On top or alongside that perhaps everyone at work or out engaging today could make sure that the trivialising of abuse that is behind the politicking in the past week is challenged. The whole basic issue of anyone who is demeaned in anyway at the hands of others has taken second place to a lot of self-interest, and self-interest is why most of the abuse and intimidation happens in the first place. Please try not to be afraid to step up and speak out even if it is just to call out people minimalising abusive behaviour or treating it as a "joke".
I know you have had more than your fair share of police bullying and harassment in the past Treetop. It doesn't matter how long ago it may have happened the effects never fully leave you.
I expect this past week as brought back unpleasant memories for a lot of people – most of whom will be women.
It has been rife within the Public Service for years and it's always the same: management just deny, deny, deny as if all these hordes of victims are liars.
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Police management of harassment and denigrating behaviour from managers – inadequate and not well thought through. But it reflects two things – one, the whole attitude to ordinary people and citizens from the powerful and their fellow travellers in society, and, two, the way that the police live in a world of their own 'untouched by human hands' because they are to be free of political interference, like Treasury.
It isn't working policy-wonks! The police coming forward to Radionz anonymously say that the managers end up judging their own behaviour, the complainant can’t get improvement and things might get worse after airing problems. Further up management don’t want to know, human resources don’t know how to deal with people, only CVs and assessments like passing a wof for the job. There needs to be respect for what is involved in being a good human. I bet a lot of those with power to change things have not started on the beat and worked up. They are either dainty things from uni or power and position hungry types from generic management.
The citizens in a democracy, should be having a say in what police and army do and are run. We citizens are supposed to have a voice and should be able to be involved in guiding performance. And it is a black mark against representative democracy that has turned out to be a method where those who manage to get wealthy and comfortable treat government as a personal service agency. The poor do not have agency in this type of agency – we need participatory democracy where people get out of their comfy chairs, and the park benches, go and discuss with politicians what is going wrong, and what can be done, and what difficulties politicians and leaders face in advancing better systems, and the unintended consequences there will be and the faults that can arise. We have all been too lazy to be bothered to take care of our nation's political system and ensure that it is fair and fit for purpose. I don't know if it's too late to make the changes needed at this late stage in our slide down, but I am thinking, trying, and supporting groups working for good.
And police, men and women, need to be within the community fold, helping us and we helping them to be better, but also working with them so they are happier, safer and we all will become good at preventing the vulnerable poor from being crime-bound. The wealthy and complacent who commit crime are a different problem.
Most of the inept ones I had the misfortune to encounter are now gone. It is the ones who still do not get it, that need to be weeded out and held to account.
My comment was about the affect it is having within the police service on staff.
Who do you think would be effective to address the damage which is occurring and what is required to prevent it occurring within the police service?
Someone who wants to have a good system suitable for a properly functioning government service that respects the citizens and their own people, and wants to bring out the best in both. So would that be the State Services Commission? I have no idea. Is there anyone out there who has authority, principles and a vision for better?
Police need looking after with consideration, I don't think they are being respected themselves, and no doubt losing many of good character who get worn down with the task and the treatment. It wouldn't be good that only the gnarly ones are left, who are hard and twisted enough to last in the system and then grasp their way to the top jobs and perpetuate the problem.
And while we are at it we need a better overview system too – the police complaints authority should not be complacent and submissive to however police choose to interpret their instructions and meet their targets.
Strong union is necessary. yes, but more than that as this isn't a simple matter of pay and conditions for a worker. These people are at the heart of our nation, and if they are not treated well, and don't treat us well and fairly, then we end up having little or no heart; essentially they reflect back to us the sort of society we are. Dishevelled figures at present I feel.
I will put links to what comments re police that i heard this morning. They were people who spoke about what they knew.
7.10 am. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018713400/police-staff-say-complaints-system-fuels-bullyingMore Police officers and non sworn staff have come forward saying their Speak Up complaints system isn't working and its fueling widespread bullying in the organisation.Last week, RNZ reported the concerns of 21 police officers and non-sworn staff members who said bullying was rife within the police.Since then more have come forward, including current and former HR employees who say the department is failing to properly deal with issue of bullying.
8.10am https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018713413/police-confused-about-how-to-deal-with-bullying-complaints Senior managers have been confused by the police's Speak Up complaints system, which it says could be leading to bad experiences for complainants.RNZ has talked to more than 50 current or former staff who have experienced bullying in the police. The police's deputy chief executive in charge or people and capability, Kaye Ryan, told our reporter Ben Strang the Speak Up process is being reviewed.
A two way street, public need to have the confidence in the police to do their job. Police need to have confidence in the work place so they are not distracted from doing their job.
"It has been rife within the Public Service for years and it's always the same"
It has that @ Anne!!!!.
However, I'd suggest that since the age of managerialism, the CEO as el supremo running little feifdoms based on business buzz and ideology, and everything running along those lines, the "deny deny deny" has become normalised and industrialised.
The age of the Master and Mistress of the Universe where protection of egos becomes the norm; where even when the new age of measurements (such as the KPI) actually mean fuck all, and even when they're not met – there is no consequence, other than perhaps a sideways shuffle.
We could start picking various Munsteries and Departments as examples of where things have turned to total shite, but I suspect there are word limits and "TLDR"'s to think of.
But just as an example, KPI's not met: abnormally HUGE staff turnover; admissions that the "restructure didn't go as well as intended"; racists and homophobes that have to be "managed" out of the place; and very much more, never affect the God – who often has not only created the organisational kulcha, but who will use any and all means to protect it.
I could of course be talking about any number of Ministries/Departments/SOE's/COE's/Qango's before we even start on local gummint.
In some ways, when I reference the black humour department in my mind, and recall some of the specific encounters I've witnessed or been a part of, I find a lot of this quite amusing – funny as a fart in a lift in fact. A lot of it is the ultimate in muppetry – especially when many of them seem to see the solution lays in carrying on doing the same old shit (equipped with a new set of buzzwords and management theory), and expecting a different outcome. (Ain't gunna happin goan forwid – not even if we start recycling some of the buzz from the early years of the new-found neoliberal religion – such as……maybe 'kaizen' – that's due for a comeback surely!).
With the Federal election in Canada underway the polls are coming thick and fast (and compared to us they do lots and lots of polling).
