Even simple steps in going green can have unexpected problems. Change wiring insulation to something soy-based, and rats are even happier to chew on it.
I gotta admit that when it comes to causing problems in new cars, it’s mostly just a “heh” moment for me. But if that problem spreads to wiring in buildings … well … vermin-damaged wiring is already a significant cause of fires with nasty toxic PVC insulation, so making the insulation more snackable is a definite worry.
Good to hear, take a stand NZ and remove the Israeli ambassador, through all the carnage during the conflicts of 2014, john key did diddly squat about it.
Meanwhile, Israel is celebrating today and those in Gaza are burying their dead (including children) the hospitals in Gaza are currently at breaking point.
Do we have an ambassador in Israel? I see that South Africa and Turkey have removed theirs.
Meanwhile the US has vetoed a UN call for an independent investigation into the cause of the Gaza killings.
Mind you we all know what caused it…
Some stupid prick had the bright idea that he should move the US Embassy to Jerusalem – I mean what could possibly go wrong? Now I hear 7 Republican Governors have endorsed him for a Peace Prize!
If, and it’s a big if, Trump’s payback by the Israelis for dropping the Iran deal and moving the embassy to Jerusalem is for them to cease all settlement building immediately then he deserves a nomination.
“Let’s call for restraint on both sides given where we’re at”.
So No Bridges wants the Palestinians to stop throwing rocks and the Israelis to stop killing people with shots from high-powered sniping rifles, reportedly to the head and genitals.
on the subject of rnz…
i have sworn off ‘the panel’ for a while now, however, while in the workshop yesty, my i pod went flat.
so i tuned into rnz, just in time to hear david farrar, excuse,diminish and celebrate the goings on in palestine.
i eventually calmed myself down from both the comments and the way an opposing point of view (allie jones from christchurch) was interupted.
it then became open season on the government performance for the national party pollster, advisor and princess party organiser. he was joined by a commenter who seemed to to be singing from the same songsheet.
i get the government is due to get criticised, but by a person holding such vile opinions is getting too much for me.
No I don’t agree with Farrar’s opinion re the current deaths in palestine.
I also didn’t agree with Jones views on the same show on Labour’s lack of preparedness when coming into govenment.
But I do agree with their right to express their opinions; even though I don’t agree with them.
This is an enduring principle of democracy, like all of the others; and one that is not time bound. Or do you consider this principle (and others) to be ‘so last century’. If so how do justify calling yourself a ‘democrat’? If in fact you do.
But I do agree with their right to express their opinions;
I don’t when those ‘opinions’ are manifestly wrong and supporting Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians is manifestly wrong on a public broadcast. There is neither right nor logic to Israel’s slaughter.
To paraphrase J M Barrie: Every time a National/ACT supporter says “silly little girl” somewhere a little girl resolves to never, ever, ever vote for them.
Being killed in Palestine, Being killed in Yarmouk refugee camp, being killed in Latakia refugee camp, dying in the Mediterranean
The International Organization for Migration has called the Mediterranean “by far the world’s deadliest border,” as more than 33,000 migrants have died at sea trying to enter Europe since 2000.
For an authentic voice on the crisis in Palestine you won’t get anywhere else in New Zealand.
Ramzy Baroud New Zealand Tour
AUCKLAND: FRIDAY 18 MAY
9:35am: Listen to 95bFM radio for Mikey Havoc’s live studio interview with Ramzy Baroud
10:30am book signing event at UBIQ Auckland University Bookshop, 2 Alfred Street, Student Commons (off Princes Street, City.)
AUCKLAND: SATURDAY 19 MAY
Ramzy will speak at the Nakba Rally, 2pm Aotea Square, Queen St, CBD.
AUCKLAND: SUNDAY 20 MAY
Free public talk: 7pm Freemans Bay Community Hall, 52 Hepburn St, Auckland.
HAMILTON: MONDAY 21 MAY
Free public talk: 7pm: Wintec, Room A2.05, City Campus, Hamilton.
Access via Gate 3 or Gate 2 on Tristram Street. Free parking.
WELLINGTON: TUESDAY 22 MAY
Book signing from 12pm to 1pm: Vic Books, Easterfield Building, 1 Kelburn Parade, Wellington 6012. enquiries@vicbooks.co.nz
WELLINGTON: TUESDAY 22 MAY
Evening event: 6pm Free Public talk: St Andrews on the Terrace, 30 The Terrace, Wellington City 6011. (Wellington event book sales by Vic Books)
CHRISTCHURCH: WEDS 23 MAY
Free public talk: 7pm Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral, 234 Hereford St, Christchurch 8011
DUNEDIN: THURSDAY 24 MAY
Free public talk: 5:15pm Burns 2 Lecture theatre, Ground Floor Arts Building, Albany Street, University of Otago.
When the crimes of the Holocaust are discussed, the discussion almost immediately becomes two pronged: one of the Holocaust as a despicable crime against humanity, which should be duly remembered, as not to be repeated against any other nation, and the memory of those who perished in that most dreadful time in history also be recalled. But there is also another Holocaust discussion, one that is hardly concerned with the plight of humanity and the dignity of people. It’s not about remembrance and is scarcely pertinent to issues concerning human rights. The second reference to the Holocaust is always used in political contexts, often infused to justify vile human rights violations against other nations, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese, and utilized as a pretext to infringe about the sovereignty of other nations, like Iraq, and now Iran.
I wonder where you got your (apparently false) impression from. Care to share who’s been duping you?
Kieren Read echoes the entire country’s thoughts on the Christchurch rebuild. He says the lack of progress on an indoor stadium reflects the lack of progress in Christchurch. John Key, Bingles and the previous National government crowed about the Christchurch rebuild being one of their crowning achievements. They said Christchurch would never stand alone.
The reality of National governments sucks eh, Christchurch.
Gerry Brownlee, the incompetent nincompoop who was appointed “Tsar” of Christchurch is primarily, obsessed with his own towering, but somehow also fragile, ego. His pathological levels of arrogance means he becomes becomes “incensed” at any criticism of his time in government, thinks he can pick and choose who talks to and dismiss anyone he doesn’t agree with with a maximum of condescending and patronising language.
His highly flawed character and refusal to listen to anyone who says anything he doesn’t like has made the rebuild of Christchurch a fiasco.
If the nats wanted to keep their base happy they could have poached a piece of stadium land in the cbd or very close to it after the quakes, and had people dreaming of a Lancaster Park of the future. Then they could have had the temporary stadium in the right place to start with instead of the middle of nowhere.
The temporary stadium cost $30 million, it needs some roofs at either end of the ground and the roofs on the sides need to be extended a bit. $40 million I reckon and you have a stadium that’s waterproof.
Which shows the problem with NZ as a whole, there are certain things a city needs like museums, art galleries etc to be considered a city and not just a collection of people living in the same general area (IMHO) so the Dunedin stadium is a good idea as its adds to the city
Given the DCC was running around trying to close community things like bowling clubs, the stadium was ill-considered – in fact if you’re looking for ill-conceived projects world wide, stadiums are second only to convention centers for not paying their way.
Sure they don’t pay their way but neither do a lot of things a city requires, like museums and art galleries, however the Dunedin stadium seems to be doing good at putting Dunedin on the map in a positive way
True PR
I was agin it, it seemed OTT but literally having a roof over the top – which made it expensive – was a rational measure considering Dunedin’s cold weather. And with the change in climate and weather drops etc it could be wise in any of the big cities.
We have to realise that tourism and performances are businesses and keep the money flowing. There has to be lots of things happening for employment and money circulation, we aren’t just cows and houses.
So Dunedin will find it keeps them on the map. Even if it is a base investment that needs subsidising, it will be the ginger that keeps other business fizzing.
The point is, both convention centres and stadiums are unlikely to pay their way even using indicators like SROI (Social return on Investment), whereas other facilities such as libraries, and local sports clubs (and perhaps museums and art galleries) would.
I agree with the convention centre but i’d argue that the importance of rugby and/or other sports (whether some on here like it or not) and musical acts are as important to a city as an art gallary
Rugby is of national significance, but perhaps the funding of local sports clubs and investment at grassroots level would be a better return on investment – both economically and socially.
(Coming from a rugby mad household, I have no love for the game myself, so I can’t be bothered having a look for any comparative studies. Might be worth having a look at though, in terms of funding stadiums or grassroots clubs)
The Dunedin Stadium is doing its job bringing in anchor events and tens of thousands of visitors. How one determines that it ‘pays its way’ or indeed whether it needs to is a bureaucratic equation explained here:
regardless of whether it turns out to be a net good, it was essentially a gift by rugby-loving councillors to the ORFU that turned into a badly-organised white elephant that still hasn’t had its true costs released. And apparently the concert sound can be hit-or-miss.
At least they’re finally getting in acts that started well after I was born, though. For the first several years it was like the same rich small-town businessmen who voted for it on council (some of them profiting from the land sale) had their personal spotify playlist as a booking guide.
But that’s all water under the bridge. There seems to be a bit more honest consultation regarding the waterfront redevelopment.
Indeed not all Dunedin.
My household pays Dunedin, Otago, and Wanaka rates into that stadium, and there’s one side of my household that will not visit the ForsythBarr stadium on principle. There’s no pleasing such (ahem) people.
I have a mate who just won’t STFU about how awful the plan was. As in almost every mention of the DCC or whatever brings a snide comment about the stadium.
I’m tempted to watch Frozen just so I know the song “let it go” lol
edit:
although on the other side, when the most recent hotel was declined ISTR a letter to the editor moaning that we didn’t get a smelter at Aramoana, either. Whingers have looooong memories 🙂
What on earth did Bowling Clubs have to do with the City Council?
Surely the Council didn’t own the land and provide the workers to maintain the greens did they?
If not what the hell did it have to do with them? Bowling clubs may be dying but if the people who play it are willing to keep the clubs going at their expense what does it have to do with anyone else?
Both stuff and the herald have launched one of their bleeding hearts crusades against poverty. How long before they say “Job done, our conscience is salved for now, fuck the poor lets get back to pimping the property market”… ?
12yrs ago I rented a 3brm house in a fairly affluent suburb on the North Shore in Auck for $270 per week. No catches, it was advertised in the ‘paper and was the typical basic weatherboard ’70s house in tidy condition. The same house now would easily fetch $600 per week.
At 18 I was earning adult wage doing shift work in a factory. I was paid the absolute minimum award wage, take-home pay was $96 per week. I was flatting and four of us were renting a nice 4brd house in a reasonable suburb in Auck for $50 per week. A 3brm house could be rented for half the miminum (award) wage.
Why are there working poor? Because they’re being bled dry by extortionate rents. No-one wants to admit it because the solution to usury rents is to lower the price of houses and we can’t have that can we. So they just chuck the poor a few crumbs every now & then to shut them up for a while.
“The UST 10yr yield is now at 3.08%, up +9 bps on the American inflation prospect. The Chinese 10yr is at 3.72% (up +1 bp) while the New Zealand equivalent is at 2.77% (up +4 bps).”
Who thinks that having part ownership of a house and a mortgage of $400k is affordable and still live in Auckland ??
