I’m one All the letters and medical certificates went in and some faceless tame doctor, who I have never seen said No I was able to work. And that was that, they said I could ask for a review, but as I told them at the time, whats the point, as you have already made up your minds.
I went back to the specialists and they say there’s nothing they can do as the risks of surgery are so bad that they won’t even try. But WiNZ don’t give a toss. I have probably been underpaid by 40 odd buck’s a week, and that’s really hard on the finances, with a toddler and a teen. Oh well the next installment is clothes for the Teen that’ll be fun.
I am waiting for Bennet to put a stop to your GP being able to do IB medical certificate assessment and go back to the gravy train designated doctors who will lick her boots.
By this time next year I dread to think how high unemployment, hospital admissions and crime will be.
and homelessness.
Good on the woman for going public, although that probably speaks more to desperation than anything else.
SNGs for anything other than food will create more debt 🙁 If she has a sudden unexpected bill she should pay that, and then get WINZ to pay for her food for that week (thus avoiding more debt). There is a limit on the SNGs per year though.
Reducing the debt repayment to $5/wk is a not brainer and should have been done as a matter of course.
She’s probably not getting her full disability allowance either.
Probably not as WINZ staff have been getting worse over the years. It’s as if Bennet has put out a missive allowing the staff to be as difficult and non informing of entitlement’s as they want to be.
Also why was she made to stand down for 3 weeks or so?? She recieved NO redunduncy payment, so WINZ HAD to make sure she was really suffering before they will do anything.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middleton-prank-call-royal-1488880
Kate Middleton prank call: Royal hoax nurse’s anger at hospital in suicide note
14 Dec 2012
In one emotional letter Jacintha Saldanha criticises senior colleagues at the King Edward VII hospital over her treatment after she was duped by two Aussie DJs….
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middleton-prank-call-royal-1488880
This is a terrible tragedy for Jacintha and her family. The Aussie DJ’s prank was despicable. But they were following the infotainment logic of our MSM.
Why is no one questioning the celebrity-focused role of the MSM at large? Why do they create a feeding frenzy around a royal pregnancy? Our MSM gave it more front page, prime-time coverage than the TPP talks that were happening in Auckland at the same time. The TPP is far more crucial to the future of NZers.
Hi Karol,
The charade that makes up the *news*, and the actors who play the parts is becoming too transparent these days, forget about the microscope its in front of the face. *News* is to be considered almost completely staged manipulation, with actors playing/presenting or editing/writing the scripts, and the truth is unlikely to ever see the light of day, even if the *news* event, ever happened or not.
Ther hysteria which surrounds the trash media and propagates as *news*, can be considered as simply this.
Mass manipulation of the public – a global psyop!
“The Aussie DJ’s prank was despicable.”
No it was not “despicable”, it was simply a prank, and a light-hearted, good-humoured one. Nobody—absolutely nobody—could have predicted what later happened.
Clearly not light-hearted and good-humoured for the person on the receiving end. The people who broadcast this stuff without permission don’t/didn’t have any understanding of the trauma and humiliation some victims of their ‘pranks’ might feel. Mr/Ms Everyday person might not be as extrovert as they are, nor be able to brush of a perceived humiliation that easily.
Really? No one could predict a prank would go wrong? It’s only the plot of every second sitcom episode of all time.
And it’s “light-hearted” and “good-humoured” to attempt to access a person’s medical records by deception?
Sure, if you don’t understand the latter, and have no empathy for the people being pranked and how they might feel like they’ve betrayed a sacred trust, sure, I suppose it’s just an innocent little joke.
The DJs work on a station which previously hooked a 14-year-old up to a polygraph to ask her about her sex life. When she revealed having been raped – and the immediate follow-up question from the DJ was “okay, but is that the only sexual experience you’ve had?” I suppose that was just a bit of light-hearted fun which no one could’ve predicted would go wrong either.
Prank-calling a hospital where a royal family member has checked in for an almost certainly bogus reason is entirely acceptable. You can go all North Korean if you want, but the rest of the (sane) world sees these publicly funded parasites as fair game.
