thick politicians should stick to politics not try to be all brainy and stuff imo
An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts.
Nice. Since when did a legal degree confer scientific credibility? Has it been peer reviewed? If so, by whom? Does it provide 'balance' with opposing points of view? It seems to be aimed the government's parliamentary support in the Green party, but I doubt if will have much effect.
Simon shouted, over talked and failed dismally to make a case against Ian Lee-Galloway. Suzie made a grand effort to get Simon to explain/justify in spite of his shouty stuff.
But what did the following news item say? Just repeated the National attack without qualification that Suzie had exposed. News writers? Huh!
Nah. I think the Nats thought they had another easy hit on Lees-Galloway. Thankfully he seems to have been better prepared for this one. I love how Bridges ended up whinging that the minister was selectively leaking from his portfolio like that’s never happened before.
Moments before that, upon entering the Standing Rock gym in Fort Yates, the opening of the Indigenized Climate Forum started with a protection ceremony. It was estimated that the gym was filled with over 500 students, who surrounded Thunberg and Iron Eyes along with their fathers.
The healing scent of burning sage in an abalone shell wafted through the air as Mintz blessed the room. A beating drum and raised voices pulsated through the bodies in the gym like a heartbeat. During the ceremony everyone turned to face the four corners of the room in observance of the four directions, and before it was finished a feather was tied to Iron Eyes’ hair before the two young women ascended the stage.
The woman in charge of the press area said that they perform the protection ceremony because “Those who protect Mother Earth have a target on their backs.”
It seems you’re a big fan of free speech now. I did make the point when the two Canadians were de-platformed here that that decision was bad and was likely to have ramifications well beyond that decision. I meant that individuals on the Left could find themselves in a similar position.
Once again, free speech is a minority’s best friend.
[a conversation better suited to Open Mike – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Canadians were free to hold their event elsewhere, which they tried to. Except the Powerstation owner said No.
A Public outdoor event couldnt bring in money so they didnt try that, but they could have gone around the city with a camera creating click bait like they do.
Do you remember the time sitting MP Hone Harawira got blocked from the University Law School because Campus Nats wanted to do a big protest?
The Council of Trade Unions conference and Fair Work Agreements
Earlier during the day, NZ First leader Winston Peters was equivocal about his party's support for the measures.
Yet, Jacinda warned that new laws require consensus in a MMP government, which somewhat implied there wasn't one. So was Winston lying? Was Jacinda being disingenuous or was she suggesting the Greens were/are the sticking point preventing coalition consensus in this regard?
She also warned that in making big changes to industrial relations law, the Government would have to take the public with them, which somewhat implies the public support isn't there. Yet, when teachers and nurses recently went on strike, the public were largely in support. Suggesting most understand by and far that New Zealanders are largely low paid. Therefore, what makes Jacinda think the public isn't already on board?
Surprisingly, Jacinda went on to state "big bold moves that we haven't built public support for are easily dismantled". Admitting they haven't done the legwork to build up this support.
So is the public support already there? Or is there still work to do on this?
Martyn Bradbury has suggested the CTU needs to embark upon a PR campaign to sell fair pay agreements to the public directly. Which is not a bad idea but also implies the support isn't already there.
Me, myself, and I were having a great discussion on OM the other day. It was informative, educational, inspiring, eye-opening, and highly entertaining. Oh, how we laughed!
We wouldn't have to mind read if 1, politicians were more forthcoming and secondly, if the media did their job and asked the hard questions.
Has there been any polling on where the public stand on Fair Work Agreements? Jacinda didn't point to anything (in the report) to back this assertion nor has the media (that I've seen) pointed to anything to back or disprove it. They never called her on it. Leaving the suggestion laying there unchallenged, neither confirming or denying it. And considering it's vital info for this story, that is what I call another example of piss poor reporting.
The report you commented on @6 contains two (consistent) Ardern quotes:
"Big bold moves that we haven't built public support for are easily dismantled,"
"I do know their chance of sticking is increased the longer we are in Government and the more collaboratively we work to build consensus for them," Ardern said.
Why follow-up some "piss poor reporting" with some piss poor mind reading?
Know I'm going to regret asking, but what did you hope to achieve?
The report you commented on @6 contains two (internally consistent) Ardern quotes:
That doesn't make up for the lack of rigour in their questioning and research on the matter. Leaving us to have to mind read.
There are numerous objectives in further discussing this.
First off, where the public stand on this is vital info for what pace Fair Work Agreements will progress, if at all.
It's an important issue, thus it's politically healthy to keep the topic in discussion. I'm sure the Government wouldn't want the matter to fester with growing unionists impatientness being expressed at the polling both come next election.
We (voters) need to know if the PM is being straight up or is once again out of touch as shown in her dumping of the CGT suggesting there wasn't enough public support for it.
Highlighting piss poor journalism is one means to show them we expect better.
IMHO your intention is to air opposition National party attack lines dressed up as 'concerns'.
"…the Government wouldn't want the matter to fester with growing unionists impatientness"
"…if the PM is being straight up or is once again out of touch…"
The "out of touch" meme is a particular favorite of the right – ironic when you consider the National 'Hollowmen' party's plans to engage in dirty politics, mine in national parks, change the NZ flag, turn NZ into a tax haven, give tax cuts to the rich, transfer public assets to private ownership, politicise the public service, de-fund mental health providers, and house impoverished Kiwis in motels.
"The only reason Labour got in last time, when they were totally out of touch…"
"…shows how out of touch his Government is…"
"Jacinda [PM Ardern] is OUT OF TOUCH…"
“The Minister of Immigration showed himself to be completely out of touch…”
"…to suggest that she [Deborah Russell] was out of touch and too academic…"
"Labour and the Greens are out of touch with middle-New Zealand."
IMHO your intention is to air opposition National party attack lines dressed up as 'concerns'.
That's incorrect as highlighted in my reasoning above.
The concerns are genuine and I'm far from the only one that holds them. It could be you can't handle the hard talk I use or it could be you are just trying to undermine me and avert attention from this issue, writing it all off as unscrupulous behaviour.
This isn't merely a working class issue.
There are a number of employers who treat workers well and feel they are losing market share due to those that would rather prosper at the expense of their employees. Hence, I've had feedback from a number of employers that also support this.
The last thing we want is for good employers to go under while bad employers thrive.
Why don't you tell us where you stand on this issue instead of airing your incorrect opinion on my so-called intentions? Do you not have concerns about this?
Most people here would support the measure. But as you said, "Winston Peters was equivocal about his party's support for the measures", so in an environment where "new laws require consensus in a MMP government", and if a coalition partner is looking at it a bit cockeyed "which somewhat implies the public support isn't there".
It wouldn't be the first time public opinion supported contradictory positions, but there's only one poll that counts. The one that put NZ1 in government.
Buggered if I know what your concerns are, though.
I also believe it would have good support throughout the wider community. So the first concern would be why doesn't Jacinda believe so as this seems to be slowing her pace to get this in place.
Why haven't the media done more legwork to get to the bottom of this is another concern.
Have Labour done enough (in front and behind the scene) to get Winston on board would be another.
If the Government fail to act with pace there will be further industrial action being taken. That of course is another concern.
Losing good employers to bad employers is another.
Failure to further address poverty/inequality (which this would help do) is another.
Half a dozen was pretty poor form, if you ask me. Humphrey Appleby could have invented two dozen apparently-genuine-criticisms-thinly-veiled-as-earnest-concerns before breakfast.
Elections are generally won on numerous issues, not one. So that is not a clear indication on where voters sit on this issue.
Clue: not the government's problem
It could be a problem for the Government if they are shown to be wrong. Also if shown to be right and there is little to no support for this.
Yes, but he knows his voting segment
If he (Winston) really knew his voting segment they (NZF) would polling far better.
I'm sure that obscure factor never occurred to Labour.
Yeah right. Yet, they are dragging their feet as if that will fix it.
Take it up with the unicorn preservation society.
I'll give them a call tomorrow.
The peasants thank you for your thoughts, but fair work agreements don't help the people most in need.
With work being offered as the solution to poverty/unemployment it does impact the unemployed being encouraged to work. As I stated before, around half the kids living in poverty come from working households.
Elections are generally won on numerous issues, not one. So that is not a clear indication on where voters sit on this issue.
Actually, when half the voters go nat or NZ1, that's a pretty good indicator that changing work conditions to suit unions probably isn't a vote-winner at the moment.
It could be a problem for the Government if they are shown to be wrong. Also if shown to be right and there is little to no support for this.
the media doing it's usual half-arsed job is hardly the government's problem. And if the government act slow and by some miracle the corporate media decides to support worker rights, that's hardly going to drive voters to the nats. But it the govt move too fast before the electorate comes along, nat govt in 2020.
If he (Winston) really knew his voting segment they (NZF) would polling far better.
You gonna teach Winston politics, now? Fool. Winston knows his segment. His segment isn't 45% of the population, it's the 5-10% sitting between the two voting blocs.
Yeah right. Yet, they are dragging their feet as if that will fix it.
Unions drag one way. Sometimes the bulk of the voters drag in a different direction. Are Labour "draging their feet", "playing a middle ground between voters and unions", or just "dealing with life as coalition partners with a conservative social democratic party".
With work being offered as the solution to poverty/unemployment it does impact the unemployed being encouraged to work. As I stated before, around half the kids living in poverty come from working households.
Actually, when half the voters go nat or NZ1, that's a pretty good indicator that changing work conditions to suit unions probably isn't a vote-winner at the moment.
Again, voters vote for numerous reasons. So lets hope Jacinda is using more credible info than that to base her decisions upon.
And to counter your assertion, there are more workers out there than there are employers. Moreover, despite half the voters voting Nat or NZF, support for a CGT was shown in a number of polls. Which goes to show you can't judge the public view on a certain issue by merely looking at election results.
The media doing it's usual half-arsed job is hardly the government's problem. And if the government act slow and by some miracle the corporate media decides to support worker rights, that's hardly going to drive voters to the nats. But it the govt move too fast before the electorate comes along, nat govt in 2020.
Before the Government determines what pace to move at they really need to gauge where the public are currently at with this. Now they may have done this, but they haven't made that clear. And the media doing a half-arsed job doesn't help us knowing.
You gonna teach Winston politics, now? Fool. Winston knows his segment. His segment isn't 45% of the population, it's the 5-10% sitting between the two voting blocs.
Yet, he's only polling at 4%. And that is recently up from 3%. So he may know them, but evidently, he doesn't know them well enough to please them otherwise he would be polling higher.
Unions drag one way. Sometimes the bulk of the voters drag in a different direction. Are Labour "draging their feet", "playing a middle ground between voters and unions", or just "dealing with life as coalition partners with a conservative social democratic party
Or are they just bloody useless at forming a consensus and getting the job done? Or is it they are so centrist they just don't want to move at pace?
lets hope Jacinda is using more credible info than that to base her decisions upon.
lols because you have reason to assume she isn't?
And to counter your assertion, there are more workers out there than there are employers. Moreover, despite half the voters voting Nat or NZF, support for a CGT was shown in a number of polls. Which goes to show you can't judge the public view on a certain issue by merely looking at election results.
