The Herald is reporting that Nikki Kaye is quitting at the election. It’s not very surprising, her tenure as Deputy Leader has been a total disaster, I don’t know why the commentators go so easy on her really.
The Woodhouse camp (if there is one) is now spinning that he wanted to fess up about the Boag leaks on the Wednesday but Kaye and Adams told him to stay quiet; they were going to deal with it. No wonder Collins could only shift him sideways. How long before Adams re-resigns?
The Herald also reports that the party was trying to dissuade Kaye from making a rash decision. Not, you’d have to think for Kaye’s benefit, but rather because the party can see a swathe of urban, fairly liberal voters leaving with her.
Even before this shift fight Kaye’s grip on Auckland Central was probably slipping. It seems more likely now to go back to Labour.
I thought the PM’s response to the National Party’s leadership travails yesterday was spot on. “I’m just focussed on getting NZ through the pandemic and don’t have time for politics” etc.
It neatly reminded everyone that, at this time of crisis, the Nats are only concerned with themselves. And it clearly got Collins all riled up. We all know she hates being ignored more than anything else. She accused the PM of being ‘woke’ (whatever that meant, presumably she just thinks it’s an easy way to denigrate someone) and ‘warned’ Ardern not to ignore her. And issued the good old ‘I’ll debate you anywhere, anytime challenge’ that Opposition Leaders love. Gonna be great fun if this is how easy it is to get Collins all worked up.
She accused the PM of being ‘woke’ (whatever that meant
She may have googled it, eh?
By the late 2010s, woke had been adopted as a more generic slang term broadly associated with left-wing politics, socially liberal causes, feminism, LGBT activism, and cultural issues (with the terms woke culture and woke politics also being used). It has been the subject of memes, ironic usage and criticism. Its widespread use since 2014 is a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.
I've been anticipating the emergence of woke 2.0 (brown lives matter), 3.0 (yellow lives matter) and 4.0 (red lives matter) for a while – but it seems that those other US ethnicities remain reluctant to awaken.
The leadership will be up with the play what with everyone parachuting . Collins sometimes has problems getting to the airport though. She purposefully goes in the opposite direction and tells us she was going to the airport.
And Gerry? He actually gets to the airport, ploughs through places he shouldn't be, bullshits his way through it and months later a report comes out showing his story was bullshit.
"The election of Collins as National’s leader renders Labour’s broad-brush strategy politically untenable."
But hey, bland is good, right? Well, Labour will try to cling to that notion but the battle for mainstreamers is more likely to be won by messaging that suits the crisis. Chris is right but the lag until Labour strategists realise that is the thing to watch for.
All of Collins’ cruel humour will be unleashed on Labour’s lesser vessels. Social media will be flooded with painfully funny memes and attack videos.
Yeah but Labour's preference for selecting mediocre candidates deserves an appropriate response – as long as the critique is fair and accurate, voters will credit National.
If the Prime Minister can parry Collins’ attacks by making the voters laugh at her, then the Opposition’s strategy will fail. Rather than become angry or defensive in the face of Collins’ jibes, Jacinda needs to make fun of the thinking behind her criticisms.
Damn right! JA can ace JC via this method. But it presumes JC will use flawed rightist framing. Framing to win centrists (as she should) makes her a hard target to hit.
If Jacinda is able to embarrass her opponent severely, then there is every chance Collins will reveal her dark side. That would be “Game Over”.
Correct. JC is vulnerable to any trigger that activates her dark side. Force her to adopt a partisan stance. Centrists will shift away from her.
The second way to counter Collins’ attack-lines is for Labour to give Jacinda a comprehensive and popular recovery package to defend.
We've already been waiting months for that. If Labour have actually done the intellectual work, they may be saving it for a timely campaign release.
Confronted with a whole host of critical policy choices (most particularly on the future shape and direction of the New Zealand economy) Labour has proved itself woefully indecisive. In almost every circumstance, the party simply defaults to the orthodox Treasury line.
Yeah. Allowing that perception to embed in the public mind is a mistake. Labour folk just point the polls and say `no problem'. Until the lead evaporates…
"Yeah but Labour's preference for selecting mediocre candidates deserves an appropriate response – as long as the critique is fair and accurate, voters will credit National." – more fun (and much easier) to snipe opine than lead, eh Dennis? Remind you of anyone?
Bizzniss as usual:
" I have complete faith in my officials "
"He noted that Brown was initially assigned the case as the RSE labour inspector for the Hawkes Bay region, but that he was re-assigned after a copy of the tape recording was presented to MBIE" ……. and anyway, it's not as if he called them "Scum" on social media.
Bizzniss as usual.
" I have complete faith in my officials "
"He noted that Brown was initially assigned the case as the RSE labour inspector for the Hawkes Bay region, but that he was re-assigned after a copy of the tape recording was presented to MBIE" ……. and anyway, it's not as if he called them "Scum" on social media.
There's history there @ Rosemary and elsewhere! And people remain in their positions.
I freely admit I have quaint old ideas though like:
public servants acting ethically; not having (or maintaining) conflicts if interests; respecting people's privacy; not thinking it OK to get people like T&C to spy on people carrying out their legitimate business; not trying to create their own little police forces; treating their worker-bees with respect and without bullying; actually doing the frikken job they're supposed to be doing; not leaking private information in order to advance their own agendas; etc.
It doesn't seem that much to ask considering those responsible are well-remunerated, but you know – call me old-fashioned possum
When in government yet keeping close to business it is hard to decide whose interests you are serving, and it is possible to jump in and out of government, a bit like hopskotch.
This Solomons Island thing is born of desperation surely. Around 600 Solomon Island workers are recruited each year work in horticulture and viticulture industries in regions across the country.
Roselyn Givi and Janet Meimana are among 75 Solomon Island women recruited to pick blueberries in the Bay this year. Janet hails from Isobel Island in the outer provinces of the Solomon’s archipelago.
After 2014’s Cyclone Ita washed away their family’s crops, Janet’s RSE earnings became vital for feeding her family and rebuilding her family’s home.
“We send money back home to help our families because on the island they are short of food, she says.
We no doubt count employing PI people for seasonal labour as aid to the Islands. I believe that has been so in the past. Where there has been tornadoes, tsunamis etc we should be providing long term aid such as special raised beds for growing important food crops and imported good compost and help to create more of their own compost.
Also each family that would like to come to NZ and pick should be on a list, grouped within larger extended families, and then each area would be sure to have someone earning that could help that area. Some would come regularly, and some would be rotated. At present it sounds like the old closed-union style where people could never get to get employment because of family preferences.
Treat people fairly, with input from them, not like colonials striding around being the big manager over a subject workforce.
"Treat people fairly, with input from them, not like colonials striding around being the big manager over a subject workforce"
Exactery!
My problem is that this sort of thing is not limited to the incident reported on by Newsroom. The people involved in this example have form. (All three). And it's all come about by bad policy and advice in the first place.
While the assault needs to be proven, the conflicts of interest and all the other crap are obvious.
It's possible (hopefully) more people will come forward now that many are starting to realise there's nothing to lose (they've already lost almost everything)
Here's a good explainer on the difference between "herd immunity" that is achieved by vaccination prior to an infectiousness disease coming into a population, and how many people get infected when a completely new infectious disease gets introduced into a population that has never had it before and nobody is immune.
tl;dr For something like SARS-CoV-2 where on average one infection passes it on to two others (R0 = 2), if more than half the population (more than 1 – 1/R0) are immune due to vaccination (or prior exposure), then the outbreak dies out naturally very quickly because the very few infectious people out loose don’t encounter enough susceptible people to sustain an increasing chain of transmission. So a vulnerable person has a very low chance of ever encountering an infectious person and getting infected.
Whereas with a new infectious disease causing an epidemic, at the moment the "herd immunity" proportion of people achieve immunity, there are still many people wandering around in an infectious state. So anyone that is not immune has a much higher probability of encountering someone infectious and getting infected. So the epidemic won't die out until a much higher proportion of people get infected – up around 90% or more even for something with relatively low infectiousness like SARS-CoV-2.
One little thing, they ignore the little detail that during this pandemic those people get a mild illness may not have immunity from getting it again and spreading it again.
Remove the space before “pdf” and copy the link if you want to follow it. For me the pdf was being automatically loaded in a pdf reader inside the comment, which was too small to read.
While all seem to be strangely obsessed with commenting from the sidelines as the Shit Ship National sinks beneath the waves, the Child Poverty Action Group releases a report calling for the Nationalisation of Early Childhood Education….free market principals are just not producing the positive outcomes for 'consumers'.
"Private for-profit providers are less likely to provide quality services across a range of indicators, including staff qualifications, workloads and retention, teacher-to-child ratios, and cultural responsiveness," they say.
"Despite New Zealand being internationally lauded for its high rates of ECE participation, attending a poor quality ECE service is potentially worse than not attending ECE at all.
"Rather than propping up the existing system – whereby ECE is treated as an investment opportunity, not a public good – the Government should be looking to nationalise ECE provision in its response to Covid-19."
Surprisingly (to me) is that one of the recommendations is that the minimum per child area be increased….
Despite ample evidence of the importance of layout and space of ECE environments for children’s learning,48NZ falls behind international recommendations of best practice. Research suggests that indoor requirements should be between 3.25 and 5 metres squared per child, and outdoor space between 7 and 25 metres squared per child.50At present, NZ regulations specify that licensed centres must have a minimum of2.5 metres squared per child indoors, and 5 metres squared per child outdoors.49Regulations were changed in 2008 to reduce the space-per-child requirements, which some have attributed to commercial pressure on the MoE.
I had heard rumours that some ECE centres were cramming them in like battery hens…but to think this is actually legal, and that those minimum space requirement were lowered in 2008…was this prior to the election that Labour lost?
In the meantime Natrad has been running articles featuring ECE owners bemoaning the fact that attendance (and profits?) have fallen markedly post Lockdown.
About 40,000 children – 20 percent of under-fives – have not returned to early learning after lockdown, the Early Childhood Council says.
With fewer enrolments, centres get less income and some have too few children to be sustainable.
Darius Singh of Chrysalis Early Learning Centres in Auckland and Tauranga said up to 5 percent of children might normally be away during winter because of sickness, but about 30 percent were now not coming in.
This may not be a bad thing. Old fashioned that I am, I do believe that parents and grandparents (and other close whanau) are the best people to care for babies and toddlers and prepare them for the battleground that is School. And they don't need to do this alone…https://www.greatpotentials.org.nz/home-based-pre-school-education
Old fashioned that I am, I do believe that parents and grandparents (and other close whanau) are the best people to care for babies and toddlers and prepare them for the battleground that is School.
