Out of the ‘stories that should of been done pre election file’ tv3 have had the guy who runs one of the big property websites in Asia saying NZ is high on investors hit list because of our lack of capital gains and controls on foreign ownership.
This government primarily works for the wealthy, with a few good social policies from previous Labour government kept for political cunning expediency. We the people that vote such a government in are really dumb. It isn’t the fault of the rich foreign property buyers.
They don’t need to when Len brown came on straight after and rabbited on about how many low cost house’s were being built (how under 500k is classed as low cost has me buggered) and how many consents have been issued.
“Children suffer: Welfare’s outdated ideas on relationships”
Excerpt:
“New Zealand’s social security framework is based on outdated ideas of the nature of relationships and too often fails to protect the needs of children in the 21st century, says Child Poverty Action Group.”
“There are major inconsistencies in the use of relationship in the welfare system. It is difficult to justify a policy that pays less to a couple than to two individuals who share accommodation and costs. ”
“The report finds that tests for the degree of financial interdependence and emotional commitment, needed for the relationship to be treated as ‘in the nature of marriage’, are subjective and inconsistent. There is often a degree of surveillance that is far from open and transparent. Moreover the appeal processes for anyone accused of being in a relationship are very unsatisfactory. A sole parent may even be given a prison sentence with scant regard to the impact on her children.
SSJ makes a good point about someone flatting having the same costs as someone in a relationship.
I’d like to point out that section 20C of the Social Securities Act, Sole Parent Support: split custody (this is when one or more of the children from a relationship live with one parent, and the others live with the other parent) only provides benefit support to one parent.
In working terms this ususally means the person who applied first, not necessarily the most in need, and can fail children who are caught in the middle of two bewildered parents who didn’t realise this was the case or who are using the benefit system to get back at an ex partner and the children who chose to live with them. Nasty stuff.
These federal reserve outfits have the most power of all. They direct the things that happen in the world and hence they know better than any what is likely to occur next.
In about 6 months time the first review is due to get underway of NZ’s Security and Intelligence Agencies. One aspect that I hope is looked into is the extent that citizens who are concerned about the environment are being subjected to surveillance, in their search for what Mr Finlayson has called “Eco-terrorism”. He was being questioned on TV One’s Q&A program a week ago, then in regard to unwarranted surveillance.
From what he said, it seems to be the call of whoever is doing the surveillance do decide whether those under surveillance are wanting to protest against something, or may “cross the line into eco-terrorism.”
So their new increased powers dont appear to have worked… On the other hand the last time the ozzie police brandished a plastic ceremonial sword as proof of terrorism in oz, without telling anyone it was plastic…
Sometimes its best to wait 24 hours to find some real facts… Sometimes 24 days.
So Phil Goff, I guess on behalf of the Labour Party, says yesterday in the SST that we should stop people going to fight for organisations like ISIS that commit crimes against humanity.
How does Phil Goff square that away with joining the US when the US also commits crimes against humanity?
And, is Dick Cheney the biggest joke on the planet?
“we need someone from the far left to make it a balance against crusher”
“what about Goff?”
“oh thats a better idea, get someone kinda sorta on the left but on the far right of Labour and who wants to be auckland mayor then we dont upset the advertisers, hell they may increase”
We know the US (or it’s proxies) runs operations all over the planet to destabilise regimes they don’t like or are inconvenient. This is a matter of historical fact.
What makes anyone think NZ is somehow immune? I can think of at least one local example within the last decade.
Exactly. Not to mention that the US (and their Saudi allies) stoked up Islamic fundamentalism in the first place as a counter to secular, progressive forces in the Arab world and in Afghanistan.
After the Cold War, the fundamentalists struck out on their own, biting the hand that fed them. Still, by doing so, they provided successive US administrations with a new enemy against which to try to cohere fragmenting American society and the west in general under US leadership. Not that it’s working out all that well for the US ruling elite. . .
PS: When I said “Exactly” in the email above, it was in response to this from VTO: “How does Phil Goff square that away with joining the US when the US also commits crimes against humanity?” Forgot to quote VTO.