Except there really is only one poll that counts, and the rest of 'em are largely bunk.
Now they may have done this, but they haven't made that clear.
thanks for your concern
And the media doing a half-arsed job doesn't help us knowing.
not the govt's fault or problem
Yet, he's only polling at 4%. And that is recently up from 3%.
Boo!
Or are they just bloody useless at forming a consensus and getting the job done? Or is it they are so centrist they just don't want to move at pace?
Your efforts to sow alarm and despondency tend to slit their wrists on Occam's Razor: the government got elected, therefore they likely know more about getting elected than you ever will.
That's the thing. In this instance, we don't know what she is using to base her decisions upon. Just like her dumping of the CGT. Either she hasn't mentioned it, or she did and the media haven't reported it, or the media haven't even bothered to ask.
If she did and the media failed to report it, then it does become a problem for her.
As for having a reason to assume she hasn't done the research, along with the reasoning already stated in this discussion (i.e. overwhelming public support for striking workers) I came across this recent study (see link below) by Waikato University that shows there's strong support for people being able to be covered by collective agreements.
Except there really is only one poll that counts, and the rest of 'em are largely bunk.
When it comes to elections, pretty much. When it comes to determining public support for a certain issue, not really.
not the govt's fault or problem
It is a problem for her if the media are failing to covey such salient points.
therefore they likely know more about getting elected than you ever will.
Yeah, that's what I've heard for the whole 9 years they've been in opposition. And if it wasn't for the rise of Jacinda (the cult of personality) they'd still be in opposition dealing with one of their worst defeats. Talk about arrogance.
In this instance, we don't know what she is using to base her decisions upon.
Oh you poor, deprived, dear
If she did and the media failed to report it, then it does become a problem for her.
Nope. Despite your best efforts.
As for having a reason to assume she hasn't done the research,
[links to irrelevance]
Except there really is only one poll that counts, and the rest of 'em are largely bunk.
When it comes to elections, pretty much. When it comes to determining public support for a certain issue, not really.
lol so the testable bit is bunk, but you have faith in the untestable bit. But you're totally not a concern troll lol
It is a problem for her if the media are failing to covey such salient points.
You aren't the arbiter of salience.
Yeah, that's what I've heard for the whole 9 years they've been in opposition. And if it wasn't for the rise of Jacinda (the cult of personality) they'd still be in opposition dealing with one of their worst defeats. Talk about arrogance.
How dare the Prime Minister not obey the reckons of a blog commenter when it comes to politics! What does she know that concerobot doesn't!? /sarc
This is a big issue and voters (not just me) are being left in the dark (either by the Government not being open and transparent in their communication or the media doing a half-arsed job) and all you can say is: "Oh you poor, deprived, dear". Talk about trivializing the issue.
When speaking to likes of you, I often wonder if this is how Labour themselves think. Belittling people and trivializing their concerns.
The media failing to convey vital points of her communication is a problem for her.
I didn't say the testable bit was bunk, I largely agreed with you. The only way to really gauge public support on a certain issue is to put it to referendum. And if the Government wanted to distance themselves from this issue (at the risk of upsetting unions) and test the water, a referendum would be the way to do it. Apart from that and albeit not perfect, polling is the only other credible option.
This isn't about the PM obeying me, it's about the PM being honest, open and transparent and honoring her promise to the unions.
People are struggling out there, so picking up the pace would be very welcomed. After all, this is meant to be the year of delivery and wellbeing. And the Government (IMO) can't afford to leave their run for the next election to the last few months, they need to start delivering more now. Rehashing the little they have delivered on isn't cutting it anymore.
Dude, I ain't Labour. I'm just another internet commentator willing to say that you're full of shit.
The publicly-available polls are bunk, as I said. Two polls over the same period, each with a 3%MoE, occasioanlly report 9% apart. The only true measure of public opinion is the election.
Maybe the more detailed polling done by parties is more reliable, but only a moron would expect that data to be shared openly. That's like a general revealing their maps and order of battle.
If people wanted Labour to implement its full manifesto without equivocation, they should have ensured Labour got 51% of the ballot.
We lost many, many of the good employers who looked after their staff and paid decent wages when the employment contracts act came in.
They were competing against employers who would only pay minimum wage and could undercut their prices etc and simply couldn't compete. I saw many a good employer go under.
Add into that mix the removal of compulsory penal rates, the use of illegal labour, the evolution of back-handers, the government departments to have to move to national suppliers which took work away from good local businesses, and so on the crocodile tears over losing good employers now is pretty unattractive.
Yes we did lose a number of good employers in the past but there is still a number out there today. Thus, this isn't "crocodile tears". Moreover, with half the kids in poverty coming from working households, we all know many low paid workers are struggling. Hence, urgent action is required. Yet, once again the Government is dragging its feet.
We lost many many good employers. Today we see this behaviour below as a significant part of our labour market Good employers simply can't compete.
It's also not fair to say Labour isn't doing anything as there has clearly been a ramp up in both investigation and prosecution of bad employers. Long way to go though.
I doubt however they are brave enough to bring back time and a half on Saturday, double time on Sunday, 40 hour working week. You ever noticed that many tradesman charge you still for time and a half for weekend work but don't actually pay their workers time and a half. One way of rorting the customer.
Would be a good start to bring those things back and then some of the issues around good vs bad employers might go away. Higher incomes for the low paid would mean more money circulating.
"Ngoc Viet Dang may have looked harmless enough, but to a group of ship-jumpers who had come back to New Zealand to give evidence against him, he was a terrifying figure, a Vietnamese crime lord who used standover tactics to keep his workers in line and intimidate rival groups.
Dang, 39, a New Zealand citizen with links to the Vietnamese mafia in Ho Chi Minh City, had been standing trial on nine counts laid under the Immigration Act, of helping or enticing illegal workers to stay in New Zealand for material gain."
277 employers put on name and shame list for breaching employment standards
Combined slavery and human trafficking charges have been laid for the first time ever as Immigration New Zealand cracks down on what they allege is a major scam involving Samoan migrants.
Immigration NZ's chief investigator, former policeman Peter Devoy, has called the Hawke's Bay case "a new low".
A 64-year-old Samoan, who holds New Zealand residency, has been charged with both human trafficking and slavery. The first offence carries a maximum tariff of 20 years and the latter one of 14 years.
Regarding were I stand (politically) – long-time Green party supporter (Party Vote GREEN) and was hugely relieved (in October 2017) that NZers weren't going to suffer another three years of National party-sponsored keptocracy. The hollow men and women really were well on the way to gutting the society that grew me.
The National party MPs and their beneficiaries gorged on NZ for nine years, leaving huge quantities of unmet need in their wake. And they'll do it all again – just listen to Bridges, Bennett, Collins, Mitchell, Brownlee, Dowie, Tolley, Carter, Barry, (Nick) Smith, Yang, Pugh – it's in their DNA.
The coalition government's majority is narrow, and National party support remains stubbornly strong. I'll continue to question what motivates you to couch your relentlessly soggy 'concerns' in this way [some The 'transparent' Chairman quotes extracted from the last four days]:
"The Government is already copping the blame for higher fuel costs, rising rents/housing costs (via the lack of state homes being built, increased rental standards along with the talk of a CGT and the dropping of it encouraging investors, not to mention the Kiwibuild failure/reset) and now it seems they want to add higher power costs to the list.
If they can't see the potential voter backlash from this (higher power costs) they are clearly out of touch. And the list is growing, there is now talk of higher rubbish disposal charges."
**********
"Considering only 40% of power consumers are on a high use tariff, it seems the Government are going to piss off the majority of low use consumers when faced with power price hikes as a result of the Government's reform.
That's going to hurt the Government come election time. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot. And talk about giving National another club to bash them with." [And talk about The Chairman drawing attention (in their relentlessly soggy fashion) to perceived failings of the coalition government. Substantial, or hollow? You be the judge.]
**********
"If the Government's reforms don't result in lowering power costs and in fact drives them up, it will piss off thousands of households thus will really hurt them (the Government) come next election."
**********
"Did Jacinda [PM Ardern] comment on this petition on her return?
Is she even aware of it?
Will she or did she give any indication on delivering on the hope she will provide some leadership on this?"
In this post-modern era, all opinions are equal, and feelings, beliefs, and concerns are the news ‘facts of reality’.
If you are (so) concerned about things, it is up to you to do something about it in a pro-active way. Sharing your concerns here and looking for support on this site from like-minded concerned is like playing the violin while Rome is burning and the screaking sound is starting to grate.
Most of your comments here seed discontent and your leading questions almost never elicit genuine debate. At best, your comments generate a bored yawn and at worst, they are an annoying distraction.
You can disagree with me as much as you like, I stand by what I say. Therefore, the challenge for you is to show I’m wrong.
Change first comes about from people having discussions.
And political blogs such as this could be used as a powerful tool to help bring about change.
Evidently, you underestimate the power of political discussion and building consensus. The voice of many is louder than the voice of one.
Most of your comments here seed discontent and your leading questions almost never elicit genuine debate.
Only for the politically sensitive. In politics there is generally always an opposing or alternative view and it's not always what some want to hear. If people can't handle my opinions or if they find them boring or a distraction they don't have to read them. There are some that are happy to debate, some that support what I'm saying and there are some that want to shut me down and undermine me. Wonder where you sit on that?
You know the answer because I’ve told you many times, as another regular commenter and as moderator of this site. You are fishing for an argument so that you can defend and justify your behaviour here and litigate your way out. We have been there, done that and this will be yet another exercise in futility and a massive waste of time – you seem to have plenty of it.
I’m interested in genuine debate and constructive criticism. Your comments, however, do not make for that. They do not build consensus, and you should accept this by now, but only discontent.
Your constant negativity towards Labour is distracting other commenters from building consensus because they cannot stand for your wailing about Labour. You say that they don’t have to read your comments and opinions, but they do. As a moderator, that concerns me and I say to you that you don’t have wail all the time but you continue to do so.
Indeed, they are your opinions, which are light on fact and devoid of practical solutions. In a nutshell: Labour bad, must do better.
Your concern baiting is a problem on and for this site, in my opinion, but you refuse to accept this. The question is whether to let the needs and wants of one dominate or not. So far, nothing has worked with you and there has been no improvement – except you seem to be referring more occasionally to the Government than simply to Labour – and to shut you down completely may be the only option left. What you don’t seem to accept is that this is in your hands but martyrdom beckons, it seems – it fits your MO here.
With two years in Government and Jacinda implying they haven't yet built public support on this, one wonders how long do they foresee it taking for a collaborative consensus to form?
Moreover, can struggling workers afford to wait that long? Additionally, how many good employers will go under by then?
As for work being done to build this collaborative consensus, has Labour polled NZF supporters to gauge were their supporters sit? And perhaps (if there is good support for this) use this to show Winston there is support for this among his supporters?
They are talking about political party support as a proxy for public. And I doubt Winnie would take kindly to being second-guessed. A Green-Labour government will be simpler to manage.