Parents and grand-parents are probably the worst for preparing kids for anything as they, mostly, subconsciously teach what they learned at that age. Unless they've consciously gone out and learned and internalised what the research tells us then they're just going to teach the same bad habits to the children that they learned as children.
ECE is the better option but not privatised as they cut corners so as to boost profits especially as competition heats up.
I have no objection to foreign students coming in, BUT
1. residents and citizens who want back in have priority and essential skilled workers have priority to managed isolation/quarantine.
2. we have housing (returning Kiwis) and work availability limitations so cannot take the numbers of students on the terms we did before.
For mine we have first obligation to masters students and doctorate students here in 2019, then second to year 3 students of 2019. We would have to ban them from working here (they would have to borrow in their home country for study and living costs). This would reduce takers down to the level we could house in student hostels (quarantine in this accommodation in 2021 pre student year start).
it's probably high time we thought about the whole idea of citizenship/residency and what it means – especially now that it's become yet another commodity to be traded,
You can have an immigrant that commits his/her entire life to a new economy/society, contributes in every way we'd expect of the next man/woman – often not being able to vote after being resident knocking a decade.
Meanwhile, you can have a true blue Koiwoi, whose chosen a life overseas. And now that the shit has hit the fan – naturally enough, they want to come "HOME". That Koiwoi might be the likes of someone that often posts on here with all His eternal wisdon from across the ditch (an economic refugee – the likes of a Dutton would render illigitimate); or the likes of a Thiel who will be flying in on whichever selection of passports He considers best to suit His purpose.
The combinations and permutations are endless,
But wha wha wha, I only ever meant to go overseas to earn a better crust so I could come back to NuZull to invest my wealth in my "Home".
All those in the first week should be confined to their room – keeping the first week intake and the second week intake separate is important.
I would however go further
1. Week 2 day 8, day 9, day 10, day 11 day 12 day 13 and day 14 would be allowed out of their rooms at different times.
2. Staff would required to maintain social distancing while off duty (because of the risk of being infected and spreading in the community). And pay them extra (and also future paid leave – post 2 week self isolation, a month off). It's money well spent.
Hoskings loses defamation case from Tamahere, had to publicly apologise on Air and pay an undisclosed sum to Tamahere, for which he donated directly to the Maori Party.
The money was paid by Hoskings employer.
Couldn't provide link as the the remainder of the story was behind a paywall, sorry.
Surely Horeskin wouldn't let someone pay rather than taking responsibility for his actions, surely. Will he get someone to apologise on his behalf as well?
More than 20 countries will see their populations halve by the end of the century, with the world population peaking in 2064 before facing decline.
Even more interestingly is that we are heading into a demographic inversion, an era when there are more older people than younger. This is totally unmapped territory for the human race, we've never been here before and none of our economic models are calibrated for it.
As fertility falls and life expectancy increases worldwide, the number of children under five is forecast to decline by more than 40 per cent, from 681 million in 2017 to 401 million in 2100, the study found.
At the other end of the spectrum, 2.37 billion people — more than a quarter of the global population — will be over 65 years old by then.
Those over 80 will balloon from about 140 million today to 866 million. Sharp declines in the number and proportion of the working-age population will also pose huge challenges in many countries.
It's not clear that either capitalism or socialism (or any of the 'isms) are going to work in this new world, at least not in their current formulations.
and with no awareness of the risk of super bugs (antibiotics into Chinese pigs still) on the ability of hospitals to provide old people with new knees hips etc.
Global warming impact on old age health … nothing …
Sure contracpetion and education reduce the amount of children women have, but egg storage and looser rules about surrogacy may mitigate that.
Frankly it's not the "being old" that matters it's being too frail and needing care.Keeping older people in work, even if only part week , does a lot to mitigate these demographics.
We should even now be actively trying to keep people producing, their health and education is a sunk cost so get all the benefits we can from them.
japan has been going through this for 20 yrs. aging and static,or shrinking population, leads to lower consumer consumption. a sustainable economy and environment is being forced on them.
"I partially admire Muller. It takes real courage to so openly admit defeat and walk. Mind you, it's an astonishing lack of awareness of your own inabilities to not be able to see that you are not up for it in the first place, if it only takes 50-odd days to fall on your sword.
Me:
I admire Muller. It takes real courage to put yourself out there and stand for Parliament. And to stand as leader of a political party. It takes some sort of courage to so openly admit defeat and walk.
I admire Mike Hosking. It's an astonishing awareness of your own abilities and lack of them which sees you not put yourself out there and stand for Parliament. Or stand to be leader of a political party. Being able to see that you are not up for it takes some awareness.
I just wish he'd shut the fuck up about those who have the courage to try to do something constructive about what they believe in.
Hosking could fall onto swords for 50 odd days or be pushed onto 50 of them he'd still come up without the awareness that the least of the MPs in their contribution to our society is of exponentially more value to us than him and his sad offerings.
Militarized Federal Agents from a patchwork of outside agencies have begun policing Portland (in rented minivans vans) without the explicit approval of the mayor, the state, or local municipalities. This is what that looks like in practice: pic.twitter.com/losap4SsgI
AG Barr announced the launch of Operation Legend "a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative across all federal law enforcement agencies … to fight the sudden surge of violent crime"https://t.co/HrRXqwyr5K
OMG, so Trumpiun, "I spoke to all members, gosh it was a long night" All about her. Who gives a Monkey's f**k Judith if you had a long night, it's the job you wanted, you don't think the PM hasn't had a few late nights in the last few years. Oh and by the way Judith, your already dog whistling to the Far-Right, (Woke, nothing wrong with being white, etc) tells the world your obvious allegiances. The doubling down on Nasty National is well on track.
Henry Cooke failing to point out that national is a policy free zone too or even worse that if in power they do stuff that they have never even mentioned. Also portrays Jacinda's refusal to comment on the Nact drama's as "being above the election".
There's plenty of sharp analysis they could do but this isn't it.
Looks like solid analysis to me. While I understand JA's strategy around 'we're the safe and competent govt who will be reelected', telling the electorate she's not really thinking about the election is kind of alarming.
That National have been light on policy doesn't mean it's ok for any party to be incl Labour. Cooke is saying Collins will refocus Nat back on policy and that Labour will have to do this too. These seems right to me. I assume Labour intend to release policy as we get closer to the election, and also that they've had a lot on their plate so it makes sense that there would be delays. But a policy light election would not serve NZ at this time.
I wonder if after the last election Labour will hang off until after National releases policy in an area. Then they can attack and release their own. Much as nat did last time.
But since what we get from the Nats in power rarely resembles any policy they may release pre election do we gain anything from it
I still feel – without examing sources – that refusing to discuss Nats drama’s has been twisted out of shape.
it will certainly be interesting to see how different parties campaign this year, given the disruption from the pandemic.
I'm glad our election is well ahead of the US one, but I expect Collins to use whatever Trumpian politics she can to increase Nat's vote. It's not going to be pretty.
The whole campaign will be fought on economic issues. If you think some busy ski fields indicates the economy is not suffering, let me introduce you to the unemployment rate (which doesn't take into account the mass layoffs coming when wage subsidy scheme ends).
The election will be about who is best to lead the economic recovery.
Its not even the recovery yet, as we have not hit the bottom of the recession/depression.
Can Labour get onto this right away and recruit reliable and fit people and pay them decently with pocket money on the job, and main income covering family costs (so doesn't get scooped up by predatory drug sellers).They should have good warm accommodation, good meals, good transport to and from, and guaranteed good income support between jobs and break time off with families if they have to travel away to fill jobs? Give the good, reliable ones special standing so that they will be available next season.
Could unions widen their interest in the working and non-working lower income members of society and also try to facilitate people into work by providing an employment agency, under their umbrella which would help workers organise themselves to fill vacancies, and have regular work along with transport and accommodation, and keep themselves working throughout the year. The state is supposed to be helping with this, but the news about WINZ treatment does not sound like good service for those needing employment.
Labour could facilitate this by helping with training, and ensuring reasonable conditions, and decent financial support between jobs. The emphasis these days seems to be on computer skills being highly regarded, yet in reality the employers appreciate people who are fit, capable, stick to the task and do it competently and reliably. Why can't a workforce doing physical work earn gold stars and be highly regarded for matching the above criteria?
Yesterday on Ryan Bridge's radio show Judith Collins had a mini-meltdown because Jacinda Ardern apparently hadn't acknowledged, to her satisfaction, Collins' climbing over of bodies and rise to power.
Ryan Bridge must not have believed how easily he was able to excite Judith, much like the way a dog owner rattles the lead to say it's 'walkies'.
Anyway, today JA paid tribute to Kaye. I hope it was deliberately pointed, along with being a nice thing to do.
Very nice pencil drawing of PM Jacinda and fellow Covid-19 slayer Chief Executive, Ministry of Health Ashley Bloomfield – for up on a wall in pride of place as was Michael Savage!
MJS white New Zealand and sinophobia attitudes, when viewed in today’s environment could tarnish the gravitas that he is viewed by some. Hint he doesn’t endear himself to all ethnicities.
Perhaps it may make some to view those historic figures and their achievements in context of their time, place and social forms.
Jeez it must be great to be perfect and never be accused of copping someone's sensibilities. That will be a big value for tech speak – you will speak normally into a box and it will filter out your words to something that cannot offend anybody. Save lots of hazzle, that's hassle and razzle dazzle mixed; ie the sort of world that we try to survive in today. It's a jungle out here.
Pretty much. National will open up the borders so that their funders can make higher profits while not caring about the damage that they will do to the people.
But, then, that's what National always does in one way or another.
I haven't heard them changing from open them up as fast as possible while ignoring how bad things are getting for those places that they want to open up to.
I thought it was usual practice at this site that when one makes a claim such as….
Pretty much. National will open up the borders so that their funders can make higher profits while not caring about the damage that they will do to the people.
that they provide a link supporting that assertion. A quick search on google suggests that the assertion by the commenters is incorrect.
As you know, National changes their stand on the border situation more often than a puber changes undies. For the latest updates, visit NP website, Twitter, or FB accounts.
Enough is enough yes the Victorian govt is Labour but not NZ Labour. NZ Labour are only responsible for their policies and decisions in NZ. But you know this don't you
Biggest lol today a comment on the National Party's FB feed. "Its official. More MP's have abandoned National than returnees have absconded from isolation
I don't think it's fair the ongoing attacks of Clarke rumours and I think we should keep away from that sort of thing. If there are real reasons (facts) to announce, go for it, and announce it, I'll be just as interested as anyone, otherwise it's just gossip.