“There’s no way they could take on a $600,000 mortgage – a $400,000 mortgage, maybe, then you’d get a much bigger group of people.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12051840
The NZ dream of owning your own home has “officially” been declared dead and buried. Thanks you to BOTH Nats and Lab for policies that have led up to this.
It had initially promised to build houses for between $500,000 and $600,000. They will now be priced according to the number of bedrooms, and three-bedroom homes will be sold for $650,000 – higher than promised during the election.
No What was promised “The stand-alone KiwiBuild homes in Auckland will be priced at $500,000-$600,000 with apartments and TERRACED HOUSES UNDER $500,000. ” https://www.labour.org.nz/kiwibuild
I really feel for the current government, national left behind a huge mess, it’s like every day we learn more about the disaster of the last nine years.
The new government is doing everything they can. Looking forward to the budget tomorrow.
And “Amy Adams: Careless fiscal strategy will send nation into decline.”
A bit sad is Amy because she can only put out her plaintive Chicken Licken doom is nigh line as she struggles to be credible any more. A good example of unaccepting defeat.
@ Cinny, Yes but Rogernomics started it. Labour lit the fuse and National ignited it. Labour still find it hard to come to terms, that rogernomics and free trade and liberalisation has created the increasing inequality. All the government subsidies like WFF and accomodation allowance and all the handouts to developers isn’t working, because it is based on a profit model not a long term and practical social good model.
If the main driver of everything is low cost and profit and a business gets more rights as an entity than a person, an offshore person or business has the same rights as a Kiwi or a Kiwi business so someone who pays 50 cents an hour is competing against $16 p/h , then of course we are going to have leaky buildings, lowered wages and high house prices, increasing bio security risks, more pollution and drop to the bottom.
What National has done is despicable and the Ponzi scheme worked for a bit but the wheels are coming off. Labour is better but still suffer from similar ideology for the most part such as TPPA and PPP’s and a lack of analysis of what went wrong and why.
But providing financial support for families with children is nothing new and nothing to do with Neo-liberalism:
In 1946 universal family-benefit payments replaced means-tested family allowances, and each mother received some money each week to spend on her children. … Between 1945 and 1960 parents living on a mid-range wage with two children would receive through family benefit payments and income tax relief about 50% of what a single old-age pensioner received.
Yes but globalism and the rise of tax havens and use of vehicles to blur the assets someone owns, so rich can be poor, has changed the equation and criteria of who we should be supporting. See 14.1.1.
What is going to happen within one generation, if less and less people are actually working in NZ and more and more people qualify for welfare well beyond natural population growth.
Can’t see how your rant at 14.1.1 has any relevance to my point. If you actually read what i have quoted you will see that “in 1946 universal family-benefit payments replaced means-tested family allowances”, so wealthy people got this in the past. Likewise owning a house has never ruled someone out of receiving the DPD.
You are just a xenophobe who gets all wound up when immigrants and the children of immigrants get the same allowances as the rest of us.
Well I do when the rest of us actually work and pay the taxes. The end result will no welfare at all if this abuse is allowed to continue. Obviously that’s fine if you are the ‘fake’ poor but less fine if you are the ‘real’ poor.
We are a country of only 4.5 million people – where do you think the tipping point will be 1 million people accessing NZ welfare, 2 million, 3 million…
If there’s a progressive taxation system, there’s no reason 4.5million shouldn’t get some benefit if the math adds up.
Now, that’s a lot of math, and to my mind UBI proponents tend towards a bit of hand-waving in the gap ‘twixt money in and money out, but it’s a logical possibility that deserves more than a simple rhetorical escalation.
I don’t think you should call savenz names solkta.
The situation is difficult and there is no easy answer that will please everyone and it needs to be looked at from all perspectives. It might not please you to have one point looked at and questioned which you might favour. The same will apply to someone else and their preference.
The right way may put limits on you, or me but the hard work of thinking it through should be done by people who are concerned about we people. Otherwise things can get bad and all of a sudden it’s TINA and machine-minds from Treasury and haute finance impose their favourite theories.
Do you really think the current government weren’t able to work out from available information how much they would be able to build and sell “affordable” housing for?
Yes National did fuck all to control housing prices but Labour promised prices far below what could be achieved and as much as I hate to admit it I am pretty sure it was pointed out to them at the time.
Come on cinny all power to you been a COL supporter but don’t believe every thing your fed, judge government with an open mind on their actions and outcomes not words, inputs and excuses
Yeah but it’s like who knew the extent ChCh appeared to be screwed over by the last lot, or middlemore etc, for example, and did our new government have knowledge of those two big issues prior to the election?
And how about the cattle disease? Did the prior government know how much damage they had done by not doing enough and the cost of their negligence? Do they care?
I knew it would be bad, but dang I didn’t think it would be that bad.
It’s impossible to leave the current bubble intact and build truly affordable houses. The bubble precludes affordability for the majority.
Deflate the bubble by turning down the immigration tap and making owning houses you don’t live in yourself, and land that is rezoned as residential, really unattractive as investments.
2015-2017, comparatively recently – perhaps even since Serco years for those linked items.
Prisons have for some time been under pressure from poor overcrowded conditions and trying to cope with gang stresses
for some time. The state didn’t want to cope and are paying Serco to remove the problem to as great a distance as possible. Which they are doing but not well enough to keep the problem out of the limelight.
It is government that can improve things by getting rid of Serco and instituting single cells again, and not holding so many on bail. And possibly changing the whole arid sexless system, to one that goes for habilitation.
“Starting Wednesday, foreigners will pay the province a 20 percent tax on top of the listing value, up from 15 percent now, and a levy on property speculators will be introduced later this year, according to budget documents released Tuesday. The government will also crack down on the condo pre-sale market and beneficial ownership to ensure that property flippers, offshore trusts and hidden investors are paying taxes on gains.”
“The levy, she said, will also capture “satellite families” — a term with Chinese origins to describe those families where the breadwinner remains in the home country while the children and spouse reside abroad to take advantage of educational and employment opportunities.”
Yes, but NZ is completely blind to what’s going on. One family is just bringing in more and more relatives under whatever weird rules NZ has. This is a real example of people I know living in Auckland – note they are NOT Chinese – it’s NOT just a Chinese issue.
Wealthy family arrive in NZ with 3 children under some investor category about 20 years ago both not speaking English and buy up some property. Husband leaves NZ and wife files for ‘abandonment’ and goes on DPB with 2 children even though she has a million dollar house. Husband takes other child back to home country. NZ Children grow up as NZ citizens with dual passports and go to university here. They marry and new partners get NZ citizenship and they leave to get good jobs overseas while buying up property in NZ. Aged parents arrive in NZ to look after grandkids and can get residency. The child that went back with Father as a child, comes to NZ not speaking English with new partner and has two kids and they get residency and access WFF and various government welfare for their low wage job and they bring over their aged parents to look after the kids.
So now we somehow have a family who have been on NZ social welfare all their lives while being uber wealthy and working offshore, and at this stage we have 4 aged parents, the main person who originally got residency who never worked and was on the DPB living in the million dollar house who now will get super as well, and 3 adult kids, 3 adult partners of which only one works in NZ (the one that did not get educated in NZ and has a low wage job and gets WFF stayed in NZ) and the other two tertiary educated in NZ are offshore workers and their two young children going to school here.
All their assets are in companies so apparently they own nothing.
That’s just one family where one family that has never worked in NZ, is now somehow about 20+ people with marriages etc, who have accessed NZ welfare systems most of their lives and buy property here without ever working here! They need to urgently tighten up the laws!
Just how is anything “exposed”.
Suppose I simply reproduced this but claimed that the people were, say, “Pacific Islanders” but gave no real evidence would you jump in and say we should keep out all Pacific Islanders from coming here?
Such a story, without names doesn’t actually expose anything.
The difference up until 20 years ago it was much harder and more expensive to travel and people were not getting divorced at the drop of a hat. People don’t even marry now, they have multiple relationships and children through their lifetime with different partners.
It’s a whole new society now and the tax laws and residency laws are still working on 1 migrant comes and works in NZ and marries one person and has 2 kids that they support..like 20 years ago, no longer happening in society…
@alwyn. No it is NOT Pacific Islanders, it’s an Asian country – not China – but now the 2nd generation have married native Chinese then their Chinese parents and relatives can also come into NZ under what ever weird loop hole there is.
Does it really matter what race they are, satellite families is a recent world wide issue, that needs to be addressed as it is disproportionally affecting NZ as we have a low population.
Even the voting rights for example when you have more people not living in a country or even speaking the language but have full voting rights and able to access family welfare in NZ on a large scale through marriages etc.
Surely it should be of concern whether you are a righty or a lefty?
It’s one thing to be a migrant and for what ever reason you are poor but you battle on in NZ and may need to access welfare. But to be rich get all the benefits of NZ society without paying taxes, and NZ allows it to be a place to send your relatives who are poorly educated to work and access welfare top ups, free health, super and gold cared for your elderly relatives who don’t work and free health, education and so forth for all your children who don’t work, who when becoming successful go overseas.
How will a capital gains or higher taxes tax those people? They pay no taxes so higher taxes doesn’t work and they can avoid capital gains by putting the houses and assets into individual names of relatives as their primary residence.
So any new taxes enable those satellite families to become richer while taxing tax resident families more and giving more voting rights to them to continue.
@Alwyn – also Pacific Islanders have low population in their country so are hardly going to create a massive social change in NZ within a few decades which is currently happening. They have historically worked in NZ when they come here and retire back in the Pacific, I don’t think they really fit the profile of what is happening with the rise of satellite families mostly from Asia that clearly is hitting Canada for example.
Pacific Islanders are also are not generally buying up million dollar houses for their relatives to live in NZ or leaving them empty, so not creating a shortage of houses and a market for larger houses that cost more or have a government political strategy to execute here.
Canada’s plan to tax foreign investors is already working
HOUSE prices in Toronto have fallen dramatically after a new tax on foreign investors was introduced. Should Australia follow suit?
“Announcing the measure, the government of British Columbia said the tax was intended to help cool the province’s booming property market, where demand from foreign investors — many from China — had increased the cost of a detached home some 39 per cent in just 12 months.
“There is evidence now that suggests that very wealthy foreign buyers have raised the price of housing for people in British Columbia,” the province’s premier Christy Clark said at the time.
“The foreign buyer tax is intended to make sure we can keep home ownership within the reach of the middle class.
Can you please explain what a tax on foreign investors in British Columbia has to do with supposedly massive house price falls in Toronto?
Toronto is in Ontario and is about 4,000 km East of Vancouver. If house prices in Vancouver fell when a tax is introduced while at the same time prices fell even more in Toronto without such a tax surely it provides no evidence at all that the tax does any good?
Do you think that the person who wrote this doesn’t actually have any idea at all about the Geography of Canada?
I’m sure they meant Vancouver.
BC have introduced a tax on foreign investors, and yes it is having the desired effect of:
a. bringing house prices down and
b. stopping the crazy practice of investing in houses for monetary gain. Like the dutch and their tulip bulbs.