It will be interesting to see if a Labour and Green only coalition will perform any better. Labour could always turn to National to get their more centrist policy through. And the Greens have shown they have no backbone so will them having a few more seats really make much difference?
Having no backbone equates to them seldom speaking up and failing to stick to their core principles. For example, their support of the waka jumping bill
Moreover, I'm talking about the Greens conceding to Labour as they would have little bargaining power despite attaining a few more seats.
They've shown they would rather be in power with Labour than sitting on the cross bench or go with the opposition, thus Labour know the Greens have nowhere else to turn. Hence, if they want to be in power they will have to further concede to Labour.
Nevertheless, on their current polling trend (and historical data) the Greens attaining a few more seats seems very unlikely.
It’s great to see a post about the importance of free speech. Israel Folau and the two Canadians who were de-platformed here will be delighted to learn that we take free speech very seriously. That’s as it should be.
[I already moved your last comment to OM and said that was a better place for this conversation. If you want to talk about what’s happening with XR in regards to free speech, you can use the XR post, but please don’t use that post to grandstand a separate conversation about the free speech of white supremacists – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
The sort of free speech rhetoric that emerges from Formerly Ross gives rise to thoughts of the song, "If I had a bell, I'd ring it in the morning, I'd ring it in the evening all over the land", until the windows would be full of people shouting 'Shut up you noisy b..tard we're trying to sleep here".
And FS would look up all innocent, and say "I felt like it and it's my right to speak, sing or play wherever I like."
jeepers – so going to get so messy this – lots of toast coming
The hearings have been held behind closed doors but Democrats may yet decide to publish transcripts. Trump, who has been leading his own defence, tweeted on Tuesday: “Democrats are allowing no transparency at the Witch Hunt hearings. If Republicans ever did this they would be excoriated by the Fake News. Let the facts come out from the charade of people, most of whom I do not know, they are interviewing for nine hours each, not selective leaks.”
The property value people have just wafted by and sent a letter saying we're now the holders of a grossly over-priced property and the council will be thinking about the rates take…
Is anyone going to en masse, collectively, all together call out this fakery?!
Relatively few people want to use the 'value' of their property to borrow against. The rest of us simply want to live where we do, using the scruffy old amenities we've already paid for. Wait for the overdue upgrades and repairs. Plod along as always.
And there's wonderment about why we don't vote for local government.
It's rigged against the ordinary folk. Once voted for – our 'representatives' are invisible for the next three years and seriously unaccountable for the harms they are about to inflict on so many people earning less than a quarter of their income.
No matter how you vote – you're still voiceless and powerless.
it is a daftness. I fear that the same thinking will end up creating bad land banking laws. Lots of people have traditionally bought land and let it sit for many years until they can afford to build or retire. That's not the same as buying a section and sitting on it for a few years with the intention of selling to at $100,000 profit.
Likewise TOP's policy proposal to have a tax on capital gains even if you don't sell.
Everything seems geared towards the idea that everyone is an investor.
And parties including Labour talking about building more units as their only answer does not address the fundamental distortion of our system treating housing as a preferred investment asset type. Change the demand, not just the supply.
I really don't get this about Labour. We could build more than enough houses and that won't drop house prices or rents enough to make up for low wages and benefits. The gap between what people earn and what their housing costs are is massive. The only way I can make sense of it is the intended sacrifice theory. Labour see their job as pulling some people up and leaving some people behind. They can stabilise the housing situation, raise wages a bit, and sorry about the big cracks that some people can't avoid falling through.
Labour doesn't want to discuss the real driver of the housing crisis – low-wage migration. Labour means to stick with a 50k per annum migration gain, down from 70k under the Gnats. Housing growth is nothing like that – so in addition to driving down wages and conditions, this policy also drives the housing crisis, at least at the low end.
The politics of kindness it's not, and, having never sought a public mandate for migration levels four times those of the US and UK, this policy is one of those little autocratic excesses to put us "peasants" in our place – just like the slave fishing Labour enabled for decades.
Can you explain this? The housing crisis looks to me as being driven by multiple factors, I can't see how immigration policy isn't part of this. Technically we could have that level of immigration and build enough housing for them and for existing residents, but how would that happen given the housing crisis?
Not quickly. Population increase is a factor, sure, but most of it in regions like Auckland is projected to come from our relatively young residents having babies, and migrants from other parts of NZ.
I’m sure that’s true but I don’t know what it means in relation to the problem of housing (rather than the problem of people commenting on immigration).
Let me rephrase then. I think the left’s strong disapproval on talking about the problems with immigration policy and the strong social pressure to not have that conversation isn’t helpful.
Edit
Migrants and selling the country's brand and then bits of it to wealthy people is a business that government is behind all the way, and demand for housing becomes a lure. The scrabbling capitalists in the world have accreted lots of credits, and feel uncomfortable having too many in insubstantial form, too ephemeral to rely on, so they must be converted to physical form somewhere. Their portfolios of investments must prudently have a mixture of risk and assets that are rooted in something, somewhere that can't be wiped out by intense emotion that sweeps quickly through the stockmarket and brings down all the hot air balloons in deflated condition.
The migrants that cause the people to be outbid for dwellings that are needed by them, are just an externality to the money they bring in, which shows up as export returns in the national financial boasting lists.
Yep so double the problem. Too much debt from outsiders, and being carried out by outsider financial institutions who stack up the profit and then take it away in golden wheelbarrows or recycle it to us peasants for a nice sum.
Any government now has a tricky balancing act of fixing the housing market without immediate costs being imposed on those who cureently own overvalued stock. They vote and they love the illusion of wealth.
Hence trying to use long-term inflation etc to gradually drop prices which they know full-well maintains the same broken market for another decade or two. Climate shocks may be the reckoning before that.
National decided on a new approach today: the leader of the opposition's questions were shared around other MPs (Kaye, Bennett, Bishop, and Simpson, who nobody has ever heard of).
It backfired. Ardern has (IMHO) too often been passive in the House, letting Bridges get jabs in but not counter-attacking. Today she was giving it back, with humour, and scoring. Maybe the weekend polls were the wake-up Labour needed. She had new energy today.
National gave the PM a platform, by directing nearly all the Qs at her instead of Ministers. They might rethink that tactic.
Ah so. Thanks Observer. The Opposition tactic of asking "Does she stand by… ."is countered by using that question as a platform for a dissertation on whatever the PM wants to highlight.
JA was simply taking the mickey out of Bridges and National.
For those that did not watch Qtime today, because the Speaker has restricted Bridges to a maximum of 5 supplementary questions for still running the attack ads using excerpts from videos of Parliament sittings etc, the Nats put up four other Nat MPs to ask the usual "Does the PM stand by all of her Government's policies and actions?"
As well as Bridges asking the question at Q2, Paula Bennett asked the same question at Q3, Nikki Kaye at Q5, Chris Bishop at Q7, and Scott Simpson at Q8.
I thought the PM's suggestion that they were running auditions for the role of Leader of the Opposition was very clever and funny. And it gave her a great platform to speak much more than usual. Doubt they will overplay that tactic again.
EDIT – WOW, observer, snap! Almost the same wording … quite scary … Will leave mine just because it is so weird. Great minds and all of that …
I think anyone watching without blinkers could see that Ardern won that round. In fact Bridges is usually pretty good in that role, he's hopeless outside the House, but in Parliament his prosecuting experience comes through. His "substitutes" didn't measure up.
Massey University has just withdrawn the venue for the Speak Up For Women event Feminism 2020, on the grounds of "risk to health and safety," which you can only assume involve highly unusual definitions of the words "health" and "safety."
It'll be interesting to see if the Free Speech Coalition makes as much of a fuss about feminists losing a venue as it did about Brash losing one.
I suspect we'll see more of that excuse in these circumstances.
"Health and safety" has been a nice, opaque, unopposable excuse for "I don't feel like doing that" for donkey's years. Been a bit of a resurrection of it since they made governance roles personally liable, but usually it's more myth than reality.
So now if you want to be intentionally controversial for clicks, you'd need to be the one spending a few thousand on a safety plan to deal with a variety of eventualities and put money aside to fund those contingencies.
The legal advice we have received is that cancellation of the event, as concluded by the report, is the only way to eliminate the risk to health and safety and to ensure that the University would not be in breach of its health and safety obligations.
lol ISTR the current OSH regimen still includes a reasonableness test, not an absolute on elimination. Lots of case law there for the FSC to get outraged about, if they care.
Someone who doesn’t believe we are facing an imminent mass extinction?
Someone who doesn’t believe that declaring climate emergencies is much more than virtue signaling?
Someone who thinks that there is a huge political push behind it?
Asking for a friend….
[lprent: answering for a friend..
For me, it is simple :-
1. someone who doesn’t understand the size of the effect of CO2 on climate – that outside of the billion years changes in solar radiation and millions of years milankovitch cycles, it is the largest single climate factor in geological time – and that it normally acts in thousands of years..
2. someone who doesn’t understand the scale and the speed of the burning of fossilized carbon over the last two hundred years has caused a greater release of CO2 well over any known geological release. It causes significiant effects in mere hundreds of years and has downstream effects for thousands of years..
3. and someone who is too stupid to understand that those two factors alone are sufficient to cause a well known geological pattern known as a catastrophic change in climate leading to large extinctions at the top of the food chain. Instead (like you in a different handle) they are too lazy to look at the basic science and cowardly to listen to the children who are better scientifically educated than they are. Instead they deny it, preferring to stick their head straight up their arse because it is both easier than thinking and has a more comfortable smell.
And BTW: are you currently banned? Why come in under a different handle otherwise? Ifs this ‘friend’ yourself under your more usual handle(s)? Are you being as stupid a dimwit as you usually are? ]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Someone who doesn’t believe we are facing an imminent mass extinction?
Probably. I mean, there's a huge body of evidence that species are going extinct at an alarming rate, and it doesn't need much in the way of science literacy to understand this.
Someone who doesn’t believe that declaring climate emergencies is much more than virtue signaling?
Maybe. Certainly not everyone who believes in the put down of 'virtue signaling' is a denier, but there's a big overlap in the Venn diagram.
Someone who thinks that there is a huge political push behind it?
A big political push behind CC? Sounds like a denier to me.
Asking for a friend….
If you want to argue about the science, Lynn is your man.
I personally think that Te Papatuanuku grows enough kia we just have to eliminate the waste and shear Te Kai and putea with our neighbours.
We have to put as much effort into this problem of kai waste as is going into some people's piped dreams billion spent that could be invested in solar and wind power for the poor tangata to become energy independent. Being energy independent will help pump water to grow Kai and running a freeze to store Kai. In Aotearoa one can achieve this with only $3000. It does not have to be invented the technology already exists.
How do we feed the world without destroying the planet?
