If a political party is unregistered, and passes the threshold at the election, can it get list candidates into parliament as a result? Probably not!
More than $255,000 in donations have been made to a political party that never registered, a loophole in electoral laws that a political expert says is “unprecedented”.
The New Zealand Public Party has come under fire by former members and staffers who allege up to $100,000 in koha collected at events, and kept in a tin under leader Billy Te Kahika’s bed, is unaccounted for.
Complaints were laid to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Electoral Commission about missing donations, however no investigations are resulting from the complaints. The Electoral Commission said because NZPP never registered as a party it has no obligation to report donations.
They deserve an award for value-added entertainment though. The Nat/Lab underwhelming strategy is clearly designed to turn voters off. NZF is clearly trying to scare voters off. Greens seem unsure which voters to piss off.
Of the peripherals, Vernon Tava has been a no-show, the Opportunists flicker on/off dimly, and the Neocons are off the wall. Only the nutters seem right on – fervently demonstrating god's will to the apathetic. Oh, but we can celebrate the Maori Party for advocating we ditch the dumb old colonial name and become Aotearoa! 👍
From the list of Koha in your first link, that is great that people from all over the country have given donations rounded to the nearest hundred dollars, or probably purely in hundred dollar bills. Restores ones faith in humanity, that the public won't encumber a political movement with superfluous accounting… The wonderful Billy TK.
If a political party is unregistered, and passes the threshold at the election, can it get list candidates into parliament as a result? Probably not!
Electoral Commission's Guide to Party Registration (link) says unregistered parties can only stand electorate candidates. Party vote is only for registered parties.
Thanks Alice, thought so. I guess it means the decision of JLR to stop contesting Botany is due to him presuming his party registration can get him in even though his partner's party must win a seat to get in. If the combo reaches 5% I mean. If the unlikely happens, could become a legal fight (all the way to the Supreme Court)…
Except that seems to contradict what you wrote in 2.2, so I was thinking he's somehow relying on how the combined party will work. Then again maybe neither leader actually thought it thro. Probably won't matter but nutters abound so if they vote we may get an interesting situation. A lawyer-fest.
In 2.2 I was thinking of NZPP standing under its own name.
NZPP is a component party of Advance NZ (link), so it might be okay if everything is done through the combined entity. (Or might be one for the lawyers.)
Oh yeah. I see there are four component parties listed. Went to the Advance website & the link there to Billy's party. Interesting bio:
I approached the UN in 2016 to help fund a NZ based indigenous economic and cultural festival to help end indigenous poverty. We didn’t receive funding because we did not want to become members of the UN as an NGO to receive it. But since I have taken on fronting this amazing movement I have been painted as:
A UN secret agent working as controlled opposition.
A secret Chinese Communist Party agent trying to sell Maori land and that I am committing treason.
I am a Freemason and Freemasonry supporter, despite lecturing against Freemasons.
I am an Abortion Industry executive – despite being against it.
I work for the Maori King and I am forming a global reserve bank with him – reason or how unspecified.
I am a racial separatist despite preaching the opposite that we are all one family.
And that I am a conspiracy theorist about the UN & Communism in New Zealand – despite providing factual evidence proving this and asking that people apply critical thinking.
It's tough at the top. Not enough to surf the wave of any hot conspiracy theory, you get competing theorists demonising you – bit like sharks in the water around the surfer…
maybe the existential question should be, is a unregistered cult with a leader who keeps the $$$$$ under his bed a political party? but, I agree, they do add colour, conspiracy nutters are fun to play with , gentley leading-pushing them further up their own orifice with each wild theory.(mine, not theirs)
“”The political, economic and environmental trends we’ve slavishly followed for decades have been exposed as not only redundant but actually dangerous. Maybe we should adopt not just a language but a way of thinking that’s indigenous to this country. Let’s start a conversation about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean now instead of patronising attempts to use Māori language to continue denying it.””
All this co-opting of Māori language and culture by the state is little more than cynical marketing and doesn’t address more pressing and structural issues that Māori, and the country at large, actually face.
The state isn't co-opting Māori culture. If they were, things might actually be better.
A large part of the problem is that we've seemingly decided to remain a multi-cultural society rather than coming together as a single society that has aspects (preferably the best aspects while throwing out the worst) of multiple cultures.
Its this determination to remain separate within our country that really pisses me off. We'd all be better off if we decided to have a single culture informed from all the cultures that have come here.
Let’s start a conversation about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean now instead of patronising attempts to use Māori language to continue denying it.
I agree that we do need to have such a conversation but the result of that conversation should be that we, as a nation, are one people with one culture. What's really up for discussion is the nature of that culture and if its still dividing us or brining us together.
Predetermining the outcome of a conversation makes the conversation pointless.
But also, we are a multicultural society. Arguing we should be "one culture" is either suggesting a sort of cultural homgeneity that the zealandia jerks seem to be after, or it's a meaningless proposition that our single culture is multicultural.
But what is the problem with talking about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean? There are several examples around the world of different cultures working together within one nation, but with diverse governance and service systems. Canada comes to mind, but there are others.
Identity politics makes people feel better about themselves at the expense of productive discourse. A person’s lived experience should never be invalidated. But no identity makes the beliefs that someone derives from their lived experience automatically more correct.
My bold.
The problem with a multi-cultural society is that it will always be tearing itself apart as it puts people, who should be friendly neighbours, against each other.
But what is the problem with talking about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean?
Who's?
As I said, identity politics tears a society apart.
There are several examples around the world of different cultures working together within one nation, but with diverse governance and service systems.
Not really.
In all countries there's one set of rules at the top that lower bodies (states/cities) have to conform to even if they do make local laws which means that there's an over-riding culture.
Pretending that culture is determined by sitting down and discussing it, rather than a conglomerate of individuals and lived experience, is bullshit. So that discussion is lala-land for a start.
Secondly, "identity politics" is a phrase used by fuckwits to disparage the concept of treating individuals with respect even if they are different. Lived experience being ""automatically more correct" than what? And why is "correct" being used to score points in that essay? The problem wasn't the author's "identity politics", the problem was the author trying to score points against their parents rather than actually discuss the matter.
But that article shares what I believe to be your basic miscomprehension: diversity in culture doesn't need to lead to conflict. The conflict occurs when one culture tries to dominate the other. Discarding "aspects" of any culture, even if rationally determined by committee, will piss people off. Look at the claims of "social engineering" over smacking and lightbulbs.
We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society. Canada really is an interesting example with its approach to First Nations, French, and British heritage and culture. Not perfect by any means, but definitely something to look at.
Trying to mash us all into a homogeneous culture and say we are "one culture" is a fast way to start exploitation, dominance, and war. We've done that before.
edit: and laws and jurisdiction really is something you should read up on in Canada. Not that laws are culture, anyway.