Did today's The Panel cause any sort of trauma? I thought it was rather gorgeous despite all the "Ha ha ha's" and really deep thought. I'll lay awake tonight thinking about it.
I persevered listening to it all while you were probably taking down every word to use against the participants in future (just because I don't have a life).
Just be careful ya don't denigrate MY Queen of the media (Kim Hill) or you'll have me to answer to – in this space going forward
He let Lisa sidetrack him into talking about the failures of the Christchurch rebuild which was a lovely example of how political baggage can weigh you down.
It was standard Brownlee and the way hes dealt with interviews for years….it hasnt held his career back to date so theres no reason to expect it will suddenly begin to now.
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This interview on RNZ with Ross Tucker, the scientist who headed a review of transgender athletes playing in women’s rugby, discusses the findings of the review and what it means for women in sports. The review that World Rugby undertook had a broad range of independent experts and included a ...
Siouxsie WilesThe restrictions in place for metropolitan Melbourne now are in some ways stricter than those that were in force during New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown. A curfew is in place and most people have to wear masks when they leave their home – neither of which happened in New ...
On Friday the Hit and Run inquiry delivered a devastating report which found that NZDF had systematically misled Ministers over civilian deaths. The report called into question civilian control of the military (and indeed, military control of the military), a fundamental principle of our democracy. So you'd expect our politicians ...
Let's Do This Again: What else can Jacinda do in a political environment so bereft of imagination and courage but seek a continuance? If she trades upon the extraordinary personal qualities that she has, miraculously, carried with her into the office of Prime Minister, then I, for one, will offer ...
How corrupt are the New Zealand Police? This corrupt: On 10 February 2019, Police attended a family harm incident. The suspect attempted to run the attending officers over in a driveway with his car, narrowly missing them, before fleeing the scene. A short pursuit followed, ending when the suspect stopped ...
Parliament's triennial Review of Standing Orders was released today, and it contains a number of welcome, if minor, improvements. The ones that caught my are: A move to encourage "pre-legislative engagement" - the government consulting widely on legislation before it is introduced - by promising easier passage (e.g. with ...
Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonGlaciers around the world are melting — and for the first time, we can now directly attribute annual ice loss to climate change. We analysed two years in which glaciers in New Zealand melted the most in at least four ...
Caroline Shaw, Anja MizdrakE-bikes are everywhere. Sales are booming and predicted to overtake sales of new cars in a few years. There were three times as many e-bikes and e-scooters imported into NZ in 2019 alone as there are e-cars in the entire country. You can’t go out in ...
New Zealand First is facing a difficult struggle to get re-elected, but Josh Van Veen, who was once a researcher for Winston Peters, argues that there is still a very significant section of cultural conservatives who oppose mass immigration and political correctness and might yet be won back over to ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk Many Americans these days seem unable to avoid controversy on practically any topic, so why not embrace the discord and wade into the especially volatile arena of nuclear energy? Advocates claim it’s the only way to meet global climate goals, ...
Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a 2010 SAS killing raid in Afghanistan. The most recent Colmar Brunton ...
In New Zealand, we've just had the report of the Hit and Run inquiry, which found that a New Zealand led raid had accidentally killed civilians, including a child. meanwhile, around the same time, the British SAS was conducting its own raids in Afghanistan, and theirs were a hell of ...
In addition to establishing a process for setting emissions reductions plans, the Zero Carbon Act established a process for managing the risks of climate change. The first part of this is the preparation of regular risk assessments, looking at the risks to our economy, society, environment, and ecology. The first ...
Over on The spinoff, Amnesty International's Meg de Ronde has a response to Friday's release of the Hit and Run report. And in response to Attorney-General David Parker's claim that the government was being "transparent" by releasing the report, its titled "we shouldn’t have to work this hard to get ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study FindsAs climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...
There's an election next month, so you'd be expecting political parties to be telling us what they stand for and what they'd do if they'd win. But while the Greens have given us a detailed policy platform, and National has talked about roads and austerity, Labour, currently leading the polls ...
"Who's youse accusin' of innference?" Without the timely intervention of a team of top American political consultants and campaign experts, Boris Yeltsin would never have won his second term as President of the Russian Federation. The Russians waited 20 years to return the favour.WHEN IT COMES to the disinformation game, ...
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 26 through Sat, Aug 1, 2020Editor's ChoiceThe four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them allThe shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological ...
Over the last few days, reports have emerged of people travelling from New Zealand and testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at their destination. First in South Korea and now in Australia. What might these positive tests mean?They’re false-positives As Toby Morris and I have explained before, there are ...
Former National Minister - Wayne MappYou could tell that the Hit and Run book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson was right on the money by the way former National Party Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, reacted to its now largely vindicated claims.Even though the recent inquiry into ...
So, the Hit and Run inquiry has reported back, and found some appalling shit at NZDF and NZSIS. And while they quibble a few of the details - the name of a dead child - they basicly uphold Hager and Stephenson's version of events. The SAS went to those villages. ...
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...
Michelle Boag - LeakerThe Heron report (PDF) was released yesterday, and it was a bit disappointing to say the least. It correctly found that former National Party president Michelle Boag and National Party MP Hamish Walker were politically motivated in leaking peoples private medical information, but didn’t look further into ...
Adam Smith, Massey UniversityA recent global assessment of shark populations at 371 coral reefs in 58 countries found no sharks at almost 20% of reefs and alarmingly low numbers at many others. The study, which involved over 100 scientists under the Global FinPrint project, gave New Zealand a good ...
On different trajectories and from different ends of the political spectrum, last night’s One News/Colmar Brunton poll has the Green Party and ACT converging around the five percent mark. And, as odd as it may sound, they head into the election campaign with a lot in common.Putting the Greens and ...
Janet Stephenson, University of OtagoA proposed multibillion-dollar project to build a pumped hydro storage plant could make New Zealand’s electricity grid 100% renewable, but expensive new infrastructure may not be the best way to achieve this. New Zealand’s electricity generation is already around 80% renewable, with just over half ...
Truth In Advertising: Labour, it would seem, is the party that knows nothing about running the economy right up until the moment that it does. HOW DID LABOUR acquire its reputation for being a poor economic manager? As with most things political and historical, it’s a long story.In the beginning, the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Government rulemakers looking to decide how much money to spend to avoid adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere need a good estimate of what a warming climate will cost in social damages, for example through more extreme weather events. That point makes ...
Below is the list of gender-critical material which appeared on Redline from October 1, 2019 to October 31, 2019. Rainbow Tick threatens to pull Massey’s tick if lesbians are allowed to speak Freer Lives – a gender-critical Marxist site Freer Lives on Violence, debate and Britain’s Gender Recognition Act British ...
Fact Check: New Zealand’s own relationship with China might, however, be salvageable if our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was willing to equip its minister, Winston Peters, with a few facts. Legislating for the protection of national security – the very action our Foreign Minister is decrying – ...
I hope we can all agree that charging only certain returning expats for isolation costs is the right call. Instead of a blanket fee, which may have resulted in a small number of Kiwis deciding not to return home because of financial reasons, the Government has chosen to implement a ...
Back at the beginning of this government, the Greens made a foolish decision to support the Electoral Integrity Act - demanded by Winston Peters to keep his own backbench in line as part of his coalition deal with Labour - as an act of good faith within the coalition. It ...
SATURDAY AUGUST 1Artefact (Prime, 7.30pm). The series presented by Dame Anne Salmond screened on Māori Television, but is totally worth revisiting if you saw it the first time. Dame Anne tells the stories of taonga that highlight the history of Aotearoa. Further reading: this 2013 interview with Dame Anne by the lovely ...
Have unions and the Government sold workers short with their attempt at fixing the so-called “Hobbit Law”? Unionist Ian Powell argues that the union movement has been outmanoeuvered, and the Government has agreed to a new piece of anti-worker legislation that retains the principles of the previous National Government’s hated ...
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source:Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ...
An article in the EETimes suggests that advances in autonomous vehicles are not moving as quickly as expected because those working on them have confused complicated problems with complex ones. Engineering can only take you so far in complex worlds. Complicated systems tend to have fairly predictable inputs, processes and outputs. Complex systems (like ...
Last week, after Judith Collins announced that National would be cruel and vicious to kiwis caught overseas by the pandemic, and rob them at the border if they returned home, Labour looked like it was falling all over itself to cry "me too". But now, it looks like kindness has ...
If entry into New Zealand from abroad is safe, it should be allowed. People arriving from places that are Covid-free, or no more risky than New Zealand, and who get here on flights that do not intersect with risky places, should return to normal travel arrangements. Currently, the Cook ...
We've announced that we will expand the Flexi-wage programme to support up to 40,000 more people into work, or to help them start their own business. It's yet another way we're helping keep our economy moving by getting people into work and training. Read on to find out more ...
Business subsidy of on average $7500, and up to $22,000, to hire unemployed New ZealandersUp to 40,000 jobs to be supported by $311 million investment in keeping New Zealanders off the unemployment benefitRing-fenced fund to help unemployed start their own business ...
This week was the last of the 52nd Parliament: a major milestone for our Government and a great opportunity to look back at all the progress we've made for New Zealanders. This week, we increased support for businesses to take on apprentices, improved access to hospital care in Northland, and ...
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...
On 1 August, we marked the anniversary of Jacinda Ardern becoming the Leader of the Labour Party. On that day in 2017, Leader Andrew Little nominated Jacinda Ardern to succeed him and lead the party to victory.Now, three years on, we look back at some of the key moments ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Government is stepping up action to deal with environmentally harmful products – including plastic packaging, tyres and e-waste – before they become waste. ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Law changes to end tenure review and provide for better management of Crown pastoral lands in the South Island high country were considered by Parliament today with the first reading of the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill says Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party have secured legislative amendments in a bill expected to pass third reading this week, to ensure better rules for school teachers and staff, so they can de-escalate children with diverse needs and cognitive differences, such as autism, rather than using unnecessary and often traumatising force. ...
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says.Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has ridiculed the National Party "circus", with the politician saying it was in "chaos" after the resignation of another MP.Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon announced on Monday he would retire from politics after he allegedly sent inappropriate pornographic images to a young woman. Following a ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today outlined what he saw as the requirements to re-open New Zealand's borders for tourists and travellers. If New Zealand was dealing solely with an Australian state such as Tasmania, we wouldn't need a vaccine, said Mr Peters, but these moves were complicated by the ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants. Mr Peters told reporters on Wednesday said that he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to. He said he ...
Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprise and New Zealand First List MP Shane Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new NZ Post "super depot" in Wellington. The state-owned postal service, which got $280 million from the Coalition Government last month, is expanding its operations to handle surging parcel volumes. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYIntroduction Good afternoon. Welcome to you all here today and party supporters watching from around the country. We appreciate your hard work keeping New Zealand First strong; thank you for keeping the faith. Sixty-three days out from Election Day, ...
The diversity of conservation boards around Aotearoa is increasing with 47 appointments to 14 of the 15 conservation boards across New Zealand announced today by the Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party is honoured to be remembering former co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today at a public memorial service in the heart of Wellington at the Cathedral of St. Paul’s. Following her passing in March, this celebration of her life brings together her friends, family and colleagues to honour her life ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced a $2.5 million boost for South Westland to help a regional alliance of local businesses and government agencies provide nature based jobs. ...
The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to supporting the hosting of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which the ICC has delayed from 2021 to 2022. “This is obviously a disappointing decision for cricket players and fans around the world and for the White Ferns and their supporters here at ...
Cyclists and walkers will now have a safer way to get around Taupō, Tūrangi, and between Hamilton and Cambridge, with funding for shared paths and Te Awa River Ride, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. “The Te Awa River Ride is the latest part of massive growth ...
Six major cycle routes will be completed in Christchurch thanks to funding from the Government’s investment in shovel-ready infrastructure as part of the COVID-19 recovery Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. $125 million will be invested to kick-start construction and fund the completion of the following cycleway ...
Plans are underway for a brand new state-of-the-art hub for Whanganui’s justice and social agencies, following confirmation the ageing Whanganui Central Police Station is to be replaced. Police Minister Stuart Nash has announced $25 million in new infrastructure spending to improve facilities for the wider community, and for staff who ...
An adjustment payment has been made to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu under the relativity mechanisms in their 1995 and 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The latest payments to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu are $2,700,000 and $2,600,000 respectively to ensure the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off the start of the Auckland NZ Upgrade Programme rail projects which will support over 400 jobs and help unlock our biggest city. Both ministers marked the start of enabling works on the third main rail line project ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $3.78 million in Wairoa will create much needed economic stimulus and jobs, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. PGF projects announced today include: $200,000 loan to Nuhaka Kiwifruit Holdings Ltd (operated by Pine Valley Orchard Ltd) to increase the productivity ...
Tenants in public and Māori housing may be benefiting from their own affordable renewable energy in future – a fund to trial renewable energy technology for public and Māori housing has today been announced by Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods and Associate Minister for Housing (Māori Housing) Nanaia Mahuta. ...
Hokianga will receive $2.7 million to redevelop four of its wharves and upgrade its water supply, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Far North District Council will receive $1.8 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for the work on the wharves. “The work will include the construction of ...
A $350 million Residential Development Response Fund is being established to support the residential construction sector and to minimise the economic impact from COVID-19, the Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods has announced. “The Residential Development Response Fund will help to progress stalled or at-risk developments that support our broader housing ...
As part of a broader plan to divert waste from landfill, the Government today announced $10.67 million for new infrastructure as part of the Resource Recovery Network across the Auckland region. “This key investment in Auckland’s community recycling network is part of the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group ‘shovel ready’ projects ...
The Government is investing $45 million in the first stage of an ambitious urban development project for Tauranga that will employ up to 250 people and help the region grow, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the funding has been allocated out of the $3 billion ...
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...
A new trades training centre to upskill the local workforce will be built in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa through funding from the Government’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Government will contribute $10.84 million from ...
The Government has agreed to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act subsequent children provisions, Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced today. “There are times when children need to go into care for their safety – the safety and care of children must always be paramount,” Minister Martin said. “But ...
A $1.5 million boost to grow primary mental health and addiction services for Pacific peoples in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury will lead to better outcomes for Pacific communities, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says. Pasifika Futures has received funding to expand services through The Fono, Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest by ...
Twenty-two projects to boost the sustainability and climate resilience of New Zealand’s food and fibres sector have been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The $18m funding will deliver practical knowledge to help farmers and growers use their land more sustainably, meet environmental targets, remain prosperous, and better understand ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson welcomes an initiative that assists employers to get mature workers into New Zealand small businesses. The disadvantages that older people face in the workplace was highlighted in the whole of Government Employment Strategy. In order to address this, a Mature Workers Toolkit has been developed and ...
New Zealand and Australia reaffirmed today the need for the closest possible collaboration as they tackle a global environment shaped by COVID-19, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. “In these challenging times, our close collaboration with Australia is more vital than ever,” said Mr Peters. Mr Peters and his Australian ...
The recovery and forensic examination of the loader driven by survivor Russell Smith means the underground team are now moving into an area of the Pike River Mine that has not been seen since the explosion, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little said. “The fifth and last robot ...
The Government has confirmed a community-wide trial of CovidCard technology as it explores options for COVID-19 contact tracing. “Effective contact tracing is a vital part of the COVID-19 response,” Minister of Health Chris Hipkins said. “While manual processes remain the critical component for contact tracing, we know digital solutions can ...
The government is proposing changes to aquaculture legislation to improve the process for allocating and transferring aquaculture assets to iwi. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash has introduced the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Amendment Bill to Parliament. It proposes a limited new discretionary power for Te Ohu Kaimoana Trustee Limited (ToKM). ...
The Minister of Justice has today introduced the Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill – the next step in the ongoing programme of work to fix the failed 2014 Family Court reforms led by then Justice Minister Judith Collins. The Bill arises from the report of the Independent ...
A new Department of Conservation (DOC) action plan tackles the impacts of climate change on New Zealand’s biodiversity and DOC managed infrastructure including tracks, huts and cultural heritage. Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage says extreme weather events around the country have really brought home our vulnerability to changing weather patterns. ...
A heavily scaled back international Antarctic season will commence this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods have confirmed. “Antarctica is the only continent that is COVID-19 free,” Mr Peters said. “Throughout the global pandemic, essential operations and long-term science have continued at ...
The Government is providing up to $30 million to help fund the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport in Upper Hutt - an investment that will create 244 jobs. “The sports hub is designed to be a world-leading shared service for a range of sports, offering the level of facilities ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today transport projects currently in construction will continue at pace due to extra Government support for transport projects to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. To keep the $16.9 billion 2018-21 National Land Transport Programme going the Government has allocated funding from the COVID Response and ...
$50 million for further rural broadband digital connectivity has been allocated from the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the COVID Response and Recovery Fund has been announced by Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure and Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media. The investment will go to boosting broadband ...
The Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has congratulated the Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB) programme on its major milestone of connecting more than 1 million New Zealand households and businesses to UFB. “This milestone has been 10 years in the making and demonstrates the popularity of the UFB network. “Uptake ...
Landmark legislation passed today puts New Zealand on track to saving thousands of lives and having a smokefree generation sooner rather than later, Associate Health Minister, Jenny Salesa says. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill regulates vaping products and heated tobacco devices. “There has long been concern ...
A discriminatory law that has been a symbol of frustration for many people needing and providing care and support, has been scrapped by the Government. “Part 4A of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) was introduced under urgency in 2013 by a National Government,” Associate ...
Kiwi motorists are set to reap the benefits of a more competitive fuel market following the passing of the Fuel Industry Bill tonight, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says. “This Act is where the rubber meets the road in terms of our response to the recommendations made in the ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to New Zealanders to modernise tenancy laws with the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill 2020 today, says Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing), Kris Faafoi. “The Residential Tenancies Act 1986 was out-dated and the reforms in the RTA modernise our ...
New rules to protect and restore New Zealand’s freshwater passed into law today. Environment Minister David Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor welcomed the gazetting of the new national direction on freshwater management. “These regulations deliver on the Government’s commitment to stop further degradation, show material improvements within five years and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced the appointment of Jeremy Clarke-Watson as New Zealand’s new Consul-General in Los Angeles. “New Zealand and the United States share a close and dynamic partnership, based on a long history of shared values and democratic traditions,” Mr Peters said. “Mr Clarke-Watson is a ...
Victims of family violence can end a tenancy with two days’ notice Landlords can terminate tenancies with 14 days’ notice if tenants assault them Timeframe brought forward for limiting rent increases to once every 12 months Extension of time Tenancy Tribunal can hear cases via phone/video conference Reform of New ...
Two employment schemes – one new and one expanded – going live today will help tens of thousands of people continue training on the job and support thousands more into work, the Government has announced. Apprenticeship Boost, a subsidy of up to $12,000 per annum for first year apprentices and ...
The Government is funding a significant infrastructure package at Omokoroa which will create 150 new jobs and help transform the Western Bay of Plenty peninsula, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the Government is investing $14 million towards the $28 million roading and water package. This ...
The Bill allowing the Government to recover some costs for managed isolation and quarantine passed its third reading today, with charges coming into force as soon as regulations are finalised. Putting regulations into force is the next step. “The COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill and its supporting regulations will ...
Today’s unemployment data shows the Government’s plan to protect jobs and cushion the blow for businesses and households against the economic impact of COVID-19 was the right decision, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ said today that New Zealand’s unemployment rate in the June quarter – which includes the ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 9, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election seasonclick here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. 7.15am: Labour tax policy coming ...
New Zealand's unofficial poet laureate Victor Billot pens topical verse every Sunday. This week: the rotten egg laid by the outgoing coalition governmentLet’s keep moving I was sitting in my cheap motel room next to the window, smelling petrol fumes when on the TV came a lady in red ...
She’s Cheryl West, she’s Ellen Crozier, she’s the woman who makes headlines for throwaway jokes online. Sam Brooks talks to Robyn Malcolm, actor and activist.There’s nothing more compelling on a New Zealand screen than Robyn Malcolm wanting something. Whether it’s Cheryl West trying to get a lingerie business off the ...
The Labour leader returned yesterday to the Auckland Town Hall, where she was last seen riding the Jacindamania wave towards government. Toby Manhire went along to see how this campaign launch compared to the 2017 edition.A lot was the same. The big wash of red light bouncing off the Town ...
REVIEW: JACINDAMANIA: THE SEQUELWritten, directed and starring: Jacinda ArdernGenre: Political love story Classification: General ReleaseRunning Time: Six weeksShowing: NationwideRating: * * * * starsReviewer: Tim Murphy We've waited three years but the sequel to the 2017 blockbuster Jacindamania has finally arrived, debuting Saturday at the ...