The other prank you mention WAS despicable, and I share your contempt for the perpetrators. Your deliberate twisting of my argument to suggest I would approve of that is unworthy of you.
has checked in for an almost certainly bogus reason
No please, do go on, this should be fascinating.
jaysus.
Exactly! The frenzied attack upon these two DJ’s is dreadful and right out of proportion (for all that we rightly sympathise with the nurse). Others must also be held to account.
I think the hospital also has some culpability.
It seems odd that they did not have a filtering process in place that all calls about celebrities went through to ensure appropriate confidentiality.
“I think the hospital also has some culpability.”
Wrong. The person responsible for Jacintha Soldana’s suicide was Jacintha Soldana. Any blaming of the radio DJs or the hospital is mere recycling of the hysteria whipped up by the steaming hypocrites in the Murdoch empire.
Morrisey would the suicide have happened IF there was no prank call, if the media had not published it and if the Nurse had a filtering mechanism on the calls.
Jacinta was responsible for her actions BUT there is a chain of culpability.
“Jacinta was responsible for her actions BUT there is a chain of culpability.”
Then all these people must also be prosecuted: the cafetaria worker who did not smile at her, the bus driver who was gruff and taciturn instead of being sunny and positive, the BBC news readers who read out grim economic and political news each day, the hospital patient who grumbled about something the day before….
There is one person culpable for this death, and it’s not either of the light-hearted pranksters.
Gee Morrisey
You don’t understand anything about some people’s desire to maintain high standards in their work and to do an excellent job which they take pride in and are esteemed for, and also needing to receive a good salary for that high standard of work.
You ought to put yourself forward to your electorate to stand in the next election. You sound very suitable because of your narrow focus and lack of understanding of society to fit you to be a politician.
Then all these people must also be prosecuted:
DUH.
Poor old baffled Dv had this to contribute to the discourse….
“DUH.”
Perhaps a good lie-down would get that brain working again. Certainly something needs to be done, and pronto.
Yes Morrissey, it is your very carefull analysis of cause and effect that has confused me.
Sorry about that. But I see your brain is working just fine again. I think you’ll find that my meaning will become clear after repeated reading, followed by deep thought, perhaps with a panel discussion to follow.
Morrissey’s level of empathy for Jacintha Saldanha is aptly demonstrated by his refusal to take the time to spell her name properly.
My apologies to the family for mis-spelling her name.
Now, explain how that equates with a lack of empathy. And after you’ve done explaining that, explain why you’ve taken your lead in this from the tender-hearted, empathetic folk who work for the Murdoch papers and Sky TV.
[citation needed]
Yeah i agree with you on that, a hospital such as this with regular ‘important people’ as patients would surely have had protocols on what could and couldn’t be said about patients over the phone,
“The Royals” themselves with all the trials and tribulations that they have been through with the media can hardly cry about their privacy being breached as you would think that there would have been in place a system whereby any enquiries were transferred to a royal media minder,
Cheap pricks got what they paid for…
The facets of a prank phone call having many real consequences is a big learning curve to everyone involved and a lesson on how tragic a prank can be.
I do hope that the bereavement counselling offered to the family of Jacintha is not connected with the hospital as their notes could be accessed by the hospital. The hospital cannot be trusted as they have been caught out not knowing that they were critcised in one of the three letters which Jacintha wrote.
When it comes to culture I also hope that the counsellor can identify with cultural practice pertaining to Jacintha’s reaction as it would differ from my European/Polish identity.
LOOKALIKE
Can YOU spot the difference between these violent men?
Professional musician Jimmy Mason was convicted of assaulting a child after an incident on the Bridge of Remembrance in central Christchurch in 2007. The 49-year-old Christchurch man admitted to flicking his son’s ear to “reprimand” him for “riding dangerously near a busy street”.