Pretending that culture is determined by sitting down and discussing it, rather than a conglomerate of individuals and lived experience, is bullshit.
Culture is set by the rules of a society be they written or unwritten. Discussing what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean is discussing what rules we want to keep and what rules to toss aside.
Its what we call government.
Secondly, "identity politics" is a phrase used by fuckwits to disparage the concept of treating individuals with respect even if they are different.
No, it really isn't. In fact, I first heard the concept of identity politics from those most in favour of it.
But that article shares what I believe to be your basic miscomprehension: diversity in culture doesn't need to lead to conflict.
Yes it does. Treating people differently because they're black/white/gay/straight inevitably leads to conflict as people will have the belief that they're being short-changed.
Discarding "aspects" of any culture, even if rationally determined by committee, will piss people off. Look at the claims of "social engineering" over smacking and lightbulbs.
Yes, governance does get that sort of response because they are engaging in social engineering. They're, quite literally, setting the rules that will determine the culture of a society. So you can probably understand why National were upset as the 5th Labour government tried to stop the ongoing excessive and uneconomical use of power and abuse of children.
We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society
No, that will maximise the conflict.
Trying to mash us all into a homogeneous culture and say we are "one culture" is a fast way to start exploitation, dominance, and war.
Nope.
When two culture meet the cross-pollinate and create a new culture. What multi-culturalism does is to try and keep all the cultures as they were at some idealistic point in time and thus trying to prevent the changes that need to happen as a new culture emerges.
Well, I disagree with pretty much every point and characterisation and conflation you have made there.
But society won't fall apart if we don't hash out exactly which bits we should keep or discard.
So, a bit like calling a person by their chosen pronoun, I will leave it alone and merely wish you a good night. The Cultural Appropriations Committee can pick it up in the morning.
" Its this determination to remain separate within our country that really pisses me off. We'd all be better off if we decided to have a single culture informed from all the cultures that have come here."
Then, one day a man named Sylvester McMonkey McBean came. Everyone from every persuasion that nature and nuture created sat down at a meeting with that "fix it up chappie" as mediator.
The agenda was to decide , " what parts of which cultures we keep (and) which get tossed aside."
The goal of the task was to make, "onesetofrulesatthetop that lower bodies (states/cities) have to conform to even if they do make local laws which means that there's an over-riding culture."
A problem to ameliorate was that people in those lower bodies with their own unique identities were , according to some, problematic because they were through their identity, different from the ideal.
The problem was then reconfigured, not as 'the problem being the problem' but but dammit…those different people were the problem.
A little background to the current problem. In the 1830s, the British government decided it was time to curb the lawlessness of the land and officially make it a colony.
Sylvester McMonkey McBean the first, arrived on NZ shores and using an ever changing formula for the process, the natives were pushed through the suppresion machine to meld together for all to be one people. The melting pot machine had three main phases to pass through, Christianise against savage practices and beliefs, Colonise using one set of rules and expected behaviour because they are superior, then finally, Capitalise on the assets pilfered through that glorious new identity.
Over 180 years when some saw the cracks appear and the have nots started to uprise, it was easy to fix.. . add new rules again ( and imprison the rule breakers.)
The process is much like the original evolution of rules where the then recent, superior immigrants created more rules in the colonists' Native Land Court to affect cancelling the collective identity found in collective ownership of the commons and onto removing singular identity ( and assets) from being connected to the land.
The rationale purported for this more recent proposal here, of transformation to one culture, is that,
" Treating people differently because they're black/white/gay/straight inevitably leads to conflict as people will have the belief that they're being short-changed."
Once more in history, a policy sell of a One Nation melting pot that inflicted inequality, is now postured again as the cure to quell civil unrest.
Underlying this is the posed certainity that individual identity is destructive to society.
" We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society," says one O' the flock with an idea.
A direct, " No, that will maximise the conflict."
Instead we need to cross-pollinate.
" When two culture meet the cross-pollinate and create a new culture. What multi-culturalism does is to try and keep all the cultures as they were at some idealistic point in time and thus trying to prevent the changes that need to happen as a new culture emerges."
Furthermore, after overlooking mass misery created through exploiting an earlier 'set of rules' in order to have a state run 'one-culture' , the whole of the Treaty is dumped. Its whole context, the history, its purpose and intent is now diminished through hand picking a two word convenient phrase to suit. The selection of just those two words "tino rangitira" and putting a spin on it is the "co-opting" of the convenient parts to impose a western world view. Applied then to the appropriation is a self-interpretation to shape the future in order to uphold an argument that a nation's people will coexist peacefully if multi-culturalism is cancelled out.
"Culture is set by the rules of a society be they written or unwritten. Discussing what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean is discussing what rules we want to keep and what rules to tossaside."
Which group has the right and should be the ones to interpret tikanga might be the first question, before all the lab rats are subjected to hegemony ?
A person's identity is the totality of all dimensions that make up 'self' . All the aspects that come into play that make each person's unique identity would need to be deconstructed and then it's just too bad, some need to be thrown out as they are not good.
Ancestory and family, parenting, gender, social practices, rites of passage, genetics, personality, peace or trauma, environment of events and resources in one's upbringing, belief systems, political leanings, cognitive abilities, looks, skin colour.. the perfect One identity will be created by the fix it up chappie.
This crazy cycle of rule changing would continue until everyone couldn't tell who was originally which type of Sneetch, we all at which point are the same, a pure-e.
To be pragmatic though, because 5 million can't fit in the meeting room, we would need to whittle down proportionately the attendees to a house of representatives. To show further fairness, the meeting would start with a co-opted practice of a prayer and then would precede by following co-opted archaic "Robert's Rules" for speaking.
Hopefully, none at the Make One Nation meeting has the rotten core of capitalism in their hearts.
The predominant majority of representatives would then decide the alogorithms for McBean's machine. A halt to any new immigrants would have to follow as they may taint the ideal identity or be too expensive to machinize into pure-e.
But for $10 more each says Mr. McBean, I can add dermabrasion in as an extra star to whitewash all. Then McBean will pack his bags up and leave loaded with cash.
The enlightenment to follow, what fun! There'd be no more diversity as there be no more " north and south going Zax ". For that matter, there'd be no more "green pants with nobody inside them" either, to invent our fears around.
Can you smell the vanilla coming off those algorithm decisions ?
Fees Free was expensive, but restoring the postgraduate student allowance was not. If you can't fulfil postgrad allowances in the 2017-2020 term, at the very least make sure you fulfil it in 2020-2023 ("better late than never").
As it is, this smacks of 1980s-1990s Bait and Switch. Hipkins can stay on at Health, but he's godawful at Education. Give the job to someone who doesn't betray students.
I think Hipkins is far too busy with both Health and Education. I agree and think he should stay as health minster (he's a lot better than David Clark, although Clark set the bar very low). Jacinda seems a bit reluctant to trust some of the other ministers and IMO has overloaded both Hipkins and Megan Woods.