Judith Collins is still shy of a month into the job but in her media blitz she and her arched eyebrows are everywhere, along with the party slogan "Strong team, More Jobs, Better Economy". ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce the next tranche of candidates that will represent our values and spread our message across the country at this year’s election. We thank these hardworking New Zealanders for putting their hand up to take on the ...
A high-ranking Chinese candidate promoted over more than a dozen incumbent MPs is the biggest surprise in an otherwise orthodox National Party list for the 2020 election, as Sam Sachdeva reports The National Party has released its list rankings for the 2020 election, with the ascent of new candidate Nancy ...
The National Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Nancy Lu to the National Party’s List for the 2020 General Election, President Peter Goodfellow says. “Nancy Lu is a Chartered Accountant with a background in accounting and business working ...
Headline: A crisis of governance. – 36th Parallel Assessments [embedded content] The Port of Beirut warehouse explosion, involving 2.7 kilotons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate negligently stored in an unsecured area, crystalizes in one national tragedy a much wider trend: the crisis and decline of democratic governance world-wide.For a ...
National’s 2020 Party List is a strong mix of experience coming up through our Caucus, and new and exciting talent joining our team from communities across New Zealand, Party President Peter Goodfellow says. “The National Party is incredibly ...
Latest from the Beehive – It looked (at first blush) like Christchurch would gobble up around half the money earmarked by the government for projects to get us on our bikes. Julie Anne Genter, Associate Minister of Transport and a Green with a fondness for two-wheeled, pedal-driven transport, today banged ...
The suggestion of putting border exemptions up for auction so large companies can bring in overseas executives and key workers is naïve and totally unfair,” says Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment ...
Looking for a wonderfully trashy movie to watch? TVNZ OnDemand now have some of Lifetime’s best dramas for your viewing pleasure. In a world of serious and credible television, the arrival of Lifetime to TVNZ OnDemand is joyous news. Lifetime is an American cable channel that churns out emotional drama after emotional drama, ...
The introduction of a $3,100 fee for returning New Zealanders will disadvantage Māori disproportionately, Phoebe Carr (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe)and Max Harris argue.The government has once again failed to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi by rushing through legislation to introduce exorbitant managed isolation fees for returning New Zealanders. This ...
7 August 2020: The Team of Six Million, a campaign group established to oppose the imposition of quarantine fees by the New Zealand Government, has expressed disappointment at the Government's urgent passing of the Public Health Response Amendment Bill to ...
In July support for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party was at 53.5% down 1% since June, but still more than double the support for National on 26.5%, down 0.5%, with just over a month to go before the election in mid-September. If ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 7, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch ...
After initial concerns about low testing rates in South Auckland, Counties Manukau DHB has the second-highest testing rate in the country. Ōtara Health chief executive Sosefina Paletaoga explains her organisation’s role in achieving this. Covid-19 has affected us all in different ways, and for us in Ōtara, it has highlighted existing ...
Oranga Tamariki's Chief Executive appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal a day after a report from the Chief Ombudsman found the agency had used its draconian powers to uplift babies too readily in many cases A Waitangi Tribunal hearing has seen Oranga Tamariki chief executive Gráinne Moss concede her organisation harmed families during ...
"A resident of the boarding house disappeared the same day Mrs Bethany’s body was discovered": provincial gothic, with astrology, by Auckland writer Mandy McMullin. I moved into the tearooms the day I turned sixteen, 23 December 2006. The same day I met Garth. It was Saturday, a lucky day for ...
The resignation of Westland Milk Products chief executive Tony Brendish almost a year to the day the company was sold to Chinese conglomerate Yili makes a mockery of assurances that there was no conflict of interest in top management preparing ...
*Watch the video in the player below*The wheels of progress turn frustratingly slow in Christchurch’s Red Zone. Frank Film asks, is anything going to happen? Hayley Guglietta is honest about her group’s activities on vacant land bordering Christchurch’s Avon River. She admits the groundwork was commenced without official ...
On this week's Extra Time podcast: After significant investigations into cycling, football and hockey in New Zealand, now gymnastics is in the spotlight around their athletes' welfare. Allegations of multiple New Zealand gymnasts suffering from verbal and physical abuse, bullying and unsafe training methods have surfaced over the past week. And ...
She’s a lone wolf, a team player, a rebel, a leader and the nicest lady around. But what combination of those do you need to survive in government?On a cold July morning, I found myself driving around Totara Park in Manurewa in the dark. I had been invited to a ...
All around the country, people are asking ‘what’s going to happen in the 2020 general election campaign?’ That’s because they haven’t read this guide, which reveals exactly what will happen in the 2020 general election campaign.Someone has finally put this term of parliament out of its misery. We’ve had three ...
The UK car industry has run a good race in the post-Brexit lobbying stakes. But Britain’s chemical industry looks to be making a late run, if recent coverage in the Financial Times is accurate.The issue for the industry is the post-Brexit regulatory regime and how this is to be ...
Latest from the Beehive – We had just finished digesting an outpouring of announcements from the Beehive over the previous 24 hours or so when the Point of Order Trough Monitor shrieked an alert. A new trough had been established. While we were inspecting the contents of this new trough, ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Chart 1, Historical: Australian much lower than Spain, Belgium and Sweden. Chart by Keith Rankin. The known incidences of Covid19 in Spain, Belgium and Sweden are similar, although Sweden lagged for a while before overtaking the other two. In deaths, Sweden is slightly lower than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The good news in the Reserve Bank’s latest quarterly set of forecasts is that the recession won’t be as steep as it thought last time. The bad news is it ...
Analysis: National entices voters with big infrastructure projects, Judith Collins rips into Jacinda Ardern and Parliament passes a bill that could affect every tenant in the country. ...
By RNZ Pacific France’s new overseas minister Sebastien Lecornu says New Caledonia’s restrictions over the covid-19 pandemic will not affect the preparations for the October referendum on independence. Lecornu gave the assessment during a visit to New Caledonia House in Paris. Paris is expected to send dozens of officials and ...
Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa descendants are overjoyed they can do up their wharenui, while also attracting their rangatahi back to their marae, with more than $1.5 million from the Provincial Growth Fund. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University National crises, like the pandemics that can provoke them, come in stages. Each stage presents leaders with unique problems that require mental, moral and emotional agility to manage. Change is the only constant, as ...
How is New Zealand faring in during the Covid-19 pandemic? Newsroom is taking a weekly look at the latest numbers related to the virus and the impact on the economy.Excess deaths Overseas the death toll in some countries has risen sharply, with the ...
Justice campaign organisation JustSpeak has outlined a vision for a society without prisons in its 2020 election campaign ‘ Our Justice Our Future ’. The campaign was launched last night in Wellington, to a sold out audience of supporters and volunteers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vasso Apostolopoulos, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research Partnerships, Victoria University During the COVID-19 pandemic we’re constantly being reminded to practise good hygiene by frequently washing our hands and regularly cleaning the spaces where we live and work. These practices aim to remove or kill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and University of Canberra Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher discuss the week in politics. This week Michelle and Caroline discuss the closure of ‘non-essential’ businesses in Melbourne under stage ...
Labour's campaign slogan "Let's Keep Moving" is hardly the most inspirational but reflects the conservative game plan - trade on the Covid response and stay on track. ...
By granting a permit to OceanaGold to mine under DOC land in the Coromandel, the government is not only threatening an endangered species, says Catherine Delahunty – it’s threatening future generations.I woke up angry. The government has given a 40-year permit to OceanaGold to mine under DOC land behind Whangamatā. ...
How come, after numerous condemnatory reports, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss holds on to her job? Aaron Smale wonders if those harmed by her tenure aren't a big enough voting bloc So, what happens when a government department breaks the law and breaches its own policies? Nothing, apparently. The latest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: The Meddler, screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival For movie scholars and enthusiasts, one of the worst things about the COVID-19 pandemic has been the shutting down of ...
The combination of solar panels, electricity storage batteries, smart household gadgets, and a boring looking black box is set to change forever how our electricity system works. But do we need subsidies? ...
The New Zealand Bar Assocation says misinformed criticism of a South Island judge’s sentencing of a sex offender has the potential for disturbing consequences for the justice system and society generally. The Bar Association’s President Kate Davenport ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Royal Commission into Aged-Care Quality and Safety delivered it’s interim report in October 2019. Titled ‘Neglect’, it provided a scathing insight into the aged care industry – finding it centred around transactions not care. ...
By Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group More than one year after the March 15, 2019 terrorist attack, an official inquiry into the mass shooting that killed 51 people and injured 49 in two Christchurch mosques has still not released any information ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Damien Manuel, Director, Centre for Cyber Security Research & Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University Australia’s long-awaited cybersecurity strategy, released yesterday, pledges to spend A$1.67 billion over the next ten years to improve online protection for businesses, individuals and the country as a whole. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roxana Diamond, PhD Candidate, Flinders University This article has links that contain graphic content Many industries and employees have been hurt by COVID-19. But sex workers, who face stigma and discrimination at the best of times, have been hit particularly hard by ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Port Moresby may need to expand its covid-19 isolation facilities quickly and effectively in case a big spike in cases occurs, a doctor says. Rita Flynn isolation facility manager Dr Gary Nou said it would be a disaster if the spread of covid-19 in ...
Paige Tapara is a fast-rising young singer-songwriter whose debut EP explores themes of sexuality, coming of age, mental health and relationships. We asked her how it came together, and why she thinks it’s so important for NZ music to include voices like hers.Paige swoops into the room, a cream doughnut in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Foley, Chief Scientist, CSIRO Universities and other research organisations in Australia have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, a group led by Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel forecasted severe impacts for our research workforce. These included the loss ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Carnt, Scientia Senior Lecturer, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW, Sydney, UNSW You’re rushing and accidentally drop a contact lens on the bathroom floor. Should you: a) run it under the tap and pop it in? b) spit on it ...
The Māori Party is celebrating World Indigenous Day the Māori way, surrounded by friends and whānau at a Meet-the-Candidates at the Third Place Café in Rotorua this weekend. To mark World Indigenous Day, the Māori Party wants to remind Aotearoa ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Wayland, Lecturer, University of Sydney As part of new research into missing persons in Australia, I have been asking people who return after disappearing what they needed or wanted. Mary, who has gone missing four times in the last few years, ...
Forest & Bird is calling for all political parties to back an end to mining conservation land, after a permit was issued to mine the home of a critically-endangered native animal. This week Oceana Gold was granted a 40-year mining permit from the ...
