Frustrated by the PMs quick action, a bored press gallery is going to go on and on and about it to try to get Nash's scalp aren't they? The MSM is full of louche and unserious horse race reporters.
Nash is a bit of a dick, but seriously – who outside the press gallery and the opposition thinks this is still a big issue since he was swiftly fired from his marquee portfolio? Hell, Hawkes Bay is the epicentre of the conspiracy theory laden hang 'em law and order brigade, ringing the police commissioner to complain about the courts being soft of crimes probably gains him votes.
Didn't Maurice Williamson resign from being a cabinet minister for a very similar offence? As it stands, what has he really suffered for his behaviour? No drop in pay or perks etc. He probably will be given some other job that has nowhere near as much pressure as minister of Police. So, what are the real consequences for Nash?
I remember brazen lying and misrepresentation. From the Justice Minister no less.
"A cup of tea … on the way to the airport," turned out to be something more than a little bit different than that.
It's funny how the mob demanding any stupid Labour MP doing something stupid to be hung drawn and quartered, never to be seen again, are so humane when it comes to their own.
Didn't Maurice Williamson resign from being a cabinet minister for a very similar offence?
Nope, only if you look highly superficially. Williamson’s offence involved the infamous Donghua Liu, the political party donor extraordinaire and the same person who was given NZ citizenship against official advice after lobbying by MP Maurice Williamson.
Speaking of old Maurice, did anyone hear the hapless mayor boomer on RNZ this morning? I would suggest a listen, it is quite enlightening. Brown laid out his ideological starting point in as clear a fashion as you could expect and it was all done in his usual matrix of rambling, nauseating boomer victimhood.
At a practical level his solutions are peek boomer as well – complain about it, see dragons everywhere, rule out every realistic option to deal with it that might cost him anything, then demand the poor, least privileged and disadvantaged carry the cost. You can hardly blame him – it was a virtuoso performance of the consequences of the collapse of local democracy. Here is a clearly inept man well out his depth, elected to represent the narrow interests of the 15% of the electorate that voted for him and knowing damn well who his constituency is. His razor gang consists of a coterie of similarly wildly over confident, superannuated yesterday's men from the wealthy side of town who are also determined to take us firmly back to the slash and burn days of the 1980s and 90s.
Never again will I listen to that ignorant, simplistic red-necked dinosaur. Not only is he inarticulate to the point of senility but his cognitive dissonance is profound.
Example: he justified not including Golf clubs in his council cost-slashing exercise because we need green spacesand they serve the purpose of acting as flood plains and that protects the houses from being flooded.
Does that mean all the other 'free to all members of the public green spaces' don't count as green spaces? Sorry South Auckland, West Auckland, we're cutting your amenities because you don't matter but we must look after the elites (who he thinks he belongs to) cos they do matter.That sums up his philosophy.
He's "gonna be tough because that's what the180,000 people whovoted for me want me to do" he said. Stuff the other 500,000 plus who didn't vote for him or didn't vote at all.
Climate-change induced damage and the costs associated with it are going to terrify everyone. There will be a lot of raising the drawbridge and frantically protecting whatever assets you have. People will protect themselves and be prepared to sacrifice others to do so. Given who votes and who doesn't, Brown may well become the new default for an electable local body politician.
It is a painful irony that Brown's backers – who as small-state, free-market utopians have stalled effective action on climate change – now get to use the effects of climate change to further advance their project.
Nash is being done because he informally tried to influence the sentence of a person who had guns illegally.
Normally, the Nats and their fellow travellers would applaud this type of intervention, and you can imagine Mark Mitchell making dozens of these types of calls every week.
But not in this case. In this case the offender was a white farmer, not a brown gang member…
That is the typical National Party hypocrisy that our esteemed MSM completely missed (again).
You can't tell me that when National was in government they didn't make similar calls. Its just that Stuart Nash was a bit sloppy and got caught.
The real question is not whether Stuart Nash should have made such an approach, it is why the police did not decide themselves to appeal such a soft sentence. Perhaps some journalist might ask them one day. It stinks of political cover-up.
"George Monbiot has been regularly smearing icons of the progressive left, writes Jonathan Cook. Now, it seems, it is comedian Russell Brand’s turn to come under his scalpel."
…but then again, why anyone on the actual Left would trust The Guardian (and BBC) after they completely exposed themselves as being nothing more than the trusted guard dogs of the establishment status quo, is beyond me…all one can assume is that people who keep going back to the sources and defenders of establishment power for much of their political and geo-political information..must mostly support this current hegemonic ideology of free market Liberalism.
That article you linked to is so dumb I felt my IQ dropping after reading just the first sentence. No wonder you've got some idiotic views if that is the sort of bullshit you are lapping up.
Brand was never a leftist – he is just another superficially suave fraud, one of the new type of reactionary, conspiracy theory drenched snake oil grifter that preys on the guillable that has proliferated and prospered online – Andrew Tate, Jordan Petersen, the list goes on and on. Basically that are not half as clever as they think they are and they get an audience of the like minded. And Greenwald is just completely bonkers.
Messengers shooting at other messengers is such a mug’s game and simply a variation of angry (old white) men shouting at clouds. It is a game AT loves to play here, in a compulsive way.
For completion’s sake, here’s a link to Monbiot’s opinion piece, which reads like an essay on the cult of personality and identity politics. I hope nobody will pop a vein in their brain as a result of reading it.
I'm strongly in agreement with Monbiot, on a number of issues. Having watched Brand for years myself, I experienced the same discomfort Monbiot describes. It doesn't surprise me at all that this fracturing has appeared at the level of popular commentators.