It was a Labour flagship policy in their election campaign in 2017 and NZF and the Greens pledged support. I don’t know about NZF being the convenient handbrake but the Green Party is in full support.
They never even tried to implement it and using Covid as an excuse is an insult to our trust. It shows the short-term thinking and focus on ‘shovel-ready’ stuff suits Labour as much as National.
Gives the greens a couple of percent via their leftish platform rather than strict environmentalism.
Labour can afford to throw its main ally a bone, and they can do it without knobbling an electorate candidate. Teamwork. They'd probably govern alone if the Greens didn't get in this time, but Labour know they're better off having the Greens.
Besides the overstatement by comparing a widened schedule in a pandaemic with Lockwood Smith's outright lie, if my suspicion that this was an intentional tactic is correct (that Labour are easing off on education with the benefit to the Greens being at least a partial consideration in favour of that move), then that is literally the goal: spend some of their political capital by alienating some supporters in the group most likely to lean Green rather than NZ1/nat.
Piss of pensioners, they go NZ1. Piss of students, they go Green.
From tackling pollution to protecting coral reefs, the international community did not fully achieve any of the 20 Aichi biodiversity targets agreed in Japan in 2010 to slow the loss of the natural world. It is the second consecutive decade that governments have failed to meet targets.
Mainstreamers will be reassured by this. Doing something different would be terribly traumatic. You can see why they switched to Coro instead.
Those dumb ignorant Russians are in denial over novichok
They've done no decontamination of the Tomsk airport, which has been in full operational mode throughout.The aeroplane carrying Navalny, and in which he was induced to vomit has not been destroyed, fellow passengers have been questioned but not tested for novichok, neither have the crew.
There's a disgraceful photo of Navalny being put in the ambulance on the way to the Omsk hospital
What were they thinking!! No hazmat gear on , no precautions apart from the usual hospital gowns and masks
They'll be dying like flies over there you mark my words, Navalny and his colleagues will be trumpeting it from the rooftops
But I have to say, the Germans have done it on the cheap too. No tracheotomy for Navalny, unlike both the Skripals, and the Navalny dose was meant to be harder
No quarantining for Navalny
Navalny had his wife and family close the whole time, poor old Skripal was denied the visitation of friends or family
And we know he had friends in Salisbury, his old MI6 handler Pablo Miller lived in the same town and they had monthly lunches
The Skripals had to be expensively quarantined and safe housed and given new identities and shipped off to NZ.Or so an anonymous UK intelligence source told the Sunday Times of Britain , and they would surely not lie?
Navalny has just appeared on his instagram page looking very chipper indeed and stating that as soon as he gets out of hospital he's back to Russia .Goodness!
I must commend the German doctors, he's looking the very picture of rude health and well on the way to recovery
4weeks for Yulia and a couple of months for Sergei .Sergei's so burnt by the whole thing he's unable to contact his mother who he used to ring every week
Shame on you Brit doctors!
And you Russians , when will you learn to treat dissidents the good old democratic Western way ?
'End torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange"
Or they feel like the message is adequately sent either way – live or die, no matter, just make sure there's a lot of publicised suffering and expense and a teeny-tiny fig-leaf of plausible deniability to provoke ever more argument.
Nordstream 2 home and hosed and all of Europe plugged in,then finish off Navalny and all those pesky commies who do so much better in the polls than Navalny
Methinks those bungling bastards are resting on the laurels of puppetising Trump and inducing him to demand the end of Nordstream 2….well before the Navalny fiasco
Francesca You need to put sarc at the bottom of the comments that you write in a cynical/satirical way. We don't know what is going on and when you appear to know and state something it is taken as supposedly believable or completely dismissed depending on the bent of the reader.
It's way harder to almost kill someone , then allow them to return to full health ,than to kill them outright
You've got to get the measurements just right, enough surplus to spread all over Salisbury for instance and cause the maximum fuss and diplomatic downsides, but not quite enough to kill.
And it takes a lot of skill in the case of Navalny for instance to only contaminate the target and none of his colleaugues(who are just as noisome as Navalny)
You're driving in a war-torn land. You turn a corner and see a roadblock several hundred metres away. Your windscreen shatters and a bullet goes through the drivers' headrest not an inch away from you.
"Well gosh," thinks one person. "The shot can't have come from the roadblock, because at that range to miss me by inches is an amazing piece of marksmanship. Because the shot didn't come from there, it's safe for me to keep going in that direction. If they had wanted to kill me, with marksmanship like that I'd be dead already."
"Well gosh" thinks another person. "I guess they don't want me approaching, and aren't too bothered about whether I live or die so long as nobody approaches them. I think I will go back the way I came."
It's an abhorrent practice but the West has been doing the same sort of thing for decades. They also targeted innocent citizens of allied countries. Take the CIA for example. They were running almost rampant in Australia and NZ during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Many of their targets were aware of what was going on but they couldn't say anything because few people would have believed them.
Labour Party supporters and activists were particularly vulnerable and anyone who dared to have any contact – for whatever reason – with Russian nationals. My father was one of them. He couldn't harm a fly but that didn't stop them.
It's an abhorrent practice but the West has been doing the same sort of thing for decades.
As abhorrent as it is its also necessary because if we didn't do it we wouldn't be able to act to defend ourselves.
It's when such information is used for an attack that it breaches ethics and, by the way the Chinese labelled some people, it was obviously being used as an attack vector. That's what politically vulnerable means.
This is an interesting essay on how collusion between the authoritarian neoliberal left and "woke capitalism" has displaced actual activism for social change with "public castigation, social media mobbing or termination of employment".
TVNZ realised the public mood shifting around the Trump-esque lies Hosking engages in every day of the week and sacked him. It's a much bigger ask but it'd be progress if Newstalk ZB followed suit.
Although Hosking was found to be in breach of the Radio Code of Broadcasting Practice, the BSA did not make an order, instead saying its decision “was sufficient to censure the broadcaster and to provide guidance to broadcasters generally”.
No, really, it isn't.
The whole point of having codes is that there are consequences to breaching them especially after they’ve done it several times.
Never used the smoking stuff, but the value of the basic plants gives me a high. Perhaps we can get out of the conservative-blinkers into something with good prospects, slap taxes on second homes and above, and direct investment away from selling our basic needs to the wealthy and impoverishing the rest of us.
Has anyone thought that it follows the pattern of the Irish Famine – they had crops of corn I think but that had been contracted for delivery outside Ireland, I think to the British Army. Business before people, who would have been cited as a 'restraint to trade' if they had successfully blocked the export. And trade and profit are sacred matters to money-makers; people are expendable but suffer without homes and food.