John Minto good on Morning Report on where to now for the Mana Party
…personally I am sorry the Internet part or Party has been dropped for now…I think Mana will be the poorer for it…especially as an Internet Party is being established in the USA… Minto says he has no regrets as regards the Internet Party coalition..it was a risk worth taking ( imo it certainly focused issues for intelligent New Zealanders)
MInto, always a clear and concise communicator , gave good reasons as to why Internet/Mana did not make it into Parliament
…Labour Party and other parties in cahoots with Nactional ganged up on Hone, found Int/Mana party and all it stood for it too threatening
….and a concerted msm attack on Dotcom….SHAME! ( I hope the msm attacks can be catalogued for future historians and generations to see exposed)
5 weeks out from the Election Internet/mana was doing very well indeed and could have had 3-4 seats in parliament
Yip sure was. Minto would be better forming another party, Mana is a dead duck. Hone has got Warner Bro’s millions stashed away where they can’t get it, and will spend up on himself.
@ Skinny
I am not sure why your remark wouldn’t be actionable as slander against Hone. What Warners millions and are you peeved because you stood for election and couldn’t get enough funding for promotion of your cause? Or what? You remind me of the end of a hippotomus I once saw – while it did its business it flapped its little tail and spread it all around (in your case you do it with your little tale.)
pu…thanks…OK you are right ( this time)…I got the wrong link and stupid old David Slack “spouting simplistic shit”…why Suzie Ferguson would want to interview David Slack on Internet /mana Party I do NOT know ….( maybe to obfuscate and muddy the waters!!!?…maybe they didnt like what Minto said earlier…too hard hitting for Morning Report !?)..David Slack wanted to start a David Party for Christs sakes ….pleeeeze! ( it starts with Minto though)
“an Internet Party is being established in the USA”
Couldn’t buy NZ voters so lets try with the yanks.
“it was a risk worth taking”
Really?
“Labour Party and other parties in cahoots with Nactional ganged up on Hone, found Int/Mana party and all it stood for it too threatening”
1.5% of those who voted must be right. All the other must just be scaredy cats. 🙄
“and a concerted msm attack on Dotcom”
As forecast and quite predictable really, so no point crying about it. If a dunce like me got it right, why did no one in mana?
“5 weeks out from the Election Internet/mana was doing very well indeed and could have had 3-4 seats in parliament”
That’s what happens when you count chickens before they hatch like one does with millions of dollars of donations.
The joint campaign was a bit of a disaster with mixed messages and puffed up little shit episodes. It was bound to end in tears and did.
the best thing about Internet /Mana is that it gave those at the bottom of the heap a Party with a sophisticated futurist look..they were winners and tech savvy and concerned with democracy and internet freedom… and it was a foil / counter to corporate controlled culture with a permanent underclass
…it gave lie to the Nact myth that those at the bottom of the heap are no- hopers
…and a socialist type party is dead and in the past history
….Int/Mana was ahead of its time and ahead of the game
….as it is now the under-thirties ( the intelligent, dynamic and beautiful) who John key Nact and corporate right wing govts around the world are now making the new underclass …with huge tertiary loans, insecure and poorly paid work and no hope of ever owning a home … i see Mana combined with an Internet Party as the way of the future
….Dotcom and Mana are to be congratulated for trying….and next TIME your time will have come !
Dan Carlin had some very interesting talking points about CIA Torture & the related political lines given, especially the way Obama was elected to change the excesses of the Bush administration, and then proceeded to double down on them. See Common Sense 285 – Torturing our values http://www.dancarlin.com/common-sense-home-landing-page/
If you haven’t listened to his podcast before, you’re in for a treat, Carlin is easily one of the best political commentators on the left (the real left) in the USA. He is incisive, cuts through the noise, analyses situations and compares them to the historical context.
It looks like iwi are going to charge people to enter 90 mile beach. Coupled with the recent locking out of hunters out of the Ureweras it is another reason why the left should oppose the handing over of conservation land to iwi because they WILL restrict access.
Well, it is about time for some entity to ‘control’ access to 90 Mile (Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē).
It takes a hammering daily from large tourist buses travelling at 100kmh, the drivers know the conditions well and it is hammer down. You just have to be on the beach to feel it. It is about reasonable access and use.
I wonder why Tuhoe want to restrict Hunters from killing game on their historic territory, and land that they hold pretty sacred, their sanctuary, the place they retreated when the colonial army came to slaughter them for not rolling over and coming to the table.
Tuhoe never signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Their land was systematically stolen from them. They still hold the Ureweras to be their land. How is it any different from a hunter coming on to your land and shooting your ducks? Restricting hunting hardly seems like the crime of the century.