I feel the same about Eisenstein 🙂
Agree. I very early on decided that Brand was an unserious clown with a tendency to be all over the shop in ridiculous ways – because he had no consistent underlying view of why things are the way they are. I've ignored the fool for years and it's no surprise to hear that he has become even sillier over time – because he lacks any sort of a baseline conceptual framework, there are no restraints on him going down all manner of rabbit holes.
I find Monbiot's stance on other journalists questionable in the light of his utterly limp and gutless non stance on Assange, and the assault on press freedom his case highlights
I find Jonathan Cook a far more courageous and honest journalist….read his essay on intellectual cleansing part 2 to see how it works in the media these days
So, the ‘damning’ critique of Monbiot is that he’s not been fighting the right or most just and appropriate cause? And Monbiot is to drop writing about “soil loss” because those same critics deem this less of a priority? Let’s not talk about silt ever again!
Don't fuss yourself over hypothetical books Incognito, I think you know as well as I do .When discussing threats to journalism, Assange would be a spectacularly egregious example of what happens to a journalist who publishes truthful fact based pieces . Taking a figure of speech literally to try and score points is at the lower end of debate.
Would "in my opinion " be more suited to your style guide?
I’m nonplussed by you telling us from your hypothetical book about one person who doesn’t write about another person because that’s not in his hypothetical book [of opinions]. Do carry on with your virtue signalling debate. BTW, my style guide is F7.
"I was a hedonist who enjoyed every pleasure, but now I'm a Buddhist … irks me"…me too, personally, he has always annoyed me, so I have never really watched or listened to him much…but I know enough about him to know that his main crime as far as the cult of the Liberal establishment goes…is pointing out, correctly, that the so called left media and right media are one of the same….as I have already mentioned, the Liberal media's destruction of Corbyn and Assange has proved this to be a fact in the UK…while all the US MSM is so fucked that only an idiot could take anything spewed out by it on matters of importance seriously….loss of narritive control is the thing both the Liberal and Right media and their supporters fear the most.
I agree that pay for both teachers and nurses should be a lot more competitive and better conditions. That is called meeting the market since we are competing with Australia for those resources.
So far as teachers go, I think there needs to be much more fundamental changes. From what I have seen, the quality of teachers in NZ often isn't very good, with a lot of them having major issues in the areas they are supposed to be teaching.
So, I think the pay structure needs to be sufficient to attract people gifted in teaching to the role, rather than something better paying such as accounting etc. And, I think. the teacher training system needs to be setting much higher standards for those who aspire to be teachers. It shouldn't just be a cop-out profession for people not bright enough to make it elsewhere.
And finally, there needs to be some way to measure performance, and reward for that. I am not talking about grades or similar. But many other professions work this out, so it shouldn't be impossible.
Education in NZ has a multitude of issues that need addressing , some in house but many from without.
Entry level pay is an obvious barrier to choosing education as a career, but the teachers I know appear more concerned about MLEs, behavioural issues and a dearth of support in addressing them.
Yes, I agree. We have become rotten to the core, which is a major worry. The attendance stats for the third term last year is extremely troubling. If this continues, we will end up with a generation where a large percentage are too stupid for anything useful.
And the level of family dysfunction leading to a breakdown in the regard for education, and disruptive behaviour of students in class makes it very difficult for teachers. So, there are multiple factors. Having said that, very gifted teachers often have ways of inspiring students from difficult backgrounds. So, getting the best people into the role is a key component of improving the system.
Just in terms of the attendance stats. I had occasion to meet with the headmaster, deputy and dean in relation to an issue with my teen, recently.
In the course of which, I asked how the school was following up his recent unjustified absence. [Unjustified in the MoE language = you are not at school, and the excuse you have provided is not acceptable. It's not illness or medical appointments, or external approved activities – which are coded differently]
The answer was: They only followed up when unjustified absences fell to the 50-60% range. I pointed out, that one very quick way to encourage the 80-90% kids to fall to 50% was to give the strong message that the school didn't care whether the kids are there or not. And that they should put some more effort into catching the kids at the top of the cliff, and intervening when they have a greater chance of success; rather than the ambulance at the bottom, when school avoidance has become habitual.
That’s the issue for me. In my Year 7 class of 27, we have; 2 with ASD, 2 with ADHD, 2 severely dyslexic, and 3 with various degrees of anxiety. In addition the range of abilities goes from Year 3/4 level to Year 10.
The curriculum stuff is no problem. Endless resources, both paper and online.
For the other issues our formal training has been the best part of nonexistent. Most of us rely on commonsense and parenting skills. Tricky if you’re young and newly qualified.
Smaller class sizes, decent PD, and salary keeping up with inflation.
My sister is a gifted secondary school teacher who her found her niche teaching what they called special needs classes. Before that she was regularly in huge classes with the proportions of 'needful' students being in the proportions you are stating Stephen. Even having found this niche she left after 5/6 years because the powers that be were always quick to cut back the resources, loading up the classes so she had large classes with pupils with special needs.
My niece her daughter teaches in a large combined primary school class of around 40-55 students where they tried to have a class with two teachers teaching in the same space. After just about going batty the two teachers moved whatever surplus furniture they could locate, to partition the class to stop the noise. Totally and utterly frowned on as co-located teaching was the new way. The new set-up with the surplus furniture partition is not ideal but a better teaching environment than before.
"Smaller class sizes, decent PD, and salary keeping up with inflation.
That’s all I want."
Was certainly my sister's plea. I'd imagine my niece would be quite keen on the smaller class sizes and a more permanent but movable if need be partitions
"And finally, there needs to be some way to measure performance, and reward for that. I am not talking about grades or similar. But many other professions work this out, so it shouldn't be impossible."