"On a Single Day" by Christy Moore on exports from Cork in September 1847. Meanwhile up the road in Skibbereen lie thousands buried in mass graves. Business before people……..
They say that society is between 3 and 9 meals from anarchy, but it would depend on a number of other factors as well. Just the same, it seems to be a good rule of thumb as opposed to a rule of law.
For an individual, it may vary say for example, the point where a vegan or vegetarian would stop using a draft horse for agricultural purpose or for riding to and from the village on and slaughter it so as to cut it in to delicious bite size chunks for consumption.
I guess New Zealand has one thing going for it. That even if the economy were to go into free fall and we run out of backers and run out of those who would trade with us relative to what we have left to offer, which is kai, man!
Of course, unless or until someone with a large army decided that our fodder was going to be acquired by them, by hook or by crook.
We also have heaps of concepts and creative alternative lifestyle thoughts. Sure, we can’t eat these, but Hell, they must be worth something during a serious crisis.
Tourism accommodation, hospitality, and events/attractions are dependent for the foreseeable future on the smaller domestic market tourism.
We therefore need to urgently expand existing food crops and develop new crops which bring capital investment into the regions- and thus jobs- to help replace the loss of international revenues and jobs.
Non sequitur. Just because the tourism sector is collapsing doesn't mean that we need more farms.
There is substantial interest from investors to add the capital required into the industry to achieve rapid growth and scale for export marketing.
Agricultural export is a bad move as the excessive farming we already have has proved to our detriment.
We now need the entrepreneurial vision and determination, backed by our national economic agencies as well as investment funders
We do need the entrepreneurial vision and determination but we don't need the bludging investors who are no more than a blight upon our society.
Prior to this law change Hemp was a staple industrial crop in the USA and Europe because the motive power for sailing ships was hemp fibre for rigging, ropes and canvas sails.
By the time that the War on Drugs made hemp illegal it was no longer a staple for motive power. Sailing ships were long gone to the Age of Steam and diesel was on the up and up. Really, if it had still been vital there would have been no way to make it illegal.
If government wishes to support the rapid growth of revenue and regional jobs from Hemp, then the next Prime Minister needs to cut through the red tape and finesse the Hemp amendment regulations.
No, that is most definitely what the government should not be doing as it removes the necessary pricing to ensure that its actually a viable industry. Better regulations, certainly, but not the removal of regulations.
Instead of allowing the major construction companies to find the cheapest ways of using its post-Covid-19 investments (with substantial imports), the NZ Government could mandate the use of low or positive environmental impact materials such as hemp.
While I agree this is actually more about ensuring that there's local demand to support the burgeoning industry. In other words, he's asking for government guaranteed profits.
Surely all that is required for the burgeoning Hemp industry to guarantee profits is for us to all go back to hemp roped sailing ships? No more fuel oil either!
National health, an oxymoron. Did people hear the extravagant promises made under the National banner this morning. This from the party that is always promising to cut taxes. They know that their moron followers think that money grows on trees which are eternally fruitful. They know how to use it for their own purposes, but not how to put it back into the economy like fertiliser, to have a modern, thriving, busy and healthy country.
There is talk about 'navigators' and apparently they have picked that up from the UK. That is where the services have been run down, tightened so a patient can't have enough time with their GP to discuss more than one of their health problems! The country where they lied to the people about the money that would be released for their health system by going for Brexit and the main proponents of that have been in close contact with Big Pharma in the USA! And where they are really good at handling Covid-19 in a timely fashion and developing systems that limit its spread – not!
This from Dr Reti – 'He says the primary care navigators have been trialled in the United Kingdom with positive outcomes. They would offer counselling, help unlock government agencies, follow up appointments and referrals and do home visits.'
These under their Surgery heading:
Faster elective surgeries, with funding and surgery for patients within four months
DHBs will outsource elective surgeries they are unable to complete themselves within that timeframe – to other DHBs or private providers at no extra cost
Targets – that can't be met, leading to question of capability and a loss of respect for our public services, with more surgery done by private providers while the public hospitals get further squeezed and finally cannot find staff willing to work in them because of their under-funding impoverished state.
So go private, that will be the answer. Sneer at public, they are just so inefficient, mistakes and faults to heap on them.
The National Party is disgraceful – they can't lie straight in bed even. Their comment on Pharmac – they will keep it as it is excellent (for our ears) and for Big Pharmas ears – we will have more medicines available.
"National believes the Pharmac model is the best way to ensure New Zealanders are accessing much-needed medication."
"Year on year this will be more funding for Pharmac than at any time in the past decade, and New Zealanders will have better access to more medicines.
I read with interest the media reports ; (Stuff and NZ Herald) and also posts herein; (Anne and Draco Te Bastard) regarding the People's republic of China and reports of a database kept on New Zealanders.
Is this not terrible?
Who might have guessed they could have gone THAT far. Max and his baseball aspirations, Winnie and his daughter. Oh My Goodness.
Yep. The PRC are pretty resourceful from what is gleaned by such disclosures.
Bad, China. How could you?
And must I say in support of New Zealand what an entirely non-intrusive, blessed, clean, open, non-corrupted, non-corruptible, humble nation we as a sovereign state along with our fellow residents are, and how few (if any) would ever be likely not go to such lengths.
We pride ourselves and self promote on how we give everybody a Fair Go. And this must surely extend to the collection, analyses and dissemination of information on other people.
Surely as good folk, we wouldn't dear go anywhere near intruding or fishing just to get an upper hand on anybody else in relation to business, finances, politics, nor in relation to assessing competitors, nor even simply because we do not like someone or some group for any particular reason whether or not we get rewarded for doing so.
Surely we would rarely even engage in the wide or small scale collection of public domain material (court records for example), nor business and personal data on each other just to find out more about other Kiwis.
We leave it up to govern-mental for most of this, do we not?
Why? Because, again, it's simply not a Fair Go, and besides, there hefty penalties for unauthorized access to any closed material.
However, the reason we do not intrude in such a way as good Kiwis is not out of fear in relation to such legislation, it is because we care for each other so deeply and we like to think of ourselves as both ambassadors and teachers (even preachers) to the world, from our Aotearoa land of plenty that so many call "Godzone".
Isn't there some law we could invent or manufacture to stop others looking at us this way.
Darn camera clickers and busy bodies they must appear to be, all on their own.
Unlike New Zealanders with all of our values and good conduct, and where butter would not melt in our mouths in relation to intrusion for profit, out of curiosity or to collect brownie points.
But most Kiwis I've come across are curious folk when it comes to looking over the back fence, and then pointing the finger when others appear to be inquisitive or nosy.
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TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
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The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
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A job for Billy TK.
Excellent scheme. The punishment fitting the crime – not in a nutshell but an oblong space.l
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWKrAQAhu-k
If a political party is unregistered, and passes the threshold at the election, can it get list candidates into parliament as a result? Probably not!