The case became a cause célèbre for the Kiddy-Whackers Association fronted by Bob McCoskrie, and the S.S. Trust fronted by Garth “Mac the Knife” McVicar. To these kinds of people, assaulting a child on the street means a man is not a thug, but an exemplar of family values, and the very model of the “good parent”.
If you do NOT belong to one of these psychotic organizations, and retain some measure of moral and ethical normality, you probably thought that, after his disgraceful display of self-pity and defiance following his conviction for assault, Jimmy Mason would slither away into deserved obscurity.
However, the emergence of his doppelganger in England has brought back all the horrifying memories….
Consider this picture of James Mason….
http://media.apnonline.com.au/img/media/images/2010/11/03/mason_460x23046423.feature-image_t300.jpg
And now look at the bloke in this article….
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/keep-jlc-off-cbb-justin-lee-1489893
Creepy… or what?
This forum is a bear pit containing a large sub-group of haters and wreckers exhibiting psychopathic traits. Their prefered means of attack is to latch on to the victim using the most vile language possible, then, having done as much damage as they can (to the enormous satisfaction of a blood-thirsty crowd observing the sport) they sanctimoneously pretend they are people of peace and reason who selflessly spend their lives protecting the weak and innocent. I have an extremely bad taste in my mouth. I will now leave the arena and attempt a ritual purification to rid myself of the stench. Good luck gentle-folk in your search for a fairer, kinder world….
Without the slightest hint of self-awareness.
The lack of self-awareness makes it hilarious, though, you have to admit.
Other than “fatty” and Brett Dale, who are probably one and the same person, is Grant Hay the most bewildered person to post on this forum in the past year? I’d like to know if there has been a more confused contribution from anyone.
Grant Hay 5.1
Citation? The whole forum is a bear pit? Bears have feelings too you know.
Thoughts and wishes to the people of Connecticut, what
can one say about this tragic event. As someone who has
family in CT, including younger relatives, this is an awful day.
Here’s hoping there is not a day like this again in CT or
anywhere.
“…what can one say about this tragic event.”
Of one thing we can be sure: Brett Dale will not say anything intelligent or insightful about this tragedy.
“Here’s hoping there is not a day like this again in CT or anywhere.”
Far worse than this is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan every day. You have been loud in your support of it. And your blood-soaked cheerleading for the carnage in Gaza last month makes your words of solicitude nothing but the most callous hypocrisy.
Morrissey:
As someone whos got family in the area, including younger relatives, I think I have just as much as right to comment as anyone else. This is a tragic event.
Then condemn the far greater massacres being perpetrated in the middle east, instead of applauding them, you hypocrite.
Dont see the connection, at the moment my concern is how upset my
younger relatives are in CT, maybe you should stick to prank calling murray deaker.
“Dont see the connection…”
You don’t? Then you are either dimmer or even more depraved than I thought you were.
Again my sympathy goes out to the victims and the families and the children who
survived and who will now be terrified, here’s hoping again, they get the help they need.
Is that sympathy expressed for the victims, the families, and the survivors of the massacre in Gaza? If not, your words are insincere and worthless.
Again. dont see the connection, shouting out Gaza or Iraqi everytime an unrelated tragic event happens in the USA,is cliche.
Again, this is a tragic event and my thoughts and wishes goes out to people in CT.
Its a shame people have a a problem with people giving sympathy to Americans.
“Its a shame people have a a problem with people giving sympathy to Americans.”
I have no problem with people giving sympathy to Americans. I have a great problem with people who applaud mass murder expressing selective sympathy.
It’s like if someone were to loudly, publicly, speak out in support of the PERPETRATOR of a knife-murder, then pretend that he is a VICTIMS advocate.
I will become sympathetic to the Gazans when they stop firing rockets into Israel. But, when they stop firing rockets, then the Israelis will stop trying to stop the rockets, which means peace will return. and then I won’t need to be sympathetic.
Hey, maybe that means its in the Gazans own hands. That is IF they want peace of course. Or maybe what they want is what they always say they want and that is to push the Israelis into the sea. But that would be mean, wouldn’t it. It can’t be right.