Context is important here. But on another note, I totally disagree with Maori, or anyone for that matter restricting access to beaches, or charging members of the public to use their tracks to the beach. It’s important though, that everyone treats their land with respect, afaik the Iwi just want to charge commercial operators, the same guys who drive big buses across their land, it’s not a big ask for commercial operators who are making money off of bringing tourists across private owned land to be asked to pay a small fee for entry.
Thanks for context. Makes a big difference to discussion.
There was an interesting piece on Native Affairs this year about the charge for commercial operators for taking tourists through the “hole in the rock”.
Of course, the operators continued the line that although it was private land “above”, the “hole” was not owned by anyone and therefore no fees needed to be paid.
…if this is true, then tourist operators should be able to set up large flying foxes across the volcanic cones of Auckland, – taking money from those who want to do close flyovers of the residences of the 1%.
I have no doubt the framing of public access and private property would be entirely different to that which is trotted out whenever iwi land is involved.
Are they looking at charging people, or charging cars? Particularly with tourist companies making money from trips up and down the beach, why shouldn’t the locals get something?
As for Tuhoe, I read what they’d decided at the time and agreed with them. It isn’t so much a lockout, but a reorganisation of licensing.
Of course if you want Kiwi not Iwi, move to Epsom and your vote will be counted.
In the wake of the OECD report there has been some discussion on tax and GST. While tax havens have been around for some time, there has certainly been a big growth of them in recent years – part of the process where capital can move freely (and hide) while workers are locked into national frontiers (and can’t hide for long from the immigration police).
OMG, Mathew Hooten (on Nine to Noon) is suggesting to break Fonterra into TWO organisations to COMPETE? Why does RNZ continue to have this very silly man on. I don’t even know where to start.
He can have a go at Fonterra, but not for that reason…Fonterra has critical mass, which is its major strength. Maybe he should put his free market ideology aside and challenge whether Fonterra’s “GDT” system is losing NZ dairy farmers value???
well I dont think Fonterra is doing that good a job for dairy farmers…they should have another co-op that sells to Russia…so agree with Possum Hooton on this
Terrorists holding hostages in Sydney coffee shop outlines exactly why we should completely stay out of The Middle Eastern Wars. Make that call John Key show some leadership before we stuff a similar fate here in New Zealand.
IMO, John Key and National would use such an incident to increase surveillance on the populace. In other words, he’d see such an incident as an opportunity rather than the failure on his and National’s part that it would be.
We don’t actually know yet who the guy holding people hostage is. It’s a very strange sort of terrorist act. They usually commit random acts of violence, designed to shock and scare people. Hours of a hostage situation is more like an armed robbery gone wrong. We might know in about 30 years.
But here is the thing. Overall, an individual journalist may be doing a great job. An individual’s stories may be fair, balanced, insightful. But the impression given by a publication as a whole may not be. Where are those stories placed? What is the overall “tone” of a publication? In short, editorial choices can do plenty to undermine the content of a story.
I hope those who railed at the ethics of hager publishing and maybe profitting from, stolen emails are now railing at fairfax and apn for using some of those hacks to sell newspapers and online ads
Good journalism awards from Bruce Jesson Foundation..
Bruce Jesson Awards:
Max Rashbrooke & Chloe Winter
The Bruce Jesson Foundation recently announced its 2014 Journalism Awards:
The Senior Journalism Award of $4000 for a proposed work of “critical, informed, analytical and creative journalism or writing that will contribute to public debate in NZ on an important issue or issues” was awarded to Max Rashbrooke for an e-book on wealth inequality in NZ;
About – http://www.maxrashbrooke.org.nz/about-me/ http://www.bwb.co.nz/books/the-inequality-debate ebook $14.99
Inequality: A NZ Crisis ebook $39.99
The Emerging Journalism Award of $1000 for “outstanding published work of critical, informed, analytical and creative journalism or writing by NZ print journalism students which will contribute to public debate in New Zealand on an important issue or issues” was awarded to Chloe Winter of Massey University, Wellington, for her article “War against killers we face at work”, published in the Herald on Sunday on 3 November 2013. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11150665
The 2014 Bruce Jesson Lecture Mike Joy – Paradise Squandered; New Zealand’s Environmental Asset Stripping
Posted on 10 October 2014 by bjf_admin
New Zealand’s lakes, rivers and most of our groundwater are in a critical state. Decades of misguided regulation and a free-for-all on diffuse pollution have encouraged agricultural intensification and driven our increasing reliance on imported feed and fertiliser.