Hunger and the climate crisis are inextricably linked – the challenge is how to solve one while not exacerbating the other
Hunger is the most awful and profound expression of poverty. It exists in every country. It is something that most people can identify with on some perhaps primordial level. The fear of hunger is etched into our DNA, passed down the generations from hungry, scared ancestors. It is in our bones. It is in my Irish bones
But there is very bad news. More recently hunger has started to increase. Again. On World Food Day on Wednesday, 820 million people face chronic hunger. That’s the equivalent of the population of the US and the EU combined. This is daily, frightening, fatiguing, persistent hunger. Day after day, 820 million people will not get enough to eat. Night after night, famished mothers and fathers put their children to bed with empty stomachs.
I suspect this shocks no one these days. Just as I suspect the spectre of climate crisis evokes yawns. Yet the two are inextricably linked in a kind of existential tango happening too slowly for us to register
The increase in global hunger is in part triggered by the climate emergency. There have been more floods, more droughts, and more frequent, fiercer storms. Small farmers are being hit first and hardest as once-in-a-century extreme weather events become almost routine The increase in global hunger is in part triggered by the climate emergency. There have been more floods, more droughts, and more frequent, fiercer storms. Small farmers are being hit first and hardest as once-in-a-century extreme weather events become almost routine
The Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme, which we successfully fought for alongside President Obama, will be critical. It has resulted in a decade of experience in encouraging increased impact from the international system in exactly the way we need. In the face of the dual challenges of climate change and hunger, it is perhaps more relevant today than at its inception.
Whatever happens with Brexit, the German gathering will be an opportunity for us to come together to tackle one of the great 21st-century challenges. It’s a century that has stumbled to begin. It is finally taking shape, but is still a plastic thing. It will see mind-boggling technologies emerge and profound cultural shifts.
But what’s the point if we can’t beat humanity’s oldest foe, hunger? Surely it is a modest thing to suggest that next year would be an excellent time to start doing just that. Ka kite Ano link below.
Out government investment of $12 million in Fostering Te Reo is great our Tipuna set the foundation for Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Culture to stay Mana kia kaha.
Its great that we are highlighting our Kiwa problems the Rubbish pollution is a great problem its not like Tangata can pick it up off the Kiwa bed we can't see the Rubbish what you can see doesn't exist Correct.
Te Papatuanuku was not built in A day.
He tino pai ki kite ite matomato me Te maui I runga ite Parakuihi engari me Te mea kei Te arahi ratou Ana he hipi e nga rangatira puru.
I believe this version of Tupaia travels around the Pacific ocean and to Aotearoa some people dismissed our oral and carved documents of our history I say no more.
Descendants of Tahitian navigator Tupaia want the record set straight on his travels with Captain James Cook on the Endeavour
Descendants of Tahitian navigator Tupaia want the record set straight on his travels with Captain James Cook on the Endeavour
And Tupaia (on his waka) also came here and returned to Ra'iatea. He then came back here on the Endeavour. That is what the oral tradition is telling us.
The version that Tupaia came to New Zealand for the first time on the Endeavour was not what's contained in the oral tradition, Mr Tautu said.
"Tupaia brought Cook here under the pretext of food and water," he said. "[Tupaia] came here to meet and greet his relatives. That's his reason for coming here.
"It wasn't to bring Cook. It was to greet his family he had left behind.
Those old Kauri trees found in a old swomp 45 thousand years old. There will be a lot of knowledge on ancient environments of Aotearoa to be examined from the old trees.
People who try and medal with Our Haka don't have any credibility reason to mess with the Mana wairua of Aotearoa Haka.
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key scoops, breaking news and key links I’ve picked up this morning, as at 6.40 am, including:the Reserve Bank of Australia hiked its official cash rate to a 10-year high and warned of more hikes to come, which was more hawkish than expected; RBABP ...
A year ago this week we saw the headline “Mask-wearing 17-year-old egged by aggressive convoy protesters”. As the protestors settled in for their long campout in opposition to vaccination requirements they demonstrated their commitment to standing up for the rights of the individual by verbally abusing, and throwing eggs at, ...
Chris Hipkins has become New Zealand’s 41st prime minister following Ardern’s unexpected resignation—perhaps the bold and unpredictable move Labour needed to improve its election chances. Just six days into his premiership and Labour had its first lead over National in thirteen weeks. National has had a largely uninterrupted run of ...
Good people can come into your life imperceptibly. It can seem they’re just there one day being remarkable. Nat Torkington, for instance.We were both online from the early days, I’m assuming that’s where we first connected; maybe in the UseNet newsgroups, or maybe later through Public Address.But it was when ...
One of New Zealand’s biggest electricity generators, Genesis Energy, has given the go-ahead for a large solar farm near Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains, an hour’s drive south of Christchurch. It is part of Genesis’ strategy of replacing thermal baseload with renewable generation – a mix of wind and solar. ...
Buzz from the Beehive We found just one fresh announcement on the Beehive website this morning, when we made our first visit since 4 February. It was posted in the name of Nanaia Mahuta, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, and explained why she was not at Waitangi at the weekend. ...
Hipkins is doing the right thing for New Zealanders already living in Australia, but there’s now a growing risk of a fresh surge of net emigration of frustrated young Kiwis across the Tasman. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Employers here in Aotearoa are desperate to keep their best-trained, most-productive ...
This post contains two guest posts from readers, both of which were sent to us after the flooding on Friday 27 January, both of which discuss how we handle our stormwater. This is a guest post from Ed Clayton, who’s written for us before about Auckland’s relationship with freshwater, ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key breaking news, scoops and links I’ve found since 4 am this morning, as of 7 am, including:A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,200 in Turkey near its border with Syria; ReutersMetService has warned a new cyclone is forming north of Aotearoa that ...
The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. There is a new wave of Maori activism, which sees the Treaty as a living ...
Originally published by The Hill After decades of failure to pass major federal climate legislation, Congress finally broke through last year with the Inflation Reduction Act and its close to $400 billion in clean energy investments. Energy modeling experts estimated that these provisions would help the U.S. cut its carbon pollution ...
Apology Accepted? “I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen …The communications weren’t fast enough – including mine. I’m sorry for that.”–Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.HOW OFTEN do politicians apologise? Sincerely apologise? Not offer voters the weasel words: “If my actions have offended anyone, then I ...
At first blush, Christopher Luxon’s comment at the parliamentary powhiri at Waitangi this year sounded tone deaf. The Leader of the Opposition in talking about the Treaty of Waitangi described New Zealand as “a little experiment”. It seemed to diminish the treaty and the very idea of our nation. Yet ...
THE (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding. BRIAN EASTON writes: Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It ...
A brief postscript to yesterday’s newsletter…Watching the predawn speeches just now, the reverence of those speaking and the respectful nature of those listening under umbrellas in the dark. I felt a great sadness at the words from Christopher Luxon last evening still in my head. The singing in the dark accompanied ...
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
So Long - And Thanks For All The Fish: In the two-and-a-bit years since Jacinda Ardern’s electoral triumph of 2020, virtually every decision she made had gone politically awry. In the minds of many thousands of voters a chilling metamorphosis had taken place. The Faerie Queen had become the Wicked ...
Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today held their first bilateral meeting in Canberra. It was Chris Hipkins’ first overseas visit since he took office, reflecting the close relationship between New Zealand and Australia. “New Zealand has no closer partner than Australia. I was pleased to ...
New Zealand will immediately provide humanitarian support to those affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by these earthquakes. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones affected,” ...
An historic Northland pā site with links to Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika is to be handed back to iwi, after collaboration by government, private landowners and local hapū. “It is fitting that the ceremony for the return of the Pākinga Pā site is during Waitangi weekend,” said Regional Development Minister ...
The Government is investing in a suite of initiatives to unlock Māori and Pacific resources, talent and knowledge across the science and research sector, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Two new funds – He tipu ka hua and He aka ka toro – set to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
The Government is supporting one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant historic sites, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, as it continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. “The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are a taonga that we should protect and look after. This additional support will mean people can continue to ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
AI writing tools are free, easy to use and already everywhere. But is it cheating to use them to help write an essay? Shanti Mathias spoke to New Zealand academics about AI’s place in education.When California company Open AI released its ChatGPT tool to the public last November, social ...
Chris Hipkins’ first overseas trip as prime minister heralded few surprises. But, as Stewart Sowman-Lund reports from Canberra, that’s exactly what he will have wanted. It’s been just two weeks since Chris Hipkins was sworn in as prime minister, a fortnight that has seen him deal with devastating flooding, formalise ...
The Green Party wants the government to double the maximum amount it is paying out to flood-affected Aucklanders, through the Civil Defence payments. ...
Felicity Goodyear-Smith looks back at just how political the issue of abortion was in New Zealand On Wednesday March 25, 2020 New Zealand moved to nationwide self-isolation in response to the Covid 19 pandemic. Unless essential, there were to be no face-to-face primary care consultations. I work full-time as a professor of general ...
From purging possums and saving kiwi, to leading the Tui and turning out for the Blues, rugby record breaker Krysten Cottrell has a fascinating combination of careers, Suzanne McFadden discovers. Krysten Cottrell spends her week deep in the bush of the Kaweka Range, searching for dead rats and possums - and then ...
The money the health system has to fight Covid-19 in the first half of 2023 is less than half of what it had in the second half of 2022, Marc Daalder reports Staff on the Covid-19 response have been terminated or quietly reassigned to other health issues as funding to ...
Bow and arrow hunting There was a certain time of year I really used to live for: camping over the Christmas break. I was 15 in the Christmas of 1976 and up to that point I'd shot a heap of goats and smaller game, but the thought of maybe getting ...
International education used to be a massive earner for New Zealand. With the borders finally open, are foreign students returning? Macleans College in East Auckland used to have more international students than any other school in the country. Then, the pandemic hit and turned it upside down. Principal Steve Hargreaves doesn't ...
Meg Parsons and Iresh Jayawardena explain why managing climate risk is a complex social justice issue Commentary and coverage of the floods in Auckland has so far focused on the severity of the flood, loss of life and injuries, damage to buildings, homes, roads and other infrastructure, on the number of people ...
A successful Minister for Auckland could foreshadow a substantially revised Cities and Regions government focusOpinion: There’s little doubt Auckland is in need of substantial ministering. It’s not just the biblical-scale deluge and resulting significant damage the region has experienced. It’s the historical sins of omission and some of commission ...
Chris Hipkins’ first offshore trip as leader went without a hitch, albeit with a low bar to clear. The challenge now is ensuring that Australian rhetoric around expat rights becomes reality, while Hipkins himself needs to figure out his own foreign policy agenda. Sam Sachdeva reports, in Canberra. Given the ...
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By Ian Chute in Suva Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) board chairman Ajay Bhai Amrit says he has receipts to prove former FBC chief executive officer Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum received an annual package of $387,790 including benefits and entitlements. He said this worked out to $32,315 a month and that the board ...
PNG Post-Courier PNG Defence Force Commander Major-General Mark Goina says “appropriate force” will be dealt to the gunmen who ambushed and wounded two soldiers in Saugurap, Enga Province, last week. In a statement Major-General Goina said: “A section from the PNGDF contingent deployed in Enga Province were on routine duty, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation’s politics team. In this podcast Michelle and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe.Lukas Coch/AAP Australia’s cash rate has hit 3.35%, after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for the ninth time in a row – and signalled ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Della Bosca, PhD Candidate and Research Assistant at Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney Shutterstock While the days of overt climate denial are mostly over, there’s a distinct form of denial emerging in its stead. You may have experienced ...