Yep, because in a conflict between an economically-repressed, militarily-occupied people and powerful military occupiers supported by the United States, it’s definitely the people whose land got invaded who need to prove they’re interested in peace. 🙄
El Stupido blithered moronically: “But that would be mean, wouldn’t it. It can’t be right.”
You are an ignoramus.
Fracking ‘could create 7000 jobs’
All while not poisoning and killing flora/forna/human beings…what a sales pitch!
A genuine win-win-win for all.
I shouldn’t need the use the /sarc tag, but just in case!
Ghost jobs.
Calling All Sports-Loving Prank Callers
It’s time to step up and do your duty
Let’s proceed on the assumption that prank calls DO actually lead to the receiver committing suicide. If that is true, then every sports lover in the country needs to do THIS as often as he/she can, until the inevitable happy result comes about …
Another gun tragedy in the USA. The biggest since the last one according to the media. More will follow, followed by the wails and sadness of all ad infinitum. Without any meaningful legislation likely to limit gun ownership and easy use. The latest is that some people want to take guns to their workplace. Handy for a Post employee pushed to the limit. And a sign of the deterioration of civil life and attitudes in ‘the greatest little country on the planet’ with the best democracy and political system and military and private weapons that money can buy.
In China there have been a number of knife killings at schools.
Can anybody direct me to a study of this type of crime, the drivers and the perpetrators. Why children? In this USA one the guy wanted to kill his mother but took out bunches of unconnected children too. Were they her class?
I’ll have a post up about this shortly.
We are probably lucky that China and Russia have tried to get UN to allow bigger state controls over the internet. That meant that USA would be against it, though they are anxious themselves to box and contain it. And NZ wouldn’t agree either because we are the USA’s dingy dinghy bouncing behind in their wake. So we’re OK for the present but wait for the next attack on the freedom of the internet that go beyond a reasonable minor level.
<b>DEAKER-WATCH No. 4
“Anders” Deaker stands up for Christian civilization
No action by Sky over Deaker’s SBW comment</b>
7:24 AM Monday Mar 12, 2012
Sky TV says it will take no action against broadcaster Murray Deaker after he reportedly said All Black star and boxer Sonny Bill Williams made him “uncomfortable” because “he is a Muslim in a so-called Christian country”.
Deaker reportedly made the slur about Williams, who converted to Islam in 2009, on the Deaker on Sports show on February 29.
Sky Television spokeswoman Kirsty Way said today that the remark was made during a live discussion and its meaning was taken out of context when read in isolation.
No action would be taken by Sky TV against Deaker.
A copy of the tape could be released only with Deaker’s approval because he had editorial control of the show, Ms Way said.
Deaker could not be reached for comment last night. Williams’ manager Khoder Nasser did not wish comment further when contacted yesterday evening. He earlier said he was disgusted by what Deaker said.
“As you get older, they say you get wiser. You are closer to the grave, which gives you a sense of realism, you become humbled and more accepting of other human beings. But the older this man gets, the more bigoted he becomes.”
Hundreds of comments have been posted on Twitter condemning Deaker’s remarks. “If Sky won’t cancel Deaker’s show…”
Read more, then <b>prank-call him</b>….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10791405
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
DEAKER-WATCH is a series dedicated to highlighting the contributions of Murray Deaker to New Zealand public life.
DEAKER-WATCH No.1… http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13032012/#comment-446445
DEAKER-WATCH No. 2…http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14032012/#comment-447110
DEAKER-WATCH No. 3…http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15032012/#comment-447518
DEAKER-WATCH No. 4…
Why on earth would sky cancel the rantmeister bigot and all the publicity he generates.
Its not there’s competition is there.
The best reason to cancel his show must be his ratings. Nobody watches it.
What are you on Morrissey? I hope that you have something lined up to occupy you for Christmas as it would be discouraging to see your pseudo every second or third comment.
Okay, Viper, I’m hip with that “Less is more” philosophy. I’ll tone it down from now on.