The two contenders for government are now in a dead heat in CBC’s Poll of Polls. The Liberal Party however has an advantage over the Conservative Party insofar as it’s garnering greater support in Ontario and Quebec, the two most populous (and therefore most vote rich) provinces.
In Ontario they are benefiting from growing voter distaste for the provincial Conservative administration under Premier Doug Ford and in Quebec (as in the rest of the country) the third main party the New Democrats are seeing their centre left support collapsing mostly to the Liberals but also somewhat to the Greens.
Thanks to Trudeau’s broken promise on electoral reform Canada still has FPTP so which ever party can win either Ontario or Quebec is well on the way to claiming an election win. If a party can win both then victory is all but certain.
Interesting. Trudeaumania evaporated: his approval rating is half that of three years ago. Good to see the Greens have climbed back to the 10% they were getting a decade back – wonder why they sank into that trough for so long.
Prior to 2015 the main motivating force for centre left voters in Canada was getting rid of Stephen Harper and the Conservative government in Ottawa. Accordingly Green voters lent their vote to whichever of the two main opposition parties at the time looked most likely to achieve that.
Greens have only ever had one seat in the House of Commons, though recently they added another in a federal by election in BC. If they get the 4 seats in the upcoming election that this CBC poll is suggesting they will have achieved a real breakthrough
I wonder if the new school history curriculum will include other NZ wars alongside the land wars… about 2,500 people were killed in the land wars, about 20,000 killed in the musket wars just a generation prior, and around 1800 were wiped out over a decade or so during the nazi mutunga genocide of moriori. And these were all in the 1800's only…
If the broad history can be taught, at least it gets the ideas in, they become aware of our history being more than a Disney story.
Also they would be given links telling the background stories, and books in the library? or available at the public library, or there should be an educational mobile library for those establishments that have decided that they can't afford books. Each student should be given a choice of one to summarise in say three paragraphs, also to be accompanied by one story that caught their interest, and then these be read out to the class.
Then they would all learn different stories and perspective compounding with pupil numbers. And this without the teacher having to personally present any 'sensitive' material. Just exposing the pupils to the knowledge, and bringing them all to different parts of it would be 100% more awareness than they would have otherwise.
5G information meetings are rolling out. It is indeed something for future thinking citizens to take note of and think about. I hope it does not come to a Tianneman Square situation.
If you mean will people get run over by tanks for attending 5g meetings, I'd doubt it to 99.99%
If you mean something else, you're going to have to write the post again, but much more comprehensible this time as that's just too wtf to attempt to interpret.
Its a meaningless, unintelligent rambling for sure, which was sort of my point, and if you can't explain it anymore than 'gotcha' I'm happy for you to let it die without it drawing further attention.
Since the matter of ‘climate change’ is featuring high in today’s/weekly long climate change informational day all over the NZ media here is our contribution.
CEAC support James Renwick
Monday, 16 September 2019, 9:20 am
Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
James Renwick claim that NZ is failing on climate change is valid, and since James has been receiving widespread media coverage that we outline most of it again here now as we gear up for the ‘Global climate change conference’ beginning next week.
…..
Just seeing the statistics Professor Renwick released today (quote) “Carbon dioxide emissions from transport have nearly doubled since 1990” coupled with more use of rail is a no-brainer for all of us to engage in using more rail and less road freight.
[lprent: I am mostly concerned about the length of unquoted copyrighted material you dumped here.
I did a coarse trim it down for you. If you think the haircut is an insult, then
You should have cut it yourself to get rid of the dishevelled Boris look. Don’t be lazy – frame the reasons for looking at the link.
Quote the pasted material because it is hard to distinguish between what you dribble and what the press release said.
Consider whose server you dropped liable material on – and consider me insulted.
Controls on building firms hooray! So that their eyes aren't bigger than their stomachs, the plate-clearing greedies. Goodbye Mr Cresote – I hope (Monty Python).
Bill McKay says the Kiwibuild reset is nothing to get excited about, describing it as more of an apology than a vision of what's next. Bill McKay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.
Oh dear will the brave and comfortably off young things of today be able to pursue their every whim in future? Will the cost-benefit to the planet have to vaguely register? Will saving the planet and a kindly, warm and inclusive society be regarded as a challenge worthy of their youthful insouciance? Can they develop an interest in helping people, their own community, and doing a little local rock climbing or whatever for when they want to do something that makes their feet tingle? Questions with an answer I think I already know.
After a chance meeting in a DOC hut, four young Cantabrians are flying to Tanzania today to climb Mt Kilimanjaro and paraglide off the summit. It's one of the world's most difficult paragliding missions, starting with an eight day hike to what's called the 'roof of Africa'. And it's the first time New Zealanders have attempted the flight. RNZ reporter Katie Todd went to one of their final training sessions.
Spoiler – you are not going to like this. So it would be better not to read it, and if you do, don't write and vent your anger on me at length, or short.
A Dutch critic of euthanasia laws says the practice is putting increasing pressure on doctors and it's changing the way we perceive dying and suffering.From 2005 to 2014 Dr Theo Boer was an ethicist on a regional Euthanasia Review Committee in the Netherlands, examining 4,000 euthanasia cases, and was initially supportive of the legislation. 3m.
It is interesting how people who say they want to protect the rights of others and good behaviour between and to people as I think ethics does, can fall into authoritarian limitation of people's personal right to life and death choices. They go beyond protecting people by not wanting euthanasia to telling them what to think, and ordering them to stay alive when they want to die, and stopping them making a dignified, even serene and happy demise. No you must live as long as we order you to, it lets down the side by wanting to leave early before you wear out. As you came into the world randomly, without request or rights about it, so you must wait to leave randomly.
We cannot conceive ourselves say the men but we have a stake in your body, and the women say you must stick to the rules as women always do, and together they combine to upbraid you; for 'Not enjoying your nice life that we have made for you – eat it all up – and don't leave the table until you do'. And then if you still insist, they would maliciously like to punish you by allowing you to die in the saddest, painful and lingering way so as not to encourage the others to have ideas beyond those who hold the power, and the rigid conditions sacrosanct.
OTOH, there was this interesting Dutch fella on the wireless the other day who used to be all for the 'right to die in your own terms' team but after a while he has had to think again.
Palliative care has advanced so greatly in the past decade that the 'die writhing in agony' scenario no longer universally applies. Dutch fella has seen a shift from the understandable desire to avoid aforesaid agonising end to a person wanting to…well…timetable their death. Like, plan it. Like, they simply have to be in charge literally right up to the bitter end.