A potential cyclone that could bring more severe wet weather to the upper North Island is now forecast to form a day earlier, Stuff reports. Due to ideal cyclone-formation conditions over the Coral Sea, a low south of the Solomon Islands has a high chance of turning into a cyclone ...
Author I.S. Belle reveals the top five influences on her debut LGBT horror/paranormal YA novel, Zombabe.Zombabe is a LGBT found family horror/paranormal YA about a group of friends putting down an ancient evil inextricably linked to their sleepy town of Bulldeen, Maine. Does all of that bring anything to ...
New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese are holding a joint press conference in Canberra. Watch live here. ...
The New Zealand government is providing $1.5 million in humanitarian support to those affected by destructive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last night, foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced. The contribution of $1m to Turkey and $500,000 to Syria will be made via the International Federation of Red Cross and ...
In a state-of-the-nation-style lunchtime speech in Auckland today, the leader of the Act Party has taken aim at both major party leaders. “Throughout this speech,” David Seymour told supporters at the Maritime Museum, “I will do my best to differentiate between the Chrisses, but it may not be easy.” Seymour ...
In Canberra Chris Hipkins has met with Australia’s Anthony Albanese in Canberra, exchanging a few brief words to gathered reporters before heading inside for a closed doors meeting. Hipkins was driven into the courtyard of Parliament House, where he was greeted by Albanese in person. “Welcome prime minister,” said Albanese. A beaming ...
The acclaimed fashion designer has been crowned the ‘undisputed king of the frock’ – but with identical dresses widely available on fast fashion outlets, questions are being asked about his design practices.This story was first published on Stuff. He has been described as the “knight of New Zealand fashion”, his ...
In Canberra New Zealand’s media pack has arrived at Australia’s parliament ahead of this afternoon’s visit from prime minister Chris Hipkins. The PM will be met by his counterpart Anthony Albanese in the courtyard of parliament house, before heading inside for a closed doors meeting. Following the 45 minute meeting, ...
Two new funding initiatives, totalling $22 million, have been approved by Cabinet today to help ensure the cultural sector has the “certainty and support to thrive”, announced Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. $10 million of Covid-19 recovery funding will support established arts, cultural and diversity festivals, while $12 ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayWAITANGI, CO-GOVERNANCE, THREE WATERS Thomas Cranmer: Waitangi Day and the quiet revolution Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Waitangi in 2023: Plenty ...
ACT leader David Seymour has delivered a speech painting National and Labour as two sides of the same coin, and calling co-governance a "culture war". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Quigley, Associate Professor of Earthquake Science, The University of Melbourne Mustafa Karali / AP A pair of huge earthquakes have struck in Turkey, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and unknown numbers injured or displaced. The first quake, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kalinda Griffiths, Scientia lecturer, UNSW Sydney Getty/Marianne Purdie Cancer figures provide stark evidence of the gap between the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people in Australia. The difference is confronting – and it’s increasing over ...
NZ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have used a joint media conference to affirm the nations' relationship is that of "family". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Alcohol bans are being reimposed on Northern Territory Indigenous communities, as the federal and territory governments grapple with intractable problems in Alice Springs and elsewhere in the NT. The situation in Alice Springs and the ...
I was told to avoid gluten. I was told it was all in my head. When 10% of women experience endometriosis, why does it take so long for its classic symptoms to be recognised? It was 2011 when I had my first period. It felt like a very exciting moment ...
In Canberra Chris Hipkins has touched down in Australia’s capital – his first overseas visit since becoming prime minister just three weeks ago. After disembarking from the Airforce Boeing, Hipkins was greeted by his former caucus colleague and current high commissioner to Australia, Dame Annette King. The pair hugged on ...
The rise of TikTok-inspired ‘algospeak’ is making online communication even more of a nightmare, writes SYSCA‘s Lucy Blakiston.This is an excerpt from the Shit You Should Care About daily newsletter – sign up here.Content warning: sexual assault The other day I was chatting with a friend about algospeak – ...
School, finally, is back this week in the nation’s largest city to howls of relief from many parents and (one hopes) some students also. Yet the resumption of normal service shouldn’t obscure a curious inconsistency. The past few weeks have shown ...
MediaRoom column: On the eve of a Cabinet decision on the fate of the proposed public broadcasting merger, questions emerge over the engagement by the TVNZ chief executive of two former National government aides to change the narrative and push TVNZ's view on the Government's plan Within weeks of taking over ...
Olivia Sisson performs a good old-fashioned cost comparison – and it might change the way you buy your veges.The price of food in New Zealand is shocking. So, how to cope? The recommendations are starting to feel like the avo-toast-flat-white trope. Cut those items out and there it is, ...
An early morning fire at an egg-laying farm in Orini, Waikato yesterday has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 hens. The farm is operated by New Zealand’s largest egg producer Zeagold, the country’s biggest egg producer, whose eggs are sold under ...
The Natural and Built Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill will make resource management issues worse and should be withdrawn, Federated Farmers has told the Environment Select Committee. "Farmers agree the costly, slow and unpredictable processes ...
New police minister Stuart Nash has met with new health minister Ayesha Verrall to talk about the issue with the aim of preventing ram raids. Nash wants to speed up the scheduled reduction of dairies that can sell cigarettes. Nash made the comments at a police graduation ceremony in Porirua last ...
It’s Tuesday, February 7 and welcome to a special edition of The Spinoff’s live updates. Stewart Sowman-Lund will be on the ground in Canberra today as PM Chris Hipkins meets with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. What you need to know Chris Hipkins will meet Australian PM ...
Politicking by politicians was less overt but whether there was less politics probably depends on your definition of the word and what lay beneath the optics, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Why is it becoming harder to achieve debt-free status? Money Sweetspot is a new company that uses compassion and incentives to help people pay off their debts. Co-founder Sasha Lockley talks to Simon about using gamification to increase financial literacy, breaking the cycle of poverty, and how she intends to ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins is heading to Australia today for his first face-to-face meeting with an international leader. He’ll be meeting with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese during his single-day visit to Canberra. The Spinoff live updates will be on the ground in Australia as the meeting takes place and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney Pexels/Uriel Mont The question of whether and to what extent face masks work to prevent respiratory infections such as COVID and influenza ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Mackinnon, Professor and Director, Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, Queensland University of Technology Superconducting cables transmit electicity without lossesShutterstock For most of us, transmitting power is an invisible part of modern life. You flick the switch and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Munro, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University Shutterstock Many students are returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the NSW curriculum was overhauled to include the “explicit teaching of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Dudek, Associate professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University Universal Life is full of surprises – some pleasant and some painful – but there can be no surprises without expectations. We expect the sun to come up ...
News stories have honed in on the fact Wayne Brown and his staff were left off a ‘vital’ email distribution list on the night of the Auckland floods. But internal emails from the mayor’s chief of staff show he was getting regular briefings from officials.Internal council emails obtained by ...
In a reality shaped by climate crisis, how do you think and feel about the changed present – and the changing future – without spiralling into despair?In the midst of a flood there’s not much time to think about the future. But when the water recedes, the reality of ...
06 Feb The news today of the death of 75,000 chickens at an egg farm in Waikato is yet another outrageous and avoidable tragedy. “The fact that so many hens died in this fire in the Waikato is a testament to the systemic neglect and disregard ...
Lawmakers are being urged to bridge the legal and scientific divide over braided rivers. David Williams reports What is a river? More particularly, what is a braided river? An expert group known as The Land The Law Forgot is urging politicians considering the Natural and Built Environment Bill – one ...
Confidence from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell kept markets buoyant. But mortgage payments and job losses could dampen consumer spending in NZ ...
Someone left the Swift out in the rain - insurance agents are overloaded with calls about flood-damaged vehicles It’s been a big week for testing the submarining abilities of the family station wagon. Thousands of cars around the upper North Island have been written off following the devastating floods of ...
The first of the air force's new Poseidon aircraft has landed in New Zealand. But is this the sort of workhorse the military needs? Our old heroes of the Air Force, the P-3 Orions, have retired after 56 years of service - and the first of the flash new Poseidon ...
Chris Hipkins’ first overseas trip as Prime Minister comes on relatively friendly territory. But while there have been marked improvements in the trans-Tasman relationship since a change in Canberra, there is still plenty to discuss, as Sam Sachdeva writes In many ways, it is fitting Chris Hipkins should make Australia the ...
Fiordland National Park is the crowning jewel of our national parks and arguably our greatest tourist magnet. But conservationists warn that marine life has been put at risk because the park’s waters are unprotected. Heidi Bendikson’s investigation shows they are right. Tourists on the 'M.V Sinbad' clamber to the bow to ...
As Auckland copes with unprecedented flooding, Mairi Jay points to lessons from extreme weather events in British Columbia that could be vitally important for policy-makers and administrators here “Expect extreme weather events” the climate scientists tell us. But sometimes the extreme is beyond our imagining. On Thursday January 26, New Zealand’s Met Service predicted ...
UK and US deals for NZ novels Three of the best New Zealand novels of recent years are about to be published in the UK and the US. All three books – She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall, Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly, and The New Animals ...
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RNZ News New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described today’s Waitangi Day dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. Hundreds of people gathered before dawn to commemorate 183 years since Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed. Hipkins said the national ...
thick politicians should stick to politics not try to be all brainy and stuff imo
Nice. Since when did a legal degree confer scientific credibility? Has it been peer reviewed? If so, by whom? Does it provide 'balance' with opposing points of view? It seems to be aimed the government's parliamentary support in the Green party, but I doubt if will have much effect.
Is Judith making her move on Simon ?
Simon’s gig on Morning Report this morning didn’t really go according to plan…
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/401073/national-s-sroubrek-2-point-0-outrage-backfires
Simon shouted, over talked and failed dismally to make a case against Ian Lee-Galloway. Suzie made a grand effort to get Simon to explain/justify in spite of his shouty stuff.
But what did the following news item say? Just repeated the National attack without qualification that Suzie had exposed. News writers? Huh!
Yet another govt/SOE entity under the influence of the cronies national dropped in.
He got an easy run on the issue from Garner on the AM Show. He still managed to practically start foaming at the mouth though.
Bridges attends as he knows he gets to do as he pleases. Maybe he should do a shonky and ask for the questions before he attends.
Mediawonks are lock step with national. Weldon removed JC from air once parachuted into a CEO role he had zero experience previously in media to fill.
once JC had gone so was marky shortly after, it's another exstension of the rights messaging machine.
This is a minor issue that National are just trying to get a bit of mileage out of. The Sroubrek issue was far more serious.
Nah. I think the Nats thought they had another easy hit on Lees-Galloway. Thankfully he seems to have been better prepared for this one. I love how Bridges ended up whinging that the minister was selectively leaking from his portfolio like that’s never happened before.
Nice article
Weka
It seems you’re a big fan of free speech now. I did make the point when the two Canadians were de-platformed here that that decision was bad and was likely to have ramifications well beyond that decision. I meant that individuals on the Left could find themselves in a similar position.