I visited Vancouver in 2014 and was amazed to see rows of houses boarded up – this was before the fall when Canadians board up their houses for the winter. These apparently were all investment houses bought by foreign investors and left empty – to be on sold later for Capital gain. Vancouver’s housing market (like Auckland’s Melbourne’s and Sydney’s) was going through the roof at the time. Vancouver was also experiencing the same problems with increasing homelessness, as locals – no longer able to afford the skyrocketing rentals from a reducing housing stock (the houses were being bought up and left empty) were forced out of their homes.
I understand that those overseas investors are now targeting Toronto. So I guess Ontario will be forced to follow BC’s lead and introduce a tax as well.
I’m really concerned about this idea of an interest free loan to first home buyers because of a number of reasons all to do with inflaming house price and rent extortion further.
If they do this it should go to people shut out if social housing due to disability needs not being met.
…but if its free, why wouldn’t you want it? Surely you cannot discriminate who you give free stuff to. It’s either free for all, nothing is free for anyone.
Finance wouldn’t be needed or considered for the real strugglers if there were more state housing for them. Stop playing around with the problem government. Provide plain but reasonable living accommodation and run it to some standards, with advantages for keeping to them, and loss of privileges for not.
One part of the problem is that some of the lowest strugglers aren’t coping at any level, and no-one is going to take them in, they need pastoral care. For the really poor and needy people have concrete apartments up to 3 stories high, two apartments of two bedrooms each at each level. These can be available for those who haven’t learned to manage their lives without drunkenness and kicking walls in etc. Give them somewhere to live, and then give them pastoral care to help them make their lives in a self-respecting way.
I lived in a concrete apartment block in Melbourne. Good, and strong, fit for the purpose of rental.
Finance is easier to magic into existence than 100,000 homes. The latter takes time, the former can be implemented within weeks of announcement if not sooner.
Doesn’t make it the right thing to do. In fact, it provides nothing at all in terms of living quarters for those unable to find a place to sleep tonight. Might as well focus on the right issue, and solve that, instead of identifying another instance and making a token gesture.
Agree. Yet that is the first horse from the gate, and gives an indication that housing is about getting the middle class into owning homes rather than recognising the real crisis is that many cannot find somewhere to live, renting or otherwise.
The fiscal responsibility restriction that they have committed themselves to is only part of the problem. I would like the government to indicate that they recognise the housing crisis is a crisis for more than just the disappointed home buyers. And this action keeps feeding the inflationary nature of house prices in NZ.
ISTR that they’re also building houses and making housingnz a housing provider rather than a profit generating exercise. I believe they’ve stopped the housing sell off and have committed to increasing the HNZ stock.
But as I said, finance is the easy to do quickly. So they’ve done that too.
The day before the budget. The budget which will signify the beginning of the transformation of our great country from the corporate run shit box it is today, to a truly wonderful country that works together for all.
The budget to end poverty and homelessness.
The budget to end the underfunding of schools and hospitals.
The budget to end corporate greed.
The budget to end the hopeless situation our working poor have been in for the past 9 years.
I am very very excited about what tomorrow will start.
To clarify PR – I don’t think tomorrow will result in ending all those issues, but it will show a change of direction which will begin the process of eliminating those things.
“Tax hikes imposed or announced under the Labour Government have hurt the poorest the most, and it is planning more regressive taxes in the years to come.”
Thanks for pointing out the article, ankerawshark.
Let’s have a look at Jacinda’s spin from the article.
The criticism being offered, Ardern continued, implies that all those families smoked. “The reference to excise [tax on petrol] if we’re talking about someone in regional New Zealand, would amount to 3 cents [per litre] Does $75 dollars [per week] make up for that? Yes, it does.”
First off, re the number of low income smokers, it was reported in the same article that it sits at around 30 to 40%. So on top of the 3 cents per litre, 30 to 40 percent will be impacted by tax increases on tobacco.
Now lets look at the 3 cents per litre claim.
Jacinda overlooked (intentionally or not) that the prices of all goods and services will also be impacted as the burden of the 3 cents per litre increase will be passed on. Will the $75 on average be enough to offset that?
Additionally, those struggling that don’t have kids or their kids are now adults don’t get to receive a Families Package. So there is no offsetting for them.
Next, lets look at the winter energy payment. They seem to be a front runner for what the Government has in the pipeline – see link provided below.
From the link below. “The industry’s solution is for taxpayers to subsidise electricity purchases by the poor, thereby underwriting the electricity industry’s profits in the same way as the Accommodation Supplement has enabled landlords to hold up rents.
“Woods duly refers to ‘the wider context of supporting New Zealanders to afford their energy bills'”
Respect for workers, even skilled ones, comes second to squeezing the utmost out of them and reducing labour costs, boosting profits. Even for air traffic controllers who keep us safe, and keep the height of confidence in airlines and airports high, so also keeping their share prices high.
Solo controllers take ”creative ways” to relieve themselves while managing air traffic
(And greedy share market expectations for high returns not met because of investment in business development cause a drop in A2 milk shares for that reason. They don’t want to invest in a solid forward-looking good business, they just want to spin the roulette wheel winning all the way.)
I wonder how much the Government Super Fund, now operating under their investment orders from the Government, have got invested in A2?
Actually, however much it is it would still be a better investment than putting money into the Auckland tram system that Goff and Genter are so keen on throwing money at. That will prove to be a good way to lose the lot.
The offending, which saw a huge amount of untreated dairy effluent put into the Manganui River, which feeds into the Wairoa River and the Kaipara Harbour was described as “blatant, ongoing and serious”, with one of the farms being “awash with dairy effluent”, resulting in “gross contamination”.
And this is why it keeps happening:
The companies agreed to provide all the requested information but only provided some. What it did provide revealed that the companies had no remaining assets.
The accountant said if there were any funds they were likely to be in other companies or trusts related to the Websters, and access to these funds would be “very unlikely”.
Property records show that the Clear Ridge farm sold for $4.56 million in January, 2016, but there is no record of when the farm owned by Beejay Stud property was sold, or the sale price.
They’ve done the crime, admitted to it even, and then structured their finances in such a way so as not to pay.
This is why the government needs to change the law so that the finances can be traced and all of it returned to the government. Leave these fuckers with nothing.
Agree strongly!, time and time again criminal acts which accrue large sums of $$ for the offenders fall into a hole when it comes to compensating victims or paying fines. Money is sequestered into trusts or other worm holes to different dimensions and after playing golf, doing a few courses or having adverse social talking points jewellery for a bit the crims still get to enjoy their ill gotten gains.
Quite rightly the police swoop on the likes of head hunters presidents etc and grab everything as proceeds of crimes (act) leaving it to the offenders to prove from whence all the toys came from.
Maybe it’s time the same tactics were employed on farmers like these two, and other white collar crims still enjoying being broke but driving the trusts bimmer and living in the trusts Parnell digs.
Do you feel the same way about the attempts of King Salmon to get the tax-payer to pay for cleaning up the mess they are making in the Marlborough Sounds?
As far as I can see the company is causing the mess, and has plenty of money to fix it.
What the hell are those bludgers up to? I like their product but I don’t see why I, as a taxpayer, should have to clean up after them.
Still I imagine Shane Jones will kick in from the slush fund. Winston likes seafood companies. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/357367/thousand-tonnes-of-dead-fish-poses-problem-for-king-salmon
Well, almost – it’s more looking for a better way of disposing of waste and turning it into a product, rather than just cleaning it up.
So a 50/50 investment by the government would generate more tax revenue over time than was spent, rather than it simply being cleaning up after companies that ran cheap to strip profit and then wound up assetless before they got held to account.
But without looking more closely at the situation it’s difficult to tell whether the delays if the company doesn’t get the govt cash are real cashflow constraints, or just a bit of hopeful accounting looking for a subsidy.
King Salmon should build a fishmeal plant, that would take care of it.
Climate change strikes again, those rising sea temperatures, dead fish, high priced salmon, strains on those restaurants who use their product, due to inconsistency in availability, least that’s the word on the street.
Warning sounded over China’s ‘debtbook diplomacy’
Academics identify 16 countries loaned billions that they can’t afford to repay
“China’s methods were “remarkably consistent”, the report said, beginning with infrastructure investments under its $1tn belt and road initiative, and offering longer term loans with extended grace periods, which was appealing to countries with weaker economies and governance.
Construction projects, which the report said had a reputation for running over budget and yielding underwhelming returns, make debt repayments for the host nations more difficult.
“The final phase is debt collection,” it said. “When countries prove unable to pay back their debts, China has already and is likely to continue to offer debt-forgiveness in exchange for both political influence and strategic equities.”
Yes you can vote an administration out.Unfortunately you can not vote the debt out.Private bondholders especially are insistent and persistant in wanting their pound of flesh.
Maybe we should learn a trick or two from our national bird, and use camouflage against super powers…
the reality of what happens to natives, have a look at what’s happened over the years to our native birds – marooned onto smaller and smaller places like Tiritiri Matangi Island …
Dr Roger Blakeley is a former Secretary for the Environment. Bob Norman is a former Commissioner of Works. Alex Gray is a professional civil engineer and Senior Project Manager. Keith Flinders is an Electrical Services Consultant.
4 Points –
1. Costs of Diesel v Electric Locomotives.
2. Reliability and Time performance
3. Greenhouse gas emissions
4. Towards Full Electrification of the North Island Main Trunk
Dr Blakely was also the chief planning officer for Auckland Council to help negotiate it through the Unitary Plan process, after he had worked with Porirua District Council (IIRC), noted for it’s community planning processes.
I spoke to him at one of the last Auckland conversations I attended, and he said he was looking forward to going back to Wellington and working on national issues there.
TBH, reading the article it seems that Kiwirail (by continuing to misuse figures and conclusions found to be flawed) is positioning itself for a subsidy if the government decides to follow through on its transition policy. There may be another reason for such determined adherence to diesel, but I’m thinking that is probably the most likely.
Molly, as you say-follow the money. I wonder whether there are other money-driven motives in the deals which would be struck with the suppliers of the trains, as to whether they be electric or diesel.
Whatever it is, this debate has been going on for years about the diesel versus electric options, and also about the quality of the Chinese diesels. I just googled ‘trains purchase from China’ and got good media coverage. The issue is not new but may be for the new Minister.
When the Labour government is in power they spent a bit more on service and social services the people who receive this income don’t invest it in shears or property they spend it so the reality is a labour lead government allways gets more revenue flowing in our tax system that’s a fact. Ka kite ano.
Does the Govt have the money? Yes
EXPLAINER: Cutting through the spin on how much money the Government has to spend this year.
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...
It looks like the government has won over the public on its vehicle feebate scheme:A feebate scheme that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from buyers of higher-emission cars into the pockets of people buying EVs and other more fuel-efficient vehicles has been winning favour with submitters, the Government ...
When people suggest lowering the voting age, others argue that the young are too uneducated or silly to exercise the duties of citizenship. Australian John Quiggin has just blown that argument out of the water:Looking at the array of ignorant and vindictive old men attacking Greta Thunberg and other young ...
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Last night the police dramatically incresed their numbers at Ihumātao, shoving over protestors and threatening them with arrest. Despite police talk about the need to maintain "public order" and prevent a "breach of the peace", there appeared to be absolutely no justification for this: the protest camp is, was, and ...
