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.
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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Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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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:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xMaE6toi4mk
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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DbTIKHYwog
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 …
https://twitter.com/sparrowmedia/status/1283436911307218948
https://twitter.com/JasonLeopold/status/1281008771095879681
a completely bizarre news conference….world has gone mad.
https://youtu.be/RxsZvL69lcU
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?
I've never seen a group of people look more like hostages than that first Press Conference. lol
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)