They deserve an award for value-added entertainment though. The Nat/Lab underwhelming strategy is clearly designed to turn voters off. NZF is clearly trying to scare voters off. Greens seem unsure which voters to piss off.
Of the peripherals, Vernon Tava has been a no-show, the Opportunists flicker on/off dimly, and the Neocons are off the wall. Only the nutters seem right on – fervently demonstrating god's will to the apathetic. Oh, but we can celebrate the Maori Party for advocating we ditch the dumb old colonial name and become Aotearoa! 👍
From the list of Koha in your first link, that is great that people from all over the country have given donations rounded to the nearest hundred dollars, or probably purely in hundred dollar bills. Restores ones faith in humanity, that the public won't encumber a political movement with superfluous accounting… The wonderful Billy TK.
Electoral Commission's Guide to Party Registration (link) says unregistered parties can only stand electorate candidates. Party vote is only for registered parties.
Thanks Alice, thought so. I guess it means the decision of JLR to stop contesting Botany is due to him presuming his party registration can get him in even though his partner's party must win a seat to get in. If the combo reaches 5% I mean. If the unlikely happens, could become a legal fight (all the way to the Supreme Court)…
Maybe stand electorate candidates under JLR's Advance NZ banner as that is a registered party.
Except that seems to contradict what you wrote in 2.2, so I was thinking he's somehow relying on how the combined party will work. Then again maybe neither leader actually thought it thro. Probably won't matter but nutters abound so if they vote we may get an interesting situation. A lawyer-fest.
In 2.2 I was thinking of NZPP standing under its own name.
NZPP is a component party of Advance NZ (link), so it might be okay if everything is done through the combined entity. (Or might be one for the lawyers.)
Oh yeah. I see there are four component parties listed. Went to the Advance website & the link there to Billy's party. Interesting bio:
It's tough at the top. Not enough to surf the wave of any hot conspiracy theory, you get competing theorists demonising you – bit like sharks in the water around the surfer…
maybe the existential question should be, is a unregistered cult with a leader who keeps the $$$$$ under his bed a political party? but, I agree, they do add colour, conspiracy nutters are fun to play with , gentley leading-pushing them further up their own orifice with each wild theory.(mine, not theirs)
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB194lJm?m=en-nz&ocid=News
“”The political, economic and environmental trends we’ve slavishly followed for decades have been exposed as not only redundant but actually dangerous. Maybe we should adopt not just a language but a way of thinking that’s indigenous to this country. Let’s start a conversation about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean now instead of patronising attempts to use Māori language to continue denying it.””
The state isn't co-opting Māori culture. If they were, things might actually be better.
A large part of the problem is that we've seemingly decided to remain a multi-cultural society rather than coming together as a single society that has aspects (preferably the best aspects while throwing out the worst) of multiple cultures.
Its this determination to remain separate within our country that really pisses me off. We'd all be better off if we decided to have a single culture informed from all the cultures that have come here.
Well, that wasn't the deal made in 1840.
So we're left with a salad, not a puree. I prefer salads, anyway.
I was responding to this:
I agree that we do need to have such a conversation but the result of that conversation should be that we, as a nation, are one people with one culture. What's really up for discussion is the nature of that culture and if its still dividing us or brining us together.
Predetermining the outcome of a conversation makes the conversation pointless.
But also, we are a multicultural society. Arguing we should be "one culture" is either suggesting a sort of cultural homgeneity that the zealandia jerks seem to be after, or it's a meaningless proposition that our single culture is multicultural.
But what is the problem with talking about what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean? There are several examples around the world of different cultures working together within one nation, but with diverse governance and service systems. Canada comes to mind, but there are others.
No it doesn't as it would be about how we went about it, what parts of which cultures we keep which get tossed aside.
Not really unless you want to proclaim identity politics as valid:
My bold.
The problem with a multi-cultural society is that it will always be tearing itself apart as it puts people, who should be friendly neighbours, against each other.
Who's?
As I said, identity politics tears a society apart.
Not really.
In all countries there's one set of rules at the top that lower bodies (states/cities) have to conform to even if they do make local laws which means that there's an over-riding culture.
A couple of points there.
Pretending that culture is determined by sitting down and discussing it, rather than a conglomerate of individuals and lived experience, is bullshit. So that discussion is lala-land for a start.
Secondly, "identity politics" is a phrase used by fuckwits to disparage the concept of treating individuals with respect even if they are different. Lived experience being ""automatically more correct" than what? And why is "correct" being used to score points in that essay? The problem wasn't the author's "identity politics", the problem was the author trying to score points against their parents rather than actually discuss the matter.
But that article shares what I believe to be your basic miscomprehension: diversity in culture doesn't need to lead to conflict. The conflict occurs when one culture tries to dominate the other. Discarding "aspects" of any culture, even if rationally determined by committee, will piss people off. Look at the claims of "social engineering" over smacking and lightbulbs.
We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society. Canada really is an interesting example with its approach to First Nations, French, and British heritage and culture. Not perfect by any means, but definitely something to look at.
Trying to mash us all into a homogeneous culture and say we are "one culture" is a fast way to start exploitation, dominance, and war. We've done that before.
edit: and laws and jurisdiction really is something you should read up on in Canada. Not that laws are culture, anyway.
Culture is set by the rules of a society be they written or unwritten. Discussing what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean is discussing what rules we want to keep and what rules to toss aside.
Its what we call government.
No, it really isn't. In fact, I first heard the concept of identity politics from those most in favour of it.
Yes it does. Treating people differently because they're black/white/gay/straight inevitably leads to conflict as people will have the belief that they're being short-changed.
Yes, governance does get that sort of response because they are engaging in social engineering. They're, quite literally, setting the rules that will determine the culture of a society. So you can probably understand why National were upset as the 5th Labour government tried to stop the ongoing excessive and uneconomical use of power and abuse of children.
No, that will maximise the conflict.
Nope.
When two culture meet the cross-pollinate and create a new culture. What multi-culturalism does is to try and keep all the cultures as they were at some idealistic point in time and thus trying to prevent the changes that need to happen as a new culture emerges.
Well, I disagree with pretty much every point and characterisation and conflation you have made there.
But society won't fall apart if we don't hash out exactly which bits we should keep or discard.
So, a bit like calling a person by their chosen pronoun, I will leave it alone and merely wish you a good night. The Cultural Appropriations Committee can pick it up in the morning.
" Its this determination to remain separate within our country that really pisses me off. We'd all be better off if we decided to have a single culture informed from all the cultures that have come here."
Then, one day a man named Sylvester McMonkey McBean came. Everyone from every persuasion that nature and nuture created sat down at a meeting with that "fix it up chappie" as mediator.
The agenda was to decide , " what parts of which cultures we keep (and) which get tossed aside."