Here’s a snapshot of a single day in parliament. A day where changes were made to laws that govern everything from the milk in your refrigerator to the speed you can drive your car, and to Netflix, and war crimes, and who tests your water. It was a big day.The ...
*This article was first published on RNZ and is republished with permission* Māori leaders say they have no faith in Oranga Tamariki and the chief executive needs to go after the latest report into the organisation found it was routinely taking newborns without whānau consultation. The Chief Ombudsman's report He Take Kōhukihuki, ...
So is the government succeeding in steering the country through the Covid-19 crisis and what it calls a “one-in-100-year shock”. And just what is it costing? These are questions which will be uppermost in the minds of voters when they cast their ballots in next month’s general election. Finance Minister ...
Peddlethorp calls on other businesses that cancelled events due to Covid to donate now when need is greatest Peddlethorp Architects is calling on businesses that cancelled events due to Covid-19 to donate event catering or funding to those in need, if circumstances ...
A poem by Rhian Gallagher from her new collection Far-Flung.At the Boatshedfor Sonja MitchellWe carried the day through the door the harbour had earned its keep light laid its hands on each contourthe shed held abreast with the shore spreading the waves in pleats we carried the day through the ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alistair Sisson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Social and public housing is intensely stigmatised in Australia and has been for several decades. Estates in particular are often labelled “ghettos”, framed as places of danger, drugs and vice. This stigma ...
National is promising to spend $20 million over four years on increasing testing rates and accessibility to clinical trials for gynaecological cancer if elected. ...
The National Party is criticising the government's list of "shovel-ready projects", meant to kickstart the economy, for not generating enough jobs for women. ...
Wedged between punitive commercial law and an ineffective government, a once-thriving business is dying a slow and expensive death.It was one of the most acclaimed backpackers in New Zealand.Perched at the top of the Elliot Stables building in central Auckland, it was voted by Hostelworld as the city’s most popular ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW One of the many things COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on is the way many of us work. Those fortunate enough to be able to work from home have been able to adapt to this ...
Open mike 16/07/2020 
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Aug 2, 2020 through Sat, Aug 8, 2020 Editor's Choice Five Years After Speaking Out on Climate Change, Pope Francis Sounds an Urgent Alarm The encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ motivated many people ...3 hours ago
...15 hours ago
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From some quarters, incessant scaremongering. From others, it’s a full-on tilt into touching the alarmist buttons a little too readily (uncertain times make for very captive audiences with this angle of attack). The (so-called) Opposition (and merely regarding them as that seems to be a far looser term now ...17 hours ago
National Party leader - Judith CollinsElections often bring out the best and worst in politicians. Some rise to the occasion and provide us with a clear vision for the future. While others wallow in resentment and controversy, over-relying on attack politics to try to attain the interest of voters.That’s been ...22 hours ago
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Good day to everyone. I’ve been asked by Mr Thinks to come here and talk to you all about my concerns regarding the government response to Covid-19. We’ve been living through this pandemic for, what seems like, years. Years and years and years. Why else would the National Party have ...1 day ago
‘Good Economics for Hard Times’ should be on your reading list. New Zealand does not have a Minister of Labour. It has Ministers of Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety but there is no minister with responsibility for the labour market. That responsibility was abolished in 2012 when ...2 days ago
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That was clearly a huge explosion. Just after the explosion, we see a cloud of ‘fog’ moving outwards at high speed. This is a shockwave, rather similar to that which causes a sonic boom. The ‘fog’ is caused by water condensing from the atmosphere in areas of intense low pressure ...3 days ago
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by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...3 days ago
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...6 days ago
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The Green Party is strongly opposed to MBIE’s decision to grant mining permits under public conservation land in the Coromandel. ...2 days ago
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Oranga Tamariki's Chief Executive appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal a day after a report from the Chief Ombudsman found the agency had used its draconian powers to uplift babies too readily in many cases A Waitangi Tribunal hearing has seen Oranga Tamariki chief executive Gráinne Moss concede her organisation harmed families during ...1 day ago
"A resident of the boarding house disappeared the same day Mrs Bethany’s body was discovered": provincial gothic, with astrology, by Auckland writer Mandy McMullin. I moved into the tearooms the day I turned sixteen, 23 December 2006. The same day I met Garth. It was Saturday, a lucky day for ...1 day ago
*Watch the video in the player below* The wheels of progress turn frustratingly slow in Christchurch’s Red Zone. Frank Film asks, is anything going to happen? Hayley Guglietta is honest about her group’s activities on vacant land bordering Christchurch’s Avon River. She admits the groundwork was commenced without official ...1 day ago
On this week's Extra Time podcast: After significant investigations into cycling, football and hockey in New Zealand, now gymnastics is in the spotlight around their athletes' welfare. Allegations of multiple New Zealand gymnasts suffering from verbal and physical abuse, bullying and unsafe training methods have surfaced over the past week. And ...1 day ago
The UK car industry has run a good race in the post-Brexit lobbying stakes. But Britain’s chemical industry looks to be making a late run, if recent coverage in the Financial Times is accurate. The issue for the industry is the post-Brexit regulatory regime and how this is to be ...1 day ago
How is New Zealand faring in during the Covid-19 pandemic? Newsroom is taking a weekly look at the latest numbers related to the virus and the impact on the economy. Excess deaths Overseas the death toll in some countries has risen sharply, with the ...2 days ago
How come, after numerous condemnatory reports, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss holds on to her job? Aaron Smale wonders if those harmed by her tenure aren't a big enough voting bloc So, what happens when a government department breaks the law and breaches its own policies? Nothing, apparently. The latest ...2 days ago
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So is the government succeeding in steering the country through the Covid-19 crisis and what it calls a “one-in-100-year shock”. And just what is it costing? These are questions which will be uppermost in the minds of voters when they cast their ballots in next month’s general election. Finance Minister ...2 days ago
The Herald is reporting that Nikki Kaye is quitting at the election. It’s not very surprising, her tenure as Deputy Leader has been a total disaster, I don’t know why the commentators go so easy on her really.
The Woodhouse camp (if there is one) is now spinning that he wanted to fess up about the Boag leaks on the Wednesday but Kaye and Adams told him to stay quiet; they were going to deal with it. No wonder Collins could only shift him sideways. How long before Adams re-resigns?
The Herald also reports that the party was trying to dissuade Kaye from making a rash decision. Not, you’d have to think for Kaye’s benefit, but rather because the party can see a swathe of urban, fairly liberal voters leaving with her.
Even before this shift fight Kaye’s grip on Auckland Central was probably slipping. It seems more likely now to go back to Labour.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=222072
Do do do another one bites the dust
Wrong link… This is the one to your story https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12348376
Oops sorry. That will be a case of stray fingers on the iPad.
For once people in the National caucas are taking responsibility and exiting.
So Boag was still full throttle after she was being caught out.
Edit please remove second paragraph @ 1.3
I waned the second paragraph in 1.3 to be removed due to leaving out the word issue.
So Boag issue was still…
I thought the PM’s response to the National Party’s leadership travails yesterday was spot on. “I’m just focussed on getting NZ through the pandemic and don’t have time for politics” etc.
It neatly reminded everyone that, at this time of crisis, the Nats are only concerned with themselves. And it clearly got Collins all riled up. We all know she hates being ignored more than anything else. She accused the PM of being ‘woke’ (whatever that meant, presumably she just thinks it’s an easy way to denigrate someone) and ‘warned’ Ardern not to ignore her. And issued the good old ‘I’ll debate you anywhere, anytime challenge’ that Opposition Leaders love. Gonna be great fun if this is how easy it is to get Collins all worked up.
She accused the PM of being ‘woke’ (whatever that meant
She may have googled it, eh?
I've been anticipating the emergence of woke 2.0 (brown lives matter), 3.0 (yellow lives matter) and 4.0 (red lives matter) for a while – but it seems that those other US ethnicities remain reluctant to awaken.
The leadership will be up with the play what with everyone parachuting . Collins sometimes has problems getting to the airport though. She purposefully goes in the opposite direction and tells us she was going to the airport.
And Gerry? He actually gets to the airport, ploughs through places he shouldn't be, bullshits his way through it and months later a report comes out showing his story was bullshit.
Chris Trotter: "Judith Collins scares me." http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-judith-collins-led-national-party.html
But hey, bland is good, right? Well, Labour will try to cling to that notion but the battle for mainstreamers is more likely to be won by messaging that suits the crisis. Chris is right but the lag until Labour strategists realise that is the thing to watch for.
Yeah but Labour's preference for selecting mediocre candidates deserves an appropriate response – as long as the critique is fair and accurate, voters will credit National.
Damn right! JA can ace JC via this method. But it presumes JC will use flawed rightist framing. Framing to win centrists (as she should) makes her a hard target to hit.
Correct. JC is vulnerable to any trigger that activates her dark side. Force her to adopt a partisan stance. Centrists will shift away from her.
We've already been waiting months for that. If Labour have actually done the intellectual work, they may be saving it for a timely campaign release.
Yeah. Allowing that perception to embed in the public mind is a mistake. Labour folk just point the polls and say `no problem'. Until the lead evaporates…
I really like the bit where he says:
" With the right rejecting her as too left, and the left dismissing her as too right, she has fallen repeatedly between the two STOOLS."
Even if the Right stool is a hell of a lot more smelly these days
"Yeah but Labour's preference for selecting mediocre candidates deserves an appropriate response – as long as the critique is fair and accurate, voters will credit National." – more fun (and much easier) to
snipeopine than lead, eh Dennis? Remind you of anyone?Hungry and scared in Hawkes Bay
Hungry and scared in Hawkes Bay
newsroom.co.nz/hungry-and-scared-in-hawkes-bay
Bizzniss as usual:
" I have complete faith in my officials "
"He noted that Brown was initially assigned the case as the RSE labour inspector for the Hawkes Bay region, but that he was re-assigned after a copy of the tape recording was presented to MBIE" ……. and anyway, it's not as if he called them "Scum" on social media.
Bizzniss as usual.
" I have complete faith in my officials "
"He noted that Brown was initially assigned the case as the RSE labour inspector for the Hawkes Bay region, but that he was re-assigned after a copy of the tape recording was presented to MBIE" ……. and anyway, it's not as if he called them "Scum" on social media.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/hungry-and-scared-in-hawkes-bay
Anthony Rarere…what a true gent. Who speaks to people like that?
There's history here…https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/voices/audio/2018629607/rse-recruiters-threatened-in-solomon-islands
There's history there @ Rosemary and elsewhere! And people remain in their positions.