Once again, free speech is a minority’s best friend.
[a conversation better suited to Open Mike – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Canadians were free to hold their event elsewhere, which they tried to. Except the Powerstation owner said No.
A Public outdoor event couldnt bring in money so they didnt try that, but they could have gone around the city with a camera creating click bait like they do.
Do you remember the time sitting MP Hone Harawira got blocked from the University Law School because Campus Nats wanted to do a big protest?
The Council of Trade Unions conference and Fair Work Agreements
Earlier during the day, NZ First leader Winston Peters was equivocal about his party's support for the measures.
Yet, Jacinda warned that new laws require consensus in a MMP government, which somewhat implied there wasn't one. So was Winston lying? Was Jacinda being disingenuous or was she suggesting the Greens were/are the sticking point preventing coalition consensus in this regard?
She also warned that in making big changes to industrial relations law, the Government would have to take the public with them, which somewhat implies the public support isn't there. Yet, when teachers and nurses recently went on strike, the public were largely in support. Suggesting most understand by and far that New Zealanders are largely low paid. Therefore, what makes Jacinda think the public isn't already on board?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116604410/jacinda-ardern-warns-unions-off-radical-industrial-change
Surprisingly, Jacinda went on to state "big bold moves that we haven't built public support for are easily dismantled". Admitting they haven't done the legwork to build up this support.
So is the public support already there? Or is there still work to do on this?
Martyn Bradbury has suggested the CTU needs to embark upon a PR campaign to sell fair pay agreements to the public directly. Which is not a bad idea but also implies the support isn't already there.
Me, myself, and I were having a great discussion on OM the other day. It was informative, educational, inspiring, eye-opening, and highly entertaining. Oh, how we laughed!
Tiresome – makes no sense, only nonsense. Disappointing mind-reading effort from The "more left than most" Chairman, IMHO.
We wouldn't have to mind read if 1, politicians were more forthcoming and secondly, if the media did their job and asked the hard questions.
Has there been any polling on where the public stand on Fair Work Agreements? Jacinda didn't point to anything (in the report) to back this assertion nor has the media (that I've seen) pointed to anything to back or disprove it. They never called her on it. Leaving the suggestion laying there unchallenged, neither confirming or denying it. And considering it's vital info for this story, that is what I call another example of piss poor reporting.
The report you commented on @6 contains two (consistent) Ardern quotes:
Why follow-up some "piss poor reporting" with some piss poor mind reading?
Know I'm going to regret asking, but what did you hope to achieve?
That doesn't make up for the lack of rigour in their questioning and research on the matter. Leaving us to have to mind read.
There are numerous objectives in further discussing this.
First off, where the public stand on this is vital info for what pace Fair Work Agreements will progress, if at all.
It's an important issue, thus it's politically healthy to keep the topic in discussion. I'm sure the Government wouldn't want the matter to fester with growing unionists impatientness being expressed at the polling both come next election.
We (voters) need to know if the PM is being straight up or is once again out of touch as shown in her dumping of the CGT suggesting there wasn't enough public support for it.
Highlighting piss poor journalism is one means to show them we expect better.
Why wouldn't we want to discuss this further?
IMHO your intention is to air opposition National party attack lines dressed up as 'concerns'.
The "out of touch" meme is a particular favorite of the right – ironic when you consider the National 'Hollowmen' party's plans to engage in dirty politics, mine in national parks, change the NZ flag, turn NZ into a tax haven, give tax cuts to the rich, transfer public assets to private ownership, politicise the public service, de-fund mental health providers, and house impoverished Kiwis in motels.
That's incorrect as highlighted in my reasoning above.
The concerns are genuine and I'm far from the only one that holds them. It could be you can't handle the hard talk I use or it could be you are just trying to undermine me and avert attention from this issue, writing it all off as unscrupulous behaviour.
This isn't merely a working class issue.
There are a number of employers who treat workers well and feel they are losing market share due to those that would rather prosper at the expense of their employees. Hence, I've had feedback from a number of employers that also support this.
The last thing we want is for good employers to go under while bad employers thrive.
Why don't you tell us where you stand on this issue instead of airing your incorrect opinion on my so-called intentions? Do you not have concerns about this?
Most people here would support the measure. But as you said, "Winston Peters was equivocal about his party's support for the measures", so in an environment where "new laws require consensus in a MMP government", and if a coalition partner is looking at it a bit cockeyed "which somewhat implies the public support isn't there".
It wouldn't be the first time public opinion supported contradictory positions, but there's only one poll that counts. The one that put NZ1 in government.
Buggered if I know what your concerns are, though.
Yes, that is my opinion too.
I also believe it would have good support throughout the wider community. So the first concern would be why doesn't Jacinda believe so as this seems to be slowing her pace to get this in place.
Why haven't the media done more legwork to get to the bottom of this is another concern.
Have Labour done enough (in front and behind the scene) to get Winston on board would be another.
If the Government fail to act with pace there will be further industrial action being taken. That of course is another concern.
Losing good employers to bad employers is another.
Failure to further address poverty/inequality (which this would help do) is another.
Clue: election 2017
clue: not the government's problem
Yes, but he knows his voting segment
I'm sure that obscure factor never occurred to tLabour. Thanks for your concern.
Take it up with the unicorn preservation society.
The peasants thank you for your thoughts, but fair work agreements don't help the people most in need.
Any other concerns?
You had to ask the question, didn’t you? But did you really have to ask The Concernman?
Half a dozen was pretty poor form, if you ask me. Humphrey Appleby could have invented two dozen apparently-genuine-criticisms-thinly-veiled-as-earnest-concerns before breakfast.
Bloody amateurs.
Elections are generally won on numerous issues, not one. So that is not a clear indication on where voters sit on this issue.
It could be a problem for the Government if they are shown to be wrong. Also if shown to be right and there is little to no support for this.
If he (Winston) really knew his voting segment they (NZF) would polling far better.
Yeah right. Yet, they are dragging their feet as if that will fix it.
I'll give them a call tomorrow.
With work being offered as the solution to poverty/unemployment it does impact the unemployed being encouraged to work. As I stated before, around half the kids living in poverty come from working households.
Actually, when half the voters go nat or NZ1, that's a pretty good indicator that changing work conditions to suit unions probably isn't a vote-winner at the moment.
the media doing it's usual half-arsed job is hardly the government's problem. And if the government act slow and by some miracle the corporate media decides to support worker rights, that's hardly going to drive voters to the nats. But it the govt move too fast before the electorate comes along, nat govt in 2020.
You gonna teach Winston politics, now? Fool. Winston knows his segment. His segment isn't 45% of the population, it's the 5-10% sitting between the two voting blocs.
Unions drag one way. Sometimes the bulk of the voters drag in a different direction. Are Labour "draging their feet", "playing a middle ground between voters and unions", or just "dealing with life as coalition partners with a conservative social democratic party".
The least-poor 40%, usually.
Again, voters vote for numerous reasons. So lets hope Jacinda is using more credible info than that to base her decisions upon.
And to counter your assertion, there are more workers out there than there are employers. Moreover, despite half the voters voting Nat or NZF, support for a CGT was shown in a number of polls. Which goes to show you can't judge the public view on a certain issue by merely looking at election results.
Before the Government determines what pace to move at they really need to gauge where the public are currently at with this. Now they may have done this, but they haven't made that clear. And the media doing a half-arsed job doesn't help us knowing.
Yet, he's only polling at 4%. And that is recently up from 3%. So he may know them, but evidently, he doesn't know them well enough to please them otherwise he would be polling higher.
Or are they just bloody useless at forming a consensus and getting the job done? Or is it they are so centrist they just don't want to move at pace?
lols because you have reason to assume she isn't?
Except there really is only one poll that counts, and the rest of 'em are largely bunk.
thanks for your concern
not the govt's fault or problem
Boo!
Your efforts to sow alarm and despondency tend to slit their wrists on Occam's Razor: the government got elected, therefore they likely know more about getting elected than you ever will.
That's the thing. In this instance, we don't know what she is using to base her decisions upon. Just like her dumping of the CGT. Either she hasn't mentioned it, or she did and the media haven't reported it, or the media haven't even bothered to ask.
If she did and the media failed to report it, then it does become a problem for her.
As for having a reason to assume she hasn't done the research, along with the reasoning already stated in this discussion (i.e. overwhelming public support for striking workers) I came across this recent study (see link below) by Waikato University that shows there's strong support for people being able to be covered by collective agreements.
https://www.waikato.ac.nz/news-opinion/media/2019/public-support-for-union-default
When it comes to elections, pretty much. When it comes to determining public support for a certain issue, not really.
It is a problem for her if the media are failing to covey such salient points.
Yeah, that's what I've heard for the whole 9 years they've been in opposition. And if it wasn't for the rise of Jacinda (the cult of personality) they'd still be in opposition dealing with one of their worst defeats. Talk about arrogance.
Oh you poor, deprived, dear
Nope. Despite your best efforts.
[links to irrelevance]
lol so the testable bit is bunk, but you have faith in the untestable bit. But you're totally not a concern troll lol
You aren't the arbiter of salience.
How dare the Prime Minister not obey the reckons of a blog commenter when it comes to politics! What does she know that concerobot doesn't!? /sarc
This is a big issue and voters (not just me) are being left in the dark (either by the Government not being open and transparent in their communication or the media doing a half-arsed job) and all you can say is: "Oh you poor, deprived, dear". Talk about trivializing the issue.
When speaking to likes of you, I often wonder if this is how Labour themselves think. Belittling people and trivializing their concerns.
The media failing to convey vital points of her communication is a problem for her.
I didn't say the testable bit was bunk, I largely agreed with you. The only way to really gauge public support on a certain issue is to put it to referendum. And if the Government wanted to distance themselves from this issue (at the risk of upsetting unions) and test the water, a referendum would be the way to do it. Apart from that and albeit not perfect, polling is the only other credible option.
This isn't about the PM obeying me, it's about the PM being honest, open and transparent and honoring her promise to the unions.
People are struggling out there, so picking up the pace would be very welcomed. After all, this is meant to be the year of delivery and wellbeing. And the Government (IMO) can't afford to leave their run for the next election to the last few months, they need to start delivering more now. Rehashing the little they have delivered on isn't cutting it anymore.
Dude, I ain't Labour. I'm just another internet commentator willing to say that you're full of shit.
The publicly-available polls are bunk, as I said. Two polls over the same period, each with a 3%MoE, occasioanlly report 9% apart. The only true measure of public opinion is the election.
Maybe the more detailed polling done by parties is more reliable, but only a moron would expect that data to be shared openly. That's like a general revealing their maps and order of battle.
If people wanted Labour to implement its full manifesto without equivocation, they should have ensured Labour got 51% of the ballot.
We lost many, many of the good employers who looked after their staff and paid decent wages when the employment contracts act came in.
They were competing against employers who would only pay minimum wage and could undercut their prices etc and simply couldn't compete. I saw many a good employer go under.