The goal of the task was to make, "one set of rules at the top that lower bodies (states/cities) have to conform to even if they do make local laws which means that there's an over-riding culture."
A problem to ameliorate was that people in those lower bodies with their own unique identities were , according to some, problematic because they were through their identity, different from the ideal.
The problem was then reconfigured, not as 'the problem being the problem' but but dammit…those different people were the problem.
A little background to the current problem. In the 1830s, the British government decided it was time to curb the lawlessness of the land and officially make it a colony.
Sylvester McMonkey McBean the first, arrived on NZ shores and using an ever changing formula for the process, the natives were pushed through the suppresion machine to meld together for all to be one people. The melting pot machine had three main phases to pass through, Christianise against savage practices and beliefs, Colonise using one set of rules and expected behaviour because they are superior, then finally, Capitalise on the assets pilfered through that glorious new identity.
Over 180 years when some saw the cracks appear and the have nots started to uprise, it was easy to fix.. . add new rules again ( and imprison the rule breakers.)
The process is much like the original evolution of rules where the then recent, superior immigrants created more rules in the colonists' Native Land Court to affect cancelling the collective identity found in collective ownership of the commons and onto removing singular identity ( and assets) from being connected to the land.
The rationale purported for this more recent proposal here, of transformation to one culture, is that,
" Treating people differently because they're black/white/gay/straight inevitably leads to conflict as people will have the belief that they're being short-changed."
Once more in history, a policy sell of a One Nation melting pot that inflicted inequality, is now postured again as the cure to quell civil unrest.
Underlying this is the posed certainity that individual identity is destructive to society.
" We can minimise that conflict by recognising the cultures within our society," says one O' the flock with an idea.
A direct, " No, that will maximise the conflict."
Instead we need to cross-pollinate.
" When two culture meet the cross-pollinate and create a new culture. What multi-culturalism does is to try and keep all the cultures as they were at some idealistic point in time and thus trying to prevent the changes that need to happen as a new culture emerges."
Furthermore, after overlooking mass misery created through exploiting an earlier 'set of rules' in order to have a state run 'one-culture' , the whole of the Treaty is dumped. Its whole context, the history, its purpose and intent is now diminished through hand picking a two word convenient phrase to suit. The selection of just those two words "tino rangitira" and putting a spin on it is the "co-opting" of the convenient parts to impose a western world view. Applied then to the appropriation is a self-interpretation to shape the future in order to uphold an argument that a nation's people will coexist peacefully if multi-culturalism is cancelled out.
"Culture is set by the rules of a society be they written or unwritten. Discussing what Tino Rangatiratanga might mean is discussing what rules we want to keep and what rules to toss aside."
Which group has the right and should be the ones to interpret tikanga might be the first question, before all the lab rats are subjected to hegemony ?
A person's identity is the totality of all dimensions that make up 'self' . All the aspects that come into play that make each person's unique identity would need to be deconstructed and then it's just too bad, some need to be thrown out as they are not good.
Ancestory and family, parenting, gender, social practices, rites of passage, genetics, personality, peace or trauma, environment of events and resources in one's upbringing, belief systems, political leanings, cognitive abilities, looks, skin colour.. the perfect One identity will be created by the fix it up chappie.
This crazy cycle of rule changing would continue until everyone couldn't tell who was originally which type of Sneetch, we all at which point are the same, a pure-e.
To be pragmatic though, because 5 million can't fit in the meeting room, we would need to whittle down proportionately the attendees to a house of representatives. To show further fairness, the meeting would start with a co-opted practice of a prayer and then would precede by following co-opted archaic "Robert's Rules" for speaking.
Hopefully, none at the Make One Nation meeting has the rotten core of capitalism in their hearts.
The predominant majority of representatives would then decide the alogorithms for McBean's machine. A halt to any new immigrants would have to follow as they may taint the ideal identity or be too expensive to machinize into pure-e.
But for $10 more each says Mr. McBean, I can add dermabrasion in as an extra star to whitewash all. Then McBean will pack his bags up and leave loaded with cash.
The enlightenment to follow, what fun! There'd be no more diversity as there be no more " north and south going Zax ". For that matter, there'd be no more "green pants with nobody inside them" either, to invent our fears around.
Can you smell the vanilla coming off those algorithm decisions ?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300107808/university-students-may-reconsider-futures-after-labour-party-breaks-promise-of-additional-feesfree-years
Fees Free was expensive, but restoring the postgraduate student allowance was not. If you can't fulfil postgrad allowances in the 2017-2020 term, at the very least make sure you fulfil it in 2020-2023 ("better late than never").
As it is, this smacks of 1980s-1990s Bait and Switch. Hipkins can stay on at Health, but he's godawful at Education. Give the job to someone who doesn't betray students.
I think Hipkins is far too busy with both Health and Education. I agree and think he should stay as health minster (he's a lot better than David Clark, although Clark set the bar very low). Jacinda seems a bit reluctant to trust some of the other ministers and IMO has overloaded both Hipkins and Megan Woods.
It was a Labour flagship policy in their election campaign in 2017 and NZF and the Greens pledged support. I don’t know about NZF being the convenient handbrake but the Green Party is in full support.
https://www.greens.org.nz/tertiary_education_policy
They never even tried to implement it and using Covid as an excuse is an insult to our trust. It shows the short-term thinking and focus on ‘shovel-ready’ stuff suits Labour as much as National.
So students should party vote Green then incog. This is a significant own goal by Labour.
The Green Party Policies have a lot to offer to young people.
They have a lot to offer most people and not just the young.
I agree, but we were referring to students, who are mostly (!) young, and the number of younger voters is relatively low. That was the context.
Gives the greens a couple of percent via their leftish platform rather than strict environmentalism.
Labour can afford to throw its main ally a bone, and they can do it without knobbling an electorate candidate. Teamwork. They'd probably govern alone if the Greens didn't get in this time, but Labour know they're better off having the Greens.
Labour can boost the Greens without getting a generation of students to view Labour as liars.
Honestly, there is a reason it took so long to put the demons of Phil Goff and Lockwood Smith back in the bottle.
Besides the overstatement by comparing a widened schedule in a pandaemic with Lockwood Smith's outright lie, if my suspicion that this was an intentional tactic is correct (that Labour are easing off on education with the benefit to the Greens being at least a partial consideration in favour of that move), then that is literally the goal: spend some of their political capital by alienating some supporters in the group most likely to lean Green rather than NZ1/nat.
Piss of pensioners, they go NZ1. Piss of students, they go Green.
Left/right collusion at the top level of politics remains effective in preventing progress by defending business as usual: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/15/every-global-target-to-stem-destruction-of-nature-by-2020-missed-un-report-aoe
Mainstreamers will be reassured by this. Doing something different would be terribly traumatic. You can see why they switched to Coro instead.