Not wishing to sound all new age and crystal wearing…could it be that we have an allotted lifespan? Does our corporeal self have a time to be born and a time to die? Will this desperate bid to be in charge…to eliminate the natural and the random from our beginnings and endings…see the permanent disconnection of humans from the spiritual?
I don't necessarily disagree with that, but doesn't life saving and life prolonging medical intervention mean we no longer have natural and random endings to our lives?
I don't think anyone has a problem with an emergency Caesarian to save the life of mum and babe…but a planned and timetabled major intervention like this for 'social reasons'? From the 'too posh to push' brigade or from those for whom a particular birthdate is auspicious in some way? As for medical interventions, extreme lifesaving measures…there used to be talk in medical fields around the phenomenon of he some respond and live…yet others getting the same treatment die. Why?
I'd put 'being allowed to exercise a personal choice about when/how to die' in the 'nice to have' category. If I was compos mentis, and it was my choice, then I'd prefer to be allowed to choose.
I might never make such a choice – might not need to, or be able to. But the idea of being allowed to make this personal choice appeals to me, a bit like being allowed, nay encouraged, to be responsible when it comes to putting a do (or do not) resuscitate instruction in place.
If I had to tease out the reasons why, I think fear (and so cowardice?) would be somewhere up there. Maybe needing to be in control also has something to do with it. I’m about as opposite to an ‘adrenalin junkie’ as you could get, so minimising (as opposed to eliminating) risk seems common sense IMHO.
Tracy Watkins performs a typical sleight of hand, contrasting John Key's handling of Richard Worth, a caucus member, with Ardern's handling of issues around party and parliamentary employees. She also lumps Helen Clark in with John Key on that score, despite having contrasting examples in Taito Philip Field, David Benson-Pope and Winston Peters (different from the Worth situation, but she would still need to address that). It's fine if she wants to compare and contrast, but Watkins doesn't do that, she just conflates separate issues. Watkins has been NZ's very worst political journalist for some time, and I've never been able to work out whether she's devious, gullible, thick or a combination of some or all of those.
A run-through of what is to come and a timeline of the various happenings. There is usually a five day debate after the Queen's Address I think called 'The Humble Address'.
A risible Frankenstein's argument from National about the proposed gun register, bolting on a reference to mental health as a wedge for Labour voters, and a reference to criminal to appeal to National's constituency. Interviewers should always ask if politicians have any evidence for what they are suggesting, and if they don't produce any, explicitly describe it as speculation/musings/guesswork (and never refer to it in the headline). After all, that would then be factual reporting, rather than opinion.
Labour abuse allegations investigator brings in computer expert
"One of the people who investigated complaints about a Labour staffer has hired a forensic computer expert to prove he was never told about sexual assault allegations".
Edit
I feel utterly frustrated at the way this sexual assault case continues on. There needs to be a special panel set up to hear this case with detailed records and overseen by a QC or such. The accusations and denials flow back and forth, and it feels too much like an out of control Standard post.
I want something better to settle this matter that is affecting the whole country, and the Coalition government that I support. So get something set up whoever is in charge, and stop this travesty. It is either an inflated story, or it is a very nasty matter, and if so it must be dealt with in a more effective and fairer way that brings everything together in a judicial way so that if there is a prosecution, the evidence is there. Let the discussion be continued in private, though not secret, and then it can be explained when the hearing is finished and everyone involved has given their report. Till then let there be an injunction on speaking to the media or public.
The article doesn't mention any refutation that there was a complainant, just the fact that the mention of a sexual assault was not made in any document provided by the main complainant ("Sarah") to the Labour Party's investigation panel of 3.
Mickey I am sure that the people exist. I meant that Sarah claimed documents were sent to the Council but they don't exist. My guess is that Sarah has increased her complaint to sexual assault in order to get greater response. It is supremely unlikely that the Council members would flat out lie.
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MickeyB has quoted Ardern is to meet with complainants. End of first chapter.
I hope this is a short story, not a continuing series. Let’s do what is right, and what our PM wants. The old men in the background,grooming the public, are not adding to their lustre as this trails on in such a disgraceful way.
The waters are certainly getting muddier by the day. I agree with you there's little to be gained by the Labour Council members lying and they’re not lying – of that I am sure. But on the other hand something untoward was occurring. You don't get 7 people laying formal complaints and another 3 or 4 who are said to have unofficially complained.
Maybe Anne, there is a group of individuals who were concerned about bad behaviour such as they believed that each had been bullied, perhaps including Sarah. The group thinking can reinforce the strength of the claims but Sarah didn't think to claim sexual assault which, had she brought that to the Council, would have tripped the "We are not equipped to deal with such events." The later recent increase of Sarah's serious complaint tripped the shambles which now exist.
But someone is not being truthful. Will we ever find out? Paula will muddy the water as she did tonight on the News TV1
Might be a bit of murky, even Dirty Politics in all this – something about Paula "Zip it, sweetie" Bennett as a victims' champion just doesn't ring true.
Maybe the Nats have learned something from Key, English, Joyce, Coleman, Barclay, Ross et al., and moved on from their Dirty Politics escapades. If they can refrain from their usual vomitous do-nothing (self-enrichment excepted) behaviour when they regain control of parliament then we'll know for sure, but I wouldn't put another flag referendum past them – leopards and spots!
It's never been a consciousness of her outer looks which I found troubling, but rather a lack of self-awareness of her effect on others and a deficiency of empathy.
In own words, "I've grabbed opportunities and I've made the most of them, and that has been the key to the many successes I've had."
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has returned to the Beehive and described a sexual assault allegation saga engulfing the Labour Party as a "disgraceful orgy of speculation and innuendo".
Is he currently living in a camper van? Ooh, don't tell the tabloid journos. They'll have a collective heart-attack and all drop dead with coronaries. On second thoughts do tell them.
I am certain that Winston Peters would have demanded to be told "what was going on" and would have refrained from saying anything unless he was certain he was basing his reaction on fact. Why would he do otherwise? The National Party will be even further from his considerations than they already were.
Aotearoa economy is doing great sailing into the headwinds created by larger economy's.
Greta is a incredibly intelligent individual Rangatahi who is educating the Papatuanuku about the REAL threat climate change is to our Papatuanuku future society Kia kaha Greta keep up the excellent mahi.