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...
Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the ...
The Greens used their party conference over the weekend to push for a rent-to-own scheme, where people would be able to work towards home ownership by renting from the government. Its a sensible policy, and one which could make a real difference to home ownership rates. But its also basicly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Over the past fortnight, thousands of people have come to the Ihumātao land protest in South Auckland. On 23 July police prepared to evict a few dozen people who had maintained the encampment at Ihumātao for the past three years. As hundreds of supporters arrived the ...
The following article is translated from an article in Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of the French revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle). The United States’ blacklisting of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which took shape in Google’s ban on Huawei using its systems on its phones, marks a ...
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...
The Government’s decision to establish and independent Parliamentary Budget Office, outside of Treasury, is a taxpayer victory and will improve democracy, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ministry of Transport and used to advise Ministers on the Government’s Clean Car Standard and ‘Feebate’ policies has serious flaws which undermine justifications for the ...
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) welcomes new proposals for prison reform put forward by the Minister of Corrections and non-government organisations recently. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the nation to address all forms of racism and not to shy away from an honest conversation about where it’s taking hold. The call comes after the Nelson Club decided to keep a member after his comments became ...
Wellington (20 August 2019): The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw ...
Drs Say No agree with Chris Penk’s amendment to protect vulnerable patients from coercion, although the organisation still maintains that no safe euthanasia legislation can ever be drafted and continues to urge MPs to defeat the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says the Northland Regional Corrections Facility is persisting with policies that are preventing it from achieving its full potential. ...
The second national hui in the Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki concluded yesterday ahead of schedule after a capacity audience formally ratified the terms of reference that determines the scope and purpose of the independent investigation ...
Forest & Bird says WWF-NZ's plan for protecting Māui dolphins is based on testing unproven methods on a species that is almost extinct, and is urging the Government to reject the proposal. ...
Primary and intermediate school principals have voted to accept a new settlement from the Ministry of Education, which includes entrenched pay parity with secondary principals. ...
Police acknowledge the findings of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into the 2014 search of a property belonging to Nicky Hager. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the Police's unlawful search of Nicky Hager's property in October 2014 resulted from an unwitting neglect of duty and did not amount to misconduct by any individual officer. Police policy at the ...
Tuesday, August 20: Greenpeace has labeled an overnight announcement by fishing company Sanford as a danger to Māui and Hector’s dolphins, and is calling on the Government to reject the ‘Sanford Plan’ immediately. ...
World Animal Protection describes an overnight announcement (19 August, embargoed until 6am 20 August), by fishing company Sanford as a cynical move to undermine growing support for full habitat protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins. They called ...
When the combined tax on fuel hits over 50 percent in some parts of the country, it is hypocritical for the Government to blame corporates, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . ...
A leading expert in suicide prevention has urged MPs not to confuse suicide with assisted dying as they consider the second reading of the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
Over the weekend Māoridom arrived in the Waikato for the annual Koroneihana Celebrations. Yesterday almost 300 attended a Hui in Hamilton to continue the Oranga Tamariki Review led by an independent Māori panel to coincide with the Koroneihana. The Hui confirmed ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) says the newly issued ‘price list’ for compensation of banned firearms reveals that haste in preparing the ban has led to an underestimation of the number of affected firearms and their value. ...
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has admitted parts of the prison system are “extremely racist” and says that’s why the Government is asking Māori to work with it to make changes. ...
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
The Hōkai Rangi plan for reducing Māori reoffending announced today fails to fulfil the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations, says justice organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. Minister Kelvin Davis announced the plan this morning, which aims ...
Waatea News at the invitation of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency will exclusively broadcast the next Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki starting today at 1pm. ...
Staff at the Ministry of Social Development say they are enthusiastic about the government’s $54 million investment in housing the homeless, with many describing it as a welcome change. ...
Today posters have gone up outside ANZ branches across New Zealand to expose ANZ’s sponsorship of an exclusive oil industry group, ‘The Petroleum Club’. The satirical posters play on ANZ’s recent ad campaigns, replacing the banks’ tagline ‘healthy ...
Imagine a country where children look forward to walking or cycling to school, parents arrive home safely, and the journeys we take for work or pleasure do more than leave us alive or uninjured, they also improve our lives. This is happening now in countries ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National cries foul over parliamentary costing unit idea, Ngawha Prison heavily criticised in report, and fuel market study confirms prices are high.The government have announced a recommendation to create an official, independent parliamentary costing unit, reports the NZ Herald.The aim is to ...
Phil Goff and John Tamihere are into round 10 of 23 debates planned before the mayoral election in October, and they're punching hard, not resting on the ropes or pulling eachother into dull political clinches. ...
So who is Jennie Wyllie, thrust into the spotlight in New Zealand netball’s darkest hour, and now holding the key to the cabinet storing the sport’s three greatest prizes? ...
The fundamental problem with silver bullets is they permit a ‘business as usual’ approach to farming when that is neither ecologically sustainable nor economically desirable. ...
As Auckland attempts to encourage greener alternatives to car use, a huge new car park is rising beside Les Mills’ flagship inner-city gym. Josie Adams asks Les Mills CEO Phillip Mills how it tallies with the company’s clean, green brand.Les Mills Victoria Street has 12,000 members, and up to 700 ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Papua New Guinea’s EMTV news and current affairs manager Neville Choi has been sacked after six years of service in this role, triggering strong protests from staff in the country’s main television news service. EMTV staff called for the reinstatement of Choi and for the ...
The problem of political parties disputing each others costing was highlighted in the 2017 election and now an independent entity to ensure parties aren't fudging their figures is a step closer. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley L Garrett, Research Fellow, University of Sydney A small plane looped through the tranquil and cloudless Sydney sky today, spewing engine-heated liquid paraffin from its exhaust, creating puffy tracers. As people all over the city watched from rooftop bars, beach towels ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Howard, Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture You might picture a book club around your neighbour’s coffee table, or over beers at the local pub – but what if it took place in Parliament House? This is the question being asked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.What makes us cry? – Claudia, age 7.5, Victoria. Hi Claudia. Thank you for this very sensible ...
In the third episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Te Aroha Grace talks to host Russell Brown about the Iwi Algorithm.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To download this episode right click and save.At ...
Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pultizer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad, a depiction of slavery and resistance in 19th century Georgia. Now he’s back with a similarly grim premise, following two boys through the horrors of a real-life reform school in Florida. Our reviewer is Aaron Smale, whose ...
Two recent scientific discoveries rocked us to our fossily core, but there’s a bigger, more shocking story to be told. Who are the silhouette people? Tara Ward finds out. It’s been a big month for bones. First, New Zealand scientists uncovered evidence that a giant parrot once roamed the country around ...
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, aerobics world champion and creator of Jump Jam, Brett Fairweather. Every New Zealander under the age of 30 knows at least one ...
Life in the wee hours could be made safer and better for business if New Zealand adopted the policies of cities such as Amsterdam, writes Natanael Rother.It would be insane to do the same thing over and over again and still expect different results. It’s a lesson those embroiled in ...
Stranger Things owns all the oxygen for period-piece teen TV, but Ireland’s impossibly charming Derry Girls deserves as much acclaim, writes Duncan Greive.There’s a reason why high school is the backdrop to so much fantastic television. That cusp between childhood and the adult world is ripe with dramatic possibility. Relationships ...
The Commerce Commission has released preliminary findings from its market study into the retail fuel market, finding it not as competitive as it could be. ...
We’ve become used to Samoan characters as peripheral bad guys. But from the tatau Sāmoa on his chest to his relationships with his aiga, Hobbs & Shaw showed us someone who is us. And he kicks arse.When I was growing up, there were hardly any Sāmoan or Polynesian faces on ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Māori prison strategy, prisoner voting 1News: Kelvin Davis admits parts of prison system ‘extremely racist’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Hopkins, Lecturer in conservation biology and microbial ecology, Edith Cowan University As most of the science community knows, the climate emergency is here now. Weather extremes such as droughts and heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity and are measurably exacerbated ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Krystian Seibert, Industry Fellow, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology Over the weekend, Prime Minister Scott Morrison launched a new assault on the campaigning group GetUp. At the Liberal Party’s state conference in Adelaide, he said GetUp needed to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist, University of Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How does our blood fight viruses like chicken pox, sickness and colds? – Teddy, 5, Oxfordshire, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Hemer, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO The rise in sea levels is not the only way climate change will affect the coasts. Our research, published today in Nature Climate Change, found a warming planet will also alter ocean waves ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute Inheritances can have an enormous impact on finances and lives. Yet in Australia we know surprisingly little about who gets them and how big they are. New Grattan Institute research provides some answers. Inheritances are big and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Pitt, PhD candidate, UNSW In April 2020, Australia will mark 250 years since James Cook sailed into Kamay (later known as Botany Bay) on the Endeavour, kicking off a series of events that resulted in the British arriving and staying uninvited ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Law changes likely over prison mail system, sharp drops in Northland vaccinations, and PM still has no plans to visit Ihumātao.Law changes are looking likely over what mail prisoners can send and receive. One News has reported on the announcement made by ...
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...
