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.
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.
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Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
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.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PkXbSx-mqm8
[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.
Ka kite Ano
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.
Ka kite Ano