The inevitable consequences have been devastating environmental impacts as well as increasing economic and biosecurity risks.
The solutions are many but require a paradigm shift; a move away from dependence on imported feed and fertiliser to keeping nutrients on farm and adding value to products, and strong leadership to move away from short-term thinking that accepts the massive ecological debt we are running up.
‘David Bain’s legal team has been in confidential discussions with the Minister of Justice over his bid for compensation.’…hope Adams has got the steel to stand up to the Bain industry.
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The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, it’s our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. That’s why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We can’t prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them — not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
New data from the CTU’s annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working people’s experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
Out of the ‘stories that should of been done pre election file’ tv3 have had the guy who runs one of the big property websites in Asia saying NZ is high on investors hit list because of our lack of capital gains and controls on foreign ownership.
yes – out of the horse’s mouth. How is this going to be spun do you think?
This government primarily works for the wealthy, with a few good social policies from previous Labour government kept for political cunning expediency. We the people that vote such a government in are really dumb. It isn’t the fault of the rich foreign property buyers.
“..We the people that vote such a government in are really dumb..”
+ 1..
..as in really really fucken ‘dumb’..
You gotta ask…what will wake them up?
dunno..the fucken idiots vote time and time again for the bastards who are screwing them/the planet over..
..hard to see/get past such bone-headed stupidity..
..and yes..politicians are lying bastards..
..the media are complicit clowns..
..and the people are really really fucken dumb..
..’tis an unholy trifecta..
..and i dunno what ‘will wake them up’..
They don’t need to when Len brown came on straight after and rabbited on about how many low cost house’s were being built (how under 500k is classed as low cost has me buggered) and how many consents have been issued.
Hi b waghorn. I hope you received this reply I left you on yesterday’s Open Mike
“Children suffer: Welfare’s outdated ideas on relationships”
Excerpt:
“New Zealand’s social security framework is based on outdated ideas of the nature of relationships and too often fails to protect the needs of children in the 21st century, says Child Poverty Action Group.”
“There are major inconsistencies in the use of relationship in the welfare system. It is difficult to justify a policy that pays less to a couple than to two individuals who share accommodation and costs. ”
“The report finds that tests for the degree of financial interdependence and emotional commitment, needed for the relationship to be treated as ‘in the nature of marriage’, are subjective and inconsistent. There is often a degree of surveillance that is far from open and transparent. Moreover the appeal processes for anyone accused of being in a relationship are very unsatisfactory. A sole parent may even be given a prison sentence with scant regard to the impact on her children.
Susan St John says, “it is worrying to see how often sole mothers face both imprisonment and a lifetime of repayments.” ” http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1412/S00165/children-suffer-welfares-outdated-ideas-on-relationships.htm
SSJ makes a good point about someone flatting having the same costs as someone in a relationship.
I’d like to point out that section 20C of the Social Securities Act, Sole Parent Support: split custody (this is when one or more of the children from a relationship live with one parent, and the others live with the other parent) only provides benefit support to one parent.
In working terms this ususally means the person who applied first, not necessarily the most in need, and can fail children who are caught in the middle of two bewildered parents who didn’t realise this was the case or who are using the benefit system to get back at an ex partner and the children who chose to live with them. Nasty stuff.
mr sellout on the tpp..and the minister for doing nothing about climatechange..groser..
..on the telly spinning for all his worth..
.denying the fact that groser/nz was on the side of the villains in peru..
..lining up with the other big-polluters to argue against them having to cut their polluting at all..
..lying/spinning bastard…
Grose can release our Pledge before christmas then, to prove he is on the side of the angels
Bricking over the lower windows of the Fed + survival kits ordered. Something catastrophic about to happen in the US?
http://www.brotherjohnf.com/archives/356927
They’re pulling up the drawbridge …….
These federal reserve outfits have the most power of all. They direct the things that happen in the world and hence they know better than any what is likely to occur next.
and john key is our ‘man from the fed’..
..and him becoming prime minister..
..must rank as one of their most successful placements/trojan-horse-operations..ever..
the editor from metro doing a mea culpa over slagging little as a possible/viable leader for labour..