Bees play a very important role in our society we have to stop using agricultural chemicals on our farms we need to become the Organic farmers all over the Papatuanuku.
Tyrone Great to see Massey students winning a competition to New York to show their building low cost air quality sensors kia kaha.
Lloyd the black peet saga gives me a in sight on their society's view that can be found throughout Western society.
Kate Shepherd house being brought by Heritage NZ is cool she made a great contribution to the good changes Aotearoa
16000 electric cars is a heck of a lot of carbon emissions not being blown into our environment.
The tide is changing fast to A Papatuanuku that puts our the wellbeing of other into our plans like our future decendints. Humans have changed our environment for centuries build a whare we are changing the environment inside the whare to a warmer dryer environment so we can slow global warming we just have to do it for the future.
That's the way dumping your gas gussling car for electric scooter.
Eco Maori got this a few years ago I tau toko all people who champion mitigating human cause climate change. It makes me proud to see all the tamariki stepping up to the challenge letting everyone know that inaction on climate change is not good enough. Words are cheap action is not. It will give me a sore face when I see the MASSIVE CROWDs protesting to the Papatuanuku leaders to change the way of the Papatuanuku to become carbon neutral ASAP on Friday 20 of September 2019 KIA KAHA.
Scientists set out how to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
Strong civil society movements are needed to ramp up pace of change, says study
Greenhouse gas emissions could be halved in the next decade if a small number of current technologies and behavioural trends are ramped up and adopted more widely, researchers have found, saying strong civil society movements are needed to drive such change.
Solar and wind power, now cheaper than fossil fuels in many regions, must be scaled up rapidly to replace coal-fired generation, and this alone could halve emissions from electricity generation by 2030, according to the Exponential Roadmap report from an international group of countries
If the rapid uptake of electric vehicles in some parts of the world could be sustained, the vehicles could make up 90% of the market by 2030, vastly reducing emissions from transport, it said.
Avoiding deforestation and improving land management could reduce emissions by the equivalent of about 9bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2030, according to the report, but contradictory subsidies, poor planning and vested interests could stop this from happening.
The way to any transition will be the growing social movements that are pressing for urgent action on climate breakdown. By driving behavioural change, such as moving away from the overconsumption of meat and putting pressure on governments and companies, civil movements have the power to drive the transformation needed in the next decade, say the report’s authors.
Christiana Figueres, a former top climate official at the UN, said: “I see all evidence that social and economic tipping points are aligning. We can now say the next decade has the potential to see the fastest economic transition in history. Ka kite Ano link below.
I agree that our youth should get the OK to vote as its there future we are making a mess of at the minute.
The Tongan Prime Minister tangi today he will be missed by Te tangata.
I think it's good that South Africa government going to protect their Wahine from being disrespect by men Mana Wahine that's the way stand up for your rights to a happy health life.
Ngāti Hinerangi wanting to captilize on the Hobbit phenomenon that's the way tangata whenua have to chase all opertunaties to build a moanga for Te mokopuna.
Wai New Zealand conference it awesome that more thought research and respect is being given to the way we interact with our Taonga Wai.
The deaf have a taki with the services they get from the tellco company's because they don't use their talking minutes that's the way if they don't no there is a problem with some tangata then they can not fix it kia kaha.
350 climate change Rangatahi that is the way let every one know you are not happy with the mess being made of your future
Kupe scholarships Ka pai to Wahine for getting the scholarship and chasing a higher education Mana Wahine
Stay native looks like a winner to Eco Maori we have to look after each other in our Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Papatuanuku AWSOME. NO one else is going to look after Maori but Maori.
Pu Rakau is great getting Te tamariki to be invative industrial and learning math and sciences kia kaha tamariki.
Ka kite Ano
Its great the government's retirement fund is performing well I hope they are moving their investment away from high carbon footprint industry.
Cool that money is being invested into research on why tabco is so addictive Hope they find something to help smokers Quit.
I remember just before a election national had a huge civil construction company hiring heaps of people with false jobs. I know I went for the jobs got to Wellington and it turned out to be a micky mouse club no real mahi being transferred from different jobs sights WHAT A JOKE it was just a skeem to get people off the dole just before the 2014 elections.
The reason there are more people on unemployment system is because national made it so HARD to get social security that many people could not jump through all the HOOPs to get on their social security system that's a fact. Hence all the people living under the BRIDGE. Our economy is not tanking you are just talking it down
Our Coalition Government is a legitimate government they got the seats and popularity to prove it.
Most business people are national supporters so when national jumps up and down putting down our economy they listen to their views or deliberately put out data to show they have low confidence.
Te tangata Te tangata Te tangata William is correct its about Te tangata no just putea.
Those idiots who started those fires in Australia need to be jailed we can't have fools causing so much damage just for their own wellbeing how selfish.
The Rugby Papatuanuku Cup will be A awesome event we will be watching the games using solar power for our device.
Not just dog need aroha all creatures need Tangata aroha .
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
2024 is now officially my best-ever year for short stories. My 1,850-word dark fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens, has been accepted for the upcoming solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/), thereby making that six published short stories for the calendar year. As always, see the Bibliography page for ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
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56 police staff who cannot be their best selves when it comes to serving the public because of how managers handle a personal grievance complaint.
No one goes to work to be bullied or harassed and then be dismissed or blamed for the sick behaviour of work staff.
Senior managers appear to be confused about the process.
On top or alongside that perhaps everyone at work or out engaging today could make sure that the trivialising of abuse that is behind the politicking in the past week is challenged. The whole basic issue of anyone who is demeaned in anyway at the hands of others has taken second place to a lot of self-interest, and self-interest is why most of the abuse and intimidation happens in the first place. Please try not to be afraid to step up and speak out even if it is just to call out people minimalising abusive behaviour or treating it as a "joke".
I know you have had more than your fair share of police bullying and harassment in the past Treetop. It doesn't matter how long ago it may have happened the effects never fully leave you.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/398841/bullying-in-the-police-victims-say-speak-up-complaints-system-lets-them-down
I expect this past week as brought back unpleasant memories for a lot of people – most of whom will be women.
It has been rife within the Public Service for years and it's always the same:
management just deny, deny, deny as if all these hordes of victims are liars.
Edit
Police management of harassment and denigrating behaviour from managers – inadequate and not well thought through. But it reflects two things – one, the whole attitude to ordinary people and citizens from the powerful and their fellow travellers in society, and, two, the way that the police live in a world of their own 'untouched by human hands' because they are to be free of political interference, like Treasury.