Completely wrong – you don't understand the teaching world.
Ah, performance pay! The way to divide staffrooms and effectively nullify any collective actions by teachers to improve conditions for themselves and their charges!
(Forgive me, I nearly said "clients.")
Tomorrow's Schools – drafted by a grocer – one of the great failed experiments in NZ educations (along with National Standards)!
the NZ Current Account Deficit is now at the widest level in our history at a whopping 8.9% of GDP,
big projects like CRL going up by $$$,
and our new international liability position is still up there at $192.9 billion, are we expecting even more on the policy bonfire before Treasury can stabilise an actual budget due in May?
Maybe they delay the budget to early June to give a bit more time to analyse all our negative financial news?
I'd sure hate to see all of the above amount to a credit downgrade – like we got after Christchurch.
The GDP figure is within our control – creating a recession to lower and even reduce GDP based on it being the traditional way to reduce inflation (even if the causes are not simply domestic demand, but international, weather related and structural – lack of workers and yet lack of housing for migrants).
The Current Account deficit is related to our property speculation fueled economy (flow of offshore savings into domestic mortgages/property values beyond local wage and productivity levels). With each local boom binge this goes out of control and we have the corrective bust – it speaks to a failure to both bring down building cost and focus investment into productivity improvement and the export sector (also domestic services) of the economy.
Ad-you are right, the current account deficit is worrying. Basically we are living beyond our means and borrowing massively to pay for his.
Inflows from immigration help to offset this as the people who come to live here from the better off countries usually bring their assets with them over time.
The GDP is still growing 2.2% year on year, so at least at the moment, is not as big a problem.
So after a 0.6% decline in GDP in December and further OCR rises since then, and the certainty that the March quarter (floods etc) will show another decline – thus the technical requirement to determine a recession being met. The "market" still expects a further OCR rise, 0.25% rather than the expected 0.5%.
It is well known that OCR rises to contain inflation often overshoot to cause a recession. But once that stage is reached the OCR rises end.
However it appears the "market" expects stagflation ("structural" issues being the cause rather than too much domestic demand), thus continuing inflation despite (artificially suppressed demand caused) recession.
This is because of a neo-liberal bias to protect the real value of historic asset/wealth from being undermined by inflation. The same bias is why we have no CGT, stamp duties, wealth taxation or estate taxation.
What we need is a period of inflation with compensating wage increases to restore a connection between wages and property values.
That is one way to undo the damage done by the RBG when he pumped money through banks and reduced equity requirements for property investors at the same time (resulting in an increase in the number of multiple owner landlords).
Our rate of home ownership is now below that of the UK and still falling, we are at risk of becoming a class based society (children of property owners who will own and those who are not and will not).
Maybe if we got all the Road Cone Shifters into productive jobs GDP would quickly level out. There are too many jobs that have only recently been created that are not exactly productivity enhancing. Yes of course we need to take care of safety but last week I drove past almost half a kilometre of road cones on both side of a road and the job was 100 or so metres down an adjoining street. WTF. Human Resources jobs for another could be cut back to a tenth of existing for the same result.
how big is their garden? How many nights do they have people in the airbnb?
I'm good with charging for watering lawns, but people need to be able to plant trees and grow food, even flowers. In a dry climate 700L water/day isn't a lot.
Water isn't free. The infrastructure required to deliver potable water costs an arm and a leg yet these entitled boomers use twice the city average and refuse to pay their share
And thinking that trotting off to the press with their tale of woe was a good idea outs them as fucking idiots, too.
of course it's not free. The debate is whether we have a user pays model, or a collectively paid model, or a hybrid.
Have a go at the couple (I'm sure they can reduce their water use and/or afford the bill) but bear in mind their age peers who live off super and still grow some of their own food out of necessity. And what might happen under RW governance.
Metering water is a blunt instrument, we need something a bit more elegant as well.
I agree. Not only is it a blunt instrument but it is an inequitable instrument.
One of the truisms about equity is this
'Treating unequal people equally is inequitable.'
So large families, families where there are family members who need constant showers and/or use of washing machines use more water in their day to day lives, just to exist. We should not penalise them by charging for every drop of water they use.
The Chch model with its allowance is fairer than a model where there is no allowance.
The argument is about the size of the allowance.
Where the Chch model seems unfair is that it is a hybrid system in that not all are bound by it. Eventually it will cover all residents once meters are widespread. This seems inherently unfair to me and means that some will be paying and others not just by accident of geography or pipes.
Probably it would have been fairer to concentrate on getting all the meters in place then charged. KCDC did this, the only good thing about their operation of the water charging regime. .
It is proposed for increase to 900L from 1 July in the annual plan (source – pg 19) and from 1 July 2024 will be taken over by the new Southern water service entity, so will be interesting to see how that plays out next year.
In my experience of living in Christchurch for over 20 years (I moved away at the end of 2020), Christchurch people think water is free as it is not charged for separately in rates. As a result people have been cutting their lawns ultra short and then leaving the sprinkler on – sometimes in the middle of the day watering the footpath as much as the verge (observed during my Postie incarnation).
The pure potable groundwater (one of the purest waters in the world, my plumbing tutor said it was the 4th purest) was so good it was untreated until recently.
There is very high demand in summer which is when the city struggles to pump enough water to keep up (my understanding). One way to manage this is to put a price on water. This was effective in Auckland as when charges were initially applied, Auckland used 10% less water (comment from Tim Davie hydrologist during a postgrad lecture).
I agree with the principle of charging for what is used.
However, in the Christchurch situation it is a bit fraudulent IMO. They had supposedly identified homeowners that were "high users" who were levied for the water charge.