..i wd like to note that i went on the record at the same time as that metro-slagging…supporting little for the role..
..purely on the grounds that we had not yet seen what he had to offer..
..whereas with robertson and parker…we already had..
In about 6 months time the first review is due to get underway of NZ’s Security and Intelligence Agencies. One aspect that I hope is looked into is the extent that citizens who are concerned about the environment are being subjected to surveillance, in their search for what Mr Finlayson has called “Eco-terrorism”. He was being questioned on TV One’s Q&A program a week ago, then in regard to unwarranted surveillance.
From what he said, it seems to be the call of whoever is doing the surveillance do decide whether those under surveillance are wanting to protest against something, or may “cross the line into eco-terrorism.”
Corin repeatedly asked, “Who draws the line?”
And each time, he failed to give a clear answer.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1412/S00095/definition-of-foreign-fighters-is-tolerably-clear.htm
Thanks for this. A law passed with no definition for the key parts…
Breaking news
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30473983
So their new increased powers dont appear to have worked… On the other hand the last time the ozzie police brandished a plastic ceremonial sword as proof of terrorism in oz, without telling anyone it was plastic…
Sometimes its best to wait 24 hours to find some real facts… Sometimes 24 days.
i was wondering if anyone else who watched the final of the nation yesterday..
..also suffered from spontaneous gastric-reflux every time ‘squeeg’ gower referrred/spoke to those two rightwing trouts nash and marks..
..as ‘stuey’..and ‘ronnie’..
..i know i did..
that gushing–yeah yeah yeah–we’re teamsters! we know how it really is…
yeah..the ‘in-crowd’ feel of the whole thing was also nausea-inducing..
..it’s all just a game..
..and we are the ones who are being ‘played’..
So Phil Goff, I guess on behalf of the Labour Party, says yesterday in the SST that we should stop people going to fight for organisations like ISIS that commit crimes against humanity.
How does Phil Goff square that away with joining the US when the US also commits crimes against humanity?
And, is Dick Cheney the biggest joke on the planet?
phil goff has us standing alongside the torturers..
..phil goff was a major driver for us to go to afgnanistan to be spear-carriers for the americans..
..our troops captured afghanis..
..and handed them over to be tortured..
..we help the drones with their targeting..(of innocent men/women/children..at a rate of 28 innocents killed for every ‘terrorist’..)
..how the fuck can phil goff come within a bulls roar of taking the/any high moral ground on this..?
..his hands are stained with the blood of the tortured..
..and of the bombed/killed innocents…
Gof, like Collins, is writing on behalf of Goff.
The SST seems to get their brief mixed up
“we need someone from the far left to make it a balance against crusher”
“what about Goff?”
“oh thats a better idea, get someone kinda sorta on the left but on the far right of Labour and who wants to be auckland mayor then we dont upset the advertisers, hell they may increase”
There are some boundaries NZ politicians are not allowed to step over.
Why? What would happen?
We know the US (or it’s proxies) runs operations all over the planet to destabilise regimes they don’t like or are inconvenient. This is a matter of historical fact.
What makes anyone think NZ is somehow immune? I can think of at least one local example within the last decade.
Gough Whitlam in the 70s was unseated
What’s that I can’t recall anything local……. although my memory sure isn’t what it used to be.
Hmmm. That brings up the very simple and age old dilemma so aptly illustrated by Shakespeare’s “to be or not to be”.
Do we turn a blind eye to suffering and accept the stolen treasures?
Or do we stand up for what is right despite the fact it may lead to our own detriment?
Do we remain like our dirty stained Aussie ‘cousins’? Or do we become a happy and good Cuba?
It is no wonder the USA is so hated by so many and is on such a steep downward trajectory on every front in the eyes of the rest.
Exactly. Not to mention that the US (and their Saudi allies) stoked up Islamic fundamentalism in the first place as a counter to secular, progressive forces in the Arab world and in Afghanistan.
After the Cold War, the fundamentalists struck out on their own, biting the hand that fed them. Still, by doing so, they provided successive US administrations with a new enemy against which to try to cohere fragmenting American society and the west in general under US leadership. Not that it’s working out all that well for the US ruling elite. . .