It isn't working policy-wonks! The police coming forward to Radionz anonymously say that the managers end up judging their own behaviour, the complainant can’t get improvement and things might get worse after airing problems. Further up management don’t want to know, human resources don’t know how to deal with people, only CVs and assessments like passing a wof for the job. There needs to be respect for what is involved in being a good human. I bet a lot of those with power to change things have not started on the beat and worked up. They are either dainty things from uni or power and position hungry types from generic management.
The citizens in a democracy, should be having a say in what police and army do and are run. We citizens are supposed to have a voice and should be able to be involved in guiding performance. And it is a black mark against representative democracy that has turned out to be a method where those who manage to get wealthy and comfortable treat government as a personal service agency. The poor do not have agency in this type of agency – we need participatory democracy where people get out of their comfy chairs, and the park benches, go and discuss with politicians what is going wrong, and what can be done, and what difficulties politicians and leaders face in advancing better systems, and the unintended consequences there will be and the faults that can arise. We have all been too lazy to be bothered to take care of our nation's political system and ensure that it is fair and fit for purpose. I don't know if it's too late to make the changes needed at this late stage in our slide down, but I am thinking, trying, and supporting groups working for good.
And police, men and women, need to be within the community fold, helping us and we helping them to be better, but also working with them so they are happier, safer and we all will become good at preventing the vulnerable poor from being crime-bound. The wealthy and complacent who commit crime are a different problem.
What sort of budget is required for the complainants of intimidation and all forms of harassment within the police?
People who know what they are suppose to do and a proper budget is required in any work place.
Most of the inept ones I had the misfortune to encounter are now gone. It is the ones who still do not get it, that need to be weeded out and held to account.
My comment was about the affect it is having within the police service on staff.
Who do you think would be effective to address the damage which is occurring and what is required to prevent it occurring within the police service?
Someone who wants to have a good system suitable for a properly functioning government service that respects the citizens and their own people, and wants to bring out the best in both. So would that be the State Services Commission? I have no idea. Is there anyone out there who has authority, principles and a vision for better?
Police need looking after with consideration, I don't think they are being respected themselves, and no doubt losing many of good character who get worn down with the task and the treatment. It wouldn't be good that only the gnarly ones are left, who are hard and twisted enough to last in the system and then grasp their way to the top jobs and perpetuate the problem.
And while we are at it we need a better overview system too – the police complaints authority should not be complacent and submissive to however police choose to interpret their instructions and meet their targets.
I'd like to hear from Greg O Connor how many have been in contact with him?
Same as the current police president.
Maybe a strong union delegate with the right skills is the answer.
Strong union is necessary. yes, but more than that as this isn't a simple matter of pay and conditions for a worker. These people are at the heart of our nation, and if they are not treated well, and don't treat us well and fairly, then we end up having little or no heart; essentially they reflect back to us the sort of society we are. Dishevelled figures at present I feel.
I will put links to what comments re police that i heard this morning. They were people who spoke about what they knew.
7.10 am. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018713400/police-staff-say-complaints-system-fuels-bullying More Police officers and non sworn staff have come forward saying their Speak Up complaints system isn't working and its fueling widespread bullying in the organisation.Last week, RNZ reported the concerns of 21 police officers and non-sworn staff members who said bullying was rife within the police.Since then more have come forward, including current and former HR employees who say the department is failing to properly deal with issue of bullying.
8.10am https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018713413/police-confused-about-how-to-deal-with-bullying-complaints Senior managers have been confused by the police's Speak Up complaints system, which it says could be leading to bad experiences for complainants.RNZ has talked to more than 50 current or former staff who have experienced bullying in the police. The police's deputy chief executive in charge or people and capability, Kaye Ryan, told our reporter Ben Strang the Speak Up process is being reviewed.
A two way street, public need to have the confidence in the police to do their job. Police need to have confidence in the work place so they are not distracted from doing their job.
"It has been rife within the Public Service for years and it's always the same"
It has that @ Anne!!!!.
However, I'd suggest that since the age of managerialism, the CEO as el supremo running little feifdoms based on business buzz and ideology, and everything running along those lines, the "deny deny deny" has become normalised and industrialised.
The age of the Master and Mistress of the Universe where protection of egos becomes the norm; where even when the new age of measurements (such as the KPI) actually mean fuck all, and even when they're not met – there is no consequence, other than perhaps a sideways shuffle.
We could start picking various Munsteries and Departments as examples of where things have turned to total shite, but I suspect there are word limits and "TLDR"'s to think of.
But just as an example, KPI's not met: abnormally HUGE staff turnover; admissions that the "restructure didn't go as well as intended"; racists and homophobes that have to be "managed" out of the place; and very much more, never affect the God – who often has not only created the organisational kulcha, but who will use any and all means to protect it.
I could of course be talking about any number of Ministries/Departments/SOE's/COE's/Qango's before we even start on local gummint.
In some ways, when I reference the black humour department in my mind, and recall some of the specific encounters I've witnessed or been a part of, I find a lot of this quite amusing – funny as a fart in a lift in fact. A lot of it is the ultimate in muppetry – especially when many of them seem to see the solution lays in carrying on doing the same old shit (equipped with a new set of buzzwords and management theory), and expecting a different outcome. (Ain't gunna happin goan forwid – not even if we start recycling some of the buzz from the early years of the new-found neoliberal religion – such as……maybe 'kaizen' – that's due for a comeback surely!).
With the Federal election in Canada underway the polls are coming thick and fast (and compared to us they do lots and lots of polling).
The two contenders for government are now in a dead heat in CBC’s Poll of Polls. The Liberal Party however has an advantage over the Conservative Party insofar as it’s garnering greater support in Ontario and Quebec, the two most populous (and therefore most vote rich) provinces.
In Ontario they are benefiting from growing voter distaste for the provincial Conservative administration under Premier Doug Ford and in Quebec (as in the rest of the country) the third main party the New Democrats are seeing their centre left support collapsing mostly to the Liberals but also somewhat to the Greens.
Thanks to Trudeau’s broken promise on electoral reform Canada still has FPTP so which ever party can win either Ontario or Quebec is well on the way to claiming an election win. If a party can win both then victory is all but certain.