Open Mike 16/05/2018 
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...16 hours ago
Canada is having an election in the next few months, and (perhaps because their Prime Minister is so nice and reasonable) they have a party running on a platform of Trumpism and climate change denial. But there's a twist: the latter means that it will be illegal for anyone in ...20 hours ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...21 hours ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...3 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...3 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...4 days ago
5 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...5 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...6 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...7 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...7 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...7 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...7 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...7 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 7 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...1 week ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...1 week ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...1 week ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...3 weeks ago
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...3 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...14 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National cries foul over parliamentary costing unit idea, Ngawha Prison heavily criticised in report, and fuel market study confirms prices are high.The government have announced a recommendation to create an official, independent parliamentary costing unit, reports the NZ Herald. The aim is to ...19 mins ago
Phil Goff and John Tamihere are into round 10 of 23 debates planned before the mayoral election in October, and they're punching hard, not resting on the ropes or pulling eachother into dull political clinches. ...54 mins ago
Cut-price petrol company Gull wants the government to free up the wholesale fuel market to bring in genuine competition. ...55 mins ago
An environmental group floats ideas for protecting the Mackenzie Basin’s landscapes. ...1 hour ago
So who is Jennie Wyllie, thrust into the spotlight in New Zealand netball’s darkest hour, and now holding the key to the cabinet storing the sport’s three greatest prizes? ...2 hours ago
The fundamental problem with silver bullets is they permit a ‘business as usual’ approach to farming when that is neither ecologically sustainable nor economically desirable. ...2 hours ago
With fewer kākā beak plants in the wild than kākāpō, conservationists have been testing novel ways to hold the fort on extinction. ...2 hours ago
Australia have one hand on the Ashes, and two feet upon the moral high ground, after the second test match in England. ...2 hours ago
Should we worry about robots taking over? Not anytime soon, says the University of Auckland's Dr Craig Sutherland. ...2 hours ago
Heartbreaking stories of cancer sufferers who need expensive drugs are helped into the spotlight by the drug companies that will benefit. ...2 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Papua New Guinea’s EMTV news and current affairs manager Neville Choi has been sacked after six years of service in this role, triggering strong protests from staff in the country’s main television news service. EMTV staff called for the reinstatement of Choi and for the ...7 hours ago
Plans for an independent body to cost political policies seems sensible - Simon Bridges' opposition borders on dangerous. ...9 hours ago
Refugee leaders and advocacy groups call for an end to discriminatory refugee policy. ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley L Garrett, Research Fellow, University of Sydney A small plane looped through the tranquil and cloudless Sydney sky today, spewing engine-heated liquid paraffin from its exhaust, creating puffy tracers. As people all over the city watched from rooftop bars, beach towels ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Howard, Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture You might picture a book club around your neighbour’s coffee table, or over beers at the local pub – but what if it took place in Parliament House? This is the question being asked ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute It was a key plank of what was dubbed the most significant package of private health insurance reforms in more than a decade. From April 1 this year, private health insurers have been permitted to ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. What makes us cry? – Claudia, age 7.5, Victoria. Hi Claudia. Thank you for this very sensible ...14 hours ago
The Commerce Commission recommends taking aim at Z Energy, BP and Mobil to make the fuel market more competitive. ...15 hours ago
Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pultizer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad, a depiction of slavery and resistance in 19th century Georgia. Now he’s back with a similarly grim premise, following two boys through the horrors of a real-life reform school in Florida. Our reviewer is Aaron Smale, whose ...17 hours ago
Two recent scientific discoveries rocked us to our fossily core, but there’s a bigger, more shocking story to be told. Who are the silhouette people? Tara Ward finds out. It’s been a big month for bones. First, New Zealand scientists uncovered evidence that a giant parrot once roamed the country around ...17 hours ago
Life in the wee hours could be made safer and better for business if New Zealand adopted the policies of cities such as Amsterdam, writes Natanael Rother.It would be insane to do the same thing over and over again and still expect different results. It’s a lesson those embroiled in ...18 hours ago
Stranger Things owns all the oxygen for period-piece teen TV, but Ireland’s impossibly charming Derry Girls deserves as much acclaim, writes Duncan Greive.There’s a reason why high school is the backdrop to so much fantastic television. That cusp between childhood and the adult world is ripe with dramatic possibility. Relationships ...19 hours ago
Chris Gallavin followed in the footsteps of James K Baxter when he staged a spectacular poetry event on the Whanganui River. ...19 hours ago
Falling wool prices in Australia and New Zealand are being attributed to trade tensions between the US and China. ...20 hours ago
The Commerce Commission has released preliminary findings from its market study into the retail fuel market, finding it not as competitive as it could be. ...20 hours ago
Mercury Energy has made a record annual profit as it generated more geothermal power and charged higher spot prices. ...20 hours ago
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Hopkins, Lecturer in conservation biology and microbial ecology, Edith Cowan University As most of the science community knows, the climate emergency is here now. Weather extremes such as droughts and heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity and are measurably exacerbated ...23 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist, University of Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. How does our blood fight viruses like chicken pox, sickness and colds? – Teddy, 5, Oxfordshire, ...23 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute Inheritances can have an enormous impact on finances and lives. Yet in Australia we know surprisingly little about who gets them and how big they are. New Grattan Institute research provides some answers. Inheritances are big and ...23 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Pitt, PhD candidate, UNSW In April 2020, Australia will mark 250 years since James Cook sailed into Kamay (later known as Botany Bay) on the Endeavour, kicking off a series of events that resulted in the British arriving and staying uninvited ...23 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Law changes likely over prison mail system, sharp drops in Northland vaccinations, and PM still has no plans to visit Ihumātao.Law changes are looking likely over what mail prisoners can send and receive. One News has reported on the announcement made by ...1 day ago
Pharmac’s model and budget is under intense scrutiny, as the Government prepares to announce its interim cancer action plan. ...1 day ago
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...1 day ago
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...1 day ago
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...1 day ago
Anna Rawhiti-Connell has no desire to see any further degradation of the news media in New Zealand, but something has to change. ...1 day ago
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...1 day ago
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...1 day ago
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...1 day ago
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...1 day ago
Even simple steps in going green can have unexpected problems. Change wiring insulation to something soy-based, and rats are even happier to chew on it.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/05/07/rats-love-car-wiring-soy-based-insulation/588638002/
I gotta admit that when it comes to causing problems in new cars, it’s mostly just a “heh” moment for me. But if that problem spreads to wiring in buildings … well … vermin-damaged wiring is already a significant cause of fires with nasty toxic PVC insulation, so making the insulation more snackable is a definite worry.
Israeli war criminals still not being held to account by the media.
It wasn’t a clash.
It was a massacre.
Stop lying media.
Stop lying.
Headlines in the Herald!
New Zealand roundly condemns Israeli action in Gaza and calls in Israel’s ambassador for dressing down!
Nah, only kidding. We’d never do something so morally uplifting, would we?
I refuse to read that scum rag.
Roundly condemned, yes.
New Zealand to call in Israeli ambassador over Gaza deaths, yes.
You were saying?
Well, knock me down with a feather!
Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon! Well done, this government.
Good to hear, take a stand NZ and remove the Israeli ambassador, through all the carnage during the conflicts of 2014, john key did diddly squat about it.
Meanwhile, Israel is celebrating today and those in Gaza are burying their dead (including children) the hospitals in Gaza are currently at breaking point.
Do we have an ambassador in Israel? I see that South Africa and Turkey have removed theirs.
Those two bastions of
democracy
No doubt you were an avid supporter of apartheid South Africa and cheered on as the racist regime massacred people at Sharpeville and Soweto.
Amazing you can defend the actions of the Israelis.
Comtemptible.
Tuppence will be an immigrant pom of the Thatcher loving type. He’ll think apartheid benefitted blacks and ended too soon.
Meanwhile the US has vetoed a UN call for an independent investigation into the cause of the Gaza killings.
Mind you we all know what caused it…
Some stupid prick had the bright idea that he should move the US Embassy to Jerusalem – I mean what could possibly go wrong? Now I hear 7 Republican Governors have endorsed him for a Peace Prize!
If, and it’s a big if, Trump’s payback by the Israelis for dropping the Iran deal and moving the embassy to Jerusalem is for them to cease all settlement building immediately then he deserves a nomination.
I doubt that will be the case though.
No Trump’s payback will be a theme park next to a Trump hotel like the one in Indonesia.
https://thinkprogress.org/white-house-chinese-financing-trump-project-violate-constitution-76456a21225a/
“Let’s call for restraint on both sides given where we’re at”.
So No Bridges wants the Palestinians to stop throwing rocks and the Israelis to stop killing people with shots from high-powered sniping rifles, reportedly to the head and genitals.
Well throwing rocks doesn’t seem to be working out too well does it greysie.
They don’t have much else to throw.
And expected someone treated like that to throw nothing is as callous as treating them like that in the first place.
Nothing callous about it. That makes no sense. Thinking you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs would be callous.
Did you just call 58 dead “eggs”?
Your point is? You seem to have missed mine.
My point is that hamas isn’t averse to creating victims greysie.
Radio New Zealand please explain why you repeat the pr of dairy farming as news.
on the subject of rnz…
i have sworn off ‘the panel’ for a while now, however, while in the workshop yesty, my i pod went flat.
so i tuned into rnz, just in time to hear david farrar, excuse,diminish and celebrate the goings on in palestine.
i eventually calmed myself down from both the comments and the way an opposing point of view (allie jones from christchurch) was interupted.
it then became open season on the government performance for the national party pollster, advisor and princess party organiser. he was joined by a commenter who seemed to to be singing from the same songsheet.
i get the government is due to get criticised, but by a person holding such vile opinions is getting too much for me.
Go and have a nice cup of tea then if its all too much for you..
I listened too, and Allie Jones, representing the red team, was just as strong in presenting her point of view.
Its called debate where you contest ideas. This is what happens in a democracy. I presume you believe in democracy?
ha ha ha, believe in democracy.. excellent.
thigh slapping stuff.
i will take democracy without the lies, spin, lobbying and obfuscation thanks.
your view of red and blue, as ‘views’ is so last century.
do you agree with and share farrar’s view of the most recent deaths in palestine?
No I don’t agree with Farrar’s opinion re the current deaths in palestine.
I also didn’t agree with Jones views on the same show on Labour’s lack of preparedness when coming into govenment.
But I do agree with their right to express their opinions; even though I don’t agree with them.
This is an enduring principle of democracy, like all of the others; and one that is not time bound. Or do you consider this principle (and others) to be ‘so last century’. If so how do justify calling yourself a ‘democrat’? If in fact you do.
I don’t when those ‘opinions’ are manifestly wrong and supporting Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians is manifestly wrong on a public broadcast. There is neither right nor logic to Israel’s slaughter.
….he was joined by a commenter who seemed to to be singing from the same songsheet. “He” being David Farrar.
And by sheer chance (?) the guest commenter was Farrar’s favourite journalist, Richard Harman.
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/05/why_richard_harman_is_the_best_political_journalist_in_nz.html
To paraphrase J M Barrie: Every time a National/ACT supporter says “silly little girl” somewhere a little girl resolves to never, ever, ever vote for them.
Sanctuary …100+++++
We could do an add like the “a little girl waits” ad”…………
Being killed in Palestine, Being killed in Yarmouk refugee camp, being killed in Latakia refugee camp, dying in the Mediterranean
The International Organization for Migration has called the Mediterranean “by far the world’s deadliest border,” as more than 33,000 migrants have died at sea trying to enter Europe since 2000.
http://syriadirect.org/news/history-is-repeating-itself-for-palestinian-refugees-displaced-for-second-time-in-south-damascus-evacuations/
“Gaza bleeds alone as liberals and progressives go mute”
Ramzy Baroud May 2, 2018
“Ramzy Baroud: bringing the voices of Palestine to NZ”
Kia Ora Gaza May 8, 2018
‘A horrific situation’: Dozens killed as US opens Jerusalem embassy
Ramzy Baroud May 15, 2018
For an authentic voice on the crisis in Palestine you won’t get anywhere else in New Zealand.
Ramzy Baroud New Zealand Tour
AUCKLAND: FRIDAY 18 MAY
9:35am: Listen to 95bFM radio for Mikey Havoc’s live studio interview with Ramzy Baroud
10:30am book signing event at UBIQ Auckland University Bookshop, 2 Alfred Street, Student Commons (off Princes Street, City.)
AUCKLAND: SATURDAY 19 MAY
Ramzy will speak at the Nakba Rally, 2pm Aotea Square, Queen St, CBD.
AUCKLAND: SUNDAY 20 MAY
Free public talk: 7pm Freemans Bay Community Hall, 52 Hepburn St, Auckland.
HAMILTON: MONDAY 21 MAY
Free public talk: 7pm: Wintec, Room A2.05, City Campus, Hamilton.
Access via Gate 3 or Gate 2 on Tristram Street. Free parking.