Phil
Here’s a thing about the US and Bin Laden that first appeared in the bulletin produced by the old Middle East Information and Solidarity Collective in Christchurch over a decade ago: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/how-the-west-created-osama-bin-laden/
Phil
PS: When I said “Exactly” in the email above, it was in response to this from VTO: “How does Phil Goff square that away with joining the US when the US also commits crimes against humanity?” Forgot to quote VTO.
John Minto good on Morning Report on where to now for the Mana Party
…personally I am sorry the Internet part or Party has been dropped for now…I think Mana will be the poorer for it…especially as an Internet Party is being established in the USA… Minto says he has no regrets as regards the Internet Party coalition..it was a risk worth taking ( imo it certainly focused issues for intelligent New Zealanders)
MInto, always a clear and concise communicator , gave good reasons as to why Internet/Mana did not make it into Parliament
…Labour Party and other parties in cahoots with Nactional ganged up on Hone, found Int/Mana party and all it stood for it too threatening
….and a concerted msm attack on Dotcom….SHAME! ( I hope the msm attacks can be catalogued for future historians and generations to see exposed)
5 weeks out from the Election Internet/mana was doing very well indeed and could have had 3-4 seats in parliament
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20161080/back-to-the-drawing-board-for-mana-movement-and-internet-party
it’s not minto..it’s um! um! ah! ah! david slack..
..and he’s um! um! ah! ah! spouting simplistic shit…
minto gets a line in the intro..it is 90% slack..
..did you listen to it..?
I really wish that Hone, Laila, Minto and Sykes were in parliament this term.
@ Clem…+100…and we would probably have a Labour led coalition ( Labour sure as hell fucked that one up!)
btw…there is something funny going on with the sequence of comments..it is not working …LPrent…where are you?…help)
it happened this morning too with icebergs comment suddenly appearing before vto on the sorry thread
Yeah, they got screwed, and as a consequence NZ got screwed.
Yip sure was. Minto would be better forming another party, Mana is a dead duck. Hone has got Warner Bro’s millions stashed away where they can’t get it, and will spend up on himself.
“..Hone has got Warner Bro’s millions stashed away ..”
..could you expand on that..?
this is a reply to skinny..above..comment sequencing is on the blink..
@ Skinny
I am not sure why your remark wouldn’t be actionable as slander against Hone. What Warners millions and are you peeved because you stood for election and couldn’t get enough funding for promotion of your cause? Or what? You remind me of the end of a hippotomus I once saw – while it did its business it flapped its little tail and spread it all around (in your case you do it with your little tale.)
I wish you’d keep your racist crap stashed away.
@ pu ….see my reply above at 9.1.1…i got the wrong link. here is the correct link
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20161066/internet-mana-alliance-formally-dissolved
pu…thanks…OK you are right ( this time)…I got the wrong link and stupid old David Slack “spouting simplistic shit”…why Suzie Ferguson would want to interview David Slack on Internet /mana Party I do NOT know ….( maybe to obfuscate and muddy the waters!!!?…maybe they didnt like what Minto said earlier…too hard hitting for Morning Report !?)..David Slack wanted to start a David Party for Christs sakes ….pleeeeze! ( it starts with Minto though)
here is the correct link
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20161066/internet-mana-alliance-formally-dissolved
“I think Mana will be the poorer for it”
And Laila Harre
“an Internet Party is being established in the USA”
Couldn’t buy NZ voters so lets try with the yanks.
“it was a risk worth taking”
Really?
“Labour Party and other parties in cahoots with Nactional ganged up on Hone, found Int/Mana party and all it stood for it too threatening”
1.5% of those who voted must be right. All the other must just be scaredy cats. 🙄
“and a concerted msm attack on Dotcom”
As forecast and quite predictable really, so no point crying about it. If a dunce like me got it right, why did no one in mana?
“5 weeks out from the Election Internet/mana was doing very well indeed and could have had 3-4 seats in parliament”
That’s what happens when you count chickens before they hatch like one does with millions of dollars of donations.
The joint campaign was a bit of a disaster with mixed messages and puffed up little shit episodes. It was bound to end in tears and did.
zzzzz…feel tired and sleepy
Probably because all that brain power you exerted on thinking up a load of old bull has worn you out. 😉
gone to sleep…did you speak in my dream?…inwhich case i will have to go into a deeper more profound level of sleep….zzzzz
Good reply, but try again after a nap if you want me to take you seriously.
I dont like using this analogy, but the Internet-Mana party has been officially strangled at birth, now that it has been de-registered.