I freely admit I have quaint old ideas though like:
public servants acting ethically; not having (or maintaining) conflicts if interests; respecting people's privacy; not thinking it OK to get people like T&C to spy on people carrying out their legitimate business; not trying to create their own little police forces; treating their worker-bees with respect and without bullying; actually doing the frikken job they're supposed to be doing; not leaking private information in order to advance their own agendas; etc.
It doesn't seem that much to ask considering those responsible are well-remunerated, but you know – call me old-fashioned possum
When in government yet keeping close to business it is hard to decide whose interests you are serving, and it is possible to jump in and out of government, a bit like hopskotch.
This Solomons Island thing is born of desperation surely.
Around 600 Solomon Island workers are recruited each year work in horticulture and viticulture industries in regions across the country.
Roselyn Givi and Janet Meimana are among 75 Solomon Island women recruited to pick blueberries in the Bay this year.
Janet hails from Isobel Island in the outer provinces of the Solomon’s archipelago.
After 2014’s Cyclone Ita washed away their family’s crops, Janet’s RSE earnings became vital for feeding her family and rebuilding her family’s home.
“We send money back home to help our families because on the island they are short of food, she says.
We no doubt count employing PI people for seasonal labour as aid to the Islands. I believe that has been so in the past. Where there has been tornadoes, tsunamis etc we should be providing long term aid such as special raised beds for growing important food crops and imported good compost and help to create more of their own compost.
Also each family that would like to come to NZ and pick should be on a list, grouped within larger extended families, and then each area would be sure to have someone earning that could help that area. Some would come regularly, and some would be rotated. At present it sounds like the old closed-union style where people could never get to get employment because of family preferences.
Treat people fairly, with input from them, not like colonials striding around being the big manager over a subject workforce.
"Treat people fairly, with input from them, not like colonials striding around being the big manager over a subject workforce"
Exactery!
My problem is that this sort of thing is not limited to the incident reported on by Newsroom. The people involved in this example have form. (All three). And it's all come about by bad policy and advice in the first place.
Episode 2:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/alleged-assault-of-hawkes-bay-seasonal-worker
While the assault needs to be proven, the conflicts of interest and all the other crap are obvious.
It's possible (hopefully) more people will come forward now that many are starting to realise there's nothing to lose (they've already lost almost everything)
"I have complete faith in my officials"
Twiddleford and Lazy Galloway will be all over this, OR it's anoprashnilmadda.
That's capitalism. The kinder, nicer face of serfdom.
Here's a good explainer on the difference between "herd immunity" that is achieved by vaccination prior to an infectiousness disease coming into a population, and how many people get infected when a completely new infectious disease gets introduced into a population that has never had it before and nobody is immune.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/health/medical/herd-immunity-a-misunderstanding/ar-BB16Mnkm?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=mailsignout
tl;dr For something like SARS-CoV-2 where on average one infection passes it on to two others (R0 = 2), if more than half the population (more than 1 – 1/R0) are immune due to vaccination (or prior exposure), then the outbreak dies out naturally very quickly because the very few infectious people out loose don’t encounter enough susceptible people to sustain an increasing chain of transmission. So a vulnerable person has a very low chance of ever encountering an infectious person and getting infected.
Whereas with a new infectious disease causing an epidemic, at the moment the "herd immunity" proportion of people achieve immunity, there are still many people wandering around in an infectious state. So anyone that is not immune has a much higher probability of encountering someone infectious and getting infected. So the epidemic won't die out until a much higher proportion of people get infected – up around 90% or more even for something with relatively low infectiousness like SARS-CoV-2.
One little thing, they ignore the little detail that during this pandemic those people get a mild illness may not have immunity from getting it again and spreading it again.
Throw evolutionary epidemiology into the mix and we really are still largely in the dark over SARS-CoV-2 .
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(20)30847-2. pdf
Remove the space before “pdf” and copy the link if you want to follow it. For me the pdf was being automatically loaded in a pdf reader inside the comment, which was too small to read.
While all seem to be strangely obsessed with commenting from the sidelines as the Shit Ship National sinks beneath the waves, the Child Poverty Action Group releases a report calling for the Nationalisation of Early Childhood Education….free market principals are just not producing the positive outcomes for 'consumers'.
https://www.cpag.org.nz/news/
"Private for-profit providers are less likely to provide quality services across a range of indicators, including staff qualifications, workloads and retention, teacher-to-child ratios, and cultural responsiveness," they say.
"Despite New Zealand being internationally lauded for its high rates of ECE participation, attending a poor quality ECE service is potentially worse than not attending ECE at all.
"Rather than propping up the existing system – whereby ECE is treated as an investment opportunity, not a public good – the Government should be looking to nationalise ECE provision in its response to Covid-19."
Surprisingly (to me) is that one of the recommendations is that the minimum per child area be increased….
Despite ample evidence of the importance of layout and space of ECE environments for children’s learning,48NZ falls behind international recommendations of best practice. Research suggests that indoor requirements should be between 3.25 and 5 metres squared per child, and outdoor space between 7 and 25 metres squared per child.50At present, NZ regulations specify that licensed centres must have a minimum of2.5 metres squared per child indoors, and 5 metres squared per child outdoors.49Regulations were changed in 2008 to reduce the space-per-child requirements, which some have attributed to commercial pressure on the MoE.
I had heard rumours that some ECE centres were cramming them in like battery hens…but to think this is actually legal, and that those minimum space requirement were lowered in 2008…was this prior to the election that Labour lost?
In the meantime Natrad has been running articles featuring ECE owners bemoaning the fact that attendance (and profits?) have fallen markedly post Lockdown.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/421187/early-childhood-centres-face-closures-as-enrolments-dwindle-after-lockdown
About 40,000 children – 20 percent of under-fives – have not returned to early learning after lockdown, the Early Childhood Council says.
With fewer enrolments, centres get less income and some have too few children to be sustainable.
Darius Singh of Chrysalis Early Learning Centres in Auckland and Tauranga said up to 5 percent of children might normally be away during winter because of sickness, but about 30 percent were now not coming in.
This may not be a bad thing. Old fashioned that I am, I do believe that parents and grandparents (and other close whanau) are the best people to care for babies and toddlers and prepare them for the battleground that is School. And they don't need to do this alone…https://www.greatpotentials.org.nz/home-based-pre-school-education
Rosemary
Parents and grand-parents are probably the worst for preparing kids for anything as they, mostly, subconsciously teach what they learned at that age. Unless they've consciously gone out and learned and internalised what the research tells us then they're just going to teach the same bad habits to the children that they learned as children.
ECE is the better option but not privatised as they cut corners so as to boost profits especially as competition heats up.
Just starting to compile an election cycle playlist.
First up a dedication to Amy Adams:
There's an idea! A separate thread where we could post musical political playlists.
Here's one for Jacinda given the shit she's faced and is about to face:
Shane Reti making an idiot of himself already RNZ saying we should be managing our returning people in isolation /quarantine like Australia .
Really then he goes on to say we should be bringing in overseas students.
Really from which country .
Then an epidemiologist came on afterwards an said it wasn't a good idea.
How many times have we has National saying we need to open the borders and Australia were doing a better job.
I have no objection to foreign students coming in, BUT
1. residents and citizens who want back in have priority and essential skilled workers have priority to managed isolation/quarantine.
2. we have housing (returning Kiwis) and work availability limitations so cannot take the numbers of students on the terms we did before.
For mine we have first obligation to masters students and doctorate students here in 2019, then second to year 3 students of 2019. We would have to ban them from working here (they would have to borrow in their home country for study and living costs). This would reduce takers down to the level we could house in student hostels (quarantine in this accommodation in 2021 pre student year start).
Generally agree BUT!
it's probably high time we thought about the whole idea of citizenship/residency and what it means – especially now that it's become yet another commodity to be traded,
You can have an immigrant that commits his/her entire life to a new economy/society, contributes in every way we'd expect of the next man/woman – often not being able to vote after being resident knocking a decade.
Meanwhile, you can have a true blue Koiwoi, whose chosen a life overseas. And now that the shit has hit the fan – naturally enough, they want to come "HOME". That Koiwoi might be the likes of someone that often posts on here with all His eternal wisdon from across the ditch (an economic refugee – the likes of a Dutton would render illigitimate); or the likes of a Thiel who will be flying in on whichever selection of passports He considers best to suit His purpose.
The combinations and permutations are endless,
But wha wha wha, I only ever meant to go overseas to earn a better crust so I could come back to NuZull to invest my wealth in my "Home".
Reti is an idiot
He speakith with fork tounge.
I also favour an aspect of the Oz regime
All those in the first week should be confined to their room – keeping the first week intake and the second week intake separate is important.
I would however go further
1. Week 2 day 8, day 9, day 10, day 11 day 12 day 13 and day 14 would be allowed out of their rooms at different times.
2. Staff would required to maintain social distancing while off duty (because of the risk of being infected and spreading in the community). And pay them extra (and also future paid leave – post 2 week self isolation, a month off). It's money well spent.
Looks like jetpack had a timeout on the site whilst doing an update this morning.
Probably Russian hackers
Hoskings loses defamation case from Tamahere, had to publicly apologise on Air and pay an undisclosed sum to Tamahere, for which he donated directly to the Maori Party.
The money was paid by Hoskings employer.
Couldn't provide link as the the remainder of the story was behind a paywall, sorry.
But good news for Justice.
Surely Horeskin wouldn't let someone pay rather than taking responsibility for his actions, surely. Will he get someone to apologise on his behalf as well?
An interesting update on some common assumptions:
Even more interestingly is that we are heading into a demographic inversion, an era when there are more older people than younger. This is totally unmapped territory for the human race, we've never been here before and none of our economic models are calibrated for it.
It's not clear that either capitalism or socialism (or any of the 'isms) are going to work in this new world, at least not in their current formulations.
All pre pandemic thinking (old people at risk) …
and with no awareness of the risk of super bugs (antibiotics into Chinese pigs still) on the ability of hospitals to provide old people with new knees hips etc.
Global warming impact on old age health … nothing …
Sure contracpetion and education reduce the amount of children women have, but egg storage and looser rules about surrogacy may mitigate that.
Yes, RedLogix – that's super-interesting and not surprising (to me). What's forming ahead for us humans? It can't be described (imo). Exciting times.
Frankly it's not the "being old" that matters it's being too frail and needing care.Keeping older people in work, even if only part week , does a lot to mitigate these demographics.