However, the CCC provided a tool to check if whether you were a high user or not. The thing is that it was possible to key in any address and see whether a particular property was a high user relative to other properties. Nearly every address I looked at was a "high user". So, it looked to me that the CCC was being quite deceptive in its categorisation to drive up the revenue grab.
The high user rate definition is on the CCC website and is at a rate above the average daily user rate in Christchurch. Edit: The average household user rate is currently 700 litres per day so above this would trigger a high user charge.
Search for CCC water user charges (can't post links on my mobile sorry).
…property churned through about 12,300 litres of water each day between October and January …
However, the Christchurch City Council says it is likely the property has a leak and the bill will be reimbursed if the leak is repaired.
There's three sides to high water use, leaks, prats, (both are a spectrum), and people who need / want more water and are happy to pay for it.
Leaks can be insidious things that can cost a considerable amount of time and resources to find and remedy. 12,000 litres / day (8.3 litres / minute) is quite a small flow, so a quiet hose, or a continuous dripper system. If it's leakage you could chew through well over $1600 trying to find it, and may not be just one leak.
The prats think water is an entitlement, as much as they want, and cost socialised oner the whole community. Generally they are retired, pakeha, and in big scheme not that wealthy, just think they are. They would vote right and are the ones who get off their bikes about water meters. They probably bought shares in the power companies when they were sold off, and strangely would buy shares in any water infrastructure utilities that may be floated. Without saying it they hate 3Waters because it might take that opportunity away. I've got / had a few of them on the schemes I manage and have spent a long time getting inside their heads. It ebbs and flows but slowly the world moves forward.
Then there's those that understand that infrastructure to supply water has initial and ongoing costs and are happy to pay for those in proportion to their demand on the system. These people are generally engaged, co-operative and a delight to work with. They are also the vast majority of the people I deal with.
“It remains to be seen how long New Zealand’s foreign policy elite fully comprehend what their military commanders are telling them about what is on the strategic horizon. They may well still cling to the idea that they can trade preferentially with the PRC, stay out of Russian inspired conflicts and yet receive full security guarantees from its Anglophone partners. But if they indeed think that way, they are in for an unpleasant surprise because one way or another NZ will be pulled into the next Big War whether it likes it or not.”
I would hope he understands that the purpose of containment (Cold War) is to prevent a Big War, not start one.
And until any war with China, the USA, UK, Canada, Oz, EU, South Korea, Japan and ASEAN will all be trading with China.
All "full security guarantees" means is there is being seen as one of the team or not being seen as part of the team (and implication as to being in the loop on intelligence and security briefings*). For example there is the Quad and at one point Rudd pulled Oz out of the Quad. Of course the current Labour PM of Oz has gone Quad + with the basing of foreign subs (UK and USA) in Perth – freedom of the seas and all that.
*there is an undercurrent of being at risk of Rainbow Warrior events or mysterious IT attacks if not under protection, fear and gang security patches.
PS “stay out of Russian inspired conflicts”, NATO has not acted because no member was attacked (and the nuke armed status of the cornered rat state of Putin) and the UN has not acted because of the UNSC vetoes of Russia and China.
What he has left unsaid is the terrifying logic that to get to the outcomes described below (short – to the point – overwhelming force – break the enemies capabilities in the shortest time) the use of nuclear weapons are even more likely to be used.
One thing needs to be understood about Big Wars. The objective is that they be short and to the point. That is, overwhelming force is applied in the most efficient way in order to break the enemy’s physical capabilities and will to fight in the shortest amount of time. Then a political outcome is imposed. What military leaders do not want is what is happening to the Russians in Ukraine: bogged down by a much smaller force fighting on home soil with the support of other large States that see the conflict as a proxy for the real thing. The idea is get the fight over with as soon as possible, which means bringing life back to the notion of “overwhelming force,” but this time against a peer competitor.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
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I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
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As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
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Frustrated by the PMs quick action, a bored press gallery is going to go on and on and about it to try to get Nash's scalp aren't they? The MSM is full of louche and unserious horse race reporters.
Nash is a bit of a dick, but seriously – who outside the press gallery and the opposition thinks this is still a big issue since he was swiftly fired from his marquee portfolio? Hell, Hawkes Bay is the epicentre of the conspiracy theory laden hang 'em law and order brigade, ringing the police commissioner to complain about the courts being soft of crimes probably gains him votes.
Didn't Maurice Williamson resign from being a cabinet minister for a very similar offence? As it stands, what has he really suffered for his behaviour? No drop in pay or perks etc. He probably will be given some other job that has nowhere near as much pressure as minister of Police. So, what are the real consequences for Nash?
Didn't Judith use her taxpayer funded trip to China to advocate for her husband's business – and suffered no consequences?
That sorry saga dragged on and on and on. Nash's was quickly cauterised.
I remember brazen lying and misrepresentation. From the Justice Minister no less.
"A cup of tea … on the way to the airport," turned out to be something more than a little bit different than that.
It's funny how the mob demanding any stupid Labour MP doing something stupid to be hung drawn and quartered, never to be seen again, are so humane when it comes to their own.
Losing a role he relished. Public exposure for unprofessional behaviour. Bullying from Opposition politicians.
Those sorts of real consequences.
Nope, only if you look highly superficially. Williamson’s offence involved the infamous Donghua Liu, the political party donor extraordinaire and the same person who was given NZ citizenship against official advice after lobbying by MP Maurice Williamson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Williamson#Suspensions
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/33689376
Your judgment seems a little clouded if you cannot tell the two apart.
Speaking of old Maurice, did anyone hear the hapless mayor boomer on RNZ this morning? I would suggest a listen, it is quite enlightening. Brown laid out his ideological starting point in as clear a fashion as you could expect and it was all done in his usual matrix of rambling, nauseating boomer victimhood.