Add into that mix the removal of compulsory penal rates, the use of illegal labour, the evolution of back-handers, the government departments to have to move to national suppliers which took work away from good local businesses, and so on the crocodile tears over losing good employers now is pretty unattractive.
Yes we did lose a number of good employers in the past but there is still a number out there today. Thus, this isn't "crocodile tears". Moreover, with half the kids in poverty coming from working households, we all know many low paid workers are struggling. Hence, urgent action is required. Yet, once again the Government is dragging its feet.
We lost many many good employers. Today we see this behaviour below as a significant part of our labour market Good employers simply can't compete.
It's also not fair to say Labour isn't doing anything as there has clearly been a ramp up in both investigation and prosecution of bad employers. Long way to go though.
I doubt however they are brave enough to bring back time and a half on Saturday, double time on Sunday, 40 hour working week. You ever noticed that many tradesman charge you still for time and a half for weekend work but don't actually pay their workers time and a half. One way of rorting the customer.
Would be a good start to bring those things back and then some of the issues around good vs bad employers might go away. Higher incomes for the low paid would mean more money circulating.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116300102/how-the-liquor-store-industry-is-riddled-with-worker-exploitation
"Bottle stores are a tough business. An estimated 40 per cent are surviving by ripping off their staff."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/190063/CRIME-Slaving-for-a-living
"Ngoc Viet Dang may have looked harmless enough, but to a group of ship-jumpers who had come back to New Zealand to give evidence against him, he was a terrifying figure, a Vietnamese crime lord who used standover tactics to keep his workers in line and intimidate rival groups.
Dang, 39, a New Zealand citizen with links to the Vietnamese mafia in Ho Chi Minh City, had been standing trial on nine counts laid under the Immigration Act, of helping or enticing illegal workers to stay in New Zealand for material gain."
277 employers put on name and shame list for breaching employment standards
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/109401842/suspected-slave-boss-arrested
Combined slavery and human trafficking charges have been laid for the first time ever as Immigration New Zealand cracks down on what they allege is a major scam involving Samoan migrants.
Immigration NZ's chief investigator, former policeman Peter Devoy, has called the Hawke's Bay case "a new low".
A 64-year-old Samoan, who holds New Zealand residency, has been charged with both human trafficking and slavery. The first offence carries a maximum tariff of 20 years and the latter one of 14 years.
I didn't say that.
"Yet, once again the Government is dragging its feet."
Well moving very slowly then – resulting in nothing yet happening.
Moving slowly doesn't mean they are doing nothing at all.
Regarding were I stand (politically) – long-time Green party supporter (Party Vote GREEN) and was hugely relieved (in October 2017) that NZers weren't going to suffer another three years of National party-sponsored keptocracy. The hollow men and women really were well on the way to gutting the society that grew me.
The National party MPs and their beneficiaries gorged on NZ for nine years, leaving huge quantities of unmet need in their wake. And they'll do it all again – just listen to Bridges, Bennett, Collins, Mitchell, Brownlee, Dowie, Tolley, Carter, Barry, (Nick) Smith, Yang, Pugh – it's in their DNA.
The coalition government's majority is narrow, and National party support remains stubbornly strong. I'll continue to question what motivates you to couch your relentlessly soggy 'concerns' in this way [some The 'transparent' Chairman quotes extracted from the last four days]:
No, where you stand on this issue. No concerns?
You can quote me as much as you like, I stand by what I say. Therefore, the challenge for you is to show I'm wrong.
In this post-modern era, all opinions are equal, and feelings, beliefs, and concerns are the news ‘facts of reality’.
If you are (so) concerned about things, it is up to you to do something about it in a pro-active way. Sharing your concerns here and looking for support on this site from like-minded concerned is like playing the violin while Rome is burning and the screaking sound is starting to grate.
Most of your comments here seed discontent and your leading questions almost never elicit genuine debate. At best, your comments generate a bored yawn and at worst, they are an annoying distraction.
You can disagree with me as much as you like, I stand by what I say. Therefore, the challenge for you is to show I’m wrong.
Change first comes about from people having discussions.
And political blogs such as this could be used as a powerful tool to help bring about change.
Evidently, you underestimate the power of political discussion and building consensus. The voice of many is louder than the voice of one.
Only for the politically sensitive. In politics there is generally always an opposing or alternative view and it's not always what some want to hear. If people can't handle my opinions or if they find them boring or a distraction they don't have to read them. There are some that are happy to debate, some that support what I'm saying and there are some that want to shut me down and undermine me. Wonder where you sit on that?
You know the answer because I’ve told you many times, as another regular commenter and as moderator of this site. You are fishing for an argument so that you can defend and justify your behaviour here and litigate your way out. We have been there, done that and this will be yet another exercise in futility and a massive waste of time – you seem to have plenty of it.
I’m interested in genuine debate and constructive criticism. Your comments, however, do not make for that. They do not build consensus, and you should accept this by now, but only discontent.
Your constant negativity towards Labour is distracting other commenters from building consensus because they cannot stand for your wailing about Labour. You say that they don’t have to read your comments and opinions, but they do. As a moderator, that concerns me and I say to you that you don’t have wail all the time but you continue to do so.
Indeed, they are your opinions, which are light on fact and devoid of practical solutions. In a nutshell: Labour bad, must do better.
Your concern baiting is a problem on and for this site, in my opinion, but you refuse to accept this. The question is whether to let the needs and wants of one dominate or not. So far, nothing has worked with you and there has been no improvement – except you seem to be referring more occasionally to the Government than simply to Labour – and to shut you down completely may be the only option left. What you don’t seem to accept is that this is in your hands but martyrdom beckons, it seems – it fits your MO here.
That is where I sit. But you already knew that.
That is, with other coalition members who are resisting on behalf of the population they represent. Gee, I wonder which party that might be?
With two years in Government and Jacinda implying they haven't yet built public support on this, one wonders how long do they foresee it taking for a collaborative consensus to form?
Moreover, can struggling workers afford to wait that long? Additionally, how many good employers will go under by then?
As for work being done to build this collaborative consensus, has Labour polled NZF supporters to gauge were their supporters sit? And perhaps (if there is good support for this) use this to show Winston there is support for this among his supporters?
They are talking about political party support as a proxy for public. And I doubt Winnie would take kindly to being second-guessed. A Green-Labour government will be simpler to manage.
It will be interesting to see if a Labour and Green only coalition will perform any better. Labour could always turn to National to get their more centrist policy through. And the Greens have shown they have no backbone so will them having a few more seats really make much difference?
'Have no backbone' = are forced to concede to Winston First due to vote share this time.
apparently they should man up.
does that mean turn to the Bish?
Having no backbone equates to them seldom speaking up and failing to stick to their core principles. For example, their support of the waka jumping bill
Moreover, I'm talking about the Greens conceding to Labour as they would have little bargaining power despite attaining a few more seats.
They've shown they would rather be in power with Labour than sitting on the cross bench or go with the opposition, thus Labour know the Greens have nowhere else to turn. Hence, if they want to be in power they will have to further concede to Labour.
Nevertheless, on their current polling trend (and historical data) the Greens attaining a few more seats seems very unlikely.
Really? Let's see what they do next term, depending on how coalition voter support stacks up.
It’s great to see a post about the importance of free speech. Israel Folau and the two Canadians who were de-platformed here will be delighted to learn that we take free speech very seriously. That’s as it should be.
[I already moved your last comment to OM and said that was a better place for this conversation. If you want to talk about what’s happening with XR in regards to free speech, you can use the XR post, but please don’t use that post to grandstand a separate conversation about the free speech of white supremacists – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Did the Police arrest them too?
Anyway you will be moved to Daily review , as it should be.
Alas, you don’t understand the importance of free speech. Protestors in the UK are probably now beginning to understand its importance.
What patronising hogwash!
There is no comparison between the hate speech of abhorrent individuals and the collective voice of those concerned about our future well being.
Is there any place for morality within your uncompromising free speech?
The sort of free speech rhetoric that emerges from Formerly Ross gives rise to thoughts of the song, "If I had a bell, I'd ring it in the morning, I'd ring it in the evening all over the land", until the windows would be full of people shouting 'Shut up you noisy b..tard we're trying to sleep here".
And FS would look up all innocent, and say "I felt like it and it's my right to speak, sing or play wherever I like."
Freedom from the consequences of their speech is what they seek. F%$k em.
jeepers – so going to get so messy this – lots of toast coming
Marmite futures soaring..
The property value people have just wafted by and sent a letter saying we're now the holders of a grossly over-priced property and the council will be thinking about the rates take…
Is anyone going to en masse, collectively, all together call out this fakery?!
Relatively few people want to use the 'value' of their property to borrow against. The rest of us simply want to live where we do, using the scruffy old amenities we've already paid for. Wait for the overdue upgrades and repairs. Plod along as always.
And there's wonderment about why we don't vote for local government.
It's rigged against the ordinary folk. Once voted for – our 'representatives' are invisible for the next three years and seriously unaccountable for the harms they are about to inflict on so many people earning less than a quarter of their income.
No matter how you vote – you're still voiceless and powerless.
it is a daftness. I fear that the same thinking will end up creating bad land banking laws. Lots of people have traditionally bought land and let it sit for many years until they can afford to build or retire. That's not the same as buying a section and sitting on it for a few years with the intention of selling to at $100,000 profit.
Likewise TOP's policy proposal to have a tax on capital gains even if you don't sell.
Everything seems geared towards the idea that everyone is an investor.
And parties including Labour talking about building more units as their only answer does not address the fundamental distortion of our system treating housing as a preferred investment asset type. Change the demand, not just the supply.
I really don't get this about Labour. We could build more than enough houses and that won't drop house prices or rents enough to make up for low wages and benefits. The gap between what people earn and what their housing costs are is massive. The only way I can make sense of it is the intended sacrifice theory. Labour see their job as pulling some people up and leaving some people behind. They can stabilise the housing situation, raise wages a bit, and sorry about the big cracks that some people can't avoid falling through.
Labour doesn't want to discuss the real driver of the housing crisis – low-wage migration. Labour means to stick with a 50k per annum migration gain, down from 70k under the Gnats. Housing growth is nothing like that – so in addition to driving down wages and conditions, this policy also drives the housing crisis, at least at the low end.
The politics of kindness it's not, and, having never sought a public mandate for migration levels four times those of the US and UK, this policy is one of those little autocratic excesses to put us "peasants" in our place – just like the slave fishing Labour enabled for decades.
Migrants are a red herring. Importing cheap money has been the core problem, not importing people.
+1 yes I agree
Can you explain this? The housing crisis looks to me as being driven by multiple factors, I can't see how immigration policy isn't part of this. Technically we could have that level of immigration and build enough housing for them and for existing residents, but how would that happen given the housing crisis?
Not quickly. Population increase is a factor, sure, but most of it in regions like Auckland is projected to come from our relatively young residents having babies, and migrants from other parts of NZ.
I was meaning in the past. Are you saying that our immigration policy hasn't been a factor?
Having Aucklanders migrate to the South Island is a factor in the housing crisis here. Complex.