Those dumb ignorant Russians are in denial over novichok
They've done no decontamination of the Tomsk airport, which has been in full operational mode throughout.The aeroplane carrying Navalny, and in which he was induced to vomit has not been destroyed, fellow passengers have been questioned but not tested for novichok, neither have the crew.
There's a disgraceful photo of Navalny being put in the ambulance on the way to the Omsk hospital
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/world/europe/russia-navalny-poison-hospital.html
What were they thinking!! No hazmat gear on , no precautions apart from the usual hospital gowns and masks
They'll be dying like flies over there you mark my words, Navalny and his colleagues will be trumpeting it from the rooftops
But I have to say, the Germans have done it on the cheap too. No tracheotomy for Navalny, unlike both the Skripals, and the Navalny dose was meant to be harder
No quarantining for Navalny
Navalny had his wife and family close the whole time, poor old Skripal was denied the visitation of friends or family
And we know he had friends in Salisbury, his old MI6 handler Pablo Miller lived in the same town and they had monthly lunches
The Skripals had to be expensively quarantined and safe housed and given new identities and shipped off to NZ.Or so an anonymous UK intelligence source told the Sunday Times of Britain , and they would surely not lie?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12342962
Navalny has just appeared on his instagram page looking very chipper indeed and stating that as soon as he gets out of hospital he's back to Russia .Goodness!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/15/alexei-navalny-poisoned-russian-opposition-leader-photo-hospital
I must commend the German doctors, he's looking the very picture of rude health and well on the way to recovery
4weeks for Yulia and a couple of months for Sergei .Sergei's so burnt by the whole thing he's unable to contact his mother who he used to ring every week
Shame on you Brit doctors!
And you Russians , when will you learn to treat dissidents the good old democratic Western way ?
'End torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange"
You're so backward with this novichok that continues not to kill the target
How hard is a heart attack or car accident?
Da, comrade.
It's almost like the Russian State Security services are very good at killing people any more.
Or they feel like the message is adequately sent either way – live or die, no matter, just make sure there's a lot of publicised suffering and expense and a teeny-tiny fig-leaf of plausible deniability to provoke ever more argument.
And at the same time bungle the use of a poison guaranteed to cause maximum embarrassment to their boss.
Sighs … hard to find competent assassins these days.
Poots doesn't show the slightest sign of embarrassment. Quite the opposite from all appearances.
I know , and to get the timing so badly wrong!
Nordstream 2 home and hosed and all of Europe plugged in,then finish off Navalny and all those pesky commies who do so much better in the polls than Navalny
Methinks those bungling bastards are resting on the laurels of puppetising Trump and inducing him to demand the end of Nordstream 2….well before the Navalny fiasco
https://www.rferl.org/a/pompeo-u-s-will-do-everything-to-stop-nord-stream-2/30757543.html
Trump is such a Putin puppet hes also withdrawn the US from the INF arms control treaty
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-09/news/us-completes-inf-treaty-withdrawal
And the Open Skies treaty
Puppet Trump has given lethal weaponry to Ukraine , when even Obama stopped short
Francesca You need to put sarc at the bottom of the comments that you write in a cynical/satirical way. We don't know what is going on and when you appear to know and state something it is taken as supposedly believable or completely dismissed depending on the bent of the reader.
Sorry grey
The daniki were burning and I forgot to put the sarc tag in
Actually Red , it shows they're even more skilful
It's way harder to almost kill someone , then allow them to return to full health ,than to kill them outright
You've got to get the measurements just right, enough surplus to spread all over Salisbury for instance and cause the maximum fuss and diplomatic downsides, but not quite enough to kill.
And it takes a lot of skill in the case of Navalny for instance to only contaminate the target and none of his colleaugues(who are just as noisome as Navalny)
Thank you Francesca for unpicking the remarkable inconsistencies in these cases.
Scenario:
You're driving in a war-torn land. You turn a corner and see a roadblock several hundred metres away. Your windscreen shatters and a bullet goes through the drivers' headrest not an inch away from you.
"Well gosh," thinks one person. "The shot can't have come from the roadblock, because at that range to miss me by inches is an amazing piece of marksmanship. Because the shot didn't come from there, it's safe for me to keep going in that direction. If they had wanted to kill me, with marksmanship like that I'd be dead already."
"Well gosh" thinks another person. "I guess they don't want me approaching, and aren't too bothered about whether I live or die so long as nobody approaches them. I think I will go back the way I came."
Some people just don't get the message.
Navalny certainly didnt, he's raring to get back to Russia
He got the message. He's brave, not stupid.
Might've got into the habit of using contractors like the Night Wolves.
While on the subject of international affairs…
I'm no defender of the Chinese government but talk about the pots calling the kettle black:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122773268/new-zealand-politicians-diplomats-judges-and-fraudsters-found-on-massive-chinese-intelligence-database
It's an abhorrent practice but the West has been doing the same sort of thing for decades. They also targeted innocent citizens of allied countries. Take the CIA for example. They were running almost rampant in Australia and NZ during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Many of their targets were aware of what was going on but they couldn't say anything because few people would have believed them.
Labour Party supporters and activists were particularly vulnerable and anyone who dared to have any contact – for whatever reason – with Russian nationals. My father was one of them. He couldn't harm a fly but that didn't stop them.
Sympathy for you and your father Anne
Tough times
He's been gone many years francesca but the last years of his life were destroyed and I will never forgive the bastards who were responsible.
As abhorrent as it is its also necessary because if we didn't do it we wouldn't be able to act to defend ourselves.
It's when such information is used for an attack that it breaches ethics and, by the way the Chinese labelled some people, it was obviously being used as an attack vector. That's what politically vulnerable means.
Precisely what I mean by abhorrent practice. Its what happened to my father.
This is an interesting essay on how collusion between the authoritarian neoliberal left and "woke capitalism" has displaced actual activism for social change with "public castigation, social media mobbing or termination of employment".
https://savageminds.substack.com/p/whats-driving-authoritarianism-today
TVNZ realised the public mood shifting around the Trump-esque lies Hosking engages in every day of the week and sacked him. It's a much bigger ask but it'd be progress if Newstalk ZB followed suit.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300108163/mike-hoskings-comments-about-italys-coronavirus-deaths-misleading-bsa
No, really, it isn't.
The whole point of having codes is that there are consequences to breaching them especially after they’ve done it several times.
Given the context in these covid times this 'code' requires an overhaul if mr journalism suffers no consequences.
Some interesting stuff about hemp if you missed it on Monday.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2009/S00197/hemp-just-needs-the-nod-a-2bn-transition-for-nzs-economy.htm
Never used the smoking stuff, but the value of the basic plants gives me a high. Perhaps we can get out of the conservative-blinkers into something with good prospects, slap taxes on second homes and above, and direct investment away from selling our basic needs to the wealthy and impoverishing the rest of us.