Meanwhile, enjoy this amusing vegetable…
http://lovecarrots.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/ronnie_hoggan_carrot.jpg
Morrisey
Carrots – so good for one. Healthy, good for your eyes etc. And watch Brett Dale DFT. Save your time for your other good comments. I like your reporting of some of the discourses on the media.
Public Apology to “fatty”
Earlier this morning, I launched into an intemperate tirade against our good friend “fatty”, calling him “ignorant” and “arrogant”. Of course, I turned out to have mis-identified him; his comments are in fact well thought out, and clearly well informed.
I therefore retract all the comments I made against “fatty” and beg his forgiveness….
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42723000/jpg/_42723661_slavery_pa203b.jpg
That’s a very weird photo to put with an apology.
Was reading a book last evening and it reflected upon Leadership and Management.
In New Zealand in a political view I considered the countries Leaders.
Like it or not Key and Norman have Leadership qualities, whereas it would appear that Shearer has Management.
The view considered was that Leaders are naturals whereas Managers can be taught, but perhaps are not, nor ever can be, Leaders.
Key is not a Manager ie a details man
Norman is a Leader, maybe with some Management – not sure, as he is an enigma.
But Shearer lacks the vital empathy to be a Leader – but he has Management skills learned overseas
Cunliffe has neither – cannot see a Labour Leader though, Shearer is the best bet as a good Manager.
Not sure what your criteria are for deciding who is which, especially the claim that Cunliffe has neither managerial nor leadership qualities. From what I have seen and heard he is very competent and energetic, and I have seen that has a very good relationship with his electorate.
Fortran
The support and admiration that Cunliffe has earned among the majority of rank and file might suggest sifnificant LEADERSHIP qualities?
The success Cunliffe has had taking a National seat and growing his majority in five elections might suggest significant LEADERSHIP and MANAGEMENT qualities?
Cunliffe’s impeccable run in ministerial positions, Health, Immigration and Telecommunications/ITmight might suggest significant LEADERSHIP and exceptional MANAGEMENT qualities?
Cunliffe’s sticking with his core LABOUR values and turning the other cheek while some people do their “tall poppy” act on him is the mark or a great leader.
Fortran, your comment on Cunliffe is wrong. He will prove that he is streets ahead of Key, when he becomes PM.
I was shocked to hear on the news that a spokesperson for a church saw nothing wrong about having a paedophile in a group at a school as part of some project/ outreach the church was doing. He said that the school did not have any rules about this so he thought it was perfectly okay. WTF.
He sounded like a youngish man, just my impression, and it underlines that young men need to be aware and thoughtful about people’s problems in society. Someone on the radio recently said that some paedophiles automatically fall in to grooming mode when around youngsters. They will present themselves as friends to the child who appears vulnerable, feeling lonely or bored even, and its a big boost to a child to have someone who takes an interest. And the devious background thinking would be unknown.
Is it just me, or is ts more fractious than normal today?
I think you’re right, my friend. The fraught tempers are probably caused by a combination of hot weather and the presence of a cynical provocateur like Brett Dale.
Tonight I read a report in a leading European paper, on Greece and the absolutely shocking situation there, where a society is split into those still struggling to manage and those falling down through the former social net. It is SHOCKING reading.
Now crime is rampant, social division is the rule, there is even talk of civil war.
The foreign banks get blamed, and some of them carry some blame, but I fear it goes beyond that now. There is racism, nazism, unrest and worse taking place there, and I fear it will spread across many other countries in Southern Europe.
Now does this not ring a bell? Have you heard of crime, tension, poverty and so forth?
Do the ones still living in middle class comfort not get it? Do you want to taste the full blow perhaps? I fear you have another thing coming very soon!
NZ is on the verge of explosion too, once we have the next welfare “reforms” being pushed through. Force poor, sick and disabled, mums not able to get a job, to look for work that does not exist. John Key, you are asking for another Queen Street Riot, I am afraid!