WELLINGTON: TUESDAY 22 MAY
Book signing from 12pm to 1pm: Vic Books, Easterfield Building, 1 Kelburn Parade, Wellington 6012. enquiries@vicbooks.co.nz
WELLINGTON: TUESDAY 22 MAY
Evening event: 6pm Free Public talk: St Andrews on the Terrace, 30 The Terrace, Wellington City 6011. (Wellington event book sales by Vic Books)
CHRISTCHURCH: WEDS 23 MAY
Free public talk: 7pm Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral, 234 Hereford St, Christchurch 8011
DUNEDIN: THURSDAY 24 MAY
Free public talk: 5:15pm Burns 2 Lecture theatre, Ground Floor Arts Building, Albany Street, University of Otago.
Thanks Jenny
+1
Malcolm Evans
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Screen-Shot-2018-05-15-at-9.40.43-PM-768×502.png
Allowing holocaust deniers into New Zealand as they’re Palestinian supporters?
This is a new low
You’re saying Ramzy Baroud is a holocaust denier? Why?
Does this sound like Holocaust denial?
I wonder where you got your (apparently false) impression from. Care to share who’s been duping you?
Defending the massacre of unarmed civilians.
Shameful.
Kieren Read echoes the entire country’s thoughts on the Christchurch rebuild. He says the lack of progress on an indoor stadium reflects the lack of progress in Christchurch. John Key, Bingles and the previous National government crowed about the Christchurch rebuild being one of their crowning achievements. They said Christchurch would never stand alone.
The reality of National governments sucks eh, Christchurch.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2018/05/rugby-kieran-read-slams-lack-of-development-for-new-christchurch-stadium.html
Gerry Brownlee, the incompetent nincompoop who was appointed “Tsar” of Christchurch is primarily, obsessed with his own towering, but somehow also fragile, ego. His pathological levels of arrogance means he becomes becomes “incensed” at any criticism of his time in government, thinks he can pick and choose who talks to and dismiss anyone he doesn’t agree with with a maximum of condescending and patronising language.
His highly flawed character and refusal to listen to anyone who says anything he doesn’t like has made the rebuild of Christchurch a fiasco.
If the nats wanted to keep their base happy they could have poached a piece of stadium land in the cbd or very close to it after the quakes, and had people dreaming of a Lancaster Park of the future. Then they could have had the temporary stadium in the right place to start with instead of the middle of nowhere.
The temporary stadium cost $30 million, it needs some roofs at either end of the ground and the roofs on the sides need to be extended a bit. $40 million I reckon and you have a stadium that’s waterproof.
Dunedin is fine with it.
Dunedin has already established itself as the premier entertainment venue for sport and music in the South Island.
The Christchurch one won’t be seen for at least a decade.
In fact, but for the Christchurch disaster, Dunedin’s stadium project would have ended a few political careers.
Which shows the problem with NZ as a whole, there are certain things a city needs like museums, art galleries etc to be considered a city and not just a collection of people living in the same general area (IMHO) so the Dunedin stadium is a good idea as its adds to the city
Given the DCC was running around trying to close community things like bowling clubs, the stadium was ill-considered – in fact if you’re looking for ill-conceived projects world wide, stadiums are second only to convention centers for not paying their way.
Sure they don’t pay their way but neither do a lot of things a city requires, like museums and art galleries, however the Dunedin stadium seems to be doing good at putting Dunedin on the map in a positive way
True PR
I was agin it, it seemed OTT but literally having a roof over the top – which made it expensive – was a rational measure considering Dunedin’s cold weather. And with the change in climate and weather drops etc it could be wise in any of the big cities.
We have to realise that tourism and performances are businesses and keep the money flowing. There has to be lots of things happening for employment and money circulation, we aren’t just cows and houses.
So Dunedin will find it keeps them on the map. Even if it is a base investment that needs subsidising, it will be the ginger that keeps other business fizzing.
I’ll admit I have a bias in that I’m from Dunedin and a roofed stadium makes for better rugby 🙂
The point is, both convention centres and stadiums are unlikely to pay their way even using indicators like SROI (Social return on Investment), whereas other facilities such as libraries, and local sports clubs (and perhaps museums and art galleries) would.
I agree with the convention centre but i’d argue that the importance of rugby and/or other sports (whether some on here like it or not) and musical acts are as important to a city as an art gallary
Rugby is of national significance, but perhaps the funding of local sports clubs and investment at grassroots level would be a better return on investment – both economically and socially.
(Coming from a rugby mad household, I have no love for the game myself, so I can’t be bothered having a look for any comparative studies. Might be worth having a look at though, in terms of funding stadiums or grassroots clubs)
The Dunedin Stadium is doing its job bringing in anchor events and tens of thousands of visitors. How one determines that it ‘pays its way’ or indeed whether it needs to is a bureaucratic equation explained here:
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/forsyth-barr-stadium/an-explanation-of-forsyth-barr-stadium-financials-september-2013
Dunedin is justifiably proud of its well conceived and highly effective stadium.
It’s a model that Auckland can but aspire to.
lol not all Dunedin, mate.
regardless of whether it turns out to be a net good, it was essentially a gift by rugby-loving councillors to the ORFU that turned into a badly-organised white elephant that still hasn’t had its true costs released. And apparently the concert sound can be hit-or-miss.
At least they’re finally getting in acts that started well after I was born, though. For the first several years it was like the same rich small-town businessmen who voted for it on council (some of them profiting from the land sale) had their personal spotify playlist as a booking guide.
But that’s all water under the bridge. There seems to be a bit more honest consultation regarding the waterfront redevelopment.
Indeed not all Dunedin.
My household pays Dunedin, Otago, and Wanaka rates into that stadium, and there’s one side of my household that will not visit the ForsythBarr stadium on principle. There’s no pleasing such (ahem) people.
I have a mate who just won’t STFU about how awful the plan was. As in almost every mention of the DCC or whatever brings a snide comment about the stadium.
I’m tempted to watch Frozen just so I know the song “let it go” lol
edit:
although on the other side, when the most recent hotel was declined ISTR a letter to the editor moaning that we didn’t get a smelter at Aramoana, either. Whingers have looooong memories 🙂
“close community things like bowling clubs”.
What on earth did Bowling Clubs have to do with the City Council?
Surely the Council didn’t own the land and provide the workers to maintain the greens did they?
If not what the hell did it have to do with them? Bowling clubs may be dying but if the people who play it are willing to keep the clubs going at their expense what does it have to do with anyone else?
Well, in one case the DCC owned the land, went to annual leases after the long term lease expired, and then sold the site.
Both stuff and the herald have launched one of their bleeding hearts crusades against poverty. How long before they say “Job done, our conscience is salved for now, fuck the poor lets get back to pimping the property market”… ?
12yrs ago I rented a 3brm house in a fairly affluent suburb on the North Shore in Auck for $270 per week. No catches, it was advertised in the ‘paper and was the typical basic weatherboard ’70s house in tidy condition. The same house now would easily fetch $600 per week.
At 18 I was earning adult wage doing shift work in a factory. I was paid the absolute minimum award wage, take-home pay was $96 per week. I was flatting and four of us were renting a nice 4brd house in a reasonable suburb in Auck for $50 per week. A 3brm house could be rented for half the miminum (award) wage.
Why are there working poor? Because they’re being bled dry by extortionate rents. No-one wants to admit it because the solution to usury rents is to lower the price of houses and we can’t have that can we. So they just chuck the poor a few crumbs every now & then to shut them up for a while.
+ yes rent exploited cannot thrive when they can’t get buy without charity.
Higher wages and subsidies only feed the rental beast.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/103761074/new-zealands-working-poor-and-the-push-to-understand-how-many-are-struggling
All many of us can do
QFT
Capitalism is based around unearned incomes. The ability of a few to own everything and thus live off of the work of everyone else.
The owners. the rentiers, are bludgers. Simple as that really.
The problem we have is that, as their bludging increases, it increases poverty and eventually collapses society. This is the path that the governments of the last thirty plus years have accelerated as they kowtowed to the rich.
“The UST 10yr yield is now at 3.08%, up +9 bps on the American inflation prospect. The Chinese 10yr is at 3.72% (up +1 bp) while the New Zealand equivalent is at 2.77% (up +4 bps).”
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/93747/dairy-prices-rise-us-inflation-jumps-canadian-house-prices-slump-china-electricity
Who thinks that having part ownership of a house and a mortgage of $400k is affordable and still live in Auckland ??
“There’s no way they could take on a $600,000 mortgage – a $400,000 mortgage, maybe, then you’d get a much bigger group of people.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12051840
The NZ dream of owning your own home has “officially” been declared dead and buried. Thanks you to BOTH Nats and Lab for policies that have led up to this.
It had initially promised to build houses for between $500,000 and $600,000. They will now be priced according to the number of bedrooms, and three-bedroom homes will be sold for $650,000 – higher than promised during the election.
No What was promised “The stand-alone KiwiBuild homes in Auckland will be priced at $500,000-$600,000 with apartments and TERRACED HOUSES UNDER $500,000. ”
https://www.labour.org.nz/kiwibuild
I really feel for the current government, national left behind a huge mess, it’s like every day we learn more about the disaster of the last nine years.
The new government is doing everything they can. Looking forward to the budget tomorrow.
And “Amy Adams: Careless fiscal strategy will send nation into decline.”
A bit sad is Amy because she can only put out her plaintive Chicken Licken doom is nigh line as she struggles to be credible any more. A good example of unaccepting defeat.
@ Cinny, Yes but Rogernomics started it. Labour lit the fuse and National ignited it. Labour still find it hard to come to terms, that rogernomics and free trade and liberalisation has created the increasing inequality. All the government subsidies like WFF and accomodation allowance and all the handouts to developers isn’t working, because it is based on a profit model not a long term and practical social good model.
If the main driver of everything is low cost and profit and a business gets more rights as an entity than a person, an offshore person or business has the same rights as a Kiwi or a Kiwi business so someone who pays 50 cents an hour is competing against $16 p/h , then of course we are going to have leaky buildings, lowered wages and high house prices, increasing bio security risks, more pollution and drop to the bottom.
What National has done is despicable and the Ponzi scheme worked for a bit but the wheels are coming off. Labour is better but still suffer from similar ideology for the most part such as TPPA and PPP’s and a lack of analysis of what went wrong and why.
But providing financial support for families with children is nothing new and nothing to do with Neo-liberalism:
https://teara.govt.nz/en/family-welfare/page-4
Yes but globalism and the rise of tax havens and use of vehicles to blur the assets someone owns, so rich can be poor, has changed the equation and criteria of who we should be supporting. See 14.1.1.
What is going to happen within one generation, if less and less people are actually working in NZ and more and more people qualify for welfare well beyond natural population growth.
Can’t see how your rant at 14.1.1 has any relevance to my point. If you actually read what i have quoted you will see that “in 1946 universal family-benefit payments replaced means-tested family allowances”, so wealthy people got this in the past. Likewise owning a house has never ruled someone out of receiving the DPD.
You are just a xenophobe who gets all wound up when immigrants and the children of immigrants get the same allowances as the rest of us.
Well I do when the rest of us actually work and pay the taxes. The end result will no welfare at all if this abuse is allowed to continue. Obviously that’s fine if you are the ‘fake’ poor but less fine if you are the ‘real’ poor.