We should even now be actively trying to keep people producing, their health and education is a sunk cost so get all the benefits we can from them.
Maybe not work as such but volunteering.
Most community groups are screaming for help.
If not front line tasks then possibly support roles or back office duties: bookkeeping, marketing, promotional work.
all that work and no pay.
how are the dear olds to keep themselves in housing with a running heater and three sandwiches a day?
Oh that is something else, right for that they can stay a few hours in a line at the local Winz office.
Back office work should be paid work.
Why not paid work. Most of them are not gaga yet. Just hanging out on the standard making typo's
japan has been going through this for 20 yrs. aging and static,or shrinking population, leads to lower consumer consumption. a sustainable economy and environment is being forced on them.
That was projected back in 1972 in Limits to Growth.
Hosking:
"I partially admire Muller. It takes real courage to so openly admit defeat and walk. Mind you, it's an astonishing lack of awareness of your own inabilities to not be able to see that you are not up for it in the first place, if it only takes 50-odd days to fall on your sword.
Me:
I admire Muller. It takes real courage to put yourself out there and stand for Parliament. And to stand as leader of a political party. It takes some sort of courage to so openly admit defeat and walk.
I admire Mike Hosking. It's an astonishing awareness of your own abilities and lack of them which sees you not put yourself out there and stand for Parliament. Or stand to be leader of a political party. Being able to see that you are not up for it takes some awareness.
I just wish he'd shut the fuck up about those who have the courage to try to do something constructive about what they believe in.
Hosking could fall onto swords for 50 odd days or be pushed onto 50 of them he'd still come up without the awareness that the least of the MPs in their contribution to our society is of exponentially more value to us than him and his sad offerings.
Somewhere, there's a Reichstag on fire …
a completely bizarre news conference….world has gone mad.
OMG, so Trumpiun, "I spoke to all members, gosh it was a long night" All about her. Who gives a Monkey's f**k Judith if you had a long night, it's the job you wanted, you don't think the PM hasn't had a few late nights in the last few years. Oh and by the way Judith, your already dog whistling to the Far-Right, (Woke, nothing wrong with being white, etc) tells the world your obvious allegiances. The doubling down on Nasty National is well on track.
No idiot MPs behind her pulling stupid faces. Is that deliberate or because nobody wants to be seen supporting her?
Stuff meant to be above this sort of clickbait.
Henry Cooke failing to point out that national is a policy free zone too or even worse that if in power they do stuff that they have never even mentioned. Also portrays Jacinda's refusal to comment on the Nact drama's as "being above the election".
There's plenty of sharp analysis they could do but this isn't it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300057912/jacinda-ardern-looks-to-stay-above-electoral-politics–and-judith-collins
Looks like solid analysis to me. While I understand JA's strategy around 'we're the safe and competent govt who will be reelected', telling the electorate she's not really thinking about the election is kind of alarming.
That National have been light on policy doesn't mean it's ok for any party to be incl Labour. Cooke is saying Collins will refocus Nat back on policy and that Labour will have to do this too. These seems right to me. I assume Labour intend to release policy as we get closer to the election, and also that they've had a lot on their plate so it makes sense that there would be delays. But a policy light election would not serve NZ at this time.
I wonder if after the last election Labour will hang off until after National releases policy in an area. Then they can attack and release their own. Much as nat did last time.
But since what we get from the Nats in power rarely resembles any policy they may release pre election do we gain anything from it
I still feel – without examing sources – that refusing to discuss Nats drama’s has been twisted out of shape.
it will certainly be interesting to see how different parties campaign this year, given the disruption from the pandemic.
I'm glad our election is well ahead of the US one, but I expect Collins to use whatever Trumpian politics she can to increase Nat's vote. It's not going to be pretty.
Look at the disruption to tourist hotspots when an avalanche of locals invade the slopes.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/back-your-backyard/122139232/southern-skifields-underestimate-huge-school-holiday-crowds-seeking-snow
Opposition parties that campaign on economic issues will struggle,
The whole campaign will be fought on economic issues. If you think some busy ski fields indicates the economy is not suffering, let me introduce you to the unemployment rate (which doesn't take into account the mass layoffs coming when wage subsidy scheme ends).
The election will be about who is best to lead the economic recovery.
Its not even the recovery yet, as we have not hit the bottom of the recession/depression.
The disarray in National is a godsend for the new New Zealand new Sustainable new Party led by Vernon Tava.
Come in Vern… Don't fade away into obscurity… Lots of soft right wing voters to suck up. If you want to get over 5%, this is your time! 😆
I thought Sustainable Party had all had a big bust up and splintered?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/421331/harvesters-fear-for-industry-as-temporary-workers-visa-expiration-looms
Can Labour get onto this right away and recruit reliable and fit people and pay them decently with pocket money on the job, and main income covering family costs (so doesn't get scooped up by predatory drug sellers).They should have good warm accommodation, good meals, good transport to and from, and guaranteed good income support between jobs and break time off with families if they have to travel away to fill jobs? Give the good, reliable ones special standing so that they will be available next season.
Could unions widen their interest in the working and non-working lower income members of society and also try to facilitate people into work by providing an employment agency, under their umbrella which would help workers organise themselves to fill vacancies, and have regular work along with transport and accommodation, and keep themselves working throughout the year. The state is supposed to be helping with this, but the news about WINZ treatment does not sound like good service for those needing employment.
Labour could facilitate this by helping with training, and ensuring reasonable conditions, and decent financial support between jobs. The emphasis these days seems to be on computer skills being highly regarded, yet in reality the employers appreciate people who are fit, capable, stick to the task and do it competently and reliably. Why can't a workforce doing physical work earn gold stars and be highly regarded for matching the above criteria?
and some people still believe the NZ Police are not corrupt:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/122151285/fresh-probe-launched-into-top-cop-simon-felthams-speeding
And how does it take 'several months' to even 'investigate' whether or not he was speeding? That in itself is a corruption of process.
If the Police are losing respect, they have only themselves to blame.
Yesterday on Ryan Bridge's radio show Judith Collins had a mini-meltdown because Jacinda Ardern apparently hadn't acknowledged, to her satisfaction, Collins' climbing over of bodies and rise to power.
Ryan Bridge must not have believed how easily he was able to excite Judith, much like the way a dog owner rattles the lead to say it's 'walkies'.
Anyway, today JA paid tribute to Kaye. I hope it was deliberately pointed, along with being a nice thing to do.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12348495
https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2694860513
Very nice pencil drawing of PM Jacinda and fellow Covid-19 slayer Chief Executive, Ministry of Health Ashley Bloomfield – for up on a wall in pride of place as was Michael Savage!
MJS white New Zealand and sinophobia attitudes, when viewed in today’s environment could tarnish the gravitas that he is viewed by some. Hint he doesn’t endear himself to all ethnicities.
Perhaps it may make some to view those historic figures and their achievements in context of their time, place and social forms.
Jeez it must be great to be perfect and never be accused of copping someone's sensibilities. That will be a big value for tech speak – you will speak normally into a box and it will filter out your words to something that cannot offend anybody. Save lots of hazzle, that's hassle and razzle dazzle mixed; ie the sort of world that we try to survive in today. It's a jungle out here.
This would be New Zealand by November under a National-led government.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12348584
Pretty much. National will open up the borders so that their funders can make higher profits while not caring about the damage that they will do to the people.
But, then, that's what National always does in one way or another.
What is the current opposition position on the borders ?
Dog In a Manger position I believe is the yoga term.
I see you're still adding real value to this site with your comments Gabby.
Shake it off, you'll be fine.
I haven't heard them changing from open them up as fast as possible while ignoring how bad things are getting for those places that they want to open up to.
Where were they saying that have you got a link ?
May not be what you’re after – best I could do with a quick Google.
"NZ should open borders to countries with Covid – Muller"
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/nz-should-open-borders-countries-covid-muller
Have you tried the revamped National website? It’s a treasure trove of what National wants this Government to do or not do pronto.
I thought it was usual practice at this site that when one makes a claim such as….
Pretty much. National will open up the borders so that their funders can make higher profits while not caring about the damage that they will do to the people.
that they provide a link supporting that assertion. A quick search on google suggests that the assertion by the commenters is incorrect.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12348318
As you know, National changes their stand on the border situation more often than a puber changes undies. For the latest updates, visit NP website, Twitter, or FB accounts.
Congratulations you have equalled gabby in the unctuous twattery stakes.
Perhaps with a little more effort you'll reach Morrissey's heights.
I’ll do just about anything to avoid you from being expelled from TS because of your own smart-arsery, but I won’t do that.
Isn't the Victorian government Labor?
And?
Enough is enough yes the Victorian govt is Labour but not NZ Labour. NZ Labour are only responsible for their policies and decisions in NZ. But you know this don't you
Esn't Victoria in a Strollya?
Biggest lol today a comment on the National Party's FB feed. "Its official. More MP's have abandoned National than returnees have absconded from isolation
Lol
So been out in Wellington and just heard the real reason Todd Muller resigned. OMG
Out of respect for both parties and their families I won't repeat the names here.
But did Judith blackmail them ? That is the question
You're such a tease.
Ok If I must. Todd has being going to AA regularly and he doesn't drink 🙂
I don't think it's fair the ongoing attacks of Clarke rumours and I think we should keep away from that sort of thing. If there are real reasons (facts) to announce, go for it, and announce it, I'll be just as interested as anyone, otherwise it's just gossip.
Wallace tackling the big issues today. Tickling. Fucksake.
Just by the way @ Mozza:
Did today's The Panel cause any sort of trauma? I thought it was rather gorgeous despite all the "Ha ha ha's" and really deep thought. I'll lay awake tonight thinking about it.
I persevered listening to it all while you were probably taking down every word to use against the participants in future (just because I don't have a life).
Just be careful ya don't denigrate MY Queen of the media (Kim Hill) or you'll have me to answer to – in this space going forward
Gerry Brownlee was brilliant in his RNZ interview this afternoon. (He asked at one stage if it was an interrogation.)
He was brilliant because he was doing an impression of an arrogant arsehole. He carried it off wonderfully.
He let Lisa sidetrack him into talking about the failures of the Christchurch rebuild which was a lovely example of how political baggage can weigh you down.
Was just listening, lucky she wasn't standing at the top of stairs, his defensive bullying won't make him many media friends. except Hoskings, maybe.
It was standard Brownlee and the way hes dealt with interviews for years….it hasnt held his career back to date so theres no reason to expect it will suddenly begin to now.
He appeals to a certain cohort
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilam_(New_Zealand_electorate)