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/
Interesting. Trudeaumania evaporated: his approval rating is half that of three years ago. Good to see the Greens have climbed back to the 10% they were getting a decade back – wonder why they sank into that trough for so long.
https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/leadermeter/index.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/historical-federal-polling-data-1.4171977
Prior to 2015 the main motivating force for centre left voters in Canada was getting rid of Stephen Harper and the Conservative government in Ottawa. Accordingly Green voters lent their vote to whichever of the two main opposition parties at the time looked most likely to achieve that.
Greens have only ever had one seat in the House of Commons, though recently they added another in a federal by election in BC. If they get the 4 seats in the upcoming election that this CBC poll is suggesting they will have achieved a real breakthrough
Greens never got "10% of the Canadian vote a decade back" it was more 4-7%
The New Democrats get well over 2 mill and they are to the left of the centre left Liberals
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Canadian_federal_general_elections.svg/800px-Canadian_federal_general_elections.svg.png
On thse sort of graphs of of party votes – bright green is Social Credit and they peaked in the late 50s/
Good news about reefs and clever and committed people doing work for them and the planet and us.
https://billingsgazette.com/ap/international/rescue-of-coral-reefs-shows-nature-can-heal/article_af0b1e8e-14c1-56af-8d52-30cab5479376.html
Thanks for that. An excellent example of how to integrate environmentalism with resilience design of a local economy!
OOh thanks DF. I thought so too, and put a link-heavy comment in Sunday's How to Get There for those who like to chew on the hard caramels in the box!
I wonder if the new school history curriculum will include other NZ wars alongside the land wars… about 2,500 people were killed in the land wars, about 20,000 killed in the musket wars just a generation prior, and around 1800 were wiped out over a decade or so during the nazi mutunga genocide of moriori. And these were all in the 1800's only…
I suspect not
If the broad history can be taught, at least it gets the ideas in, they become aware of our history being more than a Disney story.
Also they would be given links telling the background stories, and books in the library? or available at the public library, or there should be an educational mobile library for those establishments that have decided that they can't afford books. Each student should be given a choice of one to summarise in say three paragraphs, also to be accompanied by one story that caught their interest, and then these be read out to the class.
Then they would all learn different stories and perspective compounding with pupil numbers. And this without the teacher having to personally present any 'sensitive' material. Just exposing the pupils to the knowledge, and bringing them all to different parts of it would be 100% more awareness than they would have otherwise.
5G information meetings are rolling out. It is indeed something for future thinking citizens to take note of and think about. I hope it does not come to a Tianneman Square situation.
If you mean will people get run over by tanks for attending 5g meetings, I'd doubt it to 99.99%
If you mean something else, you're going to have to write the post again, but much more comprehensible this time as that's just too wtf to attempt to interpret.
It's a stray thought that I put out there to pull you in; like an angler fish. Gotcha!
Its a meaningless, unintelligent rambling for sure, which was sort of my point, and if you can't explain it anymore than 'gotcha' I'm happy for you to let it die without it drawing further attention.
Since the matter of ‘climate change’ is featuring high in today’s/weekly long climate change informational day all over the NZ media here is our contribution.
Enjoy but leave insults out please.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1909/S00208/ceac-support-james-renwick.htm
Just seeing the statistics Professor Renwick released today (quote) “Carbon dioxide emissions from transport have nearly doubled since 1990” coupled with more use of rail is a no-brainer for all of us to engage in using more rail and less road freight.
[lprent: I am mostly concerned about the length of unquoted copyrighted material you dumped here.
I did a coarse trim it down for you. If you think the haircut is an insult, then
]
Controls on building firms hooray! So that their eyes aren't bigger than their stomachs, the plate-clearing greedies. Goodbye Mr Cresote – I hope (Monty Python).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018713405/new-self-imposed-minimums-for-builders-could-limit-collapses
But Kiwibuild? A little better now thanks, not coughing so much. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018713441/bill-mckay-kiwibuild-reset-and-what-s-next
Bill McKay says the Kiwibuild reset is nothing to get excited about, describing it as more of an apology than a vision of what's next. Bill McKay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.
Oh dear will the brave and comfortably off young things of today be able to pursue their every whim in future? Will the cost-benefit to the planet have to vaguely register? Will saving the planet and a kindly, warm and inclusive society be regarded as a challenge worthy of their youthful insouciance? Can they develop an interest in helping people, their own community, and doing a little local rock climbing or whatever for when they want to do something that makes their feet tingle? Questions with an answer I think I already know.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018713426/four-young-cantabrians-to-paraglide-off-mt-kilimanjaro-summit
After a chance meeting in a DOC hut, four young Cantabrians are flying to Tanzania today to climb Mt Kilimanjaro and paraglide off the summit. It's one of the world's most difficult paragliding missions, starting with an eight day hike to what's called the 'roof of Africa'. And it's the first time New Zealanders have attempted the flight. RNZ reporter Katie Todd went to one of their final training sessions.
Spoiler – you are not going to like this. So it would be better not to read it, and if you do, don't write and vent your anger on me at length, or short.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018713420/euthanasia-critic-says-the-practice-puts-strain-on-doctors
A Dutch critic of euthanasia laws says the practice is putting increasing pressure on doctors and it's changing the way we perceive dying and suffering.From 2005 to 2014 Dr Theo Boer was an ethicist on a regional Euthanasia Review Committee in the Netherlands, examining 4,000 euthanasia cases, and was initially supportive of the legislation. 3m.
It is interesting how people who say they want to protect the rights of others and good behaviour between and to people as I think ethics does, can fall into authoritarian limitation of people's personal right to life and death choices. They go beyond protecting people by not wanting euthanasia to telling them what to think, and ordering them to stay alive when they want to die, and stopping them making a dignified, even serene and happy demise. No you must live as long as we order you to, it lets down the side by wanting to leave early before you wear out. As you came into the world randomly, without request or rights about it, so you must wait to leave randomly.
We cannot conceive ourselves say the men but we have a stake in your body, and the women say you must stick to the rules as women always do, and together they combine to upbraid you; for 'Not enjoying your nice life that we have made for you – eat it all up – and don't leave the table until you do'. And then if you still insist, they would maliciously like to punish you by allowing you to die in the saddest, painful and lingering way so as not to encourage the others to have ideas beyond those who hold the power, and the rigid conditions sacrosanct.
OTOH, there was this interesting Dutch fella on the wireless the other day who used to be all for the 'right to die in your own terms' team but after a while he has had to think again.