Thank you, politcal establishment, with special mention to the mistakes made by several people on IM’s part.
And meanwhile the Chinese contine to buy the National party and noone bats an eyelid.
that was the real big lie they got away with..(one of them..)
..that dotcom was ‘money influencing politics’..
..whereas national are owned lock stock and barrel by ..’money’..
..and have always been that way..
..key must deserve an acting award for pushing that one..and being able to still maintain a straight face..
the best thing about Internet /Mana is that it gave those at the bottom of the heap a Party with a sophisticated futurist look..they were winners and tech savvy and concerned with democracy and internet freedom… and it was a foil / counter to corporate controlled culture with a permanent underclass
…it gave lie to the Nact myth that those at the bottom of the heap are no- hopers
…and a socialist type party is dead and in the past history
….Int/Mana was ahead of its time and ahead of the game
….as it is now the under-thirties ( the intelligent, dynamic and beautiful) who John key Nact and corporate right wing govts around the world are now making the new underclass …with huge tertiary loans, insecure and poorly paid work and no hope of ever owning a home … i see Mana combined with an Internet Party as the way of the future
….Dotcom and Mana are to be congratulated for trying….and next TIME your time will have come !
Dan Carlin had some very interesting talking points about CIA Torture & the related political lines given, especially the way Obama was elected to change the excesses of the Bush administration, and then proceeded to double down on them. See Common Sense 285 – Torturing our values
http://www.dancarlin.com/common-sense-home-landing-page/
If you haven’t listened to his podcast before, you’re in for a treat, Carlin is easily one of the best political commentators on the left (the real left) in the USA. He is incisive, cuts through the noise, analyses situations and compares them to the historical context.
It looks like iwi are going to charge people to enter 90 mile beach. Coupled with the recent locking out of hunters out of the Ureweras it is another reason why the left should oppose the handing over of conservation land to iwi because they WILL restrict access.
Well, it is about time for some entity to ‘control’ access to 90 Mile (Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē).
It takes a hammering daily from large tourist buses travelling at 100kmh, the drivers know the conditions well and it is hammer down. You just have to be on the beach to feel it. It is about reasonable access and use.
It about shitting on the kiwi tradition of a day at the beach.
Beaches should be publicly owned and free for the public according to our egalitarian soceity.
But not for cars.
Yes, this is something that cuts across party lines
I wonder why Tuhoe want to restrict Hunters from killing game on their historic territory, and land that they hold pretty sacred, their sanctuary, the place they retreated when the colonial army came to slaughter them for not rolling over and coming to the table.
Tuhoe never signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Their land was systematically stolen from them. They still hold the Ureweras to be their land. How is it any different from a hunter coming on to your land and shooting your ducks? Restricting hunting hardly seems like the crime of the century.
Context is important here. But on another note, I totally disagree with Maori, or anyone for that matter restricting access to beaches, or charging members of the public to use their tracks to the beach. It’s important though, that everyone treats their land with respect, afaik the Iwi just want to charge commercial operators, the same guys who drive big buses across their land, it’s not a big ask for commercial operators who are making money off of bringing tourists across private owned land to be asked to pay a small fee for entry.
Thanks for context. Makes a big difference to discussion.
There was an interesting piece on Native Affairs this year about the charge for commercial operators for taking tourists through the “hole in the rock”.
Of course, the operators continued the line that although it was private land “above”, the “hole” was not owned by anyone and therefore no fees needed to be paid.
…if this is true, then tourist operators should be able to set up large flying foxes across the volcanic cones of Auckland, – taking money from those who want to do close flyovers of the residences of the 1%.
I have no doubt the framing of public access and private property would be entirely different to that which is trotted out whenever iwi land is involved.
Spot on Molly. Well said.
+1
Of course, the real analogy would be tunnels dug under the private property, maybe with glass ceilings? Yuck.
Are they looking at charging people, or charging cars? Particularly with tourist companies making money from trips up and down the beach, why shouldn’t the locals get something?
As for Tuhoe, I read what they’d decided at the time and agreed with them. It isn’t so much a lockout, but a reorganisation of licensing.
Of course if you want Kiwi not Iwi, move to Epsom and your vote will be counted.
In the wake of the OECD report there has been some discussion on tax and GST. While tax havens have been around for some time, there has certainly been a big growth of them in recent years – part of the process where capital can move freely (and hide) while workers are locked into national frontiers (and can’t hide for long from the immigration police).