I'm saying it has not been as big a factor as some seem to believe it is.
I’m sure that’s true but I don’t know what it means in relation to the problem of housing (rather than the problem of people commenting on immigration).
Speaking of which, I think the left's prohibition on talking about the problems with immigration policy isn't helpful here.
Nobody is prohibiting discussion.
Let me rephrase then. I think the left’s strong disapproval on talking about the problems with immigration policy and the strong social pressure to not have that conversation isn’t helpful.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/migration-drives-high-population-growth
thanks.
Edit
Migrants and selling the country's brand and then bits of it to wealthy people is a business that government is behind all the way, and demand for housing becomes a lure. The scrabbling capitalists in the world have accreted lots of credits, and feel uncomfortable having too many in insubstantial form, too ephemeral to rely on, so they must be converted to physical form somewhere. Their portfolios of investments must prudently have a mixture of risk and assets that are rooted in something, somewhere that can't be wiped out by intense emotion that sweeps quickly through the stockmarket and brings down all the hot air balloons in deflated condition.
The migrants that cause the people to be outbid for dwellings that are needed by them, are just an externality to the money they bring in, which shows up as export returns in the national financial boasting lists.
Most of our debt is imported by Australian banks.
Yep so double the problem. Too much debt from outsiders, and being carried out by outsider financial institutions who stack up the profit and then take it away in golden wheelbarrows or recycle it to us peasants for a nice sum.
What is Labour's rationale for that level of migration? Is it ideological? Economic?
Any government now has a tricky balancing act of fixing the housing market without immediate costs being imposed on those who cureently own overvalued stock. They vote and they love the illusion of wealth.
Hence trying to use long-term inflation etc to gradually drop prices which they know full-well maintains the same broken market for another decade or two. Climate shocks may be the reckoning before that.
During Question Time today the PM has made some oblique remarks about a leadership run by the Opposition. Huh? What is happening?
She was taking the mickey.
National decided on a new approach today: the leader of the opposition's questions were shared around other MPs (Kaye, Bennett, Bishop, and Simpson, who nobody has ever heard of).
It backfired. Ardern has (IMHO) too often been passive in the House, letting Bridges get jabs in but not counter-attacking. Today she was giving it back, with humour, and scoring. Maybe the weekend polls were the wake-up Labour needed. She had new energy today.
National gave the PM a platform, by directing nearly all the Qs at her instead of Ministers. They might rethink that tactic.
Ah so. Thanks Observer. The Opposition tactic of asking "Does she stand by… ."is countered by using that question as a platform for a dissertation on whatever the PM wants to highlight.
I hope so. A bit of aggression especially if it can be delivered with a bit of humour is a necessary evil in politics.
JA was simply taking the mickey out of Bridges and National.
For those that did not watch Qtime today, because the Speaker has restricted Bridges to a maximum of 5 supplementary questions for still running the attack ads using excerpts from videos of Parliament sittings etc, the Nats put up four other Nat MPs to ask the usual "Does the PM stand by all of her Government's policies and actions?"
As well as Bridges asking the question at Q2, Paula Bennett asked the same question at Q3, Nikki Kaye at Q5, Chris Bishop at Q7, and Scott Simpson at Q8.
I thought the PM's suggestion that they were running auditions for the role of Leader of the Opposition was very clever and funny. And it gave her a great platform to speak much more than usual. Doubt they will overplay that tactic again.
EDIT – WOW, observer, snap! Almost the same wording … quite scary … Will leave mine just because it is so weird. Great minds and all of that …
Heh.
I think anyone watching without blinkers could see that Ardern won that round. In fact Bridges is usually pretty good in that role, he's hopeless outside the House, but in Parliament his prosecuting experience comes through. His "substitutes" didn't measure up.
Massey University has just withdrawn the venue for the Speak Up For Women event Feminism 2020, on the grounds of "risk to health and safety," which you can only assume involve highly unusual definitions of the words "health" and "safety."
It'll be interesting to see if the Free Speech Coalition makes as much of a fuss about feminists losing a venue as it did about Brash losing one.
🙂
And also whether the media picks it up.
I suspect we'll see more of that excuse in these circumstances.
"Health and safety" has been a nice, opaque, unopposable excuse for "I don't feel like doing that" for donkey's years. Been a bit of a resurrection of it since they made governance roles personally liable, but usually it's more myth than reality.
So now if you want to be intentionally controversial for clicks, you'd need to be the one spending a few thousand on a safety plan to deal with a variety of eventualities and put money aside to fund those contingencies.
edit: found the massey media release:
lol ISTR the current OSH regimen still includes a reasonableness test, not an absolute on elimination. Lots of case law there for the FSC to get outraged about, if they care.
Hi Weka
Can you define what a denier is?
Someone who doesn’t believe CO2 is the problem?
Someone who doesn’t believe we are facing an imminent mass extinction?
Someone who doesn’t believe that declaring climate emergencies is much more than virtue signaling?
Someone who thinks that there is a huge political push behind it?
Asking for a friend….
[lprent: answering for a friend..
For me, it is simple :-
1. someone who doesn’t understand the size of the effect of CO2 on climate – that outside of the billion years changes in solar radiation and millions of years milankovitch cycles, it is the largest single climate factor in geological time – and that it normally acts in thousands of years..
2. someone who doesn’t understand the scale and the speed of the burning of fossilized carbon over the last two hundred years has caused a greater release of CO2 well over any known geological release. It causes significiant effects in mere hundreds of years and has downstream effects for thousands of years..
3. and someone who is too stupid to understand that those two factors alone are sufficient to cause a well known geological pattern known as a catastrophic change in climate leading to large extinctions at the top of the food chain. Instead (like you in a different handle) they are too lazy to look at the basic science and cowardly to listen to the children who are better scientifically educated than they are. Instead they deny it, preferring to stick their head straight up their arse because it is both easier than thinking and has a more comfortable smell.
And BTW: are you currently banned? Why come in under a different handle otherwise? Ifs this ‘friend’ yourself under your more usual handle(s)? Are you being as stupid a dimwit as you usually are? ]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Yes.
Probably. I mean, there's a huge body of evidence that species are going extinct at an alarming rate, and it doesn't need much in the way of science literacy to understand this.
Maybe. Certainly not everyone who believes in the put down of 'virtue signaling' is a denier, but there's a big overlap in the Venn diagram.
A big political push behind CC? Sounds like a denier to me.
If you want to argue about the science, Lynn is your man.
I personally think that Te Papatuanuku grows enough kia we just have to eliminate the waste and shear Te Kai and putea with our neighbours.
We have to put as much effort into this problem of kai waste as is going into some people's piped dreams billion spent that could be invested in solar and wind power for the poor tangata to become energy independent. Being energy independent will help pump water to grow Kai and running a freeze to store Kai. In Aotearoa one can achieve this with only $3000. It does not have to be invented the technology already exists.
How do we feed the world without destroying the planet?
Bob Geldof
Hunger and the climate crisis are inextricably linked – the challenge is how to solve one while not exacerbating the other
Hunger is the most awful and profound expression of poverty. It exists in every country. It is something that most people can identify with on some perhaps primordial level. The fear of hunger is etched into our DNA, passed down the generations from hungry, scared ancestors. It is in our bones. It is in my Irish bones
But there is very bad news. More recently hunger has started to increase. Again. On World Food Day on Wednesday, 820 million people face chronic hunger. That’s the equivalent of the population of the US and the EU combined. This is daily, frightening, fatiguing, persistent hunger. Day after day, 820 million people will not get enough to eat. Night after night, famished mothers and fathers put their children to bed with empty stomachs.
I suspect this shocks no one these days. Just as I suspect the spectre of climate crisis evokes yawns. Yet the two are inextricably linked in a kind of existential tango happening too slowly for us to register
The increase in global hunger is in part triggered by the climate emergency. There have been more floods, more droughts, and more frequent, fiercer storms. Small farmers are being hit first and hardest as once-in-a-century extreme weather events become almost routine The increase in global hunger is in part triggered by the climate emergency. There have been more floods, more droughts, and more frequent, fiercer storms. Small farmers are being hit first and hardest as once-in-a-century extreme weather events become almost routine
The Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme, which we successfully fought for alongside President Obama, will be critical. It has resulted in a decade of experience in encouraging increased impact from the international system in exactly the way we need. In the face of the dual challenges of climate change and hunger, it is perhaps more relevant today than at its inception.
Whatever happens with Brexit, the German gathering will be an opportunity for us to come together to tackle one of the great 21st-century challenges. It’s a century that has stumbled to begin. It is finally taking shape, but is still a plastic thing. It will see mind-boggling technologies emerge and profound cultural shifts.
But what’s the point if we can’t beat humanity’s oldest foe, hunger? Surely it is a modest thing to suggest that next year would be an excellent time to start doing just that. Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/16/how-do-we-feed-the-world-without-destroying-the-planet
Kia Ora 1 News.
I think that all around that slip on state highway 4 should have been planted in trees years ago
That's what a left Government does invest in the common people health and mental health.
Ka kaha to the WheelBlacks.
Yes rubbish is a huge problem in Aotearoa and around Te Papatuanuku.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Out government investment of $12 million in Fostering Te Reo is great our Tipuna set the foundation for Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Culture to stay Mana kia kaha.
Condolences to Matua Smith Whanau for their loss.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Breakfast Show.
Its great that we are highlighting our Kiwa problems the Rubbish pollution is a great problem its not like Tangata can pick it up off the Kiwa bed we can't see the Rubbish what you can see doesn't exist Correct.
Te Papatuanuku was not built in A day.
He tino pai ki kite ite matomato me Te maui I runga ite Parakuihi engari me Te mea kei Te arahi ratou Ana he hipi e nga rangatira puru.
More Tawhirimate.
Wai is A taonga and a powerful source.
Ka kite Ano
I believe this version of Tupaia travels around the Pacific ocean and to Aotearoa some people dismissed our oral and carved documents of our history I say no more.
Descendants of Tahitian navigator Tupaia want the record set straight on his travels with Captain James Cook on the Endeavour
Descendants of Tahitian navigator Tupaia want the record set straight on his travels with Captain James Cook on the Endeavour
And Tupaia (on his waka) also came here and returned to Ra'iatea. He then came back here on the Endeavour. That is what the oral tradition is telling us.
The version that Tupaia came to New Zealand for the first time on the Endeavour was not what's contained in the oral tradition, Mr Tautu said.
"Tupaia brought Cook here under the pretext of food and water," he said. "[Tupaia] came here to meet and greet his relatives. That's his reason for coming here.
"It wasn't to bring Cook. It was to greet his family he had left behind.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/401251/tupaia-s-descendants-shed-new-light-on-cook-s-navigator
Kia Ora 1 News.
We need a clean environment for our Mokopuna to have a happy healthy future.
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Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
It looks like a interesting day in Te Taitokerau.
Those old Kauri trees found in a old swomp 45 thousand years old. There will be a lot of knowledge on ancient environments of Aotearoa to be examined from the old trees.
People who try and medal with Our Haka don't have any credibility reason to mess with the Mana wairua of Aotearoa Haka.
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