At a practical level his solutions are peek boomer as well – complain about it, see dragons everywhere, rule out every realistic option to deal with it that might cost him anything, then demand the poor, least privileged and disadvantaged carry the cost. You can hardly blame him – it was a virtuoso performance of the consequences of the collapse of local democracy. Here is a clearly inept man well out his depth, elected to represent the narrow interests of the 15% of the electorate that voted for him and knowing damn well who his constituency is. His razor gang consists of a coterie of similarly wildly over confident, superannuated yesterday's men from the wealthy side of town who are also determined to take us firmly back to the slash and burn days of the 1980s and 90s.
Someone should post on or guest Bernard Hickey’s take- it’s a load of hooey.
In fact such a load of poisonous hooey he’s brought in an ex-tobacco exec to sell it to us.
Never again will I listen to that ignorant, simplistic red-necked dinosaur. Not only is he inarticulate to the point of senility but his cognitive dissonance is profound.
Example: he justified not including Golf clubs in his council cost-slashing exercise because we need green spaces and they serve the purpose of acting as flood plains and that protects the houses from being flooded.
Does that mean all the other 'free to all members of the public green spaces' don't count as green spaces? Sorry South Auckland, West Auckland, we're cutting your amenities because you don't matter but we must look after the elites (who he thinks he belongs to) cos they do matter.That sums up his philosophy.
He's "gonna be tough because that's what the 180,000 people who voted for me want me to do" he said. Stuff the other 500,000 plus who didn't vote for him or didn't vote at all.
Climate-change induced damage and the costs associated with it are going to terrify everyone. There will be a lot of raising the drawbridge and frantically protecting whatever assets you have. People will protect themselves and be prepared to sacrifice others to do so. Given who votes and who doesn't, Brown may well become the new default for an electable local body politician.
It is a painful irony that Brown's backers – who as small-state, free-market utopians have stalled effective action on climate change – now get to use the effects of climate change to further advance their project.
Nash is being done because he informally tried to influence the sentence of a person who had guns illegally.
Normally, the Nats and their fellow travellers would applaud this type of intervention, and you can imagine Mark Mitchell making dozens of these types of calls every week.
But not in this case. In this case the offender was a white farmer, not a brown gang member…
Actually yes in this case. The Nats chief PR officer is applauding what Nash did.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/stuart-nash-resigns-mike-hosking-the-background-to-now-former-police-minister-stuart-nash-coming-on-the-show/2M5WWYR73RBZTJHXLDXP2J6IFA/
You got it perfectly Muttonbird.
That is the typical National Party hypocrisy that our esteemed MSM completely missed (again).
You can't tell me that when National was in government they didn't make similar calls. Its just that Stuart Nash was a bit sloppy and got caught.
The real question is not whether Stuart Nash should have made such an approach, it is why the police did not decide themselves to appeal such a soft sentence. Perhaps some journalist might ask them one day. It stinks of political cover-up.
All power to the teachers for their strike today!
"All power to the teachers for their strike today!"….+5 from this household!!
And don't forget the Primary School Principals – often overlooked and forgotten but doing a job that most would run from at some speed.
Talking about The Guardian…here is the sort of reactionary shit that they are well known for on the progressive Left…
Guardian Columnist’s Latest Attack on ‘Heretics’
"George Monbiot has been regularly smearing icons of the progressive left, writes Jonathan Cook. Now, it seems, it is comedian Russell Brand’s turn to come under his scalpel."
…but then again, why anyone on the actual Left would trust The Guardian (and BBC) after they completely exposed themselves as being nothing more than the trusted guard dogs of the establishment status quo, is beyond me…all one can assume is that people who keep going back to the sources and defenders of establishment power for much of their political and geo-political information..must mostly support this current hegemonic ideology of free market Liberalism.
That article you linked to is so dumb I felt my IQ dropping after reading just the first sentence. No wonder you've got some idiotic views if that is the sort of bullshit you are lapping up.
Brand was never a leftist – he is just another superficially suave fraud, one of the new type of reactionary, conspiracy theory drenched snake oil grifter that preys on the guillable that has proliferated and prospered online – Andrew Tate, Jordan Petersen, the list goes on and on. Basically that are not half as clever as they think they are and they get an audience of the like minded. And Greenwald is just completely bonkers.
Messengers shooting at other messengers is such a mug’s game and simply a variation of angry (old white) men shouting at clouds. It is a game AT loves to play here, in a compulsive way.
For completion’s sake, here’s a link to Monbiot’s opinion piece, which reads like an essay on the cult of personality and identity politics. I hope nobody will pop a vein in their brain as a result of reading it.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/10/russell-brand-politics-public-figures-responsibility
I'm strongly in agreement with Monbiot, on a number of issues. Having watched Brand for years myself, I experienced the same discomfort Monbiot describes. It doesn't surprise me at all that this fracturing has appeared at the level of popular commentators.
I feel the same about Eisenstein 🙂
Agree. I very early on decided that Brand was an unserious clown with a tendency to be all over the shop in ridiculous ways – because he had no consistent underlying view of why things are the way they are. I've ignored the fool for years and it's no surprise to hear that he has become even sillier over time – because he lacks any sort of a baseline conceptual framework, there are no restraints on him going down all manner of rabbit holes.
I find Monbiot's stance on other journalists questionable in the light of his utterly limp and gutless non stance on Assange, and the assault on press freedom his case highlights
I find Jonathan Cook a far more courageous and honest journalist….read his essay on intellectual cleansing part 2 to see how it works in the media these days
https://www.medialens.org/2008/intellectual-cleansing-part-2/
So, the ‘damning’ critique of Monbiot is that he’s not been fighting the right or most just and appropriate cause? And Monbiot is to drop writing about “soil loss” because those same critics deem this less of a priority? Let’s not talk about silt ever again!