We are a country of only 4.5 million people – where do you think the tipping point will be 1 million people accessing NZ welfare, 2 million, 3 million…
If there’s a progressive taxation system, there’s no reason 4.5million shouldn’t get some benefit if the math adds up.
Now, that’s a lot of math, and to my mind UBI proponents tend towards a bit of hand-waving in the gap ‘twixt money in and money out, but it’s a logical possibility that deserves more than a simple rhetorical escalation.
I don’t think you should call savenz names solkta.
The situation is difficult and there is no easy answer that will please everyone and it needs to be looked at from all perspectives. It might not please you to have one point looked at and questioned which you might favour. The same will apply to someone else and their preference.
The right way may put limits on you, or me but the hard work of thinking it through should be done by people who are concerned about we people. Otherwise things can get bad and all of a sudden it’s TINA and machine-minds from Treasury and haute finance impose their favourite theories.
Do you really think the current government weren’t able to work out from available information how much they would be able to build and sell “affordable” housing for?
Yes National did fuck all to control housing prices but Labour promised prices far below what could be achieved and as much as I hate to admit it I am pretty sure it was pointed out to them at the time.
True but at least NZFLG admit there is a problem.
Come on cinny all power to you been a COL supporter but don’t believe every thing your fed, judge government with an open mind on their actions and outcomes not words, inputs and excuses
I certainly judged Ponyboy on his lies and fudging beewee.
Yeah but it’s like who knew the extent ChCh appeared to be screwed over by the last lot, or middlemore etc, for example, and did our new government have knowledge of those two big issues prior to the election?
And how about the cattle disease? Did the prior government know how much damage they had done by not doing enough and the cost of their negligence? Do they care?
I knew it would be bad, but dang I didn’t think it would be that bad.
It’s impossible to leave the current bubble intact and build truly affordable houses. The bubble precludes affordability for the majority.
Deflate the bubble by turning down the immigration tap and making owning houses you don’t live in yourself, and land that is rezoned as residential, really unattractive as investments.
Serco strikes again.
When will the rabid right accept that private industry cannot run core social services satisfactorily?
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/05/death-at-wiri-prison.html
Come on Muttonbird, the rabid ideologies of the right can’t even accept they are ideologies.
So how can they see their own failures?
So a prisoner dying is a sign that private industry can’t run core social services
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11764877
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99184832/prisoner-stabbed-in-gangrelated-assault-at-maximumsecurity-auckland-prison
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/76819718/Death-at-Auckland-Prison-in-Paremoremo
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11516982
Looks like the state isn’t up to it either
2015-2017, comparatively recently – perhaps even since Serco years for those linked items.
Prisons have for some time been under pressure from poor overcrowded conditions and trying to cope with gang stresses
for some time. The state didn’t want to cope and are paying Serco to remove the problem to as great a distance as possible. Which they are doing but not well enough to keep the problem out of the limelight.
It is government that can improve things by getting rid of Serco and instituting single cells again, and not holding so many on bail. And possibly changing the whole arid sexless system, to one that goes for habilitation.
Another right wing commentator on this site deliberately misrepresenting what I said.
Sheesh do you guys need reading glasses or somthing?
Ideologies of the right persuasion are completely, and deeply emotionally committed to it, it seems
The fact you have to lie to defend your bat shit crazy ideological position is at the end of the day, quite funny.
So once again that’s for proving my point Puckish Rogue, ideological purists are quite dangerous – thank goodness they are out of government.
Trump’s Nobel prize under threat.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/05/north-korea-threatens-to-cancel-trump-meeting-after-military-drills-in-south-korea.html
Vancouver’s Hot Housing Market Gets Tougher for Wealthy Chinese
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/british-columbia-extends-housing-crackdown-with-tax-increases
“Starting Wednesday, foreigners will pay the province a 20 percent tax on top of the listing value, up from 15 percent now, and a levy on property speculators will be introduced later this year, according to budget documents released Tuesday. The government will also crack down on the condo pre-sale market and beneficial ownership to ensure that property flippers, offshore trusts and hidden investors are paying taxes on gains.”
“The levy, she said, will also capture “satellite families” — a term with Chinese origins to describe those families where the breadwinner remains in the home country while the children and spouse reside abroad to take advantage of educational and employment opportunities.”
Satellite families are here too. Been going on for ages.
Nat voters of course don’t see the problem as long as their property portfolios show gains.
Yes, but NZ is completely blind to what’s going on. One family is just bringing in more and more relatives under whatever weird rules NZ has. This is a real example of people I know living in Auckland – note they are NOT Chinese – it’s NOT just a Chinese issue.
Wealthy family arrive in NZ with 3 children under some investor category about 20 years ago both not speaking English and buy up some property. Husband leaves NZ and wife files for ‘abandonment’ and goes on DPB with 2 children even though she has a million dollar house. Husband takes other child back to home country. NZ Children grow up as NZ citizens with dual passports and go to university here. They marry and new partners get NZ citizenship and they leave to get good jobs overseas while buying up property in NZ. Aged parents arrive in NZ to look after grandkids and can get residency. The child that went back with Father as a child, comes to NZ not speaking English with new partner and has two kids and they get residency and access WFF and various government welfare for their low wage job and they bring over their aged parents to look after the kids.
So now we somehow have a family who have been on NZ social welfare all their lives while being uber wealthy and working offshore, and at this stage we have 4 aged parents, the main person who originally got residency who never worked and was on the DPB living in the million dollar house who now will get super as well, and 3 adult kids, 3 adult partners of which only one works in NZ (the one that did not get educated in NZ and has a low wage job and gets WFF stayed in NZ) and the other two tertiary educated in NZ are offshore workers and their two young children going to school here.
All their assets are in companies so apparently they own nothing.
That’s just one family where one family that has never worked in NZ, is now somehow about 20+ people with marriages etc, who have accessed NZ welfare systems most of their lives and buy property here without ever working here! They need to urgently tighten up the laws!
savenz
I have heard hints about this but not seen it exposed so brightly. Thanks we need to know this.
Just how is anything “exposed”.
Suppose I simply reproduced this but claimed that the people were, say, “Pacific Islanders” but gave no real evidence would you jump in and say we should keep out all Pacific Islanders from coming here?
Such a story, without names doesn’t actually expose anything.
Insert your own names to appreciate the scenario.
The difference up until 20 years ago it was much harder and more expensive to travel and people were not getting divorced at the drop of a hat. People don’t even marry now, they have multiple relationships and children through their lifetime with different partners.
It’s a whole new society now and the tax laws and residency laws are still working on 1 migrant comes and works in NZ and marries one person and has 2 kids that they support..like 20 years ago, no longer happening in society…
@alwyn. No it is NOT Pacific Islanders, it’s an Asian country – not China – but now the 2nd generation have married native Chinese then their Chinese parents and relatives can also come into NZ under what ever weird loop hole there is.
Does it really matter what race they are, satellite families is a recent world wide issue, that needs to be addressed as it is disproportionally affecting NZ as we have a low population.
Even the voting rights for example when you have more people not living in a country or even speaking the language but have full voting rights and able to access family welfare in NZ on a large scale through marriages etc.
Surely it should be of concern whether you are a righty or a lefty?
It’s one thing to be a migrant and for what ever reason you are poor but you battle on in NZ and may need to access welfare. But to be rich get all the benefits of NZ society without paying taxes, and NZ allows it to be a place to send your relatives who are poorly educated to work and access welfare top ups, free health, super and gold cared for your elderly relatives who don’t work and free health, education and so forth for all your children who don’t work, who when becoming successful go overseas.
How will a capital gains or higher taxes tax those people? They pay no taxes so higher taxes doesn’t work and they can avoid capital gains by putting the houses and assets into individual names of relatives as their primary residence.
So any new taxes enable those satellite families to become richer while taxing tax resident families more and giving more voting rights to them to continue.
@Alwyn – also Pacific Islanders have low population in their country so are hardly going to create a massive social change in NZ within a few decades which is currently happening. They have historically worked in NZ when they come here and retire back in the Pacific, I don’t think they really fit the profile of what is happening with the rise of satellite families mostly from Asia that clearly is hitting Canada for example.
Pacific Islanders are also are not generally buying up million dollar houses for their relatives to live in NZ or leaving them empty, so not creating a shortage of houses and a market for larger houses that cost more or have a government political strategy to execute here.
Canada’s plan to tax foreign investors is already working
HOUSE prices in Toronto have fallen dramatically after a new tax on foreign investors was introduced. Should Australia follow suit?
“Announcing the measure, the government of British Columbia said the tax was intended to help cool the province’s booming property market, where demand from foreign investors — many from China — had increased the cost of a detached home some 39 per cent in just 12 months.
“There is evidence now that suggests that very wealthy foreign buyers have raised the price of housing for people in British Columbia,” the province’s premier Christy Clark said at the time.
“The foreign buyer tax is intended to make sure we can keep home ownership within the reach of the middle class.
“I make no apologies for that.”
http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/buying/canadas-plan-to-tax-foreign-investors-is-already-working/news-story/38af5331ef2fd9c9730dc5b24c8096e5
Can you please explain what a tax on foreign investors in British Columbia has to do with supposedly massive house price falls in Toronto?
Toronto is in Ontario and is about 4,000 km East of Vancouver. If house prices in Vancouver fell when a tax is introduced while at the same time prices fell even more in Toronto without such a tax surely it provides no evidence at all that the tax does any good?
Do you think that the person who wrote this doesn’t actually have any idea at all about the Geography of Canada?
I’m sure they meant Vancouver.
BC have introduced a tax on foreign investors, and yes it is having the desired effect of:
a. bringing house prices down and
b. stopping the crazy practice of investing in houses for monetary gain. Like the dutch and their tulip bulbs.
I visited Vancouver in 2014 and was amazed to see rows of houses boarded up – this was before the fall when Canadians board up their houses for the winter. These apparently were all investment houses bought by foreign investors and left empty – to be on sold later for Capital gain. Vancouver’s housing market (like Auckland’s Melbourne’s and Sydney’s) was going through the roof at the time. Vancouver was also experiencing the same problems with increasing homelessness, as locals – no longer able to afford the skyrocketing rentals from a reducing housing stock (the houses were being bought up and left empty) were forced out of their homes.
I understand that those overseas investors are now targeting Toronto. So I guess Ontario will be forced to follow BC’s lead and introduce a tax as well.
I’m really concerned about this idea of an interest free loan to first home buyers because of a number of reasons all to do with inflaming house price and rent extortion further.
If they do this it should go to people shut out if social housing due to disability needs not being met.
Yet another subsidy idea, while not addressing why they now need to subsidise so many people…
…but if its free, why wouldn’t you want it? Surely you cannot discriminate who you give free stuff to. It’s either free for all, nothing is free for anyone.
Finance wouldn’t be needed or considered for the real strugglers if there were more state housing for them. Stop playing around with the problem government. Provide plain but reasonable living accommodation and run it to some standards, with advantages for keeping to them, and loss of privileges for not.