Palliative care has advanced so greatly in the past decade that the 'die writhing in agony' scenario no longer universally applies. Dutch fella has seen a shift from the understandable desire to avoid aforesaid agonising end to a person wanting to…well…timetable their death. Like, plan it. Like, they simply have to be in charge literally right up to the bitter end.
Not wishing to sound all new age and crystal wearing…could it be that we have an allotted lifespan? Does our corporeal self have a time to be born and a time to die? Will this desperate bid to be in charge…to eliminate the natural and the random from our beginnings and endings…see the permanent disconnection of humans from the spiritual?
I don't necessarily disagree with that, but doesn't life saving and life prolonging medical intervention mean we no longer have natural and random endings to our lives?
I don't think anyone has a problem with an emergency Caesarian to save the life of mum and babe…but a planned and timetabled major intervention like this for 'social reasons'? From the 'too posh to push' brigade or from those for whom a particular birthdate is auspicious in some way? As for medical interventions, extreme lifesaving measures…there used to be talk in medical fields around the phenomenon of he some respond and live…yet others getting the same treatment die. Why?
I'd put 'being allowed to exercise a personal choice about when/how to die' in the 'nice to have' category. If I was compos mentis, and it was my choice, then I'd prefer to be allowed to choose.
I might never make such a choice – might not need to, or be able to. But the idea of being allowed to make this personal choice appeals to me, a bit like being allowed, nay encouraged, to be responsible when it comes to putting a do (or do not) resuscitate instruction in place.
If I had to tease out the reasons why, I think fear (and so cowardice?) would be somewhere up there. Maybe needing to be in control also has something to do with it. I’m about as opposite to an ‘adrenalin junkie’ as you could get, so minimising (as opposed to eliminating) risk seems common sense IMHO.
Tracy Watkins performs a typical sleight of hand, contrasting John Key's handling of Richard Worth, a caucus member, with Ardern's handling of issues around party and parliamentary employees. She also lumps Helen Clark in with John Key on that score, despite having contrasting examples in Taito Philip Field, David Benson-Pope and Winston Peters (different from the Worth situation, but she would still need to address that). It's fine if she wants to compare and contrast, but Watkins doesn't do that, she just conflates separate issues. Watkins has been NZ's very worst political journalist for some time, and I've never been able to work out whether she's devious, gullible, thick or a combination of some or all of those.
Tracy Watkins is a National Party Puppet. Fixed it for you.
No, my peripheral question concerned whether she's a puppet or a conscious shill.
Listen to the beginning of the bulletin. Interesting!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018713479
Come on give us a clue what it's about? First guess – Toss up for either Simon or Paula – or is it Judith?
Brexit. Queen's Speech: What is it and why is it important?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32816450
A run-through of what is to come and a timeline of the various happenings. There is usually a five day debate after the Queen's Address I think called 'The Humble Address'.
A risible Frankenstein's argument from National about the proposed gun register, bolting on a reference to mental health as a wedge for Labour voters, and a reference to criminal to appeal to National's constituency. Interviewers should always ask if politicians have any evidence for what they are suggesting, and if they don't produce any, explicitly describe it as speculation/musings/guesswork (and never refer to it in the headline). After all, that would then be factual reporting, rather than opinion.
Stop Press National Radio at 5pm.
Credibility of main complainant at stake.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint
Labour abuse allegations investigator brings in computer expert
"One of the people who investigated complaints about a Labour staffer has hired a forensic computer expert to prove he was never told about sexual assault allegations".
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/398894/labour-abuse-allegations-investigator-brings-in-computer-expert
Edit
I feel utterly frustrated at the way this sexual assault case continues on. There needs to be a special panel set up to hear this case with detailed records and overseen by a QC or such. The accusations and denials flow back and forth, and it feels too much like an out of control Standard post.
I want something better to settle this matter that is affecting the whole country, and the Coalition government that I support. So get something set up whoever is in charge, and stop this travesty. It is either an inflated story, or it is a very nasty matter, and if so it must be dealt with in a more effective and fairer way that brings everything together in a judicial way so that if there is a prosecution, the evidence is there. Let the discussion be continued in private, though not secret, and then it can be explained when the hearing is finished and everyone involved has given their report. Till then let there be an injunction on speaking to the media or public.
If Sarah laid a complaint the issue could be explored by experts but so far…
So Three members of the Committee have now refuted the Complainant's story. As has the defendant of the alleged sexual offender.
And documents "sent" by the complainant Sarah appear to not exist. Therefore the Spinoff story is in serious doubt.
Paula will call cover-up whitewash, denial etc ad nauseum.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/115833369/labour-scandal-party-to-conduct-two-separate-inquiries-into-sexual-assault-allegations-response
"Ardern announced that she would meet with the complainant's in the ongoing scandal"
"The PM said the terms of reference for the Dew inquiry were now finalized but the complainant's did not wish for them to be released to the public"
These people clearly exist Ian.
The article doesn't mention any refutation that there was a complainant, just the fact that the mention of a sexual assault was not made in any document provided by the main complainant ("Sarah") to the Labour Party's investigation panel of 3.
Mickey I am sure that the people exist. I meant that Sarah claimed documents were sent to the Council but they don't exist. My guess is that Sarah has increased her complaint to sexual assault in order to get greater response. It is supremely unlikely that the Council members would flat out lie.
Edit
MickeyB has quoted Ardern is to meet with complainants. End of first chapter.
I hope this is a short story, not a continuing series. Let’s do what is right, and what our PM wants. The old men in the background,grooming the public, are not adding to their lustre as this trails on in such a disgraceful way.
But what will you say Grey, if the sexual assault complaint does not exist? The saga largely depends on it doesn't it?
The waters are certainly getting muddier by the day. I agree with you there's little to be gained by the Labour Council members lying and they’re not lying – of that I am sure. But on the other hand something untoward was occurring. You don't get 7 people laying formal complaints and another 3 or 4 who are said to have unofficially complained.
What a strange tale it's becoming.
Maybe Anne, there is a group of individuals who were concerned about bad behaviour such as they believed that each had been bullied, perhaps including Sarah. The group thinking can reinforce the strength of the claims but Sarah didn't think to claim sexual assault which, had she brought that to the Council, would have tripped the "We are not equipped to deal with such events." The later recent increase of Sarah's serious complaint tripped the shambles which now exist.