I find Monbiot on the environment excellent .I don't think he's so credible on other subjects.
That he can discuss journalism and the threats to it without mentioning Assange is pretty telling in my book
I don’t know what your book is telling you, only you know.
Don't fuss yourself over hypothetical books Incognito, I think you know as well as I do .When discussing threats to journalism, Assange would be a spectacularly egregious example of what happens to a journalist who publishes truthful fact based pieces . Taking a figure of speech literally to try and score points is at the lower end of debate.
Would "in my opinion " be more suited to your style guide?
I’m nonplussed by you telling us from your hypothetical book about one person who doesn’t write about another person because that’s not in his hypothetical book [of opinions]. Do carry on with your
virtue signallingdebate. BTW, my style guide is F7.I've always thought he was just a it of light entertainment
Brand?
On Brand or off Brand?
Ha!
Off.
Loved his energy earlier-on, but the whole, "I was a hedonist who enjoyed every pleasure, but now I'm a Buddhist … irks me 🙂
"I was a hedonist who enjoyed every pleasure, but now I'm a Buddhist … irks me"…me too, personally, he has always annoyed me, so I have never really watched or listened to him much…but I know enough about him to know that his main crime as far as the cult of the Liberal establishment goes…is pointing out, correctly, that the so called left media and right media are one of the same….as I have already mentioned, the Liberal media's destruction of Corbyn and Assange has proved this to be a fact in the UK…while all the US MSM is so fucked that only an idiot could take anything spewed out by it on matters of importance seriously….loss of narritive control is the thing both the Liberal and Right media and their supporters fear the most.
I agree that pay for both teachers and nurses should be a lot more competitive and better conditions. That is called meeting the market since we are competing with Australia for those resources.
So far as teachers go, I think there needs to be much more fundamental changes. From what I have seen, the quality of teachers in NZ often isn't very good, with a lot of them having major issues in the areas they are supposed to be teaching.
So, I think the pay structure needs to be sufficient to attract people gifted in teaching to the role, rather than something better paying such as accounting etc. And, I think. the teacher training system needs to be setting much higher standards for those who aspire to be teachers. It shouldn't just be a cop-out profession for people not bright enough to make it elsewhere.
And finally, there needs to be some way to measure performance, and reward for that. I am not talking about grades or similar. But many other professions work this out, so it shouldn't be impossible.
Education in NZ has a multitude of issues that need addressing , some in house but many from without.
Entry level pay is an obvious barrier to choosing education as a career, but the teachers I know appear more concerned about MLEs, behavioural issues and a dearth of support in addressing them.
Yes, I agree. We have become rotten to the core, which is a major worry. The attendance stats for the third term last year is extremely troubling. If this continues, we will end up with a generation where a large percentage are too stupid for anything useful.
And the level of family dysfunction leading to a breakdown in the regard for education, and disruptive behaviour of students in class makes it very difficult for teachers. So, there are multiple factors. Having said that, very gifted teachers often have ways of inspiring students from difficult backgrounds. So, getting the best people into the role is a key component of improving the system.
Just in terms of the attendance stats. I had occasion to meet with the headmaster, deputy and dean in relation to an issue with my teen, recently.
In the course of which, I asked how the school was following up his recent unjustified absence. [Unjustified in the MoE language = you are not at school, and the excuse you have provided is not acceptable. It's not illness or medical appointments, or external approved activities – which are coded differently]
The answer was: They only followed up when unjustified absences fell to the 50-60% range. I pointed out, that one very quick way to encourage the 80-90% kids to fall to 50% was to give the strong message that the school didn't care whether the kids are there or not. And that they should put some more effort into catching the kids at the top of the cliff, and intervening when they have a greater chance of success; rather than the ambulance at the bottom, when school avoidance has become habitual.
I doubt that it's shifted their policy one iota.
That’s the issue for me. In my Year 7 class of 27, we have; 2 with ASD, 2 with ADHD, 2 severely dyslexic, and 3 with various degrees of anxiety. In addition the range of abilities goes from Year 3/4 level to Year 10.
The curriculum stuff is no problem. Endless resources, both paper and online.
For the other issues our formal training has been the best part of nonexistent. Most of us rely on commonsense and parenting skills. Tricky if you’re young and newly qualified.
Smaller class sizes, decent PD, and salary keeping up with inflation.
That’s all I want.
Stephen – I was like you, once upon a time…
Back then, we didn't recognise adhd so much, nor dyslexia etc. Frontier stuff 🙂
I had, at worst, 32 students 🙂
"Smaller class sizes, decent PD, and salary keeping up with inflation.
That’s all I want."
100% support!
Thanks Robert. I’ve had 31 before. A real struggle to engage with all of them regularly.
Once you hit 28/29/30+. it gets desperate 🙂
I often had 36 in the 60's. Most were taller than me. Conducting the class orchestra must have been a spectacle on reflection.
36!!
Exhausting!
Well done, you!
The orchestral scene you invoke is fascinating!
I'm seeing a solid lad on bass drum 🙂
My sister is a gifted secondary school teacher who her found her niche teaching what they called special needs classes. Before that she was regularly in huge classes with the proportions of 'needful' students being in the proportions you are stating Stephen. Even having found this niche she left after 5/6 years because the powers that be were always quick to cut back the resources, loading up the classes so she had large classes with pupils with special needs.