Has anyone thought that it follows the pattern of the Irish Famine – they had crops of corn I think but that had been contracted for delivery outside Ireland, I think to the British Army. Business before people, who would have been cited as a 'restraint to trade' if they had successfully blocked the export. And trade and profit are sacred matters to money-makers; people are expendable but suffer without homes and food.
"On a Single Day" by Christy Moore on exports from Cork in September 1847. Meanwhile up the road in Skibbereen lie thousands buried in mass graves. Business before people……..
Here's a link to Christy Moore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKH1vbl1b1g
They say that society is between 3 and 9 meals from anarchy, but it would depend on a number of other factors as well. Just the same, it seems to be a good rule of thumb as opposed to a rule of law.
For an individual, it may vary say for example, the point where a vegan or vegetarian would stop using a draft horse for agricultural purpose or for riding to and from the village on and slaughter it so as to cut it in to delicious bite size chunks for consumption.
I guess New Zealand has one thing going for it. That even if the economy were to go into free fall and we run out of backers and run out of those who would trade with us relative to what we have left to offer, which is kai, man!
Of course, unless or until someone with a large army decided that our fodder was going to be acquired by them, by hook or by crook.
We also have heaps of concepts and creative alternative lifestyle thoughts. Sure, we can’t eat these, but Hell, they must be worth something during a serious crisis.
Quoting article:
Non sequitur. Just because the tourism sector is collapsing doesn't mean that we need more farms.
Agricultural export is a bad move as the excessive farming we already have has proved to our detriment.
We do need the entrepreneurial vision and determination but we don't need the bludging investors who are no more than a blight upon our society.
By the time that the War on Drugs made hemp illegal it was no longer a staple for motive power. Sailing ships were long gone to the Age of Steam and diesel was on the up and up. Really, if it had still been vital there would have been no way to make it illegal.
Of course, there was still no way ethical way to make hemp illegal and so some industrialists got together and made it so anyway. They just wanted to get rid of the competition.
No, that is most definitely what the government should not be doing as it removes the necessary pricing to ensure that its actually a viable industry. Better regulations, certainly, but not the removal of regulations.
While I agree this is actually more about ensuring that there's local demand to support the burgeoning industry. In other words, he's asking for government guaranteed profits.
Surely all that is required for the burgeoning Hemp industry to guarantee profits is for us to all go back to hemp roped sailing ships? No more fuel oil either!
Hemp jeans would be a good start – very long life fabric.
edit
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/426163/national-health-policy-promises-800m-in-new-funding-over-four-years-targeting-pharmac-and-cancer
National health, an oxymoron. Did people hear the extravagant promises made under the National banner this morning. This from the party that is always promising to cut taxes. They know that their moron followers think that money grows on trees which are eternally fruitful. They know how to use it for their own purposes, but not how to put it back into the economy like fertiliser, to have a modern, thriving, busy and healthy country.
There is talk about 'navigators' and apparently they have picked that up from the UK. That is where the services have been run down, tightened so a patient can't have enough time with their GP to discuss more than one of their health problems! The country where they lied to the people about the money that would be released for their health system by going for Brexit and the main proponents of that have been in close contact with Big Pharma in the USA! And where they are really good at handling Covid-19 in a timely fashion and developing systems that limit its spread – not!
This from Dr Reti – 'He says the primary care navigators have been trialled in the United Kingdom with positive outcomes. They would offer counselling, help unlock government agencies, follow up appointments and referrals and do home visits.'
These under their Surgery heading:
Targets – that can't be met, leading to question of capability and a loss of respect for our public services, with more surgery done by private providers while the public hospitals get further squeezed and finally cannot find staff willing to work in them because of their under-funding impoverished state.
So go private, that will be the answer. Sneer at public, they are just so inefficient, mistakes and faults to heap on them.
The National Party is disgraceful – they can't lie straight in bed even. Their comment on Pharmac – they will keep it as it is excellent (for our ears) and for Big Pharmas ears – we will have more medicines available.
"National believes the Pharmac model is the best way to ensure New Zealanders are accessing much-needed medication."
"Year on year this will be more funding for Pharmac than at any time in the past decade, and New Zealanders will have better access to more medicines.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-the-public-gallery-the-assange-hearing-day-6/
Craig Murray's excellent report on the goings on at the Old Bailey.
He's also written of the subsequent days 7, 8, and 9
I read with interest the media reports ; (Stuff and NZ Herald) and also posts herein; (Anne and Draco Te Bastard) regarding the People's republic of China and reports of a database kept on New Zealanders.
Is this not terrible?
Who might have guessed they could have gone THAT far. Max and his baseball aspirations, Winnie and his daughter. Oh My Goodness.
Yep. The PRC are pretty resourceful from what is gleaned by such disclosures.
Bad, China. How could you?
And must I say in support of New Zealand what an entirely non-intrusive, blessed, clean, open, non-corrupted, non-corruptible, humble nation we as a sovereign state along with our fellow residents are, and how few (if any) would ever be likely not go to such lengths.
We pride ourselves and self promote on how we give everybody a Fair Go. And this must surely extend to the collection, analyses and dissemination of information on other people.
Surely as good folk, we wouldn't dear go anywhere near intruding or fishing just to get an upper hand on anybody else in relation to business, finances, politics, nor in relation to assessing competitors, nor even simply because we do not like someone or some group for any particular reason whether or not we get rewarded for doing so.
Surely we would rarely even engage in the wide or small scale collection of public domain material (court records for example), nor business and personal data on each other just to find out more about other Kiwis.
We leave it up to govern-mental for most of this, do we not?
Why? Because, again, it's simply not a Fair Go, and besides, there hefty penalties for unauthorized access to any closed material.
However, the reason we do not intrude in such a way as good Kiwis is not out of fear in relation to such legislation, it is because we care for each other so deeply and we like to think of ourselves as both ambassadors and teachers (even preachers) to the world, from our Aotearoa land of plenty that so many call "Godzone".
Isn't there some law we could invent or manufacture to stop others looking at us this way.
Darn camera clickers and busy bodies they must appear to be, all on their own.
Unlike New Zealanders with all of our values and good conduct, and where butter would not melt in our mouths in relation to intrusion for profit, out of curiosity or to collect brownie points.
I'm now thinking about drones. It seems that nothing must happen to stop things happening until they do happen and then that is so unexpected.
Amen, I think
But what if they do, then when will we do, or will we do?
I'm thinking satellites in orbit.
I assume you are being sarcastic karol121. I certainly hope so. NZ is not squeaky clean. Never has been and never will be.
But no, I don't think our establishment would ever stoop to the levels some other countries are prepared to go – and that includes China.
Yes indeed. It was a little tongue in cheeky.
But most Kiwis I've come across are curious folk when it comes to looking over the back fence, and then pointing the finger when others appear to be inquisitive or nosy.
No offence intended