But someone is not being truthful. Will we ever find out? Paula will muddy the water as she did tonight on the News TV1
Might be a bit of murky, even Dirty Politics in all this – something about Paula "Zip it, sweetie" Bennett as a victims' champion just doesn't ring true.
Maybe the Nats have learned something from Key, English, Joyce, Coleman, Barclay, Ross et al., and moved on from their Dirty Politics escapades. If they can refrain from their usual vomitous do-nothing (self-enrichment excepted) behaviour when they regain control of parliament then we'll know for sure, but I wouldn't put another flag referendum past them – leopards and spots!
Hear Hear!
https://www.traillite.co.nz/motorhomes-for-sale/benimar/benimar-mileo/
Is he currently living in a camper van? Ooh, don't tell the tabloid journos. They'll have a collective heart-attack and all drop dead with coronaries. On second thoughts do tell them.
I am certain that Winston Peters would have demanded to be told "what was going on" and would have refrained from saying anything unless he was certain he was basing his reaction on fact. Why would he do otherwise? The National Party will be even further from his considerations than they already were.
OOps!
I meant:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12268181
Kia Ora The Am Show
Aotearoa economy is doing great sailing into the headwinds created by larger economy's.
Greta is a incredibly intelligent individual Rangatahi who is educating the Papatuanuku about the REAL threat climate change is to our Papatuanuku future society Kia kaha Greta keep up the excellent mahi.
Bees play a very important role in our society we have to stop using agricultural chemicals on our farms we need to become the Organic farmers all over the Papatuanuku.
Tyrone Great to see Massey students winning a competition to New York to show their building low cost air quality sensors kia kaha.
Lloyd the black peet saga gives me a in sight on their society's view that can be found throughout Western society.
Kate Shepherd house being brought by Heritage NZ is cool she made a great contribution to the good changes Aotearoa
16000 electric cars is a heck of a lot of carbon emissions not being blown into our environment.
The tide is changing fast to A Papatuanuku that puts our the wellbeing of other into our plans like our future decendints. Humans have changed our environment for centuries build a whare we are changing the environment inside the whare to a warmer dryer environment so we can slow global warming we just have to do it for the future.
That's the way dumping your gas gussling car for electric scooter.
Ka kite Ano
Eco Maori got this a few years ago I tau toko all people who champion mitigating human cause climate change. It makes me proud to see all the tamariki stepping up to the challenge letting everyone know that inaction on climate change is not good enough. Words are cheap action is not. It will give me a sore face when I see the MASSIVE CROWDs protesting to the Papatuanuku leaders to change the way of the Papatuanuku to become carbon neutral ASAP on Friday 20 of September 2019 KIA KAHA.
Scientists set out how to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
Strong civil society movements are needed to ramp up pace of change, says study
Greenhouse gas emissions could be halved in the next decade if a small number of current technologies and behavioural trends are ramped up and adopted more widely, researchers have found, saying strong civil society movements are needed to drive such change.
Solar and wind power, now cheaper than fossil fuels in many regions, must be scaled up rapidly to replace coal-fired generation, and this alone could halve emissions from electricity generation by 2030, according to the Exponential Roadmap report from an international group of countries
If the rapid uptake of electric vehicles in some parts of the world could be sustained, the vehicles could make up 90% of the market by 2030, vastly reducing emissions from transport, it said.
Avoiding deforestation and improving land management could reduce emissions by the equivalent of about 9bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2030, according to the report, but contradictory subsidies, poor planning and vested interests could stop this from happening.
The way to any transition will be the growing social movements that are pressing for urgent action on climate breakdown. By driving behavioural change, such as moving away from the overconsumption of meat and putting pressure on governments and companies, civil movements have the power to drive the transformation needed in the next decade, say the report’s authors.
Christiana Figueres, a former top climate official at the UN, said: “I see all evidence that social and economic tipping points are aligning. We can now say the next decade has the potential to see the fastest economic transition in history. Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/19/power-halve-greenhouse-gas-emissions-2030-climate-scientists
Kia Ora Newshub.
I agree that our youth should get the OK to vote as its there future we are making a mess of at the minute.
The Tongan Prime Minister tangi today he will be missed by Te tangata.
I think it's good that South Africa government going to protect their Wahine from being disrespect by men Mana Wahine that's the way stand up for your rights to a happy health life.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Ngāti Hinerangi wanting to captilize on the Hobbit phenomenon that's the way tangata whenua have to chase all opertunaties to build a moanga for Te mokopuna.
Wai New Zealand conference it awesome that more thought research and respect is being given to the way we interact with our Taonga Wai.
The deaf have a taki with the services they get from the tellco company's because they don't use their talking minutes that's the way if they don't no there is a problem with some tangata then they can not fix it kia kaha.
350 climate change Rangatahi that is the way let every one know you are not happy with the mess being made of your future
Kupe scholarships Ka pai to Wahine for getting the scholarship and chasing a higher education Mana Wahine
Stay native looks like a winner to Eco Maori we have to look after each other in our Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Papatuanuku AWSOME. NO one else is going to look after Maori but Maori.
Pu Rakau is great getting Te tamariki to be invative industrial and learning math and sciences kia kaha tamariki.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Its great the government's retirement fund is performing well I hope they are moving their investment away from high carbon footprint industry.
Cool that money is being invested into research on why tabco is so addictive Hope they find something to help smokers Quit.
I remember just before a election national had a huge civil construction company hiring heaps of people with false jobs. I know I went for the jobs got to Wellington and it turned out to be a micky mouse club no real mahi being transferred from different jobs sights WHAT A JOKE it was just a skeem to get people off the dole just before the 2014 elections.
The reason there are more people on unemployment system is because national made it so HARD to get social security that many people could not jump through all the HOOPs to get on their social security system that's a fact. Hence all the people living under the BRIDGE. Our economy is not tanking you are just talking it down
Our Coalition Government is a legitimate government they got the seats and popularity to prove it.
Most business people are national supporters so when national jumps up and down putting down our economy they listen to their views or deliberately put out data to show they have low confidence.
Te tangata Te tangata Te tangata William is correct its about Te tangata no just putea.
Those idiots who started those fires in Australia need to be jailed we can't have fools causing so much damage just for their own wellbeing how selfish.
The Rugby Papatuanuku Cup will be A awesome event we will be watching the games using solar power for our device.
Not just dog need aroha all creatures need Tangata aroha .
Ka kite Ano