My niece her daughter teaches in a large combined primary school class of around 40-55 students where they tried to have a class with two teachers teaching in the same space. After just about going batty the two teachers moved whatever surplus furniture they could locate, to partition the class to stop the noise. Totally and utterly frowned on as co-located teaching was the new way. The new set-up with the surplus furniture partition is not ideal but a better teaching environment than before.
Was certainly my sister's plea. I'd imagine my niece would be quite keen on the smaller class sizes and a more permanent but movable if need be partitions
"And finally, there needs to be some way to measure performance, and reward for that. I am not talking about grades or similar. But many other professions work this out, so it shouldn't be impossible."
Completely wrong – you don't understand the teaching world.
Ah, performance pay! The way to divide staffrooms and effectively nullify any collective actions by teachers to improve conditions for themselves and their charges!
(Forgive me, I nearly said "clients.")
Tomorrow's Schools – drafted by a grocer – one of the great failed experiments in NZ educations (along with National Standards)!
Post up about the teachers strike. Feel free to use it as a general discussion post on the strike.
.https://thestandard.org.nz/the-greens-backing-teachers-demands/
So if NZ GDP is now through the floor,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/131512200/gdp-drops-06-economy-on-the-skids
the NZ Current Account Deficit is now at the widest level in our history at a whopping 8.9% of GDP,
big projects like CRL going up by $$$,
and our new international liability position is still up there at $192.9 billion, are we expecting even more on the policy bonfire before Treasury can stabilise an actual budget due in May?
Maybe they delay the budget to early June to give a bit more time to analyse all our negative financial news?
I'd sure hate to see all of the above amount to a credit downgrade – like we got after Christchurch.
The GDP figure is within our control – creating a recession to lower and even reduce GDP based on it being the traditional way to reduce inflation (even if the causes are not simply domestic demand, but international, weather related and structural – lack of workers and yet lack of housing for migrants).
The Current Account deficit is related to our property speculation fueled economy (flow of offshore savings into domestic mortgages/property values beyond local wage and productivity levels). With each local boom binge this goes out of control and we have the corrective bust – it speaks to a failure to both bring down building cost and focus investment into productivity improvement and the export sector (also domestic services) of the economy.
Ad-you are right, the current account deficit is worrying. Basically we are living beyond our means and borrowing massively to pay for his.
Inflows from immigration help to offset this as the people who come to live here from the better off countries usually bring their assets with them over time.
The GDP is still growing 2.2% year on year, so at least at the moment, is not as big a problem.
Last years growth rate was 2.2%. It's not current growth as indicated by the 0.6% decline in the last quarter.
Only net inflows of those with assets assist, a net outflow going to Oz with their sold property cash is otherwise.
So after a 0.6% decline in GDP in December and further OCR rises since then, and the certainty that the March quarter (floods etc) will show another decline – thus the technical requirement to determine a recession being met. The "market" still expects a further OCR rise, 0.25% rather than the expected 0.5%.
It is well known that OCR rises to contain inflation often overshoot to cause a recession. But once that stage is reached the OCR rises end.
However it appears the "market" expects stagflation ("structural" issues being the cause rather than too much domestic demand), thus continuing inflation despite (artificially suppressed demand caused) recession.
This is because of a neo-liberal bias to protect the real value of historic asset/wealth from being undermined by inflation. The same bias is why we have no CGT, stamp duties, wealth taxation or estate taxation.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/gdp-data-expected-to-show-economy-in-reverse/2TULEGCPYBGQBK3UXVNVEJAVCY/
What we need is a period of inflation with compensating wage increases to restore a connection between wages and property values.
That is one way to undo the damage done by the RBG when he pumped money through banks and reduced equity requirements for property investors at the same time (resulting in an increase in the number of multiple owner landlords).
Our rate of home ownership is now below that of the UK and still falling, we are at risk of becoming a class based society (children of property owners who will own and those who are not and will not).
Maybe if we got all the Road Cone Shifters into productive jobs GDP would quickly level out. There are too many jobs that have only recently been created that are not exactly productivity enhancing. Yes of course we need to take care of safety but last week I drove past almost half a kilometre of road cones on both side of a road and the job was 100 or so metres down an adjoining street. WTF. Human Resources jobs for another could be cut back to a tenth of existing for the same result.
Sometimes I think it is only the manufacture and sale of roadcones (at $50 a pop) is the only thing which is keeping the NZ economy going!
The numbers used are astounding!
20% of residents use half of Christchurch's water.
https://twitter.com/OwairakaAroha/status/1636095143072927745
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/131482567/definitely-not-residents-refuse-to-pay–stupid-excess-water-charge-in-christchurch
how big is their garden? How many nights do they have people in the airbnb?
I'm good with charging for watering lawns, but people need to be able to plant trees and grow food, even flowers. In a dry climate 700L water/day isn't a lot.
Central Otago average daily usage is 586. Not hard to understand why.
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/being-mindful-water-use
Chch uses 540L/day
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/127243722/chance-to-find-out-your-water-use-before-homes-taking-too-much-are-charged
Comparing Ak with Chch is daft
Water isn't free. The infrastructure required to deliver potable water costs an arm and a leg yet these entitled boomers use twice the city average and refuse to pay their share
And thinking that trotting off to the press with their tale of woe was a good idea outs them as fucking idiots, too.
of course it's not free. The debate is whether we have a user pays model, or a collectively paid model, or a hybrid.
Have a go at the couple (I'm sure they can reduce their water use and/or afford the bill) but bear in mind their age peers who live off super and still grow some of their own food out of necessity. And what might happen under RW governance.
Xeriscape for the win!
that would help! Still need to encourage people to grow food and plant trees.
Metering water is a blunt instrument, we need something a bit more elegant as well.