Anyway, here’s an interesting article on tax havens: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/tax-havens-natural-and-inescapable-product-of-capitalism/
And here’s an article on the roles of direct and indirect tax under capitalism and why capitalists like indirect tax: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/understanding-gst-and-tax-policy/
Phil
OMG, Mathew Hooten (on Nine to Noon) is suggesting to break Fonterra into TWO organisations to COMPETE? Why does RNZ continue to have this very silly man on. I don’t even know where to start.
He can have a go at Fonterra, but not for that reason…Fonterra has critical mass, which is its major strength. Maybe he should put his free market ideology aside and challenge whether Fonterra’s “GDT” system is losing NZ dairy farmers value???
What he should be suggesting is the NZs beef and lamb producers get together and create something like Fonterra
But too many egos involved for that to happen I guess…
Yep….agree. Ruth Richardson also put her spanner in the works….looking after herself.
well I dont think Fonterra is doing that good a job for dairy farmers…they should have another co-op that sells to Russia…so agree with Possum Hooton on this
Terrorists holding hostages in Sydney coffee shop outlines exactly why we should completely stay out of The Middle Eastern Wars. Make that call John Key show some leadership before we stuff a similar fate here in New Zealand.
IMO, John Key and National would use such an incident to increase surveillance on the populace. In other words, he’d see such an incident as an opportunity rather than the failure on his and National’s part that it would be.
Yep, justification for the spy bill will be the predictable spin line.
Won’t be long until the cries of False Flag are heard
Without proof that would be a bit silly, but then even if it were a black flag op, it’s not like you’ll get access to the truth, is it?
+100 Skinny
We don’t actually know yet who the guy holding people hostage is. It’s a very strange sort of terrorist act. They usually commit random acts of violence, designed to shock and scare people. Hours of a hostage situation is more like an armed robbery gone wrong. We might know in about 30 years.
Civil liberties going to zero in 3…2…1
The 4th Estate and Dirty Politics.
Raises some interesting questions about our MSM.
I hope those who railed at the ethics of hager publishing and maybe profitting from, stolen emails are now railing at fairfax and apn for using some of those hacks to sell newspapers and online ads
Good journalism awards from Bruce Jesson Foundation..
Bruce Jesson Awards:
Max Rashbrooke & Chloe Winter
The Bruce Jesson Foundation recently announced its 2014 Journalism Awards:
The Senior Journalism Award of $4000 for a proposed work of “critical, informed, analytical and creative journalism or writing that will contribute to public debate in NZ on an important issue or issues” was awarded to Max Rashbrooke for an e-book on wealth inequality in NZ;
About – http://www.maxrashbrooke.org.nz/about-me/
http://www.bwb.co.nz/books/the-inequality-debate ebook $14.99
Inequality: A NZ Crisis ebook $39.99
The Emerging Journalism Award of $1000 for “outstanding published work of critical, informed, analytical and creative journalism or writing by NZ print journalism students which will contribute to public debate in New Zealand on an important issue or issues” was awarded to Chloe Winter of Massey University, Wellington, for her article “War against killers we face at work”, published in the Herald on Sunday on 3 November 2013.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11150665
For Mike Joy’s speech (and other annual ones from people of renown)
go here http://www.brucejesson.com/?page_id=349
The 2014 Bruce Jesson Lecture Mike Joy – Paradise Squandered; New Zealand’s Environmental Asset Stripping
Posted on 10 October 2014 by bjf_admin
New Zealand’s lakes, rivers and most of our groundwater are in a critical state. Decades of misguided regulation and a free-for-all on diffuse pollution have encouraged agricultural intensification and driven our increasing reliance on imported feed and fertiliser.
The inevitable consequences have been devastating environmental impacts as well as increasing economic and biosecurity risks.
The solutions are many but require a paradigm shift; a move away from dependence on imported feed and fertiliser to keeping nutrients on farm and adding value to products, and strong leadership to move away from short-term thinking that accepts the massive ecological debt we are running up.
‘David Bain’s legal team has been in confidential discussions with the Minister of Justice over his bid for compensation.’…hope Adams has got the steel to stand up to the Bain industry.
When did household income peak in the USA? For many counties, it was at least 15 years ago…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-14/when-income-peaked-americans-best-days-are-behind-them