One part of the problem is that some of the lowest strugglers aren’t coping at any level, and no-one is going to take them in, they need pastoral care. For the really poor and needy people have concrete apartments up to 3 stories high, two apartments of two bedrooms each at each level. These can be available for those who haven’t learned to manage their lives without drunkenness and kicking walls in etc. Give them somewhere to live, and then give them pastoral care to help them make their lives in a self-respecting way.
I lived in a concrete apartment block in Melbourne. Good, and strong, fit for the purpose of rental.
Finance is easier to magic into existence than 100,000 homes. The latter takes time, the former can be implemented within weeks of announcement if not sooner.
Doesn’t make it the right thing to do. In fact, it provides nothing at all in terms of living quarters for those unable to find a place to sleep tonight. Might as well focus on the right issue, and solve that, instead of identifying another instance and making a token gesture.
There’s no single right thing to do.
Agree. Yet that is the first horse from the gate, and gives an indication that housing is about getting the middle class into owning homes rather than recognising the real crisis is that many cannot find somewhere to live, renting or otherwise.
The fiscal responsibility restriction that they have committed themselves to is only part of the problem. I would like the government to indicate that they recognise the housing crisis is a crisis for more than just the disappointed home buyers. And this action keeps feeding the inflationary nature of house prices in NZ.
ISTR that they’re also building houses and making housingnz a housing provider rather than a profit generating exercise. I believe they’ve stopped the housing sell off and have committed to increasing the HNZ stock.
But as I said, finance is the easy to do quickly. So they’ve done that too.
It feels like Christmas Eve today.
The day before the budget. The budget which will signify the beginning of the transformation of our great country from the corporate run shit box it is today, to a truly wonderful country that works together for all.
The budget to end poverty and homelessness.
The budget to end the underfunding of schools and hospitals.
The budget to end corporate greed.
The budget to end the hopeless situation our working poor have been in for the past 9 years.
I am very very excited about what tomorrow will start.
Not sure if genuine or sarcasm…
Indeed, Puck.
To clarify PR – I don’t think tomorrow will result in ending all those issues, but it will show a change of direction which will begin the process of eliminating those things.
That is why I am excited.
Does it have to be either of those things? Does your radar not detect irony, despair, hope, faith…?
I was hoping for sarcasm otherwise Enough might be a little disappointed tomorrow
More good news for the poor – not.
“Tax hikes imposed or announced under the Labour Government have hurt the poorest the most, and it is planning more regressive taxes in the years to come.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/103942557/addiction-to-cigarette-taxes-rising-to-22b
the Chairman read Gordon Campbell latest article on the poor and regressive tax. I trust his view point 100%
Thanks for pointing out the article, ankerawshark.
Let’s have a look at Jacinda’s spin from the article.
The criticism being offered, Ardern continued, implies that all those families smoked. “The reference to excise [tax on petrol] if we’re talking about someone in regional New Zealand, would amount to 3 cents [per litre] Does $75 dollars [per week] make up for that? Yes, it does.”
First off, re the number of low income smokers, it was reported in the same article that it sits at around 30 to 40%. So on top of the 3 cents per litre, 30 to 40 percent will be impacted by tax increases on tobacco.
Now lets look at the 3 cents per litre claim.
Jacinda overlooked (intentionally or not) that the prices of all goods and services will also be impacted as the burden of the 3 cents per litre increase will be passed on. Will the $75 on average be enough to offset that?
Additionally, those struggling that don’t have kids or their kids are now adults don’t get to receive a Families Package. So there is no offsetting for them.
Next, lets look at the winter energy payment. They seem to be a front runner for what the Government has in the pipeline – see link provided below.
From the link below. “The industry’s solution is for taxpayers to subsidise electricity purchases by the poor, thereby underwriting the electricity industry’s profits in the same way as the Accommodation Supplement has enabled landlords to hold up rents.
“Woods duly refers to ‘the wider context of supporting New Zealanders to afford their energy bills'”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/102708888/way-to-be-cleared-for-big-electricity-players-to-prey-on-lowincome-households
On top of all that, income tax (which is progressive) has been ruled out from the tax working group’s terms of reference.
So once we breakdown the spin we soon realise the touted benefits are unlikely to outweigh the mounting new costs the poor will face going forward.
Respect for workers, even skilled ones, comes second to squeezing the utmost out of them and reducing labour costs, boosting profits. Even for air traffic controllers who keep us safe, and keep the height of confidence in airlines and airports high, so also keeping their share prices high.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=3
BUSINESS
Nine-hour shift, no toilet break: Air traffic controllers fight for toilet change
16 May, 2018 9:56am
Quick Read
Solo controllers take ”creative ways” to relieve themselves while managing air traffic
(And greedy share market expectations for high returns not met because of investment in business development cause a drop in A2 milk shares for that reason. They don’t want to invest in a solid forward-looking good business, they just want to spin the roulette wheel winning all the way.)
A2 Milk’s share price crashes, pulls down entire market.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12052316
I wonder how much the Government Super Fund, now operating under their investment orders from the Government, have got invested in A2?
Actually, however much it is it would still be a better investment than putting money into the Auckland tram system that Goff and Genter are so keen on throwing money at. That will prove to be a good way to lose the lot.
This is why we have a deteriorating environment:
And this is why it keeps happening:
They’ve done the crime, admitted to it even, and then structured their finances in such a way so as not to pay.
This is why the government needs to change the law so that the finances can be traced and all of it returned to the government. Leave these fuckers with nothing.
+1 Draco.
+100 Draco
Agree strongly!, time and time again criminal acts which accrue large sums of $$ for the offenders fall into a hole when it comes to compensating victims or paying fines. Money is sequestered into trusts or other worm holes to different dimensions and after playing golf, doing a few courses or having adverse social talking points jewellery for a bit the crims still get to enjoy their ill gotten gains.
Quite rightly the police swoop on the likes of head hunters presidents etc and grab everything as proceeds of crimes (act) leaving it to the offenders to prove from whence all the toys came from.
Maybe it’s time the same tactics were employed on farmers like these two, and other white collar crims still enjoying being broke but driving the trusts bimmer and living in the trusts Parnell digs.
Putting a huge amount of effluent into a river would be a health hazard to everyone downstream, surely.
Forget environmental policy, do them under OSH. The managers/directors will be personally liable.
And the council dropped the personal charges, relying solely on the easily-dodged corporate ones. Muppets.
Do you feel the same way about the attempts of King Salmon to get the tax-payer to pay for cleaning up the mess they are making in the Marlborough Sounds?
As far as I can see the company is causing the mess, and has plenty of money to fix it.
What the hell are those bludgers up to? I like their product but I don’t see why I, as a taxpayer, should have to clean up after them.
Still I imagine Shane Jones will kick in from the slush fund. Winston likes seafood companies.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/357367/thousand-tonnes-of-dead-fish-poses-problem-for-king-salmon
Well, almost – it’s more looking for a better way of disposing of waste and turning it into a product, rather than just cleaning it up.
So a 50/50 investment by the government would generate more tax revenue over time than was spent, rather than it simply being cleaning up after companies that ran cheap to strip profit and then wound up assetless before they got held to account.
But without looking more closely at the situation it’s difficult to tell whether the delays if the company doesn’t get the govt cash are real cashflow constraints, or just a bit of hopeful accounting looking for a subsidy.
King Salmon should build a fishmeal plant, that would take care of it.
Climate change strikes again, those rising sea temperatures, dead fish, high priced salmon, strains on those restaurants who use their product, due to inconsistency in availability, least that’s the word on the street.
Warning sounded over China’s ‘debtbook diplomacy’
Academics identify 16 countries loaned billions that they can’t afford to repay
“China’s methods were “remarkably consistent”, the report said, beginning with infrastructure investments under its $1tn belt and road initiative, and offering longer term loans with extended grace periods, which was appealing to countries with weaker economies and governance.
Construction projects, which the report said had a reputation for running over budget and yielding underwhelming returns, make debt repayments for the host nations more difficult.
“The final phase is debt collection,” it said. “When countries prove unable to pay back their debts, China has already and is likely to continue to offer debt-forgiveness in exchange for both political influence and strategic equities.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/15/warning-sounded-over-chinas-debtbook-diplomacy
This (link below) is well worth a look
Sounds exactly like what the West did.
Confessions of an economic Hitman
Pretty much.
The Chinese make better roads though, lol
Yes but I guess at least with the west you can vote them out, hopefully.
Yes you can vote an administration out.Unfortunately you can not vote the debt out.Private bondholders especially are insistent and persistant in wanting their pound of flesh.
Some would say that the slim hope is more a means of control than empowerment.
But all we can do is keep NZ dancing around the elephants’ feet, trying to avoid being trodden on.
Maybe we should learn a trick or two from our national bird, and use camouflage against super powers…
the reality of what happens to natives, have a look at what’s happened over the years to our native birds – marooned onto smaller and smaller places like Tiritiri Matangi Island …
There’s also an art to being one of the weaker members in the game of bullrush, as I recall.
The trains …
Radio comment reported in full on Scoop.
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=109380
Dr Roger Blakeley is a former Secretary for the Environment. Bob Norman is a former Commissioner of Works. Alex Gray is a professional civil engineer and Senior Project Manager. Keith Flinders is an Electrical Services Consultant.
4 Points –
1. Costs of Diesel v Electric Locomotives.
2. Reliability and Time performance
3. Greenhouse gas emissions
4. Towards Full Electrification of the North Island Main Trunk
The facts in plain language – a must read.
Dr Blakely was also the chief planning officer for Auckland Council to help negotiate it through the Unitary Plan process, after he had worked with Porirua District Council (IIRC), noted for it’s community planning processes.
I spoke to him at one of the last Auckland conversations I attended, and he said he was looking forward to going back to Wellington and working on national issues there.
TBH, reading the article it seems that Kiwirail (by continuing to misuse figures and conclusions found to be flawed) is positioning itself for a subsidy if the government decides to follow through on its transition policy. There may be another reason for such determined adherence to diesel, but I’m thinking that is probably the most likely.
Molly, as you say-follow the money. I wonder whether there are other money-driven motives in the deals which would be struck with the suppliers of the trains, as to whether they be electric or diesel.
Whatever it is, this debate has been going on for years about the diesel versus electric options, and also about the quality of the Chinese diesels. I just googled ‘trains purchase from China’ and got good media coverage. The issue is not new but may be for the new Minister.
There is no sign yet of a national rail strategy from this government.
Easy to blame the Kiwirail Board, when it’s not now.
This government are very keen on electrified light rail funneled through NZTA.
But when it come to Kiwirail they show no sign of a single nationwide role and purpose, instead choosing to improve its network RLTP by RLTP.
When will OUR Labour leaders speak with similar forthrightness?
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/05/16/uk-shadow-foreign-secretary-condemns-israels-calculated-and-deliberate-policy-to-kill-and-maim-unarmed-protestors/
Good morning The AM Show
When the Labour government is in power they spent a bit more on service and social services the people who receive this income don’t invest it in shears or property they spend it so the reality is a labour lead government allways gets more revenue flowing in our tax system that’s a fact. Ka kite ano.
Does the Govt have the money? Yes
EXPLAINER: Cutting through the spin on how much money the Government has to spend this year.
P.S ECO MAORI has to choose his words Wisley Ka kite ano