DB Brown is the person to ask about growing food crops/trees etc. without supplementary watering.
It can be and should be, widely practiced.
it should. And the people without those skills/tech need to be able to water their gardens and trees to stop them dying.
Telling people in a dry climate to save water above 700L/ day isn't quite the right framing.
DB Brown for sure. An Informed and Informative person !
I agree. Not only is it a blunt instrument but it is an inequitable instrument.
One of the truisms about equity is this
'Treating unequal people equally is inequitable.'
So large families, families where there are family members who need constant showers and/or use of washing machines use more water in their day to day lives, just to exist. We should not penalise them by charging for every drop of water they use.
The Chch model with its allowance is fairer than a model where there is no allowance.
The argument is about the size of the allowance.
Where the Chch model seems unfair is that it is a hybrid system in that not all are bound by it. Eventually it will cover all residents once meters are widespread. This seems inherently unfair to me and means that some will be paying and others not just by accident of geography or pipes.
Probably it would have been fairer to concentrate on getting all the meters in place then charged. KCDC did this, the only good thing about their operation of the water charging regime. .
It is proposed for increase to 900L from 1 July in the annual plan (source – pg 19) and from 1 July 2024 will be taken over by the new Southern water service entity, so will be interesting to see how that plays out next year.
In my experience of living in Christchurch for over 20 years (I moved away at the end of 2020), Christchurch people think water is free as it is not charged for separately in rates. As a result people have been cutting their lawns ultra short and then leaving the sprinkler on – sometimes in the middle of the day watering the footpath as much as the verge (observed during my Postie incarnation).
The pure potable groundwater (one of the purest waters in the world, my plumbing tutor said it was the 4th purest) was so good it was untreated until recently.
There is very high demand in summer which is when the city struggles to pump enough water to keep up (my understanding). One way to manage this is to put a price on water. This was effective in Auckland as when charges were initially applied, Auckland used 10% less water (comment from Tim Davie hydrologist during a postgrad lecture).
I agree with the principle of charging for what is used.
However, in the Christchurch situation it is a bit fraudulent IMO. They had supposedly identified homeowners that were "high users" who were levied for the water charge.
However, the CCC provided a tool to check if whether you were a high user or not. The thing is that it was possible to key in any address and see whether a particular property was a high user relative to other properties. Nearly every address I looked at was a "high user". So, it looked to me that the CCC was being quite deceptive in its categorisation to drive up the revenue grab.
what's the CCC definition of high user?
The high user rate definition is on the CCC website and is at a rate above the average daily user rate in Christchurch. Edit: The average household user rate is currently 700 litres per day so above this would trigger a high user charge.
Search for CCC water user charges (can't post links on my mobile sorry).
A slightly less sensational follow up piece in Stuff / Press this morning.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/131514570/household-in-christchurch-faces-1600-bill-for-using-too-much-water
The largest consumer got a bill for $1600,
There's three sides to high water use, leaks, prats, (both are a spectrum), and people who need / want more water and are happy to pay for it.
Leaks can be insidious things that can cost a considerable amount of time and resources to find and remedy. 12,000 litres / day (8.3 litres / minute) is quite a small flow, so a quiet hose, or a continuous dripper system. If it's leakage you could chew through well over $1600 trying to find it, and may not be just one leak.
The prats think water is an entitlement, as much as they want, and cost socialised oner the whole community. Generally they are retired, pakeha, and in big scheme not that wealthy, just think they are. They would vote right and are the ones who get off their bikes about water meters. They probably bought shares in the power companies when they were sold off, and strangely would buy shares in any water infrastructure utilities that may be floated. Without saying it they hate 3Waters because it might take that opportunity away. I've got / had a few of them on the schemes I manage and have spent a long time getting inside their heads. It ebbs and flows but slowly the world moves forward.
Then there's those that understand that infrastructure to supply water has initial and ongoing costs and are happy to pay for those in proportion to their demand on the system. These people are generally engaged, co-operative and a delight to work with. They are also the vast majority of the people I deal with.
Pablo putting things into perspective again.
https://www.kiwipolitico.com/2023/03/the-return-to-big-wars/
“It remains to be seen how long New Zealand’s foreign policy elite fully comprehend what their military commanders are telling them about what is on the strategic horizon. They may well still cling to the idea that they can trade preferentially with the PRC, stay out of Russian inspired conflicts and yet receive full security guarantees from its Anglophone partners. But if they indeed think that way, they are in for an unpleasant surprise because one way or another NZ will be pulled into the next Big War whether it likes it or not.”
I would hope he understands that the purpose of containment (Cold War) is to prevent a Big War, not start one.
And until any war with China, the USA, UK, Canada, Oz, EU, South Korea, Japan and ASEAN will all be trading with China.
All "full security guarantees" means is there is being seen as one of the team or not being seen as part of the team (and implication as to being in the loop on intelligence and security briefings*). For example there is the Quad and at one point Rudd pulled Oz out of the Quad. Of course the current Labour PM of Oz has gone Quad + with the basing of foreign subs (UK and USA) in Perth – freedom of the seas and all that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrilateral_Security_Dialogue
*there is an undercurrent of being at risk of Rainbow Warrior events or mysterious IT attacks if not under protection, fear and gang security patches.
PS “stay out of Russian inspired conflicts”, NATO has not acted because no member was attacked (and the nuke armed status of the cornered rat state of Putin) and the UN has not acted because of the UNSC vetoes of Russia and China.
What he has left unsaid is the terrifying logic that to get to the outcomes described below (short – to the point – overwhelming force – break the enemies capabilities in the shortest time) the use of nuclear weapons are even more likely to be used.